Extremely Tiring Weekend

First of all, Happy Halloween!!!! Of course, we don't "celebrate" Halloween officially in M'sia but am wishing it to all those who do...

I was away during the weekend for my company's team building event @ Genting. Nope, I DID NOT go up there to wish Uncle Lim bye-bye... -____-" However, the thought did occur to some of us. ^____^

The team building event was an event many of us looked forward to because not only we got to go somewhere on the company's expense but it gave us the chance to bond and socialize with our other colleagues whom we didn't necessarily speak to in the office during our regular workday. Certainly, this was the time we got to know people better. And it was fun!

I can't post all my 242 pictures in my blog, and so, I'll just post a few which were quite memorable. (^_^)

Day 1 Activities
- Some indoor games
- Walk-Hunt
- Night War Game

Fish pond... 1 of the clues for the "walk-hunt"

Another fish pond???!! Which one is the clue??

My team's tower.

Let's pasang the "antenna" made of straws...

This is the clubhouse we go to when we have our indoor sessions, makan, etc...

Day 2 Activities
- Some more indoor games
- Outdoor rope games

Day 2 was a lot more fun as it involved some outdoor stuff. I didn't participate due to a bad knee but managed to run around to take lots of photos. Hence the 200+ photos in my camera... (^_^)

Find your way out of the web...

Do you trust your team members to catch you when you fall?

Do you have the strength as a team to scale this wall?

I certainly enjoyed myself over the weekend. It was a lot of fun. I managed to interact with different people from the company and had plenty of laughs. There were a few funny videos being captured especially during the "Bollywood Dance" contest. Hahaahaha...

Besides that, underlying the entire weekend, we learned to communicate and work together as a group. We are all linked in a chain and when we're united, we're stronger! :-P

I Want To Rant, Can or Not???

I've been having a "brilliant" time at home today...

First of all, my ISP has been pretty slow in connecting to Google and hence, I couldn't grab my mails or rant on my blog. WTF

Second, all the plans I wanted to execute today just went bust.

I have been planning to clear my leave for a while and so, thought of taking today off to do a few things.

However, once my parents heard that I was on leave, they quickly decided to dump Snoopy on me and ran out the door. They didn't come back until after lunch. By that time, I had to rush to get ready for my gym training session.

**SIIGGGGHHHHH**

So, now I can't go and get that fleece jacket from Nike which I wanted and also, I can't cut my freakin' hair.

I swear, every time my mom asks me to go cut my hair, I'll just glare at her, keep silent and walk away. -_____-"

Why?

Because whenever they hear that I'm not going out or have leave, they just dump Snoopy on me and just run off!!!

I missed 1 free car service because I couldn't find the time to service my car until it was past the 10,000km mark. Yep, I missed my 5,000km mark. And my parents told me that I had to service my car because the performance was getting bad.

Again, the glare, silence and just walking away. -______-"

** SIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHHHH **

Now, I'm no means being disrespectful and ungrateful but sometimes, when you lay down the best plans, it just goes out the freakin' window.

Hope you folks have a better weekend than I will..

38 Things... (Not the sanpat kind)

I kena another one of those tag thingies again... So, here goes... (^ ^).
It was done by 3:22pm but only posted now... Kekekee...

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? EV
2. What were you doing at 0800? Eating blekflirst (breakfast)...
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Laughing at a joke
4. What happened to you in 2006? Work, Work and more Work. I also became an aunt - good friend gave birth to baby...
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Give me a few minutes
6. How many beverages did you have today? Water, Milk and Cina Teh Ais
7. What color is your hairbrush? Plastic purple
8. What was the last thing you paid for? Parking at Bangsar Village II (so expensive!)
9. Where were you last night? In my bed - dreaming of....
10. What color is your front door? White-ish
11. Where do you keep your change? My black black purse
12. What’s the weather like today? No more rain liao.. Sun come out bright bright
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Vanilla (no doubt about it!)
14. What excites you? Manchester United winning the Treble again in 2008!!
15. Do you want to cut your hair? Yes! Can't stand having long hair.
16. Are you over the age of 25? I'm definitely not 18 or 22 anymore... Neither am I under 25. :-D
17. Do you talk a lot? Depends, who is talking and who is listening.
18. Do you watch the O.C.? Heard of it, not interested in watching teeny angst "drama". Give me Heroes anytime!!!
19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yep.. 3, I think.
20. Do you make up your own words? The words make me.. hehehe..
21. Are you a jealous person? Hard to say...
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Adele
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Katherine
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Catwoman (EV)
25. What does the last text message you received say? Someone said they want to give up and tidur.
26. Do you chew on your straw? Yep.
27. Do you have curly hair? Nooo....
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Kuching? S'pore? Aust? Not sure yet.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Current colleague known as "F-man"
30. What was the last thing you ate? Chicken Rice... Yummm...
31. Will you get married in the future? Can't imagine...
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? The Manchurian Candidate on HBO.
33. Is there anyone you like right now? Yep... I'm still single mah!
34. When was the last time you did the dishes? This morning after blekflirst...
35. Are you currently depressed? Not really.
36. Did you cry today? Yep.. From laughter!!
37. Why did you answer and post this? cbenc tagged me ma...
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. Alvin, Chan Raymond, che-cheh, keeyit, MonkeyWong

