Misled

Don't read unless you wanna hear me whine.

Early this week, I found out that my ex-company declared a 5-month bonus. Yes, FIVE!

But of course, I get absolutely nothing. Despite the fact that my current boss still gets his share of bonus through his wife (who stayed on in the ex-company just to ensure that happened).

I can't stop banging my head over how stupid I am. Or how my boss completely misled me into thinking I'd get at least something. Or how he has constantly made empty promises but never lived up to them.

The new company gave us a "mini angpau" of a few hundred ringgit "in appreciation of your efforts in helping our company start up the past 3 months". Yes, thank you for the nice bullshit and all. But wei, Mr. MD, I sacrificed my RM11,500 to help you set up a new research department and all I get is a measly few hundred? Come on!

On hindsight, I should have stayed on in the old company. On hindsight, I never should have followed this man. On hindsight, I wouldn't still be glooming over my desert-looking bank account. On hindsight, I should have noticed all the clues that pointed out that this was not a boss worth sacrificing for.

My heart blardy aches because I lost so much money. It aches more when I see the mounting credit card bills I struggle every month to pay. It practically breaks when I know that I have to bear all these destitute-ness for another year. And I do not believe that next year's bonus will even be anywhere near RM10K, let alone 5 months.

I'm so disappointed by the decision I made. I have no one else to blame but myself, for putting my trust in someone everyone warned me not to believe. It's so sad that all these has completely ebbed my enthusiasm in starting up this brand new department. Maybe I'll feel better in a few days, or few weeks, or few months. But right now, going to work blardy sucks.

Rush

Finally, an SUV that fits the price of an economical sedan - Toyota Rush! The 1.5G automatic is RM88,888/- and the higher-specs 1.5S automatic is RM94,888/-. From the looks of it, it looks like it can easily replace my Vitara, with many extra features thrown in. I like that it is a 7-seater, it's a Toyota, has a reverse sensor (not that I really need it, been driving without one for 10 years, but it's a nice-to-have), dual air-conditioning (so my backseat passengers don't get cooked), a CD-MP3 player system, airbag, ... wah, come to think of it, my trusty Vitara also quite lacking in a lot of things hor? And it cost RM99,000/- 10 years ago as well!











But, there's a saying "cheap things are not good" (paeng ye mou hou ye), and where else can you find an SUV at this kind of price? Besides the lousy Kembara la, but Kembara doesn't really count 'cos it's a 4WD.

The Rush is tantalizzzzzing ... far more so than the idea of a City or Vios. If only my bank account looked that promising :P For now, I just indulge in some day-dreaming la.

Heath Ledger (1979 - 2008)

Because he was my very favourite actor, I just had to put up a post on him.

His most memorable performance was when he sang "Can't take my eyes off you" in 10 Things I Hate About You. He and Julia Stiles (another actress I love) had real chemistry in there. And that movie is my all-time favourite.

He could have gone on to be one of the most celebrated actors.

Extracted from Wiki:

On January 22, 2008, Ledger was found dead in his fourth-floor apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. According to police, housekeeper Teresa Solomon had arrived at approximately 12:30 p.m. to do household chores, entered the bedroom circa 1 p.m. to change a light bulb in the adjacent bathroom, and found Ledger face down on the bed, with a sheet pulled to his shoulders, and snoring. Masseuse Diana Wolozin arrived at approximately 2:45 p.m. to give Ledger a massage, and when he did not emerge by 3 p.m., called his cellphone and received no answer. Wolozin entered the bedroom, began to set up the massage table, and tried to awaken the unresponsive Ledger. Wolozin called Ledger's friend, actress Mary Kate-Olsen, who replied she would call a security firm. After again attempting to waken Ledger, Wolozin called Olsen again briefly, and 3:26 p.m. called emergency personnel via 911. Medical workers moved Ledger to the floor, used a defibrillator and CPR, and pronounced Ledger dead at 3:36 p.m.
Police said they found prescription medication in the bathroom and that there were "no obvious signs" of suicide, nor did they suspect foul play. An initial autopsy on January 23 proved inconclusive at determining Ledger's cause of death. The medical examiner's office stated it will take about 10 days to complete the investigation.

