Week 36, 2026 - Pre-Merdeka madness

3 day work week. A lot to cram in those 3 days. 

Decided to take Monday off just cos Tuesday was Maulidur Rasul. 

• Ended up going to Pavilion Bukit Jalil on Monday
• Spent Tuesday watching my second Jason Statham movie (Mutiny) this year at IOI Damansara, with a chiropractor appointment later that afternoon. 
• MB announced a cuti peristiwa (ad hoc holiday) for 1st September cos the Selangor contingent won a lot of medals at the SUKMA games. Or something to that effect. Guess I won't have to use the annual leave for what I was planning for on that day... 
• Drove downtown on Wednesday night for the Valiram Merdeka sale. Was sorely tempted by some stuff, but ultimately came away with a single limited time, Merdeka-themed flavoured macaron. Got the other flavours from the store across the road. 
• Saw my first opening night play (local production of Duncan MacMillan's Lungs) in ages on Thursday.
• Would not recommend going to the Kayu Ara eco-shop, but now I know how to get to the Kayu Ara LRT station. 
• Decided to go watch One Mic Stand's Merdeka show on Saturday cos I really got nothing else better to do.
• Spent Sunday riding the LRT to Midvalley and KLCC cos I didn't want to deal with the downtown road closures cos there was a marathon going on this weekend. 

Week 34, 2026

Another tired week. Also still haze. Putting the air purifier through its paces after so many years. 

• Went back to Ambank to get a new card cos old one got blocked liao. Sigh.
• Met up with some former collegemates at a recently opened Korean BBQ in Hartamas on Wednesday. 
• Got a couple of new pans with Mum at the Tefal warehouse sale on Friday morning
• Finally (!) saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day on Saturday
• Went to the Public Bank's 60th anniversary celebration at 1U on Saturday after the movie, mostly for the swag. 
• Sunday became self-care day: accidentally scheduled a massage and facial on the same day

Week 33, 2026

Haze, haze, haze... and the start of Hungry Ghost season. 

• Apparently some people dunno the difference between the "pok" in mee pok and pork. The eatery that got maligned has filed a police report against dumb Facebook page, which is well within their right. If people can file police reports for jokes they don't like and all... 
  
• Apparently the new Ombak KLCC mall might finally open on the 22nd? 
• Remembered to redeem the 2 tray set at one of the ramen restaurants at Starling for Saturday dinner. Everything was bite sized, still left feeling stuffed as needed a minimum noodle order, which is fair enough. 
• Spent Sunday at TRX, collecting samples all over the mall, not just the House of Sephora event. 
• The annual House of Sephora event (which is usually a more private event) is at TRX this year for other member tiers and the hoi polloi to check out the new and upcoming brands and products that's gonna be available at Sephora stores.
• A lot of news out of the D23 event, especially the unveiling of the MCU X-Men cast.
• Tried the KFC onde-onde tart - I guess it's ok?
• Also tried the Oriental Kopi pandan tart. Kinda salty that there's a 2 piece purchase minimum, but there you go. I guess it's ok too; I'm just hoping that it's actual pandan flavour. 
• Went for comedy show on Friday night. 
• Got my quarterly hair cut on Saturday. 

Week 32, 2026

Haze is back, urgh. Like it's not hot enough and how have to contend with the air pollution too. 

Been a bone tired kind of week. 

• Colour me not surprised that Jetstar is gonna charge people for use of the overhead bins. 
• Car undercarriage cover came loose and fortunately was only charged for parts (some clips) to attach it again. Quick fix too. 
• Finally used the Lancome facial service voucher I got from that event on Saturday. I don't remember the exact name, but it involved a hot and cold facial massage after layers of very expensive Lancome skincare I otherwise cannot bring myself to buy in this lifetime. 
• Bought so much toothpaste over the weekend, I dunno how long it'll take to use up. Probably at least a year? 

