A bum and a half

Monday. First day as an official bum. Unpacked the junk I brought home from work. Sorted them out. Temporarily placed them haphazardly on any surface that wouldn't trip over anyone. Went to One Utama to do a little shopping. Met up with my insurance agent for some updates and planning. Met up with LY and FH, made a quick trip to Digital Mall and to Paramount for dinner. Went over to D's. Attempted to set up webcam.

Tuesday. Spent the morning excavating my room. It's funny how it still looks like a disaster area. Went to Mid Valley with dad. Used half my Metrojaya voucher (RM50) on nice fluffy towels at 70% off. Not bad. Had lunch at Little Penang Cafe. Collected Saffron keys. Paid for more stuff. Felt very poor. Drove home in heavy rain. Dinner with D. Watched a DVD. Fiddled with Skype. Webcam worked but mike didn't. Hmmm.

Wednesday. Consolidated my bills into credit card auto debit. Not applicable to Streamyx and Syabas (water). Sigh. Went to the gym at The Curve. Walked to One Utama to avoid crazy traffic jam and petrol station hunters - price went up to RM2.70 per litre today. It was only a 13-min brisk walk. Had dinner at Shogun with LY and WY. Not very good (the food, not the company). Had coffee with LY back at The Curve. Drove home. Traffic at the LDP at a stand still. Strangely, it was not caused by the Shell Station along the highway. Since the LDP wasn't moving anyway, I thought I might as well swing by and join the queue to fill my half-full tank. It was 11.50pm. At 12.05am, I filled RM50 worth of petrol at the old price, saving myself RM14. What can that buy me these days. Back on the LDP, traffic was at a crawl, but it was moving a little. Got home at 12.30am, about an hour since I left The Curve.

Thursday. Right now. Wee hours of the morning. Regretting the coffee I had 3 hours ago.

Things to do before I go

It's been confirmed. I start work in Shanghai on June 16th.
Things I need to do, in no order of importance, from now till then.

1. Clean up the mess that is my room, go through my wardrobe, chuck clothes I don't wear anymore, figure out what I'll need for Shanghai, decide what I should buy here before I go, and what I should buy when I get there.

2. Sort out my bills, filing and tax forms (gawd, how I hate doing this every year).

3. Collect debts, pay off debts (the ones I can anyway).

4. Pay for the airconds for my Saffron apartment before the month is out.

5. Plan how to consolidate my unit trust investment and find out from insurance agent how far my policy covers me abroad (call both unit trust and insurance agents).

6. Go to EPF, withdraw from Account 2 and dump money in housing loan to reduce monthly payments. Check EPF beneficiary names, just in case.

7. Train for A Formosa Triathlon.

8. Plan how to ship my stuff over to Shanghai - books, bike et al.

9. Set up my own domain name, get a webhost and transfer my blog to www.wandernut.com, because all free blogsites are blocked in China.

10. Get air ticket.

11. Try to do a last ditch decent campaign in current agency before I go.

12. Plan for Sunshine's well-being while I'm away.

13. Catch up with friends.

14. Put all utility bills at home on auto debit to credit card.

15. Arrange for auto debit for car loan and home loan.

16. Go for trip to Bangkok with D, LY and FH.

17. A long weekend with D and another with LY.

18. Spend more time at home with folks and Sunshine.

19. Get a new smaller laptop and configure current laptop to make it more user-friendly for folks (and teach them how to Skype).

20. Do homework on new agency (check out their current and past work)

21. Fix my camera.

22. Find out when I'll be getting the keys for Saffron, appoint real estate agent to rent out apartment.

23. Get broadband sorted out for the pouting rooster.

24. Make sure car is in decent condition (car is at the workshop to replace all my balding tyres as I type), get mom used to driving my car, and hopefully clear her of road phobia by the time I go.

25. Claim all my credit card reward points before they expire (yes, I kiasu hahaha)

26. Brief brother what to do in A, B and C scenarios.


Things to buy before I go:

1. A new pair of jeans (I have a comfy pair that makes me look like slob, and a one that's too tight I can't wear them anymore).

2. A decent jacket for cooler weather in autumn. I'll get winter wear when I get there.

3. A portable hard-disk.

4. A good suitcase (I usually travel with a backpack or a cheap roller suitcase that has since fallen apart).

5. Some OTC medicines like Panadol, flu meds, tummy meds etc (they say in China, you never know if the stuff you get are genuine)

6. Spices, belacan, stuff that will help me feel less homesick, food wise.

7. My skincare stuff, and toiletries to last me for the first couple of weeks.

8. New laptop. Thinking of the Dell XPS 13.3" (2G HD). For the same price I could get a Sony Vaio (1G HD). Hmmmm. Shucks.

