situation vacant

knew it! i'm in the totally wrong profession!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks. You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have an innate artistic talent and an eye for color and shapes. You are also a natural designer. Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

iBought iT!

i have surrendered to the forces of Coolness and have purchased a mac! :)

an iBook G4, to be exact.

been itching to make the purchase for a long time, and the sight of the promotion bundling in an AirPort Express sealed the deal.

also obtained a USB-powered massage device which came as an 'xmas free gift' courtesy of the shop.

actually, TWO USB-powered massagers (another 'xmas free gift' since i decided to also purchase AppleCare).

so, if anyone wants the use of some massage devices.. (they look like a cross between shower heads and lotus seed-pods).. well, you know who to look for.

it figures

after 60 hours of eating, sleeping and breathing financial statement analyses, all i have to say is..

.. boy am i GLAD i'm not an accountant! :P

there was much progress, considering that we took four gruelling, tiring, excruciating, [insert similar adjectives] days to complete 95% of a project most other groups took weeks to do so. (though after a fresh look through the report over this weekend, i wouldn't be surprised if we'll have to restate the said figure to a lower value!)

whatever happens, two things are certain for now:

- it's scary that at by the end of the course, i may start talking like a lawyer and an accountant all in one. (though i can't guarantee i will be able to cook your books AND make it legal..)
- i'll be counting sheep in PE ratios of 4 decimal places tonight.
- at the end of this, we'll all be really good CPAs*.

* Copy & Paste Artists.

the Abyss speaks, amidst gulps of syrup and sticks of satay

one really should have an emergency wardrobe of clothes one size larger to cater for these gastronomically-rewarding festive occasions.. (on this remark, a muslim friend reasons: "aha, that's why we fast for a month before we go head-on into a month of open-houses!")

the deepavali and hari raya open-houses during the past few weeks have been nothing short of fabulous (free flow of satay!! need i say more? :)) and, needless to say, rather generous on the waistline!

and guess what, there's a malay wedding coming up next week. the gastronomic odyssey continues!

open season

the essay season is here!
econs!
statistics!
marketing!
trips to the library!
hut! hut! hut!

runnin'

you know you've got a bad case of the sniffles when...

- you can't smell the freshly cooked dish of belacan & petai in front of you

- you can't hear what people around you are saying unless they turn it up a few decibels

- your pals start to fuss over you and start changing group-discussion plans to suit your fragile disposition (dang, i thought i could skive discussions for once! :-D)

- the customer service lady on the phone addresses you 'Sir'

"1984"

ever seen Apple's earth-shattering "1984" ad which ran only once during the Super Bowl but which was phenomenally influential?

To quote a description from somewhere on the Net (cos I'm too lazy to paraphrase):

"In the third quarter of the 1984 Super Bowl, a strange and disorienting advertisement appeared on the TV screens of the millions of viewers tuned in to the yearly ritual. The ad opens on a gray network of futuristic tubes connecting blank, ominous buildings. Inside the tubes, we see cowed subjects marching towards a cavernous auditorium, where they bow before a Big Brother figure pontificating from a giant TV screen. But one lone woman remains unbroken. Chased by storm troopers, she runs up to the screen, hurls a hammer with a heroic grunt, and shatters the TV image. As the screen explodes, bathing the stunned audience in the light of freedom, a voice-over announces, "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce the Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984." "

our Marketing lecturer made quite an impact on the class describing the above ad (which half the class was not really aware of since they were still screaming kids in the year 1984). the guys seemed particularly interested in the description of a leggy Brigitte Nielsen in tight-fitting white t-shirt and red shorts [yes, such detail.. see the impact of the ad?] running in with a sledgehammer. a copy of the ad was downloaded from the Net, and the guys were rather disappointed to find that the 80's perception of a voluptuous leggy 6-foot blonde didn't quite match their current expectations. ha ha. anyway, if you're a george orwell fan AND a mac addict, you might identify with the ad. (there's a streaming version in the above link.)

canine capers

sparky's "I'm a Cute Pup with a Warm Fuzzy Nose, So Feed Me" pose, caught on camera - giving the close-up-of-nose 'The Dog' graphics a run for their money!

coming soon:
the Howling-at-the-Old-Newspaper-Van stance (if i can ever sneak up on him before he realizes he's being caught on candid camera!)

pests

a PEST analysis of people who should be banned from Earth:

(PEST, in the context of business strategy, refers to Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors. The acronym happens to be quite fitting of the topic!)

on Political factors:

- George W. Bush

on Economic factors:

- telemarketers who tell you they will only take 2 minutes of your time. [this results in misallocation of scarce resources (i.e. time)!]
- an extension of the above - telemarketers who call your home, find out that you're not in, and then coerce the poor person at home to giving away your mobile number by saying that they are your "friend".
- direct-selling salesmen who tell you they will only take 2 minutes of your time..
- come to think of it, any unsolicited salesperson (with apologies to all you irritating sales people).

on Social factors:

- it used to be people who asked when i would get married. it's somehow evolved to people who ask when i will convert the empty room in the house into a nursery. and by the way, i'm not even married yet.

on Technological factors:

- people who forward you a ludicrous virus warning (you know, the stuff that wipes out your entire C drive, deletes all dll files, the existence of which is confirmed by IBM, AOL, Intel, Netscape and Microsoft) and when gently told it's a hoax, indignantly reply "sure, that's what they say, but there is no harm in distributing these warnings - you NEVER know! better safe than sorry! prevention is better than cure!"
- people who forward you an email with six pages of old email headers and the long-awaited actual e-mail content reads "this is a good luck charm... "
- people (of any age) who refuse to touch a PC [if my once PC-illiterate retiree dad can now check stock quotes online and engage in online discussions with automobile interest groups, YOU have no excuse! ;-) ]
- the people who, when told "Help, MyDoom has infected this PC", reply, "Your what?" [i know i've repeated this too many times.. i guess i still haven't gotten over it ... :-D]

votw

'the voices of the women" - stars of the show!

encounters

not a terribly good day.

the company we're doing a study on returned our pre-interview questionnaire with incomplete answers, signs of possible reluctance to divulge much info, signs of possible misunderstanding of questions, and, to add to that, criticism of our questions, as if the person answering it had something against us. We value the comments, and there was certainly some room for improvement in some of our questions .. but even with some of those comments, they could have still answered our questions but instead, the person took a "you guys don't seem to understand what you're doing, I'm not even gonna attempt to answer this question" approach. Team members are now totally demoralized, and we have a face-to-face interview with these people this Friday. i'm getting the "this company must think we're a bunch of incompetent kids" and slight tinges of the "i'm gonna totally fail this subject" feeling right now.

