Quit Week

Yakkety Yak

When in doubt drink 100plus
When in doubt always drive straight
When in doubt always say Yes to bagels
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Click on image to view a larger version

Okay, so that last bit ain't real, and I wasn't the genius who came up with such a perfect explanation to my own status update either...
..but you gotta admit, it is hilarious :D

So I finally got the guts to quit my job last week and I vaguely announced it on Facebook right after I handed in my 3-months notice to HR, where I had only moments before, broke the news to my bosses.

One by one, I told each of them I was leaving, and judging by their immediate response, I guess none of them saw it coming...they assumed I was going to announce that I was getting married when I said I needed to talk to them. funny.

Frankly, I was a nervous, jittery bunny that morning, who couldn't sit still and I kept popping candy and chocolate in my mouth in anticipation of the moment where I would tell my bosses that I'm quitting, and the lengthy explanation of what?where?when?how?WHY? that would ensue.

Its the moment of no turning back. I've not heard of anyone who has ever rescinded their resignation in the Bank, but I sure don't hope to come back crawling, crying, screaming and kicking for my job back. haha.

The news was taken in quite positively by the bosses, which is a good thing. There was hardly any drama and definitely no screaming of 'you ungrateful b*tch!!' (files, books, stapler flying across the desk). Ok, itu imagination.

My boss was quite concerned about me losing all of the Bank's benefits and how I wouldn't earn as much doing what I intended to do. He wasn't too convinced when I told him I was gonna take some time off work to pursue some passions, enroll in some courses and maybe learn a new thing or two.

But I don't blame him much, he is after all married, with young kids to feed and has a house to pay for, so the idea of being unemployed is probably not very acceptable for him. So he probably thinks I'm crazy, rash and immature for giving up a job that pays well. But at the end of our discussion, he uttered a classic 'is there anything I can do to make you stay? line..making him sound like some lousy, clingy boyfriend getting dumped. haha.

The deputy gave me the 'Oh no' look of disdain when I broke it to her, which oddly in my 1 and 1/2 years here in this department, its the first real facial expression I've seen from her, a depart from her usual inexpressive demeanour, aside from the occasional half smirk/semi-smile she flashes at you when you walk by her. It sends the chills, sometimes.

She's a woman of a few words, but she muttered something about 'going for your dreams', or... something dreams lah (Can't make out what she says sometimes, and the same goes with her handwriting) and I felt a hint of regret as she was saying that, almost as if...at one point in her life, she wished she could have done the same as well.

I should have prodded her further, asked her what her true dreams were..and then she would reply 'Figure Skating!' and to that her eyes would light up with the fires of a thousand Olympic torches, and all the expression that is lost on her would come back and put a proper darn smile on her face, and she'd storm out of the office inspired, screaming 'I dreamed a dream!'

Ok fine. imagination again :D

If you're wondering, no I haven't figured out how to tell my parents yet. Honk Honk!

The current strategy is, to pretend and hope that they won't notice. HAHA.
No but seriously, I'm half considering not telling them until 3-months from now when mom tries to wake me up from bed thinking I'm late for work, and thats when I'll casually say ...'oh yea that. yea I don't work there anymore'. Back to Zzzzz

My parents are from the generation where even if your job sucks, you're expected to suck it up anyhow, and that nobody enjoys their work anyway, so why are you complaining? Job satisfaction and fulfillment would probably be a lost subject on them, more so if whatever you intend to do won't guarantee you a steady income, a promotion or annual increment, medical insurance or watever. Being typical Chinese parents, they won't comprehend how suppressed I felt in the Bank, or how the life in me was fading away with each day I spent in the office, they won't understand depression and they...just won't get it.

I don't think there will ever be a right time or way to tell them, because any good reason will still mean I'm pissing away a good job and good money.

I popped by to talk to some friends in the next block on the day I handed in my resignation, it felt good talking about it, and I felt free :)

Perhaps the paranoia stemming from the fact that I'll soon be jobless and living on my *cough*cough* savings will hit me later, and I might just wake up in the middle of the night and start breaking out in cold sweat..but so far, I've been fine :)

Don't wait for your ship to come to you,
swim to it!
-@p-

Come here......and smear!

Yakkety Yak

I met with a young man who has an ocean romance and he calls it the way of life.

We're all riding the same waves.
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I spent New year's eve like a 40-year old...lying in bed reading the newspapers, in jammies...and when midnight struck and 2012 came, I was none other than...fast asleep, despite all the fireworks and the commotion created by a party (is that what its called nowadays?) downstairs hosted by a bunch that I shall refer to as...'young ppl'. haha =p

I guess I'm not really that ancient (yet), after all..I did make up for the lack of 'party initiative' earlier on, having had my fun during Christmas already.

