Happy Labour Day

Ngar choy kai, mat tong kai, yim kuk kai. Sate, dim sum, yum yum!

Good to have a long weekend to start off a new month. Better still because work has been quite over-the-top because one staff had resigned. Next week shall be the start of another "over-the-top" month until my boss deems fit to advertise for a new executive.

Long weekend or not, I'm spending it typing up my CRE assignment. Finished one essay, another one to go. But, happy news is I can do that amidst wonderful yummy Ipoh food! (That really does make me sound a little bit piggy).

I never really found out what Labour Day means. A day of no labour, or a day to be extra laborious?

And ooh, our amaryllis has bloomed! It looks exactly like the picture I posted. I'll post more later.

Be back in a few days with more - enjoy a glorious weekend :)

Ages it has been

My modem busted last Sunday and it has seemed like a whole year. Gee.

A new one cost RM149. And it's taken me hours on the phone listening to horrible lobby music while trying to get Streamyx people to explain to me how to reprogram my new modem. Urgh. Don't want to go thru this ever ever again.

Now, to go thru many many kilobytes of emails.

It's good to be back.

Right now

Now reading :

• By the river Piedra I sat down and wept by Paul Coelho

Just read :

• The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom
• The other side of the story by Marian Keyes
• The other Boleyn girl by Philippa Gregory
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Now watching :

• Before Sunrise starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
• The Apprentice 3 Episode 13 - I can't believe it's not clutter
• The O.C. Season 3 Episode 20 - The O.C. Confidential
• Desperate Housewives

About to watch :

• The Apprentice UK

About to re-watch :

• Before Sunset starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
• Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale

Now listening :

• The O.C. Mix 3
• Beck
• Jem
• Leo Ku, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung, Flora Chan, and a host of HK goodies

I'm in a list-making frenzy. All those above sum up my life when I'm not working, doing assignments, shopping, writing my log book, playing Harry Potter 3, banking, obliging the family or running errands.

Speaking of errands, I spent 2 hours at the workshop early this morning buying 4 new tyres for my beloved Vitara who requires so very much of my time, attention and finances. My pocket has a HUGE hole now. I charged it to my credit card.

I came home after that and received my previous month's credit card bill. The total for the entire of last month is the same as what I'd just signed for a few minutes earlier. I spend more than I earn, urgh. Chien bu gou yung!

On tyre care, my mechanic (who is quite cute, btw, which helped while the 2 hours away) says that I should get it balanced and swapped every 10,000 km. And, tyres apparently can expire! He taught me to check the date on the tyre and estimates that local tyres (i.e. Silverstone) can last around 3-4 years.

I've been sitting here working on my CRE assignment for a couple of hours already. Another couple of hours and I'll have to get ready for party tonight. Thank goodness for that. I was starting to feel quite old and dowdy already, with so many pressing things on the back of my mind. You don't know what it feels like to wake up every morning and have to think of which reports I'm due to finish at work, how many more words my assignment essays need and where am I supposed to find the time to work on my log book.

S-t-r-e-s-s is spelt that way.

Hope is the thing with feathers

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

by Emily Dickinson

Great listens

The O.C. Mix 1

1. South - Paint the silence
2. Jem - Just a ride
3. Joseph Arthur - Honey and the moon
4. Spoon - The way we get by
5. Jet - Move on
6. The 88 - How good it can be
7. Doves - Caught by the river
8. Turin Brakes - Rain city
9. The Dandy Warhols - We used to be friends
10. Finley Quaye & William Orbit - Dice
11. Alexi Murdoch - Orange sky
12. Phantom Planet - California

The O.C. Mix 2

1. Eels - Saturday morning
2. Super Furry Animals - Hello sunshine
3. The Killers - Smile like you mean it
4. Death Cab for Cutie - A lack of color
5. Interpol - Specialist
6. Patrick Park - Something Pretty
7. Dios Malos - You got me all wrong
8. Nada Surf - If you leave
9. The Thrills - Big sur
10. The Walkmen - Little house of savages
11. The Perishers - Trouble sleeping
12. Jonathan Rice - So sweet
13. Beulah - Popular mechanics for lovers
14. Keane - Walnut tree
15. Jem - Maybe I'm amazed
16. The Album Leaf - Eastern glow

The O.C. Mix 3

1. The Raveonettes - The Christmas song
2. Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas
3. Low - Just like Christmas
4. Rooney - Merry Xmas everybody
5. Ben Kweller - Rock of ages
6. The Long Winters - Christmas with you is the best
7. Eels - Christmas is going to the dogs
8. Leona Naess - Christmas
9. Ron Sexsmith - Maybe this Christmas

The O.C. Mix 4

1. The Futureheads - Decent days and nights
2. Imogen Heap - Goodnight and go
3. Pinback - Fortress
4. A.C. Newman - On the table
5. Sufjan Stevens - To be alone with you
6. Funk - Play
7. Beck - Scarecrow
8. Modest Mouse - The view
9. Aqueduct - Hardcore days and softcore nights
10. The Reindeer Section - Cartwheels
11. Bell X1 - Eve, the apple of my eye
12. Matt Pond PA - Champagne supernova

Champagne Supernova

How many special people change?
How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?

Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky

Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams, she never dies
Wipe that tear away now from your eye
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?

Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova

'Cuz we don't believe
That they're gonna get away from the summer
But you and I will never die
The world's still spinning around we don't know why

Originally performed by Oasis
Rediscovered by Matt Pond PA in The O.C. Mix 4

This is a brilliant, brilliant song! I'm quite excited I managed to get a copy of this song. It's quite a good copy of the Oasis version. And I particularly like it because this song appeared during the part when Summer kissed Seth spiderman-style - haha. There's actually lots of sites online which has people describing what they think of this song and trying to understand the meaning behind the lyrics. Some of them are pretty weird, but reading these thoughts of other people reminded me of how my thoughts used to flow when I was doing English Lit in school.

