'Tis The Season ...

Phew, what busy morning it's been for me. Remember that work I didn't have the mood to do yesterday? The one where I had not an inkling of an idea at all? Well, I finally managed to get it done, well almost anyway. I need to do some market research for it online before I can finish it. Ok, ok, that was just an excuse to get online and check my blog ... LOL! I can't stay away from it for too long.

I'm actually in the Christmas mood right now. While doing my work, I've been on LimeWire downloading Christmas songs all day. In fact I still have it downloading loads more ... hehehe ... I don't know why but I'm in such high Christmas spirits this year. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm always in high spirits for Christmas, but this year I think my spirits are so much higher and I really can't wait for the actual day to arrive :)

I'm actually compiling all the songs I need for the Christmas dance we're planning to have at my buddy's place and I know he has tons of CD's and I could just rip it from him but I'd like to make this a nonstop compilation of songs so that I won't have to change CD's and be interrupted during my dance sessions with wifey ... hehehe ... oh and this time I'm making sure there are loads of slow numbers!

Christmas is always one of my favourite times of the the year. I know my good buddy Adrian shares the same sentiments as me. In fact, he's always been much more enthusiastic about this particular season than I am and throughout my years of knowing him, it's rubbed off a lot on me and I think I'm as enthusiastic as him now :D He's even got his Christmas tree up quite a while now and I know I've said this in my other blog Spiff, the Spaceman but I'm going to say it again. He has the best Christmas tree in the whole of PJ, maybe even Selangor! Don't believe me? Stop by his house and you'll walk away amazed :)



You know, every year, just before Christmas, we'd always have this thing we call a pre-Christmas bash where the 3 of us (Adrian, our other buddy Seansy and me) will hang out at his place and just sing Christmas carols, drink, chit chat and reminisce about stuff until the wee hours of morning (well, not really that wee any longer cos we're all older and need our beauty sleep ... LOL!). I gotta check with him if it's still on this year. I'm sure it is but you can't simply presume things, ya?

Ah, it's such a wonderful season that it bring a tear of joy to my eye ... LOL! And no, there are no tears in my eye right now, just in case you're all wondering. I may be shy but I'm not sensitive, then again wifey would tell you otherwise if you ask her about my sensitivity (and not a word out of you buddy!!!). The only thing I wish we had here that would make Christmas complete would be snow. Now that would be awesome! Maybe if I prayed hard enough, it just might snow a teeny weeny bit, what with the freaky weather patterns and all.

'You don't think so?'

Oh well, maybe a naked dance in my garden to the snow gods might yield some results.

'No? That won't work too? You sure?'

Drats, looks like it's going to be the usual hot Christmas again. Maybe I could just put a tiny little Christmas tree in my freezer and make a tiny snow man and just stick my head in there, that just might do the trick ... LOL! Hmmm, I just might put a tiny Christmas tree and make a snow man in my freezer. In fact I think I'll even make a whole snow scape Christmas scene out and I'll even take a picture and post it here when I've done it ... hehehe ... since I can't have the real snow thingy and all, that will just have to do.

Oh gee, look at the time, I still have loads of work to do and here I am blabbering away nonsensically. Time to get back to that research I was supposed to do. Damn, this blogging thingy sure is addictive la ... Pleasant rest of the day folks. Hope Wednesday's been as good a day for you as it has for me :)
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I Need A Vacation!

It's been a rather drab day at work today, not because there is no work. I do have some work that needs to be done but I can't seem to figure out how to get it done! The day started out okay. It was a nice rainy morning, well, would have been nicer if I was at home sleeping instead of working.

I had an early morning appointment today so didn't have much time to mess with my blog and do any blog hopping for today. Surprisingly the roads were pretty clear for a rainy day. Normally when it rains here traffic start slowing down to a crawl, thankfully it didn't today. Finished my appointment pretty fast and headed back to the office.

Got down to getting some work completed but the ideas are just not flowing at all today. I sat there for about half an hour drumming my fingers on my table, staring at the screen and not being able to do anything about it. The work that I have to be completed isn't really something I haven't done before but today the mind refuses to cooperate. I sat there another 15 minutes before I decided to screw it and just check my blog. I'm sure the ideas will flow later.

I hate days when my mind doesn't work. Luckily the work I have isn't that urgent. Well it was urgent a little while ago but I found out just a while ago that the client has gone overseas so that's good news for me. Can procrastinate till next week :D Just imagine if it was urgent, I'd probably be knocking my head against the wall to get some ideas by now. I've had days when I was a total blank and things were needed urgently and I almost went crazy trying to get things done!

I think I need a vacation. I really cannot remember the last time I took a holiday. I've been working my butt off every single day and my office has been really short handed for a very long time now. I think I've been doing at least 3-4 peoples job at times! There are days when I've been a delivery boy, an admin clerk, and accounts clerk, a copywriter, a translator besides just being a plain old Account Manager. Sometimes I hate this job!

First chance I get, I'm going to apply for some much needed leave and go for a holiday with the family somewhere. Actually, wifey and me were planning to go for a holiday this Christmas, but my mom has so sportingly agreed to host the Christmas dinner at our place without even telling me about it before hand so wifey and me decided to scrap that holiday. I wouldn't feel good letting my mom do everything while I'm holidaying in some nice ski resort or something ... LOL!

Guess I'll have to plan that holiday some other time, but with the kids and school and all that, topped up with work, it's really going to be hard to find some down time for a holiday. Siggghhh .... well, at least there's about 2 hours to go before I head home, that's something isn't it? Sorry folks but I'm in a gloomy mood today so my post is also pretty gloomy ... LOL! Gee, I can laugh about it even! I think I'm going nuts. Ok, time to go blog hop for a bit. That should make the time move faster.

Oh, on a brighter note, my wife found those sliver cufflinks I lost a few weeks back :)

The Shy Boy!

A couple of days or was it weeks ago, Syura of Petty Ramblings of a Petty Queen wrote a posting called 'seriously, what do you want?' which was about stalkers. You know the kind, those that just visit your blog daily, you'd see their avatars on your sidebar widgets everyday but not a single peep from them in your comment box.

What she replied to my comments was what got me writing this post. In her reply to my comment there was this line which she wrote:

'Gosh, I'm asking you of all people. You memang tak pandai malu type, right? (Loosely translated means, you have no shame or you're not the shy type). LOL!! Okay, go stalk now...'

And I just had to laugh hysterically at the comment. I'm actually the exact opposite of that statement ... hehehe ... I wonder if that's the impression I give on my blog with the way I write, that I have no shame ... LOL! To be really honest, I'm seriously a very shy person in real life.

'Then what the hell are you doing working in the client servicing department if you're shy?'

That is a good question. I think I wrote a post on this some time back called 'A Thankless Industry' way back in September. I've always been a shy person by nature. Back when I was a kid, I'd hardly open my mouth and speak to anyone I didn't know. Not because I was intimidated or scared of them but because I was just plain shy and didn't know what to say to them.


I wasn't just that way with strangers. Even when my relatives came over to visit us on occasions, I'd always hide out behind the tables, showcases or whatever I could hide behind! Of course I don't do that now la, I just hideaway in my room ... LOL! I have to really be familiar with that person before I was comfortable enough to get out of my shell.

Even when it came to the girls, it was the same. I went to school with a school bus back in my younger days. And I was so shy that if I went up the bus and the only available seat left was with a girl, I'd rather stand than sit with her! I also couldn't maintain eye contact with people whenever I spoke with them. I'd stammer if I was forced to talk with anyone! And if I wasn't on the tanned side, you'd even see me turn beet red. I never mixed around much because of this. I was more of a loner, which contributed even more to my shy outlook.

And I know, judging by how crazy and insane I can be here on my blog, you guys would probably find it real hard to believe I am the shy sort of person but I still really am. It's just nowadays, I try my best to put that shyness behind and be a little bolder in my outlook in life. This blog gives me a chance to hide that shyness I have cos I'm not afraid to speak my mind here about anything at all. Besides when I'm blogging I don't have to look you guys in the eye (LOL).

