The other Leos from my club left KL quite late, so I was forced to attend the Forum Chief Delegate Briefing on my President's behalf. The nerve of some people! They decide to change tradition, leaving things a bit unclear. When they opened to the floor for questions, I chose to ask a simple but very much relevant question, only to be slammed with a remark coated with layers of sarcasm. Anger builds, but it is good to learn to control such negative energies.

The four of us guys, got to share a 3-room-apartment with 2 others from KL Central, and another 2 from Kuantan Central. Not bad at all since we get 2 toilets, a living room, dining room and also a kitchen equipped with a microwave and refrigerator. The Fellowship Dinner pretty much sucked. But it was nice to see everyone dressed up in cultural outfits in accordance with the theme. I went in a "Sarung" my dad usually sleeps in. I figured it was part of M'sian culture since my dad had been wearing those pieces of cloth to sleep ever since I could remember. The night ended after a short stop by at Penang Tanjung's apartment for another round of food, steamboat style.

Tomorrow morning I'll be off to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort for this year's Leo Forum. Will not be updating this journal till I get back on Sunday night, but I'll definitely include all details. Three days of fun and games should do me some good.

On a lighter note, I finally got to go for basketball at YMCA with my friends again, after an entire month. Having to play so far away, and trying to get there without a car is simply impossible for me, which is why I took my leave of absence in the first place. Today, the car was available and I was quite desperate to go. It's nice to know that I'm still capable of scoring a few points here and there. But it sucks to come home with aches and pains all over cause of the long period without exercise. Now I've got a knee injury, which prevents me from climbing stairs faster than a slow stroll. I definitely need another form of exercise to keep myself fit as a fiddle.

Food at Petaling Street was quite good as well. We ordered Roti Telur, Maggie Mee Goreng and 10 sticks of Satay for dinner. The first 2 we good to the last bit, but the Satay had a long way to go. Prices were slightly higher than other places, but I think it was worth the satisfaction of spoiling my taste buds  with good food. Sadly, I got a slight case of diarrhea after the meal. I'd like to think that the lousiest dish (Satay) was the cause of it. Plan to go back there for another meal one fine day.

The West Wing - it just gets better and better. Intensity is still building and every second of the series gets more complicated than before. The White House Staff have a pile of problems as it is, and still more keep coming at them. To make things worse, there are still little issues on the side which just makes you feel sympathetic for them. The thing I like the most about this program is the fact that I just can't seem to find fault with the storyline. I'm probably the most terrible critic around, finding the littlest fault in every movie so far. But this one leaves me without words. The story writer thought through each and every tiny detail so thoroughly that it really bugs me.

I feel so lost.

For sometime now, I've been in need of someone to play the role of some people in my life who have since left to further their studies overseas. Basically I needed a friend to talk to, and share some time with me. I figured that it would be a real task to find a person whose company I enjoy, and more importantly, who enjoys my company at the same time. Surprisingly, I did come across such a person. Ironically, she was recently so stressed out and just needed to get the load off. Everything was like clockwork. She eased my social needs, and at the same time I provided her with an avenue to get away from her load. Best part of it all, the relationship is mutually platonic. How often do things like this happen? Truly a simple blessing.

My second expedition to the pasar malam for VCDs was a bigger success today. Came across a couple of stalls at the beginning, and decided to grab what I could while they were still available. There's no telling when they might receive word about the MPPJ's movements and suddenly clear the streets again. After getting Spiderman, Resident Evil and Deuces Wild, I pressed on to look for a pirated copy of Windows XP. As I walked on, a sudden growth in the number of stalls was noticed. Mainly VCD sellers, began to sprout out like mushrooms. Ahhh well, that's life as an illegal VCD vendor.

I watched a documentary of Tsunami's just now. It's quite amazing. A 30 feet high tidal wave rushing at 30 miles per hour, is said to have as much force as winds traveling at 30,000 miles per hour. Can you imagine the power of mother nature? Not to mention the destruction. The damage figures usually hit billions of USD. That's right BILLIONS, as in 9 ZEROES! Now if you really sit down and think about it, is it really mother natures doing? You see, this destruction is usually caused by debris such as fallen structures, houses, vehicles, etc, which is forced around by the extreme currents. Now think, without human civilization, exactly how much damage would have happened? Probably a couple of uprooted trees and boulders, but no injuries, no fallen buildings or smashed up cars. If civilization and development had to happen, why not let it happen at places far from such disaster prone areas? Would that not save a lot of USD, and misery? Just a thought to ponder upon.

