Tarot Readings

Ever tried a session of tarot reading? I have not and am about to get one soon.

Now it is not like i really believe in them. Of course when i was younger i often were very curious at what life will bring me. And i have been to quite a few of chinese astrology, bazi and even palm reading. Each time i was told on so many things that i do not even remember now. The last i had was with my Aunt who studied palm and bazi reading with the famou Joey Yap. She took the cources online and eqquipped with books written by Joey Yap, she gratuaded and now have her own followers and also increading database of customers.

My session with her was a short one. She told me that in my bazi, i am borned with 3 of the 4 lucky starts and i should just accept what life brings me. It seems that with my 3 lucky stars, whatever problems i had or will be facing, will settled itself eventually either by the turn of events or getting help from my guai yan, which translates into English is helpers. Now this is something i would remember for the rest of my life. Why? Simple because it is just music to the ears. Who in the world would not believe in sweet talk?

Ok back to tarots. Not sure if this even works and i guess it is difficult to prove. Just like love, when 2 persons are madly in love, any conincidences will automatically be turned into fate in their eyes.

"Oh you like red?" "Me too!"

"Oh you once went to XXX mall in XXX year?" "Whao we are so fated because i was there too! And we might have met then but didnt knew each other! We are so fated!"

So that brings us back to tarot reading, bazi, palm reading and astrology readings. We will try so hard to link anything that were not supposed to be linked, just to console ourselves that yes indeed we can look into the future.  Duh!

Question is why do we still go ahead and have those readings? I think it is merely due to curiosity, especially those readings are difficult to prove its accuracy. It adds mysteries to the readings.

It is always fun to get to know what future will bring us. And each time we will swear to the light that we will not let those future events happen to us, especially when those are unfortunate events. But often enough we tend to forget about these insights into the future and just let them happen to us. Simply because we human seldom learn. People often say history is for us human to learn, but in reality, we do not. We look at our history, swear to God that we will not let it happen again, only to forget about those promises we had for ourselves and repeat the history again.

Human.... we are not that smart after all.

Anyway will try to remember to write down what the tarot master has to say to me here in the blog when i have the readings.

The Hangover

Just came back from a heart-to-heart talk with one of my buddies.

As we turned from the corner of LDP to NKVE, we saw 3 cars by the road and one of it was badly hit. There was an accident and thankfully that driver was safe because we saw him sitting by the side of the road and there were some people around him. One was trying to make a phone call.

Ironically, my buddy and I were speaking about something on drinking issue just not too long ago. So immediately we assumed that it must be a dunk-and-drive case.

I never like drinking. Well i cant drink too. The worst hang over i had was many years ago when i was forced to down a neat vodka. That night was a nightmare to me. All i remembered was walking out from the bar to the car park and blank.. there was a lot of vomiting...and the next day i had the worst headache ever! After that i dare not touch any alcohol ever. Even a few sip of beer would make me feel drowsy and my face will turn lobster red! I was that bad when it comes to drinking.

So how far would you stretch your limit when it comes to drinking? Would you restrain yourself and swear off alcohol if your better half is against it? Especially when your better half is against it because he/she is very worried of your safety? Who should be the compromiser in this case? And today i knew that alcohol is the devil that has killed a relationship of many years. Is it worth it?

La..la...la...Counting down

Yeah!

20 more days and i will be jetting off meeting up with my Mr. again!

Can't wait!

And the best thing is, Cofi is coming and staying with us too! Wonders if she will be able to communicate with those Arabic / French speaking doggies.. Hm.... is there an universal barking system in the four-legged world or are they like us with different "languages" altogether?

I bet this is one of the wonders of the world that i will never be able to get an answer to!

The Numbers Game

I looked at the numbers of friends i managed to find via facebook and also the number of friends of my other friends.

I began to wonder. What is the use of facebook really, besides giving us the perfect excuse to invade into others' privacy and being busybody?

I know we were supposed to use facebook to start connecting with people we have long lost contact with or long forgotten. So each time when we thought of someone, we will try so hard to look up for them and add these long lost friends into our list. Each time when we were given suggestions to add someone recommended by a mutual friends, we will not be hesitated to click on the "add XXX as your friend" button.

After that what follows? Do we really speak to them? Do we really connect with them? Do we even drop a line or two to say hello? Or we just gossip on them by looking at what their shoutouts were and what their latest pictures were?

We got connected but we never really connect again. Somehow it is just a numbers game for a lot of us.

Right Choice?

Just finished dinner cum catch up session with some ex colleagues from BAT.

The dinner went well and it was fun too.

