The end is NEAR!

Lord, with recent disasters here and there, then yesterday tsunami disasterin the SOuth Asian region that killed more than 11,000 people, sone can't help but wonder if we are living in end times... Hmmph, then this had to happened...


There was a ferocious storm outside the office today towards evening and with a mighty boom, the lightning struck something and the wiring tripped. Everything was pitch black and there were startled screams in the darkness. When the electricity was restored, everyone calmed their nerves and everyone started booting up their computers. I press the Power button and nothing. Geeze, don't tell me my CPU got fried?!! ALL my work!!! Gone??! Please- nononononononono....And when it successfully booted, the screen was blue and red and with stripes of black. I let it complete its scanning then rebooted again. This time it went into safe mode.I tried to change my display settings back to the originals ones but It. Just. Wouldn't. Change! I restarted it again and again after it prompted me to restart my CPU after changing the settings! It kept booting up in safe mode and when I changed the settings, it still remained the same despite it all. I was nearly ready to tear out my hair. The CTo was no help as he disappeared elsewhere. I was ready to tear hishair as well. I tried to fix the problem but this is no task for a non-IT service personnel. It's just so DARN FRUSTRATING that I can't fix this myself.

Since there were no one around to help me, I made some calls to try to find out what's wrong with my PC. Had to call a few people before I hit paydirt. Apparently my display card is attached to my motherboard and it prob got fried by the lightning strike, OR the monitor cable was the one who got fried. Don't know which is which and I can't open up my CPU to fix the darn problem. Lord, my eyes hurt using my PC in safe mode. I really hate this. It seems like everything on my screen is leaping out at me like a bad nightmare. All the pixels are in tiny X's with terrible colours - it's like being stuck in a cross-stiched world!

Let me outta here!!!

The frenzy continues before Christmas

It's amazing how many things a human can do in a day. The amount of work I finished this week truly boggles my mind. It like everyone is trying to get EVERYTHING done before their Christmas break. Everyone rushing everything, and I too got caught up in the frenzy. Of course I have reason to be frenzied too - they put me in charge of the company newsletter and it has to roll out by January.

I'm happy that my pile of 3 feet high of newspaper has dwindled to zip. *GRIN* That is at least a load of my mind and I managed to vet and photocopy four sets for out internal circulation. Phew. I was already late by one week.

One shining star in the very touchable horizon is that Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! Hee hee... I know I don't celebrate it but I can't help being cheerful about it. And Erica the receptionist got me a very nice Christmas stocking, and she added a Chritsmas-Tree shaped body shampoo inside as a tiny surprise. It was certainly a pleasant surprise. =) Nancy also got me a nice gift.

Family's planning a nice dinner on the eve and I've just bought two fantastic reds to go with mom's yummilicious cooking. Hee hee... Zona and I took a long lunch to go to the Wine Cellar to get some nice wine for Christmas. Well, she went there with the intention to buy some... Me, I couldn't help myself. Come on, I was in a wine shop with an amazing selection of reds. Of course such impulsive behavior can be excused... it's wine for heavens sake. =P It's like citing the Fifth Amendment or something, with the clout to boot. WINE WINE WINE!

Plus the very nice woman, Noelle gave us a nice box for buying two bottles each. The box itself cost RM39.90 and it's a wooden box especially made for Wine Cellar's customers. I bought a bottle of South African Red that I'm dying to try out - Le Riche's 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot. If it's good, I'm definitely going back to buy a few more bottles to keep. You can check out the site at http://www.winecellar.com.my.

Yummy. ^__^

A bolt out of the blue

The last few weeks, as evident from the tortured postings in my blog, have been hell for me. The fact that I was continuously reliving each hellish incident did not help myself much. But something happened last week and I feel as though a great burden has been lifted. You see, I realised that all these weeks of torture and humilation is nothing as I've just been granted one of my wishes. During my review with my boss two months ago, I asked for more challenging rolls and guess she granted my wish after all. *laugh*

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to do my papers - I've been allowing them to pile up to 3 feet high and goodness knows when I'll ever finish this never ending chore. But I do try to read them and get my circulation out to the bosses by Tuesday the latest. So there I was mindlessly photocopying the news articles when all of a sudden, out of no where, this thought "My job is more challenging now" hit me square on. I was stunned! I think I stood there a few minutes after the photocopy machine completed one cycle. I was so miserable before that I could not see or think straight. But with this new self revelation, I was sort of freed from my own vicious cycle. I was stunned and relieved.

Later when I told my Lee Hoon about it, I actually laughed about it. I felt that much less burdened.

So yes, my job is tougher now but at least I'm learning again instead of already doing a job that holds no mystery to me. I want to learn more to be good at my job, so much so that I'm willing to take some more crap from certain irritating people.

*grin* I wonder how long this feeling will last? *wink*

Something surprising

I got a shock today when I saw my name in Kosmo newspaper in the Boys' Club article that I arranged for last Friday. The reporter actually added me in. When I read that paragraph with my name in it, I actually breathed "omigawd..."

Menurut wakil Pegawai Perhubungan Awam dan Publisiti Double Vision, Sharon Teo, Boys' Club diterbitkanatas dasar ingin memenuhi permintaaan dan kehendak penonton kaum lelaki.

"Kalau hendak diikutkan, konsep Boys' Club terlebih dahulu dicipta sebelum program Girls' Club, Sketches dan Pillow Talk wujud. Bagamanapun, atas beberapa masalah teknikal, kami terpaksa menunda projek ini buat seketika. Kini, musim pertama sudah siap untuk ditayangkan dan kami yakin dengan sambutan penonton," terangnya.

This is the first time my name has appeared in the papers in my official PR capacity, and I don't know what to say or think. I don't know what the bosses will say or think...

Also, do watch out for Boys' Club on ntvy this coming 20th December at 10.40pm. I think it's really quite fun to watch.

kicked around like a ball

I just found out that my boss is not my boss and never was last friday, and instead she has been "mentoring" me all this while, and when I ask her for her opinions, they are only that "her opinions" not directives or orders. What the hell?!! I'm now to do whatever the Queen Bee says. Effectively but unofficially I'm under HRH's wings. My only concern is that being under her wings connotes the opposite of what that phrase is suppose to mean.

My whole weekend was one depression after another. I feel betrayed, majorly. Sigh. What am I? A ball that can be kicked and passed around at any time? I wanted to quit and walk out of that room when I was told. HRH went to hash out the PR side with my "former" boss and they ended up discussing me. I heard them as the door was not closed. So I got handed over to another boss to do as she will.

Of course, I'm lamenting about it. If you're rolling your eyes at my post, then you can keep rolling, coz at this moment, I'm in no mood to listen to anyone. I'm just feeling overwhelmed and in over my head.

And of course today couldn't be made more stressful with an email to all the big heads officially announcing my new 'position', from the CEO. No the new possition doesn't come with additional benefits, so you can understand my pickle.

Why am I being made to handle such a big load when I have no experience to back it up?!! I feel HRH's frustrations at me when things doesn't go her way and of course the past one month has been so stressful that I've thought about giving in my resignation letter a million times a week. The only thing stopping me is not wanting to be a failure. I've never been a failure in anything I've done so far and I really don't want an big splash of ink blot in my life's chapter.

From Heaven to limbo

It's the oddest thing... I just came back from a relaxing weekend from the beach and here I am today, feeling drained and depressed. I cannot profess that I have no idea why I'm feeling so, cause I do. It's my job. I feel as though there are too many expectations expected of me and that I might not be able to fulfil them all satisfactorily.

Friday saw me being dressed down for my "not good enough" proposal to the queen bee. HRH said that it looked like a 5 minute bang up job, which took me 3 days to write btw... I even showed the proposal to my Corporate PR Manager and she said it was good for a proposal. HRH expected me to come up with an ENTIRE plan for a new programme coming up, in one week, alone. Apparently I had team mates in her hives that were of course, no help to me, as they themselves had no idea except to demand I 'report' to them in my meeting with them!!! Seriously, I do not think I can handle this job anymore. I feel that the burden is too heavy and the stress of working with that department is just blood-red-boiling.

Just monitoring the newspapers already taking up 2 - 3 hours of my mornings, and worse on Mondays, I start reading at 8.30am and I finish the pile at 1.30 - 2pm. Not that I'm a slow reader but there are so many papers to go through. There doesn't seem to be enough time for the rest of everything.

Then in the afternoon, the BIG CEO called me and the Marcomms team into his room for a 'chat'. There I found out:

1. that I'm really in charge of both the English and BM PR side, while one superior was in charge of the chinese side and the other the Corporate side.
2. that I continue doing my regular work but take on more corporate work
3. that the CEO is taking an interest in the PR dept himself
4. that he is concerned about my lack-of-progress on the account that I have no guidance from my superiors
5. and that HRH complained to the board that there was no publicity for an old programme that was canned but now revived, and that's why he is personally taking responsibility of the Marcomms Dept/ PR side as we all have to work together.

I have to agree with what he says, as all of use need to work together. He asked me who I think is the best person to give me guidance and I mentioned a name. I have no idea whether he agrees or not as all he said was "Hmmm". I was brave enough to mention HRH's name but he said she was too busy. I have to agree, she is very busy, and when she's busy she's cranky as hell and it's no good anyway going to her for guidance.

I even talked to my boss just now about maybe I can't cope with both departments... well.. I left her office feeling that asking her for help was useless. *sigh* I agree I need to feel that I own the responsibility of promoting our programmes but how can I own something I don't understand?

Looking for a mentor is hard, and there aren't any good mentor to be had in this company. Maybe I should move on and leave all the bad things behind. As I certainly don't need the bad memories clogging my mind and my heart in more ways that one.

