garden in the car??

ahahahhahah
WTF?

Jitra, Kedah - 9 Nov 07

A few of us at work planned to visit Hadyai when we visit Jitra for an event. I was not involved in the event and hence have to use my annual leave.

A couple of them left one night earlier than us. On the way, one of them text us saying they forgot their passports. Me thinking Hadyai is off since they forgot their passports also did not bring my passport despite Bryan's reminder.

Our first destination was the famous prawn mee (Malay style) in Butterworth. It's a serene, cosy place. The prawn mee wasn't that good. No pictures of the prawn mee because we were too excited. Only the place...


By the time we were done, it was early afternoon. So we got Dennis to bring for nice massage as compensation of him forgetting his passport. He led us into Alor Setar. Drove with confidence while leading us. Then he stopped. We stopped too thinking we have finally arrived. Who knows when we got down, he said "I forgot where is the place!". Cheh. What a spoilsport. So we had no choice but to head back to the hotel. Damn. It was only 4pm. What are we going to do until bed time? So we head off to Bukit Kayu Hitam. Hehe. The closest we could get to Hadyai.

Can't get into Thailand, a picture also jadi lar....


Then we went shopping at the duty free complex. Not bad at all. They have plenty of cookies that we haven't seen and the packaging actually looked good. As usual, I'm attracted to the packaging and got some cookies.

Had dinner at the supposedly famouse Chendol pulut. Nothing fantastic though. However, the service and the attitude of the people sucked.

The next day, those with passports went ahead to Hadyai. We actually can get our ways in without passport with 30 bucks. But hey. No way am I going to take up that offer. What if I couldn't get back in? I still love Malaysia very much and did not intend to stay in Thailand as illegal immigrant.

So the three of us decided to visit this place called Lye Huat Garden. Looks interesting from the outside. Had lunch before we went in. Chinese food. It was good and cheap. We had a chicken dish, fried sotong, mixed vege, foo yong egg and seaweed soup. The bill was only 30 plus. Filled and satisfied, we went into Lye Huat Garden happily. Entrance fee was 10 bucks and it's damn worth it. We surely wouldn't visit this place if it's close to home.


The thing that got me most excited was the chicken that appeared in Da Chang Jin. It's so colourful and beautiful.


Then there are the cacat arowana....



Then we saw this white goat. It's nice. I like the curly hair. This goat also has exceptionally big "balls". Sam asked why's the ball so big. I said "it's because he's not wearing underwear". And I think he believed it. AAHAHHAHAHHAHAH! Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the balls.


Cute looking owl...


More pictures at: http://harnni.shutterfly.com/action/

Random picture...

Isn't this tree cute? :p

Elephant Sanctuary, 6 October 2007

With Sally being the efficient and effective planner, the trip is finally set on the 6 October. 3 of us plus lil J and Alim began our journey by meeting at Sally's place at 9am. James was there with Mimi to see us off (ahahhaha. He can't go with us as much as he would like to). Our first destination was for lunch near the foothill of Genting. This place is famouse for their ginger and groundnuts. Lunch was deep fried stir pork, rice-wine chicken and vege. The pork was fantastic and the rice wine chicken was the best I've tasted in KL (almost as good as my mom's). Red bananas...
Then, we proceed to our next destination, the Elephant Sanctuary @ Kuala Gandah. At about 1pm, we see...
The activities only starting at 2pm. We had one hour to kill. So, we walked to the orang asli kampung just a few steps away. The bored faces of Sally and May while waiting...
Finally we see the elephants walking out... Feeding the elephants... Yucky elephant food... Their favourite were the bananas we brought... Elephant rides... Baby elephants.. Baby elephants in the river... Elephant "adventure ride"...

especially for hy...

the best cake i've ever baked!

Moist Chocolate Cake

Recipe here: http://www.chocolate-source.co.uk/chocolate_recipes_cakes_moist_chocolate_cake.htm

office related peeves...

i saw this woman in the office lift today. she was wearing a black sleeveless dress. guess what else i saw? the underarm-part of the dress is whitish. looks like powder. powder from her... erm... armpit!

eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww!

how embarassing!

went for massage yesterday...
when i was done, they served me water...
then i looked into my handbag...
ooops
couldn't find my wallet...
then i remembered..
i left it in the office...
how now brown cow?
no money to pay for my massage!

how embarassing!

