0 Building up the Merdeka mood

Mission accomplished:
Take girls at office to register as voters at post office - check
Mini flags for office girls – check
Huge flag for home balcony – check
Mini flag for car - check
Book table for Merdeka eve dinner – check
Brush up on National Anthem - check
Remember principles – check

1. Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan (Belief in God)
2. Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara (Loyalty to King and Country)
3. Keluhuran Perlembagaan (Supremacy of the Constitution)
4. Kedaulatan Undang-undang (Rule of Law)
5. Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan (Mutual Respect and Morality)

Why, I believe I’m all set to celebrate this momentous occasion!

1 The Tooth Fairy

I've had a series of dental check-ups recently - thanks to poor teeth maintenance and a gobble-whatever-you-can-life-is-short mentality.

Finally removed the stitches, had my fillings done and voila! I'm back to my old habits? No. I brush my teeth more now and eat with care. This lesson is costing me RM2.7K.

But I had a wonderful time at the dental clinic - Think super positive nurse + words-laced-with-sugar Dentist. I'm so touched by their kindness that I'm ready to send them a fruit basket and flowers.

I've been avoiding the dentist because over-imaginative me scared myself silly into believing that they're tooth demons.

But now, I know that they're really tooth fairies in disguise. For being such a well behaved? patient, they gave me an MC although I took leave from work to do this. Awwww ...

0 We roll...

The weekend was spent in Cineleisure again with Harry Potter and another round of Transformers. I’m still giving many thumbs up to Transformers but for Harry Potter, I found it a tad too dark and rushed. Definitely won’t be catching Potter mania anytime.

Just another normal conversation in the office today …

Angie : Here’s a couple of places we could try for lunch.

Ang and MS : Let’s hurry up and decide. We have a habit of delaying till the last minute and ending up at the usual.

Me : I will decide for all (from experience, this saves time). We all eat at blah blah, call dishes and share out the bill equally. All butts must roll out at 12pm sharp because we have a meeting shortly after that.

ALL : Agreed. All butts must roll out 12.00pm sharp!

Me : Autobutts, roll out……we roll.

0 Transformers and Die Hard 4

It's always amazing to see how watching movies in the cinema can bring people together. I watched Transformers twice last week, once at Cineleisure and again at Digi's Imax Theatre because my partner and I didn't want to miss the big screen experience.

People clapped at the start of the movie. There were enthusiastic responses in between which made it a really exciting watch. Of course, sexy siren Megan Fox, who stars in this movie, helped move things along. The movie ended with a standing ovation.

For those who are watching DVDs on a small screen in the comfort of your home, you don't know what you're missing ;) ....besides good popcorn.

After that, we watched Die Hard 4, an action packed movie with a sexy old man (I do find Bruce Willis sexy-just my opinion). In both movies, I noted something along the lines of mankind being too dependent on computer tehcnology, so much so that if the system crashed, we'd be in utter chaos.

0 Tooth Surgery

Sigh...the story of my life. I was supposed to watch Harry Potter at GSC Midvalley last Friday but lo and behold, it just happened.

I had a terrible toothache after I bought the tickets (which was last Wednesday) and the next day, my right cheek started sagging and my neck started swelling. Reluctantly, I gave away my tickets. I was pretty sad because it would have been my first movie outing together with my colleagues.

Then, I thought chin up. Yes chin,..please get up. I thought a visit to the dentist on Satuday would do it and it would be a minor tooth extraction. Half my jaw was completely swollen by then. I felt as though my face would fall off.

At the dental clinic - Midway, after much tugging and pulling by the dentist, "I'm going to have to perform a small surgery", said the dentist. Whoa...didn't know that a rotten tooth could be stuck so firmly.

Sigh.. next saturday, I'll be going back to remove the stitches. In the meantime, I totally miss having decent food. Decent food, as in 1901 hot dogs, sap ham tan har, tandoori chicken, curry chicken, nasi lemak, roti canai....grrrrr!

0 Elmo for kids?

Another birthday in the office – We’ve always gone for cakes from Secret Recipe but the rich flavour was getting to us. We needed a change.

So we got a simple 1.5kg chocolate cake with an Elmo design. I was adamant that this girl should get an Elmo because of her cute character and I was really proud of my selection until lo and behold…

Yes..we all started giggling because the two protruding eyes really resembled breasts.

Hey..how was I supposed to know that it would be shaped 2 inches high!

0 To be fat or not to be

I'm not the kind who's slim by nature. 60kgs - that's my ideal. Strict diets and exercise were never my forte. ..hahaha. I'm blessed with a spare tyre around my waist in case anything happens...

The only year I'd ever lost weight was when I had two good friends who wanted my company when they visited the gym. So it was Mon, Wed, Fri with Shirl and Tue, Thu sessions with Tonia. I lost 10kgs without realising it because I never changed my food intake. Oh bliss. I was totally motivated by these 2 individuals. It wasn't about weight. I was just pure fun exercise with 2 wacky girls.

I am blessed with good friends and a loving family who accept who I am with much gusto. While I can forgive close friends and family who sometimes cross the line with much humour , there are others I can't because these are people who have never bothered about the other aspects of my life, of me.

Occasionally, I meet individuals whose ONLY opening line for any occasion is "Oh, you gained weight" or "Oh, you've lost weight!". Phew ! I feel so important because they spend years of their lives monitoring my size. Why, I have never had to keep track of my weight. I've dedicated serial weight watchers doing the job for me !

