No Takesies Backsies

Still in a funk mood. Have started work, and it’s been alright I guess. I can’t divulge too much cos I can’t risk being Googled by colleagues or bosses and have them find my pot of gold to use against me. There are so many articles that warn people against doing things like that, and I’d like to think I’m well aware of things like that.

I guess, like everything that has been happening since I came back from Aus, all the ups and downs, from H1N1 to holidaying to job hunting to catching up with people to finding a job to being in this new uncertain place that I’ve been in, has been somewhat overwhelming, and somewhat undecided as to whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, or a nothing. We’re just all too obsessed with extremes, pitting one against the other. People who ask for both are just too greedy. 😛

My colleague (cheyyyy!), who also turns out to be my old highschool form mate (as in same form, different class), was telling us during lunch about how she chose to go to Wollongong, NSW of all places because she wanted to throw herself into an environment unlittered with Asians, specifically Malaysians. It’s not that she hates her own kind, but rather she felt that if she was going to pay so much to go overseas, might as well fully enjoy the experience as true as it possibly can, mixing with the locals and all that. Which she did, and which she enjoyed, and which she most likely wouldn’t want any different. That’s good.

I on the other hand, chose to go to Melbourne because I knew people there. And that it was an urban area. And I guess I also thought about my food options. And I figured, it’s still Australia, eventhough it’s overrun by Asians. Granted, I mixed with Asians practically the entire time I was there, but I honestly do not regret any bit of it. We were still from different backgrounds, and we had significant differences in terms of thinking process and even openness, but I guess it’s sort of like going through “challenging” times together through this racial bond that makes things a little more enjoyable and easy. Had a lot of good times, most of which I do miss every now and then when I’m feeling lonely being the only one back here.

At the end of the day, life is something you can’t undo and if you love what you’ve done, what choices you’ve made and its outcome, then that’s fantastic. If you hate it, regret the hell out of it, wishfully hoping to find an undo button hidden somewhere, there’s really nothing much you can do other than try to improve the situation. Then again, sometimes it’s not that easy. Someone posted on Facebook recently saying, “life is very simple. It’s other people who complicate it.” I guess that holds true to some extent, because people sometimes complicate our lives because we probably did the same to them. You may notice it, you may not, but I always believe what comes around goes around, karma, and all that.

I guess at the end of the day, if you can live with yourself and the choices you’ve made, and realise that it’s not THAT bad (a la schadenfreude), then sometimes all these externalities don’t really matter that much anyway because ultimately only you can make your ownself happy by changing your outlook in life, and your perspective on how marvelously shitty your life is! 😀

Where’s The Remote?

I watched The Ugly Truth yesterday and whilst it’s your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy with a still watchable journey towards a predictable happy ending, I did take something from it.

More often than not I have this urge to check plans for phones or internet, sometimes even other things like toll rates, membership discount cards, promotions and offers etc that are applicable to me. I don’t know if it’s an “auntie” thing or a “cheapskate” thing or what, but I always have this unexplainable need to figure out what the best offer/deal/rates are. And the worse thing is, once I figure these things out, I sometimes have this strong urge to get the people who are on the less-economical rateplans to switch to the more economically sensible ones.

Is that one of the traits of a control freak? Although I’m not as eccentric as Katherine Heigl’s character who fusses over every single detail and even does background checks on people she dates, the fact that I have this unnerving need to “advise” people to go for the better deal makes me wonder what exactly this trait I have is all about, let alone what it says about me. On the plus side, people can easily turn to me when they want to know which to choose. It’s just another one of those random things I seem to know about.

The cinema where I went to watch that movie had a booth promoting DiGi’s new Unlimited Music thing, which led me to Maxis’s Music Unlimited (which isn’t the unlimited you think it is), following which led me to checking out the call plans Hotlink offers. It’s weird, and it’s utterly irrelevant since I’m not even using prepaid, but there I was switching between the various plans trying to figure out the differences in the offers and identifying any catches or strings. And now, I have this strong urge to ask a few people I know using Hotlink what plan they are on, and recommending them to switch to the economical one since they are eligible for it.

Yep, it’s the Hotlink youthclub. And no, I’m not being paid to promote them, although the income would be much welcomed. The rates are so unbelievably cheap compared to the other 2 possible plans, and it’s sort of killing me on the inside not knowing whether my friends are on that plan or not since they are eligible to join. I just can’t live with myself knowing that people are going on using expensive plans and unnecessarily paying more for the same quality of service.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Actually, I don’t even know if this is a bad thing or not. Afterall, I’m not being employed by these people to solicit my friends of which I’m quite sure many would find annoying and to some a little bit “gross”, so I kinda wonder if people appreciate my free service to help them save money or am I just being a little too much of a control freak that I need to have everything and everyone do as I say the way that I want it to be.

