1 Port Dickson, here we come !

The day had finally arrived. After months of cancelling out on each other, 7 of us finally got together for a trip to Port Dickson.Phew !

It was my second stay at the Tanjung Biru (Blue Lagoon) Condo. The first time was when everyone cancelled out leaving my charismatic partner of 5 years to volunteer to go with me. Yes, just the two of us in a 2-room apartment with beds for 5 people.
Anyway, 7 of us ended up in an ostrich farm not far from the blue lagoon beach having the time of our life riding the ostrich, eating ostrich satay, getting our hands snapped in the feeding frenzy and playing with other animals in the farm (rabbits, crocs, parrots). We also watched the monkey show and had our photo taken with the really funny and friendly monkey. One of us even had our hair messed up by the monkey.

If we had time, we would have bowled coconuts and tried out the blowpipes. Unfortunately, we had to rush to check in because we brought fresh meat for a BBQ dinner!!

Gosh...the 2-room apartment had more beds than the first one I stayed. It could fit 7 people. Unfortunately, the 2 guys in our gang of 7 had to stay in a hotel within walking distance because we had a Muslim girl with us and it was innapropriate for them to sleep over..hahaha.. :D
The afternoon was spent frolicking at the beach and going for canoe rides. We had an hour and 30 minutes with the canoes but in just less than half an hour, I wondered why everyone was paddling back. I gave it a try after much persuasion. My canoeing partner was hilarious. She was the perfect canoe instructor, shouting "left! left! paddle left!! whenever a wave was coming or "right! right 3 times!" After one round, my arms were aching :p Darn..no wonder.

BBQ night was fairly romantic. It was a starless night with a soft breeze. Everyone was nicely hungry and tired out. We managed to squeeze in a game of cards before calling it a night :p

Early next morning, the guys showed off their culinary skills and threatened us with diarrhoea. I was hungry. Who cares.

By noon and after a final walk at the beach, it was sayonara blue lagoon and back to KL we go.

3 Open your mouth and say "aaaah....."

I haven't been to the dentist in years. That's right, I'd rather go through that toothache than have my teeth checked. It's no wonder I have bad teeth. No sane man will fall for a girl with teeth like mine.

I just have this thing about people sticking things into my mouth. I always feel like throwing up, hence the bad teeth. If I had a dentist friend, I'd feel so much more comfortable but I don't. Sigh.....when will I grow up.

Aching Tooth

Aching tooth that tortures me

Give me peace

I beg you please

Sleepless nights, a restless body

One panadol to soothe my pain

Two if it starts all over again

What can I do, what can I do

I hope it all blows over

Before I fall over ...

0 Many moons later - What Banks consider excellent Customer Service

At the rate I'm going, it's no wonder my blogging "sifu" has abandoned me. It's been ten exciting months and a few mentally disturbing experiences with several banks since my last blog.

I wish I can just sue banks on behalf of the company I work for.

Banks have a habit of demotivating our employees. They'll call them up on the office number to enquire about overdue payments..for everyone else to hear.

I agree that the employees should pay what they owe banks. What I don't agree is banks calling our office and demotivating our employees in the middle of the day and interrupting our business flow.

And we do get calls, very rude calls, demanding to know if our employees already own a credit card during office hours. Do you believe that employers pay employees to sign up for credit cards or loans during office hours? It was the last straw when I got this call from a lady who was shouting over the phone, I immediately demanded to know how they got our number and to speak with their Superior. I told the Customer Service officer straight that we will not hesitate to sue them for calling our number unnecesarily...I know that sounded extreme but they never called again. I don't mind them calling if it's a business proposal to the company and I certainly won't mind if they're polite but being polite is the last thing they know.

Even when I cancelled my credit card in Mar 06 :p I was assured that the card would be terminated within a week. I took leave just to cancel two credit cards. Call me paranoid but I brought a witness..hahaha..because I couldn't trust any banking officer to do a good job when what I'm asking for doesn't benefit the bank. I had asked for a receipt but they assured me smugly that I need not worry. I paid all the outstanding balances.

True enough, they didn't fail to disappoint me. After one month, the card was still activated and lo and behold, the statement contained a balance.Needless to say, I lodge a complaint demanding to know what happened and why there was a delay because I will not visit their bank twice and I asked them if they would pay me ;D because I took leave to ensure they did it right. I gave them specific details about the cancellation.

