Bubble Fans

"Twenty eight bubble-eyed fantails embellished with 24K gold..." with reference to goldfish was translated to this in BM: "Dengan adanya dua puluh ekor kipas yang berbentuk buih air..."

Now, language is not one of my strongest points but at least I know that is some crap translation! I'm trying hard to imagine how the heck does 20 (even the quantity was translated wrongly) fans that look like bubbles look like?

So now I'm armed with the tast of telling the translater, "Your translation sucks. Big time, buddy. And forget about sending us the bill".

Ah, if only I were so direct..

Books!

After whinging about not having any books, I went to a book warehouse sale. I came back with 3 new books, David Sedaris, a John Grisham and a Mary Higgins Clark (Jan said she was good). Now I can't wait to finish up my Harry Potter and get on with the rest!

And with relation to books, I finally caught Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Armed with a bar of choc, I was disappointed that I didn't have the urge to eat chocolate while watching it (it doesn't take much to entice chocolate eating from me but I chewed it right before the credits rolled). Johnny Depp was fantasticly eccentric but aside from him, there was something missing from the show. Sure I enjoyed myself but it just didn't have that oomph factor.

50th Anniversary

Last night I attended a relative's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Usually, I would only see these relatives once a year, during Chinese New Year when we would just greet them with a "Hello! Gong Xi Fa Chai Uncle So-and-So" then we would quietly blend into the chairs/wall/background and make an occasional dash to the food laden table to grab a bite.

Unfortunately, because we aren't able to communicate (in my own mother tongue!), we never really got to know our relatives very well. However, last night was sort of an eye-opener as this lovely couple shared how they met each other 55 years ago, as they reminisce their first date, what they thought of each other etc. It was very heart warming and although I didn't understand what they were saying, KS kept up a good commentary of what they were saying.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and just felt closer to them somehow. Will put up the photos of them later. They also had this huge cake, weighing 12 kgs made out of layers of sponge cake with slices of mangoes covering the 3 tiers. It cost RM700! Phew! Of course I took a photo of it.

Oh, of course there was the usual singing, they were made to sing and they sportingly did so. KS was mentioning that when we celebrate OUR 50th wedding anniversary, we'd be singing "Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'" or "Crawling in my skin". Well, as long as it's not "Bohemian Rhapsody" or the "Bicycle" song...

NST Scoop!

I've only seen it in movies, about how newspapers vie for the latest scoop just to have an exclusive on the front pages the next day.

Well, today there is such an incident whereby News Straits Times is ahead of the Star. The secret wedding of the Home Affairs Minister and an ex newscaster became public gossip over the last couple of days. Star reports that their journalists exhausted all their contacts trying to locate her as the engagement was supposed to take place last night. They were at her kampung in Johor but no one there knew anything about the ceremony taking place.

NST front page today happily reports of their marriage last night. Oh, I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the Star newsdesk team today.

The Urge

I haven't read a decent book in yonks. The last one I read (am half reading) is another Perry Mason one but because it's my last Perry Mason in my collection which I have yet to read, I'm savoring it.

At the moment, I'm re-reading the 4th Harry Potter. It's a good thing I skimmed through it the first time because I can't remember it at all! So it's almost like a new book again.

One complaint I have is that new books here are expensive (in relation to our Malaysian pay) so it's a luxury. Going to the second hand bookshops only leave me disappointed because I'm not familiar with the authors and I usually can't find what I'm looking for.

So, if you've read a good book lately, do let me know (I'm already hunting for The Time Traveler's Wife).

Strange Beliefs

Sometimes the things people believe in are incredulous. My mum used to scold me for walking over books for I would turn stupid, KS grew up thinking that if you point your finger at a full moon, your nose/ear will fall off. His dad of course disproved that gleefully to both KS and his sis (this episode ended with wails and howls of fear from the two kids running to the mum). The list goes on.

