KL International Marathon

Current favourites: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Heard it before, didn’t really notice it on my Maksim’s cd, heard it again on American Idol and reminds me of Timmy singing it when he was half drunk =D It’s a strange song. It has ‘Galileo’, ‘scaramouche’, ‘beelzebub’, even ‘Bismillah’ in it... Wait til you hear those strange words in the strange melody. One of the strangest songs I’ve ever heard. Still hooked onto Gasolina too, was screaming it on the bike ride in Pangkor.

The first 500 finishers in my category will get a medal and all finishers will get a cert. As Timmy and I crossed the finishing line, the personnel directed us to the first lane. So I followed Timmy only to find out that the women were supposed to queue at another line instead. But when I realized and headed back to the end of the line, a few more people had already finished so I had to queue behind them. I thought that those few people wouldn’t make a difference, I couldn’t be that unlucky to miss out on the 500 people all because I headed to the wrong queue right?

But as my fcuking luck is so fcuking bad, I was written down as number 501. Not 505 or 509, but 501. If I didn’t head to the wrong line, I would have queued ahead of the about 3 or 4 people. It’s bloody 501, mind you, if I was slow by say 5 people, I would have still kicked myself for being almost there. But bloody 501. This is not a sheer coincidence, it is purely bad luck. So suay. Speechless and too tired to have any expression.

But when they issued the finishers’ card to collect the certs, it says Position No. 491! But as my fcuking bad luck played up on me again, they said they ran out of medals already. What the fcuk? The first 500 get medals but they allocated like what, 450 only? Stupid. It’s the first marathon I’ve taken part ok, and will probably be the last if they continue to fcuk up like this. It’s a medal, not a cert and see how do you feel like when what’s yours is robbed due to stupid fcuking thing like ‘medal sudah habis’. Honestly, I was sobbing by the roadside, was so disappointed. Seeing other women having medals didn’t help, especially if they don’t looked like the running type. Well, they deserved it but I made it too.

And after calling them up twice today to get clarification, I finally got the explanation that you have to make it before the qualifying time to get the medal, despite being in the top 500. Where ever did they mention that in the rules? Here are the excerpts:

Finisher Medals:
(i) Finisher medals 42km and 21km
To be awarded to all finishers according to set times

(ii) Finisher medals 10km
To be awarded to the first 500 finishers of each category.

(iii) Finisher medals 7km
To be awarded to the first 300 finishers of each category.

(iv) All finishers will receive certificates.


Certificates Awards :
Certificates are awarded as follows:-
a) Achievement Certificates - within 4 hrs. (Full Marathon)
b) Participation Certificates - within 7 hrs. (Full Marathon)
c) 21km Certificates - within 3 hrs. 30min
d) 10km - within 1hr. 20min
e) 7km Fun Run - within 1hr. 30min

See, there is even inconsistency there. All finishers get certs and those who finishers within the timeline get certs. Stupid. Is it mentioned anywhere that the first 500 have to finish within the timeline? Read this if you want to. Even the guy who answered my call said that they just mention it generally in the rules. So it’s misleading and cheating participants, ain’t it? And after knowing this, was annoyed cos we actually made it like a few minutes after the qualifying time. Had I known, I would have pushed harder. Wasn’t really pushing myself cos I dunno what was I running for actually, don’t even know if I was going to at least get a cert. Hah, annoying!

On the other hand, it was a fun experience running with Timmy =) He picked me up at 5.15am, then we took the LRT there, met up with his colleagues and former colleagues and then we ran! Felt nervous at the starting point, my hands were cold. As usual my strange boyfriend decided to do something strange by carrying his backpack with him, thus running with it all along the way. It’s heavy you know, and the weight is already bogging you down. Still dunno why he decided to bring all his clothes there, it’s not like there is any place to bathe there as well? Strange hahaha.. but pity him. I can’t even run with a phone or keys in my pocket, so what about a towel, shorts, shirts, wallets, phones and keys? Some belonging to yours truly and his colleagues some more. Hai, pity Timmy.

Performance review: So bad! Was walking more than I ran. Well, what do you expect from someone who went jogging only twice as preparation? Hahaha. But it was an experience. Not really a pakthor session cos it wasn’t a leisure run and we tried to make it before the qualifying time. We thought that only those who finish within the qualifying time will get certs, so we ran for our life. So it was kinda a stressful, sweaty and needless to say, a very very tiring pakthor session. We saw all sorts of amusing people along the way. Some came with cameras which is still ok. There was this guy who stopped to take photos of himself as he ran and we later saw him passing the camera to a personnel, went back some distance and then pretend to run forward again. That is so lame! And fake, yuck. There was this man wearing shorts and leggings inside as well. Black shorts and black leggings! Omg!!

