1st Wedding Anniversary

This weekend will be my first wedding anniversary. And what have I lined up for the special day? Well, KS will be attending a meeting while I’ll be home playing Sims2 (if it works – cross my fingers).

It’s been so difficult trying to come up with something special to do. An ex-colleague goes to different spots in KL where they’ve never been before, be it the bird park, the Planetarium and the new Aquarium in KLCC. That’s pretty different and it doesn’t cost as much as flying out to Langkawi or something. We initially hoped to go up to Gentings again and enjoy the cool weather.
Oh well, maybe we’ll go eat some place special and remember to bless those who helped us during our wedding. Thanks guys, I still appreciate all that you did for us on that day.

New Toy

Tonight, we will be proud owners of a new PC. We finally dragged our pal, H, to the IT Floor of Sunway Pyramid Mall on Tuesday night to help procure and negotiate it for us. Of course, everything was absolutely gibberish to KS and I and H was really instrumental in getting the specs, what we could forgo etc. Sure, I know what is a RAM, what is a CD Burner, hard disk size but when the vendors start talking about alternatives to Pentium 4 or what type of RAM and video card, that's when it gets complicated.

Then there are, like, 20 shops selling the same thing, which one do we go to? Everyone was soliciting us as we walked past. We ended up walking into those that displayed more CPU covers than those with accessories. H did all the asking. Sure, we threw helpful questions along the way, "Uh, are the speakers included?" and we were nearly convinced by someone who proclaimed his pricing was "Low Yat pricing" (another mall in KL famous for their IT stuff). In the end, we chose the friendliest chap who attended to us.

In the end, I think we have a pretty neat system to start off with. I'm gonna have to update myself on PC games (I did have the Sims2 craze a couple of years back, let's see if I'm still crazy over it) and WarCraft III although network would be more fun. That's it, that's all I know about PC games at the moment.

The Grass Ain’t Greener

You know when I jumped jobs, one of the expectations of joining a bank was that the increments would surely exceed the seemingly ridiculous amount I got back in my old firm.

Today, I was proven wrong that the grass here ain’t greener than it looked from when I was in my old firm. Yes, for my ex-colleagues who are currently reading this, I am not responsible for your jaw dropping at this enlightening news. Guys, IT’S NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK.

Nevertheless, I’m still ok whether I get an increment or not as I never expected one this year since I’m only 3 months old anyway. I’m going through a sharp learning curve and I’m (was going to say “lovin’ it!” but I won’t exaggerate) enjoying it.

The Weekend that Was

So last weekend I went to Port Dickson for a crash course on Missions. Not actually crash course lah but it’s an introduction to missions. No, not that God suddenly spoke to me in my dream to say that one day I’ll be a missionary in some far flung corner of the earth but I went there because Jan wanted to go. And knowing myself, I won’t go unless there’s someone I know who’s going as well.

It turned out that we had the most missionaries who came along for this course to teach us. All four of them shared their experiences, three in Cambodia and one who was on a ship which travelled the world, Doulos.

It scared the heck out of me though, the way the couple shared how they came to be missionaries because it was so unexpected. One moment, they both went to Cambodia on separate trips just one time each, the next thing, they’re packing and leaving. Of course to me it sounds like it takes a moment when it actually took them about 1.5 years to decide. Question that popped in my mind, what if I were called to go too??
Anyway, I’ll take one step at a time. This year, I’m committing to go Cambodia with KS. I’ve already got a sponsored child there so it might be good to go meet him if I can.

Liquid Nitrogen

Long time ago, I read somewhere in the papers that scientists somewhere in the world were trying out different burial options. They dipped a dead cow into a tank of liquid nitrogen for a sufficient amount of time and with a mere tap, disintegrated the cow into smithereens. Priests have given their approval as the remains now becomes “dust” and fits into biblical principles of “dust to dust”.

This has fascinated me so much since cremating uses a lot of energy and takes hours.

Hence, I’ve come up with the most beneficial/practical way of burial. First, donate all your organs if they are still in good condition. Then, feed your flesh to the animal like somewhere in Tibet I think, where they feed your flesh to the vultures (you are, after all, just another vulture’s next meal by that time). Finally, the remainder of your remains will be dipped into liquid nitrogen and your dust buried in your back lawn under a tree to nourish the tree.
I pity the chap who’d need to feed the vultures though. What a horrible job.

