Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Plan For It

The Chief, being one who plans ahead for things and events, at times despair at our rather carefree attitude towards certain events. This turns out to be a good thing for us we will get reminders and queries as to whether we've done this or packed that. However, it also means that there may be occasions where the both of us find that each other's priorities might seem...misplaced.

Well of course we're both top on each other's priority. But on other things then there will be times where what seems well taken cared off to us and so we don't bother on details, may not seem so to the Chief. Or things we take for granted, the Chief would like to make sure happens as planned. Well, we manage to rub along, and have been able to give and take without any "I told you so" moments.

This, of course, doesn't mean that we're some irresponsible feller or that we don't care much. There are times when we do plan out things too but there aren't many of those moments. Oft times things are already in the very capable hands of others so it's just a matter of whether we wish to take an interest in details or not...

Mum: So what are you going to Singapore for?
Us: Some music camp thing.
Mum: Choir?
Us: Yah.
Mum: Where will you be staying?
Us: Some hostel.
Mum: Where?
Us: No idea. Wherever the camp is suppose to have their activities lor.

Well even with the itinerary nicely done up by JoeRy (and subsequent updates via email), here's what actually just ran through our head:
Accomodations? (Y/N) - Hostel, OK
Transport? - Bus, OK
Date: 1 - 4th May 2008 - OK
Cost: RM300 something - OK
Activities? - Time available for meeting sis and Chief, and shopping or jalan-jalan, OK

So all other bits, like where specifically we were staying we have the details but just didn't bother remembering and such. Organizer will handle and get us there.

However, there's also an upcoming Camland trip to celebrate otousan and 'Vin's birthdays organized by Esteban that's been confirmed already for the second week of May, and we find that we need to take an active hand in working out transport. While others will be heading up first thing Friday morning we can only do so in the evening, and would preferable car pool with the Chief and others who will be going late too.

Initially, our only concerns were whether we should risk driving up to Camland in the evening or head up Saturday morning. Both options aren't good choices, the former as a rather risky drive up and the latter as having less time up there to enjoy.

Then just a couple of hours ago we've yet another complication to add on. Mother's Day is on the 11th May (second Sunday of May innit) and we will definitely do a Mother's Day dinner. A Camland trip would mean that we would have to rush back from Camland in order to make it back for dinner. Rush up on Saturday and rush back down on Sunday? Very unappealing.

Oh dammit. Mother's Day present! Must confer with sis on this one when we meet up in Sporeland.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

House Party

Reading Saki and on things like house parties make us wonder if it's still done nowadays - the kind of house parties the rich upper crust are able of throwing.

"Lord and Lady So-and-So invites you for a weekend house party at The Sanctuary."

And it's the kind of party where you go over to their mansion, be installed in a guest room, and do nothing for the entire time you're there but mingle, play bridge and billiards, eat and drink, and sleep. All service is taken care of by the butler, cook, and servants.

We don't see ourselves getting the opportunity to be a guest for one of these kind of house parties - we don't know anyone rich enough to have their own mansion where all guests can be installed into separate guest rooms without sharing. The closest that ever came to this was our Camland Getaway at 'Ward's relative's apartment.

So it was rather refreshing for us to have a birthday party celebrated at QR's pad this year. And counting from our GMail (those that we've tagged 'Birthdays' at least), he's got some 640 emails (correct us if we're wrong?) planning his birthday and nothing coming to fruition. The poor boy had to organize his birthday party and had the plans confirmed under 100 emails. Anyways he now takes the record for having the most emails for planning his birthday. We wonders if the next one will reach 1000...

Vast difference from birthdays organized by otousan and lad, tho'. Email 1: Venue and date chosen. Email 2: Presents bought and photographed for all so that they know what it is. Email 3: Pictures of the party, uploaded online for all to see. Email 4: Payment breakdown of dinner and/or presents bill, please pay to Maybank2u account number, thank you.

Then again, different group different culture.

QR decided on a steamboat and potluck - so there was plenty of food and some booze. Adrien whipped up BMWs and we set up the Wii, then the party was running on its own without much effort required (well gone are the days where we all sit around playing Pass The Parcel or Musical Chairs). There was The Group Playing Wii (Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and Super Smash Bros Brawl turned out good party games here), The Group Playing PSP (for movies or Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core), The Group Playing 20 Questions, and The Group In QR's Room Gossiping.

