A Child Is Born ...

It feels good to have my arm feeling like its normal self again. At least I can now start my sky diving lessons again. Sky diving lessons? Me? The guy who is practically afraid of height go sky diving, now that's a riot! I'm just glad my arm is okay. No, I was my stubborn self and didn't go to the doctors, I let it heal the natural, which was doing absolutely nothing about it ... LOL!

It's good to be able to scratch my nose again with my left hand. The swell has totally subsided though there is still a slight tinge of pain but it's the nice kind of pain, the one that makes you wanna lay down and sleep when you touch it. I told you guys before that I'm a weird creature ... hehehe ... I would have been back to my 100% okay self if it still wasn't for thid blogged dose thad I'm still havink! Not forgetting the fact that the snot is just leaking down my upper lip (ok, now please don't go imagining that! LOL) and with me wiping it all on my sleeve (wifeys not going to be too happy about washing my T-shirt tomorrow!).

But seriously though, it feels good to be healthy again. The past couple of days has been hell for me. Imagine falling sick and having loads of work to do at the same time, now that can suck big time. Glad I got through it in one piece. And the even better news is tomorrow is Friday and it's my favourite day of the week. And the even much better news is my other buddy Seansy became a dad today :D His wife gave birth to a little baby boy this afternoon and I'm really happy for him. I haven't gone and seen his little fellow yet and I can just imagine how happy my buddy is right now. I'll definitely be going tomorrow.

He was a bundle of nerves when I spoke to him this afternoon. It's the first time he's going through this and he was so restless, I could just hear it in his voice. He was just praying for everything to be fine which I knew it would and told him so and I think today at 3.00 pm or so, the little fellow was born. I really don't know the exact time cos he hasn't called me yet. He's probably too busy and excited. I heard it from my other buddy Adrian. I'm just happy for him. I'll try and get some pictures when I go there tomorrow. I'm anxious to see the little fellow myself. He was cutting it a little close though, one day later and that poor boy would only be able to celebrate his birthday every four years ... LOL!

I think this deserves a bottle of wine for a celebration or something. Maybe I'll just bring along a bottle when I go tomorrow. Do they even let you bring wine bottles into hospitals? I seriously have no idea. Oh well, I'll find out tomorrow. Actually talking about wines and all, I have this urge to drink some right now! I'm not an alcoholic mind you but I just happen to love a good sip of wine every now and then. Especially so when I'm tucked in bed with a nice good novel. The last bottle of wine I had has been totally exhausted by wifey and me a couple of weeks ago and we've yet to get another one.

Yes, wifey loves wine too. She didn't always love it though. The first time she drank some wine, she said, it needed some sugar ... LOL! What a cute little girl. Little by little she acquired the taste for it and whenever I pour myself the occasional glass, she'll be sipping from it too. I really got to remember to get a new bottle of wine the next time I go shopping :D And also some new books to read. The last five I bought are now down to the last 2 books which includes the one I'm currently reading. I actually went to that Payless bookstore, the one that was selling everything at 50% off it's normal price for its closing down sale but the place had already closed down, 2 weeks too early. Darn them!

Overall, besides the fact that my buddy became a dad today, it was a pretty uneventful day, kind of a bittersweet day even. Well, my car is acting up again, but that's nothing new that you guys don't already know, ya? If it doesn't act up at least once a month, it just won't be satisfied. It must in some perverse way of its own make me part with some hard earned money every now and then. At least the day is almost over. I'm going to be calling it a night right after this, well, not really right after this, I'm going to blog hop a little, then call it a night. Here's wishing all you folks a great Friday tomorrow and if it isn't Friday in your neck of the world yet, a happy Thursday then :D

The One Arm Bandit!

I'm sitting here typing this post in extreme pain. Every key I press on my keyboard sends spasms of pain shooting up my left arm from elbow to shoulder! But I cannot stay away from this blog any longer. Ok, well maybe I exaggerated a little bit about the pain but it does hurt every time I press any keys especially my left arm.

Ok let me start from the beginning. Most of you know I'm down with the flu and all that. That's why I haven't posted anything at all in 2-3 days and you guys know that I normally post everyday. I'm still feeling down with my nose leaking like a runaway train and I just couldn't muster the energy needed to sit and blog the past few days. All I wanted to do was just sleep.

Well, this morning when I woke up for work, I was still feeling under the weather and a little groggy. After having my shower and as I was groggily exiting the bathroom, I hit my left elbow on the bathroom door frame. And I hit it so hard that I stood there in excruciating pain unable to move a muscle. I honestly felt like screaming in pain but then, that would ruin my macho image in front of wifey ... LOL!

Ok, never mind, after standing there in pain for a few minutes holding my elbow, I walk out to get dressed thinking the pain would go away in a bit since I have hit my elbow on that blooming door frame a few times before. Now the fact that by the time I was dressed and ready for work with the pain not subsiding one bit should have been a clear indication that something was wrong. To cut a long story short, I drive to work and by afternoon, I can hardly move my left arm without eliciting a nerve wrecking pain from elbow to shoulder.

I can hardly bend my arm at the elbows. I couldn't even bend my arm to touch my nose without some kind of pain shooting up my shoulder. That's how bad it is and that's when I realized that I must have hit that door frame a bit harder than I thought cos when I checked my elbow again when I got home, it was totally swollen. My elbow looks like a freak right now with the swell. I didn't notice it in the office cos I was wearing a jacket the whole day to keep my fever down. It's only when I got home and took off the jacket that wifey and me saw the swell on my elbow. Now I know why it hurts like hell!

It hurt so bad every time I bent my arm that I needed wifey to help me undress (ok, don't get any funny ideas now ... LOL!) Geez, I felt like a small kid who couldn't do things for himself. I've never felt pain like this before and wifey warned me that if the swell is still there tomorrow morning, she's gonna drag my sorry stubborn ass to the doctors to get it looked at. She knows how stubborn I can be about seeing the doctors. In fact, remember in my previous post I said I'd head to the clinic the first thing Monday morning? Well, I haven't yet till now.

'Serves you right for still being sick you lazy stubborn bum!'

Cut a sick guy some slack, will ya! I hate going to the doctors. I hate having to take medicine. I've always avoided heading to see a doctor whenever I fall sick until I'm forced to go or until I can't stand it anymore. I think I'll probably head to the company doctors tomorrow and get some medicine for my flu and fever and also get the elbow looked at. That is if I'm still feeling crappy tomorrow.

I haven't really recovered yet and was struggling just to get work done at the office today. What with the elbow pain and all. I could have taken medical leave and headed home but I'm just not the kind to take it unless I can't work at all. Sometimes wifey will have to give me a piece of her mind before I'll even consider taking medical leave. There are times even my boss will have to chase me home to get some rest. Anyway I did have quite a bit of rush work to be completed in the morning that couldn't be put off till tomorrow.

After finishing all my work, I just didn't have the will power to blog though I did do some blog hopping but that's about it. Then today after watching this cheesy show called Who wants to be a Superhero and Heroes, I just couldn't resist not getting online and blogging. I'll just suffer the pain later. And trust me, the pain is excruciating at times that I don't know how I'm going to be able to sleep tonight without having to bend this busted arm. I guess if you guys hear a loud shriek in the middle of the night, you'll know that it's just me in agony ... LOL!

Well, that's all from me for now. I'm going to call it a night cos it's really uncomfortable having to try and type without moving my left arm and besides my nose is getting all runny again. I'm afraid it'll leak all over my keyboard ... (ok, I know that is not a good sight to imagine ... LOL!). I'll catch you guys later when I'm a little better. Hopefully my arm will be functioning by then :D

Here We Go Again ...

*sniff, sniff, cough, cough*

Yes, I'm down with the dreaded flu and cough. It's in the early stages so it's not that bad yet but bad enough to make me feel weak all over and extremely moody. I was alright until I woke up this morning with the sniffles and an extremely dry and sore throat, which are normally the first signs I'm going to fall sick. I probably got this from my younger boy who was himself having the sniffles and cough since Thursday.

I hate falling sick (who does anyway, right?) cos when I fall sick it's normally very extreme. I can't do anything much except lay in bed all day. Anyway, I do feel a little better now that I've popped a few pills. Was a little feverish earlier and hopefully it'll be enough to keep the fever in check until I go to the doctors tomorrow and get some much stronger medicine. Would love to go today but for some strange reason my company's panel doctor happens to be closed on Sundays. I guess we're not allowed to fall sick on the weekends ... LOL!

Nothing really interesting happened this weekend except on Saturday. I know I said I didn't want to bitch about anything or anyone this weekend but I just can't help it. I just think there is this conspiracy that is going on to test my patience ... hehehe ... I'm convince that people are secretly looking out for me and when they see me they go:

'Look, there's that old grouch, lets see how we can piss him off today!'

