My Funny Pix #1

When my dogs feel a bit peckish midday, they just look for something in the kitchen rubbish bin...

THAT'S NOT A REFRIGERATOR, KIDDOS!

Anyway, I was looking through old pictures, trying to get back some space on my iPod, and I found this really funny pic that got me giggling for a while. Check out Bin's hair!



That was taken during the production of Austeen Powers around 3 or 4 years ago. Bin was the cameraman and co-director. It was a brilliant production!

Friday night dinner party

I hosted a nice private dinner party on Friday.

It was nice to have a small gathering to catch up with friends. Beach Babe Bea cooked for us; us being Sharry Berry, Dan The Drinker, Jon L and moi.



For starters, we had nice, warm bread rolls and butter, followed by our main, Lamb Shoulder with Apricot Sauce, and dessert brought by Jon L, Bulla chocolate ice cream! Yummy. Elleh Belleh's enjoying what's left of it right now, actually. So glad he brought chocolate and not any weird flavour! As for drinks, Sharry Berry and Dan The Drinker (true to his name) brought wine.

Dinner started a little late and Sharry Berry was so hungry I had to offer her boiled carrots to curb her appetite. Poor girl. Overall, the dinner was really enjoyable. Thanks to everyone who helped clean up after!

Registering a company in Malaysia

I finally registered my company two days ago!

I was quite clueless on how to go about it so I went with Mumsy. We reached The Mall and I was looking at the directory to see where to go when this guy approached us and offered his help to register the company for us for a sum of RM150. That's double the fee to start up your own company! Which is, by the way, RM70.

All I can say is, DON'T FALL FOR THEIR RUSE! Registering your own company is so easy... not quick, but easy... and those guys who tout their services aren't actually doing anything for you except filling up your forms because they can't line up and wait for you (it's illegal).

Handy tip: Don't hang out in front of a mall directory or McDonald's because they also hang out there. You don't want them hassling you telling you that it only takes one hour blablablablablabla. The registrar (SSM) by the way is on the 2nd floor above McDonald's.

In the interests of the public, I'm listing the steps to register a sole proprietorship (and keeping your money safe in your purse!):

1. Get a form to register for a company name and fill it up. It's free. End your company name with the type of work it does eg. Design, Plumbing, Concept etc to save you the hassle of going back and forth when your name is rejected.
   
2. Queue up at the counter in the reception area to get a number. This queue moves fairly quickly.
   
3. Wait for your number to submit your form. You can either wait inside or outside, as they have the numbers displayed all around the office.
   
4. Submit your form and get a number.
   
5. Wait.
   
6. Hopefully, your name is approved. Collect the paper which approves your name and another form to register the business.
   
7. Fill up the form - it's easy and you can do it yourself. Don't bother with those touting jokers.
   
8. Pick up another number from the first counter and wait for your number to be called.
   
9. Wait.
   
10. Submit the form and pay RM70. Receive a receipt with your number.
    
11. Wait. This is the longest wait. We had to wait about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
    
12. Collect your license (3 pieces of paper) and check all details. Et voila, you've got a company!
    

I must commend the women at the counters for being helpful and friendly even though we don't expect them to be. It makes the atmosphere in the waiting room much more relaxed. Kudos to the people responsible for it!

Living in Malaysia

They're finally fixing the road in front of my condo. At last!

Does anyone else get annoyed with Astro for their crappy service? I don't even have to talk about the service being unavailable message - which, incidentally, is in exactly the same league as the damn Windows blue screen - but what annoys me these days are all the repeats Astro keeps showing.

How many times have I watched Midsomer Murders: A Tale of Two Hamlets? How many times have I seen Asha Gill in Dublin, boating on the River Liffey? How many bloody times have I seen runs and reruns on BBC Entertainment? I admit I don't know if it's Astro's fault, but I can't help thinking it is. Fine, if you want to repeat the current season because there are no new seasons, but please don't keep repeating old seasons!

