As I was driving to work this morning, I heard the most bizarre story on radio.

It was about this guy who chatted with an unknown girl he picked up from the net. From chatting online, they switched to chat using the web cam instead. Then this guy "claimed" that he heard a weird background sound... and thereon was "hypnotized". For the next 10min, he undressed himself and ahem in front of the web cam. But just as sudden as he entered the "trance" state, he suddenly got the jitters and decided to log off...

Some time later, he got a call from the same girl who apparently posted his nude video online (apparently she managed to record the entire 10min). The girl then blackmailed him a large sum of money, but in the end, he paid her RM2,300 the first time and RM800 the second time. In the end, he brought up the issue to MCA when the girl continued blackmailing him. So some big shot from MCA then called the girl to warn her from blackmailing the poor dude or else face the consequences of jail (distribution of pornographic materials online are illegal of course)! Only then, did the girl stopped harassing the poor dude.

Now isn't this bizarre... considering the following?

• Can one really be hypnotized online??? Hear a weird sound (via webcam) then immediately enter a "trance" like state and start undressing and ahem in front of a stranger for 10 MINUTES???
• Why must the MCA big shot guy warn the girl? Shouldn't she be arrested or sth? Can't they trace her via her IP or phone number or her account number or sth? The dude obviously saw her face... so can't they do the face recognition thingy...?

So anyway, the DJ's ended the story with the following "community" messages:

• Guys caught on video ain't worth a lot (unless of course if he's a public figure)... like this guy, he was only worth RM3,100... so if you wanna blackmail... make sure you blackmail a girl instead for your hard work to be worthwhile
• The next time you wanna chat via web cam, make sure you turn your speaker OFF...

Hehehehe... so guys and girls... be careful when you use the webcam...

Has it ever occurred to you that Malaysia is really a big place??? I mean half the time when I see classifieds on missing person or families seeking missing relatives etc etc... on TV, newspapers, websites etc etc, the immediate conclusion would be that the missing person has already left the country. But today... I came to realise that this might not be the case.

My mom went for a check up today and accidentally bump into my uncle* whom we had lost touch for nearly 16 years!!!

Background
When I was younger, my family used to live together with Uncle Chen who married my father's sister. When they divorced 16 years ago, my aunt had the custody of my cousin brother... and Uncle Chen moved out. Then eventually, we also shifted to another place and had separate lives.

I was only 12 years old when Uncle Chen left but I will always remember him cos he's kinda unique in his own ways:

• He used to be very clumsy... e.g. there was once he parked his car next to a drain... when we got out of the car, he was no where in sight... guess what? He fell into the drain!
• Another time, he took my cousin, my bro and I to somewhere (can't remember where specifically) but my brother's leg got stuck in one of the holes in the cement drain cover but he continued walking and pulling my brother's hand until my bro had to cry before he noticed that his leg was stuck...
• Then there was this once he nearly broke all the 5 fingers on my right hand. He closed the door without looking and my fingers were stuck in between... only after several screams, shouts and cries did he realised that my fingers were stuck...

But despite his clumsiness, Uncle Chen is really a kind hearted soul who is not just kind to my family but adores us kids as well...

I don't have many memories of him as I was only 12, my bro 8 and my cousin 6 when he left. But what I remembered most was the jigsaw puzzle set he gave me. Long ago, when the jigsaw puzzle craze was in, I begged and begged him to buy me one. Even when he was showering, I would stand outside the toilet and chant: I want jigsaw puzzle, pls buy me one... pls pls pls... Although he pretended as if he wasn't gonna get it... he came home with one the following day!

When I heard the story from my mom today... I teared a little... cos after so many years, he remained single still. He was at the hospital today for his routine check up and was using crutches cos he got into an accident 4 months ago. And because it has been so long since we last met, he couldn't even recognize my mom at first. But guess what... he remembered me!

This Saturday, I'll be fetching him to my house for a mini reunion with my family. Am just so glad that we finally get the chance to meet him again after 16 long years! Although my aunt has then remarried... to me, I will only have 1 'gu-jiong' who is Uncle Chen and my parents shared the same sentiments. Just goes to show that Uncle Chen is really a nice guy although things didn't work out between him and my aunt.

And I truly believe that we are fated to meet albeit after 16 long years...

I've been having sleepless nights for the past few months. Nearly every night I would be tossing and turning in my bed and when I'm finally dozing off, my alarm would ring to signify my wake up time. If you ask me how many hours I sleep a day, I honestly cannot answer for I myself am not certain if I slept at all.

But the thing is that, this only happens on weekdays. I have no problems sleeping on Fridays and Saturdays but starting Sunday, my insomnia would kick in.

To be honest, I'm really physically and mentally exhausted. Initially I thought all I needed was a break away from my routine. Thus in Nov last year, I followed my parents to Beijing for 8 days and in Jan this year, took another trip on my own to Phuket for 5 days. But when I came back, the feeling of exhaustion was even greater than before. I just dread going to work... and eventually started adopting the bad habit of procrastinating.

I felt like I'm no longer as productive as before and I hate myself for being this way. Day in day out I told myself that I need to stay focus and to just do my job but day by day it's getting tougher. I'm not even sure if I need to seek help on this or if it's a common thing amongst working adults... so I checked with my other colleagues...

