When You Spend… Money Just Keeps On Going OUT. =( April 30, 2007

I woke up hideously early this morning (considering) just to go for the Times Warehouse Sale in SS13. =p I know, I said “no more!” after the MPH one, but the temptation was there and the little will power that I have was not enough to resist. Boyfriend was busy with other stuff, so he wasn’t nagging at me either. So away I went.

I promised myself to pick up one, maybe two books. The kiamsap side of me was pleased to see that most books there were TERRIBLE. Very disappointing considering that I’ve read raves about how much better the Times Warehouse sales are compared to MPH. About 95% of the books there were VERY old stuff (circa 2000 also still got!), non-fiction, unknown titles. I was upset that even the one book I saw that I thought of getting just for the sake of getting something (“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”) was in really bad condition. Was about to walk out when…

… I saw a mere two tables stacked with more current titles. Success! Sadly, the books were still considered quite expensive. Only up to 30 – 50% discounts, and still more expensive that the MPH Warehouse Sale. For comparisons sake, I bought The Hundred Secret Senses (Amy Tan) for RM10 at the MWS. At the TWS, it was RM25. Apalah dey. But it was still tempting enough for me to grab 5 titles:

The Sandman Book of Dreams (Neil Gaiman) – Something that is on my ‘to read’ list for 2007. Finally have it! Sold for 30% cheaper. Next on my list will be to get the graphic novels…
Q&A (Vikas Swarup) – An impulse purchase, as I remember reading the book review before and it sounded like a really interesting tale. Can’t wait to read it!
The Under Cover Economist (Tim Harford) – Another impulse buy. It’s supposed to be in the same genre as ‘Freakonomics’, ‘Blink’ and ‘The Tipping Point’. All books which I’ve enjoyed very much (and I think Ben, who has them, enjoyed them too). This book is recommended by Levitt (The dude who wrote Freakonomics), so I’m sold. Most expensive purchase of the lot.
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) – The excerpt said that this book will change my life. Also something on my ‘to read’ list. Also enjoyed ‘Veronika Decides To Die’ by the same author. Sold, sold, sold.
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) – Who hasn’t read this book before? I read my mom’s copy when I was young, and cried buckets over it. Bought my own copy for whenever I need a teary Sunday afternoon.

Titles that I was tempted to get but didn’t – The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain), Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), Man & Boy (Tony Parsons)… there’s a lot more, but I can’t remember now. ;p After that, I popped by the Guardian Warehouse Sale which was just next to the Times Warehouse Sale. Wooooo… bought tonnes of sanitary pad… mwahahhaa. Of course, I won’t post photos of that up here… here’s a photo of a nice jewelry box that I bought instead:

RM8 only… good deal or whut?!?!

Got home and was expecting a relaxing day… in front of the PC. Turned on the computer and my @#$%^ monitor was totally dead! I hammered the switch a few times, restarted computer a few times, checked the cables, unplugged and re-plugged everything… to no avail. Gaaahhhh! I hate it! The last time I bought the CRT monitor, it cost me RM350, and I was in no mood of spending more right after I had spent a few hundreds in the couple of warehouse sales that I have been to. So sad, too bad…

Made my brother the “kuli” to help open doors for me when I carried my pathetic, dead monitor to the car. Thought I could get a good trade-in price for it. Went to Pyramid, and we scouted around for a shop which would offer us a good price. Of course, we weren’t lugging the monitor around. Wanted to see which place gave the best offer first..

One store offered to match the RM350 for the exact same CRT monitor. Since I wasn’t in the mood to buy a monitor that DIES after a little over a year, I asked if the price could be lowered. He claimed that he was only profiting RM10 by selling the monitor to me for RM350. Er… ok. Then I asked if I could test my old monitor at his shop, cos I was scared it could be something else that is the problem – graphic card ke, cable ke… The guy stingily said that there’s a charge for testing the old monitor. Go fly kite la! When I asked him if he can lend us his trolley to fetch the monitor, he just walked off to layan this other aunty.

