Itsy Bits of Nothing

I read in the papers when there was that earthquake in December that cut off our internet connection here in Malaysia that there was this local singer who was moaning about not being able to blog. He said he blogs every few minutes. I mean, who wants to read a blog that is updated every few minutes? And doesn't he have anything else better to do? He claims his fans would be so disappointed not being able to read his every thought.

Local news: today there is a by-election going on in this unknown town called Ijok. Over the past 2 weeks, the media has gone into frenzy just covering the amount of politicking that's going on there. Suddenly the mega big shots of the both parties make daily appearances. Roads are suddenly paved, everything is cleaned up within the few days. Promises of more schools, mosques and other public amenities are made even though the place was a dead town prior to this election. Mud slinging everywhere, parties throwing race into the picture, "Don't base your votes just because he's Indian or Malay". But then why bring the Malay big guns to anchor the votes of the majority Malays there then?

My eyes are open. News written on the local daily is horrendously biased: "Vote for A not because he is an Indian, he's a Malaysian. DON'T vote for B because he's a Malay". I've never been interested in politics but with great speculation of an upcoming general election, I'm becoming more alert.

Politics is always dirty. Now I really know and see.

New songs: Listening to this new guy called Mika. Very... different. I do like some songs. Some say he's a cross between Queen and George Michael (to which I strongly disagree! NO one sounds like George Michael!). To me, he sounds a bit more like Robbie Williams.

Frustration: It seems that no one bothers about saving paper in my office. Printing is blatant, 30cm tall piles of recycled paper get thrown into bins on a weekly basis. One colleague tried to argue with me "one piece doesn't make a difference". I went berserk and tore into him with such a tongue lashing that my adrenalin was pumping so hard.

One problem is also that we're not allowed to use recycled paper for printing or photocopying. We used to be able to use recycled paper for the fax machine but now, everything is consolidated into one big machine which only feeds on new paper. Even with thinner paper, it sometimes crumples in its rollers, wasting even more paper. So now I do my work writing on the back of used paper before shredding it which will then be used for packaging or further recycling.

24 Hours Home Alone

I've got 24 hours ALONE at home! The possibilities of doing everything that I want! Finish my Lord of the Rings, bake that brownie (or a chocolate cheese or carrot cake, I haven't decided), go on the internet until my eyes bleed, read a decent chunk of Thud! - Terry Pratchett... and I promised I would sweep the floor. Bugger...

Male, Female... Whatever

I know I've exhausted this topic but our cat... I think it's a she now. There are two male cats hanging around it for the last couple of days, and looks as though they are trying to woo it to mate. Unless the Ball-less One smells like a female, which can't be right either.

They fight all the time. Oh well, one fine day I will solve this. When I bring it to a vet. I hope she won't get preggers IF it's a she. But she hasn't been for over a year.

Musical Instruments

I was just making a mental list of all the musical instruments in my family and realise we probably had quite a lot of unusual ones which other families don't. So here goes:

1. Piano - we all took lessons
2. Organ - our pre-piano lessons instrument when we were toddlers
3. Recorder - we had to learn this in Primary school
4. Accordion - found it in our attic long ago
5. Ukulele - Dad used to woo Mum with this
6. Castanet - it was either this or a triangle but Ron assured me this was more fun
7. Fife - Ron's
8. Chinese Flute - Ron's
9. Piccolo - I played this in a band
10. Tambourine - Jan's, for church
11. Harmonica - we had so many but I don't know why we had them
12. Pianica - I played this in a band
13. Violin - Jan took lessons
14. Guitar - Grace wanted lessons but sold it off. Now Jan and I have one each. Mine's collecting dust.

Did I miss out any? I think it's quite rare to find an accordion and a ukulele these days. Am trying to urge my Dad to pick up playing it again since it's still at home in the storeroom.

Mid Week Pick-Me-Up

Some years ago, Ron introduced this singer by the name of Wing. She hails from Hong Kong and migrated to New Zealand more than a decade ago. The moment her producer heard her singing, he was amazed and thought her voice to be extremely unique.