I had the great pleasure of celebrating Xmas in Krabi, Thailand this year :)



And like always, I have many many ang moh's to prove it! :D


More ang moh's than the usual, and mostly semi-naked ones, sprawled all over the place. Ang moh's seem to have this thing about taking their clothes off whenever they hit the coastal areas of Thailand.


Young, or old, they have no qualms about strutting about in their speedos, even when its to go shopping.

If he's intending to shop...where does he keep his money?

I didn't partake in much of the chui sam activity (Cantonese for take off clothes), being Asian, and a bit more reserved when it comes to my choice of beachwear, my conservative 1 piece suit stood out amongst the ang moh's and their skimpy-oh-won't-you-rub-sun-tan-lotion-on-me bikinis.

But atleast I touched the water. I'm guessing by the mass of ang moh's that were at the beach in Aonang, all the Asian's must have either been hiding under some tree or in some place with air conditioning.

In fact, there were so few Asians spotted at the beach that one could play an unchallenging game of....'I spy.....with my lil' eye....something that starts with an...A! '

*responds faster than the speed of light*

Asian! :D

Come on baby...hop on

But there's definitely alot more to Krabi than shirtless/pantsless ang moh's, for one, its the ideal place soak up on cheap booze. Only in Thailand I have the luxury of alcohol to accompany (and complete) every meal (except breakfast laa..I can't imagine pancakes and Chang beer, can you?).


And there's a magical little roadside stall selling kick-ass mojitos for 89 baht...ahhh just heavenly...

I miss Krabi. I really do.

Fail jason mraz wannabe, satu, tak hensem,
kedua, he doesn't sound good pon

I for one, cannot get over how awesome it is to wake up every morning and the buffet breakfast serves you REAL bacon, I stuff myself with it before only deciding what to do for the rest of the day, in which the itinerary mostly involves lazing by the beach, getting cheaper-than-anything-you-can-find-on-Groupon massages, drinking mojitos in the afternoon, eating panckes with bananas drizzled with condensed milk (yums!) and having fresh coconuts. slurps!


ahhh...such is a holiday :)


Also in Krabi, I got to sit on a motorbike! Albeit helmet-less and along with 2 others, (3 people on a bike hell yeah!) Now thats some holiday adventure!

virgin ride on a motorbike woo-hoo!
(identity of driver hidden for reputational purposes)

Bikes, scooters...everywhere in Krabi & easy to rent

I think Krabi is a wonderful place to spend a relaxing holiday. Frankly, I'd pick Krabi over Singapore, or Penang anytime simply because...well, I went to both places in the recent year and I can assure you that Singaporeans suck, and Penang drivers are like from another planet.

The path that leads to massages by the beach

I was so busy stuffing my face with bacon and booze there...that I forgot to take an all important jump shot..which is something I do whenever I'm on holiday, like very recently in Cameron...

Secretly, I practice my crouching tiger hidden dragon stance at a
hilltop in Boh tea plantation in Cameron Highlands
Photo credits to Noddy

...and even in Singapore, with Sentosa island in the backdrop, and moronic onlooking Singaporeans watching me prance up and down.


So, in keeping with the tradition...I had to improvise!

yee-ha!

Gong xi fa cai everyone!
-april

Hit the wheels

Yakkety Yak

I might have just unintentionally hit someone in the crotch the other day.

oops.
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Here's how a supposedly healthy day began...

with calories!

I blame it all on Nick. haha.

Followed by the actual physical activity (which was the main agenda)...cycling :)


Now, if you own a bike but you're guilty of stashing it in your storeroom or god knows where in your house, leaving it to collect dust...and the reason you don't take it out much is because KL sucks since you're likely to get rammed down by a car or some rempit if you attempt to ride outside...ah well, I agree with you :)

Atleast that was what I used to think until I discovered Kepong Park, also known as Kepong Metropolitan Park.


Easily accessible from the MRR 2, its just about a 15 minute drive from Mutiara Damansara. The place is pretty popular for kite flying, as there's lotsa open space (95 hectares!) and it has ang-moh style dedicated cycling & jogging tracks, making it quite a pleasure to both the runner and the two-wheeler :)

Thats not a lil' Japanese woman on a bike..thats Poh Lynn!

Plus, 57 hectares of it consists of the lake which gives the park a beautiful natural scenery...great for photos too :)

Spot the twin towers!

I particularly like part of the lake where a large plot of Lotus flower grows. The Lotus flower is a popular representation of Buddhist teachings, as the pristine Lotus flower emerges from its roots located in mud, most oftenly in the dirtiest of waters or even in stagnant water.