Truthfully, I know that they need me to be fat so that they can feel better about themselves ;)

The most disappointing moment in my life was brought on by a so-called long time very educated friend, "hey, you pregnant!", she said. Flabbergasted, I told her frankly that she was extremely rude. Sure, she tried to retract her words as a joke about my spare tyre, but I didn't find it funny since it's been said a second time and in a wedding function we attended together.

All I can say is this, if you have a problem with fat people and have nothing else to say, just stick with thin friends. It's not worth ruining your reputation over being labelled as an ill-mannered person.

In life, they say, what goes round comes round. Three days later, she called me up because she desperately needed money. Well....don't ever call someone you've been rude to for help. It doesn't work that way.

0 No Silver Surfer For Me

I was so excited when I read an ad in the papers mentioning about a contest to win a life sized silver surfer statue from Cineleisure. All I had to do was buy a Fantastic 4 (F4) "jumbo combo". Easy enough, I thought.

And so I went to Cineleisure with high spirits of winning. At the popcorn counter upstairs, "Can I have the F4 jumbo combo?". .... "Ape?", went the person attending to the counter. He'd never heard of it.

Not to be outdone, I decided to try downstairs and showed my partner the ad in Cineleisure itself just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. My partner left me to make a fool out of myself (he probably suspected that I wasn't going to get anything of the sort). The 2 people manning the counter had never heard of the F4 jumbo combo. Sigh....

Words from my partner, "I sacrificed the Digi Imax cinema for Cineleisure because you had so wanted to win that statue". So sweet. Chin up, I told myself. A box of popcorn did me wonders.

F4, on the other hand, wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. It was light and time passed very quickly. Would have loved to see more of Silver Surfer. Bah...perhaps it was just plain disappointment that I didn't get my F4 jumbo combo.

0 Pirates of the Caribbean

"Tickets have all been sold out", my colleague informed me. No way, I thought. I have to watch the movie this week itself ! Call it kiasu, if you like ;) Sunday afternoon, my partner and I made our way to Cineleisure but detoured to Times Square when all the car parks were FULL.

At GSC Times Square, all the tickets were sold out for the day! *horror*. No wonder the ticket counters were empty*double horror*. We crossed our fingers and headed where we knew / hoped not many would go - Digi's Imax Theatre on the 10th floor. Largest screen in South East Asia here we come. After all, it only costs RM4 extra per ticket. Lucky us got great seats at the back.

The movie itself was a great adventure to me. It was a look at the darker side of many characters (including Jack, Will and Elizabeth) who each had their own interests at heart when they embarked on a journey together to save the pirate world. Each did what it took to achieve their personal goals along the way.

I never thought I'd find Jack Sparrow irresistable but he was, even in his untidy state. Oh and Elizabeth Swann's legs - long, smooth and sexy. I especially love the way little bits of humour are thrown into the movie.

Other than that, don't expect a great plot. I was a little disappointed that Calypso's character wasn't explored further but I'd still watch this movie over and over again because it's a great way to unwind after any lousy day.

0 Blades Of Glory

I’m never one for gross comedy (Think : Hong Kong movies). Therefore, I always think twice before deciding to watch a comedy on the big screen but Blades Of Glory took away my trepidation.

It was light and funny especially Will Ferrell who played Chazz Michael Michaels. Hehhee…imagine that - a big hairy manly character in a body hugging costume doing twists and turns on skates. I didn’t know whether to feel disgusted or to take in the hilarity of it but it was too hard to resist and I ended up laughing all the way.

The movie’s about two male rival figure skaters who hate each other and had to team up to join the pairs figure skating competition after they were banned for life from participating in the singles competition.

This is a good Sunday movie – not exactly great fare for children though since Chazz is a sex maniac ;)

0 The Malay Mail Big Walk 2007

I took part in the Malay Mail fun walk recently (Apr 30). Only 3KM, but for someone who lacks exercise, it was a tiring affair....tiring? I was flat out. The weather was cool and wet, thanks to rain earlier in the wee hours of the morning which had stopped by the time the walk started.

I was accompanied by my partner and Jen. Jen, my best friend, was more busy looking at that kid with braces from the reality show One In A Million (can't recall his name). She was gushing,"He's soooo cute !!". I'm like, "Dudette, he's a kid. We're almost mid-thirties.." (Eyes rolling) I'd rather look at Faizal...hehehehe.

We all crossed the muddied line together in 45 minutes. Yay ! we got our certs. I thought the fun was just beginning but it was downhill after that.

"Let's go get our goodie bags!", we shouted excitedly. An hour and a half later and squeaking weakly, "Let's...go..get...our..goodie..bags...". The queue was horrendously slow moving. We were squashed like sardines, sweat to sweat, old and young. Pity the grandmas and grandpas who had to endure it because they didn't have a line for senior citizens.

Jen and I cheered up a bit when my man offered to take on the crowd himself and get the goodie bags on our behalf. I was so touched by his actions.

But all was not lost, we had the lucky draw to look forward to, didn't we? Jen and I walked to the main stage..."huh? the draw has started?!..we didn't even hear a thing!!" Sad to say, some deserving winners did not turn up to collect their gifts. They were probably still queueing for their goodie bags :>p

We left shortly after that because we were starving ..Here's an event with no food served or sold...except for cereal which were all gone by the time we arrived. Unlucky?

Well, this won't stop me from joining the biggie next year. I had great fun walking with two people I love. It's just that after crossing the finishing line, I won't be be staying around for the goodies next time.