I went through the trauma of being in a certain situation for two hours, whereby I had two options: to do, or not to do. It was the kind of situation where "doing" is common to most people because such opportunities are rare. But in actual fact, NOT "doing" is the right thing to do, in terms of ethics. I'm proud to say that I did NOT. Yet a certain sense of regret plays about at the back of my head. But still, no benefit would have come from "doing", so regretting is pointless. Am I making any sense?

Work on a new design for this site has commenced. It will take at least another 2 weeks to perfect, but an incomplete version should be up and running starting 1st of August 2002, which is in two days time. Modifications and additions will be done from there on. If you are a frequent visitor of this place, do let me know about errors and maybe also of ways of improving the design. Ideas on what other sections to add are also welcome.

The catch is that I was actually doing some extreme last-minute work, and failed to complete it on time. I was forced to hand in the assignment a day late. On top of that, the quality was so poor that my tutor was confused about what I had passed up. It is a miracle that he actually gave me the benefit of the doubt and requested me to hand in another copy of the assignment. Being quick with words, I immediately told him that I may not have the softcopy in my PC anymore because of the maintenance work I'm doing now. He asked me to check, and hand in a complete copy tomorrow if I still have the softcopy in my PC. I think I'll just go up to him and tell him that the file has gone missing, and then ask if he'll allow me 3 days to start from scratch. Hopefully with a friend's copy as a guide, I can hand in something more substantial this round.

The little Charade is now a microwave oven with four wheels and an engine. In other words, the air conditioner is malfunctioning. Therefore, I was forced to travel from PJ to Kelana Jaya, to KL, back home, then to Puchong, KL again, then home again, with the air-con blowing warm air at me the entire way. The next best thing there was to do was to drive about with the windows down. But still, it didn't really help the situation.

It took an entire hour to fit a new piece of Kingston 128MB SDRAM into my PC. Couldn't be helped because of the memory slots which are never touched. After that, it took me another 15 minutes trying to get my PC started. Finally fixed the problem, caused by the loose graphics card. Another 10 minutes after that was spent trying to get the sound system running again - another loose PCI card in the system. At last, my PC's memory is now doubled. Yet no significant change in performance has taken place. The satisfaction remains as I can now proudly say that my system is running on 256MB of SDRAM. I shall begin the process of partitioning and installing another operating system onto my PC as soon as I get all the important files backed-up. The process should take me roughly a week or so.

It's a cold hard fact that not all of the people who are a part of the Lions movement, inclusive of Lionesses and Leos, are good at socializing with the underprivileged. It was clear that the Leos had trouble dealing with their shyness. No doubt our intentions were pure, and we really wanted to make good conversation with the residents at the home. Yet something just held us back. It took quite a while for us to get into the flow of making small talk with the individual residents, and then moving to the next lonely soul sitting around longing for company. I do hope that we get the opportunity to do this kind of community service more often, so that we can learn to overcome this weakness of ours. 

It's official - Huey Lim has once again left for Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. She spent a total of 3 and a half weeks back here. We saw each other on about 5 or 6 occasions, over a duration of only 2 weeks. We couldn't find time for each other during the first week, and she was just too tied up during the last 4 days of her short return. Her next return is set to be sometime in December. More opportunities await.

It is fantastic to know that my invitation to Penang still stands. It's even better to think that the person inviting me is just as anxious to have me over, as I want to be there. I've been offered a place to bunk, and also majority of her time. I'm just not too sure if she's serious about all that she's said, or if she's just another person with a mouth as smooth as my own. Whichever the case, it's no doubt that I do enjoy flirting with her so much. If things go my way, I will visit her in early September.

Two more days till Huey Lim leaves for Brisbane again. She was back here for almost four weeks. But we didn't see each other till the first week was almost over - such a waste. I'm still trying to make a date with her before she leaves. It would be the last chance for another 5 months or so. Maybe I'll get lucky, and she'll keep in touch with me this time around.

