Losing is not an option!

Friendly matches are never gracious! People still play to win and will do just about anything for victory. Last week during the inter-dept games, even our biggie boss was playing dirty to ensure her team is spared from the agony of defeat. Sadly though, with the majority of us with two left feet…my team didn’t do all that well. We are now down by almost 4 points from the leading team. And we only have 1 or maybe 2 more games to go! I foresee more cheating, more cunning strategies and perhaps the ultimate line of attack would be to send a specific power player from the winning team for a course in Timbuktu for a fortnight so we could take pleasure in the sweet smell of victory. Now that’s what I call Team Strategy by Sabotage!

I hope I don’t look as Jurassic as I feel! I was literally a drug addict last week and probably this week too. With so many activities lined up week after week with no chance of parole over any day, not even the weekend, my body is aching all over, I feel tired all the time and my eyes are puffy from lack of sleep. I’ve been popping Neorofen and antibiotics like Smarties that if we were to have a drug test for the inter-dept games, I would be their first victim to be booted out!

And they say sports are good for you….

Sleep over!

I’m re-living the nostalgia of my childhood thru cheeky bom bom. Last weekend I arranged her very 1st slumber party. She was allowed to invite only 5 of her closest friends. We started out the night with a poison box game to break the ice. Then there were playing with fire crackers, treasure hunting and modelling inclusive of a ‘cat-walk’ show! Girls being girls, no matter at what age, they are certainly interested in boys, clothes, make-ups and gossips! And these girls were no exception! I lent them my makeup kit and told them to surprise me with their artwork once done. They came down ½ hour later complete with evening dresses (courtesy of my daughters’ wardrobe), full makeup with hair nicely made-up! They even did a short runaway stint in front of us. Later that evening, shamelessly I eavesdropped on them gossiping about some of the boys…and we are talking about girls ranging from 4 to 8 years old! What’s next….birds & the bees???

Note to myself! Crazy sister El can actually keep a secret! She came back to Malaysia a day earlier than she was supposed to and nearly gave poor mum a heart attack when mum woke up with crazy sis El’s face looming above her at 5 am!

How cool is dat?

Am I not cool?

Crazy sis, Tish said that I and the sane sister were uncool just because we refused to part with RM260 to go to Whitney’s concert this weekend with the three crazy sisters!

We had the chance to enjoy Whitney’s concert when we were in the UK during her dwindling career in the late 90’s…but now??? RM260 for a show by a junkie? Did her re-hab cost that much? Or did Bobby use up all their dosh on coke? 13-21 year olds going to Whitney’s concert is cool?? That’s like me telling the world that it’s cool to go to Barry Manillow’s concert in Genting!! ‘Her name was Lola….she was a showgirl…lalala Copacabanaaaa…..

We would if somebody gave us free tickets and apologise for calling us uncool..sob sob!

Somebody is sooooo NOT getting any pressies for her next birthday! Hmpphh!

A little revelation!

Do I have any talents? No. Zero! Unless you call being able to name almost any handbags by label and designer, yes, I do have a talent. Albeit, completely useless unless my career path were to lead me into being a professional crime witness involving identifying handbags. I don't think that pays very well.

Or so I thought!

As Eleanor Roosevelt said:

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until she’s in hot water”.

When it comes to handling life's big and little situations, you probably have quite a few skills that you don't think twice about. Life sends a challenge your way; you stay strong in the moment, and then figure out which skills are needed to handle it.

Today a colleague pointed out a fact that I have missed. I have been consulted by quite a number of people when they ran into a problem. I realized then I’m pretty good at manipulating potential disasters into personal glories.

So I guess I do have a talent! Even if it’s just the ability to do some quick thinking in order to solve a problem.

In my personal and professional experience, I have passed at least one hot water test.

I bet you have too!

So! What special skills/strengths do you have for handling life's big and little situations?

Come what may...Part 2!

Something a bit more educational today....

4. For people who are lucky enough to have a pension scheme, their livelihoods are going to be guaranteed with no worries as to where the next meal is coming from upon retirement. But for normal people like you and me who have to depend on EPF for our golden years, EPF is not going to be enough!!! Statistic shows that on average, most people will finish off their EPF money within 3 years of receiving it. And then what? These people are forced to live off their children or worse still, forced to work! Scary? Well, that’s the reality. But the good thing is, I’m pretty sure all of uol’s (including yours truly) are still young! We still have time to save. For the Bumis, forget about unit trusts, shares, fds, etc! Concentrate on maximising your ASB and ASWawasan which will give a steady return of between 8-10% annually! Save now! NOW you hear! Btw, do you know that you can engage a PNB’s agent to transfer % of your EPF fund 1 into ASWawasan for higher return? No? Never heard of that? Well now you do.

You learned something new today haven’t you!