Week in PJ

For the past week I've been staying in PJ as it is getting more and more difficult for me to get to work from Klang. The week before, we woke up ealier and earlier as the week drew on but I still reached my office about 15 mins late. And since I'm not even a confirmed, I decided to stay in the PJ house, follow Jan as she leaves for work and reach my office almost half hour before work actually starts.

It's worked out well as I've been happy staying here without having to face the jam in the morning. I might do this more frequently, until I'm confirmed at least. My heart belongs to PJ and it's never been happier being here. Well, minus KS not staying over either on most days. Perhaps I'll do this on alternate weeks.

But as my boss said, "So one week early and the next late ah?"

Not healthy for my marriage? It has helped as we were fiercely arguing all the way through the jam for the whole week since there was the tension of knowing I was gonna be late and in the end, get fired.

Ah.. see how it goes.

Leech

O you sticky leech
How I wish I could scratch you out like an itch
But then I'd be such a bitch
But with you, life ain't a pretty peach

Gawd, I suck at this.

But seriously, how do you get rid of a "leech" when the very sight and speech irritates the heck out of you. Let alone testing out how far your boundaries of patience and good manners reach. Hey, that's another word that rhymes.

He Dies!

As much as I love reading the latest Harry Potter, I have come to the final pages of when He dies. And I KNOW he dies but I dread to find out how. Hence, it has taken me longer than usual to finish a Harry Potter.

Sigh, I can't avoid it anymore and tonight's the night when I will find out how he died. I hope there's hope at the end of the book though...

******************

Okay, the ending's sad. He dies and there's no more school next year.

V Day

So today is Valentine's Day. To me, no big deal. My colleagues were shocked that I had no dinner plans tonight but hey, this is the time when all the restaurants will hike their prices and make you spend like there's no tomorrow.

But let me just say this, today marks my 9th Anniversary of KS and I for our very first date, back in good ol' Hamilton, NZ at a corner shop where I had Chicken Schnitzel while he can't remember what he had. Of course, that's when he discovered I hate greens so he proceeded to eat my zucchinis.

Damn Bus

Last night on our way home right after KS picked me up from work, a bus grazed into my car on the right side. The car jolted and the bus paused before proceeding to move on. KS, who was driving, indicated with his hands for the bus to pull over into a smaller lane to check it out but of course the bus ignored us and went straight on. I jumped out of the car, since we had already turned into the lane and sprinted to catch the bus. They had just dropped some passengers off and had quickly moved off until I slammed the sides repeatedly with my palms.

Those buggers just looked at me, "What?" while I shouted "Hey, you knocked into my car and didn't even bother to stop!", "Where got? Tak kene pun?! Where got scratch your car also? Nothing lah!" and drove off.

I have the bus number but the damn system here is that there is no place I can complain. Would the police bother? We tried calling the Complaint Line numbers behind all buses and lorries but no one picked up.

My car isn't too bad, just dented and with a 2m scratch which can be easily fixed with repainting my car. But oh, I am so angry with those idiots!

Half-Blood Prince

Thanks to Monster, I now have with me... the 6th Harry Potter book! I can't wait to read it but have to pace myself otherwise I won't sleep this weekend. However, the important bits I already found out from Wikipedia so reading the book is just more of filling in the blanks. Heck, I'm still excited though.

Speaking of weekend, I have to go to a client's annual dinner this Sunday. Yeah, right after a fortnight-long of stuffing my face and sleeping most of the time. None of my dresses fit. Heck, what-to-wear has always been a stressful thing for me because most of the time, my sense of dressing is so faux pax. Gawd, I still roll my eyes and cringe whenever I think of what I wore for my friend's brother's wedding.

Anyways, tomorrow is my first weekend off due to the 5-day week given to all banks and I have two choices: to go look for a dress for Sunday dinner or to go look for a new computer. Yeah, we've got our phone line AND Streamyx is knocking on our doors. Ah! Fast Connection! Sweet sweet words.

U2 Immersion

I’m so elated that U2 won 5 Grammies! Grammies was never a big thing for me but this time around, boy, was I pinned to the tv last night just to watch their performance! I found Bono to be very tired and his voice strength seems to have weakened. Poor thing.