Canon Expo Anyone?

Its just after lunch. I'm a little full but yet hungry - have not decided what I'll be - hungry or full. LOL!!!

Anyway, just a quick reminder to all you photo geeks/gurus out there.

The CANON Expo @ KL Convention Centre is from today, 23rd Oct to 25th Oct 2007. More details here. (^ ^)

Good Weekend & Wet Monday Morning...

How was your weekend? Hope that it was good.

It is the start of another week and already the traffic wasn't good. :-(

Anyway, again I'm blogging right after I've come back from the gym. Kekekeke.. It's my cool down time before I go mandi (shower) and then tidur (sleep).

I managed to get out during the weekend to Sunway Pyramid because the EV wanted to check out the DELL Roadshow. So, I dragged myself out of bed to bring her to Sunway Pyramid.

EV: So, which one should I get?
Me: What's your budget?
EV: Not so expensive-la!!
Me: Define "not-so-expensive-la".
EV: Ehhh.. I don't know.. Under RM3K?
Me: Oooooooo!!! *Evil grin*

She's still deciding on which model to get, either a 14" or 15.4" model.... The price is different as well.

Me: Why you need such a big display for?
EV: Ehhh.. To see more things-lo?
Me: See what-la????!!
EV: See things-la!
Me: ????

Eventually, she settled for the 14" model... I think.

EV: So, which one should I get? The 14" or 15.4" one?
Me: I thought you decided????!!!!
EV: I don't know-la. My last laptop was 15" also but taller-leh
Me: *Points to brochure* Wide screen.... Wide screen....
** Runs to laptop demo booth **
EV: Ohhh.... Yea-hor! So, what's the difference between the 14" and 15.4" models??
Me: **pengsan**

Besides EV trying to kill my remaining brain cells by constantly asking me about the difference between two measurements, I noticed that the new section of Sunway was done really well. It was bright and very open, unlike the dark and dingy look of the old section.

I took this picture as it was the "marketplace" called Marrakesh. It certainly looks Moroccan but the stores are definitely not. :-P

I like this ornamental lamp which graced the top level of the marketplace. EV thought I was crazy for taking the photo.

After walking around for about 6 hours, I managed to drag EV home as we had to prepare for our friend's wedding dinner.

We did not manage to attend the wedding ceremony which was held in the same ballroom as the dinner but we got to watch slides of the photos taken during the ceremony.

The dinner was good as expected, but we had a very strange waiter who did this...

I didn't take a very good shot of this but it's a picture of a used spoon in a teacup. The teacup wasn't even empty!!!!!

The waiter cleared my friend's plate and bowl but did not take the spoon with it. So, not knowing where to place it, he placed the spoon in my friend's almost-empty teacup. -____-"

He also cleared my friends' husband's plate, along with his fork and spoon. When we asked another waiter if we could have 3 sets of fork and spoons, he came and gave all of us forks and spoons. o__O

At first, we thought it was the norm since we had a prawn course coming up. However, looking around the other tables, ours was the only one which had forks and spoons for everyone.. .. .. .. ..

Next, my friend asked for an empty teacup, the waiter came with a glass of cold water. HAHAHAHAHAA

By the end of the dinner, we did not want to ask for anything else as we're not sure what else would he bring. LOL!!!

BTW, did I mention that the table number was 38??

In cantonese, 38 means "san pat", which literally means "blond" or ditzy. No wonder we had such such an interesting service during our meal last night. (^ ^)

BTW, Congrats to both Kae Jeen & Peter on the start of their beautiful journey together. :-)

So, how was your weekend again?

I'm Finally Back At the Gym!!!

It is finally FRYYYYYYDAAAAYYYY...

My brain was officially fried today.

Anyway, I nearly didn't manage to get to the gym because there was all this chit-chat with some folks at the office. It's about "Sanctuary" and "Jungles"... Kekeke... *ahem*

Basically, the punchline was "Get pissed but don't get wet!" LOL!!!!!