And everyone was not restricted to a certain group but switched around from one group to another (well the Wii could only support four players at a time, there were near 20 of us). All in all we'd say that it was a successful and happenin' house party.

And at least Alex's prediction that we would be going to somewhere that starts with the letter 'I' and ends with 'nies' didn't come true. But if ever there is an Irannianies that would open we'll take him there for his birthday then. XD

Happy birthday QR!

Friday, April 25, 2008

eF-iling 2008

Every year for the past few years now we've had headaches come the end of April. Well actually the headache starts sometime in February, but it's the kind that you can put off till April and so we did that.

Now we've got another 6 more days till income tax submission. And as far as we know, all our necessary documentations are at hand - all we need to do is just fill in the blanks.

Filling in the income tax forms, while it looks like a straightforward process, always stump us by being somewhat different every year. The first time we've gotten our EA Form, we just thought it to be just one of them statements your company gives you stating your earnings - and so we just dump it into our workbag to get lost with the rest of the trash papers that goes in and never comes out of that bag.

Then when we were asked whether we've done our income tax baru we learn what that form was for. Thankfully that EA form hadn't disintegrated to shreds yet. Printed out the English version to read and refer to, and the BM version to fill up for submission, but even then we couldn't make out head or tails what really goes where, or why are we leaving so many columns empty. So we had Randall help us fill up and calculate our first income tax submission.

The following year, even better. Instead of the simpler BE Form, we downloaded the B Form which had loads more pages and sections - all that we needn't bother with. Didn't realize what was wrong and we wondered why that year the income tax form got more complicated.

Last year we started e-Filing, and it turned out to be a relatively painless process as we finally did not need to calculate everything ourselves but just dump the numbers in the relevant columns. Only now the forms all look foreign again to us and we still needed some time getting used to filling it up.

And with income tax, we normally just get over it and forget about it until the following year. With e-Filing this year we ran into a few more bumps. Firstly we forgot our password. It wouldn't be so much an issue except that we only had three attempts to get the password right (and we didn't want to know what happens if we get it wrong - heaven forbid they lock us out of e-Filing and we had to do a manual submission).

So we called them up. Waited for an operator to attend to us some 15 minutes later and stated our predicament, and was totally embarrassed when she told us to look for a 'Forgot Your Password' link. Years of surfing online and we never thought to look for that. Just did not know where to hide our face. But later on we found it was a good thing that we did call, as we couldn't remember what was our confirmation question / answer as well.

When it came to filling up the form we almost felt lost again, but thankfully we'd last year's submission to refer to. Would have submitted it today itself except that there were two hiccups. Firstly there is a RM1000 exemptions on books - and when we tried typing in '1000' a popup informed us to keep the receipts handy for inspection. Well we can't be too sure if we have spent more than RM1000 on books, and even if we did we had to start digging all the books for the receipts.

Second, this is the first time we have to pay tax. We were more indignant about that and so we aren't submitting yet till we worked out if we'd mis-filled a column somewhere. And we're gonna look to claiming more - hmmm, is our iPod Touch counted to claim for personal computer? We can claim up to RM3k for that. Well, actually we would have worked on it today but taking a look again at the main page we decided over that today probably isn't meant to be a good day for income tax.

Deadlines: 6 days for BE Form, 66 days for B Form.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Abstinence Makes The Body Grow Fonder

We admit, we've been abstaining for a very very long time now, and here's the thing about abstinence.

You know how it is lah. When you never start it, you don't understand why people would get so ketagih over it. Then you try it for yourself and you're hooked. Gotta have it...just gotta have it. It just feels so good.

When you first start learning to say "No," the body goes into withdrawal. There's only so much one can take and the lure of temptation is always strong - thus we'd to taper off slowly, bit by bit.

Tapering off is fine, because that way we've been teaching the body to cope without it. And we've been doing well. In fact, the last time we had it was last year, as far as we remember. See? It's been that long ago and we've ne'er thought about it.

We've been doing fine without.

Until yesterday.

That we just thought about it today brought back all the cravings for it - so much that the body just could not resist and wanted it. So. Badly.

We finally cave in and decided what the heck. Who needs to abstain. The body embraced it once again.

