Burst My Balloon, Won’t Ya?

Today I woke up with a slight tremor of anticipation. My phone will be delivered today! I had clipped my nails to prepare my fingers for furious keypad testings and for the first time in many moons, I actually looked forward to a Monday.

But when I got to work and read my email, the supplier says she will only send it tomorrow. Dang! I have to wait one more day!

My colleague just simply asked, “Why didn’t you just insist on them sending it to you today?”

D’OH! It’s too late now!

Of Handphones, Again!

If you remember, I have been hawing on the fact that my antiquated 3210 Nokia is giving way, with a moody screen that blanks out during weekends, battery life that supports half a conversation... I can almost see eyes rolling on some who have endured the years of my complains.

For some people, changing handphones is like buying clothes, never mind the thousands they need to part every time they do it. Jan's colleage has an obsession of getting the latest ones in the market and what does he do with the "old" ones? He destroys it and takes out the memory chip. WHY? These gadgets are worth a month's pay!

Anyway, KS has kindly forced offered to get a new one for me to which I have counter offered to accept a subsidy of it, out of embarrassment.

So with an abandoned flourish (if that is possible), I clicked SEND to place my order via email yesterday. Now I will await in eagerness come Monday. KS will have to wait and see if I got the white or black.

Comes with Age

What's happened to me? For the past few weekends, I simply haven't been able to sleep past 8am! An automatic clock wakes me and even though I try my darnest to go back to sleep, I can't!

Grrr...

Rabbit Shearing

I swear, this is the first thing I thought about when I woke this morning. It must be because Kennysia went to Waitomo, NZ, gave a full account of what he did there but did not seem to have visited the Angora Rabbit factory.

No, it is not a slaughterhouse but an angora wool farm. Many who travel to NZ or Australia watch sheep shearing but how many people see rabbit shearing?

The Angora rabbit is a REALLY fluffy rabbit. Sometimes so fluffy you can't see it's face. Anyway, it takes 3 to 4 months for the fur to grow and by then, it needs to be shaved otherwise it will be too hot for the fella to live.

They are placed on a table with straps on both ends to fasten its legs, stretched as though it could do yoga. The clippers shave the top of the rabbit first, then the rabbit is flipped on the table to reach the bottom of it. Then finally the legs and tail. What's left is a skinny, shivering little fella, looking more like a normal rabbit.

Go see it if you're in Waitomo.

Greenhorn

Today, I received my very first call from a head hunter. The feeling is quite amazing, that someone actually knows I exist in the banking industry! Hahaha… If the bank is the one that I think it is, it is certainly one that I’d like to go into! However, in the event that they do want to meet up, and in the event that I actually do get offered the job, I don’t think now is the right time. Why? Because bonus comes only in March!

Oh well, let’s not count my chickens… But heck, this is ego boosting!

eBay Explained

Yesterday, KS and I went to a talk on eBay. The How Tos on running a business from eBay. It's actually quite cool, people can sell ANYTHING on eBay. This guy in Singapore sells leaves that falls from the tree outside his home!

Yup, there is potential for a business on this platform. All I need to do now is to find something that I am passionate about in order to sell it.

I LUV DUNKIN'!

We stopped by an outlet this evening and tried to see if they had doughnuts on offer, you know, just to finish up their stocks so they can close for the day.

They had a tray of a mixture of doughnuts left and I eagerly wanted to get them if they were cheap. The guy shook his head and said the price was still the same, no offer!

Since I was there, heck, I thought I'd get one anyway. In the end, because I kept asking why they didn't have an offer, he gave me a 20% discount AND a box of mini doughnuts worth 4 times as much as the doughnut I just bought!

I may or may not go back to that particular shop but it's brought a warm fuzzy feeling for the brand.

Eric and the Burning Kitchen

I am on the way to making Eric an urban legend. My new colleagues can't wait to meet him and refer to him as "the guy with the snake in the apartment!". My friend who's met him says his stories are good for long haul drives and she has even retold his misadventures to her cousins.

So, on this morning when I feel like blogging but have nothing much to say, I am finally going to tell you about the Burning Kitchen Episode. Note that I have also put up my first label "Eric's Misadventures".

It happened one day when Eric felt a little too tired to jog and went straight home to his apartment. His mum was staying with him at that time had the kettle on the stove on the open wet kitchen area. To prevent wind from blowing out the flames, she had placed a cardbox around the stove.

Now, this recipe of a cardboard box near an open fire in Eric's home is a recipe for disaster.

He was lying on his couch, enjoying a rest when his mum shrieked from the kitchen. Running into the kitchen, he saw flames licking the walls and up the plastic piping connecting the apartment above. Unfortunately, the water pressure from his kitchen sink was very low and he had to run to and fro the toilet to fill buckets.

Now, his open kitchen faces the corridor leading to other tenants main doors. One of his neighbours saw the fire and poked her head nearer to have a closer look. This was while Eric was approaching the fire with a half filled bucket.

Her exclamation of "Waaaah!! Fire!!!" and whatever she was going to say was literally drowned when the bucket of water ricocheted off the wall full on to her face.

Eric didn't know or bother what happened to her after that but thank goodness the guards had been alerted. They unravelled the water hose and doused the fire and his kitchen out before any severe damage had occurred.

I believe the guards know him very well now, after this and the snake incident. They should have a CCTV trained onto all corners of his apartment for prevention.

There's still yet another story to write on Eric's Misadventures. The Bicycle Race Incident. That I will save for another rainy day.

Weddings!

This is a month filled with weddings. I have 4 invites, but am only able to attend 2.

Yesterday KS and I went to Wendy's. Hers was a last minute do (as she wanted to elope after being inspired by Karen) but was found out by the parents. But she managed to squeeze some tables out of this restaurant that had already 2 weddings booked for the very same night!

It was quite remarkable. She started off the dinner early and this benefited all her guests:
1. We got choice parking spots
2. We started and ended early
No blaring of some Kitaro (or Maxim, like the other wedding beside us) for the first dish, or grand entrances by the bride and groom. It was very simple and nice!

Oh, while we were busy toasting the bride and groom, the other weddings had just begun so our screams of YAAAAAM SEEENG drowned the grand announcements of the other wedding. Quite funny actually. Like Wendy said, it was like the brides were trying to outdo each other.

Speaking of yam seng, overheard in a wedding recently made by an emcee, who's first language isn't English, toast the bridal couple:

For Fidelity!

Haiyoh! Fertility and fidelity may start with the same letter and have the same syllables but... the guests toasted to it anyway.

The other one I heard was about the bride's father who was a politician and the emcee wanted to wish him well for the upcoming elections:

... and good ruck for your upcoming ERECTION!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaam seng!

Bite Me!

Went for a full body massage in Melaka recently. It was, in short, painful. She kept telling me, "Relax!" but I just couldn't! There was a knot on my shoulder blade which she worked on in vain and in the end, she just gave up.

The next day, my back was absolutely sore.

I do feel highly strung recently and I haven't found the reason why. It's like having a permanant PMS.