Sea-faring emotions

Been to the beach and back...

Went to Pangkor for the day on Saturday with Tom, Shani, Wai Kong, Michael and Jayme. The first four went diving (lucky devils) and since I can't dive with my ear stuffed up, I went to veg-out on the beach with Jaymee. We stayed in a RM10 a night budget dorm room in Lumut and took the ferry over to the island the next day. We then took a taxi to Teluk Nipah but I was sorely disappointed with the condition.

There was a narrow stripe of sand FULL of Malay families and Chinese yuppies running around and yelling at the top of their energetic lungs. I was appalled. How an I relax on a beach like this? So we went further to Coral Bay and blessedly, it was quiet... until noon when a bunch of young chinese yuppies came and showed how healthy their lungs were when they wre zipped around in the banana boat. Since there were so many of them, they took turns, and we had to put up with an hour of very loud squeals and hooing and hahaing and worse of all, the "Oi Oi Oi" when they fought to get on the yellow floaty thing first.

Strangely enough, this noise pollution bothered me to the point of anger and I seldom get really angry. So we rented a kayak and kayaked out to sea to another tiny island nearby. Hah. THAT island too was full of neon life-jacketed adults of the same audio capabilities. We bypassed that island, which incidentally has a lone Ramli burger stall on it. Good idea since those neon bumble bees' only accessed to anything remotely tasty was a boat ride away.

We kayaked out further and we saw three patches of sand along the coast, two was taken but the furthest one was not. We dug dip into the green liquid and paddled our way over and beached the kayak on the soft beach. We found a haven, just the two of us, and no irritating yelling. We couldn't even hear a single yell from the beach. It was blissful. There we whiled away the afternoon and snorkled a little (nothing much to see though, Pangkor what... except for sea cucumbers and spiky sea urchins).

It was a lazy half an hour before we had to kayak back as I could see the currents getting stronger and I didn't want to get caught in one flowing out to sea, especially with a partner who didn't know how to kayak despite having a cert from a kayaking course. Go figure. I didn't even know she had a cert, coz she acted like she didnt know how to kayak. Anyway, kayaking back was harder as the currents WERE pulling us in the opposite direction. Thank god we got back to the beach no worse for wear, though my arms were killing me. I didn't tell Jaymee though, she was already waning from the first leg of the journey.

So yeah, I got burned, esp my shoulders and thighs (kayaking). Stupid me, I didn't slop on my sun block properly and as a result some parts of my shoulders are RED and there's this two stripes of red on the top of my cleavage! And right now the skin is itching like crazy. Then knowing I was gonna go kayaking amidst the reflecting rays from the water, I still didn't put on more sun block! Shesh... BUT at least I did slop on some on my face... *phew*

So yeah, I'm slightly tanner now. =)

Evening came and the rest of the gang picked us up at the jetty and we stayed overnight in Lumut, in an apartment next to the jetty and the waterfront. We initially wanted to stay in Teluk Batik but the rental costs were ridiculous. In the end we ended up at Blue Bay Resort which was more reasonable for 6 people. Next day we drove home at noon and stopped over in Klang for Bak Kuh Teh... this is actually my second time tasting this dish. Uh huh... second. Taste okay loh. Can't tell the difference. =P

Alone on the entire 3rd Floor

I'm still here. Bleh. Trying to finish everything before I go off for the weekend. At least I have the whole 3rd floor to myself.

Hello...(echo x5)

Craving the Big Blue

Sigh. I think I'm going through a phase right now that making me crave the sun, sea and sand. Every weekend, I'm looking to get away to somewhere with a gorgeous beach with a cerulean blue ocean at my toes. I know that I need to get away, tings are starting to get to me, little things, work, people around me. I can't stand it all. I feel that if I don't get away, I'll become crazy. It's not enough that I went to Pantai Morib last weekend. Come on let's face it, Morib is no beach haven. It's dirty and stinky. No way could I lie on the sand and beach out like a whale. Plus it was a rainy day too thus I had no sun to roast myself with. Thank goodness for Toffee, Zona's little cocker spaniel puppy.

This craving for the big blue will just have to be just about the sun and the sand though. I don't dare scuba dive with my vertigo coming on and off like that. I can't imagine what it'd be like having vertigo underwater where I'm already at a disadvantage. Compound that with a lung that can't breath underwater... So I guess I'll just have to contend with beaching out like a whale on the soft sandy beach.

Tom is organising a day trip to Pulau Sembilan and Jaymee and me have opted to go to Pangkor while the group dives. I'm definitely looking forward to spending time on the beach. All I need to do it to get through the next few days. It seems harder nowadays to make my day go by.

My precious is back!

I've found my pelican!!! I was so distressed that I tore the house inside out yesterday after work to look for my pelican. I had this feeling that it was around somewhere in the house as deep down I knew I was not that careless. Not when I have such a sentimental value towards my pelican. It took me less then 30 mins to find it - it was in the laundry basket! I must have accidentally dropped it in when I was changing saturday night.

The scene must have looked so funny to my sisters. When I found it, I gave a little squeal and was dancing around silently. I was thanking God for helping me find my pelican.

But still, it was a lesson well-learned. Never , ever get drunk when I'm using something precious like my pelican. *GRIN*

Also, I fell down the stairs. Or rather it was more like I fell down the last two steps and onto the landing. Which I can confess it was carelessness, but I cannot tell a lie. I felt dizzy all of a sudden, just foomph and I lost my balance. Luckily it was not that far down. Sheesh... Now I have this long scrape on the underside of my arm and it stings. I tried to wash it just down and it stings like mad. Oh stop being a baby sharon and get it done and over with. What an interesting day...

Lost and not yet found my precious Pelican

Omg... I lost my evita peroni pelican! I just realised this morning when I was looking to use it and it was nowhere to be found! I think I may have lost it in Zouk on Saturday night. I feel so depressed and angry at myself right now. That pelican is one of a kind and you can't get the same one anymore, plus I've had it since college and it has seen me through my tough hair days in Curtin and now it is gone! How will I cope? I don't like the new pelican as it is too curved and it hurts my head. -SIGH- Is this the price I have to pay for getting so drunk that I have no idea whose name card is it that I found in my back pocket? I seriously have no recollection of meeting this Jim person. Estella said I was chatting with him and I was drunk enough to be giggly. God I hate giggly girls and I was one that night. Blech. Thank god I didn't do anything stupid like make out with him. But then even if I did, I do not remember. Phew! I got confirmation from Estella that I didn't do anything untoward that night.

I called Zouk's lost and found and I've been waiting the whole day for their cleaners to get in so that I can ask them. But soooo longgg have to wait. -SIGH- Where are you, my precious??!

My pelican's gone and how I grieve over a wonderful piece of innovative hair accessory.

At the moment...

I've had the whole long weekend to think about myself, about what is it that I want out of life and whether life and my present situation can accomodate my wants and needs.

After much thought, I've just realised that it is very hard to think about just myself without external factors involved. How can I make a decision just for me when there are responsibilities to others involved? What I want and what I need are two separate things and at the moment I feel as though I have not the means to satisfy either one.

With my medical condition, it's very frustrating as I can't seem to even fulfil the simplest role in my life at the moment. It's very frustrating that I'm cooped up at home because of the posibility of something happening. I know I said I will not let this disease control my life, but it seems to be at the moment.

There are triggers for this disease for me - hunger, allergy, low sugar level, lack of sleep and stress. There might be another trigger though - depression. I have to stop lying to myself. I guess I am depressed. I try not to show it but I don't think I'm even suceeding in such a simple task as controlling my emotions. I feel like such a failure.

Do I quit my job and look for something less stressful because my job might be the one thing that is causing me so much stress at the moment. Or do I just continue and see where I can go and how much I can push my body before I snap? Or I could continue and try to overcome this condition? I very much want the third option but I don't know how.

Someone mentioned that maybe I need to change my lifestlyle to get well. Which brings me to the question What kind of lifestyle do I have? I see mine as pretty boring, blah and nothing motivating. I'll have to find something motivating again, I should start going back for aerokick sessions again, and also my Kendo curiousity that never got launched. I should start Kendo lessons. Maybe I can go for belly dancing lessons and salsa lessons too. There are so many things I want to do but WHY AM I NOT DOING THEM???

My long weekend was onedizzy spells after the other. But I was tired of feeling dizzy and cooped up all the time, so I made plans to go out with friends. It's a small step to not letting my disease control my life but it's still a step.

My mind is wondering is a thousand and one directions at the moment. It's testing all corners to see what else it's not covered, it's like a medusa's head in there -thoughts writing and snaking everywhere.

At the moment... I think I'm going crazy.

Frozen

I can't believe I'm actually at work today. I've just finished reeling from my latest vertigo spells and I'm here now. Sheesh, talk about becoming a workaholic. There are things to do I tell myself.

Wednesday
I went to work but I was barely clinging onto my sanity as I lightly spun from one spell to the next. But amazingly, I hung on till 7pm and went home. The spells weren't long, just sudden 15mins dizzy spells that left me in sporadic limbos.

Thursday
Woke up early to accompany mom and sis to go shopping for a few items before their flight to Turkey at 6pm. I lasted 2 hours before I told them I really had to stop and rest. I sat on the Jaya Jusco bench for an hour as they completed their shopping. The increased activity in the mall was driving me loony, there were just too many movement and noise. I really felt I was suffocating there. I was the one who insisted I was okay, when I knew I was not. But things had to get done, and dizzy spells or no, things had to be done.

