No Internet Access & Lack of Humanity

I've not been having access to the Internet due to this, for, what, a day, and I'm already suffering from Internet withdrawal symptoms. My computer's (almost) my life, and now, I don't know what to do with all the free time in between! I could do some reading, of course, or catch up on real life, as they call it. Yet ... there's this void that only the Internet can fill. Something about a constant connection to the outside world, perhaps?

Sigh. And yet ...

I just realised, that ever since the earthquake in Taiwan disrupted our Internet access, everyone's only complaining about lack of Internet access, blaming it on streamyx, etc. But no one's actually thought of the earthquake victims who lost everything to the disaster. Here we are, grumbling pettily that we have lost our Internet access ("Oh no! No online gaming for a day! How will I live?!"), when there are people out there who suffered a lot more. What has happened to humanity? When have we become that oblivious and selfish, that we are all we think about?

Having said all that ... yep, it's definitely time I move away from the computer for a bit, give my eyes their much-needed rest, and breathe some fresh air for a change. Hope that all is well in Taiwan.

My Christmassy Events

• 9th secondary school reunion on the 23rd. Had such a fantabulous time, and I got to meet up with old friends, some of whom I've not seen in 9 years! Where has the time gone, huh? Couldn't booze up as I'd like, 'cos I was the designated driver. Shucks. Anyways, May's back from Australia, Chin's back from the US, and it was really good catching up with 'em. Chin, thanks so much for the very lovely gift (a Coach keyring, 'cos she knows how much I love Coach. It's the real deal, people!), I loved it.

• Christmas service (well, a day earlier anyways) on the 24th. For some reason, I did NOT enjoy it, because we only sang ONE Christmas song (Joy to the World) during the entire service! By the way, the song, God Sent His Son, is a dirge, no matter what people say.

• Went shopping with the family after Christmas service. Mum bought me MAC foundation for Christmas. A very useful gift indeed, as mine's about to finish.

• Had our annual Christmas BBQ at home. Brother brought along his girlfriend, and a couple of friends. I was in my room on the computer with the boyfriend for a bit, before streamyx died on me. Drats. Anyways, great BBQ; Mum made mean pork chops.

• Christmas lunch, as usual, at the Penang Swimming Club. Seriously, I think we only go there every year 'cos the food's cheap (and not that good either). Mum wants it to be an annual tradition at the club. o_O

All in all, it was a really good Christmas this year. Didn't get many presents this year, but the company of family and friends was really heartwarming (this year's school reunion was the best!). Too bad the boyfriend couldn't be back for Christmas this year. That would have been the icing on the cake. Still, celebrating it online wasn't too bad. Your rendition of White Christmas rocked, babes ;) (I wasn't laughing AT you, by the way ... tee hee hee!)

Thanks for all the text messages of greetings and well wishes. A blessed Christmas to y'all too. And here's to a wonderful 2007 *cheers*

Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to see the world through the eyes of love. It's a time to remember that the world is made up of people like us, and to see them for who they are inside. All have problems like we do, no matter who they are or where they come from.

Christmas is the season of love because God is the God of love.

I'd like to share a Christmas song which is very dear to my heart.

As little children we would dream of Christmas morn
Of all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find
But we never realized a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

*We were the reason that He gave His life
We were the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

As the years went by we learned more about gifts
The giving of ourselves and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day a man hung crying in the rain
All because of love
All because of love

I finally found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him (every part to Him)
And all that I do every word that I say (you know I’ll be saying)
I’ll be giving my all just for Him, for Him (every thing for Him)

We are the reason that He gave His life
We are the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give (all that he could give all)
To show us the reason to live

He is the reason to live
(don’t you know do you know the reason
that he came, oh he came to save us
when he gave his life for us) he suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave everything (everything that He had He gave)
To show us the reason to live

A blessed Christmas to all.

Christmas Shopping for ME

Took half a day off work yesterday. I make it a point to try taking half a day off work once a month or so, to just unwind from the office. I can't do this too often though, as I need to save my annual leave for special occasions.

Anyhoos, coincidentally, Hester also took half a day off to settle her wedding stuff. In the end, we went out together to the newly-opened Queensbay Mall to shop for the stuff she needed for the wedding. I didn't come home empty-handed. A few books from Borders (3 for 2; I'm so glad they do this here, and not just the UK and Australia), makeup from Elianto (a lot of Korean makeup lines coming up, which aren't too bad. Quite cheap too), lingerie from La Senza (I lurve this shop; too bad they're pretty expensive), and other bits and pieces.

We ended the afternoon of shopping with a bit of frozen yogurt at New Zealand Natural. We had a good 20% discount, courtesy of the vouchers cousin Bea gave me when she was in Penang. It wasn't too bad; the low-fat ice-cream which she recommended were sold out though. Shows how popular they are, eh?

After the last couple of weeks of Christmas shopping for my family and friends, this time, I call it Christmas shopping for ME. Retail therapy's fantastic, y'know ;)

PS: They're playing Christmas songs over the PA system at the office, just before breaking to the 3-day weekend. Whee.

Learn A Bit Of Tact, People!

At a recent interview,

HR lady: So, tell us a little more about yourself.

Interviewee: (nervously) I'm 23 years old, from KL. I recently graduated from MMU.

HR lady: How many members are there in your family?

Interviewee: Three. My father, younger brother and I. My mother passed away when I was very young.

HR lady: How old were you when she passed away?

Interviewee: I was four.

HR lady: How did she die?

Interviewee: Umm ... I don't know. It happened a long time ago.

HR lady: (incredulously) Huh? You mean you don't know how your mother died?

Interviewee: (uncomfortably) Umm ... she died of a fever.

HR lady: (disbelievingly) Fever? She DIED of a fever??

Interviewee: It was high fever, I think.

HR lady: (raising one eyebrow) Ohhh ... so she DIED of a high fever lah?