Welcome home. Daddy's been hurtin' and missed you badly.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Lan Kai

Which is what's been happening rather with Aidan. Ever since we've gotten him on Thursday he's made two and a half trips to and from Klang. Thursday we'd collected Aidan from Klang and headed for a ride with the Chief all the way to Sri Petaling. Friday was to Klang again because our car agent needed some documents, and a trip to Pavilion for dinner with the guys.

Then yesterday we had a text from 'Nic asking if we were interested to do dinner. BarBQ Plaza at Jusco Bukit Tinggi, which meant another trip down to Klang. So dinner consisted of 'Nic, 'Ward, NJH, Chief and us (and we arrived late as we overslept). Jusco Bukit Tinggi is frickin' huge. Can't compare it to Queensbay Mall (wahliao, QBM even got their own blog) because we haven't been there yet but Jusco BT looks to be a place we won't be able to finish in a day.

As dinner went all the way till 10pm, we haven't got the chance to see what's in the mall. Will specifically make a trip one day.

After dinner it we'd all went to 'Nic's for a quick game of Ticket To Ride.

Leaving 'Nic's later on we decided to take a quick drive around Klang to show Chief around. More gallivanting and showing about, from the old house to the school to getting lost around Port Klang trying to find the Esplanade and Tanjung Harapan. Honestly, Port Klang at night is hazardously ridden with potholes and bumps. If we went faster than 40km/h Aidan would have been limping all the way home.

Let's see now. Within 3 days Aidan has already done 450km.

His first servicing is due within the first 1000km or in one month's time. One month? Seems like we'll be making is first service appointment in a week's time.

We still go "Woo woo," whenever we look at Aidan.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Random Rides

We're somehow nostalgic. So there's a slight pang of loss when we handed over the keys of our Kembara over to the agent. After all, the car's been with the family for 9 years already now - first bought by the sis then later on handed down to us. Sure, we've grouched about the car a fair number of times, like about its fuel consumption and the way the engine was noisy running at 80km/h but still, it was part of the family...well, family cars.

A memorable first time was when we ran the fuel tank absolutely dry. There's that time when it overheated. And latest incident where the timing belt snapped. Plus all the other stuff that happened to the car, some which did have our tempers frayed but never did we blame the car, shit happens after all, all make up the history of events that we had with the Kembara.

Soon the Kembara's going to be parked in some second-hand dealer's car lot, out in the blistering sun and pouring rain, day in day out, waiting for someone to call owner...

There we go getting all attached to inanimate objects. :S

Meanwhile, we welcome a new member to the family - Aidan de Cian.

Pronunciation guide: ayden de key-en.

He's black. He's sexy. He's built. Riding him is a gentle quiet affair.

Our new Myvi. We though of calling him Aubric but the thought of people mispronouncing it "A brick" was just too much for us to handle. Although another notable name that did stick for more than one second was Lady Mavis von Myvi. But while we did entertain that name, it was NOT going to be the name of our Myvi.

So yesterday we got Aidan and said goodbye to the Kembara (well we never named it and we're not sure if sis ever did) and then later on picked up the Chief for a ride. After dinner and was mulling over where a random car ride could take us when we decided on a place.

"Where are we now?"
"Not too sure. Simply drive only."
"I-M-U. What's that har?"
"Hmmm just where did we end up now..."
"I really don't know where we are."
"...now if you look to your left, that's where we used to stay. And this is our university."

Probably our left cheek won't feel the same for a while. :P

So we went for a short drive about Vista Komenwel, had a glimpse of the new IMU extension, then headed to Bukit Jalil. We gave the Chief a tour of what we used to do in our early uni days especially when it was we were done studying for the night and needed to destress at 5am in the morning - to take a walk around the lake and head uphill to spook couples there.

There was the quiet lake where joggers romp about, plus the few stalls where we would go for a Ramlee burger or Maggi Mee Kari at night. Then we'd also strolled up the hill to see some of the puzzling ironworks and we'd point out to the Chief landmarks and places, like where the aunties would be busy taichi-ing at six in the morning, where we used to stay, how there isn't much to do when you don't have a car etc.

After that, a leisurely drive about Sri Petaling, stopping for tau fu fa in soya bean milk, then the drive back home.