After they left, the house seemed so empty. Mom and sis left for Turkey, another sister was in Paris, due back the next day and my housemate was in China for two weeks. I was home alone. I had another vertigo attack after an hour (4pm) after they left. One minute I was walking to the kitchen, the next I was on the floor, clutching to the overturned chair. I had no idea I had cut my hand too and on what I have no idea. That spell lasted quite long. I remember crawling to my sister's bed and twining my forearms into the spikes at the end of the bed and locking my frame against the wall in fear of tumbling into limbo again. I sat it out. I think it lasted only an hour. After that I slept like the dead.

I woke up sometime around 6pm and felt really dirty and sticky. I looked down and realised that I had thrown up on myself and had not even known it. - SIGH - Estella came over a few hours later and we ended up going to the Pasar Malam in SS2. I was tired of being cooped up at home so I said yes when she asked if I wanted to go. We were meeting Jayme there as well. Nothing major happened, except for a short dizzy spell.

Little did I know that the worst were yet to come. Last night, I for all of two hours towards the morning before I had to wake up at 8am. It was one dizzy spells after the other and I could not even rest or close my eyes as that would make the room spin faster. All in all I think I had three vertigo spells. The first one was shorter - half and hour, the second was the longest, about an hour plus and the last one was around an hour, I'm not sure as my mind was warp by then. I think the spells were worse as I was worried about my mom and sis. They had a stopover somewhere after 6 hours. And there were no word from them. no reply to my smses. Anyway, sis replied around 5.50am and that's when I finally was abe to just let go and sleep.

Strangely enough, I got up easily at 8am. My mind was already awake. Since the humming beneath my skin was at a minimum, I thought what the heck, might as well work when I can.

So here I am, at work. Feeling groggy and sick and just gross. -sigh- Sis and mom doesn't know. Don't want to get them worried. I'll tell them after they come back.

Adapting to my illness is not going to be easy but I'll be damn if I'm going to let it rule my life.

Losing my equilibrium and my sanity

My vertigo spells are back. After years of absentia, it's back with a vengence. I now live with the fear of spinning off into limbo at any moment and my inability to regain my equilibrium, and having a drop attack when I'm crossing the road of something. How can I live like this?

I'm been having tinnitus for the past one month plus now and it's killing me. It's like a offline TV station channel in there, and the ringing is 24/7. It's been there since I went swimming at Estella's and it's getting worst. My doctor finally came back to me with a referal letter to UH and I've made an appointment to go see the ENT specialist after Raya. My tinnitus got so bad that my vertigo spells returned yesterday. When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt off. But I thought maybe that it was just my stuffed nose making me feel sick. So I went to work. During lunch, I felt a light numbness start all over my body, I felt disconnected from my surroundings. I felt nothing - no happiness, no fear, no care, nothing. It was as though I was cut off from my own emotions and the only thing I felt was the humming beneath the surface, signalling a vertigo spell. I knew it was a time bomb waiting to go off and I hurried back. The moment I sat down at my desk, the humming beneath my skin increased and I sat perfectly still. Then, a colleague wanted to pass and I had to tip my chair to make way. With that thoughtless action, I spun into limbo. I could not make out where I was, what I was doing. I concentrated hard on the feeling on the soles of my feet and the feeling of the table beneath my palms. I knew I was sitting down, so I concentrated on bringing my spinning vision under control. It took me a long time to bring my world back into order and yet my vision was still constantly moving to the left. A colleague came to ask me for something. I groped into my drawer and handed her whatever she wanted without taking my focus off a word on a document stucked to my cubicle wall. I read that that was the only way to combat vertigo - to find a focus point and just concentrate, and not to close my eyes. I wanted so bad to close my eyes as I was getting very tired, and I was nauseous. I wanted to heave my lunch and it took every ounce of my will not to give in. Every muscle in my body was clenched and I was fast running out of energy. I felt lost. I felt out of control, and I felt like dying.

After an hour plus I think, (the clock was 3.30pm), I got my vertigo under control and it slowly began to fade and retreat beneath the surface - it was still humming. I knew it was just the begining.I felt extremey tired, I wanted to just drop down and sleep for an eternity. I called my sister straight away and I told my superior that I was not feeling well. She asked. I had to tell her what's wrong.

The best thing was that no one noticed. No one noticed that I was sitting as straight as a board and that I was staring only at the wall of my cubicle and not doing work for so long. Is that how my office is? People who doesn't care enough to notice others in distress? I'm glad that no one noticed my weakness but really, for an hour plus?

My night was one episode after another but I finally went to sleep, wrung out. When I woke up again today, I thought that it was over or that I could last the day. I was wrong. By late morning, I was swinging and the humming started again. I called my superior and smsed my Head. Sister came and brought me to see the doctor. I brought along my referal letter and the doctor gave me two days off right away after looking at me.

I'm beginning to believe that I might have Meniere's Disease after all. The symptoms seems to be pointing to it. But I'll have to wait until the specialist confirms it.

But then, I'm still going back to work tomorrow, there's just too many things that needs to be done. If I can't last the day again, I'll just come home. After all I have a MC for two days.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Wow, it has been one busy and fun weekend for me. *grin* TJJ had a Halloween party on the 30th night and I'm one of the organizers. We had it at Estella's apartment. The fun part about the whole thing was not the party itself, but doing the decorations. I met Estella and Jayme after work on Friday and we went grocery and materials shopping for the party. After that, Estella and I went back to her place to get the decorations and cleaning done. We did our own decorations - we drew and cut out silhouettes of bats, witches, mummies, cockroaches, ghouls and pumpkins. We even made spiders to hang from the beams, with cotton silk coming out of it's behind. I called them the constipated spiders. Hee hee... we hung the bats from the beams as well, and stuck the witches, mummies and ghouls on the walls. We stuck the pumpkins at the bottom of the walls and the cockroaches at discreet corners. When we switched off the lights and lit the room with tealights, the effects were delightfully ghoulish! I also dressed up the mop with my last year's dragon costume with my butterfly mask - I stuff neswpapers into a sarong and fashioned a body for my dragon lady and propped her close to the entrance to greet the guests. Muahaha... We finally finished the decorations around 5am and we slept for a few hours before Estella sent me back. Later I woke up and went to her place to finish the rest of the stuff. There were just the two of us, and Ming Ming came to help with the fruits and stuff but she had to leave soon to fetch Roy. Estella and I had to rushed through everything before the first guests arrived. There were just so many things to do, so many dishes to prepare. I made my mash potatoes and it tasted good if I must say so myself. *grin* The invitation was for 7pm and people only started arriving close to 8pm. How could I forget - Malayasian time.

The most dissapointing part of the whole thing was that NONE of our guests dressed up for Halloween as asked in the TJJ postings. - sigh - Only Estella, Jayme and I dressed up. Estella was Jane of the Jungle, Jayme was a Killer Doll, and I was a Samurai Warrior.

I made the alcoholic punch, simple but delicious (Ice 7-Up, Zapple and balls of watermelon) and it was goooood. Hee hee... coz the balls of melon was soaked with vodka and one would have to suck the vodka out together with the drink. =P Yummy...

It was a fun night. We ate, drank, talked, laughed and played games. Even though non of them dressed up, Roy came with a huge bag of goodies! It was like a bottomless bag, when he started pulling out an assortment of Halloween masks! And he shared it with everyone. *Awwww.... * After that it was photo op time! It was so funny, especially when Salina put on the Scary Movie mask with skeletal gloves and began posing. The rest of us roared with laughter. We made Jeffrey put on my Dragon costume and he got cought trying to climb the walls. We then put Kit Chong in a sarong with the butterfly mask and put him astride the mop with Roy! The next victim was Wai Kong, whom we forced into my Kimono, sash and all, AND a beaver hat! He looked so ridiculously funny. The last guy victim was Francis, whom we encouraged to wear Estella's Jane of the JUngle outfit! He obliged and Salina hung bananas around his neck and he actually started acting like a monkey! That was hilarious.

Being the hostess is no easy thing. It was most tiring. By the time the party came to a close at 1.30am, both Estella and I were bushed. After that, we cleaned up and it took up a couple of hours to do that. Thank god Jayme stayed back to helped us. I can't imagine what it'd be like just for the two of us.

So to all of you who came(Estella, Jayme, Wai Kong, Ee Ling, Kit Chong, Roy, Jeffrey, Salina, Joanne, Cherae, Nancy, Mavis, Kayin, & Francis, thank you for a fun Halloween night, at the 2004 TJJ Halloween Party! Too bad the rest of TJJians could not make it. Anyhow, Happy Halloween to all!

Bad start to my weekend

An email to a friend about my day...

"It is sooo frustrating. Plus I have a bloody headache now after my meeting. Presented my proposal, they say too small and directionless as the MM time belt doesn't have a brand yet. Is that not a Marketing Plan instead of a PR plan???! What the hell? Is that not their job? I'm just so frustrated right now. Argh! Yesterday I had a minor asthma attack brought on by stress and my contract review. This bloody job is soo frustrating. Today, then my stooopid ear is acting up with tinnitus. It's louder than ever and it's hard to concentrate on what others are saying coz I can't hear them. My life is soo fucked up! Fucking imbeciles! They want me to do things but they do not give me the power to implement it. Instead I have to come up with everything while they get to sit there and decide. I'm just sooo stressed out right now. "

I want to go diving. What do you do when even your body fails you? -sigh-

The Suicide's Argument

Ere the birth of my life, if I wished it or no
No question was asked me--it could not be so !
If the life was the question, a thing sent to try
And to live on be YES; what can NO be ? to die.

NATURE'S ANSWER

Is't returned, as 'twas sent ? Is't no worse for the wear ?
Think first, what you ARE ! Call to mind what you WERE !
I gave you innocence, I gave you hope,
Gave health, and genius, and an ample scope,
Return you me guilt, lethargy, despair ?
Make out the invent'ry ; inspect, compare !
Then die--if die you dare !

