Merry christmas !

Yo, Merry Xmas !



Well though technically we cant build a snowman, but I wish I could someday for xmas..haha




Don't fight over the turkey and other xmas delicacies



Enjoy giving and receveing presents. (Psst..where is mine?)



Don't let your pets eat the xmas tree





Posing in front of it for pics is ok




Once again, Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays!

Ok, so I'm not going cuckoo after all

Everyday on the way to work I pass by 3 tolls... now I would think that passing by those money sappping devices practically every working day I would be familiar with them.

Well anyway I accidently left one of my touch and go cards on the car dashboard under the non slip mat... by the time it was discovered it was adi half fried and crooked. I decided to test it out to see if it was still working... so one saturday I told YS to use the Tunai & touch and go lane.. so if the card fails we can still pay money... surprisingly when we passed by, there was no tunai & touch and go... how strange... all the touch and go lanes just said "Touch & Go" ...but I could have sworn I saw at least one lane with the Tunai when i passed by everyday.

The following monday on the way to work, I saw it! The words Tunai & Touch and Go at that very toll... I was like ehh?? Determined that I really saw it... the following friday when I was on leave.. I passed by that toll with YS again... and lo and behold... the sign was not there... it was then that we realised, the signboard flips during peak hours, so that people can pay chas at the touch and go lanes... CHEY.... and I tot I was going crazy...

Well I guess some of you also don't know this, don't tell me I'm the only one who didnt know that the signs can flip right? RIGHT?

every journey home

Every weekday evening I begin my journey home from work. Recently I have been trying out ways to keep myself occupied when traffic is slow. After some time, whether traffic is slow or not I still like to do this.



Lots of tress near my office. You can see IBM tower peaking out behind one of them.






Some of the buildings that can be seen near the Kerinchi link




I get to see the sunset when I'm nearing home. I didnt manage to get the actual sunset pic yet though.

Final Fantasy XII

Haha well today is my first time blogging about a game. As most of you know(if you don't know then you obviously don't know me very well) I love playing computer/PS games, especially RPG. Anyway this is what's currently occupying my nights. So if you dont see me online, you know what I'm doing.

One of the things that really caught my eye about this game is, the skies in this game are so lovely. See that pretty sky in the shot below? You can even turn your head up to look at the sky while running. This game has a nice 3D feel to it, one that doesnt make my head spin like certain games.







Oh yea, anyway, from what I understand the plot is something about this little country called Dalmasca being caught in the middle of a war between 2 large empires. In the war, Dalmasca's prince died, and the princess apparently commited suicide in grief, or so the government says la. The little country is forced to surrender to the stronger empire. So the hero of this country, who lost his brother in the war, eventually finds himself involved in all this, and it turns out the princess isnt dead after all, but its actually some political plot to cover up that she didnt die. They meet up with a few more interesting characters and set off to help the princess and somehow save their country.

Well anyway here is the typical pretty boy hero of the game. His name is Vaan.




I still prefer the other characters, hehe... like the Sky pirates Baltier and Fran.


Fran is a Vierra, one of the wood people. Somehow everytime I look at her I can't help but think of the word Playboy bunny. Its the ears!

Ah yes, and I really love the Moogles in FFXII too. SO much cuter than the original moogles.



About the battle system, It is more real time than the traditional system. Its called Active Dimension Battle" (ADB) system. The characters are free to move about when fighting ,instead of taking turns one by one. I do prefer it this way, instead of the usual way where suddenly in the middle of walking the screen changes and you are suddenly surrounded by monsters. By the time you finish your battle you cant even remember which diretion you wre heading in already. And if you get lost, you are gonna encounter battles until you die or get fed up.

After targeting a monster, the character will automatically perform basic attacks. However, there is also a visible ATB-like time gauge showing when a character can act. Another nice thing is the Gambit system, in which you can program the AI of your other party members so that they will automatically perform some actions without you having to command them to do so on the spot. Initially its a little weird, you see a lot of blue, green and red lines running everywhere on the screen. But its quite useful because those lines are telling who which monster is targetting which of your party members, and vice versa.








About the skill system, I think I prefer the previous ones though. This one is a little annoying. Its called Lisencing as in you need a lisence to use a certain weapon or skill. Basically its like a board where you earn points to be able to click on 1 square. A square represents a skill. Clicking on 1 square opens up the squares next to it, a bit like minesweeper,lol. Unfortunately you dont know what the squares contain until it opens up. This way you kinda waste your points trying to see whats on the squares. Usually I reload my game if I get those that I dont want. The best way is actually to just download the lisence board picture from the internet to refer to, so you dont need to waste your time, haha.....




There is summoning in this FF too, just like the rest. Here, they are called Espers. After deafeating it in battle, only 1 character may summon it. The difference is that the summoner remains an active in the fight, instead the summoned creature fighting alone. A bit like the style in kingdom hearts. You cant control the Esper though, but you can still use the character that summoned it, to attack/heal etc.