I just realized that I sound very different from what I've always thought. Usually when you speak to someone, you here your own voice coming out of your throat. Just now while on the hand phone, I decided to play with some of the features while in the middle of the conversation. I started to record 3 minutes worth of the entire conversation, which is the limit of the phone's memory. After playing back that portion of the conversation, I heard a recorded version of my very own voice, for the very first time. I must say that it really surprised me to find it so different. Heck, even the accent was weird, I barely recognized myself. The worst part is that I had no idea that I laughed that way. I think I should record more of these conversations, just to find out a bit more about the way I speak, and the funny conversation habits that I have. There's so much to learn about myself, I just had no idea!

After my first two hour class, Aaron, Kok Song and I proceeded calmly to the Learning Space which houses all the PCs. Unfortunately, it wasn't until we arrived that we found out that we do not have valid user IDs and passwords to access the PCs. Apparently there's an additional RM60 per semester fee which is required before we're allowed to make use of the PCs. So there we were, back to square one with partially completed assignments.

We called numerous people studying at Help in hope that we might be able to find someone who has a valid ID we could borrow, but to no avail. Fortunately there was another student using one of the PCs there who was kind enough to log into another PC with a friend's password, and then she allowed us to use the PC. The sad thing is that there were 3 of us, and only 1 usable PC . After laming about while Aaron did his Accounting assignment, I rushed off to the nearest cyber caf� thinking that I'd accomplish more that way before the next class. Disaster struck when I just couldn't get the PCs at the cafe to read my diskette. I do believe the computer Aaron was using did something to it, and now the diskette is just unusable.

Last resort - skip Macroeconomics tutorial to return home, complete the last bit, print it out and rush back to college to meet the deadline. Aaron and Kok Song had to follow too because the college's shared printer was down. So back we went to my house, made use of both my PCs as well as the laptop to add final touches to our assignments. We successfully completed it and reached college again at 4:30pm - a whole half hour before the deadline. Wonderful! I now have no more deadlines till the next semester, 3 entire months away.

I returned home at 3 o'clock to get some much needed rest. Woke up 2 hours later to get back to my assignment, which is now 45% complete. There's lots more to be done before tomorrow's 5pm deadline.

Finally got started on my Marketing assignment. I managed to type up the first of 10 sections before leaving to go buy a birthday present for Kok Chiang. Unfortunately, when I pressed the save button, the entire PC just crashed on me and I have no idea if any of my work was saved - GoDamnIt! I couldn't check at that time because my ride was already here. Never mind, worst case scenario, I'll spend another hour starting fresh again.

I got to be the model while 2 other girls tried to pick out a shirt for Kok Chiang at One Utama. Of course I was the one who pointed out the nicer clothes hanging on the racks. And then I'd try it on for size and try to get their approval. I guess that's the one good thing about being the same size as the birthday boy. You get to try on all his new clothes before he does! Ha Ha Ha! So the guy ended up with a nice light brown textured semi-formal shirt and a blue tie. The bill came to almost RM150, but the cost is being split among 15 of us. Lucky him.

The most interesting part of all this is that Kok Chiang was celebrating is 21st Chinese birthday. The fact that he is actually younger than me bugs the hell out of me because I just hit 20, and already he's celebrating 21! Blast - kind of takes the fun out of turning twenty-one for me. Ah well, I shall throw just as big a party for myself when my turn comes a year from now. Maybe I'll get presents as nice as his.

While at the department, I managed to persuade the guy who'll be assessing my Marketing assignment to not penalize me when I hand it in on Monday. He was nice enough to joke and make fun of my tardiness too. This Marketing tutor of mine is as casual and relaxed as can be. Kudos to Help Institute for having such a person on their staff.

After nearly two months, I made a return to the YMCA basketball court in Brickfields, where I used to play with my friends weekly. Now with a job, and no transportation, it's hard to find opportunities for the sport. I'm glad I haven't lost my touch, but still I would like to stay fit as a fiddle. I have set my alarm to wake me up tomorrow morning, to give myself a chance to go for a jog. If things work out, I shall continue and make it a weekly habit, or perhaps even more often than that.