We find that everytime we see Aidan we go, "Woo woo!" and does wavy arms towards his direction. Goodness.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Clocked Out

Elle: Why are you looking so worried, Jay?
Jay: A friend just died...
Elle: Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Close friend?
Jay: Something like that. It was rather...weird, the circumstances.
Elle: What do you mean?
Jay: Well you see, I didn't know that there was this pantang against giving clocks as presents.
Elle: Aiyo! You give clocks as presents? Make sure you don't give me one ya.
Jay: But how was I to know about such cina pantangs? And not like I had any idea what it was pantang against anyway.
Elle: So what has clocks got to do with this?
Jay: Well...I gave him a clock as a present - from my trip to Bangkok.
Elle: Ri-ight. Go all the way to Bangkok and just buy a clock for a present. And how come I didn't get anything?
Jay: It's, er, somewhere. I haven't got to giving out the rest since my friend died.
Elle: Right.
Jay: So this pantang. I got a SMS later on after he'd open his present asking if I knew about such pantang. I told him no. He then said that he wasn't sure about it also.
Elle: Then how did he know about it?
Jay: Dunno lor. He thought it was something to do with his time running out when the clock stopped working. Personally I thought the whole pantang thing was rubbish.
Elle: Wah. What a theory.
Jay: Then he said that if that was the pantang then he won't put any batteries in. That way he'd be immortal.
Elle: I like the way he thinks.
Jay: Thought.
Elle: Eh?
Jay: The way he thought.
Elle: Whateverlah. Continue.
Jay: Next day when I was at his place he finds the clock working. Seems like somebody must have thought it an act of kindness to get the clock working for him.
Elle: Wasn't that nice?
Jay: He walked over to the clock, took a look at the battery and said that it must be his sister's battery, he only uses alkaline. Then he took out the battery...and dropped dead.
Elle: WHAT?
Jay: Ye-ah. It was surreal. I thought he fainted or something.
Elle: Whoa. You know...
Jay: Yeah?
Elle: It gives me an idea. I'll start posting clocks to people I don't like. And I'll put in a battery that's nearly drained.
Jay: You're evil.


OK we're bored.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Blogosphere's Unknown Bachelors / Bachelorettes!

Because it's there to be done. And let's be thickskinned a bit for this one shall we not. :P


BACHELOR NO: 3

Name
Janvier Soldat

Occupation
Paper Pusher

Age
27

Zodiac
Aquarius

Fave Hangout
Bookstores, Mage Cafe, Starbucks and any Wifi spot

Talent
We major in the capability to go to bed at 5am when the weekend arrives; and minor in scribbling illegible ambigrams.

Three Things You Can't Live Without
Our iPod for one - we always have our music with us. Also, books - whatever we're reading at the moment. Interestingly whenever we're fielded with the question of getting married by ex-colleagues and such we always said we're married already and points to either book or iPod. The third, our PC, a source of entertainment.

What Is The Sweetest Thing A Girl / Guy Has Ever Done For You?

'Nuff said. Was when we were out of the room. And when we came in we never noticed the spread until the Chief asked us if we were really that blind without spectacles, as we actually sat on the bed beside the entire thing without noticing it. So malu.

The Most Daredevil Thing I've Ever Done Is...
Sit on balcony railings. In college, and on the university rooftop when the student lounge and food court used to be there.

What's One Thing You're Glad You've Outgrown?
Crayons. Introduced in Pendidikan Seni, crayons don't draw well and has been banished to being used for when we had to do batik homework.

Your Biggest Mistake Is...
Getting into a sales job.

Which Actor Would Play You In A Movie About Your Life?
Johnny Depp. Jack Sparrow without the pirate togs?

Why Do Women / Men...
Hmmm. Why do they allow their children to dress up like lalas and hang about places like Sungei Wang or Berjaya Times Square? Are the lalas to KL like what Goths are to Glasgow?

If You Were A Product, How Would Your Advertising Campaign Read?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Tonight, Tonight, Won't Be Just Any Night

...tonight we celebrate NJAPF's birthday (a nice lass, so we shan't reveal age here). The venue: Nerovivo. Even with lad's directions, we couldn't picture where it was supposed to be - if only he mentioned Changkat Bukit Bintang much earlier we would have been able to place it as 'on the same street as Frangipani's and El Cerdo' or something. But since a fair few of us didn't know where it was, we all ended up car pooling which was a good thing to do.

Found the place in time, and walked into a cozy dimly-lit restaurant stocked full of wine bottles. Cozy as it was the lighting conditions were rather poor so most of the time we tried taking photos we ended up blinding our subjects with our flash.