The Limit Breaks are replaced by Mist technicks called Quickenings. If your party members all have learned it, they can can string together Quickenings into large and powerful combo attacks. Its a bit hard to press all the buttons before the time runs out though, and you have to press some buttons to shuffle the characters too, I'm still trying to get the hang of that one.



Here's a few more random screenshots I took of the IGN website

I need these now

Its 1.30 p.m. I have not had lunch, and I didnt sleep early last night although that is my resolution for every night.

Right now I need

FOOD!




SLEEP!




GAH! Someone just shoot me....

Sleep driving

For the 3 of so years that I have been driving, I notice I do tend to doze off at the wheel, especially during the evenings when its rather jam. However this sleep driving habit of mine is getting worse lately. Today I was surfing the internet and came upon this article taken from Drivers.com

Tactics to fight drowsiness
Now a new survey shows some of the tactics drivers resort to in an effort to fight drowsiness on the road. In descending order, the most popular tactics those surveyed said they have used when they have become sleepy while they were driving were:

Stop driving or switching drivers (59.5 percent)
I imagine myself telling my lady passenger, hey mind switching over? You drive, I sleep. I bet I would reach heaven faster... since she has not driven for years. Stop driving... where am I supposed to stop? Its more likely that my car is going to be honked at by motorists.

Open the windows or turn on the air conditioning (59.0 percent)
I think I'll pass with the opening window thing, especially with the haze and all. And well, from experience, stronger air conditioning makes me even sleepier

Listen to the radio or CDs (57.7 percent)
Doesnt work, already tried it
Stop to eat or drink (46.3 percent)

Well, like I said earlier, there is no where for me to stop on the way home. I have tried eating, but sweets dont last forever.

Drink caffeine (42.3 percent)
I try not to drink too much before heading home. It is after all a long journey, wouldnt want to need the loo urgently

Other methods the respondents claimed to have used to stay awake at the wheel include talking or singing to themselves (31.7 percent), splashing water in their faces (18.4 percent) and slapping, hitting, or pinching themselves (a self-abusive 16.1 percent).
I guess I'm one of those who abuse myself. However I cant bring myself to slap moi hard enough to leave a lasting effect.
Talking.. well..my passenger is fast asleep everyday on the way home.
Singing.. hmm I have tried that before.. but after a while the words dont make sence anymore....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


The American Institute of Chartered Personal Casualty Underwriters (which is one heckuva name for a band) insists "stay awake" behaviors such as exercising, turning on the radio, and opening the windows are misconceptions and have not been proven to prevent sleep attacks. Other unproven methods to combat drowsiness are hopping on one foot, swapping pants with another occupant of the car, and trying to remember the name of good Rob Schneider movies

Excuse me but how do you hop in the car? And swapping pants? Mad ar?

Ah well, I guess the only thing I can do is sleep more at night, although it doesnt really work. Sleepiness while driving just happens. Maybe its just too boring or cold. The funyn thing is, once I rech home, I feel so refreshed and wide awake..must be all that sleeping in the car.... It must be a miracle that I'm still alive now, hahaha...

I need wacko busters too

In responce to Alvins 4 am wacko buster post at
Alvin's blog
I have my own twilight shocked out of sleep story.

I was sleeping soundly after a long day at work, then dinner with steffi. I got home at 10.20 because of the jam and all. So around midnight, I went to bed and was sleeping the sleep of the almost dead.

Suddenly I could hear screaming and shouting coming from downstairs. I was confused for a moment. Then I heard my parents voices coming from downstairs... eh, was it morning already? I glanced at my hp and it was 3.45 a.m. What on earth was going on? I dragged myself out of bed and went down the stairs, only to see my sisters hooting away while glued to the computer. I was like.." What on earth are you guys doing?" them :"Hahaha... watching the apprentice..."

Ok fine, I was too sleepy to debate with them so I dragged myself back to bed...a few minute later my sisters came to the room. Since I had yet to fall asleep, I asked them... was it my imagination or did I hear screaming and shouting? They said it was them, because they were too happy that their favorite guy won. -_-.. and yes, I actually did hear my parents voices because the insane yelling woke my parents up too. Darn and I thought world cup was bad enough.

The worse part was, I could not fall alseep for another hour or so after that. Sigh... I was soo sleepy this morning. I felt like throwing water on them as I left for work.. they were still sleeping soundly in their beds. The joy of being on holiday............. -_-

Hmm interesting...

Just to post up a pic of something we saw at the Shah Alam Museum. We were like ..eh... didn't know they wore this type of undies in the past. What powers could the special undies hold?

1. Maybe it wards off evil. Hmm... like maybe the person wearing it in the past would drop his sarung or something if he encounters pontianak. Then the pontianak will flee at seeing the words on the undies.

2. Remind the wearer to be religious. Every time he sees the words on his undies when going to the toilet or changing his clothes or even ahem... taking off his clothes for "other" reasons, he is reminded not to do any "naugthy" stuff.

3. Its just the "In" thing during that time to have such a name on your unidies, like how kids have power rangers shorts and underwear nowadays.