I'm happy now that I'm back at the gym. Only managed to put in about 1.5hrs of work but then, I think that's enough to start my out-of-shape body back into the work-out regime.

Anyway, football is back and so is the rugby World Cup 2007 finals. I'm a bit sad ever since the Wallabies to Jonny Wilkinson's foot. Good luck to the Roses. Hope that you folks will win the World Cup back-to-back with the help of Jonny Wilkinson's foot.

Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!

Are You Part Of "The Shift"?

My colleague sent a very cool link this morning and so, thought I'd share with you folks.

There is a global revolution going on now and it is gathering pace... It is called The Shift.

'Nuff said. The embedded video will give you folks more info.



The question is... Will You be part Of "The Shift"?

Thanks Sharon for the link! (^ ^)

4 Years On

It has been 4 years since Oofy has passed.

She was a lovely dog. She came at a time when the world was going nuts. It was 2 years after 9/11 and the wounds were very sore. At this point, a lot more details were known about what happened on that terrible day.

She came at a time when I was facing the most stressful point in my career. I was asked to do more work and yet, getting not much satisfaction out of it. She just came out of the blue. I still can't believe anyone could just discard such a beautiful dog.

Aside from my parents and sibling, I had never felt so much unconditional love from another living being. She could still love me despite me disciplining her. She could still wag her tail even though I had a black face to show her.

Her face could just turn hearts of stone into hearts of love. She had that ability.

Oofy, I know that you are in God's house now. I hope that you are having a good time there with Jesus and the other animals there. I know that you will make great friends there.

I miss you. I love you. I hope I will see you at the Rainbow Bridge.

It's Never Enough - Holidays, Sigh!

I get that same 'ol feeling again - That feeling that it's the last day of your relaxing weekend/holiday. (-___-)

Anyway, it was a good 4 days of rest although I did a lot of running around during that time. One thing I was glad about was the easy traffic on the roads for the weekend. However, I could not say the same for the traffic at the malls. (-____-)

Me: OMG!! So many people here!! Why don't these people go "balik kampung"????
EV: Aiya... Where else can these people go-la. Traffic jam going back kampung, you know?

I was supposed to watch Ratatouille but ended up watching Resident Evil:Extinction. It's a long story. It involved me being late.

EV: You're late!!! How can we watch the movie now???
Me: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....
EV: So how now?
Me: Ehhhh.. You wanted to watch Resident Evil, let's go watch it.
EV: You sure?
Me: Yeah... Just remind me to go toilet before the movie, so I don't pee in my pants should I get scared.
EV: HAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

What can I say about the movie? Did it manage to escape the dreaded Curse of the 3's i.e. Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Carribean 3, Rush Hour 3, ....? I'm not sure. All I felt was that it was entertaining. It's because I didn't have the "curse" of watching the first two movies before. **smirk**

Aside from the fact that Milla Jovovich had skin to die for in the dry dessert heat of Las Vegas/Nevada/post-Apocalyptic world, I would have to say that it wasn't as scary as I thought. Maybe I've been playing too many scary games like F.E.A.R or Silent Hill (1,2.....???) to know when the damn zombie boss will appear. All in all, I saw product endorsements like never before - Sony this... Sony that... Oh yea, the pic was made by Sony. Geez, it felt like a very long Sony advertisement!

Oh well, like I said, it was entertaining. At least I got to hang out with EV who said that the movie was not up to snuff as she has seen both the previous movies.

I had a load of books to read start over the weekend. However, I only ended up wrapping them in plastic so that the book will be kept in good condition. I still have a whooolllleeee lot of books to read. :-P

Snoopy couldn't escape boredom as well. She's wearing her new harness. I think she feels like she's being asked to be a horse. LOL!!! The harness is for us to use when we take her out so that we can attach her leash to it. She tends to get excited when she sees other dogs.

It is just past 11pm. And I have < 1 hr left before the holidays end. *SIGH*!!!!!!

I Won?? Ohh...

I was coerced into joining Lilian's GoDotCom contest recently and was surprised that I won something for participating in it....

MANY THANKS LILIAN!!! **MUAKS MUAKS**

Oooo.. Must thank Terence too...

MANY THANKS TERENCE!!! By the way, how was hell? Kekekkeekekekekeke....

I am however disappointed that zewt did not participate. If ever there was a vote on who should go dotcom, it'll be him. ;-)
Ehhh... Me no suck up-la. Me telling the truth one!!!!

I rarely win anything. Even if I did, the prize isn't very fantastic.

Yep. I'm serious about that.

