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…

"Blonde" Moment

Hey hey!! I'm back from Terengganu, went to work on Friday... and will be going back to the workload again tomorrow...

Had a great weekend... "Celebrations" on two occasions... It was truly a lovely time... Much thanks to those who made them so special!! =) Thanks to the people at SAN for the January babies celebration, and thanks to those who came out on Saturday night for the buffet at Le Meridien... Good food, great friends, lasting memories... thanks!!

Okay, now to the featured topic... "blonde" moment... I feel so silly, hehe... I was out in the evening and had forgotten that I didn't turn off my car's headlights after I had parked... So, by the time I wanted to drive out at dinner-time, I couldn't open my car (using the remote) and when I tried to open the car manually, I found that my central locking also didn't work; this was the point I figured that my car battery was probably out... So, went and called AAM lar...

The technician came by an hour later and we manually opened the car, opened the hood... He plugged into the battery he brought and then when we started the car, the alarm went off (duh... we opened manually mah) and there it was: the headlights all nice and bright, haihz... *sweat* Initially, the technician thought that the battery was drained cos the car was heating up... (Wasn't too surprised that the radiator was heating up since I have not checked on the water for a while liao... Was going to fill up the water before I drove out at dinner-time... But well, obviously, in the end, the battery died-ed because of leaving the headlights on... Aiyo, what a ditz!

So, the "blonde" summary:

1. Didn't check on radiator water (but maybe not so blonde lar this one... cos I remembered to check before I went out mah...)

2. Forgot to turn off headlights (second time this happened... haihz...)

3. Called AAM (so embarrasing!) when I could've just had some help to jump-start the car myself... sad.

Okayz, on the lighter side... do look out for the summary on the Terengganu retreat and the birthday celebrations... =)

D.I.Y. - Good or Bad?

D.I.Y. or Do-It-Yourself... Is that a good thing or not? I suppose some might think that it's good to do things with your own hands - after all, that's one way to learn, right?

There are some things that people come to generalize and expect - one of which is that the female population have no inkling when it comes to car maintenance. Hence, D.I.Y. in this area is not something you commonly hear about. May I please correct this misconception - maybe a number of ladies are like that, but hey... NOT ALL lah. (There... I've said my piece...)

Anyhoo...

Recently, I checked my car's radiator water level and had emptied about 2 litres of water into both the radiator as well as the spare water container. (Goes to show how long I haven't checked lah...) On Sunday (finally!!), I did a more thorough check on my car - the battery water level, brake fluid level, engine oil level - and I found that there was a need to top up... all of them!! So, some battery water and brake fluid top-up later, I attempted to open the cover of the engine block to add some engine oil as the level showed "low". Failed attempt after failed attempt - it just wouldn't budge! Finally, I decided to use the curved end of a hammer to wedge the cover open... This resulted with a tear on the cover, sighz... Had to call my boss and ask for some time-off in order to go to the mechanic to replace the cover. (The cover was still in its place as it still wouldn't budge, but I don't think it advisable to drive around with a torn cap, right?) My boss allowed me to take up till half a day off - answered prayer #1!

Before I left for the mechanic's the next morning, I said a quick prayer... The following are the prayers and their results:

Sense of direction to find the place (haven't been to the mechanic for some time already - not sure if I'll be able to find my way given my inconsistent sense of direction) - answered prayer #2 (despite turning off the main road too soon, found my way back on track!)

No traffic jam (my time-off was only for half a day; any longer would be considered as taking one day of annual leave) - there was still a bit of traffic, but it wasn't the expected amount of traffic in order to term it as a traffic jam, so... answered prayer #3!

Availability of a spare cover and that the replacement will be done properly and not take up too much time - everything was completed within minutes after the 15 minute wait for the mechanic to come and see the car! Answered prayer #4!! (Ooh... we're on a roll! *grinz*)

Fair price of replacing the cover (I have no clue how much it was going to cost me, but whatever it was had to be paid anyway, right?) - talking with the mechanic while he replaced the cover, he said that it doesn't cost much (maybe a few ringgit only for the cover)... When he was done helping me to top-up with the engine oil I had brought along and replacing the cap with the new one, he said "No charge..." Wow!! Praise God - answered prayer #5!

Everything was completed within half an hour (at the mechanic's) and I managed to get into the office by 11am! All glory and praise to God!! =)

The streets are no longer safe!

"The streets are no longer safe!" - This has been my on my MSN nickname for a couple of weeks now.