4. It empowers whoever that wears that underwear to be..ahem...."strong" and "powerful" in that region.


Well seriously I have no clue why they would put Allahs name on undies. I mean its not like I'm making fun of their religion or anything, after all its posted up publicly in a public museum after all, so it must be something thats acceptable. Do enlighten me if any of you know the true function of this ancient piece of clothing.

The arrow shows whats written on the sign. I'm not kidding..Go here for a larger and clearer picture.

Larger pic

song quiz !

Random-ness time!

1.) Load as many songs as you can into your playlist. Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4.) NO CHEATING!!!

The questions and my answers:

1.) How am I feeling today?
np: Gorillaz Demon Days - Last Living Souls
(lol... demon days is a good description, coz im having flu today. Yea and its like im the last living soul here too, office is quiet..)

2.) Where will I get married?
np: Thumbelina - Let Me Be Your Wings.mp3
(hmm, whats that supposed to mean I wonder, marry a pilot? hahaha)

3.) What is my best friend’s theme song?
np: Enya - Amarantine
(hmm, no comments)

4.) What is/was highschool like?
np: liang jing ru - dui bu qi wo ai ni(I'm sorry I love you)
(yea, plenty of love and angst in high school,lol)

5.) What is the best thing about me?
np: Sheryl Crow - Wildflower - 01 - Good Is Good.mp3
(haha, when im good im good when im bad then I'm..hehehe)

6.) How is today going to be?
np: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
(I wish you were here... my pillow !)

7.) What is in store for this weekend?
np: Rdiana ross - endless love.mp3
(ooh, sounds romantic..)

8.) What song describes my parents?.
np: Utada Hikaru - Hikari.mp3(light)
(not bad, I guess parents are kind like our guiding light)

9.) How is my life going?
np: Fish Leong - Si Lu_.mp3 (silk road)
( my life is like a silk road eh...but in that song, it refers to the lonely silk road in China)

10.) What song will they play at my funeral?
np: Utada Hikaru - Sanctuary
(quote 1st 2 lines of the lyrics - In you and I,
There's a new land,Angels in flight.... sounds like i went to heaven? hahaha.... )

11.) How does the world see me?
np: Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her.mp3
(Uhh.....)

12.) What do my friends really think of me?
np: Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow - Picture
(UHHHH.....)

13) Do people secretly lust after me?
np: Lee Hom - Forever Love.mp3
(they love me? awwwww)

14.) How can I make myself happy?
np: Collective Soul - The World I Know.mpg
(Hmm I know the world but I dont understand it)

15.) What should I do with my life?
np: Corinne May -The Birthday Song.mp3
(celebrate birthdays?)

16.) Will I ever have children?
np: Micheal Buble - What A Wonderful World.mp3
(um, does it mean i should have them or not? hahaha)

17.) What is some good advice?
np: Frankie Valli - Cant Take My Eyes Off of You.mp3
(who should i stare at? cari pasal ar? hahaha )

18.) What do I think my current theme song is?
np: westlife - written in the stars.mp3
(stay with me, dont fall asleep too soon....dont be afraid i'll be right by your side.. oo nice song)

19.) What does everyone else think of my current life?
np: Boyzone - No Matter What.mp3
(no matter what they tell us...what we belive is true..does it mean people think I'm stubborn?)

20.) What type of men/women do you like?
np: Bee Gees - First Of May.mp3
(when i was small n christmas trees are tall..we used to love while others used to play. ) woah... no comments

21.) Will you get married?
np: Liang Jing Ru - Ke Xi Bu Shi Ni.mp3(A pity it isnt you)
(A pity it isnt who? lee hom? brad pitt? hahaha)

22.) What should I do with my love life?
np: Robbie Williams - Feel.mp3
(Feel the love, baby! ahahaha)

23.) Where will you live?
np: Westlife - I Still Love You .mp3(uhh....)

24.) What will your dying words be?
np: rob_thomas-problem_girl.mp3
(Tell them I'm a problem girl? -_-)

25.) When im having sex i say..
np: Beatles - Yellow Submarine.mp3
(-_-)

26.) When I meet a guy/lady for the first time i say..
np: And_Today_the_World_Is.mp3
(today the world is good...and today the weather is good....)

27.) When my parents are angry i say..
np: Beatles - Let It Be.mp3
(ahaha yes, let it be ! XD)

I created a Slide Show! Check it out!

7 months of gerbil keeping. 7 months of memories, both happy and sad. The joy of having new born gerbil pups, and the sadness of losing my first gerbil. However its a rewarding experience :)

Backfire

Ever thought that the methods we painstakingly use to ensure the security of ourselves and our property could backfire on us? Well anyway here's my story...

On Wednesday I was on leave, to celebrate my mum's bday at the Crown princess hotel. After the lunch was over we got a complimentary cake from them, yum yum.... so we were preparing to leave... we all got into the car, my dad took out the stering lock jey and inserted it into the keyhole and turned....and turned... and turned somemore....

..........

it wouldn't open!

Well after another 20 minutes of twisting and turning..and even banging at it, we started to panic. We decided to go back to the hotel to ask for help. Haha the cake was getting soft after so long in the parking lot too. Luckily the hotel staff told us of a locksmith just accross the road in ampang park. So we set off to find him..