What happened was, I took the family out for lunch at our favourite all you can eat joint at the nearby mall. I just happen to love this place cos I think it's extremely good value for money and I'm a regular at this place almost every weekend since the place opened. Normally, when we go, we would be given the special promotion rate where we pay for 2 adults (wifey and me) and my elder boy would get the student rate and the younger fellow will eat for free.

Ok, like I said, we're regulars and the cashiers know us, and normally would know how to bill us (we have to pay first before eating) but this Saturday, there was this new cashier on duty. So, I asked her politely if the promotion that we usually enjoy was still on (I know it was, but I asked anyway, you just can't assume anything, right?) and she said yes, but then she asked to see my elder boy's student card.

'Huh? Student card? what the heck is that?' I thought.

So, I asked her what student card are you referring to? Cos for the life of me I didn't know the students here carried any such cards and I told her so. She kept on rudely insisting that she needs to see the student card and that normally they would have and she needed to confirm that he really is a student and all that crap. And the tone of voice and look that she gave us made it seem like we were trying to bluff our way in. Wifey was already on the verge of losing her temper and so was I.

First of all, just by looking at my elder boy, though he is a little on the big side, you could clearly see he was still a child. And secondly the very fact that she was extremely rude and made it seem like we were cheapskates trying to fleece her by paying less was what really irked me. It was not about the money at all. If she had told me politely that I had to prove my elder boy was a school going child or I couldn't get the student rate, then I wouldn't have minded. After all the student rate was only a few ringgit less, so no big deal. But the tone of her voice and the insistence that I had to show some kind of student card made my blood boil.

Now, maybe it was her lucky day or something cos just as I was about to give her my famous grouch routine and chew her head off, she relented and punched in our bill. Darn, I was so looking forward to giving her the 'Phillips Special' ... LOL! I just couldn't see why she had to be so rude about the whole thing. I mean, if she had told me politely that if we didn't have a student card, we couldn't get the student rate, I'd have no issues with that. But the rudeness was what I didn't like. Anyway, that aside, the lunch was fine from that point on. The boys as usual had a blast eating all their favourite stuff and all the ice cream they could muster.

Like I said earlier, there really must be some kind of organization called the G.R.O.U.C.H. (Get Rid Of Ugly & Cranky Humans!) or something that secretly plots against me to see who can succeed in making me blow my top whenever I go out. It's either that or I'm just naturally a plain old grouch. What do you think? Come on, tell me already. I promise I won't chew your heads off ... LOL!

Sunday was pretty routine. Took the kids for their usual Sunday school classes. They had this election talk organized while waiting for the kids to finish, which I didn't feel like attending. The general elections are going on over here and today was the nomination day for all the candidates and stuff like that. My buddy Seansy asked if I was interested in helping a candidate out for nomination morning and I would have loved to help but the kids had Sunday school so I told him I could help him out a little later if he needed anything. He said maybe I could join him with the putting up of posters and such later at night, but he hasn't called so I presume he doesn't need help or it's not on.

I'm not really into politics all that much but in the previous elections I've done my duty to vote for who I thought was worthy to run this country and the constituency that I live in. But of late, I cannot help but take note of the fact that I may have made a disastrous mistake in voting for the current government. I'm not going to bash anyone here on my blog but lets say that when 8th of March comes, which is voting day, my vote is going to the opposition! It may not count for much, but I sincerely hope my little vote would help in any way possible to give us Malaysians a fresher outlook in life. It's time we weren't treated like kids anymore.

With that said and done, I think I'm going to call it a night cos I feel a little woozy already. The pills I took earlier must be wearing off. I don't even think I'm up to working on this term insurance asignment I have. First thing I'm going to do tomorrow is head to the clinic. Catch you guys later.

All I Have To Do Is Dream ...

It's been a so-so day today. Nothing really interesting happened that's worth talking about. In fact to be blunt, it's been an uninspiring day. I have no complains about today though, after all it is Friday and as everyone here knows, I live for weekends.

In fact the day has been so uninspiring that my creative juices just aren't flowing. I was a little busy with work in the morning and all that but then after completing all that was needed to be done in the office and after my usual lunch date with wifey I went back to the office and was totally free the whole afternoon.

Ah good, I thought. I can blog away the afternoon. I rub my hand together with glee at the prospect of having some free time to blog in the office. So, with a smile on my face, I log into my account and hit the new post button. And I sit and stare at eagerly at the new post page. And stare and stare and stare and stare ... for the life of me I just couldn't think what to write about.

The past week or so I've posted about being a Valentine grouch, my blogs one year birthday, an accident I saw that traumatized me all week and even my moronic neighbours. I really didn't want to post anything negative for a while, especially on a weekend. You guys could use a break from my rantings and complains for a while. So I decided to just give it up and play some online games until it was time to head home.

Maybe I'll get some inspiration to write later tonight. It is after all American Idol results night and I'm anxious to find out if some of the people I predicted got booted out and then a little later there is the local talent show, One in a Million. I'm sure there would be lots I could post about later. How wrong I was. My mind was still a blank. Geez, this is so unlike me. How can I not have anything to write about. I was thinking of calling it a night but I wasn't sleepy. I could read my Star Trek book, but I wanna save that for tomorrow.

So, I did the next best thing I could do. I decided to do this Dream Gadgets meme passed on to me by Marzie quite sometime back. I've been sitting on it and letting it collect dust for a bit and besides I feel bad for not getting it done much sooner especially after I so confidently mouthed off that I'd complete all memes given to me within the week. Me and my bigmouth ... LOL!

It's actually a pretty fun meme to do where I get to tell you guys some of the gadgets that I would like to own but can only dream about right now cos there is no way in hell I could afford them at this point of time. God, that's going to be a little tough though cos I have so many dream gadgets that I'd love to have that it would take me the whole night just to list them down. So, I'm going to limit myself to just telling you guys about two for now.

Oh and if any of you do feel the sudden need to go out there and get one for me to make me feel better, you won't hear me complaining ... LOL! I'd be greatly indebted to you. Well, let's get to it already. Number one on my list is the MacBook Pro. Now, for those of you who owns a Macintosh or has ever used one before, you'd all agree with me that a Mac is comparable to a Ferrari! Well, I think it is anyway. I salivate just looking at a Mac! And yes honey, I salivate just looking at you too ... hehehe ...


I work in the advertising industry as most of you already know and the first time I saw a Macintosh was when I first started work as a total fresh doofus in the industry and we only used Macs those days (PC's were unheard of back then) and I fell in love with it on first sight. And I've never stopped loving it. The thing is a Mac was and still is an extremely expensive machine.

Right now I'm totally head over heels, foot over toes, thumb over pinkies in love with the MacBook Pro. While it might not look like a classy machine in the likes of the VAIOs, Dells (which I hate to admit that I'm using right now to type this post) in terms of its appearances but man, that machine rocks! But alas, it would take me close to 2.35 million years or so to save up to be able to afford one ... siggghhhh ...

Ok, the second item on my gadget dream list is none other than the iPhone. I mean, it's obvious right, since I love Macs so blooming much that the iPhone just had to be on my dream list as well. Unfortunately the iPhone is currently not available in the markets here and just so you know, those of you who visit my blog and do own an iPhone, let it be known that I hate your guts! LOL! Just kidding people. But seriously I do envy you if you have an iPhone. This is one gadget that I simply must have when it becomes available here. As far as I'm concerned it's an iPhone or bust for me!


'Oh wow, would you just look at that. No inspiration to write it seems ... you are such a fibber, Nick, not to mention a blooming bigmouth!'

Wellllll, when it comes to a Mac, I do tend to get a wee bit carried away.

'Wee bit, Nick?'

Ok, ok, I tend to get totally carried away. Are you satisfied now? I think I'd better end this meme now by tagging the following bloggers before that annoying interloper starts being too much of a smart ass. So, Nessa, Sting, Shemah and Adrian, consider yourselves tagged :D Have a great weekend people.
.

I Give Up!

In case you're wondering if it's blogging that I've given up, don't be too alarmed cos the day I give up blogging will be a very cold day in hell. What's I've given up on is my next door neighbour. I've totally had it with their attitude. I cannot even begin to fathom how people, especially your own neighbours can be such pains in the behind. They've gone from bad to worse to totally crazy.

Let me start from the top. Most of you who have been following my neighbourly problems would know that I'm sandwiched between two neighbours from hell. The one on the left which I've labeled as the Neanderthal and the one on my right which I have not labeled just yet. As of today, the right neighbour is now officially known as that senile old hag!