Surprise! Surprise! Of the 3 people I spoke to... these were their responses:

• A: I can sleep but I get up at 4am every morning before my alarm could even ring
• B: Ya... I also cannot sleep at night... slept at 4am yesterday
• C: Had to be on MC today cos didn't sleep at all last night and had a migraine this morning

Now that I've established that I'm not alone in this... it felt better (as in I'm not mentally unstable or something) but the thing is... I still don't know if I can ever get out of this endless misery... sigh...

I was so inspired to find out the destiny of my life after reading Dokodemo Door's blog on Palm & Face Reading that when I stumbled upon a palm reading stall at Sg. Wang earlier, I didn't hesitate to have my palm read (as you can see, I'm kinda impulsive... hehe).

So anyway... I got my palm read by this guy (dunno Mandarin and I forgot to ask him for his name... so errrr... let's just call him "Master"). His fee was pretty reasonable... RM30 for face reading and a quick check on your date of birth.

Here are some interesting stuff from the session:

Thumbs

• The first thing that he did was to bend my thumbs
• Apparently if your thumbs can be bent outward easily, you are a soft at heart sort of person
• Vice versa, if yours is stiff and hard to bend, you could be stubborn like a mule

Longevity

• The blue line here indicates your life line
• If yours is curved all the way to your wrist... congratulations... you could possibly live a super long life (past 80 years old)
• When he saw mine, he asked me if any of the older folks in my family lived past 80 years old and I excitedly said... ya ya... my great-great-grandma was 103 when she past away, my great-grandfather was 90+, my own grandfather was 80+
• Of which Master calmly said: Yes... as you can see... this is usually inherited as you have an unusually long life line

The rest of the things he said after that was done rather quickly. He drew lines on my palm using a red pen and in the end, the lines were all crisscrossing one another. Although I generally remembered what he said, I couldn't really figure out which line meant what... but what I remembered most was this conversation with Master:

• Master: Your best years to get married would be 2006, 2008 or 2009
• Me: O_o Does that mean that if I missed those years, I'd end up being a spinster forever (I've already missed 2006 you see...)
• Master: Not necessarily. What it means is that your "tou fa" blooms the brightest during these years and choices will be aplenty...
• Me: Oooo...

After the entire reading, my bf scolded me for revealing my excitement esp. at that part about family members with long life. He said I should've just look skeptical all along:

• BF: Another few more questions and you'd be barring your entire family history to him... tsk tsk tsk... how not to be cheated? (then proceeded to mumble mumble and grumble grumble)

Then out of the blue he said something that gave my heart a tug:

• BF: Hmmm... if you're gonna live past 80... (all along looking at his own life line)... you'd be all alone if I leave first... that'll be so sad hor...
• Me: Sheeeesh... nola... what nonsense!

Sigh... then I realised hor... I do lup lup him lor... hahahaha! And oh... Master said I'm born "crever" but must "jaga" my head wor (which is kinda true also cos I was previously hospitalized for my tension headaches).

So that's all for now and Happy Birthday everyone... Today's "Yan Yat" (or more commonly known as the "lou-sang" day). May all of us work till wind mountain water rise (lou tou fung san sui hei). Cheers!

Came across this blog entry from ((d[-_-]b)) on how one can "do it" in a mini. Very interesting... comes with complete illustrations and instructions too... kekekeke. Guess the folks at mini wanted to show how spacious and roomy a mini could be despite its small outlook. Check it out here!

I must be one of the few lucky ones to start work on Chor Sei. Why? Cos I've been cruising to work for the past few days. No traffic jam what-so-ever... It usually takes me about an hour to reach office but the past 2 days?? 10min!!! 10MIN!!! Can you believe that? So much so that I reached work at 8am on my first day back (work starts at 9am). Needless to say, I slept in awhile longer the following days... kekeke...

Next week, everything will be back to its normal routine and the next CNY will be a full year wait... so before the sun sets today and before happenings of today become memories of yesteryears, here's an attempt to remind myself what I like and dislike about CNY this year:

Top 5 things I like about CNY:

Ang Pau
I'm sibeh greedy I tell you. I sememangnya will not be paiseh to holler out CNY greetings and will not hesitate to take ang pau from anyone... I mean... when I was younger, all my ang pau money are put into savings... and when I finally think that I can make use of the ang pau money for more shopping, I realised that my-ang-pau-receiving-days are numbered. Why? Lets just say I get married at the age of 30 or 31. That's another 2 to 3 years from now. Thereafter, it'll be ME giving out ang pau like mad... sigh...

Ang Ang
Practically anything and everything during CNY will have a splash of red showhow or rather. Heck, even cookies and sweets come in special ang packaging and I just find it so auspicious. Red is nice for its' boldness and loudness and I think it's especially suitable for festive occasions.

The Yang Energy
Come CNY time, my house will be filled with families, relatives and friends. It's such a merry time for all and everyone's in their nice bajus. Both last year and this year, we had someone visiting almost everyday and it's just great cos everyday feels like a holiday!

Food
I love it when we get to eat all sorts of CNY delicacies from a variety of biscuits, snacks to a variety of auspicious sounding dishes like "nin nin yau yu" which meant "every year also got fish" (something like that la)...

CNY Melodies
I prefer CNY melodies than CNY songs. The melodies have a very festive feel about it just like the Christmas jingle.

But with the good, comes the bad. So here's the top 5 things I dislike about CNY:

Nosy Relatives
This is also the time where they will conveniently gang up on the unmarried ones to force the "truth" out of them… when are you getting married? Why not yet etc etc and will conveniently barge into your sanctuary (like your room for instance) for a chit chat when you were obviously trying to take 5 from the smiling and entertaining.