After we found him, he asked wheres the car....

Dad: crown princess hotel carpark XXX floor
Locksmith: ohh there ar, its haunted u know
Us: ............

So another half an hour and 50 bucks later, we were on our way back home.

Me: See dad I told you that steering lock was not working properly, but noooo you had to use it.
Dad: it was always working fine when I used it before,
Me: hah..yea right, it always gets stuck when i use it. That time at least still can open after 10 minutes, now see what trouble it has caused.
Dad: Anyway that fella took out the spring already...we can continue to use the lock !
Me: .................-_- you still dare to use it....

5 hours later my dad came to join us for dinner and a movie at mid valley. After the show, at around 11 pm......

Me: ah tired... lets go home
Dad: ok... say u know what, I locked the car with the steering lock again.
Me and sisters: You WHAT?!
Dad: dont worry it can open one lar...
Us: ....... we are doomed...


Haha well in the end it didnt caused anymore problems, but think of it we could have ended up stuck in MV carpark at midnight!

Me: If the same thing happened, we would have taken cab back home and you stay here and handle the situation.
Dad: Hehe.......

Q & A - Tagged by Steffi

A Thoughts Provoking Q&A...
I got tagged!
Name 20 people u can think of and then tag 5 more people to do the survey. Do not read the questions before you write.

1. Alvin Boey
2. Sarah Boey
3. Chin Yee
4. Chi Wei
5. Wei I
6. YsLim
7. Ash
8. Hsiou Ling
9. Philip
10.Chun Eng
11.Steffi
12.Wei Li
13. See Min
14. Billy Tong
15. Hai Ling
16. Lai Li Lin
17. Pauline
18. Gina
19. Victor
20. Jonathan

1. How did u meet #14 (Billy Tong)
My classmate in college

2. What would u do if u haven't met #1 (Alvin Boey)
I would not have known that such crappyness existed in the world :p

3. What would u do if #20 (Jonathan) and #9 (Philip) dated?
I think Jon would most certainly freak, Philip hmmmmmmm ^.^

4. Would #6 (YsLim) and #17 (Pauline) make a good couple?
Aahahaha.... well there is a rather large age gap I would think

5. Describe #3 (Chin Yee)
Always manages to buy cheap bags, likes cute pigs? Or rather people like to give her cute pigs

6. Do you think #8 (Hsiou Ling) is attractive
Hehe yeah, have always though so :)

7. Tell me something about #7 (Ash)?
Potential gf must learn to peel prawns....

8. Do you know anything about #12 (Wei Li)'s family?
Uh, considering she is my sis..I guess so :p

9. What is #1's (Alvin Boey's) favourite?
Chicken rice, bak kut teh, Manchester United

10. What would you do if #11 (Steffi ) confesses that he/she likes you?
Well............. she does have a variety of tastes, but I'm sure she prefers feminine guys rather than girls. (*prepares to run away)

11. What language does #15 (Hai Ling) speak?
Cacat language. No really... well we do have our own language.. Right Pei yi? hahaha

12. Who is #9 (Philip) going out with?
Steffi was saying that its Chun Eng? haha.. well who knows Philip is mysterious all the time.

13. How old is #16 (Lai Li Lin)?
My age... shhh, not to be disclosed here

14. When was the last time you talked to #13 (See Min)?
2 months ago I guess... on the phone

15. Who is #2 (Sarah Boey's)'s favourite singer?
You got me here, I only know she likes the prison break guy, singers..tak tau

16. Would you date #4 (Chi Wei)?
Well... maybe if I were 5 years younger or he were 5 years older, hahhahaha

17. Would you date #7 (Ash)?
Hehe, weren't we just discussing this yesterday ash? :p

18. Is #15 (Hai Ling) single?
Hmm... she claims to be, but not sure if there are any new developments

19. What is #10 (Chun Eng)'s last name?
Tan I think. Don't kill me if I'm wrong >.<

20. Would you consider being in a relationship with #19 (Victor)?
Inter-office relationships are not fated to go well I think

21. What schools did #17 (Pauline) go to?
No clue, never got to asking her that I think, hehe...

22. What is your favourite thing about #5 (Wei-I)?
She talks in the middle of the night... like last night, then I can tease her about it :p

23. What do you think about #13 (See Min)?
I've known her for the longest time, she seems quiet but just wait till you know her :p

24. What do #4 (Chi Wei) and # 18 (Gina) have in common?
I think they are opposite in every way

25. What special qualities does #5 (Wei-I) hold in your life?
Uh, we are blood related?

ok, so i am addicted....

I am 51% Internet Addict.

I am pretty addicted, but there is hope. I think I'm just well connected to the internet and technology, but it's really a start of a drug-like addiction. I must act now! Unplug this computer!

Take the
Internet Addict Test
@ FualiDotCom

I am 35% Geek.

You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing.

Take the
Geek Test
@ FualiDotCom

Well I'm in the IT line anyway......

Bet most of you who find yourself reading this are addicted too :p
All hail the internet !

