I promised myself that I will not post anything related to politics or remotely linked to it and been trying really hard not to do that. But it is becoming increasing hard not to say much especially when I read this:
Sarawak and Sabah is the state in Malaysia that is richest with natural resources but is among the poorest state in Malaysia.
Sigh! Coming from Kuching, Sarawak, this statement really hurts even though it is the truth. By right, as a state that is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas and timber, shouldn’t Sarawak be getting more percentage of the money back for more meaningful development? Of course, I am not saying that we do not have any development at all but who can honestly say that we have been developing rapidly? I think the only thing that is developing rapidly is the inflation. Most of us KNOW EXACTLY who is responsible for this but alas, no one DARED to do much. Non-Sarawakian might not understand how expensive it is to live in Sarawak, in terms of income vs expenses.
Average income for fresh grad degree holder in Kuching would be around RM1,500-1,600. If you are lucky, might get RM1,800-2,000. Few multinational companies offer engineers RM2,200. I heard my friends in Kuching told me that a glass of ice lime is RM1.80 and a bowl of Sarawak kolo mee is RM3-4. It was RM1.50 and RM2.80 respectively before I come to KL about a month and half ago. Of course, they also suffer the increase in staple food such as rice. Some of my friends are even switching to eating local rice instead of those imported one because it is getting too expensive. Although Sarawakian save on toll charges, but petrol price is just RM0.01 different from KL. This is for a state that produces oil and gas!
So, after counting here and there, let say:
Lunch RM8 x 30day = RM240
Petrol RM10x30day = RM300
Internet RM110 (1MB)
Handphone bill RM52.50 (postpaid with 5% tax)
Groceries RM10x30 = RM300
Utilities RM100 (water, electric and gas for cooking)
Maintenance RM100 (car maintenance averaged)
Insurance n tax RM100 (car insurance n road tax averaged per year
Car loan RM500
Wait a minute, already overspend! And not yet even add in entertainment, housing, household items like shampoo, soap, detergent, etc. Of course, I am assuming the person is staying on their own and not with parents or friends lar. That is also assuming the person have a degree and earn up to RM1,800. It is not uncommon for income earner in Sarawak to be SPM leavers that earn RM600 – RM800. How to survive?????
With price of everything increasing and it really feels as if we are paying double for groceries, household items and day-to-day necessities. A 10kg bag of rice that cost RM28+ a month or two ago has increased on RM35+. That’s 25% increase! Does this mean that our salaries need to shift up by 25% too? Of course, when that happens, the traders will have another reason to increase the price further and cause even worse inflation!
Before I took this job, my good friends in Kuching feels that this is a good offer. Based on my calculation on paper, I should be able to save plenty after deducting expenses and loans. But now, I am not so sure. But it is too late for me to turn back. Just need to be more careful with my expenses and not let it run away. (Already start to have the wind blown and tornadoes spinning sensation actually…sigh!)
I dare not tell my parents that I might be having difficulties making ends meet here. Do not want to worry them. I know the moment I open my mouth or if they find out, my dad will immediately jump to my rescue. But come one, that is too embarrassing and I think I will rather be almost at death doorstep before I let my parents help me out financially. And also, whatever extras they have now if for them to enjoy themselves after many years of hardwork.
I can only laugh at how young I was last time when I told my mom that I will buy her a BMW when I start working. How naïve I was. As I said, life being an independent grown up is no fun at all. Kids that is reading this, enjoy and cherish your life now!
Sigh! I hope SOMEONE in the BIG G ORGANISATION will do something soon......
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Training & Motivation
Whenever Thursday approach, I will always start to feel lighter and somehow the world does not seem like such a gloomy place after all. I guess it has something to do with the fact that it is Friday tomorrow or maybe it is because I am actually LOSING weight?!?!? (For the benefit of RK! Kek si bui?) Nowadays, I seem to have a love hate relationship with my new job. New because I only started working here 14 Apr. That mean roughly 1 month and 8 days ago? Again, hard to believe that it has only been one month since I am working here. It felt like I been here ages. Not sure why because there are a lot of things that I still need to learn. Or perhaps because I have too much spare time on my hand that I can actually blog and blog hop daily? Or perhaps it is because I am feeling tired of my boss constantly giving one of us ‘lesson’ during our meetings?
Whatever it is, as I said, it is a love hate relationship with this job. I can see the job have a lot of potentials and when the volume actually increase, all this system that I am working hard to set up now will actually pay off. But for now, I think I can only see 50% benefit of what I am doing. At times, I feel almost like an interloper that is just sitting here and watching/monitoring the going on instead of being an active participator. An audience, that’s the word that I am looking for. I know that being a matured and experience employee, I should be sourcing my own ways to improve myself as well as review on what other things that can be done to further improve whatever system or SOP that I am working on.
However, I find that due to my limited IT background, the first and foremost things is needed is a training. In the previous company, like most big organization, there is a specific IT team that is solely responsible for program writing to generate reports and monitoring system. There are so many things that I would like to set up for my company but with my limited knowledge, all those need to take a back sit first. Instead, the first priority would be to go for training. Not a whole year course for program writing but short courses that can help me to automate reports and tracking files.
Hence, last few days been sourcing via the internet for training on visual basic application (VBA) and Microsoft visual basic (VB6). At the moment, still can’t decide which one to take up yet. VBA might seem insufficient if I am really required to set up the whole system without professional IT help. But the Microsoft Visual Basic might be too complicated for me. Dd suggest that I might as well take up VB6 since VBA is part of it. This way, I will learn more and not be frustrated because confined to one small area of visual basic programming. After the fundamentals, then can consider if should go for further training for the level 2 & 3 advanced course. My boss has basically agreed to me attending trainings although I am not yet a confirmed staff. But of course, with training, I will be tied for certain period of time depending on the cost.