9. A Chinese - English dictionary.

10. Some decent clothes. Apparently in Shanghai, appearances matter and I can't go to work looking like a slob anymore. Dammmit!!!! DAMMMMMMMIITTTT!!!

Big changes ahead

It started out as a phone call from a headhunter, CY, who's a friend of AW in Shanghai. I wasn't really thinking about working abroad at that time. Not in China anyway. I was more keen on Hong Kong - I could at least speak the language.

A potential offer from HK did come my way, and after a few days of agonising if I should take it up, I decided yes, I should do this while I'm still young, if only for the experience. It's my small window of opportunity before fear or commitments come my way, the kind that increases exponentially with age. Right now, I'm neither too junior to earn pittance, nor too senior to be unaffordable. And while I'm happy where I am, a decent job with lovely colleagues and a great boss, I'm too comfortable. It's now or never.

But of course, I could only go with a clear conscience if D and LY, my two favourite people, were okay with my temporary abandonment. It was difficult at first. But they both love me enough to know how important it is to me. They tried to understand my constant need to 'escape' from here, if only for awhile. Because of this, I love them even more. Especially D. If this whole going away thing didn't come about, I probably wouldn't realise how much shit he was willing to take to make me happy. Being supportive and unconditional with his love were the best things he could ever do for me. So we compromised - 2 years, at most.

However, the HK offer didn't follow through and it went to a good friend instead. I was really disappointed, but happy for her. Then I thought, if I've made up my mind to go somewhere anyway, why not open my mind to Shanghai. CY has been calling about a potential offer for quite some time, though I never really gave it a lot of thought. So when she called again to ask if I'd be interested to talk to the CD in Shanghai, I did.

I've never been to Shanghai, but it sounded pretty interesting. The work would be on a much bigger scale for an international soft drink brand. I'm Chinese illiterate and probably speak just enough Mandarin for daily survival, so I don't really understand in what manner I could contribute as an English writer in this part of the world. But the prospect of being in a new city, in a new agency and in a new culture all by myself excites me to death.

And now that the offer has been confirmed, it scares me half to death.

After much agonising, I bit the bullet and handed in my resignation today. My boss was really sweet about it. Supportive even, despite his pained expression. He had been a good boss and friend, and I felt as if I let him down. But he was cool. And I'm glad I got that over and done with.

If all goes well, I should be there by mid June. They want me in earlier, but with so many writers leaving the agency right now, my boss will have a hard time finding replacements. So 3 months notice it shall be.

This of course throws a spanner in my triathlon plan for this year, though I would be able to do the first one in May. But I plan to train as much as I can when I'm there. As much as time and work permits anyway. Hahaha. Maybe join a tri-club if I can find one. Then maybe the 70.3 Half Ironman China in Haikou, 2009. Talk about being over ambitious! :P

Right now, I'm brimming with excitement. A whole mix of emotions. Happy that I can finally 'run away'. Sad that I'm leaving loved ones behind. And SUNSHINE! I'll miss Sunshine soooooo much! But she's in good hands with my folks, who now spoil her rotten. And also her newly appointed 'dogma', as opposed to godma, SM (she's an atheist, you see).

Yep, it'll be an exciting year ahead.
I have no clue what the future will bring, apart from some really good xiao long baos and la mian.

As scary as it seems right now, I think I'll enjoy the ride.
I would tell you all about it as I go along, but not here on Blogspot. The Chinese government has a weird Internet censorship policy, which includes banning and censoring websites such as BBC, Blogger and even some parts of Google and Wikipedia! I really should get my own domain before I go.

And, dammit. I haven't done my own laundry since university.
*uhuk*

Addict goes cold turkey!

As of today, Bogglific, my favourite application in all of Facebook, is no more. Hasbro Inc. issued them a DMCA notification notice and they were given 48 hours to remove the application. Very soon, Scrabulous may suffer the same fate.

This is proof that Hasbro, like many big corporations, is not very smart. Being online, Bogglific is hardly competing with the real thing. If anything, Roger Nesbitt, the creator, ignited interest in this game to an entire new generation, and reignited it for people who haven't played it for a long, long time. Like me!

Because of Bogglific, I'm so hooked to the game, I was given a real set for Christmas. And I found it quite amusing that it was the same with a few friends. I also hear of people who now get together on weekends to play Boggle, because they just can't get enough of the game after experiencing it on Bogglific.

If there was a spike in sales over the past few months, they should know in their heart of hearts that Bogglific had a big part in it. We're talking tens and thousands of Bogglific junkies here.