He was 22 when he acted in 10 Things. He would be 29 this April 4. He won Best Kiss from MTV Movie Awards with Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain 2006. He has a 2-year-old daughter Matilda with his ex-domestic partner Michelle Williams.

It's wonderful to wake up 5 seconds before the alarm rings and knowing that you slept a good 8 hours.

The usual 45-minute drive doesn't seem such a chore when you have a good book to read and Maroon 5's latest playing while waiting for 11 traffic lights to switch to green.

The MacBook Air looks delicious. If not for the price tag, (and that it's not Windows-compatible), you know you'd grab one. But wouldn't everyone?

The blistering heat reminds you that it's 16 more days to Chinese New Year.

And 42 more days to Europe - whoopee! :)

Jutawan

How many zeroes are there in 1 billion?

I resorted to ever-trusty Google, where you find answers to questions you never thought of before, and then some.

I found that there's apparently TWO versions of how much a billion is. (This is just so wrong, how can maths and figures be so subjective?)

Apparently, the UK version says 1 million million = 1 billion.

The US version says 1 thousand million = 1 billion (9 zeroes).

The worldwide-accepted figure is, I found out, the US one. After all, if a billionnaire has to have a million of a million pounds, then the high and mighty US billionnaires would just be reduced to mere millionnaires and billionnaires just won't exist, would they?

By the way, there isn't a Malay word for billionnaire, is there? Do we have a Malaysian billionnaire - US version?

Happy. Lazy. Sunday. morning.

I was just scouring through this blog and realized that the number of posts decrease by the year. And the interesting-ness of my entries has taken a trip down the same way. Aiyah, what is this la ... I get boring-er as I get older?

Okay. That's all. Sunday has ended.

Back. to. the. swamp.

Swamped. Again.

If only swamps of work = swamps of bonus $$$

Now that would be so ideal.

Vacancy

Job Title :
Part-time Data Research Assistant

Job Summary :
To arrange and set up filing system for property research department

Duties and Responsibilities :
- Cataloguing : Sort, label, file and arrange brochures
- Data entry : Key in records of information from brochures into computer system
- Filing : Cut out and file property-related articles and advertisements

Pay : Hourly basis
Location : PJ State (PJ New Town) next to Menara MPPJ
Suitable candidates : College / university students, Form 5 school-leavers awaiting results

New Year

KLCC fireworks - never seen them so near in my life. We had a first-class view from our hotel room on the 12th floor of Impiana KLCC, all thanks to Justin who secured a room at such last-minute notice. The hotel itself is nothing spectacular - although all the KLCC concert artistes were staying there (we saw Ning and Alleycats) - and customer service sucks big time there (we had to wait till 6pm to get our room as it was still being cleaned!). But location was quite good, 5-minute walk to KLCC, great view of the fireworks (seemed to have been released from the KLCC Convention Centre opposite the hotel).

We pulled down the mattresses and all 7 of us managed to share that room for the night - been very long since we did some thing like that ok). We started drinking and toasting and playing charades at 11pm till midnight when we saw the fireworks. Then we waited for traffic to disperse before heading out for the 24-hour KFC near Jln Alor. Wah, that purportedly short drive took really long lor ... Bukit Bintang area was still crawling with revelers and completely littered. Having bungkus-ed our KFC, we drove back, got stopped by traffic police who wanted a breathalyzer test (but they eventually didn't do the test, because it's so obvious what it was they really wanted and they probably knew they were wasting time with us), and finally plopped straight to bed at 3am plus.

Next morning, it was dim sum in SS2 before everyone had to return home to catch up on sleep. We're not young anymore, yah. But was great to spend the new year with friends.

And today, it's back to work. Another year ahead.