"Pin-drop" ponderings...

It's like "pin-drop" silent lately... at work, anyways. Not much work (not much that requires rushing anyways), not many demands from people (seems like a lot are out of office this week as well) and generally been very quiet (perhaps everyone (outside, i.e. customers) is busy with clearing their own stuff before Chinese New Year?) So, it's the re-emerging of the blogger in me, hehe... Provided that there are stuff to talk about lar. Here's some anyways:

The Ikea Incident
This happened to me at Ikea last week - went there on Friday with my colleague for lunch. Craving for Swedish meatballs, hehe. So anyhoo, as those of you who are familiar with the drinks system at Ikea - there are two types of cups available for the free flow of drinks (either carbonated or coffee/tea). The first cup, the glass goblet-like cup, is for the carbonated drinks only as it "cannot" withstand high temperatures - priced at RM1.50. The second, the ceramic(?) mug, is able to withstand the heat of hot coffee/tea - priced at RM3.00 and people who "purchase this cup" will get the convenience of safely consuming either hot or cold drinks in their cup. Okay, I think the foundation has been laid... Now for the feature "presentation":

I got the RM3.00 cup, which meant that I could have either hot or cold drinks. And, not wanting to start with the delicious coffee before I had anything to eat, proceeded to fill my cup with a carbonated drink. As the bubbly gush of sweet, sticky (if you spilt it!) drink filled my cup, I got a "oi, you can't take cold drink in that cup - only meant for hot drink!" from the fella (most likely foreign and new to Ikea) who was refilling the coffee beans in the coffee machine (ooh, they've got a new coffee machine by the way!)... grrr... >.<

The Lack of Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger, or previously commonly known as MSN Messenger, had always worked perfectly well in my office. Hence, on days like these I can at least catch up with some people - most times, I'm swamped with work and my status is set to "Busy" (to the point that Irene Lai will "ask permission" to chat, haha! - no need lar... so pai seh liddat ler!). Sadly, from Monday (28th Jan), although I am able to sign into Messenger, I am unable to send or receive messages. To the misery of some other "Mesengger-kaki's" at the office and myself, it continued on in this trend the next day...

Then a glimmer of hope came on Tuesday (29th Jan), after lunch - Irene Lai messaged me and I received it!! Since then, it was back to normal. What joy for all of us!! Messenger worked just fine for the rest of the day. =)

The joy didn't last long, as yesterday (30th Jan) the inability to send or receive messages via Messenger set in again... and the trend has continued on till now. Withdrawal symptoms, such as increased stress levels and a gloomy outlook, seemed to have set in for the Messenger regulars, who have since (in attempt to retain their sound mind) either resorted to continuing their moping and lamentating, or to Web Messenger (which seems to be working just fine). Thankfully, I also have a blog to keep myself occupied, no? *winks* Haven't resorted to using Web Messenger... yet. I still harbour hope that it's just some problem at the "Messenger service provider", which should be resolved... soon?! =S I do hope it's not my office firewall-ing (the horror!!) Messenger, sigh. Here's hoping Messenger works properly again!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

To all my readers; to one and all...

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
GONG XI FA CAI!

Wishing you journey mercy for your travels this festive season...
Wishing you a restful and enjoyable holiday... (Erm.. to those who do not have holiday, hope you will enjoy the festivities nonetheless!)
May you have a wonderful time with family, friends and your loved ones... (Dogs, cats, hamsters, etc all included... *winks*)

"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... =)

Need : Holiday

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR... (Yes, I know it's already like 8 days into the new year already... Wrapped up with all sorts of stuff lar, so no time to blog oso...)

Lots has been happening since the welcoming in of 2008... Despite clearing up my work on New Year's Eve (yes, I was working that day, sadly... hehe!), as of 2nd January 2008, I have been working non-stop : reports to wrap up 2007, more license renewal applications to evaluate, annual report contribution, certify true copies of licenses... Before one task is completed, another one seems to have added itself at the end of the long queue of tasks!