For many year, each time i passed by the Roftman round-a-bout in SS2, i would have hoped and wished so much to be able to get a job there. It is like THE job for me for many years and the job was so difficult to even get an interview. I tried submitted my resumes the moment i graduated but no news, until a couple of years later when i finally got the chance.

The interview process was a painful one. From online test to face to face interview, telephone interviews and negotiating salary to finally signing on the offer letter. It was like a dream come true and i was really proud of myself. It was like achieving one of my goals.

The salary was good. The benefits were good and the people were great. Though at times we have to worked until wee hours into the night and start fighting with proposals, presentations, meetings, more meetings and tones of emails very early the next morning, it was fun. Well now that i think of it. Its fun because almost everyone in the team will have to stay together more than 18 hours a day to fight for the good result we wanted. We basically had every meal together sometimes for days. And also there were times when we do not even have time to grab a bite until way after the eating time. And there were times when the meetings were so long that everyone's brain was stuck. Of course there were times when we need to do fire fighting due to sudden change of company's goal or regulations set by the ministry of health.

And all these happened in the mere time frame of 5 months i was there. So much we have gone through.

I remembered complaining how difficult life was and how i did not want to work anymore. But secretly, each time i managed to settle an issue or seeing my campaign kicked off in the market, i was very pleased and proud of myself. For all my hard work and determinations.

Tonight i saw my ex colleagues came in tired faces and they told me funny stories of what had happened and are happening. It was fun.

I love my life now. I did not regret what i have chose. Just that i cant stop myself from thinking the "what if" i have stayed scenarios. Would i be promoted? Would i be bitching as well? Of cos i will.....

Well, it was a dream i made to come true and a goal achieved that i am still very proud of nonetheless. Way to go Cynthia!

Monster-In-Law

....................

Whao! Too near!

Judgement

How often do we judge others? How often these judgements are correct? And how often your likeness towards someone subsided as a result of your judgements?

Like many, I judge others but am very afraid to be judged by others. Am still a simple mortal who is worried of how others see me. And because of this over sensitive part of me, I am one of those foolish mortals who can't breakfree and live as free as I should and could.

I told a close friends on mine a story that I wanted to forget. And i chose to tell her simply because I knew she will judge me the least. And she didn't judge me at all. Yet she listened to me with all ears and only advised and consoled me as and when needed. She didn't say much but yet she helped so much.

All i needed was a listener. And I finally found one.

She made me realized that the path of seeking for an answer is now over, because the answer is clear like crystal. Haha... Sigh... We always need a third eye to clear the vision for us...

The Source of Evil

The weather has been so hot lately that i am having short headaches almost everyday. It usually happens in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is up in the sky, shinning to its brightest state ever.

Adding to that is the gastric problem that came haunting me since yesterday. For some unknown reason, it decided to lingers till now. Even after popping the medicines which was supposed to be very effective, it didint help much this time.

And they say the best remedy to cure an illness is to look for the source of evil. Now let me think what i did yesterday to awake this monster.

Oh ya i decided to go ahead and followed my heart in the quest of finding out the truth of something. The action of seeking has been debating within myself for quite some time and finally i found the courage to do it yesterday. They said you are opt for sadness when your hopes are high. On the contrary, my hope was not high. I sort of knew the answer but i just need to prove it. And then there was no answer, which was a clear answer in this case. And the stone which was sitting itself heavily on my heart got lifted off.

And now i can be free of guilt to totally dismiss those memories in me. For i knew i did my best to sustain something. It takes two to tango and if one quits, the other party will have no choice but to follow suite.

Is this the source of the evil??

She Says, She Says..

I woke up today only to be bombarded by a lot of she says and she says.

As i was listening to both ends complaining and grumbling about each others, i thought i was going to have a blank out. After a while words do not mean anything anymore. There were only mere noises.

So i have to bear listening to 2 different versions. Of course i am not blind or deaf. Of course somehow i knew how much are facts and how much are fabrications, results from adding their own imaginations, tones and manners.

But what do i do? Do i retaliate and burst in anger? Do i just keep quiet and let their behaviors escalate to worst? What goods will my reactions bring me if i retaliate or just keep numb?

This is tricky. I feel like a politician at this moment. I feel like i am playing a strategy game. But at least politicians have consultants surrounding them all the time telling them what to do. And strategy games too have walkthrough posted in the internet where you can google and just follow exactly. Who and what do i have? There is no one who can help me now except myself. This is frustrating.

All i know is, i want to be an ostrich now and stick my bloody head into the sand and pretend that nothing happened. Well at least with my ears in the sand i could have the luxury of silence. So i have myself a plan now. I will be an ostrich for as long as i could until my fleeing plan is neared. Then i will be able to leave this potential political massacre and self destructive situation, that is until i come back again. Of course i have to pray hard that i could hold my calmness and patience until then too.

