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A friend told me I look gullible. Asked me if I know what a “yong mek mek” is because I look like one.
define:gullible. The result is fleeceable: naive and easily deceived or tricked;
define: yong mek mek. LAMB.
Do I really look like a “yong mek mek”?
And with that, it brings me back to 28 July 2007 where we were shopping at Tesco, Bayswater. We were waiting by the side of the queue for Pappy to buy his lottery. He is trying his luck on the Euro Millions lottery, so that we can go for another UK trip. (But honestly, enough of UK for me now.)
Standing in the line was a lady from Sudan who started a conversation with Mummy.
“You’ve got two beautiful daughters!” She said with a smile.
I smiled too. Who wouldn’t, upon hearing the word “beautiful”?
“How old are they?”
Mummy asked her to guess.
She took a good look at us and said, “15 and 17”.
15 and 17 wei! 😀
“They are 22 and 25.”
“NO WAY!” The Sudanese lady didn’t want to believe it and then she kept insisting my mum is 35 years old.
She turned around and greeted a Pakistani.
“Mualaikum salam.”
This Pakistani guy said he has a Pakistani background and an English foreground. I’m not pretty sure what that means.
The Sudanese lady then asked the Pakistani if he believed what my mum just said.
He looked at both of us again, hesitated and said, “No”.
Pappy is almost done with his lottery and as we walked away towards the exit. A man standing at the back of the line smiled to Mummy. He is from South Africa.
If you want to meet people from all over the world, go to London! I’ve never seen such a diverse and cosmopolitan place.
On a sidenote, I like Tesco in the UK very very much. I have been to several Tesco outlets throughout my trip and everytime I step into a Tesco, I get very happy and excited. I love looking at the chocolate bars, the biscuits. The juices, milk…everything! The chips!
I also love going to Boots and Superdrug, both of which are pharmacies. Like our Guardian in Malaysia. I also like WHSmith.
Actually, I just love getting into a supermarket.
I was feeling rather sad when I walked out of the office today. My manager and another colleague of mine has resigned and today’s their last day in the office.
People come and go but today is different. My manager is such a nice man that I sometimes wonder if there are other guys out there like him. I’m very thankful to be able to work with 2 very kind managers throughout the 2 years that I’ve been working. This is one. The other, is my manager that used to supervise me when I was in my first job.
Sometimes the job can be yucky but if you have a nice boss, it makes it more bearable.
I haven’t been feeling really good lately. I enjoyed my long holidays but I didn’t REALLY REALLY ENJOYED it to the point where I would feel VERY VERY HAPPY. It feels like something is missing but I don’t know what.
When we are young, we long to grow up and to become an adult. Now that I’m 25, it feels so hard and it won’t get any easier, it’ll get more difficult and you will be thrown with more to handle in life. It’s like playing a game. When you’ve completed one level, you go one level up. And each level comes with more obstacles and while you’re at it, you have to try to make sure you come out alive.
He came today, unexpectedly. I was talking to him on the phone a minute ago and he was telling me he’s going out to have dinner and he needs to go back to the office again. The next minute, the doorbell rang and he’s standing at the door. He always likes to do this. Telling me he’s not coming and then he just appears. He only came for a short while.
I haven’t meet him for about a month. The last time that I met him was on my birthday. I called him few hours before the plane departs to hear his voice because I won’t be hearing his voice for a good 2 weeks. But…I couldn’t get through to him so I was feeling a little disappointed and sad and I boarded the plane without listening to his voice or meeting him before I went for my holidays.
I would need to adjust and accept the fact that it’s not going to be easy being in this relationship. It needs a lot of work and a plentiful amount of patience. He is working hard for the money and will have lesser time to meet up.
I’m home alone today, which explains why I’m a little moody. Mum and Iris have gone back to Sandakan this afternoon. Iris will be back after a week to KL and I hope to spend some quality time with her, just me and her, because it has been so long that we have done things together. It’s different when Mummy is with us and when it’s just us. The past week has been about Mummy with us. So, there were “sisters” things that we couldn’t do.
Since I’ll be working and do not have any more leave to take, the only time I have is the weekend. Weekends are short, unless we try to cram and make every weekday nights worth it.
At the end of the month, I won’t be seeing Iris for at least another year because she’ll be flying again to the UK, continuing her studies to become a lawyer. No one knows if she’ll be coming back or she’ll be looking for a job there since she has found someone over there. So, I’ve got to be prepared that a situation like that will happen.
I have survived a year staying alone and killing cockroaches when they appear without the help of anyone, with only my loyal Shieldtox.
I think I’d do just fine.
This is Foo Foo. She has spent almost a year abroad, away from me, because Iris stole it away from me. She took her to Cardiff with her, stayed with her in a room of a student house. Foo Foo is dirtier now, not as white as she used to be but still very adorable. Makes you feel very happy just looking at her.
