Premonitions or pure coincidence??

Have u ever experienced sumthin (e.g. an event or simply sumthin happening) and it happens the very next minute?? I've experienced this a number of times, 3 of which I remember very clearly:

Incident #1:
Was in Form 5, I think it was towards the end of the school year so we were all pretty relaxed (before slogging like hell for SPM) and it was a day where we didn't have classes but went around school taking pics for memories' sake. I had my Olympus camera slung over my shoulder and was walking towards one of the classrooms when a thought came to my mind "I'd better hold my camera tightly else it might slip from my grasp"... and the next thing I know, someone comes running, bumps into me and my camera goes flying outta my hands and crashes onto the floor, and i see some parts of the camera shattering and small pieces scattering around! At first, I was just stunned frozen coz the first thing in my mind was, "Oh my gawd, I was just thinking abt this happening abt 2 secs ago and it actually happened!"... then I got really upset coz the camera was my 12th b'day present from my parents and had great sentimental value. Thankfully, I managed to get it fixed and it worked fine after that. I think it still works but I haven't used it in a couple of years.

Incident #2:
Was @ Sutra, in the bathroom changing into my white kurta. The bathroom floor was wet coz someone had showered before I entered. Was holding my kurta when I thought "Hhhmmm, I better not drop my kurta on the floor else it'll get wet and I won't be able to wear it". Next thing I know, just as I was trying to put it on, I fumbled and it slipped outta my hands and onto the wet floor! Needless to say, it got wet and obviously, I couldn't wear it after that. Thank gawd I'd brought an extra top along that day...

Incident #3:
Happened this evening. Was @ Lake Club, putting on my contacts, getting ready for Odissi. Was rinsing out my contact lense case so I was @ the sink. There wasn't a cover over the drainage hole (is that wat its called?) so I thought to myself "Better hold on to the contact lense case caps carefully, else if it slips and tumbles down the drainage hole, there goes my contact lense case and I dun have any additional with me". And guess wat happened????? Duh! The cap that I was rinsing slipped outta my fingers and tumbles down the hole!!! Talk abt freaky, man!! And I couldn't get the cap outta the hole (even though it only went down halfway) coz it got stuck. Had to S.O.S. Chin Lai for spare contact lense case... thank goodness he had a spare coz I'd just opened a new pair of lenses and it would be such a HUGE waste to dump them after just 2-3 uses.

So there u have it.... premonition or pure coincidence????? u tell me.... *twilight zone theme* hehe...

My Pet Peeves...

1. People who speak so softly that u need bionic ears to hear them. Also, undecisively. Case in point: I know this guy who speaks really softly and sounds like he's so not sure of himself. This really gets on my nerves coz when I'm @ work, time's of utmost essence and when we have meetings, we wanna get things out and sorted as fast as possible. And when ppl can't speak up, it bugs the hell outta me coz i'll be like "hallo? do u have something to say? if u do, just say it and let's get on with it!" instead of having to probe and probe for the details. Hhhmmpphh... maybe i need to be more patient? But i'm especially irritated when guys are like this coz (1) hey, u're a man, for crying out loud! so start acting like one! (2) it reflects negatively on how they carry themselves coz if they can't speak up confidently, it reflects their low self-confidence and insecurity. Even if u're not confident/insecure, at least just fake it la! And by speaking confidently, i dun mean by sounding arrogant or cocky but speak like u know wat u're talking abt and u know wat u want. I know ppl who are soft-spoken in nature but when they speak, they do it confidently so others actually listen to them and take heed.
2. People who are not proficient in the English language but who think they are. Oh gawd! Maaaann, the way some ppl butcher the English language is just horrendous! And wat's worse is that they think they can speak/write English well! I'm not claiming that I'm 101% proficient in the language but I can safely say that I can do more than carry out a conversation with the roti man. Was browsing thru ppl's profiles on ahmoi.com (yeah yeah, i really didn't have anything better to do! lol!) and the English! OMG! I dun even wanna mention any here... it's that awful! I can't imagine a better turn-off method! But then again, maybe it's just me..... i'm just such a stickler for language and grammar... haha... needless to say, my partner would definitely need to speak/write at least as well as I do...
3. People who dun show up on time for meetings and make others wait and wait for them. ARGH! Like we dun have our own work to complete! Ggggrrrrr...
4. People who cannot make up their minds over simple things that usually require a Yes/No answer.

