When I grow up, I want to be...

The way I'd complete that sentence changed pretty much every week for me when I was a kid. And now that I think about it, it still changes about that often and has't stopped changing, or at least fluctuating between a few favourites.

Which is a bit of a problem now that I'm supposed to already 'be' something other than a student.

When I got my job, I was pretty excited - it was one of those that gave you the opportunity to move around - yet another way I was putting of being defined by a specific job or role.

Instead, I've found myself six months into a job, without much experience that will bring me any closer to deciding what exactly it is that I want to do. Make that without much experience. Period. At most, it has helped me rule out one or two things I definitely don't want to do.

So that's two down, and another 10 or so to choose from!

Perhaps it doesn't have to be a complete elimination process.

But all the same, not feeling challenged in the right ways at my job has left me feeling restless and craving a change. The only thing is, the latest possibility of a change that has caught my fancy is this writer's job I saw. Judging by my complete lack of materials to present should they want to see any samples of my work, the minuscule readership of this blog, and the fact that that job I saw doesn't pay very well (read: I'm not ready to take that huge a pay cut to actually do work instead of bum around), I'm guessing the prudent thing to do is sit tight in my less than satisfying job.

Thankfully the holidays are here!

Time to think about wrapping presents (I have a few ideas about cute ways I'm going to do that) and finally using my cute handmade gift tags that I've just been itching to use!

It's that time of year, for holidays and parties...and dreaded spring cleaning.

It's been like this all along. The holiday season (ie. School holidays and Christmas) always closely precedes the more 'serious' festival in my household: Chinese New Year.

Which means my happy haze of waking up and sleeping whenever I feel like it, partying and just plain bumming is always somewhat tainted by the stressful ordeal of putting up with parents who make spring cleaning super duper stressful.

This year, it's even more exhausting. For the first time ever, I'm not having school holidays as I deal with this!

As I write this, I'm sitting on the floor of my room, leaning against my bed. Surrounded by piles of stuff that have been moved from the other room that the hourly cleaner we hired is cleaning. It's beyond me why we have to take the 7.30am appointment. Does nobody else believe that Saturdays are meant for sleeping until, at the very, very least 8am? No, seriously, we made this appointment early and my parents took this slot by choice! WTHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Actually, it's also a little beyond me why we have so much stuff.

Apparently the clutter malaise that permeates this house is quite common (yes, I did some online research on the matter).

Excuse number 1:

I might need this thing later on.

Actually, kind of true. I've been shopping in my own closet lately. I'll write about that some other time.

Excuse number 2:

This piece of junk might become valuable someday.

Actually, also kind of true. You know all that old stuff you pay to see if you're a tourist in this little island of mine? We're locals, obviously that kind of stuff exist in our houses. Then again, you're not paying to see my house, are you?

Excuse number 3:

Honestly, I don't remember anymore. It's too freaking early in the morning to actually remember what I've read all week while bumming around at work with nothing better to do (also the topic of another post, should I feel like writing about it to relive the frustrations of a workplace that is challenging in all the wrong ways).

She looks at me uncertainly and says, "Um...you know that this machine can't be used by pregnant women...," and hastily adds,"and people with pacemakers."

It was casual Friday at the office, and I was standing in front of one of those BMI and percentage body fat calculating thingamajigs which had been set up in the office for an event we were having, in a while dress that falls just above my knees, and one of those cropped cardigans that you tie up instead of button.

The dress was pretty similar to this...

and the cardigan, something like this.

I didn't feel particularly offended - I knew she was just trying to be as tactful as possible in the face of uncertainty. But it did make me think - why is it that the moment a girl not in a magazine or catalogue wears something that does not hug every lump of her body, it is assumed she might be pregnant? This isn't the first time someone has assumed I'm preggers just because I'm wearing something that isn't, ironically, hugging the slight bulge that is my very baby-less belly (hmm...is that, in fact, as sign that I'm not as unfit as I think?). I am a huge fan of cute dresses that bring words like 'breezy/summer/light' to mind. And it pains me to think that perhaps it isn't fashion that dictates we all be stick thin and wear things that make most of us look fat (last year's high waisted jeans, pants and skirts, anyone?). Perhaps it's this strange thing we've all developed - that anything that doesn't hug your body completely indicates you've got some jiggly bumps somewhere to hide.

