Mc-filled~!!

Contributing to The Mac twice this month makes my dieting effort look bleak
Yet despite exorbitant and cut-throat prices, the body (unfortunately) is weak...
From Prosperity Burger in KL to McGriddles in Singapore
Oh, such an irresistible allure...

Prosperity @ KL

McGriddles @ Singapore

Technorati Tags: McDonalds,McD,Prosperity Burger,McGriddles

A Prelude to Christmas

It's the time of the year again... Shopping malls feature elaborate decorations and entice shoppers to splurge on themselves or loved ones... Restaurants flaunt festive meal offers... Familiar carols play (sometimes too repeatedly) in the background, in my head... Yes, it's Christmas time~!!

A prelude to remembering the birth of Christ saw my Homelife / small group (newly named Y-WAN... please try not to mis-spell it... =P) reach out to the less fortunate. We arranged a trip to sing and mingle with the kids at an orphanage at Taman Megah last Saturday evening... In preparation, we had a practice session (we uh... had to revv up our vocal chords...) instead of the regular gathering on Friday night. It was rather unconventional.. high-tech.. uhh... different - courtesy of Isaac... =)

Just another regular gathering...

Isaac & his high-tech solution to the need for lyrics...

Ps Timothy started the gift-giving tradition ball rolling by surprising Jee Jin and Irene Lai with appreciation gifts... I suppose he must've anticipated the "oohs" and "aahs" from the rest of us, as he soon whipped out chocolate-y gifts for us too~!! *yay!*

Tokens of appreciation for Jee Jin & Irene...

Token for crowd control... *snicker*

Upholding Jee Jin & Irene in prayer...

Yet another surprise in store before we called it a night... A surprise for Kenrick... *Happy Birthday to You...*

Seems as though Irene had a pre-tasting session before presenting the cake, lolz~!!

Kenrick didn't seem to mind...


The refreshments prepared... along with one very hungry person... *winks*

Sharing is caring... or is it "guilt" setting in... lolz~!! *winks*

"Want some cake??"

With lack of sleep & the avalanche of work awaiting me at the back of my mind, I made my way to church to meet up with the rest of the gang. Irene already had some essential supplies for the orphanage stowed away in her car and we carted some shampoo and body lotion for the kids into Jee Jin's car to complete the donation to the orphanage. It had started to pour as we left for the orphanage, but even the downpour did not deter us from giving our best at the orphanage~!!

* We Wish You A Blessed Christmas *

Special Request : * I Love You, Jesus... Deep Down In My Heart *

Solo Performance...

Helping out with dinner...

Making friends...

Giving directions to the "lost sheep" who came late and couldn't find the way due to going to PC Fair first "other priorities"

Some bonded better than others... hehe~!!

"Bye bye.. thanks for coming... *muacks*"

*muacks*... Even though didn't get to spend much time with you...

After spending some time with the kids at the orphanage, we proceeded to spend some time with each other... over dinner at a food court in Taman Megah... (Aiya, fei-low-ship is part of fellowship mar... *winks*)

Couldn't resist ordering Hakka Lui Cha... Sadly, it wasn't that great and made me miss the one at Chow Kit even more... =(

SAN2 signing out after a long day... =)

Technorati Tags: Christmas,Orphanage,SAN2

I Like To... *Move It*~!

I like to move it, move it... She like to move it, move it... He like to move it, move it... We like to... MOVE IT~!!!

The song is still fresh on my mind after enjoying the preview of Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara, courtesy of AMBP and United International Pictures... For those who enjoyed the first Madagascar, the sequel would definitely have your feet a-tapping along... especially with the all-too-familiar "I Like To Move It", hehe~! Once again, the quartet of "freaks" - Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo - are brought together again for yet another adventure as Penguin Air crash lands into a wildlife reserve. As Alex discovers his roots and the penguins work on fixing the plane, the misadventures of King Julien with Maurice, as well as the "stowaway" Mort, inject amusement and laughter for all ages~! All in all, I would recommend the sequel to those who enjoyed Madagascar.