Too bad I won’t be able to convince RK and SK to join me for this class. Or else, sure will be fun for the 3 of us gals to go training together and have fun after that without the hubbies and kids! Hahahaha. RK and I also have started a new agreement between the 2 of us. We will start practicing our Japanese language with each other starting next week. But first, we need to practice and go through the lesson on our own during the weekend. As I said to her, 52 weekends and 52 weeks in a year to practice. By next year, we should be pretty good at this already! We did attend classes last time for about half year but after a while with RK pregnant, give birth and all, lost the energy to continue lar!
I have so many projects actually before I come here. I thought that I will have plenty of time to kill since there is just me and babe. But end up, I have much less time here compared to when I was in Kuching. So, I must force myself and make time for all the projects. First thing first, start on the Japanese thingie. Hahahaha! So, wish us luck and make sure you all motivate us kaw kaw ok!!!
Whatever it is, as I said, it is a love hate relationship with this job. I can see the job have a lot of potentials and when the volume actually increase, all this system that I am working hard to set up now will actually pay off. But for now, I think I can only see 50% benefit of what I am doing. At times, I feel almost like an interloper that is just sitting here and watching/monitoring the going on instead of being an active participator. An audience, that’s the word that I am looking for. I know that being a matured and experience employee, I should be sourcing my own ways to improve myself as well as review on what other things that can be done to further improve whatever system or SOP that I am working on.
However, I find that due to my limited IT background, the first and foremost things is needed is a training. In the previous company, like most big organization, there is a specific IT team that is solely responsible for program writing to generate reports and monitoring system. There are so many things that I would like to set up for my company but with my limited knowledge, all those need to take a back sit first. Instead, the first priority would be to go for training. Not a whole year course for program writing but short courses that can help me to automate reports and tracking files.
Hence, last few days been sourcing via the internet for training on visual basic application (VBA) and Microsoft visual basic (VB6). At the moment, still can’t decide which one to take up yet. VBA might seem insufficient if I am really required to set up the whole system without professional IT help. But the Microsoft Visual Basic might be too complicated for me. Dd suggest that I might as well take up VB6 since VBA is part of it. This way, I will learn more and not be frustrated because confined to one small area of visual basic programming. After the fundamentals, then can consider if should go for further training for the level 2 & 3 advanced course. My boss has basically agreed to me attending trainings although I am not yet a confirmed staff. But of course, with training, I will be tied for certain period of time depending on the cost.
Too bad I won’t be able to convince RK and SK to join me for this class. Or else, sure will be fun for the 3 of us gals to go training together and have fun after that without the hubbies and kids! Hahahaha. RK and I also have started a new agreement between the 2 of us. We will start practicing our Japanese language with each other starting next week. But first, we need to practice and go through the lesson on our own during the weekend. As I said to her, 52 weekends and 52 weeks in a year to practice. By next year, we should be pretty good at this already! We did attend classes last time for about half year but after a while with RK pregnant, give birth and all, lost the energy to continue lar!
I have so many projects actually before I come here. I thought that I will have plenty of time to kill since there is just me and babe. But end up, I have much less time here compared to when I was in Kuching. So, I must force myself and make time for all the projects. First thing first, start on the Japanese thingie. Hahahaha! So, wish us luck and make sure you all motivate us kaw kaw ok!!!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Budget Budget Budget
As you know, we been looking around for suitable apartment to move into and call our own. We are targeting to find something around July or August time. This way, we can save up first while living at babe’s friend’s house. Also, it will give us some time to look for suitable place with suitable environment, location and especially the rental price. So far, babe and I have seen a few places and sad to say, somehow, one of us will always dislike something about the place. Mostly it is babe lar!
There is a place that both of us like very much but it is really too pricey for us. It is about 15 minutes drive to work for me and pretty easy for babe to go onto the NKVE to get to work daily. The distance is not much different for babe compared to where we are staying now. On top of that, the unit is semi-furnish with aircons, heater, wardrobe, fan, kitchen cabinet, stove and hood. We really like the place very much mainly because it is on a hilltop and the atmosphere is so peaceful and serene. The air is cold as if we are in genting! On top of that, it is very low density and security is tight. However, the rent requested was really too expensive in our opinion, RM850.
I know, some might say that is actually the going rate but I doubt it because we found an agent that told us some of the units there are for sale at RM150,000 to RM160,000. Paying RM850 is almost like paying for loan installments on the apartment with some leftover to pay for the maintenance fee perhaps? And this got babe and me thinking (dreaming) that when we are both more settled down and financially stable, perhaps we can come back here again to buy one of the units. But alas, that remain as a dream for now unless I suddenly inherit lots of mullah from some long lost relatives perhaps??? Hahahaha..wishful thinking..sigh!
Growing up and being independent is no fun! Moving so far away from my parents made me realized how fortunate I was. Of course, I will eventually need to move anyways from the nest but that does not mean that I have to like it right? So many things to consider, plan, budget and worry about. I was just discussing with RK on how to budget for expenses and how she and her hubby share them. Yah, although babe and I not married yet and is just planning to do this maybe end of this year or next year, we are living together. This means that we need to share responsibilities and expenses.
So, I drafted a budget since a long long long time and included the few basic items that my muddled brain can think of. And with the help from RK, actually added a few more items into them. Mainly is to decide how much will be put into a joint account main this purpose lar. Of course, since it is a budget, the aim is to spend less than that and whatever extra will then become our savings. As I said, it is no fun at all being an INDEPENDENT adult. Can no longer go on impulse shopping spree without the nagging guilty feeling or just runaway and do something without thinking of others.