*Images were just from a quick Google search. Not the actual clothes I wore.

Road trip: Melaka

We had one thing, and one thing only on our minds: FOOD!

A bunch of us had decided to take a weekend road trip over to Melaka recently. We stayed with our friend,W, there so there won't be any hotel review in this post.

All we did was pack our bags and drive over and let W take us wherever she thought we would like.

As with any other trip to just about anywhere with friends other than Gina, we started out late! We were to leave at about 11am to get to Melaka just in time for lunch. But well, at 11.30am, K still hadn't arrived - he'd only just picked up the first of the three of us.

It was no surprise that the moment we left my place, K asked if we were hungry and shall we have lunch? So we picked G up and went for some pretty good noodles soup with fish. The foodie trip has started even before we left!

Right after that we leave for Melaka and it's heavy traffic all the way. By the time we met up with W, it was already around 3pm. After we dropped off our luggage at her place, our next stop as for pork satay! On the way there, she warned us that it wouldn't be the regular peanut satay sauce. Instead, it would be some kind of pineapple sauce. Her hesitation got me a little worried that I might not like it. But, damn, I'm craving for it again as I write this! The pork was tender and juicy - even softer than regular chicken satay. And the sauce that I'd worried about before? Well turns out it's oh only AWESOME!

It's just this shop in a row of shop houses not too far away from Jonker Street. I have no idea what the name of this shop is but according to the GPS coordinates I saved, it is not Sun May Hion, which is the first address I got when I Googled pork satay in Melaka. It does, however, appear to be only about a block away from the aforementioned other shop.

A little not here...it might not be a very good idea to take my word for it when it comes to directions, eh?

Anyways, back to the food. It's one of those places where they get you started off with, well exactly what's in the picture. A plate of satay, a big pot of the sauce which you can dish into individual dishes (there were 5 of us), some cucumber and ketupat. They then replenish you're plate as you finish. After several times, and they notice you're slowing down, they'll ask if you would like some more, and will stop once you've had enough. You'll be charged according to how many sticks you've had.

~~~~~~~~

Next up, Cendol and Laksa!

The next stop is this super popular, touristy place called Jonker 88, that had people queuing out onto the street. There are two stalls at this place: cendol on the left, and laksa on the right. I honestly wasn't that keen on cendol - I don't take it even though I come from another part of the country abundant with this stuff! But I must say for one who has a pretty cool relationship with cendol, I really liked it! Using gula Melaka made all the difference! We had three kinds of cendol: the regular kind, durian cendol, and some third one with a non-explanatory name like three treasures or something like that.

That little dish in the picture would be the sago gula Melaka. Now this was delicious. Strangely, none of my friends seem to have known about this dish before I ordered it. Is it really that unheard of?

We also order a bowl of asam laksa and curry laksa to share. And my review for these would be...meh..I've had better. The curry laksa wasn't too bad. But the asam laksa was just bland...more forgettable than any old asam laksa you get just about anywhere in the awesome island way up North.

~~~~~~~~

More desserts.

After we walked around the area a bit, our next stop was Dataran Pahlawan for this layer cake/crepe thing at Nadeje. I see people raving about this place all over the internet, and 4 of the 5 of us saying what a lot of people say online too: "OMG why don't they open a branch in KL?"

Needless to say, I was the one who didn't say that. If they did, the novelty, which I'm guessing is pretty much the main attraction of the place, would be lost.