I remembered going for a "Grab Bag" at the church fair and managed to pull out the worse prize of the lot - a Kodak keychain, which was rusty!!!!! (Who puts stuff like this for the church fair??)

If you're wondering, what's my prize, its getting my own domain!!! Yipppeee!!!

I'll be getting in touch with a friend about hosting. I'm sure that he'll be very happy to get some business from me. (^ ^)

Anyway, on the subject of winning - here's a little video I got from Reuters once the Nobel Laureate 2007 prizes were announced. It's of Doris Lessing who is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. If you're wondering about her, go wiki her... i.e. Go search for her on Wikipedia-la. Past laureates include one of my favourites - Ernest Hemmingway, Rudyard Kipling and Pearl S Buck. If you hadn't heard of those writers, it is time to go to the bookshop and pick up one of their books... BTW, Doris Lessing's the 11th female to receive this award. ;-)



I just looovveee her expression of "Oh Christ..." or was it "Oh Cripes..." (^ ^) I don't know... I'm slightly deaf after all.

Just watch the video and you'll know what I mean.

I'm very delighted (in a very dignified British manner) of winning something. :-P

To Little Ray and Leonilpi - CONGRATULATIONS for your win!!!

Why I Beloggg....

A while back, Lilian ran a contest to "Go Dot Com". The contest is to blog about "why blogging is beneficial". This is my *ahem* attempt.

I started back in 2003, when one random stranger chat me up on YM in regards to technology and he introduced me to a website (yeap, it was called that back in the day) and it was a collabo between himself and some friends.

It was a good website, talking about life in KL and etc, which was good - since it gave people outside M'sia about the life in general for the average M'sian on the street. You don't get those rose-tinted, perfume-scented, wrapped up in a nice package you might envision if you're on some travel tour or something.

So, I started to "blog". I wanted to talk about alot of stuff, typically ranting on bosses, and life in general.

I took a hiatus from blogging as I didn't know what else to talk about and besides, I had to focus on being a modern slave. That was 2003.

However, come 2006 onwards, blogging took an entire different turn. People started to talk about everything from pets, cooking, parenting and even about their diseases. Not to mention, blogs caught the eyes of marketing folks and now, people are indulging in PPP and etc. That's great 'coz what was a journal-like website became something which can churn a little bit of $$$ on the side for some folks.

I don't condemn PPP but sometimes when it is stuck in a personal blog, it looks a bit "funky".

I got back to blogging when my first dog Oofy died - a huge outpour of emotion came out. A lot of folks dropped by and offered support, which was what I needed and I found a whole new group of people who shared a passion for animals and pets.

Soon after, I had another dog and decided that I would blog about her antics. Then, I realized that blogs can give some folks joy especially for those who don't have pets but yearn for them too.

One of my previous posts showed support for "Free Burma", when all blogs were asked to join in the support for Burma.

So, blogs have now become a platform for people to voice out their support and grouses, to champion for something. And I'm not just talking about the political blogs out there. There are blogathons to champion for a worthy cause such as pledging donations for charities such as Breast Cancer Awareness (for this month) and Saving the Environment.

Certainly, the role of blogs have evolved from what was termed as a website, to personal journal to e-marketing tool and a means to spread information in regards to an issue or event.

I'm just blabbering here... But I can certainly see that blogs are here to stay. It is a powerful tool and like a very wise playwright has said many centuries ago, "The pen is mightier than the sword" rings very true in the modern age of bits and bytes.

Scary Bosses?

I've been "enjoying" my daily car-pooling with EV ever since she got here and am feeling a little glad that I'm so considerate with the environment. I know I should do more but..... (hate that but)

Anyway, we had a conversation about work (what else is there to talk about...??) on the way to work and she related to me the story of her new boss.

EV: Remember my boss-ar, the one I told you who comes in early in the morning?
Me: Mmmmm... **Nods**
EV: I thought she comes in early because she has to fetch her kids to school. Turns out it isn't. She got someone to look after her kids for her. She comes in at 6am.
Me: WAAAAAAHHHH... So scary!!!!
EV: Yealo!! So scary!! She's very efficient and wants things done fast!
Me: Of course-la! That's why she comes in at 6am, so that she looks like she finish her work so fast, 2 hrs before you even step into the office!
EV: Yealo!!! So scary!!!

I used to be a scary boss, i.e. working > 12hrs per day at this start-up I was at. I was stirred to work so hard because I wanted to make it a success. Besides that, there was a degree of insecurity should the company go bust, so, I want to do as much as possible to prevent that. ;-)

Anyway, now that I'm older, I want to start slowing things down a little. I've cut back on my hours from 12 to about 10 or less. Sometimes, it ramps up to about 12-14 based on project needs. However, I've learnt that it is not wise to work very long hours for too long because that burns people out.... FAST! Like what zewt mentioned about the different generations of modern slaves now, I can't seem to push the youngsters these days or else I'll lose them faster than saying "OT"....