So, this is my list of things that we will jointly share. Did I miss anything????????
a. Utilities – water, electric, handphone, internet, astro
b. Food/ Groceries
c. Entertainment
d. Household goods
e. Maintenance
f. Car insurance & road tax
g. Rent
What do you consider is the best way to share the expenses? Open a joint account and one person become the CFO (chief finance officer), who is usually the wife to control and make sure all the bills are paid. Or delegate who pay for what as long as at the end the total amount is what both person agreed on. I prefer joint account actually because we put in certain amount of money and then we work together to make sure we don’t over spend. And whatever extra will be our savings. Of course, option two will be less hassle and straightforward. Any other ways to do this? Really need some help and advice here.
There is a place that both of us like very much but it is really too pricey for us. It is about 15 minutes drive to work for me and pretty easy for babe to go onto the NKVE to get to work daily. The distance is not much different for babe compared to where we are staying now. On top of that, the unit is semi-furnish with aircons, heater, wardrobe, fan, kitchen cabinet, stove and hood. We really like the place very much mainly because it is on a hilltop and the atmosphere is so peaceful and serene. The air is cold as if we are in genting! On top of that, it is very low density and security is tight. However, the rent requested was really too expensive in our opinion, RM850.
I know, some might say that is actually the going rate but I doubt it because we found an agent that told us some of the units there are for sale at RM150,000 to RM160,000. Paying RM850 is almost like paying for loan installments on the apartment with some leftover to pay for the maintenance fee perhaps? And this got babe and me thinking (dreaming) that when we are both more settled down and financially stable, perhaps we can come back here again to buy one of the units. But alas, that remain as a dream for now unless I suddenly inherit lots of mullah from some long lost relatives perhaps??? Hahahaha..wishful thinking..sigh!
Growing up and being independent is no fun! Moving so far away from my parents made me realized how fortunate I was. Of course, I will eventually need to move anyways from the nest but that does not mean that I have to like it right? So many things to consider, plan, budget and worry about. I was just discussing with RK on how to budget for expenses and how she and her hubby share them. Yah, although babe and I not married yet and is just planning to do this maybe end of this year or next year, we are living together. This means that we need to share responsibilities and expenses.
So, I drafted a budget since a long long long time and included the few basic items that my muddled brain can think of. And with the help from RK, actually added a few more items into them. Mainly is to decide how much will be put into a joint account main this purpose lar. Of course, since it is a budget, the aim is to spend less than that and whatever extra will then become our savings. As I said, it is no fun at all being an INDEPENDENT adult. Can no longer go on impulse shopping spree without the nagging guilty feeling or just runaway and do something without thinking of others.
So, this is my list of things that we will jointly share. Did I miss anything????????
a. Utilities – water, electric, handphone, internet, astro
b. Food/ Groceries
c. Entertainment
d. Household goods
e. Maintenance
f. Car insurance & road tax
g. Rent
What do you consider is the best way to share the expenses? Open a joint account and one person become the CFO (chief finance officer), who is usually the wife to control and make sure all the bills are paid. Or delegate who pay for what as long as at the end the total amount is what both person agreed on. I prefer joint account actually because we put in certain amount of money and then we work together to make sure we don’t over spend. And whatever extra will be our savings. Of course, option two will be less hassle and straightforward. Any other ways to do this? Really need some help and advice here.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tuesday Worse Than Monday Blues
Discovered that starting work on a Tuesday is worse than Monday blues! I am so not in the mood to work today. I think my subconscious must be thinking of the same thing too because I must have woke up at least half a dozen time yesterday. I am pretty sure it was not due to the high temperature that we usually face at night because last night was rather cooling for a change. Babe & I actually retire to bed earlier than usual last night and we promptly fall asleep the moment we turn off all lights and our head hit the pillow.
Woke up at 6.15am so that I can be the first to hit the shower and get ready to leave the house for work around 7am-ish. Need to arrive at the office by 8am for our weekly Tuesday conference call with our HQ in US. I don’t do much during the meeting actually since I am not required to do any reporting at all. Instead, I am just required to sit in so that I can understand what is going on in the organization, something that is very essential for someone new in the company like me.
Talking of being new comer, today is officially my one month and 6th day of working here. Sounds short doesn’t it but it definitely feel much longer than that. It felt as if I have been working here for ages. I used to look forward to going to work everyday when I was in Kuching. Ermm, rephrase, before obi was promoted/transferred to be our section manager. Even then, it was not as bad because I know that my good friends are around. And anytime that I feel like taking a break, I will message one of them and ask if they want to go pantry or cafeteria.
Always look forward to lunch with the gals too because that is the time we catch up, gossip, laugh and talk about whatever that comes to our mind. We are so comfortable with each other that we tease each other without any hard feelings. Sometimes, we even share our worries and brainstorms solutions for our personal dilemma. Or if anyone of us is not in the mood to talk, then the others will fill in the void and the silent one can sit back and relax without being worried about how others will think about her. I miss them so much and thank goodness we are able to continue our friendship and chat online.
Today I am also feeling especially homesick. I miss my mom & dad very much. Even though I am glad to be independent but I realized that whenever I am feeling tired, worried or broke (haha!), I will be extremely homesick and feel like crying. Just this morning, while taking shower, I felt like crying my eyes out but with much self control, I stopped myself from doing that. I don’t want to make my babe worry about me. Guess we human are like that, when we have those that care about us near, we take them for granted. Then, when we can’t see them everyday, we miss them terribly!
Sorry if I am making you all depressed with my melancholic posting. I am feeling so depressed that I felt like ‘disappearing’ for a while and be on my own. I do this sometimes when I was in Kuching. I will bring my books and go somewhere on my own to take a break from everything. Usually, after a very expensive meal or shopping spree, I will feel much better. But here, I am not sure what I can do especially with my tight budget this month.