and, at 11.10 pm, after post-rehearsal supper, i spent a good 15 minutes blaring my car horn in backwater brickfields in hope that the driver of the car parked directly in my way out of the parking lot would move it out of the way. nothing happened, and the mamak patrons were probably turning deaf with all the noise i was making. i created such a racket that some guys at the mamak decided to come over and help direct my way out of the parking lot thru an extremely narrow bit of space on one side. yes, i DID figure earlier that i could try and squeeze my way out through that narrow space, but i really didn't feel like going through the struggle.. what with the dim lighting, the narrow road, the large number of visually-challenged pedestrians in the area and the wide 4-wheel drive i'm driving which side mirrors don't retract properly no more. and, hey, the blinkin' Proton WAS directly obstructing my path out of the parking lot (i was in a stress-induced "it's a matter of principle" mode). just as i had finished the arduous task of backing my way out of the lot with the help of the 'traffic wardens', the driver of the offending car appeared. let's just say i created a bit more noise pollution before finally driving off.

and on the Sprint highway on the way home, i was looking in the rear-view mirror while changing lanes and i saw (or i thought i saw)... a riderless motorcycle dragging closely behind it a car with no headlights on. the otherworldly vehicle finally passed me on the fast lane - it was a blinkin' Trike* scooter. it had a huge rear carriage, which gave the illusion of a "car with no headlights on", and, because the rider was leaning back and the height of the rear carriage extended above the driver, you couldn't see his head in the dark while looking thru the rear-view mirror. dang thing bloody freaked me out for a while...

* www.motortrike.com - tho i don't think there's a photo of the model i saw on the Sprint.

opening the dusted case

contrary to what i feared, i CAN still play the violin! *yay*
them left fingers just need to be re-stretched..
and will need to replace the bits of rubber-coating on the feet of the shoulder rest which have somewhat disintegrated..

time, and the [perceived?] lack of it

time passes very, very quickly when you're a student. and being a full-time postgraduate means...

... a lot of hours need to be put in - to start with, each lecture is 3 hours long (undergrad lectures lasted an hour). and for at least two modules we have a weekly case study to be discussed as a group (we were told not to complain because if we were in Harvard or Oxford, we'd be having two case studies per night). to add on to that, 5 out of the 6 modules have assessed coursework. so group discussions happen on a regular basis. so regular that we don't seem to have time to read up the material before a discussion comes along.

... the office will call once in a while when someone needs help on some files which i had previously handled. the first week of my sabbatical (which was also the first week of classes) was a bit of a nightmare because i kept worrying about the progress of certain files at work while trying to adjust my brain to think in a different discipline ("stakeholder" in the legal sense isn't the same as "stakeholder" in the business sense - no wonder the merchant bankers in the recent deal were confused when the legal team insisted that "protecting the interests of the stakeholders" was "too vague"!). anyway, am glad to have finally 'officially' handed over my files to the new recruit who has taken over my portfolio.

... you don't get to take advantage of the free laser printing in the office anymore... haha, just kidding... not.

... you would have thought that you'd have a more 'flexible' timetable, not realizing that the reality is that it's just a disguised version of 'irregular working hours'. i wonder how much of my list of 'possible things to do with free time' will still be done:

. teach art to kids? (still haven't gone around to checking out the nearby centre)
. teach english? (ditto)
. teach piano? (can't bring myself to sacrificing my weekends yet)
. work towards the FTCL? (this means i gotta go for classes. not for the unemployed! :-D)
. guitar? (progress: i've cleaned the case)
. violin? (progress: i've cleaned the case)
. update my website? (progress: at least i've put SOMEthing up on the 'home' page. today.)
. peddling my perceived web design skills to unsuspecting pals? (progress: a possible freelance designing job coming up! which is why i had to put SOMEthing up on the home page. sample, lah.)
. clear up room? (progress: don't ask.)
. oh yeah. wedding planning. (progress: grandma has sent me the almanac for good dates in 2005.)

... suddenly legal research and drafting legal opinions seemed so easy. it's hard to break out of what you've been used to and grown comfortable with, to venture into different fields. but that's the only way to improve, no?

... you have assessments and exams to worry about. wonder why this wasn't so apparent when i was applying for the course. :-D

in the wee small hours

things not to do at 2.40 a.m. :

#1 - drafting a publicity poster for a concert. may end up giving very strange directions to the city.

#2 - attempting to sight-read the piano part of a Christmas medley that starts "steady and soulful, with some freedom" and continues a few pages later with "hip shuffle". just waaay too early in the morning to go telling funky rhythms on the mountain, over the hills and ev'rywhere.

the sandman calls. hallelujah.

digest this!

never understood why it is that when i eat absolute rubbish at the stall at the dusty road by the grubby open drain, my tummy doesn't give two hoots about the filth entering it, but i get the worst cases of stomach upsets and virus attacks from what appear to be benign meals at hotel functions, pizza places or the neighbourhood steakhouse.

possible hypotheses:

(1) guess what? your classy hotel, favourite pizza joint and neighbourhood steakhouse may look clean, but in reality the stall by the drain is far more sanitary than their kitchens!

(2) i eat more than most women or men (friends and family will testify to this) and thus, according to the laws of probability, it is more probable that i will catch any contaminants which may be present in the food being consumed.

(3) i've got what people have started to sympathetically refer to as a "sensitive stomach".

HEY, i used to buy those bright-coloured drinks that ol' Pakcik dispenses from grimy containers amidst clouds of smoke from environmentally-unaware school buses that traverse busy jalan bukit bintang, and i lived to tell the tale.. who ya calling sensitive, huh? then again, if hypothesis (1) above is correct, the likes of Pakcik's stall are in fact the cleanest food joints around..

what EXACTLY is a "sensitive" stomach anyway?

(4) as a friend recently eloquently put it, "aiyaa, your stomach needs the nonsense laa. you cannot eat at classy places laa."

(NB. Hypothesis (1), if correct, would also disprove this.)

(5) what the heck. it's just my luck.

more random shots

... government offices must consume a lot of tea leaves, sugar and milk. but you know that already, don't you. it appears though that some have started to have 'minum' (i.e. tea breaks) at 9.30 in the morning.. oh sorry, was that still breakfast? i had read the newspaper from cover to cover and probably memorized the entire Carta Organisasi on the wall and the officer was still at 'minum, lah'. on the other hand, it could well be the case that the officer was in fact in a bona fide meeting and the guard outside only said "minum, lah" because it's almost an irrebuttable presumption that if an officer was not found in his room/cubicle, he would be in the pantry having tea.

