Saturn in my Saturday

Saturn:- Ill health, much expenditure, trouble from public, complaints, bad luck, false accusations, litigations, loss of money find property, open enemies. Source: http://www.mypurohith.com/Astrology/Astrology12.asp

Today started with some SMSes from my sister. My parents were on the way to Heathrow airport when their passports were stolen. My sister informed me they were making a police report and she asked me to get the Malaysian embassy address & phone number in London. I called her to find out what happened... apparently my father didn't want to keep the passports in the briefcase in case it got stolen, so he put it in his coat pocket instead. And they had noticed a couple of Indians near them and during the train ride had actually bumped into them which they thought nothing of for it was rush hour, and the Indians got off the train before my parents did. But then they found the passports missing and they had even gone all the way back to my sister's residence to see if they had left them behind but even my sister said that she had seen for herself that my father had put the passports in his coat.

Of all the places to keep them - in a coat pocket! In London - where the pickpockets are professionals!

So naturally my parents' return had to be delayed, as they had to miss their flight home. It was night time when this happened, so my parents can only go to the embassy tomorrow morning but I'm afraid that they may not be open as it is weekend. Now they have to make some temporary travel documents and can only come back on Monday or Tuesday.

How wretched!!!! I'm really worried about them, but the important thing is that they didn't get hurt or anything like that.

To add to my misery... I had to work this morning, on a Saturday when I'm supposed to be resting, and recovering from my very taxing and stressful week. I was slapped with a parking fine as I had overshot the time on my ticket. I went to do a demonstration at a potential customer's office and they kept me so long and when I went back to my car there was a RM30 fine... :'( Sigh. Now I have to go appeal on Monday.

Wretched!

And then I had to read the front page of today's papers....



The fine that was slapped on my car


Horrifying front-page news!

Zunishu - Scam at my doorway

I was home early today, as my afternoon appointment had cancelled on me. I was all set to catch up on my tasks, when at about 5pm the doorbell rang.

There was a Chinese girl there who insisted that she was not doing sales and is merely doing a promotion on behalf of the company. So I went over to the gate (I didn't open it; it's an automatic gate) where she talked to me between the bars of the gate. The company was celebrating its 10th anniversary, and they were going to have an exhibition in Midvalley on 15th August. She said she's from Kelantan; mixed Chinese and Siamese blood; of Hakka dialect; studied in KL; can't speak English, only Mandarin and BM, and picked up Cantonese while here in KL. We were conversing in Mandarin and then BM (my Mandarin is extremely limited). Anyway then she showed me some envelopes given out by her company, and she said each house is entitled to two, and showed me some samples filled up by other people where some had just a "Thank You" which means they get nothing, and some had won things like a Milo tin or a Darlie toothpaste (which she claimed will be delivered to their doorstep). Anyway she said for every envelope opened, she gets RM2. Taking pity on her, I agreed to open for the heck of it, and I told her that if I win anything she can have it, which of course she said no, she can't take. Already I was wondering which stupid company would go around delivering practically worthless things like that directly to people's doorsteps.

My first envelope had a "Thank You" and then she insisted on my opening another envelope. That also had a "Thank You", but it was printed nicely in blue on glossy paper (as opposed to printer-printed normal coloured paper in the earlier samples) with a red stamp "Special Bonus" at the bottom. She seemed excited but said she didn't know what exactly it was and asked if she could come in to my house and make a call.

Red alert! There was no way I would let a stranger into my house - not after all those news stories I've heard over the past years! Instead, I took my handphone out and I made the call (FYI, number was 016-2800320). The guy I spoke to insisted that I passed my phone to the girl, so I reluctantly did, but I had my keys in hand ready to open the gate and grab her if she ran off with my phone.

Well, she didn't but here's what happened next. On the phone, the guy sounded excited as well, and told me to pass the phone to the girl so that he can tell her what to tell me. She spoke for a very short while (under a minute) before passing the phone back to me.