Hmmm…

Need to change the header

Well if you hadn’t guessed it, I’m back in Malaysia. Have been for the past like 2 weeks plus, running around being a tour guide to my RMIT friends who came back to Malaysia. The first week tho was pretty much ruined thanks to this uncle (dad’s church friend) who was on the same flight as Pinky (RMIT classmate from HK) and me, who later turned out to be positive for H1N1 and ended up having Pinky, me, AND my driver mum home quarantined for a whole week. Sucks, especially for Pinky who thankfully had another 1 week plus left before going back to Melb with the rest of them.

Many things have happened over the past week plus, and I guess a lot more should be happening in the coming weeks. Most daunting of all would be the job hunt, a task which I am starting to feel lazy about and also a bit blah. But I think if I don’t find one soon, I’m just going to be rotting away at home doing nothing and living off mum, which I guess I have been doing long enough and hope to stop as soon as possible.

Haven’t gone to the extent of hitting people up for string-pulling and name-dropping yet, as I’m currently sort of taking it slow and easy. It’s not that I’m waiting for the perfect job to fall from the sky, but I guess I want to make sure that I find something that I won’t regret doing later on. That has been one of my biggest fears for the longest of time. I don’t want to regret.

K la, that’s all for now. Hopefully the next post I update will be positively good news. 😀

OMG I’m Free… Free-ish…

It’s June, and my university life is ending as I speak, counting down the days I have left till I have to say goodbye to my 2nd home. It’s 32 days, if you’re curious.

Sadly, uni isn’t totally over for me yet. I have one assignment due tomorrow afternoon, and another due on the 15th. Of course I can finish the latter one earlier on and start holidaying sooner, but knowing me, I’ll procrastinate on it for as long as I possibly can.

The weather has turned wintery at last, to the point that I’ll probably begin using my heater sometime soon when it becomes unbearably cold. Don’t get me wrong, I do love cold weather, and this feeling is probably one of the many things I’ll miss living here for. The clean cold fresh air, something you can only dream of back home in haze-stricken Malaysia.

I still recall one of those Lat comics where they installed a giant fan on the KL Tower to blow the haze away. If only that was possible. 😛

I’m still kinda curious as to what to do after I get back, work-wise. My career stuff will have to wait though as I will be playing tour guide for the first 2 weeks as my HK classmate is following me back for 2 weeks to experience Malaysia, and hopefully to rid herself of all these humorous stereotypes she has about Malaysia and Malaysians. It’s very amusing the things she thinks we have or do in Malaysia. I guess that’s what many foreigners who don’t really know much about Malaysia would think.

Most importantly I can’t wait to eat all the yummy foods back home. I think food-wise there really isn’t anything I’d miss in Melb other than this yummy pork bun thingey from this Viet restaurant. Yup, that’s about it. Everything else you can pretty much find it back home, perhaps even better and with more varieties. And most importantly, soooo much cheaper even comparing dollar-to-dollar. It’s a norm here that “real” meals (like single plate rice dishes etc) cost roughly $10, where as back home you can get the exact same thing and portions for roughly rm5, give or take a few.

Other things are of course more expensive in Malaysia than here, but I guess that’s how everything evens itself out. Regardless, there are still more cheap alternatives in Msia than what you can find here. Futhermore in Msia, places like McD offer refillable soft drinks and you can pump all the ketchup sauce you want for free. Here you have to buy the sauce packets, don’t even bother asking for chilli sauce because apparently they don’t have such things here. Some of my friends bring their own chilli sauce when they go for fastfood.

And now I am craving french fries. 😛

Eitherway, gonna go off to maybe do some work. Or more likely prepare dinner. Planning to make soup, because I’m lazy and all I need to do for soup is just wash n cut the ingredients and basically throw it all into the pot of boiling water and let it boil for as long as it takes to warm up my room. The perks of free gas. 😀

Tatas!

General Neoledge

Tee hee hee…

1. What do you call Cheneille’s obscurity?
   Neobody.
2. What do you call a kaypoh Cheneille?
   Neosy Parker.
3. What do you call Cheneille’s big bright idea?
   Chendelier.
4. And what about Cheneille’s popping up everywhere?
   Chendawan.
5. What do you call Cheneille’s love for singing?
   Chenteuse.
6. And if that goes bad?
   A Neo-Talent.
7. What about Cheneille’s Herbalife phase?
   Neotritious!
8. Hmm… someone’s smelling good today. What’s that you’re using?
   Cheneille No. 5.
9. You seem to have an answer for everything, don’t you?
   Ms. Neo-It-All.
10. Then tell me what station to get off the LRT to change to KTM?
    KL Chentral.
11. I’m taking the train down to Klang to have some yummy oyster omelette. What do they call it again?
    Or-Chen (蚝煎)
12. And complete my meal with that yummy cold dessert that also has some degree of fame in Klang, what was it?
    Chendol
13. What do you call the state someone’s in when they feel lost and uncertain with what to do?
    Confuchen.
14. Should I continue then?
    Yes.
15. You sure??
    Neo! >_<