Up against the fire drill

We were told to prepare for the fire drill this morning, organized by the building management. Just before the bell went off, our kind security guard came to "escort" us down the lift. He said if we don't go down earlier, we gotta walk down the stairs because once the bell goes off, the lifts can't be used.

I was pretty unresponsive and didn't wanna move my butt, frankly. So I said I'll walk down the stairs later. He said if we wanted, we could stay in, he'll lock the door from the outside and we just hafta stay quiet inside. If the Bomba people ask, we should say we have super urgent work to finish. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Only "price" we've gotta pay for staying in was to bear the loud alarm for something like 15 minutes. When it finally died down, I could feel the ringing in my ears. Have I gone deaf??? Nah...still can hear my own stomach growling with hunger.

Can I gain anything from Budget 2006?

Every year I'm not quite excited about the Budget announcement, because I hardly ever get affected. Obviously this year I don't feel any different. I didn't even claim the 50% off road tax from JPJ since the Govt announced it recently. Saw the line of queue in the papers and I gave up. Rebates are never easy.

Not sure what to expect of the new budget, probably more increase in price of ciggies, bigger bonuses for Govt workers, increase in petrol price, yadda yadda yadda.

If only there would be something to cheer me about. Let us wait and see...

The Invitation

This is one of the most meaningful and inspiring poem I've ever come across.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.



© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from the book The Invitation

University of Essex Alumni

Got a mail from my uni yesterday, with some announcement of an alumni coming up. I realised my details are so outdated and I should send in my latest info. But the students in my year seem very quiet and hardly posted any messages in the newsletter. That's when I realised it's because we're now OLD and newer (not to mention younger) students have overtaken the space for catching up.

Would love to visit the uni again one day. Gonna be filled with nostalgia. But before that, gotta save, save, save and save!

Anxiety follows Freedom Day

As happy and excited as I am looking forward to Freedom Day, I realised I would have to face Anxiety almost immediately. I've been preparing for it bit by bit daily by doing lots of reading and learning but it's hard to discipline yourself to spend time going through thick books with small prints. It's not made any easier when there are other more tempting alternatives.

How easy is it to choose to read this Thai cookbook with yummy pictures over these other books that talks about technical stuff? Calling for discipline, discipline, discipline!!

KFC Moment

The KFC Moment contest is on and I've heard so much advertisements on the radio about it. I've never had a KFC Moment, except those times when we were kids and our hearts soared when our parents said "OK, we can have KFC for dinner".

Anyway, there's a long meeting going on at the office today that stretched well past lunch hour (and thank God I'm not in that meeting) so the guys decided to order in. The rest of us just chipped in our order, lazy to walk out and decide what's for lunch.

It's quite a moment I hafta say, a bunch of guys in ties sitting in the boardroom and each savouring their packed box lunch of KFC...must've been finger licking good.

Now the office smells like fried chicken.

Memories of Winnipeg

Some people say an apt nickname for Winnipeg is Winterpeg. Winnipeg happens to be the coldest part of Canada. I was a scrawy 12-year old then, first time experiencing winter. On the worst day we experienced -21 degrees Celcius.

I stayed there for about a month. Everyday we took the bus to the training hall and the waiting part was the most torturing. The wind was merciless and the weather was so dry that it hurt the skin. Even inside the training hall with radiators, it was still cold and we had on layers.

The most memorable event that happened was when we were indoors halfway through training. Someone came into the hall and we caught a glimpse of what was going on outside - it was snowing! For a bunch of 12 to 14 year old girls who saw snow for the first time ever, we were as excited as can be and pleaded with our coach to let us out for a few minutes. She agreed and we put on our jackets and shoes hurriedly, grabbed the camera and dashed outside.

It was freezing cold but we loved it. Tried to build a snowman but we weren't any good at it. It was a triangle shaped pile of snow that measured about 1.5 feet high at the most. Nevertheless we were still so proud of our first attempt at building a snowman.

After that first snow experience, it was snowing for most of the remaining days we were there. We were also caught in a mini snow storm one evening while waiting for the bus. The memories of those times now feel like a dream, quite surreal...

I'm looking forward to pen down Memories of Auckland next!

The Kiss

Love this piece of painting. First came across it on the cover of a book I have. If I'm not mistaken this wonderful piece of romantic art is called "The Kiss". Forgot the artist's name.

Has it really been 16 years?