On 2nd October 2007 (Tuesday), my Head of Department was robbed of her new Honda Civic. She had gone back in the afternoon, as the Muslim staff who were going to attend the Buka Puasa (Breaking of fast) event at our workplace later that day were allowed half-day off to go home early and bring their families to attend the event. It happened at 2.30pm - in broad daylight, in a busy area (SS3 heading towards LDP)!!

We often get forwarded emails that tells the tale of people (especially single female drivers) whose cars have been hit by another car and then have their cars stolen when they pulled over to check the damage onto their cars, right? This actually happened! In a nutshell, my boss' car was hit from behind by a car that sped towards her, she didn't pull over to have a look (remembering all these email forwards and her husband's and friends' advice) but eventually pulled over to take a quick look anyway (the bang was quite loud) and this was when the driver of the car that hit her also pulled over and offered to settle for the damages. She had said she didn't want to settle or want any compensation from the man. A second man probably came out of the car by then, as she mentioned that there were two Indian men. One of the men had punched her in the face, giving her quite a nasty "black eye". It was quite miraculous that in spite of all that, she managed to grab her handbag from the car before the car was driven off!
[Note: All this happened in minutes... Roughly 5-10 minutes only!]

This story may sound like a repetition of all those email forwards about incidences just like this, but I tell you, the shivers up your spine after hearing it happen to someone you know (and seeing the nasty bruise) is no joke! So please, please, please be careful and always alert when driving - especially to the single female drivers out there! If anyone hits you or follows you when driving, please do not stop and if you have to stop, stop at the nearest police station. You may think "It could not happen to me" (especially in broad daylight on a busy road), but it's better to be safe than sorry!! Take care, my friends!

Wave Vs. Touch

I'm sure most of you modern-age people are familiar with the terms "Visa Wave" and "Touch and Go", as well as how they work, right? Imagine this...

At the toll booth... Driver of the car in front of you stops at the "Touch and Go" panel on the "Touch and Go" lane... Whips out the "Touch and Go" card... WAVES it in front of the sensor panel... Wave, wave, wave... Drop! (The card falls out of the driver's hand - probably from the frantic waving) Driver opens door, picks up the fallen card and... (you'd think they'd figure it out by now... but...) WAVE! Wave, wave, wave... (you guessed it!) Drop!! Open door. Pick up. Frantic waving continues... *sweat* Finally, after more desperate and frantic waving... the sensor somehow managed to sense the card! (Thank GOD!!)

Okay, stop imagining... it actually HAPPENED!!! Sighz... At the time, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or yell at the woman. Have we become so high-tech that we start to fuse all the technology and get confused between them? *winks*

Motorcyclists - #1 Road Hazards??

My opinion... absolutely!! (To be fair, most of 'em lah... maybe a few rare ones who are not too bad)

- They weave in and out of traffic like nobody's business.
- They ride against traffic.
- They think they're so all that. As if lah they are so big liddat. Ish!
- They may be the cause of an accident but are labelled "innocent until proven guilty".
- They ride in the middle of mainstream traffic although taxpayers' money have gone into constructing motorcycle lanes.
- (Many many more reasons, I'm sure, but if I keep going on, this post will be pages and pages long!)

You must be wondering what's up with all this ranting. Well, first, a ding dong of a motorcyclist (have probational license only) fell down and skidded into the back of my car, as I was entering a slip road, last month. So far, I've paid for my own damages and not claimed a single sen from him (or his insurance). To top it off, that day, I even took the trouble to send him to the clinic and then my dad helped to send him to the hospital for x-ray. Missed attending my friend's wedding because of this whole fiasco. Two weeks later, he's calling me to ask me to pay for his medical bill (which, my insurance company advised against since I'm innocent and being kindhearted to help him out will only cause me to be assumed as the guilty party) or else he'll see me in court. The cheek of him!! Grrr!! Any one has any idea how to countersue (if he attempts to bring up a case) or sue this guy for my damages as well as mental stress? Please let me know.