... and, speaking of government offices.. wonder what the interior of the new government offices in the new federal administrative capital look like. some of the facades are nothing short of impressive, e.g. that of the federal treasury. would they have retained the tacky yellow leather sofas, polystyrene organization charts and crackly radios playing strains of Ella (not Fitzgerald)?

... anyway, won't have to deal with government offices so much anymore for a while, so i should stop griping. and anyway, CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON!!

random shots

... the office moneyplant is home. the 2-dollar Ikea plant in a beige Ikea vase which has thrived on plain water, fluorescent light and dust from files for three years, and has since grown into a forest in its own right, is home.

... I used to loathe britpop when it was overplayed on Trent FM every morning. now, after resurrecting my BBC Top of the Pops 1998 CDs on the car speakers, I'm actually missing the stuff.

... I know it's way too early, but CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON! now, if only the weather was chilly, the days were getting shorter and there was a chance of snow...

... I volunteered to play for Christmas. I'm not even sure I remember the feeling of how my fingers should be positioned on the piano.

crossing the line

It's not exactly in line with the local culture to stop for pedestrians to cross the street. However, on the odd occasion, one does fall into a lapse from the local mindset, and decide to help the poor laptop-lugging pedestrian get to the other side in once piece.

Which leads to some interesting observations in respect of the subjects of this kind gesture...

Regular Joe

Your average nice person would probably offer a smile or wave thank-you as they cross. He would at least be considerate enough not to make your hair turn grey while sauntering across at 0.1 km/h. You drive off feeling you've done a good deed for the day.

Road to Perdition

You stop. They get off the conversation on their handphones momentarily to give you the "Yeah, that's what you ought to do, I have the irrevocable right to cross this road unobstructed" look, and then recommence the tête-à-tête while taking an eternity to cross.

The Jackass Jaywalker

In the mornings, streams of vehicles pour into the bowels of the 30-storey office building where I work, while pedestrians are forced to wait at the sides until the traffic lights turn red. As I was in a kind mood that morning (and wasn't running late for once), I decided to stop for the bloke to cross.

Observation: The Jackass Jaywalker will take a few ages to swagger across all of 5 metres of tarmac. But there's more.. the catwalk act also comes with a wink and a sleazy smile.

The Eternally Grateful

Wouldn't say this is a usual occurrence. I've only encountered an Eternally Grateful once. Many many moons ago, I was in Mom's car cruising along Jalan Pahang when we noticed from a distance that an old lady was trying to cross the dual-carriageway near the hospital. Mom stopped for the old lady to cross.

Ah Poh was so touched with the gesture that she stopped in front of our car and started uttering strings of praise and verses of thanks in Chinese while earnestly patting the bonnet.

This was followed by a castigation of the rest of the younger generation in general - all those lazy good-for-nothings who no longer respect or care for their elders. She wrapped up the emotional address with words of praise yet again for a rare gem amongst young punks who wouldn't give two hoots about old Granny trying to cross the busy road.

I guess it was supposed to be a feel-good moment.

But it was so strange.

The Stunned Strider, a.k.a. The Paranoid Pedestrian

They can't believe a car has stopped for them. In fact, although they seem to be looking straight at you, they don't realize the fact that the automobile that was earlier heading towards their path is now absolutely stationary.

So there you are, waving your hands madly through the windscreen and/or tooting your horn as politely as possible in an effort to say..

"Yo man, I've just stopped. For you. You may cross now. Yeah, seriously. Cross. Please."

.. while your eyelids tremble and you start sneezing all of a sudden - a sign that the other motorists in the line of traffic building up behind you are cursing at you..

*Pic above taken on Hollywood Blvd from somewhere near Grauman's Chinese Theatre, July 2004.

and the sorting hat says..

You are a RAVENCLAW! As a Ravenclaw and as an NFP, you are imaginative, idea-oriented, and value intelligence. You may be a non-conformist, and are probably good at seeing new ways of doing things. You are insightful and perceptive, and as an empathic person who highly values harmony, you usually try to avoid conflict. Of course, you may enjoy participating in heated debates - but only as long as they remain on an intellectual level and not a personal level. In general, you are open-minded and curious, and set high standards for yourself.

Hogwarts Sorting Hat: Based on Myers-Briggs Personality Typing
brought to you by Quizilla

/note/ apparently "NFP" is a reference to iNtuitive, Feeling and Perceiving (see e.g. this site and this other site)

/rambling/ look out, world! here comes the curious non-conformist!

cold cape cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it ...

Random howler from the Science Joke Archive:

Chemical engineers do it in packed beds.
Chemists do it in test tubes.
Chemists do it in the fume hood.
Chemists do it periodically on the table.
Chemists do it reactively.
Chemists like to experiment.
Electrochemists have greater potential.
Polymer chemists do it in chains.
Toxicologists do it till they're half-dead.

and there are unbelievably long lists on how physicists and mathematicians do it.. (sorry, i chose chemistry only because it was a favourite subject in college..)

there and [all the way] back again

so here we are. it's the end of the month.

end of the athens olympiad.

end of the nation's preparations for this year's independence day.

end of the due-d exercise (er, well, almost).

two weeks till my official last working day.

near the end of the luxury of having your own stash to spend on almost anything you desire, and having it replenished every month.

near the end of strutting around in suits.

in many ways I still can't believe I'd (finally) made the decision to become a student again. for a year.

have I lost my mind? my bosses probably think so. "a year in practice is more valuable than a year of study. think about it."

a colleague initially dismissed it as a joke - apparently I was a fixture in the company; the last person to come up with such deviant ideas. "yeah right. since when did YOU leave."

so just what madness came over me? was it because I felt I needed a change? an attempt at a brief escape from the hectic working world? adding a milestone to the elusive search for enlightenment? an effort to understand the machinery at work behind the corporate wheels and ultimately a means to comprehend the incomprehensible? a struggle in the name of personal enrichment and in the spirit of man's never-ending quest for knowledge? a blind stab in the dark in the fervent hope that Opportunity will present itself, or that Muse will lend some ideas, at the very least? or, to put it in a few over-used words, because I wanted a break? none of the above? some of the above? all of the above?

*slap*
you silly spoilt brat of a dingbat you, stop being all picky and idealistic and just be a good girl and continue doing what you're doing.

*slap*
no! that's not right! you wanted Opportunity to present itself, here's Opportunity presenting itself. of course you should take the chance, you idiot. sure, you wouldn't know what's in store, but there's absolutely nothing to lose.