Some roads leading to KL were closed and seeing the electronic messages along the highway yesterday made me feel proud to be part of the big event that caused roads to be closed! =D It really is a big event. We were flagged off at Dataran Merdeka, ran through the Sungei Wang stetch, Pavillion and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. More like sight seeing along the way. Pissed Timmy off too cos I kept asking how far have we ran and how far have we got to go. Bad sense of direction ma. And wanted to estimate how much time have we got left. And how much torture more. I don’t believe him anymore cos he keeps saying (without me asking anymore) ‘it’s around the corner’ or ‘almost there’ but it’s like 3km more! So tired wan..

It was quite fun and glad to be part of this big event. Still not so bad, managed to finish within the top 500 (out of how many, I dunno =D If what Timmy said it’s true, that the number on the shirts represent the number of participants, then I saw a lady numbered 2941 then). Managed slightly over the qualifying time, about 5 minutes short but got a cert anyway, so that cert was actually for all finishers. The only thing that marred it was the medal shortage, so pray for me that I’ll somehow eventually get it. Then it will be a perfect marathon!

The pics I have courtesy of Timmy, cos my phone is finally sent for repairs. So had to rely on Timmy’s phone and still haven’t really got a hang of it.

Me at the starting point. So exciting isn’t it? Gonna be flagged off soon and run!

Nice pic, ready at the start point!

After finishing, in one piece. Got sniffing by the road side and got forced by Amran (Timmy's ex-boss) to pose.

The gang from Branded3, minus their boss who had already gone home. Gone home before the race started, not after it ended =D That's Steven, Chan, Jeff, Tay and Timmy. I finally got all their names right, excluding Timmy of course.

Me and Timmy on the train home, surrender...sweaty, stinky, sad, tired and aching..

Culinary delights and mishaps

This is my first post on food and hopefully the last one, cos I don’t wanna be one of those yau kooi food bloggers. Or like MS who writes about almost everything she eats and cooks. This is more of to complain (again?) and also cos one of it has some sort of significance to me. And I don't provide commentary on how the food taste, whether it was sweet with a tinge of sourness or could be a little more tangy or whatever..

Bar B Q Plaza

Bro wanted to try Bar B Q Plaza after I picked him from school last Wednesday. There were 2 lunch sets, the beef or pork. Not a beefy person, I took the pork.

The redness of it really put me off. Kinda felt horrified seeing how raw it was. That was the only time I considered becoming a vegan. To even think of it is no easy task for someone who made a statement “I don’t like green vegetables”. Laugh all you want at the metaphor but there are vegetables that aren’t green. Guess I’m not used to seeing meat before it is cooked. Even after that was cooked, I felt so yuckish putting it into my mouth. I couldn’t finish it, felt disgusted. Come to think of it, I’m not really a meat person. I’d feel geli if there was too much meat in my mouth. Even with chicken, I sometimes think ‘this used to run around and fly’, and then every chew seemed to be biting into something that flew and ran. Urgh..

But what am I to eat? As mentioned above, I’m not a vege person and I’m too lazy to eat fish, my dad’s no longer around to pick out the bones for me. So..err.. I’m still fat anyway. No conclusion here, whack la!

Btw, BAR B Q Plaza sucked. One of the girlfriends said so too. The meat not marinated, it had to be dipped into the barbeque sauce which was sweet like chee cheong fun sauce. No, thank you. The meat and seafood didn’t really feel cooked too..urgh..

Old Town Kopitiam

Driving around undecided what to have for dinner one night, we ended up there. They listed it as “Ipoh Hor Fun”, so I thought I’d give them another chance. The last time, they ran out of hor fun and gave me mihun instead. Ipoh mihun? Come on.

When it came, ooh la la..

The closest I can get to the real thing. This is actually only the 2nd time I’ve seen something like this, the oil in the soup, prawns and chives. Why is it so hard to replicate Ipoh Hor Fun?? This soup was a tad too murky for me though, it’s not supposed to be like that.

The first few mouthfuls were good! After that, had a yucky feeling again and struggled to the end. Couldn’t even bear to finish the last few strands of hor fun. The best is still the one in Seaview coffeeshop, Subang SS15 I think. Prawns, chives and tastiness. Not bland soup and shredded fibrous chicken. Never ever call that Ipoh hor fun, cos it isn’t.

Hakka Recipe

Went with James to his client’s place cos boss wanted one of us to tag along. MS said she might have something, so I had to go despite being burnt and black. We spotted Hakka Recipe on our way there, and there was where we went for lunch after we were done. Was kinda excited cos I’m Hakka!! And so was James, and 2 Hakkas going to Hakka Recipe for lunch! I’m so proud of my heritage =) Though I don’t speak the dialect =)

Found the décor nice but somehow don’t look spectacular in the pics. I liked the antique-looking teak-looking chairs very much, in fact we liked it so much that we berebut wanna sit on it til we ended up sitting side by side =D Hey, I don’t even sit side by side with my boyfriend when we are eating =D No choice la, Hakka chairs eh! Hahahaha.