Was feeling a bit peeved off with him throughout the whole ‘transaction’ because every question that I asked him, he would answer to MY BROTHER. Like wtf, my brother is not the more PC savvy one (even if I’m into software and not hardware, still I’m the purchaser here right? I’m asking the questions right? Andrew is there to help me OPEN DOORS only ok!!). Just for my own information, I asked him what could cause the monitor to just suddenly die out. I was expecting some lectures on how long cathod-ray tubes last, or how-to-not-abuse-your-monitor.. but instead all he said was, “Ahuhuu… these kinda IT things, how can we tell la, right?” (and then smiled ingratiatingly at me and my brother).

Ok la, so since he was so busy doing business elsewhere, we looked around a bit more. Got some guy tried to sell me a RECON CRT monitor for RM310. Lagi go fly kite!! Finally, I came to this store, which was the only store operated by Indians in that entire Digital Mall area. They had a BenQ monitor (LCD) selling for RM480. Ok la, I told the guy I was interested, but could I test my old monitor at his shop first? He said sure can WITH NO MENTION OF EXTRA CHARGE. I was seriously in love with LCD monitors after seeing the one in his shop, so I asked around a bit, and surprisingly his one was the best price…everyone else tried to sell me RM550++ monitors. So I don’t care if you people say that RM480 is hella expensive, but I calculate it as RM480 with a 3-yr warranty means that I’ll save more buying this than another CRT!~

FYI, the cathod-ray tube in the old monitor was completely spoiled, but after I had huffed & puffed and carried my monitor back to his shop, he said he’ll give me RM10 for it “seeing as you have carried it all the way here”. ~_~” So I got my new monitor for RM470, and the shop owner & assistants were saying how they want to turn my old monitor into a FISHTANK as it’s completely useless for anything else. =(

Anyway, I totally recommend their shop compared to all the other shops. You know, when I walked around, the other shops totally didn’t layan me, but when I was carrying my old monitor back, their eyes suddenly all turned like this : $_$ and suddenly was so concerned about poor Leechie carrying the monitor. Go fly kite far far away!!!!!!!! Er… anyway, when I was at the shop, the dude asked me “you get very tired easily don’t you?” cos I was out of breath climbing flights of stairs with the monitor.
Me : “Huh? Aiyah… it’s that monitor la… I think it must be like 1. something kg…”
Dude : “You carried the monitor? WHAT YOU MEAN 1.SOMETHING KG!?!?!”
Me : “Er… *scared that it’s lighter than that*”
Dude : “That thing is at least 10kgs la!”
Me : “Hehe… really? *impressed by myself* Ok I guess I didn’t feel it because it looks so compact. 10 kgs huh… Hmmm…”
Dude : “Look here… your LCD monitor is 5.7kg already. I think the CRT was 12kgs … at least!”
Me : “Hmm.. 12kgs of good solid plastic. Can’t you give me more than RM10?!!?!”

I did try to *promote* my old monitor a bit more to get more than RM10, but to no avail. But there was good bantering back and forth and I ended up being badly mocked for trying to turn the shop into a rubbish dump. Bah. I’m sure that they can fix it for a cheap buck and then sell it as a recon monitor. FYI, their shop also offered to shop me a CRT 17″ Dell monitor for only RM250, which is SOOOOO much cheaper than the 1st shop I went to. Seriously la, what a con artist!

Anyway, the point of the story is that I’m now sitting here in front of a very beautiful LCD monitor and suddenly all is right in my world again. Sure, I might have to completely “ikat perut” for the rest of the month, but with such a beautiful monitor, do I want to leave home?

Well, actually I *will* be leaving home next weekend! My colleagues have organised a farewell trip for Sue, who resigned. Will be having an “eating holiday” down to Seremban. Hahaha, so I guess I’ll be kaypoh-ing there next weekend. The funny thing is Mr Accidentally-Insults-People is from Seremban and he’s going on the trip to find out what’s good to eat in Seremban. According to him – nothing. Well, we shall see, people. We shall see.