Midsomer Murders on Hallmark is a fine example. The old seasons had Sergeant Troy as Inspector Barnaby's sidekick. Then the new season came and Troy was replaced by a better looking Sergeant Scott. The next month, Troy is back in the two hamlets. Three weeks later, Scott is saving Barnaby's daughter from drowning. Again.

And now I see Astro adding new channels. I wish they would fix their existing channels before adding new ones. But this is so like Malaysia.

Speaking from the viewpoint of a twenty-something living in the city, two things that matter are: Traffic and TV. As anyone else living here knows, traffic sucks.

But my real complaint is the same as with Astro's. You keep building new roads, but you don't fix your existing ones of potholes, unevenness and ruts. And public transportation hasn't improved so much as to encourage me to use it. I would honestly love to take buses, trains and taxis, but - Buses are late and unreliable, train stations are in inconvenient locations, such that you have to drive there and drive back from there, so you may as well drive all the way to your destination... and I'm just scared of taking taxis alone.

Can't we slow down on the building of new things and pass some of that money on to improving existing services? And just maybe we'll be more willing to Cuti-Cuti Malaysia - because when public toilets are clean and roads are smooth, we don't mind driving around the country to visit our awesome islands and beaches.

***

I was actually gonna end there, but when the subject of public toilets came into my head, I just couldn't stop myself from adding another thought. I know highway rest stop toilets are being cleaned regularly these days, but there's only so much they can do until it becomes the public's responsibility to use the toilet nicely and with consideration. I've seen a mother wash her little kid's backside in the sink before, and I know some people wash their feet with the hoses in the cubicles. That just makes the toilet so disgusting to be in!

I heard an announcement today on Hitz FM telling people to brush their teeth. Crossing the road safely, I understand. Strap your motorcycle helmet securely, I understand. Teaching people to brush their teeth???? In that case, can we also have commercials teaching people how to use public toilets properly?

Time for a revamp!

Thought it was time to change my blog's clothes, and what better theme to use than Christmas!

Haven't had enough time (or geek ability) to give it a complete revamp, so I've just changed minor things. They still cheer up my blog quite a bit, I think.

***

I woke up this morning with aches all over. Even my fingers felt like they were swollen. Hopefully there isn't anything wrong and it's just old age. Haha. Do you realise that the only females who can joke about being old, AREN'T old? You can probably tell what age group a female is in if she can joke about her age.

My dogs are 6 years old this year. I just checked their birth certificates. I always thought they were 5. There's a big difference! It's funny, though... it seems that the older they are, the more energetic they become. I've never seen Foxy prance and bound about as much as she's done all year. Max still seems the same. Maybe Foxy's just having doggie menopause. Opposite of human menopause?

***

I hope the wildfires in California calm down really soon. It's really distressing for the people affected.

Whoa, I'm starting to feel whoozy. I'd better get ready for bed soon. And it's not even 1am yet! I AM getting old.

Full-time straitjacket?

Am having interesting progress work-wise this week.

I haven't mentioned this before, but I was given a job offer a few weeks back, which was pretty tempting in the usual ways (monthly salary, no sourcing for clients, using someone else's more powerful Mac etc!), but pretty discouraging in other ways (being tied to someone else's office, letting them have credit for my work, facing rush hour etc). But on the whole, I was tempted to accept the offer because of the learning experience it would give me. I still have much to learn about designing in print and coming up with creative concepts - and we never ever stop learning - so on that basis, I accepted the job offer soon after it was given to me.

For the past few weeks, there have been salary negotiations - yes, it's taken a while to get to an agreement - but it has been to my advantage in the end. Having spoken to my peers who have their own companies (like me), it's made me rethink my decision about going back to employment status. Plus, talking to them has helped me come up with some sort of strategy to keep a stable monthly income for GOOODPUTTY.

So with that, I'm giving my ex-potential employer a counter-offer that I hope she'll accept, and which is in line with my new strategy :P Am meeting her this weekend, so wish me luck!

Another interesting piece of news is that I'm gonna be offered partner status in another design company I've been attached to on a freelance basis! It seems weird, I know, to be offered a partnership when I have my own company, but we'll see how discussions go pertaining to this.

