The Year in Review

It has come to the final day of 2005. And I must say that overall, this has been a wonderful year for me. It has been a year of discovery, joy and laughter. And I hope 2006 will be all the better. Insya-Allah.

Family
I have come to appreciate my family more, and make time to be with them despite my busy life. Really love my nieces and get along better with my bro and sis now. Can afford to spoil Abah a little more, and starting to get much closer to my relatives in KL and Singapore. At some point, you stop being someone's little girl and start to emerge as an individual. I find myself wishing I could share this wonderful family with someone... Honestly, I do.

Home
Owning a home means you don't pay rent, but maintenance is a headache sometimes. There are legal stuff that needs to be taken care of, as well as problems that need to be fixed. Unfortunately, that means money, and I'm the landlord... Used to want an apartment, but have become attached to my house now, leaky roof and all. It's a little too big for 2 people, am trying to rent out 3rd bedroom. Would be a great place for kids, if only I had some. Trying not to dwell on that too much though. My pets can be enough of a handful, at times. Had to lose Jack, but Pseudo is a wonderful substitute. Hope to share the house with a significant other, if anyone is willing to suffer the ancient abode, that is!

Love & Life
OK, I didn't score very high on the love bit, but life was extremely satisfying.

Being in Tekad Selangor was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. The Tekadmons are a wonderful bunch, especially the D3katians, Ilham team, UTP Roadshow gang, beach cleanup team and Teratak team who have been a constant source of joy and inspiration. And we welcome Noreen to the fold, as well as many others. You know who you are, and thank you for enriching my life. (I dare not list everyone out, I might just miss a few names and spoil the joy.)

I have grown closer to a few of my old friends - namely Chris, Loretta, Nisha, Yumiko & Santiago. And also to a few MNS branch & bird group committee members. I have rather drifted away from my WWF pals, but closer to a few canoe team members. Esp P, who has been sweet enough to accompany me every so often. Thanks for being such a sport, dear. You're good company :-)

Work
It was great when Teck Wyn offered me a contract in December, after freelancing for almost half a year. RESCU was something like a holiday - it's called the "Seven Day Weekend". The concept of letting people work wherever and whenever they did best is practiced in Semco, I really enjoyed the freedom. Unfortunately, contract was ending in January, but miraculously got a job offer by mid- November, so I negotiated for early release. Have to work fast in the current economic situation, can't afford to be jobless now!! CETDEM is boot camp in comparison; I had to re-learn about discipline. No joke, I even dreamt of being in boot camp last night!! But all in all, boss has heart in the right place, and it fits into my plans, so won't complain overly much. Am still associated with RESCU, and any jobs I do would mean extra $$, which is sorely needed since I am an independent adult with bills to pay.

Hopes for the New Year
I'm looking forward to a successful year at work, hope I manage to fulfil my obligations to the organisation; the environmental world is too small to screw up in... Hope to pay off most of my pressing loans and make enough money on the side to pay for a few luxuries.

I hope the MNS dinner I'm organising would be a success, and I leave a good impression behind when I resign mid year. Hoping that people would be more environmentally conscious, reduce waste and leave the world a better place for our children.

Hoping to have more fun with the Tekad gang, and Tekad Pahang goes on as planned. Wishing good things to the TKK boys and the TKK team. Ditto to the Ilham boys and team.

Last but not least, i hope each and every one of us finds what we are looking for, be it love, wealth or success.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

I miss my lappie...

Well, technically I shouldn't. It's being fixed, and hopefully it'll come back working properly (at last). But I have a dinner to organise, and there are some articles I need to read, and contacts that I don't have in sister's computer. Add trying to stay on boss' good side by not making personal calls during office hours and using dialup on sister's old PC with a cranky mouse... I'm tired!! It's so difficult to be good. Wonder how everyone else does it. Sigh. Me spoilt brat. Sabar ajelah.

Lalala...

Had a very social weekend and today vegetated at home.

Worked Saturday, went home to prepare whatever, then picked up Sali and went over to Aizan's for Tekad BBQ. P also came over and met us there. Simply said, it was great fun! There was plenty of good food and great company. Even Yuz came over all the way from Kerteh with his lovely tunang Noreen. The tukar2 hadiah session after dinner was fun and it was nice to meet some of the Tekad Perak gang. The "mistletoe" was unfortunately underutilized. Ziyad was sitting under it the whole time and still nothing happened... No further comment. Hazami stopped by for a bit and was made to "sing for his supper" by singing the Birthday song for Eyeda as well as serving the cake. Too bad it wasn't Anuar Zain, eh Eyeda? ;-D As usual, we played games afterwards; the crazier, the better. The most noise was made by those playing Uno Stacko and Azam was probably the most "bullied" contestant. But he rose to the occasion and successfully met the challenges until he "kantul" at the last round. Heh heh. Good try, bro. Tabik spring... It seemed to me Chaain't and Naz kena belasah by the wee kids playing Boggle. Betul ke, Naz? I played one round of Pictionary before calling it a night. Some people spent all the time dissecting various issues at the dining table. Oh well, as long as you enjoyed yourself... Sayang most D3Katians couldn't make it. Hope they can come to my place on Raya Haji. Mark the date, peeps. Would love to see everyone there.