Now this senile old hag is the one that I complained about once before who thinks the common fence that separates each house belongs exclusively to her. She exclusively hogs the fence and whenever she hears wifey coming out to hang the laundry she'll run out and put old rags there to deprive wifey of space to hang her laundry. Never mind, we've gotten over that by getting our own place to dry the laundry.

A few days ago, my mom hung the mop on that fence to dry in the sun, seeing as how by some miracle the fence wasn't hogged by her. This would not have taken all day, maybe an hour or so since the sun was blazing hot that day. But you know what that senile old hag did? She just took the mop off the fence and threw it down on the floor. And then when my mom asked her why did she do that, she said it was bringing her bad luck!

Now, that mop was on that fence for only a few minutes and it was bringing her bad luck already? Whoa, what a powerful mop that was. I suppose those old rags she hangs there brings her excellent luck? The thing is she had the cheek to just throw the mop off the fence. And if I'm not mistaken my mom probably hung the mop in the corner of the fence out of sight. She is one arrogant senile old hag that I have just about had enough of! And that wasn't the first time. Once before, when wifey hung her laundry there, she just took this piece of wood and placed it over the clean laundry hanging there!

And while she was telling my mom that the mop was bringing her bad luck and all that, she also said that my car was also dirtying her place! Yes, dirtying her place. WTF! Every morning before I head to work, I'll always warm up my car for a bit. It's been something that I've done for as long as I've been driving. And this old senile hag was saying that smoke from my exhaust was polluting her air and making her place dirty!

Siggghhhh, how stupid can she be? First of all, that 'smoke' that she apparently refers to that is coming out of my exhaust is just early morning condensation evaporating from the exhaust and poses no harm whatsoever and it dissipates immediately the moment it comes out. I cannot see how that can dirty her bloody house. It's not like my car belches smoke into her house or anything. I was really pissed when I heard that. Maybe she should live in a glass dome with her own artificially controlled environment or something.

My mom is normally friendly and patient with the neighbours but this time I think she was really pissed. The moment wifey came down, my mom went to her and complained about that senile old hag (I just love calling her a senile old hag) and wifey in turn told me all about it. I was mad as hell. I wanted my revenge on that senile old hag. Did I mention I just love calling her a senile old hag? No? Well, I do ... LOL! But wifey told me that if we did extract revenge on her, then we'd be stooping to her level and we'd be no better than her. It's best just to ignore her completely and that would irk her even more. Damn, I hate it when wifey is right ... LOL!

So, I'm just going to ignore her and keep on doing what I've been doing. I'm not going to change my style just to accommodate some imbecile. I'll warm up my car every morning like I always do. I'm going to hang things on that fence when it's free of old rags. And if she doesn't like well, hurray for her! But I just couldn't help bitching about it here. It makes me feel so much better now that I've 'let' it out of my system :) Somebody up there must not like me very much to put me in between two annoying neighbours. Please god, make the earth swallow both of them up or get some aliens to kidnap them or something and give me some nice new, good, decent, likable, neighbours for a change. I'll be a good little boy, I promise :D

Rest In Peace, Mr. Motorcycle Guy!

This is probably the longest I've gone without any postings. Five whole days even. It's like a record of sorts for me. And it's not entirely by choice. I've had a pretty good weekend followed by a horribly busy Monday. And to top it all off, I was totally traumatized by an accident I witnessed yesterday in which this guy on a motorbike lost his life in a very horrible manner :( I'm not going to go into the details about it as it's not something I'd like to remember. I was so traumatized by it that I could hardly sleep all night long. Life is so fragile and unexpected at times. May his soul rest in peace.

Anyway, besides that, I had a pretty good weekend. I hardly touched my blog at all over the weekend. Don't worry, I'm not giving up blogging. You guys are not going to get rid of me that easily ... LOL! The main reason was because wifey, the kids and myself were out for most of the day on both Saturday and Sunday and we were just too tired to even think of logging on when we got home. The other reason was also because the desktop PC had been sent for reformatting and we were left with just the laptop and we didn't feel like taking turns blogging (normally we'd be online together) so we just stayed away altogether.

Saturday was spent more on eating and shopping, window shopping really, we did buy a few things though. I even got myself this cool looking urrmmm, super duper key chain with an even more super duper powerful LED (gee, I'm beginning to sound like that annoying Spaceman now) or Krypton mini torch light or whatever it was called. To be honest, there really was no reason for buying it except that it looked cool ... LOL! Well, at least now you know you know I spend my paypal money on useless junk ... :D Well, at least I didn't waste it by buying a couple of new pocket watches or anything like that.

We also wanted to catch a movie seeing as how Transformers was the last movie we've been too but there was nothing good showing. Well, nothing good that the kids could watch anyway. The movies we wanted to catch were all rated PL18 so there went that idea. After hanging around at the mall for a couple more hours, we decided to head back and were just too tired to even think of blogging. We even called it an early night, around 11.00pm, I think. Yes, that early! LOL!

The first half of Sunday was pretty harrowing, church wise anyway. All Sunday school children between the ages of 7-10 had to stay back after their classes and attend part of the late morning mass. While I normally would have no problems with this but I was was totally unaware about this, as were a lot of other parents there and the kids had to wait in their classrooms while the mass started and then ushered in halfway through. As to the purpose of this, I sincerely have no blooming idea.

Now, god, if you're by any chance reading my post, please hang on to that lightning bolt you're twirling around in your hands for just a bit longer and hear me out, k? Like I said, I have no issues with this. But these were 7-9 year old restless kids who at that age don't really know what's going and being forced to sit still in classrooms while waiting for the mass was a little too much.

The mass was a late mass, and the kids were hungry and some were crying. I was restless myself so you can imagine the poor kids. I have no issues with all this but they could do it at a much earlier time or maybe when they're a little older and able to understand all this better. It's not like the kids are going to turn in little Lucifer's or something. I just feel a lot of things are being forced on these kids at such an early age that they just might grow up resenting things.

No offense, ok God, I do believe in you and have absolute faith, respect and all that but I think the way some things are done, it's going to turn a lot people away from you. I didn't go through all these when I was in Sunday school and I didn't turn out so bad or I'd like to think so anyway. That's just my humble opinion. Now, let's talk about that lightning bolt you have there ... LOL!

Anyway, that took almost 4 hours in total, can you believe that? We headed home and both wifey and me immediately headed for the bed (and don't you go thinking filthy thoughts, now) We were both totally drained out from all that waiting and standing around that we just had to get some rest. We ended up having a very refreshing 2 hour nap and then headed out for dinner. I wanted to eat at the Hartz all you can eat joint so we headed there and stuffed ourselves silly ... hehehe ...

The weekend just flew by so fast and then Monday came along and I was just so swamped with last minute work that I didn't have time to even log on and check my blog until late at night and by that time I was just too tired to blog and still too traumatized by what I witnessed a little earlier. Well, at least today my schedule looks pretty decent, for now anyway so I can probably blog a little and do some blog hopping and see what I've missed out in the blogging world. So, hang in there guys and I'll be stopping by your blogs in a bit to see what's been happing. Lots of catching up to do cos I've never been a way from blogging for so long. Lets hope it's not a regular thing!

Thanks For The Memories!

It was exactly one year ago yesterday that I started blogging for the very first time. And to be honest, I never thought I'd stick with it this long. I guess the fact that I did 5 postings in a row on the very first day I started my blog should have been a clear indication that I'd get hooked to this blogging thing. And it's not a bad thing either :)

One year ago, if you told me you blogged, I would have gone like, yeah, so what? What's the big deal about it anyway? I wasn't a believer in blogging back then. I thought blogging was just another form of social networking, something teenagers use to get dates and perverts use to find victims! Shows you what kind of mentality I had back then didn't it?

Then when the underseas cables snapped sometime last year (before I started blogging) and everyone was screaming bloody murder cos they couldn't access their blog, I thought, what's wrong with you losers? It's not like it's the end of the world or something. But now, even if I have a 10 minute disruption of my internet connection and I can't get access my blog, I'll be screaming bloody murder at somebody. That is how much my perception of blogging has changed since then. And it's changed for the better if I must say so.

And with that admission, I humbly take both my feet out of my mouth and apologise to all bloggers out there for what I thought of them prior to my blogging days ... LOL! Yeah, it's been a year now since I've had this blog and in that time I've come to see the world of blogging in a different light. The new friends I've made, the cultures I've learned about, the money I've made (LOL). And the thing is, everyone in the blogsphere is so friendly and I mean in the genuine way. There are one or two exceptions of course but the majority of bloggers are all a fairly decent bunch of friendly and nice people.