The interior. The antique-looking teak-looking chairs are against the wall, if you can see that.

Another part of the interior.

Some calligraphy that James said is meant to be read horizontally despite being placed vertically. The first 3 words meant something like ‘same type of people’? Yes, that’s what we are!

This is one person who would readily pose if you ask ‘You want to take picture or not?’ Correct me if I’m wrong but usually if people wanna take your pic, there would be some form of resistance. This wasn’t even a wanting-to-take; it was a question which was answered almost immediately with a smile.

Me lor, burnt already but still wanna take a pic. Self snapped cos too shy to have James take my pic, especially in an eatery which makes me look like a yau kooi jakun.

The recommended dishes were ginger chicken rice with egg and fried pork rice with egg. James ordered the ginger chicken but I didn’t want to have the pork, so he agreed to have the pork so we won’t be having the same thing. So, here’s how it looks like..

From the name itself and the pics, there isn’t anything spectacular about it. Think I’ve had those before in fact, just that I didn’t know they were Hakka =D James wanted to try mine, so I might as well try his and yeah, nothing spectacular. But it’s Hakka! Haha.

Eh, this James is pure Hakka you know. He even has all these dishes at home, but he still wanted to try another’s cooking. I think Hakkas aren’t exactly common, and to find a pure one is even rarer! So Hakka-yin wan =) And we actually spent 1 hour at the client's place, 2 hours for lunch and at The Curve hahaha. Next time I wanna melesap to some mall first before coming back to the office la =D

There was also a sudden interest in juice and fresh milk, supposedly wanna lead a healthy life but they were actually bought due to thirst while shopping. Ok, so juice is supposed to be healthy, it gives the impression that it is healthy but I guess for every good, there is a bad. The same goes with vice versa. Cos there is sugar and colouring in there. Not so much though, cos Timmy drinks those juice and he calculates fat and sugar content. Don’t think they are that fresh as well despite ‘For any fresher, you have to peel it yourself’, whatever. So does the benefits of the juice outweigh the sugar, colouring and preservatives? Coincidentally while I was writing on this, Yahoo's feature article as you open the page was also on this.

Sing Hiong Eating House

We went to this place yesterday after bro's dental appointment, on his suggestion. Never seen any place called 'Eating House' before.

This pic is taken by my bro, thus it's partly covered as he has bad photographer hands, low levels of patience and low levels of tolerance for his snap-happy sister.

The kitchen

The area beside the kitchen

Despite the yuckiness of the pics, all the food were still gone! =D Looking at the pics now makes me wanna puke..

Ok, the main reason for going to that 'Eating House' was actually this.. my bro wanted to eat lut lut at the stall nearby. But even the lut lut stall was yucky. Urgh.. don't care, hantam la..

My mum whacked all the kerangs, all gone. My bro kept questioning her bout the the stench and the sight of all the blood. It sickens me too. Don't understand how could my colleague have kuey tiao soup with that kerang. Stinks! Even my mum the kerang fan don't get it, as well as the kuey tiao soup aunty.

With all the complaining I do about food, I’m not stick thin. Cos Timmy and I whacked a big plate of crabs and the dim sum buffet last weekend. And had a nice pizza at Piccolo Mondo on our weekday pakthor session. The Quattro Stagioni pizza was good. You never know what crap Pizza Hut’s been feeding you until you try some other pizza, even Domino's. So I call for a boycott on Pizza Hut! Any support?

*****

And at the moment, I'm so happy cos my afternoon tuition class has been cancelled by the parents! So I can go marathon-ing in peaceand then pakthor! No need to rush home and no need to be the 'bad teacher' by cancelling class. Postponed classes for 3 weeks in a row already, and another in April for Genting. Was getting kinda worried but it was all gone when they asked me to come and apply for my teaching permit. They are getting me a permit! I'm a lovely teacher after all.. =P

Bout the marathon, no eye see. Why? Cos after all my determination and enthusiasm in one of my posts, I only went jogging twice. One of it was also during tkd training with the kids and was forced to =P May all the speed be with us! The strength, the stamina, the power and the wind too (blowing from my back ok)!

Holiday in Pangkor and F1

What a week!

Pangkor with Timmy

Timmy picked me up at 5.30am. It’s so nice to see Timmy so early in the morning. We took a cab to Pudu, then the bus to Lumut and then the ferry to Pangkor. The bus ride was kinda long as it went through some towns but we entertained ourselves by listening to music and taking pics all along the way there.

The iPod is very useful as a hair removal device. Just clip it to your boyfriend's hairs on his leg or anywhere else, give it a tug and voila! =D But seriously, it is very useful. The curtains in the bus kept falling apart and the sun was shining on my face. Damn annoying until Timmy said why don't I clip it together? It's great! A very very great invention.

