I'll remember this week: 21-27 September 2009

This week 21-27 Sept 2009 was filled with food, fun and laughters. Where in the world can I get back this week. If every week was like that, it wouldn't mind getting retarded and...fat.

Started of with Setiawan (that's on Sunday tho') which I had ample food! Next day, a crazy text msg asking me for a golf game?!??!!. Hey, me an golf is like chocolates & onions. Nope. I had a great work out at gym @ RPGC, which was amazing cause there was just this ONE cute guy there, and me. JUST THE TWO OF US. GYMing. And then, it was movie at TGV Ipoh. A popcorn movie. "The Perfect Getaway". A cute but macho guy actor there kept my ass and eyes glued to the movie. Best scene of that movie: the way he proposed. Shucks! How I wish.

Then next day: my uncle's new bangalow at Bukit Kinding, Chemor. Right Up the hill. Just like "Up". Amazing view. Amazing house. Amazing jacuzzi. I have always loved his FairLady. But I loved his cats. And yes, for the first time I do admit I love cats. Only his cats. How come his cats are so sweet and adorable? Hate his dogs. A skinny irritating chihuahua and four crazy Rottweilers.

Kevin in KL. Arthur's Day celebration: BLACK EYE PEAS played some of their new songs, a few of their old songs, and most awaited song: Boom Boom Pow and I Got A Feeling!!!! A blast!! Feet killing me adi. THE FIREWORKS was soooo amazing.....loooonnger than the merdeka day ones...... Guinness got too much money...!

Quattro. Love you Pink. 4 tics for 6 pax. Pink, Me, Kevin, Chin Yee, Ling2, Gerry. Danced thru the night. Drink thru the night. Kevin and Gerry and Chin Yee bottom's up for like countless times. Kevin drunk. Gerry ate 4 eggs (wtf!). High cholestrol. Maggi goreng was sooo spicy that even I pengsan. I was little dizzy due to over-dancing (and not drunk!). Kevin hangover until next day. We left him in my car. Overnight. But dunno how he so pandai can walk up to my apartment himself.

Manutd won. Watched Fulham vs. Arsenal at Sri Bayu. 12am. 4 guys and a girl. Yes, I am a football fan. But not arsenal. Nm if Arsenal won. As long as Chelsea lose. They did.

Pavillion: Kevin watched me shop. Didn't shop til drop. Makan food court there. Conversation led me talking about Lenny and his magical powers. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, Lenny text (via Pink). He senses I was gossiping about him and then he text me. That's creepy.

Sunway Pyramid: Met Lenny and Dev. Lenny showed his magical mind reading power on me(not again!). He happy I am single. Duh! Intro-ed a guy to me. I will be his trophy wife. But said I should career-focus first. 28 is young. Fine! Talk laugh, Talk laugh. Lenny gossips more than me. Cannot tahan. Lenny and Dev talked me into joining salsa again. Dev: If Lenny can dance, so can you. Objective: Salsa gives you good 'performance'.

Today is a new week: All the shit work comes back. Here I am writing thesis, papers and reports again. This week will be shit week.

ASS Language.

The holidays sudah mau habises. I am so sads and scares. Scares of jams tomorrows. But betters go backs cause in ipoh, i can'ts concentrate on works..and i gettings sooosss fats. Fats like whens I was Form Fives that time onwards....

More weddings comes on next months. Pokais! Pokets kosongs. But see yous in Ipohs...!

*sweats*

Many FIRSTs this September.

My first page: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

About freemasonry

I bought this: Casio digital watch for teaching swimming purposes.

It's a kid's watch. Very cheap(skate).

See...got light wann..!

I bought this: SK-II facial treatment essence. I've tried the leftovers from FP's (thanks!) and it really works for my skin.
This is my first buy: a very good investment.


I did this: My first manicure.
A neutral colour, but...loved it!
You're right FP, I could get addicted with this.

12 Predicaments

1. I am Twittering more than usual. Because FB bores me quite a bit now. Hey, join Twitter cause I've no friend to kacau there! http://twitter.com/cchivy . <-------If you scroll thru and see the left panel of this blog, those are my twitter updates @ real time. I also follow 'NajibRazak' just to give my dua-cent worth.

2. I've got 4 weddings up, with 2 funerals down this year.

3. I passed my PTD M41 gov test (Peringkat 1). See my previous post about it.... but now what?

4. (hidden)

5. Swimming business or no swimming business? I would have to answer that very soon.

6. Mum says good things come only with patience. Just a little more patience....and all good things shall arrive (and maybe at the same time). She BEGGED me not to jump to any decisions so quickly as she knows I am very very agitated at my present situation now.