Over the week long holidays, I immersed myself with everything U2. My sis-in-law got KS the U2 Vertigo Tour filmed in Chicago since she didn’t manage to get us the U2 tickets in Australia. We watched it, then again, and again and again. For me at least. KS was satisfied at watching it once. Now I have almost memorised the actions for all my favourite songs in there.

Also, I started reading the book U2 and their spirituality. Haven’t gotten far since I’ve been so tied up at work – today’s Friday past 7pm and I can’t be bothered to look at the reports I’m supposed to churn.

Of course, to top it all up, I’ve been listening to all their albums, especially the Best of 80s, 90s and Vertigo.
Worst thing is, no one in my office talked about the Grammies. Instead, they talked about Rain (the Korean famous singer), that other famous Chinese dude who acted in Initial D, Jay Chow and Daniel Wong or whatever. I was silently screaming U2! U2! while they discussed. Sigh…

Monster Club

Back in my old company, the few of us who regularly eat lunch together would be very fond of eating, well, to put it mildly, more than the usual helpings others would. Sometimes, when one of us goes even beyond the “more” level, we’d name the person qualified into the Monster Club.

In total, from my 7 years there, there were about 3 or 4 of us, including myself.

Yesterday, I shocked my colleagues by eating rice at lunch, followed by me buying 2 char siew pau’s. In the Monster Club, this is considered normal but you should have seen eyes popping and jaws dropping with exclamations of “Where does that all go to?? Plus you don’t eat your veggies!” I’m medium built but certainly not thin. One asked, “What did you use to eat back at your old firm?” Haha, if only he knew of all the food we’d munch on even after having large servings of noodles/rice.

Dad's OK

Thanks for your prayers. I was checking the internet and found that the procedure isn't very risky. Just that there were a few people who told us of friends/relatives who had strokes or their hearts stopped during the process which scared us a bit but Dad is now fine. No need to do angioplasty, which is the more risky procedure, I read.

Angiogram

My Dad's going for an Andiogram this weekend. Please keep him in your prayers even though the procedure is said to be fairly safe.

Sorry, been really really busy at work. No time to blog or go pangsai also. Worse, I've been dreaming about work (the SF Syndrome - my ex-colleague used to dream of work and we'd look at her weirdly).

Melaka Photos

Hmm, I haven't put some photos for some time now on this blog.So here are some photos that I took while I was in Melaka over the holidays. Yes, although there was food, Food and FOOD, I didn’t take any.

Anyways, here is a picture of Ah Jin, KS beloved dog who made me his victim number 153. He bit me in 2001 after I tried to wake KS up. If it weren’t for his mum and sis who pulled him away but not before one tooth sank into my foot and spewed blood all over the kitchen. Now we have an amiable relationship, he only comes to me for patting when there’s no one around or when I have food in my hands. He still gives me the “evil eye” as we call it when he’s not in a good mood, that’s when either one of us will be locked up behind doors and grills. Here he is seen almost begging for the piece of chicken off the dinner table with his lifting a paw to shake hands, a little trick before he gets his treat.


This is a photo of the lotus plant my father-in-law has in front of the house. It blooms every day and the process is so fast that you can actually see it blooming if you stay there watching it long enough.


And this cute little puppy belongs to one of KS cousins. This is in Masjid Tanah and he is really adorable. KS was so tempted to bring him home with us but of course I don’t think his cousin would have been too happy. Ah Tin looked so scared when I took this photo, poor thing.

Buck Cluck

When Chicken Little was advertised at the cinemas, we weren't too keen to watch it as Chicken Little himself didn't look too cute. In fact, he came across as more irritating than cute.

But after many of our friends watched it, they all came back with the same comment, that Chicken Little's dad, Buck Cluck looks like KS. Apparently his mannerisms also closely matched him. Now I think I might want to watch this movie just because of Buck Cluck.

Frog Under the Coconut Husk

"Mum made pai tee for the guests at Chinese New Year"

"Really?"

"Yeah! But you know what? Mum used this REALLY cute basket to put in all the pai tee, it looks like a little small cup"

"Er... that's what a pai tee is, turnip stuffed into a small crunchy cup-like cone. Mum, I think you better take Jan out more often"