Us on the ferry. It was nice standing outside on the deck and feeling the wind blow

Yours truly

After snapping the pic, I saw someone doing something naughty at the back. Actually he didn’t even know I was sticking my tongue out when he decided to do the same! =D Somehow we decided to stick out our tongues for the same pic

We stayed at Vikri Beach Resort along the Pasir Bogak stretch. Upon arrival, the room was ready, the cake was prepared and the card received. Was kinda nervous that the surprise intended wouldn’t turn out but glad that everything went as planned =)

The cake I had pre-arranged to be placed in our room upon arrival


My beloved celebrating his 30th birthday!

Due to ‘jetlag’ and that our motorbike was only available the next day, we didn’t do much on the first day except to walk twice along the beach. We found swings on the first trip and reminisced the times in kindergarten when we would stand ‘heroically’ and then jump off it.

Timmy trying to reenact scene from Bawang Putih, Bawang Merah

The same heroic stance as 18 years ago =)

Us by the beach

Been there, done that

On the way back round 1, we bypassed Coral Bay Resort that Shikin recommended and Golden Beach that I was initially looking at. It was a good thing that I didn’t take either which were actually side by side, cos our chalet was just opposite the beach and we could just run across the road and dunk ourselves in the sea whenever we like! At night, we walked along the beach again to get dinner. 2km didn’t seem far when you’re walking hand-in-hand enjoying the walk, the togetherness, the chat and the company =)

On day 2, muahaha!! We got our bike! Going by how disastrous my sole 2 biking experiences turned out, I thought that I would freak out but surprisingly there was no fear at all! It was kinda scary when the hills were steep but other than that, we opened our big mouths and laughed all along the way! First we went to town to refuel and then..hahaha!

First we had lunch at Teluk Nipah, then we bought some dried foodstuff from the sea produce factory and then circled the whole island. Up and down the hills and every corner there was, where few men roam =) If we come across some scenic places, we’d stopped and snapped pics =) Certain hills were steep and there was a fat girlfriend at the back, so occasionally had some trouble going up and as we struggled, we saw a wild boar in the jungle! There were some monkeys by the roadside as well. As we went along, I sang loudly but there weren’t many songs that Timmy and I know in common =P For certain stretches that we merempit, I screamed “I wonder if you know, how they live in Tokyo, if you see me then you mean it then you know you have to go, fast and furious!!” ! Hai..it was so nice..! The experience I mean, but also my singing =D

After the island tour, we went back for a nap. Then we woke up and went for a swim, which was so easy as we live just opposite the beach and we just walked back to our room dripping wet. Then we napped again =D Then we woke for dinner and scouted the area for food, since we had a bike now and I think that we wanna ride the bike every opportunity we had =D

We found seafood at a Chinese shop nearby after finding nothing in town. We paid RM26 for Marmite crabs, fried squid and kangkung. Cheap eh? But the crabs weren’t much and flower crabs some more, tak cukup makan (craving for crabs already satiated at the time of writing). But still cheap. Then we headed back, parked our trusty bike at the chalet and walked to the beach opposite and watched some people rowing off their boat in the darkness to catch fish. So laidback life eh; sleep, ride bike, eat, sleep, ride bike, walk at beach..so nice..

And oh, I think we must have either been a very cute couple or a good-looking one, cos everywhere we went on our bike, people looked at us til their heads turned following our direction as we rode past =D A noodle seller looked at us, looked down to take some mee and looked back up to look at us again. Another motorcyclist rode past us, and even turn his head to look at us behind. Hahaha! Either we are that good-looking as I said earlier or this:

My helmet is almost 180 degrees =D The stupid helmet won’t sit properly on my head and kept going to the back, choking me. Other than that, we are still a cute couple =P

On every day that we are supposed to go home after a holiday, will feel so sad wan. Like it’s time to go back to reality and back to work! But luckily I had a few more days off, so it soften the transition back into reality =) On the final morning, dengan hati yang sedih we started taking pics as soon as we got up, without even washing face =)

Our trusty bike! Gave us fun and joy hahaha. We took this pic first thing upon waking up . It was funny setting the timer and then running to sit on the bike =D

After checking out, we took more pics at the resort entrance.

We were here!

The beach just across our resort


The road where we cruised up and down

I’d recommend this place namely for the location across the beach, it being a chalet and there was a personal touch with it being a family-owned place. Like when Timmy and I were walking out one day, the owner called out “happy birthday” to him. Sweet isn’t it? They remembered the ‘birthday instructions’ and knew who it was too. Upon arrival, just mention my name and they showed us our room immediately. They asked how was the cake as well. Most importantly, they were very accommodating by entertaining my idea of me mailing my card beforehand and preparing a cake. Thumbs up! Thanks to Debi for recommending this place to me.