7. No more vacations. Focus on career development. And PBIM run. You can't blame me: I really pokai ady after all the angpows for weddings, clothes to attend them, and petrol back and forth Ipoh.

8. Lecturing? Thinking twice.

9. (Insyallah....) God willing, my Ph.D. viva may be this December.

10. Should I get a pair of Adizero running shoes? $$$$.

11. Pelik sungguh! Era asked me to teach English and Literature. To which I said yes(?!). My England also not very the good, how can to teach! But thank God, it's the Form 1-3 class he was talking about. I might have to re-read Wuthering Heights, Prisoner of Zenda or Great Expectation. Or I shall make all of them read and translate Zaid Ibrahim's "Saya Pun Melayu"

12. Sigh....

"Wake me up when September ends" - GreenDay

One of my fav song by Greenday. I think it's about time - my inaugural first post for the month of September. I really have been 'sleeping', so today is time to wake up.

There's so much to blog about, but there were certain things that struck me as interesting and worth mentioning:

Kanye West....bullied my no.1 female idol: Taylor Swift. I don't adore Taylor Swift as a person nor her songs. I just adore her curled-hair. And totally love her silver toga gown she wore at the VMAs. But Kanye was totally disrespectful to just barge up there and disrupt her acceptance speech! I feel for Taylor. She, as was everyone else, was appalled by what Kanye did. Good thing many ppl booed. Not even his fans condone his act. Nope, not any thousand apologies could render forgiveness for that act.

Nevermind what happened; it did happened. But what was the cue that made that mad-man go up to just speak his mind at the wrong time. Maybe he's just Gemini, and that's my theory. Very typical behaviour of male-gemini. He has the same birth date as I: 8th June; that's why I think I know why he loves the attention so much and at the same time being reckless about it.

This September began with my OWN (yes, my own) swimming classes. I've got many students who are willing to brave thru' the strict management of my apartment just to be my faithful followers. They showed passion in swimming and that's why I love teaching all of 'em. Now, I have a good many followers in my new religion of swimming. How faithful!! What do you think of the name (of my so-called future swim business): *"DIP DEEP"

*Nope, not just yet. Cause I can't pay for the rent of the pool just yet.

I would have to thank my dearest friend *Jonie for this opportunity. I was always afraid of water-rafting because:

1. I love my body;

2. Though I might have some permanent head damage, I need the head and what's in it;

3. Honestly, I am a little height phobic, that's why I don't go on roller coasters or solero shot (ever again);

4. I love my fingers: All of my digits are designed for scientific research, write, type and Facebooking;

5. I might have to redo my manicure.

6. Kiasi!

But the trip in Ulu Slim has awaken some amount of confidence, and with such crazy friends (or some said I was the only crazy one*) to raft along, I am hoping for the next trip....say at KKB, yah?!

*Jonie, you were sooo composed during rafting! But nope, I'll never ever Kiteboard (try convincing me again).

Maybe I should stick to swimming and running. But some say, I might just die in a car crash, or get knock by a car while running our Malaysian roads......instead. Kiasi is not an excuse.

As Jonie would have said: Trudge on.

Delete the obsoletes

It's been 3 weeks since I last came back to Ipoh. I quickly notice the changes in my own room. My parents had someone remove the wallpaper that once beautified my entire room. Well, I won't say exactly the word 'beautiful'. I thought it was just different. Today, the wall has just been re-Nippon and I am somehow very happy with the plain new blue. I have never said this before, but I used to loathe my own 'ugly' wallpaper; I didn't tell my parents because I did not want to hurt their feelings for their initial plan and concept of a wallpapered room. Wallpapers may fit a hotel room but to me, wallpapers are a big no-no for private residences.

Many things go obsolete. I dunno if there are people who still paste wallpapers to their houses. Other simple noticeable obsoletes in my room that I've noticed are my printed photographs and their negatives(!?!!?!?!), my Aiwa radio cum cassette player and my KRU's AWAS cassette. That's crazy. But as much as I want to do away and dumb all these obsolete stuff into the recycle bin (not the photographs, of course), I just can't do it now and now!! They have sentimental value. How I wish my parents hadn't discard the old stamp books I once had. Besides Beh, I dare say that no one does stamp collecting anymore.

Oh, ya....one very very obsolete thing in my room: my Encarta encyclopaedia set that cost a bomb (RM1000 at when I was 10 years old was a lot of money) and the Atlas book that came with it! They still had Yugoslavia! Madras was still Madras!