You Are a Carousel

You are young at heart and a truly playful person. No one would ever accuse you of taking life too seriously. You are definitely in things for the fun. You find joy easily, and you are often building up anticipation for your next adventure. In relationships, you tend to want to be babied and taken care of. And while you may be a bit high maintenance, you are incredibly loyal. Your life is simple and satisfying. Each day you treat yourself to something you enjoy. You have a lot of emotional attachments, and experiences are extra vivid to you. You tend to be nostalgic and sentimental. The past is important to you. Comfortable around all living things, you have a special connection to animals and children. At your best, you are whimsical, free spirited, and creative. Even if your schemes seem a bit strange, they usually work out wonderfully. At your worst, you are spoiled, demanding, and impossible to satisfy. You've been known to act like a brat if you aren't getting your way!

What Carnival Ride Are You?

You Are 32% Good

You try to do the right thing, but only when it works out in your favor anyway. You're not exactly evil or without ethics, but you could be going down a pretty dark path.You probably have good intentions. You've just gotten comfortable with acting the way you do.Knowing the difference between good and bad is half the battle. Acting like a good person is the hard part. You are also probably: A bit jaded and cynical about life's rules. Right now you are on track to being: A petty criminal To be a better person: Help a friend in need, without being asked.

How'>http://www.blogthings.com/howgoodareyouquiz/">How Good Are You?

AHAHAHAHHAHA!

See the message the lil guy's carrying? He found me my calculator when it was gone one Monday morning.

Before that message, he was carrying "Accidently took my calculator when I was away? Kindly return. Thank you".

One morning, the calculator was waiting on my desk I went into the office...

This sure beats asking people for your lost property, isn't it?

;)

* The person who returned my calculator still haven't introduced him/herself though...

Kuching, August 07

My last trip to Kuching...
Poor boy was seated in the middle seat...
Had to fold his hands like that the whole journey...
Luckily the journey was less than 2 hours...

Gold fish

Some time ago, "someone" turned off the power to the filter of the aquarium full of gold fish. That action caused the death to ALL of its occupants. Until now, it is still a mystery. Did Rusty really turned off the power due to jealousy? hehe :p

Last weekend Bryan added 9 gold fishes (8 gold, 1 black. Don't ask me why so) to the boring aquarium. I sure prefer gold fish to those fishes. But I only like those with round face. Been searching for the roundies and finally found them.

First thing I noticed about them is the lone ranger. Except for the black of course. Maybe due to the difference in colour, it's always on its own. The gold will flock together except for one. It's always stranded somewhere all alone and we gave him the nickname "lone ranger". One evening, I got home and saw the MPPJ feasting on him. The lone ranger DIEDED!
Hopefully the rest will survive. But I still think the last batch..

Merdeka Hunt, 18 Aug 2007

My maiden hunt. My team consist of Dennis, Zetty and Zura.

I was the driver of the day and Zetty being my navigator. Dennis is the official navigator but also known as the "Lost-navigator". So I insisted on Zetty.

Suppose to meet at 6.45am. Waited until 7am and no one turned up. So I sent SMS to everyone. Only Dennis returned my call and he just woke up then. Die. Registration is at 7am. Luckily we had one team member going there first to register us.

Along with the treasure hunt, there were best decorated and best dressed awards to be given. We definitely will not dress for it and I think we were the most under-decorated car. Erm, in fact, we didn't have any decorations at all.

It was fun. My navigator was good and since I'm driving, I don't have to crack my head to think of the answers (that's actually Bryan's advice to me. "Just drive, and no need to think". Then he also said "I think you all better just go for your breakfast and go jalan jalan after the flag off. When it's time, then only go back to the finish line" :(. Celaka the fella. No confidence in us. Actually, we have thought of that too. But let's see how first...)

I think we did okay. Missing a few but that should be alright.

Then almost the end of the hunt, we noticed that this other car was following us for some distance already. Then Dennis was confident that they were leeching on us for directions. Since we were rather bored already, we decided to play a small joke on that team. We acted as though we missed one junction and stopped at the side of the road. Then immediately the team behind put on their indicator and turned. We were laughing our hearts out! Then we continued.

For those who didn't know. I'm the President of the company's Sports Club. The best thing is I had to give my speech on that day. I almost forgot about it until we went into the ballroom for lunch. Damn. Talk about what wor? At most thank people only mar. ~Sigh..

I feel lucky with this company. The first prize I've even won from any contest in my whole life was when I first joined the company. And best of all, I won the very electrical item I've wanting to buy for the longest time (a cake mixer). That day, I won another lucky draw.