I didnt sign up for this shit, did i?

Old

My friend asked me this " So how do you feel after your big day?"

And without any hesitation, i answered "Old", and that is exactly how i feel.

Not physically old but mentally. Whether you like it or not, friends will automatically labeled and categoried you into a different group. A group that is supposed to be older and less fun. Suddenly i am now not the out going type of person anymore. Suddenly i am those who are seen to be preferred to stay home and do nothing.

Why is that so? And have i also done so to all my other friends too? And this gets me started thinking.

For now, i still feel old.

I Need A Goal

After the passing of the eventful February, life is back to its normal, slow pace again. And after all the laughters and noisiness brought back by my brother and KC, the house is back to its quietness the moment they were gone.

And i ask myself, now what?

There is pretty nothing much for me to do or look forward to. Gosh, this scares me! And i really need a goal in my life or i will be living an empty one.

I planned to take up open water diving course but then the plan is not on a halt waiting for the confirmation of my return date to Algeria.

Or maybe i should look for a job again? Well perhaps i should!


Anyway the new Final Fantasy game was out last week and i went to buy a copy. I didnt play it of course. It it for my brother to play it while i sit comfortably in the coach and watch. And this is the only exciting thing i have in my daily life now.

But i guess too much of it is bad for me because i was "playing" 3 games together yesterday, but only in my dreams. So i woke up feeling really tired today and overwhelmed by games...

The Death of A Relationship

She called me and cried over the phone.

He has finally gotten married and her heart aches like a million knives piercing through. There is nothing else she can do.

Yet she is still missing him. Yet she is still wondering why have they came to where they are today. What had went wrong? His marriage has just spelled death for their relationship, or once the relationship.

They hardly contact each others now and she has to get the news from a friend. How cruel he is to her, she said. But that is the reality of life, i told her. There is nothing else you can do now. He no longer is in love with you and he doesn't even treat you as a friend. You have to let it do. I continued.

It is hard. She said. I have no control over my heart and how i feel.

Time will heal you my dear. Just let time do its healing. Just be patience...

1.2.3 Let the war begins

Well i have heard of these evil stories times and again. Never thought that will happen to me but it just did.

I guess i will just take in whatever that will be coming to me but i do have my last straw and it almost hit it this evening.

Patience. Calm down. I told myself.

It is only the starting. The end is still a long way more to go.

But then again, i hope you will not cross that line that i have drew for you. If not, i promised you that it will be the worst war you ever had.

Ok let's remind myself again. Patience.. patience... patience....calm down...calm down...calm down...

"All the Things We Could Not Say To Each Other."

A beautiful speech from daddy to me and the best gift i ever received from him.

Thank you dad and i love you too, a lot.

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親愛的來賓


親愛的貴客


首先我很感謝你們能夠來參加我們今晚上的喜宴。 我也是很榮幸的能夠跟大家講幾句話。但是我的語言方面有問題。 在華語方面， 我雖然學了一輩子， 但到目前還是學不好， 講的也不好。 而我的粵語， 廣東話， 也不行。 所以繼續下去我會用英語.
希望大家不要見怪。 謝謝。




Ladies and gentlemen


What i just said was that i have never ever given a speech in Mandarin or in Cantonese in my whole life. As my command of both these languages is rather shaky i will carry on with English instead and i am sure that nobody will mind.


Honored guest


Dearest Friends


Beloved family members and relatives from my side and from Kok Chung's side


Thank you all for being here to attend the wedding reception and dinner of Cynthia and Kok Chung tonight. This is an event that i have waited for a long time, and to be able to share it with all of you is very special and thrilling for me. I know that some of you have come a long way to be here, especially my friends and everyone else from Ipoh. There are also two special persons who have come a very long way to be here, from Algeria in fact. I know that they had to travel by air for over 20 hours to be here. So it is with deep gratitude that i welcome them to this dinner. Monsieur Hassaim, Yokuchi-san, bonsoir et bienvenue. Cynthia, Kok Chung and i are thrilled to have you with us tonight.




And all my other dearest friends, people who i have known for more than twenty years, people who i have grown to love and respect, people who have been with me in Toyota and out of Toyota, colleagues, suppliers, dealers and people who are just dearest friends - it is really good to have you here. You really honor me and Kok Chung with your presence. Than you again.


No so long ago a good friend and colleague of mine in Morocco introduced me to a book that he had read. It is written in French, the author is "Jacques Levy". I am quite sure that you have never heard of him, and until then neither had i. The title of the book in French is - well mesdames et messieurs, me non parley Francais - I don't speak French so i can't tell you what the tile of the book is in French. But i can tell you the title translated to English, which is "All the Things We Could Not Say To Each Other." It is a story of a daughter who, after the death of her father, goes on to discover all the things that the father could not say to her when he was alive, either because there wasn't an opportunity, of because of his own stubborn pride and stupidity.