EV continued with the conversation by saying this...

EV: You IT ppl won't have such a problem. After all, you all begin work at 10am mah....
ME: **WTF??!!** OOOOooiii!!! That's because I have to deal with overseas people on UK/US time, ok? I work long hours just like you do-la!
EV: Whatever you say lorrrrr....

(T_____T)..... To be continued....

5 Things

I kena tagged from Che-Cheh but didn't have the time to blog about it on Thursday night as the electricity went out. It was too hot after I got back from church after taking Snoopy out for the blessing mass (to come soon).

Soooo... Here goes-ar...

5 Things in Office Bag:
1. Laptop (Provided by company - wat-to-doo, I is CONsultanT)
2. Mouse (computer, not the live kind)
3. Pen (to write when laptop run out of battery)
4. Emergency Sanitary Napkins (You know-la....)
5. Spectacle Lens Cloth

5 Things in My Purse:
1. Some MYR
2. Some MYC (coins-la)
3. Plastic (gym card, Isetan card, insurance card)
4. Old receipts
5. Redemption cards

5 Interesting Things In My Bedroom
1. PS2 (can't live without my console!!!!)
2. TV + DVD Player
3. Huge stack of pOrn..... Anime (gotcha!!!!)
4. Stack of unopened Oracle World magazines
5. A bed??

5 Things I Want To Do
1. Visit all the Disneylands/Worlds in the world
2. Travel to Europe
3. Shake hands with James Gosling at Java ONE
4. Get another puppy friend for Snoopy
5. Setup a kick ass PC which can run Crysis


5 Things That I'm Doing Now
1. Blogging
2. Preparing technical slides for work
3. Watching Scrubs on DVD
4. Sweating (it's hot)
5. Thinking of which games to get for my PSP

Who else to tag?
1. MonkeyWong
2. cirnelle
3. Alvin

Free Burma

'Nuff said. A picture paints a trillion words or in this case a million voices...

Still Hung Over...

I know.. It's Wednesday. I'm still hung over after the weekend. If you follow the link, you'll know what I mean. I probably look like that dude in the picture in Wikipedia, minus the janggut and big stick-la.

This probably explains my small hiatus from my blog as I've been quite hung over and tired after last week's activities - EV's arrival and my company's annual dinner which was a blast! (Some photos to come later)

As some of you may know, my good friend EV has decided to move down to KL permanently, so that she may torture me more effectively. Yep, she has major "plans" for my torture....

EV: I'm still not sure about the roads-la. I'm so new to KL...
Me: **Blinks** (You sure? You come down like twice to three times per year) Ehhhhh....
EV: So, are you going to drive me to work?
Me: Yea, just for this week.
EV: What just for this week??? Aiyooo... I'm so blurr-la.. Not used to KL roads.
Me: I thought you taking LRT?
EV: Ehhh, I scared I get lost-leh.
Me: Okla, I'll teach you for one month.
EV: Yay!! I got driver for one month.
Me: o________O

......

EV: What time are you coming on Monday morning?
Me: About 7:30am
EV: SOOO EARLY?????!!!
Me: What to do... You want to eat Traffic Jam for breakfast?

I reached EV's place at 7:15am, got her to work by 7:30am....

EV: So early!! What do you expect me to do???!!!! Nobody is there!!!!
Me: Go take The Sun newspaper-la and read-la!! Aiiyoo.. Go ask the guard for pass to go up-la!!

We were shouting at each other as I dropped her off at her office entrance. It was so funny. Lucky there weren't any bystanders or else they might have thought that I was kicking her out of the car or something.

Well, I came into the office at about 8am, nearly scared the Finance person for coming in so early. Hehehe...

I went to make my coffee and found out that the coffee machine was OUT OF ORDER.

AHHHHHH!!!! 天啊!!!!!!

So, I've been walking around the office looking rather blur and out of sorts. I've sent out strange e-mails which my colleagues find so amusing.

Colleague 1: Ehhh.. Your e-mail ar.. When is the thing?
Me: Ehhh...
** Looks at e-mail**

Me: ALAMAK!! Sorry! Sorry!
Colleague 1: Hahaaha!! You ok or not?

*Sigh*... I've got to get back to the gym!!!!!!

Note: My knees are about 99.1% healed. Will starting hitting the gym next week when I feel stronger. Thanks for your well wishes. (^ ^)