Mixed items

• Obama's inauguration starts at 11.30 p.m. on Astro Awani, among other channels like HBO (O_0). Woo. A little jealous that an uncle is there to cover it. Though am not jealous of the people who are also there for the historic event. Imagine 6,000 people to one port-a-potty. Urgh.
  
  
• Mogwai gig tomorrow in KLCC (the convention centre, not mall). Never driven to the convention centre before (driving past it to get to the American embassy once upon a time doesn't count). Hope all goes well.
  
  
• Local music festival Sunburst is confirmed to be on Saturday, March 21. Early bird tickets (RM143) have started going on sale today but I'm not getting mine yet as they have not released the artist line-up yet (seriously). Most heard rumour is that Coldplay's is still in contention. Looking at their tour dates, I supposed there's time for them to stop here in between New Zealand mid-March and Europe in August. Much as I don't mind seeing them for a third time (which is more than some people, I admit), but I rather see them in a full concert than (perhaps) an hour long set.
  
  
• Annual company "dinner" (using the term loosely as it's actually lunch than dinner) on Thursday as The Man Who Signs the Paycheques won't be around the next day. Oh well. Heard it's gonna be at this super ulu seafood place called Boon Tat. As long as you don't ask me to drive, can already :P
  

Random shit

• Goofy cousin got straight As for PMR. Even his parents think it's a fluke - and his dad made a deal with him to pay RM1000 for each A (there were other stipulations) - ha ha. Like I always say around exam results time: Either kids are getting smarter or the exams are getting waay too easy. Hmm.
  
  
• Called the nearby Perodua service/parts centres about a replacement door handle on my day off. Long story short: No such luck in the Valley, but the guy who took the call in Puchong was willing to order it from Johore for me, but to drive to Puchong.... Finally got through the Glenmarie centre, but they had too much red tape for my liking: must make appointment lah, 50% deposit (for dunno what), can only order the part from the 12th lah.... troublesome lah. When asked how much was the actual part, Puchong guy told me that it's RM12.70, which was okay lah. Glenmarie told me that it was RM30 something (O_o), but to be fair I did ask if they knew off the top of their heads and they probably didn't check, so... hmm. Now we wait and see how long can my mum take having to open another door to get into the driver's seat.
  
  
• Lunch at Kayu (Aman Suria) with friend Ivan today (whom I catch up with every few months or so). My plan was to have paper thosai, but that didn't work out because they don't do thosai at that hour (WHY?!), so had to settle with mamak style fried kuey teow instead. It was nice catching up and gossiping. Was needlessly caught on the inexplicable jam on the LDP as we went through the back door way to the place. At least I know of an alternative route now and learnt something new today :)
  
  
• Kate Walsh is divorcing. Hmm. Didn't expect to hear that.
  

What else I've done this 5 day weekend - Car related shit and what not.

Stuff I couldn't stuff in anywhere else....

• Door handle on the driver's side of Kelisa's stopped working - the door can't be opened from the outside anymore, like 10 Downing Street (my bro's words, not mine). Would happily get a third party replacement, but having a black or chrome handle on a silver car is NOT an option. Now have to remember to call Perodua to see if they still have parts for a car that's been out of production for a while now...
  
• Fixed Jeep's wiring today - at least now the interior lights and power windows are working. (It didn't bother me before because I wasn't really using it before, but Dad does when he does his night paper run). Dad subsidised RM50 of the RM65 job. The motor on the front passenger window needs to be replaced; gave the shop the okay to ask for replacement, new or recon.
  
• Drove to the Mecca of DIY Ah Beng car pimping - the Brothers megastore in Kelana Jaya - a couple of days ago to replace the windscreen wipers on the Jeep, which no one knows how to remove, some more change them. And no, I don't know when was the last time anyone's changed them. Because of the obscurity of the fastening mechanism (wipers come with CLIPS now, and now screws :P), I ended up with this pair of SILICONE wipers (which I'm told is the REALLY GOOD shit as far as wipers are concerned - have I mentioned it's the same stuff that fills breast implants?) with the universal clips which cost me RM36 EACH. Not a pair, EACH. Also paid one of the grease monkeys there an extra RM2 to change it for me.
  
  And I've not even changed the REAR wiper, so another trip there is probably needed before the year is out.
  
• Might need to do come more cosmetic work on the Jeep soon-ish. Gah. Which reminds me, might also need to clean the interior, too - I mean, REALLY clean it. Oy.
  