Ada ke I had to give away prizes too. Kononlah the Ms. President. By that time, I was on the stage for three times already. Glamour!

Then....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.















Yes, my team WON!

How unexpectedly....

p/s: Yes, I know pictures speak a thousand words. I remember specifically to charge my camera battery two nights before. Took it off the charger when the indicator turned green. But after exactly 2 shots, the battery went flat. Can't even be started. How could it be? I swear the indicator was green....

passed by this restaurant in klang yesterday.... funny!

Cubicle @ work

this lil fella give me face like that when i'm at work...

if i'm not in the office...

there he is greeting my visitors. :)

bad monday morning...

suddenly feel like... "let's move to melbourne..."

kibbles heaven...

Institut Taufik Islami

Mr. Liaw??!??

I just received a call from my credit card bank.

First asked if it's "me" on the phone. Then thank me for using and supporting their credit card.

Then, the real objective of the phone call rise. Insurance! I've been nice enough to tell him I don't need any. He was also nice on the phone.

The problem is, he just kept calling me Mr. Liaw. This is definitely not the first time I've been addressed this way when dealing with such organisation. Come on! From my voice, you pretty sure can tell it's Ms. Liaw speaking. Why keep addressing Mr.? I don't think any of them had problem telling if it's Mr. or Ms. speaking. Maybe they are just too used to Mr. and therefore use the Mr. for all.

But hey. We are talking about financial instituition. Not just any local financial instituition. It's multi-national, it's worldwide. How can you even have people of that standard to represent your multi if not billion-dollar company?

Office Related Peeves

One more situation that I hate to see early in the morning when getting to work is related to the lift again. The last time I talked about people who never go school and cut the "invisible queue".

I've two more today.

1) Those who stand right in front of the control panel but ignore to do anything.
Come on. Morning lifts are normally full of people and people really try their best to squeeze in. While these people try to squeeze in, the other people standing right in front of the control panel will just stand there watching the lift door try to close on them. Nabeh. At least press the "Open-door" button lar. If so difficult for you to move that bloody hand, don't stand there. CHIBAI! (Don't get it wrong. I haven't been the victim of the door closing on me yet. I'm usually standing in the lift to witness but unable to do anything. Sorry!)

2) Fuckers who think they own the lift.
These are some inconsiderate fuckers. Stand like the own the lift. But of course when it's really getting too cramp, they'll have to give way too.

3) Those who don't go out from the lift to give way to people going out.
These people are just so kiasu. Or lazy? Haiyo. What is so difficult walking 3 steps out and let the people in the lift out then go in back again? Orh orh. Got people who are the opposite of these too. These are the people who wants to get out but blocked but those stupid fuckers. And yet, still too shy or dumb to open the mouth to ask for clearance. What can saying "EXCUSE ME" do?

Haizzzzzzzzzzz....

Dental Dilemma II

Ok. Think I'll just stick to the "fillings". Hope it'll last me a life time! ;)

Dental Dilemma

The dentist chair is something I'll try my best to avoid.

Last year, I plucked up the courage to do root-canal and I was proud. Thinking the root canal should solve my problem for a while. However, couple of months ago, one of the tooth which I've done the root canal cracked and beyond repair. Which I got it extracted and caused great pain due to the infection (though it had nothing to do with the root canal).

Couple of days ago, I noticed there's another crack on the other tooth which . Quickly, I visited the dentist. He said it still can be salvaged and advised on a crown to protect the tooth.

The problem is, one session will take about 1.5 hours. One and a freaking half hours! I don't know if I could go through that. The usual 30 minutes was good enough to shrink my heart. What would I be after 1.5 hours?

Then I thought, I can opt not to suffer that 1.5 hours if I just extract the damn tooth. That in turn will only take minutes. No jab no nothing. By this time, I should be experience/careful enough not to get an infection. Done deal!

But again, I'll lose the tooth forever. Which left me with no molar tooth on that side. I only have only 2 molars on that side to begin with. After extracted one couple of weeks ago, I'm only left with one. So, if I extract this too, I'll have none left on that side.

How? Would I regret not having any molar on that side? Is the 1.5 hours session worth saving the on and only molar?

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma...

All those Born in the 50's , 60's & early '70s..

The article below was written by Patrick Teoh in his blog "Niamah!!".

To All those Born in the 50's , 60's & early '70s... First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked /cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/ motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.