So that's my work news for now. I think this has been the most open I've been about my current work situation ever. I just wanted to share this experience with others who might be in a similar situation and unsure about how to progress.

My best advice would be to take your time to think EVERY single aspect out. When I first got the job offer, I just ignored the nagging feeling inside me that I would hate being tied to a 9-6 job (in my case, probably longer), and just thought about how it would be nice not to have to look for clients anymore. But now, I know that it's worth it, not only for creative, but for working independence as well.

Another idiot KL driver + Funny Things

Grandpa G's gone back to UK now so I'm pretty bummed out, but on the bright side, I've got time to update my blog (oh joy).

Grandpa G and I took a trip to Low Yat one day. It was super jammed cuz it was just before Raya. BUT it would have been LESS jammed if it weren't for some bloody idiot driver who happily stopped his car, blocking an ENTIRE LANE in front of the BB Plaza taxi stand.

Because of him, all of us who were on that lane had to wait for a kind driver on our right to let us in, so that we could continue on our journey. Seriously! There was no space to stop on that lane, yet he chose to just stop and block us all.

Therefore, I've decided to embarrass the idiot and take a picture of his car and number plate, so that if any of you see this car, just throw some eggs at him, will ya? The driver was an Indian man in shirt and trousers.

That's not all, though. He couldn't just sit and hide in his car... oh no, he had to show off his idiot face and get out of the black car to have a smoke! I was so hoping the cars would go so near his car that he couldn't open the door, but as if that would stop him anyway.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a shot of the driver, but here's the car anyway.



On a funny note, once we reached Low Yat and parked, there were advertisements on the lift doors and we saw some really weird and un-understandable sentences that were supposed to promote the product.

Check out the descriptions under the pictures. Does anyone know what romantic movement is? Or soft lighting in touch? What about sensitive cable management? Is that when you move the cables slightly and the power goes out? Cuz I used to have a table lamp like that. Frustrated the heck out of me!

Don't fly KLM!

We're off to Phuket tomorrow!

In fact, Grandpa G is on the plane right now to KL, and 5 hours after arriving, we're flying off to Phuket! Hope he won't be too tired.

Actually, Grandpa G would've been here one day earlier, except he got delayed at Birmigham Airport because the KLM plane he was supposed to board broke down last minute and everyone had to wait for the guy from Amsterdam to come fix it. By the time he fixed it, the passengers had missed their connecting flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur!

Grandpa G's arrival has been delayed 16 hours by KLM, and all the compensation he got was a night's stay in Amsterdam (which he darn well should have without asking anyway) and 20 euro vouchers to use in the bloody airport. Plus 50 euros off the next flight on KLM... as if he will take KLM again after being delayed a whopping 16 hours! Oh and measly £5 to spend in Birmingham Airport. Totally fine if you're delayed 5 hours. But 16 hours?

Anyway, we're all looking forward to Phuket tomorrow. Hoping and praying for good weather as well. Will definitely put up pictures when we're back!

Funny Things Seen #1

Found these in TMC. Eet Sum Mor, man... tastes so good...!


Best English ever - "Stimulating the styles and making carefully! Many colours a lot, selected freely by you." What do you think THAT means??


I like this! The tin being repeated over and over again. Just plain cute.

By the way, this is not what I referred to in the last post about bringing you guys something funny. That'll come a bit later on when I'm free.

Let's go to the Car Wash

Sorry for the bad quality picture! Had to adjust the black and white levels in order to make the words legible, and therefore, had to sacrifice on realistic colours :P I took this picture at the petrol station while waiting to fill my tyres with air.

Anyway, I just HAD to display this car wash coupon after I'd read it!

Tank You & Come Again: A misspelt word, or a pun intended to give out subliminal messages to make me fill my tank at BHP? (Didn't work anyway, since after my wash I drove down to Shell)

Wash At Ur Own Risk: Very modern spelling indeed. Also, quite an ominous sentence, don't you think?

And now you have another idea of gifts for Christmas! If you look at the date this coupon is valid until, you'll see that you can purchase coupons a month in advance, and you don't have to use it there and then. So go grab a bunch of these coupons, put them in an angpau and give them away for Christmas! Everyone needs a good car wash.