Even right up to this very moment, whenever I go for any appointments, my heart would be beating to the tune of 300 to 400 beats a minute fearing the prospect of having to meet some unknown stranger for a presentation or a meeting and having to express myself and to sell some idea or concept to them. But I steel myself up and just get on with it. It's my job and it's what pays the bills. But if you could see inside me at times like these, you'd probably see me trembling in shyness, not to mention fear ... LOL! I'd be so glad when it was all over that I could just faint from relief!

That's why I found Syura's comments about me not being the shy type pretty hilarious. Is that the impression I give you guys about my character in real life? Gosh, if you guys only knew me in person, you'd really know how shy I can be. But once you really get to know me and I get familiar with you, you'd probably wish I'd revert back to being the shy guy I claim I am and would just shut the hell up ... LOL! Trust me, my two good buddies have been wishing for that ever since they got to know me a lot better ... LOL!

Christmas Wish List ...

This Christmas wifey and me made a deal to give each other a wish list for Christmas. We've always had problems buying stuff for each other. So this year wifey came up with the wish list idea to help prompt us in the right direction on the gift buying so we wouldn't have to crack our brains trying to find something for each other.

She's already made her wish list and given it to me and I held my breath before opening it to read and phew ... it's all stuff I can afford ... LOL! I was afraid she was going to ask for a mansion, maybe even a Lamborghini Diablo or something but that sweet girl gave me a wish list that was so doable that I now am back to square one cos I don't know which item on her wish list to get her ... LOL! Everything on that list I want to get for her (and don't ask me to get all of it cos it's a long list ... hehehe). But I've isolated and narrowed down 3 items already. And hopefully I can make up my mind before christmas :D

As for my wish list, I haven't made it up yet. I seriously don't know what I would like for Christmas! Well, I'd love getting a DSLR camera or even an ibook, but she'd probably smack me on the head for wishing for something sooooo expensive ... hehehe ... Right now there is one thing I could do with for a gift for Christmas. I really need a new tool box. The one I currently have cannot sustain the amount of tools I have and it's already beginning to burst at the seams. In fact, I think it's going to crumble into dust pretty soon ... hehehe ...

But honey, if you're reading this, I'm not just looking for any old toolbox that you can find in our friendly neighborhood hypermart, k? I'm looking for a fancy schmancy one. Sometime like what you would see at CarGuyGarage.com, those are the ones that I'm looking for. They've got a pretty good selection of tool boxes over there right up from tool boxes on wheels to tool cabinets that you can build right into your garage even!


But you're lucky honey, since we don't have a garage over here, I'll just settle for the tool box on wheels and if you order it now, it just might make it here in time for Christmas ... LOL! But to be honest even if I had a garage, I'd still chose the ones on wheels cos I like the mobility it offers. Imagine if it was a tool cabinet and I had to work outside the house, then I'd still need another tool box to carry all those tools outdoor.

So, do I still need to make a Christmas wish list ah, honey?

Oh, The Pain!

The waterpark outing this morning was fun, but right now I'm aching like crazy all over! Ok, you don't have to remind me that I'm old already :D I'm actually totally drained out from it but I couldn't resist the pull of checking my blog before I call it a night later.

I woke up insanely early for a Saturday cos we wanted to get to the waterpark early and get some decent parking. It's the school holidays and all and parking would have been a killer if we went late. I got up around 7.00am (which for a Sarturday is insanely early for me), if I'm not mistaken. Woke up wifey, who decided to check her blog before leaving ... LOL! She's as addicted as I am to blogging.

We had breakfast at our usual Chinese restaurant across the road, though the kids just couldn't wait to get breakfast over and done with so we could head to the waterpark. Once we got there and paid the entrance fee, the kids instantly abandoned us and jumped right in. Wifey and me don't trust the two brats in the water by themselves, so we quickly got our bags stuffed in the lockers and chased after them. And the water at 9.00am in the blooming morning was absolutely freezing! It got better once we dipped ourselves in and didn't come out.

Okay, let me give all you old fogeys like me out there a little tip. Never, under any circumstances stand under tons of jetting water from above if you're not fit! This park has this water ride called the monsoon blaster and it snakes around the park overhead and jets of water cascades down from above at high speeds and it looks like fun to go stand under it and let the falling water massage (well, pound is more like it) your body.

Now, I spent quite a bit of time standing under it and letting it pulverize my body and it was fun (well, it seemed like fun at that time anyway) and I think I spent nearly an hour under the jets of water. Everything was fine until I came home later, took a bath and headed for a nap. When I woke up from my nap, I felt as if a herd of stampeding dinosaurs had run over every inch of my body! Every part of me (and some that I didn't even know existed) that could possibly ache, ached!

And sitting here blogging about it is not helping ease the aches one bit but for the sake of blogging, I'll suffer through the pain ... LOL! Every move I make hurts like hell! Overall, it was a fun outing though. The kids really had blast (well, so did wifey and me). The place was a little too crowded but that was expected cos of the holidays. I think we spent about 4 hours or so there. It was getting a tad too hot to stay out there any longer and we finally left around 2 pm or so.

But we had so much fun that we're deciding to go again before the school starts next year but maybe we'll try a different waterpark this time, something where they don't have cascading jets of water that will tempt me to go and stupidly stand under it and then suffer later ... LOL! Can't help it though, once you hit the water you'll instantly feel like a little kid :D

Ok people, I think I'm going to have to end here, do a quick blog hop and then really call it a night or wifey is probably going to have to call an ambulance to come get me! She and the boys seem fine though. Oh, how I envy youth ... LOL!

ps. sorry no pictures though. I wasn't about to get my cheapo camera phone all wet, k .. LOL!

A Weighty Issue ...

I'm really going to have to do something about my weight! I'm not fat or anything mind you but my tummy has recently been getting a tad bit too big for my liking. Since I started by running program again all those months ago I actually managed to successfully reduce the size of my tummy by quite a lot with a strict control of my eating habits. Even wifey was pretty pleased with my achievements and she showed me how pleased she was ... LOL!

But ever since my good buddy's wedding, I've been been skipping my running sessions and eating like crazy. I ate all kinds of junk food, snacked in between meals, snacked before bedtime, ate banana leaf rice almost everyday for a week (and you know how much of rice they give you in those meals, right?) and before I knew it, I gained back what I lost! And now wifey has started calling me bulat again!

That did the trick. I immediately went out and started my running again and boy, just cos I skipped running for almost 2 weeks or so, it felt like years. I had to get my body and legs accustomed to running all over again. I am getting back into the groove though and have started to reduce that tummy again to a more presentable level, cut down on my food bingeing and this time I'm going to seriously stick with it and not get tempted by anything!

Sometimes I wish there was some kind of Miracle burn pills or something that would produce instant results but then I'm against taking any kind of pills to reduce weight. My policy is, you've got to work for it. Besides it's so much healthier that way. I know there are a lot of slimming pills out there in the market but I've read so many horror stories about it and the side effects it can cause. I guess nothing beats a good healthy diet and plain hard work, ya?

Gee, I think I must be the only guy obsessed with losing weight ... LOL! Oh how I miss those long gone days when I could eat non-stop and not gain a single ounce of weight. My friends and family used to be amazed at that ability ... LOL! I never gained weight no matter how much and how often I ate. My waist was a cool 29" and don't ask me what my waist size is like now, ok? LOL!

Well, at least tomorrow I'm going to be doing some fun stuff (no, no, not blogging ... LOL!) which will in away help me lose some calories in the process. I"m taking the boys to the water park and I know for a fact I'll be having a splashing time with them and the wife. We all love the water ... hehehe ... And knowing us, we'll probably spend the entire day there :D At least my waist is back to a respectable level so I won't be looking like a baby hippo in the water tomorrow ... LOL! Have a great weekend folks :)

Speechless, Overjoyed & Down Right Happy!

This morning when I was checking my mail and saw that I received a message on My Blog Log from Marzie asking me to head over to her blog asap, the first thoughts that ran through my mind was ...

'Oh no, she tagged me again!'

