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..... :)

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.

:)

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")

;)

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)

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. :)

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"

;)

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.

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! :)

A decade to celebrate

10 years ago, a skinny boy took a freckle-face girl to watch the lamest Chinese ghost story ever, "Dail D for Demon". During that movie, the skinny boy whispered into the girl's ear and asked her, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?". The freckle-face girl giggled and whispered, "Yes".

And that was the best decision that girl ever made in her life.


Happy 10th Anniversary, skinny boy. The freckle-face girl will love you always.

:)

Back from Boogie Land

I've been bloggy quiet recently. Because of all the drama happening recently, I was taken back to Boogie Land. Old memories which I tried to forget over the past few years were brought back again. And for a while, I actually dared to hope again, only for the hope to be crushed the following week.

Anyway, I'm back from the Boogie Land. One should only remain boogified for a certain amount time, else somebody please sound the alarm and shake me hard to bring me back to planet Earth. Also, I've taken up a new role at work making me so busy that I don't even have to time run to the toilet to make a dump in the morning. I welcomed the chaos at work because it kept the mind too busy to even think about boogie and by the time I go home I'm too mentally tired to get boogified. Thus, the bloggy has been neglected lately.

When I'm in Boogie Land, I try avoid my blog because I tend to write what's in my mind and being boogified would mean I end up writing about all the boogie which to other happy "normal" people, would seem like a post with a title of "Self-Pity".

If you are one of those normal people, then I suggest you stop reading here. Else, if you are as damaged as I am, read on and we can share stories of how screwed up we are. :)







For the past few weeks, the hubby received the privilege of the front row seat to watch all my real-life TVB drama, so much that it made him so grateful that his parents are such wonderful normal people and he made it a point to take his parents out to an expensive seafood restaurant for no occasion at all. Because if you have wonderful parents, why do you need to wait for an occasion to bring them out for a treat?

When the hubby manages to make my grandma laugh, the smile on her face can brighten the whole room. But when my grandma cries while telling family drama stories to the hubby, I carry the guilt of what the parents did. The guilt which gets heavier and heavier. And I suspect that my hubby feels the same way which is why he makes such an effort to treat my grandma well to replace what my parents failed to do.


The sister and I came up with the word Boogie. It's our code name to describe our family drama. And we came out with a lot of other comical names to describe the misery we were facing at home. The sister and I used to make jokes about the situation to give it a comical side. Because it was all we could do to survive a tough situation at home. If we could laugh about it, then maybe it's not as bad as it seems. We never cried in front of each other because we wanted to convince each other that we were tough enough to handle the situation. Because if one of us does cry in front of the other, the comical illusion and the tough act we try to create will give way to the horrible reality we were facing.

The thing I find most difficult about my situation is the inability to tell others or make others understand. When things like this happen, the daughter is usually blamed for not being good to the parents. Because the assumption is that the parents will always do the best for their children so how can parents ever be wrong? I'm especially tired when my father-in-law who tries to convince me now and then that I should treat my parents better. He doesn't understand the situation. Nobody does. Unless of course you get the front row seats to watch all the drama live which currently is only reserved for the hubby. :)

It's not like I haven't tried to tell people about what's going on. To some people, I did share with them the tip of the surface. The reaction I get is either a look of horror or the person reacts in a way as if s(he) didn't hear what I just said. It's just something that people here have never heard about and is not commonly accepted locally. I've only shared the full uncensored story to one close friend and for that, I thank you for your listening ear.

Everybody faces something difficult in life. Some people deal with more crap than others but the fact is we all at one point during life will find ourselves in the lowest point ever. And when we are in that low point, we feel alone and we feel that nobody else will ever understand. And we don't tell others because we are worried to be seen as being weak or we don't want to trouble others with all our sorrows.

But sometimes all it take is for somebody to drop a note and say, "Hey, how are you doing?" And sometimes it helps even further to know that a lot of people have been through a stretch of depression before. I've got really close friends and I never would have guessed they once were going through a bad patch. How could they when they always appear to be happy and bubbly on the surface? But the fact is they have, we all have, and knowing that other people face shit makes me feel that "Hey, I'm not alone".