On a lighter note, it's nice to have Chels and Sa dropping into the blog... =)

Am involved in the ISO Internal Audit training this week also... Yesterday and today was quite tough... especially the keeping awake in class after lunch! *winks* Tomorrow will be the last day of the course... Then, Thursday is a public holiday (yay, finally... some rest!!) and then Friday will come soon after, which will be the last day to clear up work before the much needed holiday...

Yes, you read it right... HOLIDAY!!! Woots!! I will be away in Terengganu... May not be the best time to be hanging around Terengganu, but will be praying for good weather and great fun anyways! Don't know if I'll come back with a tan though... We shall see!

Well, here's looking forward to a break from work... Objectives for 12th - 17th January : sleep, relax, bum on the beach, catch up on some reading... to sum it in one word, I'll have to say - RELAX!!! *grinz* Awana Kijal, here I come... whee!!

Christmas 2007

What a day!! Between waking up in the morning and putting my head down to sleep, I was barely home! I’m feeling the results of that today, haha! Thank God, it’s the end of the year and many are on leave – so the workload is also much slower. My brains can take its time to wake up while the rest of my body runs on autopilot. *winks*

Christmas 2007… in as few words as I possibly can summarize it:

Christmas Musical (The Christmas Shoes) during Christmas Service at church. Finally after weeks and weeks of practices, it was THE day… Ok lar, we had a performance on Sunday night at Putra Heights Community Centre – but comparatively, this audience is at least 10 times larger!! So… “survived” that. Was part of the choir and played one of the cast (which required a solo performance that to me, didn’t go that great).

Then, rushed home to go over to my cousin’s condo for Christmas lunch. Check out the food (or what’s left of it when we arrived, hehe)!

- On the table: Roast chicken with stuffing and gravy; Roast pork; Seafood spaghetti; Fried meehoon; Potato salad; Fresh veggie salad with honey mustard dressing; Chocolate cake; Cheese cake; White wine; Red wine; Plain water (on request) –

Of the four kiddos that were there, one was grumpy cos he didn’t get to go swimming at my cousin’s condo pool and another was cranky and moody cos he was just discharged from the hospital like the day before or something. Was in hospital due to pneumonia, I heard… He’s only like erm… 4 years old?? Poor thing.

- The kids with their prezzies… As usual, kiddos get all the “good stuff”?? –

Finally got home at around 5pm. Rested and took a shower. Left home about 6.30pm and headed over to aunt’s place for dinner.

7 adults. Pork rib (leftover; only 3 pieces – dad, sis and myself were the privileged few). Roast lamb. Roast chicken drumsticks. Fresh veggie salad with thousand island dressing. Riesling. Chocolate cake with ice cream. Rose syrup with lime (my aunt makes the best one I’ve tasted!!)

Cousin came back later after dinner to add to the numbers. The rest of the night was attempts at magic tricks (Us trying to follow in dad’s "David Blaine's street magic" footsteps), cracking jokes here and there – in short, a very jolly time indeed! Left at about 11 something.

Got home. Cleaned up. Watched some comedy on YouTube with the family. Sleep.

Today, woke up to the sound of my handphone’s alarm clock and the realization that I have to go to work.

Christmas

Today's already the 26th... Boxing Day for some; Working Day for me...

Nonetheless, better late than never (since I was out practically the entire day yesterday)...

Here's saying thank you for visiting my blog and wishing all my readers

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Pushover

Am I a pushover? Is this why I'm so tired all the time lately? Or am I just being paranoid or exaggerating?

Perhaps I have been trying to please everyone? It feels like unlimited work within limited time; and at times it feels like I'm the only one who is doing the 'work' - if I don't do it, no one will... And nobody cares. >.<

But if no one is willing to do it, should I also follow the status quo and buat tak tahu (pretend not to notice)? Or should I "dare to be different" and take on 'the challenge' and 'stretch my limits'?

I'm really confused and in a 'dilemma' at times... All I can do is keep reminding myself that in the end, I'm working for One, not everyone... The rewards are in Heaven, and not on this earth... But it would help if things would relax a little bit every now and then - and cut me some slack... >.<