• Finally cracked open the box of Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix (which comes with a packet of its own frosting) that I bought some time ago as there were ants going wild on the packaging (but not in the contents, thankfully). I had already started mixing when I found that there were no more eggs in the house and there wasn't anything else prescribed online that I could substitute with - no applesauce, no egg replacement, nothing - so I decided to use condensed milk instead. Result was an eggless, dense brownie, crispy on the edges. No complaints as we're down to 2.5 slices left three days in.
  
• The ruler of Negeri Sembilan died over the weekend - the new guy was sworn in today (the third day).
  
• Legoland Malaysia in 2013, in Johore. Just because they couldn't get Disney or Universal Studios, haha. It's better than nothing, I guess.

More mixed updates

1. It's official: them damn cats are now (might as well be) pets - just ones that aren't welcomed into the house, haha.
   
   
2. Cousin asked me to buy the Bobbi Brown Copper Diamond Deluxe mini brush set (it's a holiday thing) for her pretty sure because there aren't any Bobbi Brown counters or stores in JB (I think). Might as well get one for myself, too. Am only getting it on Saturday (called the BB counter at 1U [don't ask how I have the number] earlier in the evening; was told they still had plenty - but will call again later in the week to check again, just in case) and she said she'd pay me back when she comes up to KL after Christmas.
   
   
3. 10 more days to Christmas. Most of the office will be gone on the 26th. As far as I know it's only me and another colleague who's not taking the day off (don't see the point really, seeing as I don't celebrate it and I'm not one for taking leave when everyone else does). Not sure if anyone else with keys to the office will be coming into work; or else we were thinking of self declaring the day off, haha. I just hope that the boss is gone as well... hope springs eternal.
   
   
4. Watching Mamma Mia! the stage musical at Istana Budaya on Friday night - friend Jacky's got 2 free tickets from her company. Might as well go since it's free, right? Must remember that the dress code's no tee shirts, jeans, sneakers... oy.
   

My Day Off....

I guess I should mention that this morning one of the strays had a gash in its paw and it was bleeding all over the place - if outside wasn't bad enough, it came into the house and looked for my bro... who then had to clean the blood trail in the house before I woke up. Stuffed him (we all thought all this time that it was female, but oh well) in the cage and into the car and the boy took cat to see a vet after dropping me off at the train station. (I couldn't stand the plaintive meowing anymore, anyway)

As I already took the day off and thought might as well go to PC Fair as I can't tomorrow. No major purchases, but took some "recyclables" (read: leaflets la) for the brother as he couldn't go today and it's nice to know the prices of stuff. Only spent RM20 on this gooey, sticky, Flubber-esque stuff (Cyber Clean) which is meant to pick up the dirt and grime in those places in your electronic devices that you can't quite get with conventional methods of compressed air or wipes. I'm SO bringing some to work next week.

Was out pretty quick and wandered some more before leaving about 3 something. Pretty early.

As I couldn't get a ride home, I took the cab home from the train station (which is not very far, but by the time I get back I'm too tired to walk home) and let the cab driver keep the change for driving me such a short distance. Before I could get into the shower, Dad called from China, ranting and raving about air tickets and not getting them where he was. Turns out (my fault) that he wanted to come home sooner and asked my brother to book the flight home for him, yada yada yada... it's a long story.

For dinner, my bro and I checked out the PKR/DAP free for all casual mixer event on one of the many playgrounds in the area (key word: free food). Fortunately we both managed in line for the buffet pretty early on, so ate and left not long after.

Random updates

1. Got the jeep back from the shop yesterday. Paint job's so good it looks new.
   
   
2. Dad's leaving for China tomorrow morning. He's supposed to wake up at 2 a.m., leave the house at 3 for the nearly 6 a.m. flight. Oy. I was just saying how he shouldn't bother sleeping cos he's waking up at 2 (which is what time I would sleep during the weekends and eve of public holidays like tonight...)....
   
   
3. Tomorrow's Sultan's birthday. Thank goodness for state hols. Might go to Midvalley. See how it goes. Need to see if I can find a new pair of sneakers I like.
   
   
4. Took Friday off just cos. Might go to PC Fair. It'll be a first in a long time that I'm there on a Friday. But it doesn't mean that it's going to be any less crowded.
   