Last 2 Books Read for the Month of April:
Black Powder War is the third, but not last, of the His Majesty’s Dragon series by Naomi Novik. This book picks up from where Throne of Jade left off. Temeraire, the extraordinary dragon, with his ruggedly good-looking (I assume) captain, Will Laurence are ordered to journey back from China to escort 3 eggs that England has purchased from Persia.

Again, this novel can be separated into three main plots – the journey from China to Persia, the negotiations in Persia itself, and finally, the war between France and the Prussian army. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two parts, but was dreadfully bored by the third instalment. This is unfair of me to judge, because I’ve never taken a liking to books which go into too much detail about warfare.

Although initially the book started out as a series about how dragons could’ve been used in wars, I have developed a liking more on how Temeraire seeks to assert his standing in society, and how he tries to make life better for himself and his fellow draconians. It will be interesting to see if he succeeds. Aside from that, I really have no inclination as to who-wins-what-war. Yes, I did dreadfully in history last time too. On a sidenote, it’s interesting to see how Naomi Novik took the “black powder” to signify both gunpowder, and opium.

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Ah, Amy Tan. How could I resist your books? You seem to know so much about my relationship with my mother. I shouldn’t have read your book after a row with her. I feel so much for Olivia and how she hungers to be loved. I understand how she feels like she has tricked someone into caring for her. Ah, how long suffering all your characters are…

In The Hundred Secret Senses, a tale that flips between modern day society in America and 1864 in China, Amy Tan takes us through a story about loyalty and love, and what we would do for them. The protagonist – Olivia Laguni – a mixed Chinese-American has always harboured ill feeling towards her adopted sister from China. Despite everything that Olivia has done to reject the feelings of sisterhood that Kwan Li tries to build between them, Kwan still treats Olivia with utmost love.

Kwan enfolds Olivia into her world, where she sees ghosts (Yin people), and where she believes she is a reincarnation of a bandit girl from 1864. In this colorful and rich novel, it is not the descriptions of past lives, rural China or cultural beliefs that stand out, but the simple relationships that we build in our day-to-day life.

Hmmm… what else can I say. I really liked this novel.

Warehouse Sales , Freebies & Other Bargain-Sourcing Behavior April 29, 2007

Okay, so I haven’t been blogging much because of aforementioned “emo-ness”. Decided to just rant about it to my sister instead, and turns out that ‘the other party’ has been telling her her side of the story as well, which was completely TWISTED. This is why I don’t like arguing with people, because at the end of the day when you have just practically told them the WHOLE story, they seem to have filtered out your words and remembered their own version of it that makes you look STUPID. Seriously, it’s just better to shut up and suffer in silence.

I kept thinking and thinking about that… if you make a fuss, people say you’re ranty, you don’t understand, you fight too much, etc. But I just hate to be the type of person who keeps quiet, then later regrets the words that didn’t come out. Seriously, one regrets words unspoken more than words said in haste. Maybe that’s just me. I hate those people who later cry to their friends saying how they are victimised and what not, but didn’t do anything about it…

Argh… whatever la. Maybe better to play the victim next time than to be labelled the troublemaker.

Anyway, I digressed…. aside from being filled with what seems to be teenage angst, I’ve been sick as a dog. Haven’t gone to the gym in ages, but it doesn’t matter because I don’t seem to gain weight even though I don’t go to the gym. Probably something terrible is happening anyway, like losing muscle mass or something. I’ve planned a 4-times-a-week programme that I’ll put into place once I feel better. I don’t dare to go back to hardcore gymming because just the other day, I nearly fainted in Sogo. !!! Here’s what happened…

I haven’t been to Sogo since I was in college, and anyway, never really had the inclination to go there. However, they were having a WAREHOUSE SALE (please imagine these words surrounded by showy spotlights), and of COURSE I had to go. There was Triumph stuff going for up to 70%! I missed the La Senza sale! This was to make up for it. :p

Anyway, the bloody place was packed like hell… Seriously unable-to-walk levels of auntiness. Check it out :

There was one point where one huge lady had already taken up 1/2 the walking space in an aisle. As I tried to slip past, this seriously HUGE woman squeezed through that walkway at the same time. I got ROLLED out of the aisle. SERIOUSLY! No joke! Lifted up and ROLLED out of the way by her mighty bosom. I too am amazed by what happened. Such strength! It reminded me of a thundering bull.