Yar, maybe it is because of money worries that compounded this feeling? I don’t know. I just wish it is payday already. Really had to stretch last month pay since I was ‘jobless’ for one week while moving from Kuching to KL and trying to settledown. The cost of moving here, settling down and so on really drain my budget. I guess I must really discipline myself (and babe) to have a tighter budget especially when we move to our own place later.
The one half month also passed in a blur for me. It felt like I am forever doing house chores, one after another. Laundry, ironing, cooking, cleaning, etc. I am feeling so tired and drained. I know I should just let it be if I don’t feel like doing it but I cannot tahan (stand) see all the things piling up. And I discover that I have a very strong guilty conscience.
For example, after I came back from work, extremely tired, but the housewife is cooking in the kitchen, as much as I felt like lying down in bed and not move till dinner time or something, I will put my bags down in the room and go to the kitchen to see what I can do to help. Although I have told myself many times (babe did too) that she should be able to understand that since I work fulltime, I am tired. But knowing how she is, I really doubt that eventhough she is the fulltime housewife. Also, I feel that she don’t actually need to cook for babe and myself at all. It is out of goodness (????) of her heart.
OK, I better stop here or else I will go on and on and on about how depressed and homesick I am today. Dear Friends (u know who u r), don’t worry. I will fine later. Adios!
Monday, May 19, 2008
A Typical Day in JenJen's Life
This is mainly for the benefit of my friends in Kuching that for sure is wondering how I pass my time here in KL. After all, I been whining and complaining about long hours compared to life in Kuching. So, I guess for their benefit and so that they know how lucky they are to be staying in a slower phase life in Kuching, this is a typical day in my life.
6.30am
The handphone start beeping, hand roams overhead to search for the blasted alarm and turn on snooze, 9 more minutes to laze in bed.
635am
Babe's handphone beep and he turn on the snooze. Laze in bed some more too!
6.45am
Babe got out of bed, morning business & bath.
I got out of bed, fill the kettle and turn on the electric to boil the water. Take out a small bowl, scoop 4 spoons of oat in the bowl, open a 3-in-1 tea in a cup. Went back to bed, laze around while wait for the water to boil.
6.55am
Babe finish taking his bath. Give him his oatmeal and tea. My turn in the bathroom.
7.05am
Babe with his helmet and jacket, ready to go to work. I just finish bath and sit on the floor, day dream abit and start to put on my face cream, make up, etc. Search for clothes to wear. So bored, everyday wear almost the same but no choice since 75% of my clothes are in Kuching.
7.25am
Make myself coffee black with half teaspoon of sugar and peanut butter jelly sandwich to go. I usually have my breakfast in the car since it will be pretty slow in the jam or else I will fall asleep behind the wheels!
7.35am
Check to make sure that I have all my stuff, laptop, charger, mouse, purse, handphone, car keys, house keys and etc. Locked up the house including the gate since the housewife and baby still sleeping. Oh, how I envy them. I told babe that I can understand why she let the baby sleep around midnight instead of earlier. So that she can sleep in also without having the baby waking up early in the morning mar!
7.45am
Sunway toll. Jam as usual. Took out my sandwich and open the cover of my coffee flask. Breakfast time.
8.30am
Reached the carpark, parked my cars and start my 10 minutes walk to my office. Debate on whether want to go McD for McMuffin. Reminded myself about my diet! Go to work. Walking thru the shopping mall and hotel.
8.45am
Reached my office. Take out laptop, charger and mouse from the bag. Turn the handphone to vibrate mode. And daily work start.
10.30am
The food menu for lunch delivery being passed around. If there is no menu by 10.45am, then we will be eating out.
12 noon
Lunch time. I make it a point to only go out for lunch once or twice a week. Other days, I will bring food from home, i.e. whatever leftover from dinner.
12.45pm
Time to go move my car and park it again. Good exercise since it is 10min to the car and 10min back again. RK & SK, jealous or not??? hahaha
6.30pm
Time to go home. Officially office hour is 9am to 6pm but I seldom come in or leave on the dot. Not much point of doing that since will be caught in the jam.
7.15pm
Home! Changed to shorts and t-shirt. See the housewife need help or not with dinner. Depending to what time the husband come back, dinner might be at 8pm or earlier.
8.45~10pm
Finish cleaning up after dinner. On the internet tv. Either wash the laundry in the machine and hang them out OR fold the laundry. Sometimes if babe have nothing to wear already, iron....(I HATE THE IRONING!hhmppff!!)
10.30pm
Supper for babe if he wants them.
11pm
Take bath and get ready for bed. Watch some more internet tv. Blog and blog hopping. Check emails, etc. Bedtime usually around 12midnight or 1am.
So, long winded posting about my daily activities. Of course, weekend and public holidays is totally different. If there is no work the next day, we might even sleep at 2-3am depends to whether we go out for supper or stayed in the room to watch some interesting movies/ series marathon on internet tv. Nowadays with the internet tv, at least life not so mundane and bored. Not what lar, but the Astro in the living room is either on kids channel or Malay series or recently AF. Not my cup of tea but of course, not my place to say much since it is not my house. So, I am so glad we got our internet already although I dread the first month bill which will come to just below RM400!
6.30am
The handphone start beeping, hand roams overhead to search for the blasted alarm and turn on snooze, 9 more minutes to laze in bed.
635am
Babe's handphone beep and he turn on the snooze. Laze in bed some more too!
6.45am
Babe got out of bed, morning business & bath.
I got out of bed, fill the kettle and turn on the electric to boil the water. Take out a small bowl, scoop 4 spoons of oat in the bowl, open a 3-in-1 tea in a cup. Went back to bed, laze around while wait for the water to boil.