This was what I remember from reading from her website back then. Ron then played some samples of her songs and … well, we nearly fell off the chair. She now has 13 albums out in the market.

http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/listen.html

My personal favourites are “I wanna hold your hand” from her 8^th CD: Beatles Classic by Wing and “Dancing Queen” from her 9^th CD: Dancing Queen by Wing. Just from the short clip, you will be able to hear and experience something out of this world. Should you feel depressed, a little sad or just want a pick-me-up, please listen to them.

I introduced her to my colleagues yesterday and was in tears after listening to the samples. One colleague calls me cruel.

But if you haven’t heard of her, I urge you to listen. It’s quite fast to load the samples. And tell me what you think.

Customer Care

This week I had the opportunity to speak to some of our top customers as we were giving away free tickets for a play. It's amazing how some people can be so ... incredible.

Some of them would say, "We are ONLY given 2 tickets ah? Can I have 2 more?" or "I hope you're giving me good seats, otherwise what's the point of giving them to me?".

One got quite bad and sneaky by tricking us into giving two pairs of expensive tickets. "You should give me because of my status (he's a doctor) and my good status as a customer". I have his address and want to go set rats on his compound. And wish wish wish I could say, "Do you need a tissue? You seem to have a little bit more bullshit on your lip"

I also had a job offer from another one. "Are you enjoying your job?" He owns a company that deals with MLM. Thank you but I think I'll pass on this one. Really.

The most interesting one was this guy, who got a little upset when I told him there wasn't a dress code. "What? How can you all organise such a thing? No dress code? That is such a disrespect for the show!"

I tried telling him it was probably because they wanted to appeal to the Malaysians who are a fussy lot when it comes to dressing up for a show. Why, I told him, I preferred to go to the orchestra for matinées rather than the evening shows which require formal gowns.

Then he solemnly told me, "But do you know, for matinées, they cut down on the songs they play?" I could only laugh at him. Sure, I can imagine the last time I went to watch Rach's 3rd and the pianist decided to cut out the 2nd movement just because it was a cheaper show.

Riddikulos! We ended up talking about how Green Peace people would go naked for the show.

Again, I am reminded that I will fail (or go mad!) should I ever go into Customer Servicing line.

Never Say Never

I always tell people that I hate wearing make-up and never go to work with more than lipstick, since I believe lipstick = make up.

But since I bought my tinted moisturizer, I have been using it on and off to work. I've become a bit more conscious of my freckles after:
1. Reading Karen's posting recently about her remembering my freckles on my nose and cheeks from younger days
2. Getting a comment from the Bobbi Brown sales girl who gave me a sample of their liquid foundation "because you have freckles" last month.

I didn't think much about it but something happened to me over this week. I was in the car on the way to work when I realised I forgot to bring my tinted moisturiser. There was a slight panic that coursed through me as I felt... naked. To make matters worse, I left my lip balm at work which meant I couldn't put on my lipstick before I reached the office. Meaning, I had to walk for 8 minutes, in public, bare.

Oh gawd... when did this feeling ever creep into my life? KS said soon I will want to cut my hair short, perm and dye it like an aunty.

But not to worry, towards the end of the week, I was back to my normal self, wearing only my lipstick if I had a meeting.

Phew.

Cakes Again

This month, I have baked 4 cakes, a surge from non-utilising the oven for several months now. 3 butter cakes, requested by my in-laws and last week, I tried out a new carrot cake recipe. It was really good! Quite worth the effort and arm ache after grating the carrots, breaking the walnuts etc. Yes, I'm quite lazy when it comes to doing all this little things.

Next week I have Thursday off. Hope to bake another carrot cake then!

Update on the Bomb

It was just a returned envelope, with white powder and a scribble on it "Hydrogen Bomb testing". Dang. And I thought it was a parcel, with at least a suspicious ticking sound.

And it didn't even make it to the news. Cheh...

100 Minutes

I've been watching my Lord of the Rings (original DVDs, courtesy of Ron) for the last week. Each session, I watch one disk, which is about 100 minutes and it takes me late into the night.

But I still love watching it. I just finished The Two Towers last night and can't wait to start on The Return of the King. And I haven't even watched the makings yet. So much to see, so little time!

Unfortunately, my TV set doesn't do it justice. You see, we hardly watch TV so we don't bother upgrading it. The screen is smaller than my computer screen.

Now, if I were to make this a yearly or once in 2 year affair of watching the trilogy, I think we have to start looking at investing in a bigger screen and better sound system. More shiok lah.