Bogglific lovers are now signing a petition on Facebook pleading Hasbro to let Bogglific live on (please sign it too!). Or at the very least, Hasbro should buy the application from Mr Nesbitt and own it. It'd be such a great communication tool, and it sure hell beats advertising. People in Hasbro marketing must be living in the dark ages. I hope they burn when they finally see the light! Grrrrrr....

Now what am I gonna do while I brush my teeth before and after I go to bed? :(

2007 in retrospect

This time last year, I blogged about how 2006 went by so quickly. Well, 2007 wasn't any different and here I am again, reflecting on the 12 months past. I must say 2007 has been a very good year for me, and for that I am very grateful.

Running
I ran every race I wanted to run in this year, including a trip to Penang for one (very good excuse for a makan-makan road trip). With a race calendar, I felt more motivated to keep up a regular running schedule and it worked. Happy to report that my running time improved at every race and I completed my first ever half marathon in September. I now believe that anyone can do this if he or she really wants to (of course, willingness to commit to a training schedule is important). I was never the athlete in school, being an asthmatic weakling back then, so this was quite a personal breakthrough.

Next race: Great Eastern Pacesetters 30km Run. I just signed up for it last weekend at a whim. I haven't been running as much as I would like now that my exercise hours also include cycling and swimming. But what the heck. I still can't get past the mental barrier in my head to attempt a full marathon. This 30km run would be a good start. I'll just do it slow and see what happens.

But the bigger goal for 2008 is to do triathlons. Wish me luck.

New wheels
And a pretty 2-wheeler it is too! So far I've logged in 4 rides totalling about 220km (no bike computer yet, so I don't have the exact distance). Never thought I'd enjoy it so much. Whizzing down the hills. Enjoying the view as I ride (love Hulu Langat!). I now have tan lines on my thighs from my cycling tights (even with sunblock).

Finding fins
Started swimming again and I had to (almost) relearn everything. Rotating the hips. Reaching out to glide instead of splashing inefficiently. Breathing on both sides. I still can't do it properly. Or do it properly long enough. It's tough being so uncoordinated. Sigh. It's been 6 weeks of weekly swim sessions. A bit of improvement. Can't complain, but I'm still a long way off.

Holidays
First up, the trip to Kota Kinabalu with YL, K and S, where we did some white water rafting and climbed the tallest mountain in South East Asia. The water rafting was fun, but not as fun as the train ride to the rapids. Mount K was beautiful and it was a good climb, albeit painful. At the top, it's almost surreal, and unfortunately, coming down was even more painful than going up. I don't know if I'll do it again, but it was a great experience. We also got to try some delicious fresh water prawns and beef noodles thanks to friends of S, who took us around. Syok man...

Next, my usual holiday with LY. It's always fun with that crazy woman, and we both realise that we have the most fun when we're holidaying together. We seem to experience and see alot more together somehow. Not that we don't have fun with other travel mates, we definitely do! It's just that we understand each other so well, we have the same travel pace, interests, appetite, cincai-ness and willingness to try new things. This year, we beach-bummed in Cha-Am and ate our way around Bangkok. We've made a pact to make our holiday an annual event, regardless where we are in the future.

There was also a face-stuffing trip to Penang with D, followed by another one to Muar with JK and YL for a wedding. And I went to Cameron Highlands for the first time in my life with D and gang. Talk about a deprived childhood!

Last but not least, the company trip to Hong Kong. Got to see and stuff my face at some places I didn't the year before. Awesoommmmmeee.

If I were to name 3 places I'd happily make a pilgrimage to every year, it'd be Bangkok, Hong Kong and Bali, which I haven't visited since 2004. Affordable! Great food! Great shopping! Chaboh! Ta-Boh! How? Wanna go this year?

The band
We named ourselves Thin Izzy. We've been playing together for over a year now and enjoyed every minute of it. Now, 16 gigs later, we are taking a break, indefinitely. MI is starting his own firm, so he'll have less time for music. MH feels he's getting too old to play in a band, which is utter nonsense cos despite being the oldest, he looks younger than all of us. We may jam together every now and then, but we probably won't be a band for hire from now on. We had our last show last night at Rick's Casablanca on New Year's Eve. What a party it was! Sigh. Gonna miss my bros!

Work
On a day to day basis, it's been okay. But that's the problem. I am getting too comfortable. I entertained thoughts of working abroad, maybe in China or Hong Kong. It's something I should do before I get too old. The problem is, I'm so deeply rooted here right now. I have supportive colleagues who are also great friends. A good boss. What about my folks? What about people I will miss greatly when I'm away? What about Sunshine? What if I don't like it there after all? Still, the itch is great. And if a good offer comes along I may be very tempted.

Another surprising thing this year was this, which got me this.
Not surprisingly, something like this happens and creates a cess pool for ego maniacs and glory seekers. She wasn't even there when the idea was first conceived and executed. I was annoyed to no end. Really annoyed. But people here know the truth. And that's good enough for me.