Why do I blog about such personal stuff for the whole world to read? Well, first of all, I didn't really reveal any personal details on what's going on. Maybe when I'm brave enough, I might be able to share the story so that people can understand that what my family is going through is something happens to certain people. It's not normal, but it does happen. And also, it really helps to let people know so that they won't ask me questions like, "How are your parents?". "Is your dad in Penang?" because I don't freaking know the answer. And the worst thing to say to my sister is, "Your parents must be so proud of you". That will send her straight back to Boogie Land.

And last of all, I think it's okay to tell people that I'm not perfect. That I go through bad times. That I'm only human.

Okie, that's all I wanna write about the boogie right now. There are a few more things which I have to face in the coming month, so if I suddenly disappear into Boogie Land again, please check whether I do make it back to planet Earth.

:)

Photos of the past

I could not sleep last night. Too many things were running in my head.

Last night during my grandpa’s wake, a relative brought over old photos of my grandparents. It was the first time I’ve seen my grandparents wedding photo. First time I’ve seen both of my great-grandfathers as well. They wanted me to scan in all the photos so I carried home a very old tin box filled with photos from the past.

When I reached home, already quite late at night, I found myself staring at my grandparent’s wedding photo for such a long time. They look so young in the photo, only 18 or 19 years old. So serious, so solemn, but with a long bright future right in front of them. Then I wondered what it would be like for me to be old and at my last years, look back at my own wedding photo knowing that, okay… time’s up. You’ve almost finished your race, whether or not you were happy with how the race went, it’s time for you to go off now.

My grandparent’s marriage was arranged by their fathers as a way to improve the business between the two families. My grandma’s father owned a pawn shop and my grandpa’s father owned a gold shop. So gold that gets pawned then gets sold at the gold shop.

Then I found myself wondering what my grandparents were like when they were young. What was it like to marry a man arranged by your parents? Did they fall in love after that? Did they hold hands and plan their future together?

I found another photo, a family photo of my grandparents and their 6 children. 5 boys, 1 girl. All still young children. All still innocent. So what happened? What caused all of them to go on in life each creating their own real-life mini TVB drama series? What caused all the drama and conflict among all the siblings? What caused something that started so innocent end up so ugly?

I stared at that family photo even longer. And when I went to bed, my thoughts couldn’t stop. All my life I have been isolated from my family and have been brought up hearing ugly stories about them. If you grew up being taught that the world is flat only to one day realize that the world is round, I’m sure you’d been stunned for a while. For the past week, I’ve been getting to know my family through my hubby. All strange and new for me.

And then I realized something. Whatever happened during my parent’s generation is not mine to inherit and carry. It’s not my battle to fight. I don’t care which relative is horrible and which is not in the eyes of my parents. I’ve decided to see with my own eyes and make my own decisions. If one relative is horrible, that relative can be as horrible as (s)he want’s to be, I don’t care and I don’t want to care. But I shall no longer isolate the whole family just because of the boogie monsters from the past (who should be really old boogie monsters with wrinkles and white hair by now).

After making peaces with the old wrinkly boogie monsters from the past, I finally managed to fall asleep last night. I still have young boogies monsters of my generation to battle, but I’ll leave those alone for another time.

I hope that one day if I have grandchildren, they will also one day find my wedding photos as one of their most precious family treasures. Only that unlike me, they wouldn’t be wondering what their grandparents were like.

They would already know.

In loving memory of my grandpa

With one candle lit

My 83 year old grandma observed the Earth hour last night. I'm so
proud of her. Though her reason of doing it is because she thinks it's
the law to do so. She even asked whether she is allowed to light
candles. :)

When i left her house last night, she was sitting there alone with
only 1 candle lit. Alone in the dark knowing that my grandpa whom she has been
with for the past 6 decades was dying and would not live to see the next day.

If I ever have to live through a day like that, I hope I can be as
strong as her.

Welcome to Sang Spa

If you go to Bali, one of the must dos over there is to go for a spa. It's very very much cheaper over there. A normal body massage here would cost around RM60 - RM70 for 45 minutes. Before going to Bali, I booked the following package for the four of us girls.

Body Scrub + Mask ( 2 H 15 M ) Rp 180.000,-

This sacred body ritual will renew your body, mind and soul. Starting with a one hour traditional Balinese massage, you'll recieve a rice body scrub of your choice, a mineralizing mud mask or Balinese boreh treatment and finish off with a natural yogurt application to the skin.

That's about RM67. Very very very worth it.