Guess what they replied? The card has been terminated today. ......Hello? Don't I get an explanation on how it happened and what about the balance that I still had to pay. They do not understand a thing about customer service. After a nasty (ok, not that nasty. I do have a heart) reply from me, ..voila..they finally understood what I wanted . I didn't want to know if my card was terminated today. I'm glad I got that all sorted out but I really wish banks would hire people who can understand what a Customer needs, someone with some sense.

They'll be quick to complain that they get lots of rude Customers but when they get someone polite, do they really bother? Not from my experience.

1 A New Home, A New Beginning

After a year, we're (Daevid and I) still renovating our new home. We moved in last Dec 05, bought the unit in Dec 04. It's sheer bliss having our own place to thrash.

Bright orange and yellow, those are the colours of our apartment because I love cheery colours and typically, I've grown sunflowers in my mini garden which is located at the balcony.

Bathroom wallls are orange too. I've green plants everywhere. I've this vision that my home should be full of live greenery. Perhaps I may even buy a CD that plays nature's sound for a more realistic feel. I, I, I ..Daevid doesn't seem to mind.

We started out by designing the home for a Balinese feel. It obviously didn't fall through because unconciously, we veered into another direction.

The room walls were painted blue and green. We've hanging lights which are crafted from seashells, one in the hall, one in the balcony area and one in the bedroom. We've sea rocks / stones decorating our tiled floors.

What were we doing? .......I've lived by the seaside all my life. We both lived on lovely islands with lots of greenery. Now, we live in the city, in a condo, on a high floor. We may not have realised it initially but we've probably fashioned our home after our childhood. .. "Seaside Tropics" ....that's more of the theme of our design now. Lush tropics....

The reason why I love our new home so much is because we worked on renovating the small parts ourselves. We have fond memories of every item that is placed in our home, every item that we've worked on.

We painted the kitchen cabinets ourselves. All the top cabinet doors are decorated with a white framed picture of a flower which we got for about MYR 9.90 at Jusco.

Then the balcony railing is entwined with rope which we got from Ace Hardware.

The seashell lights....ahh..we got those from Labuan island between MYR 15 to MYR 45. The same item costs between MYR 80 to MYR 160 in Kuala Lumpur.

The stones which we laid on the floor was collected from Port Dickson beach. We spent the afternoon picking up stones under the hot hot HOT sun during the Chinese New Year Holidays. But it was not all hot, we had ice cream to keep us cool.

Our bedroom wall is decorated with 2 towels with beach babe pictures. We got this free from HSBC (Credit card points redemption).

Our best indoor plants are from Ikea. They're so healthy, there's two healthy green worms living in one pot and a fat earthworm in the other. You could say, I'm in good company even when Daevid isn't around.

There are but so many things for us to do together, so many memories to build....I love my new home :)

2 CNY Resolutions

I tried. I really tried. Blogging just comes effortlessly to some people but I could be staring at the screen for donkey hours wondering what's there to talk about.

Maybe I should just convert this to my online diary. Merc and Winn are always trying to encourage me. They must see some potential in me becoming a world class blogger, otherwise, they won't be encouraging me so much. I love them.

So to give them some hope, I've decided to make it my CNY resolution to blog................ more than I did last year ! I did what? 3 or 4? That shouldn't be hard to achieve.

My next resolution would be to diet. Typical, you say? Nay..Doctor's orders. No prawns, no cuttlefish, no egg, no peanuts, no meat except for chicken and fish...fruits and take less salt. Basically a lot of nos to abide by. If I'm able to stick to this diet, I'll survive the year with healthy pride. How will I survive.....sigh..I so love cuttlefish...

If everyone kept achieving their resolutions, they'll run out of resolutions to make and they probably won't need to make any in the first place. I know I'm making excuses to not stick to my resolutions ;) but if you can convince me to follow through, I'll take you out for dinner......we could have cuttlefish :D

7 Chicken Story

It was a chicken affair in our office. The hens were always clucking and making a big hoo haa over things and all the chicks would be running around crying *unfair* helplessly. They always finished their tasks ambitiously for fear of getting the chop early.

All of them lived in a cage and didn’t believe that life existed beyond the coop. Anything beyond the coop was unsafe or dangerous and could not be any better than the slaughterhouse.

One by one they fell ill from sleepless nights. The daily crowing from the cock at ungodly hours were beginning to tire them out. They stopped looking lively and showed symptoms of a disease. The disease soon spread and began to look as though it was incurable.