Finally got to meet N and it was so great seeing her again! She has lost so much weight and she looks gorgeous! It does seem strange to be talking with each other from adult to adult because I used to regard her as my coach and she was the grown up and I was the kid. Only now I realise that our 6 year age gap wasn't such a big deal.

She's happy with her life and has a good time doing what she loves and making money out of it. Plus, she gets to travel bringing her girls around for meets. She's off taking her girls to the World Championship tonight! How wonderful.

N's still so much the same as she always was...the only thing that's changed between us is that now I'm taller than her! =P

Long long weekend

Was out of town for another wedding during the weekend. This time the whole agenda was all about eating. Food was abundant, people were great, but I just had no appetite for food. I had other things to do and it felt like I've been through a lot this weekend and the worst part is that I felt so terribly alone despite being amongst a happy crowd.

But all was not lost or bad, sneaked out during the 3rd course of dinner to watch the result show of Malaysian Idol. I'm pleased that Daniel won, great boost for him. See, it was a great weekend for many people if not for me. I think watching the result show was probably the highlight of my weekend.

Reunited after 16 years

Another episode of being in touch with a long lost friend happened last night. KCE called and said my former Australian coach, N, was in town! We've lost contact 16 years ago when she left as her contract expired.

I can't believe I was making a call to her hotel and actually speaking with her! She sounded just what I remember her to be and the only awkwardness was when she said "I'm sure you're all grown up now" and I thought yes of course, because the last time she saw me, I was only 12!

Am looking forward to meet her in person next week. Oh what a reunion it will be! =)

Memories of Tokyo

I was 14 the first time I went to Tokyo. AI brought 4 of us there for the Four Continents meet and we were excited just being there.

All was quite stressful with AI throwing tantrums at us for doing badly at practise sessions before the meet. She would just walk away and snub us and we had to lug our stuff and chase after her to apologize. Honestly, I think it was all a show for her to get attention while we looked like a bunch of silly girls scared of their coach.

Anyway, apart from the competition where I met many of my idols and took photos with them, I think one of the most memorable experience from that trip was the first time to Disneyland! I got a child ticket fare!!! I was glad that I could pass for a 12-year old then and got things half price.

I was a big scady cat and didn't dare to go on any rides. All I went on were the Haunted Mansion, It's A Small World After All and Pirates of the Caribbean. While my friends went on their adventure rides on roller coasters, I held the Disneyland map in my hand and went to ALL the shops instead! I think they had more fun though.

When I was 15, we went to Tokyo for the second time. This time it was part training and part attending a small meet in a place called Gifu. This stay was more memorable because we spent more days in Japan. We lived at the training school. In the evenings when we were more relaxed and returning to our room from the shower/locker room, we would pass this vending machine that sold hot drinks. It's cool in the evenings and we would always get our hot chocolate fix. Then we'd walk back slowly, savouring the drink and chatting with each other.

One of those days, AI brought us to her home. While we were there, she dressed us up in her Kimonos and tied our hair. We posed for pictures in her garden and tried to walk daintily in Japanese slippers.

We went to Disneyland again and this time I picked up more courage and decided to go for some roller coaster rides on The Matterhorn and some space-looking one which I can't remember what it's called. Survived the rides!

Japan was very fun for me despite not speaking the language.

Next in line would be Memories of Winnipeg!

Memories of Perth

It was my first time traveling overseas for a competition, a friendly one with the Aussies. A group of 40 of us went, including parents and coaches. It was a late night flight and we were all asleep not long after the plane took off. Mom woke me up and in my grogginess, I saw them all standing at the aisle and my mom was holding a birthday cake. It was my 11th birthday.

It was most memorable, birthday on a plane and with so many friends. We ate cakes, I read my birthday cards and opened presents. The rest of the night I slept in deep slumber.

We arrived at the hotel at about 5 in the morning and it took a very long time to get us all checked-in because it was such a huge group. I shared room with mom and 2 other girls.

One day, we decided to cook maggi mee in the room. We used the kettle to boil water to cook a few packs of instant noodle and before we knew it, we heard an alarm go off. The fire alarm! We opened the door to see our friends running out of their rooms in panic and confusion. We knew we caused the alarm because the smoke from our kettle was rising up to the fire censor on the ceiling :P Nothing much happened, because the alarm eventually died off and people went back into their rooms. We kept our secret.

