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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Last post of the year

Tired
Overwhelmed
Stressed out
Grouchy 


Will resume blogging when I regain my sanity. Not sure when that will be though. Honestly, I think I'm at a point where I can no longer handle everything I have yet I stubbornly want to hold onto everything. Thankfully I have my superman hubby.

Anyway, Happy New Year 2011 (this year I turned into a Christmas Grinch thus no Christmas greetings from me). 

I've been already living in 2011 for some time. It's going to be an extremely full pack year. 

Breath in... breath out...


Friday, December 24, 2010

2010 is coming to an end. And thus it's the obligatory "end of the year" post. If I could sum up 2010 in one word it would be "Career". If you asked me at the end of last year what I hope to achieve in my career in 2010, I would never imagine I would be here where I am right now. Last year I was struggling at work and with all my personal boogie. In fact, if I could sum 2009 in one word, it would be "Depression".

Somehow while struggling with so many problems, I decided. Either I quit and leave or I stay where I am, stop complaining and just pull through. Not sure when things started turning around, but it did. :)

There of course are still things that I struggle with. But I am who I am.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The roomba awakens

Baby Roomba is alive and well after I bought a new adapter for it. Russell is unhappy with this new intruder challenging him territory. He keeps following Roomba and barking at it and each time Roomba turns around and moves towards him, Russell will panic and run away. I'm quite sure that if I leave Russell and Roomba alone, Russell will pee on Roomba while it's asleep who show Roomba who's the boss.

Roomba is so fascinating. The hubby, the sister and I kept staring at it when we turned it on for the first time. When it gets stuck, it cries for help, annoying the sister who has to get up and move it. And when it's done, it goes back to it's docking station by itself to recharge.

I can imagine though that many years in the future, our children's children will think, "what stupid robot is this which keeps bumping its head into everything".

On a different topic, I am so sick. I've got my sexy voice back.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The alien

I have an alien growing under my nose. It's the worst kick-ass reddest pimple ever, complete with a white dot on the top (after particular email, a few of us keep using the term "kick-ass" because "kick-ass" means real business. It means don't mess around. It means we are putting on our Rambo headband and going out to battle. It means do or die!!!!!!).

Today I had only one meeting so I didn't have to talk to many people. And when I do talk to people, I'm closely monitoring their eye level. Are they talking to my eyes..... or are they talking to the alien under my nose. Eyes.....? Or alien.....? Hmmmm...... There was a moment I was observing so closely that I lost track of what the boss was telling me.

Tomorrow I have meetings the whole entire day, not even stopping for lunch. So many people are going to meet the alien. Hopefully the alien doesn't feels so glamorous tomorrow and goes to sleep.

:(

Sunday, November 28, 2010

The newest hangouts in Penang

Like a typical Penangnite, I went to see the two new malls opened this weekend.

If you have not gone to Straits Quay yet, you have to go there. I remember when I was in San Francisco, I was wishing that Penang had a classy place to hang out like the one I went to. I remember being absolutely in love this that place my colleagues took me to. It was a place with restaurants and shoppings and a wonderful area outside to hangout. A Jazz musician at a corner hoping to get a buck or two if you felt his music was good. A man and his absolutely gorgoues golden retreiver at a bench, enjoying the evening. An old couple dancing together to the music. And the whole place was dimly, beautifully light.

Straits Quay is so much classier than that place I visited in San Francisco though you probably won't be seeing any golden retrievers there. Our little Penang island has reached another status now.

Girls, the next time we have dinner together, we are going to Straits Quay. We are going to dine beside the sea front. :)

I took a few photos with the Blackberry. It was raning so photos aren't that good. I'm sure lots of people have upload better photos. But anyway, these are the blur ones I took.





Smidapaper is there, Shu-Yin, you'll be happy.


After Straits Quay, I went to 1 Avenue. Just another shopping mall. I like the design of how to get up to Floor 8 though. That's cool. And on that floor, there's a balcony where you can enjoy the view of Georgetown.



I was trying to imagine what it would be like if all these places were around when the hubby and I first dated. During our paktoh days, there was only Pragin Mall, then later Gurney Plaza. Maybe the skinny teenage boy would have taken me up to the 8th floor of 1st Avenue for a romantic night of enjoying the view. And he might have saved a whole month of his allowance to bring me to Straits Quay for a dinner. And I would have been the giggly teenage girl thinking, "Wah... my boyfriend is so "man" ah". ;)

There is a lot to love about this little island. And once the Tanjung Seri Pinang and the Light Collection project is completed, our little island of ours is going to be even more awesome!~~~~

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The day in the year again

Every year around this time, I'll get the following questions

Before 17th Nov: What is your hubby planning for you birthday?
After 17th Nov: What did your hubby get for your birthday?

This year, people could not accept what I told them.

"On my birthday, my hubby took me to Queensbay food court and I ate porridge"

Uncle Ninian went into a fit of laughter, "Ohhhhh, he is going to be in so much trouble later".
Some replied, "And then???"
Others couldn't accept it, "Tell la, surely got something"



Well, there was once this little girl who adored her birthday. This was the day she felt like the most special person in the world, the day when she felt her parents would love her a little more than usual.

That little girl grow up and realized that she already has all the love she needs and everything she wants. She doesn't need to wait for that one day a year to feel special, or to celebrate, or to receive something she wants. Why does she need to wait when she can get that anytime of the year.

Either that, or I'm just moody that I'm getting older.

Of course, everything above is applicable except the following situation,

If the hubby forgets to buy a birthday card, HE WILL DIE!!!!!

So the hubby survives another one of my birthday. I love the hubby. :D


(BTW, one year of eating porridge on my birthday is acceptable, but not two years in a row ya!~ Also, one year missing a birthday present means the next year I get a bigger birthday present ah. )

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Phases of life

Hey yo.

I've realized that I don't really blog much lately. You know I always go through phases where I'm crazy over something?

There was the draw-and-color phase, the i-must-save-planet-earth-and-go-green phase, the i-am-crazy-over-social-networking phase, the i-love-Dr-Oz-and-must-live-healthy phase, the cooking phase, the crazy-over-shoes-and-shopping phase (actually this comes every mega sales season, too much evil temptation around, can't help it, not my fault), the i-bought-a-new-camera-and-need-to-capture-every-moment phase, the i-need-to-find-Looi-a-girlfriend phase, the temporary-syiok-sendiri phase, all the different food obsession phases.

Well I'm in another phase right now. The I-am-crazy-over-work phase. Because being a new manager is different. So much to learn. Learn from experience, learn from mistakes, learn from others, never a clear right or wrong decision.

Anyway, I've got another blog for the little choo choo train. So I won't bore people here about it. This will be the last you'll hear about the little choo choo train over here. :)

Monday, November 1, 2010

There is girl I know

There is this girl I know who is a wonderful wonderful friend.

She used to play video tapes of Brad Pitt on the TV, pause it, then take photos of the TV screen and later drag me to the photo shop after school  to develop those photos, causing me to miss my school bus. And we would then walk home together, under the sun with our heavy bags, so carefree without a worry in the world (oh those were during those internet-less days, the days where if you want a photo of your idol, you couldn't just download it from the internet, you have to improvise and think of other ways).

16 years of friendship, 16 years of good times, 16 times I wished her Happy Birthday.