That lady behind me in the picture above is a real bitch. She keeps pushing into people and she smells like she hasn’t bathed in years. So annoying. And then complained to her friend about me looking at her whenever she pushed me. She only complained because she thought that I couldn’t hear her (I had my ipod with me… a real lifesaver from death by boredom). Anyway, just lining up next to her for 30 minutes made me feel like I was surrounded by those people at the Good Charlotte concert. Just as stifling man!! Or maybe my nose is just ultra sensitive nowadays… everyone also I label as ‘smelly’. =(

The best part about going to Sogo is visiting the Four Leaf Clover Cafe. They have the best fruit cream puffs. Like Beard Papa, but with fresh fruits stuffed into it as well. It goes for RM2.30 for one, so it’s not like it’s super cheap either. Have always salivated over their fruit cream puffs since young. Yummmmmsss. The picture below doesn’t do it any justice.

Today, I finally went for “the thing that I won from Cleo”. Hehehe. It was actually a nail spa from Scentual Nail Spa in Plaza Damas. OCM and I were wondering what the whole thing was about? Dip my hands nails into water for 1 hour? I was also hesitant about going because I don’t know where Plaza Damas is! Huhuhu. Yes, this is another Leech under the coconut shell story…!

Anyway, for those who don’t know, if you know the way to Sri Hartamas (turning left to go into the Desa Sri Hartamas area at the traffic lights), turn right instead, then a left and then just keep going straight. Plaza Damas is kinda like a collection of shophouses / apartments / restaurants like Midvalley’s boulevard, but no offices. At least, none that I saw that day. And right smack in the middle is the Sri Hartamas Shopping Center. Not a huge mall, but a nice place with some quaint boutiques.

I ate at Tempura King, which is quite a nice and affordable place. There was no one else there when I ate though. Don’t know whether its because the mall itself doesn’t have many patrons, or due to better choices elsewhere. I thought my tempura set (+ miso soup + ice-cream) was pretty good, although that makes it a total of 3 times that I’ve eaten Japanese this week. *sienzzz*

Not your average miso soup… :p Ok, I’m jakun, this is the first time I’ve had miso soup with lala inside.

My tempura set – got squid, fish, prawn and veggies with rice covered in a light sauce, and for dessert, chocolate chip ice-cream!

The funniest part about the whole experience was when the waiters passed me this Japan weekly newspapers. They were both completely in Japanese. O_o” And when the waiters talked to me, they were sooooooo erm… CLEAR about everything. After I’d finished eating, the waiter ask me, “Are you Chinese or Japanese?” and then he seemed a trifle disappointed that I wasn’t Japanese. Haha! Oh well. The operators at my office told me that I look anything BUT Chinese but I don’t think so. Think they are too influenced by their K-dramas / J-dramas.

Anyway, here’s what happened at the nail spa. Must take a before picture of my hideous and unkempt nails first :

The girl at the nail spa was very nice and very sweet. Was afraid she was going to be aunty-ish and mock my in-bad-condition nails. But she didn’t say anything. The first step was to trim the nails into a neat oval shape. Then, filing, buffing, etc. After each hand was done, it was soaked in water for a while (about 5 minutes) to soften the cuticles. Then, she quickly painted -something- over the nails, I think to soften the skin around the nails further, so that she could push it back and then snip it off.

Must say here that there are a LOT of contraptions that they used, which look so specialised. The thing she used to snip off the skin around the nails looked like a very very small pair of pliers. Damn complicated… just to snip off the skin? And there are so many things that they put on my nails today… just mind boggling, the stuff that exists just for beautiful nails.