Now i have obviously not read the book, but at that time, i was thinking about what to say for my daughter's wedding, and it struck me that there was a powerful lesson to learn from this book. The lesson is this" that one should not wait until it is too late to say the things that cannot be said to each other. That was when i vowed that i will not let such a sad situation happen between me and Cynthia. I should not let my daughter discover for herself all the things i could not say to her only after i am gone, and instead i should seize the earliest opportunity to tell her things from my heart. And tonight i think there is no better opportunity than this.


Cynthia, there are so many things i want to say to you, but the most important one is this: I love you as only a father could, for his first born and for his daughter, and from that very first moment when i held you in my arms as a newborn baby. How swiftly the years have passed, but to me the memories are as fresh as they had happened yesterday. Katherine, our daughter, that little girl with the big beautiful eyes that captivated all who knew her, look how she has grown. SHe is the beautiful bride now and she will be the mother of her own some day. I know that you are as proud of her as i am.


Cynthia, when you were born God gave me a duty to perform,which was to be the best possible father to you. What HE forgot to tell me was that to be the best father to a daughter is one of the most, if not the most difficult task to ask of any mortal man, as many fathers of daughters who are here tonight can tell you. And God knows and i know how many times i have fumbled and stubled in my duty, manybe more than all the other fathers of daughters here tonight. But you know what, tonight i am going to talk to God, Man to man if you will, Mano a mano, and i am going to say to him Hey God, maybe i didn't do such a bad job after all because Cynthia did turned out so right, did turned out so beautiful, didn't she?


Cynthia, i am proud of you and my heart is filled with joy for you.


Kok Chung, son, I am proud of you. I am proud to call you my son. I see that you have brought sense of contentment and happiness to Cynthia and i am grateful for that. She is yours now, to love and to respect, for the rest of your life. I know that you will not let me down, and i wish you both all the happiness in the world. Now having said that, i have a request to make to both of you and it is this: can you guys hurry up and make me a real datuk as soon as possible. I can't wait lah!


With that i ask the Lord to bless your marriage and your life together as husband and wife. Man to man, i thnk He will nto refuse me. Good night, I love you both!

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Tears fell from my eyes like the fountain, but they were tears of joy. So little said yet so much were understood.

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Truly Blessed

Just gone through one of the biggest milestone of my life and am so glad that everything went well. All thanks to my bunch of buddies.

Special thanks to Marcia, Jess, Hwee Ching, Peng, Michelle, Julie who came all the way from Korea,Bee Bee, Cheang, Aline, Janice and Grace even though she had fallen sick, she was still all worried about me.

Also am glad that I was surrounded by best wishes from my relatives and cousins.

And Cofi behaved very well on that day too.

Not to mentioned my parents for their warm wishes and loves, and also both my brothers for being there for me and helping me with everything they could.

Oh ya and special thanks to Cacing and Wei Hsiang too for being bullied by the scary boys. Heard Cacing ate a mouth full of bitters. Marcia, you too, thanks for all and sorry that you were bullied too.

Of course also to the scary boys who made the day very cheerful and "helping" KC on that day. I am sure he needed it. :)

Thanks all. I'm truly blessed.

Naked Chick

I opened up the door to the washroom just like how i used to be. To my surprised, someone was bathing inside and didnt have the door locked! And the worst part is i got myself a full view of the whole body! My oh my oh my!

La la la.... i love showering...

And the person didnt even feel shy or terrorized by my intrusion but continued with the shower in joy. Then suddenly she somehow realised my presence and cried, only to be excited by something on the floor and smiled again.

Oh no i am caught on camera! Whaaaa...

Hm... what is this thing with lots of holes? Looks interesting..

And she was still naked and i had an eye full of the whole view before i retreat myself. Ahhh naked chick. Not something you get to see daily.

Phew-feet!

No more pictures!

Steamy Dinner

Decided to invite some of my friends over for a gathering dinner and the best thing and easiest thing to feast will be steamboat!

So i went to the supermarket and bought food i thought it was too much for the 15 of us. Being the lazy me, the only item which i cooked myself was the soup. A pot full of "ikan bilis" and pepper. It turned out quite a good one from the feedback of my friends. As for all the other ingredients, well i could now take the credit because they are all ready packed from the supermarket. All i did was just paying! heheh

Everyone waiting...