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1811 ~

Back into fluidic space

God, I hurt. My whole back and arms hurt like the dickens. I went swimming yesterday night at Estella's pool and I overdid it. 27+ laps after almost how many donkey years of abstinence(I lost count). The last time I swam seriously was like 7 years ago. Should have known better and taken it easier. But no... sharon had to show off that she could still do it. And look what it got her... *sigh* My back muscled are as tight as a catapult and getting up from a reclining position is positively quivery. Serves me right.

Weird thing was that I was enjoying my swim so much that I didn't feel the strain. I only got out of the pool when it got late and my skin was an prune-like as it could be.

Ow, ow, ow.

Sisters were laughing at me the whole day today. Every time I winced, they snicker. Geeze... -sigh- Whatmore, they reminded me that I didn't warm up, that I went straight into freestyle instead of the breaststroke first.

Oh well, I hope the tightness will ease soon. I should start swimming properly again. Estella has so generously offered me an open invitation to her condo's pool. But nah, I'll wait till she's in to go. Feels kinda wrong to just get into the pool when she's not around. As I should.

Triggered

God, what a start to my day. Here I am trying to type whilst my frame is still slightly shaky from the incident/accident. I came in later than usual today coz I just couldn't wake up (I was dreaming but I don't remember the dream now) so I was late today. Fine. Then, I came in to work, dumped my stuff on the table, switched on my computer and then realised that no one had bothered to switched on the aircon in the room, as usual. I knew that the remote control that is supposed to be on my desk was locked in somebody's office, so I had to switched it on manually - need long small tip to push the on/off switch under the cover. I learned this manual switching on thing from Leonard, who has been doing it the past one week already. Lord, the moment I stepped put down the cover, the wires connecting to the aircon fizzled with a lot of loud sparks and bursted into flames! Phoomph! Just like that! I think screamed but I don't remember doing so, and I know I said "SHIT" very loudly when I saw the flames. I remember ducking down when I saw the sparks coming at me and quickly scrambled down from the chair. Straightaway the electricity tripped and we were engulfed in darkness with the wires still flaming but it fizzled out after 5 seconds. There were some acrid smelling smoke and I started shivering when what happened sunk in. Bloody freakin' hell. Of course everybody came to see what happened and I had to explain what happened. God, I feel so embarassed. I triggered the darn accident. They asked me if I had used the remote control or switched it on manually and they actually made an issue out of it! As if it would be any different! The wires bursted into flames, not the air-conditoner! Lord, when I think about how close my head was to the flame, I shudder. If that burst of flame was any bigger, I would have been burned, singed the least. Shit. That was close.

The fire bell didn't even ring. The trigger was only two feet away, and the bell was next to the aircon's flaming wire.

The fire bell didn't ring.

All that makes NZ amazing and gorgeous *wink*

Hunky Maori men at fake work... *grin* But they are still gorgeous.

This tree is at least 6 stories high. Just love the whole picture composition.

This is where they keep their food. It is painted bright red so that they can advertise that they are a strong tribe with a lot of food - a way to mock and warn their enemies.

Below are my New Zealand holiday pictures

Sisters under a huge tree at the Auckland Museum.

The bridge is smoking hot!

This is what the Maori people used to live in. There's actually some space to stand up in there.

Me playing giant chess at the Heritage, Auckland.

The Devil's Cauldron. A vent/pit of boilng mud...

That's a geyser behind me, the most active in Rotorua. I forget, what's its name?

Love this litter warning at Hell's Gate: Persons who throw litter or stones into the thermal pools may be asked to retrieve them. *GRIN*

This little scenic stop on the way to Hamilton is simply gorgeous. Wish I had a panoramic camera then.

Testing out Hello so that I can post pictures on my blog

That's just me in Perth, 2001.

Foofaraw

I wonder why I blog about the events in my life... Why make a big fuss over something insignificant. It's not like my weekend was a milestone or something. So I went our with Estella and Jaymee and we painted the clubbing scene even redder. (Lydia was supposed to join us but she couldn't make it the last minute.) We drank and danced with strangers and we went home, still sober. As we were walking to the car passed The Beach Club, I was approached by a aged gwailo with an obscene proposition. I told him to "drop dead" and went on my sober way. I was not even affected by it.

Then on saturday night, I got roped in to join my sister and her friend at the new salsa bar in Federal Hotel. It was kinda cool watching all those good dancers doing latin dances as though they were born Cuban. Apparently it is not cheap to take latin dance lessons, but those people could obviously afford it, with their table right up front, littered with glasses, tumblers and wine glasses and equally with extremely expensive bottles of alcohol. They are regular salsa patrons. So were my sister's friend. He may be big but he was sure light on his feet. He was in great demand too - the moment he walked in, there were hellos from all directions. He tried to teach me to salsa but I was bobbing too much - I'm supposed to move my feet and body without moving my head - it was hard but I improved a little as the night moved on. Later, we went to QBar for another round of dancing and drinks. We were already quite woozy by then, had three bottles of red at the previous place between he four of us, but we still went. There we got drunker. Sis bought a bottle of Wild Turkey - 8 years and we finished it. By the time we left, we couldn't walk straight. I was so drunk that I puked out of the window of the car. Her friend was so drunk that he was a dead weight. She was so drunk that she slept on the kitchen floor for a few hours. I was not even concerned that I was that drunk. I've not been so drunk in years, not since Perth Anzac Day 2001 with Estella. I even gave my number to a perfect stranger and he called the next day. I looked at the number and switched my phone off. So regardless to say that weekend was another bout of drinking debauchery. So that's my life the past few weeks - one debauchery after another.

So why is my life so boring? Why do I suddenly feel anesthetised to the world? I don't seem to care much about anything these days. I see devastation on TV and my mind is blank, I don't even bother thinking about it. I even welcomed the feeling of my sister digging her nails into my flesh, it made me feel pain.

Where am I? What am I becoming? Maybe I should change jobs and surround myself with new people. Better people.

*mirthless laugh*

I don't really care.

Life

What is our life? A play of passion,
Our mirth the music of division,
Our mother's wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.
Our graves that hide us from the setting sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.

~ Sir Walter Raleigh ~

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

~ William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) ~

Time to get my own wheels

Lord, I just got in to work! And it's late! I'm just sooo annoyed right now at the taxi companies that I've decided that I've had it! I'm going to get my own car and I won't have to rely on unreliable taxi services in the future. I was ready since 8am and none came. What the heck is wrong with the traffic these last few days?! I called and called and called and in the end I demanded to know why there any a single iota of taxi passing my way and they told me that my distance was too short compared to other customers! This from the company I use everyday to go to work and sometimes I still have to walk out to the main road coz they "say" that there aren't any! ARGHHHHHH! Taxis and taxi companies have been spoilt for too long that they are allowed to choose customers. This is STILL what's wrong with Malaysia! Corruption down to the grimy wheels of overused cabs! In Australia, there is no such thing as choosing whether you want to go or not. There, everything is controlled by one department and if they dispatch someone to go and fetch an old lady from her house to her neighbour's, they go, no question asked! It's public service to them. Here, it's business, and that's what's wrong with this system! And I've not come across one taxi in Perth who asked for a higher fee. Here *snort* there are PLENTY of that kind of bad dealings around. Well, I don't want to play anymore. We should all car pool and let the taxi services ROT IN HELL!

Now what car should I get? My budget is low since I'm still earning peanuts. But I'm not too keen on a secondhand car though as you don't know where it's been. I still need to do a lot of research. What's the current interest rate I wonder? I think I shall go to a showroom this weekend.

Happy 26th Birthday Estella

It's Estella's birthday today and I'm trying to get her to go out tonight for a birthday dinner. The darn woman is so busy that she can't even pick up my call or reply my sms. Think I might have to go camp out at her office! Haha. Later people. I'll blog about it later after something happens. *grin*

Test drive

I'm taking my baby for a test drive today at Starbucks Amcorp Mall now and he's divine and doing fine. Gorgeous piece of hot laptop power here. This is the virgin test of my air port card and he's purrrrringgggg. Everything is so fast I'mjust getting giddy looking at the status of my downloads. Whoooweeee... he's hot!

*GRIN* I'm so infatuated right now. I've never had the chance to use my air port extreme until now. Serious. I didn't have time. But when I woke up this morning, I was like "Darnit Sharon, when are you gonna use your baby properly. Take him out for a test drive TODAY!" So I did and here I am. Okay, okay, so I was a WIFI virgin. My old sweetie didn't have the ability to connect wirelessly, and then he fell sick, and I put him out to pasture a few months ago. Not that I don't miss the old sweetie, but this new baby... oolala! Running several applications in the background, with multiple windows open and loading, my iTunes blasting out fantastic music, and I'm also chatting at the same time... I do delcare, Mr iBook. You are simply divine!

Excuse me while I attend to my hottie. He needs a few updates. Need to restart now.

I know I'm acting like a nut but I can't help it. *rueful grin*

She's out of the woods

The doctor said that my sister can be discharged from the hospital today. But he will need take another blood test to see if her platelets count is up sufficiently. We normally have 270 - 280 but her's dropped to 70 a few days ago. But she's out of the woods now. She looked so much better last night when I went to see her and she's off the drips. She didn't need help taking a shower last night too. She's almost back to her old self now. Not so blotchy, red, tired-looking and weak. But she says that her skin still feel like it's sunburned under the skin. Any scrapping on her skin is excruciating. I can't imagine how that feels like. To feel like that all over your body and there is nothing the doctors can give you to take the pain away. Of course unless you numb the entire stretch of the skin, then maybe. Ouch.