By the way, stay tuned for the next post, because I'll be bringing you some GREAT testimonials I read in a flyer I picked up that got me cracking up with laughter and has brought so much joy into my life!

Do I enjoy my work?

I sometimes get asked if I enjoy my work.

My answer is usually a simple "Yeah". But really, it does take some thinking about. Do I really enjoy it? I've experienced some bad times and there are also certain aspects of it I love.

Some people don't realise how much goes into running your own studio. See, I have to be everyone rolled into one. By everyone, I mean, everyone in your typical office. Being a designer is just slightly more than half of what I have to be. I gotta service clients, manage finances going in and out, sort out office appliances and check supplies as well. Oh, and be the canteen lady too. Luckily I don't have to clean the toilets. Got someone coming in for THAT hehe.

So when people ask if I enjoy doing what I do... yeah, I enjoy designing. That's the hard part, really. Aside from finding new clients, it's bloody difficult to come up with fresh ideas to use. And I find that working in an agency or design firm tends to make you comfortable and lazy. Well it does for me, anyway. In my own studio, everything comes back to me. Credit for my design and every single sen that comes along with it. And so that pushes me to be more creative, while also making my clients happy hopefully! Win-Win.

Bad clients? Not worth thinking about. Just makes my blood boil and I'd rather think of nicer things, like when I get a completely free hand to do what I like.

I don't understand... why do people think they can advise designers on their area of expertise when they wouldn't advise a lawyer, dentist, construction worker or WHOEVER on their respective fields? If you can bloody design, why don't you be a bloody designer yourself instead of hiring me?

I'm attaching a neat comic strip sent to me by a fellow designer which illustrates one of the things we have to face in daily life.

And yes, I do enjoy my work. But I don't care if you know that. Just give me some respect for doing this all on my own.

Merdeka

So we went to Marketplace on Thursday night to usher in Merdeka.

...cut to 5 hours later...hehe...

As I don't have a lot of time to write this, long story short, there were no fireworks at the Twin Towers!! What a huge disappointment to its many fans at Marketplace! So what was left to do but to drink?

And drink we did. 'Cept for me, cuz I'm not a fan of beer, and it seems there was an unending flow of Carlsberg at our table. I did have two glasses, though, cuz I WON'T BE LEFT OUT! But still didn't enjoy it.

Anyway, that's the update for Merdeka. I think Timstone was having a good time chatting (up?) with some girls there. Hehe. Sorry no pix...

Okay, off to Bangsar now. See y'all.

The Apartment: A restaurant review!

Went to The Apartment at Curve last night with BakerJo.

I liked the place and service - until I found out that they don't sell bottles of liquor! So unless we want a Get Drunk Party on wine (which we half had on GDP I), guess we won't be going there. Besides, BakerJo commented that she thinks it's more a youngies, collegey hangout place. Which is a turn off for me!

I wonder why.

Is it because there is then no one new to meet, or maybe my group make so much noise and the youngies would just sit around sipping cocktails in their fancy, hip outfits and lend a slightly pretentious air to the place? Gah, what do I know?

Anyway, the place had nice chillout music, although I wish it was a bit deeper and funkier... but then, hey, when I was in college, I listened to Café del Mar-esque slow calm music too. The dude who served us wasn't very good in English so had to rephrase my sentences a few times to get him to understand, but it was okay. Although, at one point when we were ordering dessert, the conversation went like this:

Dude: The chocolate mousse and strawberry peach pavlova is nice.
BakerJo: Okay, I'd like to order a Strawberry Peach Pavlova please.
Dude: Yes, the strawberry peach pavlova is nice.
BakerJo: Yeah, it sounds nice.
Dude: It sounds and tastes nice!
Me: Is the chocolate pudding nice too?
Dude: Yes, also the chocolate pudding is nice.
Me: Ooookay, I'll have the chocolate pudding please.
Dude: Okay, just one? (without writing anything on his paper)
Me: Uhh.. yes!

