I’m totally and completely offline at home. My desktop’s died of old age and my laptop’s DVD-ROM kaput-ed and is now being doctored at Compaq.

Damn.

Never knew how much I’d miss my machines.

(

• My access card is still not activated
• My email and login details are not up
• Am facing a total culture shock (expected but still, it didn’t hit until I’d actually stepped in here)
• Getting an overload of marketing jargon (not a bad thing, new stuff to learn. Something different from the usual IT/technical jargon)
• A lot of ppl here smoke like chimneys. A lot of discussions and agreements seem to take place during smoking sessions in the stairwell

That’s all I can think of at the top of my head for now.

Gawd, I dunno if I can get used to the way things work here. I’ve observed how my boss interacts with the ppl here and frankly, it seems to me like it’s a lot of butt-kissing i.e. telling ppl wat they like/want to hear in order to get things done. Damn! I’m just the total opposite. At my previous places, I just communicate wat I need to get done, straight to the point, without mincing my words. Looks like I’ve got to apply much much more tact here. GAH!

And EVERYTHING moves at snail speed here, except when we have to organize events, where the event date seems to always be tomorrow!

It’s only the 3rd day (and the day’s not even started yet since the ppl I need to see dun seem to be in yet and it’s 9.37am already!) but I’m already feeling rather frustrated.

Oh, and I can’t get on YM and MSN is erratic. So am now using Gmail chat. Bah!

Sigh…

Note to self : be positive, be positive, BE POSITIVE! Or at least, TRY.

Aaaaahhh, this Crumpler is just right for a nap!

…Zzzzzzzz…

Misty: Hey, do u think it’s safe to go down now?
Nessa: I dunno. Quit bugging me. I wanna sleep.

The condo management at my place is at it again. The residents here seem to have a problem with sharing the area with a few stray cats (less than 7 of them, to be more exact) so they’ve got the management to round up the stray cats and get rid of them. Dumb selfish ppl! As far as I know, the cats only show themselves at night coz we feed them then. Other than that, they make themselves scarce.

Anyway, there are 3 cats which we (my family and I) are more concerned with rehoming. Two of them have been here for quite a while (maybe a year or two) and we’ve spayed them so they won’t have any more kittens. I dun have pics of them right now, will get them soon.

All are females. One is a calico (white + black + orange), the other is brown + orange. The calico, whom we call Patchy (after my cat, who’s a calico too), was quite scared of us initially but has since warmed up but not too sure how she’ll fare with strangers. It took her a while to get used to us.

The brown + orange, we call her Mother Cat (she’s the mother of 2 of my sis’ cats), is a really friendly sweet thing and really loves to rub herself against our legs. Very very cute and pretty.

The third cat, we suspect that she was someone’s cat previously but she either got lost or her owners dumped her coz she just appeared one day and never left. We think she’s been spayed coz she hasn’t gotten pregnant since she first came and cats get in heat like, every 3 months. She’s grey + orange and also very very pretty (I call her Preeti) and sweet. Might be a bit timid around strangers but she’ll warm up after a while.

Here’s a pic of Preeti…

*For some reason, I can’t seem to upload more than one pic so here’s one first. Anyone got the same problem with uploading pics on Blogger?

Anyway, please please let me know if you or anyone else is interested to adopt these cats… responsible owners only please!!

Thank You!!

I know I know… it’s late but I’ve been lazy, hehe…

So yes, we went for dinner at Seven Ate Nine at Ascott. The place is not too bad, ambience-wise. U’ve got a view of the Twin Towers. And the food’s quite tasty and not too astronomically priced. Around Souled Out range. The Sang Har Mee was quite good (u get 1.5 large prawns) and the Tom Yam Fettucine was also good. Serving portion was medium to large, at least, for me.

Their Vodka Lychee is yuuuummmm! Their Sangria, according to the others, was a bit strong.

ok… cut the words, on to the pics… ) The b’day gal took so many pics, here’s just a few of them…

The Gals — Winn had a fetish with pics thru wineglasses that nite…

…The b’day gal cutting her cake…

Was having a conversation with Chris one day after class, a while back. We were talking about relationships and how it’s so difficult to meet a guy that we actually like, that we could see ourselves having a relationship with.