5. For Muslims, I’m sure you’ve heard the hassle and difficulty of going thru Faraid when death occurs. Well, happy news is here. You can do your Will at Amanah Raya and all instructions will be followed thru upon you kicking the bucket. An official Will supersedes all. Why am I talking about this? Well, I have one daughter! Having faced with many deaths in the family lately, I’m worried when my time is up and my daughter will get peanuts! Asking here and there, I have found out about this method which will ensure her inheritance. At the moment her inheritance ain’t much apart from the house, a Silver nose hair tweezers handed to me from ‘Furrball’, my hairy great granduncle and my collection of slightly torn Victoria Secret Lingerie, thanks to my overly amorous dearest on our first night in Bali (Honeymoon maaaa!)

So go, I urged all of you to take advantage of what AR can do!

Come what may...Part 1

Life has been pretty hectic with really bad weather, a viral flu attack and lots of unfortunate events. Amidst sniffles, echoing ears, dizziness and a nose resembling Rudolf, I’m typing away furiously as if it’s my last memoir on some stuff that I’ve learned over the week….

1. I have never played Darts before and have always thought that it’s a game for beer bellied British yobs that have had wee bit too much to drink at the local Pub! Well this week, having been down with flu, I have decided to play the so called ‘Poor Man’s Archery’ for my inter department’s games. Yeah, it’s easy to just throw randomly at the board but what I didn’t know was the catch at the end! I didn’t know that in order to win, we needed to finish off with a double! It was bloody difficult I tell you! Unless your aim is as accurate as cupid, have steady wrists, a proud owner of a huge beer belly that act as a balancing counter weight (proving gravity exists) and you have been playing everyday since 1968, then it’s going to be peanuts for youlah! But for a novice like me…hell, I’d have a better chance to bed Brad Pitt AND Clooney at the same time!!!

I shall never pooh pooh those who can master the so called easy game, again!

2. When one had to attend a seminar with delegates from all over the world, one tends to find that the world is indeed very small and it’s getting smaller! Small because I had the good fortune to meet few of my uni mates of the same industry who came from various places around the world during a financial forum session in M’sia last week. Smaller because some of them are already in ‘Facebook’ thus I’m expecting to reconnect with them pretty soon!

3. Is 1st Runner-up the best among the losers or the first LOSER?? Some play only to win, one will find all sorts of ways to win. Last weekend, my so called ‘Community of Suburbia’ had a ‘pesta muhibah’ where each Cul de Sac on Westeria Lane had to set up a free food booth. On the eleventh-hour, we discovered that there was actually a prize for the most attractive and happening booth. We were pretty relaxed about it even though our booth was really bare whilst the other booths were decorated with flowers, balloons, banners, their grandmothers..etc. But one of my neighbours was so upset that she kicked a fuss with the organiser for not telling us about the competition and huffing and puffing she drove off leaving us dazed. She came back few minutes later, her car packed to the brim with literally her whole house’s contents! She brought flower pots, curtains, her children’s white board, table cloth, etc, you name it, everything but the kitchen sink!! And I must say that the booth looked pretty amazing once she finished decorating but she was still not satisfied! We were told… err actually, we were Ordered to wear red t-shirts for the night. With fire in her eyes, red sweaty face and sticky oily hair, we were not going to argue with this demonic looking fire breathing soccer mother of three. Grown men and women, children from all ages, all nodding in defeat, recognising Hitler was in the house. Believe it or not, we actually won the main prize which we gave to her of course.

No Fear Never Surrender!

To be continued...

Between close friends and family!

Despite changing the date of the gathering at the very last minute, miraculously, our potluck Raya gathering was still..On. Although the attendance was a mere 43% of the old CBN rat pack gang but because the rats had already littered with smaller rodents i.e. family has been extended to include husbands and children, it was still a full house!



Of course having a celebrity as a friend came with a price. We were badgered the night before to part with our precious pre-paid credits to vote for her and her husband on Astro’s new reality show ‘Sehati Berdansa’ and the first question that popped out from her yesterday was of course ‘did we vote for her’. We made a pact with her husband there and then and I’m putting it here to seal the deal that in return for our votes, if they win the 1st price which rumoured to be a Mini Cooper (at press time, the grand prizes remains a surprise), he would have to chauffer us for a day to the coolest celebrity infested places in KL. Hey..how many times does one get to have a celebrity a their beak and call right? We all were glad to find out last night that they have received the highest vote..so far! Go Vanida..Go Shidee! Break a leg!!

Ops on that note, we did vote for Rai & Zain, Shazlin & Radhi too, the ladies being an ex-cbners too and Rai being part of our gang’s extended friends…so Go people! May the best couple win! And the judge was Linda Jasmine…. A former CBNer herself….. aci ke tak aci…dono lah!!

On the way home, we decided to surprise my dearest’s father with a birthday cake even though his birthday is today. Since all his siblings live just 5 minutes away, we requested everyone to join us. With a cake in hand and candles all stuck in, we waited for the others behind a tree in front of the house. 5 minutes passed and they were still not there. Turned out they were waiting for the children to write some birthday cards. We had to go back to the car with the cake still in hand praying that his dad will not come out from the house and see us. Our ready excuses ranged from ‘Kami dari Madrasah Al-Hikmah, Sungai Golok, Yala nak meminta derma…’ to ‘Someone came by and sold us the cake’ and to just stay down and pray that he will not notice our car!