I went through great muddy lengths for this photo

Yeah, that no make the lake sound so good. But anyway, the Lotus flower symbolizes the achievement of enlightenment and purity of the mind...or something like that lah. For further reference on this subject matter, you'll have to ask my good friend, Buddha :))

The lake makes a good 4 to 5km loop around it, making it a great training ground for anyone who's aspiring to complete their first 10k marathon. The track is only semi-challenging, with some incline..but generally flat...which makes it all the more desirable for leisure cycling and easy runs :)
Although...when I said it was semi-challenging...it may have just been too much for some...

what Mc D as a pre-work out meal does to you. =p

I'm a happy camper riding in the park, and I foresee I'll pop by here a lot more during the weekends. Well anyway, even if riding on 2 wheels ain't your thang'...nonetheless, its still a great place to have Mc D's :))


-@p-

Three heartbreaks

In my early adult years, there were 3 things that had happened (well, so far only three)...that broke my heart.

The first was in Australia, when I went over to Melbourne to do my final year in uni, and I got my heart broken by someone I trusted and cared for deeply.

St.Kilda's beach, Melb

Ackshually...to say that my heart was broken is a bit of an understatement, it felt more like being hit by a train that I never saw coming. It came and it knocked the living daylights out of me....and I was left there half-alive and broken all over.

Its sad that it had to happen when I was in such a beautiful city, and it was so excruciating to deal with it alone...far away from family, close friends..and yes, cat.

What ensued was a tough couple of weeks after, I carried around with me a sick feeling in my stomach and a huge lump in my throat. But eventually, I came back to my senses...got up and moved on.

Frankly, I don't remember much about it anymore, it seems kinda fuzzy now to me...despite that it was only a couple of years back. I guess it hurt so bad until my sub-conscious intentionally bleeped it out of my life.

But anyway, I've left that behind me now so lets not go back there.

The second major cause of my heartache was when I lost my car back in 2007, just before Christmas...which was a real bummer.

Losing my car is somewhat hard to concoct, I mean..it was after all...a 12-year Wira, with dents and paint chipped off from here and there...and I parked it in a legitimate, non-dodgy parking lot. So you could imagine my disbelief upon returning from work to find that my car wasn't at where I left it.

Coming to terms that my car got stolen was difficult, but the other half of the heartache was contributed by my parents, mostly by my father, who chose to think that it was my fault that the car was stolen and tried to find all sorts of reasons to pin it on me.

Its as if had I told him 'Yes dad, I moronically left the car unlocked with the keys in the ignition!'...only would he be satisfied upon solving the mystery of why the car went missing.

My parents are pretty darn awful at being empathic, to a point where I'd keep from them whatever misfortunes that I may stumble upon due to their apathy and their ability to make things worse than they already are with their harsh, emotionless words.

So much so that a light pat on the back, and a simple 'its gonna be okay' seems impossible for them.

When I was in primary school, I remember my dad screaming at my sister over a small accident she got into while picking me up from tuition. Aside from a broken side indicator lamp on the driver's side and a mild dent, there wasn't much to justify the screaming over, frankly.

I grew up knowing that no matter how small the damage, there would never be much sympathy anyway.
It would always be as if you did it on purpose, and never an accident.

The third most heartbreaking incident happened just recently when I banged up my brand new Lagi Best while coming out of a parking lot because I didn't see the short metal tiang that was on my right.

Moronic of myself? Yes.
Intentional? Hell no. Why would someone willingly damage their car? Not unless I'm Lindsay Lohan and I'm pissed drunk (and probably high) enough to crash my car and not care.

It is both heartbreaking and WTF to hit your car, especially if it was an error of judgement on your part, which could have been avoided all together had I just been more careful.

But as it is with life, shit just happens anyway. And I guess no matter how bad you bang your car up, and no matter how scared it leaves you, you'll eventually come to terms with it..and realize that whatever damage that is incurred to your car is purely material...and it can be replaced.

What matters is worse things that could have happened didn't happen, and at the most you would endure is a deficit in your bank acc.

Now if only more of us could realize that, there would be less screaming at kids, spouses, friends...and overall, happier people :)

-@p-

Simplified

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
Don't lose faith.

Steve Jobs

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For the man who simplified computers for the masses.

I never realised just how impactful Steve Jobs' inventions were until I set foot in Singapore for the first time this year.

The Land of Kiasu

Only in Singapore did I realise that the iPhone was so immensly popular that even old aunties sitting in the MRT were seen engrossed playing Angry Birds .

Yes, at that point. The coolness factor about owning an iPhone 4 was sucked right out of me.
damn.

So if you consider Singapore's iPhone per capita ratio alone.. *chup*

(woah tengah guna Bahasa BNM ni... But hmmm, iPhone per capita..ke..or iPhone penetration rate?

Call me a horny banker if you may but I seriously think using the word 'penetration' in a powerpoint slide is just wrong.
My bosses however, think otherwise.