Interviewee: (very uncomfortable now) Yeah. She was already sick when she was pregnant.

Hr lady: Oh okay (writing it down casually). Let's move on.

...

I attended this interview. Thank God, I wasn't in the interviewee's shoes (I was interviewing for an extra member in my team). He looked so uncomfortable, shifting in his seat, trying to explain to our company's personnel on HOW his mother died.

First of all, who the hell asks such a question in an interview?! Hello, do you even understand the meaning of tact?! How is this even relevant to the interview? Go ahead, ask a few simple questions to break the ice or something; I mean, hey, it's a job interview, the interviewee's bound to be nervous, even more so if he/she's newly graduated from university. But to probe deep into cause of death of a parent, when it's not even any of our business to know ... now that's just wrong. It's highly insensitive, and if we were in the States right now, we'd get our asses sued for harassment and emotional trauma. The death of a parent is already traumatic enough, without having to have the memories brought up again, and worst of all, ridiculed.

Geez. The sort of tactless people we face day to day. Just makes you wanna smack 'em upside down. I'm conducting another interview on Friday. If she does this again (she asked insensitive questions again, in a separate interview), I'm telling her off there and then. I really don't give two hoots if she gets angry. She can jolly well kiss my ass when I lodge a formal complaint against her to HER boss.

Sweet Jazz

Currently listening to Swingtime on Lite FM. Feeling very hmmm at the moment. I just love swing and jazz, which, unfortunately, not many people appreciate. These days are just teenybopper pop, hardcore rock, garage (okay, what the heck IS that?!), techno (which, in my honest opinion, is simply music for aerobics and nothing more), etc. The lovely oldies are simply forgotten, and jazz is all hoolabaloo. What a pity, huh?

Dim the lights, light some candles, put on some soft jazz, and ... well, you fill in the blanks. Certainly a great mood-starter, no?

And who knows? You might actually start to enjoy the music on its own after all *wink*.

Bad, Bad Facial

So my facialist totally ripped me off today. I didn't know that it was my last session with her, and after she reminded me, she bugged me so many times about continuing my facials with her, I tried being real vague, real dodgy of her questions. Which resulted in the lady kept whacking me with her roll of papers she was holding in her hand!

"Are you [whack] continuing or not? [whack] Continue lah [whack]."

She did this a few times, before I really couldn't take it anymore (the facial was already about to start; I was already lying on the bed, with the ugly headband on and everything), and I told her I'd like to try someplace new. And I was really nice about it too, without even complaining how shoddy her services have been lately.

"Aiyo [whack], why you don't want to continue? [whack] You don't want to take care of your face already meh? [whack] Why don't want to continue? [whack] Continue lah [whack] !!"

WTF, right?

Well, ladies, a lesson to be learnt. NEVER tell your facialist you don't want to continue on with her till AFTER your final facial with her, or she'll do a completely sloppy job for you. Of course, I wouldn't say this for all beauticians, but mine was just over the top. What used to be 2++ hours (sometimes even 3) of facial was reduced to an hour and 15 minutes. She did NOT do the blackhead extraction on my nose, neither did she do a good job on my eyebrows (I still have a lot of stray hairs around the eyes).

I left the place feeling unsatisfied, and ripped off. I could have told her off, since I wasn't going to come back anyway, but I thought I'd be nice and leave on a good note. I made a mistake telling my parents how it went when I got home, because I got mocked big time for being stupid anyway. What's that thing about karma now? Oh yeah, be nice and you're screwed.

Argh. And you know what the funny thing about this unscrupulous business was? The facialist goes to the same church as I do!

#@$%!!

PS: On a lighter note, I got all my Christmas shopping done today, so yay!

Bloody Blogger Beta

Dear friends who are currently using Blogger Beta,

I'm currently having problems placing comments in your blogs. I kept getting this error message everytime I tried posting a comment:

I'm not on Blogger Beta (and has no intention of ever switching to one, because it's a real pain in the ass). I tried so many times to comment on your blogs, but to no avail. Nope, I don't think it was a wrong-password problem; I even tried typing my password REALLY slowly. I have no problems with the classic Blogger. Is anybody else having this problem?

Bugger :(

A Nerd, That's Me!

The other day my colleague and I were discussing on current mobile phones in the market, and also the different features available on the phones. We started debating on screen resolutions, types of image sensors used, etc.

Colleague: How do you even know all these?

Me: Err ... 'cos I'm interested in 'em? What's wrong with that?

Colleague: I can't even talk about things like these to my girlfriend. She has absolutely no interest in such things whatsover. I wish she was more like you.

Me: ??

Okay. Was that a compliment, or did he just call me a nerd? Can't help it if I love electronic gadgets; the shiny metal, the fancy buttons, the gorgeous screens ... if you leave me at Akihabara, I'd die, because there's no way I can survive that place without bringing home something shiny (and you know it's going to cost ya big). I'm always glued to my notebook; I feel naked without it (same goes for my mobile phone). I need to be constantly connected to the Internet; that was the reason I bought my Nokia N80 (bloody expensive brick, I'd say).

Yet, I love the pretty, girly stuff, like shoes and bags. I have 10 different tubes of nail polish, bagful of cosmetics which I regularly use, about 20 pairs of shoes, and a gazillion bags in my wardrobe (major shoe-and-bag-whore, that's me). Scary, I know. I'm fast running out of space to keep 'em.

Anyhoos.

There ya go. More nerd than anything else. A woman of the noughties, surely.

Acting Smarter Than You Are

May sent me this today, and I thought, man, this is great weaseling (which we practise and aim to perfect at the office). The article's by Dilbert's Scott Adams, oh hailed father of weaseling.

People have often told me that I seem smarter than I really am. I accept the compliment. As you know, appearances are more important than substance. And so, because I love you, I will teach you some tricks for appearing smarter than you are. Believe me, it comes in handy.