The chicks were forced to defend themselves from the constant hoo haa. They found a solution ………. worms. Every worm fed to the hen would keep the hen and cock quiet.

The chicks started to have a peaceful life but it soon got out of hand. The constant worm feedings turned into a frenzy with chicks fighting for more worms. They were soon killing each other and forgot that all of them were there for the same purpose.

One chick, however, started thinking about the possibilities of life beyond the coop.

She thought, “After all, we’re going to end up in the slaughterhouse anyway, what else could be worse? There could be a nicer looking slaughter house than this one with better food too.”

So this chick planned the great escape. The chick asked around for the best slaughterhouses in the country. Then, it hit the chick to try a pet shop instead. The other chicks were skeptical preferring to believe that a pet shop would not give the chick the time of day.

The chick did not let this deter her. The chick took the first step out and was noticed immediately by the pet shop owner. The pet shop owner was impressed with the chick’s courage and enthusiasm for life. So he took the chick in.

Soon the chick was in the care of a loving owner to the envy of the other chicks. They wanted to be a part of the pet shop too. They started believing that there was more to life than being in a coop. The chick was very happy that she had opened possibilities from her actions.

The end.
The Harrowing Office Experience
Day in, day out
Paperwork and rout
No smiling team mates
No friendly dates

Everything’s a deadline
Everything’s mine
A cold hearted machine
They build us mean

There’s no time for caring
Work’s always outstanding
There’s no time for rest
To be considered the best

The stress was unimaginable
The backbiting intolerable
I finally broke down
Without a sound

I thought I’d never believe
In the midst of my grief
That life’s just out there
Waiting for me …. to take my share.

5 Poisoned

Food poisoning. That was all I had? Well, serves me right for not seeing the Doctor earlier.

Doctors and I aren't exactly the best of friends.

I'd been down with a tummy ache for about three days with fever I never knew I had. I did take some medication which I thought would cure me.....for gastritis. It didn't work and at the rate my tummy was bloating up, I swear I thought it was going to burst.

Hence, I decided to try out some chinese medication which would supposedly take out all the air in my tummy. That didn't work either. By then, I was rolling on the floor and getting dramatic. I thought I was going to die from some disease. Thoughts of "I'm too young to die!" began to take control. I was almost in puppy tears when I asked Daevid if he could take me to the Doctor.

And he said "I can't. I wanted to take you earlier but you didn't want to go. I now have an appointment. Can you wait?" I know...he's not the most romantic soul. That brought me down to earth.

I got up and drove myself down to a Clinic in Bangsar. A check here and there - Voila ! I had food poisoning and high fever. I was told to stay home for two days. :P :)
A step in the right direction
That's all I needed to take
But try I did to cure my condition
To avoid the Doc at any stake

My tummy bloated ..
I rolled on the floor
I finally relented
I could take no more !!

The Doc questioned me
"What took you so long??"
I replied sheepishly
I thought I was strong... ..Me and my nonsense..

6 A Prayer For A Friend

I love my friends for who they are. Some are a pain in the you-know-where but it just makes them perfect and I wouldn't change any of them for the world.

They make my life so exciting that it's hard to imagine what I'd do without them.

Here's a prayer for all my friends. I wrote this when I was feeling very lonely. It was my first few months working in a new organisation and it was very challenging indeed.
Oh and yes, I'm still working in the same organisation.

Dear God,

Please bless my friends wherever they are
Show them they’re loved no matter how far

Even if they don’t reply my mails
Bless their souls, soothe their ails

Let them know I love them just the same
Mr Grumpy, Ms Obnoxious, whatever the name

Whatever their flaws is perfection to me
Whatever our sins, forgive us I ask thee

Whenever they’re hurt and feeling down
Give them a smile to forget the frown

God, my friends are important to me
They form a part of my family

Do give them a piece of my happiness
The one you gave me in my hour of loneliness

Amen

© Sharon D, 25th June 2003

To BLOG or not to blog.....

The typical beginning...Merc coerced me to blog somehow.

Nah..let me start again...once upon a time, there was this 30-something who lost her bearings and didn't know what to do. Write poetry..create a new recipe..go jogging..*yawn*. Everything didn't feel as exciting as it ought to be.

She decided "enough was enough" *play song - enough is enough* lalalalala

The end.