So Happy 16th Day after your Birthday

*With bambi eyes* I'm sorry I forgot your birthday. Work is screwing up my memory cells. I suddenly remembered your birthday was I was wondering, "It's November, how come Mun Yi's birthday hasn't come yet". :P

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The past few weeks have been crazy. Crazy good, crazy bad. I think it's safe to say that I've reached a milestone in my career. And the hubby has reached a milestone his career. It is exciting and frustrating at the same time and it also means we have bigger shoes to fill in now. But at the end of the day, it's the sense of achievement.

There will be no more choo-choo train posts over here (cos the choo-choo train has found her own blog to scribble on).

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

little cho cho train

The little cho cho train struggles to go faster and faster and faster.

The little cho cho train sees the big trains speeding pass her and thinks "Waaaaaahhhh".

The little cho cho train needs to upgrade to a better engine to keep up.

But hor, the little cho cho train still waiting for news about the $$.

No $$, how to upgrade engine ah?

;)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

:)

The little tired cho-cho train smiles today.

The little tired cho-cho train almost cried realizing it all paid off.

The little tired cho-cho train is glad the other little tired cho-cho train made it as well.

But the little cho-cho train knows there is a long way to go.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sometimes the world seems so big
And I feel so small

and alone

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Actually, it's not that short la

Nah, due to the requests I've uploaded the photo.



BTW, I'm not a vain pot who uploads photos of myself for no reason. I'm shy.


Sunday, October 10, 2010

1010101010

Mr. Looi called me at 10th October 2010 at 10.10am to tell me it's 10/10/10 10:10am.

So what am I doing at 10/10/10 10:10am? Sigh... don't want to say... Mr. Looi says I'm pathetic. And I have to agree with Mr. Looi.

:)

P/S - my hair is short now. Please don't scream when you see me (particularly traumatized when I cut my hair short 10 years ago and Mun literally screamed when she saw it. Because of her, it took me 10 years before I had to guts to cut my hair short again.)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The apong maker

The hubby and I were talking about how busy we are at work. Both of us have similar roles right now and we both share lots of stories on how we deal with work.

And the hubby told me this,

A manager has a very similar job to an apong (pancake) maker.

Seriously.

You know how they make apong right? There are like 15 apong pans and the apong maker will start filling one. Before one is cooked he covers it and then goes on to make the next one. He moves to the next and to the next and constantly goes back to the first to add more ingredients. And soon you'll see the apong maker frantically opening and closing the covers of 15 different pans at super speed.



That is exactly what a manager goes through. We are all frantically opening and checking all our many half cooked apongs before they all burn, at such speed that you'll forget which apong is which. One apong comes and talk to you and you have trouble remembering which apong he is.

Someone told me after you've crossed the level of insanity dealing with so many issues, you'll reach a point where you are strangely calm.

"This is a critical issue for a platinum customer!!!"
Sure.... no problem... take a queue ticket and line up buster...

"It has to be done ASAP, it's gating our deadline"
*GAsp* Oh really? You don't say. Oh wow, that's so incredible that I have to spend some time pondering on this.

"I need you to update this by today"
Of course... the last time I check, I'm quite positive I have one brain and two hands. Of course they can handle it

"When will this be done?"
Truth or lie, you pick

"We are going to have to support this! Oh, we don't have to anymore. Oh wait, we still have to support it"
Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see.

"What's the update on this?"
Silence... currently listening to Lady Gaga...

"We need your team to help with this"
Let's see... which strategy should I use to tell the engineer without getting eaten up alive...


"Mindy, we need more resources"
Okay... let's hold hands and pray together...


It's fun being an apong maker. And it's fun being strangely calm. I wonder how long it will last..... :)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The land of A Famosa

We reached Melacca in the morning. When you think of Melacca, you think of A Famosa. So of course we went to A Famosa first. By lunch time, I sent the hubby a sms saying that I don't wanna go back to Melacca again. I guess I'm just not into sweating under the sun to look at a small stony old building. If I wanna sweat and look at old buildings, I can do it in Penang.

Found a cool little resort by the beach, checked in, chilled out by the beach with little Nook. Then it was time to go to Jonker Walk.

By late afternoon I sent the hubby another sms. This time I told him that he has got to come down to Melacca because I've just tasted the most AMAZING cendol ever!!! The cendol was so good, we went back the next day again.



Oh Jonker cendol, after tasting you, how do you expect me to settle for Penang road cendol? It just won't do it for me anymore.



The nonya laksa was seriously good as well. So so so so yummy......

I found Melacca very pretty. I enjoyed the boat ride and the pretty buildings along the river. I wish Penang had rivers that don't accidentally get mistaken as giant drains. And I love Jonker walk and all the wonderful things to see there. Reminds me a lot of Kuta in Bali.

I was eating non-stop because there were just so many different food stalls to try out. Kept getting distracted and stopping at each stall. I just get so excited when I see food. If I had a little tail like Sparkle, my butt would be wagging the whole time in excitement.

And as usual, it was great to have a little holiday with 3 other awesome girls.


Oh, and I'm almost sure that the state government of Melacca secretly belongs to Mamee (you know, the Mamee monster brand). They rule Melacca, you know. If you have been to Melacca, you'll understand. :)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

chillax

Just me and my Nook and the sound of the waves. :)

Friday, October 1, 2010

The sister and the goodies are back in Penang

I've got so many things to blog about but couldn't find the time. But I have to blog before I go off to KL later. My blogging fingers are itchy. And I'm so glad I'm going to KL later. I can't wait to see you girls!!!!!

Picked up my sister from the airport. The boyfriend immediately went over to give her a hug but was intercepted by Uncle Ninian. The boy didn't get the chop of approval yet, so no holding hands yet.

The baby sister looked babier than usual. And if not babyish enough, she gets a boyfriend who looks like a baby as well. They looked look two little kids giggling in puppy love.

Ai..... I feel old. And if I feel old, Uncle Ninian feels ancient.

There was of course the dreaded interview. For all the big talk that the hubby was saying before, he was very very quiet during the interview over dinner. He didn't ask the boy any questions. I think the hubby was just sitting there thanking God, his lucky stars, and his fairy god mother that it wasn't him being interviewed.

I had a super fun time during dinner watching the two baby lovebirds squirm at each question Uncle Ninian shot them. And hard questions they were (e.g. what's the difference between being in love with a person and loving a person?). :P

The baby sister surprised me by buying a Nook for me. I love my Nook. I've being showing it of to everybody. I bring my Nook everywhere I go now. Now I'm tempted to get an iPad after seeing the one my sister got for Uncle Ninian (Dear hubby, somebody's birthday is coming).

She bought me a Coach bag as well. I like the bag though I probably won't appreciate the brand as much as others would. I only heard of the brand Coach when I was in the U.S. and my Penang colleague dragged me to the Coach outlet shop screaming, "Coach!!!!:"

And of course there's the Roomba. Everybody wants to hear about the Roomba after months of me blogging about it. Yes, baby Roomba is back at home. The dogs were terrified of the strange moving object and every time baby Roomba went near them, they would run away. I was absolutely fascinated by it. It was some kind of magical device sent from the heavens above to clean my dirty floors.


Anyway, baby Roomba ran out of battery and needed to eat. I happily plugged in the adapter and a second later.... bang!!!!.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I killed my Roomba's source of energy.

I didn't realized I had to get a voltage converter and I fried the adapter. So Roomba's dead right now. (I told this to my boss just now during an interview session and he was doing all he could not to burst into laughter in front of the interviewee)


The sister's boy is going to fix it for me. If he brings Roomba back to life, he's going to get lots of bonus bonus points from me. I'm so Roomba depressed right now. :(


Oh, and it's super strange to have my sister bring her boy back to Bayswater. They hung around the living room for a while, went into her bedroom and the door was almost closed. I'm the super cool big sister who is opened minded about everything.... but a teeny weeny bit of me was thinking, what is my baby sister doing in the room with her boy?