Phone conversations

Picking calls in office when the admin is not around

Call 1
Person : May I ask if your company yada yada yada
Me : Uh..... ( Dont know how to answer and boss and admin not around)
Can you call back tomorrow? The person in charge is not around
Person : No I just want to know if yada yada yada
Me: -_-

Call 2
Person: hwhw tywyw$ 24^@WHRW rhwhwhw..... *buzzing and crackling sounds
Me : Uh hello? hello?
Person : Ini Malaysia?
Me : Uh yea.... cari siapa
Person: Saya panggil dari luar negeri ...*garbled sounds.....
Me: uh ya, you cari siapa
Person: Takde la..... *phone call ends
Me: -_-

Talking on the phone to a certain somebody

Call 1
Me: Hello, hey my phone is out of battery so I cant call you later, I'll be at your office at 6 pm ok?
Lady: Oh its ok, if you cant call me I'll call you
Me: -_- (hello? no battery how to receive call)


Call 2
Me: hey i just called to tell you im leaving now
Lady: can you call me when u reach my office?
Me: Ok, but yesterday there was no signal around your office area, if you dont get any call from me by 6 please come out.
Lady: Oh yea that day the network was down. Its ok, I'll call your phone if you cant call me
Me : -_- ( someone does not understand the concept of no signal)

Lawatan ke tapak pembinaan

After another day of working late, I went to fetch my friend home. Now you see my friend works at this temporary office at a construction site, so usually if I pick her up at night I'll give her a call when I'm almost reaching the office, instead of having her wait for me outside at a specific time, coz its dark and all and shes afraid to wait there. So anyway......

7.30 p.m.
Me: So I'll be leaving at 8.30...will reach your place around 8.50
Lady: Just give me a call when you are here ok?
Me: Okok....

8.50 p.m.
Me: *press press press on handphone
Hp: Call failed
Me: *Press press again
Hp: Call failed
Me: Huh? Tries to dial another number to test the network
Hp: Call failed
Me: *Restarts hp
Hp: Emergency calls only
Me: Oh crap !

9.00 p.m.
After fiddling with my handphone, I came to the conclusion the network was down. Looks like no one is coming out either..... So basically I had 3 choices

Choice 1: Wait in the car until my friend comes out
Choice 2: Go into the construction site and into her office to call her
Choice 3: Go home and leave her there

Therefore I went home......NOT. Well in the end I went into the construction site, even though it was night there were bulldozers and what not going around. I was wondering who should I ask regarding the location of the office, then I saw this guy with a safety helmet standing at the top of some stairs. So I went up to him. He was looking at me with the " what are you doing here" kinda stance, I was wondering if he was some foreign worker and I should speak to him in Malay, but in the end I asked him, "Do you know (insert my friend's name) ?" Then it appeared he did, and he was not a foreign worker after all, so he led me to their office,which actually was the carpark of the building being constructed, furnished as a temp office.... where my friend was most surprised to see me. Anyway on the way back to the car....

Me: I thought your friend was some indonesian worker at 1st
Lady: Oh...that was the bosses son, hes kinda tanned eh?
Me: oh..hehe.....
Lady: So, the construction site is scary at night eh?
Me: Yea kinda, I was thinking of waiting in the car until you came out actually, but I was worried you would be too busy to notice the time
Lady: Yea, you made the right choice, I would have stay there until you called me
Me: -_-

Thus ended the tour to the construction site. The cellphone network only recovered at around 9.20p.m......

My pets

Since I have not updated my blog for a long time, let me just post some pics of the animals living in my house(excluding humans)

2 bunnies




15 gerbils including newborns, teeheehee

Pumping petrol , another misadventure

If some of you remember, funny things always happen to me when it comes to doing something that I dont usually do, like pumping petrol for instance. Usually my dad fills up my petrol tank when he takes the car out for games or what not. However this week he forgot to fill up my petrol tank. So last night I was forced to pump petrol on my own, otherwsie there wont be enough petrol for me to go to work the following day.

Me: I guess I have to go pump petrol
Lady: Remember to pull your handbrake this time!
Me: Haha, if anything happens like the last time, you can just pull the handbrake yourself instead of trying to hold the car with your hands!
Lady: Haha, no la..I'm afraid the handbrake will come off!
Me: -_- uh huh.....

So anyway I paid at the counter, and proceeded to start pumping the petrol.

Me: Eh, why is nothing happening?
Lady: hmm yalo, the figure isnt coming out.
Me: Let me go ask the couter guy if he got the right station number.

So I asked..and the guy, obviously not understanding english well, was making signs with his hands to press the petrol thing(dunno whats the term for it), I was like uhh...ok.....

Later on we realised you have to start pumping the petrol before the figures start to come out. (*Dies of embarassment) Another attendant came to help us on doing that... Well I bet all of you are like -_- that I cant even pump petrol after driving for 4 years. :p I guess I'll do better the next time.

Petrol hike is to blame for.....

1. Messing up our heads

On the very first day of the petrol hike, me and my bunch of colleagues went to our usual kopitiam for lunch... where were suddenly realised...

