BACK TO SCHOOL - partie une Yesterday was the day my Don gave his speech to the graduating students of his alma mater. The plan was such that My Don, being the main speaker, was supposed to address the whole batch of graduting class. Afterwhich they will all break up into their own classes and other motivators (ex-students who are a success in life in one way or another) will take on one class and mingle with them. Allowing them to get up-close & personal and ask any questions they wanted.We arrived at his old school a few minutes after 6 and from below we could hear the teacher addressing the students. The other motivators had not arrived so The Don was quite pleased, thinking he will have a few more minutes to compose himself and try to recall his speech (He forgot to bring his prepared speech so he had to rely 100% on memory)But alas, the moment we came into view of the teacher on stage, Mr Raja, told the students Ok Everybody, turn around and look behind you. The man you see walking towards you now is an ex-student. He is now a very successful man. He has his own I.T company and even has a company in Malaysia. He has very kindly made time to come to speak to you today. Please clap your hands and welcome Mr *DON* on stage" So much for time to compose himself. Before he himself knew it, he was holding the mike on stage and some 300 students were looking up at him, open-eyed and eager to hear his speech. Thank god my Don did great. He did manage to recall most of the speech I wrote for him although the order was a bit jumbled. And boy, did I beam with pride !!! They then broke up into their own classes and while two of the other motivators were assigned one class, The Don was given one to himself. All this while I was busy chatting with one of the teachers Mrs Jaya. I was just about to excuse myself and take the opportunity to roam around the school when one of the teachers, Ms Vena, approached me and asked if I were willing to talk to the girls in her class. She said she thought I could just give them words of encouragement and perhaps offer an advice or two. To say I was shell-shocked would be an understatement. I wasn't from this school and I was completely at a blank on what to say to them. To refuse her would have been ungracious so I (very) hesitantly said I'd try my best. I was there to give emotional support to my hubby but ended up being a motivator as well. She got the girls together, and introduced me as "The Don's wife". (what a great start!) The girls were a sweet lot. They look so naive and innocent I was half afraid I'd corrupt their minds instead of motivate them. But I did the best I could anyway. I told them a little bit about myself and asked about them. Before long, they had opened up to me and the questions started coming. The part that intrigued them the most was how I met The Don. (ok we met in The Don's old school) but I managed to steer them away from a potential BGR talk to their studies. (Thank God!) I had a great time and I hoped the girls did too. The girls warmed up enough to ask if they could contact me directly. For fear of non-stop ringing of my handphone I gave them my email instead. There will be another session on Thursday. This time I will make sure The Don comes prepared and this time I will make sure I stay in the shadows. Still I was glad The Don had this opportunity to contribute to his school and I sure hope the kids were inspired in one way or another.

Yesterday was the day my Don gave his speech to the graduating students of his alma mater. The plan was such that My Don, being the main speaker, was supposed to address the whole batch of graduting class. Afterwhich they will all break up into their own classes and other motivators (ex-students who are a success in life in one way or another) will take on one class and mingle with them. Allowing them to get up-close & personal and ask any questions they wanted.

We arrived at his old school a few minutes after 6 and from below we could hear the teacher addressing the students. The other motivators had not arrived so The Don was quite pleased, thinking he will have a few more minutes to compose himself and try to recall his speech (He forgot to bring his prepared speech so he had to rely 100% on memory)But alas, the moment we came into view of the teacher on stage, Mr Raja, told the students
Ok Everybody, turn around and look behind you. The man you see walking towards you now is an ex-student. He is now a very successful man. He has his own I.T company and even has a company in Malaysia. He has very kindly made time to come to speak to you today. Please clap your hands and welcome Mr *DON* on stage"

So much for time to compose himself. Before he himself knew it, he was holding the mike on stage and some 300 students were looking up at him, open-eyed and eager to hear his speech. Thank god my Don did great. He did manage to recall most of the speech I wrote for him although the order was a bit jumbled. And boy, did I beam with pride !!!

They then broke up into their own classes and while two of the other motivators were assigned one class, The Don was given one to himself. All this while I was busy chatting with one of the teachers Mrs Jaya. I was just about to excuse myself and take the opportunity to roam around the school when one of the teachers, Ms Vena, approached me and asked if I were willing to talk to the girls in her class. She said she thought I could just give them words of encouragement and perhaps offer an advice or two. To say I was shell-shocked would be an understatement. I wasn't from this school and I was completely at a blank on what to say to them. To refuse her would have been ungracious so I (very) hesitantly said I'd try my best. I was there to give emotional support to my hubby but ended up being a motivator as well.

