Beautiful Putrajaya ruined by stupidity

Wooooot!

Went to the Dutch Embassy this morning to submit my passport and relevant documents for them to prepare my MVV (temporary residence permit)... finally! My MVV was approved ages ago, but because I had to collect so bloody many governmental and legal documents, it's just been a long time coming for me to actually pick it up. Anyway, it's ready Wednesday morning and then it's finally DONE!

Before I could head on over there this morning, I had to get my birth certificate and its translation from Putrajaya. I had ordered it before CNY, and although it's normally ready in 2 days, because of all the holidays, I ended up going to collect it more than a week later.

I already blogged about JPN (National Registration Department) earlier, so this time I'm gonna talk about getting my translations done at the Palace of Justice. Although Malaysian birth certs are dual-language - Nama/Name, Umur/Age - strangely, the answers are only in Malay - 'Informasi tidak didapati' etc.

The birth cert only costs RM5, but the translations cost RM40 for two copies, signed and stamped by the translator/penterjemah.

Yelleh Belleh had followed me to Putrajaya, and so after collecting my birth cert, we walked across the road and diagonally towards the Palace of Justice. Isn't it pretty? I love all the trees and landscaping in front and in between all the buildings. Although the buildings have their own individual shape and design, the landscaping all around brings the look all together.

Grand entrance!

Security, unfortunately, like most services in this country, is lacking. There is a show of it, but it doesn't look very effective at all. You'll know if you've been in there. Glad I don't work there.

The interior is amazing! It's like a 5-star hotel, with rounded staircases at the end of the lobby. Marble columns and carved columns everywhere. Really beautiful. Too bad it has to be spoilt by the ugly, superficial security system in front.

It's almost like those churches or mosques that tourists go abroad to visit for their architecture :)

Signing off now, Friends (yes, I still watch it!) is starting and I've run out of Putrajaya pics.

Oh, but before that, I really have to remark that everything in Putrajaya is really beautiful and the people are well-trained... but THE DAMN SIGNBOARDS ARE STILL AS STUPID AS IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.

Looking for Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) from Precinct 2 (where all the government departments are) took me, literally, 20 minutes of going up and down that big Precinct 2 road, looking for the turnoff towards Wisma Putra. There are absolutely NO signboards to Wisma Putra from Precinct 2 until you actually reach the road which turns into the building itself. How idiotical is that?!

Not to mention the countless (and I'm seriously not exaggerating!!) signboards strategically placed BEHIND the uniformly-spaced trees. The trees were obviously planned that way, so how could Mr Signboard NOT know that? Utter, utter stupidity!

Sookie's open house and food at Delicious Dua Residency

Happy news! I have loads of photos to accompany my activities the past week! Been making use of my new phone camera - one of those advanced cameras that actually make photo-taking more difficult because you can't breathe while pressing the snap button because of all the auto focus rubbish on it.

Anyway, to start off, here's a pic of my cousin's really cute beagle, Labelle.

When they brought her over to Mumsy Bumsy's place for dinner, she couldn't stop chasing Maxi (who moved there with Foxy before CNY) all around the house. She must have had the serious hots for him because she didn't even chase Foxy.

The next day, I headed to Sookie's house in KL for her open house. She had a really huge one as usual, with lion dance included.

They were pretty awesome, performing acrobatics in her driveway.

And now inside the house, blessing the various rooms. Normally the lions go into all the rooms, but these just stayed on the ground floor at the living area and kitchen.

Friends at the open house.

Heading home for dinner. Twin Towers up ahead... and lots of traffic!

The next night, I joined Sookie and two of her friends at Delicious at Dua Residency. I never knew they had a fine dining section, but it's really nice and has really good food as well.

Nice selection of wines.

I'm pretty sure those lights are the same as the ones in Alexis BSC, because I've also snapped a shot of those lights and tweeted about how I liked the way they shine upwards.

The steaks at Delicious are supposed to be superb. And indeed they are.

And for the last part, complimentary passionfruit marshmallows and chocolate truffles for each of us. It was so awesome, only mine was left at the end for me to take a photo of.

The bakery section also located in the same area.

What a small world it is, when one of Sookie's friends announces that she has another friend dropping by to meet her for drinks. Turns out to be a really old friend of mine, Clarence (seated on the left). He hadn't had dinner yet, but the kitchen was already closed downstairs (at 10.30pm), so we headed up to the normal Delicious cafe.

Same look as the Bangsar branch.

I didn't stick around for long upstairs as I had asked Mumsy Bumsy for a ride home and she arrived soon after we had moved up.

It was a nice night, catching up with friends and seeing a new dining place in KL.

More photos coming up, but it's time for Sunday dinner... darn, I'm still really really full from lunch and a Starbucks session earlier.

CNY in Penang (and some Engrish)

Back in KL and lovin' it!

These days I get stressed so much more easily, cuz I keep thinking I've got loads to do - which I do - and it's so difficult to organise things, with errands to run, bills to pay, things to pack, things to give away, friends to say goodbye to... bleh.

Today is another public holiday for Chinese New Year and at first I was pretty pissed off about it because it means that my MacBook Pro will take another day to come back to me, also that I can't run some of my errands as places will be closed and people will also not be working.

Then I woke up this morning and realised, oh well, if people aren't working, then I can't do anything either, so I may as well forget about the errands for one more day and not stress out about completing things today. It's called Zen. And I need loads of it!

Anyway, I spent CNY in Penang last week, staying at my grandmother's place. It was nice to be there, eating good food and spending lots of time with the family. No extended family (thank goodness?) as my dad's family only consists of him and his sister.