I wonder whether they have kissed yet... been so busy that I haven't asked this question for a while. :P

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Woke up screaming in the middle of the night, waking up the hubby.

Will the boogie nightmares ever stop?

To those who are parents, try not to damage to your kids when their young. Because no matter how old they are and how far they run away and much they try to forget, the nightmares still come back haunting at night.

:(

Monday, September 27, 2010

The baby sister is coming back home!

The baby sister is coming home tomorrow. I'm excited. Can't wait to see her. Can't wait to see little Roomba (dear little Roomba, the previous vacuum cleaner has packed his bags and moved into the store room to make room for you, I think he was glad for the early retirement).

5 months have passed so fast. I thought a lot of things would have changed after the 5 months. Some things have changed, though it's not the things I expected.

Somebody recently asked me, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" Honestly I don't know. Because I learned from the previous 10 years of life that no matter how much you plan, not everything goes according to plan. And even if it does and you get what you want, it not necessary makes you happy in the end. So now, I don't think about myself in 10 years time. I'm going to let life tell me about it along the way.

Anyway, I'm so excited about meeting the baby sister tomorrow! And also the future baby brother-in-law. And watching what the scary Uncle Ninian is going to to do to the poor boy. Uncle Ninian is a scary man from England who eats little boys and girls for dinner (Just in case you're reading this Uncle Ninian, I still love and adore you and you are a wonderful wonderful uncle. Please don't eat me after reading this).

If anything interesting happens I shall remember to report it here ASAP.

:)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

This week I learned

That life can be fun. It should be fun.

That there's always a positive side to everything. If you are willing open your eyes wider, you just might see it. So the question is, are you willing?

That there is always ways to improve things. You just have to remember to look for it.

That you should like what you're doing. If not, life is too short to not have fun.

That when faced with a difficult situation, instead of stressing out about it, learn ways to handle it.

That it's always important to keep an open mind. Some people like oranges, some people like apples. And that's okay.

That it's good to question everything. You need to understand what you're doing. How can you believe in something you don't understand.

That somehow, things will work out fine. What's important is that you believe it will.

That even though you're an adult, it's good to have childlike wonder where everything in the world fascinates you.

That smiling is so important. It can light up the whole room.

That you should live life according to what you believe in. And not what others expect you to.

That love is loving that person for who he is and not who you want him to be. He may not love you the way you want him to, what's important is that he still loves you in his own way.

And that having someone from a country where they drive on the opposite side of the road, drive you from Penang Road to Burmah Road to Macalister Road during peak hour, can be the most terrifying yet the most exhilarating ride ever.

:)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The weekly update

Hello, this time for my weekly post again. I've been so busy lately that I have to make a conscious effort to remember my little bloggy. Anyway, random stuff which are just going to randomly come out from my head.



My roomba is coming home soon. (Oh, and so is the sister). Can't wait. Yay yay....

Brought the adorable guy with rosy checks to try dim sum yesterday. The old aunties serving dim sum there were so fascinated by him. One old auntie went on and on excitedly in Hokkien telling us, "Wah.... this one is so handsome. Usually these white men have nice looking faces but their bellies are soooo big. This one has a nice looking face and no big belly! Handsome loh. He's going to become my godson."

For a while, I was facing a book starvation. I'm seriously addicted to books nowadays. So desperate that I dug out old books I bought long ago, like Brinsinger which is Part 3 of the Eragon series. I used to love Eragon but after reading books about real people living through the Cultural Revolution in China and the Taliban era in Afghanistan, I'm sorry but I can no longer read a book about elves and humans and dragons at war. Just seems too lame in comparison.

And I'm really looking forward to the break in October. I need to get out of this little island, leave all the problems behind and go a little crazy with friends, have just enough drinks to make the world seem so wonderful and beautiful, but not too many until my tongue starts developing a mind of its own saying things it shouldn't be saying. I just need to give the gray cells a break before they shut down.

Still thinking about a tattoo. Might be one of my phases...

And dearest sister, before you start sulking about how the Roomba seems more important than you, of course I'm looking forward to seeing home. I'm so looking forward to seeing how Uncle Ninian is going to interview your boy where the question of the day would be, "How much redder can Genny's face become?". *waiting in evil gleeful anticipation*

Monday, September 13, 2010

Falling Leaves

Weekend was great. Rested for 4 days. Met up with the fish. Lunch and dinner with a leng chai with rosy cheeks. Finished an awesome book.


I really do love this book. Thank you Shu-Yin for lending it to me. Falling Leaves is a true story of an unwanted Chinese daughter, how she had nothing and became something in life. Unlike the author in Wild Swans who endured the Cultural Revolution in China, the author of this book fled from China before the Communist took over. However, her childhood was so sad and I was touched by the story of her life. There were some parts of the book which reminded me a little about my own boogie family and I can totally relate to the pain she felt during the last chapter. I love the beautiful Chinese proverbs she used in each chapter which described what she was going through so well.

I guess there are a lot of boogie families out there huh. This book is a wonderful read. :)


Friday, September 10, 2010

A milestone

A manager once told, being a manager is a tough job. You no longer only  have to worry about what you have to do, you have to worry about all the people you managed. You'll constantly have a million things you'll need to do. A manager's job is lead the team, energize the team, provide a vision of the team, to always make sure the team is moving forward. A manager's job to ensure their engineers are happy, to get what they need to work efficiently and to lead their career growth. A manager's job is to protect their engineers, to filter all the shit that comes from the top, so that engineers are free to concentrate on their work, free from unnecessary distractions. A manager's job is make sure the engineers feel recognized and appreciated. A manager's job is to make sure that all hell breaks lose, he must still must remain feet firmly on the ground, that even when everybody is unhappy, he still must smile.

However, who makes sure the managers get recognized and appreciated? When engineers come and pour out their troubles to their manager, who does the manager go to pour out the troubles of his own heart?

So then I asked that manager, why do you want to be a manager then? His answer, it's the satisfaction of seeing your engineers grow and achieve and hoping that you helped to play small role in making that happen.

Today is CC. Today is a milestone of me. My first CC in a new role. A time when all managers bow their heads in prayer and say, "Oh God, please let everything be okay".

I understand more what a manager goes through now. All things that happen behind the scenes. So to a particular manager out there, I want to say a huge thank you. Whatever I have achieved so far in my career, I owe a big part to you.

And to the engineers who have worked so hard as a team, a huge thank you. I'm extremely proud of the team and I make no effort to hide that from anybody I can tell.

I know friends think I'm crazy for working even when I'm holiday. Well, I don't see my job as just a job. I see it as a career full of potential oppurtunies (erm, I can tell you this because I'm calmer after CC. Ask me again while I'm in the middle of hell and I may give you a different answer). After working so hard, it makes me appreaciate simple things like sitting in Starbucks right now on a Friday morning.

Now I just need to hibernate for a few days to have strength for a whole cycle of new madness. And I forsee a hell lot of madness coming. :)

Friday, September 3, 2010

Happy happy happy

For some reason, I'm not absorbed in work today. For some reason, I'm a little more relaxed today, a little more happier than usual.