She got the girls together, and introduced me as "The Don's wife". (what a great start!) The girls were a sweet lot. They look so naive and innocent I was half afraid I'd corrupt their minds instead of motivate them. But I did the best I could anyway. I told them a little bit about myself and asked about them. Before long, they had opened up to me and the questions started coming. The part that intrigued them the most was how I met The Don. (ok we met in The Don's old school) but I managed to steer them away from a potential BGR talk to their studies. (Thank God!)

I had a great time and I hoped the girls did too. The girls warmed up enough to ask if they could contact me directly. For fear of non-stop ringing of my handphone I gave them my email instead.

There will be another session on Thursday. This time I will make sure The Don comes prepared and this time I will make sure I stay in the shadows. Still I was glad The Don had this opportunity to contribute to his school and I sure hope the kids were inspired in one way or another.

Stop, Gawk & Drool

Last Friday en route to KL, we stopped by Danga Bay for an early dinner. We were still trying to get over our shock at the apparent inverse proportional logic they practise over there (RM5 for HALF PLATE of chicken rice + RM4 for QUARTER plate of hot plate noodles) when we spotted one Japanese guy + one Mat Salleh with some heavy-weight photography equipment. They were in these luminous orange tee with the words RALLY emblazoned on them. Slowly in came streaming a few more similiarly neon clad men. We had a feeling something was going on around there. At that instant, our ears picked up the rip-roaring sound of turbo engines - way before our eyes feasted on the brighly coloured cars cruising passed us. You could literally hear gasps of breath from everyone as the cars rolled by us. Apparently the MALAYSIAN RALLY starting point was in Danga Bay and we happened to be there just at the right time.





My dearest Don was obviously mesmerized, as was I. A good thing we had to be on our way so we wiped the drool off each other's chin and zoomed off. Otherwise I had no guarantee the Don will not start getting ideas on how to modify the Lancerlot.

The Slap That Almost Happened

My best friend is was in retail and she has numerous times mentioned again and again that I am every salesperson's nightmare. When she has had a horrendous customer she will call me to let off steam and her first words would be "I had a YOU today" hehehe.

Its not that I am an arrogant or nit-picking customer (ok a bit of that too, I guess) but I value service. I get instantly fuming mad when

a salesperson follows me around and watches me with hawk-like eyes almost like waiting for me to steal something from their store

a salesperson practices racial discrimination and serves someone else other than me even though it is rightfully my turn

I get "If-I-like-it-I-do=it" service with a face that looks worse than the rag I use to wipe spills on the floor.

Some of you would recall the incident I had with that swensen's girl sometime last year. I still see that woman everytime my office colleagues and I decide to go for lunch there. I haven't forgotten her and neither has she. She avoids one on one contact with me but when she comes to our table she makes it a point to be more pleasant.

I had a similiar incident in KL last week. We were looking for furniture for a business premise The Don had just acquired and the nearest place was Mines Resort City. There was this new furniture mega mall on the top most floor so we decided to try to see if we could get the chairs we wanted there. As we walked in a young Malay girl accosted us. I didn't quite get a good look at her face as I was busy keeping up with The Don who was walking in front of me and on the line (as usual) She asked in a nice squeaky voice what we were looking for. I told her we were looking for chairs. She amused me for a minute by asking in detail what kinda chairs we wanted. I was vague since I honestly didn't quite know what kind we wanted so I thought it was best to look around first. By this time I was quite pissed off by the way she followed me around like a sick puppy and giving a commentary on every item i approached. So I told her "OK terima kasih. Biar saya jalan tengok tengok dulu. Kalau saya perlukan bantuan saya mintak ok" Then she began her tirade much to my disbelief.
Oh takpe kak, kita kat sini mmg kena bagi service kat customer. (I roll my eyes) Tapi kita kat sini tak jual kerusi macam yang kakak cakap tu. Kat sini kita cuma jual kerusi standard standard aje. Takpe kakak tengok tengok dulu, kalau kakak berkenan kakak cakap. Kalau kakak tak mampu kakak boleh buat bayaran ansuran selama 12 bulan. Kalau kakak government staff kakak boleh dapat tanpa cengkeram etc etc etc....."