I found another obsolete in my room: The floppy.

Good read:
http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=21159559

Q: What's obsolete in your room?

I don't even play 'FRIENDS FOR SALE' application anymore on Facebook....but Pink spotted this on her facebook, and even I got goosebumps!!!

my selling price is $111,100

STOP FOLLOWING ME...or Pink!

MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia

Clockwise from top left: Pink, William Quah, Me with the crowd building up below us.

20,000 rockers.

Okay, it's a 1.3 MP phonecamera. So, we did look kinda flat 2-D.

Apart from Fipink being called "Aunty" by a bunch of kids sitting next to us in VIP (Gold) area, MTV World Stage was a BOMB! What a blast!! So wanna go to rock concerts again! Hoobastank was my ultimate favourite, though many would agree that All American Rejects (AAR) was THE act of the night.

Shucks! THE kids who called us aunty

Those with Gold tics like us were usually famous ppl/invited guest. Xandria Ooi and hubby was sitting right behind us; Niki Cheong too; a couple of Cleo Bachelors spotted; Kenny Sia dropped by though he left quickly for the mosh pit (ref: Niki Cheong). In the early hours, NTV7's William Quah was spotted behind us with his thick English accent; we spotted Joey G and last but not least, our bestie: Raj who jumped from Platinum to Gold to Mosh Pit to everywhere. And there was a couple of famous celebrity but we don't give a damn anymore. What matters is what's on the stage.

I think Hoobastank playing the theme from 'Ghostbusters' as an attention-builder towards the song The Reason was crazy crazy crazy! It came as a surprise. After Ghostbusters, the lead, Doug Robb labelled the crowd "ridiculous"!

Kasabian was the final band on the list, but we left after AAR's "Gives Me Hell". So did most of the crowd. I pity Kasabian with the dwindling crowd, but business' as usual. The volcano at Sunway Lagoon 'erupted' at the end of all of it but we both missed that (Reference: Niki Cheong) cause we were both left right after rocking with AAR. And also, who the hell are the Kasabians?!?! Sorry for my ignorance for the music industry of late....but I know the Kardashians though.

MTV doesn't fail. Good organizing. Good weather (I know Pink would also agree that it was so-not-cool to bring an umbrella). And best of all, there was no traffic jam cause we kiasu-cum-oldies left early for home, while the whole of Sunway was still partying at clubs nearby.

Pink and her Pope (or Nazi?) salute to AAR.

Pink has a better camera phone. So, wait up for new pics.

Check out MTV WorldStage Live in Malaysia on MTV 28 August 2009 (on Astro, of course).

Bali 8-10th August 2009

I don't really know what is it about Bali, but it makes me wanna go back again. I told Jonie that probably I'll return to Bali in another 2 years time because it's time to save $$ for New York. But the inkling feeling of returning to Bali is lingering hot. It could be because of my short(ened) stay there. The less you get, the more you yearn.

It was a short trip, but bare in mind, I had seasoned travelers together with me in this trip -Jonie, Riza, Cynthia (and parents were avid travellers) who just can move (or not move i.e. hatta yoga!) and can make up their minds real quick. Which is soo important! They said to have from Plan A to Z, just in case 25 other plans don't work out. But in my own observation, the whole trip was not planned at all! We've covered relatively a lot of places in spite of the lack-of planning, and because all plans(?) went so smoothly, you'd thought it was planned! (ok, sound like tongue-twister already).

But I can pin-point one factor to the smoothness of this trip - it was Wilson! A native to Bali, he was Nina's Friendster buddy. Errrrr....pretty creepy, but like us, even Nina has never met him in person 'til this Bali trip! And despite not knowing anyone in person (as well as Nina), he joined us in everything we do and everywhere we went. We were pretty bless to have our Indonesian friends too - Nina, Riza and Wilson - who were the key in braving thru' all language barriers, much-much-cheaper bargains, know-hows, and the north-south-east-west of Bali island with our rented coklat Avanza.

PEAK PEAK PEAK PERIOD:

Even Riza sighed at the sight of the our own human race in Bali. He's been to Bali many times and probably is his second home, but he has never seen soo many human beings in Bali in his entire life. Well, I told my dad: "How not to mingle with the Whites, eh???!?!?! Wanna avoid terrorist??? How to avoid??? And btw, Noordin M. Top looked like everyone else!" I blame the surfing competition held at Kuta and the National Day of Singapore.

Top's still alive! So smart lah, this Malaysian. 'Proud' of you :P

Terrorist-on-the-road: This man just lie on the road bringing the whole Ubud's traffic to a standstill about 5 min. I dunno why too. The polisi came and apprehended him.