I did a great deal of walking, spent lots of time waiting for the bus and traveling to PJ New Town today. All for what? To learn that Southern Bank Bhd closes its doors at 3:30pm, 10 minutes before I got there. What happened to the days when banks opened their doors till 5pm, or even 4:30pm. Sigh! Another weekend with an empty wallet.

I'm now officially down with a cold. Got knows how I got it, but hopefully it goes away soon. Vitamin C and lots of fluids are supposed to help the situation. So I'm thankful for Ribena! Yet the splitting headache just won't go away. Neither will the aches and pains in my back and joints of my limbs. Argh!!!

Finally resumed work on the half complete jigsaw puzzle, which was intended as someone's 2001 birthday present. After reassembling what we previously completed, it seems only 25% of the entire 1500 piece puzzle has been put into place. All this while I thought it was already 60% done. Well, long way to go!

Decided to hop onto the LRT to KLCC to see if I could get a hold on tickets to the opening of "Starwars Episode 2" tomorrow. Hence my return home was delayed by 3 entire hours.

Spent the later hours of the evening watching "The Majestic" on VCD. It's not released here yet, but I've had the VCD since before Chinese New Year. Watched about 10 minutes of it only to find it boring back then. Gave it a second try today because I really had nothing better to do. It turns out it's not so bad after all. Jim Carey wasn't the usual comedian this time, but instead he plays a more serious, down-to-earth kind of fellow. It wasn't fantastic or anything, but there was one particular part of the show which got my eyes slightly damp. If you're one of the patriotic dudes/dudettes, give it a go when it appears in a cinema near you.

Tomorrow should be my last day working. Praise the Lord! That leaves half a week to myself before starting college again. I've got an entire list of things to do during this period of time. Wonder if it'll be enough.

My trip to the Pasar Malam in SS2 was a failure. My whole intention of going was to get a hold of 4 or 5 pirated VCDs, to occupy myself the rest of the holidays. Took the trouble to go and what happens? I get to walk the entire length of the Pasar Malam without seeing a single stall selling VCDs. Not even the usual music CDs. Of course they already knew that MPPJ was coming. Could see a whole gang of them standing around at the side waiting for the enforcement officers to come and go. So I naturally decided to wait with them. Sat down at the Mamak for half an hour before the officers drove by in a van. I figured that it wouldn't be long before the stalls start popping up like mushrooms again. After another half hour, I noticed that the gang of VCD sellers had dispersed and were nowhere to be found. Sigh, what a major disappointment.

Finally caught up on some much needed rest. Slept the whole afternoon away, like I always do on Sunday. Mother's day is no big spectacle for me. But we went out for dinner all the same. Nothing fancy. Had a simple Western meal "mamak" style.

Bought Marshmellows just now. I really love those. It's a pity they're so hard to come by. I already finished half a packet. Should stock up some more. Maybe one day I'll get a chance to barbeque them. MMmmmmmm!

Attended one of those Leo Club anniversary dinners just now. Cost me a painful RM50. But I figured what the heck, since they were also trying to raise funds for a welfare home. The dinner was alright. My table only had 5 occupants out of the capacity of 10. So each of us ended up with two helpings of everything. Feeling very much enlightened after a good long talk with one of the big guys. Things are looking a bit clearer and most of my suspicions have been put to rest. Pretty glad now.

Any other West Wing fans out there? The suspense is really building in the story. With Zed and his MS, I'm really beginning to wonder how he's getting out of this one. What I really enjoy about the show is how the story writers build the characters with such depth. All I can say is that the show really deserves the awards it has received! No doubts about that.

Guess what? My torment has been extend by an extra 3 days. I thought it would end tomorrow evening, but it seems my supervisor wants to land another assignment on me. Drats! But hey, I guess it won't be so bad since I'm making use of dead time! I'll look at it as contributing to our national gross product! Hahaha!

Finally managed to make my way to the cinema just now. After so much delay, finally decided on The Scorpion King. It wasn't all that great, but I think the Rock rocks! Not so much the wrestling side of him, but rather the more sociable part. I think he's quite charismatic. But it sounds weird since it's coming from ME!

It's quite amazing how two people can find so much in common. I admit that we're not totally alike, but the similarities in preferences and thinking are somewhat hard to believe. Never had I ever expected to meet such a person. I look forward to getting to know this person a bit better. Maybe I can discover more about myself in the process.