MIB2 - Men in Black II was better than expected if I must say so myself. But then again, it couldn't possibly turn out worse than all the past reviews I've gotten from people who saw the earlier previews. The humor still remains fresh, coming from Will Smith. And Tommy Lee Jones maintains his death stare. The most awesome part about the show was the newly designed, ever-so-elegant Mercedes Benz E-class, which turns into the coolest vehicle ever when hyper-drive is activated. I still cannot believe the story writers included Michael Jackson, or rather, a wannabe Agent M. Only thing bad I have to say about the show is its pathetic storyline.

I did not call Pamela thinking that I'd still have time, but it turns out she flies off at 5am tomorrow morning. I was lucky enough to bump into her, and some other friends who are back from Australia, at the mamak in Sri Hartamas just now. It is a wonderful feeling to have things go my way, especially when I least expect it.

I can now remove the Nokia 8310 from my shopping list. My father has just made the RM1030 payment for the phone, and I am expected to return the full sum by installments. Also, I will be migrating from Celcom to Maxis within the next 2 days. My new phone number will be 012-3771148. This number will be active once my Celcom line has been terminated.

Life is screwy. I have so many things I need to do, and should be doing. But somehow or other I just don't end up doing it. When I do have time to do the things I'm supposed to be doing, I just manage to find myself brewing up another insignificant event to take up my time. People have suggested that I make a 'to-do' list. I agree because I know I should. But then again, making this 'to-do' list has ended up as yet one of those things which I just can't get around to doing. Yes, life is screwy!

My Leo Club's installation this evening went mighty well. I must admit, this was the first time I have performed a dance on stage, and also the first time I have ever accepted the request of being the emcee, with a partner of course. The entire session started off with me fumbling with my notes, not knowing what to say, or when to say it. Having a partner helped to calm me down a lot. The butterflies in the stomach faded away after the first few hiccups. And towards the end of the function, I was pretty darned comfortable speaking to the floor on my own. It was a wonderful experience, and I do so look forward to another shot at being emcee once again. I've come to realise that the emcee, assumes the role of an event coordinator during the function itself because anything and everything that happens has to be clarified with the emcee, who sometimes might not know anything and everything. Hopefully the next round, I will be more prepared and less things will go wrong.

Mamak-ing was brought to an entirely new level tonight after our Leo Installation. The usual mamak sessions would include anywhere between 2 and 10 people. But tonight, after everything at the hotel was settled, about 50 Leos retired to the same mamak, together with 3 or 4 Lions. The tables had to be arranged for us. We actually started out with one table as the first car arrived. Then as more came, tables were added to 3, then 5, then 6, 7, 8, and so on. I do believe by the time I left, there were easily 12 mamak tables arranged into a line, with about 55 Leos and Lions sitting there enjoying ourselves. This has got to be the most impromptu mamak session with so many people screaming and laughing in a group.

I seem to be getting a lot of praise and compliments these days. Even when I have done nothing different from what I have been doing all along, praise and compliments just seem to find its way to me. The past three formal functions I've attended, I've been told that I dress very well, and look very good. The weird thing is that that's how I dress myself at formal functions for the past umpteen years, and no one has ever mentioned anything before. At other times, I get praised for practically doing nothing out of the ordinary at all. Things have changed so much. But I shall not complain about it. It is certainly good for boosting the confidence levels and self-esteem.