*slap!* * slap!*

yep, end of months of indecision.

end of the 'financial year'.

the end of four years since the last time I sat in a lecture hall armed with highlighters and reams of notepaper; and the beginning of it all again.

end of one path, and the beginning of another.

independence day.

les grisettes de paris

grisettes (gri-zets') -

description: young working-class French ladies of very doubtful reputation, normally found tripping down boulevards where lamps are burning (or, alternatively, at Istana Budaya, KL).

characteristics: silk and sequin, frill and feather ..



.. butterflies, not caught but catching ..



.. flashing legs in cabaret, flirting till the break of day!



cf. gizzards (giz'-erds) -
description: a figment of the mis-pronounced imagination of the Chancery clerk at the Pontevedrian Embassy.

hallucinations?

it's quite amazing that after 2 weeks of extreme sleeplessness and stress and 4 nights of heavy makeup, my face hasn't turned into a replica of the surface of prehistoric Earth (as it usually would even in milder circumstances of stress). in fact, and on the assumption that i'm not hallucinating from sleep deprivation, it's actually looking, er, better.

two possible factors, methinks - (i) an anti-acne-n-acne-marks natural-oil-n-vitamin-E thingy peddled by a clever salesman* at the warehouse sale of a particular pharmacy which i purchased (read: 50% discount); and/or (ii) the plethora of shiseido products used on our measly mugs** by the team of professional make-up artists for merry widow. the cleanser, the moisturizer, the pre-make-up base, the foundation, and finally (as the guy with the loudhailer screams down the corridor 'GET DOWNSTAIRS IN TEN MINUTES!') the colours. the painstakingly applied pre-pre-pre layers probably either nourished the skin [gawd i sound like a beauty product ad] and/or protected the skin from attacks from foreign particles which clog the pores and fester into organic volcanoes [on second thoughts, i don't think i should write beauty product ads]. which, coupled with the time spent applying each stratum, also did a pretty good job of keeping the colours from running.

then again, it could just be delayed reaction.

the calm before the storm.

-------------------
* side rambling - wonder whether any member of the female sex has ever been offended with a query as to whether she is looking for something to make her face look less frightening. risky job in a way, ain't it, especially for those poor fools who have to shove a slimming brochure in your face on your way to lunch, asking you whether you would like to go on a diet.

** no, i didn't mean to say that you're ugly. please don't sue me.

post-production earworms

recurring phrases for the day, so far:

"ritantouri tantirette, eh voila les belles grisettes..."

"ladies' choice! ladies' choice! ... rescued in the nick of time..."

"young lovers all awake, night brings you waltz time, and the moonlight sings in waltz time..."

and the (in)famous

"no one seems to want me here..."

kyrie eleison

the gods of time must have a weird sense of humour. how else would you explain a bunch of colossal due diligence matters and a three-day run of an operetta and the frantic rehearsal run up to it, all converging on the same weekend? well, glad it's Friday, at last. didn't think i'd survive the week without going nuts. break a leg, grisettes!

and the dining room presents...

'food presentations' by the hotel's waiters at wedding dinners tend to be at best corny, and at worst somewhat painful to endure, depending on the level of complexity of the proceedings.

first, there's the music. typically, this would be strains of kitaro, or the dining room scene from disney's beauty & the beast, or some other spirited melody a'la excerpts from an Olympics soundtrack.

then you have the 'presentation' itself, which grand scale is sometimes capable of overshadowing the bridal entry! house lights dim, and food comes in on candlelit trays carried by waiters proudly relishing their moment of fame, amid misty clouds of dry ice. in a few weddings i attended, a waitress serving the main table's first course was hoisted up on a platform resting on the shoulders of two or more men as the little procession of waiters made its way across the red carpet. in the case of yesterday's wedding dinner, the strength of one of the men waned, he lost his grip, the waitress fell from the chair that was affixed on the platform, and the first course came tumbling after...

and this happened just as i was wondering whether these daring acts have ever encountered a fall before...

chewing cars

have got an intelligent, hyperactive, mischevious and extremely cute 10-month-old cocker spaniel which sinks its teeth onto almost anything and everything.

including severing the wiring of ABS sensors on rear wheels of cars.

and it's not a loose dangling wire, it's wiring which has been fastened on tight.

and you can't replace just the wire, the entire bit of ABS gadgetry has to be replaced.

and the dog had to choose the car with the more expensive parts.

and guess what, it's happened twice already (despite a stern reprimand)!

what does one do, save for chaining up the poor dog whenever there's a car in the porch?

hor fun et. al.

these two weeks are gonna be hell. there will be rehearsals almost every day leading up to the show from 20-22 august, and at least one matter at work is targeted to be finalized by next week. normally this would entail staying back late in the office, especially where the documentation is voluminous. as it is, it's an accepted phenomenon that work, at regular workloads, never finishes at 5.30 pm. we're talking about a file where a particular set of documentation had me staying up in the office till the next morning. gonna have to try my best to remain sane through this :-D. an option would be to bring whatever work i can to rehearsals to be done during the breaks in between our relevant sections (which tend to be numerous and long and boring anyway). work comes first (did i just say that?), so worst-case scenarios will be me missing a rehearsal or two with the magic word "WORK" as the reason, or just hoping for the absence to go unnoticed (which is technically impossible, as a fellow grisette mentioned, since i AM one of chez maxim's six can-can dancers!) the past year or so has been a living testimony to the fact that the oft-used rant by practitioners that "i don't have time to do anything but eat, sleep and work" is not a sweeping generalization!! :-D on another note, i'll be taking a little 'break' soon to study. more on that later! ;)

remember i rambled on briefly about watching kill bill vol 2 some time back? slipped in the dvd after dinner yesterday, but i couldn't keep myself awake, probably due to the fact that i'd just returned from the Land of Hor Fun* (a.k.a. Ipoh). i managed to get past the el paso church massacre scene in the beginning with my eyelids open but during the few scenes thereafter nothing made sense cos i was already half asleep by the time bill showed up again after the massacre. needless to say, i didn't watch the rest of it. apparently it was a bit slow-moving, and especially slow-moving if compared to vol 1 (hmm, shoulda known. - vol 1 was banned by the censorship board but vol 2 was allowed thru). so i'm wondering whether it's worth my spending a few less sleepy hours watching it again.