Can't decide whether it's because....

it's Friday today,

or that I didn't attend a single meeting today (if you don't count the interview which I left after 15 minutes),

or that the long raya weekend is just next week (it's so close I can almost smell it!!!),

or that next week I'm going to meet the fish from China,

or that I'm going to be fetching an adorable guy with rosy checks from the airport,

or that I'm looking forward to the trip at the end of the month to have too many drinks and talk nonsense with the girls (and ever since one of them said she's going to get a tattoo, I'm soooooo tempted to get one as well),

or that I'm looking so so so forward to seeing my new Roomba at the end of the month (oh, I'm looking forward to seeing you too Genny, because you'll be bringing my precious Roombaaaaaa!~~).

Whatever the reason, the weekend is almost here. Have a good one!~~~

:)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Today

Today I have the right to blog at work

Today I have the right to come to work at whatever time I want

Today I have the right to not reply your emails

Today I have the right to ignore any SPRs, and I don't care whether you are a platinum customer leh, or gold customer leh or silver customer.

Today I have the right to cancel all my meetings

Today I have the right not to talk to you

Today I have to right not to answer you on communicator

Today I have the right to do anything I want to do

Because today, I'm on leave. And I'm taking a day off so that I can finish my work in peace.
Either that, my leave burns this week.

:)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Strawberry yogurt ice cream

After Shu-Yin tried this out, I wanted to make my own as well. You can get the recipe from here though it's for blueberries, where else I chose strawberries because it's so much cheaper and I like strawberries more.


Tried to force Yin How to help me out in the kitchen. He helped me take out my under-utilized mixer from the cupboard, got fascinated and was playing with the different speeds of the mixer for a while, then got bored and left the kitchen.

The outcome of my strawberry yogurt ice cream - Yummy.




Saturday, August 28, 2010

Favourite Movies

Had dinner with the girls and we were having this long debate over how I like The Kite Runner movie and how much they hated it. And then they asked me which movies are my favourite (because they no longer trust my taste in movies), I went blank.

I always know which are my favourite books, never thought about movies. I love books because you get to know the characters in books personally, their thoughts, their emotions, their relationship bonds. Unlike movies where you only get to know the character for 2 hours. Spent the whole drive back home thinking about what my favourite movies are.

I think my all time favourite is The Band of Brothers. I loved that mini series because it's based on true events and they interview the real life people whom the characters are based on at the beginning and the end of each movie. I like movies like these because it makes me aware of what other people in the world go through or went through making my own problems seem so small in comparison. I won't say it's my favourite but I liked Slumdog Millionaire as well, not so much because of the story line (which I didn't like the predictable happy ending), but for opening my eyes to the living conditions in India.

I guess the Kite Runner wasn't the greatest movie. Probably if I had read the book first, I would have hated the movie (like how I almost hate every movie after reading the book). But again, it was an eye opener to me on the sufferings of the Afghanistan people. It made me go out and buy A Thousand Splendid Suns which is now one of my all time favourite books.

Other favourite movies,

The Rock, Enemy At the Gates, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Shrek 1 & 2..... that's all I can think of right now.

What's yours?

Russell now owns my sister's bed


Genny, if you don't come home soon, he's going to start marking his teritory there. ;)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

10 books

Out of boredom on a Sunday morning, I decided to update my Library Thing with the books I've recently read. My last update was in February and since then I've read 10 books. That's almost 2 books a month (I'm so proud of myself).

And again, out of boredom on a Sunday morning, I'm listing all the books here.

1) The story of Edgar Sawtelle



I bought this book because Oprah was going on and on about how great this book is. And since the story is about a mute boy who grows up rearing their own special Sawtelle breed of dogs, I was thinking I would love this book. To my disappointment, the whole storyline of this books was pointless and the most frustrating thing about the pointless storyline was the pointless ending. The story was so pointless that I went online to read forums hoping to get some light on the ending. This is one of those books which has a lot of "isi tersirat" and it's up to you how you want to interpret it. Didn't like the book.


2) The Kitchen God's Wife

I was running out of books to read so I dug out some of my sisters old books. She is an Amy Tan fan but for some reason I was never interested in reading books about any Asian culture. Since young, all the books I've read was always by American authors and their American ways of life. With no other books to read, I choose this book.

The book is about the relationship between a mother and daughter. Mother came from China, lived through a lot of hardship and managed to migrate to U.S. later. Daughter, having brought up in the U.S. has a strained relationship with her mum because she cannot understand her mum's old conventional ways. The storyline then focuses on the mum telling her daughter about her life back in China digging up all the secrets hidden in the past.

After reading this book, I think understand why the older Chinese generation act the way they do. It kinda opened my eyes a little and made me realize that just because I've been brought in the modern world with my modern thinking doesn't mean I always know better. This book sparked my interest in reading books focus on other cultures thus I bought the next book below.

3) Wild Swans


I loved this book. Wrote a whole post for it here. The books is an autobiography of 3 generations in China, beginning with the author's grandmother, her mother and then herself. It tells of what life was like in China over the last century. Definitely a must read.


4) Starting Over

The book is about a middle age man who has a heart attack and recovers thinking he has a second chance in life. It makes him rethink about everything about life and decides to quit the job he finds meaningless, becomes a friend to his teenage children and a lover to his wife. However, things don't always go to how you think it would be and he may end up losing everything instead.

This book was an easy read, though I didn't like the ending. A story must have an ending, a conclusion, a summary to make all the hours I spent reading the book worthwhile. And when the book doesn't give me a satisfying ending, I'll not like it. After this book, I decided I won't buy anymore Tony Parsons books.

5) In Her Shoes

At this time, I found the 2nd hand bookshop that Shu-Yin blogged about here and I now only buy books from there. All books from here onwards are all from that little bookstore in Island Plaza. In Her Shoes is a story about 2 very different sisters. The older is a responsible plain woman with the prestigious college degree and career, where else the younger sister is a gorgeous hottie who jumps in and out of waitressing jobs always relying of her older sister to save her from any fix.

I loved this book. It's witty, it's funny and it shows that no matter how much your sister drives you crazy, she will still always be your sister (So Genny, I forgive you for stealing all my shampoo and conditioner).

6) The Pilot's Wife

I picked this book because of the "Oprah Book Club" logo. Decided to trust Oprah again. This book is about a woman whose pilot husband died when his plane crashed, killing all passengers on board. As the story unfolds, the devastated wife finds more and more secrets about her husband that she never knew. You think you know a person, but how sure are you? While reading this book, I repeated asked the hubby over and over again, "Are there any secrets you're keeping from me????" I enjoyed this book.

7) Chocolat

Boring book. I forced myself to read this book since I already bought it. Won't say much about it.

8) Keeping Faith

I loved this book. And I'm now officially a Jodi Picoult fan. This book is about a seven-year-old Jewish girl who starts telling people she sees God after her parents divorced. Throughout the whole book, you'll wonder whether she really is seeing God, or is it part of her imagination.

9) Enduring Love

I bought this book because it's by the same author as Atonement and I loved that movie. However, I was disappointed with this book. Predictable storyline. Not worth the read.

10) Man and Boy

I know I mentioned that I wouldn't buy another Tony Parsons book, but a review of this book came out in the newspaper. This book has been translated into 38 languages wor..... it has to be good right? I just finished this book last week. Story is about this 30 year old guy who has everything. A beautiful wife and son, a fabulous career, and wonderful parents however he finds that he has reached a stage in life where he feels stuck. In just one night, he finds himself losing everything he has and the story goes on from there.