After another half hour's sleep, I finally awoken and found the car still parked outside my house. Apparently it was left for me so that I could pick my sister back from work at 5 in the evening. Well, I of course took advantage of the situation and drove down to Subang, picked up my friend, and proceeded to Sunway Pyramid to get a tie for tomorrow night. After lots of walking, and talking, and sulking, and laughing, I finally found myself at My Tie Shop. With my initial budget of RM30 for the tie, I could actually buy two ties there - and so I did! Took my time to pick out 2 really nice ties, one lavender, and the other a nice tone of blue. Well, choosing between the two for tomorrow night is going to be another toughie. Maybe I'll just wear one for half the night, and then change it for the other half. =)

My evening was filled with yet another 2 hour dance lesson with my fellow Leos. We seem to be doing quite fine already. Our line dance performance should be ready in time for this Saturday's installation. Just one more session to fine tune our movements, and one full-dressed rehearsal on stage before the function, and we should do mighty fine. I just wonder how I'm going to juggle the tasks of emceeing, eating, dancing, and getting installed as Vice-President on the same evening. I do hope I won't have to keep changing attires each time I start the next activity that night. It would be too much of a hassle.

When I first saw Huey Lim on Monday, she gave me a bag with three items in it. Two boxes of chocolate, and a 6" white and grey koala bear with shiny fur, holding a boomerang. Today while laming around on the bed, I took a glance at the koala and found it to be extremely adorable. So I've decided to name it "BOOM" just for the heck of it. No doubt I find soft toys somewhat purposeless, but this is the first soft toy I've ever received from anyone.

It has been yet another unproductive day.

I spent the rest of the morning doing nothing productive. Worked a bit on redesigning this site. And read through my old blogs. I told myself that I should stay home the entire day to avoid having another sucky birthday. But somehow I ended up making calls to some people I really wanted to see, and ended up making plans for the later part of the day.

I eventually got to go out with the only two girls I've ever been in love with. I took them out one after the other of course. Did a lot of catching up and stuff. I really did enjoy myself with them today. I initially planned to return home expecting to have dinner with my family. Unfortunately, due to a little miscommunication, they were under the impression that I'd be out celebrating with my friends, and so no dinner was prepared for me. Instead of coming home, I gave Huey Lim a call and we wound up at the new McDonald's drive through in SS15.

So many ICQ messages and SMS came in today. Some of them from people I barely even know. And also a few from people who I haven't seen in such a long time. I actually thought I'd been forgotten. Apparently NOT! Gee, I don't remember receiving this many greetings when I turned 19. I guess my popularity has grown since then. HaHa!

The funny thing is, I was a bit upset that I hadn't received anything from Shona. Considering she knows my birthday is the day before hers, I expected at least some form of indication that she still thinks of me. But nothing came... ... ... UNTIL the day almost ended! =) She finally sent me an SMS to wish as well.

Well, for the first time in a long while, I've finally managed to have a decent birthday go by without anything to complain about!

Accounting 2 mid-semester paper was at 10am. I studied a grand total of 20 minutes over the weekend, and another hour before the paper started. Overall, I guess you could say it went much better than expected, considering the amount of preparation I put in. Macroeconomics paper on Thursday. Everyone is under the impression that the coming paper will be extremely easy, or rather an insult to our intelligence because of the format. Fifteen multiple choice questions, one mark each, and one short answer question with 5 parts, one mark each part. The lecturer says he just wants to ensure that we know the concepts well.

I managed to finally meet Huey Lim for lunch today. She's been back almost an entire week, but only now have we managed to find time for each other. She mentioned emailing the following line to her housemate in Brisbane recently - "I've seen almost everyone back here already, except my best friend". That brings great warmth to my heart, to know that we still feel the same about each other. Spent more than four whole hours catching up. The line "those were the days" came up a lot when we went back to school to collect our SPM certificates. I truly enjoyed seeing her again, and it's especially good to know that there's still so much we can talk about even though we haven't really kept in touch throughout the four months she's been over there.

After last night, I really wanted to hang out with Shona before she returned to Penang, which was initially scheduled for Tuesday. So I thought up a little something for us to do in the evening. When I first asked her out over the phone last night, she was fine with everything, although no firm plans were made. Then when I called her again in the afternoon, she said she might have a problem, and that she'll reconfirm with me a bit later. At 5.30pm, she sent me a message saying that she couldn't get a bus ticket to return to Penang on Tuesday, so she has to leave tonight instead. It's pretty disappointing when you think about it, even more considering the idea I had for the evening. But I guess the next time I see her will be no sooner than I hope.