So i spent an hour washing and preparing for the food and just when the clock struck 7, my friends came, and in batches. Everyone was hungry and started feasting not longer. Marcia, who was rather specific when it comes to food, demanded to have chili sauce and lime to go with the food, which i did not prepare. So i have to send my poor brother all the way to Giant supermarket to buy for me. Of course i complained to her being to fussy but i knew deep down that i was the stupid one. Who will be that stupid not to get chili sauce right? That is one of the essential in our Malaysian diet!

Food! And a very tired me! Never like cooking really.

Hope everyone is full!

Anyway after the dinner we decided to post for a group picture in front of the giant mirror i have in the house and also the one pair of chinese writing that is supposed to be written by the student of a famous calligrapher. It read (direct translation) "Kok Chung Paths The Fruitful Way" and "Pei San Opens The Lucky Door". I kinda like this because that means i will not need to do anything except opening the door and welcoming the fruitful path? hehehe

Well it was fun!

He paths the way...

And all i have to do is enjoy! Yeah!

Pretties!

My Brother's Korean babe! 

Hi Julie! Welcome to Malaysia!

And of course every event must end with a group photo! So here we are!

Ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo

My little brother is back for Chinese New Year and this time around with his latest girlfriend, Julie.

They met while he was having a holiday in Melbourne. He was having a chilled out drink at one of the local pubs and she was sitting across of his tables. I am not too sure about the details but i knew they exchanged numbers, started to to exchange smses, then phone calls and then they are officially a couple.

That was 1 year ago. In that one year, he traveled frequently from Perth to Melbourne to meet up with her. This time around, she decided to come back with him to Malaysia and celebrate Chinese New Year together.

Did i mention she is a Korean? She has the typical Korean behaviour. Shy, calm, reserve and very very sweet. When she is around my brother, she is always relying on him to decide things for her. And how often would you see a girl clinging to the sleeves of the boyfriend when they walk among the crowd? That is really sweet. No wonder Koreans and Japaneses are both the top in the list for dream girlfriends amongst the guys!

Well will be posting some of the pictures soon.

Ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo, nice meeting you, Julie!

4 - FOUR

I did a really stupid thing today.

I have been using my Iphone 2G to surf on facebook all the time, until yesterday i was notified by facebook that i will need to update my firmware in order to continue using it. Meaning the 2.2.3 version of Apple firmware is now officially outdated.

So i did all the things that i needed to do before i update the version. I went to download all the softwares needed to jailbreak my phone when i update the firmware to 3.10 version. I even synced my iphone with my mac and downloaded all my contacts, photos and songs. I was that SAFE.

And then today, i started on my updating project. And out of no where, i did a really stupid click! I replace all my contacts with an EMPTY contact folder. And viola every single contact is gone except for 4. And to my horror, all the 4 numbers are not even close friends of mine. I panic! LITERALLY!

So i updated my iphone nonetheless and quickly went into facebook and sent out an email asking my friends to send me their contact again. Some of them are really smart! They sent me separate emails with their numbers, but some of them did an unbelievable thing. They treated the email as a chat session. Before i could stop them, they have already spamming my in box like mad.

Can you believe it? And i have to apologize to all the other recipients of those emails, wholeheartedly. Never saw that coming. But then it was fun to read though and i hope those victim friends of mine will not mind that.

One thing i am happy is i have sort of got my iphone back to its original state. Well at least 80% of it. Still some more friends to bug for their numbers before i can completely be cool with the whole situation.

Latest technology is surely a necessary devil!

Reunioned!

I was debating with myself really hard the whole day today. I am a lazy person in nature. Every single time i would be excited to set up a date with my friends but only to have the lazy worm crawled itself into my head when on the day of the appointment. And each time i have to fight really hard to over come my laziness and drag my heavy ass out from the house and get myself driving to the location.

Today was one of those days.

But what was special about today is it is the big day of one of my primary school friends. I accepted his wedding invitation months ago and he even took the initiative to send me his wedding invitation card to my door step! How sweet of him.

Anyway i was saying about my laziness. The lazy worm was playing with my thoughts the whole day telling me that Cheras is just to darn far away from PJ. So i was debating within myself for a long long time. I knew i was so disappointed when i missed the reunion dinner with my secondary classmates the last time. So this time around, i pushed myself to dress up and drag myself out from the house. Boy i was glad i did!

It was like a reunion of primary classmates. Although it was just the 8 of us but it was a really long time since we last met, well at least for me. It seems that they do meet up a lot and they did a lot of things together. I had fun listening to all the latest news about them as well as those who didint turn up. The greatest thing is seeing 2 of them getting together and getting married soon. So wonderful!

What a great night. I am so proud of myself for going to the wedding dinner and best of all, having a fabulous time with them. How i wish i can have more chances!

