Thursday, September 25, 2003

11:19 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Testing the Eyes

I don't like looking around the exam hall while sitting for an exam. I get paranoid that I'll be accused of cheating.

Before my LASIK surgery, I never had such worries. I just took my glasses off and let my eyes wander where they will. In those days, I couldn't even see the features of a face right in front of me, much less somebody's test paper, three feet away.

It's been over half a year since I stopped wearing glasses. It's strange that the changes it wrought are very small things.

My eyes are more sensitive to sunlight. Before, my glasses were 100% UV protected. I no longer pick up my glasses as the first thing I do after getting out of bed. I don't have to be so near the mirror when I'm applying eye make-up. I can actually watch TV while removing my eye make-up now.

I can't think of a single big thing that being without glasses has changed in my life. Then again, I wasn't paying for my glasses nor my contacts. Did you know my last pair of glasses were RM800? I think my parents are very kind to me for paying for my LASIK surgery so that I don't have to pay for my own glasses and contacts once I start working....

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030925a

Thursday, September 25, 2003

01:15 a.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Modems and Money

1. Modem stops working: presumed an electrical surge caused malfunction. Online presence disappears for several days.

2. Dad says "Buy new one." We buy new one that very night. Yay, back online.

3. After one day of internet, new modem stops working too. What? More electrical surges? Curse this house!

4. Run to shop with modem and demand exercise of warranty. Shop says "We send back to company. See what they say. Takes a month."

5. Resigns self to borrowing modem from friends in the mean time, since we already spent a hundred bucks on the new modem, and it might actually come back. Buying a new one might end me up with an extra, wasteful modem.

6. I've decided that my parents have way too much money. "Just buy another modem! It's only a hundred!"

Too late. Have already borrowed modem from friend. But can I have that hundred to buy a surge protector and one of those USB hub/port extension things so I don't have to crawl under the table all the time?

The answer: "No cash in wallet. Wait." Sigh. Maybe my parents just think they have a lot of money....

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030925

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

09:48 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Nasty Tactics

One day, I got an SMS from Maxis announcing that effective 28 August, Maxis to Maxis SMS is only 10 sen! Wee! After that SMS, suddenly everywhere, I see notices to that effect. Maxis to Maxis SMS is now 10 sen! 10 sen! The announcement was in newspapers, on billboards, and god knows where else.

It wasn't only until when I got my Maxis phone bill, twelve days after the new SMS rates were in effect, that I learnt that International SMS is now 50 sen. Do you have any idea how often I send text messages to my beloved in London on a daily basis?

You count approximately ten SMS-es multiplied by 50 sen, and multiply that by 12 days. If they can send me an SMS informing of the new 10 sen rate, couldn't they have sent me an SMS informing of the new 50 sen rate too?

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030923

Monday, September 22, 2003

08:06 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Bad Sports

I don't even know why I don't like football, when from what I could see from the game, it's happily as violent as the ice hockey I used to watch in New York. Maybe I'm just prejudiced against balls. Too many balls had a tendency to hit my head during Physical Exercise in school. I've always had the poorest of luck when it comes to sports.

I loved swimming. Won third place in 50m freestyle in Standard Two. Of course there were only three participants in the event, but that didn't matter. The problem was that in Standard Three, the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist said that some dirty swimming pool had caused a fungal infection in my ear that reduced my hearing ability by ten per cent.

I tried hurdles in Standard Four. The first jump I tried, I slipped on some mud, and fell on my back. Then continued to slide towards the hurdle. My ankle hooked the damned hurdle, which then fell on top of me. I tried high jumps. I didn't even reach the pole I was supposed to jump over. So never mind that.

I tried golf with my younger sister, who promptly swung the damned club into my forehead. (She also did the same thing with a spade and a racquet, on other days.) I tried silat, and though Nina, my sparring partner, gave me many bruises, I valiantly stuck with it until the first time we tried a roll, the only one who got injured was me.

Then in New York, Adik and I got roller blades! To my happiness, although much falling happened, there were no scrapes and very little bruises, thanks to the purchases of padding and helmet! So I used to squeal around Central Park in skimpy clothing, getting all the cute guys to help me through difficult terrain.

Alas, my roller blades, padding and helmet are now missing. Anyway, one can't run around Malaysia in skimpy clothing, so half the fun is gone.

I really don't like pain. I especially don't like doing things that increase the chance of pain, in the most embarrassing way possible, in front of all sorts of people. If I wanted scrapes and bruises, I could inflict them to myself without all the unexpectedness and embarrassment, thanks.