She just loves tagging me with all those super easy memes (and you'd better keep them super easy, k ... LOL!) cos she knows that if she tags me with those that require brain power I'm going to take ages to do them ... hehehe ...

So there I went and checked out her blog to see just what kind of meme she cooked up for me this time and I was shocked beyond disbelieve! There was a post from her saying that I had won (yes, I actually won something!) the Mariuca Halloween Mug contest that coincided with her 100th post.


I seriously couldn't believe what I was reading. I sat there for a whole minute, re-read her post at least three times just to be sure that it was my name she mentioned as a winner (didn't want to look like a fool if it wasn't). So after checking my identification card to make sure Nick Phillips was really my name, I was finally able to shout for joy ... woohoo!

Marzie, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for selecting me from all those other many excellent entries you received for your Halloween contest and I'm truly honoured to win. I never expected to win with that half-baked exorcism entry I submitted but I'm glad I won anyway :) I'd like to share this mug with all of you as well. I'll remember you guys everytime I take a sip from this mug ... LOL!

Blogging does have its rewards after all :D

The Chicken Pie & Grandpa ...

I've posted something quite sometime back about me being a spoiled brat and how I was grandma's pet grandson and all that. But you know what, when it came to my grandfather, it was the exact opposite. I was never on grandpa's good books. In fact I'm pretty sure he didn't really like me all that much!

I'm broaching on this subject of my grandfather because, a few days back my mom came back from my aunt's place and she brought along this home made chicken pie made by my cousin. Before I go any further, let me tell you I used to just love these home made chicken pies.

When I say I used to enjoy these pies was because grandpa made the best chicken pies in the whole entire wide universe and none of those in my family could ever make them as tasty as he did, my mom included. Somehow all their attempts at it alway fell way too short.

These pies made by grandpa was special back when I was a young boy. Special because we only got to eat them on special occasions like the Christmas supper right after the midnight mass and the Easter dinner only, no other times. It was the rule back then. That made made the longing for the pie all that much greater. And grandpa was the one who would make the pie, doing everything from start to the end.

I'll always remember the atmosphere in the house during the times when he would start his pie making process. It would be on Christmas eve morning where he'd normally walk to the market which was about 15 minutes away from our house and buy every single ingredient he needed and it would there would be lots of stuff cos we'd have the whole gang over for Christmas supper.

Then he'd get home, start cutting all the chicken, potatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, broccoli's and a lot more things that I can't really remember anymore and start cooking them while at the same time he'd be making the dough for the pie. All us kids would be milling around the table getting in his way and he'd be grumbling at us to not touch this, don't play with that, put that down , etc, etc but we'd all not listen to him ... hehehe ...

Grandpa was a nice patient man who could take a lot without ever blowing his top. Even though he'd be grumbling the whole time he was making the pie, he'd never really ask us to leave (not that we'd listen, mind you ... LOL). And by this time you could already smell the fillings for the chicken pie wafting throughout the house. I don't know about my other cousins but I'd be drooling by this time ... LOL! The pies would actually be ready late in the evening but he'd forbid any of us from even tasting a tiny bit. He'd always say ...

'the pie is only for those who attend the midnight Mass tonight'

Of course we knew he didn't really mean it. We were kids so we didn't really attend the Christmas eve midnight mass. We'd wait sleepily for the adults to get back from church. Some of us, especially the younger ones would even fall asleep but not before asking those of us who manged to stay awake to wake them up for Christmas supper later :)

And when the adults finally came home, we'd wake up our sleeping cousins, and we'd all eagerly head to the table to get our grubby paws on that sumptuous chicken pie! And only then would we all be totally satisfied. We even ignored opening our presents until we finished eating the pie and there normally is never any leftovers. No matter how many of these pies he would bake, none would remain, not one tiny crumb.

After his death, my mom, my aunt, even my cousins tried to replicate that chicken pie recipe to keep our Christmas supper tradition going and though they tried their best, none of them could even come close to his excellent pies. Eventually everyone started their own families and the tradition sort of got lost in time.

Grandpa passed away about 5 or so years after grandma. He was never the same man that he was after grandma passed away. He went into this state of depression though he didn't admit it to us. He was more withdrawn, kept to himself a lot more. Grandpa was a very active man when he was around. He'd always be doing something, be it cleaning the yard, fixing something that was loose or doing anything that he could get his hands on. After grandma's demise, all that stopped.

Eventually he became senile from inactivity. He started doing all kinds of weird things, like hiding food in the clothes cabinet, started accusing everyone of stealing all his food. He even started asking my mom who I was. He kept telling her there's this boy who keeps coming to the house (which was me) and would steal all his food! That was really sad. To see such an active man lose it all was really sad. I was around 16 or 17 years old at the time. I guessed he missed grandma to a point where life was meaningless without her.

The thing is grandma and grandpa used to always argue. The two of them were like that cartoon strip 'Pickles'. Grandpa used to get scolding from grandma if he ever did scold me, hence the part where I said I'm pretty sure I wasn't one of his pet grandsons ... LOL! But I guess, even though they argued a lot, he must have still loved her considerably to be so affected by her death that he couldn't recover from it. He eventually passed on without ever recovering from that depressive state he was in. In away, to me, I felt it was the best thing for him. At least he would get to be with her again.

You know, I never realised I could get so sentimental about my grandpa because of a chicken pie my mom brought home but I have this to say, I do miss having him around at times, especially during Christmas. Grandpa and me may not have got along too well, but he was one great grandfather and I hope someday I could be as great a grandfather to my grandchildren as he was ...

A Silver Lining To Monday ...

Here's a follow up to my 'Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays ...' posting I did yesterday. Sometimes Monday's can turn out to be alright after all ...

Immediately after work, in fact I left work early yesterday and headed right home. Wifey didn't cook last night, she just cooked for the two boys only, so we decided to go out and have dinner at the Chinese restaurant across our house. We left the boys at home cos my mom was in to keep an eye on them.

We ordered our usual favourite dishes, waited to be served and the food came pretty quick and was tasty even. We were quite stuffed by the time we finished cos they served generous portions. Though the food was a little bit over priced I didn't complain cos it was tasty.

After dinner we decided to head to the mini market a couple of doors away and as we were walking towards it, this man stops us and says ...

'Sir, madam, come in, come in, everything going for 50% off, hurry, hurry'

I was slightly startled by him. So wifey and me stop to see just what he was blabbering about and besides he was like standing right in front of me and blocking me from proceeding any further.

'Oh no, Monday is still not done with me yet' I think.

But it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. This guy was actually the owner (I think) of this pharmacy that was having a closing down sale and he was just trying to inform us that everything in the pharmacy was going for 50% off. So, we went in and true to his word, every single item was half priced.

Unfortunately though, the pharmacy was almost empty of its products so wifey and me grabbed whatever we could find that was worth buying, well, everything was worth buying at 50% off ... LOL! We did manage to buy quite a a bit of stuff like Hazeline facial wash (ok, ok, I'll admit, it was for me ... LOL!), Dove Shower creams, plasters, loads of chewing gum (yes, yes, chewing gum), some stuff that wife said was good for constipation, etc, etc.

The best part was when it came to paying cos everything was half priced and I think it was a great deal. Wished we could have got more things though, but all the good stuff was already sold off. There were still loads of baby food and milk powders and stuff but we didn't have a need for them unless of course honey you wanna go make a new baby ... LOL! But it would have been a steal for those with babies. Those milk powders were real cheap. Oh and none of the products were expired goods. I checked :)

I came out of there feeling pretty happy with myself. I guess Monday decided to give me a break from the hell it put me through earlier in the day after all ... LOL! And to top it off, I came back and read that Shemah's little girl had an incident with gripe water and the poor girl was rushed to the hospital a little earlier today but things turned out fine for her little girl though. She's okay now. Phew, Monday sure isn't a great day for many of us. Glad it's over!

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays ...

I hate Mondays! I know I've been saying this every Monday and I think Monday hates me too. In fact I think there's this secret organization out that the bestows ill tidings on me, especially on Mondays. I've never had a Monday that has been good the whole day for me.