Just Words

• "It's funny how after such a long time, my heart still missed a beat whenever i see her name online." said my friend to me. But deep down she knows well that he has moved on with someone else and is happily in love. Sometimes she even thinks that he has forgotten about her because now they hardly speak in msn. And all she could do is just looking at his username and wondering when, just when will he speak to her again. Sign, heartbreaking.

• I logged on to my blog today only to receive a pleasant surprise from my cousin, Wennie. She decided to be one of my blog followers! Now not that i have many but the more the better. Never has it crossed my mind that all my cousins have grew up and they are all now pretty ladies and handsome man. Somehow they still remain as the 5 or 6 years old kids to me. And now i see Wennie blossoming into a  lovely lady and she even has her own blog! Whao how time flies! And of course, i am surely getting older by the day. Darn!

• Dad's is surely getting younger, well technology vise only. I was checking my FB yesterday and stumbled upon his comments on my photos. Whao never see that coming really. I thought he is always a sleeping user of FB. Now the he learnt the power of FB, does that mean he will be spying on us pretty soon? Heheh but well it is great to know finally, he finally found the joy and power of using FB.

• Now i think it is the time of love season again, since Valentine's day is just round the corner. A very sweet girl whom is looking and waiting for her first love to happen asked me this: "what was the best gift i ever received from my previous partners? Was it expensive? Was it heavy? Was it memorable?" And my answers were: "No, it wasnt expensive. Nope it was light. Yes, very memorable." I was young and he was my first. The best gift was simply just a bowl of porridge he brought me when i was sick. What makes it memorable was because the distance from his place to mine was about 40 minutes drive. What makes it even more memorable was because he has no car and he has to beg his housemate to help him out. I hope you find one really special gift to give it to you "friend" by now. Good luck dear. :)

• The last time when i was furious about someone throwing endless hints at me and not being direct, i was really furious. I couldn't understand why she did so. And i complaint to my close friend about it. During the complaining, i sort of came out with the answer myself to deal with it. If that really matters so much to her, and it is within my capability, why not i just give in? After all it is just a short period from time to time. And i would definitely benefit from that. After that, the problem no longer bothers me. And i still got those hints from her now. It's just that the hints are no now longer pain in my ears but songs. Hm...changing perspective on things sure does help a lot.

360 Degrees

It's funny how things can go a 360 degrees turn just in a split moment.

I met up with a friend over dinner today and what should be a great catching up session dinner turned sour over a conversation. I was frustrated because i was made to feel like begging for a favour, which that was not what i wanted from the start. And i hated that because all it needed to "stop" me from begging was just a simple no, yet i didnt get that "no" no matter how hard i tried. Instead, i was being dragged.

I wanted to let my friend know that it was ok to just say no because i understood the complications it involves. Yet my friend continued to drag the situation, giving me lots of excuses but not the simple answer of "no". Why?

It all started from from a request by my friend. I have thought it through and even asked my friend personally again if it was really a good idea and my friend gave me the thumbs up, telling me not to worry and all. So after listening that positive note from my friend, i say ok, lets do it. But what happened now really frustrated me. Instead of fulfilling the promised, my friend wanted to back off at the last moment, which is completely fine by me, all i need is just a simple "no i cant do it" and i will understand. Instead i am thrown with all the excuses and more excuses, all the time not willing to just say no and whenever i asked again, my friend made me felt like i was begging for the favour!

Things should be simple. Either black or white. Yes or no.

And this incident reminded me of an ex boyfriend of mine. When i knew that we were going no where, i was waiting for him to just call it off but all the time he was giving me excuses and more excuses. At the end, i had to call it off and because of this i despised him. Not because we broke up, just simply because he wasnt manly enough to take up the responsibility to end things. And when i asked him why some time later, he said that he did not want to be the "bad" person who dumped me. If i had asked for the broke up, it will then be me dumping him and he will owe me nothing.

For that, i despise him even more. Dare to start a relationship but do not dare to end thing? Yucks!

Subtle Hints No!

It's been an eventful week simply because i have met up with so many of my relatives after a long long time.

Time flies. Some of my cousins have already been married and with kids. The youngest one is already 1 year old and today was the first time ever i met him. No wonder the poor fellow kept looking at me with a sorrowful face, getting into his crying mood at any seconds. He must be thinking who the hack is this woman who keeps looking at me?! heheh

Something triggered my anger just a moment ago. I just cant understand why would someone wants to continuously gives out hints to me and not simply telling me what they want. Or they will just tell someone else to tell me, which in retaliation, i pretended that i have never been told or that i could never understood the hints they dropped me. So i guess we are just playing the "see-who-can-last-longer" game.

Suck! Ruined my weekend just like this!

