Mood: In a bit of a rush really...
Reading: China backs anti-tobacco treaty
Currently listening to: Easy - Groove Armada
Quote of the day: "Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it." - Helen Hayes

So yeah, the working life is getting me down a little.

Don't get me wrong, its a nice job with plenty of interesting co-workers, encouraging bosses, new learning experiences and an opportunity for which i am eternally grateful (and, given the pay, very thankful) for but... i don't know.

Its just not... 'it'.

Granted, most people spend a lifetime finding that perfect job/purpose in life (before compromising/giving up, getting hitched, getting that suburban home, yada yada) but... Time. I'm running out of time.

Some additional careful long-term thinking is in order methinks.

The initial two-year plan of achieving an initial satisfactory degree of financial freedom and the building up of capital and contacts remains intact. For now.

But why do i feel so 'weary of it all' already???

*sigh*

[/short despairing rant which will be taken up... elsewhere]

Ah well, at least i've got my weekends - and nowadays i've realised the importance of having a good one when there's a full working week ahead to look forward to. Case in point:

*opens mental diary*

Friday night

Met up with Chen Hoe, Sneexe, and Al for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen at KLCC. Shirley(?) joined us after that and we retired to the nearby Gloria Jean's for coffee. Went to Alvin's place for more coffee and shisha with Al and Nick.

Was secretly overjoyed at meeting friends again after my weeklong social isolation due to sickness. Was even more overjoyed at the fact that my stomach managed to hold itself together long enough for me to demolish a HUGE choc sundae. Bliss.

On that note - a week of porridge fucking SUCKS.

Saturday

Skipped usual morning tennis. Practiced salsa with mother at the club since latin/ballroom class was cancelled - did my superbly complex routine from my Thursday class and, to my mother's credit, she picked it up really quickly.

Hrmmm... maybe all of that salsa club activity on her part is really paying off...

Almost died in French class later that afternoon. Developed the most terrible of headaches and, i think, a small bout of fever during the course of the class. Just goes to show that i might not have fully recovered just yet (white blood cell and platelet counts are improving but still below the agreed upon average) - i'd better be careful...

The class seems to be getting smaller and smaller each week that i go, and the faces of my fellow students are now changing on a regular basis... I miss my ol' smoking buddies. I mean, at least we got to know each other pretty well over the course of the last year and a half - to the extent that we'd actually go out after class sometimes - and suddenly, *poof!*, with nary a 'ciao' or 'fare thee well'...

How very French.

Recovered from my bout of fever by the end of the class (thanks to a quick nap, hehe) and i sauntered (read: Sped like a maniac) down to Sri Thai in PJ for our Saturday dinner outing. Despite the rash of sudden cancellations (you know who you are! *glare*) Zamil, Sam, Al and Ken turned up and we managed to make quite a meal of it. Seems like Sri Thai is quite the KL institution because everyone i mentioned it to has eaten there at some point in time - my mother was a regular as well... two decades ago! That, and Zams (who naturally did all the ordering on our behalf) has been eating there with his family for nigh on 20 years as well and was even on first name terms with the head waitress - never a bad thing when it comes to food... *wink*

Speaking of which, it was all good! We had pineapple fried rice (literally - it came IN a pineapple), some awesome pandan chicken, what seemed like sweet and sour beef, vegetables that i hardly touched, and - of course - Tom Yam soup, sprinkled liberally with that Malaysian staple: Chilli padi ("...destroying stomach linings since the 1500s!").

And hey, at RM30 pax it was a steal!

(Kudos once agains to Zams for recommending and organising our motley crew this time around!)

Well, that wasn't the end of the night. In a fit of pre-planned nostalgia we all went down to the nearby A&W in PJ (the first fast food restaurant in the country apparently) for root beer, ice cream waffles, coney dogs and childhood memories of days gone by. Leonard, Kwong Heng (plus his ex), Jo and her friend swung by as well whilst a certain Huey Yee was missing from our little root beer orgy... (hope the tooth is better! Goes for you too Lenny!)

*glances at the time - eep!*

So... ah... we all hopped into our cars after that and most of us ended up at Alvin's place to watch Saw (Al has provided a wonderfully detailed collection of our communal critique on the movie that you can find here - its worth reading!) ;p

Sunday

An awesome Sunday.

Spent the vast majority of it with Chen Hoe, Shirley(?), Edwin, Jo, Lenny, Terence, Vikram, and Kwong Heng at the Tropicana driving range. The sun was up. There was no haze to be seen/smelt. I was hitting pretty well despite my two week hiatus.

Bliss.

Went for a late and very lazy lunch with some of them (including Al) at Secret Recipe in Hartamas. I'd write more about it but its late and all i'll say is:

1. Don't try the laksa.
2. TRY the choc brownie.
3. Womens sunglasses make for great Ray Charles impersonations. ;)

Right, check back tomorrow for details on this Saturday's dinner - we're going Arabic so be sure to come ja?

Oh, and for those who don't know it looks like there will be a Merdeka party at Alvin's place tomorrow night. Call him for details.

Blog Post Of The Day

How to Win a Lucky Draw [Serina]

"I've always been quite lucky with lucky draws. But it's not just about luck. There is a fine art to it.

As college students, Yolanda and I were at some event and there were lucky draws. Waving her ticket irritably, she said, 'Is it possible to win these things? I dont know anyone who has!'

'It is possible! I always win. Ok, you mustn't hold your ticket out like that. What you need to do is to stuff your ticket right to the bottom of you handbag, under your wallet and lipstick and tissues, and then when your number gets called, you rummage desperately in your bag, feeling like you're going to pee in your pants because they're calling the number once, calling the number twice. That is how you win'.

Yolanda did as I recommended and she won haha! When her number was called, we stared at each other and then she desperately rummaged in her bag, as per my instructions. Good girl. Syabas!

Unfortunately for me, I had been holding my ticket instead of stuffing it into my bag, so I didnt win anything that time."

...and in other news, Yo and Serina are INSANE. :p