0 Down and out but not without reward

It was amazing - finding out that I'd won a contest while I was sick. I'd been on MC the previous day. When I came back the next day, I was still a little weak....no, very weak.

I'd been coughing for the past month - spewing phlegm tinged with blood every ten minutes or so. Just an infection, the Doc days. Well, I completed the course of medication but the darn cough remained. I really didn't want to disturb my colleagues with my incessant barking but hey, who's gonna give me a month off for this?......*perils of not being filthy rich*

In my depressed and tired state, I decided to google my own name out of vanity. And there it was - gosh..I'd won RM500 of Carrefour vouchers. Thank you, God !

It was a contest organised by The Star where we had to make a sentence out of a list of 50 things Malaysian (Eg. Lah, Sudirman, Nasi Lemak, etc).

News spread quickly without my knowledge.

The Star newspaper wasn't exactly popular in my hometown because it only arrived noon. I hadn't expected anyone in my family to know. But lo and behold, it seems that while they were on a flight home, the air stewardess gave them a copy to read.

Amazingly, my aunt spotted my name (in small print) while flipping through the thick pages. My excited mum took the paper home. They got the news before I did! By nightfall, they had this to tell me - all our Christmas presents are going to be from Carrefour this year...hehehehe..

Boy, am I going to have fun splashing RM500 worth of vouchers....life is bliss in coughing fashion

0 The Magic is Lost

My partner has always been a fan of Copperfield. So when he heard that his idol was coming down, he was thrilled.

One fine day, my Mr Gung Ho called me at the office and said, “Ling, I book you 31st oredi. I have bought tickets for David Copperfield..muahahahahaha!!”.

I was dazed and amused at the same time. Dazed, because we had an exhibition to prepare for the next day. I was downright busy. Amused, because I could feel the child-like excitement emanating from my partner.

And then it happened – FBI probe, Sexual misconduct, Copperfield may not be coming after all!!

Don’t be too sad Darling – we can still make it for the Black Eyed Peas concert…kekekekeke ;)

0 On my own with "The Seeker"

It was one of those days when I'm left alone to do whatever I want ...and I love starting the day by catching the earliest movie.

So off I went to Cineleisure to see if I could make it for Brave Story. Unfortunately, the earliest time slot for that was 1.00pm..*yawn*. So I decided to go for The Seeker instead.

Then I called my partner because I felt that I had to report in - see...we have sort of a 'thing' between us about watching movies without each other. The last time I watched Superman on my own, I ended up catching the movie twice on the same day when my partner gave me that sad, sad puppy look when he found out that I'd watched it once in the morning without him. So the evening was spent on Superman again to make my man happy...*snort*..not that I didn't enjoy it.

The Seeker was normal fare - really didn't excite me as it should have. It was about a teenage boy who has to seek out some items to save the world (really didn't get what the items were for).

I felt that the star of the show didn't put in enough 'oomph' into it. Hence, I was more worried that he'd blunder his part than not saving the world. I didn't mind the story line, I'm just disappointed they didn't choose someone with more character for the starring role.

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.