The book was okay. I'm not jumping up and down about it, but it was okay.


So there we have it, boy and girls, the 10 books I've read. I've just started the non-fictional The Bookseller of Kabul. Seems like a good book.

Any books you wanna borrow from me, just let me know. :)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Dearest

Dearest gray company, I hope you realize how hard your engineers work for you.

Dearest hubby, I promise I'll stop buying new shoes, new clothes, new bags every weekend... once the Mega Sales are over in September.

Dearest tummy, please be patient with me and not give me gastric whenever I feed you too late.

Dearest Russell, why do you make me yell at you every single day? Though when I don't yell at you, I start worrying what you're up to.

Dearest Sparkle, you seriously need to lose weight. I can no longer distinguish whether it's you or the hubby who is snoring at night.

Dearest little Kelisa, please stop making so much noise. It's embarrassing when people stare.

Dearest Bayswater, after 3 years, you still make me sooooo happy.

Dearest Saturday, I wish you would visit more often.

Dearest pizza, I shall not be looking at you for a very very long time.

Dearest new pair of shoes, I love you. You make my feet look so sexy.

Dearest friends, I miss you. Can't to see you girls soon.

Dearest sister, remember my Roomba and Scooba!

Oh, and dearest sister, when are you and your boy ever going to start kissing? It's been 6 weeks already!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I seriously need to work out something soon. Work has been crazy busy. I've stopped my aerobics after skipping it so often. And after the hubby moved to his new job, he comes home later than me. Which means after I reach home after 8pm, I've got to clean up after two mad doggies. And for a few days, I was crazy enough to even try to cook after coming back so late.

Bought 2 large pizzas. Ate pizza yesterday, today lunch and dinner and probably for lunch tomorrow again. I'm going to be as fat as Sparkle soon. And the boss suggested maybe having pizza for dinner tomorrow, my tummy did a not so nice turn.

Don't even dare to ask me the infamous baby question. My answer will be no time la!

How leh? Gotta think of something soon. Some kind of system. I'm quite sure humans were not made to live on pizzas forever.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Hachiko

Oh and I watched Hachi last night. I've heard of the true story of a dog in Japan waiting at the train station for his master who died to come back everyday day for 9 years, but I didn't know a movie was made out of it until I read chioju's blog.




I cried so so so so so badly during the show especially when Hachi was so old, he could barely walk but he still made his way to the same stop at the train station, still waiting for his master to come back after 9 years. I've never cried so much for a movie. The last time I cried this much was for Marley and Me (the book, not the movie, the movie wasn't that great).

The hubby thinks it's silly to cry for movies (in fact he thinks it's silly to cry for any reason) and I could sense he was doing everything within his will power to refrain himself from teasing me while I was sobbing my eyes out during the movie.

I suddenly wanna go and get an Akita now. I seriously doubt Russell would be so loyal to me. That dog will choose a hotdog over me any day. ;)

This is an article about the real Hachi.

The weekend

Weekend didn't go quite as what I expected. The PC fair was a huge disappointment. I assumed that it would have good laptop deals. However when I got there, I found that the price they were quoting was RM400 more expensive than what is offered online.

"Miss, you cannot get a bargain better than this elsewhere, we throw in 20 different freebies and you get a lucky draw free holiday as well"

"You are directly from Dell right? Why is the price here RM400 more expensive than what you offer online?"

"No, miss, it's not more expensive"

First of all, don't lie to a customer, we do our own research okay. Secondly, if you are planning to lie to a customer, make sure you are prepared with your facts.

I took out Yin How's wonderful Blackberry and showed her the Dell website stating a price RM400 cheaper with exactly the same specs. The salesgirl had nothing to say and called her supervisor and passed the Blackberry to him. He looked at the price online and said, "Oh, that is for online purchase. This is for cash and carry," and just walked away.

So that's his only explanation of me having to pay RM400 extra for that?

PC fair really cheat people wan okay. If I didn't do my own research beforehand, I would have thought I'd gotten the best deal there. Went back sooooo disappointed. Thought I would be carrying a laptop home. :(

Anyway, I made the purchase online. So I'm a happy girl again. :)

Friday, July 30, 2010

Hello world,

It's Friday. I'm looking into my crystal ball and I'm seeing a new laptop, a fancy dinner and a spanking new handbag in the very near future (courtesy of the hubby's first paycheck added with some emotional blackmail about a certain amount he loss during the recent events of which a certain octupus was made famous).

Looking forward for a good weekend. Hope you have a good one too. :D

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"I'm so busy". That's how I start all my emails to my sister who is still in the faraway land of cowboys and super fattening food.

And lately, I've been so busy that I'm busy in my sleep. I would wake up in the middle of the night remembering an email I forgot to send at work, or suddenly remembering that I need to follow up with somebody about something. Then worry, worry, worry, toss and turn, worry, worry, worry, kick Sparkle down from the bed, worry some more, kick the snoring hubby to shut him up.... and after maybe an hour, I'd managed to fall asleep.

After watching Inception, I dreamed last night that I was in a dream, dreaming about another dream, then telling the hubby in the dream about that dream (Watch Inception, it's quite cool).

I need to take a break. I've got 35.5 days of leave. I fantasize about taking all my leave at one shot and running off to a faraway land full of pineapple malibu's under the sun. But somehow I still can't utilize my leave. I feel guilty about staying at home doing nothing. The hubby only had one thing to say to me about that. It starts with "dumb", ends with "ass". :)

Recently some things have been different for both the hubby and myself. A new experience for both of us, with no right or wrong solutions, only lots to learn. Hubby is back to being the super excited eager-to-change-the-world ikan billis who cannot wait to become an ikan kembung. As for me, sometimes I feel like a little cho-cho train huffing and puffing uphill, "I think I can, I think I can". Sometimes I'm a little cho-cho train going downhill instead. "I don't think can, I dont' think I can".

At the very least, the little cho-cho train continues trying. That counts for something right?

:)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The interview

Ah... finally found time to blog. These pass few days have been crazy busy. No time to poo, no time to pee. Still breathing though.

Anyway, the word of today is.... interview. I-n-t-e-r-v-i-e-w. Yup, that's right.

When doing an interview, the interviewer usually asks questions to try to dig a particular information out. We want to test whether the candidate fits the 5 values of the gray company, which are

"Winning mindset", 
"Teamwork", 
"Innovation", 

and.... what's the other two? Can't remember (Can hear the boss grunting in disapproval reading this, "Mindy, it's in your objectives, how can you not know?").

For example, if I ask you, "What would you do if you don't like your boss?", answer: "I'll quit my job". Buzzer goes off, alarm bells start to ring, red lights start flashing. Sorreeeee, wrong answer. Thank you for coming and have a nice day. Goodbye.

Anyway, I've found an oppurtunity to practice the my new interviewing skills.

The candidate: the boy.
Interviewing for an i1 position (no prior related experience, it's equivalent to the ikan billis level)

Took me a while to compile the interview question list. Each testing for a particular character which I wanted to find out, which are the following.


1) Do you like dogs?
[We are a dog-loving family. You have to be dog-loving to earn the membership]

2) You've only met my sister for 2 months. What is it that you like about her?
[Ahh... young love is always so simple and so fast. You like me? I like you? Okay la, it's on, think so much for what?]

3) Your own family vs. your wife. Who will be more important?
[The famous, mother-in-law vs. daughter-in-law dilemma]

4) If you could only afford one. Which would you choose? A nice house or a nice car?
[This is to test whether he has long-term or short-term goals. Impressed with his answer here. :) Came with good explanation supporting his answer. I wonder whether the sister taught him what to say. Hmm...]