She was excited - too excited, in fact. Kept shaking my hand and said congrats again and again. Apparently I was now entitled to a lucky draw which I can win a Honda City. There are 5 prizes in all, ranging from a Jaguh motorcycle to the car. As she prattled on and on, I couldn't help thinking, she gleaned all this from a conversation of a few seconds on the phone?

Then she spotted her friend who was also doing the same rounds and shouted for her to come over, saying I had this special bonus ticket. As her friend came over, speaking in Mandarin/BM, she also appeared overexcited, and shaking my hand with congratulations, and the only words that came into my head was, "What well-planned act!" The problem was their execution. They were far more excited than I was. The second girl asked me why we weren't sitting inside talking comfortably, and all I did was just smile and said no.

They were going on and on... using psychological tactics like, "You could win RM12,000! Have you ever held RM12,000 in your hands??" and comparing other contests like KFC's scratch-and-win contest. Something about having my picture taken if I won the car and how I'd be in all the newspapers. Psychological tactics that have no effect on me; in fact they repel me. I wondered what trap they had set for me, and finally I cut them short and asked, "So what next?"

What next? Well, here's what they want me to do. They want me to go for the draw, but I must have RM2,800 in hand that must be paid no matter what prize I drew. So that's the trap. My hesitation (and lack of enthusiasm) must be obvious, as they kept saying things like how there are only 10 of these bonus tickets and I'm the second one to get it, and it's hard to get, etc etc etc etc. They showed me printouts of previous year's winners. They told me that any hesitation would cause someone else to win the grand prize. All I could think of was my PC in the house, which I was using to surf online before the rude interruption. So I backed away and said that I'm going to make a phone call to my father (I conveniently left out that they were not even in the country) and again the second girl implored me not to, quoting some supposed earlier case of a woman doing the same thing as I am and it so happened that her husband arrived home and chased off the reps, and one of their neighbours drew the winning prize instead and that unfortunate couple had an argument because of the lost prize (I wonder how they knew about that). As I reiterated my wish to call, she asked me, "Don't you have any power?" I said I had no money. As I made a move to go back into the house again, she implored me again not to call, at which I lost my patience and snapped at her. Before this, we had been conversing in Mandarin/BM but at this point, because of my anger, I switched into English and said in quite a hard voice, "Don't rush me."

Of course I didn't make a call to my father. I ran a quick search online and dug up a few nasty truths. I was not foolish enough to just rely on the company website; I have always made it a habit to research external sources.

I kept them waiting while I looked up some more articles, before I finally went back outside and told them I was not interested. That's when the girl said, "I told you not to call your father" and I retorted that I looked up on the Internet about something like this, and I said again I was not interested. So she helplessly said that then she can't say anything anymore, but I'm missing an opportunity of a lifetime, to which I said that I have no regrets. So thank you for your time, yadadadada... and finally the two girls walked off.

I'm not going to summarise what I feel about this scam. You readers are intelligent enough to know. Scams like these prey on greed and hope of getting something without paying for it, or paying only a nominal sum. Just like get-rich-quick schemes. I'm surprised that this company is getting away with it, every year.

The only trap I had fallen into was pity for the girl. I know that there are some genuine door-to-door promoters out there, and I feel sorry for these kinds of promoters because it's a tough job with little reward. I did sense a scam from the start, but I think it was curiosity which made me play along with their little game.

Here are some links you can read:

http://ad.contentzone.com/srv/view?site_id=28211
http://www.geocities.com/kafa25/zunishu.html

The company website did mention the contest:
www.zunishu.com.my/

My new office :þ

I don't like my new office.

 

No, I don't mean I don't like the company. I don't mean I don't like the people. I don't mean I don't like the work.

 

Ok, maybe it's not quite accurate to say I don't like my new office. In fact, the office is quite nice. It's quite small, but it's done up in a simple manner. There are four desks placed touching each other in the middle of the room where the staff sit facing opposite each other. The windows are covered with light blue curtains to give a very cool atmosphere (as opposed to my boss' room which is covered with beige curtains). I sit in the direct path of the air-cond which blows coldly at us. There is no Internet access, but I connect via dial-up from time to time to retrieve and send emails. Simple, but good enough.