Week 31, 2026

Dunno why people are so gung-ho about the new Spider-Man movie; the demand is so intense that people are going to 9 a.m. screenings, even on a weekday. Errr... okay then. Can't be because of Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal are in it, hot off The Odyssey fanfare...

• Dad's birthday this week. Cake in the office and he paid for office lunch at Mohd Chan. 
• Went for PJ Comedy Festival's first event of the season later the same day - Jokes Against Humanity, where the comedians play Cards Against Humanity with the audience. 
• Having been on iron supplements for awhile now, finding out that I'm one of those people who are prone to stomach upset if they're taken on an empty stomach is kinda annoying, especially when the stomach upset happens when you're trying to sleep. WTF.
• Went for the Amlife event on Saturday. I know at some point they're just trying to sell people their super expensive electrified mattress toppers, but fine, whatever.
• Also went for the Allianz health event at APW later on Saturday afternoon. 
• The foot massage at Soma Wellness is actually not bad... provided you did more than 1 hour. 
• Massive Attack is, effectively I guess, banned from Singapore after they waved a certain flag at their show there. 
• Did the auntie thing and dragged myself (and some recyclables) to Pyramid on a rainy Friday night for a goodie bag cos they recently launched their recycling hub. As I was driving home, they already finished giving out 500 of them? 
• Took Mr DIY long enough to finally have an app... so that they could track people's purchase history, of course. Dragged myself to Midvalley so that I could get some freebies for signing up for it. 
• The internet's a-twitter about the trailer for the movie Wicker, where Olivia Colman's fisherwoman character asks a weaver for a husband (of course played by the eldest Skarsgard scion, Alexander). Wicker husband shows up. Chaos ensues. 

Week 30, 2026

• Put some of the EPF savings in i-invest, cos why not? Also not easy to do for some reason. 
• Mum went and bought a lot of stuff at a Village Grocer store opening. Don't ask me which one.
• Finally tried the McD coleslaw and mashed potatoes with the Ayam Goreng McD. Tastes ok, I guess. Portion is way smaller than KFC one FO SURE
• Busy weekend
• Spent Sunday in downtown KL at 2 different Sephora stores for different appointments. 

Week 29, 2026

People were on tenterhooks this week about the new SOCSO deduction, because SOCSO is pushing out constant updates (based on people's feedback, I'm hoping)/flip-flopping. I would hate to be in an MNC HR department at this time. 

• RIP Sam Neill 
• Apparently Mark Wahlberg and Riz Ahmed were spotted in Penang for a Netflix movie shoot. 
• Singapore SMRT Circle Line (aka yellow line) is finally a full circle after for what seems like years - now got direct access between VivoCity and Marina Bay Sands 
• Someone in the audience uploaded a clip of Harith Iskander doing a bit on Rosmah and now she's suing Harith for erm, defamation? 
• Had no idea Project Runway was back until this week, but only had 2 episodes to catch up on. They brought Heidi back as host again, and Tyra as a judge. 
• Had a busy Saturday: Saw The Odyssey in the morning, and Rizal van Geyzel's latest hour, Single Fatherhood, at D'Theatre in Hextar at night
• Got the health check up results back on Sunday - had to make an appointment - I'm mostly okay, save for a few things. Sunday also kinda busy, tbh. 

Week 28, 2026

After much sturm and drang over the last week or two, SOCSO is now like, "ok, ok, we'll make it optional, but you have to sign a release for opting out". Only good thing is that opting out is DIY, so if you want out, kena sendiri buat la.

• Inside Scoop had a RM6.70 (instead of the usual RM7) promo on Monday. Only good thing out of the 6 7 phenomenon. 
• Tuesday - Spent more time driving to Klang and back than the actual errand we were there for - Dad wanting to change tyres. Also had a late bak kut teh lunch (past 2 p.m.) at a place that wasn't already sold out by then.
• Still no idea if I want to watch The Odyssey... 
• Met up with some college mates on Friday night
• Rode the new LRT 3 line round trip, end to end (70 mins one way), which took a little over 2 hours, on Saturday. Had no reason to get off at any station lah. 
• Finally did the AIA Vitality check up portion of the membership... or rather, the blood and pee sample collection on Saturday morning. Results TBD. 