Trivial: In Malaysia, TERRORIST ON THE ROAD means, bad drivers...like me.

We stayed in Legian for a night at Fourteen Roses Hotel which was the epitomy of a modern balinese architecture; the vicinity was way beyond my expectations. But where I was staying in Ubud was ...hmmphhh...unbelievably amazing. I still dunno the name to this hotel. And yes, because the place that we stayed in Ubud did not have a name (yet)! It was a genuine balinese style family home-turned-hotel (bed & breakfast). And if there was one compliment about this hotel, it was the rooms!

Hotel in Legian Room in Ubud.

You have to try the ever, famous, highly recommended babi guling. But nah....we all went to Bumbu Bali which was located exactly next to babi guling stall instead. I laughed and laughed to myself; my travel mates as well as Mr. and Mrs. Chang looked in amazement when I didn't wanna order any specialty from Bumbu Bali restaurant. Yes, you've guess it: because there's an exact franchise at Bandar Puteri Puchong - also by the same name. I've patronized the one in Puchong like 5 times. Why should I eat the one from Bali? The food in Bali is, of course, exactly the one served in Puchong's Bumbu Bali. Meh!

Oh, which reminds me I need to get to Bandar Puteri soon. Ivy-out!

P/S: more Bali pics at HERE

PTD M41

I went for a civil service entrance exam specially for Admin & Diplomatic officer (PTD - M41). I know, I know, many people will now start questioning my intentions to be one, but it's about Malaysia. I do love Malaysia. Nothing political of that sort. Doesn't mean I sokong the current government either, although I am supposed to (you have to be politically inclined to the Ruling gov.). I believe in Malaysia. Malaysia needs me or someone like me now (chehhwah!). I know I am just one drop of water in the vast ocean, but surely does make a ripple.

When I knew I really wanted to do this, I called a friend of mine who is already in the civil service with federal gov, but under the Perak administration. He's under the Economic Planning Unit, placed under Perak state government umbrella. He's Chinese, okay??!?!?! (uuurrrggghh....stop asking about race; typical Malaysian!). Since he has been thru' this presumably tough gov. exam, I asked him for tips. Also, there are so little Chinese (race again?!) in civil service that he said it would be easy for me to get in (and not harder as everyone would expect). And then I can spend tax-payers money on luxurious trips around the world as a diplomat. Kidding!!!!!!! (BTW, this friend just came back from training in Tokyo and Osaka, fully paid by tax-payers money(?)).

What's weird: I hope by the time I get into the government as a civil servant, it would be the current opposition ruling the federal gov, no?! Hope. And more non-bumis would have applied for civil service by then (I guess). Which makes my life easier, because I have less competition now than later on.

So, I promulgated my interest in PTD. And then: the uproar. And of course, friends have presumably tested me in a many LOL ways; friends who started testing me questions like e.g. So, who killed that Mongolian girl: A. PM B. Baginda C. Suicidebombing D. Wife. I told my friends I would 'gladly' (coercingly!) select 'Tiada di atas' if given the choice.

And when the real exam day arrived, I was calmed. In my examination hall in Putrajaya, out of 100 ppl, I spotted only 3 Chinese and about 10-11 Indians. My opinion: It is not about why the government is soooo biased towards bumis in the civil service. It is the non-bumis the ones NOT APPLYING to get in. And then, if 1 chinese gets cut-off from civil service cause he/she didn't pass the exam.....then the big huuuuh-hahh starts in the media implying "oooh, chinese get kick out due to double-standards in selection", or " hey, it's 1/3 or 33.33% chinese get kick out from entrance exam". If you look into the numbers correctly, it's all about the impact. Non-bumis feeeeel the impact more if they were not selected for civil service because of the less no. of applicants! So, it's rarely about the race. Look at the big picture, please.

If you've been thru' Form 6 - the first part of the questions are easy. It's like Pengajian Am. But with general questions e.g. "which of these movies did P. Ramlee acted in?", "what is Phishing?"....etc. But the second part was the hardest due to the time given to answers 40 maths and IQ questions in mere 45 min. I went panicky, of course. But who wasn't panic that time, eh?! Essays were okay: I answered the BM question about H1N1 and Influenza A, while I talked about the definition of success and its correlation to academic achievements in the English essay .

So, nothing political at this point (of the entrance exam). But it gets tough. However, I pray to get into the next part "THE ASSESSMENT" - physical fitness tests of timed- 2.5km run (yes!), mock parliamental debates, speech in BM and speech in English. Oh yes!