The rest of the days were spent in training and competition. We did have some time to go sight-seeing and even had a picnic at Kings Park (not sure if I remember the name correctly). Another memorable incident at the park...we were playing along a small landscaped area that is a shallow pond. I slipped and fell into it! Hurt my butt and wet my dress :(

Beautiful place, beautiful spring weather and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Next Memory Holder episode coming up will be Memories of Tokyo!

Memory Holder Episodes

I have a pretty short term memory because I don't remember much of my younger days until someone says something to jog my memory. So I'll put it all down in a blog to keep those memories that matter. In years to come if I ever suffer alzheimer (cross fingers it won't happen), perhaps it will help to read my own blog (gotta make sure I keep my blog URL someplace I will come across!).

I'll start with places I've been that make good memories. Coming up...Memories of Perth.

When you think the worst can't get any worst

I opened my eyes this morning and when I saw the time on my alarm clock and I was so late, I literally jumped out of bed and rushed through everything in the bathroom, dressed up, fed furballs, cleaned their poo box and off I went.

After driving about 1km from the house, I felt a terrible discomfort in my stomach. The pain was not easing after some moments, in fact it got so bad that despite the strong air-cond in the car, I was beginning to sweat. To make it worse, the jams were not getting any better and traffic was slow moving. I had thoughts of turning back home but I was already late and if I turned back I'd still have to battle the jams to make that turn.

Pushing forward in that crawl was a big torture as the pain was almost unbearable. I thought worse come to worse, I'll just have to stop somewhere to find a rest room. But to get to places with a rest room at that time also means getting through more bad traffic areas. So I stuck to the plan of trying to get to the office as fast as I could.

I was trying to distract myself the whole time listening to radio shows and reading bumper stickers on other cars. When traffic eased off it was a smooth drive all the way to office and I was near to running into the elevator when I got there. As if to make things more "exciting", there were 2 extra stops during that ride on the elevator before I could exit on my floor. I was trying to be as gracious as I could with my colleague whom I bumped into there, making small talks while hiding my true discomfort and goose-bumped skin.

Finally got into office and to my dismay, the cleaner was in the bathroom with her detergent, pail and mop! I asked if she's done 'coz I needed to use it. She came back with a damn loud "Nak kencing ke nak berak??" I was horrified and horribly embarrassed because I was sure my other colleagues could hear her. I just told her to hurry up and finish her job and walked away frustrated. Why does she need to know what I needed to do in there and would it matter anyway???

After what seemed like an eternity to me, she finally finished her cleaning and let me in. Those were the most glorious moments for today! Murphy's law really had me today.

Fun at wedding

Over the weekend some friends and I attended a wedding dinner. It was a small gathering but it was sure grand and beautiful. The place has great ambience and the crowd must have enjoyed the entertainment for the night - lion dance, good band and some surprise performances by the bestmen to the newly weds.

A bunch of Andreans at our table got together, raised their glasses and enthusiastically belted out their school rally with all their hearts. It was quite a funny scene. And no, they were not high on alcohol.

Weddings always bring out the best in people, don't they?

Celestine Prophecy on coincidence

In my late teens I read a book called Celestine Prophecy and I found it very interesting. Of all the 9 insights he shared in this fiction-cum-spiritual book, the one that stuck with me was the idea that there is no such thing as a coincidence. According to the author, he says everything happens for a reason and is not because of chance or luck.

Anyway, speaking of "coincidences", I've had many of them of late. The chance meeting of the ex in my office, 2 of my former bosses contacting me when they've stopped for years, and the most recent was last night. I was watching a late night program, and I've never watched it before, nor interested. I was just flipping the channel and decided to watch a feng shui documentary. And about a minute into it, I saw my 1st ever ex appear on the program as guest!

Kinda freaked me out that in the span of about 2 weeks I've seen/heard from people who have at one time been in my life but have since "disappeared" for good. It's hard to explain why they happen at the same time, which leads me to believe further that nothing happens without a reason. I wonder then what the message is...

Sunday at Mont Kiara

Sitting at Starbucks right now in Mont Kiara, drinking my iced chocolate, enjoying the air-cond and using the free wireless connection. Saw Faizul (from Malaysian Idol Season 2, just eliminated recently from the competition) here at Starbucks too.

I'm just blogging here coz I've got nothing to do while Ray is reading the papers...

Dress all ready to wear

Picked up my dress from the tailor during lunch and sent it back to the boutique to get it ironed. Now all done and ready to wear tomorrow. Looks so fragile and pretty I'm worried I'll tear it or make a hole in it with my bag/shoe/watch. Paranoid paranoid...