And I speak from experience here (gee, only one year in the blogging world and I'm experienced it seems ... LOL!) cos all my visitors are such nice people who never fail to leave a kind comment or two, well, except you Adrian, who always have nice sarcastic words for me, but that's alright cos you are my best buddy after all :D I wish the whole world were like bloggers, then maybe we could all get along with each other in this world and they'd be no wars and such. But then, with some of our leaders here who think bloggers are just a stupid lying bunch of people, that's just wishful thinking I know, but one can dream, can't one?

One year ago, I'd have never thought I'd be this addicted to blogging. I'd have never thought I'd expose my life for all the world to see. I'd have never thought I could write so much. Gosh, I'd have never thought I could actually make some pretty decent money from blogging. If I'd have known, I would have jumped in the bandwagon much faster ... LOL! I must say the experience has been an enjoyable one and I'm really looking froward to blogging forever or at least as long as I'm able to, that is. After all I aim to be a blogging grandpa, remember? LOL!

But sometimes, as hard as it might be to believe, there are days when I don't know what to post. I've posted about my childhood days, my barber, being a spoilt child, ghostly encounters, my horrible neighbours, my best buddies, my work, my evil car and right up to my wonderful wife that sometimes I run out of things to say. Yes, even a big mouth like me sometimes just run dry of ideas. But because of the passion I have for blogging, I'll eventually come out with some long winded post to bore you guys. LOL!

Here's a big thank you to all of you who have in your own way made my blogging journey a memorable one. After all, without you guys stopping by and commenting every now and then this blog would be a very quiet place indeed. It's only because of your support all the days of the year that I've come to enjoy blogging and go this far. So, I'd like to thank all of you for taking the trouble and time to stop by Anything Goes! and leaving a kind comment or two. Without you guys I wouldn't be here.

The Valentine Grouch!

It's back to work for me today and I'm not liking it one bit! After the nice long holiday I had, which in true fact was never enough, I just can't seem to get back into the groove of working just yet. And the fact that I have not much to do at the moment doesn't make things all that much easier.

To say I had nothing to do would be a little unfair. I had some stuff to do this morning when I first came in, but that didn't require too much brain power to do. After finishing that it was about time for lunch. Well, not really lunch time yet, but I was a little bored doing nothing so I bummed off for lunch a little earlier. And now that I'm back in the office, I have absolutely nothing to do.

Sitting here staring at the screen and yawning the day away sure feels like a great thing to do. Not! I guess I shouldn't be complaining so much. At least the lack of work at the moment should help get me back in the working groove slowly. I know I have a couple of projects coming up soon cos and when they do come in, I'm going to be pretty busy and then I'll complain that I'm too overworked and need more free time.

'Gee, there is no pleasing you is there, Nick?'

Nope, I guess not, I'm the perennial complainer remember and getting older just makes me better at being a grouch ... LOL! I'm sure wifey is relived a little that I'm back at work cos I've been perpetually harassing her at home with my antics ... hehehe ... The whole time I was home for the holidays she couldn't do any of her stuff cos I was practically by her side all day and she knows with me around at home, she can't concentrate on doing her stuff like updating the household accounts, etc, etc, etc. At least you can get them done today, right honey?

So, Valentine's day is just a few hours away, about 9 hours to be specific. I hope for your sakes you'd have already bought your loved ones something or there'll be hell to pay tomorrow! LOL! I'm know I'm in the clear cos I already got wifey her Valentine gift. Thank god, so no rushing around looking for some hiked up Valentine present and making someone else all that much richer by capitalizing on the occasion.

Valentine's day has become so commercialized these days. I guess things have to change with the times but I'm a pretty old fashioned fellow and I don't just believe in showing your loved one how much you love her on just one particular day. It just seems so fake to me. I believe if you love someone, why not show it every single day? And before you tell me to put my money where my mouth is, let me tell you that I surprise wifey with little home made love notes every now and then which I hide all over the room for her to find.

And she doesn't know when or where I'll hide them that sometimes, on days when I don't leave those little notes, she'll still be searching for them ... hehehe ... It's something that I used to do for her ages ago but for some reason I myself cannot fathom stopped for long while but have started leaving those love notes for her again. And I love the look on her face when she discovers them. Makes my effort of creating the notes seem all the more worthwhile. And the best thing is she never knows when or where I'll leave them. Sometimes she gets them everyday for a whole week and then there are time when I don't leave any for a couple of days even ...

That's why I'm not too keen on celebrating Valentine's these days. Maybe in the old days yes, but back then I was a young, brash and naive lad who didn't know much. I'd save up all my money just to buy whomever I had a crush on back then a rose that would cost RM15.00 which on a normal day would cost RM1.50 or even some expensive gift that I could hardly afford just to show how much I loved that person on that particular day but for the rest of the 364 days, I'd do nothing much. As if that one day would really show anyone how much they really mean to me. If you love someone that much, you'd show it to them every single day and you tell them that everyday not just on Valentine's day.

I'm sorry if I've ruined anyones perception on Valentine's day or maybe you think I'm just being a cheapskate or anything like that, but I'm just being my normal expressive self. I'm really not interested in making anyone richer than they already are with all the hiked up Valentine promo's out there. I work in an Ad Agency and I know how we use copywriters to write sweet words to make an ad sound like you must have or get what they're offering for your loved ones cos it's special and he/she will remember it for ages to come but in true fact, all we're doing is suckering you in making someone else richer by spending more than what the item is worth! LOL!

Ok, I think I'd better stop with the negative Valentine bashing or you guys are all probably going to hate me soon for being so unromantic on this special day. For all of you who are doing something special for your loved one on Valentine's days, have loads of fun, ok? :D As for me, I think I'll make a few more love notes for wifey to find :)

That Peaceful Easy Feeling ...

I've been up since 6.20am today. Yes, don't adjust your screens please, this is not a technical glitch and neither is it a typo. I really did wake up at 6.20am. Honest, really, I'm not lying. Come on already, trust me when I say I woke up at 6.20am, ok ... LOL!

Well, the truth of the matter is I woke up at that ungodly hour to keep wifey company. The boys start school today but I'm still on holiday (my last day of lazing around the house) and she had to wake up to make their breakfast and I just couldn't stay in bed while she had to wake up so early, so I told her last night before sleeping that I'll do my best to wake up with her and keep her company while she made their breakfast. And I did wake, as difficult as it may have been, I forced my lazy butt off the bed and went down with her.

I didn't know how peaceful and calm it can be at such an ungodly hour of the morning, I think even god was probably still asleep! There was not a stir in the whole neighbourhood. You could even hear the clock ticking on the wall. Well, as nice and peaceful as it may be, this was a one off thing for me.

'Don't get used to this ok, honey?' LOL!

On normal work days, I'd wake wifey up and continue sleeping till it's time to get up for work. I work really close by so I wake up much later than the average working person who has to leave early to battle the traffic jams everyday. The joys and benefits of working about a 5 minutes drive from my office :D Well, I did continue my sleep after she was done with the breakfast but the fact that I was awake for at least 30 minutes at such an early hour entitled me to some bragging rights ... LOL!

Today is the last of my CNY holidays, then it's back to work for me tomorrow. I am so not looking forward to starting work but then, at least I had a great holiday and I'm much refreshed and full of life. But that still doesn't mean I'm ready for work, k? Just in case you're reading this boss, we could do with 3 more days of the holidays ... LOL! Traditionally over here, when we get back to work on the first day after the CNY holidays, we'll all be getting an Ang Pow from her. So at least that's something to look forward to tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to lunch time as well cos I have a date with wifey :D After sending the younger boy off for school later, we're both going out to spend some time by ourselves starting with a lunch date at one of her favourite Malay restaurants near our place. She doesn't know it yet but after lunch I think I'll take her out shopping or something. We'll see how it goes. It isn't always that the boys are not with us so I might as well maximize this chance :) Well, the older boy will be back from school though, but he'll be more than happy to stay home and watch TV. And my mom is home to keep an eye on him anyway.

Seeing as how that is going to be the case, I'd better hurry and finish this assignment I have on mortgage lenders. Hmmm, in fact this reminds me that I have to look in to what's been happening with the apartment I bought. The project is currently stalled but I was told last year that they were reviving the project. And there's been no news since then. Just my luck, the first time I ever buy and practically invested all my savings in the place and the whole damn project is abandoned for a long time with some silly reason. Oh, well, maybe it's time to start scolding someone ... LOL!

Puffy Ayumi

Today just went by so fast that I didn't really have time to even enjoy it. In fact I don't even remember what transpired ... LOL! While there are still a lot of people on their CNY holidays, myself included, the rest of the country has started work and the neighbourhood is back to being the bustling place that it was with the traffic back to normal. The boys go back to school tomorrow while I still have another day of the holidays left to enjoy. Then it's back to work and I know I'm going to be pretty busy with the load I have waiting for me there.