Lousy Clothes
Although it's nice to be in an ang ang mall, it's really not much fun shopping during CNY cos predominantly everything is in ANG! I mean, there's only so many ang baju one could have you know.

Emotionally Drained
I hate returning to work after CNY. It's like an emotional roller coaster (going down) right after a great high!

Food
After awhile, you'll be dying for a meal of just plain vege. Why? CNY is all about meat meat meat and more meat from chicken to roasted pork to fried pork to fish… to everything meat la.

CNY Songs
I don't know about you but I hate CNY songs… they're so supermarket-ish. Gone were the days where CNY songs are melodious and soothing to the ears. Today there are even techno versions to CNY songs and I especially hate the 4 little girls (with thick make ups resembling a monkey's ass) singing and dancing.

So ya, as a true blue Chinese... actually more like true yellow-banana Chinese, I do lurrrrve CNY!

Oh well, a lot of you asked the most natural question pertaining the dispute between me and my bf's sister: What is / was my bf's stand on this?

Before Dispute
In a way, he started the whole damn issue. Cos if he insisted in staying in the house, none of these would've happened. Instead, he opted to go with what his family said.

During Dispute
During this time he regretted his earlier action. But needless to say, it was too late. But he did what he could in explaining to his parents.

When his mother asked me to apologize, he told her not to interfere and that she has no right in asking other people's daughter to apologize when she doesn't even know head or tail of the entire story.

When the sister scolded him, he said he will always stand by my side and yes, he is willing to do anything for "the woman" (sister asked if it's worth abandoning his family for the woman i.e. me lor).

After Dispute
Respected my wish to not attend any of his family functions. Told his parents not to help salvage the relationship between his sister and I anymore cos it's defintely not possible if his sister expects an apology.

His Stand:
Just like what you guys said:
Respect the parents
Ignore the sister
Concentrate in building our future

Sigh...
I don't quite know what to expect out of him. On one hand, it seemed like he has done what he could in protecting me. On the other, I truly truly wished that he would stop talking to his sister!

First thing first, thank you all for your advise on this. Truly appreciate it. I've drawn up a simple diagram for ease of illustration after taking into account all your comments and this is how I see it:

Similar to any organizations anywhere... one will always be subjected to influences be it internal or external. Thus, if I am to see it from a relationship point of view, similar theory applies.

Lets talk about the external influences first where one usually have no control over:

• Political and legal

For instance, if there is suddenly a new regulation that requires one to have at least 6 kids to boost the country's vision of 2050 (example la), relationships could be affected... imagine this: husband wants 6 kids to be in line with 2050 vision... wife wants 1 kid... husband will be jumping the wife as often as a hamster in heat and wife would be busy slapping the hell out of him...

• Economic

Interest rates, exchange rates, job security. More often than not, money is usually the cause of arguments and in severe cases, divorce amongst married couples. So imagine if the stock market crashed and you lost all your money / or if there is a recession and you lost your job, your relationship will definitely be affected in one way or other

• Social

Changing attitudes and lifestyles for e.g. in 2010, if all couples are expected to enter a program to swap spouses with strangers before marriage with the objective of instilling a sense of appreciation when you get your original partner back (hey, there's a reality show on this you know), wouldn't you be affected? (well, I guess this won't affect the males much unless of course if the partner assigned is as fat as a whale)

• Technological

Growing use of Internet and eventually more and more SOHO could also affect relationships. How? Imagine husband working in underwear day in day out at home... wife could potentially complain bout lack of personal space... or husband could complain that the wife's presence in his 'home office' is restricting his creativity...



Then if we look at internal influences that could also potentially affect one's relationship, there are 2 distinctive categories:

• Extended internal influences: posing opportunities and threats where one have no control over
• Internal influences: the only factor that one can control by playing with strengths and weaknesses

Extended internal influences

• This comprises of families, extended families, relatives, friends etc where there will always be a possibility of interference (whether you like it or not). But since they are internal influences that we cannot ignore, we need to also play our role -> this is the part where many of you said: respect the parents
• Bitch-from-hell (BFH) falls under this category and I obviously have no control over how she choose to act / live her life / affect our lives but I know for a fact that she pose a great threat to our relationship

So what do I do? I should in fact take a closer look at the internal influences:

Internal influences

• The core foundation which comprises of husband & wife but in my case, me & my bf
• Recognizing the fact that there's a threat to our relationship, we should work together to focus on strengthening the foundation of our relationship and not let the threat rule

When I look back at the course of 1 year, I realised that I've sub-consciously allowed BFH to win by choosing not to forget. By constantly nagging about the sister and forever bringing up the case when we argued etc etc, the peace and stability of our relationship was somewhat marred.

Thus moving forward, the action on my part was summarized by all who commented esp. Wilson & Colin:

• Respect the parents -> extended influences that will always be present in our relationship
• Ignore the bitch -> extended influences that I have no control over, so no point fretting about it
• Love my bf -> internal influences that is the core to everything else - if we strengthen this, no form of threat could weaken us

So to all who commented, kamsiah li.

Previous post was about how the argument started exactly a year ago with that bitch-from-hell...

Throughout the entire duration, we have stopped talking to one another cos everytime I wanted to greet her (out of courtesy), she either ignores me / pretend not to see me / shows me her black face / walk away.