For those intending to buy satay fish and sotong etc there, buy them cheaper at the jetty instead, though they might be fresher at the factory, duh.. We discovered this while hanging around the jetty for 3 hours and ended up taking more pics to kill boredom…

If this were the shopping centres here, think I’d rot to death =D

Timmy wanted this pic taken to show what we wore to and back Pangkor, to show that we were dressed to fit in as soon as we arrived =) Honestly, I don’t see the point of dressing up when you’re heading to such a place. Only having excess baggage. And the circled one is a blue-black from getting hit when the swing swung back after I jumped off. I learnt my lesson and ran miles the next jump. Timmy laughed his head off =D

And one funny thing about Vikri, they have tvs with Astro in the chalets but.. you have to watch whatever the owners are watching! There are no other channels available for you to select and suddenly, you see the channels change right before your eyes! And with its owners being Indian, we had to watch Sun Music and Vaanavil. Occasionally you get sports as well but just as you decided to follow the Bollywood dancing action, the channel gets changed =D Pretty amusing. Wonder why they bother giving us tvs and Astro for. So they can boast of Astro in all rooms. Just found it amusing, it’s not that we went there to watch tv anyway.

Pangkor, being one of the most popular islands, wasn’t as beautiful as I expected. There weren’t many people around too probably cos the school holiday just ended but it was a nice time spent. Being with Timmy itself is a bonus. Hope he enjoyed his holiday birthday celebration. I had a nice time and enjoyed his new haircut as well, kept rubbing his head and sniffing his lam yan mei =D


Formula 1

Day 1:
Just the practice sessions and some other events that had cars that looked just like F1 cars, albeit less noise. As we were approaching the circuit, we could hear the sounds and it was very thrilling! It was loud when we got in and our ear plugs were lousy. There was F1, Formula BMW Pacific and GP2 Asia, which were all F1-looking cars. We didn’t stay for Porsche Carrera Cup cos was hungry and bored already.

The track and nice clouds above

Day 2:
3rd practice session and qualifying session. Managed to catch the Carrera Cup as well. The Porsches were cute! Very colorful and cute. There was this slow coach that lagged one round behind. It was funny cos he seemed to be taking his own sweet time cruising along and letting everyone lap him though he was already one lap behind =D



The Porsches, cute colourful cars.

Day 3:
Race day! Watched the Carrera race again. The slow coach was slow again and we cheered a.k.a made fun of him every time he passed. Somehow there were many races for the Carrera cup and the other events, unlike F1 where there is just 1 final race. We got there at 11am and I thought that there wouldn’t be many people since the race starts at 3pm, but I was wrong. I like the drivers’ parade where the drivers waved from the little antique cars that brought them round the track. The race was just.. a race.

This is the best I could get. Not really interested in recording it actually but felt that I had to =)

I was so bored with the race that I looked around and saw this..

A row of hot bods in the sun!
Ooh la la! =P

The other pics:

The crowd

Me and the crowd

Bro engrossed in some game to kill time, wearing the expensive F1 tee that we had to go to the mall area to get

And I like these pics a lot..

And I have confessions too:

1. I bought student price tickets for the both of us. I brought along my UPM pass but they didn’t ask for it on all 3 days. I was told that they would ask for it at the entrance since anyone could purchase them. Felt nervous whenever doing something wrong =P

2. I smuggled in food despite ‘no outside food and beverages allowed’. Well, I had no choice. On the first day, I spent RM7 on a Ramly burger for my bro and decided to starve to not give them the satisfaction of ripping me off. Chicken rice was RM10, hotdogs RM7, and premium sandwiches RM7. Tiger was RM15 a can and the mat sallehs were the only people drinking them. On the 2nd day I brought 2 packets of char siew rice in and 3rd day was toned down to McD Sausage McMuffin and hash browns. Hey it wasn’t fun, you know. There was a lot of anxiety involved. Every time I made it past the gates without detection, the relief outweighed the triumphant joy and I’d msg Timmy to let him know I made it =) Cos yeah, it was some kind of success. 2 offenses there: being a student and smuggling food. And oh, why was it toned down to McD on the 3rd day? Cos my bro said he heard someone call out ‘Mam’ and ‘Sir’ after we were almost through the gates. I think they wanted to check our bags. Of course-lah, stuffing a whole Styrofoam pack of rice into a handbag is no easy task! Hmm..so still clever after all =D

Ok, if they wanna rip off the mat sallehs, they should at least have 2 different price lists: 1 for the gwailos and 1 for the locals. Anyway I don’t think anyone should be ripped off, cos the cheapest tickets are already RM100 and the grandstand ones are more than a grand. Yeah, if you have a grand, then you can afford to stand grand. Now I know the origin of the name. If not, just sit at the covered hillstands and get a sunburn, like what I am having now. I was sitting in the covered area all the time except for a couple of minutes when I walked down to the fence and the sun came out, and I get a sunburn all over my face, arms and even legs. What the @#$! happened??