6.55am
Babe finish taking his bath. Give him his oatmeal and tea. My turn in the bathroom.
7.05am
Babe with his helmet and jacket, ready to go to work. I just finish bath and sit on the floor, day dream abit and start to put on my face cream, make up, etc. Search for clothes to wear. So bored, everyday wear almost the same but no choice since 75% of my clothes are in Kuching.
7.25am
Make myself coffee black with half teaspoon of sugar and peanut butter jelly sandwich to go. I usually have my breakfast in the car since it will be pretty slow in the jam or else I will fall asleep behind the wheels!
7.35am
Check to make sure that I have all my stuff, laptop, charger, mouse, purse, handphone, car keys, house keys and etc. Locked up the house including the gate since the housewife and baby still sleeping. Oh, how I envy them. I told babe that I can understand why she let the baby sleep around midnight instead of earlier. So that she can sleep in also without having the baby waking up early in the morning mar!
7.45am
Sunway toll. Jam as usual. Took out my sandwich and open the cover of my coffee flask. Breakfast time.
8.30am
Reached the carpark, parked my cars and start my 10 minutes walk to my office. Debate on whether want to go McD for McMuffin. Reminded myself about my diet! Go to work. Walking thru the shopping mall and hotel.
8.45am
Reached my office. Take out laptop, charger and mouse from the bag. Turn the handphone to vibrate mode. And daily work start.
10.30am
The food menu for lunch delivery being passed around. If there is no menu by 10.45am, then we will be eating out.
12 noon
Lunch time. I make it a point to only go out for lunch once or twice a week. Other days, I will bring food from home, i.e. whatever leftover from dinner.
12.45pm
Time to go move my car and park it again. Good exercise since it is 10min to the car and 10min back again. RK & SK, jealous or not??? hahaha
6.30pm
Time to go home. Officially office hour is 9am to 6pm but I seldom come in or leave on the dot. Not much point of doing that since will be caught in the jam.
7.15pm
Home! Changed to shorts and t-shirt. See the housewife need help or not with dinner. Depending to what time the husband come back, dinner might be at 8pm or earlier.
8.45~10pm
Finish cleaning up after dinner. On the internet tv. Either wash the laundry in the machine and hang them out OR fold the laundry. Sometimes if babe have nothing to wear already, iron....(I HATE THE IRONING!hhmppff!!)
10.30pm
Supper for babe if he wants them.
11pm
Take bath and get ready for bed. Watch some more internet tv. Blog and blog hopping. Check emails, etc. Bedtime usually around 12midnight or 1am.
So, long winded posting about my daily activities. Of course, weekend and public holidays is totally different. If there is no work the next day, we might even sleep at 2-3am depends to whether we go out for supper or stayed in the room to watch some interesting movies/ series marathon on internet tv. Nowadays with the internet tv, at least life not so mundane and bored. Not what lar, but the Astro in the living room is either on kids channel or Malay series or recently AF. Not my cup of tea but of course, not my place to say much since it is not my house. So, I am so glad we got our internet already although I dread the first month bill which will come to just below RM400!
Why we need to Sleep?
I am getting old~>_<~ !!! Why do I say that? Because my body simply refuse to let me sleep until the sun is high up in the sky anymore! No matter how late I slept the night before, 2-3am, I will still wake up latest by 10.30am. In fact, around 10am, my mind has also ready start to become conscious of the bright room and whatever sounds the early birds (pun intended) decided to chirp away about. Not sure what the birds are so happy about. Nothing is more blissful and sleep till unknown time of the day!
I remember when I was still in college, I even skipped my 8am classes just so that I can sleep in. My housemate taking the same course as me would knock on my door and try to wake me up. I will always make sure that I locked the door of course and totally ignore the knock. After a few more knocks that get louder each time, she would give up and went to wait for the bus that takes us to our classes on her own. I was pretty lucky because this kind soul willingly share her notes with me after she came back. Of course, that was after a short lecture from her about sleeping early and waking up early.
If I have my way, I would have NOT go for the 8am classes at all. But I guess the college administrators are aware of poor souls like us need some push to make sure that we discipline ourselves and come to class. I guess they figured that people like that that is away from home for the first time is in need of good guidance and nurturing. So, they set up the rule of must attending minimum x percentage of the class or else eventhough we submitted our assignments on time or get As in exams, we will still flunk the class. An extremely cruel punishment if you ask me.
I utterly believes that as a young active growing mind person like myself then, it is very important to make sure that a network is build with people from all over the world. After all, the wise ones are always preaching about broadening the horizon and so on and on and on. And what better way to do that other than going on the internet to one of those chat rooms for exchange of ideas and knowledge! Hence, how can they expect someone like me who sleeps at 3-4am the night before (ermm..morning?) wakes up again at 7am to go to an 8am class??? Some people, can be so inconsiderate~ (BLUEK!! hahahaha!)
Anyway, back to my dilemma. I really wish I can sleep pass 10am and wake up with the smile on my face, knowing with glee that I let my body rest all it want. I wonder if it is because the room is too warm for to contemplate sleeping in. I wonder if I can persuade babe to get an aircon immediately when we move to our new place. Ppsttt....we might be moving sooner than planned. Babe and I have a little secret project going on. Wont revel too much about it now since some of you actually know babe and I. Suffice to say that I am very very excited at the prospect of having a place of our own without the heartache related to money! *grin grin grin grin grin*
I remember when I was still in college, I even skipped my 8am classes just so that I can sleep in. My housemate taking the same course as me would knock on my door and try to wake me up. I will always make sure that I locked the door of course and totally ignore the knock. After a few more knocks that get louder each time, she would give up and went to wait for the bus that takes us to our classes on her own. I was pretty lucky because this kind soul willingly share her notes with me after she came back. Of course, that was after a short lecture from her about sleeping early and waking up early.
