How was your weekend?

Somehow , someone will always ask this when I go back to work on Mondays. The standard reply to that would be "Too short". Which isn't far from the truth.

I think the perfect weekend would be 3 days long. Time to start using up those annual leave I have I reckon.

Just the other day, I was thinking to myself "ZOMFG, its already end of January 2007!". Unbelieavable. I'm expecting some good news in February, hopefully it will exceed my expectations! We're supposed to be getting our confirmation on our bonus, increment and salary adjustments based on our Performance Review for 2006. Hopefully more "Angpow" money for me then!

A colleague was robbed of her phone while boarding a bus to come to work. She felt someone grabbing on to her leg, while his accomplice actually reached into her front jeans pocket and stole her phone. She didn't realize her phone was gone until she reached into her pocket to get change for the bus ticket.

Poor girl. It was a new phone and she's only paid 2 instalments for it!

Seeing as its close to Chinese New Year now, I'd like to urge everyone to be extra careful, especially with your handbags and purses. These bastards will strike as they might probably figure everyone will have lots of cash around for "angpows" etc.

This is the 2nd time I bought a bar of Cadbury and found that its double wrapped. Is this their new packaging?

Double-foil Layer

KL text-ed me the other day if I bought anything from a particular shop in MidValley before. I have never heard of that place before. After some "interrogation", he told me that he got himself the Nintendo Wii, for about RM 2000, without any games.

Nintendo Wii

Lucky bugger. Good on him, I mean =D

I told him that if you have the Nintendo Wii, the game that you must get is Legend of Zelda: The Twillight Princess. But he's not a RPG-fan (role playing game). I wanted this for the Nintendo GameCube that I have. I wonder if I'll ever get around to buying this.

He asked me if I was thinking of getting one (a Wii) as well. Honestly, I thought I had lost interest in gaming. There are so many games that I bought that I hardly played as well. It also feels as though as I've lost interest in getting new toys. Sure, there are times when I go "Hey, that looks cool. Might wanna get that". But I never get around to it.

Lately, I have been considering the XBOX 360 (360 from hereon for simplicity sake) though. Sure, I would still want to get my hands on the Sony Playstation 3 but the price of that is way out of budget for me at the moment. I think its going for about RM 3000 at the moment.

Why the 360? Its been out in the market for over a year now so the price should be somewhat reasonable compared to the just released Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3.

Also, there seem to be several games that have caught my somewhat limited attention:

a) Gears Of War - Apparently the "MUST HAVE" action/shooter game for the X360. Good reviews all around. Seen videos as well as people playing it before. Beautiful graphics.

Gears Of War - just look at the graphics!

b) Dead Rising - Another action game, this time - with zombies. Maybe KL should've gotten the 360 instead. He loves his zombies.

The story is nothing new (you're a reporter who's in a shopping mall and must survive 3 days. Does anyone remember the movie "Dawn Of The Dead"?) but you can use weapons and other objects ie. potted plants, cash registers found in the mall to protect yourself and bash the zombies to a bloody pulp.

Wikipedia states that there are over 250 items which can be used to kill the zombies and can have up to 800 zombies on-screen at once. Its bloody, its violent, it sounds like bloody good fun!

Dead Rising - using a TV to smash the zombies

c) Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II - A real time strategy game based on the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (the movie). No way in hell that my PC is going to be able to play this. The system requirements are a killer.

Plus many more to come I'm sure.

Of course, I'm not the only one who wants the 360. Ryan is trying to convince me to get it so that he can have his Halo 3 when its released.

And I've got so much shopping to do, so many things I want to get. So little money.

I'm back.....

After a short hiatus, I'm back. After the drama that happened a few weeks back, I think I've finally recovered from it. Not just me, but the entire household.

But then again, it must've been all the stress built up that I fell sick a couple of days ago and I'm nursing a flu at the moment.

Not only did I have to contend with going back to work, there was a change in sleeping habits as well that I could not adjust to, even if it was for just a couple of days. I think it was more than my body could handle. Add to the fact that I had my 2006 Performance Review/Appraisal last week as well! Phew.....