There're definitely more... but these are all that i can think of for now... hhhmmm...

happenings @ work...and out

the work situation is still status quo... still supporting my existing clients (especially a really fussy one, in particular) and also helping out with proposals. Recent happenings:

1. Had my appraisal and KPI discussion with the Boss about 2 weeks ago. She seems reasonably satisfied with my performance and I got a 6.22% increment (which was a nice surprise coz I wasn't expecting a mid-yr increment). According to the Boss, I'm quite mature for my age and as such, has no qualms about me handling the clients. A little off topic, I seem to get this comment "U're quite mature for ur age" from various parties. At times, it could be a good thing (like @ work) but outside of work, I'm not too sure if it's as positive... it makes me sound like i'm a boring 40-yr-old soul stuck in a 26-yr-old body! lol! Ah well... i am who i am so... i just need to stop worrying/thinking so much coz i tend to frown a lot when i do, haha! Gotta stop doing it, else gonna get tons of wrinkles! lol!
2. The co's going for listing soon. This Thursday is the prospectus launch... and i've been assigned to be one of the 2 VIP ushers... and we're supposed to be @ the venue @ 7:30 in the freaking morning! *WAAIILLL* Gawd, have to brave the KL traffic to get there on time... ugh...

Other non-work happenings...

1. Going to see Buena Vista @ KL Hilton tonite! :D
2. Navarathri performance on 5-Oct; Vijayadasami on 12-Oct. Ramli's decided to have us wear our checked practice sarees for both events this year so we won't get to wear our usual Odissi performance attire :o(
3. Have decided not to go anywhere for vacation for the rest of the year and save up to go somewhere interesting next year. Guess I'll finally manage to use up my 3 remaining spa sessions ;o)
4. Gotta start thinking about ideas to promote cat spaying/neutering amongst the public. Received email from the SPCA, they're working on getting a Cat Spaying/Neutering project which is aimed @ educating the public about the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) method of controlling cat overpopulation, much like wat some of us are doing i.e. rounding up strays, get them fixed, and releasing them. Also work with vets in different areas to support the project and offer discounted rates. Gotta talk to Dr Vijay about this since he gives me 50% discount when I bring in my strays to get fixed.

in holy matrimony...

Attended Mich's and Ragu's wedding today...church ceremony was @ 3pm and dinner @ 7:30pm. Gawd, I always get choked up @ church weddings... the atmosphere and music just gets to me every time. Anyway, I was a little late getting there. By the time I got to the church, Mich was just walking down the aisle with her dad. I think the music was Pachalbel's Canon and that was when I started tearing coz the combination of happiness for a dear friend and the soft, mellow music just brought up a wave of emotions and i had to keep telling myself not to cry, else i'd ruin my makeup!

The ceremony ran smoothly and was over in a reasonable amount of time. Had another bout of tears in the middle of the readings (duh!) and this time, had to resort to using a tissue to blot my eyes... geez... I was like, "get a grip, woman! wat the hell's wrong with u?!" hehe... internal battle with meself...

After the pix session, rushed home to get my saree coz was supposed to go to a friend's place with Audrey to get our sarees tied (i couldn't handle our sarees coz one is too elaborate and the other is too fragile!). Got to Amrit/Amita's place, found out that my saree is too short! So decided not to wear it so Audrey got hers tied.

Got home and I dug out my other saree. Dressed up and rushed over to KGNS. Former VS colleagures were there : Chien Li, Su Ming, Jacq, Elaine, Philip (wife & kid), Chung Moh (& wife), Audrey, and of course, moi. Amazingly, the entire dinner session only took about 1.5 hrs so we were done by 9:30pm. Was gonna leave but Mich said to stay coz she was going to throw her bouquet. I informed Audrey and Chung Moh, and they suddenly had the idea that I wanted to get the bouquet! Wat the...?! When Mich got ready to throw it, Audrey and Chung Moh were shouting "Michelle! Here! Here!! Ai Ling wants it!" and I was just cringing with embarrassment! OMG! I luv these ppl but sometimes, they can really embarrass me in public, especially Audrey! lol! Anyway, Mich had to do it 3 times(!) coz the first 2 weren't successful. The first time, either her father or father-in-law caught the bouquet. The 2nd time, she threw it too hight and it hit the ceiling and went straight down. The 3rd time, it landed in front of Angie (CM's wife) who picked it up and gave it to me(!)... and i'm like "wat am i supposed to do with this?!" I mouthed to Mich and she mouthed back "Keep it!"... and her mom, who was right in front of me, said "U gotta keep it, u're next!"... HAH! I'm like "uuhhh, yeah, and I wonder who the groom's gonna be!" lol!