If I have my way, I would have NOT go for the 8am classes at all. But I guess the college administrators are aware of poor souls like us need some push to make sure that we discipline ourselves and come to class. I guess they figured that people like that that is away from home for the first time is in need of good guidance and nurturing. So, they set up the rule of must attending minimum x percentage of the class or else eventhough we submitted our assignments on time or get As in exams, we will still flunk the class. An extremely cruel punishment if you ask me.
I utterly believes that as a young active growing mind person like myself then, it is very important to make sure that a network is build with people from all over the world. After all, the wise ones are always preaching about broadening the horizon and so on and on and on. And what better way to do that other than going on the internet to one of those chat rooms for exchange of ideas and knowledge! Hence, how can they expect someone like me who sleeps at 3-4am the night before (ermm..morning?) wakes up again at 7am to go to an 8am class??? Some people, can be so inconsiderate~ (BLUEK!! hahahaha!)
Anyway, back to my dilemma. I really wish I can sleep pass 10am and wake up with the smile on my face, knowing with glee that I let my body rest all it want. I wonder if it is because the room is too warm for to contemplate sleeping in. I wonder if I can persuade babe to get an aircon immediately when we move to our new place. Ppsttt....we might be moving sooner than planned. Babe and I have a little secret project going on. Wont revel too much about it now since some of you actually know babe and I. Suffice to say that I am very very excited at the prospect of having a place of our own without the heartache related to money! *grin grin grin grin grin*
Friday, May 16, 2008
Fugu from Sarawak
As I was blogging last night, babe said why don't you blog about Sarawak blowfish? Yup, you read correctly and it is not a typing error either, FUGU FROM SARAWAK! Actually, I never knew we have fugu until I went with babe to Sri Aman once. One of the first thing that we did when we go there is to go to the local wet market. That is where I saw babe goes to the salted fish stalls and choose a few packets of ugly and thorny looking salted fish. It is the ugliest thing that I ever seen and I will definitely not imagine myself buying or eating it! But let me tell you, there is no other salted fish like salted fugu! The fish is basically cut open, flatten, salted and dried. The same way to make any other kind of salted fish.
Sarawak fugu is also exotic even in Sarawak. Alot of Sarawakian does not even know such fish exist. Actually it is found mostly can be found in Sri Aman and along the way from Kuching to Sri Aman. Eventhough there is a small fishing village that is famous for blowfish on the way from Sri Aman to Bintangor, it is hard to find anyone selling them along the way. I find it rather surprising actually. I wonder if the blowfish is really being commercialise, what will happen? Then fugu will not only be famous in Japan.
But before it can go through the curing process, need to remove the poison from the fish first. I am not sure how they did this as I have never seen the fresh kind before. Only the salted ones. Apparently, on the way to Bintangor, there is village on the way that specialised in producing salted fugu. I guess this is one of my to-do list when I managed to get back to Kuching next time. I wonder how fresh Sarawak fugu will taste like. I bet it will be very very silky and delicious! Dip in batter and fry to golden crispy perfection. (MORE DROOL!!!)
I am a fish eggs lover (yar yar high cholesterol!) and I have actually eaten salted Sarawak fugu egg once. And let me warn you, this is not for the faint hearted. The first bite, you will be able to feel tingling on your tongue. At first, I thought this is because of too much salt on the eggs. On 2nd bite, the tingling starts to feel sharper. And after eating more than 3pcs, basically, the tongue goes slightly numb and lightheaded. Of course, the sensation goes away after awhile. Again, I am swallowing my saliva while describing it to you! DROOL!!
So, how do you cook the salted fish. So, usually we will cut it into about the size of two fingers and clean with water. Well, the trick is to fry it as crispy as possible without burning it. This is essential as the best part of the fish is the skin! Yup, the sharp thorny skin.
Whole salted Sarawak fugu. 1 pack of 2-3 salted fugu cost
between RM5-10 depending on the size.
Close up of the fugu. See the sharp thorns?
Sarawak fugu is also exotic even in Sarawak. Alot of Sarawakian does not even know such fish exist. Actually it is found mostly can be found in Sri Aman and along the way from Kuching to Sri Aman. Eventhough there is a small fishing village that is famous for blowfish on the way from Sri Aman to Bintangor, it is hard to find anyone selling them along the way. I find it rather surprising actually. I wonder if the blowfish is really being commercialise, what will happen? Then fugu will not only be famous in Japan.
But before it can go through the curing process, need to remove the poison from the fish first. I am not sure how they did this as I have never seen the fresh kind before. Only the salted ones. Apparently, on the way to Bintangor, there is village on the way that specialised in producing salted fugu. I guess this is one of my to-do list when I managed to get back to Kuching next time. I wonder how fresh Sarawak fugu will taste like. I bet it will be very very silky and delicious! Dip in batter and fry to golden crispy perfection. (MORE DROOL!!!)
I am a fish eggs lover (yar yar high cholesterol!) and I have actually eaten salted Sarawak fugu egg once. And let me warn you, this is not for the faint hearted. The first bite, you will be able to feel tingling on your tongue. At first, I thought this is because of too much salt on the eggs. On 2nd bite, the tingling starts to feel sharper. And after eating more than 3pcs, basically, the tongue goes slightly numb and lightheaded. Of course, the sensation goes away after awhile. Again, I am swallowing my saliva while describing it to you! DROOL!!
So, how do you cook the salted fish. So, usually we will cut it into about the size of two fingers and clean with water. Well, the trick is to fry it as crispy as possible without burning it. This is essential as the best part of the fish is the skin! Yup, the sharp thorny skin.