 

What I don't like is the washroom!!!

 

The office resides in an office block opposite Plaza Pudu, and all the offices on the same floor (not very many, maybe 4-5) share the public washrooms which are locked and only the said offices hold the keys. The washrooms won't win any awards, but they're clean enough.

 

The problem is, THERE IS NO HOSE!!!

 

I won't go into details. But let me just say that I have to be very careful with what I eat here. All the pity, because there are plenty of good food around here. And with a stomach like mine which digests food within the hour, I can't afford to take any chances. Ugh... well, I guess it would be pretty much like in UK. They don't have hoses there too. They clog up the toilets with plenty of toilet paper.

 

I don't know how the people here can stand it!

Monday night ramblings

I thought that practice would be cancelled tonight as coach was taking a holiday on her birthday, but no, there was no escape. A dismal showing of 4 of us turned up. Sigh. I thought I could have the night off too.

I've been so tied up with work and practice that I've forgotten what it's like to have free time on my hands. I simply cannot remember what it's like to just stay at home and watch the idiot box. In fact, I have not watched TV for ages. I'm so used to being out of the house that throw me one night with nothing to do, I'll still won't be clicking the remote; I'd find a way to get out somehow.

My body clock has adjusted as such that I simply cannot fall asleep before 1-2am. I can put myself in bed but that doesn't mean I will get any shut-eye. Even when I was sick the past few days, I still didn't fall asleep until 1.30am. It's very unusual for me to be home on a weekday before midnight, which is why I'm up typing this odd entry for my blog, eating home-made yoghurt which I made last week.

At my feet I have boxes of soap and candle-making basics which are almost a year old, bought last year when I was heavily interested in these handicrafts. I still am but I never got around to trying my hand at candle-making. I used to buy soapbase from a craft shop but I never went there again after I was given a very sarcastic answer at a time I was purchasing more than RM1,000 worth at one go (I asked if I could get a 'bulk discount' and all I got in return was a sarcastic "No, our prices are already at their lowest"), and besides that their soapbase was not well done; all slimy and soft and gooey. My last attempt at making soap from scratch was a failure and I've never gotten around to trying it again. My excuse is that I'm waiting for my aunt to come back to KL so I can get more advice from her.

I can't remember a weekend when I actually have energy to practise these crafts. I'm looking at my calendar and I see competition after competition. If I'm not at a competition, it's a party. If it's not a party, then I'm out with my friends. The rare occasions I actually get to stay home, I just take the much-needed rest. Ever heard the phrase, "I'll catch up on all my sleep the first year I'm dead"?

I have a sadly neglected website which I update only every 6-12 months. I have my team website in planning stage and is half-built but I have yet to complete it even after 2 months. I have the ideas but not the energy or time to do them.

I have 3 medium-sized boxes full of items I brought home when I graduated 3 years ago, which are still under the staircase collecting dust. Every long weekend or long break I promise myself that I will actually sort the stuff out, but I never get around to it.

I have 3 tables full of my things that are now spilling on the floor, which I also promised to clean up every time there was an upcoming long weekend, but they suffer the same fate as the abovementioned boxes.

I have 2 wardrobes and a cupboard full of clothes which I wanted to sort out. I did reorganise them earlier this year, but it's surprising how quickly they fall into disarray again. I have already set aside a small pile of clothes to be given away at the bottom of one of the wardrobes, but I think there is more that need to be added to that pile. My friend told me that she read in a magazine that if there are clothes in your cupboard not worn for more than 6 months, then it's time to get rid of it. That probably means one entire wardrobe of mine has to be given away... since most of the clothes in there belong to my sister who is enjoying herself in UK and might not come back for years.

I have some repertoire which I badly need to run through on my electone but I have not found the time to do so. I have a software exercise to try before my demo on Wednesday but here I am postponing it by typing this darn blog!

And yet in spite of it all... let it be known that I would never change my lifestyle for anything!