So anyway, that was the end of the nite... am so happy for my dear friend and I wish the newlyweds all the best and hope they have a wonderful life together...

missed opportunity... ARGH!

oh maaaaannn... i didn't get to talk to the Hottie today!!! *WAIIILLL!* :o( I saw him today, I was actually on the lookout for him and when I walked past him, I smiled so he'd notice me and he smiled back... but didn't get to talk to him coz he was on duty @ the seminar so couldn't talk.

Anyway, after lunch, he was mc-ing the afternoon talk (such a nice voice *swoon*) and it so happened that the location he was at was right in front of my booth. There was a floor-to-ceiling partition but it was panel-by-panel so at the joints of each panel, u could see thru to the seminar area. So I was sitting @ my booth, reading my book (sooooo bored!)... when I looked up, i thought i saw someone's familiar haircut from the back and i thought, hhhmmm, can't be HIM rite... so i was sorta staring and trying to figure out if it was HIM but trying to do it inconspicuously. Then he turned around, saw me, and SMILED! Aawwww... he has such a sweet smile!! So I smiled back and waved... and that was the last bit of communication that we'd had for today... and probably forever! Coz when I was looking around for him at the end of the day, he was nowhere to be found! sob sob! :o( So sad! Dammit, I should've gotten his namecard yesterday when I had the chance! Damn damn damn!!! :o(

Well, i've got his friend's namecard (the gal from yesterday) and i guess I could ask her for his # if i really wanted to... but i dunno if i can bring myself to do *shudder* it'll be sooo blurdy obvious! *GASP!* Anyway, i guess it wasn't meant to be.... sooooo... :o( But he's just soooooo good-lookin' (by my standards, that is)... so irresistable! Yuummmmmmyyy!! I guess i'd never know now, would i..... sigh...

gawd, i'm acting like a silly, giggling teenager! Wat the...?! geez, i hate it when a few very selected guys have this impact on me... hhhmmpphhh...

I am a Poplar Tree...

Got a forwarded email from Gary. It lists birthdates and their corresponding tree types. I'm in the May 1 - 14 date range... and apparently, I'm a Poplar Tree. Description as follows:

Looks very decorative, talented, not very self-confident, extremely courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, great artistic nature, good organizer, tends to lean towards philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership seriously.

Analysis:

1. Looks very decorative : I disagree... makes me sound like a Christmas tree ornament *blink blink* hhmppphh...
2. Talented : huh?! how?? in what?!
3. Not very self-confident : AGREE! Well, i would agree whole-heartedly if someone asked me this last year but thankfully, this year I've gained much more self-confidence (not enuf though) due to my current job... still needs a lot of work though...
4. Extremely courageous if necessary : weeeelll... i guess if the situation arises, i would rise to the occasion... i think... hehe...
5. Needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings : who doesn't like pleasant surroundings?! this is not counted coz it's too general. Goodwill???? hhhmm... nah...
6. Very choosy : Oh YEAH! Especially when it comes to my yet-to-be-found significant other ;o) only, i call it being s-e-l-e-c-t-i-v-e...
7. Often lonely : well, i like solitude @ times... gives me space for myself and to reflect...
8. Great animosity : huh??? like, when?? all the time?? only to those who've done me wrong...
9. Great artistic nature : hhmmm.... 68%
10. Good organizer : only when it comes to certain stuff like work... my room and workspace are a mess!
11. Tends to lean towards philosophy : uummm, not really... i like my facts a lot...
12. Reliable in any situation : ...just call my na-ame, and i'll be there... (sang to Michael Jackson's "I'll Be There")
13. Takes partnership seriously : oh but of course! why waste time in a frivolous partnership?

hhhhmmmm... it's freaky how accurate some parts of the statement are...

HOT STUD! OW!

