Music: Touch My Body by Mariah Carey (Mix FM on Astro)

Third, and last day, of night shift.
On zombie mode.

NBA Playoffs
--------------
3 of the 4 teams that I predicted will reach the conference finals made it.
I guess I overestimated Cavaliers.
I knew Celtics was good with the big3 and all..
Right now Pistons is down 3-2.
Game5 was a really close one! but Celtics came on top in the end.
Lakers is leading 3-1 which is freakin awesome.
If both my teams meet in the Finals, I'm definitely all for Pistons (but I still love Lakers).
If they meet, it would be an interesting series when two teams with such different styles of playing each other.
However, its mada hayai to think about Finals.
First and foremost, Pistons must force a Game 7, and then win it!

F1
---
Too much to say!
6 races in and the competition is fierce and wide open.
I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it.

French Open
-------------
Nadal on course to get his 4th Roland Garros title?
I want Nadal to win.
But I'd also be delighted if Federer won.
If they meet in the final match, I think I'll have mixed feelings. lol.

Music: Hope by Jack Johnson

Its a feat to type when my cat is covering half of the keyboard..
But here I am typing anyway.

Its been busy days at the office..
I've been going to the office even during my off days..
Nak start up my personal project pun susah coz office work comes first (Tel, your patience is appreciated!)
And now with GA, Ugly Betty, GG and Bro&Sis season complete as of last week, got lots to watch and catch up with.
I've been downloading the episodes every week, but have not started watching it coz its always more fun to marathon then watch the episodes week by week.
And also I really need to start planning my NZ trip.

Was in Kelantan for the past 4 days for my cousin's wedding.
I didn't plan on going back initially because I had to work.
My father wasn't exactly happy with that.
I haven't gone back for the past 2 years for raya, raya haji, and when my Tok Wan (pronounce Tok-where) passed away.
So I found ppl to take my shift..
And I also thought to myself.
If I could go out of my way to attend friends' wedding, why can't I do the same for my own relative?
At the end of the day, its your own family that will stand by you through good and bad times (especially), until you're old.
(I never wholly realized this fact until a couple of years ago).

I drove from KL to Gua Musang R&R.. my father then took over until we reached KB.
That's a first, I've never driven to Kelantan before..
And it was a very exciting drive!
Through kampung roads.. and mountains and what not.
Driving on a two-way single-lane road is like an art.
Finding the right moment to overtake the slower cars/lorries/trucks.
You gotta gauge whether sempat or not to overtake the car in front when there's incoming traffic on the other side.
You gotta take into account the speed of vehicles on both ways.
At times when I wanted to overtake, my father would say, sempat or tak sempat.
Dude memang heart rate aku selalu increase everytime nak overtake lol.
There are also unwritten rules, like if you reach the occasional sections of the road for 'memotong' purposes, you must not overtake using the left lane.
Even if the cars on the right lane is slow.
Seriously, I pissed off 2 cars for just that, got honked and flashed and waved at furiously.
The big trucks like the lori2 balak usually warns the cars behind them about oncoming traffic, the kind ones that is, cause they can see much further from their high seats, and cars behind them usually can't see anything coz the trucks are so big.
They would signal left if the road is clear to overtake, right if there's oncoming cars, sometimes they put on the lampu pusing2 like the ones on police cars to warn.
My father's been driving the Big Triangle for the past 30 years, mmg expert habis lah.
Big Triangle: KL-Kelantan-Penang.
He'd do like crazy maneuvers that'd I'd never have guts to do.
Well, this is only my first time driving on such roads.
And now the roads are soooooooooo much better than 10 years ago.
I drove a lot in the States but they're mostly on interstates and highways, a kid could do that.
On the way back, I drove from KB until after Gua Musang town.
My father again took over coz it started to rain.
So all in all, it was a fun and entertaining drive. For me, at least. lol