It started with me rushing some presentation materials out for a client (no, not that stupid client from last week). Actually I can't blame Monday for this, it was my own fault for procrastinating. Managed to get it completed though, then rushed to the heart of the city to get there on time to present it, and guess what, the client happens to be on leave. My wife is probably going to say ...

'I always remind you to call your clients first before going over, hon.'

She's been telling me that everytime I complain to her about my clients taking leave and not informing me about cancellations in appointments. Serves me right for not listening to her. Never mind, gritting my teeth, I tell my clients assistant to call me when she gets back from her leave so I can fix a new presentation time.

Then I head out for the next appointment. For a while things seemed to be going fine, the traffics all clear cos of the school holidays and I'm enjoying the drive with the music on. About a kilometre away from my next appointment, I hit this HUGE pothole. When I say huge, I really mean huge. Everything that wasn't attached or bolted down in my car flew every which way, my teeth almost severed my tongue, my brains felt like it smashed right up to the top of my skull and I almost crashed into the rear of this other 2 or 3 cars that went into the pothole before me ...

So we all stop by the side of the road to examine our cars and thankfully there was no damage. None that was visible to the naked eye though. Who knows, tomorrow the doors might fall off or something. Ok, by this time I'm cursing the president of the local City hall with every profanity I could think of and in every language I knew! Petaling Jaya, the area I was in, had just a few months (I think) ago been awarded City status and instead of things getting better, it's getting worse. So for the life of me I cannot see the justification of them being awarded City status!

Never mind, after putting this incident behind me, I continue for my appointment and by some miracle when I arrive there I actually find parking right in front of the place I have the appointment in. This place is always crowded and those of you who know Section 14 in PJ would know how impossible it is to find parking here during working hours.

'There is a god after all'

So, I park my and smugly walk out and smile at everyone else still looking for parking space and go for my appointment which went just fine. After the meeting, I head to my car and see this other car parked right behind my car. No issues I say cos the driver is in the car. I walk over and with a smile on my face, I wave at him and indicate that I need to reverse out of the parking space thinking he would move his car forward a little so I can reverse out. There is a lot of space in front of him to move his car.

I was surprised when he wound his passenger window down and said to me in this slightly irritated voice that he was waiting for his wife to come out from the bank! I stare at him in disbelieve. So I say to him (still with a smile on my face) ...

'I would appreciate it if you could move a little so I can reverse and be on my way' (seeing as how he's got tons of space in front of him)

Again he replies that he's waiting for his wife to come out of the bank and looks at me like as if I'm irritating him! And he just sits there and doesn't move an inch. so I say to him in a slightly louder tone (the smile no longer on my face) ...

'Urmmm, buddy, I need to reverse, you're parked behind me in a no waiting zone and you could move forward about 5 feet so I can reverse and be on my way cos if you don't I'm just going to reverse my car anyway and smash into you.'

And without waiting for any response from him, I get into my car and start reversing out. I seriously was going to reverse into his blooming car if he didn't move. I think he knew I was serious about it and also slightly insane by now, that he immediately moved forward.

'There, that wasn't so difficult now was it?'

I finally drive off and head back to the office all the while hoping and praying that Monday doesn't decide to drop an airplane or something on top of me. I seriously think Monday hates me. I'm just glad to be back in the safety of my office and I'm going to keep a real low profile until Tuesday. Now, Tuesday is a much nicer fellow, not as good as that Friday chap but much better than Monday :D

Just A Tag Or Two ...

I have some tags and awards that were given to me by some very nice (nice indeed - wait till I get my hands on them ... LOL!) bloggers. As per my usual style, I've been sitting on them for ages. This time I offer no excuses for not doing them even though I was busy saving the world from being conquered by the evil slug beasts (what? you didn't know we were being invaded?) Well, that's cause I was busy fending them off ... LOL!

Ok, ok, I was just plain lazy to do the tags. No other excuse. Not easy okay, requires a lot of brain power to do them and you guys all know how much brains I really do have :P (and Adrian, I don't wanna hear any lip from you about my lack of brains, buddy ... LOL!). So as not to waste any more time, I'll get to the first tag for today (I'm going to do two of them for now).

The first one is from Nessa. I know she tags me as revenge for all the tags I give her and I've given her a lot ... LOL! But secretly I know she just loves doing all those tags ... LOL! Just kidding ok, Nessa. You know you're one of my favourite bloggers. She tagged me to reveal my 5 dreams. Just like her, I initially thought this was about dreams, the sleeping kind but upon closer inspection it's about stating 5 things I wanna be when I grow up. I've had a lot of things I wanted to be when I grow up but these 5 are what I can remember.

• When I was about 5-6 years old, I wanted to be what every kid at that age wanted to be, well the boys anyway. I wanted to be a Policeman or a Soldier. How typical right? I guess it was all those guns and all those late night police series on TV that influenced that dream.

• When I was about 12 years old I had this fantasy to be a footballer, like my idol, Mokhtar Dahari (a local football legend), represent Malaysia and score the decisive goal that would take us in the World Cup finals. I'd play the scenario over and over in my head with me kicking the ball into the net at the last minute and everyone rushing to congratulate me ... LOL! With the current state of local football, thank god I got over that fantasy fast!

• Around the age of 14, I actually wanted to be a priest. Yes, A priest, can you imagine me being a priest. I cannot recall the actual reason why I wanted to take the holy path but I seriously did have ambitions to be a priest. I went and got myself registered in the church as an alter boy for Sunday masses but ended up not going for it in the end. Phew, I seriously can't picture myself as a priest :D
  

• Somewhere when I was about 16 or 17 years old I wanted to be a break dancer. It was the breakdance craze and I'd watch every breakdance video around and try to learn the moves. I'd flaunt what I learned at parties and even outside supermarkets! Yes, I really did and I was so bloody proud of it ... LOL! I look back on it now and shudder at the absurdity of it.

• Also around this age was when I first started having dreams of being in the advertising industry (man, how I've come to regret that dream ... LOL!) My uncle who was a draughtsman in the architectural industry whom I used to stay with used to bring home his work to do. I'd always sit and watch him drawing architectural plans and he'd have all these cool technical pens, set squares and markers that I'd mess around with while he was working. I guess that was what got me interested in the industry but I found architecture too 'straight' and decided to take up graphic design instead. I've actually managed to realize this dream though so I guess you can't consider this a dream anymore, ya.

And there you have it folks, a glimpse of my dreams and fantasies as I was growing up. The good thing is I did achieve my dream of working in the advertising industry but on hindsight, judging by the stress and long arduous hours involved, just maybe it was the wrong decision ... hehehe ...

I'm not going to tag anyone for this but if you have this deep burning desire to reveal your childhood dreams then feel free to do so cos I'd love to read them :)

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And now for the second tag of the day. Marzie of Wishing On A Falling Star tagged me with what she claims is a fairly simple meme (LOL). I'm supposed to use the first letter of my name to answer each question below. The answers must be of real places, names, etc ... (there goes my chance to cheat ... hehehe). And as if that's not difficult enough, you're not allowed to use your own name for the boy/girls name question! You're allowed to skip to the next one if you do get stuck but that would make you look like a wimp! :D

After actually looking at the questions, what was claimed to be an easy meme turned out to be one that I had to use whatever little brain power I had! Thanks once again Marzie for the fairly simple meme ... LOL! Anyway, it's rather interesting to actually do so here goes. And bear in mind it took me a looooonnngggg time to think of answers using the first alphabet of my name!

1. Famous Singer: Nick Kershaw (what to do, I'm a child of the 80's)
2. Four letter word: Nerd!
3. Street: Nicholas Road (Jalan Nicholas) There really is such a road in KL!
4. Colour: I seriously don't think there are any colours starting with the letter N.
5. Gifts/Presents: Nintendo
6. Vehicle: Nissan
7. Things in Souvenir Shop: Necktie
8. Boy Name: Nixon
9. Girl Name: Nicole
10. Movie Title: Nightmare on Elm street
11. Drink: Nescafe
12. Occupation: Newspaper vendor
13. Celebrity: Nicholas Cage
14. Magazine: National Beauty and Health
15. U.S. City: Nashville
16. Pro Sports: Nascar Series
17. Fruit: Nenas (malay for pineapple)
18. Reason For Being Late to Work: Nasty headache
19. Something you throw away: Napkins
20. Something you shout: No, No, No!