So in the end, I told myself, ENOUGH is ENOUGH. I will NOT GREET HER anymore. How many more times do I have to embarrass myself when it wasn't even my fault in the first place!?!?!?

So this was what I did:

• Cease all contacts: I stopped visiting my bf's family for a year (the last time I went there was during CNY in 2006) when the mother told me to apologize under the pretext that I am younger!
• Politely decline all outings whenever BFH is involved: Whatever family outings they have, I politely declined. I was so determined that I even gave her stupid wedding a miss by saying that I injured my knee cap in Beijing (partial truth la)
• Stand my ground: Despite my attempts for peace by greeting her earlier, she told her family that she has "no face" since I scolded her and that she's OLDER than me. The only way to settle our dispute (according to her) is for me to apologize to her...

My stand:

• Apologize? You can fuck the hell off for all I care bitch! I'm not even at fault! Why must I apologize? Simply because you are older, does that mean that you can commit any form of crime and still get away with it? You must be out of your mind to think that
• If you insist that I apologize, I too will demand that you PAY MY FAMILY BACK. Pay us back the RM10K that we spent on the house

Fast-forward to recent:

• The last time I saw her was at a karaoke. Since she pretended not to see me, I did the same and felt pretty good about the fact that we can co-exist in the same place without acknowledging one another. She is afterall a stranger in my life now...
• After 1 whole year of absence, I finally visited my bf's family for CNY yesterday and I found out that she's been bitching behind my back to my bf's sister-in-law (brother's wife). Apparently, she was bitching about the fact that I didn't greet her even when I saw her at the karaoke

Now that she's married, she has happily moved in with her husband leaving my bf on the lurch. He has to rent a bloody star-less hotel every weekend to see me... Come to think of it, the stupid bitch wasn't prepared to move out when the low cost was ready and since she cannot afford renting the entire place alone, she dragged my bf along... But now that she's married, she can't even be bothered about my bf... All the "concern" before this (bout place being a gangster den etc etc) was just to spoil the plan and she even misled her father into talking my bf out of renting the place.

Now help me please:

• What should I do now? I've already done my part in avoiding her. Why must she bitch about me some more? So how now? What the fuck am I supposed to do?
• Everytime I think about my pitiful bf for having to stay in crappy hotels on weekends, I felt like bitch-slapping the slut

So how now? Let me know your thoughts on this will ya. Thanks.

Setting the stage:

• Subject: Boyfriend's super duper bitchy sister - let's call her BFH (bitch from hell)
• Why: Known for being bossy and loves butting into other ppl's business... feels as if she's the queen of the house and therefore has every right to interfere in whatever she fancies
• How: E.g. Called the brother's gf's mom (gf then, wife now) in the middle of the night and demanded money - apparently phone bill was very high because of their courtship...
• What: Huge argument with me...
• When: Exactly a year ago...

How it all started:

• BFH: I can't look after my brothers forever you know. The place that we're renting now... I won't be renting it for long cos I'm gonna get married soon... As his gf, you better start planning for him
• Me: Hmmm... OK

Since my bf's family's from another state, the siblings had to rent a place together in KL. After she said that, I consulted my father and he said no prob - cos so happens we have this low cost apartment (given by government many many years ago but only recently completed development). So my parents planned to rent it to my bf at RM200 (market price: RM500) and proceeded to renovate the place so that it's cosier (despite it's size).

When everything was completed, my bf brought BFH to visit the place and this is what she said:

• BFH: Hmmm, so small... Must throw away our dining table and eat on the floor... then proceeded to walk around... bout 10min later, left the place but my bf got a call from his father (Bf's Father - BFF)
• BFF: Your sister said the place's a gangster place. If so dangerous don't stay there... continue renting with your sister la... why the hassle?

What BFF didn't know before jumping into conclusion:

• (1) The apartment is located at Taman Tasik Selatan - near the army camp. Gangsters had to be stupid or brainless to do anything foolish around an army camp let alone build their nest there
• (2) Stupid BFH was the one who told me to arrange my bf's accommodation
• (3) Nobody asked BFH to stay there, it was meant for my bf alone (since she has already hinted that she won't continue renting with her brothers anymore and was already staying in with her bf then)
• (4) My parents asked my bf if he is sure he wanna stay there before we started renovating the place. He said OK so we renovated the place (at least RM10K gone)
• (6) We're renting it out dirt cheap to him at RM200 although market price is RM500

Now that everything's completed, it was so easy for them to just say: It's ok la... can rent out to other ppl one what... What they should have thought about before uttering the brainless comment:

• (1) If we want to rent out... we DO NOT NEED to renovate so extensively and even have kitchen cabinets etc installed - basic house can already fetch us RM450... so why the hassle to renovate???
• (2) We spent money to renovate so that the place is cosy despite the size for my bf to stay there comfortably. The rent difference between a renovated house and a non-renovated one there is only RM50... if we wanna rent out, DO WE HAVE TO RENOVATE?
• (3) We are not renting the place for the money. Heck at RM200, when are we ever gonna recover the RM10K spent??? It was just so that other ppl won't think lowly of my bf for having to stay in my parents' house for free. Also... where the fuck in KL can you get an entire house for only RM200??? Yes it's small, about 600++ sq ft but it's only for him alone... so how big does it have to be?
• (4) If the stupid sister has the intention to stay along and thinks that the house's too small, we too have bigger condos at Subang (which she cannot afford to rent)... all she needs to do is ask AND NOT CRITICIZE sarcastically by saying that the place's a gangster den (when the place was newly developed with only 20% occupancy) and that they will have to eat on the floor

What happened then?