Aunty : Here’s your mee. That will be rm 3.30 please.
J: What?
Aunty : Hehe.... everything price went up adi lo, delivery charges la, price of pork yada yada yada.....
J: Uh....>.<
Uncle: Here's your pork ball noodles, 3.30 please.
Us: (looks at each other) 30 cents increase for everything! SCREAMMMMMM

The next day
J: Boycott the restaurant!
V : Lets go to secret recipe, at least they didn’t hike up the price.
Everyone: lets go lets go!
Me: (Isn’t there something wrong with this scene? Spend additional Rm 10 just to save 30 cents......)

At any rate after another week we were back at our usual kopitiam for lunch, its still the cheapest around our place anyway. This phrase sounds familiar? Sounds like our GOV saying that Malaysia still has the cheapest rate of petrol.

2. Depriving us of simple pleasures(while still messing up our heads)

(Before petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us: Teh si Ping, teh limau ice, kopi ice, milo ice yada yada

(After petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us: Uh... Shuit char(ice tea),yit char(hot chinese tea), tak mau, tak mau....

(Few weeks after petrol hike)
Waiter : Minum apa?
Us : Semua tak mau.....
Waiter : -_-

Following which some of my colleagues usually head to the supermarket after lunch to buy a Just Tea, Coke or other canned drinks... which costs even more than a teh tarik -_- I just head back to my office to drink water.

3. Endangering our lives, well being and property due to implementing cost reducing methods

Being that the cost of living has gone up, all of us have been trying to reduce our costs.

Cost reducing method 1 : Avoid paying for parking
Around my office area you can park in 3 places.
The parking slots in front of the office(50 cent per hour)
The yellow line area in front of the office(subject to the wrath of the JPJ)
or next the playground or lorongs near the school(subject to abuse from wayward youths and school children)

Naturally to avoid paying for parking, we park in those illegal places or near the school.

Scene A : (park near school)ARGHHH!! who conteng my car !!!
Scene B : (park near playground)What THE ...! How come so many motorbikes parked all around my car, how am I going to come out!
Scene C : (park yellow line) ARGHHH rm 30 saman!!!
Scene D : Die, its raining and my car is 10 minutes away up the hill, with all the water pouring down the slope! Tomorrow sure sick and on MC la...(decreases office productivity)

Cost reducing method 2 : Pay parking only for the "peak hours" that the JPJ come (usually 9 am - 2 p.m.)

Colleague: OII , JPJ datang!!!!
(mad rush to the car park by everyone in the office. Stampede!!!)
Colleague: Aiya tak sempat to slot in coins, kena saman adi...sob sob


Cost reducing method 3 : Don't waste petrol!
Scene A: Leave the house before 7 am to avoid the jam..then reach office only to find that no one is there yet and it is locked. End up spending rm 4 for breakfast trying to pass the time.

Scene B: Leave the office at 9 p.m. to avoid to jam only to realise that night is pasar malam night. Jam all the way home.

Scene C: Leave office at 8 p.m. on a non night market day only to encounter heavy rain and floods. Therefore reaching home 2 hours later with a bursting bladder.

Scene D: Turn off the engine at a slow traffic light to save petrol, only to realise your car cant start when the lights turn green. HONK HONK!

Scene E : Turn off aircon n open car windows. Busses pass by n belch smoke at your car, filling your lungs with carbon monoxide

Scene F : Turn off engine and open windows when waiting outside any place for your friend/mum/gf/bf....and roast in the hot malaysian weather

Cost reducing method 4 : Car pool or public transport?

Car Pool
Scene A:
Fella 1 : Its ok dad, you can take my car, I'm car pooling today
(1 hour later)
Fella 2 : (on phone) I'm on MC today, you go to work yourself la
Fella 1 : ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Scene B:
Me: (Arrives at her house, nobody in sight)
Lady: (Comes out 15 minutes later) Sorry sorry, I overslept
(30 minutes later,, in the heavy traffic)
Lady : Aiyo I'm going to be late for work, why dont you take this lane, it seems faster, cant you cut into that lane? Hey just stick your car into here, we can skip the queue
Me: -_-

Scene C:
Me: Arrives at her work place, nobody in sight. Dials her office number
Lady: Hello?
Me: Eh, you still there ar
Lady: Aiya sorry I got urgent work to do suddenly, can you wait for 10 minutes?
Me: Uh ok, please hurry up, the jam will be worse soon
(20 minutes later)
Lady: sorry sorry, aiya its raining now, die la sure jam
Me:(*Its not the rains fault its your fault!!!)

Scene D:
Lady arrives on time, we leave early, traffic is smooth, weather is good

Me: (Happily driving home in anticipation of dinner)
Lady: Traffic good today huh
Me: Yep, tats coz we left early(hint hint)
Lady: SInce we are so early today can you just fetch me to xxxxxxx to buy something?
Me: (Sigh) Ok....