The main ‘spa’ treatment was applying an exfoliant from my elbow to my hands, followed by this green-ish, cooling paste all over my hands, like margarine on bread. ~_~” Then my hands were wrapped in saran wrap, and left to “marinate”. It was only for about 5-10 minutes, then was wiped down with a hot towel and moisturised. Seriously, I don’t even give such good treatment to my body. My hands are too pampered. ;p

It was then time to choose a color, and I decided to go with a clear polish because I still have work on Monday. -__-” But then she suggested nail art after that, and …. heck, I never had nail art done, so I think my initial hopes of wanting something inconspicuous flew out of the window. Heck, got diamantes as well ok! Here’s the finished results :

FYI, pricing for the spa packages is about RM100 for hands (only) and RM100 for feet (only). Manicures are from RM30 upwards, pedicures from RM40, and nail art is about RM5 per finger, RM6 if it’s “3D”.

When I got home, found out that I won some hair coloring treatment! Just when I thought it was time to get a haircut. Just realised that most of this stuff that I win seems to be in line with my bid to be more feminine (make-up/ clothes/ perfume/ hair treatment / nail treatments)… but it is SOOooOOoo inconvenient. Like right now, I keep on worrying about my nails, whether I’ll chip them, or what if a diamante falls out. :p Or maybe this is just typical vanity.

Ok, I’ll blog more tomorrow. It’s already 2am now. Goodnight!

Anne-Girl / Ikea Friends / Taxes / Hyper-Media Library April 15, 2007

Are you familiar with the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery? My father first bought me and my sister the book when I was about 10 years old. It was a complete and unabridged version, which meant that I waited for my sister to read it and recommend it to me before I attempted it myself. Both of us fell in love with the series. If you want to know more about it click here.

The basic plot is about a young orphan girl who gets sent to a brother and sister by accident. The old brother and sister (Matthew & Marilla Cuthbert) had wished to adopt a boy to help out on the farm. However, due to Anne’s charming and winsome ways, she somehow or other endears them to her, and they agree to keep her on. The book then follows Anne as she grows up in Green Gables. She is precocious, imaginative, creative, spirited, ambitious and so lovable. No wonder that even when she cracks a slate over a boy’s head, he ends up in love with her instead of hating her. ;p

When she triumphs, you can’t help but feel proud of her. When she is sad, or when someone in her life passes on, you cry along with her. Seriously, this series is very touching, warm and engaging.

And the reason why I suddenly bring this up, nearly 15 years later after I first read the book… is because I just watched the Anne of Green Gables TV series that my bf bought for me. ;p ;p ;p Thanks Simon! (It’s doubly nice because I didn’t even ask for it, hee hee).

The TV Series really brought back a lot of good memories! I only got to watch ONE episode when it was shown on TV last time, so it was nice to see how they condensed everything from the book into a 3hour plus show. The scenery was nice, and Megan Follows (who is now in her 40s) did a wonderful job portraying Anne Shirley. The guy who plays Gilbert Blythe looks a bit stalker-ish though, but it was still nice to see the “puppy love” between Anne and him. ;p

[SPOILERS AHEAD] The only bad bits in the movie was that it was TOO short, they hardly spent anything on explaining about Anne at Queens. Her entire year there was barely 5 minutes on TV. Also, they concentrated a bit too much on Anne being in love with Gilbert Blythe. I mean, in the novel we KNOW she actually likes him too, but in the telemovie, she forgave him at the barge and was supposed to go to the White Sands concert, only Marilla stopped her. What was that about?!! That didn’t appear in the novel at all! Also, Anne only finally finally forgave him when he gave up a school in Avonlea to Anne to teach. NOT when they had that “confrontation” at the river. At the river, she blew him off AGAIN and he became damn angry and swore to ignore her as well. Although I have to say that the ending of the Anne telemovie was very touching. When Gilbert Blythe touched Anne’s face, it was sooooo romantic, weeping tears of happiness at this point. Oh yea, I also didn’t like how they made DIANA BARRY like Gilbert Blythe as well. HOW CAN?!?!?! Maybe Diana thought he was cute when she was a kid, but definitely she didn’t like him anymore when Anne was at Queens and all that. At least, I believe Diana never VOICED that she liked Gilbert or thought him “fair game”. [/SPOLERS]

Actually, Gilbert Blythe has always been my idol. ;p Along with Anne. ;p As if there’s a guy like Gilbert Blythe in society today la. When I told my brother that that was how he should pursue a girl, he himself said that there’s no guy who would so “destroy own image for the girl’s sake”.