On with the story..
My cousin's wedding was like totally different from the KL weddings i've been to.
Kat KL aku rasa 99.9% org hire caterers.
Over there, for nikah ceremony semua masak sendiri..
Can still handle coz tak ramai la sangat, just ours and in-laws punya family yg attend.
For the wedding reception, the main dish upah org masak.
The day before the wedding, the daging2 etc semua was sent to the house, then these ingredients were sent to the ppl yg diupah to masak the main dishes.
The cooked dishes would arrive on the day itself, and we had to put them in the trays ourselves.
Meja kerusi pinggan mangkuk cawan sudu garfu semua susun sendiri.
As for side dishes, semua buat sendiri.
Macam sambal, telur masin (penat weyyy nak rebus and potong and susun2 telur2 masin itu).
Dishes for the high table for bride and groom special, so masak sendiri jugak.
Air pun buat sendiri.
Pinggan and cawan tak banyak, so there's ppl kat dapur yg akan basuh all the dirty dishes while the reception was going on.
Refill food and drinks pun sendiri.
Well, you get the drift, mostly buat sendiri.
Door gift pun obviously buat sendiri.
And mmg last minute coz besides the chocolates and pot pourri, my cousin wanted to give the guests nasi manis and pulut kuning, which came late the night before and some the morning itself.
Bunga mangga buat sendiri juga, guna betik.. tgk2 betik tu terlebih masak pulak and terus jatuh meleleh from the batang kayu yg god knows where they cari.. hahaha lawak gila lah..
The night before, my cousin gave me the decorations she bought for the arch to be put in front of the house, and said.. nah kirah tolong buat..
hahahha tiba2 aku kena buat, so buat lah.. decent jugak la arch aku tuh wahahahhha
the day before, the pengantin (my cousin) still duk potong bawang okay..
Ahh god knows what else we did.. it was so busy.. and so fun.. and so tiring!
Everyone did anything and everything.. LOL..
Mostly family members lah..
I've never been direcly involved with wedding preparations before.. so it was a new experience for me.
Apparently, there's a name for this kind of wedding preparations.. its called majlis rewang.. hahahha.. perfect name.
To top it off, it was a quiet weekend in the sense that I only got a couple of calls from some friends, which was good.
Of course, I was bombarded with the inevitable "Bila lagi?" question..
My answers differed from "ntah" to "lama lagi" to "adik/abang dulu" to "no comment"..
Depends on who did the asking..
In conclusion, I'm glad that I went back.
It'll be a while before I go back again, I think.

But I'm glad to be back in KL coz I can never stay in Kelantan for long periods.
1 day-penat
2 days-just nice
3 days-boleh tahan lagi,tapi dah start KL-sick
4 days-ok but dah start cranky
5 days-maximum tolerable
Seriously.

Music: American Idol S7 Marathon

Night shift.
TV is behind me, so I'm 'listening' to American Idol.. marathon on Star World.
I want David to win! Hahahahha ok both Davids are finalists, idiot.
I like both of them!

Marie Digby Live in KL
---------------------------
So, of course I went to see her.
Free show at One Utama 8pm last Wednesday
Plus its HER!
Swapped shifts with my colleague, as I was supposed to work evening shift.
I almost cancelled cause at the same time there was a trip to this power station in PD to witness something.. and I wanted to go.
After some thinking.. I said to myself..
Nahhhh.. I can go to power stations anytime and this is probably the only time that Marie's coming to KL (to do a free show, that is).

Sampai2 OU... ramai gila org okayyyy.
I didn't expect that.
Although I think half the people there didn't really know who she was and knew none of her songs, except her cover version of Rihanna's Umbrella.

View from 3rd Floor

Anyway, searched high and low, literally, for a good spot but to no avail.
In the end, we decided to hang around this small make shift room behind the stage.
Clearly, Marie was in there, or so we thought.
After some few minutes, suddenly there were shouts and surprise, surprise, Marie was coming down the escalator behind the stage..
Surrounded by 4 Men in Blacks aka bodyguards, very tall, wearing suits and black shoes and all.
And Marie was soooo cantik and pretty omg she was soooo hot!
Just like in the youtube vids.. even better actually..
And then she was led by the MIBs into the small room.
Then we walked around in search (again) for a good spot to watch her performance.
I finally found a perfect place, given the circumstances.
After some singing by some unknowns and endless gibberish by the emcees,
Marie finally came on stage.
And it was obvious that she was shocked with the number of people that turned up.
Her performance was okay..
'Okay' because the audience were noisy and I couldn't properly listen to her sing.
She played the acoustic guitar and the piano and there was another guy accompanying her.
I only recognized a few songs though.
She sang Fool and Say It Again (on guitar) and Stupid For You (on piano).
She said something about her dog before singing Stupid For You.. only people who saw her youtube vid should understand why!
And of course, she sang Umbrella.