Week 27, 2026

• Went to Paradigm twice this week: first to collect my Uniqlo online order, second occasion was to (mostly) get another Nitori cooling mattress pad, with the RM10 mall voucher before it expires on the 6th. I know I don't NEED it..
• I guess my HSBC Live+ card really got lifetime AF waiver - only got the RM25 SST charge so far... 
• Dad's more excited that my cousin's in-laws are in town this week than everyone else is. (They were all supposed to travel here together I think, but the cousin, husband, and kids had to change their tickets, get out of school early, etc to make last week's wedding)
• Brought cousin and her fam to the second home to get their shopping on on Saturday. At least they liked Rich Kopitiam.
• Apparently a bunch of parking apps got hacked, and people couldn't pay their street parking this week.
• This week is the start of the free rides along the LRT3 line.
• Can't wait to see what they got lined up for Michael Weatherly on next season's NCIS... 

Week 26, 2026

• Found out a couple of former classmates have lost their dads a few days apart this week. Only managed to make it to one wake.
• Must be nice for people to not have to know about the extra SOCSO deduction which started this month. But joke's on them when they saw the lower take-home pay and started asking me why. If don't like, take it up with SOCSO and gahmen la, don't take it up with me. Also no tax relief for this as of yet, so... could be worse
• Saw Douglas Lim's latest show on Thursday night
• Got a free Sealy pillow, heh heh heh
• Surrendered to the FOMO and got the glow in the dark Kaweco Sport fountain pen at the DIY weekend event at Stickerrific on Sunday (they apparently sold out not long afterwards). Only got the medium nib cos I already have others in both broad and double broad nibs (apparently their broad nibs already sold out the day before).
• Cousin wedding on Saturday

Week 25, 2026

4 day work week cos Wednesday was Awal Muharram.

• Had to find a plumber to fix what turned out to be a busted valve in the office water tank, causing the water bill to skyrocket 3 - 4x the usual amount on Tuesday.
• Used the midweek holiday to go watch Disclosure Day at IOI Damansara's GSC, where I'd not been before.
• I dunno whether to laugh or cry that they're no longer gonna charge the RM1 interbank ATM withdrawal fee starting next month. Maybe they realise that people are not really reliant on cash transactions anymore? To be fair, I haven't had a reason to withdraw money from other bank ATMs cos Maybank ATMs are almost everywhere, and I can usually wait until I get to one, so.. 
• Had poke for both lunch and dinner cos there was a B1F1 on Saturday
• Saw The Death of Robin Hood on Saturday morning at Midvalley
• Almost died on Thursday driving Dad's old car back to PJ - the petrol hose got bitten by rat(s), so it was leaking the whole time I was driving it and the fumes got into the cabin. Lucky I had cracked the windows open cos the AC wasn't working too. I could've passed out, crashed the car or worse. I also found out that petrol fume inhalation is also dangerous. 
• Had some major-ish repair work done on own car on Thursday and Friday. Lucky the car was ready before end of business on Friday... 
• Dragon Boat Festival on Friday

Week 24, 2026

Had a short work week cos I took Monday off for a medical appointment that has been in the books since last year. Spent a little time in IPC unloading recyclables afterwards.

• Busy Saturday - Swung by Atria, chiro appointment, SOMe Market at One Bangsar (didn't buy anything - spent more on entry fee and parking at Bangsar Village), then a play (Bleak Expectations) to cap off the day.
• Sunday, less busy, but not nothing - massage in the morning, Little Caesars (pizza) for lunch, collegemate's wedding dinner in Segambut. 
• People are giving a MasterChef (US one) contestant about how she pronounced roti canai on TV. I thought it was a tad cringe when I first saw the episode, and I understand that she was born and raised American, but if your parents were Malaysian and all... hmm.. Poor kid even had to make a video to apologise for butchering it. 
• Sent car for service this week - got a lot of things need to repair cos old car, etc. Sigh. But that's why I spend the money sending it to official service centre, for them to do the multiple point car check, to check for other problematic areas lah. 