Trust me, it really isn't as easy as it looks ... and if you find yourself being tagged, don't blame me, blame Marzie ... LOL! So on to Nessa (and don't you copy my answers seeing as how we have the same initials ... LOL) and Diamonds Sapphire. I'll let the rest of you off for now :D
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Blabbering Away ...

I just realised something about my blogging trend for the past one month or so. When I first started blogging, I used to only post once in maybe 5 days. I was still kinda skeptical back then about blogging. I wasn't an immediate fan of blogging. I seriously couldn't think or find anything worth posting back then.

But then I slowly started to get hooked and my posting frequency went up from one or two post a week to about a post every two days. And now I've actually started to post on frequency of a minimum of one post a day! Man, I never knew I had so much of rubbish that I could post in my blog ... LOL! The number of postings I've done this month alone has surpassed any that I've done in the 7 months or so since I've started blogging. And the month isn't over yet ... LOL!

I know this is also in part to me selling out Anything Goes as an Ad Free site and jumping on the paid posting bandwagon. I just couldn't help it, I can't sit back and let all you other guys become millionaires now could I? LOL! What really strikes me as amazing is that I can still find things to write about, be it paid or personal postings. I was never very good at this writing stuff (not that I am now, mind you) but somehow whenever I switch on my PC, it's like there's this aura of magic that overcomes me and somehow I'll have loads of rubbish to write ... LOL! In other words people, I'm a blabber mouth or in this case, blabber fingers :D

In real life, I'm exactly the way I am in my blog. My friends who know me knows what a blabber mouth I can be. I'm always talking and sometimes I think they just let what I say go in one ear and out the other (admit it already buddy ... LOL). And ever since I discovered blogging I've found that I have another outlet to rant and rave out loud ... hehehe ...

I actually wanted to post something today about food here with some pictures cos normally on Sundays I'll experiment with some recipes for the kids but this Sunday I was just too lazy to do anything. Besides I know a few of you out there are trying to lose weight and don't really want to see more pictures of food, ya? LOL! But I will definitely post some pictures of me doing some recipe experiment next week.

I was watching the AFC channel last night on Astro and they were showing some pretty cool food recipes that I want to try but with my own twist to it. I didn't have some of the ingredients for it and I was too lazy to go to my favourite hypermarket to get it today, so no new food pictures today. I've seriously grown fond of this cooking bit nowadays and it's all thanks to my beloved wife for her support in letting me experiment in her precious kitchen and my two boys who are my loyal food tasters for every dish I cook up and so far no one has been hospitalized yet by my cooking ... hehehe ... Trust me when I say this but there was a time when I couldn't even boil water :D

I've also got to plan some activities for the 2 boys at home and figure out some places to take them for the school holidays. They're getting pretty restless staying home. But before I can even begin to take anyone anywhere, I'm going to need to get some new traveling bags, the ones we have are pretty battered already. I'll check some sites out later and find some nice and reasonable luggage sets that I can buy, if not we're all going to be traveling with plastic bags ... LOL!

Midnight Snacking. Not!

It's about 1.00am and I'm hungry! And don't anyone remind me about the diet that I'm supposed to be on. LOL! Actually on any other weekend night I would be in deep sleep by now, but today I feel so full of energy and I'm not one bit sleepy. I'm just hungry!

'Honey, after I post this, we're gonna hit the roads and find some supper!'

The strange thing is I had quite a hearty meal for dinner today ... urrmm ... I mean yesterday. After my run this evening, I went with wifey to pack some dinner and I got myself a huge helping of rice and chicken curry at my favourite Indian restaurant near my house. This shop serve generous portions with their meals and I was kinda stuffed after my dinner. Which makes it real hard to explain this hunger pangs that I have.

And I'm really hungry, I can even hear my stomach growling. Man, I'm never ever gonna lose any weight at this rate and soon I'm going to be looking a lot like Jabba The Hut!

'Honey, will you still love me if I look a little like Jabba?'

I'm definitely going to go for supper right after this. If I can convince wifey to follow me I'm sure she's gonna want to go to A&W's cos she just loves the root beer there and the last time we went they were closed for renovations. I'm sure they're done with their stupid renovations by now (well, they'd better be or there will be hell to pay ... LOL).

Actually I love going out for these late night suppers, I mean, early morning supper thingy's on weekends. We don't have to bring the two boys cos they're fast asleep and both the wife and me can spend some nice quiet quality time together, like a date of sorts ... hehehe ... shows you how much of dates we actually go on, practically nil!

'What's that honey, you're going to bed already? What about my hunger pangs?'

Ok, looks like I'm not going to get supper after all, wife's too tired from working on all those paid posting assignments that she has and I have to go to be bed hungry! Hrrruummpppp!!! I'm think I'm going to sulk ... LOL! She's gonna be richer than me soon with the amount of paid stuff that she's been doing.

I think I'm going to be needing to look into some stuff about checking accounts for her. She's been transferring all her pay pal earnings into her debit card and I don't find that to be very safe at all. But that's a job for another day. Right now I think I'll just have to settle for a peanut butter sandwich.

The Sabbatical That Never Happened!

Ok, I know I said I'd be taking a sabbatical form blogging this weekend but then I'm just too addicted to stay away for too long ... LOL! Besides I've decided that the whole PR thingy was a big joke. I was just pissed at the principle of the whole matter and I just needed a place to rant about it and what better place than at my own blog :D

So, now that I'm back to my old crazy insane self, the weekend seems to be so much nicer. I actually wanted to try to stay away from my blog for the weekend but the pull was just too strong to ignore and besides I did have a whole load of comments to answer and I just don't like leaving comments unanswered for too long. Not my style.

That PR thing got me down so much yesterday that it affected my mood the whole day until my lovely wife came up to me and said ...

'when have you ever let anything bug you for so long hon?'

That woke me up. She does have a point. I'm not the kind who gets too troubled by anything. If something goes wrong or bugs me, I'll get over it fast. So, here I am today back at doing what I enjoy (well besides sleeping that is ... LOL).

The house is kinda peaceful at the moment. The kids are out at the nearby park. Wifey is downstairs cooking their dinner. Normally on weekends I cook for the boys but today, she beat me to it. I think she needs a break form blogging cos she been at it almost all day ... LOL!

'Admit it already honey, you're an addict too' (LOL)

The kids are on their school break for the next 7 weeks or so and I'm really going to have to think of places to take them or they're gonna bug their mother all day. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a drive to Ikea cos I saw this nice looking set of bar stools in a catalogue that they sent to my house today and it looked pretty cool. I've always wanted to have a small little bar section in my house (not that I drink, mind you) just for the heck of it.


The only thing about going to Ikea is that it's going to be packed, especially tomorrow seeing as how it's a Sunday and all. Maybe I'll just go after work or something next week. I haven't been there in a while and wifey is also keen to go, seeing as how she made quite bit of moolah with her paid postings and is just itching to buy something ... hehehe ...

Oh, will you look at the time, it's almost time for me to go for my run. Catch you all later folks. I'm sure I'm going to be online again later tonight :D

I'm A Big Fat Zero!

I'm a little depressed, maybe depressed is too strong a word to use, disappointed is more like it. This morning I checked my page rank and found out that I am now officially a big fat Zero! And that's a huge difference from the PR4 that I had only 2 days ago.


Ordinarily this PR thing wouldn't bother me but ever since I started doing paid postings, it does in a huge way affect the kind of assignments I get. Currently I'm down to not getting any assignment because of this. Sigghhh ... it's a good thing I don't depend on paid postings for a living.

But that's not really what bugs me. What bugs me is the principle of the matter and what I read on Diamonds Sapphires blog about probable reasons why my PR was docked to Zero. In fact I'm not the only one. Anyway, I'm feeling too moody to explain why, but you guys can read it at the PPP/IZEA blog and find out for yourself.