5) Do you do your own house chores? If so, what kind of chores?
[This is to find out whether he's the type of guy who thinks house chores are a woman's job. And you know la, I have a thing for the hubby when he mops the floor... shirtless. A guy who does house chores is a guy who doesn't expect his wife to look after him like a mother]

6) Which would you prefer, your wife earning more than you, or you earning more than your wife?
[Actually, I should have rephrase my question. I meant to test whether he is egoistic. Because some guys cannot stand it if his wife earns more money and pays for all the bills]

7) If you get into an argument with my sister, both sides are not correct and not wrong, how would you resolve the conflict?
[Need to see how he handles conflict because love may be all cloud 9 at the beginning, but the reality is that making a relationship last is oh so very hard......]

8) What is the most important thing to you in life?
[boring question, but still must ask]

9) What do you think is the most important thing in a relationship to make that relationship last?
[since it's an i1 position, need to understand what his perception of a relationship is]

10) If my sister ask you whether she's fat, what would you answer?
[Ha! Trick question. The answer is....... there will never be a correct answer. No matter what a guy does in this situation, he will always be wrong. The hubby was grinning from ear to ear when I told him about this question. The hubby has so much experience. He's an i4 level (the dolphin level).]

Okay, and as bonus points, do you know any of your seniors from your course looking for a job? I'm currently hiring Software Engineers, either from Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. If you do know of anyone, please send me their resume. Thanks! 
[I must and well take advantage right? Which BTW, to all the blog readers here, we are currently hiring Software Engineers, either from Computer Science or Electronic Engineering. If you do know of anyone, please send me their resume. Thanks! ]




In conclusion, the boy passed overall. He is now officially promoted from the boy to the sister's boyfriend.

But wait..... this is just round one of the interview. (What, you think it's so easy?)

He now needs to pass the hubby's interview next, who deep deep deep down inside the big-bully-older-brother-in-law act he puts on, he's actually a protective big brother who has declared all men in this world to be bad except himself. Yes, if I ever have a daughter, she's only going to be allowed to date when she's 30 years old.

:)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The love sick baby sister

Ahh... the baby sister is in love for the first time. I'm excited because the boy could be potentially my new baby brother-in-law. But it's strange, the baby sister is growing up.

I forgot what it's like to feel like a giggly love-sick puppy floating on clould 9. Hubby and I have been together for so long that it feels like ancient and dusty. But...... I enjoy my ancient dusty marriage. It's comfortable, it's annoying, it's wonderful, it's frustrating, it's the best thing in life to wake up next to the one you love. It's like wearing the ugliest grandma underwear knowing that it's okay because it's the most comfortable thing in the world and what's important is that it makes you so happweeeeeee.

Anyway, I'm going to interview the boy. I've been doing lots of interviews at work, so of course I have to interview this potential baby brother-in-law. For starters, he has to be tough to be able to join the family. If the hubby knew about my boogie family when he first met me, he would have run screaming in the opposite direction. (So Genny, the trick is to make the guy fall hopelessly in love with you, then throw him into Boogie Land and see whether he survives. If he does, he is then worthy to be certified Boogie-Proof)

Love-sick baby sisters keeps going on and on about the boy. She's so from a different generation as me. Her biggest concern now is how to "officially announce her relationship on facebook" *rolls my eyes*.

Apparent the boy is afraid of me. Hehehe... it's because I scared him on Facebook. I only told him to be prepared to answer a long list of questions from mua. Not that bad right? *evil laugher*.

Currently thinking of what I should ask the boy.... help me think of something ya....


P.s - to my kepochi friends who have known my sister since the days when she was still wearing the dark blue school uniform, the boy is the most recent person I added on facebook. Have to give him credit for being brave enough to add me on Facebook

P.p.s - BTW, I did ask the baby sister wheter I could blog about this, so it's not like I simply publish personal stuff about other people. (With the exception of the hubby though, he has come to accept that being married to me means that half of his life stories will end up on this blog, to the point that when his mum is about to nag him about something on the phone, he quickly covers the mouth piece and asks "Did you blog about this?". If no, it means he can confidently deny whatever his mum is nagging about, "No la, no la... I didn't lose anything during the world cup")

;)




Sunday, July 4, 2010

Bored bored bored

Bored. Currently stuck in the AGM meeting at my condo. Hate attending meetings like these. It's like a chaotic fish market here with some really rude idiotic ppl who thinks just because he is from England he has the right to be so rude (I seriously believe some ppl are born to be assholes). Not use to it compared to the more organized and intelligent meetings at work. I rather much be at home watching TV but the hubby forced me here. And I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest unit holder here. I'm a very bored ikan billis here. Everybody here is so much older. @.@

Crap, they can't even get the mic to work.

Sigh, don't mind me. I'm actually just blogging cos I wanna use the hubby's new cool Blackberry. :)

The move



Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Russell vs Yin How

I usually don't stay up so late, but for some reason I'm still awake watching football with the hubby. The hubby takes football betting very seriously, studying past football results the same way I study technical documents at work, before he makes a bet.

Anyway, lately he's been taking advice from Russell. Russell told him to bet on Germany instead of England and the hubby took his advice and won. Tonight, Russell told the hubby to bet on Slovakia (Holland handicap of 1 1/2 balls). But the hubby INSISTED that he wanted to take Holland convince that Holland can lead by 2 goals.

Holland was leading by 2 goals, meaning the hubby was winning. He was already boasting to Russell that he was right for not taking Russell's advice and performed a strange irish-riverdance-like happy dance in front of me and Russell when Holland scored the 2nd goal. At 90 minutes the hubby's handphone was ringing non-stop from friends congratulating each other for betting on Holland.

During the last 30 seconds, Slovakia earned a penalty kick.

Slovakia scored a goal.

The hubby was shocked into complete silence. No more riverdances from him anymore.

I was giggling like a maniac. Serves him right for not taking Russell's advice.

Yes, my dog is better at football betting than the hubby.

;)

(BTW, in case you're wondering, Russell picks what football team to bet by choosing one of two pieces of paper Yin How presents to him. It's random, but still funny when Russell is right and the hubby is wrong)

Monday, June 28, 2010

I've got absolutely nothing in mind to blog about but feel like blogging so I'll see what junk randomly comes out of my mind.

Ever since World Cup started, I've been sleeping alone every night. The hubby is much more interested in football than me. But I don't care, because I get to have my quiet time at night, reading my book in peace with Sparkle by my side. Russell of course also prefers to watch football as well.

I miss my friends. I forget that the whole reason why I started blogging was to keep in touch with them. We skyped for the first time since one of them moved to KL almost 2 years ago. Have to say the experience was quite enjoyable. Of course it won't be the same as meeting them in person. But it's so convenient to meet up with the girls online while I'm still in my living room. And I didn't even have to put on makeup or wear a bra for the whole meet up. ;)

My cold has turned into a horrifying cough. Coughed through the whole night, woke up a few times in the middle of the night coughing like crazy, finding that the hubby is still outside watching football *rolls eyes*. I cannot understand why anyone would want to sacrifice precious sleep for a game which might not even produce a single goal. The hubby claims he was too tired to cook rice after work. But apparently he's not tired enough to continue watching football again tonight.

I need to take leave from work soon. Weekends pass to fast. I've got 35 days of leave. Don't know what's my obsession with collecting leaves. I've calculated that in another 9 weeks, my leave will overflow and I'll be forced to take a day off every 3 weeks.