By this time I was staring at her face. Stare maut punya. Bloody bitch of the lowest pedigree. How dare she as much as insinuate that I could not afford the things there. I was beside myself with anger. I was about to scream and make a scene when I kinda caught myself. The thing I most wanted to do at that moment was to give her a tight slap. But I looked at her in the eye and told her in my most calm voice "GET LOST" and a few other expletives I dun think she even understood. She cowered away and made herself invisible immediately. I yanked My Don (who's ear was still attached to his earpiece so he missed everything) out of the shop, made him end his conversation and let it all out to him till his ears went red. He laughed out loud and said I should have told her I could afford the store with her in it as well. I can't believe the audacity of that piece of low-life. I bet you she says the same thing to every customer who walks in like a tape-recorder but someone better teach her to learn to size up her customers first before she opens her gap. On normal occasions, I would have lost my temper and started a tirade of my own on her but somehow that day I felt I'd just be wasting my breath. On hindsight maybe I should have. Maybe I should go down on of these days, let her do her routine then give that tramp a piece of my mind. Maybe not.

In any case, since then, I have had to endure jibes from the Don "kalau kakak tak mampu......." UUURRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once Bitten, Twice Gobbled

It's been a while I know. But I have lotsa stories. So that should more than make up for it hopefully. Early last Wednesday morning, The Don parked our Lancerlot in front of Vista Point and left to get something at the shops while I stayed in the car and caught some quick shut eye. I was rudely awakened by a loud sound and a bang to the car. The minibus that was parked in front of us apparently reversed right into our lancerlot. I got out of the car and so did the minibus driver, an elderly Malay man. But didn't say a word coz I wanted to see the damage first. The towing hook (if thats what it's called) of the minibus has banged into the front of our lancerlot leaving a dent just above the vehicle plate number. "Ok" I thought. "Not as bad as I thought" But the pakcik just had to open his mouth and said "Kenapa awak park dekat sangat dengan van saya? Saya tak boleh nampak kereta awak"


That did it. I didn't want to say anything to that evil evil pakcik so I whipped out my phone and in my most urgent of voices told The Don to hurry up. The pakcik seeing I was seething with anger, tried to say that his brother in law has a motor workshop and we could send it to him for free. I didn't bother to make small talk with him and told him to wait for my husband. When The Don arrived and inspected the damage, the first thing he said to me was "Get the digicam" and the pakcik's face turned ashen white. While The Don was clicking away, the pakcik tried all means and ways to persuade The Don to go to his brother-in-law's workshop. He even dialled for his brother-in-law and tried to get The Don to speak to him. The Don said "Takpe Pakcik saya ade workshop saya sendiri. Pakcik tulis nama, alamat, IC no dengan contact number pakcik kat sini", handing him a piece ofpaper and a pen. I thought the pakcik's face was as white as it could be already but at that remark he turned whiter.


Evidently not able to persuade, he tried threatening. Saya bukan nak ape. Saya nak nasihat saje (sic!) Kereta awak baru kalau awak claim insurance nanti awak kena bayar teruk. Van saya van lama. Awak belum tahu lagi insurance macam mana"
The Don and I seriously wanted to laugh when he said that. He was obviously messing with the wrong person. I am working in a law firm dealing almost especially in motor insurance claim. I personally know the owners of the top motor workshops in Singapore, and they are at my beck and call. And since The Don handles all their IT matters, he is on good terms with all of them as well. And judging from the situation of the accident, we were free from liability 100%. We could see beads of desperation on the pakcik's face.

Not one to push more than he should, The Don said nicely to the pakcik Ok lah macam gini pakcik. Saya hantar pada workshop saya. Biar diorang assess brapa damages lepas tu pakcik bayar saya saje tak payah report insurance

"Ok. ok. ok. Macam gitu lagi bagus. Jadi saya pun tak teruk. Terima kasih. terima kasih." The next day, he came by our house to hand over the money for the repair.

If that was not enough, the very next day, The Don picked me up at the office for lunch and we were along Liang Seah Street when we got into another accident. This time we were not so lucky. We had just turned into Liang Seah Street and there was this red Hyundai Van in front of us.If you had been there you'd know that the road is a one-way road and very narrow and that cars are usually parked along both sides of the road.

The driver of the red van stopped in the middle of the road so we too had to stop behind him. At first we thought he wanted to park in the empty lot on our left but he did not have his turning indicator or is reverse light on so we thought he stopped probably to drop someone off. The Don overtook him on the left and proceeded to drive slowly. As we were almost 70% beyond his vehicle, he suddenly reversed, scraping against the back door of our Lancerlot. The Don and I both swore out loud.


This time, the guy and The Don exchanged harsh words for the first few seconds. By the time they exchanged particulars, both men were quite civil. I got out to inspect the damages. There was a long streak of red paint on the back door and rear area of the Lancerlot. And many many scratches. But luckily no dent.