Those of you who are doing loads of paid postings should at least take a look at this article and then maybe just check your Page Rank status and you just might be a little surprised. I'm going to take a sabbatical from blogging until next week cos I'm just so not in the mood. Happy weekend folks.

Dieting Predicament!

Yesterday I posted something about not running for quite a while and that I'm going on a diet cos I'm beginning to put on some weight again and that wife was already starting to call me by my old pet name Bulat again. Remember that post? I'm sure you do, it was only yesterday that I posted it.

And you know what? The moment I reached home yesterday, I find out that my darling of a wife decided to cook up an incredible dinner (to me any dinner she makes is incredible). I change into my running gear, walk into the kitchen to get a drink of water before my run like I always do and what do I see on the dining table? I see 5 dishes of mouth watering food! Yes, 5 dishes!

'How in heaven's name am I going to start my diet with food like that, honey?'

The menu she had prepared consisted of Chicken Vindaloo, a dish she's never tried before but take my word for it, the smell alone was enough to die for, then there was my favourite Japanese tofu with mixed veggies, fried papadams with herbs & spices, pickled cucumbers with tomatoes and onions (another of my favourites) and also some chicken nuggets (they actually belonged to my kids ... LOL).


I stood there for a whole minute contemplating on how I am ever going to start my diet and say no to mouth watering food like that. Well, I guess the diet is only going to start tomorrow. It wasn't easy keeping my mind on running cos all through my run yesterday evening, I was salivating over the prospects of dinner ... LOL! And I had to put extra effort in my run to make sure I deserved to have that mouth watering meal later.

Good thing my younger boy decided that today was the day he wanted to start running with me and so after I got back from my usual running route, I took him along for a second session of running around the park near my house. And that little fellow has the makings of a regular runner :) He outran me completely ... hehehe ... Well, if he keeps that up , I'll at least be able to go on my runs with him in the future. Won't be so boring running alone ...

Suffice to say that after the run, I immediately took my bath, harassed my wife (who was busy doing her paid postings) to have an early dinner. And after a meal like that I'm definitely going to have to run all that much longer today just to burn it all off. But what can I say, I'm a sucker for my wife's cooking :)

The Impressions I Give People.

This morning a colleague of mine came up to me and asked me if I knew of any good online gambling sites. I look at him quizzically and replied ...

'Do I look like a person who gambles online?'

He then replies ...

'But you're always in front of the computer and you know all these online stuff, what'

Yeah, what he said was true though. Whenever I don't have any appointments outside, I'm practically glued to my PC, either doing contact report, briefs or just plain blogging (but of cos no one knows I blog in the office ... LOL). I do surf a lot for stuff online and when something happens to the systems here or the internet has problems, I'm the first everyone will consult. I'm no expert mind you, what I know about computers I learned through trial and error, just enough to bluff my way through ... LOL!

So, I'm still trying to figure out just what kind of impression I give people in my office by sitting at my PC all the time. Anyway, this guy was persistent and after finding out that he just got his broadband connection at home, he wants to know good sites to gamble online.

'Get a life buddy, start blogging' (LOL)

Anyway, I help the guy out. I gave him a site where he could find online casino reviews and he was kinda excited about. Said he couldn't wait to go home and check it out ... LOL! Funny guy, of all the things he wants to do with his new broadband is to gamble. Each to his own I suppose.

And judging by his enthusiasm, I'm sure he's going to enjoy checking out the site which has a whole list of online casino's he can choose from and he's definitely going to enjoy playing online video poker. It looks kinda interesting that I feel like trying it out ... LOL!

Busy As A Bee ...

Wow, it's been almost 3 days since I last posted anything. And that's a record of sorts for me ... LOL! And it's not by choice that I haven't been blogging. I've been so swamped with work that I didn't really have the time to sit and post anything at all. But I did manage to check and leave some comments on my blog buddies pages though. I don't think I could have stayed entirely away from blogging for so long ... LOL!

Now that I actually got some free time to blog, I don't have anything worthwhile to put down here. I was seething with rage from a work incident earlier but have calmed down already. I'm not going to repeat what happened here, you can always check it out at Spiff's blog cos I raved, fumed, ranted and screamed it out there ... hehehe ...

It rained cows and donkeys earlier today and the weather out there is just great for running. And speaking of running, I haven't been doing much of that lately. I feel real guilty about it. You guys who've been reading my blog for quite sometime now would know that I love running. Unfortunately, since way before my good buddy's wedding I've making all sorts of silly excuses to not run. I think I've been lacking motivation. It wasn't until a few days back, my wife went ...

'Bulat, when you going to start running again?'

Damn, when she starts calling me bulat (for those not from Malaysia, bulat literally means round and you can guess which part of my anatomy she was referring too ... LOL), that really means it's time to put on those dusty running shoes again. And if that's not motivation enough, I don't know what is. So, I'm gonna head home later and get out my running gear and start running again. I know I'm gonna ache tomorrow, thats for sure.


I've also got to start dieting again. Been eating a little way too much rice for my own good. Gotta start looking trim and proper for that Christmas dance now right? Can't have the wife looking all gorgeous and beautiful with me looking like a fat slob on the dance floor now right? LOL! And the weather's just too lovely not to be running. Well, after my run, I guess I could get down to finding out just what the heck a memory foam mattress is? I just got this new assignment to do about memory foam mattress and this is the first time I've heard of memory foam mattresses. Maybe it remembers your sleeping positions ... LOL! Catch you later folks.

The Unexpected Visitor ...

Last night wifey and me went out to get some stuff for the boys Sunday school party tomorrow. Only found out about it this evening when my mom called and told me about it. We didn't take the kids to Sunday school last week cos we were too whacked out from Seansy's wedding so we didn't know that the kids had to bring some food for the party. It's kinda like a pot luck thingy.

Well, after getting the food, we got home and as I came out of my car, I heard this meowing next to me. I looked around and there was this little cat looking at me. I'm not a fan of animals mind you (Adrian, you don't count ... LOL) but this little fellow was kinda cute. Actually I don't know if it was a fellow or a girly, didn't check ... hehehe ... My wife took a liking to him/her and went and played with the little kitty for a bit before we went in.


The kitty decided he wanted to follow us in, nothing doing. Like I said, I'm no fan of animals, so I closed the door thinking the little fellow would go away. I went and took my bath, came down to eat and I could hear some meowing outside the door. I opened the door and look and what do you know, the little fellow decided to camp right outside my front door on my welcome mat. He took a liking to my welcome mat and was rolling around playfully on it.


I was enthralled by it and sat there to observe the little fellow. When he saw me, he started to paw at me through the grill door. I sat there for about 45 minutes playing with the little fellow and trying to take some snaps of him. Not an easy task, especially with a cell phone camera and an extremely playful cat which didn't want to sit still. I did get a few usable shots but forgive the quality. Even after photoshoping it, this was the best I could get out of it.


Anyway, the little fellow got bored of playing with me and decided that it was time to sleep and just snoozed right there across my front door ignoring me altogether. I guess he's probably going to be there tomorrow morning when I wake up. I hope my mom doesn't step on him when she comes back later tonight. Well, when I woke up this morning, the little rugrat was still camping out on my front door welcome mat. I hope he wasn't expecting me to make him any breakfast or anything ... LOL!


He was so playful and when wifey went out to hang the laundry, he started rubbing himself on wifeys legs (now I'm convinced that it's a male ... LOL!) I think he just wanted attention but unfortunately we couldn't keep him, so wifey (the brave one in matters like this) grabbed him and we put him out at the back of our house where there is this whole community of stray cats for him to hang out with instead of making my door mat his home.

Oh my god, I just remembered something. I think I forgot to take off those silver silver cufflinks from my sleeves. Hope wifey hasn't started the washing machine yet .....

'Hoooonnnneeeeyyyyyyyy ........!'
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The Exorcism Of Emily Rose.

Ok, I'm going to embarrass myself and take part in Marzie's spooky tales contest simply because I'm desperate for the mug ... LOL! What I mean by embarrassing myself is I've read the other spooky postings of those other fellow desperado's ... urmmm ... I mean participants (LOL) and they're all so blooming good! How to win like this la ...