I remember my english teacher last time liked Anne of Green Gables too. Ms Emma, if you ever read this, you are like Miss Stacey to me. Of course, the only thing that disappointed me in the series is that I never found a bosom friend, nor any kindred spirit (except Simon, maybe). =( And I believe that most people who read the series these days will not be able to appreciate the friendship between Anne and Diana, because their minds have become so filthy. Yes, Andrew, I’m looking at you. The term “bosom buddy” and the fact that they were so close to each other made my brother think they were lesbians or something because “they do everything together”. Bloody hell, your mind is just filled with filth. Thanks for soiling this beautiful story for me.

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On Wednesday, I was shopping in Carrefour when I was accosted by this young girl to join an “Ikea Friends” credit card. Well, I already have 3 credit cards and have no inclination to stuff my already-torn-wallet with another. But she was DAMN persuasive, and in the end, explained that the credit card is not like your typical Citibank / HSBC credit card, but one that is only SPECIFICALLY to be used in Ikea. IF you wish to collect points there.

Basically, I don’t even shop in Ikea! But the fact that it’s free, and I am not obliged to buy anything from Ikea, and if I do, I get free lunch & coffee when I’m there… I thought, what the hell. Plus the girl said, “Please le, help me earn this RM10 commission.” Usually I think that’s not really a sales tactic, but she was really nice, so yeah, I repeat myself with a “What the hell”.

Anyway, the only reason why I’m telling this is because this girl is DAMN talkative. Halfway through, she starts asking about where I’m working, and ends up telling me how she took STPM, but didn’t collect her results because she’s afraid of them. And then how she wishes to study marketing in a local uni. Then when I took out my handphone to calculate my annual salary, she went, “Wow, the N73! I wanted to buy that, but I go this instead!” and she whipped out the Sony Ericsson k800i.

The best part is… she started telling me why she bought the k800i instead of the N73, which was because it had the Cybershot camera. THEN SHE STARTED SHOWING ME ALL HER CAMWHORE PHOTOS ON THE CAMERA!!!!!! Ok-la, she’s actually very cute, but it was so random that I can’t help laughing while I’m typing all this out. Seriously, there were the typical peace sign photos (“in Singapore!” she informs), and then pictures of her with her new hair cut (“do you prefer this one or my current one?”) and then pictures of her clubbing with her friends…

Anyway, she’s really nice all in all, and Wendy… YOU WILL DO DAMN WELL IN MARKETING.

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Argh, it’s that time of the year to submit your taxes. I have no idea where to submit to (last year CubicleMate submitted for me and this year, he’s not around, haha!). Ok, I just HATE the idea of taking leave just to do my taxes. Leave should be for fun stuff, ok!

And what’s annoying me is the fact that we are supposed to do e-Filing this year, but to submit your taxes, you have to get this pin number. Where to get the pin number? From the LHDN office ANYWAY. So what’s the point of submitting online, when you make us have to go to the bloody office to get the pin number anyway? Some say that the pin number is SENT to us, along with the Borang BE. MY FOOT! I didn’t get the Borang BE at all in the first place, and had to print online.

Seriously. What the fcuk is going on? Stupid, lousy, service. Making it hard for us to PAY money to you. You don’t want me to pay is it?

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Thanks to Kim, I decided to visit the USJ “Hyper-Media Library”. I saw it there before, but had never had the inclination to visit it. However, after visiting the official website, it sounded quite nice, and with an annual fee of only about RM30+, it seemed reasonable.

The place is nice, and the administration staff there is friendly. You can browse the place without becoming a member, and I suspect that most people there are not members, as I see them using the reference books, but no one is lending anything.

It’s quite small, about the size of a shoplot, and with only about 3 floors of books. The others are the computer terminals (For research), audio books, and the administration department. The 4th & 6th Floor is adult reference and the 5th Floor is children reference. I have no idea why they “broke” it apart like that, because 4th and 6th barely had any difference (6th has less books though), except that the 6th floor is a recent extension and they didn’t want to shift things around, so just “added” the new floor on top.

