The dinner that was

Yang kurik kundi yang merah saga
Baik budi indahlah bahasa
Oh... oh... oh...
Pantun lama tinggi kiasannya

- Siti Nurhaliza's "Kurik Kundi" -


I’ve never seen so many batik shirts on so many men, all in one place, on one night….

Last night I attended the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication’s Annual Dinner at the PWTC..it was a last minute thingy, so I had to follow my boss home and borrow a “sopan” outfit from her (read: baju kurung, beads optional)…I was actually dressed in a white linen shirt and checkered pants yesterday, but being clumsy, had 2 curry spots on my chest..i thought wearing them would be ok, and proceeded to wash the stains out with a little bit of purple Dynamo..the stain did went out, but now I’m left with 2 purple spots…how the hell did that happened?

Called up my mom to ask her if its possible for them to pick me up after the dinner, and she reprimanded me for even THINKING about wearing a non-traditional outfit to a Kementerian affair…pfftt….so I had to slink into the baju kurung, which, thank god, fit me well….

The dinner was VERRRYYYY so-so..the food was not at all anything to shout about…Chinese course meal always gets me excited as I await one course after another..but the food last night was quite, simply put, boring, therefore, tasteless…the dessert made up for it though….dah laa we were told to observe the food presentation, the lights dimmed and then Lou Bega’s Mambo No 5 blared out, as we waited in anticipation…half the song went, and nothing…then we saw the waiters and waitresses riding out Fifties-style on motorbikes into the hall..oooh, how impressive….*rolls eyes*

Entertainment wise, haaa, this was quite entertaining…we had 3 unknown singers at first, singing the “Dia dating, jeng jeng jeng..” song, with one of the guys who must have missed his 2nd round of hair rebonding session *shudders*….then we had some gambus players *I love looking at them, so serene*..and then….Rosma and Bob from AF! Waa….i was quite curious to see how Rosma had turned out…hmm, slimmer and with better fashion sense :p she sang a few songs, one of her own, and Siti Nurhaliza’s Kurik Kundi…nevertheless, her showmanship was impressive and she sang and danced naturally…

Bob, however, didn’t have luck with his Cinta Seorang Teman song..apparently, the song died out during his performance, so it seemed as if he was miming :p then he sang 2 60-an songs I did not recognize…and then this TNB staff who apparently is their resident singer :p performed a couple of Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra and some oldies, which sounded quite good la, although his recycled jokes left a lot to be desired (“We 4 Tom brothers are quite famous you know, we have Tompel, a brother who moved to Thailand, calls himself Tom Yam these days, then there’s Tom Jones and our youngest, Tom Cruise”..cue: mouth ternganga because that was a REALLY lame joke!)

But the best was when Deja Moss came on stage..she is a great singer! Like, wow!! She sang Ruth Sahanaya’s “Keliru”, her own song, then a medley of Liza Minelli’s “Big Spender” and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”, Metallico’s “Love” and Michael Buble’s “ Sway”..*sigh* best, best! If I can’t get any of my friends to sing during my wedding, I gotta kumpul duit so I can get her instead, hehehe….

The audio system was a bit of a mess...Telekom apparently had this pantomime that won awards or something..but i think only Telekom people got the jokes, as the rest of the show was basically embarassing static or silence, coupled with bungled powerpoint images...the applause at the end was just out of politeness...kesian la pulak...

I left after Tan Sri Lim Kheng Yeik’s entertaining speech…he is a man of many words, but most of them funny, so it was really easy to concentrate on what he was saying…he told us how that after his Ministry has been known as Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi, KTAK (pronounced ketak), people in the Parliament have been calling it Kementerian KTAK...tee hee…

Nevertheless, I left the hall last night, sneaking through the back door with a bunch of batik-clad men, feeling verry much like a government servant…

My point of contention

As long as the stars shine down from the heavens
As long as the rivers run to the sea
I'll never get over you gettin' over me

- Selena’s “I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)” -


Were you there last weekend? Around the Seri Kembangan area? Omigod! It was a total mess as a result of the MAS travel fair that took place at the MINES convention centre..the traffic was soo horrible!..i, on the other hand, was actually on duty on Saturday afternoon at our company’s roadshow…talk about choosing the right places la kan..*rolls eyes*