Towards the end of the day, I got a huge boost in motivation. Just found out that the vending machine in the pantry, supplies us with free flowing Nescafe and Milo. It's actually one of those normal vending machine's you see in public areas, but they disconnected the coin slot. So it's FREE! I get to choose between Nescafe and Milo, hot and cold, mild and strong, cream or not, sugar or not. Quite fanciful huh? The drink is dispensed into those little Nescafe paper cups. I now think that Nestle employees are bloody lucky.

Plans for a movie tonight were postponed. My date has got more important things to do. Well, looking on the bright side of it, I get some extra, well-deserved rest time.

After being introduced to my supervisor, I was taken to a room where I will be spending 8 hours a day till Friday. Can you imagine? My supervisor gets to work in a cubical like every other Tom, Dick and Harry working there. I on the other hand, get to work in a room, which happens to be 3 times the size of my bedroom, all to myself. Only catch is that they call it a training room. It has five really new Dell PC's running on Windows 2000. Security in these computers and the network is yet another big hassle I have to go through. All cubicles were already occupied, that's why I ended up there.

As for the work I'm doing, basically they're working on upgrading their software to be compatible with all their other branches internationally. In order to do this, first they have to create a master list of all their customers records. It's pretty simple since all the information has already been given to me. But it is down-right tedious.  Using MS Excel, I have to key in 7 fields per customer, and the number of customers is no less than 4800. That totals to about 33000++ fields all in all. As you can see, they hire people like me to do the shit no one else in the company could care to do. I've filled out 2 fields for about 2900 customers today, which is about 15%. But the job gets harder. I'm beginning to wonder if 5 days is enough. It's so darn boring, because of the long hours staring at the screen, I could barely keep my eyes open by the time I reached home.

Also, I just found out that my date to watch Spiderman on Tuesday, saw the movie yesterday. So I guess I'll just get the VCD and watch it in the comfort of my own home. Now I have to think of another show to watch in the cinema instead.

Can you imagine? After only 3 days, my hotmail account status is CRITICAL! That's the problem when you keep getting that Worms.zip virus coming in. At least I've cleared it for now. Should last me another 2 days at least.

Tomorrow's special plans have just been canceled. But then again, I have no reason to be surprised because it's quite the norm when I make plans with this person. Life is full of meaningless promises. It sucks, but we still have to get on with life.

After settling the cost of the repairs, it was decided that I would leave the car there, and return at 6pm after repairs were done. My friend's mom then gave me a life home. It was only when I reached my house that I realized I had left my keys in the car. Worst yet, no one was home to open the door for me. So I ended up following her back to her place to spend the day in Subang.

Upon reaching, I of course did not want to intrude, so I decided to walk to my old college which is a mere 10 minutes stroll away.... yadda yadda yadda...

2 hours later, I felt it was about time to return home, in hope that my younger brother had come back with his own keys. I reached home at 2pm, and found the whole house still locked up. Thinking that my brother would not be long more, I decided to climb over the gate and wait in the garden, with my two dogs as company.

I waited and waited. Half an hour had passed. No sign of my bro. I thought, no big deal since I had nothing else to tend to. Managed to find a spot in the shade, sat down leaning against the wall and took a nap, with my dogs! An hour later, still no sign of my bro. And another hour later, STILL no sign of him. After 3 and a half hours of tremendous boredom, it was time to go back to the workshop and collect my car, along with my extremely missed keys.

Took a cab back there, got the car, paid the bill, and headed home. And what do you know?! My brother was home!

Sigh... One thing I learned from this - stock some food and drinks outside the house in case of such a catastrophe!

T'was a slow day,  got several calls in the evening. I find that when some people are down, there's just no way to pick them up. You could have the world to offer them, but they still hide in that little dungeon, sealing themselves off from the rest of the world.

It's quite confusing. They call you, if not just to chat, to get support and advice. That makes you feel 'needed', which is good. Yet they do not accept what you have to offer. So you start to feel helpless. Alas, this is the world we live in.

Thankfully dad didn't make a big deal out of it. I was smart enough to SMS him some details while he was out instead of having come home and find out about it.

Next up was Accounting. Haven't touched the accounting book for the past 3 weeks. Flipped through it a brief moment before the exam started. The ironic part of the whole thing is that I'm sure of getting at least a distinction in my accounting, whereas I'd be happy if I even get a credit for Business Stats.

Got into an argument with dad again... about the usual "why are you worrying so much about Leo when you're sitting for you're exams already... blah blah blah... I didn't bother and walked off. That's just the way life is in my house.

Finally got started on my studies today. Can't say I did very much but it's a start at least. Got a long way to go, but only 24 hours left. Exams begin on Tuesday, how will I ever get through this one?!