Everyone arrived soon enough and after extensive browsing of the menu, we decided that we all should just order some dishes and share among the 10 of us. Somehow the drinks menu, equally extensive, ended up in our hand. Initial decision to let Lemon randomly poke at the drinks menu was rejected when he somehow manage to finger a bottle worth about RM1200. Somehow we managed to settle on a Chardonnay Pinot Bianco, to be shared by everyone (yes, a bit ku hon to share a bottle by 10 people but there you go).

As for food, we all thought that a soup, 2 salads, 2 pastas and 2 pizzas would suffice. While the broccolli soup turned out watery and tasteless (we're not sure what went wrong but no one complained :P) while the rest of dinner turned out excellent. We don't know really what was ordered but there was a ravioli dish with carbonara sauce that saw four of us sharing a single piece of ravioli, excellent salads, an angel hair dish where we only had 5 strands of angel hair and a scallop, and 2 slices of pizza.

All so that everyone could have a taste of each dish. :) Will need to check with Juangtis for the receipt if we want to know what the specific dishes were. But as everything (save soup) was good you can't go wrong ordering anything (again, soup).

After that another 2 more pizzas were ordered. And amazingly we made our little bit of wine last until the end of dinner.

Nerovivo's a great place for food, just that food sharing falls short of feeding 10 people - it's more suited for a group of four or five people. We think it's worth another visit in smaller company. Oh, and Nerovivo gets another thumbs-up from us for having wifi access - we were actually surfing online to search for reviews and for recommended dishes of the place when we were there. :P

After dinner the staff came sailing in singing the birthday song for NJAPF bearing a birthday cake and a confectionary doll named Dion (is this going to be traditional too?). We're not sure what happened to Dion - did NJAPF eat her? And isn't that the same birthday cake that Esteban got?

After dinner the original plan was to head to Tiff's Jazz Lounge for more drinks and chitchat, but as the roads were congested we all decided to head to TTDI Plaza instead. After a bit of looking around we ended up at Breeze, the chillout joint at the centre court. Breeze is quiet enough to allow conversation, but suffers from having music coming from all directions - you'll be hearing what Bamboo, Sports Bar and all the other pubs and joints are playing that you'd soon learn to tune out sound.

After drinks and sufficient yawning, it's time for everyone to head back.

Happy birthday NJAPF! Since you also malu show face so we cannot put up any pictures ya. :P

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

On MC

Ever since we started working, we found ourselves quite adverse to visiting the clinic whenever we weren't well, especially when we know we're just coming down with the common flu. It isn't really that kind of Pavlovian dislike where we end up associating 'clinic = sick' like how some people do 'porridge = sick'. In fact, quite the dur right, after all one'd only visit the clinic when they are sick.

It's more that we find it rather...unnecessary. See, you'd go in, get checked, come out with a combination of the following:
  • cough mixture
  • cough tablets
  • antihistamines (nondrowsy and/or drowsy)
  • gargle
  • lozenges
  • painkillers
  • antibiotics
  • panadol
  • medical certificate of leave
Please, don't take that as an exhaustive list. Who knows your particular visit might also lead to your doc suddenly telling you that you've high blood pressure etc.

So, given that how we could get most meds for the common cold and flu without the need to see a doctor (save for a reconfirmation if it's a bacterial infection?) we find it vexing to fork out near RM50 for a clinic consultation when we can shop around for the necessary medication for about half that price. Not to forget, our kitchen drawers already contain a good stock of flu meds.

Of course, this dislike was also fueled by the fact that we (used to) worked part time before, and thus did not qualify for MC and claims. Now, however, we aren't working part time anymore.

Which brings us to today.

Woke up early this morning to a raw, itching and sore throat, stuffy nose, clammy skin and aching quite everywhere, so we crawled out only to bring the tissue box and rubbish bin close to the bed. Texted to say we werent' coming in for work, and dozed off again. Had some 13 hours of sleep altogether.

By the time we got up in the afternoon, we'd seem to have had a near total recovery. Throat ok, nose ok, etc. While generally that's a good thing, it's a bit of an embarassment when we've been told to go see a doctor. Our trip to the doc basically summed up to this:

Janvier: Hi.
Doctor: And how are you feeling?
Janvier: See, we weren't feeling well this morning...
Doctor: Okay.
Janvier: But now we're all better. Can we just get the MC because we missed work?
Doctor: Well you can, but take this meds while you're at it.