My Secret Santa gift:

It's raining outside as I'm typing this. Heavily. The recent floods in Johor didn't really seem all that serious to me while reading the papers and looking at the photographs. Not until I saw some photos forwarded to me, did the severity of it hit me. These were pictures of the flood in Kota Tinggi, Johor. During the first flood that hit.

A standard door way is about 7 to 8-feet in height. From the pictures, I could see that the floor waters have risen to almost the top of the door way.

And in the 2nd picture above, I can only assume that those are single-storey houses.

I must admit that I don't go grocery shopping as much as I did when I was back in Melbourne. I had to get some things today after my haircut. While wandering around the aisles, lost, I came across this, right at the bottom of the shelf. I knew I had to take a snap of it.

NUTELLA IS THE BEST!

I think this is the biggest jar of Nutella in production, the 750 gm jar. I don't believe there's anything bigger than this. I was tempted to get it, but we still have some left.

What a whopper! And of all places that I found it, the small, old Giant Supermarket in Kelana Jaya.

More new chocolate, I still think Hershey's Milk Chocolate tastes a little weird.

Hershey's Sticks - Mint Milk Chocolate

My toys are falling to pieces! I found some cracks on a rubber toy. Sure, I paid only RM 2 for this figure but still, seeing something like this is scary. Don't want anything like this happening to my more expensive toys.

I suspect its the pose that I've had him in (a few weeks or even months) but maybe it was exposed to the elements.

Kurt Angle giving Bravestarr the German Suplex



The rubber that's cracking at the elbows and some other joints

A few more forwards to share which I found "interesting".

This was titled "Queen of the Blondes". Notice how she's peering into the digicam the WRONG way! Reminds me of that other photo I've seen of the girl wearing a motorcycle helmet backwards.

No title for this one but very creative tailoring.

An ad for Google. Both letter "O"s have been replaced by Pamela Anderson's ..... well, by Pamela Anderson!

And finally, one of the best bits of news I've heard in awhile. I've heard of this being possible when I was still in Melbourne. Which was fantastic news - except I didn't really benefit from it I believe.

PUTRAJAYA: Handphone users will soon be able to switch network providers without changing their phone numbers.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the Mobile Number Portability (MNP), first proposed three years ago, would be implemented by June.

MNP allows cellular service subscribers to switch network providers without the need to change their handphone numbers.

Dr Lim said the implementation would be managed by an “independent third party”.

The implementation needed the support of the telecommunications companies.

“If one of them does not cooperate, this whole scheme will be jeopardised,” Dr Lim said at his ministry's monthly meeting on Friday.

“Those who do not cooperate will be penalised,” he warned, adding that the penalty was still being discussed.

MNP was proposed by the Government in 2004 and scheduled to be in use by 2005. Implementation was delayed as more research was needed.

Datuk Dr Halim Shafie, head of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, announced last year that the telcos – Maxis Communications Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd and Celcom Bhd – were receptive to MNP.

I foresee myself switching over to MAXIS if DiGi doesn't buck up. Having reception upstairs in my house but fluctuating signal downstairs in unacceptable! And not having reception in places like Fraser's Hill and Genting Highlands the last time I was there!

DiGi, you've got about 6 months to get it straightened out. 6 months. The clock is ticking.

Strange isn't it? That I'm starting to voice out more on Current Affairs and news. Well, here's what I think. I'll voice out if they're relevant to ME. Otherwise, go read the papers or watch the news!

I have to go pay my credit card bills now.....

Relieved.....

The first lesson I learnt, on the first of the year was what "relieved" really means.

Dad's hospitalized (again) but the ordeal was absolutely shit. I'm surprised that I manage to stay as calm as I did.

Dad complained of stomach discomfort over the weekend, after having some seafood with some relatives. Apparently on Monday morning, he went to the clinic and the doctor gave him an anti-vomitting jab. Mum, D&D went for some New Year's buffet at a friends house while I woke up at about 1:00pm, which was the usual routine for me.

