bleached 'mind' .. 'cleaner' post

have bleached my 'mind' ... so can get a cleaner post, me hope :)

Average 5.8%
... that's how much salary increase likely to be in Malaysia in 2006
quote : The Sun, Mercer Human Resource Consulting
self talk : and how's that supposed to be enough for us (me in particular)
.. no need to eat & yam cha ah? no need to put petrol ah? no need to buy clothes, shoes & 'ban leng leng' ah? no need pay bills meh? no need to ....
consider yourself lucky if you get more than that :)
however, if you are in the following industries, you may get a higher average
power sector : 6.9%
pharmaceutical sector : 6.3%
consumer goods secotr : 5.7% (this one lower abit)

6.25%
the BLR (Base Lending Rate) w.e.f 4/12/2005
previously it was at 6%.
rise in BLR will translate to higher cost of borrowings for consumers with housing & car loans as well as for business. Commercial banks are likely to raise their BLR after BNM's (Bank Negara Malaysia) announcement of hike in OPR (overnight policy rate)
don't ask me what is OPR ... yet to check what's that yet :p
However, deposits with the bank (savings/fixed deposits/any form of deposits) may earn you higher interest rates :)
self talk : had not been saving, so shall make 'saving' one of my resolution for 2006 :p
now me know, one man's meat could be another man's poison..

T+7
.. the new time frame for settlement of share purchases (soon to be implemented, decided 23/12/2005)
previously it was T+3 (meaning transaction date plus 3 trading days)
source : The Sun 24/12/2005
brokers can finance their clients for the period between T+4 and T+7.
It was believed that this will eventually lead to
... higher volume of shares traded when market sentiments improves by wooing retailers back to stock market
... benefitting momentum trader or speculators more
... more contra trading (where traders doesn't pay full cost of shares, just paying for loss or receiving from profit of the trafe)
... better trading volumes

1 second
the time delay for new year day 2006
Source : The Sun 29/12/2005 - Reuters -
23:59 on 31/12/2005 .. we will enjoy a minute with 61 seconds :)
scientist are delaying the start of 2006 by the first "leap second' in 7 years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.
how? you ask
By sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard (US National Institute of Standards and Technology)
self talk : me try not to blink my eyes. doesn't want to miss this 1 second.

女人不坏，男人不爱

女人不坏，男人不爱

need not re-read the above phrase =p
you didn't read incorrectly
neither me wrote wrongly

me never really like people who smoke until recently
but me tried smoking
.. but regretted me didn't finish 1 whole batang
.. and didn't got the technique right
thinking of trying again =p

last time in the 'car wash' post ..
me think me left some important points
me .. besides like to wash car .. actually like to climb car too =p
err... not climb INTO car but climb ON TOP of car
* hehe..if can prance & dance around, better =p
and climb ON TOP of someone's car me did
the owner angry or not me not sure =p
what me sure ... the feeling was great

that night, me was very happy =)
accomplished 2 feats =)
and discovered that
' 我本来就是个坏女人啊， 不必去扮 ' =P

Santa was very kind to me

Remember what they used to say ...
'you don't get present from santa if you're naughty'

even in the song of 'santa claus is coming to town' ... it sings
.. you better watch out
.. you better not cry
.. you better not shout
.. I'm telling you why
.. santa claus is coming to town
.. he's making a list .. checking it twice
.. gonna find out who's naughty n nice **note this sentence =p **

me have been naughty all year long
especially so on christmas eve =p
yet santa was very kind to me ... gave me much more than me asked for
Thank you very much, santa claus =)

ps. were they lying when they say 'you don't get present from santa if you're naughty' or it doesn't matter because those present doesn't come from santa =p

“Pearl of the orient? Not food court of the orient meh?”

Day 2 ...

sleep .. sleep .. sleep
some very noisy handphone were stuck to the tent
play.. play.. play
no idea what 'wake up' songs were played
wake..wake..wake
but me actually need more sleep !! =p

no brush teeth .. no wash face .. no comb hair
eat bread, use nescafe to gargle =p while smiling happily for the camera =)

pack..pack..pack
chee seng asked " where's the tent plastic cover?"
find ..find.. find
not found
see..see..see
the tent cover is in his bag ... aiyoyo

walk..walk..walk
breathe.. breathe..breathe
came out of the jungle liao

sleep..sleep..sleep
reach cheese's home liao
queue..queue..queue
take bath liao

then we go
eat.. eat .. eat
then sleep..sleep..sleep
reach kek lok si
pray.. pray .. pray
hope everyone safe & healthy