View from my 'perfect' spot. I was standing on a sofa.

And then after some time, org sebelah (who were also standing on a sofa) kena sound dengan pak guard, so I stepped down from mine and moved to another location.

By this time, the crowd was already a little dispersed so I was able to get closer to the stage.

Her guitar so nice! I like.

After the show was over, she and her MIBs went to the GAP store for an autograph session.

Again, ramai org cam gila, and there this one guy suggested to go hang out at the other entrance to the GAP store.

So we went but it was locked and grilled, but we decided to wait there anyway assuming its where Marie's gonna exit.

Ate sushi courtesy of Dy (thank youuuuu lapar gila masa tu).

After god knows how long, we were bored waiting, the guy who suggested to wait there was long gone, there were only 5 of us there.

Some went to check out what's going on in front.

It seems that there was almost nobody left except photographers (mostly) and like 10-15 others.

So I bought her CD and went in to get her autograph.

To tell you the truth, I don't excited about getting autographs of famous ppl.

But I was excited to get to see her up close, and shake her hands and talk for a bit.

Well, the only thing I said then was, 'can I take a picture with you?'

But the super rude MIBs said no..

The 4 of them was standing around the table that Marie was sitting at.

It was as if Marie was the President of United States.

Dude, give her some space lahh.

Some up close shots that I managed to snap before the MIBs shooed me away. Retards.

After that, we went back to our spot behind the GAP store, and whaddaya know.. it wasn't locked anymore.

Confirm lah dia exit kat situ.

After 15 minutes or so, she came out with those blardy MIBs.

There were so little of us, again, we asked if we could take a pic with her, but the rude MIBs said no and said she wants to go home.

Who the f hell are you to say what she wants or dont want?..

Idiots..

But anyway, go here to see the vid taken (by Dy's bro) of the whole exit ordeal..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TOX8jtHJXnU

And Marie herself commented on it. She said:

MarieDigby (1 day ago) Show Hide
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Reply Spam
I wanted to stop so badly !! I was warned by everyone not to stop no matter what but it's not in my nature !! I would stay there for two days if i could to say hi to everybody. The organizers knew that if I had my way, I would have missed my flight back home. When I left there.. they put me in a van and I went directly to the airport. But please know that , that day was one of the happiest of my life and I am so grateful I had the chance to perform for you guys :)

Hehehehe... awesome! Marie so nice of you to drop a comment..
And it was 11.30-ish by the time I reached home.
It was a very satisfying night indeed, just marred by the MIBs who were total assholes.. Marie, please don't ever hire these people ever again!!
To think I'd go visit a power station instead!.. lol

Karnival Sukan TNB 2008

-------------------------------

Ahhh.. ceritanya begini..

A few weeks ago I went for selection for futsal women's team.

They were looking for 8 ppl, and at least 2 players have to be executives.

There were 3 execs who came for the selection, and needless to say..

I wasn't selected.. wahahahhaha..

Then on Wednesday, I found out that one the girls on the team injured herself (terpeleot kat curb).

On Thursday, I got word that I was asked to replace this injured girl..

lucky!

So found someone to take my shift at work, and off I went to Uniten.

Crazy lah.. there were so many TNB people who came from all over Malaysia, around 800 ppl.

The teams were divided into Zon Utara, Timur, Selatan and Metro.

I represented Zon Metro, obviously.

My team mates were like super skilled futsal players lah.

Half of them were ex hockey players for Malaysia.

I was, essentially, a reserve, the player they wouldn't want to send into the field unless we were already leading by at least 2-0.. hahahaha

Yes... I was that player.. ahhaha..