Thinking of getting my own laptop. Should I? Should I?

I miss my sister. More like I'm still so envious of her. And Genevie Loo, your bedroom is still filthy even though you claimed that you cleaned it before you left. I couldn't stand it and vacuumed it today. And every time I vacuum the place and think, soon... there's gonna be a little cutie Roomba vacuuming the place for me.

Sigh... that's all for now.  Bla.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Latest foodie obsession

You know how I get my random food obsession, like KFC, kimchi, etc... Latest food obsession, duck meat mee sua soup. I've had it everyday for dinner, 5 days in a row. It's so yummy. I wonder whether I can make a week in a row.

Every time the hubby eats a durian, he throws the seed across the carpark to the trees on the other side. He's convinced that one day there will a farm of durian trees there, all thanks to him.

Okay, that's all I have to say right now. I'm sick, tired, and I've got nothing intelligent to say.

Nite nite

Sunday, June 20, 2010

This week's lessons

Lessons I learned this weekend.


  1. You should not boast to others about not falling sick in a long time.  After a few days, you will end up falling sick
  2. When sick, you should not eat only durians for lunch two days in a row. That will make you sicker.
  3. When sick and bloated with durians from lunch, you should not attempt any bedroom related activities immediately after lunch. That will knock you out unconscious for a few hours only to wake up with a foul taste of durian.

3 lessons you make you a little wiser.

Work evolution

When entering the workplace for the first time, one will go through several stages of advancement. Kinda like a computer game where you have to keep advancing to the next level. And this is how I see it so far.

Uni-cell
When you first join the workplace, you are just a single cell, in other words you just exist and breath. Just be thankful that you have an email address to your name and a place at work where you can hide out. Other than that, don't complain and be thankful that you now exist in the big bad organization.

Maggot
Yes, after just existing for some time now, you now enter the next level, a maggot. Ta-da! As a maggot, you now can function more other than just breathing. You should be able to perform some basic functions at work but you rely heavily on the help of someone else. Without their help, you are as good as a uni-cell.

Ikan bilis
At this stage, people are starting to notice you. And people are starting to remember you... maybe even by name *wow*! And because they do, then "Let's give the ikan bilis more work to do, yea!!"

Ikan kembung
Ikan kembungs are fairly independent and are able to contribute to the workforce. It's alright to be an Ikan Kembung. Ikan Kembungs are usually still happy and can be motivated. It's a stage when you start contributing meaningful work and don't have to worry about too many things. Ah... I enjoyed my Ikan Kembung days....

Tuna
Now that you're a tuna, you are now very independent. You swim your own way, you are beginning to carry more weight in the work environment and you kinda know which direction you're heading now. People now see you and start to acknowledge you. But because you carry more weight, it gets tougher and you'll suddenly realize, "My Ikan Kembung days are now over :( "

Dolphin
As a dolphin, you are sooooo beautiful. People look up to you, people want to be you. You are now fast, graceful, and great at what you do. Ikan bilis will usually look at dolphins are say, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!" But you're given more and more to handle and you'll be required to swim faster and faster. Some dolphins may tire and just fade away.

Sharks
At stage, you'll start to notice there are very few of you at this level. It's eat, or be eaten. People who reach this level are already damn good and therefore the competition to stay alive becomes a race for survival

Blue Whale
If you manage to reach this stage, then CONGRATULATIONS! When reaching this stage, one becomes so enlightened that one becomes almost untouchable and no longer has to worry about survival. The blue whale is very rarely seen and during those rare times it is seen and speaks, others will stare in awe and remember, "The blue whale has spoken!". And anything that the blue whale says will override anything anyone else says.



So, my dear intern sister who is in between stage one and stage two, my advice to you is that, "It's okay!". Enjoy yourself. Don't be impatient. It takes lots of time and effort and with patience and hard work somehow you'll survive. :)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Dear bloggy

Dear bloggy,

I've got no time for you lately. And I've suddenly find it strange when people whom I don't really know, know so much about me. Makes me shy. Like I shouldn't talk so much to you anymore.

But... I misss you. Will talk to you soon.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Momentary

As of today at around 4pm, I.... Mindy... have no more pending work on the branch. I don't care if you don't understand me, I need to announce this so that I can remember the feeling of being able to breath easily. I'm fully indulging in the moment of temporary relief, freedom and sanity.

Hopefully this marks the beginning of the end of rushing to work with uncombed hair, driving with sport shoes on the car roof, restless dreams about solving bugs and talking in my sleep (I once told the hubby in my sleep, "Yin How, got colorful pills?") and rushing home after work to a sulky hubby to has to cook and wait for me for dinner.

Hopefully la.... it's good to hope right? :)

And I foresee that the hubby will not be sulky tonight. The hubby is going to be a happy boy tonight. Aha aha...

;)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

TFB network

Something good has recently happened. At least I hope it's something good. But I can't say what it is yet because the hubby gave me the warning look of, "You shall not blog about this". So I can't blog what it is... until much later la.

And before you let your imagination run away, the news is about the hubby, not me.

The hubby somehow miraculously managed to keep this off the TFB network - Tan Family Broadcast Network until today. Which I know much has been something really challenging for him since he blabs everything onto the Tan Family Broadcast Network. I'm talking about a guy who once, during our early pak toh days, told his mum that I shave my legs. Why he thought my future mother-in-law needed to know that her future daughter-in-law has hairy legs, I shall never understand. I shudder to think whether this information went onto the Tan Family Broadcast Network.

I'm no stranger to the Tan Family Broadcast Network. Something I was introduce to when I was still dating the hubby. The Tan Family Broadcast Network is one of the most efficient networks around. They work with the policy of, "Same day delivery guaranteed".

This is how it works. You just have to briefly mention something to just one other Tan family member and by the end of the day all the Tan phones will start ringing.

"Teet... teet.. teet.. teet... Breaking Tan family news, breaking Tan family news!!!!" 
And sometimes the broadcast packet will end with, "...and don't tell anyone I told you ah"

And before you know it, the hubby's handphone will start ringing with his mum on the other line ready to nag him to death about something that happened earlier. Apparently I underestimated the efficiency of the Tan Family Broadcast when I briefly mentioned about that something to one other Tan member.

Anyhoo, I'm sure the Tan Family Broadcast is actively spreading the news since the hubby has contacted the founder of the Tan Family Broadcast Network this morning - his mum.

I know I can't blog about it yet. But I maybe will much later....

"... and don't tell anyone I told you ah"

;)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

It's just one of those days

Had an early meeting with da remote boss this morning. I set my alarm clock earlier so that I would reach work on time. It was a rushy rushy scramble in the morning to get ready to work.

Went down and my car remote control decided to be cranky and refused to unlock my car. It's somehow always when I have an early meeting when something must go wrong. I had no choice but to open my car and let the alarm go off, probably waking up a few residents in the process. Rushed over to find the "secret" red button under the glove box to turn off the alarm.

Zoomed off in the car and as I made a turning, something fell down from my car. Dunno what it was, don't care either. Gotta get to work, gotta get to work.

But then realized that my access card was missing. Hmmm.. thinking about it, I think I left my access card on my car roof when I was trying to turn off the alarm.

Drove another circle around my condo hunting for my access card on the road. But then started to realize people were staring at me. Was my little Kelisa that noisy? Passed two old ladies who were laughing and pointing at me now. Okay, maybe I should stop.