I actually left home quite early, as my duty starts around 3.30 pm…I didn’t have the car as my brother and my sis claimed weekend ownership, so I had to take the komuter…but it was ok, as I managed to get a seat everytime..hehehe..and I also have Jane Green’s Bookends to keep me company…it was starting to look like a nice quiet day, bar madness at the roadshow..it was only when I jejak kaki at the Serdang komuter station that I was nearly knocked back by the sheer magnitude of the crowd heading towards the convention center….i couldn’t see a single empty stretch of road for more than 2 kilometres, and it was blazing hot…

Mak, macamane nie? Initially, I wanted to take a cab to the shopping mall, as I’m an incredibly spoiled child *sticks tongue out*, but of course, being the scatter brain that I am, only have 4 ringgit in my wallet…ha bloody ha…I was actually thinking that a cab ride that short would not cost more than that, but given the horrendous traffic that was there since 8 in them morning, I was forced to find an alternative solution…

Voila! Free bus rides from the komuter station provided by MAS..yay! so, I waited at the bus stop, just like other eager would-be-MAS travelers, to hop on the bus that took approximately 30 minutes to get to place which, otherwise, would have taken me *and other speed demons perasan speed demons* less than 5…

i actually went in to the fair *and paid the RM2 blasted fee* to drop in my resume….yeah, buat malu je when I reached the HR counter and found out that they are only recruiting CABIN CREW, cadet pilots and aircraft maintenance engineer..no wonder la the person giving directions at the entrance looked at me weirdly…cheh…but the crowd was amazingly suffocating that I went off to our roadshow early…

that night, I got my parents to pick me up at the mall after an exhausting and nerve-wracking roadshow session..so off they went to have dinner at Satay Haji Samuri before picking me up at around 10pm…but, all the way from Shah Alam to Kajang, for a measly 20 cucuk satay?????? Sheesh! They should have waited for me!..anyways, alkisahnye, they took a wrong turning in the journey to pick me up and ended up on an obscure highway that they did not know existed..luckily my mom’s sharp eyes spotted the mall from afar and they made it safely…I, on the other hand, have finished a tuna mushroom pastry and was contemplating eating the incredibly tasteless peach tart when they arrived..

getting home was a nightmare… about 45 minutes just to leave the mall! Then we got lost on more obscure highways and discovered Bandar Sungai Long….you know the lost city of Shangri La or Atlantis? It was almost akin to finding those cities when we entered Bandar Sungai Long, as we have so often heard about it, but never really able to put our fingers on the map to locate it…anyways the houses are damn gorgeous…but we trundled back out, and finally found ourselves on the route to KL..pheww….

but it occurred to me just then how ‘berduit’ you have to be living or working in KL…just on one highway, you can actually encounter 3 toll booths…multiply that by 2 for a daily trip..then 5 or 6 depending on your working days..then by 4 for an approximate monthly charge…it gets more expensive should you value your time or sleep more, and decide to go on those premium priced highway…then there’s petrol…approximately 10 ringgit per day…then parking, which in KL ranges from the low RM 3.50 per entry to RM 6..or the RM 2.50 per hour rates….

Right now I’m actually thinking how foolish I was growing up, dreaming about the glamour of working in the big city, rushing around with the morning or evening crowd…well, it might be glamorous should I:

a. Have a substantial salary *HUGE point of contention right now*
b. Live closer to the city *HUGE point to consider for next job application*
c. Have this incredible stamina *HUGE problem to be tackled right now*

And since I don’t meet any of those up there, what am I STILL doing here?

Oh look, she speaketh!!

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

- Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" -

I haven’t been updating for a while, but I have been to loads of new blogs…it’s not that I don’t want to blog, jot my jumbled up thoughts so I can source a rationale or an answer to the questions in my head…I hate blaming everything on being busy, as I know that if we are passionate or we care about something, we would definitely make time for it…yet, I do make time for things that I care about….for instance, a recent impromptu sleepover that might have hurt someone’s feelings should it not materialize, and yet it raised questions from people around me about my priorities…my priorities have been a jumbled mess since like for ever…I guess it would help if people understand me or take me for what I am…but who would appreciate being stood up several times? I guess, I just have to work harder at prioritizing….