I remembered this response in the newspaper for someone who wanted to get rid of their body odour. This reader told BO boy to put a freshly steamed plain pow (yeah, the type used for char siew pow) clasped under their armpits and to walk in the easterly direction for 12 minutes! I can so imagine the neighbours waking up to such a sight! 12 minutes is a pretty far distance unless you shuffle but that would only make you more obvious with 2 steaming white pows sticking out from under your armpits! Oh, and one is supposed to do this like for 12 days or 14 days. I'll tell you what you'll get rid off - your neighbours!

Why is it...

...that my period knows exactly when to ruin an important meeting/event? It will be delayed for days or come early, whichever suits it's evil plans, and will wait for the most important day in that week to come. Then I'd get all bloated, stomach cramps, pimply, lack of appetite and irritated and go for a meeting. Blast it! 12 times a year I'd wish I were born a boy.

So when my wedding was approaching, I knew it might happen so I took precautions. Thank heavens nothing happened but I can't succumb to medication to foil my period's evil designs every month!

Bengkak

So I walk into the office this morning, after napping in the car since we were stuck in a jam for over half hour. A factory staff whom I know stopped and looked at me strangely. I immediately clutched my hair and thought it must have been tousled so badly in the car that it looks like it just came out of dryer. Hurriedly running my fingers through my disobedient strands, I greeted a few more colleagues who also looked half a second longer than it usually takes for someone to say hi.

Then I bumped into my friend who immediately reared in shock - he's not one to mince words (or what we call her as laser mouth) - "EEEEeeee! Your eyeshadow so doesn't suit you! Your eyes look bengkak (swollen)." He's one of those guys who belong to my "Queer Eye for the Straight Gal" - well, actually, he's the ONLY one in that list - so I immediately wiped off my eyeshadow.

I don't suppose the bengkak look will ever be in fashion so I promise never to wear make up in the dark again. And to also not sleep on the way to work (coz now I just feel like sleeping) as it must have contributed to the look.

Cat is Away

My boss, or sometimes referred to as Totoro (the famous Japanese big "cat" - we actually don't know what creature Totoro is), is away for the rest of the week. Hurrah!

I can't wait for the weekend too, with cakes to bake and jelly to make. Double hurrah!

Anti-Drug Notices

Heard over the radio that the government will be putting anti-drug messages on utility bills and phone bills. And since Most Malaysians Choose Maxis, Maxis will also be forced to print them on their bills.

So, in a couple of months time, we will all see "Don't Do Drugs" "Drugs are BAD" on all our bills and it will surely discourage the drug users. NOT.

Sometimes one wonders what actually goes into the thinking of this, if any at all. This is pure desperation and stupidity.

"Don't be Agressive", First Wives Told

Oh I MUST make mention of this! The Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz said to press that all the first wives must be understanding when their husbands want to take a second/third/fouth wife. He says, "Think of those poor old spinsters whom no one wants! They'd be all alone until they die! At least your husband wants them and especially if he is capable of having them. And with the rising amount of spinsters in this country, the wives should really take this into consideration."

"You really shouldn't suddenly turn aggressive if you find out your husband wants to marry again"

This was in comment of a recent case of a woman who threw acid on her husband for wanting to take a second wife.

Blessing

I really love my husband. Over the weekends, he's the one who does the laundry. Every Saturday and Sunday, he would be out there hanging all my unmentionables while my opposite neighbour would gawk at him doing such housework.

Then on Sunday nights, after he folds up all the dry clothes, he irons all his clothes and often offers to iron mine too.

I'm really so blessed to have him in my life, to spoil me silly, to not think any job is beyond his "macho" male ego.

Now he's helped me sell not one, but TWO of my butter cakes to his colleague, who hasn't even tried it! I love this colleague of his, she's always supportive of her friends and their friends (she's been my only customer - she bought my layer cake for her engagement party). She's asked me to do a brochure - of all things!- then she'll help introduce me to her friends! Aiikkk! I never took any photos of my cakes before and besides, I only know how to make one good one at this point!

Aaah... baking again this Sunday. What lovely news to end a stressful day.

