Letter from YB

This is a letter I received yesterday from a YB. YB = Yang Berhormat (i.e. The Honourable)...a respectful term used to address Members of Parliment (a.k.a. MP) in Malaysia. In addition, "Yang Berhormat" is also used for recipients of the First Class Order of the Crown of Johor (S.P.M.J.) regardless whether he is a Member of Parliament or not.

Well..it's only a cc copy to me :D It's copied to me because I wrote an email to the YB complaining about the terrible road condition in my area. The letter above is addressed to the Works Dept. phrased in an exceptionally polite manner asking them to quickly get the problem fixed because a residents are complaining!

716

I overspent again :(

Sunglasses - $230
Drive shaft & plug wire & engine oil cap for the car - $286
Cost of manpower, oil & bearing to replace drive shaft - $200

A total $716 in 2 days!

Sigh...money not enough ler.

New Glasses

On a happy Friday afternoon - I spent valuable time & $$$$ looking for the above!

Flying Car

Source of pic - NST Online

This car plunge 6 floors from a multi level carpark. Every day I drive 7 floors up & down the spiral multi level car park in my office building wor. I always have to remind myself to concentrate and not go so fast ...if not will become super flying car ler...like this poor iswara. Fortunately, the driver of this car escaped death with only a broken arm and some cuts & bruises.

Bodoh

So silly of me! This morning, I received the mysterious call again. True enough - it does say Press '9' for enquiry. Out of curiosity, I pressed '9' . The call got transfered to a call waiting mode. After a few seconds a lady answered in fluent Mandarin. The background sounds rather noisy/ busy. She said something like .."this is the high court" ... something like that la. I was stoned for a while, didn't know how to react. Then I hung up!

As Mag rightly pointed out - I should have demanded to speak in English. Demand for her name & ic and record the conversation!

So BODOH of me!

Mysterious Phone Calls - Mystery Solved

On May 21st, I wrote about 2 mysterious phone calls that I received recently. This forwarded email solves the mystery:

Dear family members and friends,

I am writing this e-mail to warn all of you. This is what happen to me on 18th may 2007 at 10.00am. The phone rang and i answer, a voice message stated that the call is from the
Malaysian High Court mentioning that i have a case to attend at the KL High Court.
Rather curious of what sort of case i have, so i press 9 to talk to the operator.

The operator speaks very 'slow english' if you know what i mean.
She insist that i must give her my name and ic no. in order for her to check what sort of case i have. I hold on for a few seconds and she ask me if that is really my ic no.
I confirmed and she also confirmed that i have a case to attend. She says that she
will faxed the doucument over to Bukit Aman Police station and the officer will call me in 3 munites. So i hung up, through enough i received the call less than 2 minutes. He announced himself as Yeoh Long Wah from Bukit Aman police station.

He ask me a lot of questions and say the criminal have use my ic detail to open bank account in Maybank and Public Bank in Negeri Sembilan. He then ask me whether i have a bank account in Maybank and Public Bank.

I told him that i have a Public Bank a/c. He says that i have to answer his questions honestly so that hecan help me with my case. The questions he ask like have you lost yr ic before, did you hand over yr ic to anybody for documentaion and how much money u have in yr a/c

I told him i cannot reveal the amount in my account and that i will meet him in Bukit Aman police station. He says fine and meet him before 4pm and gave me the phone no 03-77826222.
I rang my lawyer and ask for advise. She ask me to fix the appointment with the so call police on
Sat or Monday since today is Friday and mosque day. I called the the no 77826222 and the police answer telling me that this is not Bukit Aman police station but police station in Old Klang Road. I told the police the problem and he told me to lodge a police report in Subang Jaya
police station because they have been receiving a lot of these calls from people. I went to Public Bank to freeze all my a/c for the time being.

I am sharing all these with you so that you will not go through the trauma i went through

From: Kam Yuen Chan

Well, thankfully I couldn't understand the voice recorded message. Even if I do..I doubt I will fall into the trap kua. Where do these people come from...doing these sort of things!

As Tracy rightly pointed out - "hwah, some more talk in Mandarin, where did all these crooks come from hah? It's now 'Mow fatt mow tin', hor !"