*hor fun (cantonese) - imagine fettucine, only it's not made of durum wheat but rice flour, so it's white, soft and smooth. add soup to it. add prawns. slices of chicken. top it off with bits of fried shallots and garlic and that aromatic slither of oil.. getting hungry yet?.. and ipoh has the best of the stuff.

air violin on the streets of LA

yes, i've got a mysterious new photo on the right above my profile. the star reads "jascha heifetz". for the uninitiated - violinist, considered by some to be the greatest in the 20th century. the sun was in the way (that's the trouble with travelling in the summer.. the sun is always in the way of your photos!) so i tried using my shadow to block the sun out so the gold words could be seen. and since i'm gonna have a shadow, might as well try and pose like a violinist. (ok, LA denizens repeat after me: "geez! the things tourists think of!") i think i should have lowered my right hand a bit tho, so it looks more like i'm holding a bow. i guess i didn't pay much attention to the details then as i wanted to get the photo taken before passers-by start to gape at The Tourist Playing Air Violin on Hollywood Boulevard! in case you have no idea what i'm talking about, here's the photo:

sleepless

it's been more than a week since i got back to the country. jet-lag doesn't normally take more than a week. why oh why am i still awake at 3.30 am?!

so i've been occupying my time for the past few hours changing the look and feel of my blog. which, considering the fact that i was aiming to get some sleep, wasn't a good idea, as once i get started on design work i won't leave it till i think it's in a state fit to go public.

you've got work tomorrow, girl. and the MW rehearsal thereafter. oh yes, and there's the ex-colleague's malay wedding ceremony to rush to between finishing work and commencing the rehearsal. that's gonna be a challenge.

.. need .. to .. sleep .. !

or maybe i just need another holiday...

what do you do when …

#1
you say:
"excuse me, do you happen to know where the university computing centre is?"
and you get the reply:
"yeah!!"

#2
you say:
"hi! i'm sorry, i didn't get your name?"
and you get the reply:
"oh, it's all right."

[addendum to #1]
this had happened during my first few days as an undergraduate. what was the bloke thinking? did i look like i was doing a survey?!

[addendum to #2]
this occurred this morning during the early stages of a conversation with a new temporary recruit. (the name of the unfortunate temp (which was eventually given) has been omitted to protect the blur.)

the sandman

man, it's crazy how there's always a lot to do just when you're about to go on leave. it's a conspiracy, i say. everything from tiresome client calling up with tiresome query when you really don't need it, and client giving instructions on a new matter a day before you leave (when the client had all of the past 2 months to send the instructions), to papercut from the darned Submission documents.

got home at midnight, had a snack, flipped through what had been (for a few minutes already then) yesterday's papers, and then decided to do something about the throbbing headache so whipped out the trusty bottle of medicated menthol oil. absent-mindedly dabbed at the oil with the finger on which the papercut was suffered just a few hours ago. ouch. the therapeutic effect of the halo of 'minyak angin' generated now slowly drifts the conscious mind away into the dominion of the sandman...

sites and songs

this is really quite nice - www.kualalumpur.gov.my. of course it's probably been there for ages before i happened to stumble upon it - an occupational hazard of spending most of your time each working day doing work which isn't exactly terribly IT-intensive (yet, anyway).

government websites have sure come a long way from the days when the website generally accepted as the website representing the country was in a sub-directory lost somewhere under the site of the nation's then only ISP, and was essentially a haphazard trade directory of sorts where the most advanced piece of code was "[table]". sites later became more well-planned and had better content, but began to reek of overkill of multimedia and graphics.. the website of a particular government department used to have its home page made entirely up of 58 relatively large images (some of these constituted crucial links and there was little or no alternate text!), 'twas quite a pain cos we didn't have very fast connections then..

meanwhile, check out the website of the department of lands and mines in selangor (a.k.a. the selangor land registry to some of us). did you know that the said land registry has its very own official SONG?

cacophony

was listening to Saint-Saens' danse macabre while making my way through the morning traffic. yep, the symphonic poem describing a graveyard of skeletons dancing a spectral waltz. and before you cry "you weird, weird woman, you!" and denounce me from your circle of acquaintances forever, it's (strangely) a favourite not because of the theme, but (1) how deftly the composer depicts the twelve strokes of the witching hour and all the eerieness that goes with an early-morning other-worldly party, and the spectacle and commotion that the music conjures, and (2) i was first introduced to the spectacle and commotion at one of ann's music appreciation classes many many moons ago, at a time when my ultimate ambition was to be a violinist with an orchestra - orchestral works just blew me away, there was something about the grandeur of it all that generated exhilaration beyond words, and for some reason, danse macabre became a piece that would remind me of the excitement of performing with an amalgamation of wood, strings and metal that produced amazing sounds. i never did practice the violin enough after stopping lessons to gain much confidence in attempting to join any ensemble, but i did become a chorister, and the experience of singing with various groups in merry ole england and here has brought with it quite some satisfaction (and war stories - see side rambling below on a particular incident during a university choir performance) so far. and it was good to hear danse macabre performed by the university philharmonia during one of our concerts!

and my point here? nothing much, really. except that maybe, in my next life, i'd like to find myself playing in an orchestra.

[side rambling - a chorister's war story]

disclaimer:
in case you're expecting something spectacular like the roof of the hall falling down on us, it was really a routine boo-boo, actually. my life ain't THAT happening..

the piece:
Constant Lambert's "The Rio Grande".

the story:
'twas the climax of the piece, where the choir's words were basically "by the Rio Grande, they dance no Sarabande". "By the Ri-o Grande" is the beginning of the end of a major upheaval in orchestral sounds, and then to end it all was "they DANCE.. NO.. SA-RA..." [then there is some element of climax, can't remember whether it was a timpani crash or a huge pause].. and then we were to all hail "-BANDE!!!!", together with some brass and percussion. of course, due to the orchestral entropy leading up to it, everyone was totally lost (you know how it is - you think it's a piece of cake when the repetiteur tickles the ivories during rehearsals but it's totally different when you add the actual cacophony of instruments far more powerful than the hammers and keys, blasting away in their full glory), and the people who shouldn't have been lost were eventually led into the wilderness due to the insecurity of nobody around them singing what they were supposed to be singing (sigh, herd instinct). it happened very quickly - there was not much pain - "they DANCE.. NO.. SA-RA-..... [silence from the choir. Maestro's eyes pop out. singers gape and after the sounds from the orchestra trailed away someone whispers, very audibly, "shit."]. you could sense that morale had suddenly shot down to record-low levels but we managed to meander through the rest of the Rio Grande without much catastrophe. even kind Maestro, who was normally full of encouragement even if we completely messed up a piece, was a little aghast after the show.

the aftermath:
thereafter, the infamous "no Sarabande experience" was repeatedly quoted by our conductor for the next few seasons, to remind us all (well, of course, only the Rio Grande survivors who had first-hand experience of the incident would know the significance of the label) to keep our eyes on the conductor at all times, and also, to do one's best to refrain from cursing when a mistake has been made during a performance, cos, well, it wouldn't be very nice for the audience to hear you blaspheming in the middle of melodious strains of gloria in excelsis deo, would it?

a justification

couldn't resist it. too many people are taking this test. and, apparently, my true talent is spatial ability.

the prognosis:

"your ability to visualize objects in three-dimensional space gives you a unique view of the world. because of this talent, you are much better than most people at imagining new designs including floor plans, page layouts, and three dimensional objects.

people like you are usually great when it comes to putting together assemble-it-yourself furniture or other household items — whether the items arrive with instructions or not. your spatial skills also help you understand the finer points of how things work."