So it's good news for us. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers. *HUG*

The old woman next to her, poor thing. She's in there for a nearly collapsed spine. They put her on 24/7 morphine but she still moans in pain from time to time. It's heart-breaking to hear her. She has her maid and her daughter with her, thank goodness. I hope that never happens to me or anyone I know. Being in constant pain, being helpless as a child who needs help to eat, sit up, lift her head... down to relieving herself in the bed pan and soiling herself in her adults pampers.

Then next door was a woman who had a skin disease and we could smell her from our side. I say was as she was moved to the ICU two days ago. She too was incapacitated.

The hospital is such a depressing place. You see all these poor and unlucky people and the fact slams into you that you might be one of them someday every time.

I don't ever want to be like that. I would rather go like that *snap* than having to suffer all kinds of sickness and diseases. I watched my father suffer and die of cancer and it is not a pretty sight. It's not just the pain, but the mental pain that one goes through knowing there is no hope left. There is never enough morphine to dull the pain as it eats away at your flesh and bones one inch at a time. At first the cancer appeared in his sinuses, he did chemotherapy and it was gone. Six months later it came back, in his brain and when they did chemotherapy on that part, they had to go zapped the infected part, making him do crazy things like wanting to jump out of the window to fly, things that nearly killed him earlier. After that, he was okay. Then it came back again but this time it was infecting his liver. You can't do chemotherapy on your liver. His last few weeks was a blur of pain, medication and prayers. He turned yellow. He drastically lost more weight. He lost his will to eat as he was always in pain. When he died, I remember hearing gurgling sounds coming from his chest as though he was drowning. Then when we tried to revive him, black stuff starting oozing from his mouth and nose. It was the dead cancer infected cells. It continued oozing even when we closed his coffin.

Being in the hospital brought those 3 years of suffering back. Even though I was just 11 when he died, I remember. All my 5 senses remember what it was like to be surrounded by sickness and see death.

The only good thing I can think of that came out of his suffering was that he was drawn closer to God through it all. It made him want to be a better servant, and he was.

Baking lessons

I confess I'm not exactly a very faithful servant to Him and I do not always read forwarded emails on religion and faith. But this timely email sent by a friend, stood out among numerous despite it's title. I've been having a very bad week and after I read this email, it gave me a little more hope that the world is not such a bad place after all and it made me remember that God has much grander plans for all of us than we can ever imagine or predict.


--- start of email ---

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God
have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's
failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is
moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she
would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your
cake."

"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers. "Yuck" says her
daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?"

"Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"

Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by
themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make
a wonderfully delicious cake!

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go
through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts
these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have
to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

--- end of email ---

Congratulations Lydia & Yazid!

Lydia and Yazid has just won Best Doco at this year's MVA last weekend! Congratulations to both of you!

Their doco was about sex education in Malaysia... hee hee very provocative. Plus there's even a demonstration on how to put on a condom and all. Of course the condom-wearer wasn't a real-life, er guy, but rather a banana! It's a good doco, entertaining and provocative to a certain extent.

Yes, they should definitely make more films! Go here to congratulate them.

Congrats! *grin*

Bad case of spots

I've been as sick as a sick dog for the past one week, so I took the chance to rest last weekend. Saturday was good as I got to sleep the entire day. I felt so much better after that. Thank goodness I rested on Saturday and what happened on Sunday took nearly all my rested self to go through.

Sunday was an emergency day. Lee Hoon got a call from Lee Ling flying in from London that she was sick, very sick, that she couldn't stand and she had pain in her left side. The moment she landed in the Penang International Airport, they paxed her back to KL on the next available flight. We were there to greet her and took her straight to Pantai Medical Center. My god, she looked horrible when we rushed to greet her at the gate. She looked like she was going to collapse at any moment and her eyes were bloodshot and she was so hot to the touch. She was leaning on her cart like her legs were rubbery and the cart was not going in a straight line. We took her the emergency room and the moment the doctor saw her, they put her on drip. Took two bags before the doctor was satisfied. Later the blood test came back and the doctor suspect that it might be dengue. The pain in her left side could be an inflamed ovary but they will only do the test today. Lord, talk about sui (unlucky). After some more injection for the pain and nausea, she was better. We were at the hospital until 10pm last night. By the time we got home, we were bushed. I went to bed straight after my bath.

I'll be going to the hospital later right after work to help her bathe and eat. Poor girl. Really very unlucky, and for it to happened while she was a few thousand feet in the air and working... tsk. Geeze...

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today's my sister's birthday. Wish I can do something for her but then, I'm as sick as a sick dog so I can't do much. Maybe I should take half day off and go home to sleep. I've been sick for a couple of days now and I only got 1 day MC for yesterday. So I'm back to work today. *sigh* Anyway, Happy Birthday Sis! Lova ya lots! *virtual hug*

Bumped out of the lane!

I agree that we have some of the most HELLISH drivers in Malaysia. Not only did my sister encounter one, we encountered one driving a cement truck. The whole of Saturday was kinda nice, and sister decided to drive me to KL and drop me off for Lydia's film screening at the MVA at the National Art Gallery in KL. Anyway, we were already running late and we weren't too sure how to get there either. The only way she know was the Lebuh Ampang way. So fine.

Anyway, we got stuck in that traffic snarl for half and hour and after that we had to follow a not too informative map by my housemate. Long story short - we got lost, hopelessly lost. Then when we finally see the NAG, it was on the other side of the road AND we missed the turning to the Pahang Roundabout. THAT was a big mistake.

We were suppose to go down to the Fed Highway but the road was closed! Roadwork. All cars were diverted to this one lane flanked by those neon plastic water dividers. Anyway, all the cars were converging into one lane, when a huge cement truck started squeezing in beside us. Short of reversing a little distance, we couldn't do anything. The passenger of the truck was leaning out of his window when the bloody darn stupidly stupid and terribly horrible f***ing IDIOT decided to barrel in regardless of the fact there wasn't any space! The bloody darn stupidly stupid and terribly horrible f***ing IDIOT driving his cement truck then squeezed his fat assed truck into the space and by doing so, he uncaringly shove our car out of the way with his fat assed truck. I should have given the passenger the finger but we were too shocked. I tried to get the licensed number but it was covered in mud! We should sue the bloody company for its reckless drivers. The guy looked foreign too! Go back to your own country you stooopid mother f**kers!

After that, we got down to assessed the damaged - the side mirror was broken, and the side of my sister's car was slightly dented and scratched. The damage was minor but it's the whole thing that got to us. Of course, my sister was mad and she took it out on me. I had to bit my tongue and not remind her that she wanted to drive me there anyway! I was all ready to call it a night as she was driving recklessly and unthinkingly by then. She was mulishly adamant that she will send me there else it would be a waste that her car got into a scrape for nothing! By the time I got there I was 2 hours late and I was a mess mentally. My night was shot to from then on. I couldn't concentrate and I couldn't stop running the entire thing in my mind. Zona had already left by the time I got there too. *sigh* What a crappy start to my night.

But later, we went out for drinks to celebrate Lydia's success. At first it was hard to enjoy it all, my mind was a mess as I had a fight with sister knowing she was blaming me for the whole thing, but the alcohol helped heaps. It ended up a pretty fun night.

Flew into a haze

I'm back in Malaysia. Whoopeedidooo. Sigh. I miss the clean and fresh air of New Zealand. I can't believe how hazy it is in KL. What the heck happened? Did the cloud of dust and dirt and heaven knows what else just suddenly decided to become a permamnet fixture over the Klang Valley skyline? Sheesh.

Anyway, I'm at work still. I'm supposed to be on leave today as my flight got in late and I knew there were things to do before we could all sleep the jetlag away. I couldn't sleep. I was worried about work, so I came in today. There's a hip-high pile of newspapers that I have to go through, heck a lot emails that I have to attend to, calls I have to return and then there's website. *sigh*

So yeah, I've been pretty busy the past 10 hours. I think I should go home now and sleep. Am so tired. I'll look into posting pictures on my blog soon, I promise.

I've been doing the papers since morning and I'm down to half the pile. Seriously, I think my eyes are crossed from too much speed-reading and scanning...

Blogging in New Zealand

makes all the difference in the world. How? Coz it's recorded as such. Nah, I'm just a blog addict according to someone. Hmm... so far my holiday here is okay. I wish I had a computer everyday that I am here so that I can blog it all down day by day so that it would be more detailed. Now, I'm just too lazy to be detailed. Oh give me a break, I've been traversing up and down Auckland City for the past 8 hours. Plus later on, I'll probably forget about it when I get back onto the guinea pig's 'wheel'.

Day 1
Arrived in Auckland. Took Super Shuttle to Aspen House where we stayed the night. It's a boutique budget hotel. Yeap, you read it right, go figure... But to me, I don't think you can call it budget with the price we paid - NZ$120 for a triple room.

Day 2
We went to pick up our Toyota Corolla with CD player *grin* from Avis on Nelson Street. We went up, we went down and then we went across and across and across again and found it. It was a relief when I finally sat my butt down in the comfort of a toyota cushioned seat. =P From there, we swung back to Aspen House to pick up our luggage and drove down to Hamilton. We reached Hamilton around 4pm. Drove around, saw the town a bit, and went to look for a motel. Went into a few and inspected them. We finally settled on a motel called Camelot. *grin* We couldn't resist and the owner Warren was very nice and amiable. After getting out keys and dumping our stuff, we went to the local; Pak & Save to get food for dinner. I cooked lamb steaks what else.