Okie, before I MOVE IT along to bed, just a few pictures...

 

Scored a pair of seats right in the middle of the second row from the back... sweet~! (All it took was to scurry over to Menara Star to collect the tickets a mere couple of hours after receiving the congratulatory email from AMBP... =.=")

 

With Mr. AMBP Editor himself, Mikey~!

He seemed to have somehow been left all by his lonesome at the ticket collection booth before the movie... However, he seemed to have soon resumed his role as Mr. Popularity in the cinema itself and then later after the movie... lolz~! =P

 

A common objective... Escape 2 Africa~!

Move it, move it... Watch it, watch it~!! 
Personally for me, indeed an entertaining end to a long day~!

Technorati Tags: Madagascar 2,Escape 2 Africa,AMBP,Movie

What's with DiGi?!

We've all seen the cute rubber ducky advertisements those genius marketing peeps at DiGi masterminded into our hearts by now - with the constant repetitions of the (by now) all too familiar "quack". This, right after the "yellow man" warmed his way right into the hearts of our nation. (I heard that even a subsciber of competitor telco got excited and wanted to take a picture with Mr. Yellow Man himself during a roadshow!) One of the latest advertisements featured their new plan for prepaid services, as well as the unveiling of the option to switch service providers from other lines to DiGi (while retaining your original phone number). Being a DiGi Prepaid user, I thought I'd check out the latest plan offered to see if it would suit my needs. However, I was horrified to note that I was unable to access DiGi's website from my office... kudos once again to IT, I was greeted with yet another "Access Forbidden; Error 403" message... sighz~! =.="

Curiousity got the better of me today as I decided to surf over and see whether the Maxis, Celcom and U Mobile websites were accessible - THEY WERE!! How frustrating... I wonder if the IT peeps have got a thing against DiGi or something... sheesh! Come on lar, already it's frustrating enough that (almost!!) everything is blocked, including the chatbox (which has "Access Forbidden" plastered all over in its rectangular place) which I'd painstakingly(?) configured onto the blog... For lack of a better word... kanasai~!

Has The Circus Come To Town?

I believe the answer is... YES~!

I think it's the only thing to explain the craziness this workday has been...

First half of the day was filled with discussion, followed by Hari Raya / Farewell makan... Then just as the minutes ticked into lunch break, was caught up in a discussion regarding the department's statistical projections for the rest of the year. Anticipating trying to clear up some work as I will not be in the office next Monday till Wednesday, I attempted a short nap during lunch break, before heading back to the grind... Little did I know, the circus apparently came to town... =S

Back at the grind, I find myself facing the likes of idiots, smart asses, daft, Houdini's and tai chi geniuses... The cast of a circus indeed... all within the span of 2.5 hours (about the duration of the typical circus??) Who would've thought so many different characters could find themselves converging to a single point of time~!

Since I'm running out of time, I shall let you participate in this blog post... Try to classify the following:

Scenario #1- After explaining the procedure for evaluating an application, including common hiccups and FAQs, I am asked repeatedly (a total of about 5 times) the same question throughout the 2 hour duration, although I have already specifically explained the solution and course of action ~ plus, about the 5th time the same question was posed, it was added that someone else said otherwise... I'm thinking, hello, was I not clear enough the first 4 times?! Logically also, who are you reporting to lar?! >.<

Scenario #2 - Customer called after my official working hours and silly me had to pick up the phone, sighz... Found out that the caller needed some advice, so I tried to help. First, the caller spoke as though she had already spoken to me before (not that I would be able to recall anyway, given the number of people who call in or walk in, right?). Then, she told me that she was referred to speak to me (and I have no inkling of her case in the first place!!) Second, the caller doesn't seem to have a clue what she was talking about and kept repeating her nonsense over and over again, regardless of how much I tried to direct the conversation towards an understanding of the situation in order to find a solution. Third, I find out that good ol' TCM (who is nowhere to be found) referred her to me... God only knows why as this was already an old case, which supposedly TCM has prior knowledge about... Not that I would blame TCM for doing what he does naturally anyways, plus the fact that the woman refuses to listen and keeps blabbering her nonsense, but still... have some decency and clear up your own crap la~! I find out later that TCM was enjoying the leftover from this morning's makan event, along with everybody else... No wonder I couldn't seem to find anyone for anything... =.="

I understand that there are more than one person involved in each scenario, but knock yourself out figuring out who's who lar... Feel free to let me know what you think... After all, that's what the comments button in for, right? =P

Okiez, gotta run...~! Brains, or what's left of it, have been overbaked and is now lagging... >.<"

How to Waste Life...