The day was pretty normal for me, nothing unexceptional happened. That means I didn't scold anybody or get mad with anyone ... LOL! Wifey and me woke up a little earlier than normal today. As we always do, we checked out our blogs, emails and stuff. I saw a couple of assignments that I've yet to complete. Wanted to actually do the one on engraved plaques but decided to shelve it to a little later cos the boys were starting a picket line outside the bedroom door demanding for breakfast. We didn't want them starting a riot, so we went down to prepare their breakfast. I don't remember harassing my mom for breakfast when I was young.

'That's because you were never up before lunch, you dork.'

You have a valid point there Mr. Interloper. We bought this pre-packed Roti Canai (a kind of local Indian Muslim bread) yesterday when we were out shopping and decided to prepare that for the kids. We've bought this pre-packed things few times before but this time it was a different brand and it turned out to be harder than a slab of marble ... My younger boy was complaining his teeth were gonna break! It was a pack of 5 pieces and we threw away at least 3 pieces. What a waste. Next time we'll stick to the regular brand that we buy or just get the fresh ones from the shop.

After breakfast, wifey wanted to get some banking stuff done and that was a mistake. The bank was pretty packed with customers and we ended up waiting close to an hour plus just to get a simple transaction done! But surprisingly I didn't lose my temper with the long wait. I'm pretty proud of myself ... hehehe ... Normally things like this would rile me up. I guess I just got to bear with all the inefficiencies of this world, not that I'm all that efficient myself anyway.

The rest of the day was just a blur to me. We bought some lunch for the boys and ourselves, I had a nice two hours nap and then woke up, surfed a little, made some corned beef sandwiches for dinner and watched a little TV, an old movie called Blue Thunder. Really corny watching all those old time effects compared to today. But I guess it was high tech in its time, right?

Oh, and wifey got herself a pair of bedroom slippers yesterday to use in the kitchen. Remember I said our kitchen floor gets really oily after my mom uses it? Even though we mop the place almost everyday but wifey just couldn't stand stepping on the oily floor so she got herself a pair of those bedroom slippers. Well, I kinda picked it for her. It looks cute and really huge on her that she looks funny walking with it ... LOL! I don't know what animal they fashioned those slippers from but I officially named them Puffy Ayumi. Don't ask me why, but they just seemed so Puffy Ayumish ... LOL! Just so you guys know, the left one is Puffy and the right one is Ayumi ... LMAO! I just couldn't help but name them. Now even wifey refers to them as Puffy Ayumi. Don't they just look so adorable on her? :D


At least I did manage to get in some good reading today, well both wifey and me did anyway. It's been ages since we both got in bed with a good book. I didn't know how much I missed reading and I'm savouring every single word from those 3 new books I bought. I think I'm only in page 18 or so of my book. I don't want it to finish so fast. I'm definitely going to be doing some reading later tonight after this posting. Once I start reading again, I just can't stop. I'll just have to divide my time equally between blogging and reading I guess.

That's about how my day went. Nothing really exceptional happened that was worth remembering. Hope you guys had a more eventful day. Time to go do my rounds on the blogsphere and see what you all have been up to in your parts of the world. Catch you guys soon.

Sleepy Man, The New Superhero In Town ...

I woke up this morning with my body feeling like it was trampled over by a herd of rampaging elephants! And the worse part is I didn't do anything that would actually cause this aches except sleep in a little ... LOL! The boys didn't have Sunday school today cos of the CNY holidays and so wifey and me decided to give church a miss this week. And we slept in quite late today. It has come to my knowledge that the older I get the less I can afford to sleep in late cos if I do, I'll wake up feeling like an old man with aches in every conceivable place you can think off. Siggghhhh ... anyone invent that de-aging potion I ask about in my previous post yet?

There was a time, not too long ago that I could actually sleep in until way past 12.00pm minimum and not feel a single ache in my body. I'd wake up feeling totally well rested and ready to face the day with some good breakfast, urrmmm, lunch and then get ready for my nap again ... LOL! Yeah, I could really sleep a lot those days. I'd never miss my afternoon nap whenever I was on holiday or anything like that. And if I did miss my naps, I'd be cranky all day! Sleeping was and still is one of my favourite things to do. It's just that I don't take as much naps these days cos I'd feel achy all over when I get up. I guess the body isn't what it was years ago.

As a kid I lived to sleep. Any chance I got, I'd find a nice place to curl up and just doze off. When we were young, my grandma had this strict rule that all us kids would have to go take an afternoon nap and everyone would complain about it except me. I'd happily grab my smelly old pillow and nap away ... hehehe ... Even during the long school breaks when we'd be exempted from taking naps, all my cousins would be happily playing away in and around the house, but not me. I'd be gleefully snoozing away amidst all the racket they made.

Sleep comes naturally to me, even to this very day. I'd seldom have sleeping problems. I could sleep all day if given the chance. The moment I put my head down on my pillow, I'm out if it. And even if I'm jolted out of bed for whatever reason in the middle of the night, I could instantly fall asleep again. I call it a gift, a blessing even. Who knows, maybe I'm a mutant called Sleepy man or something ... LOL! Ok, this might sound a little bit weird but I'm always telling wifey that I think I'm a mutant whose abilities have not manifested themselves yet. I think she's beginning to think I'm short of a few marbles up there!


I guess my days of sleeping in late are numbered. The longer I sleep, the more aches I get up with. Maybe that's why old people don't sleep that much. Maybe that's why old people wake up early in the wee hours of the morning to do whatever it is they do at that ungodly hour. Both my grandparents woke up pretty early and I used to think they were nuts for not sleeping in late. Maybe that's why my Neanderthal neighbour gets up at 5.30am to wash his blooming porch every single morning! They'd all probably get aches if they slept in too long. Oh my god, am I doomed to a fate of waking up early and sleeping less? What kind of life would that be? That's cruel and inhumane! Oh god, I don't wanna grow old! Somebody please help me ... LOL!

Well, I know I'm never going to forsake my naps and sleeping in so I'm just going to have to endure the aches that come with it when I wake up. The only bad thing is I live in a double storey house and walking up and down the stairs is going to be hard on the old knees (surprisingly when I run, the knees are just fine!). I wonder if I can convince wifey to let me install one of those stair lifts thingy that I saw in this website. It's a cool little lift that you can custom attached to your stairs so it acts like a makeshift escalator ... hehehe ... now that would be awesome ...

'Honey, where are you? I have something I need to talk to you about ...'
.

Mommy Blues ...

The holidays are flying by so fast. It's Saturday already. I've got, including tomorrow only 3 days of my holiday left! Then it's back to work next Wednesday and god knows how long before the next holiday comes around. Where does the time go? It's been a pretty good day for me so far.

As usual, we woke up late, seeing as how wifey and me both slept a little late last night. And don't get any dirty ideas, cos we were up late blogging, k? LOL! At least the kids didn't barge in the room too early today to pester us for breakfast. They were warned before hand that if they're hungry to go make themselves a tuna sandwich or something till we're both awake ... LOL! Cruel people aren't we.

We planned to go out after doing the laundry and cleaning the kitchen cos I wanted to get some books for myself. The cleaning the kitchen part wasn't really something I was looking froward to but had to be done. My mom has this habit of oiling up the whole kitchen floor when she cooks and both wifey and me cannot stand an oily floor. I really don't know how she manages to do that time and time again.

When wifey or myself cook, we don't get oil all over the place but when my mom uses the kitchen, I'll definitely have to be cleaning up again after her. Not to be too disrespectful to my mom or anything but it does get to me that she doesn't clean up all that well after using the kitchen. There are so many times when wifey and me have to rewash all the pots and pans, the mugs and plates, the containers and bowls cos it'll still be dirty.

Maybe it's her eyesight or something, but the plates will still have remnants of food on it and every time I see it, I get a little pissed but she being my mom, I can't possibly go and shout at her now can I? So, what do I do? I keep my temper in check and wash the plates and stuff all over again. Not to mention mopping the floor clean of oil almost every other day. And it's not something that happens once in awhile, it's becoming like a daily thing these days. It gets to me quite a bit and I hate having to keep my temper in check!

Speaking of tempers, I've noticed that I'm prone to losing my temper pretty fast these days. I was never like this before. Even wifey has said I've changed in that aspect. I have a much shorter fuse and I get easily pissed off when things go wrong. For the life of me I do not know why this is becoming so and I seriously don't really like it. It's not me to be someone who loses his temper always. I used to be a very patient and understanding person. Wifey can vouch for that cos she says that's one of the reasons why she fell in love with me in the first place. It would take a whole lot to make me lose control of my temper those days, unlike now.