Upon arriving in Penang, we drove straight to the Pulau Tikus market to have dinner. Although almost all the tables were occupied, I realised suddenly that it was strangely very quiet. It's not often a hawker stall area is quiet and peaceful, but it really was. It was kinda surreal.

Although I ALWAYS have Wan Tan Mee in Penang because it's so different and so much nicer than everywhere else (with the exception of Hong Kong style, which is nice too, and the stall near my house which is awesome), when I sat down next to this Prawn Mee stall, temptation overcame and I ordered that instead. And ordered Wan Tan Mee after.

EVERYONE orders more than one dish to eat in Penang! It's like a requirement because everything is so tasty!

Driving back home, I snapped a photo of this old-school shop. According to the signboard above, it's a tailor or sewing shop. Penang is full of these old-school shopfronts. So quaint.

The next day we headed to Prangin Mall because Yelleh Belleh had 4 tickets to watch any movie at Cathay Cineplexes. Because we had our younger sisters with us, we had to choose something kid-friendly, so we picked Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It was okay. I get a bit fussier about movies and storylines as I get older, and in this show, I was annoyed that they didn't show the girl playing a bigger part in it, as she was supposedly the offspring of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war strategy. And yet, all the wisdom and war strategy came from Percy Jackson, of course. She was just there to take up oxygen in the film.

Walking around before the movie, I spotted some lovely Engrish food banners. I always stop at these banners because I'm bound to be rewarded with gems like 'Chicken Gordon Brew'.

And fretting prawns.

For dinner, naturally, another hawker food court. The food here was really yummy (sorry, I can't remember where it is, but it's near the Tanjung Bungah side of the island since we live there). The Wan Tan Mee was splendid! I also notice many more foreigners in Penang these days. And not tourists, as in, people who make Penang their retirement home. I guess many westerners like the old world charm of Penang. A bit too old-fashioned and chaotic for my taste to make it a permanent home, though.

On the first day of CNY (which was also Valentine's Day this year), we always visit my grandfather's memorial place in the Buddhist assocation/temple/place. My grandfather's plaque is circled in red. Next to his picture is a red piece of paper covering my grandmother's side of the plaque when she eventually goes to join him *sniff*. On the right of his plaque is my grandmother's mother, and on her right, is my grandfather's mother.

What we do when we go to see them is to get joss sticks, light them, pray in front of the plaques then stick the joss sticks into a big bowl with everyone else's. Then we sit for a bit at the few tables provided and eat free mandarin oranges, ground nuts and sweets that were donated to the Buddhist nuns (no monks here) or that they bought with money donated. We also donate money before indulging in this stuff.

This golden statue of Buddha is located in front of the ancestor hall.

This is where people pray. There are tiles of Buddha plastered all over the walls.

Yelleh Belleh looking cautiously at me, since I'm known to love taking quirky (read: weird) photos of people. Above her on the wall behind are all the Buddha tiles.

Because it's the first day of CNY (there are two main days, and fifteen days in total), most of Penang is shut. The majority of Penangites are Chinese after all. We were almost heading to a fast food restaurant when we came across this vegetarian restaurant. Vegetarianism is big amongst Buddhists, so I guess that's why the few Chinese eateries that are open would be vegetarian. This is my plate with tofu, egg and beancurd roll.

Vegetarian food is not cheap! Yelleh Belleh decided to have potatoes and curry 'chicken' with hers.

And now I'm back in KL :P

Last night I went to my other grandmother's house for the reunion dinner on my mother's side. Received lots of angpaus (always a nice thing), and after the dinner I met up with an old schoolmate, Fahmi. He's leaving for Lisbon in a few days for a performance residency. How arty!

And tonight is my farewell dinner hosted by Mumsy Bumsy for her relatives to say goodbye and good luck to me. But first, Sookie's open house this afternoon!

Busy, busy, it's no wonder I'm stressed about finishing things up here.

Well wishes that turned into a rant - as usual! Happy CNY :)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

And also a romantic Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day has never really been a big thing for me as I have never really had a special someone nearby whenever the day comes around.

Last year, I spent it with the girls, cooking in Sharry Berry's place, then later joined Tequila Lin, her Australian friend, and Schrobbenmaster... who ended up being my special someone some time after anyway. Strange how things work out, huh? Especially remembering what was on Schrobbenmaster's mind most of the night. Heh.

Anyway, this will probably be my last Chinese New Year in Penang for a while, as I'll soon be heading over to NL. I think coming back for Christmas and New Year would be a more convenient time, instead of in the middle of January or February, so CNY in Malaysia wouldn't be very feasible.

At this point in time, I'm not really feeling too bad about it, as my eyes hurt, my back aches and my feet are sore. Haven't been able to get enough sleep, as I sleep in the same space as the little siblings who wake up at unearthly hours and make so much noise that I also have to wake up, or lie in bed with my eye mask, struggling to block out the noise.

This year it's also been rather horrible, as the silly MacBook Pro decided to give up on me and not show anything on its display. So it's had to stay with the Machines people in The Gardens, who promised to update me after 3 days on what was gonna happen to it. It's now been more than 5 working days and they don't even pick up the phone when I call. This kind of behaviour is EXTREMELY irritating!!

Look, if you say you're gonna call a customer, THEN CALL THE CUSTOMER!! Otherwise just ask the damn customer to call you instead. Whichever way, the customer has the right to know what's happening with her several thousand ringgit worth of machinery. This is not the first time I've received horrendous service from a Mac dealer. There was another one in 1 Utama (can't remember if it's Machines as well) who told me he'd order my external hard drive and give me a call, but after two bloody weeks, he never even freaking ordered the damn drive. Lazy bastard. Naturally I told them to bugger off and leave it.

I want my MacBook Pro back!!