sleep .. sleep .. sleep
reach market selling 'tambun biscuits'
negotiate.. negotiate ..negotiate
bought 13 boxes of tambun biscuits
find..find..find
found stall selling famous 'teow chew cendol'
cough .. cough .. cough
also don't care .. makan juga

talk .. talk .. talk
suddenly want go Tambun for seafood
wait .. wait .. wait
finally got ferry
blow..blow wind
reach mainland ferry terminal
sleep .. sleep .. sleep
reach seafood restaurant liao

round .. round..round
then only got parking
stand.. stand .. stand
then only got table to sit
order..order..order
then only got foods to eat
knock.. knock .. knock
tear .. tear .. tear
then only got crab meat eat
count..count..count
then only 'mai dan' (pay)

sleep..sleep..sleep
reach island
remind .. remind.. remind
'someone' to buy toothbrush
pusing .. pusing .. pusing
then only go yam char
choose.. choose .. choose
then only settle for starbuck
chat..chat..chat
then only realised coffee sudah habis
chat..chat.. chat
then only willing to leave
snap..snap..snap
then only realised digicam no battery

sleep..sleep..sleep
reach cheese's home liao
watch.. watch..watch TV
movie..mandarin speaking
wash..wash..wash
everyone got ready to sleep
sleep .. sleep .. sleep
cannot sleep (coz daytime sleep too much liao =p
look.. look.. look
ceiling nothing to see
then disturb .. disturb chai yee
think .. think .. think
drink cough mixture to sleep =p
drowsy..drowsy..drowsy
and it works !!

sorry if the sleep..sleep..sleep appeared too many times. but me afraid that's the frequency it occured. can't help it =p
' duo duo yuan liang '

“Pearl of the orient? Not food court of the orient meh?”

Day 1 ...
"Rain rain go away, come again another day" best sum it all
It was literally raining for about 24 hours alternating between drizzle, showers and raining cats & dogs .. and that according to Addy's was because he was singing all the way

• Chai yee route : her home – my home – keef home – foong ling home. Don’t know why but girls couldn’t help comparing … including sizes of luggages :p however, our main concern was whether addy’s car can accommodate all ?
• Tmn Segar petronas station : fill petrol, buy tid bits & Saturday The Star newspapers .. that reveals that everyone is looking for some new job opportunities.
• Kampar : this is where we stopped for breakfast .. the ‘duck thigh herbal soup mee’ is really delicious especially on a rainy morning. Me think me can gulp down another bowl if not because me reserve my stomach for more food in penang :p
• Penang : penang bridge is much longer than me thought and we paid 7 bucks for it :) just arrived and we travel around town like pro. Thanks to our ‘KL – turned - PENANG DRIVER’ :p
• Giant – Pragin Mall : where we got our food stuffs for camping tonight … bread & tuna spread, cakes & biscuits, snacks, muesli bars, mineral water … wanted to get more but since me not willing to carry them hiking, so has to eat lesser loh =p
• Pragin Mall : ‘Cheese’ our unofficial tour guide was working half day thus we are to meet him after work. Me lost count how many times we past 'that' shop and took the escalator before we settled at Metrojaya. But by then, sorry gals, me really no more energy liao to look at the nice clothes…me need to eat (was hungry) & sleep (thanks to the cough mixture) And when Chee Seng finally arrived and said "ngor dei hui sik yeh shin" (we go eat first).. me was the happiest person around :D
• Makan place near cheese’s home : we eat, eat, eat & drink. Since the ‘renter’ didn’t managed to get us the camps, the guys has to do the hard work of getting the tents from TESCO while we gals go home, bath & pack. All were drenched wet except me..hehe :p why? because me selfish lo.. doesn’t let others shade under the umbrella that doesn’t belong to me :p
• Chee seng’s home : cheese’s friend (that time still dunno name) came but seeing us (very noisy gals) inside, refused to come in.. despite numerous attempts to invite him in :p now, we wonder…are we that scary??
• Tmn Negara Pulau Pinang : it was about 5pm++ and we were sort of rushing as we want to reach the beach before it gets dark. Got ourselves registered before embarking on ‘journey to the west’ =p pity the guys, they had to carry all the heavy heavy things, some more had to take care of us =p nevertheless thank you very much =) in the jungle everyone is ‘ah bingo’ and surprisingly ..we still have energy to take photos =) At one point, foong ling slipped and twisted her ankle with the ‘crak’ sound, we were worried but she is definitely one brave girl, continue hiking with us to the beach.
• The beach : It was dark when we arrived. Mosquitoes are chasing us around happily …it’s their feast day =p me learnt to set up camp =) we decided to have our camp under the open sky instead of the hut. While the guys are busy looking for fire woods on a rainy day?? we gals attend to foong ling’s injured feet. The foods were tasty. Weren’t they? Sorry but I need to tell you all this … I prepared those tuna & salmon sandwiches with the same pair of hand me used to massage foong ling’s legs. And you wonder why you can’t help but have a second piece =p
• Round-fire camp : honestly, me really enjoy the time when we sit around the kerosene lamp (made-belief campfire) eating, chatting and singing our hearts out. Only then we got to know cheese’s friend’s name is Jeff. He really can sing like our local talent ‘Pin Guan’ and our friend Addy was not bad either :p even our shy friend Chee Seng started singing chinese songs too :p allow me to say this : at one point of time when the 3 guys were singing, me felt like we are a bunch of lucky gals being serenaded with songs .. yah, me know that’s silly :p singing is a temptation, me think me forgot I’m a girl, threw my cautions to the wind and started singing never mind the missing lyrics =p
• Jetty at night : it was windy & chilly there. A lot of people were fishing and ketam’ing. The walk at the beach was romantic =p but the trip to toilet wasn’t. Imagine going into a dark filthy toilet with your torchlight along =p no simple feat.
• Inside camp : if it's not because the rain was getting heavier and camp started to collect water, we wouldn’t have moved back to the hut. Chee Seng and Jeff went to sleep in the rain, holding the umbrella on top of the tent with his leg .. salute =p we played cards, and being one of the loser, me posed ugly for photo but nothing beats Addy’s ‘gam yu lou’ look =p
  With Addy and a deck of cards around, you’ll hardly not have tarot reading :p so we started to see who’s the …. Ranging getting rich fastest, changing jobs, getting married, most children, who’s the most dislikeable person, most clumsy, most ‘dai tao ha’
• Tidur time : " I’ve been robbed off my innocence" that’s what you get when you put 4 gals & a guy in a 6-men tent. Now we wonder what happened?? =p