Week 23, 2026

Another short work week, cos Monday and Tuesday cuti. Don't have any reason to take the rest of the week off, so I didn't.

• Been feeling kinda blah for the last few days, wasn't sleeping great for various reasons, etc. Went to the local clinic and tested positive for COVID. Had to reschedule some stuff I got planned this weekend which would involve close human contact. 
• Saw Masters of the Universe on Saturday morning. I was social distancing, had a mask on (also so I could cackle as obnoxiously like Skeletor at the dumb stuff on screen), all that jazz. 
• RIP, Anthony Head
• Only took this long for them to announce the 10 year Malaysian passport... except that it was gonna cost RM350 for most people.
• Idris Elba is finally Sir Idris Elba. 
• I think Ace Hardware is closing shop in Malaysia... quite a few outlets around me are closed or closing by having clearing sales. 
• Went to a few warehouse sales 

Week 22, 2026

Short work week, with Wednesday being Hari Raya Haji and a lot of people would've just take the rest of the week off cos of the school holidays.

• Might've gotten whatever it was Dad was having, but so far it's been mostly the inflamed throat and the slight runny nose. 
• Saw two movies this week: Couture on Wednesday, The Sheep Detectives on Saturday. 
• Went to my first chiro appointment in a long time on Wednesday. I did have a legit reason to go - there has been some tightness in my neck which I think is a trigger for the cervicogenic headaches I've been getting regularly for years now at this point? There was some adjustment, and I feel ok at the moment. Was told to monitor for soreness. Any way, there was a first timer promo and I got a coupon I could offset the follow up appointment? Idk. 

Week 21, 2026

4 day work week for me; took Tuesday off for a medical appointment. Feeling the 

blahs this week.

• Saw The Mandalorian and Grogu on Saturday morning.
• Saw Cluedo on Saturday night. 
• Le Creuset F&F sale this week. Didn't get anything at all. 
• Was kinda busy on Sunday, for stupid reasons? 

Week 20, 2026

• Kinda sad that the FT-operated stalls at the neighbourhood food court got shut down by MBPJ cos apparently the stall licensing rules say cannot? Sigh.
• This week, PCOS (polcystic ovary syndrome) sudah tukar nama to PMOS - polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome. Cool I guess, but still not gonna be covered by medical insurance or whatever in the near future, cos even testing and screening for it is also not cheap right now. But now all the doctors specialising in it would have to amend their marketing materials.
• Saw the new Guy Ritchie movie, In the Grey, on Saturday morning. Was running late (but not terribly so - more like I thought the ads would be 15 minutes long, etc), so wasn't sure how much of the start of the movie I had missed. 
• Finally used up the RM60 Parkson vouchers during the weekend event at 1U on a pair of slippers I had been meaning to replace. 
• Went to the first Kopishop Konversations show of the year at Mo PAC, which is the basement of PJ De Inn, near the PJ Hilton, on Saturday night. 
• Got some Aveda and Laneige samples too on Saturday, after getting brief massages from the shoulders up, LOL 
• Sunday - Spent a couple hours at IPC (mostly to get the SAMLA container on offer) and KLCC (to check out the clearance sale happening at Isetan), with a foot massage and a detour to one of the optical shops that opened up in the SS2 punya rumah. Not sure if I got energy/thick face to check out the others in the near future. 

Week 19, 2026

Lucky the tranexamic pills worked after a couple of doses, but I'm still kinda tired from the many days of heavy bleeding.

