Ta-da~~ finally revealing what I’ve been making myself work on every night after work…  my own personal accounting software! *phew* In fact, this is a project that I embarked on about 5 years ago, but I got bored and after reformatting my computer, etc, I just never worked on it until I got the hankering to do so either late last year or early this year.

I started searching for my source code so I could continue working on it… but sad to say that I could only find the logon page codes! As you can see from the link on top, I had already an output screen and evidently – some method to input transactions. It was soooo easy to just say, “Screw this, I’ll go back to pen and paper” (Which is how I do my own personal finances…), but I had to persevere. Mainly because my little notebook is almost finished, and I’m getting lazy to keep writing everything down. Plus, I like the idea of being able to query out the transactions (data mining) and really getting to know what I’m spending my money on. It’s quite tedious to trawl through your own notebook to track back where the expenses are going!

I didn’t even have the database scripts to recreate all the tables again, even though I remember distinctly telling myself, “Ok, you got to keep the scripts in a text file so that next time when you want to install a new copy in another machine, you can just trigger all the queries in one go.” What the heck! Very demotivating, but at the same time, I told myself, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO REDO EVERYTHING YOU FELT WAS “NOT QUITE RIGHT”! My previous program had a lot of hardcoding, and if it was to be installed in another person’s PC, everytime he / she wanted to add in a new transaction type, it would involve database command again. Even though it’s only myself using the software, I decided to make everything “parameterised”. Hahahhaa…

Ok, ok, no need to criticise on the GUI or whatever, I didn’t really concentrate on APPEARANCES as I was more concerned on getting the main modules working, and I’ve got quite a bit done so far. As I wrote on my Twitter, the rest are the bells and whistles. The changes I made from my 2007 copy :

a. paramaterisation of all the transaction codes (previously hardcoded )

b. able to add in new users (previously was for ME and ME alone)

c. able to add in different accounts (previously all finances is lumped in an “all in” category. Now can segregate on the balances in credit card (which bank cc as well), cash account, savings accounts, etc)

d. able to query transactions by date (previously would show you the balances for the month) and by account (as mentioned, last time was “all in”)

e. transaction screen able to put in default amounts so don’t have to keep keying in certain recurring expenses (e.g: gym, salary)

f. usage of menu-driven interaction instead of previous style which had a row of command buttons on the side (like a “frames” view)

I still have some other touch-ups to do :

a. maintainence of transaction codes (very low priority)

b. different type of reporting styles

c. set-up all the accounts that I have (this is the main priority actually)

d. my limits checking

Meanwhile, I achieved my target of completing this by end of the month so that I can resume keeping account of my expenses.. I had stopped for almost two months because there was heavy expenditure and I got demotivated. Hahahhaa! Anyway, I’ve had fun with this… after this, Tron asked me to build another small program for him, so I will probably work on that.

Oh yes, and the MySQL Workbench is sooo awesome! You don’t need to know ANYTHING on SQL and you can build your own tables and databases… how awesome is that? DBAs??… I shall replace you! Muwahhahaha….

A wise friend once told me – why don’t you try reading the horoscope for ALL the other star signs… I bet it’s so general that ALL of it can apply to you. I found that it was half true… some of it was, and some of it wasn’t. But that was the same for my OWN star sign – some of it was true, and some of it wasn’t.

I guess it’s so hard to accept it as balderdash when Tron and I have superbly 100% matching horoscopes whether following the Western one or the Chinese one.

Gotta be at work in a few hours time — didn’t take any leave this year. Then again, I’m used to not taking leave during the CNY period. This year is my most no CNY spirit… I didn’t buy any new clothes (oh, the shirt I’m wearing in the above pics are new (with tags some more!) but I didn’t buy it for CNY this year. I bought it almost 1.5 years ago!! This is what happens when you buy stuff wholesale.. you can get so much bang for your buck. And I tell ya, it’s not the only item with tags still on it in my room…), and the family ain’t really celebrating together. Mom and dad fell sick, so we were quarantined at home so as not to spread the viruses outside. My sister is still in confinement, and though she badly wants to visit my maternal grandpa, she was barred from doing so by my mom. I haven’t seen my nephew since Sunday (I think) and I miss him badly. He is so lovely and I’m starting to become a capital-A awesome aunty…

Tron and his family also were not around during the holiday period, so it was even more sien… anyway, he’s now back, can’t wait to pass him all the CNY goodies we have packed up for his family!

I’m here to talk about dogcatchers. The place that I work have so much stray dogs, and one day, the Majlis Perbandaran came a-calling. Do you know how they catch dogs? I think I watched too many cartoons when younger. I imagined the dogcatchers to be running after the strays with giant nets. Hehehe! In actual fact, this is what they use to catch dogs.

The loop you see on one end? It’s like a noose. They try to get it over the dog’s neck, and by manipulating the rope at the other end of the stick, they can strangulate the dog until it stops trying to get away. By keeping a short leash on them, the dog is forced to trot by the dogcatcher’s heels, less it asphyxiates itself. Through this manipulation, the dogcatcher is able to throw the dog into the back of its truck.