“Pearl of the orient? Not food court of the orient meh?”

Me feel there’s a need to mention this… :p
Me have been receiving SMSes for me to update the blog.
I’m sorry oh.. as compensation me try to give a more detailed itineries :)

Year-end holidays will not be complete without a trip … well, for me at least =p
So when there was a suggestion to go on a ‘makan’ trip … there’s no way me not joining =p

Prelude
As with any other days before me going for trips … anything at work doesn’t and cannot affect me, not even nasty customers =p me was nastier * sneaky grin *
Waking up every 2 to 3 hours to look at the time wasn’t a fun thing to do especially when lack of sleep.
Pai seh :p my father has to wake up 5.30am just to make sure me not still sleeping. Yah..me know me can sleep better than pig :p

a more-spacious home

a more-spacious home ...
not me, but my tortoises really need it.
It dawn on me one day, that they can sue me for negligence ... because me not looking after their welfare :p torturing them by not providing a conducive living environment :p
try imagine 2 palm size tortoises in a standard small plastic aquarium, they can't even stand side by side without being on top of each other. don't think they have much spaces left to move about. now you know how horrible me can be :p

have thought of buying a new more-spacious home for them ... but just didn't know why days passed and me had still not bought them their new home. me guess me thought me was buying a home for myself gua ;p

the tortoises are lucky :) fortunately at last, someone ... a good samaritan actually bought me to look high and low for their home, then only found a more-spacious home for them. else the tortoises may have to suffer in the cramp aquarium for another - don't-know-how-many-days - ( or weeks)

here i'm .. on behalf of my tortoises (n myself :p) would like to say 'thank you' to the 'good samaritan' :)

ps. this good samaritan taught me something as well ... "it's the thought that counts" :p

no more ...

1. Open your wallet or purse
2. Look into it ... do you see any more gold coins denoting RM1 or $ 1 ?
3. If you find any, well they are now souvenirs :p

Me was digging out coins to buy chinese newspapers (night edition) when me found a few gold coins. Then only it strike me that ....
Effective 7/12/2005, RM 1 coin is no longer legal tender.

will miss those gold coins ...
but me happy because go supermarket, trolley no need to insert coins liao :p

photos

today after attending norhayati's wedding reception, we went to chai yee home ... memang sengaja sibuk sibuk.
me couldn't believe me occupying so much of chai yee's time to look at her photo collections... ok, mine was never complete ... some here, some there, some dunno where.

as we look through the photos ... both hard copies & soft copies ... stories unfold, trying to remember what happened when the photo was taken ... trying to relive the emotions during then .. trying to remember how fun was it and what we had been through
it is true that they say "photos capture the moments"

still not enough, at night, me even looked through the photos again ...
photos, they can be addictive ... especially those with happy smiles ;)