Significant Others
Best news of the year - MY CHABOH IS DATING! Nice guy, tall, dark and handsome with a thing for goats. Hahahahaa! Though it's long distance, it's been a few months now and I'm quite optimistic it'll work out. I mean, who couldn't possibly love my Chaboh? :D

After some time apart (sort of), D and I found ourselves back together again. I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened, we just grew into it naturally and so far, so good. It's amazing how he puts up with my nonsense sometimes (I suppose I have to put up with his too, haha). Muaks. Ewww. I hate PDA.

Happy New Year!
Yep, it's been a good year.
And I have God, loved ones and friends to thank for the blessings I've received. For the first time in years, I'm looking forward to the new year. And may yours be a fantastic one.

Post purchase rationalisation

In the few days I was on leave, I kinda spent a lot of money.
An idle mind is not just a devil's workshop.
It does funny things to your wallet too.

1) Was walking around in Summit on Friday. I mean, what can you possibly buy in Summit that's not positively cheap? Then I walked past the watch shop where D bought his watch a few months ago at a very good discount. I must say they give incredible bargains. It's the corner shop right next to Cold Storage, next to a computer games shop.

Anyway, it's probably the only place I know in PJ/KL that carries Timex. Out of sheer curiousity, I popped in to see what kind of promos they were having. Then I saw it. A Timex Heart Rate Monitor. I'd been wanting to get one for a long, long time, but it was just way too expensive here in Malaysia. Then the boys at the counter told me it's now RM300, down from RM450. I knew that if I didn't get it now, I probably wouldn't find another offer as good as this. I'd rather get this at RM300 than a very basic Polar HRM model for RM280 with fewer functions. With the Polar, I would have to send it back to the manufacturer if the batteries run out. With the Timex, I can change the batteries at any watch shop. No contest there. The savings? RM150. SCORE!!

2) I've been wanting to get the Sony Ericsson k800i phone since I first saw the sharp, clear pictures it took on SD's camera phone. That was half a year ago, when the phone was going at RM1399 (RM1299 for an AP set). Last weekend, I got my AP set for under a grand, with a 1G card thrown in. Savings? RM340. SCORE!!!

3) Was walking around in Parkson with D and there was this awesome promo for men's shirts at G2000. Buy 3 pieces and get 50% off all of them. It was a 3-day promotion. It was a now or never decision. D was tempted to get them but decided to walk away. Well, I couldn't let this great discount pass me by and decided to get the shirts for him for Christmas. Savings? RM225. SCORE!!! (There was this really nice jacket too, but I couldn't afford another RM300, though it was after a 50% discount as well!).

Total savings? RM715! Triple score!

Now isn't it a good thing I'm not in charge of world economics :P ?

Bumming

Just when I thought my leave for early this month was cancelled, I was told I could take my leave after all.

It's amazing how 2 days off can go by so quickly, what with running around on errands, and retail therapy, I might add. The weekend just flew by. Am on leave again today. Public holiday tomorrow.

I'm yet to have a day of doing absolutely 'nothing'.
At the rate I'm going, I don't think that's happening.

Whoosh...

The week went by really quickly.
Busy at work. Tried squeezing in some workouts in between.

Body took awhile to recover from the previous Sunday's ride.
Going up K.Klawar (or Perez as it's called by other cyclists) really did me in, and an attempt to run on Wednesday was rather pathetic. It's as if my cycling legs screwed up my running legs, so I did some weights instead. Went for RPM on Thursday, and while I noticed it's getting a little easier, I sweated buckets like never before. Good or bad sign, I dunno.

Thursday was also when D took my dad out to watch the Federer vs Sampras match in Shah Alam. Such a sweetie. Apparently my dad was screaming and cheering his heart out. For the few hours in the stadium, he wasn't a little frail old man. Hahaha. So funny.

Saturday
Swim lesson in the morning again. Assistant coach taught me a drill to help my freestyle (main coach went off with the kids for a swim meet) . I'm starting to feel a little doubtful about the classes here. He kept forgetting I was there to improve on my strokes, not to learn how to swim. Geeez. He only taught me the drill after I reminded him when he asked me to do the same stuff as another student who didn't even know how to float.

After class, I sent my car for service nearby, walked home (which took 15mins) cos I still couldn't run, and took Sunshine for long walk with a few running bursts (45mins). She was all pooped out by the time we got home (the weather was scorching even though it was about 11am). So cute to see her sleeping contentedly after that.

Sunday
Had a good ride at Ulu Langat again. Left the house at 6.45am and there was a freaking jam on the Federal Highway. The cops turned a 4-lane into a 1-lane because of the rioting in town. Damn! Luckily it cleared quickly enough and I got to Ulu Langat on time.