Today, on the way to work, a reckless motorcyclist almost caused an accident!! Traffic in the morning, as usual, is pretty heavy. A motorcyclist was riding in the middle of traffic, between my car (right lane) and another car (left lane). Not only that, he was hogging the 'path' so other motorcycles couldn't overtake him unless they manouvered into either lane, which a few did... into my side of the road!! So, I was subjected to be an unwilling participant in a "game" of dodge with those crazy people. Later, I got a chance to overtake this silly motorcyclist and noticed that his helmet was on rather loosely although it seemed buckled, but traffic slowed a bit further on, so he caught up. Overtook me. Then, the most unbelievable thing happened right in front of my eyes: The motorcyclist raised his hand, stroked his helmet (like you stroke you hair... perhaps he forgot he had a helmet on??) and his helmet just FELL OFF!!! Right into the middle of my lane. Thank God I managed to slow down so that I don't crash into the helmet. The helmet bounced past the front of my car to the side of the road (right lane) and I drove past it. Not sure if the car behind me saw the bouncing helmet, but really thank God the car was not that close behind me and didn't crash into me when I slowed down to avoid the helmet. The motorcyclist (I dunno if he was sleep-riding the whole time cos he looked really blur) still looked as blur as ever and finally pulled over to the left side of the road, with a looked that could be 'captionized' as "wha...??? hmm... where'd my helmet go?". Siao-ness!!

So now I ask you - what do you think? Motorcyclists - #1 Road Hazards???

In search of... Damansara Heights!

Went to Damansara Heights yesterday. Had to look for Menara SBB, which is now CIMB, I suppose... So, got some idea where it is from Eric, said a prayer for direction and a parking lot within the bank premises (so it's free!!) and then headed off. Already left later than I'd preferred. Which reminds me... I still need to go down to get some forms to fill... sighz... keep forgetting!!

So, after a quick prayer, I left the office. And lo and behold, I didn't really see the directions that Eric referred to! But there was signage to get there, which I'd followed... And, yes... I got there! And even better... the parking lot I prayed for... was there!! It's superbly difficult to find parking in that area!! A lady and her friends were about to enter their car by the time I reached the parking lots (there were only 4!) and so... yeah... answered prayer!! Woot!

In the end, I figured out why the directions didn't seem to be as how Eric described it... I was on a different road!! Sighz.. my fault lar.. I thought I was on Sprint, but after discussing the landmarks along the way, it seems that I was on a part of Penchala... well, at least now I know, right? =)

Minutes of 'fame'...

Yesterday, I had too many minutes of fame. Yeah, so many people want their '5-minutes of fame'... But trust me, you don't want it the way I had it, haha!

I'd left my car's headlights on (*slap forehead*) after I finally secured the parking lot. This motorcyclist took a long time to get the idea that he was in my way... grr!! I suppose all the energy that went into getting him to realize that kinda resulted in me forgetting about the lights, sigh. (Time to whip out the gingko??) Oi, a lot of energy went to that effort wei... some more after managing to successfully 'sleep-drive' to work ler!

Went for the computer course I'd signed up for... then at 10am, my colleague called. Quietly picked up the call lar. "Oi, you left your car lights on lar!" *dsshhh* So, I excused myself from the class and went to turn off the lights lor. Then I tried to start the engine, just to see if the battery has died already... And that's how the 'too many minutes' began...

The car won't start... The alarm went off... *sweat* Anyone and everyone who passed by stared as they went past. (Now that I think about it, how come none stopped to help ler... aiyoh!) Thankfully, my colleagues came to the rescue! Finally got the car jump started from one of the company cars. (Yeah, I know where the drivers' room is now, haha! Yes, there is a room for all the drivers!!) After the whole thing was over, there were a few people who came to me and told me that they saw the lights on, but... didn't know which department I worked at (this is excusable, since the lady is my parking neighbour only), forgot to tell me (*sweat*), don't know where I was (acceptable, since I'm not in my 'usual place'), blah, blah, blah!! I was sooo tickled by the irony! =P

Well, still... a few people to thank... Lim, for being the 'muscle' behind the task (hehe!)... Vino, for the company while I let the engine run to charge the battery... Lai, Rae and Yoges (good to see you, Yoges!!) for their company too!! The kind soul who lead me to the drivers' room... The company car... The jumper cable... Okok, getting carried away here, haha! Well, it was good to know that there was help to fix the problem... and it came speedily too... Managed to get the car started in about 15 minutes from the time I'd let the alarm rip! Praise the Lord for providing so many kind souls along the way!

Ok, today, I checked and double checked before leaving the car... haha!! Still a bit 'paranoid' kua... haha!! Yes, in case you were wondering, I DID turn off the lights today! Enough 'fame' lar... The lady (my parking neighbour) knew I was a pharmacist ler... and I don't even know her wan!! Never even spoken to her before! Scary!! Sighz... I guess that's what you get being the only pharmacist here! So much for being just a face in the crowd in an unknown territory...