'Hey people, can't you give a desperate fellow a decent chance to win the mug, ah?'

So, I'm just gonna try and see if I stand any chance at all. All the others who took part in Marzie's contest have such chilling stories that mine pales in comparison. Why don't the rest of you guys just sent Marzie a comment and say you're all pulling out of this contest and then I can win the mug. Please, please pwetty please ... LOL!

This is not really a ghostly or spooky story, but more about exorcism. This is something that I witnessed with my own eyes all those years ago. I was about 6 or 7 years old back then living in my old neighbourhood. So, the details to this story might be a little sketchy.

There was this particular family living across the road from us, a typical Eurasian family. Father, Mother and 3 lovely little daughters. They were nice people and my family were friends with them. We attend the same church and stuff like that. Actually everyone in the neighbourhood were friends with each other, unlike these days where we hardly know our next door neighbours.

Anyway, back to the story. There was nothing particularly wrong with our neighbourhood though it was old but no weird happenings until one evening. Normally around 5pm, my cousins and me would go out in the yard (We had a huge front yard back then) and play a game of football or badminton and such. This particular evening, we heard screams coming from the house of that family. Naturally we stopped what we were doing and gazed in that direction though none of us made any effort to go see what was wrong.

My grandfather who normally sits in the porch during our games, walked up and went over to their house (the screams had stopped by then) to find out what was happening. We saw him go in, then come out a few minutes later. He had this look of shock on his face. When we asked him what was wrong. He just looked at us and said ...

'Nothing you kids should be concerned about ...'

So, kids being kids, we continued our game of football and totally forgot the incident until it happened again a few days later. This time we were intrigued and decided to find out more. So we went to Grandpa and forced out the truth from him. He relented and told us that one of the daughters of that family was possessed and it would take hold of her at certain times and she would start screaming. We got the chills when we heard this story but pushed it aside cos it didn't concern us and besides, what do 7 year olds know about possessions, right?

Wrong! The screamings started getting more frequent and a lot of the neighours were getting involved in it. Through whisperings between my grandfather, grandmother, my aunts and my mom, we kids (there were 6 of us) found out that the little girl was possessed by this snake thingy and that at certain times of the day she would actually turn into a snake (we didn't believe a single word of this) and that a priest had been found to perform an exorcism.

'Exorcism? what the heck was that?'

We couldn't even pronounce the word properly but that didn't stop us from finding out when it was going to be held. We were curious kids (what do you expect of bratty 7 year olds). The day of the exorcism came and we wanted to go but was told in very harsh terms by grandma not to even go anywhere near the house until it was over! Grandpa and the rest of the family went cos they were church members and the more people there to pray for the little girl during this exorcism the better.

So, the moment they went to the house, the 3 of us (the other 4 didn't dare disobey grandma) sneaked out, and went over to the house. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depends on how you look at it), there was a window slightly open and we got front row seats. We were ecstatic.

So, the priest started the exorcism. Nothing was happening at the moment, the little girl was normal, sitting on the couch, feeling a little perplexed by all that was happening. The priest was reciting prays, then he held the little girls head and dabbed some holy water on her forehead. Now, that's when the fireworks started!

The little girl suddenly gave the priest this really evil smile, pushed his hands away, started to scream and slither to the floor. Yes, SLITHER! I saw this with my own 7 year old eyes and yet I could hardly believe it. The rest of the people in attendance tried to hold her down but can you believe that grown men couldn't pin this (I think she was about 6 years old) girl down. She swatted them like flies! Everyone was trying their best to pin her down as the priest kept chanting something which I didn't pay attention to.


I was rooted to the ground in absolute fear. The colour had drained from the face of the 3 of us. I could feel the hairs on my back rise, My knees were shaking and I was sweating beads of cold sweat. I even think I wet my pants! What I was witnessing was not something a 7 year old should be seeing (serves us right for not listening to grandma!). That little girl was by this time slithering around like a snake on the floor, screaming, hissing, uttering some gibberish and trying to attack the priest. The whole congregation was doing their best to keep her still and let the priest work his miracle.

What really frightened me was, the little girls face had turned into this twisted unrecognizable thing. Her eyes were reddish and in every true fact she looked and acted like a snake even though her physical body still remained human. It was like something straight out of the Exorcist! The air around the place was cold (I was probably cold and numb in fear). You could literally feel the 'evil' in the air. I don't really remember what happened next but to cut a long story short, the priest did rid the child of whatever that had gotten hold of her.

I remember vaguely finally running the hell out of there, totally pale and almost crying from fear. We reached home, locked ourselves in our room under our blankets shivering from the experience we just witnessed. We didn't tell anyone we sneaked out and the other 4 who didn't join us were sworn to secrecy. I know I had nightmares for months on end. I refused to sleep with the lights off and I refused to sleep alone. I had this rosary tucked under my pillow which I clutched every night till I feel asleep. I think grandma and grandpa knew we disobeyed them by sneaking out but I guess they probably thought what we saw was punishment enough for us.

Even to this day I find it hard to believe what I saw that day. Somehow I don't even know if I what I saw that day was real or not. I know I saw this little 6 year old girl fight off much stronger men, slither like a snake, looked like a snake, behaved like a snake with a priest in attendance. It was like a scene out of the movies, that's for sure. All I'll know is what I saw was not something I would ever wish on for anyone to see. If you're wanna see people being possessed, go watch a movie. It's much safer :)

Well, that was my little spooky story. Not as frightening as the rest of you guys but I hope it's enough to win the mug. And if this story isn't good enough to win Marzie, maybe you'll have pity on that frightened 7 year child and the harrowing experience he went through to find it in your heart to let me win the mug to make up for the scarred childhood that he had (sob,sob) ... Shameless, that's what I am! LOL!

The Sentimental Fellow.

My wife was going through the wardrobe this morning, sort of spring cleaning all the junk I have in there. Trust me, I have loads of old clothes and stuff that I never use and it's been lying in there gathering dust and taking up space. We have this recycling thingy that is always on every fortnight across the road from my house where this group of people will set up a mobile store to collect old stuff that people don't want. Wifey thought of sending all my old stuff that I don't need anymore to them.

so, while she was clearing the wardrobe and I was in the midst of blogging and cursing my ISP cos the damn connection speeds are down to a miserable 56 kbps crawl (it's some stupid fault on their part according to them) I spotted this jacket that was on the list of giveaways. I immediately said ...

'uh-uh Honey, we're not giving that jacket away'

It's a nice red North Face jacket that holds special meaning to me. You see, Genie King, Seansy and myself bought that jacket when we went to Seansy's hometown in this little old historical city of Malacca for a vacation back in our college days. The three of us have the exact same jacket and colour and we bought it real cheap at only RM5.00 and for a world renowned brand like that, it was a steal.

We bought it at this unlikely place called Madam Kings Supermarket. On hindsight we're not really sure if they're original or not but the quality and workmanship were top notch and for RM5.00 who's complaining. There were even this nice set of Nike track tops that were going for the same price (can't really remember, it was that long ago) and me and Seansy were heavily into running those day so we also bought those. Man, what a steal they were. Imagine, branded stuff like Nike and North Face and we got them for practically nothing.

Seansy did mention that they do have a factory in Malacca producing those goods so we figured they were original stuff :) I don't think I could fit into that jacket now though cos I was way smaller back then ... LOL! I guess I'd better go through all the junk again and make sure wifey doesn't throw all my old stuff away. I'm a pretty sentimental fellow and I do keep loads of stuff even though I don't use them anymore. I even have this really old night dress of wifeys that still has her smell on it which I've kept all these years and she's been trying to get rid of it for ages with no success!

'I'm gonna keep that for the rest of my life, honey, so don't even think about it.' (LOL!)

Oh drats, look at the time, no wonder the kids are hungry. It's almost 2.oopm and I haven't made the lunch yet. I'd better log off and go make them something or there's gonna be hell to pay! :D Happy weekend people!

The Late Nighter ...