[reflections] no wonder i keep spending money at ikea.

basic elements?

How to make an Exchequer

Ingredients: 5 parts success 5 parts craziness 3 parts energy

Method: Layer ingredients in a shot glass. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of wisdom.

your name:

Personality Cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

change

what was that cliched little bit of prose that i keep seeing bookmarks being made out of - 'god grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, courage to change the things i can, and wisdom to know the difference'.

things that could do with a change:

1. the sequence of the traffic lights at the junction outside my residential area. though it's starting to become a convenient excuse for lateness... ;)

2. the way your electronic devices seem to be able to contract ailments from others around it - you know, how after your strangely self-resetting pc comes back from the tech support centre looking cured and rejuvenated, your notebook located in the room upstairs starts resetting itself.

3. looking ahead and speculating too much. while foresight may be a good thing, sometimes the future scares the hell out of ya.

4. how weekends always seem to whizz past at lightning speed. just as you think you're beginning to have a good rest, it's monday. (eeks, it is! already!)

trubbleshootin

they lied! the 'buffet' turned out to be sausages, samosas and spring rolls which had gone soft and rubbery, and chicken wings, served buffet-style. the hors d'oeuvres were so-so. my only praise was for the celery and carrot sticks + dip, assorted nuts (plenty of salt!), and the fact that they whip up pretty good snowballs.

morning so far's been spent suspiciously testing out my pc which came back from the service centre with the technician's note saying there's nothing wrong with the motherboard. and we were pretty sure one of the PCI slots had gone bonkers, cos when the internal modem was in that slot, the pc would reset when connected to the net via dial-up. not a trojan/worm/virus - had updated everything - firewall, antivirus, windows security updates, and had even formatted the hard disk. so the cpu was sent in (together with a malfunctioned graphics card problem - to take advantage of a silly albeit one-time compulsory labour charge - see paragraph below). well, i've been connected for over an hour now with the modem in the 'problematic' slot and the pc hasn't resetted itself yet. got a funny feeling the problem could have been related to the graphics card.

and yes, the labour charge.. this particular Palo Alto, CA - based IT company has a strange policy of 'if the malfunctioned peripheral is an internal peripheral, we can't give a one-on-one exchange' resulting in it being compulsory to pay a labour charge of a hundred and fifty bucks just for them to open up the cage and slot in a new graphics card. hmph.

food for the masses

the story is, there's buffet at the firm's informal get-together do tonight. *rubbing hands together in glee* not scraps of finger food like the last time where there was hardly any calamari left by the time the waiter gets past the food-pinching masses on the way to your table. and free flow of drinks, i think. not too sure if they've scrapped that tho, after the amount of cocktails we snapped up at the last get-together.

not a bad day at all as far as food is concerned - there was a hearty brunch at a client's annual general meeting this morning. and no, we weren't there just for the door gifts (there were none) or food (as far as i know there were no food-related brawls, though during the Q&A session one old man did complain that the pre-AGM coffee-n-tea was not well managed and that he couldn't get near the refreshments table without having people shoving him from all sides.) that's only supposed to happen in a particular little island further south. ;-)

geez, i should stop talking about food and get myself a more proportionate waistline..

lazing

i know i should be getting around to doing a bit of the work i brought home, since my schedule is gonna be on the hectic side again tomorrow.

also since tonight's rehearsal and the gastronomic odyssey thereafter ended early.

and since i've brought all the reference material home with me.

but i know after logging off i'll be picking up the Far Side comic book from the floor (where it dropped from my bed after i fell asleep with my face in it last night) and go through it from cover to cover laughing at the cow jokes all over again. or maybe a refresher of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favourite volume of the five). if i'm feeling mad enough i might head downstairs and see whether kill bill vol 2 has the same samurai-sword-wielding artery-busting corpuscle-spurting scenes as the first. while i'm downstairs i might be in the mood for (more) food too! i believe the supply of instant korean udon noodles has recently been replenished. and i remember someone left me an extra dumpling after last night's committee meeting..

nah. gary larson's cow comics will do.

serenity

ah, it's a good evening despite the heat and the smog. managed to get home early today after a meeting outside the office which conveniently ended at 5pm. so early that the cars that are normally lined up along both sides of the road aren't anywhere in sight. it was actually possible to drive straight down the road and turn into my driveway without having to manoeuvre round the neighbours' cars to make sure i didn't take off someone's bumper or side-view mirror in the process. it's amazing how spending an extra two hours at home in the evening somehow imbues you with a heightened sense of serenity...

ok it's time to stuff myself with pasta. ciao!

red card

one of the best things about football season is that there's always some action seen in the newspapers. and i'm not talking about the sports section.

------------------------------------------------------------

From The Star Online:

Wife sees red over hubby’s passion for the game
by R.S.N. Murali

SEREMBAN: An ardent football fan who sneaked out of bed to watch a Euro 2004 live telecast received a “red card” when his 41-year-old wife battered him with the television remote control for staying up late yesterday. When his wife also snatched the smart card of the pay television service to prevent him from watching future live telecasts, the 46-year-old salesman who only wanted to be identified as Yap from Seremban Two here, sought the help of the MCA Public Complaints bureau chief, Khoo Seng Hock. Yap claimed that his wife forced him to sleep early, as he had to send their two children to school in the morning.

“She refused to allow me to watch the game although I promised not oversleep or shun my responsibility of sending the children to school,” he said.

At about 2.20am, Yap who was all set to watch the live telecast, sneaked out of his bedroom.

“I headed straight to the kitchen to grab a soft drink and some food before sitting down to watch the live telecast,” he said.

Yap shouted in disappointment when his favourite team England was crushed by France in injury time. His wife woke up, grabbed the remote control and hit him on his head a few times before ejecting the smart card from the decoder and hiding it. Yap said he had no choice but to seek Khoo's help as his wife had banned him from going elsewhere to watch football.