(In front of the stall/shop/mall 20 minutes have passed)
Me:(*aiyo why so long one, I'm parking in a bad place la)
Lady:( Finally appears) Sorry sorry, the stupid cashier la, must be new person la, dunno how to yada yada yada......
Me: SIGHHHHHHH !!

Public transport
Need I say more? Imagine taking bus/lrt from Cheras to my working place. I think it will take 2 buses, 1 lrt and 2 hours at least. Even driving is cheaper.

Conclusion:
Dont bother with money saving methods, you will end up suffering more.

How it actually happened

Well anyway, its like this. I finished my work on friday and wanted to go home on time(5.30 p.m.). Unfortunately I could not contact HER (the lady I fetch home) and therefore was stuck in office calling her office phone every 5 minutes. Finally after 20 minutes I managed to get her.

Lady: Oh, don't tell me you are leaving now! I have so much work to do and some of it is urgent.
Me : Uh... yea I have finished my work n I actually wanted to go back some time ago but I cant reach you.
Lady : Oh, my office line isnt working properly. I'll call you back as soon I finish this urgent matter ok?
Me : uh ok....

(Flashback to last night- thursday)
Lady : Are you staying back until 9 tomorrow? (Friday)
Me : Well maybe...not sure
Lady: I hope you do, I have a lot of work to rush
Me : uh ok, we'll see

(Ok, back to that present moment)
At 6.40, still no call from her, i tried calling her to tell her I would be going out for dinner since I'm waiting for her but no one picked up the phone. At that time it suddenly started raining very heavily. Darn...looks like I cant even go back.

6.45 the phone rings
Lady : Did you try to call me just now?
Me: yes..
Lady : Oh sorry about that, the phone is still not working properly. Do you want to go back now?
Me: Uh, its raining heavily now, my car is parked quite far away.
Lady : Oh I didnt realise it was raining. Luckily we didnt go back earlier !
Me: Har? If we had gone back just now(1 hour ago) we wouuld have escpaed the rain and jam.
Lady : oh...hehe.... well so what time do you want to go back?
Me: Well since all of us are stuck in office, probably we will just stay on till the rain stops. How can I contact you when I want to go back, perhaps you can give me the cellphone number of your colleague?
Lady : oh, cant la, they are all leaving soon already.
Me: Uh ok.... call me back in 30 minutes then.

As luck would have it, the rain stopped about 10 minutes later, and I could not reach HER when I called her office. Fine... I then went for dinner with my colleagues. Oh well since it was already so late, I might as well just stay back until 9 pm and catch up on some tasks, and claim the allowance that comes with staying back for 3 hours.

8.00 p.m. the phone rings
Lady: So when do you want to go back?
Me: I think I'll stay till 9 after all.
Lady: AWWWW... Couldn't you come earlier? I'm SOO BOREDD and I have finsished my work.
Me (...............you said yesterday that you wanted me to stay till 9, and I was the one being bored in office with nothing to do WAITING for YOU)
Uh.. i'll try to get to your place as fast as I can after I leave office.


9.15 pm in the car
Lady: Ah, you are finally here. Sigh, its going to be a boring weekend, i brought so much work home.
Me: Eh, I thought you said you were bored just now.
Lady: Oh, theres still a lot of work, but I didnt feel like doing it, so boring la..
Me: ...................(bangs head on car window)

Why am I here?

Well, looks like I finally gathered up the time and mood to blog about something. Guess where i am now? In office of course. Why am I here at this time? Ask me then.

Q: Do you have a lot of unfinished work?
A: Not really, I have finished my work

Q:Why are you still in office?
A:Its raining heavily now, and I mean REALLY heavily

Q:Why didnt you go back earlier before the rain started?
A:Because I could not reach a certain someone who I am supposed to fetch home, despite ringing her number hundreds of times.

Q:Isnt there any other way of contacting her?
A:She has no cellphone, and apparently she seldom checks her email, because I tried that too.

What could this be?

Well since its going to hatch soon, I thought I'd just adopt one and what it turns into.

In the meantime....

adopt your own virtual pet!

While I'm working on future posts, amuse yourselves with my adopted virtual pet

More conversations on the road

Time - 6.30 p.m.

Lady: It always rains when we are on the road
Me : Where got?
Lady: See the road, its all wet, must have been raining here just now
Me : Huh, its dry isn't it?
Lady: See its darker.
Me : Uh, thats because some time ago they tarred the road
Lady: Oh....

Sleepy driving conversations

Of late I have been reaching home from 9.30 - 10.00 pm everyday. Sometimes I wonder am I so sleepy that I'm hearing things or is my companion really saying these words during our drive back from office.