This post seems to have turned into a major rant about Machines and freaking store people who never call back. Hey, it's not like if you call me, I'll think you've fallen in love with me okay? Freaking do your job, man!

When it's time, it's time.

I used to wonder when a good time to change slippers (flip flops) was.

I used to just change mine whenever some stick-on logo had fallen off, or when I saw cute ones in the store and replaced my old ones with those.

But now that I'm older and things like fallen-off logos and the rotten state of my slippers don't bother me anymore, when is a good time?

I found the answer out tonight while walking Freelance Grace (see how subtly I manage to promote her newfound freelance writer freedom?) out from my home.

It had been raining heavily while she was over chit chatting and taking some of my magazines back (God bless her, I have less things to pack guiltily now). Incidentally this magazine giveaway is Stage 2 of Operation Bye Bye KL, anyone interested, do leave a note at the end of the post. I have Vogues, Bazaars, Glamours, NYLONs, FHMs and lots of creative mags and annuals.

Anyway.

As I was walking out with her, I suddenly slipped on the smooth tiles in front of the minimarket. It was all I could do to remain upright. Phew! Don't wanna twist my ankle again, and definitely not on the icky wet tiles of the common area.

And that's when I realised... it's time to change my slippers.

---

I completed Stage 1 of Operation Bye Bye KL tonight. Kinda sad about it. Well, I think I'll be sad at all the stages of this Operation.

I brought my two dogs over to Mumsy Bumsy's place tonight, where they'll be staying from now on. The house is all quiet and lonely now. I even came back from Mumsy Bumsy's place, put my keys on the table and thought, "Should I let them out now or later?", when I realised that they aren't even here anymore.

:'(

Tailoring at Lord's and quick trip to Melaka

When Schrobbenmaster was here, he took several beautiful pictures of my dogs so that I'd be able to look at them when living in NL. I don't quite know if that's the best thing to do, since whenever I see them, I miss them. Out of sight, out of mind works for me. Still, it's really brilliant having very good portraits of them doing their silly tricks all day.

He also wanted to get affordable tailor-made jackets and shirts here, so after much asking around, we chose to go to Lord's in BSC, as it has a very good reputation. We were a bit apprehensive that it might cost way more than others, but in the end, we thought the prices were fitting with the kind of quality and service that we received.

We spent some time selecting fabrics and found two for jackets and only one for a shirt. Well, if you're paying that much, you don't want to just simply select any fabric and go with it. You have to feel really comfortable with your selection.

At the fitting.

As I mentioned before, Schrobbenmaster's parents had come down to KL for a few days. Naturally, Melaka was one of their chosen places to visit, so one day we headed down for a quick trip.

Christ Church Melaka, probably one of the country's most photographed buildings. This is a nice angle though. Without bleedin' tourists in it.

Man selling art prints.

On the top of the stairs of the Stadthuys - by the way, to clear things up, in easy-to-write English pronunciation, Stadthuys should sound like STUD-HOUS, it means city hall - there is a man selling prints of old drawings. There were a few different styles and we chose 5 for RM20. Pretty good deal for nice drawings of the city and landmarks.

On St Paul's hill. I think.

It was such a bleedin' hot day in Melaka that day. After taking photos here, we had to escape to some Pahlawan Mall or something like that. Sat in Starbucks, put Mopiko on mosquito bites and had some coffee and cake.

That's all for now, back to work! Groaannnnn...

Me workin' out at the gym, man, yeah

Kekeke... I just saw that someone landed on my blog by searching for "Malay boobs".

Anyway.

I just came back from a workout at the gym. It's been YEARS since I've been to the gym downstairs. I've at least made a little use of the service fee I pay monthly to the condo. The last time I visited a gym was California Fitness in Mid Valley. A friend had VIP coupons to give out, so I had a month's access.

So I joined a hip hop dance class, which was quite fun. I always prefer dancing to working out. Repetitive movements just bore me. Funny though, that repetitive design is one of my favourite kind of designs. Go figure.

Anyway, working out was fine. Felt like fainting (okay, not quite so dramatic) when doing the Runmaster thingy. The one where you place your feet on the pedals and move like you're running and you hold the handles with your hands also moving back and forth. Tried to keep a constant speed and managed to reach 1km. That was my goal because by the time I reached 0.5km I was already panting like a sick dog. Very proud that I reached 1km running. Will try a bit more each time. It's actually quite an achievement for me because my stamina is incredibly bad. When I was still doing ballet weekly, it was improving noticeably (well, I did go for nearly five years). But once I stopped, whoosh! Bye bye, stamina.

Did some stretching as well, which felt good. Stretching always makes me feel nice. I hate sweating, which is why I hardly work out and do stretches, but I've been feeling like such a slob lately.

I think I'll reward myself with toast and butter now. Muahahahaha.

Oh yes, I wanted to say that slim people still have to work out in order to tone up. I was watching an old episode of Gastineau Girls, where the modelling agency told Brittny that she had to tone up. She's absolutely slim, but they wanted her toned. So it got me thinking, yeah, even though you're thin or slim, you still gotta have a nice muscle tone.

I really dislike seeing girls who aren't fat, in their office clothes, in those pants that hug your legs, and seeing that their legs are actually flabby and wobbly when they walk. Hello, girls, you may not be fat but you still look awful when your thighs are soft and wobble about in those tight pants. Not to mention that those kinda (cheap) pants usually come in thinner material that don't hold your legs in nicely.

I definitely don't wanna be one of the kinds of people I insult, so I decided to do something about my body before my ballet muscles completely disappear. I really hope I can find somewhere nice to dance in Rotterdam.

Oh gawd I hope I get my permit soon.

Retail therapy. Not for me this time.