Please don’t report me to SIC ok, cos all the food items were sold out so they made a lot of money already and didn’t need my RM42 for 6 burgers in 3 days. Well, there isn’t much choice anyway when people are hungry and thirsty in that weather. Only the gwailos thought they got a good bargain paying 7 rupiah for a burger =D Cos I saw some locals eating Gardenia bread, Chipster, Jack n Jill and karipap. Hail Malaysians!

Verdict: Exhilarating only on the first day, dreaded the 2nd day which turned out not too bad and overall, don’t get the excitement of seeing cars whizz past for 56 laps and not even knowing the results.

Complaints (more from the above):

1. The screen across the track is too small to be seen even from the fence, thus not seeing the results.

2. The commentary was too soft, which was probably done on purpose to sell the radio headphones thingy at RM150 a piece.

3. After 10 years of organising this, as usual the stupid people of Malaysia haven’t learnt a thing on traffic management. Took 1.5 hours getting out of the circuit itself. Whose brilliant idea was it to have only 1 exit road for 7 parking zones? And 1 road out of the circuit for all the humans leaving there? And we paid RM50 to park in an oil palm area. And where the heck they expect people to park if we wanted to go to the mall area to buy merchandise? Walk miles there or just run across the track and get hit into pieces by cars?

Verdict again: Don’t wanna go anymore. The boredom (total 16 hours there), heat (I’m burnt), distance (traveled approx.350km) and jam (1.5 hours) outweighed the few minutes of thrill.

Now, back to work, back to reality. Yuck yuck yuck, I hate I hate I hate. Work isn’t so bad but the tuition classes are horrid. Every time I look at my watch, only 10 minutes has passed. And the class is 2.5 hours. And there are 2 classes. So I look at my watch a total of 30x in a span of 5 hours. Urgh.. still escaping a bit this weekend though, have marathon and a wedding and another holiday! Wee hoo!

Last day of work! (before my holiday laa..)

So today is the last day. The last day before I have a week long break! And I’ve had 4 days off without a boss..Oh how I love school holidays! Boss always take a few days off and the traffic is good as well. Managed to reach the office at 7.30 and had extra breakfast time with Timmy as well as got to Damansara Intan in half an hour. Funny that whenever I wanna meet him, traffic was never this good though..hmm..

Miracle pic. You’ll never get to see this on normal days as you can see the jam ahead up from the Hilton exit. Couldn’t resist taking a pic. It’s such a lovely sight.

Why do I always look for trouble?

Yeah my mum asks me this as well. The latest addition is: Let’s put it this way, I’ve never had a high regard for media people. Cos to me, media is one industry that we can do without. And from there, those advertising/media/design people with weird hairdo and dressing from spoilt brat places like The One, Saito and Limkokwing don’t seem very important nor brilliant to me either. Yeah, ‘creative’ people I guess. They come for training in singlets and mini skirts and then complain it’s cold. Cos I blast the air-cond. Not to freeze them on purpose but I’m in front there talking, sweating and trying to spew my knowledge.

So I don’t think media is my calling, though it is an interesting line and we get to go for makan, shows and award nights =) Hey I even appeared on tv! Ok, now this is not the direction where this post is supposed to be heading. Ok, so I don’t think media is my calling yet I went for an interview at my client’s place. Always wanna play look-see and if they wanna pay me 150% what I’m earning right now, why not? Just go for more makan right? =D But after not getting the job (probably cos I wanted a 50% increase with only 9 months experience and cos I sucked as well), they offered another post deeper into the media line (media planner-always overworked and high turnover) and I agreed to go for the interview again despite not having any interest at all. At this juncture Timmy went ‘hai la baby’ already. I find it hard refusing people on the phone and they are gonna get pissed if I have no interest when I showed some =D

Anyway, gonna call them later to tell them I’m not coming for the interview. Uptown is a stupid place to work in, takes 50 minutes to move a 100m distance. Stupid. I don’t wanna play look-see anymore. I said this a few days ago, and then agreed for another interview a few days later, that’s why I got hai la-ed from Timmy haha. Must have at least 50% interest if wanna do this again =)

*****
Appreciation

“You won’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone” -Timmy-

“But you don’t know what you got til it’s gone” -Counting Crows feat. Michelle Branch-

Before I went for the interview, I started to think if the new company has Internet access and if I could go back at 5.30 sharp everyday. Internet is very important to me! MS updates her blog too and looks for food reviews (so yau kooi), James is always checking his Facebook and Shikin is now busy downloading songs using the intitle thingy from Tim. I think of May Ling who only has company email and I think I will die of boredom. I think they know that we don’t have much work, so they gave us unlimited access to entertain us. Even if I had no Internet here, I still have 60 days worth of programmes from 6 channels to watch. How entertained I am! And I leave sharp at 5.30 most of the time, my colleagues are fun to be with and there isn’t much workload. So I must appreciate it for the time being, by making the most out of it =)

*****
My brother will not be deprived of anything that other kids have. If he wants branded shoes, watches, clothes, a better handphone or tuition like any other kids has, then he will have it. I will willingly let him have those cos I see it as a necessity as part of growing up and fitting in. But the sensible him doesn’t want any of those. But he wants to go for the F1 instead. F1 is not the average kid’s fare! He will also have whatever he wants to pursue, all those that I didn’t get to. But that doesn’t mean that I will be paying for his education. He’d better get a JPA scholarship or something.