We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.

We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.

We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would ran like crazy for hours.

We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic.

We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We never had birthdays parties till we are 21.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS: -The big type is because Long-sightedness or hyperopia at your age.

Road trip to Alor Setar

Took a road trip to Alor Setar/Penang just beginning this month. Stayed at The Northam, Penang. The hotel is not bad but the front desk personnel sucked. She didn't even smile for one second out of our whole 10 minutes there. So pissed we wanted to write a complaint letter but the tireness got into us.

For RM 165nett/night, it is not too bad.

More pics at: http://harnni.shutterfly.com/action/

Latest addition to the family...

Which completes the bulat family...

With the increase of snatch thieves, I try to have my handbag carried on the "inside" of the road wheneven I need to walk on the roadside.

It feels weird when you see someone walking on the road, with the handbag on the outside, made easy to be the victim of snatch thief.

Until I saw this...

Haha. Rusty survived being left alone for almost 36 hours with minimal damage...

I'm proud of him!

***

I left for Alor Setar about 10 am and will be home at night the next day. Didn't want to leave him with any petshop since it's just for one night and I don't know what he'll pick up from the pet shop.

So I thought of just leaving him alone at home for that one night.

I fed him his breakfast as usual. Prepared his dinner and next day's breakfast at two different spots. Did the usual "go-find" but this time at four different spots.

Had to go back home again after a few minutes cos I forgot something. When I got home, he was eating his "dinner". Haha, nevermind. Hope he won't eat his next day's breakfast though.

Suddenly, I was worried that he'll over-eat. But then should be okay lar. Since he has definitely eaten more than that in one day before.

When I got home, it was like a treasure hunt but instead was looking for the "surprises" he might have for me.

To my delight, he only ransacked my bathroom's bin.

Hehe!

Joke of the week!

Last weekend, I went to a colleague's house for a pot-luck lucheon. Me being a hopeless cook, I volunteered my specialty, konyaku jelly. hehe. How wrong can one get with jelly (especially all measurements are provided ;) ). Oh, this time I added something extra. Longan! So quite special also lar.

Since I just came back from Johor, I brought along some Muar otak-otak too. One of the colleague brought along her 12-year-old son.

The first time I met with the son, I drove him to the nearest Petronas to get some drinks for those working hard in the warehouse. Then he went back and said to the mom that my car is so quiet (the engine I suppose) compared to the mom's car :p

This time after the luncheon, he went back and said to his mom "Aunty Harn Ni tu pandai masak eh. Jelly dengan otak-otak pun sedap!"

"AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" was exactly how I reacted when I heard it from Zura. Never in my dreams that I dreamt of making those otak-otak myself!

He certainly made my day :D

This morning, the soon-to-be-promoted to Senior Manager conducted a meeting without me and Brian. Reason being, I don't report to her.

But it's a Sales meeting. Champion loh!

While waiting for our plane at Bangkok Airport to come home, Bryan saw his colleague whom happened to be waiting for the same flight too. (Yea, talk about bumping into friends/colleagues. Is it not enough that he always bump into a friend or colleague back in KL? Go Bangkok also can happen? Don't get me wrong. This post is not about him bumping into friends or colleagues.)

Anyways, this couple, arrived Bangkok the same day as we did. Like us, the got "conned" into some shops selling gems. But we are not as lucky as they were as the gem shop provided transportation for them during their entire stay. WOW!

They must have bought a lot from the gem shop.

So, Bryan exchanged our experience with them, telling them that we haggled a lot and finally got a ruby+diamond ring at almost 70% off @ less than RM 1000. Then they said the shop they went to did not have anything less than RM 1000. I'm sure!

Almost the next day, that colleague told Bryan the amount of their purchase and that he's sending those gems for evaluation at Habib Jewels. I was thinking " What for?". RM 6,000 is a big sum. But yet, it's not big enough for one to travel back to Bangkok. You get what I mean?.

After a week or two, the colleague got the evaluation from Habib Jewels and updated Bryan about it. Habib Jewels evaluated it at a few hundred ringgit. But then, they thought the colleague wanted to trade those gems in for something else. (So we were told by the colleague. I guess he's hoping that the real value, not the trade-in value of the gems would be much higher). But come on, how much higher can it be? Let's say it's double. Which makes, like RM 2000.

Haiyo. What for? Now even worse. He should have just appreciate his purchase.