First, and this cannot be over-emphasized, you need to wear corrective lenses even if your eyesight is perfect. Spectacles add ten imaginary points to your I.Q. You’ll be amazed at how many people stop you on the street to ask tax questions. That’s been happening to me since fourth grade. I’ll always wonder how many people went to jail because of my advice on offshore tax shelters.

You might think that corrective lenses are unattractive, but what you don’t know is that there are quite a few people who have major fetishes for brainy people. It’s probably some sort of evolution thing. You probably think Stephen Hawking is in that wheelchair because of a motor neuron disease. But if you got as much barely-legal student poontang as The Hawkster, you’d be in a wheelchair too. And for the women reading this, I’ve noticed that Tina Fey isn’t walking too straight lately either. If you ladies want more action, get glasses.

I used to think that the glasses-wearing geek was just a stereotype perpetuated by, um, me, until I gave a speech at M.I.T. About 80% of the audience wore spectacles. I assume that the other 20% wore contacts. That is not a coincidence. People who have bad eyesight are smarter than average and everyone knows it. What everyone WON’T know is that you bought your glasses at the Halloween Superstore.

Second, you must learn to stop talking so much. Talking is the surest way to inadvertently showcase profound ignorance. If the conversation turns toward the political unrest in the Chechen Republic, that’s a good time to ask if anyone needs a drink. People won’t know if you’re escaping the discussion because you know nothing about politics or if you’re just so tired of arguing about the 1999 attack on Dagestan. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

It’s also good to know a few brainy words that only appear in high-end publications. The two words you need most are zeitgeist and eponymous. I try to drop one of those two intellectual turds into conversations as often as possible. If you use those words with confidence, people will naturally assume you know lots of other big words. If someone responds with big words of his own, that’s the time to stop talking entirely and do a lot of nodding and smiling. This leads me to my next tip.

It’s important to agree with people if you want them to think you are a genius. For most people, the definition of smart is “Thinks exactly like me but even more so.” If you think that disagreeing and offering excellent reasons for your thinking will change anyone’s mind, you might be new on this planet. The best outcome you can expect from any conversation is that the other person will walk away thinking you’re probably the CEO of something, assuming you also seem selfish, egocentric and unethical.

You can round out your artificial sense of smartness by becoming a fake wine expert. I have a wine-loving friend who taught me how to bluff my way through any discussion of wine. The trick is to learn a lot about a few types of wine and steer the conversation toward the few things you actually know. If you combine that with acting interested when other people blab about wine that you will never, ever, ever taste, you look like a world-traveling gourmand.

Oh, and add “gourmand” to zeitgeist and eponymous. If you learn to use all three words in a sentence, before long you’ll need your own wheelchair and voice synthesizer.

Let's see, I've got people 'up there' whose brains are size and use of barnacles, and enthusiasm of an old granny who has lost the will to live. Oh yeah, I'm so there.

Wedding Thingies

For the past 6 months or so, I've been helping a girlfriend, Hester, plan her wedding. I've been closely involved in 3 weddings for the past couple of years (twice a wedding singer, and the other a bridesmaid), and could help her with what knowledge I managed to amass from those weddings.

As Hester's wedding drew near, naturally, she became even more jittery, and now, all of us girls at the office are going full-force in helping her come up with the wedding day schedule, cutting of confetti, etc. Looking at everyone helping her and all, makes me hope that I'd have such helpful friends when the time comes for my wedding. It sure took the edge off Hester, that's for sure.

Anyways, lots more to do. Have yet to practise the song which I'm going to sing at her wedding ceremony (geez, I hope that saying "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" does NOT apply to wedding singers!), finish her wedding slides, help her get some stuff for the wedding, etc etc. My procastinating nature does not help at all. ARGH.

Reminder to self - ELOPE.

So Christmas Is Coming

Just checked my calendar, boy, am I having a busy month or what? All my weekends are full; I have a girlfriend's hen night to attend this weekend (organised it and everything too, with party favours, and stuff), a beauty salon's opening ceremony (only for the freebies, dahlinks), luncheons, whole lotta meetings, and a high school reunion for the rest of the month. AND this does not even include Christmas shopping.

I just love Christmas, don't you? Especially the shopping. For some reason, I get a warm and fuzzy feeling everytime I give someone a present. Like they said, 'tis better to give than to receive', right? However, this year, the presents are going to be a tad cheaper, as I'm so broke right now, it's not even funny. Sure, there's always the year-end bonus and stuff, but that's going straight into my savings account, so yeah, I won't be able to buy much presents this year.

Still, Christmas is going to be great this year. I can feel it in my bones. I've had a pretty lousy one last year, and the worst new year's eve possible, but this year ... it's different. For the first time in a long while, I'm finally happy again. I'm finally able to move on, take control of my life and to be myself again. Life could not be better.

My Christmas wish? For the boyfriend to be here during the holiday season. Unfortunately, he's not able to come back during this time, so I guess we'd have to settle on ... err ... celebrating it online. Singing carols over the webcam, anyone? Tee hee hee. There's always the annual Christmas BBQ with the family, which is going to be great, when Mum finally makes her absolutely fabulous spicy squid and pineapple prawn kebabs (we only get to have that once a year. Tsk tsk tsk).

What's your Christmas wish this year?

The Empress, Am I

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

French Manicure

It was a good weekend of manis and pedis. Had a pedicure at a nail salon, and did my very first French manicure, all on my own, WITHOUT nail guides (I used Sally Hansen's French Manicure Kit). It was quite a feat, painting the white stripes on my right hand, using my left (I'm a rightie). Took me 3 to 4 tries on each finger before I actually got it right. Sorry, no photos to show as I obviously can't take a photo of both my hands by myself, and I was too embarrassed to ask anyone else to do so. Anyhoos, I find French manis very clean, and definitely very chic. For those who have never had a French manicure (or am I just hopping onto this train now?!), I'd recommend you give it a go.