Nice lady steam-ironing my dress with patience.

Reminiscing student life

Was going through my pictures of years ago and memories of good old student days in university came rushing back. It was a mix of wonderful, sweet memories with not-so-good ones. But that's the life of a student, the dilemma-filled dramas and the high night-outs.

Here's a collaged picture of the campus as I remember it and a small tribute to University of Essex. 3 wonderful years of my life!

Me and my musical "talent"

I'm lousy at playing musical instruments. I went for piano lessons when I was young and barely passed Grade 1 with a score of 103 (passing mark is 100). I quit after that and never touched another instrument again. Not until I was in university and my friends love jamming. I tagged along and tried the guitar for fun, of course never knowing the chords. I also insisted on trying the drums but my coordination was so bad I might as well sit quietly and listen to them play.

Then I got hooked on violin. Whenever I went to watch musicals, dances and orchestras, somehow the violin is the one thing that attracts me most. So one time I got a violin and thought that I'll really do it right by attending classes. There was a German lady who would come to the house to teach for 45 minutes and that's very convenient. So I agreed to the lessons. But on that day I chickened out and cancelled. Since then I've never learned to play but wished that I could carry a tune on it.

Now my unplayed violin just sits pretty at home...

What a feast & a HOT night!

It was hot and humid yesterday, with hardly any wind blowing. We were all going out for a buffet dinner of succulent meats at Carnaval Churrascaria. This Brazilian barbeque restaurant is quite a feast and I really enjoy the meats and the cold and hot salad bar. We had a side order of grilled prawns too. Finger licking good! Anyway, we decided to sit outside as it can get quite stuffy indoors even with air conditioning in the restaurant. The fan was the only thing keeping us cool, and maybe the ice water too.

After having a couple rounds of a 12-cut meat course, it isn't easy to get on your feet. It probably added a few degrees in temperature to the bodyheat to digest all that food. Got home and was a couch potato watching the last half hour of CSI. Couldn't go to sleep on a full stomach so I was lazing about with the air-cond on and reading a book. Then the electricity went out :(

During the time in darkness except for a tealight candle burning, the ultimate torture was the heat. It was so unbearable I had to resort to taking a shower in the dark. Then I tried to distract my mind from the heat but there was nothing to do with no electricity. My PDA came to the rescue. Thank God there was some battery life left in it!

After about half an hour playing games on my PDA, the lights finally came back on and the first thing I did was to power up the air-cond. Thank whoever invented it!!!

Quit the accent, girl!

If you listen to radio stations, you find mostly female DJs adopting an accent that you can't really pinpoint where it's supposed to be from - American, British, Australian, Japanese, Irish...anything but the Malaysian accent. The guy DJs are more natural, probably because they can't be bothered to put on an accent to impress.

(Bit out of topic here but I also find it annoying that lady DJs tend to like faking small bursts of laughter FOR NO REASON AT ALL! I especially hate to hear it when she's introducing the next song coming on air and you catch a light fake laughter as she ends her sentence. What's so funny about that? Is someone tickling you in the studio??)

Anyway, back to the accent story, there's this new girlie here who has such a "unique" accent that makes me feel like strangling her and saying "quit your oh-so-fake accent!" It's too bad you can't hear it on a blog but just to give an idea, I'll attempt to enlighten:

The word: Absolutely

She says: Up-so-lut-ly

The word: Box

She says: Bux

The word: Dalam (yes, even her Malay words have a twist to them!)

She says: Dha-lum

The word: What?

She says: Wot?

The word: Over estimate

She says: Over ss-ti-mait

The word: Is that your cat?

She says: Is that your kat?

The word: Bye bye

She says: Buh buy

It's annoying!! But if I can't beat her to stop, maybe I should join her to annoy?

One of theze dais I might spik with a crap aksern like thiz with her...

Bored bored bored

Not that I have nothing to do, I have a lot of reading and learning to do but it's just hard to discipline yourself and get to it amidst all the distractions like having fulltime access to the internet. And, it's probably also not a good idea to be doing my own stuff during work hours although I have nothing much to do right now at work except to wait for someone to throw something my way.

I thought I could make use of this time to use the internet to my fullest, surf all sorts of sites and do whatever personal research I want. But I've done all that in a very short time and now I'm left with no idea where to surf or what else I could do on the internet. Winmx is not working so I can't go download the latest music too. So what is left other than to blog about how bored I am?