Of course, the first person The Don called was one of the motor workshops for whom my firm handle their legal matters. And the rest as they say is history. Next week, the Lancerlot will be given a fresh coat of spray and the bill will be sent to the stupid red van's insurance.

Maybe the car as well as the owners have been overworked due to the constant travelling or maybe its just a series of bad luck. Whatever it is, let's just hope it stops there. Once Bitten, Twice Gobbled. No thrice please.

A Walk Down memory Lane

This blog has been sorely neglected. No I have not lost interest in blogging. Neither am I lost for words to blog. (hah!) I have just been simply busy. Busy to the point of utter exhaustion. So much so, even the idea of updating my blog honestly is too energy taxing, what more actually getting down to doing it. Besides, every Friday night, we are usually off to KL and we usually reach Singapore in the wee hours of Monday morning. The rest of the week is spent in a frantic rush and before we know it its Friday again.

This time round it's gonna be at a slower pace on account of the National Day holidays. We'll have more time to spare in KL and hopefully cover more ground. There are many things I wanna do in KL but I haven't found the time yet. At the top of my list is to go down memory lane......

My late father used to have a company in KL and during school holidays, we'd spent a lot of time in KL, before going elsewhere for our vacation. So I have a myriad of memories there. And while most of KL have changed, some things are still around.

Back then there were no KLCC or Bintang Walk. The hippest shopping centres were Pertama Complex, Sungai Wang & Parkson. My dad had a thing for Globe Silk Store along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (last I heard it has been replaced by Kamdar) It was an all-under-one-roof dept store and more importantly it was CHEAP! We went there every single time we went to KL, that place is forever imprinted in my mind. I can still recall the slightly musty smell of clothes (of being stored too long in a warehouse I'm sure) and the blind pianist sitting outside the main entrance displaying his very limited talent and repertoire.


Then there is the most sophisticated shopping centre in KL at that time THE MALL at Jalan Putra. Directly opposite Pan Pacific Hotel. The best part about that place was the indoor theme park on the top floor called Starlight Express. (Is it still there??)The best ride there was the Matterhorn, this contraption which looks like a modified version of a merry-go-round. It was a heart-thumping ride (well for a young girl of seven like me, at least) but I loved it soo much I'd take it a few times in a row.


The greatest memory however is this cheap hotel in Jalan Masjid India. Chamtan Hotel. Whenever we were in KL, we'd stay at one of my uncle's house. (I have many, many relatives in KL so accomodation has never been a problem) but during the time of the big flood in Kampung Bahru this was the only hotel that was willing to take us in. My uncle's and aunt's rented abode at Kampung Bahru was under seige at that time and the whole street was submerged, leaving not just us roofless but also, my aunt, uncle and their whole group of neighbours. It was in December, a festive season and no hotel had 5 rooms to spare. The only hotel that was willing to take us all in was Chamtan Hotel, a 2-star no-frills hotel. It wasn't seedy at all. In fact for a 2-star hotel I guess it was quite standard. And while I'd dun think I wanna get a room there now, I'd love to visit that place again.

Hopefully, we'll have time to do my walk down memory lane.

When The Moon Falls Out Of The Sky

I got the shock of my life yesterday when I got into the car after work. In the back seat was 2 huge boxes. Apparently somehow, my Don had managed to get these thousand dollar Pure Acoustic speaker systems for a fraction of the price. We had no idea what the retail price of the 5 piece Pure-Acoustic Full Home Music System + subwoofer was but we were quite certain we got it at a good bargain especially since it was in its original packaging complete with 3-year warranty.

A quick check on audio websites showed the retail price was SGD$1900.00. And a few ppl on ebay were selling their used set for about SGD$800.00. So we DEFINITELY got a great deal. Needless to say, the moment we got home, The Don proceeded to replace the current "normal-sized" speakers we had to the new humongous one. I swear the walls shook and quaked while we blasted music. And the sound was crystal clear. Way way better than our previous speakers.

By stroke of luck, Cinemax was playing "Drumline" last night, the movie about marching bands. I have been trying to catch this show for two months now, always forgetting to switch to Cinemax at the right time. And what better time to watch it than with our brand new boombox. For a few minutes, I imagined I was at the stadium itself, hearing the band play in front of my eyes. It certainly brought back great memories of the time I was in the band and we played at the National Stadium.

Shopping Madness

Its always dangerous when I go shopping during lunchtime. I always end up with more things than I intend to buy. I was browsing the Men's Dept of OG (the nearest dept store to my office) and I walked out with these for my hubby.


and this


If thats not bad enough, I went to the Ladies Dept and walked away with
this

and


Can the world co-operate with me and stop having sales!!!!!!!!!!