Can't Donate

As mentioned before, I have intentions to make more donations for tax exemption purposes. Well, instead of getting taxed I might as well donate out lor. I've been thinking for a while which organisation I should donate to. I was approached a few times by recruiters from WWF & NKF to sign up their direct debit programme but I was reluctant to do so mainly because I am doubtful about how much money actually goes to the organisation since they are using these 3rd party recruiters.

I surfed the WWF & NKF sites yesterday to find out how else I can donate directly without going through any 3rd party. At NKF, I can either go through Maybank2u, sign up for regular direct debit or pay one off by cheque/drat/etc.

As I am a new user of Maybank2u - I still find the site silly and unfriendly - no idea how to go about doing it. Direct debit is out because it clearly says that it is managed by a 3rd party but doesn't say what proportion of our donation goes to them! Alternatively, to pay one off...I had to print out a FORM, fill it up and fax over manually...what incovenience!

I turn to WWF next. The sites looks much better maintained. The donation page seems friendly too. NO sign of 3rd party intervention. I can fill in my details. Choose if I want to sign up for regular direct debit or one-off donation, choose payment method and SEND. Sounds simple right!

Unfortunately, it didn't work. I tried 5 times! And the stupid page just refused to load. I gave up. I hjope they won't charge me 5 times though!

Mysterious Phone Call

Just a moment ago, I received the same mysterious phone call again. Last week I received the same phone call on my house phone. Today, the same phone call reached me on the office line.

What is it about - I DON'T KNOW!

Because the entire conversation is a recorded message and it's in Mandarin! It repeats the same message for 2-3 times and stopped.

As I am a banana, I couldn't undertand 99% of the message. Here are some key words that I managed to catch:

• malaya
• fa teng - which i thk it means court
• liang tien pan - 2.30 o'clock
• er shi yit hao - on the 21st

That's about it I can remember or rather catch. Sounds like there's some hearing going on on the 21st at 2.30pm today and am invited to attend?

Kind of strange..has any of you receive such phone calls?

20-20-20 (Source: Forwarded Email)

Take care of your "delicate" eyes.
This info' is sure to help PC users very much.

During a recent visit to an optician, one of my friends was told of an Exercise for the eyes by a specialist doctor in the US that he termed as "20-20-20" .

It is apt for all of us, who spend long hours at our desks, looking at the computer screen.

Step I :-After every 20 minutes of looking into the computer screen, turn yourHead and try to look at any object placed at least 20 feet away. ThisChanges the focal length of your eyes, a must-do for the tired eyes.

Step II :-Try and blink your eyes for 20 times in succession, to moisten them.

Step III :-Time permitting of course, one should walk 20 paces after every 20 minutes of sitting in one particular posture. Helps blood circulation for theentire body.

They saythat your eyes arer mirror of your soul, so do take care of them, they are priceless................

P/S: who says they are priceless...my new vision cost me 6k!

Black out

I blacked out for the first time in my life yesterday.

Was doing some weight training, after finishing the 2nd set (20 repetition per set) I felt nauseous and my heartbeat was really fast. Before that I had 25 mins on the treadmill which is a normal warm up session. Assuming that it was a normal reaction I forced myself to complete the 3rd set. After that I felt really unwell. I told my trainer that I felt quite dizzy and I sat down for a while hoping that the lousy feeling will go away. My trainer took my pulse rate and was trying to find out if I didn't have enough sleep the night before. I was too sick to answer him. Later on..I suggested that may be we should call off the session and he agreed.

The moment I stood up, I completely lost my balance & vision. I could not see anything! I managed to grab something to hold on to and I could hear the trainer asking me to sit down. I couldn't see anything and I felt as if I was floating in the air --- I dare not even move!

Thank goodness my trainer was there. He guided me to sit down in one of the machines and lifted my legs up. The moment he did that, it's magical. I could slowly see light again! And the dizziness slowly settled.

Wow! That was scary man.

Why did it happen ler?

Since I felt much better then, I told him that I actually skipped lunch - took only a pau. On the way to the gym, I took 2 Gardenia Twiggies (sugar) & a can of Milo (more sugar) to fill me up. He shool his head & concluded that I can't work out without enough carbohydrate. How I know..I thought the pau is carbo filled ma. And Twiggies & Milo also got sugar & carbo.