The two old ladies were nice enough to tell me that I was driving around with my sport shoes on top of my car. If it wasn't that I was hunting for my access card, I would be driving on the highway all the way to work with my sport shoes on my roof.

Reached work 15 minutes late. Yup, it's just one of those days....

So if one day, while you are driving to work in the morning and you suddenly see one sport shoe flying towards you, don't be alarmed. It's probably just me rushing to another early morning meeting.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

The weekend

I went to Kopi Cine today. Forgot to take my camera so only took crappy photos with my handphone. I found the price of the food and drinks too pricey.

But I do love the concept of having coffee while browsing a book from their mini library. And I also got excited when I got to doodle on their tables using a cup full of colorful crayons.


Though it was embarrassing to know that the 7 year old kid from the other table could draw much better than me. My drawing sucks.


The hubby only doodled a few things. 

Use your imagination and guess which doodles are his.

:)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Little sisters

I was there wrapped with a tower, dripping wet and shivering after coming out from a hot shower because I ran out of conditioner, thinking that since the sister is away, I could finally take back my conditioner which she stole from me weeks ago,

Only to find myself staring in disbelief at my other bathroom.

GENEVIE LOO, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOOK ALL MY SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER TO TEXAS!!!!

Oh yes, God put little sisters on earth with the purpose of annoying their bigger sisters. And the darling sister of mine who is on the other side of the earth still manages to do so.

And I can hear you giggling as you read this. You owe me 1 bottle of shampoo, conditioner and a pair of Adidas sneakers, YOU HEAR ME!~



While on the topic of sisters, In Her Shoes is a great books to read about two sisters. I enjoyed the book! :)

Monday, May 17, 2010

A blue blue Monday

It's a very blue Monday. The type of Mondays where I'm very tempted to call the boss and say I can't go to work.With 32 days of leave, any excuse to take a day off from work is justified, I don't care.

I can't decide why I'm so blue right now. I can't decide whether it's because I'm missing the sister, or because I'm sooooooooooooo jealous of her right now.

My baby sister is currently at Austin, Texas, and will be doing her internship there for the next 5 months. She will be paid in USD and after converting that salary of hers to Ringgit, it becomes a 5 digit number. Yup, that's how much they pay their interns over there. Makes me realize that what they pay us here is really peanuts.

Not only that, she gets to stay in a pretty apartment and they even organize road trips around Texas for the interns. Did I mention how envious I am yet?

I'm sooooo proud that the baby sister has gotten this oppurtunity. Though I wish I could pack myself in her luggage bag and follow her there. But being my sister, something has got to happen to her and this time she lost her luggage during the journey. Seems like MAS did not transfer her check-in luggage to Cathay and her luggage is goodness knows where in the world, leaving her with no clothes to wear currently.

If you wanna follow her adventures as a overly-excited, extremely-enthusiastic, ready-to-conquer-the-world intern in Texas, you can follow her blog. http://gennysmanythoughts.blogspot.com/

I think I've decided. I'm feeling blue because I miss her (even though I boasted to the hubby a few days ago that I couldn't wait to ship her off to Texas). It's just that she's so far away, and I can't even call her to nag her anymore, especially since I've got to help track her missing luggage from over here. :(

Genny, you better come back here after you finish your internship. Don't even think about your plan of finding a rich Texas oil man so that you don't have to come back here, YOU HEAR ME!!!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Last night...

I had a bad headache last night. So I went into the bedroom to rest. I could head all sort of noises from the hubby coming from the living room.

"Aiyoh".... "Haiiiiiii....".... "Haiyoh..."... "Arghhh"...

Like he was physically in pain. This went on for a while. Until he came into the bedroom with sad puppy eyes.

The hubby was watching the Thomas Cup. The the hubby suffers from emotional constipation but has no problem being emotional involved when it comes to watching sports. I shall never understand why.

 I guess the game didn't end up so well huh.. :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What a married man thinks

One day, the hubby went out for dinner with a group of other married men. After the dinner, the hubby proudly told me the summary for what they discussed over dinner.

  1. Woman talk too much
  2. Woman complain too much to their husbands. When something happens at work, they tell their husbands every tiny detail that happen. What A said to B. And then what B did to C. And how A found out about C. "And then ah.... and then ah... ARE YOU LISTENING OR NOT?.. ." Yata yata yata yata.... As if the husband can do anything about it.
  3. Men swear by this oath. "I promise to tell my wife the truth. But not the whole truth".
And I'm fully aware of that oath. Now and then the hubby will out of the blue tell me stuff like, "Remember when we were in college and I promised you I'll go straight back home after I left your place late at night? I actually went to the cyber cafe instead and played Counter Strike until the next morning."  And then continues to giggle at his own genius mischief.

Yup, the hubby tells me the truth... 8 years later when he knows I'll no longer be angry about it. The hubby is a smart man.

Since the hubby says I talk too much, I decided to use the male's technique of just giving a summarized version of stories. The hubby was happy, until one day something interesting happened at work. So I told him "summarized" version. The hubby was curious and wanted to know more. But hey, like he mentioned before, men only want the summarized version of the story, so the summarized version I gave. Nothing more, nothing less.

Apparently the curiosity got the better of the hubby. And to my dismay, he then did what a women normally does to get her way when she wants something from her man....

He gave me....... 

THE SILENT TREATMENT. 

And not just any silent treatment. It's that special kind of silent treatment a woman gives a man to make it very obvious that she's sulking about something. The type where she'll still talk to the man a sentence or two, then suddenly remembers that she's suppose to be in sulking mode, and then pretends to be angry again just to make her point.

WTF. Throughout all my relationship with the hubby, he has never given me the sulky silent treatment to me. How dare he use a woman's technique to go against my usage of a male's technique to summarizing stories.

After going on like that for two days, we both gave up. A man is not suited to use a woman's technique. And a woman is not suited to use a man's technique.

For this round of the battle of the sexes, I shall call it an even.

:)


P/S - I know this sounds random, but I just remembered that there's a new episode of GLEE showing today... YAY!!!~~~ I was telling a bunch of people who have never heard about Glee how they must watch Glee. And when I tried to describe to them what Glee is, it ended up sounding like High School Musical which left them staring at me with very skeptical unconvinced looks.

But seriously, WATCH GLEE.

And American Idol this year is boring. I only person I like is Lee. I'm sure he is going to win :)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Why I blog

I blog because a close friend moved to KL. I miss her and it's my way to keeping in touch with her. It's a way to keep in touch with all my friends.

I blog because sometimes my blog is a better listener than the hubby. The hubby says I talk too much. The male brain of his cannot process a long input of female words that came out non-stop. I rather talk to my blog anyway, hmph.

I blog because sometimes I'm too lazy to repeat the same story to everybody, so why not put it all down here so that everybody can read it.

I blog because it gives me a way to express colorful creativity. Something I can't really do at the very gray you-know-where.

I blog because the hubby amuses me. And his stories amuses others. So let's share the amusement around.

I blog because there's usually some random thing I'm into at different moments. And blogging to me is about capturing moments.

I blog because I need an outlet to express myself. Otherwise I'll bottle up and explode. You don't wanna see boogie exploding, no siree.


I blog because it gives me some "me time". I get to ask myself, "hey Mindy, what's on your mind today?"

I blog because there are wonderful people reading my blog. And that makes me want to blog even more.

I blog because.... I just like blogging. Must there really be a reason to blog? :)


This is to reply Chiao Ju's question. :)