I wake up very early when I spent my holiday in UK because it gets bright say….4’o clock in the morning? And only gets dark at 10 o’clock at night during summer? I cannot sleep long when it gets bright. I was sleeping next to Iris, on her queen-sized bed, in a new rented place and when it got a little bright, I woke up around 6 something and couldn’t sleep anymore.
Having nothing to do because everyone’s still asleep, I took out my camera and took some photos of Foo Foo. This is my current wallpaper on my computer at home and at work.
The effect of jet lag is disastrous!
I had to force open those eyes this morning. For the whole day at work, I was cranky. My hair looked like they belong to the lion. I know I put up a shitty face at work today but I just cannot help it. I’m just so bloody tired.
Asked the boss if I could leave earlier today but my request was rejected.
Came back, had dinner and fell asleep on the sofa which I sat on immediately. Not kidding.
Woke up about an hour or so later to take my bath.
I think it should get better tomorrow.
It’s 2 something in the morning and I’m awake. At least I’ve had 4 hours of sleep before this. So hopefully after writing this, I’ll be able to sleep by 3.
It was so difficult to wake up this morning to go to work because I only felt sleepy when I had to wake up. Washed my hair so that I’d stay awake throughout the day. Driving to work needed more focus and concentration than usual as my eyes were very tired.
It’s nice to be in the office again, where a darling colleague couldn’t help express how much she missed me while I was away. I had 350 emails in my inbox throughout the 2 weeks that I was away but not all requires action so it wasn’t too bad but I’ve got work to finish off.
I received an email from someone that I didn’t know and thinking it was spam because the fonts were in red and I didn’t bother to read it further. Then, the darling colleague said she has something to tell me and judging by the way she put it, I knew it wasn’t good news.
We went to the toilet and she spoke silently, trying very hard to explain to me of what happened. She seemed to be choking and seemed afraid to tell me about it. She asked if I read an email with red font and that it contains a link to a forum post about me. A male colleague posted it just because I decided not to send him home anymore. Can you believe that?
He talked bad about me, illustrating stories that his imagination takes him to, none of which exists. I was advised not to read it as it is hurtful and words being used are harsh. I’m very tempted to read it in the office today but I didn’t want to spoil my day. I am still tempted to read it but I will stick to not reading it at all.
I’ve not done anything wrong so I just don’t want to be bothered with it. It is disheartening indeed to be treated that way. I’ve never seen anyone like that, doing something so childish, more so for a guy who is educated. When he was told that I’m not sending him anymore, he thought I was joking. I think he hates me to pieces and thinks that I owe him free rides everyday after work.
I’m always willing to help if it’s within my means and I do drive 2 other colleagues home when they need a ride back. I decided not to send him because personally I don’t like his attitude and character and I feel very irritated when I have him in my car. The old and usual me would feel obliged to send him but sometimes there are limits to what the heart can take and I didn’t want to do something I don’t feel like doing this time. Simply put, I am nice when people are nice and I can choose not to be nice to people who are not nice.
I will be as cool as I can be, pretending I know nothing about it and I will not hate him. If it satisifes him and makes him happy to badmouth me, I cannot stop him from doing so but I don’t want to be affected by someone like that because it’s just not worth it.
…is not a very nice thing, something of which I’m suffering from now. I slept at 11 something and am now awake by 1 something. It felt like I’ve slept for the whole night when in actual fact, it has only been 2 hours. And I’m working tomorrow! How nice!
Slept the minute I got on the plane which is around 10 pm London time and 6 am Malaysian time. Woke up 3-4 hours after that and tried to keep myself awake by watching movies. Watched Anna and the King and Blades of Glory. In between that, I think I dozed off a little.
Meal served onboard this time around wasn’t nice. I had beef curry with rice and then omelette with chicken sausage. I didn’t finish any of them so I was quite hungry. But I’d rather be hungry than to eat. I just didn’t had the appetite.
Flew with Malaysia Airlines and the landing was perfect. So smooth. I cannot even believe we landed. We were seated at the tail of the plane. Row 62.
Having been abroad for 2 weeks, I miss home a lot. And I’ve come to discover that Malaysia is such a lovely place though things may not be perfect. I have had enough of Western food and will be indulging in nasi lemak, prawn mee and RICE! KLIA is indeed a superb airport as compared to London Heathrow Airport Termina 3, in terms of space, design, ambience. The 100ml liquid/gel restriction was fine with me. But I just don’t get the logic of the 1 bag only rule. When you get through the security check, you can only carry ONE hand luggage. Ladies’ handbags are considered as a hand luggage so you either carry a luggage or just your handbag. If you’re carrying a laptop, which is the case for my sister, she could only carry her laptop bag with her and the laptop has to be out of the bag and carried with your hands. Her handbag has to go into the laptop bag.
Then, you’ve got to get your shoes scanned.