Day 3
Left Hamilton early and stopped by Matamata for Hobbiton. I know, I know. I didn't want to go bu my sisters were adamant. So we went and then we found out they were charging $50 per head just to see some torn down and bare structure. Too bad. But we snapped a couple of pictures of the Hobbiton signboard. Suppose to leave for Rotorua. Sister and me got into a colossal fight in the car, in public. (Window was down) Fight and argument lasted for THREE HOURS PLUS in the car. Lots of tears and accusation. Note to self: Never, ever travel with eldest sister ever again. She agrees too - said our characters clashes too much. I agree. Mutually agreed to shelve the issue for now until we can get her back safely to Malaysia, else she goes nuts on us again.

We then made our way to Rotorua and got to the Visitors' Centre just before they closed. We managed to booked ourselves onto the Tamaki Brother's Tour of it's Moari Village, as well as a place for the night - Capri Court.

We rushed to the motel and changed just before the bus came to pick us up for the tour and dinner. The bus driver, I forgot his name - really long, is very good. He said Kia Ora (hello) in 48 languages, Malaysian included, with it's proper accent and all. He then took up step by step through the maori culture and customs.

It was a good night. We saw the haka, the dances, the weapons and all. The song and dance was the best of all - the cadence is strangely soothing yet provoking at the same time. Later at dinner, we had hangi - food cooked the tradisional Maori way - in the ground. And it was COLD. It's amazing how strong these dancers are - they aren't wearing much whereas we tourists were all bundled up nice and warm. Very robust people.

Day 4
We decided to stay another night, but this time at a motel of my choice - I chose Cedar House Lodge and boy was it a very nice place. For a lesser price , we got a lodge all to ourselves. Later we went to Hell's Gate, a place of thermal activities. It was amazing to see all those thermal activity going on - the hot bubbling pools, the sulfuric pool, the Devil's Bath, the mud pools, etc. We spent almost 2 hours walking around the entire park. Later, we stank of sulfur from head to toe. But after a while, I think I got used to the smell that I didn't give it much thought until I got back into town and a saleswoman asked if we were just up at Hell's Gate. *grin* They must see it sooooo often.

Day 5
Drove to Coromandel, and ohmeegawds, why didn't anyone tell me how very dangerous and tedious the drive is??? Coramandel town is just 54km from Thames and it took us 2 hours to get there on account of the very windy and wet roads in darkness and on the edge of the sea and some parts mountains! By the time, we pulled into town, we were cold with sweat. Thank god it was Lee Na driving and not Lee Hoon. Anyway, we checked ourselves into the Central Motel in town - the least dodgiest looking motel we could find at 9pm at night. Small town. We didn't even bother with dinner, we just grabbed bread and butter and fell into bed and slept until dawn.

Day 6
Walked around Coramandel. Lots of quaint shops and nice people. But we decided we had to head back to town as the roads weren't as easy as we thought. We headed up to Auckland at 12pm and we reached Auckland around 3pm and we wentr straight to Onehunga to shop! Yeah, shopping is one of the other reason we are in a foreign country. Dress Smart is one of the best shopping I've ever done. Imagine, I got 2 pairs of Jeans West Jeans for $40! *grin* Am very please. I got a few more stuff but whose counting? Hee hee...

Later, we went to CityLife Hotel. I thought I had a resevation there but they couldn't find my name in the system. So we had to shift to The Heritage while I sort out my reservations problem. That's why I had to go online the other night and pay through my nose for the Internet fee. So we are staying at The Heritage now and it's not so bad.


Day 7
We did nothing but shop today. Bought a few stuff.

Day 8
Took a taxi to Kelly Tarlton's - expensive 5 minute taxi ride. But the aquariums there were good, though not as good as Perth's AQUA. But nonetheless, I still enjoyed myself. There were King and Gentoo penguins, lots of fishes, stingrays, turtles and sharks. And the lobsters were HUGE!!! I've never seen such large living specimens. Seriously. All this just makes me miss diving... sigh...

Tomorrow, I think we should either got to Auckland Museum or the Zoo. Haven't decided yet. I'll be back in Malaysia by Monday night.

...continue...

Day 9
We finally decided to go the Auckland Musuem. At first Lee Na didn't want to go - she wanted to go to Victoria Market and see more local scenery and all. She suggested we split up. I said okay. But then later, she was all undeciding and all and making a fuss and questioning my decision to go to the Musuem. In the end hey decided to follow me. *roll eyes*

The Auckland Museum is situated on top of a hill that overlooks the entire city and the view is fantastic. Plus, the park there was... wow. Very scenic walk up to the museum from Ayr Street in Parnell. And the Parnell district is really pretty and quaint. Did some shopping after the museum thing - we wanted to go to Onehunga but Lee Na took so long to wonder around the exhibitions that we lost her and had to wait for her until she came out too late to catch the next bus to Dress Smart - walked all the way from the musuem and almost back into the city. My feet was hurting so we decided to take the bus the rest of the way back, and it was just a short distanct to Britomart from where we were! Sheesh.

Day 10
Hired the Super Shuttle to ferry us to the airport. Got on plane and now I'm home. *bah*

RM25.67 per half hour for Internet usage!!!

This is by far the most expensive internet fee I've ever paid! I'm in The Heritage Auckladn and I had to get on the net to check our hotel reservations and I had to pay this much as the nearest Internet Cafe is a few blocks down and it was dodgy! The I checked my email for the apartment reservations only to see:"Sorry, the owner opted for the other longer stay period." ARRRGGGHHHH! She only emailed me after I left for Auckland. But then it was my own fault not to have a backup. Bah. So now we are stuck here with no where else to stay. This hotel is NOT CHEAP... I'll have to find another place and I have 20 mins left on my $10 per 30 mins password.

Aotearoa, Land Under The Clouds

Or rather I'm flying off to KiwiLand, like the kids like to say. Sorta like KangarooLand. *grin* They are sooooo adorable.

Yesterday was a hectic day as I was rushing to get everything done and sorted so that I can go on my holiday without worries. From 8.15am in the morning until 7.45pm, I was perpetually in motion, from one point to the next and all. Good lord, but when I finally left the office, I didn't feel satisfied. I felt like I still had to go back to the office the next day to have some sort of closure, like cleaning my desk and wiping down my computers and arrange all my papers alphabetically or something.

But I didn't go back to work today - I woke up at 10am after packing until 5.20am last night. Went for dinner with my mom last night and got home around midnight then I started packing straight away. Brought down the luggages and dusted them off, opened up my vacuum bags to get to my winter clothes and just started fitting all of our stuff into one luggage. We are only bringing 1 medium size Delsey hard case for all three of us and two overnighters. So not that many things we can bring. In the end, they left it up to me to pack, again. Every year it is the same. *blech*

I just got back to Amcorp. Had some more chores to complete before I can go and plus we had to exchange some more NZ notes for my sister! We asked her the last time and she said she'll do it herself. Sheesh. And camera battery! I just discovered that the old one could barely let out a decent flash! =P

Anyway, I'm almost done packing, just need to throw in a few more stuff and we are set!

KiwiLand, here I come! =)

Cutting it close... very close.

I have JUST only booked my accommodation in Auckland! Finally! Yeah, talk about cutting it close - my flight's on the 27th evening - this coming Friday! =P And then the car rental issue is still not settled. This car or that car, how many days, where are we gonna go... blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH! Sigh. I left it up to my sister to handle that after our argument last night at 2am in the morning! At that moment, I didn't care if we get a car or not get one as I was liable to just go and then try to get one in the city. Nothing is undoable. I know, I know. It's better to book ahead. *roll eyes*

Despite some hurdles thrown in my path, I'm finally going to NZ! I've settled most of my things and briefed my superior on some stuff and I'm all set to go! Yay!

Well, not quite. You see... I've not packed yet. I've not decided what to bring, what not to bring and what I should really bring. But then, I'm not too worried. Packing only takes me a few hours, since I've already drawn up a list of essentials and all that. I'll just go home and dust off my luggage and just start throwing things into it. Also, all three of us are sharing the hard-shell Delsey case, as to bring two of the same hard-shell case would ensure that our trunk won't be able to close. So I would still have to crack my head come Friday when all of our stuff is together and I have to figure out a way to make everything fit. Of course we will be carrying smaller individual bags with rollers. But then no one needs to know that.

I'm soooo excited. Am looking forward to this trip. Can't wait to see the valley and mountains, and extinct volcanos - just wonderful wide expanse of natural beauty. *sigh*

So many things to do, so little time! Now where have I heard that before? ^_^

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

We still haven't made up our mind as to where we are goin gto stay. I've been looking through my accommodation list over and over again until I'm just fed up! Argh! I don't care, I'm just gonna swing a crystal over the sheets and see which one it is "attracted" to. Blech.

Actually, I'm keeping the trip to around the Auckland region. It's only going to be 10 days so we can't afford to drive all the way down to the end of the North Island either - not enough time. So this time, I think we should just explore the north of north island.

Strangely enough, I'm very attracted to Coromandel Region. Am trying to plan the days there and back and still have enough days to shop in Aucklnad city and still stay a week in one place - A Woodsy Cottage, I like.

Where, where, where to stay?

Cross-eyed

I've been surfing for NZ accommodations the entire day that my eyes are crossed and swirling. I've send countless inquiries and so far I've only gotten a handful of replies back. Not bad for a days work. =p

That site (www.holidayhouses.co.nz) that TNO suggested is very effectlive and helpful compared to those government runned sites that should fire their errant webmasters. But most of the acceptable ones are around NZ$700 - NZ$800 for a self-contained cottage. We don't want motels or inns. Even for ones on the fringes, they cost a bomb.