I'm not in denial. But I bought the ring because I like the design and the colour of the stone. I sure will not send them anywhere for evaluations. But, ~ahem, "what you don't know, won't kill you." :p

why like that?

all she left for me...

In 1991...

I stumbled across a "Her World" magazine while waiting for my turn @ a dentist. I can't help from picking it up to see how it was like in 1991...

Hahahhahah. Were you like this in 1991?

Familiar? Think I have a set of this too! Wonder what happened to it...

What a birthday month this is for me. First, it was a memorable birthday, then the eye problem, then the gum infection. Now that I think the worst is over, I woke up with a sprained thumb. Yes, sprained thumb! How I got it? I have no idea...

Hope this is the end of all bad things for me...

I'm leaving for Bangkok tomorrow morning. All my excitement is drown by my stupid gum infection.

It started from my dinner on Friday. Was eating something that should not consist anything hard. Chew, chew, chew... krakkkk! Damn! First I felt the filling came off. Then,the tongue investigated further. I think there's a crack. Then the finger went into the mouth to investigate this time. Part of the tooth is moving. This is not good. I'm going to the dentist first thing in the morning tomorrow.

Went to the dentist I did my root canal. Bad news! He's away until end of next week. I combed SS2 for more dentist. Either they are booked for the day or they are not in the panel list. Finally found one panel dentist that could slot me in. Thought I was lucky. But that's when the nightmare began.

Waited for almost an hour for my turn. But nevermind. I willingly waited. Told the dentist what happened, she took a look on the tooth, there's no way saving that poor tooth. Have to get it extracted! I'm missing it already. She started with the anesthetic. I was so darm nervous. While waiting for the anesthetic to kick in, she was trying to sell me the veneer services she's so proud of. Damn her.

Ok, one tooth lesser now. It's not that bad afterall. Upon leaving, the receptionist said I had to buy the mouth wash and toothbrush. I understand the mouth wash. But what the fuck is the toothbrush for. I haven't used such manual toothbrush for years. Nevermind, I'm not in the mood. Anyways, I just had to pay 2.80 for all that. And that was it. No pain killers no antibiotics. She said they normally don't prescribe pain killers for extraction. Instead, she asked me to buy some cream for the pain. I bought.

Started to feel a little uncomfortable but I guess it's the anesthetic wearing off. But it wasn't that bad. Rinsed my mouth a few times. The pain started to increase and I quickly took 2 tablets of Panadol then went to bed.

Woke up early in the morning due to the pain. Quickly took another 2 tablets of Panadol. By evening the pain was so unbearable, I was searching for dentist frantically. Yes, it was so bad that I teared. Really couldn't stand the pain. Had no choice but to go see a GP. I asked for the strongest dose of pain killer and antibiotics. Then a quick fix through injection crossed my mind as I was leaving the consultation room. The doctor said that's possible. So I got a jab.

After less than 30 minutes after the jab, I'm feeling like a human again. The pain's gone. Counted the pain killers I got. It's not enough for my whole trip. I went to another dentist again this morning for more pain killers. The assistant said they'll advise patient to not rinse the mouth too much after extraction (that's exactly what I was doing when I feel the pain. Think I rinsed like 10 times!). Damn the first dentist who was too busy to give me such important advise!

The pain and swell came back again this afternoon. Instead of doctor's advise of 4 hours interval between tablets, I took another pain killer which definitely helped.

The pain is still there now but bearable. I have 3 types of pain killers, one of which is so strong it'll cause drowsiness and antibiotics that I will faithfully try not to miss. That's how prepared I am for my first Bangkok trip!

Smoking

I recently told my sis that I'm not smoking during work again. She told me "Aiyah, you don't awhile quite, awhile smoke lar. Let people laugh at you only loh". She's right. I will do the same too. But this time, I'm not trying to quit.

About 2 years ago, I quit smoking. I just felt like it when I woke up in the morning. And since that morning, I didn't smoke for 3 months. I even bought nicotine gums but did not use any. After 3 months, I thought I'm able to quit smoking. So, I started to smoke socially.

The socially turned to nights. The nights first started with on Bryan's cigarettes. Meaning I'll only get to smoke when he's home. Which was fine with me. I knew I couldn't start buying. At that time, I only smoked when I have companies or at home when Bryan was in.

It stayed that way for more than a year. The first time I bought cigarettes was when I went to Perhentian last July. I knew I have to buy because HY was there and there will be need for cigarettes. :p. Even after the trip, I was able to not buy cigarettes. Until HY came to stay with me. I saw the danger. I'm not blaming anybody. Just that I don't have enough will power. During her 3-months stay, I still only smoked at home. Never at work.