Oh my gawd!! I met the hottest thing @ the tradeshow just now!! Was on the way out of the hall when me and Yap noticed FOOD! Apparently, it was a cocktail thingy for exhibitors so we went in to get some munchies before heading off. So I got my finger food, was standing around eating when this HOTTIE came up to me and started making small talk (hope to gawd i didn't have anything stuck in my teeth!). Then some gal came up and he introduced us, apparently the gal was his schoolmate... so we got talking, then Hot Stuff had to leave to do his socializing rounds (he's one of the organizers) but not before I managed to flirt a lil' with him! lol!

hhmmm... i hope i see him again tomorrow ;o) *crossing fingers* NOW i've got some motivation to go there tomorrow... hehe...

NOTE: Actually, Hot Stuff came over to my booth this afternoon coz my colleague had been pestering the organizers for another chair (there was only 1 @ our booth) so I think he came over to check and see if we'd gotten the chair. Noticed him then but didn't really pay attention... hehe...

life's idiosyncracies...

hhhmmm... ever noticed how someone that u're attracted to, is almost always unavailable?? murphy's law (or some similar law) at work here?? u know how when u meet someone of the opposite sex, and u click instantly and have loads to talk about and relate to each other and u find the person attractive BUT s/he is already attached (dangerous word, free to each individual's interpretation, no?) and thus, not free to develop the friendship into something further even if either party wants to? Ironic isn't it? It's always those whom u're attracted to who're unattainable but those whom u're not into, who hang around... strange how life works... sigh... it's all the good ones who're taken or who're gay... :o( how utterly depressing...

I am...

*blogged offline while @ PWTC, 3:15pm

• extremely bored, tired, and sleepy...
• antsy coz i've got about 3 hours to kill till we can pack up and LEAVE!...
• listening to my colleague tell me about the places that sell cheap apparel in Bangkok (he lived there for 4 years)...
• very annoyed with one of my clients' IT team coz they keep pinpointing a problem back to us when it's not within our scope of work...
• very impatient to get to the end of the exhibition today coz i wanna go to Starbucks/Coffee Bean across the road to get online...
• extremely pissed off with the obscene rate that they're charging for WiFi access here @ PWTC (RM100 for 5 hours and RM250 for 24 hours! How absurd!)...
• not looking forward to tomorrow coz it'll be another long and boring day like today... latest update: I now have motivation to be @ the tradeshow tomorrow ;o)
• very irritated with people who just stop by my booth to grab the free pens

hhmmmpphh...2 more hrs to go...

salsa @ charlie's...

Last nite, i went to check out charlie's with Chin Lai. The place is quite nice actually... quaint, cozy and relaxing. There weren't many people there... maybe about 3-4 couples on the dancefloor when we got there and later, most people left, leaving the dancefloor to the 2 of us, which was really nice coz we got the entire place to practice... hehe...

Unfortunately, it was my off-spin-day yesterday coz I couldn't spin for nuts! Not sure if it was due to my headaches but each time i spun, my head would be literally spinning and i got totally off-balance. It was quite bad actually... :o( poor Chin Lai had to catch hold of me after each spin so that i wouldn't fly off and hit the wall! lol!

Anyway, Sam and Aisha joined us at around 11:45pm... it was just the 4 of us by then, plus the DJ, his wife, and the bartender. Drinks there are quite reasonable. Danced with Aisha... she commented later on that I'm a good follower but I need to now work on shaping my body i.e. I think that means I gotta groove more... I try to, but always, the concentration on executing the steps properly will occupy my mind and I'd forget about grooving. I guess this is where the experience and practice come in... need to work the groove in and hope i get it over time. Danced with Sam, he was trying out variations of a move that Chin Lai had picked up from the net. It was quite fun... coz i got to feel the different leads stemming off from the same move... interesting...

Oops... gotta get ready to head to PWTC now... bleecckkk... dun help that i'm still half asleep *yaaawwwnnn* I hope the traffic isn't too bad...

mental bloch overflowed...

hhhmmm... my mental bloch seems to have flowed over from the past couple of weeks... coz i can't think of anything to write about. Either that, or my life is REALLY boring! lol!