• Got new fountain pen this week: the Jinhao 82 Cinderella pen. Yeah, it's that Cinderella blue with sparkles in the barrel. It's hilarious, and it's under RM50, so why not. Even has the glass slipper on the nib and the castle on the finial. 
• Coffee Bean had a one day promo on Wednesday where all their cakes were RM9.90, can get max 3 slices. So of course the tiramisu for 2 (which was already damn mahal to start with at RM27.90) were the first to go everywhere it seems. Braved the heavy rain to get the chocolate espresso cheesecake, and erm the dutch choc cake which had the ube creme? 
• Had a medical appointment on Wednesday, was given MC for the rest of the week, which I did not present until Thursday? Anyway, was only at work for a while on Friday before actually fucking off (was feeling better, not bleeding any more) for the mental health day. 
• Remembered to collect the repaired umbrellas on Saturday morning.
• Had Shake Shack for lunch and dinner on Saturday cos of the BOGO burger voucher. Supplemented the dinner beef burger with some fries and salad. 
• Tried the Urutan Malaysia at Soma Wellness (fka Ayu Borneo) in Kota Damansara on Sunday.
• Got the second Hep B vaccine dose on Tuesday; was told can just drop by whenever. Was asked if the nurse can administer it, I was like sure, otherwise I would have to wait for the doctor to show up cos they weren't around when I was there.
• Also got the new Maybank ATM card in the mail this week. 

Week 18, 2026

Been through a lot this week, health-wise: been bleeding heavily until I thought to hit up the neighbourhood clinic for tranexamic pills on Sunday (thank goodness it's open until 8 p.m., even on weekends and holidays); even more relieved that they actually had said pills on hand without a seperate trip to the pharmacy, ALL WHILE BLEEDING OUT and already so tired from the blood loss.

Been rainy this week, which has put a damper on my handwashed undies, etc. Sigh. 

• Several years after it came out (and Zendaya being the face of the campaign), I finally got the Lancome Idole EDT, which is not the same as the EDP and the other iterations after that off the official Lazada store for almost half the retail price, which came in nice branded box (perfumed lagi) and a bunch of samples.
• Decided to renew the Maybank ATM card to the limited edition, pink Visit Malaysia batik-themed design while it's still an option on the website, and cos it's within the allowable/free one year before and after the expiry. Not that I use the ATM card when taking out cash these days, but you know, sebab boleh, etc.
• Took Thursday off just cos, and got plenty of leave anyway. 
• Usual "It's gonna be me/May" jokes online. Thanks, Justin Timberlake.
• MOH is now KPKB-ing about retail/community pharmacists doing phlebotomy work without proper licensing/qualifications? BIG Pharmacy had to cancel my Vitality health check appointment this week because of that; I guess there was a reason why Alpro outsource the blood and urine test to a third party clinic (which I've been to before)... 
• Did the AIA Vitality nutritionist consult at Alpro on Sunday
• Got my quarterly haircut this week
• Tried Borenos Chicken (that opened in DU recently); bit of an acquired taste, I think, but not sure if I'd go back again.
• Also somehow managed to get to KLCC on Saturday while still bleeding like I had been... 

Week 17, 2026

• Got the monetary claim from AIA for the Hep B vaccine on Monday (yay)
• Unloaded a lot of empties and recyclables this week
• This week kinda annoying in that there was a lot of queuing 

Week 16, 2026

• Drove to deepest, darkest Shah Alam to get a vacuum hose on Monday
• Woke up one day to hear that there's gonna be an NCIS: NY coming in the fall, with LL Cool J back as Sam Hanna, but with Scott Caan as a different character altogether. I guess enough time has passed that we could collectively forget that Hawaii Five-O existed (Sam was more friends with McGarrett than Danno, anyway). Meanwhile, LL has been all over the the Hawai'i spinoff and the mothership (just not Sydney, nor hopefully Origins)
• Saw two A24 movies over the weekend - The Drama and Mother Mary