The briefcase and the parfum are a just-because present from me to The Don. I've got it all gift-wrapped and will only surprise him with it tonight. I just hope he hasn't the free time to log on to my blog before he fetches me from the office today.

After getting my gifts wrapped at the Customer Service counter at OG, I made my way down the escalator At that time I was on the phone with Lisa confessing my "sins" when I heard my name being announced over the P.A system. I quickly hung up and dashed up again. Apparently I had left my Metro card at the counter. I must have taken it out by mistake while I was digging for my OG card. Lucky the card had my name at the back. As I thanked the guy profusely, I suddenly became aware how embarassing it was. Everyone on that floor looked at me with a "knowing look". Well they all know my name now. I quickly whipped out my phone and redialed Lisa's number to mask my embarassment.

I dun think I'll be going to OG again for the next few days......

Ladies & Gentlemen......

My Don has been invited to give a speech to the graduating class of his alma mater next month. Apparently instead of the typical old coots (oops) they call every year, with their rags-to-riches success stories, this year they wanted someone young and vibrant. I suppose the teachers felt they needed someone the kids could relate to and aspire to be (in not such a long time hehe). Its a real honour to be given such an invitation and a real big responsibility. I can't begin to describe how proud I am that my Don has been given such an honour. The Don maintains close links with his teachers in his alma mater and I guess they felt he would be a good inspiration for the kids.

Anyhow what with his busy schedule, I have been "assigned" to write his speech for him. (unpaid speech writer!! Hmmpphh!)I was supposed to get down to it last night but got sidetracked by the season finale of C.S.I (tarantino special)


The Ants OH MY GAWD!!! And Tarantino really left his mark on that show. I loved the episode although I was stupefied by the silly hallucination scene. A case of misplaced humour, I think.

So anyway, I finally managed to finish the speech this morning and thank god he was satisfied with it. My hubby can be quite a slavedriver. I pity his employees. tsk..tsk. I'll be putting the finishing touches to his speech and come August, he's be ready to deliver it. I think I have a knack at this speech writing thing. Anybody else needs a speech writer????

Always In Line Of Sight

We had a wonderful time in KL despite it being a short trip. KL was swarmed with people what with the Perhimpunan Agung Umno going on. We managed to steal 2 of my uncles away on Friday night for a midnight supper at Kampung Bahru, although one of my uncles escape our clutches as he was busy preparing his speech for the event the next day. After we parted ways, The Don and I people-watched at Bintang Walk and drove to Bangsar. We finally retired to bed at close to 4am that night.


Just as I expected, The Don would never let me go out shopping in KL all on my own. Even in Singapore, whenever I go shopping with my girlfriends, he will make sure he sends and fetches me wherever I am. And he even sends all my girlfriends home one by one. So what more in KL?

He tied up all the stuff he needed to do on Saturday, even getting his company secretary to meet him at our uncle's place instead of in the guy's office downtown. Just so that he can free up Sunday to bring me shopping. Sunday morning, we had fun playing snooker and swimming by the pool at my uncle's place. (When oh when will our house have a swimming pool too????) and in the afternoon, we left for KL. I knew he'd never have the heart to let me go on my own. Hehehe. Logistically it didn't make much sense. My uncle's place is in Kajang so to go back up to KL was a sheer waste of time what with the heavy weekend jam and especially since we will have to make the trip all the way down to Singapore anyway. But he gave in to this shopaholic wife of his, all the same. (grins)

We spent a good part of the Sunday in the Jalan Imbi/Bukit Bintang area satisfying my shopping urges. They were putting up signages and posters for the Mega Sale Carnival 2005 set to kick off on the 1st of August. Looks like I already found my reason to go back up to KL for the next trip.

We're off to KL after work today. The Don has some business matters to settle and like the true, faithful wife that I am, I volunteered to go with him. - NOT!!!!! I would never give up a weekend away as you'd probably know by now. The Don, noting the gleam in my eye when he mentioned KL, quickly said he will be super busy and that he does not fancy getting caught in the massive weekend jam around KL City Centre. In what was supposedly a discouraging tone, he said I'd have to find my own way if I wanted to go to KL to shop. Well it didn't work!! I am not about to give up so easily. Taxis are a dime a dozen and worse come to worse I'll take the LRT. Nothing's gonna stand in my way of shopping ..... hehehee So I bravely said "OK! I'll go public."

I just hope I dun get lost.