*****
God helps in many ways

There was once in uni when I thought I left something in the car, so I went to get it. That was when I saw that the headlights were switched on. It’s a wonder isn’t it? I remember that it was on a Friday, when I would be very eager to go home after a whole week at uni. Imagine how frustrating it would be if I were to finish all the classes for the week, only to find the battery had died? And turns out that whatever I wanted to take was in my bag all along. It really is a miracle, not a coincidence but God’s way of telling me.

Another was when I didn’t receive some high tea voucher I won. It had gone missing for 2 months, being sent and returned to both my house and office. I would be heading there as well but the voucher hadn’t come and I don’t wanna make another trip all the way there just to utilize it. And turns out that just the day before heading there, the voucher came! See, God didn’t want me to make another 1 hour drive there to use it. Marvelous cos it was gone for 2 months, really didn’t expect it to come at the very last day.

Every time Kimora Lee is faced with some obstacles, she speaks aloud to God asking for His help and says that she actually doesn’t wanna speak to him only when she needs to. I think of this occasionally, that I don’t wanna think of God only when I need something. It’s good to have Him beside you, like someone to turn to especially when going through the harshness of life.

*****
Love all you've got

When all fails, just remember that you have 2 functioning eyes, 2 functioning ears, a functioning mouth, 2 functioning legs and 2 functioning hands. And more, you even have a car, a job and a family. Life is great, isn’t it?

****
Away from home for the 2nd time

My bro’s gone for a camp and will only be back on Saturday. Feels weird being at home with just my mum and I. It’s a good thing that my parents had him. I think if it was just me alone, it’ll be pretty boring. With no news from him since morning, I messaged him asking if he had eaten, what did he have, and whether he has activities at night as well. 4 hours later, he replied ‘Just rice and bloody dishes. Don’t worry bout me.’ Don't worry bout me <-- this sentence shows..maturity? ***** Annoying fart

This bloody person gave me a bloody document to read when I asked just a simple question. And after reading the bloody document, my question is not answered. Had to call her to get a bloody explanation that is well, not an explanation cos first, I can’t understand her English, secondly she beats-around-the-bush and finally after the beating-around-the-bush, her summary is ‘internal calculation’. What the ?#!@ I can’t tell the clients ‘you won’t know the calculations cos it’s internal’. Invest your money and get ‘internal calculations’ when you wanna know why do you get so little. Buy tauge at the pasar malam and they charge you 5 bucks for a handful. Why? Internal calculations. To hell! Tried to figure out on my own and when it doesn’t tally with whatever crap I managed to squeeze out of her, I skyped her and she replied in CAPS that she is busy. Fcuk her! The next day, Shikin said that YF’s skype says something in Chinese, which she asked James to translate. It says ‘why ask all these questions??!’ Well, that is her job and we are her clients. Aren’t clients the one who are supposed to be treated well and even entertained in the first place? Then it turns out that actually James got it from her too as well as Shikin. Shikin said she must be pregnant cos she was like this the last time too. Well, this is your job and you can’t put a ‘no entry’ sign at skype. Then she finally signed out. How I wish I could sign out or leave the phone off the receiver, life is so wonderful then.

Now I know why she receive a less satisfactory bonus and a less satisfactory increment though in the same company as Debi. His motivated him to stay with the company. Enough said.

*****
I’m a lost fool..


I really have to improve my sense of directions, memory and observation. I don’t observe the way to some place and still dunno how to get there after umpteenth times. Cos I don’t observe. I only take interest when I need to go there. And when I take directions, I don’t save in it my head and let it fly out instead. Timmy couldn’t catch up with me though he was going at 120km/h. And me at 80km/h. Cos I took the wrong road =D Really had no intention of letting him know but got busted. Really can’t lie even though to save my own skin (and face). Rather get scolded instead.

I’m really gonna look and listen! But I just don’t like to look and really hate maps and verbal directions. Just give me written ones on where to turn or which signboards to follow. I’m good at signboards and whenever someone attempts to start giving me directions, the first thing I ask is ‘Are there signboards?’ or ‘Which signboard to follow?’ So I think my right brain is better, or is it left? But knowing stupid Malaysian signboards, there are either none or asking you to turn but you won’t know which turn, NOW or ahead. Once I saw 2 signs side-by-side, both to KLIA but one to turn left and another to go straight. Can’t they just give the better, nearer and faster one?