When Size Does Matters

Met up with my pet brother today over lunch at mid valley. We decided to grab ourselves some coffee as "pick-me-up" at Starbucks before we decided on what's good for lunch.

As we were catching up, somehow we took out our phone to fiddle when i realise that he is using an Iphone 3GS. Whao! I am still stick with my 2G and have been pondering if i should upgrade mine. One of the reason why i resist changing is because of the beautiful pouch i am using now. It a really heavy duty red leather pouch that i could easily identity from the pile of things in my bag. And somehow i knew the size will not be the same between 2G and 3Gs because 3Gs is definitely wider and thicker.

So i did a very idiotic thing. I took his 3Gs and stuck it into my pouch. Guess what? The pouch fitted so tightly that we cant pull it out! Now even bitting, pulling, shaking or anything.

And throughout the whole thing i kept assuring him that we will be able to take out the phone and if not, the worst case scenario will be going back to the shop and just cut off the leather. And my pet bro looked rather worried the whole time. We did the pulling and pushing actions for about 30 minutes when he could not bear it any longer and requested us to go back to the shop and asked for help.

And we planned out everything during the whole journey. We have two options. The first option will be asking the staff to help and if they can help us on this, everyone will be happy. The second option is if all things failed, then we will ask the staff to cut open the pouch and ask if we can restitch the pouch back. If they can restitch it, then he will buy me a 3Gs pouch (he said he will buy one for himself too) and i will pop over to Low Yat and get myself a 3Gs Iphone. That will sort of like help me make up my mind as well. Sounds good eh?

So we went to Starhill and walked straight to one of the lady staff. Seems like they do not have any pouch for Iphone 3Gs. So there goes the second option. Desperate, i told her just to cut off the leather. Her eyes widen! And then she told us that there was once a customer who wanted to buy the same pouch for his 3GS and didnt believe that it will not fit. He forced his phone into the pouch in the shop and only realised it got stuck! Somehow one of the staff managed to unstuck it for him.

So she directed us to the same staff and he asked for our phone and brought it into one of the rooms to try. Guess what? Within 5 minutes, he managed to separate them? How did he do it? He just said pull and that's all. I thought we have been doing the same thing as well, but...?

Anyway, after that terrible incident, we went for a good lunch at Starhill. Ah... so glad to see a smile on him again. The last time i met him was about 1 year ago and if i had really made a blunder today, i guess i wont be seeing him again in a long, long time.

And what is the morale of the story? Yes, size does matters!

MH = Malaysia Hostility!

Before our trip started, a very unfortunate even happened all thanks but no thanks to MAS. Now everyone knows the tagline of MAS right? MH = Malaysian Hospitality. But after the incident that happened to me, i doubt that i will ever take MAS again.

Here is what happened. Joey was supposed to join us for the trip from JB. She was supposed to take the 3pm flight from JB-KL via Mas on 18 Dec and join us taking the Etihad Flight on 9pm the same night.

At about 430pm, she called us and told us that MAS has first delayed the flight, and then cancelled the flight entirely and she was stranded in JB airport still. We asked her to try buying tickets for another flight or even from Airasia hoping that she can make it. She said she did, she even bought the 6pm MAS flight ticket and MAS once again cancelled the flight again! At the end, she booked a cab and tried her best to rush up from JB to KLIA for the Etihad flight.

As for us, the moment we finished checking in with Etihad, we marched to the MAS flight center in KLIA. Somehow something happened to MAS flights that day and the monitors along the way showed that there were just too many flights cancellations and delayed all due to "Bad Weather" which we knew it was a cover up because the weather was not that bad after all.

The queue in the center was long. I managed to speak to one of the staff over the counter, explaining the whole situation and request MAS to spare Joey a seat for the next flight to London as a compensation. He asked us to wait. And we waited and waited. After a long 45 minutes waiting, we were called and the senior officer said coldly that MAS will not be able to do anything simply because our flight to London was not with MAS but with Etihad. Isnt that ridiculous??? MAS simply ignored the fact that the reason why Joey is missing her flight is because of MAS cancellations and then MAS continued to ignore its responsibility by saying that they do not compensate if our connecting flight is not with MAS. I was furious! 

Then the lady simply brushed my away by saying "I think the best is for you to go the the 5th floor and speak to the Manager. I cant do anything else". 

That added to my anger! And i told her " Look, you should have told us earlier and not made us waited for 45 minutes. Now i am only 10 minutes away from boarding. If you asked me to go up and look for your manager, i am sure i will need to wait for dunno how long before he comes!"

"Nope i will call him now and he will wait in the room." She said.