It's dark and rumbling outside. It's threatening to be a storm, but it feels like it's almost scared to even drizzle.

A bit like a dog who barks at everyone passing by but is wearing a cone on his head and is locked behind the gates :(

You feel kinda sorry for the dog but at the same time are glad that he's not on the loose to bite you.

Anyway, it was a really blazing hot day today. Went to Telawi with Sharry Berry cuz she needed some retail therapy after working 6 day weeks for the past few weeks. Poor her. And not being compensated by the company either. That's why working in Malaysia sucks.

And that's why I know I would be really really unhappy working here in a company.

One of the shops we went to was Zara. They're having a clearance sale and I wanted to check it out. The one in Bangsar Village isn't as well-stocked as the one in Mid Valley, but I decided to take a look anyway. It wasn't that great. Everything was really expensive, and there was nothing really fashion forward there. Just the usual 'Zara look'. Very classic, nice but almost boring.

The only interesting way they made their clothes would perhaps be the texture and material. I saw two black and white striped jackets, but decided that I didn't have the money to buy any of them. Because of all the maintenance on my car that I've had to fork out for.

(Yesterday I found out I had to fork out another RM600 for a major service on my car. Okay, Mumsy Bumsy offered to pay, but I think if I can afford to, I'll pay her back.)

I love jackets! Since I've nothing else to do before the delicious-smelling dinner of chicken and potato that Mumsy Bumsy has just made, I think I'll look for some nice jackets to post up here.

(Actually, I DO have work to do by Monday - geez, who asks someone to do work over the weekend? Maybe I should charge more - but that can wait till tomorrow.)

McQ By Alexander McQueen Tuxedo Blazer £395 on asos.com

Diesel Super Draped Parka £195 on asos.com

Knitted Textured Cardigan £35 on topshop.com

Goodputty Design: updated!

I've finally updated Goodputty with the NS Try Out Festival krant. Also streamlined it a little to improve the whole 'look' of the site. Go visit and show support :)

A series of unfortunate events.

What an unfortunately eventful day today!

For a couple weeks now, my car has been sputtering whenever I turn the ignition. I figured it's time to get the battery changed, and I arranged to have it done yesterday morning. However, I was too busy and couldn't make it.

So this morning, I woke up with a kind of nervous feeling. I had a meeting to go to at 2pm nearby at Mid Valley. I dunno why I felt nervous this morning, like I KNEW that today would be the day that my car decides not to start.

I get a phone call from Regs to say that she will be in Mid Valley shopping and I can join her if I like. So I tell her that I have a meeting there and will meet her after. Later, she calls and says that her car won't start! So if I would be so kind as to pick her up on my way to my meeting, that'd be great. So I said, sure.

I get ready for my meeting and walk to my car, channelling good vibes and energy towards it.

Didn't work. It sputtered and sputtered and this time, it never started. Panic!

Although it was already 1.30pm, the workshop guys were apparently still at lunch and besides, apparently, they couldn't come and get me as they were sooooo busy. So I hailed a taxi from in front of my place and paid RM5.20 to get to Mid Valley for my meeting. Which lasted only 10 minutes. Then I had to find a taxi back. What a bloody waste of time, really.

Thank goodness there were loads of taxis waiting. So I took one directly to the workshop, which cost me RM6.40. This is already costing me way more than driving myself and parking in Mid Valley.

I tell the guy there that I need this done asap and then he was like, oh they are sooooo busy today, maybe they can only come to your car at 3pm (it was 2.15pm). So I said, well, do whatever you want and do it quick, I'm parking myself here, right in front of you.

Five minutes later, he walks over to me and says, oh we have someone free to send you to your car and fix it. And if it's the battery, it costs RM220. And the labour is RM35.

Dagneggit, the battery is RM220??? Why do I remember only just over a year ago paying slightly over RM100 for the exact same battery? At a different place, sure, but are they excessively overcharging me here? Well, I really need my car to be fixed or I'll be in a fretful mood all day, so I said okay.

So the guy brings me back and fixes up little Bruno (yes, I rarely call my car by his name, but there ya go). Then I drive back to the workshop to pay RM260 for everything. So expensive! I was gonna send my car for servicing tomorrow, but after paying that amount, I think I might skip it for the moment. The guy did scare me a little by saying that I should send my car in for the major service soon as my timing belt will need to be replaced at 60,000 km (I'm at 52,000km).

Since my car is working again, I headed to the bank where I had to pick up a bank statement for my company account. I decided to park inside the compound because there is a 15-minute grace period when you don't have to pay for parking. Since I was just picking up the statement, I figured it wouldn't take me long.

Well, it didn't take too long, but it certainly took me about 10 minutes or so. I waited a minute at the ATM machine, wanting to withdraw some cash, but they were taking too long and I really didn't wanna pay for parking, so I went back to my car.

Lo and behold, what's new? There are 5 motorcycles parked behind my car, almost certainly all heading to the gambling shop I'm parked in front of. There were two motorcycles blocking my path, and one of them rode away while I was entering my car. So now I had one problem on hand. And no one in sight. A dude comes down from the gambling shop and goes to the cycle next to the problem one. I try angling my car to squeeze out, but to no avail, the damn cycle was just right in my way!

Now, why can't these stupid cyclists park the cycles at least in places where we cars can squeeze out? Why do they all have to park in a cluster behind my ONE car? Can't they just take an extra 10 steps and park in a more convenient spot for EVERYBODY? Damn them!

I had to get out of my car and ask the dude to help me move the idiot's cycle next to his. He could only budge it about a foot away (30cm for you Europeans), which was barely enough for me to squeeze out with about 10 cm between my car door and the bike handle. So pissing off!!