Tired

I opened a booth to sell drinks over the weekend at my company's Warehouse Sale. My colleague and I had planned to sell 5 types of drinks but in the end, we only offered two because no one wanted the other 3.

There were other stalls opened by the staff and they were really professional looking, with all the proper tongs to display the drinks they were selling. Needless to say, ours was the least successful but I learnt a few lessons:

1. Be thick skinned. Both of us were pretty shy about shouting out our wares.

2. Know your market. Sell something people want, not because it's cheap to sell it. Ribena is a good lure for kids.

3. Cakes are more appreciated than drinks. My butter cake went fairly quickly but people are willing to pay more for chocolate cake.

4. Wear sunscreen even if you're sitting in the shade. My feet are striped now from my sandals.

5. Next time when people call out to you to sell their wares, acknowledge them. They're human too.

In the end, I didn't make any money out of this whole experience because if I factor in my travelling cost of petrol and tolls for both days, that's all my total portion of my profits.

Yawn, I'm still so tired and it's already Tuesday.

Self Inflicted Haze

A lovely chilly breeze made us decide to open our window and sleep without the air cond, our very first time. Since we haven't installed bug netting, we placed the burning insecticide Mun Heong thing outside the window. Wrong move.

Every breeze that came in was mingled with the smoke and by 3am, I was coughing and tearing. KS also woke up and said he was being attacked by mosquitoes despite the darn thing. By then, the room was filled with smoke and the mosquitoes were buzzing in our ears. I couldn't sleep after that so I had to go sleep in the tv room.

Lesson learnt: Don't open your windows if you haven't got netting. And for heaven's sake, don't smoke yourself out of your own room.

Goldfish Cat

You know I mentioned about my new cat? Well, he's been visiting us in the mornings and the nights - when he wants food. And boy does he really eat! We've been feeding him twice or three times the recommended amount and yet he always meows pitifully right after crunching the last Friskies.

We fed and fed him until his stomach had a hard lump then we thought it was a bit unnatural for a cat to eat so much. So we checked out the packaging for the recommended amount - only 35g! So we've cut back on his food and last night he decides he won't have any of this forced diet and took off.

I'm contemplating on naming him Goldfish since he doesn't know when to stop eating.

Chewy

It's 9pm and I'm still waiting for hubby to come pick me up. So in the meantime, let me regale you with more tales of the past.

One thing I'm pretty famous for amongst my friends both from secondary school up til now is that whenever there is a cockroach, worm, you name it, to be found in food, it would be mine. So far, I've only mentioned about the live bug that got stuck in my throat when I was 16 but here's another one to put a milestone in this area of my life.

I was in NZ at that time, on a date with KS. We went to this Malaysian restaurant (run by a friend's family). The ambiance was such that the lights were dim and cosy. The lamp above us only cast a dim yellowish romantic glow. I ordered some fried bee hoon with some meat in it while KS had something else.

When our dishes were served, we eagerly tucked in as we had waited for some time for the food to arrive. Mouthful after mouthful, the bee hoon had swiftly been removed from my plate when suddenly, I started chewing this piece of meat which I thought was unusually stubborn at disintergrating. I continued to chew and almost decided to just swallow it as it could probably be a stubborn fatty part of the meat. Extracting some juice out of it, I realised it didn't quite taste like the meat on the rest of the plate. Then I thought twice about swallowing it. After all, I was dating KS quite a couple of years by then so he wouldn't really mind me spitting on the side of the plate.

So I spat it out and peered at the half chewed blob on my plate. It was a light brown, plastic-like material. To my horror, I realised it was a plaster! Worse still, it must have been a used plaster for it to end up in my plate as no crazy fool would open a new piece from the pack and throw it into the cooking. And to think I was chewing it for a good minute and trying to extract the flavour of it!

My friend offered to replace my plate but by then, I had lost all appetite. Give me worms anytime, at least they're organic and in some countries, it's a delicacy.

Stretch

My heavily pregnant friend told me her stomach is starting to have stretch marks. I scoffed at her, saying of course one would have stretch marks at that stage of her pregnancy. I have had stretch marks on my bum since... since I was 12, for cryin' out loud!