• I gave BFH a thorough scolding and even called her father to explain
• In the end the father said: It's ok la... my daughter... has something wrong with her head... you dunno only... but I do... don't take it to heart...

So I thought that everything was OK and was even prepared to forgive her but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, BFH had to twist and turn the entire story to make her look victimized. Last CNY (a year ago) when I visited her house:

• She was the first person I saw when I entered. When I said hello, she showed me her black face and proceeded to watch tv as if I was transparent
• The the mother said this: Since you're younger it's ok la. Just say sorry to sister then everything will be fine. Just like the other time, bf's sister-in-law (the brother's wife) also had a huge argument with sister. In the end she apologized and everything was fine!

Again, refer pointers above on what the mother should have thought of before uttering the brainless comment:

• Why should I apologize when BFH obviously was the one who started the whole damn thing?
• What have I done wrong when I helped arranged for my bf's accommodation when the own sister wanted to abandon him?
• Why must my family be dragged into this and spend RM10K for nothing and in the end be accused of wanting to rent out to my bf for money?

To be continued...

Nin Chor Yee (2nd Day of CNY)
Today my parents achieved an amazing feat. They cooked for a total of 12 people to dine at one go. Although there were more people during the 1st day of CNY, everyone took turns to eat thus dishes do not have to be timed. Look, we even had to "extend" our usual dining table to accommodate the merry dozen:

In the end, everyone had a jolly good time and nearly everything was gobbled up... truly reflecting the spirit of CNY... get-together-be-merry-eat-and-get-drunk... hehehehe...

Nin Chor Sam (3rd Day of CNY)
After many many rounds of cooking and playing host from eve of CNY to the 2nd day of CNY (3 full days in total), Chor Sam is when we visit our relatives' house for a change:

• My parents went to my aunt's house for a get-together
• My bro went to his gf's grandparent's' house for an interrogation session (joking)
• I went to my bf's house

And in the end, all of us met up at my other auntie's place for a round of steamboat and yes, another round of monopoly :)

For the remaining days from Chor Sei (4th day) to Sup Mmm (15th day), the visiting will continue although probably in smaller groups - like today for instance... my mother's friends will be dropping by for dinner.

So ya... That pretty much sums up the CNY celebration this year cos I'll be starting work on Chor Sei (4th Day of CNY). Gong Hei Fatt Choy to all!!!

Chinese New Year is the single most important festivity that the Chinese everywhere celebrates. And usually, it is very easy to determine if Chinese New Year's just around the corner. Why? Cos' just about everything and anything sold during this period will have some form of red splashed all over given that "ang" (the colour red) is deemed auspicious by the Chinese.

Although one could spend monthsss in preparation for CNY (think: spring cleaning, stocking up of CNY delicacies, home decorating, shopping etc etc), CNY comes and goes fairly quickly. Gone were the days where companies close shop for the entire 15 days to celebrate CNY. These days, you'll need to take your own annual leave if you wanna enjoy the holidays longer. I for one will be starting work on Chor Sei (4th Day of CNY).

Thus to me... CNY celebration centrals around 4 important days... i.e. the first 4 days of CNY and here's an account on how I spent the first 2 days:

Nin Sam Sup (Day 30th)
Chinese New Year celebration officially begins with the reunion dinner where family members near or far will make it home for the reunion dinner. Special efforts will also be put in to create dishes with special meanings in Chinese:

After dinner, we would then proceed to drinking... Nah... don't be deceived by the photo, these are for collections only... we had red wine, white wine and also sampled some rice wine... yup, you guessed it right... I was kinda tipsy after that...

Nin Chor Yat (1st Day of CNY)
The first day of CNY is usually the best time of the entire CNY and is especially true for those who are unmarried (like me). Chor Yat is usually the day where relatives will be visiting one another and every year my house's the gathering place for all my uncles and aunties. This means that:

(1) There'll be plenty of moolahs to collect... in the form of Ang Pau's (usually given to kiddos and those unmarried). Although relatives tend to say "last one ar, last one..." to me (on a yearly basis), I don't see anything wrong in me receiving Ang Pau from them. In fact, I will never be ashamed to receive Ang Paus from practically anyone and will usually be the first one to holler out Gong Hei Fatt Choy to relatives... hehehe... it's afterall moolah you know... and day 1 of CNY... I've already received over RM1K of moolah (evil laugh):

(2) Plenty of laughter over another scrumptious CNY meal where everyone takes turn to makan at the dining room...

(3) Monopoly Sessions. Gatherings of relatives (young and old) would only be complete with a game of monopoly or two... Yours truly won 140 monopoly currency this year... Note: No picture of us playing monopoly...

That was how I spent the first 2 days of CNY... more about CNY after this...

The other day, I tried doing some last minute shopping... but knowing how mad traffic could be at Mid Valley, I persuaded Alan to take the train and boy... did we had the time of our lives!!! In the end we promised ourselves that we will never take the train again even if it means circling hours and hours in the car park looking for a parking.

So here... some learning from the train trip:

Get your trains right
There's KTM. Then there's LRT. Of course now also got Monorail... Anyway... we took the train from the Sg. Besi station (thinking that it was the nearest KTM from my place) but noooooooooo... the station at Sg. Besi is not a KTM station! It is an LRT station where you will need to take a train (1 stop at 70sen) to Bandar Tasik Selatan before changing to KTM (RM1) that goes directly to Mid Valley.