So quickly we ran up only to realise that yes, the manager is indeed not there! Then we managed to grab hold of someone and he directed us to another senior and at the end we have to hand over Joey's ticket to the senior officer because it was time for us to board. All that time, Joey was rushing from JB to KL via car. At the end she didnt make it. MAS just told her that nothing could be done and she took the car ride back to JB, very disappointed.

Now the ordeal didint end there. 

In Vancouver, we thought we would just pay penalty to Etihad to change the flights for Joey and ask her to join us in London instead. So i called up my travel agent and request their help to request for a replacement ticket from MAS from JB - KL.

And the result back was unbelievable. The agent told us that MAS said there wasnt any records in their system that shows there were any flight cancellations or delays from JB - KL on the 18 Dec. If we want to get a replacement ticket, we will have to show the "memo" that was given by MAS on the cancellations as a proof. If we want to issue a new ticket, we will now have to pay a penalty of "no-show" fees! Ridiculous!! MAS simply concealed its mistakes in the system! Why? I am guessing that will show that they never have any cancellation or delays and it will make its whole record looks better?? This is just plain lying!

And because of this, Joey has to miss her chance to celebrate Xmas together with us.  All because of MAS's Hospitality???!!!

I still havent written a complaint letter to MAS yet because i am sure they will simply ignore me or just come back with more excuses and brush away the responsibility. I am just plain fed up! No more MAS for sure.

Jet Hopping, And The Trip Begins..

Yep, year 2009 has just gone and everyone is welcoming year 2010 with a big heart. While i am still fighting my battle with the cold bug, i feel much better now. All thanks to Panaldo Cold! Just like its tagline, clears you up fast!

My family managed to pull a 12 days trip to Vancouver, London and Paris as a way to say bye bye to year 2009. It is never an easy task to travel in a big group of 8. You will need to spend twice on cabs, food, accommodations, basically anything but the fun was twice as much too.

"Daughter-in-law" said my dad to the London Immigration Officer! *Shy*

We begin our trip from KL in the evening of 18 dec only reaching Vancouver airport on the 19 dec. Bear in mind that Vancouver time zone is one day behind of Malaysia/ Yep! That is right! We have flown from KLIA to Abu Dhabi to Heathrow to Vancouver airports for approximately 48 hours before we managed to reach Vancouver. It was terrible! Especially all the airports were full with people due to the holiday seasons.

Oh no! 10 hours transit time in London and we are only starting!

The fun thing though about having a big group is sometimes we are given the chance to experience things that otherwise we will never thought of. Just like hopping into a limo to get us to the hotel! Good for 8 passengers, 6 huge luggage bags, 2 hand carries and 1 stroller. It was great to be able to experience sitting in one. And the best thing was, it wasnt that expensive after all. It cost only 90 canadian dollars which is about RM270 compared to the KIA Van we had to take when we were back. The van was dirty and old and we had to pay RM200 for that! Duh!

Black Limo! Woohoo!

Free water anyone?

A very tired me after the 48 hours jet hopping...

Now Vancouver is about 16 hours behind of Malaysia which makes it a day behind Malaysia. For the whole trip in Vancouver, we are slept at 8 or 9pm only to wake up automatically around 5 or 6am. What do we do then? Since we can no longer sleep, we had no choice but to beat the cold and geared up with lots and lots of warm clothing and begin our day by having continental breakfast to start the day. After much considerations, we decided to go to the Vancouver Aquarium in the first day. Weather was not that welcoming thought. It was gloomy even in the morning and starting to pour around noon.

Do we look alike? Hehe

Piranhas!

Like i said, the weather wasnt welcoming and it poured rather heavily by evening. We had to end our tour and head back to the hotel. And since we were so lazy to go out for dinner, we went to the 7-eleven around the corner and did what most Asians love to do! We bought cup noodles and canned soup and ate them as dinner.

One of the greatest invention of the century!

Where's my soup???

And as you can guessed, by the time the clock ticked 9pm, we were all asleep....

Starting The New Year With A "Hah-Choo"!

How was the new year's eve celebrations for you folks?

As for me, i celebrated mine with Cofi by sleeping through the night with a heavy head, running nose and a really bad sore throat.

Though i am sick, i am somehow grateful that i am only sick now when i am back to Malaysia and not during my holidays in Vancouver or even London. It will be dreadful if that is the case. I would not be able to go shopping during Boxing day and the long haul flight back to Malaysia will be even worst!

As for now, am busy sorting out the pictures that i took during my trip as well as organizing the "prizes" which i got from the cheap shopping during Boxing day. Before i blog on my trip, here are some pictures to share for now.

Have a great 2010 year peeps!

The night scene of Vancouver city

Stanley Park in Vancouver

Merry Xmas, Ho Ho Ho!

Wonderful China Town at night

Smallest snowman ever?

Boxing Day in London

Go Arsenal!