I guess it has something to do with getting old. It's making me more of a grouch and I'm really not liking it at all. I try to keep my temper in check most times but then there are people out there who just loves testing my patience. If growing old is going to turn me into a grouch, I don't wanna grow old! Somebody quick, invent a de-aging potion or something ... LOL!

Ok, temper and all that aside, the day turned out pretty good. After all the laundry and kitchen cleaning were completed, we headed down to the nearby mall for lunch and also to get my books at this place call Payless Bookstore. I was told all the books there were going for half price and it sure sounded like a good deal to me even though they were used books. Wifey wanted to have lunch at McDonald's cos of their prosperity burger promotion that only comes out during the Chinese New Year celebration but unfortunately they don't have it in a burger form anymore. It's in some kind of pita foldover thingy and we both didn't like it all that much so we ended up eating elsewhere.


After lunch we headed to check out the bookstore and true enough, everything was going for half price. I managed to get 3 Star Trek books and wifey got one book for herself and we only paid RM23.00 for all of it. Now that was a steal as far as we were concerned. I wanted to get more but every other Star Trek book in there I already owned and there was no new titles of all the other adventure and thriller titles of my favourite authors like Clive Cussler, Harold Coyle, Tom Clancy, etc. Guess I'll try checking out their other branches since the sale was applicable to all their stores. At least I did manage to get 3 new Star Trek titles that I haven't already read to add to my huge collection of Star Trek books. Yes, yes, you can probably tell I'm a die hard Star Trek fan ... LOL! I'm gonna savour those books for as long as I can :D

That is if I can spare some time to read them. I've got a host of assignments that need to be completed soon and I just cannot ignore any of them cos I could use the money to buy more Star Trek books ... LOL! I was almost done with all my outstanding assignments but just before writing this post, I checked my inbox and discovered a whole new bunch of them waiting to be done. So, you guys will probably be seeing quite a bit of postings from me starting with this one on tankless water heaters. I hope I don't bore you guys too much and I promise to keep them as entertaining as possible ... LOL! Have a great weekend people!

A Day Out ...

Whoa, I actually stayed away from my blog for a whole 8 hours today! It's a miracle, heavens be praised ... LOL! Well, the only reason I stayed away was cos wifey, the boys and me were practically out the whole day since morning. We only just came back an hour ago. It's been a pretty tiring but fun day for all of us. My legs hurt from all the walking we did today.

We went out pretty early this morning, well, pretty early for us anyway. We had plans to meet my two best buddies at our old banana leaf restaurant for lunch seeing as how all of us are on the same CNY holidays at the moment. It was pretty good meeting up with them again after so long. It is always good whenever the three of us meet up anyway. Unfortunately the lunch wasn't all that satisfactory. My buddy, Adrian had a little problem with a rude waiter who almost ruined his lunch. We were all pretty worked up about it.

This restaurant used to be one of our very regular places that we visited almost everyday at one time cos the service and food were pretty good. But not anymore. I thought their quality has deteriorated to the max and the food was not up to mark (for me anyway) and that rude waiter made it a perfectly bad experience. His performance was so bad that I think he should attend a performance management course or something. I'm surprise my buddy didn't chew his head off cos that guy doesn't put up with too much nonsense from anyone. Must be getting soft in his old age ... LOL! I'm going to be giving that place a miss for a bit.

After lunch, wifey and me wanted to head out to the malls but changed our plans and we all adjourned to Adrian's place to hang out for a bit. It's been a while since I've been there so we rescheduled our mall plans to a little later. Spent an hour or so there chit chatting, insulting each other and catching up on old times. Nothing much has changed between us really. Whenever we meet, we're always insulting each other and catching up on old times ... LOL! After a while, the boys started getting restless, my youngest boy anyway. He can't sit still for very long and he kept complaining he was bored!

So, we decided to leave and head out this mall near our place. They've recently added a new wing to the place and we thought we'd check it out. The roads were still pretty clear and driving was a breeze. I love driving on days like these where I don't have to curse at very inefficient driver on the road. Wifey hates it when I grumble while driving ... LOL! I'm getting old honey, the grumbling part comes naturally with it :D We spent hours walking around the mall till we couldn't feel our feet anymore. The new addition to this mall was pretty cool. We didn't plan to buy anything at first cos we just wanted to window shop but in the end we ended up buying a couple of stuff anyway.

My youngest boy was pestering his mommy to get him a toy. He wanted to use the money from his CNY Ang Pow (Red Packets) he got from my buddies, Adrian and Sean to buy a toy and after some relentless pestering, wifey let him buy 2 matchbox cars with his Ang Pow. He just loves these matchbox cars. After getting the 2 cars he was happy and started pestering us to go home so he could play with his toys ... LOL! That is so him!

Even though Valentines Day is still six days away, I did manage to get wifey her Valentine gift :D She saw this handbag which she took a liking to and I thought it was pretty cool also so I got it for her. It was on discount some more. LOL! She was happy with it and it solved my Valentine gift buying dilemma. Call me unromantic and all that but I don't intend to make someone else richer on Valentines day by buying something that I know will be hiked up considerably to cash in for the occasion. Hey, I'm in advertising and I know how these things work, ok? LOL! So, I'm pretty glad I got her Valentine gift much earlier. And as long as wifey likes it, I'm happy.

I had another incident here with a totally inefficient food court staff. Just before we left for home, we decided to get an early dinner for the boys and ourselves as well since we would be too tired to cook for them when we got home. There I was waiting in line to place my order and this cashier was entertaining every other person who came by except those waiting patiently in line for their turn. After she did this for about 4-5 times, I lost it and gave a her a nice piece of my mind about what I thought of the way she worked! Damn, at the rate I've been scolding people the past few days I think I won't have much more of my mind left by the time I get back to work ... LOL! Anyway, I wasn't the only one who blew his top, the guy behind me also lost his temper with her and let her have it! I'm so happy for her ... hahaha ... Like I said in a few previous postings, I absolutely cannot stand inefficient people!

Discounting that incident aside, the day was rather fun. I think we all had a great time though our feet won't agree with that statement ... LOL! And right after I got home and took my shower, I logged on and checked my blog out. I couldn't stay away from it for too long now could I? I am so screwed. I think this blog knows it owns my very soul now ... :D

The Final Countdown

I know I've already posted 2 postings for today but I just had to get online and add this little short (well, I hope it will be) post about the Amazing Race Asia 2. I just finished watching the show and I'm delighted to say that the teams I was rooting for are all through to the finals ... hooray! Yes folks, those two clowns, Mark & Rovilson, the other two guys Adrian (no, not you buddy though maybe one day we should try for Amazing Race ... LOL!) and Collin and our very own bumbling 'can't navigate for nuts' girls Pamela and Vanessa made it through to the finals at the expense of the two so called dancing moms (I was rooting for them to fail cos they're just a little too cocky for my liking!).


I'm normally one who don't really post stuff like this but there's always a first. Though I'm from Malaysia, I'm rooting for Mark & Rovilson to win it. Those two guys have just been the best entertainers from the very first day and have never failed to make me laugh hysterically with their remarks and antics. I never thought I'd be saying this about guys, but they've been fantastic throughout and they get my support for the finals. Anyway, all three of them, including the bumbling sister deserve to be in the finals. So good luck to all three of them next week. It's going to be a finals I'm not going to miss even if the world decided to end on that day.

I think I'd better stop posting anything more for today or I'm going to run out of things to say tomorrow (Like as if that would happen ... LOL!). I think I'll go check out this site on elliptical trainer machines and see if there's anything there that I could afford to buy. I really need one for when the weather is bad and I can't run (and you haven't been running for a few days now you lazy bum!) so I can do some indoor training on rainy days.

MAD As Hell ...

That neighbour of mine sure knows how to piss me off. I mentioned yesterday about her son coming back from Singapore for the CNY holidays and how he would park his car anywhere he so pleases and sometimes he'd just park right smack in front of my gate. Well, the good news is he didn't come back this CNY. I don't know why, not that I care anyway. Maybe the earth opened up and swallowed him whole or something. Thank you earth :)

Well, my joy was short lived cos they had some other relative come visit them this afternoon and yes, folks you guessed it, they park right smack in front of my house gate! It's not like there isn't any other place to park. There were loads of other suitable places around that wouldn't inconvenience anyone but no, he had to park right in front of my gate. And when I say right in front, it means right smack blocking my entrance.

Now I really wouldn't have minded if he did like ask me for permission or something. After all I wasn't going to go out just yet. But no, not a word. Just shuts his car door, walks into the neighbours house as if there is no one living here or something. Oh god, I was fuming inside. So, I go up, change and go down and start my car and go over to their house and call out to them, albeit rather loudly telling them that I need to go out. After a few minutes of shouting (they just seem to be a little deaf at times!) this guy comes out and says sorry to me. You should have seen the look I gave him, it was enough to make Lucifer himself pee in his pants! LOL!

