Yet another odd marriage

News today says this 71 year old great grandma (who comes from China) just married this Malay man of 40 years old in Singapore.

Clicking back my jaw in place, I further read that the groom "intends to start a family with her". Now that's just bizzare. I hope he realises women don't actually give birth after menopause.

Citibank - BAH!

Never EVER apply for a credit card with Citibank. I don't think I've voiced my grieveances over my blog before but my fresh call to them is just the last straw.

When I applied for the card five years ago, they had asked me for a photo so that they could scan it on the front of the card. After going through the difficulty in getting a passport sized photo, I happily handed in my application form.

A few weeks later, they sent me my card, without the picture. So I called them up to find out what happened to my photo if it wasn't used. They said they would send me the one with the photo. So I waited several weeks before frustration got me to call them again. This time, a different person took my call and upon explaining this to him, he assured me the card would arrive in a week and the reason why they sent me the first card was because they were "eager" for me to have a card first while they made my actual one. What bull!

In between, there were many slip ups which led me to call them and give them a piece of my mind and in the end, I decided not to continue using the credit card. After all, I've got another one that is free for life and has excellent service. So last year, I sent them a fax saying I wanted to cancel all my cards with them and they called me back and begged me to hold on to the cards as they will waive my annual fees for two years.

I thought, why not and just in case my other card doesn't work overseas, I have a spare to back me up. Then in July, I got a statement saying I owed them for this year's annual fees. I immediately called them and told them I was promised for two years annual fees. The customer service told me it was only stated as free for one year in their system so I got fed up and said I wanted to cancel my cards for good now.

I wrote them the fax and faxed it in on 8 August 05. There was no news on this for the whole month and today, I get another statement with the same annual fees being charged, impounded with late payment AND finance fees!

Keeping my voice as pleasant as I could, I called them up just now and explained the whole story all over again. The girl told me that yes, they received the letter at the end of August and that I will need to wait one week before the cards are cancelled. That was fine with me.

Until she said, "But M'am, you are liable to pay the annual fees once it is already billed to you". That's when I exploded and got really harsh with her and also demanded to know why their fax only spews out faxes three weeks later!

Oh, and my contact numbers which have been changed for years with me updating them each time I call, still remain as the old numbers in their system.

If they demand me to pay up the annual fees for cards which I have tried to cancel again and again and which I have never used for years now, I'm going to write to the papers.

After 9 Years!

I've known L for 11 years and I've known M for 10. Although we all went to the same college, they didn't know each other until some mutual friends brought them together 9 years ago. I suspected sparks were flying between them but the match was highly unlikely besides being of different race, religion and backgrounds. Afraid she might be hurt, I told her "No go" and though she listened, I could still sense that there was just that little bit of liking between the two of them.

Later, I felt really bad. After all, who am I to tell them they shouldn't be together? Still, years went on and snatches of conversations with M revealed that contact between them were still on, even though they studied in different countries then. Even when L came back, M would mention meeting up with L on occasion.

Today, I am greatly relieved and tickled to know that they have been going out for 9 months now! And I had invited both of them to my wedding in Feb AND seated them together too. Now, how was that for being intuitive?

Back from Kampung

It was a great and fun time back home in Alor Star and now I'm back to the grindstone. One thing that made me realise hanging out with the two kids is that you need 2 adults per kid to take shifts looking after them. Boy, I was frequently wiped out of all energy just taking an afternoon to play with them at a play park.

We also bid farewell to some friends who are leaving Malaysia for good. I'm sure they must be really sad to leave so many friends that they have made here but also glad to look forward to being closer to their grandchildren.

Throughout the whole 3 days there, Mum also cooked loads of great food. Just seeing her almost effortlessly whip up huge meals made me wish I had the interest in cooking as much as I do baking. Oh, we baked 2 cakes on Sunday too and again, the speed of things that my Mum does it makes me realise I've been taking waaay too long to make one simple cake. Ah, never mind, I've got another butter cake request this Friday so I'll try my Mum's half hour timing to complete mixing one cake.