A short update…I’ve been through 2 exhausting roadshows, emerging a little bit wiser and more calmer…and ready to face anything in the coming one…although, I have to admit, meeting up ex-colleagues from ex-bank while distributing brochures, is not exactly a fun experience…meeting up was fun, but when they asked me where I’ve been, and i told them, to further my studies, and all at the same time, in a company t-shirt and cap distributing fliers and smiling at total strangers while selling them current company’s products , is not exactly what I envision myself a year back…I know, I know, call me arrogant, but my sole reason is so as my parents would not see me as a wasted investment…I guess, everyone’s gotta start at the bottom somewhere, so here I am..again..

Work wise, I’m in the midst of a deep disappointment with my current employer…alhamdulillah, promises of other options have always been there although not as delicious..i guess its time I do my contemplation again…the idea of being unemployed for a short while is actually quite attractive…my mom wants me to “settle” my leg/knee, go for required surgery and whatnot…and I need time to concentrate on slimming down…*cue for audience to burst out in laughter*..hehehe…but seriously, 2 or more of my best friends are getting married this very year, so I gotta look good kan? And what if I’m called upon to be an MC *wink*?..haa, dah kena prepare flowery speech and sickly-cheesy pantuns..*although secretly, I’ve always wanted to spout out flowery Malay phrases, hehehe*

On the home front: My home is a tornado of renovations..i pick my way through debris just to get to the front door..and my sister has taken to sharing my room…along with her pc, bookcases and stuff….which are lying all over my room..it does not help that she has projects and assignments all the time, hence huge blueprints/plans are all over my floor, on which she does her work, and rendering (which is just colouring for those not into design-speak :p)…what’s amazing is that for a future interior designer, she has absolutely NO TASTE in making up the bed!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m quite happy that I get to go off early, and leave her snoring so that she can make the bed later…but whenever I come back to my dear old room, and switch on the lights at the end of the day..*sigh* urut dada makcik…so laa the takde style in mengemas katil….i have this way of arranging the pillows, and pulling up the duvet so it looks ala-ala it should be featured in a magazine..but she!!! Arrghh….i’m tempted to just do it myself, but I shall not succumb..*grumble, grumble*

Valentine’s Day came and went…as usual, dateless..:p which is no surprise la kan…instead of spending the night with someone of the opposite gender, alone together…I was actually with my mom, my dentist and her son…who, btw, is much younger…sipping coffee and eating expensive crisps at the local Starbucks…how romantic *rolls eyes*…my sis on the other hand, got her usual yearly valentine gift, and a customary helium balloon which is hanging over our room now…

I watched the Lilian Too feng shui show the other day..well, only the part about the people born in the year of the Sheep *mbaaa*…hmm, interestingly enough I found out that I’m actually stronger than the dragon…waa! Apparently, the Sheep lady is better at wrangling promotions than the dragon lady…cool….and Lilian Too, of course, being the enterprising businesswoman that she is, advocates wearing citrine crystals *which can be found at he World of Feng Shui la kan* this year as a good luck charm, and the citrine is good apparently for wealth, so its always good to have some on you…I don’t totally believe in the power of feng shui, and I’m not sure if its really syirik if you pick up some tips…but the citrine is actually a very pretty crystal…it might not hurt to string a band around the wrist kan….hmm….

Oh and I’ve finally read Patricia Cornwell’s first book…after reading 3 of her books, I have to admit, although she’s a great alternative to CSI, I much, much prefer Agatha Christie…maybe because the villains in Agatha Christie is closely tied to her characters or maybe we were introduced to them earlier in the book..but Patricia Cornwell’s is always some obscure dude, who, by the powers of deduction and modern-day miracles, were found guilty…sangat boring…takde emotional attachment….so, I’m back to reading Jane Green..chick lit pun chick lit laa…I’m so tempted to carry around my Maeve Binchy but they’re all hard covers first editions, so a bit the semangat la pulak kan….

am still in the office..bila nak balik nieee?