Then of course, by the time I reach the exit, which is only 10 seconds away, the guy tells me that I have to pay because I'm a damn ONE MINUTE past the grace period!

Everyone hands up who has NOT been a victim of the stupidity of a motorcyclist!

No hands? Not surprising.

Retail therapy always works

I've been feeling rather down since Schrobbenmaster left KL two weeks ago. It was the hardest the whole week after he left, because not only was I stressed about waiting for the inburgering results from the IND, but I had a lot of work piling up from over the holidays. And of course the fact that I was again alone, living half in Kuala Lumpur and half in Rotterdam. Or Amsterdam (when Schrobbenmaster is at work). Or Hoorn (when he's with his parents).

That's a lot of places to be splitting myself up into.

Anyway, for the first week after he left, I basically didn't do anything AT ALL. I felt really dry creatively and demotivated. It might also have been because of the stupid internet being cut off and making everything incredibly inconvenient.

I tried motivating and inspiring myself again by drawing, watching TV and picking up some old books to read. Didn't really work.

I then got even more down when I thought of how I disliked the clothes in my wardrobe. Probably a girl thing. But I felt like I really needed some new stuff. And instead of buying one item a month, I wanted to buy a whole bunch of stuff at one go, to feel like I was revamping my entire wardrobe.

I started by clearing out things I absolutely would not wear again, including bags, scarves and all sorts of nonsense that's been hiding in there. The motivator was to feel lighter and more refreshed, and also because I wouldn't be able to keep many things here once I move to NL.

That done, I went to Telawi but only restricted myself to trying things which I deemed "practical" - "warm stuff" is how I put it. Didn't get much, but it was a start.

And this week all of a sudden, everything starts pouring in... I had a few vouchers to use at Topshop and Miss Selfridge, and I bought quite a few things there. "Warm stuff". Including a really cute scarf that was RM99, then slashed by half to RM49.50, and by using my RM25 voucher, I ended up paying only RM24.50 for it. How awesome is that?

Tonight I just came back from Pavilion with two new tops. "Warm stuff" again. Well, kinda. They're things to layer over each other. Talking about "warm stuff", MNG is having a really good sale on sweaters. Anyone going for a holiday to cooler weather should go check it out.

Besides shopping, other things have lifted my dark mood - my neighbours responded to a little note slipped under their door 3 weeks ago and gave me their internet password - for free! They are SO nice. I'm definitely sending them a present before I leave for NL. So now I have internet! Wooohooo!

One things leads to another, and because my mood is improving, I feel better about doing my work, and I'm finally getting things moving... and getting paid, most importantly!

Now to wait for news from the IND that I've got my permit!

More Engrish!

I went to dinner last weekend to the Grand Imperial in USJ. It's in a brand new mall called the USJ 19 City Mall or something like that. The whole building interior wasn't even completed yet, but as usual, to minimise losses and to maximise profit, the grand Chinese restaurant has opened its doors at the very earliest possible.

The dinner itself was alright, the food was tasty enough. But, again, as usual, the normal servers were foreigners who don't speak any English/Cantonese. And that is really one of the basics you have to speak in KL. It's starting to really annoy me, not being able to communicate what I want in a restaurant/cafe/eating place.

Anyway, as we were leaving the place, we caught sight of the promotion banner outside. And, yes, as usual, there was a good example of Engrish on it.

Sorry for the dodgy arrow... some people don't have Wacom Intuos 4 tablets like some others do.

So, Monzalera Cheese... I'm assuming is Mozarella... or is it Mozzarela? Or Mozzarella? It sure as heck ain't Monzalera! Heehee.

Doing my best to write a fair opinion

I try my best not to be judgmental and I try to be fair and respectful at all times.

So my opinion as stated below, I hope, sounds fair and sensible. And if not, I would love to hear any arguments on why they're not.

Fat people - and I don't mean big-boned, but genuinely fatter-than-their-bodies-allow people - tend to generate disrespect from me. Yeah I can hear people starting to go "Ooh!" and already putting me on their hate lists.

But hear me out, when I say "fat people", I mean people who eat too much, who don't control what they consume, and who don't make the effort to be healthier by eating properly or working out. People who genuinely can't help their size because of a medical condition or their biological shape, or who are temporarily overweight because of some problems or setbacks in life... you get the picture... those people are not who I'm talking about.

So let me make it clear - this post is about people who consciously don't make the effort to live healthily, or who turn a blind eye and refuse to accept what they're turning into by their unhealthy living.

Okay, now to get down to it.

The reason I don't have respect for them is that it signifies to me a lack of discipline. If a normal person continues to eat and eat and ignores signs of getting unhealthily fat, does it not say that they are not brave enough to face reality and improve? Or maybe too lazy to want to do anything about it, and so just brush away these signs?

They are also waving away the responsibility for taking care of their bodies. There are people who are fat, and have their friends tell them that they're fat because they care about them, their friends tell them to cut back and control... but their choice is to ignore and refuse to take on the responsiblity for their health.

I think these are already warning signs. It won't only be eating that's a problem. It'll be junk food, it'll be smoking, it'll be addiction in general.

If someone doesn't have the discipline or responsilbility to take control of their addictions, it affects other parts of their life.

I do really have a lot of respect for fat people who decide to take charge and take the initiative to work out and eat healthily. I respect big-boned people who say, "I'm comfortable with my body!".

But when fat people who say, "I'm comfortable with my body and society can't make me feel bad about myself!", and then get cheers because they're supposedly big and proud... that annoys me because some of them are not big! They are not big, they are genuinely fat. And fat is a whole different story. Fat is unhealthy.

Fat is not something to be proud of, being comfortable in your REAL body is something to be proud of, whether it's small or big. We just have to find the right balance with everything.