   
5. Apek's wedding on Saturday. I hope I can wake up. I hope the carpool plan comes through.
   

Bits and Pieces

1. New iPods and iTunes 8 is out this week (so Kevin Rose wasn't totally BS-ing us). I heard that the latter is supposedly problematic with Vista computers, but as my bro pointed out, you get the blue screen of death only if you're syncing iPhones and such. Phew.
   
   
2. Finished reading Bob Newhart's I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny last week. Am currently reading James McGee's Resurrectionist, which I realised was a second book in the series and I probably gonna have to read the first one at some point.
   
   
3. Been having the squits from yesterday, which I can't explain. Damn.
   
   
4. Travis's new studio album Ode to J. Smith is coming out on the 29th (UK, South East Asia, NZ, Belgium, Holland Scandanavia). I'm hoping that someone'll upload it so that I could give it a spin or two before thinking about buying it.
   
   
5. The local iTunes apps store doesn't take debit cards - found this out the hard way when I tried to sign up for a Malaysian account. This is debit card discrimination, I tell you.
   

Mixed updates

Mostly because I can't be arsed to flesh stuff out at the moment...

1. Weather - too damn warm of late. I hate the people who complained about the rain.
   
   
2. Boston Legal bowing out after its fifth season this fall. *cries another river* HOW CAN?!
   
   Okay, okay - I know it has to end at some point (there's only so much about Denny Crane's "mad cow" they can write about), but the final season's only gonna be THIRTEEN episodes long. WTF?! So it's a few more months of Alan Shore before we had to go our separate ways?! NOOOOO....!!!
   
   I'm so sad now : (
   
   
3. More useless work at work this week. Good thing douchebag boss not around this week or else would quit outright.
   
   
4. Reading Philippa Gregory's The Queen's Fool.
   
   
5. Been wanting to mention this, but I keep forgetting: Brouhaha about some stupid proposal put forward by Foreign Minister that women travelling alone overseas must have letter of consent from their parents or employers to prove that they're not drug mules/mail order brides/love zombie. Another case of WTF. If it goes through I'm gonna scream.
   
   
6. Mariah Carey married a guy young enough to be a younger brother (Nick Cannon). When I first heard the confirmation, I was like... "From a Victoria's Secret model to HER?! Aisey man..."
   
   
7. First the WGA strike, now a potential SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) strike as it's their turn to renew/negotiate contracts. Studios are getting ready just in case.
   
   Case in point: House, MD is shooting their fifth season NOW instead of going on break.
   

Tuesday thoughts

1. So I heard Coldplay's new song Violet Hill, available on their website and also some other avenues (which is out a week before you pay for it and the 7" vinyl will be included with the latest issue of NME) - here's the Rapidshare link that someone uploaded as it's pretty difficult getting the official email with the download instructions; I was fortunate to download during its Happy Hour (which DOES happen and have encountered a couple of times).
   
   First impression? A bit weird, but it might grow on me, like Radiohead's stuff usually does for me.
   
   
2. Iron Man coming out Wednesday here in Malaysia, a couple of days ahead of America - I'm not sure why, though - would it have something to do with how they can cash in on the potentially long Labour Day weekend (if some people took Friday off) for bigger opening weekend sales?
   
   Personally I just want to see Robert Downey Jr lah as he's one of the few American actors that I think is hot, hahahahaha....!!! I think he's a better choice than some of the other casting choices for the other superhero movies.
   
   
3. Work has been hectic the last couple of weeks - 'nuff said.
   
   
4. Can't wait for my Labour Day weekend.
   
   
5. 'Rents back from Cambodia yesterday morning - only told Mum to buy Hershey's Special Dark Kisses at the LCCT Duty Free, which cost about RM22 a bag. O_o
   
   
6. Lots of warehouse sales coming up this weekend. Oy vey.
   

My Weekend So Far...

The weekend is coming to a close, so here's what happened over the last few days:

1. Friday: Drove 'rents to LCCT REAL early: woke up at 4, left the house at 5 a.m., bought couple of KFC breakfast menu items (egg wrap and the nasi lemak) on the way home and got back about 6 something and managed another half hour (more or less) of sleep before I got dressed for work.
   
2. Saturday: Drove to 1U - didn't buy much; just double-sided tape and also a Tomato Basil Mushroom sandwich (on ciabatta) at Starbucks which came with cup of hot black coffee. Also remembered that Payless Books is having another sale in Subang, so I drove there also. Bought some more books. Got threading done on the way home. Settled own ironing.
   