As I went downstairs, I noticed the master room doom ajar and saw dad sleeping. I spent most of the afternoon lounging in the hall, in front of the TV. Later in the evening, the maid was bringing dad his meds, when she came rushing down in a panic, saying that she was scared, something happened to dad. I didn't really understand what she was blabbering about so I went up to check.

Dad had shifted from one side of the bed to the other (since I last saw him). His stomach was rising and falling like someone was putting pressure on it and I could see him shaking/shivering. I called out to him and he didn't reply, only made a sound like a grunt. I called him again and yet he didn't respond. I started to worry. He had a fever and his face looked gaunt, his eyelids were slightly open and I could see his eyeballs turned yellow. His skin had turned yellow too but I seem to have missed that.

D&D had come home a few hours earlier and were having a nap. I shouted that there was something wrong with dad and asked them to call mum immediately.

All the while, D&D kept trying to wake him up but he didn't move nor respond. I was told he didn't have anything to eat the whole day and was told to prepare a protein shake for him, the usual that I've been taking. Mum came home a few minutes later, and while I was in the kitchen, D&D and mum were upstairs. Mum was freaking out, started her prayers and chants. I think I heard her order someone to call for an ambulance, which we did.

Mum thought of carrying dad down and driving him to the hospital but was afraid of dropping him. When I saw him again, he was drenched in sweat, the bed was soaking wet with sweat. Dad has some funny gurgling noises coming out of his throat. But still did not respond to our calls.

All the while, I was trying to keep calm and seeing mum react like that - it just scared the shit out of me. She crying and chanting at the same time. I told myself to keep calm and I musn't cry. Mum kept telling dad to "hold on" and the ambulance was on the way. We prayed for the ambulance to hurry up. We prayed for protection and blessings. We prayed for more time.

We called for a 2nd ambulance - and later found out that both ambulances lost their way and couldn't find our house. Finally, the first one we called arrive, followed by the 2nd ambulance I called.

I had a weird feeling - just so tired. So worried, so concerned. I was in pain. I was afraid of what might happen. I was worrying about the possibilities. A million things went through my mind.

When I got to the hospital, sis told me he was in the Resuscitation Ward. It sounded bad. The doctor was concerned it was a stroke but how can that be? All of a sudden? He was fine a couple of days before when we went out, looking at condominiums.

The doctor tested dad's reaction/reflexes by poking dad's soles. He moved when they were poked. Apparently, dad's body had already stiffened and his eyes were open and he wasn't blinking. Doctor sent him for a CT scan but couldn't find anything.

Few hours later, about 8:00pm, dad was finally stirred on the bed and was conscious again. He could speak but it wasn't very clear. Mum was so relieved, she kissed him on the forehead. He realized he was in the hospital. Mum was testing him, to see if he could recognize us - as he was still in a daze.

Some of the aunts, uncles and cousins came to visit and to give support. They stayed a little while but dad had dozed off.

Doctor's suspected that it could have been the anti-vomitting drug he was given. Dad could've been allergic to it, or the drug was too strong. The doctor then said he gave dad something to counteract what was given earlier in the day. He said it wasn't serious and he could be discharged. Mum insisted that dad was admitted, just in case - only to be told that there were no beds. At the time of writing this, dad had gone for a 2nd CT scan earlier this morning, but there were no doctors around to give the results.

Throughout the whole ordeal, a million things went through my mind. I was scared, panic, worried. Only GOD knows what sort of emotions I went through throughout the whole ordeal.
When I was at dad's bedside, and he finally called my name, I finally understood what "relieved" meant. It was always a word we use to describe, but I guess I never really knew until that day.

I walked out of the room, told D&D and Ryan to go have a look at dad. I took a seat, and then the tears started welling up in my eyes.

Just for a little bit.

I told myself I wasn't going to let myself cry. But I couldn't help it.