Beautiful Down Under

Note: My longest post by far, with lots of photos and words. As you can imagine, it took me a very long time to come up with it, as I had to pick my brains to remember the names of the places we went to. This post is also dedicated to the boyfriend (read on, and you'll see why), whom I'm missing very much.


October 20
-------------
Arrived in Melbourne with much anticipation, for I had not seen the boyfriend in over a month. And he was late! Well, only about 5 minutes (he had to park the car), but I was kinda expecting someone to be actually waiting for me, rather than the other way round (sorry babes, I couldn't resist :-p). Anyways, it was so good to meet up once again, and we went for a light supper before heading to his place. He was so sweet; he surprised me with a box of a dozen long-stemmed pink roses (which also came with a bag, a small box of Lindt chocs, aromatherapy oils, and a small sachet of potpourri), waiting for me on the bed.

Awww ... ain't that purdy? Thanks babes! (yeah okay, the rest can stop rolling your eyes now ;-))


October 21
-------------
This was the first day of our road trip. Honestly, I've never been on a road trip where I do not sleep more than 50% of the way (those of you who know me well, would know that I always sleep in the car during long trips). I guess the company makes all the difference, eh? ;)

Stopped by Torquay for breakfast, and then on to the Great Ocean Road. I have to say, the vastness of the beaches was simply astounding. The strong, but beautiful waves hitting against the shore, the beautiful clear waters, the sound of the ocean ... it was as though time stood still for us.

In between the drive, we stopped the car by the side of the road many times, no thanks to the country bumpkin who saw the lovely vast beaches for the first time (okay, Penang beaches just don't cut it compared to this, k?). I ooh-ed and aah-ed every kilometre along the beach.

Finally reached Port Campbell, where we saw the very majestic Twelve Apostles (I actually have a photo of the Twelve Apostles from National Geographic as my desktop wallpaper; I never expected to actually SEE it). It was certainly worth the many-hours drive just to see it (babes, I knew you were tired already from all the driving. Really appreciate you).

It certainly was a very long drive, to me anyway, and we had to catch the last ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, so we had to grab a very quick takeaway lunch at Port Campbell. Thank God, we managed to get to Queenscliff about a half hour before the ferry arrived. Took the opportunity to walk along the nearby beach (and take more photos!). The ferry transported us (and the car) over to the Mornington peninsula. Parked the car, and went up to the deck to enjoy the lovely albeit cold breeze. We managed to catch the lovely sunset :-)

As usual, my usual clumsy self always manages to get me into a bit of trouble.

Jammed my hand with the restroom door aboard the ferry. Had to ice it up a bit, and yeah, it hurt like hell.

Stayed at the Whitehall Guesthouse in Sorrento, which was, like, a student hall. The rooms with ensuite bathrooms were all fully booked, so we stayed at the smaller ones instead, where we shared a common bathroom at the end of the hall. It was like walking down memory lane, staying at a place like this, tip-toeing up the staircase, having breakfast with other "students", reminiscing of our student days in Dundee. It was pretty cool. Certainly a beautiful moment to remember ;-)


October 22
-------------
After a good, hearty breakfast, we headed to the Point Nepean National Park. Point Nepean is a highlight of the Mornington Peninsula National Park. Once the site of a quarantine station for immigrants, and later home to a military fortress, there were a lot to enjoy from the maze of tunnels, lookouts and fortifications, to enjoying the coastal scenery and panaromic views of the Bass Strait, the Rip and Port Phillip Bay.

Okay, how obvious was that that I totally plagiarised the last paragraph from a travel site? :-P I can't help it if I can't remember the names of ALL the places I went to; it's the moments that count, and THOSE, I remember like it was just yesterday.

Anyhoos, we spent quite a bit of time at the Point Nepean National Park. Next to the lovely stretch of beaches along Great Ocean Road, this has got to be the best view of the beaches ever. The water was so clear, you can see the green and red seaweed bobbing along. Well, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, eh?

There are four main lookout points at the national park - we started from the visitor's centre, Gunner's Car Park, Fort Pearce, and up to the Point. We took a train-thingy (well, it was carriages joined together by hinges, pulled by a heavy-duty truck, what else would you call it?) to the Point. Since it was an hour's wait for each stop, the boyfriend decided we should walk down instead. That was like, 4.5km! Okay, that might not seem a lot to you, but I was like, dying out there! (Yes, dear, I was!) And it did NOT help to have bloody flies all over the place. Seriously, you'd think we were back in Penang or something. We had to break a short branch of leaves off the shrubs and use that as a fly swatter.

"Seriously, woman, how difficult is it to walk 4.5km?! Lord, gimme strength!"

Before I came to Melbourne, I promised the boyfriend that I'd go jogging with him (yeah, it's his thang). I have SO TOTALLY fulfilled that promise after that albeit-fly-infested-but-totally-gorgeous place, babes. Tee hee hee! :-)

The next attraction in mind was the wineries. Can't remember the name of the winery he brought me to, 'cos we were a bit late for lunch, and there was a big party going on inside. Anyhoos, we drove back to Arthurs Seat, had a late lunch, enjoyed the gorgeous view a bit, and then headed to our next destination.

It's been quite some time since either of us have been to a hot springs resort, so we thought we'd check out the Peninsula Hot Springs.

Pretty up-class, really expensive (AUD35, if I'm not mistaken, compared to the 500yen onsens I've been to in Japan!), but veeerrrryyy nice. It stinks of sulphur, but that's expected. You know what I found funny about the hot springs? It's not that we had to wear our swimsuits to the pools (the Japanese bathe walk about buck-nekkid in the changing rooms, and bathe in the nude), but that the ang-mohs are pretty conservative about undressing in the locker room. I'd think that they'd actually be far more open than the Japs! Anyways, we tried the various temperatures of the hotsprings - 37C, up to 42C. Very relaxing indeed; the boyfriend didn't want to leave! We went home pruned and very relaxed :-)


October 23-25
-----------------
Finally headed to the CBD. I was on my own those few days as the boyfriend had to work. Did a LOT of shopping, which is weird, because I thought it would be really expensive, given the exchange rate. It's actually not that bad, if you don't go to the big stores. The streets offer plenty of small shops where you can get really good bargains.