*drumroll...*

One of the best ways to waste time is what I just spent 2.5 hours of my life on this morning... Attending a "work-related" presentation! It was to be presented by TCM and when I asked, I was told that the presentation (training for the newbies) was a brief overview (of one of the tasks that I'm already involved in) and supposedly some updates are being presented as well. Hence, it may be beneficial to sit in... I wouldn't even call it investing my time, really, although partially the reason I spent the time that I didn't have was because it was supposed to have some updates which were "work-related"...

Frustratingly, I found out later that the presentation included the history and anecdotes of "Life as TCM" and there weren't any updates that I wasn't already aware of... I just wasted away 2.5 hours of my life, which would've amounted to more had I not left a bit earlier to look for HOD. Sadly, HOD was nowhere to be found... And, for obvious reasons, I did not return to the meeting room for the rest of the presentation... On top of that, along the course of the presentation, TCM also seemed to have hinted for more tasks to be added on to my already back-breaking workload... How not to be frustrated?!!

Now, I've got 2.5 hours less to work on the priority task I've been rushing... Just got back from lunch and a bit of shopping, but still frus... grrr... Okay, better get back to work liao lar... Totally ditched another presentation that has just started cos I'd need to work on that priority case...

Sooo need to de-stress... Anyone got any good de-stressing tips???

I'm Yours...

I've heard this song many times before, but today the lyrics just pierced my heart... I could sense God gently reminding me that I am His... Although undeserving, yet He still loves me as His own...

I just wanna say THANK YOU for loving me, just as I am... That You would care enough to feel my hurt, choose to light the way, call me through the rain and watch me rise again... I am but a flower quickly fading... and ever thankful, Lord... =)

I hope this song will bless you too...

Who Am I - Casting Crowns

Who am I?

That the Lord of all the earth,

Would care to know my name,

Would care to feel my hurt.

Who am I?

That the bright and morning star,

Would choose to light the way,

For my ever wandering heart.

Bridge:

Not because of who I am,

But because of what you've done.

Not because of what I've done,

But because of who you are.

Chorus:

I am a flower quickly fading,

Here today and gone tomorrow,

A wave tossed in the ocean,

A vapor in the wind.

Still you hear me when I'm calling,

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,

And you've told me who I am.

I am yours.

I am yours.

Who am I?

That the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love

And watch me rise again.

Who am I?

That the voice that calmed the sea,

Would call out through the rain,

And calm the storm in me.

Bridge

Chorus

Bridge

Chorus

I am Yours.

Whom shall I fear?

Whom shall I fear?

'Cause I am Yours.

I am Yours.

At Mercy for Rockferry

Okay, the peeps at AMBP is making it a tad bit more difficult to nab prizes off them... =P

For Duffy's album, Rockferry, there were 4 choices of tasks (at least got choice lar):

- Rewrite lyrics to "Warwick Avenue" or "Mercy"
- Post a pic of yourself in a blonde wig
- Post a video or audio of yourself belting out a Duffy song
- Pretend to be Duffy and blog about the experience of "Warwick Avenue"

So, here's my take:

Dunno where to get a blonde wig... Try not to embarrass myself in an attempt to sound like Duffy (I mean, how can you top her lar?)... Finally, making no assumptions on how "Warwick Avenue" came about, I choose to just buat kacau to the lyrics of "Mercy" lor...

So, dedicated to the peeps at AMBP...

Did you think that I

Will be blonde and sing a song?