But now, I'm too grounded to think English-Lit way anymore :P

Anyhow, the song's good because it's got a great tune, very melancholic too. Very suited to the various juxtapositions and contradictions in the lyrics. But if you look carefully, the lyrics pretty much seem like the words of a drunk.

And, YES - I've managed to download all 4 albums of The O.C. Mix - yippee! 4 full albums of great music :)

Right now, Champagne Supernova is gonna be playing continuously on my computer while I work on my log book (yeah, finally!).

Work to eat

Streamyx has been acting up. And what I've realised is that I'm getting pretty dependent on having an Internet connection - suffer Internet withdrawal symptoms without a broadband connection. I need to get a life.

Not like I do anything substantial besides blog, check email, download stuff, internet banking, ...

Tough week trying to prove to my boss I can be what I think he's thinking I can be. *Phew* Glad for the weekend - can recharge and start all over again on Monday :P

Work has "dullen" my brain. Urgh.

But work is necessary - because it provides all kinds of materialistic comfort which I can't get enough of.

You know, I left my first job because it had a bad working environment, but that job paid really well - about a third more than what I earn now, and that was 2 years ago. Now, with this second job, I'm really happy with the working environment and colleagues and all, but it pays really lowly. And worse thing is, I so know I'm worth more. I'm starting to wonder if I can never be satisfied.

I'm ready to fly out of the roost. And I really want to do that. I just really need the means. I hate depending on money.

Isn't this amazing?? Scary, awe-inspiring and intimidating all in one. 

Pinnacles

I'd heard of the Pinnacles in Western Australia - some huge sand dunes in the desert. Never been there, but heard it's a rewarding long ride from Perth.

But, I think the Pinnacles in Malaysia really lack publicity! I was flipping thru the MAS brochure for Borneo, and there was this amazing picture of limestones sharply pointing to the sky. It really looked very amazing. And, guess what? It's in Mulu! Yes, Sarawak. Malaysia, apparently, has other sights besides tropical rainforests and beautiful beaches. We've got amazing limestones!

I mean, they're practically "The Apostles" of Melbourne Great Ocean Road kind of material!

I'd like to go there some time. Read that you either trek there (no way for me) or you can fly over it in a 12-seater plane (that needs you to register your weight when you check-in so they can arrange weight distribution on the plane). Cute.

And no, I'm not the made-for-adventure kinda girl. I'm pure city girl through and through. So, I was quite delighted to find out that caving in Mulu doesn't require you to get in direct contact with guano and mud. Yippee! Apparently the caves are spacious enough to have wooden / cemented walkways. Cool.

Only snitch is that, for a local trip i.e. within Malaysia, it requires quite a lot of money - about RM1,500/- for 4D/3N. Hmm. But, it's the only "adventure" thingy within Malaysia I'm interested in - because trekking Taman Negara and climbing Mount Kinabalu seem like too much work :P

KF took this from the shop in Keukenhof, Holland. He bought a bulb in a box (like those on the left), and we're supposed to grow it into an amaryllis that looks like the bottom left flower, white with pinkish red edges 

I think this is a closer look at what the amaryllis is supposed to look like - pretty, right? :) 

When it seems to fly

This morning, I suddenly realised that tomorrow's Friday already - and there goes another week. It really really seemed like it was just Monday.

And with that same train of thought, it also really really seemed like it was just Chinese New Year. But where are we? Past April Fool's!

And what have I done this year? Urm ...

I know what I haven't done - but I'm not gonna blog it out cos it'll seem too much like nagging, and nagging's always bad, even if it's nagging myself.

KF bought back an amaryllis bulb from Holland - for us to grow it together :) Miraculously, watering it is something I look forward to everyday. My first time at gardening, and also my first time at having to grow my own bouquet of flowers rather than having it delivered gift-wrapped :P

...

All girls should check out the Nichii Fashion City in the newly-opened Tropics shopping centre in Damansara Perdana.

One, it's huge, lotsa selections especially blazers and jackets.
Two, it's having a sale.
Three, lots of generic-looking work clothes there (which means it doesn't matter if you and your friends buy the same thing cos they all look very basic that it seems like it belongs in everyone's cupboard AND it's basic-looking enough to not look cheap although it's cheap).
Four, no problem finding parking.
Five, I've never been to the Jln Sg Besi one, but this branch is definitely easier to get to, for PJ people.
Six, very few people know it's there, so no queueing up for the dressing rooms or to pay. Now, how's that for brilliant?

Obviously, I'm now in a much better mood since he's back :) And also, I managed to work off my last week's stress with a 2-hour shopping spree at Nichii. Nothing, really nothing, like shopping and buying clothes that look good and make you feel great. And I'm not a shopaholic, at that. Imagine if I were :)

For those not in the know, I was in a pretty bite-y mood the past few days because of several stresses at work - the most major of which was the lack, or non-existence, of salary increment. Urgh. I won't get started again.

I'm wondering if I'm meant to be where I am, or should I be somewhere else? I love the real estate business - gee, I sound like Trump - but I'm wondering if this is the only way to get where I want to be. And, come to that, where exactly do I want to be? Definitely not where I am now. Hmm, directionless. Maybe after I hand in my MSc assignment, I can sit and think abit. I always say that, don't I? But I never get down to it. There's just too much to do. Argh. Masa tak cukup - the pathetic excuse of constipators / procrastinators :P