Met up with May, who leaves in the city. She took a day off to go shopping with me, bless her. Although I'd say that she bought a lot more than I did, tee hee hee! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, catching up and all. Shopping was at South Yarra, where she introduced me to her favourite shops and stuff. I'd say it was so much fun till I developed leg pains from walking too much! :-P Anyways, yeah, we had a really good time, catching up and all. Thanks May!


October 26
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The boyfriend took a day and a half to bring me to the pretty-but-touristy-hence-pricy Phillip Island. Yay, another road trip! Yep, by then, I was really starting to enjoy our road trips, because this has got to be the first time where I do not want to go to sleep immediately when I'm in a car!

We stopped at San Remo before crossing the bridge to Phillip Island. Took some photos, camwhored a bit (tee hee hee!) before we made our way to Phillip Island. First stop was to check in to our B&B (Holmwood Guesthouse). It's a quaint little house in Cowes, which had three rooms; all the rooms were decorated of different themes. Ours was The Toile Room, supposedly French, but I thought it was really English! Anyhoos, it was simply gorgeous, really romantic, but really pricey too. Given that the island only thrives on its touristy activities, you can imagine how overpriced everything are (more so for me).

First stop was The Nobbies and Seal Rock. It's like a point, at the edge of the island, where you can see the beautiful rocky ocean, and Seal Rock's this rocky area further to the sea where wild seals lay about (you need to take a boat out to view the seals properly, which we didn't). Very beautiful place, but totally, TOTALLY ruined by the crazy amount of seagulls circling the area. It's like being in Malaysia, but you get seagulls instead of crows. These are vicious birds (I think so anyway), which simply crap about anywhere they please. We were very lucky to not get hit, but a few of the tourists around the area got 'bombed' pretty badly.

We managed to catch the sunset at The Nobbies, which was simply gorgeous. On a side note, I've seen a sunset (nor sunrise) anywhere before, and I managed to catch it TWICE in Melbourne. It was such a sweet moment for us, which was cut short, because we had to make a dash for the car before we get 'creamed' by the birds, hehe!

We didn't visit the Penguin Parade as I thought it was ridiculously expensive to pay $17 per person to crouch in the cold, on the beach, to wait for a group of penguins to come in from the sea. Anyway, we were really blessed to be able to see a couple of penguins hiding under the walkway when we were at The Nobbies :-)

Dinner was at Harry's On The Esplanade, which was a pretty posh seafood restaurant. The fish was simply fantastic, and I'd recommend anyone to try if you're ever at Phillip Island. Pricey though.


October 27
-------------
Coming to Australia, it would be real sad if I did not even see a koala bear, eh? ;-) Thus, we made a short trip to the Koala Conservation Centre. The koala bears are very cute, but boy, are they LAZY! Apparently, these bears sleep about 20 hours a day! The boyfriend enjoyed likening himself to one, that he'd love to sleep 20 hours a day too. Tee hee hee!

We didn't do much on that day, just drove around the island a bit, before we headed home.

By the way, I have yet to see any kangaroos though. Drats.

That night, we met up with May in the CBD for dinner. The boyfriend brought along his best bud, whom I introduced to my best bud, whom she introduced her bud to us too. It was pretty funny. Anyhoos, the five of us met up for dinner, and had a pretty good time.


October 28
-------------
Shopping day for me and the boyfriend, just to get last-minute gifts and such. He brought me to Knox City Shopping Centre, and also to Chadstone, where he *ahem ahem* got me a very gorgeous gift. Thanks babes, I absolutely LOVE it ;-)


October 29
-------------
The day I left for Malaysia. Sadly, the wonderful holiday had to come to an end. I was feeling real shitty that day, to think that the next time I see him again would be in February '07. Can't remember the time I cried that much. Although I left Melbourne with a really heavy heart, I bring home with me beautiful memories, which will last a lifetime.

Dear, I had such a wonderful time with you in Melbourne. It was heartbreaking to leave. I'm so glad that we got to know each other more during the awesome nine days which we had together. Can't wait to see you again. Love you.

Eating Humble Pie

Recently I've been really engrossed in trying to make my blog look "pretty", so much so that I've shunned blogs which do not measure up aesthetically. After a recent eye-opening incident, which I shall not divulge, I have come to realise one thing - just who the hell am I to judge what you do with your blog? You're right, at the end of the day, it's your blog. Do what you wish with it, write what you want; as long as it makes you happy, and most importantly, YOUR READERS enjoy it. Screw the rest.

Sometimes I've forgotten why I started my blog in the first place, which was all for a bit of fun. I've also forgotten how easily one can be sucked into the blogosphere.

Sometimes it takes a while for one to be shoved off his/her high horse, and I'm glad I've been humbled to see that I'm not all that either. I'd like to apologise to those blog owners/readers out there whom I've offended, whom I've made such a big deal of. Your readers maketh your blog. And that, my friends, is good enough.

Life Rules

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.

3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

16. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks
before you need it.

20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

24. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

25. It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat.

26. If you had to identify, in 1 word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, & never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

27. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

28. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

29. You should not confuse your career with your life.

30. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

31. Never lick a steak knife.

32. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

33. You will never find any body who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

34. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

35. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

36. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

37. Your friends love you anyway.

38. Thought for the day: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Another Week, (Almost) Another Month

So the weekend's almost here. Yay! Time sure flies, huh?