3. Sunday: Breakfast out, went to Amcorp for meetup and for lunch. Was amused and surprised to hear Denis Leary's song A**hole play on their sound system. Not the kind of song one expects to hear in a restaurant in the presence of children. Came home, now reheating spaghetti for dinner. Pasta waaayy overdone. Damn.
   

My Saturday So Far...

Checked out the latest Threads Zoo sale at Plaza TTDI (located at a part of Taman Tun that I've never been to before), which took me a little bit to look. Despite the fans and airconditioning on at full blast, I was sweating like no one else's business because it was pretty stuffy in there. So I didn't find anything that I would want to buy. Too much pressure.

Came home and went out to Digital Mall to get my laptop "skinned" - to apply protective scratch- and water-proof cover on the outside cover and wrist area. What was supposed to take only 20 minutes took about several times longer because of the nature of laptop surface. Oh well, at least they did a better job that I ever would :P Cost me RM60 for the transparent plastic cover pieces and labour, so I think it's worth it. (You can Google "Skinjam" but I think the domain hasn't been renewed yet)

Filler

1. TV addiction and sleep deprivation - not a good pairing. Now more sleep deprived than usual. Crap.
   
2. Been poking round the internet looking for that wallet I wanted... there are bloggers who do sell authentic bags on their blogs... here's a few that I found: Coach and much more!, Scents and Secrets and PrettyDeal.com.... Nothing's set in stone yet.
   

My Weekend So Far...

1. Spring cleaning my room. Less clutter but still as messy - organised chaos. A work in progress.
   
2. Bro dismantled old laptop, salvaging parts that can be sold and trashing the rest.
   
3. Sold a whole bunch of crap that was in my room at Cash Converters.
   
4. Saw the new Proton car... like that only lah.
   
5. Finally threaded brows and upper lip for RM10. Can't bitch about it, although the sound of the thread sounds like a not-so noisy but fast going zipper going across my face. Now thinking about learning the skill just because it's a handy skill to sell.
   
6. Finally used my Times the Bookshop birthday voucher (20% + RM3 discount) to get Stephen Fry's Paperweight and #17 of The Almost Complete Collection of True Singapore Ghost Stories.
7. PM just announced that KL and Putrajaya gets Thaipusam off as well. Basket. Now the crowds and the traffic is just gonna get a lot worse. So much for renewing passport in KL as well : P
   

On this edition of "My Weekend So Far..."

1. Cousin's back in town for the weekend before going off to Thailand on Monday - she's been backpacking around the country (and region) with this French-Canadian guy (Guillaume) that she met on the train to Barcelona during her 3 month backpacking stint through Europe last year.
2. Went to 1U to collect my phone: turns out all it needed was a software upgrade. I really felt like an idiot. But hey, at least I got my old phone as backup. Abandoned the room vacuuming effort in my room for it; and also whatever spring cleaning plans that Mum might have for me.
   
3. Before I got home, I got call from said cousin, who needed to go shop for dresses not only for MPO, but also for the wedding. I finally met Guillaume (polite enough fler, dived into introductions before I could get past the threshold; however, need to work on saying his name right - that Dale Carnegie thing about a person's name is nicest sound to them).
4. Took her to The Curve, and she came away with not only one, but THREE dresses from the the same shop (she says still cheaper than the cost of ONE dress in Australia); plus (neutral) shoes to go with all three at Primavera. Ended the shopping with a stop at CBTL (it's been ages). (Would've gone to Bangsar, but it's too far and too hot to wander from shop to shop all over Telawi, despite the number of small boutiques in that area).
5. Got grilled by the 'rents after dinner about the French Canadian currently crashing in Megah. Didn't know enough to satisfy them (not that I was dying to know or what) - besides, they'll see him soon enough at the wedding, I reckon.
   
6. Might go to Batu Caves this Thaipusam with cousin and friend; reason being that otherwise no excuse to go also. And it's a state holiday - even if I get a call from work or something, I might not hear the phone ringing.
7. Bookcrosser meetup this afternoon - must get out some more cash and figure out a way to get to Bukit Damansara with least stress as possible.
8. Dinner out last night with Dad's friend and family at Pangkor Fish Head Curry place (the one facing Fatty Crab); bro and I had to go ahead to get a table for everyone. The food's not bad, if you must know.

Only the Chinese-educated might get what's wrong with this.

Sweet Potato Leave - Leave? They got legs? COOL!!