But the bombshell was really a surprise to him. It was quite funny coz he was actually out under the porch and was doing some carpentry. And there we were all trying to suck in our tummy (try more than 5 minutes….its pretty impossible!) hiding behind the tree, trying to light the candles (which was pretty difficult to do with the wind blowing hard) and trying to keep the children quiet (which we failed miserably) but not once did he even looked up from his work! Deaf I don’t think so but dedicated in his work oblivious to his surrounding was more like it!

It was nice to see him all smiles and in good health being surrounded by his family celebrating his 65th birthday when just a couple of months ago we were all on our toes praying hard for him when he had to undergone his triple bypass surgery.

Life is short so live it well!

In my case, spurred by the previous event, I will now start dubbing songs, that can turn me on, into 1 cd *wink with devil's gleam in the eyes*

A fine line between love and hate!

Over the week, I have learned 2 things!

1. I luuuurve Gamelan music!

During my function yesterday, the mesmerizing sensual melodious sound affected me so much that I found myself practically swinging my arms in tune with the dancers like a lovesick elephant. I did dabble a bit in the Gamelan music way back in college but it had left no profound effect on me except when I encounter rude drivers on Malaysian roads… macam nak ketuk-ketuk kepala depa!!

But yesterday, strangely I felt moved and felt sexy at the same time. Truthfully, I felt horny! Damn! I wonder where I can learn to play the instrument… before I start playing my dearest’s organ? Anyone?

2. I hate facebook!

I felt that all the poking, kicking, kissing, slapping..etc was a waste of time and was pointless and childish. But I also found myself to be daydreaming about the actions I was going to do to my friends next. I found myself itching to log on unto facebook when I should be paying attention to my research. In short, facebook is slowly ruining my life and my attention span! But I love the fact that I was able to give virtual gifts to friends on the birthday (yeah sue me coz I’m cheap!), I was able to see how their days are faring and most importantly, I was able to hook up with some long lost friends. I was never into Friendster or Myspace so I really can’t compare but if these two sites are anything like facebook, damn I should have joined ages ago!

So now not only my attention span is shorter and what bit of memory space I have, has been taken over by vampire slayers, quizzes, picture of fishes swimming in aquarium..etc, I am also one horny bitch with gamelan music playing in the background!

Facebook me !!!

Ikhlas tapi jauh!

It’s not Raya if there’s no marathon of open houses. And like the previous weekend, we were all over the city racing from Kajang to Ampang to Subang and even to Klang. It’s not even about the food; it’s about seeing friends & family who otherwise we don’t get to see due to busy schedules. Once in awhile you get to sample different types of food but most of the time, you’ll turn sick with the same old ‘Rendang-Kuah Kacang & Nasi Impit Combo’…ever so often the host will try his/her best to entice you to sample ‘their’ version of Chef Wan’s or even Nigella Lawson’s Rendang recipe, believe me…RENDANG is RENDANG however exotic it may sound!!!

Tip #1: Always stick to the same story… sensitive stomach after hari raya and stick with the krepeks and the light stuff!

At the end of the marathon, we decided to finally grab a proper dinner at Sri Hartamas. Amidst the elated hurrah of Arsenal fans celebrating the equaliser on the 91st minute and dejected moans of MU’s fans (Hahahahaaa Padan Muka!!!), we saw a blind person going from table to table asking (I’m being polite here!) for donations. Later as we got in our car parked quite a distance away, we saw the same ‘blind person’ walking past swinging his stick, practically skipping and whistling at the same time!

Tip #2: Never judge a book by its cover and when u feel like donating… don’t past judgement, always give in your ‘Ikhlas’ mode and never be pressured to give because u don’t wanna look like a cheapskate or just to shoo the guy away…

That my dear readers, is how you can make a fast buck in just a few hours! Imagine getting RM1 every 2 minutes….in 3 hours…that’s RM90 tax free!!! Overtime…who knows… he could be the guy with the 18 inch chrome-spinners that passed u in a souped-up CooperS on Telawi 3 the other day..

Tip #3: For those of you out there smirking in a tie and briefcase trying like hell to make ends meet and IF you’re lucky, maybe the luxury of a Shirley Temple for your partner on a Saturday night at Sri Hartamas, and to look extra cool in front of your girlfriend, you slip a ringgit to this poor blind fellow…… the joke’s on you... SUCKER!!!!

Ambil galah tolong tunjukkan..

Yesterday, one of my closest girlfriends confided in me that she is separating from her husband. This is the 2nd time I’ve been shocked to silence with such revelations. How do one act in this kind of situation?

Does one starts bashing the hubby? Be a good friend by agreeing with all the nasty allegations against the hubby?

Does one starts hugging and give consoling words?

Does one advise her to seek marriage counsel?

Does one offer financial aids?

And in both situations, I did not know how to act. All I did was told her the truth. I told her that I don’t know what to say but if she needs a helping hand, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or a place to get away from it all, I'll always be there for her!

Did I do the right thing?

Should I say a bit more?

Was there anything else I should offer?

I guess I don’t have the answer to everything!