It's been a tiring week, emotionally and financially speaking. I won't go about the emotional bits; suffice to say I'm glad the week's over. As for the finances ... I just paid almost RM3000 worth of bills yesterday. Two credit card bills and the monthly car loan thing. I've been having a lot of troubled thoughts on how badly I'm handling my finances. I'm going to have to go on a tighter budget next year, to sort everything out and, most importantly, to replenish the 'bucket'. This means that I won't be able to touch the end-of-the-year bonus at all. Okay, maybe just a tad, a couple of hundreds, and then the rest will have to go into the 'untouchable' account.

sad, huh? This happens every end of the month. Sigh.

Crocs? Just A Load of Crock

Yesterday evening, as I was walking to the car park after work, I saw this guy wearing the company uniform shirt, shiny black trousers ... and a pair of BRIGHT YELLOW CROCS.

As an advocate of shoes (and bags), I'd have to say, the Crocs has to be the UGLIEST pair of shoes ever designed. Please don't even tell me that it's all comfortable and shit, when you look like a duck in 'em. And wearing them to work?

Can someone say fashion faux pas?!

I Love Coach

As Christmas is approaching (and I'm still on a damn diet), I've decided to post a dreamlist (I call it a dreamlist because the items are too bloody expensive for ANYONE to buy. Well, anyone earning peanuts such as I, anyway), in hopes that these items will drop down from the sky for me. I shall update this dreamlist every now and then, because being a girl, we can never have too many things ;-) It'd also be an introduction to the brands and items I fancy. Yep, still in the vain phase, in conjunction of my diet.

Leather Legacy Satchel

Soho Braided Small Leather Flap

I love Coach. My aunt (mum's sister) introduced us to Coach a decade ago, when she bought my mum a Coach bag from the US back then. Didn't know the brand at that time; to me, I thought Esprit was hip then (what was I thinking?!). When Mum went to the States a couple of years ago, she bought me a lovely Coach leather shoulder bag. It's discreetly labeled, so nobody knew it was a Coach. I wasn't bothered to tell anyone anyway. Anyways, my love of the brand started then. My aunt would bring back catalogues everytime she came back to Malaysia on a holiday, and I'd ooh and ahh over 'em. Mum has quite a lot of Coach bags, much to my envy. Cousin Bea has a cute demi (Poppy collection), which my uncle got her during one of his trips to the US.

Zoe Stripe Clutch

Leather Duffle

Coach is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced in Japan. It's a covetted brand, but it's got to be their signature monogrammed bags. The Japs LOVE it when the brand is proudly displayed on the outside for all to see (and you call me shallow?) Okay, maybe I shouldn't stereotype ALL Japanese ... nope, sorry, can't do it. They love it. You probably won't see people QUEUING UP to buy Coach anywhere else in the world.

Mandy Suede Courier

Hampton's Weekend Scarf Print Demi

To date, I have three bags from Coach. One given to me by Mum, one by my cousin Geri (lovely black clutch; perfect for clubbing), and a fake travel duffle I bought in Bangkok for 199 baht. I'd love to get more, but till the day I start crapping money, the fakes are all I can afford for now, because I really cannot imagine spending almost a month's pay on a bag. Okay. Maybe just ONE more. It's cheaper in the US, y'know?

Temptations, temptations.

Babes, these are NOT hints, but feel free to indulge me if you please *wink*

On a Diet. For Real.

You know what's scary? When you're having a good feeling about yourself, prancing about to your favourite tunes, totally having a Sex-and-the-City moment (you know, when you're having a Carrie Bradshaw moment, strutting yourself in pretend-Manolos (yeah, like I could afford the real thing), flipping the hair, etc? No? Just me then), and you go through your clothes, your favourite skirts? And when you try them on ... THEY BLOODY DON'T FIT?!

Shit.

There goes your Carrie Bradshaw moment, eh?

There've been many warning signs that I really needed to go on a diet. The ever-growing face (OMG, this is the worst), the flab, the bouncy flesh (ugh), etc. My wake-up call was yesterday, when I was trying out a black pencil-skirt which I bought quite some time ago (can't remember when I wore it last). The bloody skirt wouldn't fit, and when I tried out another skirt, all I saw was flab poking through the skirt. It was horrible. I blame the shitty feeling on The Devil Wears Prada.

So yeah, from today onwards, I'm on a diet. Strict one, with lots of water and exercise. I'm also keeping a food diary. Everyday, I have to write down exactly what I've eaten - breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack. Oh, and I have to add the number of glasses of water I drink too, plus whatever exercise I did (IF I did any). Hopefully, this would smack me out of the oblivion of all the crap I've been eating for the past many months. My target's losing at least 5 kilos. I give myself 6 weeks or so. Would that work? Sigh, I hope so.

There ya go, people. Tine's on a diet. AGAIN. Don't y'all go tempting me with choccies, and char koay teow, and whatnots, k?

PS: Every morning, I watch a bit of The Devil Wears Prada (yes, it's obvious I dig the movie) to give myself that bit of inspiration to stick to my diet before I head to work. Gawd, how shallow could I be?

Did I Tell You I Need A New Job?

Moments to look forward to at work:

In a day - breakfast time, lunchtime, tea time, and time to go home
In a week - Friday (no work for the next two days!)
In a month - end of the month (salary comes in. Yay for a bit, but sigh at the same ol' crap pay)
In a year - December (bonus!)
In a few years or so - I'm outta here, baby!

'Tis sad, no? ;-)

Hiatus

Workload's taken a sudden turn, have a project presentation to do which could, hopefully *fingers crossed*, win me some moolah so that I can can pay off my credit card bills which I busted in Melbourne.