Be prepared (for the weather)
It wasn't really the rush from 1 station to another that irked us. What frustrated us the most was the sheer volume of people at the stations. And let me tell you this... both KTM and LRT has different concepts for their stations.

LRT: Station's all covered. Even if its raining cats and dogs, you'll be fine...


KTM: Open concept. If it rains cats and dogs... you're screwed! And if its not raining... don't be too happy yet... it'll be so damn hot and stuffy that you'd be wishing for rain!


Learn to stand where the crowd is...
For all 4 times, the trains stopped like milesss away from where Alan and I stood... we're always either the last to board the train or one of the lasts... LRT was still OK cos it has wider doors but KTM was just horrible as they only have this tiny door stuck to the back of the train!

Learn balancing skills... especially during rush hours
Again, LRT was kinda OK cos although there wasn't any seats left, there were still plenty of space to stand (with proper railings to hold on to). KTM was terrible! Not only were the middle passage way narrow, they practically had nothing but 1 single pole for EVERYONE at the back to hold on to... Imagine one pole with at least 6 different coloured hands (no joke). And those who had to stand at the narrow middle passage? They need to have arms like gorillas do... Why? Cos the bloody railings are all nearly attached to the ceiling of the train!

And Alan asked me this while I was fanning myself madly at the KTM station:

• Alan: Would you fly a kite at a KTM station?
• Me: WTF??!!! Who in their right frame of mind would ever fly a kite at this pathetic station???
• Alan: Well, there must be plenty of such cases... you see... (pointed across the tracks)

• Alan: If not, why put a sign on that and not one that says: Do not main guli... sekali tergolek into landasan keretapi??
• Me: O_o

I was so damn upset this morning!!!

I was promised an ad hoc increment last year in July but up till recently, the moolah was no where in sight. Then out of the blue, I got an email from my boss with the following key points (can't copy her entire mail and blog about it right... wanna die meh):

... checked... HR... letter... March-07... backdated January-07... good start in the new year... cheers...


To be frank, my immediate reaction was disappointment. I was under the impression that they will backdate from July-06 when they first told me and as a matter of fact, they had promised me verbally. But noooooooooooooooooo... now that the letter's gonna be issued in black and white, they will only be backdating from Jan-07!

So that means, I had waited a total of 9 months of which 6 months were practically for nothing! If I knew that this would happen, I would've accepted the offer I got in December!!! But noooooooooooooooooooooo... I had to be stupid enough to think that the company will backdate my pay (as promised) and that I will suddenly have an unplanned influx of income.

Fuck man! No new baju for me this CNY... can only afford new underwear now...

The most embarrassing thing happened to me last week. I was reading the newspaper at the dining room together with my mom and my niece was happily watching Animax. Then out of the blue, came this loud exclamation from the loo:

Father: Gahhhh!!! Who didn't flush the toilet???
Me, Mom & Niece: Not me!!! (in unison)
Father: Who was the last person who went to the toilet?
Me, Mom & Niece: Not me!!! (again in unison)

After awhile...
Mom: Vick! You la, you went in last!
Me: Oh issit? (blush blush) then went in to flush

But guess what? After flushing like twice, there's still this piece of shit that was stuck to the bottom of the toilet bowl!!! Only after numerous rounds, did the stubborn little piece of shit decided to go off...

Then my parents interrogated me:
Parents: What kind of shit is this?
Me: I dunno wor... it wasn't intentional la...
Parents: There must be something wrong with your digestive system...
Mom: Ya, my shit floats one...
Father: Ya, where got like that so slimy until it's stuck to the bowl one
Me: I dunno wor
Parents: GO AND SEE A DOCTOR!
Me: O_o and say what? Doctor, my shit refused to be flushed down the toilet???

Sigh. Am I normal? Does your shit floats? Hehehehe...

I was very busy at work today when an email subject caught my attention. "How to write a resignation letter" and since it was sent by one of my colleagues, I decided to stop what I was doing to take a quick look at the mail and thought... well, no harm learning a trick or two...

The first attachment I opened, I laughed so loud that my colleague (the one who sent it to me) started laughing too AND the best part? She wasn't even seated next to me...

Resignation style 1: Straight-to-the-point

Resignation style 2: Cut-the-crap

Resignation style 3: Beat-round-the-bush

Resignation style 4: Creative

My favourite? Straight-to-the-point of course. Imagine your boss reading it... bet he/she will go... "Ngeh? That's it???"

Wow... without realising, I've been diligently working at my laptop for the last 4 hours... and this mean that I'd only have another 3 hours to sleep prior to getting to work! Sigh... and I'm already having a headache.

You know, sometimes I do wonder if it's truly worth it to push ourselves to the limit ever so often. We do it all the time; be it conscious or sub-consciously:

• When we were in school: Burning midnight oil for the exams, last minute rush to perfect our assignments / to complete it
• When we are having a good time: Out partying / drinking / dancing / etc
• When we are bored: Watching TV / surfing the net / etc
• And finally at work: To beef up our slides with quali and quanti data, to meet deadlines, for presso, etc etc

Maybe it's just me... Perhaps I'm just bad at time management for I really think I have a miserable life. I find it extremely hard to balance work and play... It's either:

• I work too hard on weekdays then come weekend, I'm all exhausted
• But I've also tried reversing the cycle... tried to take it easy on weekdays and have yoga lessons... then when I realised I'm behind schedule, put in extra hours after work and even on weekends

So you see, either way I feel miserable! Sob sob.