What a weekend! :)

Friday was full of mixed events. I went for an appointment on Friday morning only to find that the person I was supposed to meet had already gone out for a meeting. Argh! It was a beautiful wet morning that would have been lovely to sleep in for a while! Instead I was forced to drive all the way to Bangsar and search for parking space AND pay for it. And have my brakes nearly fail me which almost gave me a heart attack.

I was appraching the traffic lights near the Bangsar Shopping Complex heading home when they turned yellow, so I slammed on the brakes. Under normal circumstances, they'd usually stop just in time but instead, what I got was a loud screeching noise and my car slid smack in the middle of the yellow box. How embarrassing! I quietly went into reverse and placed my car back behind the white stop line, and until the next light change, I seemed to find my fingernails quite interesting. I think the road was extra slippery there, because later when I tried the brakes again, they were working as usual.

I met up with Majidah for lunch which was really nice because I hadn't seen her for AGES. She's got this great job that she really likes and I'm really glad for her because in the last one she was not appreciated at all. Of course KL traffic is a bane to her but isn't it for all of us? ;)

Friday ended with a surprise dinner for my coach, Bronya whose birthday is on Monday and she was actually quite annoyed because she was having a dance party on Sunday (today) and she had a number of things to do that night, and now was delayed by our dinner party. Initially we had planned to get her to Modesto's in Hartamas where the entire team would be waiting, so Helen had told Bronya that she was arranging a dinner just between herself, Bronya, and me after our belly dancing class so it would come off as a real surprise for Bronya when she arrived at the restaurant. Instead Bronya had said she has only time for a quick dinner before she rushed off to do her chores so we got the team to meet us at the usual mamak place where we always had our dinner after class. In spite of her annoyance I think she was quite pleased, when the team brought out the cake and some of us gave her presents. Anyway after a while she had to run off to her studio to prepare the items for Sunday's party, and she refused any of our help. I planned to go there anyway to help her, and 2 other girls agreed to as well, but in the end I had to back out because I was really not feeling well and Bronya wouldn't hear of my staying up to help her. Anyway the other 2 girls did go so they managed to finish up by 3.30am instead of her initial projected 6am.

Saturday I felt better so I went to help Bronya shop for some more items for the party and ended with a late dinner. Also, for the first time in my life, I actually gargled with salt water. Ugh! What a horrible aftertaste! But it really does help relieve the sore throat. That's what I'm going to do from now on. And I was also forced to drink some herbal tea (which was actually quite nice), from a shop which had bowls ready for you to drink from, and Yvonne (a team member) gave me a packet of Ho Yan Hor tea as well. And I also drank one box of Marigold Vitamin-C enriched white grape juice by myself. I went to the washroom countless times that day.

Sunday was dance party day! It's actually a graduation party. Bronya choreographs all her dances and groups them into CD1, CD2, and CD3 and anyone who's completed learning all the dances in a particular CD will graduate into the next level. Personally, I think it's a great motivating factor especially for those who aren't very good dancers but they try so hard to master the dances. I'm not a regular class member, but I do attend some of her classes which are held just before our practices. It turned out I knew all the CD1 songs and on Saturday I had jokingly asked to graduate, and Bronya really printed a cert for me and actually handed it to me during the graduation ceremony which was really sweet of her. And each graduant gets a small gift too (which was what I was helping to shop for, and wrap later), which made it all the more generous. Well, of course, I did pay for the ticket to the party but it was my choice to do so in the first place, and I had paid for that ages ago. I was the one who took the longest time choosing the wrapped gift to take... because I knew what some of the items were! And what I wanted was not there!!!! :'( But what I got was quite nice too.

I also performed at the party, which admittedly was not quite up to mark as we didn't really have much time to practise beforehand. All in all it was quite enjoyable for me, mainly because most of the time I was on the floor dancing.

Great weekend! Spent on personal time, I mean. I was supposed to learn up on some of my work software.... and I hadn't! Now I have to chase time tomorrow!

And I'm recovering really fast, too. I don't remember ever getting over a severe sore throat this quickly, i.e. within 3 days. I've been pumping my body with Vitamin C every day. I think that's what I'll do from now on whenever I get sick. And saltwater for the inflamed throat!