She went on to say it was really painful and then I realised she must be saying her skin is starting to stretch because of the pregnancy, not just mere stretch marks appearing. I then envisioned my pizza dough as I was kneading it and it had stretched to a point that the gluten was clearly seen as a web-like texture. Some had snapped, revealing the layer of dough under it.

Oh boy. Do I really need to get pregnant?

Unbelievably Kiasu

On my company's website, we have this special gift card which we offer to our customers for free with every RM250 they purchase in a single transaction from our online shop. Now, these cards are hand made by people with learning disabilities which we sourced from www.unitedvoice.com.my. It's sort of our little way of supporting them buy giving them to our customers.

Anyways, this Malaysian, bought a total of RM455 and requested 110 cards with his order even though it is clearly stated that we will give only one (1) per customer per order/RM250.

We previously had another one from Singapore who didn't buy anything but put in an order of over a hundred of these cards too - for free.

Now my colleague is going to call this Malaysian (he's from Klang!) and ask him not to be so kiasu. I'm so embarrassed for this guy. Can't wait to hear what my colleague has to say to him!

I Wanna Dance

This morning I heard Whitney Houston's song on the radio and every time I hear that song, it reminds me of this incident when I was really young when her MTV came out. My sister was glued to the tv, her face barely inches away from the screen with her finger resting on the "Stop" button (she recorded the MTV on video tape) and would replay just that one bit when Whitney sang "If he loves me, if he loves me not, if he loves me, if he loves me not" while she twirled from one guy to the next with each "love me, love me not".

Now, during that time, our VCR was the old type, with the chunky buttons, no form of control on how much you can rewind or stop at the exact spot you want to. But she was relentless.

After about 3 to 4 just replaying that bit, I finally cottoned on and said "Whitney seems to get the good looking guys on the "loves me not" bits, eh?". She fervently nodded her head while her eyes were still stuck to the screen, still replaying.

It also triggered off another tv staring episode with my sister. It was to do with the tv series McGuyver where there was this part at the starting credits with Richard Dean Anderson standing with his arm resting on the wing of a small airplane, giving this grin while his name appeared beside him. My sister would immediately sit in the direction of his eyes and swoon, excitedly saying "Look! Look! He's looking at me! He's smiling at me! He loves me!". Even at a tender age, I'm sorry to say I wasn't naive enough to believe her.

I nowadays entertain my friends with "Stories of my Sister" and they look forward to wanting to meet her after that.

My Career Type

One of the fun things to do when you're bored... Mine absolutely fits what my dad envisioned me to be when I grew up - a secretary! And no wonder I can't dance! Poor Ms Sally tried and tried to whip me into doing a proper jig at a school play until at last she gave up and quietly chucked me in an obscure corner of the play.

Well, thank goodness they didn't say, "You're hopeless at Marketing!".

Your Career Type: Conventional

You are orderly and good at following a set plan. Your talents lie in working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way. You would make an excellent: Bank Teller - Bookkeeper - Court Clerk Mail Carrier - Post Office Clerk - Secretary Timekeeper - Title Examiner - Typist The worst career options for your are artistic careers, like comedian or dancer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Ill

Man! Being on MC ain't fun when you come back the next day to have your boss breathing down your neck for this that and the other.

What was sweet was that I had the day off to totally rest and recuperate from a sore throat and runny nose. Feel so much better.

What was even sweeter was Jan calling to make sure I was okay and then calling KS to ask if he was going to pack some food for me as otherwise she will buy some home cooked food to pass to me. Yea... I feel so loved!

Make My Own Shampoo

The reason why Jan and I wanted to see a hair specialist is because we've been having a lot of trouble finding a suitable shampoo for our scalp and hair. And if you know Jan, you would know she has tried every single shampoo out there in the market, both in Malaysia and in Australia. Well, almost anyway. My colleague introduced me to this trichologist who she used to buy pretty good shampoo from and since it was home made shampoo, perhaps this just might be the answer.