It's also not fun to be back at work. The usual, "I want this by tomorrow morning on my desk" requests gets at me the minute I step in. Sigh...

Home Sweet Home

Jan and I are leaving on a bus at the stroke of midnight to go HOME! If the bus driver is good and follows the speed limit (50-50 chance), we will reach Alor Star at around 6am. Otherwise, if he drives like there's a pontianak chasing him from the back, we'll reach at 4am.

My sis and her family are there and I can't wait to spend time with them (although I must say it won't be a time of much sleep for me) but how often?? Ah, I'll take the next weekend in Melaka to recuperate.

Handprints

You might notice that all my photos usually come in one splurge. That's because I like to take photos then download them later all at once.

Anyways, here is my handprint (bottom 2nd from left) on a pewter tile. It's a bit smudged, perhaps people have been touching it since it's one of the most accessible ones. Once you reach 5 years of being employed in this company, you get to have your hand print on the wall in the Visitor Centre for all to see.

The one on the left of my handprint belongs to one of the owner's sons. He's a designer and is now in charge of designing new products. The one on my right resigned just after he got his handprint on the wall. He was in Finance. And the one above mine belongs to my ex makan buddy who left after she gave birth. So, my handprint is surrounded by people who have already left (I have to discount the first one because it's his flesh and blood).

Soon, my palm print will also join the majority... soon.

Of Spiders...

There's a German lady who tried to kill some spiders in her home and ended up torching her whole house. See here.

Reminds me of the time we tried to kill one monster in the house. Now that I've downloaded the photo of it, here is how it looks like. I don't know why the head of the creature is shiny yellow but you can imagine how big it is for Malaysian standards.

Charlie aka Goldfish

Here's how my new cat looks like, Charlie. Here, he's thinner than he is now since he eats eats and eats. He only greets us in the mornings when we open the door to go to work, begging for food. Sometimes, he decides not to grace us with his presence, depending on his mood.

I still miss Jay though. No other cat can replace him. :(

Sundry Shop

Yesterday was our Independence Day and as much as I'd like to have celebrated it just sleeping the whole day and maybe watch some DVD, I had to be dragged out at 11am and reach Bandar Utama (where 1 Utama is) at noon for a sort of brainstorming meeting.

Upon reaching the area, it was jam packed with cars trying to get in the already crowded parking lots at 1 Utama. Thank goodness I didn't need to go there so we managed to ease out of the jam and into the housing area.

Anyways, since we needed to buy some lightbulbs, no way were we going to any of the shopping malls on the very day everyone decides to create an economic upturn, we ended up going to a quaint little sundry shop in PJ.

These shops are normally dinghy with a musky smell of flour and rice, ceiling high shelves packed and stacked with an assortment of household items, narrow passageways that are strewn with larger household items, creating an obstacle course should you want to venture to the back of the shop. Doors and window (if any) are used as means to prop brooms of various uses and other long objects. I always am amazed at the stocks they carry - they have absolutely EVERYTHING!

Here's the test. This lady stepped in the shop while we were there and she proceeded to ask the tow keh (owner), "Do you have this...?" and he answered without hesitation even before she could complete her question, "YES, we have!".

A disbelieving look came upon her face and she repeated, "No, do you have this particular brand Tops (I can't remember the name) for soap powder?"

"GOT! Which colour packaging you want? The blue or the green one? 1 or 2 packs?"

Maybe next time I should ask for a pack of dried dragons meat and hear him say "GOT! Which type you want? Sesame seed flavoured or smoked?"

To Kill a Mockingbird

Have you ever had this deep desire to own something, held back for a while to make sure you really really want it and when you finally get it, you chuck it aside?

Well, you know how I've been having the urge to read these days? I've finally landed myself a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" after almost a year of wanting to buy the book (I nearly got it at the warehouse sale last weekend). And what do I do with the book? I read the first page and decided I don't really want to read it right after re-reading my 4th Harry Potter.

Plus I've got a timeline to it since it's a borrowed book. Sigh. Someone convince me it's a good book before I return it without going past page 5!