Sunday = Christmas Day. First, sent lappie over to Ipol to fix. Then went to cousin's daughter's wedding in Sg Penchala. On to Cindy & Teck Wyn's in Ampang. And finally to Steven & Salmiah's in Kota Kemuning. Was impressed by wedding tent decor, food and hantaran. Coming from moi, who never bothered about such nonsense, means its REALLY good. Or just to my taste. Maybe. In any case, Fiza got interested when I showed her the photos. Ni kena nego for percent from my cousin nih... :D Cindy's place was nice, with a view of the forest. We managed to do some birdwatching and chatted quite a bit before I really had to leave. The party at Steven's was unfortunately very quiet, unlike the previous years. I fell asleep in the midst of "Madagascar". Just as we were leaving, the car alarm went off and I had difficulty switching it off... Darn. Have to do something about the cranky remote.

Today, feeling spent, just lazed around the house doing bits of chores here and there. Had to force myself even to go grocery shopping. Found that Ipol & Chey's Mom kena denggi and had to be hospitalised. Hope she gets well soon. Unfortunately, that also meant that my lappie is stuck with Ipol until he could find time to finish the work la. Hope it's not too much trouble for him with his Mom sick and all that... And hope I won't need any files I didn't copy to my thumbdrive as well. Still need to organise a few MNS things. Shoot. By mid next year - no more of these nonsense. Will stay home and organise my own life instead. Cheers, peeps. See you all again soon!!

Below The Surface

I’m not normally a clock watcher, but today seems to be interminably LONG!!! Urgh. Everything annoys me, boss is also grumpy... I seem to be surrounded by prickly, domineering men at work, and I have no choice but to play nice with them. Shoot. Imagine me, playing the docile female, saying things in a saccharine sweet voice when I really feel like strangling the guys for being so prickly over nothing.

Boss seems to think that no one deserves to have a life during office hours. It’s ridiculous the way I have to run outside to discreetly pick up a call. Even the few meagre important calls that I accept during office hours are commented as “being on the phone a lot”. It’s not as if I chat with my (yet non-existent) boyfriend for hours on end, totally ignoring my work. Ergh... Trust people a little la. To cope, I have learnt to say “Yes,Sir.” in a meek voice while mentally rolling my eyes and singing “Lalala….” Sabaaaaarrrr ajelah… :-p

But then, he is a genuinely nice guy really, underneath the gruff demeanor. Don't expect charm from this old man. What you see is what you get :-D Since I DO like the job, and in order to keep it, I have to berlakon a bit la. Am trying hard to get along with project partner, even if sometimes I feel like ayam trying to carry on a conversation with itik. Find that treating him like Mr Big helps smooth things along.

Eeps, imagine if my "Sweet and Gentle" act becomes permanent... Would it help me snag a guy? Maybe I should consider changing before its too late...

Miracles DO Happen...

Small problems are sometimes the most annoying.

The hose in my loo was dripping continuously. No amount of plumbing tape could stem the flow. A small bucket was soon filled to the brim. Closer inspection found that the connection to the spray head had cracked. Great. It's not so much the amount of water which was wasted, the price of the precious commodity is negligible. But the constant flow was causing my tiles to yellow at an alarming rate. It's hard enough to keep the house presentable without these things causing further damage...

Spent time after lunch browsing the hardware store nearby to find a solution. Unfortunately, connections are not sold separately. I would need to buy whole sets to replace the faulty one. Trying to stay in control of my expenses, settled for a pack of washers as a stopgap measure until I could buy the new hose.

Back home, I tried adding a washer to the existing one. Surprise, surprise... the dripping completely stopped! I was so relieved. I didn't need to spend much money after all. A 33.33 cents washer fixed the problem. Hurray!!

So... wonder if there are any miracle solutions to MY problems... Sigh. If only there were... :-)

On the Contrary...

Sometimes I despair of ever clearing up my blasted list of things to do. Having too much to do and no energy to get it done is a sure fire way into the vicious cycle. You feel stressed from having so many things to do and feel even more stressed when nothing gets done because you're too tired thinking of the number of things that need to get done to actually get off your butt and do it. You with me so far?

So what can we do?

