Car Problems

Yesterday I took the car to work, as KS was ill at home. As I was about reaching the office area after a morning meeting, I noticed my Heat indicator above the normal level and kept an eye on it. It steadily moved up as the minutes ticked by and I tried to deceive myself and pulled my vision higher, so that looking downwards, the needle was still at an okay level.

Of course that didn’t work and by the time I was less than 100m away from the car park, it almost touched the red warning levels. The many traffic lights didn’t help and by that time I was panicking. After all, all my years of driving I had never encountered overheating from my trusty car.

In the end, I managed to park my car and call my mechanic from Klang. I only serviced it 2 weekends ago and this should not have happened! He came 3 hours later and when he popped the hood, he immediately denied having touched the engine and that this wasn’t his fault. Of course I was disbelieving and am now determined that I will never go back to him again, even though his shop is walking distance to home, which helps.

The first time I sent my car to him to fix my suspensions, he failed to tighten the screws and for almost 2 weeks, I felt my tyres wobble at high speeds. I sent it to a tyre shop who immediately found the problem. Gosh! I could have gotten into a nasty accident with my wheels flying off!

All in all, I’ve spent over a grand in just 3 weekends on repairing my car. Looks like I’ll have to postpone re-spraying it until mid of this year.

Too Much Neopets

Last night KS got up to pee and when he came back, I apparently grabbed hold of his hand and started furiously tapping him in a ragged rhythm using my index finger. I was using his hand as my mouse in my sleep.

Must be my daily dose of Freaky Factory getting into my subconscious.

Magik!

I love magic. I love the people who do magic. I especially loved David Copperfield although people called him the Beast when he was going out with the Beauty (Claudia). How I love his stage charisma! His impossible tricks and high dramas.

That was so 80s and 90s. Now comes the latest trend in magic. Street magic. Just watched a couple of Cyril's on YouTube. He's now in a pilot together with a bunch of others called T.H.E.M. (Totally Hidden Extreme Magic). It's quite funny how they trick unsuspecting victims just like Candid Camera but using magic.

I wish... I wish I had the time and charisma and patience and... oh well, okay, looks like I don't really wish to be a magician. But aha! I can wish KS would take it up!

Man, I'm so glad for YouTube. And my boss actually asked me a couple of months ago when news on Google buying YouTube, "What is YouTube?". We're on such different planets.

Busy Again

Where does all the time go? These few days I feel like my life is exhibiting the meaning of being in a rat race. Why can't my body do with just 4 hours of sleep? Why doesn't my brain want to think of that piece of work that needs to be done?

Dang, it's only just reaching Tuesday. Looking forward to Friday already.

P/S: My aunt and uncle also went to watch An Inconvenient Truth. She thought it was a concert, which was why she went.

And I'll make a poor preacher on global warming. No one wants to listen when I start.

Crazy Queue

I'm just back from spending the weekend at PJ with my parents. It's been a weekend of tremendous stress for my family as we had to decide on something that will shift the axis of the world we as a family have been living in.

Sorry, I can't reveal much as my family wishes it to remain private within the immediate family for the time being. Will reveal more when permissible as a respect to my parents. Promise!

Anyways, today was a rather happening day for me because I bought my very first government shares! I queued from 8:30am even though the counters where scheduled to open at 9:30 and managed to get 1st spot for opening a new account. Even so, I only managed to get through at 11am as the systems were jammed.

It is well known that the shares are HOT property and many stories such as only the first 3 people in the queue would get it.

But what I learned today was that, if you want to buy ASM or ASW:
1. Fill up the form provided
2. Bring cash or your bank book if you have an account with the agent/bank
3. Photocopy your IC
4. Wear comfortable shoes
5. Take leave if you really really want it

I did neither of theses and only found out about the top three just 5 minutes before the doors opened so there was a flurry of panic for a while.

It was a great learning experience as to what it was all about and I had fun standing being first in line.

Stretchy Wool

For my dinner last week, I borrowed my colleague's lovely soft shawl to match my dress. Even though I didn't use it, it absorbed all the cigarette smoke in the room so I didn't want to return it as it was.