All that said, I genuinely try to treat everyone the same way. And I genuinely hope to see the best in everyone I meet.

---

Interestingly, Schrobbenmaster has just told me that KLM now requires people over 120kg and/or cannot put the armrests down have to buy two seats on the plane. And that's fair, because currently, anyone who has to sit next to someone whose body spills over onto their seat is just spoiling their flight experience. The seats are small enough as it is, without having to have someone make it just that little bit worse.

Commercials are irritating, but this takes the cake for now

Is it just me, or are those damn Astro Byond ads on TV getting REALLY annoying?

In fact, I already got annoyed the third time I saw it. It's so bloody long, which makes it so obvious that they are practically shoving this new HD subscription down our throats. And did they cancel the BBC Entertainment channel with quality shows because they plan to sell that on Byond, and thus replace it with the crappy Granada channel which shows trash like Emmerdale and Coronation Street and The Paul O'Grady Show? I honestly wouldn't mind having the Granada channel if they'd only keep the BBC channel as well.

Oh man, I hate long commercials, especially when repeated once every 10 minutes.

The only thing I like about the commercial is the song. But I still think it's way too long, and way too pushy. Did they even announce that they were removing the BBC Entertainment channel and replacing it with a crappy Bio channel? I don't know because I was in NL. But my parents certainly seemed surprised at the change. And they watch Astro regularly enough, at least an hour a day.

Gosh darn it, Astro really ruffles my feathers!!!

I just wish a rival would come up and give them some competition, therefore giving us paying subscribers a better range of choices.

Sentralfon doesn't trust customers.

So... it has been a while because my internet account has been suspended. Due to my non-payment, which was caused by technical faults, therefore causing me to not pay for services not rendered... and prior to that, by incompetent technical staff who never recorded my problem when it happened, subsequently causing the management to effectively say that I was lying about not receiving promised service and refusing to reinstate my account.

I blame Sentralfon. Is it my fault that Janar came over to my apartment complex twice to check out the problem but never logged it? Is it my fault that I was only receiving 10kbps when I was paying for 2mbps? Should I therefore be paying the monthly service fee for 2mbps when I only receive 10kbps and frequent internet connection drops?

What the hell.

If this was in the food and beverage industry, the restaurant would apologise for their staff's incompetence and give complimentary dessert. They know to put customers first and they know that staff can sometimes be lazy and incompetent.

Does Sentralfon wanna lose my monthly business over a lousy RM240?

They said they do. And so they'll bloody well lose my business.

Happy 2010!

Happy new year everyone! Gelukkig nieuw jaar! Or should I say, "Gelukkig sneeuw jaar!" :)

I finally have a chance to sit calmly in front of my Mac in a reasonable state of mind. Reason being, I've been so darn busy since I last blogged that my neck is so stiff, my eyes are sore and I feel so drained, not to mention stressed thinking about work.

New year begins and so does the work. And yet I've had to play tour guide and chauffeur while Schrobbenmaster's parents were in KL. It was so nice of them to come and pay my family and I a visit, but a word of advice... next time you plan to have visitors, try not to plan it over the turning of a new year!

They arrived on January 1, which was fine as it was a holiday, but the following days have been a struggle, juggling long days out and about, with emails and designing work.

Today was finally the last day they are in Kuala Lumpur, and although I feel a little sad saying goodbye (Isn't it always sad? Except when you're bored shitless at a party and can't wait to leave...), but at the same time, I feel more relaxed as I can now stay in bed longer, and have time to get some work done that I'm being chased for.

It's a struuuuuggle!!

Anyway, really tired now, going to watch a show before bed. Watched half of The Big Fat Quiz Show (think that's what it's called) last night, not bad so far. British quiz show with celebrities answering questions about what went on during the year. I know Mumsy Bumsy will be asking me for it shortly after reading this post!

See you soon, folks!

The annual "looking back" year-end post

Yes it has been a while since I've been here.

Christmas was incredibly busy and tiring, with all the stress of present-buying and worrying what to give who and dealing with the crowds and devoting all my energy to willing people to stay away from the shopping mall I would be visiting that day. Stressful is also when I have to get as much work done as possible while doing all of the above. And keeping Schrobbenmaster entertained on his holiday in KL.

I think I managed to do all of that - without too many frowns and sighs - pretty okay.

In a way, I'm glad December 25th has passed, and I'm glad I can still enjoy my little Christmas tree with the wooden toys and red shiny balls. But the year is coming to a close and it's kinda nostalgic.

The time is drawing near when I'll be moving (immigration allowing) to NL, and it's starting to scare me, all the people and things that I'll be leaving behind. It's gonna be really hard. And also knowing that I might have to leave everyone at the airport and fly alone, that's kinda worse. I'm crossing my fingers that Mumsy Bumsy can find time off work and a cheap flight to go with me.

The best presents I received this Christmas were from:

Schrobbenmaster: A new Lacoste purse. Really needed a new purse as the threads were already unravelling on my old one.

Mumsy Bumsy: "Maxi the mini", a soft toy version of Maxi, my Silky Terrier. Except that the soft toy is a Golden Retriever. She said she couldn't find the exact breed, but nevertheless, Mini Maxi is soft and good company for falling asleep. And will keep me safe in NL.

So what have I achieved this past year?

Off the top of my head, I suppose I have...

1. Kept Goodputty Design going for another year (2 years now!)
2. Visited friends in Melbourne after some time
3. Visited Bangkok for the first time
4. Visited The Netherlands for the first time
5. Stayed out of Malaysia for 3 months in one go, longest ever
6. Learnt Dutch
7. Designed a wedding invite for one of my closest friends
8. Twisted my ankle
9. Learnt how to cook about 8 dinner dishes AND cooked almost every day for 2 months

I guess that concludes my end-of-the-year post. Will definitely try to get another in before we actually say Goodbye to 2009 *sniff*.