Case 1: (approx 9.30 pm)

Lady :That day I watch an old Chinese series where the girls plait their hair Yada yada yada.....
Me : Oh, you mean those series based on olden times in China where they work in the field for a living
Lady : yea yea, those days, the girls were all so pretty la...
Me : Haha, well those you saw on tv are actresses from this era anyway, goodness knows what the real olden days girls looksed like.
Lady : Huh? But this show is really very old already!
Me : Uh, so?
Lady : Isnt this series filmed in the past?
Me : Huh? What filmed in the past? Its probably filemed a few years ago I guess.
Lady : Ohhh, I thought they filmed them during their everyday lifes like 100 years ago or something
Me : (*sweat)Uh...I dont think they had colour video then. Besides, you can see quite clearly that they are all acting wut.
Lady : Oh but it looks so real la.
Me : -_- (Mentally banging my head agaisnt car window)

Case 2 : (9.50 pm )

Lady : Look at the lanterns hung up! They look so pretty at night
Me : Yea, every year they hang up the same lanterns
Lady : They are so bright ah?
Me : Uh yea, got electricity to power the bulb inside then sure bright la
Lady : Eh, they use electricity ar?
Me : Otherwsie how they get lighted up?
Lady : But I saw some that dont use electricity before !
Me : Uh, you mean glow in the dark ones? Or those using candle?
Lady : Hm, not using candle, but they shine brightly anyway. They look just like the ones we passed by
Me : Uh..ok.. (resumes driving)

From kota rendah to bukit tinggi (1 Jan 2006)

Finally, for the first time in goodness knows how long, a REAL holiday ! Originally we had planned this trip for December, but with xmas preparations and all, it didn't work out. So on new years day, we gathered at my friends house to begin our journey up bukit tinggi.


After all the hustle and bustle and waiting for the late ones, we began our journey


Everyone was very excited. The van was almost shaking due to our noise. There were 12 of us in the van and another 5 in another car. Pity the van driver, it must have been headache for him listening to the sakais hooting behind him.


A sign that we have reached bukit tinggi! Everyone turned their heads and the same time and yelled "HORSES!" All our cameras pointed at them and started clicking, it was only a few seconds, but I managed to capture them from the window. Only after I previewed the pic I realized the riders were actually waving at us, amused at the reactions of these kampung people.


We stopped by at the resort to get our apartment keys. They have a nice fountain. This is part of it.


Here we are at the apartments, they look pretty !





I skip the luggage unloading part to show you the pics of inside the apartment and the view from the balcony.





Ahh, white clouds, fresh air.... I'm on vacation !


You can seer that we were well prepared for this trip


Complimentary pizzas ! There were 6 of em !!! YUMMM Its all thanks to Uncle Yap



All aboard the shuttle to visit the places in bukit tinggi. Can you spot me and YSlim in the pic?







We didn't visit the tea house but we did pass by. We spent about 2 hours in the botanical garden though




The flowers were very nice. There are too many pics to post so I wont post up the pics we took in the "forest" part of the gardens.

At 7 pm, it started to rain. We rushed to the shuttle boarding area. That was when all the rude Malaysians cut our queue to board the shuttles. After almost an hour, we were still waiting for the shuttle! In the end, cold and wet, we finally reached our apartment in time for......



TOM YAM Steamboat !!



Yea we had the non tom yam one too, hehe....



After that we had a round of cranium. Check out http://Ypfrules.blogspot.com for more pics of us playing the game.

After the hilarious game was over, some of them went to take baths and some played chess. Having nothing better to do, some of us went for a walk...and also to take some stupid pics of ourselves.



This is only one out of many. Apparently the wannabe Harry potter fans are trying to transmogrify the stuffed toy into something....

Thus concluded our first night at bukit tinggi. It was a very long night... Sleeping 6 people on one bed is no joke. My legs didn't want to wake up in the morning.


Day 2

Sore and aching, we woke up to a beautiful and cold morning


We headed to the bukit tinggi resort for our buffet breakfast. They have the models of all the resorts n buildings in bukit tinggi on display. Kinda cool


This is the miniature model of Colma

Actually the buffet was nothing special, not comparable to buffet breakfast at KL or PJ hotels.



In the dining area, their xmas deco was still up.

After breakfast, we headed to Colma for sightseeing


Actually there wasn't much to look at so me and a few friends spent most of the time feeding the swans and trying to touch them without getting pecked to death.


Swans are below this bridge

White swan

Black swan

Black swan vs white swan. Apparently they hate each other. They were trying to attack each other through the wire earlier on.

Next stop was rabbit park. I should have brought my own rabbit food. RM1 for about 15 rabbit pellets. Back home rm 3 can buy a whole bag adi. Sigh, I guess that's how they make their money. Most of the bunnies were friendly and laid back, not like my hyper duo back home. Of course mine are in better condition too, its sad they don't take the trouble to treat the bunnies with open sores and wounds. Typical of petting zoos. My cam had run out of battery so this pic is taken by my friend:


2 bunnies in the rabbit farm

That was our last stop. After that we headed back to the apartments to pack up and get ready for the journey home. One of the last pics I took before we got back.



Tree version of KL tower. IT looked pretty weird at night, like some mysterious luminous tower. Can;t get a shot of it at night, the pic comes out pitch black. So I took a pic of it in the daylight just before we left.

The journey back home was the opposite of the journey up. Everyone was sleeping and too tired to talk much. That comes with sleeping at 3 am on crowded beds I guess. Farewell Bukit Tinggi, we now continue our mundane lives at Kota Rendah... City of traffic jam and hot weather.