Right. We hope there's not going to be a replay of this tomorrow.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Mechanic Waltz Musical

Janvier
I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay
Ain't it sad?
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
That's too bad...1


Mechanic
That would quite fit the bill
If she hadn't so often been ill
Little dear, cost us dear
Medicines are expensive, M'sieur...2

Janvier
A few questions that I need to know
How you could ever hurt me so
I need to know what I've done wrong
And how long it's been going on
Was it that I never paid enough attention?
Or did I not give enough affection?
Not only will your answers keep me safe
But I'll know never to make the same mistake again
You can tell it to my face
Or even on the phone
You can write it in a letter
Either way I have to know3


Mechanic
Gimme gimme more
Gimme more
Gimme gimme more
Gimme gimme more
Gimme more
Gimme gimme more4

Janvier
My heart's crippled by the vein
That I keep on closing
You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding
Keep, keep bleeding love
I keep bleeding
I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding
Keep, keep bleeding love
You cut me open5


Mechanic
Poor fool, he makes me laugh!
Hahahahaha! Haha haha haha haha haha haha haha haha6

Janvier
Out of reach
Couldn't see
We were never
Meant to be

So much hurt
So much pain
Takes a while
To regain
What is lost inside
And I hope that in time
You'll be out of my mind
And I'll be over you7


Mechanic
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day8

Janvier
No more words. Here's your price.
Fifteen hundred for your sacrifice.
Come, Cosette, say goodbye
Let us seek out some friendlier sky.
Thank you both for Cosette
It won't take you too long to forget.2

Well we didn't haggle with our mechanic nor leave on bad graces. But the bill actually did come up to fifteen hundred to get the timing belt and some valves replaced.

1 'Money Money Money' - ABBA
2 'The Bargain' - The Waltz Of Treachery' - Les Miserables The Musical
3 'Never Ever' - All Saints
4 'Gimme More' - Britney Spears
5 'Bleeding Love' - Leona Lewis
6 'Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh' - Phantom Of The Opera Musical
7 'Out Of Reach' - Gabrielle
8 'Bad Day' - Daniel Powter

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Car Conundrums

Since the car has been in the workshop for the past few days getting fixed, we've been fortunate enough to get to use dad's car as he was outstation on business the past few days.

Only thing is, we've been driving our Kembara for far too long and we rarely touch dad's car - only once in a while when it's the most convenient car parked, for when we want to head out to tapau some supper. Even then there were times where the first 5 minutes was spent figuring out buttons and levers.

At least that was for when we wanted supper, which would mean we'd be taking the car in the middle of the night just around the neighbourhood. Imagine now us having to take the car to brave the morning jam, the evening rush hour, the pouring rain and the likes.

Of course, we're not totally some himbo that doesn't know how to drive (you don't hear us complaining about parallel/reverse parking!) but dad's Audi was an experience indeed. The only warning dad gave us before he left was, "Be careful, the car is big."

Which turned out to be rather helpful advice as that was the first thing we learned when we were reverse parking at the workplace. Switching from a Kembara to a sedan car we knew we had to factor in the boot now, and dad's reverse sensor was still reliable. Still, once we backed into our spot and the front of the car nicely within lines, we got out only to find that the back of the car was on near intimate terms with the next car's bumper, way out of the parking lines. Big car.

Right. So now we know how much space to allow for the car. And when it started raining we also remembered that the windshield wipers lever was on the right and signals were on the left. Only occasionally you will see this car suddenly signalling to turn left on a highway when it suddenly starts raining.

The air-condition kept us occupied at traffic lights too. :) While we could work out which ones worked the temperature and the fanspeed, what does the 'Auto' button do? And this button with an 'Up' symbol? Or the one with a 'Down' symbol?

Only at one point did we need to consult the manual. When the car needed refueling. There we were, sitting in the car at Shell, hunting all over for a lever to open the fuel flap. After 5 minutes (thankfully it was raining rather heavily, we could pretend that we didn't want to get wet) we found that all we had to do was push near the hinge - there was no lever in the first place.

Good thing dad is back and the car's finally fixed.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Strictly Meme

Woo. A meme. Also going around like crazy judging how many people have been at it (but interestingly one without any theme). So, just to get our bit done, here we go.