Today and tomorrow, am gonna be stationed @ PWTC for the Global SMEs tradeshow. I really really dislike attending such events coz it's (1) a major waste of time, and (2) i'm not a sales person or the product owner, and (3) i hate promoting stuff. But I guess they've got no one else to send to these things since the entire Marketing dept has been revamped so I'm the scapegoat... sigh... What's worse, there's not gonna be any internet connection @ the tradeshow, unlike @ ACM where there were tons of wireless networks... oh, the horror! *gasp!*

Anyway, yesterday was feeling a little bored @ work so i took a picture of my workspace... it's quite messy actually! lol! I can be pretty organized with my actual work i.e. deliverables but when it comes to my workspace, yikes! Sometimes, there're papers all over that i can hardly see where my desk begins! lol! Currently, i've got software bundles, a hard folder, and tons of papers on my desk so yeah... i think it's time for me to organize a little spring cleaning... hehe... ;o)

stuck on Marc Anthony...

been listening to his Amar Sin Mentiras album for the longest time in my car but still haven't gotten sick of it yet *gasp!* wow, amazing! i guess the fact that i dun undertand a word he's singing (the non-english tracks, that is) contributes a little to this... i.e. i can't sing along to them and thus, they dun stick in my head so i dun get tired of them... YET!

ooww... metal band again :o(

oh no... am having a headache again.. been getting headaches since Monday... ugh... hope it's just PMS and not anything serious :o(

Morons!

Oh my Lord! I came THIS close to hitting a stupid human just now! ARGH! Was on the way to send Dad to the airport this evening. Was going 140, on the stretch just before the Cyberjaya turnoff. Naturally, was on the fast lane when I saw this moving speck at the divider to my right. Before I knew it, this stoopid stoopid moron, came running out almost to the middle of my lane!!! Apparently, these 2 stupid men were crossing the busy highway and I dunno whether the momentum of running and jumping over the barricade made one of them unable to stop in time but shite! I almost hit the blurdy guy! I managed to swerve to the left in time and thank gawd! there weren't any cars on the left lane else I'd have hit one of them. Gawd, dun these ppl ever learn!!!!!!! GAH!

I cannot...

...lie to save my life!! gosh, i can count the amount of times I've tried to tell a lie and gotten away with it... uummm... NONE!! This, of course, doesn't count the little white lies that I've told salesppl who've approached me and such la... This is quite sad, actually :o(

So anyway, we'd planned for Wendy's surprise b'day party last Sat. I was assigned to pick her up and go to June's place, on the pretext of having dinner there before we went to Little Havana. So I called her in the afternoon to tell her I'll be picking her up... oh, was supposed to go to Subang with her to check out a beauty thingamajig but I lied and told her I had to run some last min errands for a friend's wedding so I wasn't free. Then later, called her to tell her I'd be picking her up for dinner coz my last errand was in Bangsar. Silly me, should've just thought of an address to tell her when she asked me where exactly in Bangsar I was going to but as I didn't know Bangsar that well, I just said, 'oh, I'm not sure where, I need to check the address that she gave me first'.. DUH! Damn, should've save Brickfields since I know that area better and seeing that it's gonna be an Indian wedding, it'll be totally appropriate.

Anyway, went to June's place to help out with the food, showered and got dressed to pick up Wen. I had to dress in my salsa outfit so that she'd believe we'd be going to LH after dinner. Picked Wen up, got to June's place but before Wen could get into the living room, she spied Andy thru the kitchen opening! ARGH! So there u have it, a surprise party that wasn't really a surprise after all :o(

Took loads of pics... the both of us were the only ones who were dressed up that nite (so sad!) so u can see 2 overdressed gals in the pics... lol! I wore my new top, the one with the bareback... hehe... was quite self-conscious @ the beginning but got used to it after a while.

The rest played Charades after dinner.. I didn't join in coz I couldn't act for nuts.. but in the last round, they made all the non-players do one item each. Category was songs... and Andy gave me 'Armageddon It' by Def Leppard. At first, I was like, 'wat?! How the hell do u act that out?!' but he insisted so i tried. Got the team to guess 'Arm' first then June, bless her!, remarked 'couldn't be armageddon, rite'... and i was jumping up and down and pointing @ her and one of the guys (Mark, i think) got it... lol! so funny! :o)

back to Blogspot...

...sigh... i guess it's back to Blogspot again. Oh well... one good thing is that I noticed they've got a new feature where users can upload their images directly from the site itself without having to download and install a separate tool, like wat i had to do the last time I used their services. Messed up my PC, it did... bah...

hhhmmm... i wonder how much space each user is allocated here... have yet to find any reference to that in their Help section...