When I booked the spa, I requested that the 4 of us to have our spa done at the same done. They granted our request with the condition that 2 of us have to be in the same the couple's room since they do not have that many rooms available.

When we reached the spa, customer service was excellent as expected. We sat in the couple's room while waiting for the 2 other individual rooms to be available. Jasmine was telling us how shameless she was and how she wouldn't mind using the couple room (without realizing she was shamelessly announcing to everybody else in the spa about how shameless she was. As you can see the rooms as just divided by bamboo walls)

In the end, I volunteered to share the couple's room with Jasmine. We were given a pair of disposable panties to wear and a towel to wrap around. And let's just say that the disposable panties were one size fit all. I turned it around a few times because there was too much cloth in the front and too little behind. I was wearing the most ugliest grandmother panties ever.

The two of us were giggling nervously at the thought of accidentally seeing each other naked. When the staff came in and told us that after the spa, the two of us had to share the same jacuzzi naked,

I... WAS... HORRIFIED... 

Jasmine dear... as much as I love you, I do not want to be bathing in a tub of flowers while we are both naked. You would be staring at my boobies and I would be staring at your boobies. And we suddenly wouldn't know what to say to each other.

The staff laughed at how embarassed we were and told us, "Mat Salleh girls... they don't mind seeing each other naked". Excuse me... I'm no Mat Salleh. As open as I am, I still cannot not bear the thought of being naked in a bath face to face with another person who is not my hubby.

In the end, much to my relief, the staff said they would bring us towels to cover ourselves. And thus the spa was going to begin when all of a sudden.... there was an electricity black out. I was relief again, because it meant we would be in the dark and Jasmine wouldn't see my boobies.

The 2 hour spa was heavenly. They started out with a full body massage. And when I say full, I mean full including your boobies and your naked butt. When I went for a massage in Penang, they put a towel across my chest so I wasn't as bare like this. But I didn't seem to have to problem letting the masseuse see my boobies.

I mean, she probably has seen all types of boobies out there right? Fat ones, skinny ones, dark ones, fair ones, beautiful ones, saggy ones, two by two. So the thought of her seeing my boobies seemed okay since it was part of her everyday job and it didn't bother me that much.

And yes I've noticed I'm using the word "boobies" a lot in this post.

After the body massage, then came the body scrub. That felt good............. After that, was the body mask where they put mud mask all over my body and wrapped me up like a cocoon. That felt good for a while until it started heating up and getting warmer and warmer.

Because Jasmine and I did not want to see each other's boobies, Jasmine got up and went to the shower first and started chit chating with the staff while they showered her. I was stuck in my cocoon silently screaming, "Jasmine!!! Quit talking... I need to get out of my cocoon before I start melting!!!".

Finally it came to my turn to shower. After the shower, they put yougurt all over my body and I showered it off again. Then they gave me a little towel to wrap my body and into the jacuzzi I went, where Jasmine was already waiting for me. The staff gave us our hot tea and left us alone in the room.

So there we were, 2 almost naked girls wearing grandmother panties in the jacuzzi filled with romantic flowers and only 2 candles for light.

The two of us started giggling and gigling and giggling. We were giggling so loudly and Mun Yi in the other room thought we must be giggling because we were bathing naked with each other.

I was clinging onto my towel the whole time like my life depended on it while Jasmine didn't feel that bothered about it and was playing with the flowers and drinking her tea happy and relaxed.

Jasmine mentioned how romantic it was and said I should do it with the hubby one day. But then she changed her mind and said the hubby might be turned off when he sees me wearing grandmother panties.

I was thinking, which would be more of a turn off... him seeing me wearing grandmother panties... or me seeing him wearing grandmother panties. Naughty images entered my mind. More giggling followed.

And just as our spa was about to end, the electricity came back on.

After the 2 hour spa, we were as happy as four girls could be. We felt so refreshed and renewed and our skin was as soft as a baby's bottom. We slipped into our dresses and got the staff there to drive us to Jazz cafe.

Look at how glowing our skin looks. Too bad I didn't show my legs off in the photo. Darn!

For more information about Sang Spa, go to http://www.sangspa.com/

Okay... this should be the last post about Bali. You're probably sick of reading about my Bali craze by now.

Back in the office

I'm back at work. And you know what? I was actually looking forward to going back to work. I even started thinking about work yesterday, planning which SPRs I was going to fix.