We took the route round the dam to the nasi lemak stall this week. The ride felt easier than my first. At least I was struggling as much going up the hills. The best part - I'm not aching very much today.

What did I do differently? I drank a whole bottle of Gatorade before the ride, and another during. Ate some nasi lemak at the rest stop half way, drank some Revive, and then downed 2 cans of Gatorade after the ride. Not as stiff and achey as my first ride. Can't compare to last week's ride of course, which was a different route and uphill all the way. Hmmm. I wonder if my client (Pepsico) would sell Gatorade to me in bulk at a cheaper price. Teeheehee.

Met up with the girls for coffee for some catching up as AV was back from Singapore for the weekend. There were only 4 of us since EL left for London. The latest news would be SY's preggers-ness. AV bought her some baby clothes - a really pretty colourful striped outfit with socks.

I said "Cute." They were really cute, but I guess I wasn't overly enthusiastic with a cccccccuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttteeeee or something. But they had a good laugh (at me) cos they could see this whole 'baby' thing was kinda freaking me out. SY would be the first in my close bunch of girlfriends from high school to have a baby. And of course, AV and SY being married, they turned to CC and me, and asked when it'd be our turn.

Errr....
AIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Knowing SY and HM, their kid would be a real cutie.
There's no denying that! :)

Busy. Working. Dreaming.

Life's a pitch. Been busy at work.
Apart from some birthday get-togethers for some dear friends (Box and Phish) and two private function gigs, nothing exciting going on.

Managed to catch Chicago The Musical on Saturday with D, SM, and JJ though. It was rather disappointing. The movie cast were way better performers except for Billy Flynn's character. ANYONE can act/sing/dance better than Richard Gere. Hahaha. Good thing I got the tickets at a decent discount (20% from my Direct Access credit card) or I'd be quite upset.

As far as training is concerned, I've been going for RPM once a week, and running at least twice a week. Going to start swimming this weekend. Found a coach to correct my swim strokes in Sunway. Haven't gone for some real cycling since Ulu Langat though. Hope to do that soon.

Was supposed to go for RPM and a short run morning today.
But my phone's speakers are busted, so the alarm didn't ring and I overslept. CRAP! I need to go fix my phone (or buy new phone... *drool* SE k800 (ARRRGGGHHHH- no! no! no!).

Another thing I'm drooling over right now is the Honda Jazz. No, I'm not gonna just go out and buy a new car, but I'm really so very, very tempted. The car's really cool. It's a mini-MPV, fuel efficient with a 1.5l engine and PFI (programmed fuel injection) so that no matter how hard you step on the gas it controls the amount of fuel that goes in. It's also easy to park and has low emissions, so it's a very 'green' car.

What I really like - ULTRA SEATS. The backseat doesn't only fold down, but the entire seat actually lowers to the floor of the car to give you at least 1.7m of space, or 2.4m if you fold down the front passenger seat as well. You could also opt to fold the seat upwards vertically to make room for tall objects. How cool is that!

Yes, I'm thinking about space for my bike. I'm nuts.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, on the Honda website, there's a page that actually helps you calculate your loan amount and monthly repayments if you trade in your car. The monthly repayment works out to be about the same as what I'm paying for my Hyundai Accent right now. But of course, it would mean I have to restart a 7-year loan again cos the Honda Jazz is more expensive). If I do get it, I'd prolly go for the black or the white one. Sigh.

Nice to dream. Nice to dream.
Unless I decide to flush prudence down the toilet.
Hmmm....

No more, please, no more...

I was not feeling too good on Monday. Felt like flu and fatigue. Stayed home pretty much the whole day, holed up in my room. Reading, resting, and playing Bogglific on Facebook.

I was playing for... er, I lost count of the minutes or hours, lying on my bed, laptop on my stomach. And I'm still addicted. I play a few games before bed. A few games when I wake up. A few games at lunch. A game or two in between jobs.

I'm wasting my life away connecting letters to form words. Some words I doubt even exist.

So from today on... NO MORE.

But Scrabulous... no one takes that away from me.
Not even myself :P

Of boobs and gynaes

It's been almost a year since I got my boobs checked. I first got it done last year after finding a lump in my left boob, which turned out to be a cyst. One of FIVE cysts in both boobs. The radiologist said I was quite a 'lumpy person' (gee, thanks) and prone to cysts. They are usually harmless, but I was advised to scan them annually, on top of monthly self-checks (which I've been quite lazy to do lately), just to be on the safe side.