I called her up a couple of weeks ago to try to get her shampoo but she told me to come in for consultation before I could just buy her shampoo. And it would cost RM50 for just the consultation "but I'll throw in my book for free". So I thought why not.

So on Saturday, right after our shopping expedition, I went with Jan to see the trichologist. One word to describe this lady would be pushy. But I won't talk about her character. What I will tell you is what she said to both of us.

"You're actually starting to bald and would require treatment before it's too late. The treatment is RM75 per vial and you'll need to use 2 vials a week. I only sell these vials in batches of 36 so it works out to be RM2700 for the whole treatment."

My jaw just dropped to the floor and a nervous quick glance at Jan confirmed her disbelief too. Jan was asked to use 3 vials a week so her 36 tubes will last her a mere 3 months. Despite our apparent horror, she proceeded to ask, "So how? Want to proceed or not?"

No thank you. At this point, I can only afford to go bald.

We mumbled "Er, we're not earning that much. Is there any way the payments can be staggered out?"

"Well, usually I don't do this but I could split it to 3 monthly payment for Jan." Even so, Jan would have to eat grass just so she has a chance that her hair will grow again by the end of the 3 months!

We ended up buying her shampoo and conditioner but not without her pushing me to do a urine test. Yup, she also does urine tests to find out how much free radicals are in my body. "Oh, although it's a test for Free radicals, it doesn't mean the test is for free ah!" she laughs by herself and we both manage a weak grin. The darn thing costs RM45 just to test my pee! I might as well use that money, go buy myself some vitamins to fight my free radicals without the need to know the extent of how much free radicals are in my body!

I had to lie to her, saying that I was on antibiotics due to my sore throat. The haze, you know. So she disappointedly kept away the urine test kit and urged me to come the week after to do the test. Like I would travel all the way from Klang to KL again just to see my pee turn pink! Oh, and pay RM45 in the process too. Sure. See you there.

Now, how do I go about making my own shampoo so that I don't have to go back to her again?

Shopping!

It's been a while since I went to Bukit Bintang to do some shopping and I've always loved clothes from Isetan. So when the chance came to shop there on Saturday, I grabbed it and dragged Jan along.

What with all this Mega Sale, there were discounts everywhere! Surprisingly it wasn't crowded, possibly with everyone heading north to escape the haze in KL. (Funnily enough, the haze moved with them and Penang and northern territories were hit by the haze over the weekend!). The changing rooms in Isetan were empty! No waiting in queues at all! Oh, I love shopping like this!

I discovered a corner dedicated to super savers and to my delight, they were all my type of clothes. Ask KS, he'll immediately say "Oh, this cut is so typically you". PLUS, the corner is permanant, meaning I can come back anytime of the year without waiting for whatever Mega Sale!

I ended up buying white top and a pair of slacks for RM59 each!

Note: My colleague just burst my bubble. She gets her slacks for RM30 plus for my usual brands at one of the shops near her gym. Babi! Never mind, I'm happy with my current purchase but next time I'll have to ask her where the bargain joints are.

Waiting...

I've been sitting here for the last half hour, waiting for my husband to pick me and finally I ask him over ICQ when he's going to pick me.

"Didn't you drive today?" he asks.

Alamak! So I did and I completely forgot my Buddy's sitting out there in the dark car park all alone!

So while I wait for KS to finish work, let me continue blogging.

When I went to Kuching, I bought some Sawarak Laksa paste. My mum gave me specific instructions, "The one with the Swallow, about RM3 per pack and this size" she says, indicating with her fingers. Since she was so specific, I figured it must be some damn good paste and I'd better get a pack for my mother-in-law.

So last night she calls me after she's back from her trip to Perth and she asks me how on earth to cook the darn thing. I sure don't know, but they said the instructions were in the pack. She then said she researched a little and found a magazine with a Sarawak Laksa recipe in it and she's gonna cook it the next time we're back in Melaka. I didn't mean to get her something in order for her to COOK it for me!