So who's horny now? :D

Anyway, if you think of how many aunties in Singapore are catapulting exotic birds at discoloured green pigs while commuting....and how many adolescent Singaporean teenage kids are making out like right now on the MRT while Facebooking on their iPhones....Heck, thats each and every boring, sad Singaporean life that has been touched by Steve Jobs.

The point is, we all been graced by his magical creations in one way or the other :)

My first experience with an Apple product was way back in primary school, when my sister got her hands on a Macintosh computer to aid in her graphics work.

Being a typical sibling from hell as there is in every ordinary family, she barred from me ever using it.

Nevertheless, I thought it was the coolest thing at home.

What I fondly remember about that computer was the 'Bad Dog' screensaver. Its a classic old screen saver from the 90's that features a dog running around and tearing holes in your desktop screen and creating all sorts of mayhem. I particularly like how it drags the 'trash can', (akin to Microsoft's 'Recycle bin')..overturns it and eventually pee's on it.

Bad dog!

naiceeeee. heheh.

Many years later, I purchased my first iPod at a shop called JB Hifi in Australia, as an expensive X'mas gift to meself...

..which for the first few days, I could not figure out how to turn on, there you have it a classic example of...iFail. :)

Then...at 23, I enriched my life with an iPhone, and was at awe at what a wondrous piece of human invention it was.

Buying an Apple product is a pretty big deal for me, because its like I've waited 15 years or so to finally be able to afford something 'Apple' on my own.

So like you..(shall resist from comparing myself to a Singaporean. ewww) my life has been magically graced by Steve Jobs and his awesome creations.

Steve, I can't thank you enough for the iPhone.
If it weren't for you...I'd be forced to do other things to look busy at work.

So what's your Apple story?

Don't settle.

-@p-

Where's the champagne...?

Yakkety Yak

Love is when your partner diligently eats McDonald's for you every week just so you can collect limited edition Snoopy collectibles.
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Despite taking up photography only two years back, I've been lucky enough to have been at the right place, at the right time on many occasions...to take some of the most embarrassing photos of people, ever.

Lucky for those people, I've never revealed most of those photos, simply because I kept them locked up in my computer, purely for my own viewing pleasure, whilst accompanied by my cat....and we snicker at what an idiot the photo makes you look like :D

Yeah I've kept most of them out of public scrutiny.
that is.......until now :D
*evil laughter in the background*

On X'mas eve 2009, in Perth, I witnessed a man running in WinZ's garden with his pants down.

Sounds totally wrong, and it makes you wonder what kind of business WinZ does in her backyard......but it's true!


You'd be surprised by how fast a man can run if he knew that a bunch of his male buddies were gonna pull down his boxers in front of a dozen cameras....and girls.

Sigh...boys will be boys. Its hard to understand why they'd wanna gang up on one another and expose each others 'shame-shame' to the camera.

Scarily enough, this dude looks like he's enjoying the process.

Anyway, last week, the sister got married and my annoying self & camera emerged yet again.
Being a typical Chinese wedding, it begun with the traditional 'chip san leong' (picking up the bride) ceremony followed by the tea ceremony.

So on Saturday morning my new brother-in-law arrived with his entourage of male buddies, also known as 'hing dai' in Cantonese.

Man, were these boys doomed from the moment they entered the building with their Hong Kong TVB style star-studded walk.

If only they knew what was in store for them.

Boys, here's a golden tip, pissing of a woman is never a good thing...especially one you're about to marry. You never know what she and her tze mui's (the bride's army) will put you through on the morning of the wedding.

Women are evil I tell you.

thats a muahahah...

Judging by how they transformed my brother-in-law from a man of this stature,

into this....
They even got his fellow comrades to enact selected poses from the karma sutra, which I thought was just brilliant! And a perfect addition to my collection of 'mm kin tak kong' (cannot see the daylight) photos.

bounce bounce baby

Hold me tight baby

demonstrating sit-ups...not!

They did so well I suspect they might have got soalan bocor from the tze mui's the night before and practiced on each other!

and they even make as great wedding cards :)


Seeing that my brother-in-low did not partake in any of the bounce-bounce on each others' bodyparts activity as intended by the tze mui's (darn!), he wasn't let off so easily and eventually had to step up to the next challenge.

Which he ended up looking like this...

ruining balloons forever...

and then this....


*Moi Beams with happiness* :D
Its moments like this that make me so thankful to have been there to capture these cherished moments on camera.

Sadistic, evil, sinister. yes. Where someone else's misfortune becomes your priceless work of art.

So anyway, the groom and his buddies ace every challenge, forcefully push pass some screaming tze mui's and barge through the door to get the bride.

And together, they walk out like Hollywood stars, end of story.


-@p-