But I guess its understandable, cause I was clearly the least skilled of the whole bunch, and I didn't even attend practices since I wasn't selected initially.

But still I got to play in all the games which was very thoughtful and kind of the coach.

Anyway it was fun playing in a tournament after so long, and we won first place yeahooo.

There were loads of freebies.

And we got pocket money too. Macam masa zaman Sukom pulak.

Other games contested were netball, bowling, road relay 1.4km, golf, ping pong, badminton, tarik tali and karom.

Hmm.. I didn't take any pictures though.

Introducing, my kitty cats

-------------------------------

And their names as given by my mom and sister...

ALIEN. The ugliest kitten I've ever seen! Hahahaha.

TIGER. My favorite.

TEDDY BEAR. Comot tak ingat.
YODA. It's not clear from this picture, but the ears are really big.

MOO. Coz black spots dia macam lembu Feeding time!

Music: Love Song by Sara Bareilles

At home.
Insomniac attack.. at least till 3am (usually).
Made me a cup of hot milo.
Figured I'd drop by here and talk crap.

I've been looping this song for the past 30 minutes.
Whenever I think of JT's and Madonna's collabo.. Britney comes to mind.
To be exact, aaaaa JT tiruuuu sebokkkk je. Britney dah buat dulu. wahahaha
but of course its not actually like that lah kan i think its awesome that artists join forces and produce songs together, but only when it turns out to be good.
I think its a smart move by Madonna as well, for her career and longevity, she did say she wanted to conquer the world, many years ago..
I also looveee Fallout Boys' and John Mayer's cover of Beat It. Would it be as awesome if John Mayer had no involvement whatsoever? Maybe. Well, I don't really feel like giving Fallout Boy that much credit coz they're not that great a band. I guess its Maybe Not then.

Anyway, I do have something un-crappy to say.
Today (yesterday), went to an RPM session.
As usual, the first thing to do is choose the right location.
Do not ride next to people that can potentially emit pungent bodily antics.
However mean that may sound, its for your own good!
Usually you are able to kinda guess who might have B.O..
And I've identified faces of people who do.. through experience, unfortunately.

Sometimes you come in early and choose a bike and everything is set you're warming up while waiting for the instructor to start the class and the bike next to you is still empty and just as the class is about to commence and you think you're safe suddenly some smelly-ass comes in at the last minute (at this point u still don't know that fact, unless its someone you've pre-identified through experience like i said before) and i being the lucky one that s-ass chooses the empty bike next to me when there's 20 other empty bikes in the room and it so happens that this s-ass is the very definition of what i've been tactifully(?) trying to avoid, and its not like the s-ass has even started perspiring and can you imagine when he/she actually does oh no please somebody save me!

That's just one scenario.

Anyway, moving on, today the class wasn't full and i chose my favorite spot plus the person next to my favorite bike looked clean and harmless lol.
As I was adjusting my bike and stuff..
Only later did I properly looked at my neighbor.. i properly looked at her belly to be exact..
She was freakin pregnant!
Her belly was huugeee..
From the looks of it, I'd guess she was about 7 to 8 months preggers (wahahha macam E! plak)..
And she's in the freakin RPM class!
Which is a hardcore class that burns 500-700kcals in a 50-minute session (depending on how much effort you put in, in terms of the load/gear, and course, you can't cheat).
And the first person that came to mind is of course lah sapa lagi kalau bukan.. Elly!! hehehe
so now we know its not impossible..
but of course i have to say that this lady did not rpm secara hard core lah.. she kinda took it easy with low gears and did not do standing hill climb, power training and top speed.
even the instructor (who called her mama) told her to ride at her own pace.
But nevertheless.. i was totally awed.

And let me take this opportunity to say, rpm classes have the best workout songs ever!
The kind of songs that pumps you up whenever you listen to them.
And rpm songs are really fast, like 140-160bpm.
And I like it better when (some) instructors choose awesome cool down songs, the kind that can describe the feeling of satisfaction after a grueling workout, melancholy at the same time, with a hint of grandeur (imagine epic war movies and you've just won a battle of cosmic proportions).