Next week, I'm going to get a pap smear and a pelvic ultrasound done. My 'monthly friend' has been erratic for most of my life, averaging between once every 3 weeks to 8 weeks. It never really bothered me cos my doctor told me at my first pap smear that it's quite common for young ladies to have irregular periods. Well, that was 7 years ago and I gather I'm not exactly a 'young' lady anymore.

But when I started training hard for my half-marathon, my 'monthly friend' decided to do a disappearing act. No sign of it in July. Then August. Then September. 3 whole months! I didn't lose or gain any weight and I was eating normally, so I found it really strange. And just as I started looking for a gynae and getting paranoid about ovarian or cervical cancer or things of that sort, it finally came. With a bloody vengeance.

Now that it's over, I can breathe a sigh of relief. But just to be sure, I'm going to get it checked the same time I scan my boobs. And while I'm in a body check-up mode, I'm gonna go for some bloodwork too, for cholesterol and sugar levels, the whole works.

So ladies. Please do go and get yourselves checked out, especially if you've never had a full medical done before. And if you don't already do a self-examination for your boobs, you should. If you need a hand, let me know. Hee hee hee! I'll get you brochures laaa ;-)

Oh yes, a pap smear sounds scary, but it's really not that bad and is over really quickly.

And to think some guys make a big deal about doctors grabbing their balls. Sheesh.

When the cats are away...

... the dog comes in.

Everyone's gone out.
And I have the whole house to myself.

It's just me, lazing on the couch.
Sunshine's on the floor next to me (yes, she's in the house! whoopeee! shhhh, don't tell mom).

The TV is off for a change. No incessant chatter from Wah Lai Toi or screaming spectators from Star Sports. The phone's on silent. I hear nothing but the whirring of the fan, the twitter of birds outside and Sunshine's breathing.

We fall in and out of sleep, my left hand draping over the couch to rest on her soft furry shoulder.

Sunshine stirs. Her sharp ears prick up. A neighbourhood stray is trotting by the house. But she's too content to move or bark her displeasure. Oh well. We both go back to our lazy, peaceful Sunday.

I love it.
Every weekend should be like this.

Took a trip to Springfield

Here's me and my yellow self!

I don't know what Sunshine's hiding from.

And here's a close up.

Do one for yourself at http://simpsonizeme.com.
Cool huh! Now I have a huge craving for donuts.

Mm mmm...

Rainy days and Monday mornings

• Dad's back from the hospital and he's doing fine. Got some swelling still but should be alright if he rests abit longer. His appetite is still good and he can walk for short distances so that's a good sign.

• I had a full day shoot on the weekend so it was rather tiring. While the clients are nice on a normal day, I don't understand why they had to be so super obsessive when it came to the product shots. Fortunately, they pretty much left us to do our thing for most part of the commercial. But when it came to their 'sell', oh my gawd, the level of interference was almost intolerable.
  
  They should just let us do our jobs, but no, they had to cover the precious product from every single conceivable angle, and all the different variations of their range. The way they went on, it was almost as if the whole world revolved around their 'miracle pen'. Like it could rid the world of hunger and poverty or something. Why are ALL clients like that! Geez..
  
  
• I must be losing my head. I was holding my office parking card in my hand when the production house van drove us back to my office after the shoot. I got into my car and the card was not in my hand. I had no memory of letting it go or putting it down or dropping it. All I remember was it being firmly in my hand as we approached my office building. Turned out that I left it on my seat in the van. How, I don't know.
  
  I also forgot where I put the entry passcard to my office. I searched my bag, my gym bag, my car, my room, my living room... nothing. Only after 3 days of wondering where it went, I realised I was carrying my laptop bag on Wednesday and I must have stuffed it in the front pocket. It was there. Laughing at me when I took it out. I really must be losing my mind. :P
  
  
• Saw this photo essay on time.com and it's so interesting. It tells you what people in different countries eat in a week, and how much they spend on food. From America to Africa to Germany to Bhutan to Japan, there are 15 beautiful photos that show you how wonderfully diverse we are. And how different life is for the haves and have-nots.
  
  
• YL and I surprised SW for her birthday at the LCCT airport this morning. SW was going to Macau for a holiday with JH and KN, but cos she's the kindest, sweetest ex-boss and friend, no way we're gonna let her escape her big 40th just like that. We arrived with balloons, cake, party hats and whistle blowies. She was super surprised and probably embarassed when we sang Happy Birthday loudly at McDonalds. It was 5 am. If it ain't love, I don't know what is. Hahaha. Good thing it started to rain only after I got home at about 7 am. Managed to get a few more winks of sleep before I went to work.
  
  
• Didn't get to run the 15km I was supposed to clock in yesterday, no thanks to the shoot. Must try to make up for it today. Arrrgghh... want more sleep.
  