Halfway through the dogcatching exercise, the owner of the carpark where I park my car for the day runs out and shouts at the dogcatchers. A general, “What the fC*K do you think you are doing?” The dogcatchers say, “Our job, duh.” The carpark owner says that you’re only supposed to catch strays. All the dogs that you are currently catching belong to ME.

This is a big lie, either that or the carpark owner is the worst dog owner in the history of dog owners. The dogs are mangy, flea-ridden, wounded, un-fed and dirty beasts. It would probably be doing them a great favor to be taken to the pound. Yeah, I know that people say that once they are in the pound, they are killed. But is it any better for them to be running around, so horribly neglected? And what if they get rabies? Will the carpark owner still claim them as his when his brain starts swelling up?

Anyway, the dogcatchers didn’t want to fight with the carpark owner, and left. They came back a week later when the stray dog condition didn’t get any better… but til today I still see a few strays wandering around.

This pisses me off about the place that I work. That and the fact that the next nearest place to eat (other than the cafeteria in the building) is referred to as “The Dumpster”. No prizes for guessing where it is situated.

2008 was a crazy year for me. So many things happened {{allatonce}}, but it was a great year – of maturity. I learned a lot about myself, about what I want in life and what I need to do to get it.

Was a year that I’m very manja with my cousins… they are so cute! They still are, of course.

Here I am with Aron again.

Generally close to my loved ones… one of my fave photos – the “3 generations of women” photo.

Went to Macau & Hong Kong for the first time – with my colleagues!

In Macau with Pauline… this is some never-been-seen photos, lol. For obvious reasons, such as not wanting to appear ridiculous.

First “all girls Langkawi trip” with Fuzz, Dull and Pizza… omg, it’s so fun to drink til you black out! [wtf]

We had so much fun dragging the tripod around everywhere to take photos!

My final year working the tables for the annual general meeting… a lot of rich old uncles hit on me, geez. (This is not boasting, this is something like a prelude to some very funny stories that I would tell you, if I had the time.)

Went to Genting with Cindy for a work-related workshop. Except there was no work involved. -_-” It was my first “trip” for work, and I was so excited like the jakun I was. Little did I know what was in store for me.

See? So syiok get to go Genting that I had to document how my hotel room looked like. -_-”

The year that Binz got married. I think I attended the most weddings in 2008!

One of those rare annual dinners where I didn’t dress up as anything.. but I still found a costume to wear on that night itself! Leech the Ostrict!.

Was a pretty “sporty” year as we wanted to hangat-hangat tahi ayam train to climb Mt KK… so a lot of “climbing” training.

Quite close to this bunch at that time… we went to Genting for a random steamboat trip!

David’s wedding.

Celebrating Raymond’s ROM.

Raymond’s wedding in Penang… we’re such good friends – made the long drive for him.

Of course, we turned the trip to Penang into a foodie trip as well.

Sunny + Siu Chui’s wedding (notice how the pple who are getting married are never in the pics, keke)

First sleepover gathering @ my sister’s new pad.

Edy’s wedding! Zomg, this one even more supportive… Kim and I went to Batam to celebrate!

Worked in Cambodia for 2 months, 1 month without any other Malaysian team mates as well (Mr Ho doesn’t count, lol). This was the period where I became mega-biatch to everybody and people said that Cambodia changed the “sweet” Leech to something else… lol. You have to become mega-biatch because it’s even harder to get people to do things when you are so far away…

One of my favorite pics with the gals…

Worked in Laos too… we always mix work & fun! ;P (Actually, this photo looks like I’m working for Tourism Board of Malaysia, haha!)

Last trip to California… walked alone everywhere.

If 2008 was a busy year for me, 2009 was even busier! Actually, I was filling my time up with all kinds of stuff because I wanted to keep my mind + body in motion. I even considered taking up permanent job for few years overseas because I found my life to be pointless. Raymond said this was my “depressed” year, hahaha. But I think I accomplished a lot anyway, eh! I was away for work a LOT, and because of all the overseas work, I managed to save enough to go for really nice vacays. (Should have saved for a house instead right.) I find this year to have a lots of ups and downs… but whatever I went through was necessary in order for me to become the person that I am today…

For some reason, I was super energetic this year… maybe a lot of “negative” energy that I wanted to get rid of. I went to the gym like a nutter, and this was the year that I also decided to say SCREW IT! to scales… cos what I wanted was to be strong, ie. gain muscles… so I don’t want to be so concerned on how heavy I am. In some of these pics, you can see that I look “smaller” than previous years, but I weighed about the same! Why? Cos did more weight training. I’m by no means hardcore, but I seriously think girls look better being slightly toned than being “skinny fat”.

Another drunken night out. 2009 was full of alcohol imbibing… *ashamed*

Another all-girls trip! This time, it was to Bukit Tinggi! Awesome fun lah!