Books-wise, there are a lot of reference books, but mostly in management and marketing. IT had the 3rd most amount of reference books, totally 5 shelves, and had a relatively good selection from beginners reference to advance, from VB, C, J++, Interdev, MySQL, Java, HTML, XHTML, to non-programming related books like “how to handle IT projects” and “preventative programming”.

For fiction, it was grossly disappointing. Most of the books are for teen readers, with LOTS of shelf-space dedicated to Buffy The Vampire Slayer and SVU. Fantasy contained only Tolkein and ONE Robert Jordan book (“Crossroads of Twilight”). Aside from that, there were lots of Jackie Collins, Amy Tan and Tunku Halim (support Malaysian writers!). The selection really confused me. There was no Dan Brown (which I thought they would typically stock up on), but a lot of other Asian genre writers like Amy Tan. There was a H.P Lovecraft, but no Stephen King. There was no Dean Koontz / Jeffrey Archer / John Grisham / etc. I’m not saying I WANT to lend those books, just that you would typically think that they would stock up on it. Just strange la. Then again, this is a library, not a bookstore.

I decided not to join… yet. After all, it would just be of no use since I have a lot of my own books that I haven’t read yet. Perhaps after I have exhausted my own supply, I would return.

Dragons … Dragons April 7, 2007

First things first, thanks to everyone who replied back regarding the tagging! So sad though, so far only the male narcissist has done it! What about the rest of you?

I have about 4 sad entries that I have written halfway (saved on my thumbdrive), which I then gave up because it was so pointless and demotivating to read and continue. They are named “sputnik.txt”, “thoughtless.txt”, “sad.txt” (how creative!) and “boringtraining.txt”. Haha. I’m going to leave this one at it’s default “New Text Document.txt”. Cos it’s a new day and I’m really trying not to think about all the bad things that COULD happen, yet not have any expectations of the day either. I find that it’s quite relaxing to go about my life not thinking about the horrible possibilities that could happen to me. So what if they *do* happen? I’m not saying that I don’t have a contingency plan, but I’m not going to worry about executing aforementioned contingency plan or NEEDING to execute it. Maybe that makes me less prepared in life, but that’s more time left for me to think about other, more positive things.

It’s not that difficult to stop myself from harping on all the horrible things that could happen to me. Used to worry about things like this a lot, such as “omg, what if I can’t make xxx deadline?” or “omg, what if the user can’t revert to me on that incredibly important item by today?”. NO POINT LA. Take things one at a time.

The strange thing about me not anticipating or expecting these bad things to happen is that I start to think that I’m freaking invincible. Like during the aquaplaning accident when I really didn’t think I would get hurt because I totally didn’t see myself lying in the hospital. I had the weirdest dream last night whereby I fell asleep while driving and went careening all over Subang Jaya for at least 10 minutes. In the dream I KNEW I had fallen asleep at the wheel but just couldn’t get up, so I just thought “hey, I’ll just continue sleeping and drive back to my house from memory”. And I went smashing into the neighbour’s gates, trees, went in and out of a ditch, etc. The only thought in my head in the dream wasn’t “fcuk, I could get killed like this”, but “oh dear, now I really have to fix my car up, the damages must be insane”.

I think this just means I’m really money-minded, not that I think I’m invincible. Oh well.

Talking about money leads me to talking about spending it. *evil glint in eye* I saw sooooooo many nice stuff in Studio R the other day, but I saintly-ly didn’t overspend. I saw a really cool pair of shoes from Le Coq Sportif (this name never fails to make me laugh as my idea of humor is clearly in the ‘male jock’ category). Erm, also eyeballed a few nice tennis rackets that I would get if and when I find a tennis instructor. I’m really hinting here for some suggestions, y’know. -__-” The one that I want is a silver titanium frame one worth RM200+, but I wonder if it’s worth getting, considering my temperament. I used to fling my racket across the court out of anger. No, I actually flung it across the court because I didn’t have a firm enough grip on it. -___-”

Hmmm.. the nice one that I saw was blue & green. Can’t seem to find a picture of it on the Net though!