They've done this so many times to me in the past and it's getting a little out of hand! I've had times when I've come home from work or shopping only to find a car parked right in front of my gate denying me access to my own house. And I'd be honking away and no one would come out to remove the car. So, I'd just park my car as close as I can to their car so that they can't move their car without me moving first and just walk into my house. When it's time for them to leave, they'd come over meekly to my house and ask me to move and I'd take my own sweet time getting out and moving. Yes, folks, don't mess with me, I can be very vengeful! LOL!

I totally hate them. They deserve the most inconsiderate family on the block award. Hmm, maybe I'll just design one for them and present it to them one day. I'm sure I'll get the endorsement of the other neighbours as well. They just know how to ruin both wifey's and my day. And since I'm in pissed mood, well, I was a little earlier but not anymore but since I'm complaining anyway, let me tell you about my elder boys Sunday school teacher.

'A Sunday school teacher Nick? How can a Sunday school teacher possibly piss you off?'

Well, let me tell you how. Last Sunday my son was transfered to a different class for his Sunday school and I had to meet his new teacher. Well, no problems with that. So, after mass, we go and send him to his new class and also inform the teacher that he's been transfered here. So I start explaining to the teacher about why he's been sent to this particular class and suddenly his teacher see another parent come in, and without even an excuse me or anything like that, she just ignores me and entertains the other parent! Helllooooo, I was here first and I was in the middle of a sentence with you!

Never mind I say, cos the teacher turns her attention back to me and I continue what I was saying. But another parent walks in and she just cuts me of in mid sentence again and entertains that other parent. Not a word of, 'could you excuse me while I entertain this other parent' 0r anything like that. She justs turns away from me in mid sentence and talks to the other parent. This happens at least 2 more times and by this time wifey already notices my face was turning in Mr. Monster mode. Before I could open my mouth to give her hell, wifey steps in between me and takes over the whole situation!

Well, thank god she did cos the very next words out or my mouth was going to be, 'Hey you stupid Bitch! Don't you have any manners whatsoever?' By the way, can you even call a Sunday school teacher a bitch? And in a church at that? Will I go straight to hell for this? LOL! Well, I don't really care cos I hate rude and arrogant people. I wouldn't have minded it so much if she had excused herself and told me to wait. I guess maybe I wasn't important enough for her. Maybe I looked like some lowly person who didn't deserve attention in her eyes cos I wasn't dressed like someone important. Well, maybe next time I'll use a Tuxedo to church, that'll make me look important and people might just start stumbling over themselves to please me! LOL!

Wow, it's been a day of complaining, complaining and nothing but complaining ... hehehe ... but I seriously cannot stand people like these. I actually wanted to post about this last Sunday but totally forgot about it and since I was in a complaining mood, I thought why not post it now. Besides, it's good to let it all out once in a while right? I'd go crazy if I kept all this in me. I'd probably blow a blood vessel or two. Hmmm, now that I mentioned it, I'd better go check my insurance and see if it's up to date. If it's not, then I guess it's time to get some new life insurance quotes. Cos with the amount of times I'm blowing my top cos of all these inefficient and arrogant people, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Router Blues ...

I'm well into my second day of the holidays for the Chinese New Year and the fact that I'm here posting something on my blog means I've been so far unable to resist the pull of my blog! LOL! This thing is really addictive. I did somehow manage not to touch the PC until at least 11.30am though. Normally, the first thing both wifey and me would do when we get up is to check both our respective blogs and also see if there are any assignments in our in boxes and then we'd get down to making the kids breakfast and all that stuff.

Well, looks like there's no way I'm going to be able not to check in here for the length of my holiday. Besides my assignment box is kinda full with quite a few new assignments waiting to be done starting with this one on drug treatment that maybe I should look into a little more seeing as how I'm totally addicted to blogging that its become like some kind of drug to me ... LOL! If you had asked me one year ago what I thought of blogging, you'd probably be surprised with my answer. Now, if you ask me what I think, I'll tell you blogging is king! LOL!

Ok, enough with me and my addiction already. You people are just gonna have to get used to seeing me blabber away nonsensically here daily. What am I going to do with my day today you might ask me. Well, to be absolutely honest, I don't really know. I don't have any Chinese friends to visit. It's not that I don't have any Chinese friends, I do have loads of them but none of them sent out any invitations to visit so that's out of the question. I know the boys have one of their friends house, this scrawny little kid, just a few doors away which they've been invited to later today. Lucky them! I'm totally envious of them. I'll bet they'll be coming home with a red packet or two.

I actually haven't really visited anyone for Chinese Year in ages, unless you count my buddy Adrian who is married to a Chinese. But even then, I haven't visited his place for the Chinese New Year in ages. Must go and find me more Chinese friends ... LOL! Damn, I think my router is acting buggy right now cos my connection is slow and I just called my service provider again and they say everything is fine on their part so I tried bypassing my router straight to my modem and everything seems fine. Looks like I'm going to have to get a new router soon. This is going to be a problem cos now wifey and me can't surf at the same time. Darn! Well, that might give me some possibilities to start reading again.

Ok, I'm going to log off for now and see what I can do about the router. It's going to bug me if I can't figure it out. Catch you guys later.

A Pleasant Surprise ...

I actually wanted to stay away from blogging for today and just enjoy the day, not that I wasn't enjoying it mind you. But in the end I just couldn't resist the pull of my blog. I thought I'd just check in for a bit and see what' been happening. A few minutes, I promised myself but then, this led to that and that led to this and I ended up replying all my comments and blog hopping ... LOL!

My day started out pretty early, remember in my previous post I said I wanted to stretch the day for as long as I could so getting up early was one good way of doing that. And the next thing I did was log on but ended up not being able to get connected, so I called up my internet provider and gave them 3 or 4 pieces of my mind. They didn't really deserve it cos they have been pretty decent service providers (I don't subscribe to Streamyx by the way) and I was so used to their efficiency that I can't stand it when they have connection problems. Can't let them be too over confident now can I? LOL! That was scolding number one from me.

Then scolding number two came along pretty soon when I had to call this particular bank, which I shall refrain from naming for fear of being sued or something and scream my lungs out (well, not really scream but somewhere along those lines anyway) about something that they've been so utterly inefficient with for so many months. After bawling out the bank officer, I was shaking with so much rage that wifey asked me to calm down ... normally it's the other way round ... LOL! With that out of the way, the rest of the day was pretty good.

We decided to have our breakfast outside and do our grocery shopping at the same time and stock up on some tidbits for American Idol tonight. We were expecting the place to be a packed cos of those doing their last minute CNY shopping but the crowd at out regular Hypermarket turned out to be pretty manageable. We were done with our shopping in about an hour which was pretty fast for us. Then when I came home I had another pleasant surprise waiting for me.

I walked and saw this hamper on the table and my mom came down and told me some guy named K.K. left it for me. Whoa, I was surprised. This guy is actually the supplier for my office who provides us with colour separation and printing services. A very nice guy who always helps me out no matter how crazy a deadline I give him. He's so far never failed to get my stuff out on time and has NEVER let me down in any project that I give him. I initially didn't like him when I first met him but he turned out to be a nice guy and is also a friend now. And the best part is he lives right across the street from my place, so that makes sending and collecting materials from him all the more convenient!

He did send a hamper to my house also last year but this year I wasn't expecting anything cos my office has been a little slacking in his payments and he wasn't at all pleased with the delay though he didn't blame me for it. He knows I've been doing the best I can to get his payments out as soon as possible but offices being offices are sometimes just plain slow in preparing them. It's the normal, 'our clients haven't paid us, we can't pay you' nonsense which is normal in this line of work but something that I find to be absolutely ridiculous. I think we should all honour the credit terms given. Even though our payments have been slow, he's never refused to do a project for me whenever I ask him. A true professional.


Like I said I was not expecting anything from him but was pleasantly surprised and happy to see the hamper when I walked in this afternoon. It was really pretty decent of him to do that. And it's a really nice looking hamper as well. I haven't opened it yet though. Keeping it till tomorrow when CNY starts to open it. No particular reason though, just for good luck or something ... hehehe ... Wifey has 'booked' the Ferrero Rocher chocolates in there. She has to fight with the boys on that one cos my younger son wants it too. Thank god I'm not a chocolate lover. My mom has her eye on the Birds Nest thingy in there, she's welcome to it cos I don't eat the stuff. I have my mind set on the white wine in there. Now no one gets their hands on that one. Though I'm no alcoholic, I simply love a good sip of wine every now and then. As for the rest of the stuff in that hamper which I can't really make out until I open the hamper tomorrow, its gonna be a free for all ... hehehe ...