I'm bored bored bored and still bored...

Dancing queen

Body Shop was launching their new line of fragrance and used some pretty colourful and creative way to attract attention. Promoters were dressed in eye-catching clothes with big afro coloured wigs. I avoided them as I walked through the crowd. But what did stop me was the dance performance they put on to catchy tune and a bunch of dancers all jazzing up. Not sure how the fragrance smells like though because when the dancers came off-stage to spray perfume on the watching crowd, I left. But look at them go!

Let bygones be bygones

Lately I've been having the most unlikely people from the past getting in touch with me after years of not being on talking terms.

First it was that long ago ex whom I thought did not see me the other day but he did. He called me in the office and talked for a while. After that conversation I felt a whole load of my past being lifted. It was like I can finally let go of the ugly past and forgive. It was a good feeling.

Then today my former boss from years ago who I think hated my guts and never wanted to talk to me, initiated a message to me to ask how I was doing. In the past I've bumped into him and he had pretended not to see me. So I am really surprised that he decided to talk again.

Not harbouring ill feelings towards people who hurt you and letting bygones be bygones is really a wonderful feeling. I guess with time, people seem to find it easier to let go of anger and hatred as they mature.

In the last 2 months life seems to be changing for the better, bit by bit.

My new dress

I almost gave up looking for a dress meant for a wedding function next week. I tried on a couple, lemme see...

1) A blue one which was so superbly body-hugging that made me look like a bak chang

2) A pink one which was kinda sweet, but maybe not quite dressy enough for the wedding

3) A 3-quarter length black dress which I didn't quite like because it made me look leafy with some flaps at the top

4) THE gorgeous black one with side trimmings...loved that one! But way too expensive and I'll regret seeing it hang in the wardrobe after having worn only once

5) Another black number with a nice touch on the shoulders but I couldn't like anything else after #4

6) Off-shoulder black dress with a bow. Love this one too and that's what I got!

7) Knee-length dress that looked interesting on the mannequin. I gave up trying it on because I got stuck and didn't know where the arms and the head went in which strap.

So now I've got a perfect dress which I look forward to wearing and not just once but to more functions!

New Orleans vs. Mumbai

Something interesting I got and it does make you wonder...


Inches of rain in New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina... 18 inches

Inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1 inches



Population of New Orleans... 484,674

Population of Mumbai.... 12,622,500



Deaths in New Orleans within 48 hours of Katrina... 100

Deaths in Mumbai within 48hours of rain... 37



Number of people to be evacuated in New Orleans... entire city

Number of people evacuated in Mumbai... 10,000



Cases of shooting and violence in New Orleans... Countless

Cases of shooting and violence in Mumbai... NONE



Time taken for US army to reach New Orleans... 48hours

Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach Mumbai... 12hours



Status 48hours later... New Orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricity

Status 48hours later... Mumbai is back on its feet and is business is as usual



*USA*... world's most developed nation

*India*... third world country...

Eat with what?

During lunch hour we went to the foodcourt (after a fortune on lunch yesterday, we need to save by going for cheaper lunches). I went to a stall selling nasi campur. After picking the dishes and paid for it, I ransacked a small basket on the counter for utensils. The basket was full of forks, and only 1 spoon. I fished it out and found some stains on it. Looks like a piece of small chilli.

I asked the lady at the stall for more spoons (obviously I'm not using that not-so-clean one). She looked at me but didn't budge. I showed her the one and only spoon in that basket and pointed to her the chilli still stuck on the spoon. This time she looked a bit embarrassed, and went to the back to get more spoons.

She came out empty handed. She picked up THAT spoon and disappeared back in the kitchen again. Seconds later she emerged with a wet spoon and handed it to me. It was the SAME spoon still with that chilli stuck on it! I gave it back to her and said it's still there!! She took it back and this time disappeared again for a slightly longer time.

She must have spent more time scrubbing it a bit more. By then, a group of people were gathered at the stall buying their lunch. If that spoon was the one and only left, what will the rest of her customers eat with? Maybe they expect all customers to eat with fingers. But if so, why provide so many forks??

Spooky coincidence

Last Friday when I met up with friends for dinner, one of them blurted out the question of how my ex was doing. I said I don't know and really, what do I care? Been so long ago and I definitely don't keep in touch with him anyway. No one has asked me about that guy for years and so I was quite surprised that my friend did. Maybe curiousity got to him.