Then there were all these cute & sporty (what else!) shirts. Aiyooo, but I would feel so “sam tong” if I had to sweat into such luxurious cotton, haha! Seriously, there was one Nike shirt that was an obscenely invigorating shade of purple & pink (!!!) that I kept thinking about, but the very IDEA of showing sweat stains in that was the epitome of tragedy. I imagine that if I were to wear this to the gym, I would maybe lift 2lb weights for a minute on each arm, and then proclaim myself oh-so-very-refreshed and then head on out to Starbucks instead. >=)

Also saw those “hand wraps / grips” that some people use during Body Combat on sale. About RM45. What are they for anyway? Some people told me it’s because their hands sweat a lot during Body Combat. Ok… Some others say its because their hands are cold. Erm… isn’t it gonna be cold for Body Step? Yoga? Jam? How come never see them wear the wraps then? Some kinda pretentious thing going on la, but biar-la.

Back to me. Also saw a Nike shoe bag going for RM45. Strangely, it was the ONLY shoe bag that I found there, expensive sial. You know what I use to carry my shoes to the gym? CARREFOUR PLASTIC BAG. Memang look like a pariah / aunty / shameless no taste fool. Haha, and the way I carry it… really look like an aunty just back from shopping at Carrefour. ~_~ So ya, I really need a shoe bag. But why so expensive wan? Don’t tell me I’ll have to sew my own shoe bag now? (even more aunty-ish).

Ugh… random : Here’s a workstation that I drew in Lotus Wordpro. Copied it from Microsoft Visio, hehe. When you put this thing into 1/4 of the size that I’ve displayed here, it looks so much like a terminal that I can’t help but applaud myself for my copying skills. ;P Sharingan! (Naruto ref here!)

Something else I also stole from Jen. It’s so super cute, do your Visual DNA too! I wanna see~~

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Okay, I’m obsessed enough to start a neopet’s related blog for my account. Hehehe. Read it here if you’re interested. ;P

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Finished my first book for April – His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik. The first two pages are really dull, so it was SOOOOOOOO hard to get me started on this book. I would read just one paragraph and close it, and when I was feeling brave, attempt the next paragraph. The rest of the book is much more interesting though, and really funny, heart-rending and exciting!

The book centers around the possibility / plausibility of using dragons in the war between Britain and France (Napolean Bonaparte). Somehow, a British ship managed to capture a French frigate that was transporting a dragon egg. Dragon eggs are extremely valuable, as they are highly prized animals for war or communications (don’t you think the Dragon Express would be faster than the Pony Express in deliviring your mail?). The captain of the British ship that won the skirmish with the French frigate (Capt Laurence) was delighted at the prospect of selling the egg over to the British government, as he would get a great share of the prize money. However, it is later discovered that the egg they had won was about to hatch.

Here, we are informed that once a dragon is out of the shell, it has to be immediately harnessed by someone he/she chooses. Otherwise, it would be a wild dragon, and of no use to the British army. By drawing lots, one of Capt Laurence’s man was chosen to harness the dragon (it is apparently an undesirable occupation as from henceforth, they would be an aviator for the British army, a very sad and lonely life. Cannot get married because which lady would want to take 2nd place to a dragon? And owning a dragon is a 24/7 job). When the dragon hatched though, it completely disregarded the comical efforts of the naval officer who tried to harness it and made a beeline for Capt Laurence.

From then onwards, we follow Capt Laurence through his change of line, how the British aviators are trained, what happens in the war between Britain and France…

But MOST OF ALL, we learn about the companionship, friendship, loyalty and comradeship between man and dragon. The dragons in Naomi Novik’s aren’t what you expect them to be… totally different from the Dragon Prince novels that I read recently too. I prefer Novik’s version of how dragons are like. And I am unashamed to say that this book made me cry about 3 times, learning of the hardship that they went through. The isolation, etc etc. It’s a very touching story! Needless to say, I will be starting on Book 2 & 3 of this series – Throne of Jade and Black Powder War immediately.