He told me to go get a sandwich before driving home. I went with clk to have Naan and Tandoori Chicken instead. After that proceed to have proper rice dinner with vege & fish. That should be enough to tune my system back kua :D

Through a Rapist's Eyes

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on whatthey look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1)The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle.Theyare most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or otherhairstyle that can easily be grabbed .They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for womenwho's clothing is easy to remove quickly. ?Many of them carry scissors around specifically to cut clothing.

3) They also look for women who are on their cell phone, searching through theirpurse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard andcan be easily overpowered.

4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between5:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery storeparking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages.? Number three is public restrooms.

6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman andquickly move her to another location where they don't have to worry aboutgetting caught.

7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.

8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged becauseit only takes a minute or two for them to realize thatg oing after youisn't worth it because it will be time-consuming

9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, orother similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands.Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guysyou're not worth it.

10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is followingbehind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what timeis it, or make general small talk: "I can't believe it is so cold outhere", "we're in for a bad winter." Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up; you lose appeal as a target.

11)If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of youand yell STOP or STAY BACK !Most of the rapists this man talked to saidthey'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not beafraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) yell I HAVE PEPPER Spray andholding it out will be a deterrent.

13) If someone grabs you, you can't beat them with strength but you can byoutsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm(between the elbow and armpit) OR in theupper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD. One woman in a class this guy taughttold him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out musclestrands - the guy needed stitches.Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; ithurts.

14) After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN. I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's parts it isextremely painful. You might think that you'll anger the guy and make himwant to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causingtrouble, and he's out of there.

15)When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers andbend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure,and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.

16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any oddbehavior, don't dismiss it, go with your instincts!!!You may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble

Wednesday, 16 May - Happy Teachers Day!

It started raining at 4.30am this morning. It was still drizzling when I was on the road a while ago at 10am. Ya..that's a bit late. Let me explain why I was late for work. My bro called me while I was about to leave home to tell me about the major traffic congestions in LDP due to an overturned lorry. That leaves us with the other alternative via Hartamas which is not any better. I informed sis who was about to head to Cyberjaya - left her wondering how else to go to Cyberjaya if the lDP is not accessible! With that piece of news I decided to delay my journey...hence, I went to have Nasi Lemak :D. Why stress myself up right? After that, I bought a pau for lunch so that I don't have to waste time going out again. While having my Nasi Lemak I called to check on Jenny who also uses the LDP - at 9.30am she was still stuck within her housing area. I told her to go back up to her apartment and take a nap :D

Ok..that's about the cranky weather and it's effect on KL traffic on a busy morning.

Today is Teachers' Day. I would like to take this opportunity to wish and thank all my teachers who had taught me in my previous life in SRK Convent Sentul, SM Convent Sentul, SM Tinggi Setapak & HELP Institute.

Special thanks to the following teachers whom I remember significantly for some reasons:

• Ms Catherine Ooi - Class Teacher, SRK Convent Sentul
• Mrs KL Chan - Chemistry, SMK Convent Sentul
• Mrs KW Chan - Physics, SMK Convent Sentul
• Pn Norhayati - Biology, SMK Convent Sentul
• Pn Sri Herbert (Ms Colin David) - Add Maths, SMK Convent Sentul
• Datin Gan - Geography, SMK Convent Sentul
• Mrs Loke - SMK Convent Sentul
• Mr Ch'ng - Economics & Accounts, SM Tinggi Setapak
• Mr Yeoh - Pure Maths, SM Tinggi Setapak
• Pn Naemah - History, SM Tinggi Setapak
• Dr Goh - Maths, HELP Institute
• Ms Taty Wijaja - Statistics, HELP Institute

Not that I did exceptionally well in these subjects. But..I enjoyed your classes nevertheless. Sorry for not doing well though *shame*

Dear Teachers,

Where ever you are now, how have you been? May health & happiness be with you always!

THANKS AGAIN!

PinkMayFlower' Secret

An email from WK prompted me to find out more about May Leong. May Leong, 29 yrs old passed away suddenly while working on her laptop. She left behind her poor mom alone - I presumed still at loss on what else is left in life since her precious daughter is gone forever.

May Leong's blog @ PinkMayFlower' Secret - at first glance, it seems like any of our blogs containing cheerful pictures & colorful graphics. Nobody would have thought that the one entry she wrote in 2007 would be her last - on April 21st she wrote 'Worked up, Stressed Up, Crashed Down" her last entry of her life before she collapsed and passed away on April 23rd.