You got to understand

Not everybody can

Wear some wig and sing along

~

Please lah show some mercy

Why so susah to get CD?

The choice is very easy

Just give me Rockferry...

----

*winks* And thus, ends my entry... =P

Molested in Ipoh!

Just came back from a work assignment in Ipoh yesterday...

Ipoh + me = not compatible, maybe? Let me count the ways...

The trip up to Ipoh on Wednesday was quite uneventful - no embarassing narcolepsy moments, lolz! Perhaps I've been getting enough sleep lately since I've been feeling under the weather, bordering to actually falling sick, for the past couple of weeks already... (To sidetrack, it's actually amazing that I've not actually fallen sick since everyone else around me have been succumbing to a bug or two!)

By the end of my work assignment on Wednesday, I was already starting to feel ill. I was looking forward to getting back, getting some rest and preparing for another work assignment the next day (Thursday) before making the trip back to KL. I got back to where I was staying, looked down and discovered that I was wearing slippers that did not belong to me - I forgot to change back to my shoes, which I had to remove to put on the slippers, as per the requirement of the place I went to. =.=" So, had to go all the way back to swap shoes, sighz... It didn't help that I was already having a splitting headache and felt like throwing up. (It was good that my parents accompanied me to Ipoh, so I didn't have to do the driving back to retrieve my forgotten shoes)

Sadly, the state I was in made the delicious dinner laid out before me quite unbearable indeed... sigh... Gotta try that claypot rice place again next time - if I can manage to find the place on my own, that is... grrr...

The good thing about Ipoh, however, is the lack of traffic jams, haha! So, the next morning, I could sleep in a bit more before having to head out to work. Had a very delicious nasi lemak breakfast at Simpang Pulai on the way... Had quite a ferocious appetite since I barely ate the night before, haha!

After ending my work assignment, the company offered to take me out for a late lunch. Got into the car, unknowing that I was about to be molested... gah! Here's a picture *shudder* of the culprit:

Erm, what were you thinking, har? This not disgusting enough meh? Eewww... *shudder* This is the account of what happened:

Got into the car and after a bit of the way towards the lunch location, I felt a tad bit uncomfortable. Thinking it was probably a bra strap that got twisted, I discreetly attempted to straighten it while talking to my hosts. Oddly, it seemed to have worsened the situation - now I felt something wriggling in my shirt!! Since I was wearing a cap-sleeved work shirt, I summoned my discreet abilities to reach in and pull out what I thought then was a worm (although I had no clue how it was possible for a worm to find its way into my shirt!). It was still wriggling as I pulled it out - the tail of a lizard!!! How gross, I thought, that the detached, wriggling tail could fall into my shirt - perhaps a lizard got spooked when I got into the car!

Oh, but wait, there's more surprises to come!! I was already distracted and wrapped up in the sheer disgust from discovering the wriggling tail, I tuned off from the conversation as I stared blankly at the tail as it wriggled through the crack of the car door. Thinking it was the end of my harrowing experience, I wondered why I was still feeling uncomfortable. It took me like a whole TWO seconds later before I considered that the discomfort could be due to the other half of our friend, the cicak (Malay for "gecko"). My eyes widened as I shook my shirt about, forgetting about being discreet anymore at this point, and true enough, out pops the other half!! =.=" *faints* Surprisingly, neither of my hosts seemed to have noticed my panic - or maybe they were being courteous?

Thank God, no more surprises after that and I had a good lunch. However, I was haunted by harrowing deja vu moments of the cicak incident throughout my drive back to KL, which became even longer than expected as it was raining quite heavily at some stretches of the highway...

I was glad to be home, though, where the cicak keep to themselves!! ^^

Intermission...

Dear Readers,

Just as Broadway productions have intermissions, so shall this blog...

Sorry, that I haven't been able to post much recently as I've been pretty wrapped up with work, etc. This blog shall be updated as soon as I can find the time.

Hopefully, the red vertical line that has suddenly popped up on my laptop screen is nothing serious and will not further delay any updates to the blog.