At least the year of the Rat looks a little more promising. Well, I hope so anyway :) Ok, I've got to go take my shower now and then grabs some din-dins before American Idol starts but not before I try and beat wifeys score on this game she's been playing online. She's getting a tad to good at it and my high score is in jeopardy ... LOL!

And On The 7th Day, He Rested ...

The first day of my one week holiday starts tomorrow ... woohoo ... I don't really know what I'm going to be doing just yet but I know I'm going to be having fun, fun, and more fun. And I'm going to stretch the day to last as long as I possibly can and that means no afternoon naps either, well maybe not the whole week anyway. I don't think I could forgo my afternoon naps for the entire week ... LOL!

The neighbourhood is going to be a quite place come Chinese New Year (CNY) this Thursday. Most people would already be traveling back to their respective hometowns already and the place is going to be nice and deserted. The place where I live has this commercial centre not too far away from my house and it's always, and I really mean always packed to the brim with cars and people going about their business, even on holidays but when it comes time for the CNY holidays, that place is like a ghost town and I'll normally take a drive around the area just for the fun of it since there are practically no cars around ... LOL!

But that's not really entirely true anymore. Back in the older days (gosh, this makes me sound so old), the streets really used to be deserted during this time. The town would practically come to standstill with no businesses open for at least a week. Trying to find a decent food shop that was open was like finding a needle in a haystack back then. I remember me and my two buddies would like camp out at his place for the duration of the CNY celebrations. It was fun doing nothing but chit chatting and hanging out all week. We'd like grab some instant noodles and loads of tidbits from 7-11, which was really the only place open and have an instant noodle cook out. We'd like survive on the stuff throughout the festival until the shops open back up and we could enjoy our Chinese food again.

The place would be so empty and devoid of cars even on the highways that we once actually went and lay down flat on the highway for a whole 30 seconds confident of not getting run over by any speeding vehicles. That was how deserted the place was back then for the CNY holidays. It's not the same these days. The town doesn't come to a standstill anymore. Most people don't really leave town anymore and the streets are not as quiet as before. I know my silly neighbour (the one who thinks the common fence belongs to her) will have her sons coming back from Singapore to celebrate it over here with them. They come back every year and every single year they would piss me off. The son thinks the whole road is his parking place and would just park his car anywhere he likes even to the point of blocking off my own entrance. They really are a bunch of inconsiderate people. I hope the earth opens up and swallow them whole this CNY ... LOL! Ok, ok, I know that's a little bit mean, but they so deserve it.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to be doing yet for the long break but I'll definitely have to think of something. I don't think I'm going to waste it by staying home and blogging all day, as much as I love blogging, I think I'd better get out and enjoy the fresh (?) air out there. Who knows maybe I could bring along my camera and find some cool and interesting stuff to shoot and post it in my blog later. But whatever it is that I'm going to be doing I know I'm going to be having loads of fun doing it. And as for all my blogging friends who are celebrating the Chinese New Year, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish them all a prosperous New Year! May the year of Mickey mouse and gang bring you all great wealth. And remember, if you guys do get rich, remember to spread some of your wealth to poor old me, okay? LOL! And for gods sake, please drive safely if you're traveling back to your home towns for the holidays, k?

Christines Evil Twin!

It's only Monday and my week is already screwed! And just why is that? Well, my lovely, wonderful, nice, beautiful car decided to make me spend more money on it by giving me grief! I positively, definitely, sincerely HATE that car. I think it's sole purpose in life is to make me spend money on it every blooming month!

You know, that car has a blooming mind of it's own. When it works, it'll work fine for years with no problems. But when it decides to break down, I won't hear the end of it. I think most of you who've been reading my blog knows that my car started acting up since last December and I've practically had to baby it all through the months of December and January. It kept going in and out the mechanic shop that I thought maybe I should ask my mechanic for some shares in his company.

Well, I thought I finally had that problem sorted out but today it starts acting up again. I was on the way out for a presentation at one of my clients place and everything was fine on the way there. It was only after the presentation and on the journey back to my office that my car decides to die on me everytime I stop at the traffic lights. I don't know, maybe it's some new fangled way my car decided to save me fuel by shutting it's engine down every time I stop or something but I sure as hell wasn't too pleased with it.

So, with no choice, I nurse the car to my mechanic to get it fixed and it cost me some good money that I was not too happy to part with. Oh well, at least it's finally fixed! I wonder what it has planned next. I swear that car is out to get me. I can picture it laughing evilly away everytime I have to spend money on it. It's probably the twin of that car in Stephen Kings horror novel, Christine. I think in it's previous life it was some kind of torture device they used during the Spanish Inquisition or something. Maybe I should get a priest to exorcise the damn thing. Who knows, it just might work ... LOL!


I guess with the amount of money I spend just to keep it running, you'd think it would be better to get a new car, right? Well, I am in the midst of getting one but there some issues with it at the moment, which is another long story, and one that I'm not ready to share with the world just yet. Let's put it this way, the car has been ordered and all that but getting delivery of it is a problem which I'm trying to sort out. Hopefully I'll get that sorted out soon so I don't have to go see my mechanic every damn month!

The only good thing about this week is that I'll be off for the Chinese New Year celebrations for about a week. No, no, I don't celebrate Chinese New Year but my office management does and we close shop here from this Wednesday until next Wednesday so at least that's something to look forward to :D At least I'll get to have another nice long rest and this time I aim to be doing more with it besides sitting and blogging and also sleeping all day ... hehehe ... Of course there well be the on going assignments like this thing on angel investors that I have to complete but that shouldn't take too long. Maybe I'll go for a picnic or something. I'm sure wifey would love that, the boys too.

OK, now that I've let out some steam here about my devilishly evil car, I'm not in such a bad mood any longer. I think I'll go do some blog hopping and see whats happening in other parts of the world. I do hope you've all had a much better day than me though. See you guys in a bit.

Oh, To be Filthy Rich!

There are a few things in life that sometimes I just cannot figure out. And one of them is how do people become so freaking rich? I've been working my butt off for ages and yet I'm nowhere near as rich as I'd like to be. Come to think of it, I'm not at all rich. I'm able to live comfortably and all that but I'm talking about being filthy rich here.

'And just where is this posting really heading to, Nick?'

Well, there is this house a few blocks away from my place. No, not the one which the occupants just packed up and disappeared quietly one fine day. This is a different one. This house was for sale for quite a while. It's a nice decent corner lot. My best buddy even checked out how much the owners wanted to sell the place cos back then he was thinking of buying a place.

Well, he found out the house was going for close to RM750,000.00! When he told me that I was shocked. That much money for a house which is the same design and size as the one I'm living in? They must be crazy I told him. I even told wifey that the place is going to be vacant for a long time to come with that kind of asking price. I was right in away cos it went being unoccupied for close to a year.

But recently someone finally bought the place. And that someone must be filthy rich cos immediately after they bought the place, they start tearing it completely down and begin to build a new house. That's when I started scratching my head in wonder. How much money do they earn a month? First they buy a house close to a million ringgit and then they tear the place down and build an even bigger house on that same plot of land. And the worst part is the owners of that new place look even younger than me!

I've been working almost my entire adult life and I'm nowhere near to even affording to building a Lego house for myself let alone tear one down and build a new one. And I seriously don't think I'll ever in this life time be able to do something like that. What's their secret for becoming filthy rich I wonder. And they're not the only ones. I've seen loads of other people who do the same thing. Somebody please tell me the secret to being filthy rich! I wanna be rich. I wanna spend money like no tomorrow. I wanna tear my house down and build a new one! I wanna buy a Ferrari! I want to be rich ... sob, sob, sob!

Oh, and I failed to also mention that this house they're building, no doubt big and all is seriously butt freaking ugly! And I really mean butt freaking ugly. I pass this house on my runs and have been watching it start to take shape. It's almost competed and should be ready in time for the occupants to move in before the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Right now the house looks like a huge warehouse or hall (as wifey puts it) and the grills they've installed surrounding the gardens has little roses on it! Yes, little painted metal roses. And I cannot describe how distasteful it looks. I'll try to take a shot of it one day and post it here so you guys can judge for yourselves. I mean, the original house looked pretty cool and the new one is just plain atrocious. I guess being filthy rich does not necessarily give one have a sense of taste ... LOL!

But I would gladly be tasteless and rich than tasteful and poor and that is a fact! LOL! I guess I'm just going to have to slog away here and do as much assignments as I possibly can starting with this one on billet grilles to start compiling some money so I can start buying the first of many bricks to build my new home once I tear this one down. I wonder how many bricks I'm going to need. And if any of you do happen to know the secret to being filthy rich, share some of that knowledge now you hear? Don't be stingy, k? LOL!