Hmmmm... so damn bored... since I dunno what to talk about, I'll talk about myself... hehehehe... Here are some photos from my Beijing trip... and how I survived the bitter cold:

• Initially the cold was bearable, so I only had my sweater on...

• Then when the temperature dropped and I had to put on my jacket:

• But after a while, my fingers were numb and the tip of my ears went red... so... I put on my hat, scarf, gloves and was all buttoned up:

• When then the temperature went like 3 degree... and I had to put on my bubble jacket:

• Then it went chilly and windy at one of the stops at Great Wall, I had to put on my hood:

• Just as I thought I'd survived the worst of the winter... the temperature went below 0 degree and I ended up looking like (quoting my friends): 'Singa Betina', "EWOK' & 'Dumpling':

And did I mention that all these while I had my warmer (long johns beneath...) so can u imagine the number of layers I had to wear? Peeing was such a chore then, let alone pangsai... And almost everyday, I would sneeze out blood (but not a lot la, a bit bit only). So ya... really cannot imagine myself living through winter (shudder).

In fact it was so cold that I had difficulty walking and had to limp like an old lady as my knee cap was swollen and painful (pict when I was back home):

But all in all, it was a happy trip and was glad I didn't fall sick with fever etc. Well, that was how I survived the winter... And this year, the plan is to visit Shanghai... to experience a different degree of coldness (more to like torture myself)... hahaha!

Just got back from a family gathering to celebrate my "lao gu's" (mom's uncle) 70th birthday. The funny thing was, all my uncles and aunties were not even sure why we were asked to attend his party (he didn't mention that it was gonna be his birthday celebration and his birthday is supposedly on the eve of CNY so nobody suspected anything).

So anyway, back to the party. The older generations like my parents, uncles and aunties will be squealing in delight all night long when they reunite with their cousins or uncles/aunties. But needless to say, the younger generations would be bored to death... I mean, there's only so many smiles one could flash around all night long... and heck, 80% of the people there looked foreign, but yet, we are expected to be a social-butterfly.

My father sounded me earlier for not shaking "lao kim's" hand when I would've swore I greeted her (loudly) and that I didn't see her intention of shaking my hand... - how would I know that it'll be so damn formal... after I greeted her, I scooted off... but nooooooooooo... that was very wrong of me...

So here's a quick guide to survive family gatherings:

• Thou shall have -e-l-a-b-o-r-a-t-e- manners - Gone were the days where a greeting is good enough... you must now greet them AND shake their damn hands (whoever they may be) and bow slightly (just like the geishas). Why??? This is a 'simple' form of respect to the elders...
• Thou shall be respectful even when asked the million dollar question "when are you getting married" - Best to just smile and keep quiet so that you don't spark off a series of unwanted probes into your social life. If you say not yet - they'll ask you when, if you say soon - they'll ask you when, if you say no plans yet - they'll ask you why - and then back to when... So you see, you'd be so much better off keeping quiet while flashing your million dollar smile
• Thou shall mention your name as "so and so's daughter / son" - Live with the fact... they dunno you and they don't really care... but they know your parents... and will squeal in delight if they know you 'belong' to so and so...
• Thou shall form your own cliche - Like me... I surround myself with my cousins... from standard 5 school going ones all the way to 28 years old working adults. That way, you don't have to endure conversations with unknown elders (and will probably have a jolly good time talking nonsense to your cousins - for believe me, they are equally as bored as you are)
• Thou shall smile like a lunatic all night long - Doesn't matter if no one is watching you... but it is an unspoken rule that you must SMILE your million watt smile (just like a lunatic) all night long so as not to appear bored (altho you are seriously bored to death)... another one of those craps bout being respectful

So ya... those are the unspoken rules that we the younger generations must abide to. Although these people could be 3 generations apart, it's ok... just follow the above rules and you'll be fine!

Shopping here is pretty standard... from stalls to stalls, they tend to sell the same things:

• Apparels - usually fake imitations of brands like Quiksilver, Billabong, Nike etc
• Handicraft - sarongs, soaps (shaped in beautiful flowers), bookmarks, keychains
• Silk stuff - cushion covers, tissue boxes, table runners etc
• Accessories - fake jewelleries, belts, sunglasses, hats

Nothing much to buy cos the first time I visited Thailand, I bought nearly all of the above. So this time round, it was merely browsing stalls after stalls:

And occasionally cam-whore a bit:


On a separate note, found the pharmacies in Phuket pretty good. The first 3 days was terrible for me as I had diarrhea non-stop. Although I was careful to only take bottled water, I forgot that ice used in the cocktails I drank may not be clean... So anyway, went to the pharmacy and the guy prescribed 'Imodium Plus' - which almost immediately cured the stomach ache...

So the next time you visit Thailand (or anywhere for that matter), remember to take only bottled beverages :)

Oh oh... and before I forget... sticky mango rice (a kind of dessert) is called 'kau neong merng muang' in Thai. Thought 'Merng Muang' (meant mango) sounded kinda nice... maybe I'll name my daughter that... hehehehe...

This time round I visited Wat Chalong which was apparently Phuket's most beautiful and renowned temple with statues of monk-hero Luang Pho Chaem and his assistant Luang Pho Chuang, both said to have important roles in quelling the miner rebellion in 1876 (before I was even born wei).