I found one solution. Once in a while, ignore the cardinal rule of "finish first, rest later". Simply because sometimes, you just can't finish in time to get any kind of rest. So rest first.

Now, don't do it all the time. Otherwise you'd never get anything done. But once in a while, just say, "Sod work" and make time for a breather. Take a soak in your tub, cuddle with a loved one, or just go to bed early. You'd be surprised how easy it is to carry on with the chores afterwards.

Don't believe me? Give it a try! :-)

Oh Goodness Me!!

Had a full and enjoyable weekend, for once.

Friday night was spent lazing at home. For once, any work was banned. That was sooo good...

Saturday was spent lazing around too, since i failed to get ANY tickets to watch Harry Potter. We took the day off since we failed to observe the Selangor state holiday on Monday. At night went to aunt's place in Selayang to say hello to Singapore cousin. As usual, we went into gales of laughter with our silly ideas. It started with "smart" clothes-lines that would retract when it starts to rain, to awnings that can be controlled remotely by phone. It evolved to the "laundry folding machine"which would have everything programmed. It would know how to fold different items of clothing like underwear and shirts. It will also recognise what belonged to whom, so perhaps the clothes will need to be bar-coded... It goes on and on, I almost died laughing! :-) Would have loved to stay over, but had to start early the next morning.

Sunday was MNS (the Malaysian Nature Society) jumble sale day. Nak tak nak, had to come and help out. Darn, I am so stepping down from the committee next year. Tak larat. Spent the day enticing people to sign up for the Annual Dinner. In between, talked to friends and looked for bargains. In true MNS (Makan Non-Stop) fashion, I ate all day, and yet the food sellers still complained they didn't make much. Will not list them down here, too malufying. In the end, went home with free ice-cream and lots of stuff. Ice-cream would be great at our annual Christmas party at Steven's.

Was happy I got quite a lot of bargains at the sale. I bought:-
- 6 National Geographic mags for RM5
- 2 Travel mags at RM1 each
- A Delinsky novel for RM3
- A set of UNO stacko for RM5
- Bath salts for RM5
- A pack of fossils for Ah Tshen at RM1
- Thermometer thrown in for free

Went back and took a nap. Cleaners never turned up, so went back to sleep. Woke up and went over to Loretta's for Chris' earliated birthday party. His b'day is on Tuesday and next week is already Christmas, so we celebrated a bit earlier la. Watched bits of Monty Python "The Meaning of Life" and then left. I have no idea where the time went, but it's now midnight. Sigh. Work again tomorrow.

Good night, guys. Have a great week ahead :-)

Beware of What???

Why? Is it going to come alive and bite me??

The Simple Pleasures in Life

Nisha once told me, "You're such a simple girl. It doesn't take much to make you happy, does it?"

I guess I'll have to agree.

A quiet night, a simple spread, and the company of a dear friend. Bliss. :-)

Speechless…

I didn’t have time to blog, and once I did, I just can’t talk about what happened. I’m upset, and tired and disappointed. I need my weekend…

I wanna stay home!!!

I can’t remember when I last worked so diligently. Shows what a frightfully spoilt brat I had become at RESCU. Not that I didn’t work, mind. But there was this flexibility thing, so if I was already late, I might as well just skip going to the office altogether and work at home. As long as the work gets done, anything goes. And it was positively AGES since I ever worked Saturdays. God, let Gurmit decide to grant us alternate Saturdays off, please.

Anyway, was busy the whole week and kind of wanted to let the hair down on Friday, (that’s tonight). Unfortunately, preferred social escort had to off far, far away for work, so I ended up in the company of a book. Won’t tell the title, but it makes me cry. Blush… So have to finish it tonight and bring something else for the weekend. Michael Connelly, perhaps. He’s a great writer. And no danger of turning on the waterworks with his detective mysteries.

I’ll be outstation for the weekend; would be stuck in some resort when I’d rather stay home and take care of the chores. Paid someone to cut the grass this afternoon and managed to trim the bougains while he was at it. Made sure he earned the money, so at least my garden is neat again. Perhaps will get cleaners in next week so I won’t scare off any prospective mothers-in-law with the rundown state of my home. Have a long list of things to fix too. I so wish I had a live in handyman…

Been wanting some company and Risq will be in KL the very weekend I’m anywhere near his place. But then, he needs to see his beloved princess, so I won’t grudge him the weekend away. Partner is planning to dump me at the Seremban commuter stn so he could go to some friend’s do on Sunday. Darn it. I need a good storybook to pass the time on the ride back to town. Maybe mi amigo will be free for a chapatti when I arrive in KL Sentral that afternoon. Otherwise, pray the girls would be available for a coffee Sunday night. Sigh. Since when did meeting up become such a big exercise in coordination?