Whole salted Sarawak fugu. 1 pack of 2-3 salted fugu costbetween RM5-10 depending on the size.
Close up of the fugu. See the sharp thorns?Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wesak Day
I just realized around lunch time that this weekend is going to be a long weekend with Monday being a public holiday! Usually, while I was in Kuching, my colleagues and I would be looking forward to the long weekend and by Friday, most of us will be in a good mood and very relax. Although Friday is usually is a rather busy day for us because that is the day that the customers take into their head that today is the last day of the week and they must finished off whatever the planned to complete this week! That would me 100+ emails and half of those pending action and the other half are inconsiderate people working in the company that decided it is fun to keep EVERYONE in the cc loop!
Anyway, am not planning much for this weekend. Initially, last month I was telling babe perhaps we want to consider driving some where for the weekend. Maybe Penang or Malacca. But now the prospect of couped up the car for hours, romping all over the place and stuffing myself with heavy food just does not appeal to me. Instead, a quiet weekend with babe and maybe cook some food that we both enjoy eating sounds like a much more relaxing plan. Of course, I was hoping that there will be something juicy on the internet tv as well!
On top of that, I am thinking of rearranging and cleaning up our bedroom abit. Trying to make more space in this tiny room. Just to give you an idea how big (or small) is the room, just put one queen size bed and another single bed side by side and it will cover the floor of the entire room. I guess begger can't be chooser. Just have to make do with whatever is available until we move to our own place where we will have the freedom to use any part of the house and sit anyhow we want. As I mentioned to RK and SK once, the joy of walking around the house without a bra! BLISSFUL!!!
Sometimes we just take things for granted. I mean, while I was in Kuching staying with my parents, I never think much of lying around in the living on the sofa.Or take the pillows from the bedroom and lie on the living room floor. And switching tv to whatever channel that I felt like watching as long as mom or dad are not interested to watch anything special. Or even the wonderful feeling of eating whatever you want, whenever and wherever! Gosh! I talked so much about this and I guess some of you must be saying " Go get your own place already".
Well, we did go look around but so far we decided to wait first. I estimated we need at least RM5000 in the first month as rental deposit, rental, tenancy agreement fee, utilities deposit, fridge, washing machine and a tv. (SIGH!!) Babe and I is planning to go see his aunt's empty apartment that is near here. If the fridge and washing machine works, I guess we might decide to move there temporarily. I am not very keen to move there actually because the place have no lift and the apartment is on the 4th floor. Mainly not because of myself but because if our parents come to visit, then it will be hard for them especially for my handicapped sister.
But if we really can't stand it anymore, I guess at least we have the option of going there. Yawnn..ok..dinner time!!!!
Anyway, am not planning much for this weekend. Initially, last month I was telling babe perhaps we want to consider driving some where for the weekend. Maybe Penang or Malacca. But now the prospect of couped up the car for hours, romping all over the place and stuffing myself with heavy food just does not appeal to me. Instead, a quiet weekend with babe and maybe cook some food that we both enjoy eating sounds like a much more relaxing plan. Of course, I was hoping that there will be something juicy on the internet tv as well!
On top of that, I am thinking of rearranging and cleaning up our bedroom abit. Trying to make more space in this tiny room. Just to give you an idea how big (or small) is the room, just put one queen size bed and another single bed side by side and it will cover the floor of the entire room. I guess begger can't be chooser. Just have to make do with whatever is available until we move to our own place where we will have the freedom to use any part of the house and sit anyhow we want. As I mentioned to RK and SK once, the joy of walking around the house without a bra! BLISSFUL!!!
Sometimes we just take things for granted. I mean, while I was in Kuching staying with my parents, I never think much of lying around in the living on the sofa.Or take the pillows from the bedroom and lie on the living room floor. And switching tv to whatever channel that I felt like watching as long as mom or dad are not interested to watch anything special. Or even the wonderful feeling of eating whatever you want, whenever and wherever! Gosh! I talked so much about this and I guess some of you must be saying " Go get your own place already".
Well, we did go look around but so far we decided to wait first. I estimated we need at least RM5000 in the first month as rental deposit, rental, tenancy agreement fee, utilities deposit, fridge, washing machine and a tv. (SIGH!!) Babe and I is planning to go see his aunt's empty apartment that is near here. If the fridge and washing machine works, I guess we might decide to move there temporarily. I am not very keen to move there actually because the place have no lift and the apartment is on the 4th floor. Mainly not because of myself but because if our parents come to visit, then it will be hard for them especially for my handicapped sister.
But if we really can't stand it anymore, I guess at least we have the option of going there. Yawnn..ok..dinner time!!!!
Threshold and Me
Yawnnn!!! Feeling so so so sleepy today! Serve me right too. I was having so much fun watch marathon series of Threshold on the internet tv that I sat in front of the laptop for 4 hours straight! Can’t help it especially after not having the freedom to watch the ENGLISH series on Astro for more than a month. The family that I am staying with mostly watch either Malay movies, Malay gameshow, News in Malay.
Of course, 75% of the time, the little gal age around 3 will be monopolizing the tv and watch the kids channel. Albeit, those are in English but I feel rather silly watching animated character going around trying to count one by one the items in the basket. If anyone of us decides to switch the channel, she will start to throw her tantrum, sit on the floor and kick around or cry at the top of her voice.
Basically, this is what she does for everything that she wants but can’t get because she knows the parents especially the mother will eventually just let her have it anyways. And most of time, this is without much fight at all. To tell you the truth, I can never stand kids that are spoiled ridiculously that it will definitely cause more harm for them and good. I can’t imagine how such kids will be able to socialize in the real world. Imagine a 7 year old in primary one screaming and shouting because the teacher told her/him that he/she can’t do some things.