What, there were only two of us there and he thought she was gonna have a pavlova and I was gonna have two puddings to myself? Hmmmm......

In the end, we realised. The dude had only ordered one dessert! What was all that conversation about the pavlova sounding and tasting nice? For fun? Gah... anyway, BakerJo's pavlova came 20 minutes after mine! And mine had already taken 10 minutes to make.

Besides that, the food was nice. Just right. And I surprisingly had 3 courses... we ordered Vin's Portabellas (mushrooms) for starters, which should be shared cuz it's pretty big for 2 girls. I had Jamie's Duck Pasta which was good, BakerJo had steak medium rare, which was done well and she was impressed, 'cept for them slicing the steak up into chunks. Weird. And our dessert was nice too.

Prices were typical of that sort of restaurant. Affordable occasionally for the broke 20-something that I am.

Well, that's it for now. Going out tonight to celebrate Merdeka. Will see how it goes.

Frogway, my review!

Just got back from watching Frogway at BSC.

I would say, definitely watch the show if you can afford the tickets. They're not cheap and I wouldn't have been able to afford to go (me being a broke 20-something) if the tickets hadn't been given to me by a friend. So I don't know if I found it brilliant BECAUSE I didn't have to pay?

But here's my two sen worth.

The cast is brilliant. I've to say the girls outdid the guys in their performances. A few of them absolutely became their characters - Elaine Daly (Susannah Stork) and Chelsia Ng (Shirley the Frogette) were awesome. Of the guys, right now, I am SO attracted to Ash Nair (Freddy the Toad). He looked and performed brilliantly. Vince (Eddy the Frog, the star of the show) was good and even managed to put in some of himself into a typically clichéd character, making Eddy somewhat cute and not boringly predictable.

On the whole, the cast has great voices and technique (to this common ear of mine). And now we come to, of course... Harith IskandEr (of whom I spelt as IskandAr earlier, sorry bout that, didn't know).

I don't know if I'm being prejudiced here, but I felt he was the weakest of the ensemble, when he should really have owned the stage - being the bad guy and one of the more experienced onstage. I felt that he was physically tired somehow. And he didn't own his character, especially as (poor thing) he was always acting alongside Elaine Daly, of whom I have to say, was my favourite of the show (Chelsia was wonderful as a Japanese, but Elaine really seemed to have brought her own thing to the Stork).

So, yeah, I think you should go watch it, Carrot. Especially since you can afford the best seat in the house heheheh... besides, it's for a good cause, in support of Azean Irdawaty, who's undergoing treatment for cancer. She made an appearance today... very courageous woman and a huge inspiration for sufferers and families of sufferers, I feel. Seeing her has made me feel like I could tackle something like that if it ever happened to me or a loved one. Although, of course, I wouldn't want to have to (tackle it).

And yes, I did give slitty eyes to Mr Iskander.

Slitty eyes for Frogway

Got free tickets to watch Frogway at BSC tomorrow.

Hoping it's good... even though Harith Iskandar is in it. Have pretty much disliked him since he tried cutting the queue to enter Bukit Jalil stadium for a concert. Yes, he tried to cut my car right in front of the gates to the stadium and I was bloody pissed off at the brazenness. Not even bloody embarrassed. The rest of us are paying to watch this concert as well, alright? If you come later than the car in front of you, suck it up!

(And it wasn't even like he was waiting outside for an opening to sneak in, he was actually forcing his way in front, which I consider to be even ruder)

See the perils of being famous? Do something wrong and I'll always remember you for it. Tomorrow I'll be watching the show and hoping that it's good fun - but every time Harith comes on it'll be slitty eyes from me, to him.

Holidays soon

Am so looking forward to the end of September.

Not only is it Elle's and Arran's birthday, it's also when Grandpa G comes to visit! That usually is enough to make me hop, skip and jump all the way to the airport, but there is one more reason this time... we're going to Phuket!

Sharry Berry, GT, Teng, Nain, Fatts, Nins and Choons are in the trip as well, so that's gonna be brilliant! Was surfing last night for things to do in Phuket and have now started getting really excited about it. I suppose from thinking of what to buy there.