I need a GPS.. no no no, I need a driver. Then he can get lost and stuck for all I care while I sleep at the back and enjoy my strawberries in chocolate..

*****
Happy ending!

Will be away the whole of next week and will return with PP and F1 pics! Lily is counting down the hours for me on her skype, Shikin says ‘countdown for love in Pangkor'. Can’t wait, so exciting..! Had had a fun day in the office; laughing, posting pics of BuBu and AhKau and making fun of people. And next month will be heading to Tioman (current decision) for the company trip.. Holidays, here I come! Don’t miss me..

My first elections: Elections 2008

I initially wanted to just post some pics on my first elections but the results made me just have to say something.

Shocking. The opposition won so many seats in Selangor, Perak and Penang. Even Teng Chang Khim only predicted 4 seats taken when in fact they took 35! Looking at the full list of results, the opposition won one after another after another, almost all contested. Shocking, truly shocking.

The hype on who’s becoming the new Chief Minister of Penang were all for nothing. They certainly didn’t expect to lose the state to the opposition. So it’s good for them, they don’t have to make the decision, it’s been made for them! Even Koh Tsu Koon lost, together with all 3 of the nominees. Found it kinda amusing actually.

Even the big names are down:

Shahrizat : Out
Samy Vellu : Out
Chew Mei Fun: Out. Her ‘toyboy’, Victor Gu too. All the publicity didn’t help to ‘sell albums’ like the artistes =D
Fu Ah Kiow: Out
Kayveas: Out
Palanivel: Out
Teng Chang Yeow, Lee Kah Choon and Teng Hock Nan (all the CM wannabes) : All out
Lee Hwa Beng : Out. Lost to Loh Gwo Burne the Lingam-clip recorder. All his reaching-out-to-the-cybersavvy-community efforts involving his daughters didn’t work. And even a clip-recorder can contest and win. My my..

The familiar names in Klang were out too:
Teh Kim Poo. Ah Kun always mentioned him, think he looked up to him.
Ching Su Chen. Always attended all those school prize giving ceremonies. Guess there’ll be no more of him.
Ch’ng Toh Eng. Even the state MCA chairman lost. Yeah, I voted him out =) Who asked him to not keep to the time. Kinda surprised actually, considering that he is well, the state chairman.

So there’s no more Khir Toyo and his botox face. It’s kinda scary though. At least we know that the government sucked, but now we dunno how would it be. Or would it suck even worse. Well, we selected them, BN would say. We’ll see. Somehow not very keen on the idea of having a PKR guy as the Selangor MB. To me, PKR is synonymous with Anwar, his racist policies and his sodomy. I actually thought he was good-looking some time back hahaha. He does look evil though.

Which was why I was among the 580 people who voted for the independent candidate. Had no confidence in him but was determined not to let Zakaria’s daughter-in-law or the PKR guy win. My mum said that it doesn’t matter if she’s the daughter-in-law or whoever but well, she lived in the same big mansion, doesn’t she? So it serves her right that she didn’t win =) Both my mum’s BN selection lost, haha.

My voting centre was SK Bukit Tinggi, very near and convenient especially after having tkd in the morning and wanting to go to Tesco to mail off marathon forms =) So here are the pics of my first elections, which was supposed to be all I have about the elections but end up giving political commentary instead.

The DAP camp

This is supposed to be the BN camp. I was driving pass, trying not to knock into the campaigners who cheered into my path and after my phone finished focusing, this was all I got.

Not a nice number =) There were 4 different areas to cast your vote depending on your number. See, it’s got the SPR logo on it =D Duh..

My tempat mengundi. Not sure if I could take pics, so I tried to take it as discreetly as I could.

A policeman guarding outside.

I dared not take pictures inside, but as I received my ballot papers and went to the booth to mark my ‘X’, I took this! My most election-wise picture:

I wanted to take a pic of the ballot boxes which is the main symbol of the elections and furthermore, this is the first year transparent boxes were used. But I was afraid that I would be cautioned, or worse, arrested by the cops for behaving suspiciously! So, all I have is this:


Okie, it’s so lame. But the transparent boxes were just so nice compared to the black ones. Was confused with which colour was parlimen and negeri after coming out from the room, so now I know..

So that was the first time I casted my vote. It was Timmy’s too! Yay, we had our first elections at the 2008 one! =D And I just found out this morning that he was one of those people who cross-check and strike out names in the voting centre. Thought he was just there to watch/ stare or something. Looks like he will be really running for Cheras soon. My mum hadn’t voted in a long time too and she kept one of the forms in her pocket, since she didn’t wanna vote any of them on that form =D She thought she needed to vote for only 1 post and all the candidates there were vying for it.

This post serves as a personal history and also to all my under-aged readers who are not eligible to vote. Drool people! Forgot to take pics at my first casino trip la. Didn’t even have a blog then hahaha.

The people are really angry with the government to be willing to vote for uncertainty in unknowns and first-timers.