Until then, hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a brilliant ending to 2009 and a promising start to 2010!

Dutch Embassy. FAIL. Incompetent and incapable.

I haven't been writing much because I've been quite upset the past week and I can't write when I'm not happy.


---


On a separate note, I just wanted to say that with all my complaining about Dutch grammar and Dutch language being difficult to learn, I realised a few days ago that English pronunciation is even more complicated. The two vowels "ie" together in Dutch are pronounced only one way (right?), but in English, you have "pie", "thief", "pier", "drier", "friend" and probably a few more I can't think of right now. I definitely don't envy people learning English as adults.


---


Anyway, here's the story of why I've been unhappy the past week.


The Dutch Embassy in KL: FAIL. And I found out yesterday... the Dutch Embassy in Singapore: ALSO FAIL.


I have been making effort towards getting an MVV, which is a temporary residence permit for The Netherlands. Among the things I have to do are to sit for an exam called the inburgering exam, which is to make sure your knowledge of Dutch society and the language are sufficient to live there.


There are lots of information available online and there are official books to buy to practise. But sometimes you just want to ask someone directly about things you're unsure of. Here is my experience with the KL Dutch Embassy.

I would like to ask if, in the inburgering exam, there are one or two nazeggen sections? When I took the sample test from the Naar Nederlands package, there was only one, but I am currently doing some sample practise tests with my teacher, and there are two sections to repeat sentences. It has me a little confused.

Another thing, is there a waiting list to do the exam and do I have to make my appointment to sit for the exam early, or can I just call a week ahead and arrange a time to go to the embassy?

And the reply I received was:

Dear Jun-Yi

We do not know because we do not take the exams.  You will be using the head phones and will directly dealing the exam dept.   so I really do not know wheather it has 1 part or 2 parts

thanks

Carol Peters

Can you believe the way she replied me? I was surprised and annoyed with this reply. How can they not be able to answer my questions "because we do not take the exams"? If they don't know it, why not FIND OUT? What are they here to do, if not to help Dutch citizens and Malaysian citizens? This was my first experience of their laziness. Secondly, they did not answer my question about making an appointment to do the exam. Such a short email and she can miss out this question? It just doesn't make a good impression on me, that this person is not observant and not careful in her dealings with the public they serve.

So I asked again...

How about making the appointment to take the exam? Is there a waiting list, or can I just call up a few days in advance to make the appointment?

And take note of her answer. It's important:

You can call up the embassy and make the appointment anytime. 

thanks

Carol

After stewing about their incompetence and laziness to find an answer to my question about the structure of the exam, I let them know I wasn't happy with their "We do not know so don't ask us" answer.

Could you please find out if the Nazeggen section has one or two parts? There is no one else I can ask the answer about the Dutch exam as you are the Dutch Embassy. If you can't tell me how the exam goes, how else can I find out? It's really important for me to know and be prepared as this exam, I believe, costs 350 euros and I'm taking it quite seriously.

After this email, I thought she would at least make an effort to write one little email, or visit the website related to immigration to find out. She took two days to write this to me:

There are 2 parts in the exam. One is the language and one is th cultural.  If you need more info I think you will have  to write to the IND where you made payment for the exam maybe they will be able to help you more.

I very sorry that I cannot assist you  more.

Thank you.

Carol Peters

Did I not already know this? Was this my question? Omg.

Anyway, after that, I found out that I was mistaken earlier, and there are indeed two nazeggen sections. However, advised by Mumsy Bumsy and Schrobbenmaster, I did not inform the embassy of this so that they could either let someone else know they are stupid and lazy or just continue living blissfully in their ignorance.

Finally, after several weeks of Dutch lessons with Geraldine, 3 times a week for 2 hours each time, the time to take the exam arrived. I had planned to take the exam in the first week of December so that Schrobbenmaster could send in all the documents for the processing of the MVV application before the holidays started. And so that I would have my permit (if approved) in time to head over at the end of February or early March.

I called the embassy on the 1st of December to make an appointment on the 2nd, but they said they weren't available and if the 3rd was okay, so I said yes and made the appointment for 2pm.

The day arrived and I was really nervous, not helped by the silent and empty lobby where I could hear the tiniest tap of my feet echo on the tiled floor.

After 5 to 10 minutes of having my passport and doing whatever they have to do, a blonde girl brought me to the exam room. She was nice and understood that I was nervous and told me that I could take my time if I wanted to, but I told her that I wanted to get it over with. I did all the fingerprint scanning, and she registered me into the exam system. While doing that, she asked me to read laminated A4 cards on the structure of the exam.

And there, right in front of me, was the exam structure. 2 nazeggen sections, 1 korte vragen section and 1 tegenstellingen section, in addition to the Dutch society test. It was right there the whole time, and the lazy woman who replied my email did not even know that! Imagine my disappointment again. I didn't dwell on it because I had other things to think about, but I was just thinking to myself, not for the first time, "Omg.".

I sat there, with the headphones comfortably on, heart beating quickly and trying to keep my head clear. I chose to do the Dutch society section first so I could attune myself to people speaking Dutch to me. So I sat and waited while the blonde girl dialed a number on the phone. And dialed again. And I waited. And watched her. As she dialed again. Then she goes, "Let me just double check this number.". So I go, "Okay.". And wait. And she dials again. And one more time. And finally says, "There's something wrong, let me check with my boss if they've changed the number.".