So yeah, we are going to Auckland this year. Am thinking I want to stay in Coromandel. What do you guys think? Have any of you been there? How about Hamilton? What's in Hamilton by the way? I don't want to drive too far away. I'm thinking nice cottage, cold weather, fireplace, a few good books, scrabble set, and of course wineries. Just the thought of mountains and valleys and wide open spaces... My imagination has taken flight.

-sigh-

The Reason

I was listening to this song last night over and over again as we were cruising the empty streets of KL - it had a profound effect on me. I've never even heard of the Hoobastank until someone at work pointed them out to me. Now, I'm listening to the lyrics and it's most moving. It got me thinking that this song is apt for my faith in Him, or rather my path back to His side. Usually I don't get all emotional over songs lyrics, but this song hit a cord within me. I guess you can't really get the effect until you hear it when you're in a certain mood, and I was melancholy last night. To each to his own (interpretation).


The Reason - Hoobastank

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to You
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want You to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is You

I'm sorry that I hurt You
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put You through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all Your tears
Thats why I need You to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is You [x4]

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to You
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want You to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me You didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is You

Down the badger's hole

Today, I brushed my hands off with satisfaction when the UPS guy came to pick up the parcels. Now I have to go about asking ATA for a refund for the 3 that we didn't enter.

----------------------

Super Baboon takes to task
KUALA LUMPUR, Thurs. - The bustling city was shocked to a standstill when an unidentified woman dressed in a baboon costume and a red cape threatened to suffocate a bank officer with her fake buttocks at a local bank here today.

Patrons of the bank were shocked when a woman in her late 20s started shouting at a bank officer when he refused to cancel a transaction that was completed a few days ago. The woman reportedly storm off out of the bank and into a fast food chain next to the bank. She later returned to the bank dressed in a hairy baboon costume, with fake pink shiny buttocks attached. It is believe the costume resembles a character in the "Cow and Chicken" cartoon.

Guards stationed at the entrance tried to stop her, but she reportedly threw them off her and stalked to the same bank officer who served her before and threaten to suffocate him if he didn't do as she wished.

The bank officer refused as there was nothing he can do about a completed transaction. The baboon-dressed woman then held the bank officer down with inhuman strength, ripped off her fake buttocks and proceeded to smother the bank officer with it.

By which time, the guards tried to intervene but they were no match for her. Apparently, this angered the woman as she then shouted for everyone to leave the bank or else she will smother the guard to death.

At press time, the situation is still dire and the police has been called to help. No one knows what it going on now.

-------------------------


The above story is FAKE. Please do not think it is real. This is just me writing to let off some steam. Plus writing press releases everyday is BORING. I need to let my creative side wonder a bit, what.

*grin* Anyway, just came back from NST. Was there to oversee an interview arranged for the Marvellous Monday cast. Later. I need to eat something now.

Bloody phew

Okay it's like this, GM alerts me that the ATA is happening. Ask me to ask Head of Group Marketing Head if we want to submit. So I asked. Permission given to submit our works. Time sees Sharon running ahead of it, like a crazy baboon trying to get information from all sides so that she can complete her forms. She calls everyone and chases them on this and that - everybody was busy but Sharon was really running against TIme so she had no choice but to snap at some butts. She was not happy about that but she had no choice coz said butts were moving too slow. She gets budget done and approved by three department heads. All looks good. But a lot of information is not in yet. So she chase butts again. Running around like super baboon. She even went back to the office on a Saturday so that she can supervise the subtitling for the chinese entries. So far so good. Information not in yet. She chases more butts. In the end, above mentioned butts useless, so Sharon takes over the lead and gets her own information. She also makes some up coz some information couldn't be obtain as butts who were suppose to provide it were too busy for her to chase.

Today she compiles ALL information, prints it out nice and black. She goes to get signature from GM. GM looks through all, and then said not her jurisdiction. Ask Sharon to go get signature from CEO. Fine. Sharon waits for CEO to be available, until after lunch. Her deadline was 4pm today. CEO finally available at 3.30pm. She goes in and brief him on what's going on. Then he asked about which entries DV's submitting. Sharon tells him. He is shocked and says entries not worth submitting if they have no chance to win. He demands to know who authorise this and refuses to sign. Sharon tells him. He was angry and said that he will take it up with management. He tells Sharon not to send anything. Sharon goes away "shocked".

Later at 5pm, Head of Finance calls Sharon to her room. Questions her about this. Sharon tells her she was the one who approved the budget. She then asked who authorised this. Sharon gives name. Head calls in CEO and explains again which was what sharon explained earlier on. He then decides that we should send in three of our best entries.Sharon obviously lacking in clout. Wonders if she can fashion one from a cengal tree. Anyway all are convinced that those entries have good chance of winning award. CEO directs Sharon to send in three. But it is too late to send today and UPS guy already gone home for dinner. Latest Sharon can send it tomorrow morning, day of latest deadline. Sharon calls Asian Television Awards people, people says ok. Sharon says "Phew" and prepare everything to be send off tomorrow morning.

Bloody HELL

Omigawd I'm freakin' hyperventilating right now! Argh! I just talked to the CEO and he axed the idea of sending some of Double Vision's works for the Asian Television Awards! AND I've been working to death the past two weeks so that I can send out our submission on time! Then he says "NO". ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! With a "Who gave you permission to send them?" thrown in!

DIE! DIE! DIE!

Possible reasons

I'm waiting for my colleague to finish the chinese-translation for a show that we are submitting to the Asian Television Awards and the Malaysian Movie Awards. Sigh... and it's already so late. Bah. So with so much time on my hands and no motivation to do more work as it is FRIDAY NIGHT, I'm wont to let my mind wonder.

As I sit here contemplating my life, I wonder why I'm single? I see plenty of girls out there who has found love and I've left wondering "What the heck is wrong with me that makes me so unlovable?" But then, it is not as if I didn't have several chances along the way to "hook" one as they say it, so what went wrong? Could it be that I'm scared of commitment? The forever part? But that's crazy, isn't that what all girls want? I had a chance to embark on a relationship roller coaster several months back, but I chose not to. He later told me I sabotaged the "relationship" by not letting him into my soul. I later figured he meant that I didn't talk to him more or confide in him as I do with my friends. I don't know. Maybe deep down I knew he wasn't right for me and that was why I didn't bother going down that path.

Maybe another reason I'm single is because I don't know how to read the signs and take advantage of them. Maybe. Somebody once mentioned that I do not take initiatives to start a relationship, that I always wait for the other person to make the first move. Is that true? I always thought I was quite bold in my approaching the opposite sex. Maybe I'm wrong.

I hate being single yet I love the freedom of not having to answer to another person other than my family. Maybe that's why I'm single, coz I put my family above all else. This one is a biggie.

Maybe I shouldn't ask why. Maybe this is meant to be. I'll just have to accept it that I might never settle down with someone. And let Life just be.

Is it so wrong to want someone special to call your own, the same someone who will be there forever? Someone I can lean on instead of always having to be the strong one or someone's buddy who is always there. I'm tired of taking care of others. I'm tired of thinking about others. It would be nice to be taken care of for a change.

My thoughts are rambling. It has no sense nor direction.

My brain is starting to hurt... *sigh*

Maybe... Maybe I'm too choosy...

Estranged

I've been so quiet today that I've lost my ability to socialise. Today, the marketing dept celebrated two of my colleagues birthday and even though they invited me, I didn't feel like a part of their group. I felt out of place. So I left. I didn't want to be there when it doesn't seem right for me to be there.

I feel disjointed from the rest of the world. The estrangement doesn't just happen on my side but from theirs as well, so I guess all sides are mutually keeping away from each other. But why? It is not as if that is what I want to happened but somehow it did. Whatever triggered it... was it my fault? Did I do something wrong?

But the thing I figured about the other side is that they aren't very connectable. It might seem weird but that is the way I feel at the moment. They are social friends. I get that. They aren't close friends and I should think of them as such. I should.

Cut off at the knees

Since MaXX-a-Million has been suspended until further notice, my work load has lessened by loads and I'm now back to doing my usual job scopes, publicity for Double Vision's programmes. It's soooo boring that I'm considering quitting already. I guess it is obvious I don't like writing press releases - it's so dry and flat. There's nothing exciting about doing that. But the one thing I like about this is getting to arrange things. One of the things I learned from managing the Maxx roadshows is that I like managing things. I like being in charge. Who doesn't? I like the calling of suppliers and scouting for things and calling up tons of people and arranging for things to happen. It is more productive than my writing of press releases. And it is my personal opinion that the press people that I've had the privilege to meet so far are snobs. I'm surprise that they listen to bad sources and judge without actual proof. Aren't all journalist suppose to be fair-minded people who are not bias in any way and reserve the right to judge for themselves and not judge based on gossip? Hmmph. If any of you who are reading my blogs are journalists, I hope you're not like that. So far I've met some from big papers and they are snobs.

Oh well, I'll have to meet more so that I can meet the good ones.

All this just makes me question whether I want to join the journalism crowd. I did consider going back to journalism, the profession I was trained for but innately, I rebelled against that idea. I guess maybe I don't like writing as much as I thought. The jury's not out on that one yet.

Going back to the topic, I'm now going home at normal hours. Haha. No more late nights and office take-outs. Of course things aren't totally back to normal yet, there are things to finalise. Loose ends to tie and housekeeping. My project manager asked me to help her translate a script the other day and boy, did I have to relearn my BM. I'm rusty, I need to brush up on my BM language skills. Eeek. Embarrassing la. But I got that done and gave it to Helen. But then she's not native so she doesn't know if it's correct or skewed. Guess she will run it by a native tomorrow. *grin*

Anyway, I feel sad. Even though MaXX was a pain in the butt, I have gotten used to the sting, I was even enjoying myself. You masochist. It just gall that it was not FINISHED. There's no completion, no closure. How can something so huge not have a closure? Seriously, the people who banned SMS contests are pea-brained, 'dungunfied' carcasses who doesn't seem to grasp the fact that humans are intelligent beings, that they are not God and that they can never hope to speak for others other than themselves. Those apes have no idea what they are doing and they are just doing it for the sake of hearing themselves speak. They do not understand anything but they pretend that they have the abilities to understand and spout words! If SMS contests have gambling elements, then ALL contests have gambling elements! That is the point of contests - it's all about chance. There is no such thing as entering a contest and assured a winning spot. If that's the case, then that's CHARITY. Idiots.