The kings and queens were also said to pray at this temple.


I went and 'kau chim' then I realised I asked for a series of things without asking for 1 particular thing. My friend said I must specify if I wanna ask about career, love, health or etc. I think I asked for all 3 and the 'chim' was a 'ha ha chim'... sigh... Then again, maybe I wasn't specific enough.

Also, I read this book on karma once... If you wanna be born beautiful / pretty / handsome, make sure you make flower offerings everytime you go to a temple. I've been doing it diligently recently... hehehe, wanna be born beeeeeaaaaauuuuutiful!

The night life in Phuket was pretty much like Bangkok and Pattaya but somehow the quality of the shows weren't as good...

• Take this A-Go-Go Bar I visited... although the women were dancing naked on bar tops (with poles)... the place was empty. Initially I didn't know why... then it striked me... the women were all kinda old... like mid 30s to early 40s... so needless to say, they are a little bit on the fleshie side... with sagging boobs... Level of enjoyment: 1/5
  
  
• Then I visited this Ah Gua Pub with live performances. All the performers were of young boys aged between 18 - 25 (at max) and were all pretty cute... (though obviously gays/ah guas). All night long, they will mime to the pop songs and dance the different dances in their many many change of costumes. Level of enjoyment: 3/5. But it was also quite an experience for me as this was also my 1st time visiting an Ah Gua Pub... where males were openly affectionate to their other half (usually younger boys) and never before have I seen so many boys wearing nothing but just their underwear (with an obvious erection). At one particular segment, all the boys will go up on stage to slowly sway their bodies (no joke... really slow moves) and occasionally touch their private parts to prolong the erection... damn weird wei... and ohhh... they all have this number plate stuck onto their underwear in case you want them to join you at your table, you can tell the ah-gua head..
  
  
• Then there was also Thai Boxing shows at night. Of the 3 pairs I watched... Pair no.1: Both were uncles in late 30s with big stomachs... Pair no.2: Super fit guys... Pair no.3: Super short guys... Quite the exciting also but after every round, the boxers will come around to shake your hand... I dumbly shook hands with one of the boxers and stared at him as he was watching me as though he was waiting for something to happen... Then out of no where, my friend gave him 20 baht and he walked off smiling... Sheesh... Level of enjoyment: 3/5

What I enjoyed most was drinking at the little huts near my hotel:

These are cute little huts with only about 10 - 15 chairs round the bar table. Apparently most of these huts were owned by ang moh men who chose to settle down in Thailand but are usually manned by Thai women...

Drinks are pretty cheap too... 60 baht for a bottle of Heineken or 150 babt for any cocktails. These huts also come equipped with stereo system with loud speakers, fans, TV, sink and a fridge. Very cozy... Here, I also learnt a new game:


This is basically a game where the ultimate aim is to have 4 coins in a row (whichever direction). Looks easy but can be pretty fun... and guess what? I won 100 baht from this game! HooHoo... Level of enjoyment: 5/5

We stayed at this hotel called Bel Aire Resort which was conveniently located near the shopping places, pubs, Muay Thai boxing arena and about 10min walk to the beach:

Prior to this, I've heard so much about Patong Beach - the place where the Tsunami tragedy striked a few years back. The bartender-lady told us that it took the people in Phuket between 6 to 12 months to migrate back to Phuket and to pick up pieces of their lives again after the sad tragedy. But the good thing was that, after the incident, the entire area was refurbished and they now have a warning system in place where SMS-es will be sent out to notify the people who will then evacuate to a hill nearby.

The beach was quite nice... with very clear blue sky and clear calm sea:

But hor, it was kinda like marred by the many many shades and the many many rows of deck chairs (KE gave me this term, then again he also said 'kerusi'... dumbass). The entire area looked more like a pasar-pagi than a supposedly 'world class' beach:

As I was feeling damn conscious in my bikini, I saw this:

and then this:

and finally... this:

So I thought... wahhhh ok... so happening one... bikini only ma... the ang moh women were sunbathing naked somemore... hehehe, so here... picture of me in bikini for the 1st time:

Sawadee-ka... Am back from Phuket already and in fact, started working today and felt like dying... So anyway... here are some highlights from my trip to Phuket from 27 - 31 Jan 07.

One of the tourist spots I visited was the Phuket Zoo. Entrance Fee: 500 baht

Just like the zoos in Bangkok and Pattaya, the Thais are very proud of their skills in man-handling the animals in Phuket... First there was this Crocodile Show - where crocs actually snap at trainers and yet when the trainer put his head in between the croc's jaw, the croc didn't snap:

See, I also can what! Somemore my crocodile is so much bigger:


Then followed by the Elephant Show - where elephants can count, slam-dunk, dance, sit on 2 legs and even draw using water-colour:

Needless to say, I also went on an elephant ride (again!). Can't exactly describe the feeling but it was fuuuuun riding an elephant... damn cool! Price: 400 baht for 10 minutes (although it felt longer)

We missed the monkey show cos it started earlier. But we managed to take a photo with this cool guy here at 200 baht.


Heck, the monkey was so damn cute that I decided to also take a picture with his cousin; Kong:

Actually (if you ask me).... if you've been to 1 zoo before in Thailand, it's about the same everywhere else. Nevertheless, was happy that I was able to get an elephant ride again although the view / landscape wasn't as nice as Nong Nooch Tropical Garden in Pattaya. Hehe.