Here’s how my cousins looked in 2009, if you’re interested.

Just included this picture because my current cubicle is SO sparse that it makes my old cube look like a jungle! I miss it! Look at how colorful it is!

Went to Melaka for Barry Banana’s wedding…

As usual, we turn the trip for someone’s wedding to a sightseeing trip as well. Sat on the “Eye on Malaysia” here!

Celebrated Valentine’s Day with fellow singletons. (See, must wear red/pink in commemoration)

Was very blessed because a lot of lovely people celebrated my birthday with me this year! Here’s me and Kim doing annual gift exchange, lol!

Got a lovely cake from Pauline… And this was a rare moment when I temporarily went back to Cobol… by 2008 we had swapped away from Java web programming and went to Visual Basic… (different systems, btw). But I had adhoc tasks in as400… so back to Cobol I went.

Met up with Ben and Ms Michie a lot! (2x is a lot! )

See? She even celebrated my bday with me! What a sweetheart.

The year that my sister got married!!

Family portrait with le bride and groom!

The yam seng moment!

The craziest hen night ever. Honestly? I don’t know how my sister managed to go through it all!

Farewell to Shannon!

Holiday in Thailand! My first time!

Random snapshots from Madrid, London and Paris, with the best travel buddy ever. (Minus the French subway episode)

Of course, it was the year I did Body Attack instructor training. The thinking was, “this is natural progression”, but in fact, going from very avid group-x class member who may be better coordinated than the average gym-goer is NOT a natural progression to instructor. Til today I get “reminders” from fellow friends who tell me to buck up and don’t waste my money by going back into training.

And NiniJack’s wedding! Super nice wedding that everyone keeps talking about even after it is over. Plus, one of my first close friends from high school to get married… Granted, I don’t have that many close friends, which makes this even more novel, I guess.

…and randomly met Markus Ruhl! This is really, really random.

2010 was really a fairytale year for me. Maybe because I remember the last few months of 2009 being exceptionally shitty… so it was like everything was like a ~dream~ again. Amazing! Then again, I’m looking at this year with rose-tinted glasses because this was when I got to know Tron. This was also the year that I joined a church. And got baptised and became a Christian. So many things lah. It was also my first time attending a lot of “atas” events in my ex-company, and for some reason — it is the year that I went to Singapore the most number of times! I think I got infected with the Singapore bug and now keep making trips down South few times a year. Craziness. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to work there, but seems like I have no fate with the country…

The low points of the year was probably health-wise. The first time I got major gastric and it still affects me til today. I cannot eat as little as I did before and “starve” myself. I will pay for it dearly. Ever since the first major gastric in March, I seem to get gastric at least twice a year (though not so severe). Crap!  I also went overboard with training and injured my knee. I feel like my knee is not-quite-the-same as it was before, but I’m working to get myself back to peak performance again! Wish me luck!

Started off the year with another drunken outing with my galpals. Here I am EATING bits from my mojito while shouting about how loserish I am.

Not-so-loserish in this photo when I finished 9th place at the Bidor marathon. I’m itching to try my hand at running again! But I lazy to train! Hahahha!

Romantic Valentine’s Day… *aww*

This is the funnest, most random event Tron and I ever went for. He was still in the courting stage, so that’s why he ‘layan’ me by going for the event. If I ask him to go now, he will ask me to go fly kite.

Introduced to the iPad for the first time…

Started baking as well. Beginner’s luck made me think that I had secret hidden talent in cooking all this while.

Random fatt hao photos because I don’t have many photo-worthy moments in 2010.

Random post-wedding gathering with my sister and her friends.

Went to Lang Tengah with Tron

Singapore pics! Ben is working there, so always have friends when I do visit the place. (By the way, you can see that whenever I’m with Ben, I have a David Sedaris book nearby. Lol!)

Tan Sri’s birthday dinner… dressed up to the nines!

Love affair with Arabian food & non-alcoholic fizzy drinks

My last time dressing up for the company dinner – I’m Aphrodite, lmao. Don’t mind the tummy jutting out. I tell everyone that it’s my uterus, hehehe.

Two of my cell group mates — were having a farewell for them!

Took part in office sports day… our bowling team came in 9th place or something. Consolation prize was a tin of biscuits.

Office sports day again… I’m the running champ! (Too bad I don’t look good at the finishing line)

First time went to gold class in GSC…

Playing Daytona during my ex-church’s treasure hunt… fun times! Dull so selamba only..

Christmas in Singapore… but instead of travelling with Dull, I was with Tron. Actually, when I was with Dull, Tron was also in Singapore. Ah, I didn’t tell you about THAT story, did I?

US!

Argh, since it’s 2012, am I expected to do a recap for 2011? I think I have even less photos than I did in 2010, hehe. I know this page is going to take ages to load, but whatever… I leave you with ONE more photo from 2011 that I didn’t post up:

My pastor looks like he’s edging away from me. Maybe got garlic breath…

For previous recaps, click here.