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~!)

Failed Attempt to "Do-It-All"

Today is a day I tried to "do-it-all"... My road tax will be expiring on 4th July, which means I need to: dig out my car registration card, renew car insurance and then renew road tax... in that order, ASAP... plus, now also gotta go get the rebate from Post Office after all that.

The hunt for the registration card was over the weekend... Having passed it to Mom last year after renewing my road tax, I was searching in frenzy mode over the weekend... (Mom was on holiday in Thailand with Dad) After searching high and low in every nook and cranny, I made a desperate attempt to sms both Mom and Dad, hoping against hope that either one of them had their phones on... Finally (thank God!!) my dad replied (albeit starting his sms with "this cost me RM3") with some suggestions of places to look... and yes, eventually I found it... Thanks, Mom & Dad!

So today after work, I rushed to the Kurnia office to renew my car insurance policy. I got there in time (they close at 5.30pm), only to be greeted (with a nod - better than nothing) by the security guard... There were about 5-7 other staff there who completely ignored me. The security guard motioned me to sit down and that was the only form of communication I got for the next 10-15 minutes. FINALLY, one of the staff came to the counter and started the transaction. Halfway through, a lady came and continued... Managed to get that done quite quickly, once someone came to the counter... Imagine how much lesser time I needed to spend there IF someone would take the initiative to at least come forward. So disappointed with the service. Especially cos the rest just sat there chatting amongst themselves, totally ignoring me. At least lar come ask what I wanted... what laa...

Car insurance policy in hand, I rushed to the Post Office (which was nearby, thankfully!) to renew my road tax... Waiting about half an hour, noticing that JPJ transactions are only until 6pm, I was praying hard that I would be able to make it to the counter before 6pm... And I did, just barely!! (Thank God!!) Phew! Happily, I handed my car registration card to the lady at the counter, only to be told, "Ini kena pergi JPJ la... Geran (kereta) sudah penuh... Kena ambil baru" (Translation: This one have to go to JPJ lar... (Car) grant full already... Have to take new one") Siao lar... I managed to get my road tax renewed every year with no problem... But now, cannot wor... NEED to go to JPJ... Ridiculous!!

So, in the end, I managed to only get my insurance policy renewed... Decided to just pay RM2.75 (apparently, have to pay RM2 service fee if renew road tax at Post Office anyway...) and use MyEG to renew my road tax rather than go find a JPJ office. (The only one I know of is at Jalan Genting Kelang... Setapak area... very far wei...) Via MyEG, will have to pay RM6 to deliver the road tax to me in Klang Valley, but I can just go collect it from Wisma KPMG (right next to One Utama) for free. Sheesh... save RM6 lar... Furthermore, using MyEG also means I don't need the registration card!! Saves me the trouble of having to get a new one (or something liddat...)

So now, need to find time to collect from the MyEG office. So much for trying to finish everything in a day... sigh... At least got Post Office in One Utama, can go get the rebate done there once I collect my road tax sticker... Hopefully that won't take half of forever and end up can't do anything again, sigh... Also, it seems that tomorrow onwards cannot get free gift for renewing insurance... At least I got the "last free gift" (in the words of the lady at the counter at Kurnia office).