Now what else shall I get her?

Meat

I just glanced at the main paper and to my horror I saw this cute lil tiger cub who was rescued from a restaurant kitchen. He was ready to go into the pot if there had been any customer who would want to eat tiger. Yup, eat TIGER.

Are these people SICK? The poor little cub looks so thin and scared. Sad thing is, I'm sure there are many more of these animals trapped behind restaurant doors that we don't see or know about.
Photo taken from www.thestar.com.my

Sunlight!

It's a Friday afternoon and the sun has finally managed to penetrate into the thick gloom. I actually cast a shadow when I went out for lunch!

Tomorrow Jan and I will be going to see a trichologist. I don't think my problem is as severe as hers but I'm keen to get a shampoo that really works for me. Hopefully this won't be in vain. Jan is super excited, counting down the days to our appointment, sms-ing me to wash my hair one day in advance and planning where to stay the night before. She is so funny.

Pak Lah Says...

"In view of the current haze situation in Kuala Selangor and Port Klang that has now reached the API level of 500 and above, I now declare a state of emergency for the whole area of Kuala Selangor and Port Klang with immediate effect indefinitely. " courtesy of The Star.

I stay in Klang but I work in Setapak so I guess I'm not entitled to stay home. Sheesh. I guess I'd better stay over night in the office since this area has not been declared a state of emergency yet. Dang.

I, jo, would like to declare a state of emergency for the whole area of the Klang Valley. Ta-dah!

Charlie

KS has decided to name the cat Charlie instead, inspired by the upcoming movie, I think. The last I saw of KS and Charlie this morning was a sight I'd love to have captured on film. KS was sitting on the doorstep and scratching Charlie's tummy with both hands while Charlie lifted his paws to allow KS easier access. Charlie had this extremely satisfied look on his face. Sigh, how I'd love to go home now and cuddle him.

Oh, and the Air Pollutant Index (API) is already past 500 points (Emergency Level) in Port Klang. I hope Charlie is still alive.

Tank

These pictures are super hilarious. It appeared on jeffooi.com who mentioned it was on the front page of the Sun papers today.

This guy Erik is seen here jogging with his oxygen tank and he had what looked like some ski sticks with him too. And the second pix is when he's travelling on his bike. It's one sure way of breathing in good air...

Bright Side

The only good thing about this haze is that it forces me to drink plenty of water. My skin has never looked so smooth in recent months!

Of course, I'll just have to ignore the painful throat, the stinging eyes, blood in my nose mucus and phlegm.

Blanketed

I thought yesterday's haze situation was bad. Just in the last hour, it has turned worse. Here's how it looks like just outside my office window at midday. Beyond that is supposed to be the KLCC Twin Towers. Even inside the office is thick with smoke as I look from one corner of the office to the other. The air conds are not helping. This is really the worst haze I've ever encountered.

The newspapers cheerfully tell us it will get increasingly worse and will probably last 2 months. 2 FREAKING MONTHS! Hey, is it hazy in Alor Star or Singapore? *cough* I wish I could migrate for the season.

How To Be A Typically Obnoxious Malaysian

Stop me and declare loudly in front of all your colleague, "Eh, you've really put on weight, haven't you?". Then proceed to glance up and down my thighs to my face twice and repeat, "You've REALLY put on weight!".

Blown away by such a callous remark, I could only afford a sarcastic "Thank you".

And this is right after I had an ice cream after lunch. Dang.

Barum Tyres

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to blog to remind myself that I've just changed a pair of tyres for my car. If I'm not mistaken, my car meter reads about 3300km. Add 10,000km to that, I will need to rotate them.

I keep forgetting these things and when I try to keep the receipts, they make a huge mess in my glove compartment and 1 year down the line, I'll throw it away just before my dad asks me if I'd done this or that on my car. Looks like my Buddy needs a blog too.

Grumble

"It's all in your mind" KS tells me when I complain of my sore throat. No! It's not! It's the bloody haze out there! How can anyone breathe out there??