It changed when Nick found out I smoke. She started to get me to smoke during work. As I was new, I used that as my socialing weapon. It's easier to mix with the group when you have something in common (which in this case, the easiest is smoking). So I started to go smoking with the people I need to know better; faster and easier (I'm not a friendly people by nature. I don't really make friends easily and quick enough). It worked. I'm more than a "hi-bye" colleague to people I don't really have to work with. Throw me to any department now and I won't feel alienated.

I'm not saying that what I mentioned can be only achieved if you smoke. But for my case, smoking made it easier and faster. Now, who says smoking is bad? :p

Recently, I announced to my friends that I'm a smoker again. Since I've started smoking at work, I feel it makes me a full time smoker again. I am buying my own cigarettes now and I carry it with me all the time. I thought "That's it! I won't be able to quit again. Nor am I going to try quitting in the new future".

On Monday, I've decided not to bring cigarettes to work. I thought it's going to be real difficult. But it wasn't. I still think about it but am able to stop myself from going to the cafeteria to buy. It's been 5 working days already. I think this is it. I'm not trying to quit this time. Like I said to many, I still love my smokes. I'll just try to cut down. At least not smoking at work.

Remember, I'm not trying to quit again. I'm just cutting down.

;)

Holy shit! I can't believe that people actually have the cheek to do that. She needs something from you, instead of coming to you, she asked you to go to her.

This is not the first time it's happened. I know you are pregnant. But why do I have to bear the consequences of your pregnancy. Say that I'm heartless or whatever. I'm nice enough to be my other pregnant colleague's hard labour. (Carrying her laptop to and from her car). But mind you. I only do that voluntarily and willingly and thus no complain.

But this, I can't stomach it. I'm so busy here and you want me to walk to your cubicle asking me a question which can even solved through telephone conversation.

What the....

* macro shots using Canon IXUS 850...

Canon ixus 850...

Turn Offs

A female was walking behind me this morning while I was going to the lift. From her foot steps, I could tel that she's trying to overtake me. Well, let her. The knee length skirt without any split did not allow me to take bigger steps. When I got to the lift area, there were a number of people waiting already. It's always like that and us being from the B2, might have to wait a little longer in the mornings. So, the girl that was behind me came in (she tried the service lift but it was on the way up). Ok, she's decent looking. The hair is ok and the complexion's ok too. No make-up at all but she's clean enough. The dressing may be a little out. But ok lar.

So, the first lift that came was all full. Had to wait for another one which was not long after. And she being the last to arrive at the waiting area, tried to squeeze (not exactly have to squeeze, but she was like trying to go right in front of the door). That is one thing I hate most in the mornings. There isn't exactly any queue for waiting for the lift but you kinda know who came first and since we are all working in tall office building, I suppose there's some kind of education level involved, and so I expect these people to be more civilised. There was this time when I was alone with this man who came in later, when the lift door opened, he just rushed in. Talk about being a gentlement, let alone manners! Anyways, back to the girl... I could sense that she's one of those kiasu and I wasn't in the mood to allow that to happen this morning. hehe. So, I just buat bodoh when the lift door opened and walk right through her and ahead of her. Ahahahhaha. Sometimes that felt good :p. So, being the very few first that went into the lift, I was stuck to the lift wall. That gives me free access to "observe" people right in front of me.

The girl was on my "10 o'clock". Hmmm, the complexion's really not bad. Wear specs, the hair texture also not bad. Natural black. Then I looked down. DAMN! Panty hose with open toes sandal. Damn Damn Damn. How can anyone still do that? What are they thinking? She's already wearing a very long skirt, why would she need the panty hose. And if you are wearing panty hose, how can you wear open toes sandals?

**********

For people who knows my husband well enough, they all know how choosy a person he is. We especially pity the guy he buys his spectacles from, the one who made his shirts, etc. etc. Call it "kiam siap" or perfectionist, that's how he is. Over the years, he has influenced me on criticisms. Here's the list he most pantang with:-

1) Grandmama panties - I'm sure you all know what I mean. But don't get it wrong. It's ok if you wear grandmama panties. I wear them too. But please please, try to be discreet. They are not for show, especially with now-so-popular-low-hip-jeans. It's even worse when it's exposed by some aunties.