Believe it or not..this is my second time reading a blog of someone who has passed on. (The first one was Hee Boon's - a cancer patient who passed away end last year.) Reading May Leong's last entry was entirely different..

QUOTE
...Just after getting this recent position, I was thrilled to finally have the chance to "fly high" in a Fortune 500 MNC. It's ok for me to wake at 3.30am to start work @ 4.30am everyday in the morning. But never did I realise what kind of stuff were coming towards me..........

...All for the sake of a salary just enough to keep myself alive for a month. I'm not earning like the other managers are cos I'm only a contract staff.....

...Doc just said I'm really stressed out. sigh..... what should I do? Quit? or continue this ultra-super stressful job? I've got a contract of 6 mths to fulfill... 3 months to commit. If I quit now, I've got to pay back 1 mth's salary. Not worth it. If i quit after May, it won't be so bad. But I don't know if my health can tolerate til then. My mom's really worried & I can't do much to get less worried. Cos my focus was to earn lots of $. I really thought I was able to do everything, that I can be supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate. Vitamin M(oney) isn't gonna cure my health. Just yesterday, I received an email from my job agency saying that a contract staff who's working in HP as well, passed away from heart attack, leaving his wife & kids... deja vu? coincidental? a warning sign? I dunno. I don't wanna end up dead for the sake of dough. The moral of the story is don't ever fall in love with your company or your job......

UNQUOTE

Post Lasik

Been wanting to write about my lasik experience but it happened so fast that I really don't know what is worth sharing. Well, I was there from 1pm to 6pm but the actual procedure was less than 20 mins! Basically, you need to be there early to go a thorough test so that they can decide which procedure suits you eye most. And of course...to decide all the parameters to be set during the procedure.

Firstly, I would like to declare that I am not that SUI after all. I forgot to ask for Dr Stephen Chang (supposedly the best surgeon in SEA) but I got him! He is indeed quite good. He is so experienced that I think he can do and say all he needs to with his eyes closed. In actual fact, he is quite impersonal cos he does the same thing day in day out with hundreds of patients but I must admit his professional behaviour, the way he speaks, the way he carries himself already make you feel very comfortable and secured.

To answer your main question - NO...there wasn't any pain. Your eyes would be numb and whatever they do you won't feel any pain. The only scary part is that you are awake to and you are not suppose to move when all these people do all sort of things to your eyes! Like what? Well...things like putting a ring to hold your eyeball - so that you don't roll your eyes. Or when the doctor use some instrument to 'open' the cornea flap and 'close' it back after the laser :D While I was there on the operating table...I did wonder if I was nuts paying so much money to land myself into such emotional torture.

Anyway, it's over and done with now. I can see. I do not need glassess anymore. I have yet to get myself a stylish sunglass cos I don't want to spend anymore money.

Satisfying? Well, rather dissappointing at times. Firstly, I can see my eye bag very clearly now! Secondly, more than half the people that I meet DID NOT notice any difference!

My father - whom I see everyday - he has yet to ask me anything till today
My relatives - whom I spent the whole of Saturday with - no one mentioned a thing
My hairdresser - who commented before that I will look nicer without glasses - did not say anything
My old school mate - did not notice until I asked her!

Surprisingly, those whom I don't meet often noticed the difference wor. The nurse at the gynae's clinic and a fellow student in the tai ci class whom I haven't met for a few mths.

Here's the conversation with the tai ci mate:

HE: ei..I thought u wear glasses?
ME: heh heh..
HE: u wear contact lense now?
ME: no la..
HE: wa...u did lasik ah? very very brave of u

HE: by the way..how old are you?
ME: wa..why you so direct wan?
HE: ai ya..not that I want to 'kau' you. I have no hidden reason..so I direct lor.

ME: So..how old you think I am?
HE: er...should not be many yrs older than me lor
ME: How old are you?
HE: I am 27. So..you should be may be about 30 or less?

ME: Ai ya...I am 7 years older than you lor
HE: Are you married ler?
ME : No lor. No candidate.

HE: ai ya...you should have done lasik earlier lor!

DOINK!!!

Blogging 101?

Do check this out - latest article from Marina Mahathir. Blogging 101 for politicians - heh heh heh...such sarcasm and yet subtle.