“My wife just doesn’t understand my passion for football,” he said.

After much persuasion from Khoo, Yap's wife relented and said her husband could watch football.

------------------------------------------------------------

[reflections] the folks manning the MCA public complaints bureau probably have some of the most entertaining war stories around..

epiphany

i've been getting this wave of realization over and over again. not that it's anything new. this line of work eats up your entire free time. and when it doesn't, you're too tired to do anything but hit the sack, and voila, the "i've gotta fix the modem problem on the home pc", "i've gotta update my website" and other long-procrastinated little things are left undone. you've sold your soul to the cogs and wheels that turn the financial and legal system, and you work with and for workaholics in the competitive domain of commerce and industry, who live nothing but their high-flying "this deal must go through, please revert by sunday" lives. pathetic's the word!

-- a stitch in time --

don't ask me why i've got the alkali metals and the alkaline earth metals up on the right. but, gee, it's good to see a periodic table again! [ NeRd! 8-) ] anyway. finally got the scarf-top we've been asked to get for our tap performance. more specifically, a large scarf folded into half with a neckline carved out and two lines of running stitch sewn in to transform it from rectangular bolero into ~ lo and behold! ~ floaty, short, kaftan-like top. although the length is just right, the streaming layers of cloth which make up the 'sleeves' seem to be blowin' in the wind just a bit too much (though achieving the desired effect). all in all it's pretty satisfactory, i must say, for something that cost me just RM10.90, material and workmanship included ;-)

the flu bug

having a horrible case of the sniffles.. have just executed five sneezes in a row. have dark rings around my eyes. and there's this feeling as if a vacuum has been created up in the deep recesses of my nose and the air around me is being syphoned into my nasopharyngeal region. the nasal spray provided by the doc has resulted in.. well, let's just say i'll need a box of tissues within easy reach for the next few hours. i don't think i need any sedative medicine to doze off now.. except that i've got work to do and an mc i can't make use of tomorrow because of a thousand and one things to do in the office. (plus there'll be loads to be done before the boss goes on leave for a week!)

taglines

jusco started it when tesco opened nearby. "cheaper than the 'cheaper' price nearby!" announces the teddy bear clad in red and white plastered all over the entrance to jusco's supermarket. next up, a furniture mart near my home emulated the tagline - a bright banner on the building screams "cheaper than the 'cheaper' price nearby!" - presumably referring to the neighbouring new furniture store with the hideous plastic psychedelic coconut trees. i chanced a stroll into tesco over the weekend to discover that it had reciprocated jusco's wordplay with a clever repartee - a banner above the check-out lane reads - guess what - "CHEAPER THAN THE 'CHEAPER' PRICE NEARBY!" with a muddle of "CHEAP! CHEAP! CHEAP!" for added effect and "CHEAP GETS CHEAPER!" added with a flourish.

aside from the fact that the slogan war is getting a tad boring, perhaps it's time someone mentioned to these people that while goods may get cheaper, prices actually get LOWER!

unnaturally blonde

WE HAD finished the tom yam and green curry at Good Evening Bangkok, paid the bill, seen the initial start of the Monaco Grand Prix, expressed sympathy in respect of Oliver Panis' clutch problem and his resulting relegation to the end of the starting grid, watched the re-start, watched some 8tv crew prepare for what looked like a party for mandarin-speaking youngsters (there were banners in mandarin) in the adjacent section of the restaurant, begun to walk out of the restaurant, frozen in our steps in front of the tv screen upon spotting billowing grey smoke followed by a flying Sauber, and finally decided to continue on our way and watch the rest of Monte Carlo at home; WHEN a bunch of blonde-and-wispy-haired guys followed by a pack of youths came scurrying by in our direction, towards the restaurant entrance. we stared and shifted our steps to make way for the stampede of ah bengs (apologies to any readers who sport unnaturally blonde tresses) while speculating as to what the commotion could be about. probably people late for the party.

as we continued walking away, the portion of the restaurant occupied by 8tv erupted with squeals and applause.

i think we had just walked into a troupe of canto-pop celebrities on their way to making their grand entrance at the "youngsters' party".

forgive the ignorant old fogeys, kids. we can tell the difference between F4 and F1 but that's probably it...

(disclaimer: i'm not saying they were F4, i still don't know who they were!)

geography

leave application duly submitted! i shall be gallavanting in the US of A for a week or so in July. woo hoo! the plan is to begin my journey at LA and make my way up to San Francisco, with a pit stop at Palo Alto to bug Sis at Stanford in the midst of her summer research stint. time to start scheduling my itinerary. first i shall endeavour to locate Frommer's Guide to California which has been stashed away somewhere. meanwhile, any ideas? ;)

*grunt*

i've been staring at text all day. tediously deciphering convoluted sentences (now i know how the poor souls marking my english essays must've felt - me and my lengthy sentences - my sis and i figure it runs in the family..) for meanings which are almost always lost on me, and combing through bewildering chunks of prose searching for that faint gleam of possibility that something in that voluminous manuscript might just be applicable to the wretched, miserable point of research i'm tasked with. and woe betide me if i happen to miss something along the way or make a careless assumption as to the relevance of a particular fact or detail. sure, plenty of brain power required, but SURELY there are more inspiring commitments to apply one's powers of deduction and creative capabilities to!

activate!

woo hoo! just finished customizing my newly-selected template. one day i shall find the time to create my own graphics from scratch.. ooonne day. i really should see to activating my homepage next. it seems to take me ages to get anything done these days! meanwhile it's time to hit the road and head home for a bite. wonder what awaits me in the caterer's package today..

jazzin' it up

yes! finally - some free time this week to attend the usual weekday rehearsals and other meetings! when your days start getting filled up with work and more work you tend to start missing your pals, the zany makan sessions, the scrutinizing of musical notation, the use of software other than Microsoft Word, the talk of matters other than the issuance of shares and mandatory general offers, .. well, in short, the general uplifting feeling of leaving work where it belongs (in the office!), even if it's just for a few hours, for more enriching pursuits. oh yes, my split-sole jazz shoes have arrived. to splurge or not to splurge...