Will be on a bit of a hiatus for now. Or till I find more stuff to talk about ;)

A Very Happy Birthday

To my dearest cousin Bea,

Here's wishing you a very happy birthday! Quarter of a century? Ahh, screw it, we're only getting started, babes! Have a wonderful day, and remember, we'll always have BKK *wink*

Sick. Again

Can't believe I'm sick again. Took a day off yesterday to see the doctor and rest. Boy, the doc sure gave me strong meds, because I was seriously knocked out for the entire day after taking 'em. I took a peek at my medical card (y'know, where they scribble in intelligible handwriting about what's wrong with you?); the last time I went to the doc's was October 2005!

Sigh. The problem with me is that I hate going to the doctor when something's wrong with me (which is kinda ironic, since I'm dating one). Absolutely hate it. I'm not keen on them sticking things down my throat (without a dinner and a movie first), probing me with cold metallic thingies (ouch!), and THEN tell me that there's nothing wrong with me except for a common cold. "No fever? Sorry, no MC for you". I'm like, WTF?! Do I look like I'm fit to work to you, with my runny nose, red eyes, achy body, chills and all that? Geez. And don't get me started on period cramps and such.

Oh well. Having said that, I guess this must be a yearly thing, eh? Does that mean I'll get the same thing again next year?

Touch wood!

Hello, I'm Tine, and I'm A Bookaholic

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversation?" - Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll

I love to read. Give me anything - the back of cereal boxes, shampoo bottles (I actually read 'em when I'm taking a shower), magazines (although I do draw the line at National Geographic and stuff like that. Hey, those only look good in pictures and videos, NOT in pages and pages of JUST writing!), books, etc, and I'd be a happy lass, tucked away in bed, enjoying hours of healthy (or trashy, hehe!) literature. As such, I amassed a LOT of books.

I have children's books which I kept since I was 7. I have enough encyclopedias, reference books, textbooks, novels and magazines to start my own library. When I studied in the UK, I brought home about 5 boxes of stuff, 2 of which were solely BOOKS. I bought books at the bookstores, second-hand shops (I lived next door to one); I had books as gifts, etc.

I love the smell of new books. Actually, scratch that; I love the smell of books. Period. Everything I go shopping, I MUST go to a bookstore. More often than not, I come out with a new book. The smell of a new book just gives me a sense of euphoria that I just can't explain. Even if the book's old, an odd yet excited feeling envelopes me, and I have to have it. I love running my fingers over the backs of books at bookstores. That's just the way I am. As for magazines, who would not be attracted to the pretty, glossy pages and 60% ads?

I normally take a couple of days (well, maybe more, give or take a couple of days more or so) to finish a book, depending on how busy I am. These days, I'm too engrossed with the computer; sadly, my beloved books have taken second place.

As such, I now have a LOT of books which I have not even read. I keep buying more books when the older ones aren't even finished. I'm fast running out of shelf-space.

Books which I have yet to read (three of 'em do not belong to me though). I know there are a lot of diet books. Shut up.

The problem with me is that I simply cannot give my books away. Call it a trait I inherited from my late paternal grandfather. I come from a family of hoarders. No matter how yellow the pages become, how old and manky they smell, I just don't have the heart to give my precious posessions away. I'm saving my Enid Blyton books for my kids, and the trashier ones for when they're older (hey, it's a bloody legacy, okay?). Selling at Ebay's not an option. I ended up buying more.

Sigh. Too many books, too little time to read, to little space to store. What's a girl to do?

Next in my shopping list, The Devil Wears Prada.

.
.
.

Uh oh.

Weekend's Here!

Yay! The weekend's here. Nothing much planned, but at least it's 2 days away from the bloody office. Going to a Malay colleague's open-house party tomorrow. It'll be my first time attending such an event, and I'm pretty excited about it. There's gonna be kuih raya, lots of 'em. Oh yeah, there goes whatever diet I was supposedly on.

In light of the upcoming event, where I'll most likely be eating like a horse, I believe it's only fair that I have this in mind.

Have a good weekend, y'all!

I Carry Your Heart With Me

I watched In Her Shoes (a movie adapted from the book of the same title, by Jennifer Weiner) a couple of weeks ago, and although I found the movie a tad slow (it WAS a drama, after all), it certainly was a meaningful movie, about two sisters who finally found and understood each other, after so many years together.

I found the poem which Maggie (played by Cameron Diaz) recited to Rose (Toni Collete) on her wedding day absolutely lovely. It's I Carry Your Heart With Me, by E.E Cummings.

I carry your heart with me
(I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it
(Anywhere I go you go, my dear;
And whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate
(For you are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world
(For beautiful you are my world, my true)
And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
Which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart
(I carry it in my heart)

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the book, which I've been trying to finish for days.

Sick

It's official. I'm sick :(

Down with a cold, achy body, sore throat, the works. On the bright side, I don't have to work today, so it's all good.

Too bad I don't have a fever, so I'm not warranted an MC (okay, here's a tip for all you docs, or docs-to-be: do us all a favour, we only get a maximum of 14 days of sick leave, so please, it wouldn't kill you to write us a chit to get off work, when we really are sick! Even without a fever! *grumble*). Have to work tomorrow. Ugh.

Oh well, the weekend's almost here, so I can't really complain, eh?

The Photos Are Ready

The Photos section of this blog is now ready (do click on Photos at the sidebar to expand). Currently, the photostream is only showing some of the photos which I took in Melbourne. Given time, I'll add more photos of different occasions, so stay tuned.

Back From Melbourne (And Not At All Thrilled)

Just got back from Melbourne. It was the most wonderful holiday I've ever had. Really breaks my heart to have to leave, mainly because I had to leave my boyfriend behind (yes yes, for those of you who do not know, I'm currently in a relationship. Can we get back to me now? Oh wait. We never left. Okay then). It sucks even more that I've to wait 4 bloody months before I get to see him again. Long-distanced relationships' such a bitch. Missing him lots already. Sigh.

Anyhoos, will post photos, commentaries, etc from the trip soon. Right now, I'm just too bummed to write anything.