Again, sorry lar... "Rancangan tergendala" for now... Kinda reminds me of RTM's Rancangan Tergendala screens in the days before Astro came about, eh? Sadly, I still do not have Astro, but at least the monotonous beep or oh-so-boring background music that come along with the "Rancangan Tergendala" notice on TV is a thing of the past, hehe... It's one of those things you won't miss, though... =P

On a different note, I wanna watch WALL-E... Anyone else interested?

Just Between Me, Myself and I...

Seems all I have is... me, myself and I
To learn again how... to trust, to love, to rely
Perhaps I'm paranoid you may say
But I'm only human this day

Is it me...
~ that is un-lovable?
~ that is difficult?
~ that is different?
~ that is impossible?
~ that is paranoid?

Around me...
~ people laugh
~ people smile
~ people find open arms
~ people cry on comforting shoulders

Then I look at me and find...
Just me...
Myself...
And I...

I ask God why...
~ to be included you must be needed?
~ must I carry on when it is easier to just give up?

I'm sorry, God, I am but human.
I fall, I bruise, I break, I hurt... I am foolish, I am weak... I fail over and over.
My thoughts run wild ~ Do You love me (even if no one does)? Why would You (when it seems no one can)?
But yet oh-so-silently...
~.~.~ "I do, My child... just because..." ~.~.~
Is it that simple? Can it be?

The Day It All Stood Still

Monday was definitely a day Malaysians living in the Klang Valley would remember for some time to come… I mean, how can one forget the “fun” (more like agony) of being “trapped” in your car for extended periods, moving only inches (if any)? What am I talking about? The horrendous standstill traffic due to the roadblocks, especially around the Parliament area in Kuala Lumpur!!

It was quite odd that traveling from Old Klang Road back to Subang Jaya via Federal Highway late on a Sunday night took us longer than usual, with the unexplainable masses of cars at such a time. We wondered why traffic was so heavy and congested… Little did I know, worse was ensued the next morning!

I left home at about 7am and headed to Petaling Jaya, where I worked. Thinking that it was just one of those days that Federal Highway was extremely congested (I mean, Monday morning ler… probably everyone got a bit of Monday blues and left a bit later than usual) as I was greeted by congestion even getting onto Federal Highway, I detoured through Glenmarie to use the NKVE Highway to get to work on time (I start at 7.30am). The journey on NKVE was pretty uneventful and upon exiting the Damansara toll, I had intended to take the flyover to Sprint Highway, which usually gets me to work quicker than if I had used the LDP Highway. Surprisingly that day, traffic was at a standstill on the flyover, which had backed up quite significantly – even getting onto the flyover was almost standstill! It was a good thing that I was not too blur that morning (c’mon, it’s Monday morning!!) and quickly detoured off to use LDP instead, taking heed of the traffic reports coming from the radio station. I finally arrived in the office – five minutes to 8AM!! Ugh… my punch card had a red timestamp… sigh. My boss came in later and I heard him informing our admin staff that, “everybody will be late today; traffic jam very bad”. A newspaper article was circulated to all the staff later that morning with the explanation of the horrific ordeal – roadblocks due to the possibility of illegal protests as Parliament would be presiding that day.

A reprise was seen just yesterday, as reported over the radio station’s traffic report. Not wanting to be caught in the traffic jam, I used the LDP instead as I could already see the long line of cars heading to Sprint Highway. At least this time I was only about 5 minutes late, compared to 25 minutes!!

And finally, I took a peek at the newspaper today and found this article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/18/nation/21857511&sec=nation
It was entitled, “Roadblocks to continue”… sigh! A colleague told me of her friend who actually took emergency leave on Monday and turned back home instead of enduring the traffic she saw as she was on her way to work in KL!! Sadly, I wouldn’t be able to afford such a “luxury”, hehe…

Medical Report ~ Ortho and Physio appointments

I've been having some back pains, especially my lower back, for some time now. Finally, one day after having unexplained backache, I decided to finally get it checked out. I figured, since I have medical coverage (at government clinics / hospitals only), I may as well make the best of it. Hence, I finally decided to make an appointment to see a specialist.