Anyway, as coincidence would have it, that guy walked into my office today!!! I got a shock seeing him after 8 years. Thank God though he didn't see me. The last thing that I want is for him to know where I work, hence where to find me. Best to disappear forever from him.

Hmm...spooky spooky...shall I buy the lottery today?

When reality hits you in the head

As happy as I am with the new change that's about to happen in my life, the reality of it didn't sink in until right about now. In my then clouded and enthusiastic mind, it was just a career change and it made me happy to have a brighter prospect and doing something I like. But it didn't occur to me that my lifestyle would be changing too.

For one thing, working in the city centre requires a lot more patience and time management because of the traffic condition. I know it is a jam packed area but it only struck me that I will only leave the office at an hour when the traffic has subsided, which is probably when there is no more daylight out. Imagine 5 days a week when you come out of a building and it is all dark out, with dusk setting in.

It doesn't help that the least favourite part of my day happens to be around dusk as it gets gloomy and dark. It gives me a sense of nostalgia, feeling alone and down. It just isn't my time of day.

Anyway, since I'm gonna have to leave the office late, my furballs will have to adjust their gastric juices to a later time as feeding time will be delayed. Also, since office is further and I'll have to battle the traffic to get to work on time, I'll also need to leave home earlier in the mornings. That means an earlier breakfast for the furballs. Earlier breakfasts and later dinners....Maybe it's time to look for the timed feeder.

Other changes I could now foresee would be giving up one Saturday a month to work. It's been years since I've had to deal with an official working Saturday. Oh well, I can only hope that the one working Saturday is more relaxed than other working days. My brains don't usually function to work during the weekends.

Meeting new people and adopting to cultural changes at the office are something else altogether. It may not have such a big effect overall but still, the process of learning names and recognizing those names to faces will be quite a challenge. I'm just not good at that.

On top of that I really have to put myself through a very steep learning curve picking things up from scratch. I hope I won't be thrown into the deep ends of the water at the start of the job.

Over and above all that, I'm still excited and enthusiastic about the job itself. I only pray and hope that all will turn out alright with time and some adjustment on my part. But one thing for sure, I will wake up in the mornings and choose an attitude to wear for the day - to love what I do and be happy!

The snake in me

Was itching to read my horoscope today (not that I believe it), which I hardly ever do, and came across an interesting site on astrology that provides all sorts of readings from zodiac signs to chinese zodiacs and tarot readings. Makes a fun site for boring times. Anyway, decided to check out my chinese zodiac instead and here is what the site has to say about the snake in me (not 100% accurate though):

Diplomatic and popular, the Snake has the sensual art of seduction down. This Sign is an interesting mix of gregariousness paired with introversion, intuitive reasoning paired with savvy business skills. Snakes are considered to be lucky with money and will generally have more than enough to live life to the fullest, regardless of how important it considers money to be; this may be due to the fact that Snakes tend to be rather tight with cash. They're not stingy, they're simply more mentally than physically active. Snakes tend to hang back a bit in order to analyze a situation before jumping into it. Their charming, seductive quality actually belies a rather retiring nature; this Sign is perfectly happy to spend the whole day curled up with a good book and, thus, can be mislabeled as being lazy.

The Snake is somewhat insecure deep down and tend to be a rather jealous, possessive lover, behavior that can end up alienating loved ones. Despite these less-than-stellar tendencies, however, the Snake often proves irresistible and is a generous, loving partner.. Slightly dangerous and disarmingly smart, the Snake's philosophical and intuitive mind generally supersedes logic in favor of feelings and instinct. Snakes will rely on their own gut reactions and intuitions before turning to others for suggestions. This makes this Sign a great hand in any business venture, possessing the caution and smarts needed to get ahead.

Snakes are hard workers (when they see good reason to be!) and are possessed of a keen intelligence. Snakes have incredible follow-through, once they get going, and they expect the same from others. Thus, their coworkers and employees had best stay on their toes, lest they anger the Snake and suffer its poisonous bite!

In general, of course, Snakes are generous and genteel, charming and appealing. Snakes must try to learn humility and to develop a stronger sense of self. Once Snakes realize that confidence comes from within, they will finally be comfortable in their own skin.

The most compatible match for a Snake is the Rooster or the Ox.