I know what you are saying. Yes, you.. and you... and you at the back there. You are all thinking the same thing. So everybody, all together now say, "SIAO WAN!!" (translation: you crazy nut case, how could you be happy going back to work during CNY?).

But wait, let me explain why I'm so happy to be at work.

While you out there are sweating your balls out in this damn freaking it's-so-hot-I-could-die weather..... I'm enjoying the cold office air-conditioning, so cold that I may even have to wear a cardigan.

While you out there are stuck in an hour-long traffic jam at Gurney Drive..... I'm driving at 90 on the highway, reaching work in 10 minutes.

While you out there are circling round and round like a desperate vulture, looking for a parking space..... I'm seeing so many empty parking spaces that I have to make tough decisions like, "Should I choose the parking space nearest to the door? Or should I should park at the one further but under the tree shade? Hmmm...."

While you are out there are having to queue up and kiasu-ly fight over a free table in a chaotically full restaurant..... I'm at a calm nice restaurant being served immediately.

While you are out there sitting among screaming children and extremely loud relatives, so loud that no matter how much you turn up the TV volume, you'll still have to read the subtitles..... I'm enjoying the peace of the super quiet office where the sounds of the typing on keyboard and the humming of my machine are like music to my ears.

Other reasons why I'm glad I'm at work.

1. To the hubby, CNY means eating unhealthy food and drinking sugar-water (can and box drinks) the whole entire day. Give him plain water and he'll say, "Dowan... no taste". And I, who is too lazy to get my own water, ends up drinking sugar water as well which never quenches my thirst. By the 3rd day of CNY, I gave up and got up to get plain drinking water.
2. No more chaotic reunions. Peace and quiet. But I have to say CNY this year is a lot more better. I only received one "when are you going to have a baby?" question, a large improvement from last year when I received multiple, "You gained weight la, are you pregnant?" questions. In fact this year, I received a, "Ah How, lu eh bor sui loh" (You hear that, hubby? Somebody said your wife is pretty AH!!). I knew aerobics for the past one year would pay off. ;)
3. Now that I'm back to my old routine, it means I'm back to eating my apple in the morning, my brown rice for meals, and my vitamins at night. No more unhealthy sweet stuff, no more rubbish, no more skipping main meals because of losing my appetite due to excess sugar water. (I was damn constipated for the past few days because of all the junk I was feeding my poor body)
4. And seriously, the weather is really WTF-ly hot lately. It's the only time you'll see me sprinting 10 feet in front of Yin How, mumbling "it's HOT, it's HOT, it's HOT". The moment I get out of the car, it's a mad dash to walk towards the shelter. 

Anyway, I was feeling very happy to be back until I sat in my cubicle and the boss who has one and only engineer left in office, took out his machine gun and starting shooting SPRs at me at full blast. 

Oh well... SPRs or chaotic CNY??? I'm thinking SPRs...

:)

The value of RM7.35

1 raspberry Secret Recipe cheesecake = RM73.50/10 = RM7.35 per person.

Having an engineer pretend to throw in a resignation later during a 1-1 with the boss (and a wonderful actress she was), then have the whole team walk into the conference room with the cake singing Happy Birthday, then seeing the boss stand up staring at us in confusion for a few seconds only to realized that he was tricked, face turning the reddest I've ever seen, watching him jumping hysterically around the conference room holding the rubbish bin for some weird reason,  trying recover to from the shock of the fake resignation to the shock of the birthday surprise.... Fuiyoh... it is PRICELESS.

So worth the RM7.35 I tell you....

You know you’re a Penangnite (or in Penang)...

When you absolutely know for a fact that there’s no where else in the world that serves better food than Penang (I know Ipoh folks will strongly disagree)

When you’re addicted to Penang Road Laksa and Chendol and Gurney Drive’s Char Keow Teow

Where the dirtier the place, the better the food tastes

When you can eat at table by the drain of a main road, be horrified when you see the bowls and chopsticks thrown near the drain and yet continue happily eating your bowl of curry mee in denial of what you just saw.

When you have a tummy made out of steel to survive the fact mention above. If not, the tummyache is still worth that bowl of curry mee. Eat first, think later. Why? Because it's oh so worth it.