Ok, I'll stop ranting now and go back to my search of NZ's accommodations. Yeah, am thinking of going somewhere different this time instead of Perth. ^_^

Suspended

Hoooboy, the Maxx-A-Million Contest has just been suspended due to the Fatwa's decree that all SMS contests offering players a chance to win money are all "haram". TV3 has decided to suspend all SMS contests on their channel until further notice, and we are one of those contests. Sad.

The void I'm feeling right now is most interesting. I've been crazily busy for the past 2 months and now all of a sudden, I have nothing to do! The feeling is almost floaty in a way yet my heart is thudding in my ears. Hmmm... It's like I'm the bee in The Flight of the Bumblebee but suddenly this mean kid comes along and pulls my wings out! I'm falling and falling but I haven't touched the ground yet?

When will I hit the ground? And when I do, what happenes?

Frenetic lull... if that makes sense

Oh, everything's getting crazier and crazier! It's like a there are so many things in my head that I've blocked out all the 'noise', leaving a muffled cavity but the frenetic pulses are still dashing around in the background.

So many things to do, so little time. Anyway, just thought I'd change the colour of my blog to add a little fake cheer-fullness to it. The original blue/grey background was making me depressed even more. Hopefully this works. Well, back to work

Trying weekend at Sure Heboh Ipoh

I took half day off today. I went to see the doctor about my rashes, did the usual routine and got a half-day MC. She took one look at me, listened to my erratic heartbeat and told me to go home and rest. What's wrong with me? Nothing much except a bit of a sunstroke, sunburns and taken over by heat rashes.

Interesting experience. I've never gotten rashes from heat before. This was a totally virgin experience with the calamine lotion and all. *grin* Very cooling, took the itchiness away before I could say 'gawd darn blasted rashes'. It starts from behind my ears all the way down to my cleavage. Let me tell you how embarrassing and unsightly it was that someone caught me scratching between my breasts. *ulkgh* I didn't know someone was above on the landing looking down! Bloody hell. Anyway, it was darn itchy.

So the reason for the whole episode today was because of my weekend in Ipoh. I was there to supervise the Maxx-a-Million roadshow in the Sure Heboh Carnival that ran from 17 & 18 July 2004. I had to be there as I'd planned a whole new agenda for this time round and I had to be there to make sure that things go as planned. Hah. Things didn't go as planned and I had to scrapped my plans and improvise. But at least we sold 50% more game packs compared to the last two weekends.

Funny thing was that on the car journey to Ipoh, I had a real bad tummy ache - I must have eaten something bad for dinner and it usually takes me a long time to feel the bad food. We had to stop at gas stations three times before we hit the Sg Buloh highway. Very embarrassing for me. And since I had not eaten a thing that day, my tummy felt like there was a dark pit inside demanding to be filled whilst the tummy ache wrenches took breathers. It was h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. My colleagues wanted me to ditch the working trip and go home and rest but I just couldn't. Even through my haze of pain, I managed to convey that I didn't want to go home, that I wanted to go to Ipoh. I felt an over-whelming sense of responsibility for the Maxx Roadshows. There was no one else in that car that knew it what to do. They sighed and rolled their eyes and I know they were irritated with me then, but I had to go. And thank god I went If I didn't, I don't think they could've handled the various and many problems that cropped up.

Oh and there were 190,000 people there that weekend, all of which ambled passed our booth I'd like to think. There were so MANY people and it was HOT. I did my usual roaming to distribute leaflets, it took me half and hour to get to one end and another half to get back. I think all in all I spent 3 hours directly under the hot sun in a day. I cannot expect others to do things that I'm not willing or capable of doing. But nobody was dumb enough like me to do it actually. I was the only one who went roaming under the hot sun, and I didn't wear a hat nor did I slap on any sun block. *eeeediot* My cheeks are burnt tight and it hurts. But then I'm tan now, just my face though... next time I'll remember to strip down to the skin. *haha*

I'll be doing face peels in a few days time, and leaving a trail of DNA to boot. *Blech*

Though it was exhausting cos we worked form 11am until 8pm nonstop. It is not an easy job - it's unpaid manual labour. This kind of work, I do not think I can do for long. It's tiring and frustrating, I wonder how the promoters do it. You really have to give them credit for determinations and stamina.

The only thing I will complain about this time is people who are of higher ranking but not in the core project team dictating and over-riding my orders. I do not like it. This is my first project, of course I'm protective of it. I do not like people to come in and give commands or complain when they themselves have not done it. It extremely irritating to pander to them just because they are of higher ranking. But then when there are problems, they refer them to me and they are nowhere to be seen. The way I see it is that if you want to be the authority figure there, go ahead, be, but be all the way, not just half way. I'm accused of being too soft and that I should kick ass more often. I know that, but I do what I can and what I think is right. I've been doing this longer than her and I know what's going on, she doesn't. Somebody mention that I should talk to her about this but I can't. If I were to do this, it'll be career suicide at this point. I know I do not have the clout yet to make people in the upper echelons to listen to me. But my time will come.

What is wrong with this project has always been stinginess. Stinginess with money and stinginess with information. How do you expect people to do things when they are not updated constantly? Meaning let us in on the project meetings instead of just the three core people. Then we have to find out the hard way and usually too late to change anything. It makes me mad when people say, "You should know, you're part of the core project team". I am??? How come I didn't know that? Since when was I put in charge of the roadshows anyway? I don't really know. It just happened. Nobody appointed me as anything, but I seem to be the leader in this rabbit hop. *Blegh* And the project's only half way thru...

By the hand of Tenaga and fate, I get to blog on my new iBook

I'm so stoked. This is my first blog on my new iBook! My 12-inch, 1GHz PowerPC G4, 30 GB and Combo drive iBook. ^_^ Yay! I've been waiting to blog on my mac for a few days now., since Sunday when I bought it but I couldn't as I really didn't have time. I could have blog about it at work but I didn't want to debut with another computer - I didn't want to tell the cyber world that I bought an iBook just yet as I wanted to do it 'properly'. *grin* Which I am now. Hee hee.

I can't believe I am now the proud owner of a brand new iBook. Oooohhh. =)) I've been wanting so long to own one and now I do! No offence to my old laptop which I have given to my sister to use, this is by far the greatest laptop experience I've ever had. Of course, my old laptop is still loved. It's like your first love - you never forget them. The poor dear is so exhausted it no longer even sticks its tongue out at me anymore. Even if it does occasionally sticks its tongue out, it refuses to swallow. *sigh* Poor thing. It has served me very well. We had our first Aussie experience together and then of course the little darling was a great help in all of my assignments. I shall miss doing my work on it. But I still visit it occasionally and give it a pat now and then. You can never totally forget your first love, y'know.

The reason I'm able to blog now at such an early time is because fate has handed me time on a bronze platter - no electricity means no can do work as computer not working, lights not working, air-con not working and the only thing working is the phone which you can't really use as you can't see where the buttons are, so EVERYONE on third floor left; only the third floor is affected - so I'm now at home, blogging on my new iBook, ^_^ I've not been home so early in such a long time. *blissful sigh* Usually I get home about 10pm nowadays what with the MaXX-a-Million project and all. The power was fluctuating the whole day after lunch time for some reason. There were surges and of course computer freezes. It was hell for the tech guys, and today Leonard, our Central Tech Officer wasn't in, so the tech boys had to handle everything on their own. I teased Ken, our Financial Controller, that he must have forgotten to pay the electricity bill and that's why Tenaga is switching our electricity on and off to remind us to pay up! And he replied, "No, we always pay half first, that why. The other half must be due." Hahaha! Internal joke. *grin*

It's an amazing feeling. Typing on this is almost... *shiver* heaven. Plus the feel of this baby and the aesthetic value of it all... BLISS. And it plays heavenly music, it talks to me, I can watch videos, and it rips CDs... sigh... Seriously, sigh. The memory is fast running out as I'm ripping as many songs as I can in it, esp all my Chillout music. Right now, I'm playing Moby's Whispering Wind and ohhhhmeeegawdds... watch those goose bumps pop up and down with the soothing rhythm. Serious. If I were bolder, I'd say this experience is almost... orgasmic. *_*

The frenzy heightens still

The Maxx-a-Million juggernaut hit a small asteroid yesterday. Yesterday, published in a small column was an article announcing that the government has issued an order that all radio and TV stations airing SMS contests must be stop immediately.

Thus yesterday was filled with press interviews and meetings and damage control. The top people are handling this and so far I've not received any orders to stop my roadshows. After all, the MaXX-a-Million contest is so much more than just an SMS contest - it is a multi-platform contest that incorporates TV, SMS and encryption technology. 'Sides, can you imagine the amount of money already sunk into this project? If we were to stop now, a few million dollars of everybody's money will go down the drain.

So I'll be going to for the Sure Heboh Carnival in Ipoh this weekend. In fact I'll be going to all my roadshows this month. *sigh*

Anyway, can't blog much as I need to prepare another report and briefing for the air-time people going to help me in Ipoh this weekend.

So much work. But then it beats being bored and listless. =P