2) Butt cracks - Who finds butt cracks sexy? I just don't. Thank god Bryan doesn't too. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to see them at cool places like clubs and all. But what about while you want to try out a pair of shoes and the salesgirl squat down and show you her butt cracks while looking for that pair of shoes you want to try out. Or what about seeing some when you are in some stuffy, oily hawker centres?

3) Dirty finger nails - There's this temp. waiter at Mong Kok Char Chan Teng @ SS2 who has the dirtiest finger nails a waiter should have. And coincidently, everytime we go there, he serves us. Yes, despite being just a temp, we always get him. It started with Bryan. He told me about him. But I never will look at his finger nails when he brings us our food.

4) Eyebrow - Believe or not, my husband trims my eyebrows for me sometimes.

5) Hairy legs - I guess it's not very common now. But when we were in college, there was this Chinese girl with very hairy legs.

6)Panty hose with open toes shoes - Should I say more?

7) G-string - I suppose G-strings are invented to prevent the panty lines on the butts to be visible. However, with G-strings, the panty lines on the butts are gone but it's showing on the waist with a pair of low-hip jeans!

8) What else?

Had lunch with a colleague today. Then she brought up her husband's condition which shocked me greatly.

Apparently, the husband condition is very much like a claustrophobic. It just happened recently. It's so serious that he can't even drive but he can ride a bike. However, their doctor said it's somekind of anxiety disorder. When I mentioned it's very much like claustrophobic, in some ways it's not. For example driving. He can't drive, can't even sit in when someone else's driving. However, he's alright when the wife (my colleague) is with him. He has this idea of dying anytime and he wants his family to be with him, in case anything bad happen to him or family, there are least together.

Over the weekend, the family had to travel outstation except for one son because the son had to attend classes. The husband got so worried because the family is not complete and my colleague had to slowly convince the husband.

When he's alone without the wife, he'll not use the lift and climb upstairs to 11th floor. During the nights, he had to hold the wife's hand to sleep. At times, he will hold it so hard. He calls the wife constantly even at work to make sure that she's safe.

One thing for sure, I must salute my colleague. She can still laugh about it when telling us all these. I can imagine myself in her shoes and I really cannot imagine myself laughing about it.

I really cannot imagine...

p/s: Did I mention that my colleague is only one year older than I am?

Perhentian II

Went to Perhentian island again in March. It all started when I told a couple of friends that I might be going to Perhentian with my sister when she came back from Phillipines. Then they were interested. I've never thought of asking them to join because they prefer luxury travel and the male counterpart doesn't take sea ride well. So, I reminded them again and again that they will be at least 20 minutes boat-ride, flying is not an option.

The date was set. This time we are going to Kuala Besut by bus and fly AirAsia home. The ride there was rather not too pleasant for the friends as I did not remind them that the bus ride could be quite cold. In the end, they couldn't sleep. I'm smarter this time. I brought along my multi-purpose "sarong" and Bryan had a shawl from HY. He wanted to bring along his "DHL" jacket which is bright yellow in colour and I objected. We all sure had a good laugh when this was brought up.

We were suppose to catch the 9.30pm bus from Hentian Putra. So, we all left on the dot from work that day. Everything was going smoothly except that we can't get a taxi to the bus station as planned. First call, no taxi. Second, no taxi. Third, still no taxi. We made at least 5 calls. The last number saved us. We were still a little worried because it was raining and KL is known for its phenomenal traffic conditions when there's rain. Thank god the taxi driver knew which road to skip and we were at the station before 9pm.

So, all's set. Get on the bus, sleep, eat and smoke at the rest area, sleep, get off the bus, get a cab to the jetty, eat and smoke again, then we should be on the boat towards the island and be on the island by 8am.

The road trip was ok except that the bus had to stop a few times because of some gear problem. It's not able to engage the first gear and therefore it has to stop sometimes when going uphill. Despite stopping for so many times, we arrived Jerteh before 5am. I opened my eyes when the bus stopped, Bryan asked where were we, I said "Petrol station!". Thank god he didn't choose to believe me because that was our stop. The bus driver was ready for the next stop when we got up.

A van came to pick us up to the jetty. Since it's still early and the first boat out is 7am, the driver took us for some, erm... breakfast? Local glutinous rice. Yes, rice at five in the morning. But only the 2 guys had that. We ladies only had a drink with some doughnuts.