I tell you, if my future kids are like that, they will definitely receive a padapap(smack) from me. Maybe not as serious as a smack but at least reprimand and punishment. But then again, I am saying this now when I don’t have any kids. Maybe when I have my own, I won’t have the heart to scold my kids and also will give everything they want. OMG! If I ever become like that, please make sure that someone kick and slap me to wake me up ok? Or..ermm..less painful, show me this posting because I intend to blog till someone buries me! Hahaha..I wonder if there is internet in heaven~ hhmm.. (kekekekeek)
By the way, Threshold is really nice! It is about a ship in the sea that saw UFO that transmit some sound wave that killed almost all the crew except 6. The sound wave caused the surviving crews' DNA to changed into alien. Anyway, the whole story revolve around a secret government team called Threshold that is suppose to contain the situation by capturing the 6 surviving crews. The 6 crews have imbedded gene in them that makes them want to infect the others with the same killer sound wave and change the whole human population to alien too. And the alien sound is intelligent too because it can duplicate itself on any electronics devices. So, with our world being very dependent on electronics, easy for the alien to infect each and everyone on earth.
The marathon was on a
Monday, May 12, 2008
Doggie Tale
I been avoiding any movies that involve animals, especially those with sappy stories related to animals or about animal cruelty. I am even avoiding documentaries channels on Astro about Animal Rescue and so forth. I was not always like this. Usually, I will be the first to ask babe to buy (or download) latest animal movies. Now, some of you might be thinking how come I am so hard hearted? Well, actually, I am not! In fact, I am super duper soft hearted especially when it come to furry small dogs and cats.
But after I had to give away all my four dogs to relatives and friends, I don't think I will have the energy to resist and succumb to my emotion, i.e. cry my eyes out at every sappy animal related movies. Oh, trust me! I will definitely be bawling and crying unstoppable even when I want to. On top of that, there will be that heart piercing sensation with the heavy heart that makes me feel so depressed after every story about cruelty to animal.
One that leaves deep impression on me was during one of the Animal Rescue episode where the rescuer found the owner left their dogs chained up in the basement starve to death! Basically, when the rescuer found the ones that survived, they also found some dog skin and bones laying around! I am starting to have that heavy heart feeling even as I was typing this. I cannot understand how anyone can do that to cute helpless little thing. Sigh..the worse thing is the owner actually have the gale to say that it was his kids responsibility to ensure that the dogs are bath, fed and taken care of.
OMG! Don't the guy have any feelings? How can he just leave the dogs all tied up with no way of escaping in dark wet cold basement starve to death! I am even having images of the dogs gnawing anything that it can get to escape. Maybe those that survived did? I know, that is an image that you hope never to imagine, what more to say actually seeing. I only have one conclusion about this people, IRRESPONSIBLE SELFISH HEARTLESS devils! I was going to say pigs but pigs are too good for them.
Phew! OK! So, I am hyped up tonight. Can't helped it. I was looking through some pictures I taken using my handphone and found of my puppies and dogs. My babies! Oh gosh...I truly feel like crying!
Message for my darling doggies: Tommy baby, your mommy miss you! I hope you are happy with you new owner. Angel, please take care of Tommy ok! I really miss you guys! Should have gone over to visit you before I leave for KL but I just dont think I am strong enough not to cry in front of both of you. I don't even have your pictures to remember you by. Sigh....Hope both of you are happy and living a good doggy life..........*sob sob*
Some pics of Tommy & Angel's babies to share:
The first batch of puppies. All white with long white hair
More pic of the first batch of puppies
One of the more grown up puppy of Tommy & Angel
But after I had to give away all my four dogs to relatives and friends, I don't think I will have the energy to resist and succumb to my emotion, i.e. cry my eyes out at every sappy animal related movies. Oh, trust me! I will definitely be bawling and crying unstoppable even when I want to. On top of that, there will be that heart piercing sensation with the heavy heart that makes me feel so depressed after every story about cruelty to animal.
One that leaves deep impression on me was during one of the Animal Rescue episode where the rescuer found the owner left their dogs chained up in the basement starve to death! Basically, when the rescuer found the ones that survived, they also found some dog skin and bones laying around! I am starting to have that heavy heart feeling even as I was typing this. I cannot understand how anyone can do that to cute helpless little thing. Sigh..the worse thing is the owner actually have the gale to say that it was his kids responsibility to ensure that the dogs are bath, fed and taken care of.
OMG! Don't the guy have any feelings? How can he just leave the dogs all tied up with no way of escaping in dark wet cold basement starve to death! I am even having images of the dogs gnawing anything that it can get to escape. Maybe those that survived did? I know, that is an image that you hope never to imagine, what more to say actually seeing. I only have one conclusion about this people, IRRESPONSIBLE SELFISH HEARTLESS devils! I was going to say pigs but pigs are too good for them.
Phew! OK! So, I am hyped up tonight. Can't helped it. I was looking through some pictures I taken using my handphone and found of my puppies and dogs. My babies! Oh gosh...I truly feel like crying!
Message for my darling doggies: Tommy baby, your mommy miss you! I hope you are happy with you new owner. Angel, please take care of Tommy ok! I really miss you guys! Should have gone over to visit you before I leave for KL but I just dont think I am strong enough not to cry in front of both of you. I don't even have your pictures to remember you by. Sigh....Hope both of you are happy and living a good doggy life..........*sob sob*
Some pics of Tommy & Angel's babies to share:
The first batch of puppies. All white with long white hair
More pic of the first batch of puppies
One of the more grown up puppy of Tommy & Angel
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