flares, boiler suits and wing collars

saw it at the palladium around this time five years ago and saw it again today at the IB. same cool stuff, except that the IB stage looks SO cramped compared to the palladium (which stage was probably one and a half times the width of IB's). with the large stage in west end you could feel the energy emanating from the stage from an imposing line of dancers; here in the IB.. well, the side walls seemed to be in the way. as someone in the audience was remarking, 'twas quite a wonder they didn't end up kicking each other onstage. another difference was that they didn't do the upstairs/downstairs split in the props for tony manero's room / the family's dining room. guess they'd be hitting the IB roof if they did that, ha ha. after a while i was wondering if they'd have space to set up the verrazano narrows bridge; phew, it was there. terrible me, of course i can't expect the show here to look like the west end production! :-D thot the prop transitions between scenes were pretty neatly done tho. AND wouldn't it be grand if i could have half their stamina - to do all that dancing and sing on top of it AND not discharge a bead of sweat (i'd probably be half-dead after the first number and drenching myself in Deep Heating Rub :-D) which reminds me. i'm supposed to be working out so as not to hyperventilate after the first few rounds of can-can kicks. and what have i been doing all weekend? stuffing myself with chinese (the weekly - yes i know i shouldn't - bakuteh), indian (schoolmate's wedding dinner) and italian (ah well, just felt like having it). buahaha.

ode to code

ah, the wonders of technology.

who would have thought that all it takes
to communicate with another
in a remote time zone
on distant co-ordinates
halfway round the globe,
is merely
a decent machine,
a bit of software,
and a few numbers to be fed into the telephone network.

(yes, one has to contend with slow, sluggish dial-up,
when one's area of abode,
running on a fibre-optic network,
has the honour of being 'too high-tech'
to take advantage of currently available DSL services.)

worlds get smaller,
fears are quelled,
worries allayed,
trepidations alleviated,
yearnings fulfilled.

hail, research, development,
progress and advancement!
may there be more to come
(and may there be broadband for some!)

decline, degenerate, disintegrate

You would have heard of the 'Desiderata' (which is, by the way, Latin for "Things to be Desired") - a poem often attributed as "Found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore: Dated 1692" (apparently there is some confusion as to this history..not to be delved into here..) and found on inspirational bookmarks and plaques all over your nearest gift shop. Stumbled upon the following parody of Desiderata (from National Lampoon). Let's see 'em make bookmarks and gifts out of this!

DETERIORATA

Go placidly amid the noise & waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet & passive persons unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.

Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself
And heed well their advice even though they be turkeys;
Know what to kiss and when.

Consider that two wrongs never make a right
but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold.
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity & disillusionment
And despite the changing fortunes of time,
There will always be a big future in computer maintenance.

Remember the Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, & mutilate.
Know yourself; if you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you.
That lemon on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore; it will stick to your face.

Gracefully surrender the things of youth, birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan;
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.

Hire people with hooks.
For a good time, call 606-4311; ask for Ken.
Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog
Is finally getting enough cheese;
And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.

You are a fluke of the universe;
You have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Therefore make peace with your God whatever you conceive Him to be:
Hairy Thunderer or Cosmic Muffin.

With all its hopes, dreams, promises & urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.

Give up.

lactic acid

Yikes. After three years of a relatively sedentary existence in an office building, the old muscles need re-stretching. Guess it's only been two rehearsals and it takes time to crank up them bones which haven't moved significantly for years. (Yes, I did do the can-can routine last year but that was nothing - our kicks were limited to just below knee level [lest the honoured guests in the front row gasp in horror and faint] and the stage was half the size of our current practice studio.) Thanking my lucky stars I don't need to do cartwheels (hope I'm not speaking too soon)!

finally friday

It's Good Friday. The eateries were practically empty during lunch. I was one of two customers at the bank. The lift went straight up to the 20th floor without stopping. And I forgot that Singaporeans have the day off - I had been anxiously calling up a number in Singapore all afternoon and seething about not being able to speak to a real person, when I suddenly realized that the real persons on the island didn't have to go to work today. We need more public holidays in KL .. (who cares if Malaysia is already supposed to have one of the highest number of public holidays in the world) Here's looking forward to the Labour Day 4-day weekend (yes, yes, it's still a month away) ...

wanton verbiage

One hardly converses in Malay anymore when one has left school. (Not that anyone did converse very much in Malay at school; it's just cos the rules said you had to on Mondays (don't ask why) and if you didn't, you'd get an offence slip, and three offence slips meant you had to write an essay or go 'kutip sampah' - that's 'collect garbage' in the national language). Anyway, a bunch of us bored overworked drones in the office had a good laugh at ourselves this afternoon doing total injustice to our long-abandoned tongue, over the e-mail. The usual call to lunch would consist of a mass mail to the regular lunch 'kaki' flashing an e-mail subject of a routine "What's for lunch?" or "Any lunch plans?", or an anxious proposal of "Let's have chicken rice!" if the writer was exceptionally famished. Well, somebody got creative today and launched this spiel.

So it started with
"Aku kelaparan. Lunch nak makan apa?"
[I'm hungry. What shall we have for lunch?]

And continued along the lines of
"Tak nak terlalu pedas, boleh?"
[Don't want anything too spicy, ok?]

Then it got more verbose.
"Wahai kawan-kawan yang bijaksana, bagaimana keadaan cuaca di luar?"
[O my learned friends, what's the weather like outside?]

Passionate, even.
"Malangnya, aku tidak tahu. Tiada jendela di sudut tingkat dua puluh yang terpencil ini."
[Alas, I do not know. There is no window in this desolate corner of the twentieth floor.]

Yes, I know what you're thinking. The people in my profession have an absolutely weird sense of humour. :P

digressing...

Finally getting down to injecting some life to the blog after months of it languishing away in blog-limbo! Have just proudly completed yet another stage of Project Refurbish Room - moving the old Dell CPU from one end of the room to another (you can tell this is gonna be a lengthy Project). And it'll be another few weeks or so before I get down to taking the CPU apart and removing the CD-RW drive to be transplanted onto my office PC. Meanwhile the recently re-positioned hi-fi set in the corner of the room plays "Out There" from the Hunchback soundtrack as loud as is reasonably possible at 1.00 in the morning (a much-loved anthology - mostly cos it's reminiscent of xmas holidays during Uni days in the UK [CD was purchased some time then] - xmas sales / christmas songs on Trent FM / the occasional bit of snow / corridor cookouts / putting on layers of clothing and still freezing your toes off / freezing more toes off while taking a walk down to Sainsbury's to get more chicken for the evening's cookout / more freezing of phalanges as you rush back to Hall before it gets dark at 2pm..) Yes, yes, I've digressed and now I wish I were back in that gloomy, rainy realm getting my boots muddy crossing the field on the way to the 9am tutorial. :-D Ah well, time to hit the sack.. have been feeling exhausted for most of the day thanks to the high-octane Grisettes dance practice on Sunday night... but more on that later ;-)