I find my 23-month-old niece as adorable as any kid that age can get. She kept herself amused by constantly running up to me, giving me a curious stare, and then when I look back at her and nudge my eyebrows, she runs off shrieking in laughter. Of course all everyone else could do was laugh with her. Truly adorable in the purest sense. She continued her little routine throughout my visit there, which lasted about an hour. According to my cousin, her father, it can take five adults to look after her, and they usually exhaust themselves long before she does. It's amazing how much stamina little kids have.

I had a whole 3 hours to kill, so I offered to take my Kai Ma out, and it was decided that we should go shopping at Midvalley. Well, one thing led to the other, then she asked me to go look for a new shirt to wear for my cousin's wedding on Sunday. I told her I didn't need one, but she insisted that she buy one for me for my birthday on Tuesday. Hell, I didn't even think that she'd remember my birthday because she usually doesn't. There was no turning her down anymore, so I just went along and we ended up at the Jaya Jusco sale. I didn't want her to spend too much money on me, so I took my time and picked out a nice semi-formal shirt which cost only RM36.90. I tried it on, and after a lot of discussion with her, we decided to take it. I thought that was that, and we could proceed to Carrefour for grocery shopping, but my Kai Ma insisted I get another item. I was stumped! It already took me so long to find a shirt I like, and now she's asking me to pick out another one. Well, I didn't want to waste too much time so I just grabbed the first item which caught my eye - a shirt from Seed costing RM53.00. Well, the bill came to a total of RM89.90, but after paying for the two shirts, she continued to ask me if I want anything else. I turned to her and looked her in the eye, and said "It's enough, thank you!". Sometimes I really wonder what goes through her mind, but I am grateful to have such a generous person for my Kai Ma.

Certain events in recent times have led me to want to look up all my old friends, the close ones. Many of them have just slipped away, but in someway or other, they still exist in my life. I have now decided that I am going to spend the entire July, hunting each and every one of these people out, and attempt to catch up with them once again, while rebuilding what we once had. People currently in the list would be Huey Lim, Samantha, Pamela, Charity and Ee Lane. I shall add more to this list as time goes by. But at least now I know where to start.

It's pretty spooky to get into an elevator, go up 14 stories, get off and find an office which occupies an entire floor, EMPTY! Not a single living breathing soul around - other than me of course. I wasn't too bothered. I figured they all just went somewhere for a short meeting or something. Pretty darn big meeting no doubt, but I figured so because all the PC's were left running and phones ringing. At that point, I was quite tempted to grab some office supplies, like CD-RW's, for "personal use". HaHa! But my conscience held me back. Everyone returned a brief moment later. It was just a routine fire drill. Unfortunately, I'm not as innocent as I should be. Before the day at work ended, I was opening mail. I came across one which was rather thick, from Nokia. Inside I found a small magazine-like brochure, and a cool mouse pad. I didn't think that anyone would miss the mouse pad, especially since no one knew it came. So I conveniently slipped it into my plastic document holder, amongst my papers. ;o)

Got my new spectacles today. They feel rather light, as always. Sometimes I forget I have them on. My parents say that this new pair blends into my face because its frame is light bronze in colour, and also it's one of those rimless spectacles. I don't think much of it, but I do find the lenses a bit small. There's a whole lot of visual area around the lenses which is blurry when I have my spectacles on. Never mind, I'll get used to it.

I do not believe in counterfeit printer cartridges. If you are using a HP Deskjet, stick with the original HP ink refills. Likewise if you are using a Canon Bubblejet, only use original Canon ink cartridges. By doing so, you'll ensure that your printer's working life lasts a bit longer. My poor printer head as gone "kaput" already, all thanks to certain kiam siap people who live within the same household and share the same PC as me. They just can't be bothered to spend an extra couple of Ringgit on the original thing. Now it's going to cost us RM135 to replace the printer head.