I, jo, declare the rest of the month a public holiday until the haze has blown over. People are reported to have depression and a lot more are falling ill. Tempers are running short and Some schools have already been given the green light to declare holidays, so why not everyone as well?

My brain's stuck... no .. motivation... aaarrrggghhhh! That's it, I'm going to play a game of Neopets. All day long.

Fog

The one thing I really miss of Hamilton, NZ is the fog. Whenever we'd travel back from Auckland at night in Autumn, we'd be enveloped in thick fogs which will force us to slow down on the roads.

In the cottages, we'd quietly watch the mist stream past from behind a window, warmly wrapped in thick duvets, drawing in deep breaths of the crisp air. Ah, the bliss.

Now, as I sit here and watch the thick "fog" outside, I certainly don't want to take large breaths at all. I can hardly see beyond 1 km from the window and my throat is starting to get constricted. The haze seems to be at it's worst today. And no, this is NOTHING like being in NZ (or Gentings, as my colleague says). I wonder how it must be for people working out at construction sites or even down at the factory floor where the air is not filtered like us here in the air-cond.

And then there are jokers out there who still step out to take a puff. Hey! Don't need to waste your money lah, just take a deep breath and you'll have enough smoke in your lungs for the day.

New Cat

A cat came to visit and we took the opportunity to feed him. And him being a smart cat, knows where to stay put so he was there over the weekend, mewing every time we stepped out of the house. He also knows his boundaries and only hangs outside in the garden.

He looks a little like Jay, except his body has more white patches and he's not striped. He's probably Jay's age as well, young, perhaps over 1 year old. Over the 2 days, we got to know his likes and dislikes. He loves a belly rub and always wails when we drive off.

So now, we're thinking of names for him. There's a C. in white on his orange patch on his back. Am thinking of naming him Archie, refering to the shape as well as the carrot haired comic character.

Cheap Labour

My old neighbour back in the PJ house is a real bunch of horrible people. Only one guy is friendly, while the rest are complete neighbours from hell. Their list of transgressions is long and I'd like to add another one here.

Besides slapping their Indonesian maids while screaming at them for "not doing something" or other in full view of the public, they recently made their 2 Indonesian maids fix on tiles onto their driveway.

My sis saw them squatting there, putting on the cement and carefully fitting each tile until it was all done. The employees drive big cars and should presumeably earn a fair bit so why didn't they just get a proper contractor to do it? I'm anticipating the moment something goes wrong with the floor, the maids will get their usual beatings.

No, don't tell me to go to the police, they're absolutely hopeless and rotten to the core. See my example of a police encounter.

The Finger

The other day, while I was keeping to my lane, this bus barged into my lane and forced me with two options:

1. Have the side of my car smash into the bus.
2. Stop completely while letting him through.
3. Switch lanes.

I took option 3 but first giving him the finger. Then I thought about it. Hey, when did this obscene sign take on meaning and what exactly does it mean anyway?

Is it to show them how deep we'd sodomise them? Yuck, I wouldn't want my finger anywhere near that.

My take to it is that the finger represents the penis. If that's the case, why are we showing our longest finger? Why not show the smallest finger to show those dickheads their actual size? Or will that still compliment them?

Spoilt

Not for those who have yet to read the latest Harry Potter.

Unwittingly, I clicked on the linked from one of the blogs I read daily and BAM! I was fronted with the words "Dumbledore is NOT dead!". So of course I now know who died in the latest book without even reading it yet. I didn't know about Sirius' death when I read the book but he wasn't a strong enough character to make me feel too sad. This time around, when I heard that someone was killed again, I shrugged it off and thought it would be another weaker character. But Dumbledore! Oh dear. I know the last book should be the most challenging for Harry since he's without Dumbledore's protection now.

Here's my predicted ending of the whole series. Well, several of it anyway.