The whole point of this length discourse, is that I just couldn't bear to watch the football game further, since they seemed more intent on causing each other pain and embarrassment than scoring goals....

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030922

Sunday, September 21, 2003

01:47 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Bust that Butt

You have to understand that since I turned 14, I've been top-heavy. My bust was always bigger than my butt. I would wear size 10 blouses with size 4 pants.

So there I was, whining to TJ: "Is this the way? You hit twenty-five and everything goes to your hips?"

TJ's quip?

"Then you'll hit forty-five and your chest goes to your hips!"

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030921

Friday, September 19, 2003

01:25 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

I Didn't Believe in Anniversaries

Truth be told, I had to scour the ICQ archives for the exact date. When I first began dating Tariq, I didn't make any specific note of the date, because at the time, I had no use for anniversaries.

I thought it was like Valentine's Day. Just another excuse to dress up, go out, then fool around. Nice, but not important. But it's now three years, and I look back and see so many reasons we could have broken up. There were so many points in the timeline when we could have just given up and gone our separate ways.

Right from the first day, when he told me he loved me, I had been so scared that I hid in the toilet and cried. I was sure that anybody who got close to me would see how flawed I am. Then, there were peers who thought he wasn't boyfriend material. There were parents who thought we were affecting each others' studies (as if our studies weren't screwed before we met each other). I lived in fear that he would keep his hurts quiet until they were too much and then lose his temper and dump me. He felt threatened by the other men I flirted with.

Then he moved to London, and we had to cope with all the old problems while a million miles apart. It's so much worse when we can't hug and cuddle to reassure each other of our love and trust. It's so terrible to cry alone in your room, and your only connection with your significant other is the phone.

After three years with Tariq, I'm beginning to realize that anniversaries are more than excuses for a fancy date. The anniversary of a relationship is about celebrating the survival of the relationship, through all the trials and tribulations the world throws at you. Each year that we celebrate an anniversary is an accomplishment to be proud of.

Look, we made it this far!

I hope we make it further still.

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030919

Thursday, September 18, 2003

10:38 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

The Fabulous Mr. X

I don't know how I'll work in the Public Relations field during PMS. I'd embarrass everybody by bursting into tears for no reason at all. Or, much better, I'd just end up killing everybody....

As for my good deed of the day, I would like to highlight the self-dubbed Mr. X, though we know him by a more fabulous name. Juli's co-workers have decreed him "tall," "good-looking" and "polished."

He, of course, is freaking out over the verdict. He's shy, Mr. X is.

I have always told him that he's definitely good-looking, but if Juli's co-workers knew him better, they'd know that TJ and I have to nag him into looking polished. He has a silly fetish for old, ugly white t-shirts, and he refuses to button his shirts up properly.

More importantly, he's so very nice that we worry that he'll fall into the clutches of manipulative, mercenary women. Luckily, he has the whole group of YCCians to protect him from predatory females. Hee hee!

Though polished he may not necessarily be, a gentleman in the best sense of the word, he is. He's the YCCian Superhero, our Clark Kent. We drive him nuts. We hope he'll find a nice girl who'll delight in our company, throw away all his tattered t-shirts, and bully him into buttoning his shirts.

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030918

Monday, September 15, 2003

08:27 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Be Very Careful, Monthly.

I'm depressed, miserable, and anti-social.

For no reason whatsoever.

Except of course, when you look at my calendar, where I mark my goddamned first-day periods.

I would like to cry too.

Except I have no reason to cry. So I bought myself some salmon sushi instead. Put just a little too much wasabi, and it went up my nose. But otherwise it was good.

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030915

Sunday, September 14, 2003

10:12 p.m. Kuala Lumpur Standard Time

Back and Better!

You know, I lived in an apartment in KL for two years, and I never had any problems with my net connection.

Then I come home, and in the half-year I've been here, this damned house has fried three modems. Obviously there are things I can do to prevent it, but it just irritates me that I'd have to at all.

So I'm back, and quite eager to blog.

I am pleased to announce that this Friday, I finally got my flash mp3 player! The weird, obscure brand of We!! Wa cost RM399, and has an internal memory of 128MB (expandable using Multi-Media Cards).

The software that comes with it is a bit sluggish and pathetic in features, and the screen on the mp3 player itself doesn't display the song titles. But the sound is quite good, and the thing itself looks cute. I hang it around my neck and the player rests right on my belly button. I love it very much.

Now, excuse me while I catch up on my e-mail. But no worries, I'll be blogging again with a vengeance!

I'm all healthy and productive once more!

Be honest.
Link to the start of entry: #20030914