After security check, you can have as many bags as you want. I had my handbag into Pappy’s hand luggage as I had another hand luggage to carry. So I transformed from holding just one bag to two. Seriously, what is the point of having 1 bag only policy?
Anyway, it was all part for the experience. I’m happy that I’m home and though it would be a very tiring day at work tomorrow (judging by the fact that it’s already 2 am now and I’m not sure if I can get back to sleep), I can’t wait to be at my work desk.
It’s Wednesday but it feels like Monday to me!
You have a good day!
29 July 2007
I’m going to jump to Day 15 today. It’s one of the days where we get to plan our own things to do and places to visit in London. Before this, we were on a one-week tour to some parts of Britain, Scotland and Ireland, where everything is very much fixed by the itinerary. I’ll come back to that when I finish off with this zoo stuff.
We just finished having lunch at Bayswater where we took the tube to Camden Town, which is the nearest station to London Zoo. We decided to go to London Zoo on today itself. Among all, I think I was the one who was feeling the most excited. I love going to the zoo. I don’t know why. Well, part of the reason was that I wanted to see the gorillas.
When we got to the zoo, it was already 3:30pm and the zoo closes at 5:30pm. Not that we didn’t want to come earlier but we had spent the morning at Madame Tussauds with such long queues, it took us an hour just to get the tickets. We only had 2 hours to spare in the zoo, so we had to prioritise in getting to visit animals we wanted to watch the most first. The first would be the GORILLAS! And I made sure we watch the Penguin Feeding Time at 4:30pm. These two items will be able to satisfy my soul in London Zoo.
I’ve never seen a gorilla in my life, except on the television so when I finally get to see one quite closely at the Gorilla Kingdom, it was just awesome! The crowd just loved Bobby, especially when he pooped and ate his own poop. And then purposely ran towards the glass wall and gave it a good bang. Below is a picture of Bobby.
This is taken from one of the signage at the zoo. I took a picture of it but was too blurry so let me quote it for you….
Bobby came to London in 2003 from Rome Zoo which had rescued him in the late 1980s from a circus. Born in the wild he was illegally captured for the circus as a baby in about 1983. Despite such a difficult start to life, Bobby is a very gentle giant. It takes him a few months to get to know a new face, but then he will welcome keepers with a mutual grooming session. The fact that he was wild-born means he is genetically important for the breeding programmer.
Zaire is another gorilla staying together with Bobby outside at the open space but I didn’t get a good shot of Zaire as she was standing quite far away.
Zaire is now past breeding age but is a long standing London resident, arriving in 1984. Her age and experience will make her important as the gorilla group grows; older females help with group stability. She is very interested in humans and is very intelligent, which made her a good study for actor Andy Serkis who worked here researching his role as "King Kong". They built up quite a friendship!
Effie is another cute gorilla. She’s only 14 years old. Bobby is 23 years old and Zaire is 33 years old.
Effie is a newcomer to London from Germany. She arrived in 2007 for the opening of Gorilla Kingdowm and we hope she and Bobby are going to get along just famously. Gorillas are very social animals so introducing them is an important and complicated process. So far things have gone really well and the group are showing a lot of interest in each other.
Slightly before 4:30pm, we got ourselves a spot to stand before they feed the penguins. I like penguins a lot too!
To view more photos at the zoo, click here.
I’ll be posting journals of my holiday in July. I’m starting with the 3rd day which is 18th July instead of the 1st day on the 16th because I wanted to show you some pictures. 🙂 See link at the end of this post. It would be quite difficult to recall everything and write it down. I am relying on the short notes that I jotted down throughout the journey.
This will remain a sticky post until I post another new entry so that it’ll be easier for you. No need to scroll back to July to read this.
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18 July 2007
Woke up at 6:30am today even though I’m not the one who’s graduating. I’m just excited!
Today is not a very good day to have period. I just hope that I will not be in pain later because I want to look pretty in my sister’s graduation picture shoot. I can look ugly for the rest of the days to come but I must look pretty today.
Mum cooked breakfast and we had “mee hoon kueh”… or you call it Pan Mee. Mum calls it “mee hoon kueh”.
We went to the Student’s Union for robing and photography session. I must say everything was very organised and the people were efficient. Everything was done in a short while. After the photography session, we went to St. David’s Hall for the graduation ceremony.
Each graduant is only allowed two tickets, which means only my parents are able to enter the hall and I’d have to wait outside. Iris managed to get a last minute ticket as one of her friends’ extra guest will not be attending the ceremony. I didn’t get to sit with my parents as I was seated at another part of the hall…but it’s fine. I’m in.
As soon as the graduation ceremony ended, we headed to the university’s main building for the reception. There were finger food available, along with strawberries and champagne.
We had a stroll in Bute Park before Iris returned her graduation robe. We then had dinner at Chiquito. A Mexican restaurant.
Congratulations to Iris who now has a degree in Law. She graduated with Second Class Upper Division. I am very proud of her!