Crap! Did I tell you it has been raining since the day before. It was still raining at 7am. They boat man asked if we want to wait or leave. It'll be a little choppy and cold if we leave. We all agreed to leave. The first half of the boat ride was filled with laughter because we were making fun of Eugene and being pitam and all; and the bumpy ride too. After a while, we didn't talk much because Eugene didn't seem ok. But he survived the ride. We had to stop at Coral Bay because Long Beach is too rough (the sea). So, we started our first jungle trek. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I remembered and we were each carrying our bags.

Lily hut is not that bad but got no how shower. Our room is rather dark and E & E kept complaining about the toilet. By the time we settled at Lily, we all decided a nap was best, meeting again at 12.30 for lunch. By lunch, we were all quite hungry because our last meal was 5am. The portion is more than enough and tasted good. We decided to go for our snorkeling trips the next day. We just stayed at Long Beach for a couple of hours then went to Coral Bay again to meet some friends from our last trip. Walked back to Long Beach before it got too dark. Then it's dinner again. Dinner wasn't too bad and we all had desert. I was disappointed with my banana split. After dinner, we took our (much dreaded) showers. Then proceed to BuBu.

Snorkeling trips scheduled in the afternoon. Spent the morning by the beach, read, sun bath, joined the guys in the sea for a bit. Had lunch at 12.30 and went for the snorkeling trip. Nothing fantastic because the water wasn't too clear. Frustrated because the mask I have kept entering water then I just decided to quit. The highlight of the trip was the spring water. Forgot where the place is. The water was so refreshing and cooling. After the refreshing bath, we to the kampung for some snacks. Had some keropok lekor (tasted especially nice with their sauce). There were four others with us for the snorkeling trip. One of them was this skinny Malay guy who shivers tremendously everytime he got up from the water. We just couldn't stop laughing whenever we see him coming up the boat. And then the other gal got sea sick after 10 mins on the boat. Ahahhahahahha! Stopped by Coral Bay instead of Long Beach. Eugene just won't give up until his tasted Alan's roti canai. The guys had a couple of beer then we head back to Long Beach for dinner. Since it's our last night there, HY came to join us. Went to BuBu. Watched the fire show again the hit the bed before midnight.

Our initial plan was to leave the island on the last boat @ 4pm. But the smart Bryan insisted to go for a one day trip in Kota Bahru. So we left the island at 12 noon. The road trip from the jetty to Kota Bahru is about an hour. Our first stop in Kota Bahru was for lunch. Nasi kukus. Nice. Rice was soft and the dishes tasted good. By then, it was almost 4pm already. The driver then brought us to the border of Thai. Could see Thailand (dunno which part) across the river. Don't see the point of going there though. Then we went to the sitting Buddha and the sleeping Buddha. Was quite fascinated by the sitting Buddha. It's huge and am quite surprise to find it in Kota Bahru. I guess must be due to the Thai influence there.

Thai food for dinner and we were early. Got there just after 6pm and we were all still full. The food was nice and the most interesting dish was the bees and larvae. It's deep fried and tasted quite ok actually. I didn't take much though because it's larvae. If I didn't know what it was, I may eat more.

We were not able to walk around town after dinner because of the rain. So, we got the driver to send us to the airport because he had to travel back to the jetty. That was the worst part of the whole trip. We were all very tired, slight from 9pm delayed until 11pm. The airport was freaking cold and outside was so humid and infested with mozzies. Finally got on the plane home. Poor Bryan was so uncomfortable because we were seated at the last row in the plane and it's the most cramp. Luckily it was only a short trip. I slept throughout the flight.

It was definitely a good trip with good companies. Would be nice to stay another night so we can laze by the beach doing nothing.

IWD

3 March, the International Women's Day. Only knew that it was yesterday when I heard from the radio in the morning, on the way to work. Only today that I saw something which made me wonder. Someone wrote it in (Chinese-Mandarin) as "San(3) Pa(8) Fu Nu Jie (Women)". Directly translated, it's called the "3 8 Women's International Day". Then I said to myself "Yea, yesterday was 8 March". So, it's easy for me to understand that. After awhile, I thought "Wait, San Pa? Isn't it something that a lot of people like to use on women (in Chinese)?" Haha. So I'm anxious and would like to know who chose the date and who gave it the name "San Pa Fu Nu Jie". Is there any implications? :p

This is the Long Beach @ Perhentian and the reason I like it so much. Mamak on the beach, with strong sea breeze. Best of all, with such perfect setting, it does not cost ur legs or hands, not even close...