Chris : Yah, my father keeps asking me when I’m getting married. And I tell him, it’s all ur fault lar. U didn’t let me have a boyfriend during college or uni. Now I can’t seem to get to know guys who are right for me.
Me : U know wat, that’s so true!
Chris : Yah, coz the best time to get to know the opposite sex and maybe find ur other half is during college/uni coz that’s when u hang out together, work on assignments together. And get to know each other really well to find out if u’re compatible. And if u’re not, at least u know better wat u’re looking for in a partner. When u start working, hah, where got time even for urself, let alone get to know ppl!
Me : Hhmmm… true true… unless u’re lucky lar… hehe…

See, isn’t it so ironic for us (gals, that is. I dunno abt the boys) that when we’re still studying (secondary and tertiary), our parents always always tell us not to get a boyfriend lest we forget our studies, fail every subject, and the whole world would end?? And then when we’ve graduated and started working, they ask us “So when are u getting married?” Well, thank gawd I haven’t gotten the question from my parents; it’s more from other ppl. But it’s like, we’re supposed to have this auto-switch labeled “Boyfriend” on OFF position while studying, and it magically comes ON when we’ve graduated. Like, a boyfriend is supposed to magically appear by ur side the moment u’ve started working. Duh!

It’s NOT EASY to like someone and them liking u back (someone told me this, hehe), let alone find someone with whom u’re comfortable enuf to even consider spending the rest of ur life. Wat’s more when a lot of us (not me, though) have missed out on our prime time of getting to know the opposite sex.

So, something for the parents to think abt the next time they wanna ask their daughter(s) “So when are u getting married”.

…when ur male colleagues talk about football non-stop, all the way out of the office, in the elevator, on the way to lunch, during lunch, on the way back from lunch, back in the elevator, and back to ur seats.

And all u see on billboards along the highways, on TV, on print media, on radio stations, and almost every advertising space… are WORLD CUP ads!!!

The world can’t wait!!!

I dun get the rules & regulations in M’sian apartments and condos.

Doesnt’t matter if you’re the unit owner or renter, you are not allowed to keep any type of pets in ur unit.

See, I’d understand if they said no noisy pets. That’s fine, if owners dun take the responsiility to control their pets and keep them quiet most of the time, then it’s ok to say to those owners, no pets.

BUT if (1) the pets are not a nuisance, (2) the pets are indoors only, and (3) other residents dun complain, I dun see wat’s wrong with having pets in an apt/condo.

Obviously, u can’t keep a Great Dane or any large pet in an apt/condo. Any sane person would know that. But I strongly believe that smaller pets should be allowed.

See, the residents’ committee at the place where I’m staying, time and time again, they would state in their meetings, NO PETS ALLOWED. The most recent meeting they had, they said it again (and included it in the by-laws or some crap), “NO PETS ALLOWED EXCEPT FISH.” Duh!

ok… see, if I’m a unit owner, I dun see why some committee should tell wat I can or cannot do IN my own home! If I want to keep a pet, I shall!! Coz my pets are indoors only, no one sees a peep of them and they dun go roaming around the compound or other residents’ units. But apparently, even indoors-only pets are not allowed.

I dunno wat these ppl are so afraid of. Firstly, they need to go read up studies that have proven the benefits of having pets. Secondly, they need to go see how apt/condo management is run overseas. Even in Singapore, they allow pets in their highrises! Heck, when I was renting an apt in the States, they allowed me to keep pets. I just needed to pay an extra deposit in case my pets damaged the place (which they didn’t. Coincidently, a colleague of mine took over my apt unit after I’d left and he mentioned to another colleague that I’d kept the place so clean and my other colleague remarked “Yeah, and she had 2 cats too!”)

So there u have it. Not only can we keep our pets in check, but we can also keep our rented units in tip-top condition too. Which is more than I can say for some ppl who thrash up a place even without having any pets.

I think these committee ppl have too much time on their hands. They should focus on more important issues like security and thrash collection, for instance, instead of bothering ppl abt wat they should/should not do INSIDE their own homes.

Malaysia apt/condo management is CRAP!

Hmph!

I’ve taken to listening to the Tamil/Hindi radio station, 92.3. (Sorry, I can’t tell the difference between Tamil and Hindi)

It’s a refreshing change from the mainstream English pop stations.