She leaves the room and I sit there on my own, not wanting to remove the headphones in case the next time I put it on, it doesn't fit as comfortably. Yes, I get quite paranoid about little things that might jeopardise my results.

1 minute passes...

2 minutes...

5 minutes...

It feels like 10 minutes have passed, but it's possibly just under 10 and more than 5, sitting on my own in the exam room with my headphones on, tapping my fingers on the chair. All I know is that I was in the embassy for just over half an hour, without achieving anything, except that they now have my fingerprints on file and will be able to find me if I ever kill someone in The Netherlands.

The girl comes back after what is ages to me, and says apologetically, "I'm so sorry, but I have bad news.". Jolly good. I remove my headphones and wait to hear it.

"It seems that the phone number has changed and we have to wait for the Orange network in the UK to start work and give us the new number. But that means that it's 5pm our time and we're closed then. So tomorrow morning I'll give you a call and you can come in, about 12.30pm to do the test, as we close at 2pm tomorrow (Friday)".

What could I do but say "Okay"?

I headed home, frustrated. I had put so much effort into being ready for this moment, taking classes right up to the day before, listening to the audio CD in my car and memorising 180 words and their opposites.

The thing was, my friend Euying had experienced this same thing a year ago. There had been no sound when they called up the exam centre. They told her it would be fixed. She waited a month. And they finally told her, "I think you should do it in Singapore.". Wtf! So she told me while I was having lunch with her at her home in Eindhoven: "If the same thing happens to you, don't wait. Just go to Singapore. I wasted a month of my time on them and time is money. You need to get your application processed.".

I decided to give them a chance till Friday morning.

I studied again on Thursday night, when I shouldn't have had to. I set my alarm for 9am to call them in case they forget to call me.

All groggy the next day at 9am, when of course they hadn't called, I called them instead. And she says the same thing, that they haven't fixed the problem, and, "To be safe, I won't promise that you'll do it this afternoon, but probably Monday.".

It was very, very irritating because now my plans were being held back. Schrobbenmaster was supposed to hand in our documents that day itself. I had hurried to renew my passport, get my unmarried certificate from Putrajaya, and he had done his own arrangements and got his certificate (which is valid for only 30 days). And now because of the KL Dutch Embassy's incompetence, everything had to be put on hold.

On Thursday itself, Schrobbenmaster had already called up the ministry in NL to scold them for this. And on Thursday, they told him that there was no problem with the connection. Then on Friday, he called to scold them again. They then told him there was a problem with the exam centre's connection with the KL office and that the IT department would be at work on it immediately.


I couldn't leave it in their already-proven-to-be-incapable hands, so I sent an email to Singapore:

I'm a Malaysian citizen who has made an appointment with the embassy in Kuala Lumpur to take the inburgering exam, but they have postponed my exam TWICE now with the reason of technical difficulties, and it's very upsetting for me.

I was advised by a friend who took the exam last year and faced the same problem. She ended up doing the exam in the Dutch Embassy in Singapore. I was wondering if you could make this allowance for me, as I would rather not wait for Monday to find out that my exam has been postponed yet again.

The reason they give is that there is a technical problem with the exam centre in The Netherlands. If you don't have this problem and everything is working properly, I would like to make an appointment with you in Singapore to take the exam. Your quick response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jun-Yi

Then we gave the KL office the weekend and a Monday to sort it out.


On Monday I called the embassy again and she tells me the same thing, that she's still waiting and still not receiving any updates.


On Tuesday (yesterday), I received a reply from Singapore:

Dear Ms Lee,

You need to come in contact with the Dutch Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to make the necessary transfer to this Embassy if you wish to sit for your civic integration exam here.  

Please note that our next available dates for the said exam will be from 20 January 2010.

For collection of the approved MVV, one needs to collect at the same Embassy where one had sat for the mentioned exam.

Best regards,

Mei-Li Sim

What the hell! 20th January 2010? That is just over 6 weeks from the date I'm supposed to have taken the exam! Will they compensate me for this 6 weeks when my application could be halfway through it's processing? Hell, no!

I forwarded this mail to Schrobbenmaster, who called up the Ministry again and spoke to the head in charge.

And paraphrasing Schrobbenmaster, her reply was:

You don't have to rearrange with KL to do it in Singapore, it's bullshit that the next exam date is 20th January as it's mandatory to have the exam done within 7 days, and you don't NEED to collect the MVV at Singapore, as they should send it over by post and arrange all the formalities.

She was apparently very upset with the behaviour of these two embassies we had asked help from. And she was taking steps to get a solution for us asap, opening an emergency file and setting two people on the case. Which is what has to be done to get these two embassies to buck up and stop passing the responsibility onto each other, as if they can't communicate with each other, and making the public they serve do everything for them.

Additionally, doing the exam in Singapore would have cost us more time and money. Not to mention, my Dutch skills are slowly deteriorating as it has now been a week since I had my last Dutch class. We are expecting to receive some sort of reimbursement or compensation if I have to take my exam somewhere else besides KL. It's their incapability and incompetence that's causing all this trouble and, potentially and probably, a difference in my results in the exam.


It will be 7 days since my appointment to take the exam tomorrow, and we'll see what happens by then. After tomorrow, I feel that we are perfectly within reason to really put pressure on them and, in a manner of speaking, step up the aggression.


Will keep everyone updated.

Perfection doesn't come often

I just love heavy rain at night without all the stormy elements like thunder and lightning. There's something very calming and romantic about quiet, heavy rain.

Feeling really comfy on my bed with the MacBook Pro, Ivy on iTunes and my Christmas tree lights twinkling outside. I love my lights so much I actually sometimes stand at my bedroom doorway just to look at them for a few seconds every once in a while.

It's a wonderful night :)