But anyway, it's a month more, and there's work to be done before that, so I'd better start doing it!

Oh, one more thing, the I Am A Japanese School Teacher link is back on my page! Check it out on the bottom of the sidebar. It's a brilliant, funny editorial on a foreigner's life in Japan. He also updates really often - nearly every day - so don't worry about getting hooked... he'll deliver!

Damn the French!

Yes yes yes!

Yes, I tell you! The French should crawl under a rock and squirm. Or perhaps that's what I should be doing... scummy spendthift that I am.

I walked into L'Occitane today while mum was shopping for clothes and had a full tour of every single item in there by the really helpful salesgirl. Of course, after that, I couldn't help feeling obligated to buy something. BUT ONLY BECAUSE EVERYTHING THERE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!

Dammit!

All the French labels were so inviting. And all the gel tubes looked enticing. Until you see the round plastic jars. Which were so appealing... 'til you come across the round glass jars with irresistible paper labels and French names and descriptions. C'est magnifique! C'est merveilleux!

And so I ended up spending quite a bit of money on ONE item - an orange body scrub. In a round glass jar. With an irresistible paper label. And a wooden spoon to scoop up the gook. Whoa. Cool phrase there - Scoop the Gook, yo!

Oh bloody... time to stop blogging rubbish. Click my beautiful glass jar below to read about it. Though why you should want to, I don't know!

I'm a Bad Girl! *meow!*

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with the title above. That's a private joke.

My mum just said that the lead actor in Wire In The Blood is mildly attractive. I responded by saying that he looks a little like the guy in Quantum Leap. I believe his name is Scott Bakula.

Wow, how long has it been since Quantum Leap? I used to LOVE that show! Does anyone else remember it?

Goodness me, my mum just turned to me and asked, "Do you want to have a baby?". I'm sitting at the dining table nicely blogging and facebooking, and she's watching Wire In The Blood, right, and out pops that question? Uuuuhhhhhhhh........ what's even more disturbing is that she was watching the part on TV where this girl had been chopped alive and her blood was smeared all over the walls of her flat. Rrriiiiiggghhhhhtttttt...... are you saying that reminds you of giving birth to me?

Anyway, hey, to those who read this blog, I'd love it if someone would drop me a line to let me know if you remember (and liked) Quantum Leap!

The café downstairs

Such a beautiful, blustery day today.

Got up at 12.30pm today. Amazing! Of course there was some guilt there :S But I came straight to the office and the reason I'm online now is to upload a website I've just finished. So there! I've been doing work!

I also decided to try out the café downstairs instead of calling McDonald's Delivery. Figured it'd be much cheaper and more charitable. After all, I'm going to be needing them pretty often since I don't cook and Grandpa G's only here twice a year!

So I go down and peruse the menu. Cis! There ain't nothin' much here, is there? I yelled at the Indon lady. Just kidding... well at least I found out that their food, while not cheap, is still cheaper than ordering McD's. Although at McD's, for extra RM3 (which is used for delivery charge anyway) I can get a drink. Which is one item more than they give me down at the café.

I also found out that they have WiFi! Cool! I can bring my tiny laptop down and surf. 'Cept I have to buy food and drinks... I suppose they aren't as big and rich as Starbucks is. Yet. And delivery to my doorstep costs an extra RM1. What the... my doorstep is just one lift ride away! Might as well save that RM1 and buy some junk food.

Malaysian Devil has a really naughty post today. He says his girlfriend can't do long distance relationships and all that jazz, but it sounds like his body can't take it either. Haha. And no english translation please, Charly!

As promised, the new Me

Done!

I finally got my hair done today! Took absolutely ages, but I think it looks nice :) Am looking forward to seeing how it develops the more I wash it. T'was a bit difficult to take a picture of my hair that shows it as light as it really is. It's actually more copper than in the photo above. Well, some of you will see it soon... Grandpa G can take a good CLOSE look at it when he visits next month. Can't wait for that! I can't tell if he was worried I'd end up being a Ginger!

So Charly what do you think? I know you were waiting to see what would happen :P