I insisted on taking it home to wash, which I did over the weekend. And discovered it was wool. And that you should NEVER put wool into the washing machine. That wool shrinks dramatically (in this case, 1/3 of original size). And the texture changes from soft to coarse. And that you can't iron wool if you hope it would help straighten it. And no amount of www.chacha.com with a guide can help you.

Stretching it the whole night only brought about uneven edges and well, it's no longer rectangular. Of course my colleague was sweet about it and refuses my offer to replace an exact one by not telling me where she got it. But I can see she's upset about it so my hunt for a similar shawl starts real soon.

Global Warming

I wish I could say my week was filled with loads of exciting things which would explain my week long absence. But other than church meetings, I finally managed to go see An Inconvenient Truth on Thursday at the KLPac. YTL gave away seats for 2 nights and I was one of the first hundred kiasu fellas to register for my 2 tickets.


My ticket, taken with my phone while waiting for KS.


The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac), Sentul. Beautiful place.

The first thought that struck me was, why the heck didn't Al Gore think of doing the movie much earlier? He's done his slideshow over a thousand times but he's only doing it one town at a time. This involves the whole world and the earth would have melted by the time he touched down to Malaysia.

Anyways, to me, the facts were unexpected but the urgency became more apparent. Now we're more conscious of the things we need to do (change our light bulbs, save electricity etc).

The frustrating thing was as we drove home to Klang, the smog greeted us as usual. And today at work, I tried to tell my colleagues about the show, I was met with rolling eyes, "Oh, the political Al Gore show". KS has heard someone call it "The natural disaster show".

Believe It Or Not

In the recent weeks, I've encountered two "prediction" methods which, as I attempt to describe, sounds and looks as bizarre as when you actually see it being conducted. Both need two people to conduct the tests.

1. Allergy Test
Person A is supposedly allergic to something, say pineapple.
Person B is the tester.

Person A stands, feet slightly apart with the right arm stretched out to the right while the left hand is left hanging at its side. Person B faces A, right hand on A's left shoulder and presses down A's outstretched arm. A is supposed to resist this force.

Now, Person A holds the allergic material (in this case, the pineapple) in the left hand and Person B repeats the step above, using the same force as before.

Apparently, if you ARE allergic to the substance, you will not be able to resist the force.

2. Gender and Quantity of your Future Kids (I KID YOU NOT!)
Take a strand of Person A's hair, string a gold ring and Person B is to hold the ends of the hair with the ring hanging free. Cupping A's left hand with palms facing upwards, B is to dip the ring three times just beside A's upturned left thumb. Then, B holds the ring above the open palm with a steady hand.

Now, if the ring sways up and down, A's first born will be a boy. If it swings left to right, it is a girl. After a bit, the ring will stop swinging and then continue again. Hold as long as you can to know how many kids you will have and what gender they will be.

Mine is said to be a boy followed by 2 girls.

Told ja it was bizarre!

Peeves

1. I hate it when I bring samples of what I think is one of the best pineapple tarts for my colleagues to try and they say things like, "if butter is used instead of margarine, it would taste better", "it's a bit too rich for me" or "I only like the crust". Yet they keep coming back for more without wanting to place their orders.

2. So a colleague who just recently got married is already pregnant and someone goes, "tsk, tsk... and you've been married how long again?". My response was a swift, "Say that again and I'll kick you upside down"

Missing In Action

Been away from the computer for the entire week. Stayed 2 nights over at PJ and had my in-laws over for one.

I went for an annual dinner held by my business partner. My CEO came along but I was spared from talking to him as I sat across of him, with a fairly large bouquet as a centerpiece. And for once, I didn't feel like an Ugly Betty neither did I feel like a Plain Jane. The difference? I washed and blew my hair straight for the evening and removed my glasses. Hahaha... I never knew that would make a difference! When I arrived with my colleague, my bosses didn't recognize me and thought she brought a friend. I'm rather tickled by that.

However, the photo we took that night didn't turn out well. So, sorry, no photos to share.