1. Harry is actually Voldemort's son (he had an affair with Harry's mum before she got married) so Harry is actually EVIL deep inside and he becomes the next Lord of Terror. Of course, he would have to kill Voldemort first. Oh, and since he becomes unpopular (since there are no nasty girls to pair him up with), he becomes gay and takes Draco as his partner. Together, they take on the world and kill all Muggles and those that stand in their way.

2. There is a massive showdown between Harry and Voldemort, which will be done in a series of a few events ie how many people can Harry save vs how many people can Voldemort kill, who can eat the most dragon's eye in 30 seconds aka Fear Factor style. In the end, Harry will win by a margin and suffers for the rest of his life with the 7 dragon's eyes that he ate growing all over his head. He then proceeds to kill himself to escape from his miserable little life.

3. Harry wakes up from a dream and he's actually Dudley having a bad dream after over eating as usual.

I like the first two better.

Pewter Dust

Today yet another one of my lunch mates handed in her letter. Since she has been telling us since the start of the year that she was going to leave for her law profession, I didn't feel as upset as I did when my other two colleages left suddenly.

In fact, I was thinking about it the whole weekend, how exciting it would be for her to actually hand in her letter on Monday. When I got in this morning, she hadn't given it to her boss as yet as she wanted to wait until she had signed her staff purchase!

But I knew when she had done the deed as there was a loud exclamation from the bosses and wails of "NooooOOOOooooooOOOoo!!!!". Now they have less than three months to replenish the entire team. My poor colleague had been doing three exective jobs in one for the last four months and in no circumstances can that ever be fun.

So I asked her how she felt after handing in her letter. She said she felt sad. I suppose so. I've trained myself over the years for the day that I leave this company. Yes, I run through my last day, as to what I would actually be doing, who will I go to see before I finally pack my bags and leave. Initially I did feel a bit sad as I walked out of the place, thinking if that was the very last day I would be working there. With practise, I now really look forward to that day without much of a trace of sadness. Okay, I admit, I still WILL be sad but the thought of leaving would be so much more exciting, don't you think? I think I've had enough pewter dust in my lungs and heart to harden my feelings. Hahaa...

Extravagance

Mega Sale! Blame it on the Mega Sale! I bought a pair of leather boots to wear to work (of course I'm wearing them today!) for only RM79.90. Of course the shop insists that it's made of leather but I can't belive I'd be able to get leather at that price! But it's lovely and soft so yeah, I didn't care.

There's sales going on everywhere. I want to buy myself a new set of glasses since my multicoated one is scratched and un-multicoated anymore. Plus, I want a red set of frames to accentuate my fair skin. Ha! Talk about being vain.

All this irregardless of the petrol price having just increased to yet another 10 sen to RM1.62 per litre.

90 Minutes of CSI

Man... the finale for CSI Season 5 was really something. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, it had Nick being lured into a trap and then nicked to somewhere far and buried alive.

The timing was between 12 noon to 2 pm so we had to tell dad-in-law to hold on to his hunger and have a late lunch. (Actually, that was the reason why I piled your plate so high with extra bacon that morning, Dad).

I love watching the original CSI: Las Vegas. It's out staple thing to watch when we reach home with about an hour to spare. I can't say who is my favourite character since I like them all. Or should I say, none of them have any irritating habits so they're all cool. Perhaps the strongest character is Grissom, since he's the bug man and can read lips. Whereas Catherine has her all-powerful and rich daddy and a soft spot for kids.

Animal Preferences

Last weekend was spent accompanying my father-in-law since mum-in-law is in Perth for the month. It was a great time just being there and making some noise in the house as opposed to his 3 weeks of silence and the dog.

So we had our meals out most of the times. And during one of the meals, he started pondering over the differences between meat from animals that have been slaughtered in stress compared to those that didn't really struggle while being slaughtered. He did mention that the meat from stressed animals tasted of uric acid (I think this is proven somewhere) and less tasty. Since he preferred the latter, he also wondered if those animals in the wild had the same preference.

He then earnestly asked KS to go do a study to see if the lions and tigers in the wild liked what kind of meat better, so that once the conclusion is made, KS will be famous.

He can be so funny.