I'm really not as young as I used to be anymore (what? you already knew that?) I knew I was going to be needing to use the computer at home this weekend for some work ... urmmm, ok, ok for some paid postings (this isn't one of them by the way) and I knew wifey was also going to be needing it. I took home the office router so we both wouldn't bug each other for internet usage time. Yes, we're both internet junkies already ... LOL!

So after I came home from work yesterday, I cooked dinner for both wifey and me ... urrrmmm ... fried rice only but she said it tasted pretty good. Now you guys know why I love her :) Anyway, after dinner, we said we'd watch the finals of Project Runway Malaysia (which was won by that everyone loves to hate character, Felix) and after the show we wanted to blog till the cows came home. Wifey was a little skeptical about me being able to stay awake for so long though.

There I was so enthusiastic about blogging till early morning cos I don't normally get online on weekends. But somewhere halfway through blogging, I think it was only 12.20 am, I was beginning to feel the pull of sleep calling me! Damn, back up to a couple of years ago, I could stay up till the cows came home and have breakfast with those damn cows even. But not anymore. My old body just isn't up to keeping late hours.

I read somewhere that as you grow older, you require less and less sleep time. I wonder who the heck came up with that research cos it doesn't work for me. I get sleepy real fast and require more sleep as I get older. Oh, where has the time gone? Is there some time machine lying around that I could borrow to return to my youth of innocence? Ok, maybe not so innocent la :D

I did manage to stay on till around 2.00 am or so though cos I saw my buddy Adrian online and we chatted in his shoutbox a little. He was up doing his paid posting and was having problems with it. Don't you worry buddy, I had problems went I started too but I have wifey, the paid posting expert with me to help me out ... hehehe ... so, after my buddy called it a night (or was that morning), I turned in and slept immediately like a baby :) Guess wifey was right about my staying up power (and don't you guys get any filthy ideas about that staying up power bit. LOL!)

I think from now on I'm going to restrict my blogging sessions to daytime only when I'm wide awake and my mind actually works. I may have been up till 2.00am last night but my mind just wasn't working to get any postings out! How I envy all you young punks out there ... LOL! I wonder what time those cows really did come home.

That Darned Pesky Client ...

You know what I hate most about working? My clients calling me up and interrupting my blogging sessions ... LOL! I mean, there I was so intent on my blogging when my cell rings and my client goes ...

Nick, I need something done really urgent, can you please help me?'

Urrmm, isn't everything you guys want done are somehow always related to the word urgent? Don't you people know it's a Friday and it's almost 5.00pm and that I'm in the midst of blogging and would be packing my bags and getting ready to go home soon? Why don't you call me at 7.00pm when I'm already home and tell me that I'm needed back at work. That would suit your warped mentality just fine now wouldn't it ... LOL! Of course I didn't tell them any of that. See what happens when I'm interrupted from blogging ...

So, of course, me being me, I said no problems (my wife hates it when I say those words to my clients, she says I baby them too much ... hehehe). I've got no choice, they pay the bills honey. Besides, I don't want them having to depend on any other Agency now do I? They did say 'please' ... LOL!

Ok, so I stop my all important blogging session, get whatever it is they need done, then hit the print button on my printer and guess what. The stupid, ungrateful, pathetic, moronic printer refuses to print and makes this strange abnormal beeping sound and has this small tiny red light blinking continuously. I groan ...

'Aw, come on, give me a break, it's almost time to go home, what the heck is wrong now?'

So, I look at the status screen on the printer and lo and behold, the darn thing has run out of ink! For gods sake, what else could go wrong. Well, I've learned never to utter those words again cos whatever else that could go wrong went wrong. I open our supply cabinet to get a new print cartridge and what do I see? An empty cabinet staring back at me! Siggghhhhhh ...

I look at my watch, it's already 5.30pm so I call the store we normally order cartridges from and ask them to send me a new one and they ask me what's the model number? Huh? Model number? How the heck would I know? I don't do the ordering of supplies here. The person who normally does that had already gone home and does not answer her cell phone (smart woman). I'm going to kill her when she comes in tomorrow though.

The client is already harassing me to get the print outs to them ASAP! So, what do I do? Luckily, I remembered that during my rudely interrupted blogging session just now, I came across this site called Cartridge Finder that would be able to help me located the right kind of cartridge for my darn useless printer.

So, I logged on and browsed their site and with hardly any effort I was able to locate the name and model number of the cartridge that I would need to order. Cartridge Finder is just heaven sent. See, blogging does have its benefits after all ... hehehe ...

They don't just limit you to printer cartridges alone, you can also find the right cartridges for your copier and fax from over 10,000 different models available and it's so easy to do with their user-friendly menu. You can browse by major brands, which is always updated regularly for reliability. They're also linked to check PriceGrabber.com's merchant listings to find you the best price on the product you need.

And the moment I got the model number, I called the store again and within half an hour (they're pretty near my office) the cartridges arrived. To cut a long story short, I managed to get the print-outs for the client even though they ruined at least an hour or so of my precious blogging time. Thank god for technology. If this happened in the old days. I'd be here all night and through the weekend even! So, alls well that ends well. Happy weekend folks :)

The Open House.

Remember that open house I was mentioning about in my earlier post that my wife, the kids and myself wanted to attend? Well, we did go for it but ended up going for it a little late. And the crowd was just phenomenal …

What really happened was, last night wifey and me stayed up pretty late working on some paid postings and ended up sleeping somewhere close to 2 am or so. Earlier on we had planned to get up real early in the morning around 6.30am and get ready to go for the open house breakfast cos we knew it would be crowded. The boys were enthusiastic about it and kept reminding me to not forget to wake them up too.

But last night we got too caught up with our paid postings that we hardly noticed the time and by the time wifey came to bed it was close to 2 am (I think). Wifey was skeptical that I could get up at 6.30am on a holiday (she knows me sooooo well … LOL). Somewhere during the night it rained and made the place even cozier with the cool air and all and true to form, I woke up late … hehehe …

The sun was already seeping in through the curtains and the birds were already chirping merrily outside. I looked at the clock and it was 7.30 am already. Drats! I hurriedly woke wifey up and then kids and we all hurriedly dressed up and drove to the restaurant.

By the time we got there, the place was packed with people lining up for the food but luckily we managed to find some places for us to sit. Ok, a little history here about this restaurant. My buddy Adrian and me used to frequent this place very regularly (when I say regular, I mean everyday) and some of the waiters there knew me. They were pretty happy to see me and I wished each and every waiter I knew there a happy Deepavali personally. And buddy, they asked for you too.

So, seeing as how I knew them, I got a little preferential treatment. I didn’t have to wait in line for the food so long cos they came and served me, much to the displeasure of everyone … LOL! I wasn’t complaining. The queue for food was already spilling into the streets and if I could get my food faster, why say no, right? … hehehe … Being a regular customer those days sure does have some mighty good advantages :)

Well, we all had a great time eating all the food which consisted of typical Indian breakfast food such Putu Mayam (String hoppers), Roti Canai, Thosai, Idli (all flour based bread like products) together with mutton and chicken curry and potatoes. Everything tasted yummy to me, though wifey did mention the chicken curry was a little bland. I wasn’t complaining … hehehe … stuffed myself silly that I’m skipping lunch and dinner today.

After the breakfast I wished all of the waiters again and we headed to the nearby lake gardens (called Taman Jaya) cos the weather was just too nice to be stuck indoors. There were already quite a number of people enjoying the outdoors too when we got there and the boys immediately ran to the playground section.

Wifey and me just walked around the place enjoying the greenery and taking some pictures of things that intrigued us both (there’s even a picture of me here … LOL). I’ve been to this lake gardens park so many times before (I used to run here with Adrian a few years back) but the park has changed so much that it was a total new experience for me.

After about an hour or so at the park, we finally packed up and headed for home. Gonna get some rest and then have to send my younger boy for a birthday party that he’s been invited for by one of his classmates at 4.30pm. Check out Spiff’s blog for more details about our morning in the park :)

Ps. Sorry about the pix quality. What do you expect with a cell phone camera … LOL!