Which feature do you zoom in on when you meet a guy for the first time?
Face. Need to look for some recognizable feature to latch on in case we bump into him again next time and we're left thinking, "Oshit, who is he and where did we meet him before?"

Who is your role model?
Don't have any. Being ourselves is good! :)

What's the healthiest thing you would eat among sushi, salad and sandwich?
We're not too sure what this question wants...whether to choose between the three (salad being the healthiest for us) or to name the healthiest we would have in each of the three (salmon sashimi, fruit salad, banana sandwich)...

Which movie you can watch again and again?
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings!

Three gadgets that you can't live without?
Handphone (which varies), music player (currently iPod), and an entertainment system (oh Wii!).

What is your most annoying habit?
Not too sure on this - we think it differs according to different people. But you could say that we don't usually initiate conversation on instant messengers regardless of whether we're free or busy.

What's one thing you're glad you've outgrown?
We're a nostalgic soul. But we have outgrown crayons!

We get nervous when...
We have to give a speech or presentation that we have no idea how to bullshit our way through.

Our biggest fear is...
Boredom. The sienness where you really feel like doing nothing at all, even don't feel like sleeping.

The best thing we've done for ourselves is...
Taking the plunge out from being a singleton to being with the Chief. :P

Right. We don't have to forward this anymore, it's been making it's way on it's own accord (and some whom we may actually consider forwarding this to don't like to do memes) so this stops here.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

When You Cannot Do Your Job Anymore...

SATURDAY...
Dope-eye: I've heard that the head office is looking to have you replaced.
Suzi: Yeah, seems that your performance has been dropping the longer you've been in this company.
Dope-eye: You've getting slow, old man.
Arramech: Heck with head office. My direct boss is satisfied with how I'm working and didn't want to lose me yet. My job is safe.
Hachi: Hmmm. You're lucky. But head office is pressuring our branch here. Sooner or later your job's in jeopardy.
Arramech: I'm good. Boss likes me. Anyways I've got to go - company medical checkup in the afternoon.

SUNDAY...
Dope-eye: Hey, head office has been doing interviews this morning. (singsong voice) Somebody's in trouble...somebody's in trouble...
Arramech: Please. Boss wasn't happy about the whole thing.
CP: Yeah, boss wasn't happy. Very quiet and actually snapped at head office at one point. Better not screw up around him today.
N'kai: You better watch yourself. Seems like even when head officed wrote off your medical checkup allowances yesterday, I overheard them telling boss to 'give you one week'.

MONDAY...
Hachi: There you go. Now you've done it.
Arramech: IT WASN'T MY F-ING FAULT OKAY? IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ANYONE!
Dope-eye: (singsong voice) Somebody is fired...somebody is fired...
Arramech: OI! YOU EXPECT SUDDEN ORGAN FAILURE TO BE EASILY DETECTED KAH?
N'kai: Sorry to tell you this, but head office is in the process of getting your replacement. Someone named Ivy or Ivan.
Suzi: It's rather embarassing, isn't it? Just as you were trying to protect your job.


Right. After the whole 'time to get a new car' bit, our car broke down on Monday on the way back after choir. As we were nearing TTDI Plaza (thank goodness it happened near home!) we heard a noise and we thought the tyre tore or something. Turns out the tyres were all right but the car engine wasn't. Various lights on the dashboard indicated that the battery and engine was 'not okay' as far as we comprehended.

Bloody hell, we just had the car serviced on Saturday. And now this?

Better yet, we were stranded right in front of a traffic light junction at 11.30pm. Again. There's not gonna be a bloody mechanic opened at the hour, but thankfully there was no traffic at that hour too. Only the occasional speeding car to stir a wind to keep us cool. Called a few people for AAM's number (even though we didn't have a membership), and dad came by to keep us company while waiting for AAM to arrive.

When it was diagnosed that our car's timing belt had snapped and can't be repaired there and then, we all had the car pushed to the car park near TTDI Plaza to be towed the following morning. Then we went home and had our dinner-cum-supper while watching Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Dream Cast Concert (which, being a concert, had everyone just mainly singing and none of the acting that was in the musical).

So yesterday we had the car towed to the mechanics, then headed to Mage Cafe to crash (where we were Bin's third victim, according to Ryan), only to be informed later in the afternoon that the car will take a couple of days or more to be repaired.

And now we're getting the paperwork ready for a new Myvi. Sigh.