When your main activity during the weekend is eating… and eating…

When you don’t need beautiful girls posing in the PC Fair to attract your attention. Show us your cheapest price and we’ll come rushing in. Money first, looks second.

When finding a legal car parking space by the road along Gurney Drive on a weekend night makes you so happy you’ll want to cry

Whenever there’s a new shopping mall opened, you’ll see half of Penang’s population there. 1 month later, it will be empty.

When in a shopping mall during the weekends, you’ll have to bump into at least one colleague, friend or relative.

When in a shopping mall during the weekends, you’ll have to fight your way through an army of people chasing you trying to sell you credit cards, investment schemes, slimming products, telco promos, balding hair solutions, etc. (does this happen in KL malls as well? I don’t seem to remember such experiences when I’m at KLCC, Midvalley, etc…)

When you wear shorts and slippers anywhere and everywhere (I had to throw a tantrum to convince the hubby to wear jeans instead of shorts to a fine dining restaurant)

When you can be driving in your car surrounded front, back, left, right by a crowd of motorcyclists and not feel intimidated

When you have the ability to turn a 2 lane road into a 4 lane road

When you are able to weave in and out of traffic like one of those old gameboy racing games.

When you know at least one person working in Intel or Dell

When any place can be considered a parking space, including roundabouts and road junctions. Parking summons don’t matter compared to that bowl of laksa or rojak or char keow teow you’re desperately craving for.

When you enter a shop, a lethargic skinny looking teenage salesgirl will follow you round and round. You take one step forward, she’ll take one step forward. You take one step backwards, she’ll take one step backwards like you’re both in a dance routine or something. Front two, cha cha cha. Back two, cha cha cha.

Where prices of landed properties within prime locations on the island are ridiculously high and you think the people who are willing to pay that price are all insane (though you wish you had that kind of money to be just as insane)

When you insist you're not kiamsiap. You just want everything Cheap and Good. What's so wrong about that? :)

What else?


****Updating with more facts left in the comments***

From Anonymous

When you bump into your friend, instead of saying "hello", you say: "Jiak Pah Ah Boi?" or "Un Chuah? Hoh Bo?"

When you had a lousy food, you say: "walau, cannot go (beh khi)!!"

When you always ask for discount, regardless it's promotion item or fixed price item

When you are traped in traffic jam during weekends and/or school holiday, you ask: "why tourist like Penang so much?"

Yin How's pride and joy

Some time earlier this year, there was a flower festival thingy at Botanical Gardens. At that time, I had just bought my DSLR and owning a DSLR for the first time makes you to crazy things like standing in the ridiculously hot sun crowding with a bunch of other people just to take a photo of a flower.

Yin How was excited. Especially when he spotted plants for sale. He was particularly interested in getting an ambra tree which caught his eye.

And then he started his bargaining process of squeezing every cent he could from the young Malay boy.

 Of course, with he managed to win the bargain and posed for a victorious smile to the camera.

He took around 15 more minutes to choose the perfect ambra plant among many while I was cursing how hot the weather was.

I was just glad to get out the heat. I happily walked back to the car and dumped the plant at the back passenger seat. Yin How insisted that the plant sit in front, so fine..... I got out and moved the plant to the front seat with me.

At home, a very excited Yin How began digging a dead plant from our huge pot so that his precious new plant could move in.

 

He carried the pot outside to make sure that his plant would get enough loving tender care from the sun.

 

And there it stood... Yin How's pride and joy. His bonsai ambra plant (if you just call it the ambra plant, he'll correct you and say it's a bonsai ambra plant). He was soon talking about how he would make ambra juice after the plant starts producing fruits.

Any guest who comes over would be introduced to the plant.

After more than half a year of watering, fertilizing and caring for his precious plant.....

Ta-da!!~~~

 

;)

Oh how I love it here

After getting adjusted to the weather and driving here, I love it so much here.