Still need to pack for tomorrow and hang the clothes. Darn. Need to fix the dryer. Bit tricky drying clothes in the rainy season. Will put it on my TO DO list. More money to spend. Dad’s phone is dying too. Trying to decide if I should spoil old man and buy him a new one. Oh no! Forgot to check if MY money had been credited into account. Oh well, will get to it tomorrow. At least computer runs well now after reinstalling.

Good night, guys. Have a good weekend!!

Frust…

I know it’s just one of those days, but it’s so ANNOYING!!! As if PMS and a long day at work and meetings wasn’t bad enough, I tried to pay my car loan and ended up with more trouble.

Got some cash out from Maybank to pay up my bills; then went next door to pay at Ambank. For some reason, the CDM there refused to process my account, so I had to put the money back into my current account so that I can write a cheque for the amount. That was leceh enough, take the money out, then less than 30 minutes later, put it back in. As I was going thru the usual drill, suddenly the machine jams, spews up my card and shuts down. I was halfway through, there was no receipt and my precious RM700 was stuck in the CDM slot. Wonderful… Tried calling customer service and got endless recordings. Went off and got stuck in Uptown traffic pulak. Those blasted illegal hawkers are such a mega pain in the ass.

Got home and continued calling on the house phone. It took me almost two hours to get hold of a human customer service officer. By this time I had already decided the bank was a big fat bloody liar. I tried almost all the options offered and all I got was more and more recordings. “Our customer service officers are busy” my foot! They barely had ANY on duty. Not even for the lost ATM card option. Horrible! Even SBB has better customer service than this bloated ass of a bank. And the guy I spoke to tried to “assure” me my money was safe and all I had to do was call them in the morning. Hah! YOU try sleeping without making a report about the incident. I had to insist on him noting down my account number. I’m hardly a pessimist, but isn’t it normal to attempt some kind of crisis management before calling it a night?

All in all, I wasn’t so upset about the machine’s “mechanical failure” as to the bank’s failure to provide adequate customer service. Their CDMs fail on a regular basis, yet emergency services are almost non-existent. And I find their customer service to be ABYSMAL. Unhelpful and patronizing. Honestly, I like their Internet banking and most services, but their staff and CRM sucks big time.

Dammit. My money had better be in my account by morning…

Temper, Temper...

Have been having problems everytime I connect to the internet - the whole damn taskbar freezes up; OE, Outlook and IE takes forever and ever before it breaks free and opens up. Can get to webpages by typing in address in folder address bars. Favourites pun jam jugak. It's so bloody annoying!! Please, anyone knows what I can do??? I'm thinking of replacing Norton with PCCillin, at the risk of worms and/ or trojans/ spyware/ viruses etc all the stupid things those buggers created infiltrating the computer again. Damn. I wish I had the ATEC back... I never had these problems with the AMD processor.

Tired old hag...

This hag is tired with a capital T. Or maybe I'm just "unzoned"... Been eating all kinds of convenient rubbish lately. Too lazy to cook proper food...

Went down to BP on Sunday, did work on Monday, then drove back. Went to get modem from C and almost forgot to pay him. Went home and conked out. Had something at Renaissance today. Balik, rush, rush, pergi bird group meeting lak. Aiyoo...

Besok malam will be Comm meeting. My dinner updates tak buat lagi. My house is disgustingly ugly. I'm so going to hire cleaners to come on weekends!! I need to scan and fax over my IC and Abah's for Streamyx application. Trouble is, old man promised to stop by but never showed up!! Haiyaa... In any case, will be away during the weekend for outstation work pulak.

I can't believe I didn't find time to watch Chicken Little, or Corpse Bride or Harry Potter. Nak ajak kawan, semua orang dah tengok, agaknya. Susah sangat karang gi tengok sorang2 pulak. Hrmm... if I can find time to go lah... Oh well... I'll manage somehow, I guess.

Had a great "girls' night out" with Aizan, Sali, Zura & Inas tonight. We went to Bora Ombak which was suggested by Aizan. It turned out to be a very nice restaurant with Balinese style gardens, huts and setting. Really, really nice ambience! Check it out, mates.

Just get yourself to Ampang Point, enter at De Palma, then turn right at the T junction. Take the next right further up and enter the Kompleks Sukan area. The reataurant shares space with the Kompleks Sukan, so the girls have the option to "cuci mata" at the adjoining futsal courts as well. *wink*wink*

Food was GOOD... We ate so much! Good things there weren't any males in attendance, otherwise would have really cramped our style :D Gluttony and ladylike demureness do not go well together... I'll probably have to either diet the next few days, or swim the excess off, but it was soo well worth it. Sigh. Very romantic setting too. Definitely will be a next time, insya-Allah.