(After all this, why am i still the same size? oh yeah.. coz i eat A LOT)

Music: I Stay In Love by Mariah Carey

2 hrs to kill before shift is over.
plans for the next 6 (off shift) days:
-Get lots and lots of sleep.
-Watch Iron Man. heard its good. but first i need to find someone that's free on weekdays. chances are there's no one. chotto samishiii ne..
-Finish reading Chronicles of Narnia. i finally bought the whole collection. got it for 50 bucks cheaper during MPH's warehouse sale last weekend.
-Do a couple of Bodystep and RPM sessions, and burn 500kcal a day (wahaha sungguh ambitious).
-Finalize home loan stuff. finally approved, just need to sign the documents.
-Meet up an old friend who's temporarily back from the States for the month.
-Get more sleep...

Music: River by Tatsuya Ishii

At work today, my colleague asked me.. So kirah, what do want to achieve in life? I was in a playful mood so I answered nonchalantly.

Contrary to the useless things I usually talk about here, I've actually given that question some thought lately. But that's about it. Its not my character/nature to be pro actively work towards a goal. I don't even have goals in life, apart from wanting to have lots and lots of money (who doesn't?). Even so, its not like I'm doing anything about it. Of course, its only natural for girls/women like me to want to get married, have kids, the works. But the idea of starting a family that seems a little far fetched for me, at least for the next few years. Plus I don't think I'm cut for it, ever. But how do you know if you're ready or not? I guess its not a matter of being ready or not, just face it head on when the time comes, and deal with it along the way.

Comparing the me a year ago to the me now, its obvious that I have not progressed much, maybe not at all. Heck, I'm pretty much the same compared to 4-5 years ago. The things I do. The only difference is that I have a job now. My only consolation is that I at least I have a decent and somewhat important job that I absolutely like for the time being. Oh, and I have a house under my name now, thanks to my mom. I couldn't afford it if it was just me.

I've been toying with the idea of pursuing a masters degree. But in what? MBA would be a good and smart choice, but I'm totally uninterested in that. Considering that I stay on in TNB, the glaring choice would be power engineering. And to make myself more credible, I'm thinking of getting my Ir. But thing is, its a difficult path. Not impossible, but a lot of effort is needed. For a comp eng degree holder like me, its not plausible for me to take up power eng, not even masters in EE, because I don't have all the pre-reqs subjects under my belt. I have to get that out of the way first, then only think about masters. Another way would be to sit for the BEM/IEM exams, which does have the reputation of being freakishly tough. On top of that, there will be lots of studying to do.. and papers to write. The thought of studying and the pressure of exams just makes me go blearghh every time. Of course, there will be interviews as well. The road to getting an Ir is pretty rough, which is totally reasonable, but here I am, complaining. No pain no gain, huh? I lack motivation, complacency is what I like. Breezing through life is what I love. I say to myself all the time, I've got ample time, there's no rush, I'm only 25. But time flies. How long will I be making excuses, god knows.

When I see my friends setting up businesses, doing part time jobs, furthering studies, etc, achieving something and doing useful things , I feel down and sometimes worthless. But when I think of how I'm living my life right now, I feel happy again. I really am happy, life has been good to me. But it also doesn't take a genius to know that what we do now will determine our future. Its one thing to realize all this, but its another to not do anything about it, and I'm not doing anything about it. And its not like I'm gonna start doing anything after all this rambling. Maybe I need a gut wrenching and soul breaking event to happen for a reality check, then maybe I can jump start my life and start having achievements that's worth talking about. But I pray to god the latter would happen and not the former.

At the end of the day, I'm still watching animes and jdramas and going head over heels over random cute japanese actors/singers. Sigh?

Music: Ai no Uta by Hitomi Shimatani

1 kitty died. so its 9 nekos in the house now.

pistons and lakers through to the next round yeah baby.

nadal won his fourth monte carlo. looking on course to win barcelona.

liverpool lost in a spectacular match against chelsea. aku sedih sampai demam right after that lol.

raikkonen and ferrari in the lead. awesome.