1. I love how branded stuff here is so much cheaper. I bought 3 pairs of shoes and 5 pairs of jeans/pants. Adidas, Levis, Dockers, DKNY, all so much cheaper here.
2. I love the weather here. I know I complained that it was too cold and dry initially. But my nose has stop bleeding and I'm adjusting to to the weather here.
3. I love San Francisco.
4. I love the buildings here. All so pretty.
5. I love the perfect cloudless blue sky
6. I absolutely absolutely absolutely love that people bring their dogs out everywhere. It's so dog friendly here. I saw so many different kind of dogs here.
7. I love the flow of traffic here. Much less stressful compared to traffic at home
8. I love the piers here... soooo pretty...
9. I love the hill that Kamal brought me up to. Absolutely breath-taking. If I had the weather like this at home, I would be hiking every weekend or so.
10. I love how you can go biking and have picnics and go for walks at anytime of the day because of the wonderful weather.
11. I love the fact that the main language here is English. People don't give me weird looks when I open my mouth and speak English.
12. I love TV here. I still find it addictive. :)
13. I love how people here are so much friendlier than back home.
14. I love the endless possibility here. So much to do, so much to see, so much can happen.

However, no matter how many things there are to love over here, there's one main thing it lacks.

When someone placed his arm around me to pose for a photo today, I suddenly realized for the first time since I've been here how much I missed Yin How cuddling me. I miss cuddling him in the morning before I go to work. I miss cuddling him at night before i go to sleep. I miss whining to him about my Milo addiction at night (now that I don't get Milo at work) and feeling happy when I find a cup of Milo waiting for me on the dining table.

I miss my hubby.

So even though I initially thought of extending my stay here, I'm happy I'll be going back home soon.

And I'm looking forward to that bowl of laksa. :)

JD - job description

I couldn't resist writing this in response to SH's blog entry about her job. At least people still will understand what her job is.

Mine goes like this.

What do you work as?

Mindy: An engineer

Ohhh... Intel ah?

Mindy: No, Altera (cheh, as if Intel is the only company of engineers on the earth)

*blank face* Factory ah?

Mindy: (thinking whether I should correct them to say it's a R&D company and not a factory but decides it would take too much effort to explain so....) Yes.


*happy to have guess that it's a factory correctly so continues asking* So what do you do there?

Mindy: Altera produces FPGA's which are programmable chips and I work on the software that programs those chips.

*Person trying to nod politely to mask the fact that he/she has no idea what I'm talking about sees that this is going to lead to a very boring topic and turns to Yin How*

So where do you work?

Yin How: Dell

*Expression suddenly changes as if the person has heard the most interesting thing in the world* Wah... Dell ah? I want to buy a Dell laptop, what do you recommend?. Do you get employee purchase prices? Is this Dell laptop model still good? I have an old laptop with the keyboard spoiled, can I still get a replacement? That day I called Dell customer service and ....etc, etc etc

Conservation about Dell goes on and on sometimes lasting over an hour. And Yin How suddenly becomes a Dell laptop guru, giving his expert advice on all things Dell. My friends and relatives who need anything from Dell? They call their new best friend for help, Yin How.

And at the end of the conversation, the only thing about people can remember about my job is .... that I work in a factory.

;)

Dearest Milo-making machine

Dearest Milo-making machine,

You were always there for me every morning for the past 5 years. You always made me that perfect cup of Milo, not too hot, not too sweet and with just the right amount of foam on the top. No matter how bad or how good my days were, you were always there to warm me up. And those days late at work, you always made my hungry tummy feel a little better. Oh how proud I was to have you, you are one of the few things here which I could proudly boast to others “Your pantry got free Milo-making machine or not? Don’t have ah… my pantry got ah”.

Oh how I miss you. After going off for a one week holiday, I was shocked to see you gone. They were smart, they were sneaky, choosing a long break when nobody was around, to take you away. How could they?? I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to you.

And now there’s that replacement? How could anything replace you? I tried working things out with the replacement. I tried to give him a chance to make me that perfect cup of warm chocolate drink like how you used to do it for me every morning. But unfortunately, Ricco, is not as perfect as you.

There’s a silent protest here. We all want you back. We don’t want any replacement. We don’t want Ricco. WE WANT MILO.

Despite my love for you, I kinda pity the replacement. Today in an act of protest, someone stuck a piece of paper over the replacement saying, “Bad Coffee, tastes like chlorine” and a few others stuck more papers in agreement. Imagine how the replacement was feeling, humiliated on his first week on the job. I’m guessing your replacement is feeling the stress of trying to fill in your shoes that he broke down from the pressure.

Oh well, I guess I’ll guess have to learn to live without you. It’s sad…. But I shall be to be strong. And maybe one day I'll learn to love the replacement as how I love you?

Missing you every morning,
Mindy