Leaky week

Had a rather good weekend, running my kms and spending time with people (and dogs) who matter. The weather has been wet and I caught a chesty cough. Not that I'm very chesty, but I got the cough anyway :P.

Stubborn me continued to run my required kms.
I should have rested more, but I thought, it's just a little cough.
It's now a full blown flu.

Am thrilled to bits cos there's a sale at Nike Women in The Curve. Bought my Hydration Belt (with three cool bottles and mini pouch for Powergels), and a yoga mat. There were some other stuff going at about 30-40% off. But I had to control myself. The running vests and shorts and socks and a new pair of gym gloves were shouting "Buy Me". But no no no no. Me good girl.

Dad's in the hospital to prep for a hernia operation on Friday. His appointment was for early next month, but it got brought forward. So I took emergency leave to help him check in this morning. We were given the run around just to register for goodness sake. Those people really ought to brush up their communication skills. We had to walk from the East Wing to the Old Wing, up and down the hospital and wait about 3 hours before dad was registered and comfortably settled into his ward. Sigh.

Oh well, can't complain too much when surgery's paid for by his civil servant pension. Today is X-ray, ECG testing and blood tests. Not sure what else they'd be doing to him tomorrow. Poor dad. Felt kinda sad to leave him there. Maybe I'll sneak him a char koay teow for lunch. He won't get dinner tomorrow because of his surgery the following day.

My flu's getting from bad to worse.
It's just like the leaky faucet in my kitchen. Non-stop dripping. Drives me up the wall.

Things are busy at work. I feel almost guilty being absent today. But I feel so shitty with a raw red nose and glazed eyes that today's EL might as well be an MC. Good thing my brother drove the family to the hospital for the 'second shift' tonight. So blur right now.

Oh. Harry Potter can be bought from MPH at a decent 25% off if you're a MRC card member. Helped YL buy a copy and finished reading it over 2 days. Most of it while waiting at the hospital. Got me thinking, what would my patronus be if I were to fight off my dementors (beings who suck joy out of me, like bad clients or irritating relatives)? A labrador would be the obvious choice... though I wouldn't mind a nice chubby pig or a flying peace dove.

Geek's birthday was on Monday. I wonder what the bride-to-be wished for upon her birthday candles.

Ok. Nasal plumbing problem.
Must go to bed. Zzzz.

Body Fat

There was a fitness fair over the weekend at Sunway Pyramid and I got my body fat measured just for the heck of it. This is the reading according to the 'Body Composition Analyzer'.

BODY TYPE: Standard
GENDER: Female
AGE: 29
HEIGHT: 163 cm
WEIGHT: 60.1 kg
BMI: 22.6
BMR: 1319 kcal (calories I need per day)
IMPEDANCE: 436 omega (dunno what this means)
FAT: 24.9 %
FAT MASS: 15.0 kg
FFM: 45.1 kg (bone and muscle weight)
TBW: 33.0 kg (total body water)

IDEAL FAT %: 17 - 24 % (under 20% for athletes)
IDEAL FAT MASS: 9.2 - 14.2 kg

TARGET BODY FAT %: 23 %
TARGET WEIGHT: 58 kg
TARGET FAT LOSS: 1.5 kg

No measurements were taken. All was measured by a weighing scale-like thing with metal plates for your feet. Makes me wonder how accurate it is.

So I took my measurements and ran it through a body fat calculator online.
Factors: Age, Weight, Gender, Hips, Calf, Thigh, Wrist.
The results: My body fat percentage is only at 20.3%.
EHHH??? That puts me near athletic. Hahaha! What a joke!

This other body fat calculator on another website told me otherwise.
Factors: Weight, Gender, Waist, Hips, Wrist, Forearm.
The results: My body fat percentage is at 32%.
Now according to the charts, that would put me in the obese category.

So how accurate these things are I dunno.
Maybe I should get a proper measurement done at the gym :P

Anyhow, the first reading says I need to lose 1.5kg to be my ideal weight. Sounds simple enough. But... there is a problem.

This is a scenario from breakfast yesterday morning.
D & I went to a mamak (Restoran Daun Pisang Melur Jaya, USJ 17) that makes roti canai fresh only when you order it. It's nice and flaky, unlike most places where rotis are pre-made and rubbery. We had 5 (or was it 6?) rotis and a tosai between us. The mamak dudes were quite amused.

We first shared 3 rotis and the tosai, but it was so good we had to order more. And while digging into our extra rotis....

WN: I think we look like we haven't eaten roti canai in a very long time.
D: Yeah... it's been 15 minutes since our last one.

Jia lat...

What kind of coffee are you?

Found this quiz by chance and I got curious.

The results:

Personally, I prefer my coffee black.
And if I want milk in my coffee I usually go for a latte with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.