The world we live in

In the last 2 years there are so many unfortunate incidences around the world. Not adding the planned mass attacks of bombings and killings in major cities, there are enough calamities to jolt people all over the world.

At one point there were a string of train accidents, mine blasts, and now plane crashes. The count on natural disasters are also increasing. Earthquakes, tsunami, heavy floods and typhoons, haze conditions and the latest being the hurricane. And somewhere around us, a volcano is expected to erupt within the century.

It doesn't feel safe to be anywhere right now. You never know what strikes next, whether by natural or human induced forces. Many years from now, the history books in schools will thicken with significant events and tragedies in the world. And I'm sure the era in which we are living has scores of these to offer.

Told 'ya weekend was gonna be great!

It was indeed a good weekend! Met up with friends on Friday and Saturday for dinners, went with Ray to see if can get me something to wear for the upcoming wedding dinner, checked out Borders for my #1 wanted book but ended up buying a cookbook...

Also visited Alamanda in Putrajaya. Not a place I want to go again. Oh by the way, if you drive a car bigger than the size of a Kancil or Kelisa, then you gotta watch the parking entrance real carefully. I think it was meant for Kancils only...you'll know what I mean if you saw it for yourself. At first I thought it was an entrance for motorbikes!

Anyway, I also managed to replace the hairpin that I liked so much which I lost. Pretty little thing, ain't it? Been trying to get another one of these when I lost mine some months back but they were sold out then. Wasn't quite expecting to see it again. Think lady luck has decided to stay with me for a while. Enjoying it all I can while it lasts! :)

Felt like I've done so much in such a short time. Really maximising my weekend time and loving it!

A load off my shoulders, at last

Today is a memorable day as it signifies a heavy load off my shoulders and I feel more motivated having this load lifted. The stupid things seem more bearable and the fear seems to have subdued. The leftover is a calm sense of surrealness.... I sure have missed that feeling!

Anyway, went to do a medical check-up today and was a tad bit nervous about the blood test because I hate needles. But God was really on my side, there wasn't a need for one! It really looks like my lucky day.

The weekends is just a couple more hours away. I already feel it's gonna be one of the best weekends I've ever had this year. How a simple turn of fate can change your outlook of the days to come.

All good things come to those who wait

I hate living in suspense, even though the good is promised to come and it's just a matter of time. But when it comes, the feeling is so positively overwhelming. Especially when all you've gotten lately are just plain sufferings of hell and asked to do stupid things you never thought you'd have to deal with. The worst of all that is the feeling of being trapped in it and having no way out.

And yet when you find the road leading out of that path, it is just so relieving. For me, having found that road is a small victory, and oh boy victory is sweet!

All sorts of mooncakes

In addition to my earlier mooncake blog, today I found some great samples of the diversity of mooncakes, as well as the pretty packaging! Just look at the green, white, pink and brown mooncakes! I don't enjoy sweet food but I sure enjoy looking at them. Look at the nice packing too. Makes very grand gifts don't they? Wonder if they're all in-house created or outsourced to some creative design houses.

The one stall that caught my eye was a stall by Picolo Mondo. That's right, the Italian restaurant is also joining in the crowd to sell mooncakes. Needless to say Picolo is selling Italian mooncakes. The sales person proudly explained to me that it's all made of cheese and they have choices of some Ricotta and Mascarpone mooncakes, with some selected flavours for each type. She offered me to try but I declined.

This morning on the radio I happened to catch some discussion about the newer types of mooncake flavours. One caller said she tried a sambal belacan mooncake and it was "not bad". Hmm...

Just the traditional mooncakes for me, thank you very much.

Staring evil in the eye

How do you tell good from bad from a simple glance? Even if you stare hard enough, maybe you won't be able to distinguish them. So how do you know the good you've been staring at is really the evil in disguise? Life just hands you all kinds of surprises.

I was a big fan of The Charmed Ones in the TV series Charmed. Though entrusted with the powers of a witch, more often than not, the sister witches can't tell a demon from a human when one is in disguise. So if a witch can't tell if she's in the presence of evil, how does a mortal being without the supernatural powers tell?

Even when you know the culprit, how do you face off with evil when you next have a chance to face up to it? Do you spit and call it names? Maybe not a good idea since it may just throw ugly revenge for bad behaviour your way the second you turn around.

For now perhaps evil should be left to be dealt with by the greater powers beyond the mortals. After all, there must be greater evil than evil itself.