Dear, thanks for the holiday. You made it so much more meaningful. Love you.

PS: Yes, I know it's mushy shit. STFU.

Birthday Wishes

A birthday shoutout to my boys, Sam and Albert.

Sam: Ya ain't heavy (well, dah-link, you're getting there *cheeky grin*), ya my brother! Happy birthday, and hope you liked the watch I got ya (you'd better, it cost me a bloody bomb!).

Albert: To a good friend whom I've not seen in 3 years, no, I haven't forgotten. Many happy returns of the day, and may God continually bless you abundantly. And for goodness' sake, write!

Oooh, it's also Halloween today, so happy Halloween, y'all! Go crazy, dress up, drink, party and be merry. The hangover's gonna be worth it tomorrow *grin*.

The New 'Oh for the love of me!'

Finally launched the new template which I've been working on for the past couple of days.

The original template

I took a lot of inspiration from the very-(in)famous blog review site, I talk too much. Many reviewees (is there such a word?) who got their asses kicked by the bitches (whom I LURVE, by the way), would very much love to hate that site, because they certainly know how to call a spade, a spade. But seriously though, even though I sometimes find them a tad harsh, their ideas and comments sure are rivetting, and very useful indeed. Okay, I'm going to stop pimping them now ;)

I definitely do not want to be a stereotyped Malaysian blog with only pictures of food (which, by the way, I totally detest; I do NOT need to see EVERYTHING which you have eaten), and the overuse of 'lah'. For the latter, I do appreciate and enjoy the sporadic smattering of the 'lah' and whatnots in Malaysian/Singaporean blogs from time to time (I AM Malaysian, after all), but it really irks me when I have to strain my brain to simply understand what the hell it was that you were saying, buried under a mountain of intelligible Manglish. Now, I do not claim to have a bombastic command of English, far from it actually, but it'd be nice to be able to have something to read AND understand, y'know?

I shall digress a little and mention something I see in almost every blog I read. "This is my blog, and I shall write whatever I damn well please, so there". Hey, go ahead and write whatever you want to, but when you traffic-whore by submitting your blogs to public blog directories, ping sites, blog review sites, etc, then you're subjecting what you're writing to everyone who is on the Internet. You get to write it, but we've got to read it. Go ahead, write in all the Manglish and broken English as you please, but for pete's sake, don't bother submitting your blogs to INTERNATIONAL blog review sites, when they can't understand a damn thing you were writing! And don't go home crying to Mummy when your ass have been slapped by these reviewers; you asked for it. It's wise to take the review with a pinch of salt, and learn to improve on the subject of critisms you received.

Anyways. Rants aside, and back to the subject at hand. I love flowers and butterflies (okay, okay, you can stop gagging at the girliness of it all now), so I thought I'd use that as a theme to my blog template. Did a fair bit of Photoshop here and there, with the header and the sidebar (I simply LOVE Photoshop, hehe; I've got so much more to learn). I tested the site on IE, Firefox and Opera, and so far, it's been okay. I'm still trying to 'break' my blog by changing the browser resolution, etc, to test the design.

For now, this is a list of criteria which I built my template (and blog content) upon:

1. Dark text on light background; this makes is so much easier to read (I shall not comment on the infamous BTOD - Black Template of Death, as I do have friends and family who use it. By the way, I do have to say, that the BTOD is pretty good for photoblogs. Less words, more photos).
2. Keep the sidebar neat. With a little bit of HTML coding (which I Googled on the Internet; so can you), I finally managed to hide the crap I've been having on my sidebar.
3. No unnecessary photos of food - really, the world doesn't need to know what I've been eating.
4. No auto-playing music - oh good Lord, why do people even HAVE this?!
5. Multi-coloured text - I admit, I'm guilty of this. Will do this as little (if not at all) as possible.
6. No ADS. 'nough said.
   

Anyways, do let me know what you think. And if you manage to 'break' the design, please let me know so that I can fix whatever errors you encountered. Also, there'll be more features added soon (e.g. the Photos - I'm in the midst of selecting and uploading the good stuff ;)), so do stay tuned.

Cheers.

PS: By the way, the criteria bit is MINE, and it's not aimed at any specific person, so if your site happens to fall under the 'bad' bits ... oh well, at the end of the day, it's YOUR blog, right? ;)
PPS: I finally had the guts to submit my site to I talk too much for a review. I'm so going to get my ass kicked, it's not even funny. Oh well. Here goes nothing *grin*.

Cravings

I'm having a sudden craving for yaki niku (BBQ-ed meat). Really fine, succulent, prime beef, barbequed over the hot grill, with crispy leek. Yummmmm ...

Sorry, I just couldn't resist *grin*.

Of Barbara Cartland And (Needing) A New Job

Random thought - you know something's not right somewhere, when the CEO of the multinational company you're working at comes for a visit, and you suddenly find potted plants in the loos (and when he's gone, the plants disappear).

Oh well.

Went to the bank today, paid my monthly car installment. That's 7 months down, 6 years and 5 months to go. I definitely need a new job which pays more than the peanuts I'm getting. Or at least a more exciting one.

Remember those Barbara Cartland novels (yeah, I used to read her novels. Shut up. "I ... love ... you ... so ... much". Spit it out already, girl! Geez), where the lady works as an au pair (seriously, is this kind of job still available? Call me if it is!) in a romantic, foreign land, and falls in love with the dashing master? And they ... live ... happily ... ever ... after? Now why can't I find such a job?

Of course, the Malaysian version would be: lady working in a not-so-romantic, not-quite-foreign land (Malaysia), taking care of the drool and vomit-covered children, does NOT fall in love with the pot-bellied, chain-smoking master, but gets raped by the horny, sex-deprived bastard, and ends up in The Star and TV3. AND she ends up living not so happily after she gets sent back to her home country, a shame to her family.

Now THAT is romanticism for you.

I still need a new job. Sigh.