I tried to expedite the waiting time by going to a private GP to get a referral letter. Referral letter in hand, I was off to Selayang Hospital the very next day. However, all I got after a few hours of waiting was an appointment date, lolz~! The appointment was set to be one and a half months later!!

Finally, one and a half months passed, and the pain also subsided in time... Went to the hospital on 28th May 2008, directly to the Orthopedic Department, and took a number - #4; shouldn't be a long wait, according to the nurse at the counter. So, I settled down on a chair to wait my turn... I then noticed people getting up and crowded around something...

Tried to take some pictures using my phone ~ sorry about the blurry pics... phone is kinda old liao... Finally after the crowd cleared (about 10-15 minutes later), I managed to take a shot of what everyone was crowding around... It was a snack vendor - peddling snacks off a trolley!! Brilliant! Lolz...

After the vendor left, I was left to my own devices again... Phone + PDA = Devices to keep me entertained during the wait... *winks*

My supposedly "short" waiting time soon became one hour... then one and a half hours... Finally, after waiting for over 2 hours, I went to the counter to find out what was going on. It seems that the specialist I was supposed to see was on leave that day and his assisting nurse only found out about an hour ago... =S As a result, all the patients the specialist was supposed to see was distributed to the other medical officers that were working that day... Since I was "staff", I was given priority (they also kinda felt bad that they left me waiting clueless for so long kua...) to see the next medical officer that was available. I wondered whether or not I should've gone to check on the status earlier, hehe... *winks*

A couple of x-rays and a consult with the medical officer later, I was diagnosed with scoliosis and given a prescription, along with a referral for physiotherapy. The x-ray showed the lower back muscles in spasm, and the medical officer said that my backbone was too straight~!

Met an ex-colleague, who happened to be working at the satellite pharmacy, who filled my prescription - muscle relaxant and pain killers. The ironic thing was that my prescription was:
~ Myonal tid x2/52 (muscle relaxant, three times daily, for 3 weeks)
~ Tramadol prn (pain killer, when necessary)

What I got from the pharmacy: exactly 42 tablets of Myonal, but a box of 100's of pain killers... Wow, I didn't even know I was in that much pain, haha!! The ironic part, though, was I had back ache the day after the doctor's appointment, which I did not have on the day of the appointment... >.<

The physiotherapy appointment was scheduled 2 weeks later, so I found myself at the hospital again on 11th June 2008. Rushed to the hospital as I went to get some currency exchanged and picked up my bus ticket to Singapore before my physio appointment - will be off to Singapore that weekend. Was a bit late for my appointment. The nurses or attendants at the Physio department - not as friendly as the ones at Ortho... =(

When my turn finally came, I was left to stare at the wall for a while, waiting for the physioterrorist physiotherapist to come attend to me. When she finally came, *poke, poke* *poke* *OUCH!!* She hurt my shoulder~! Got a VERY painful massage and heat compression to relax the muscle... The heat compression helped the most, and after  about 10 minutes of heat therapy, the shoulder muscle relaxed and the pain subsided a bit. A little bit more massaging to relax the muscle and she then proceeded to teach me some back exercises. After learning a couple of back exercises, she led me to the "gym", where I was instructed to hang onto a ladder. The gravity pull can help to "straighten my back".

Things I learnt after the trip to the physioterrorist physiotherapist:
~ I can barely carry my own weight... and I'm supposed to be underweight some more... haha!
~ My case of scoliosis is quite mild, as the main problem is that my left and right sides are not even (one side is slightly higher than the other)
~ Back exercises that I was taught is supposed to help my condition, and I'm to do them regularly, i.e. everyday
~ I can only get time-off from the physiotherapist... No MC... so it was back to office after lunch...

Well, next physio appointment one month after... scheduled for 16th July 2008... (this time appointment after lunch, so I can go straight home after, hehe...) More updates after that lar... Now, gotta go do back exercise before I forget (again~!)