But heh, if I'm 'delicious and a treat' in their books, I ain't complaining ;)

That said, 'floating like the foam on top', gives me a crappy mental image (literally).

Eeeee.
I'll stick to my Americano or Latte, thank you.

PMS, chocolate and coffee

My Chipsmore has more chips than yours

It's almost that time of the month.
And apart from the zits that love to make their grand appearance on my face, I get cravings for chocolate. Or meat.

Today it's chocolate.
Mind you I just had a full lunch of nasi briyani.
Then I got into the office and wanted some chocolate chip cookies. Nobody around had any, so I went downstairs to get some from the sundry shop.

I bought a pack of Double Choc Chipsmore cookies.
And went on to finish half a pack in less than an hour.

Tsk tsk tsk.

I Gave Up Bad Coffee For Good

I gave up bad coffee for good recently by buying a RM49 Bodum travel press. Just enough to make one decent cuppa. And I got some freshly ground mocha coffee (described as winey and chocolatey) from Aroma, a Thai brand, while I was at Siam Paragon, Bangkok. It cost me 153 baht (RM16) for 100g which lasted me about 3 weeks, at a rate of one cup per working day on average. Not bad. RM16 is equivalent to 2.5 cups of COD* from Starbucks.

I need to get a new pack of freshly ground coffee soon. At the risk of sounding like a coffee snob, I can't drink Nescafe in the office anymore. Hee hee... :P
*coffee of the day

The black hole in my brain

They mysteriously disappear.
Things. Conversations. Information. Memories.

For instance, E & E got me some blank CD-Rs over a month ago. I can't find it anywhere in my house. It's not anywhere in D's house. It's not in my car. I have no recollection whatsoever of WHERE I put it. All I remember is, it's in a plastic bag.

I was wearing my sunglasses one Saturday afternoon. I vaguely recall wearing them when driving home. It was a very hot day. I couldn't find them on Sunday. Not in the car (where I usually leave them). Not in the house. Not in my room. Not anywhere.

Books. CDs.
I have lent numerous books and CDs to friends.
Now I don't remember what books and CDs.
And I don't remember who I lent them to.

I get it.
The black hole is not in my brain.
My brain is the black hole.

AAaaarrrrRRRrrrggggHHhhh!

Three-O-Minus-One

My 29th birthday has been a non-stop food fest since Thursday.

First, it was dimsum at Oriental Jaya with CN, her hubs, EL and LY.
Then on Friday (the 'official' day), my colleagues did a surprise yao char koay and kopi breakfast at the pantry. To avoid my very food-sensitive radar of a nose, they hid everything early in the morning. I didn't suspect a thing. They (my friends, and of course, the food) are THAT good! Haha!

At night, LY took me to Vintry in Damansara Heights.
It's a lovely, lovely porky place right next to La Risata (behind Victoria Station), with an excellent wine selection, starting from RM50 and up. We had pork. Lots of pork. Roast pork. Roast caramelised pork. Bacon. Tom yam ribs. And a soothing oxtail soup. We chose a Wolf Blass Chardonnay which was actually pretty good at the price of RM55, to wash down all the porkiness. Ahhhhh!

A day over 29 on Saturday, I had a dimsum brunch with my folks. Then dinner at Celestial Steakhouse in Kelana Jaya with D. The chef was apparently once the personal chef of Donald Trump or something. Phoooah. The steaks were pretty yummy, though D's ribeye turned out more medium than medium rare. Good thing my prime rib arrived a juicy red medium rare. Slurp.

I've never been to a steakhouse that offered beef of 3 different nationalities. Wah... Chinese cows, Malaysian cows and American cows.

We went Malaysian, which was pretty good, and almost double the price of Chinese beef (I wonder if Chinese beef is imitation beef, like Chinese imitation leather goods, hehehe). Obviously the US beef was also almost double the price of Malaysian beef. A tad too extravagant, me thinks. The food here looked interesting though. Would go back to try their other stuff. Like the 7-cheese lasagna. Mmmmmmm.

Then Sunday night, a seafood dinner at one of my favourite crab places, Wong Poh, with some dear friends. We had cheese crab, salted egg crab, marmite mantis prawn, veges, Guinness ribs and yummy La Manila carrot cake. Followed by copious amounts of tea and lots of laughs.

It didn't stop there. There was a birthday lunch today with some colleagues from my department. We went to this Chinese restaurant in Aman Suria. Not bad at all.

And KC said she wants to treat me to makan and drinks coming weekend.

Gosh. All this eating BEFORE Chinese New Year. How like that!

Bestttt!

Thanks for a well-stuffed belly this birthday.
Thanks for the lovely pressies.
Thanks for the lovely company and friendship.
Thanks for the love.
My belly so lucky.