We had three flavours: rum and raisin, cheese, and praline or something to that effect. My favourite was the cheese as it was the least bland! I didn't really dislike anything there but it was, in my book, pretty forgettable.

~~~~~~~~

By the time we were done with the cakes, we were absolutely stuffed. It was time to take a little break. The boys went for a massage while the rest of us went home to chill for a bit. We were all supposed to go, but honestly the idea of lying face down with someone pressing down on your back brings to my over active imagination images of me puking. Which kind of made me want to. Okay no elaborating on that in a post about food!

Anyways next up was dinner and we were off to Nyonya Makko Restaurant. Again, this appears to be one of those places very often mentioned online and stuff. And it failed to impress me. I saw some mixed reviews on Trip Advisor, and I'd say you could probably believe some of them.

The place was pretty full and we were lucky to get a table even after they'd let the table we'd reserved go because we were a little late. We had the chicken pongteh, otak-otak, assam curry fish, and some sambal kangkung. The chicken was pretty decent, as with the otak-otak. The sambal kangkung was okay as well, but the curry fish was a bit of a nono. The curry was a little bit too watery for nyonya curry, and it just didn't taste particularly good. Sorry, but this nyonya descendant just doesn't buy it.

Shopping at Jonker Street after that was pretty fun, until it started raining more heavily. But I did get what I'd come to buy: cute hair accessories!

~~~~~~~~

The next morning, we all woke up late and had our 'breakfast' close to noon. By then, all the chicken rice ball places were full up to their ears, and apparently stay celup places don't open that early, either. So we ended up at some random coffee shop for some fried noodles and the like. It was actually pretty nice!

Then it was off for some more cendol at Donald & Lily's. This was pretty good, too! As with the rojak. We also ordered some more laksa, which was nice, and much much much better curry fish and chicken pongteh.

Our final stop was this tiny little shop that sells jam tarts. You wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't already been looking. But it was awesome!

The jam tarts fresh from the oven were delicious! These jam tarts are the kind with the jam atop the pastry, not those with the jam wrapped up in the pastry. I did ask how long they would keep after buying and was told that they could last up to about a week without refrigeration; and maybe two if you put them in the fridge. But my advice? Eat it while it's fresh and hot! The flavours of the jam and the pastry just don't come together as well after awhile. I know that sounds strange, but it just tastes like you're eating two separate things. But when fresh, it tastes like one mass of crumbly + warm + gooey + slightly buttery + sweet + fragrant. Yum!

And she wonders why she's not well accepted by the team...

Am I a terrible person?

I sure hope I'm not. And I try to be nice, and not judge. But sometimes....it's so freakin' hard not to!

I've read about annoying colleagues before (and written about it). But this...this is a whole new level of awful.

Remember the Self Important Bitch I last wrote about? The thing I find more forgivable about her (as opposed to the next person I'll rant about) is that I don't think she's annoying on purpose. She's like any other person - we've all got our faults and she hasn't quite mastered turning them into personality traits that work for her.

But now front and center we have the Health Freak Girl, let's call her HFG for short.

OMG she is so damn annoying. She is rude in a million ways...actually that kind of sums up everything that's wrong with her.

1. She hums...rather loudly. The worst part is she sits right next to me. The good part is that she's not tone deaf. Actually she's quite spot on with her intonation. But doesn't mean I want to hear her hum some random song.

2. She looks at people's screens uninvited. I know not everyone necessarily has a problem with this. But I do. Today was particularly annoying when I was telling the colleague sitting opposite me about something funny on my Facebook wall, she hears and goes "Ooh" and rolls her chair over to look at my screen. WTF man. Firstly, I wasn't talking to you, and secondly, nobody said you could read it.

3. She answers the phone damn loudly. Like I mean imagine trying to talk over the noise of heavy machinery at a construction site loud. Which is damn annoying if you're actually working.

4. She asks you about something or asks you to do something. And then after sliding over to look at your screen, she repeatedly gives overly detailed instructions like you don't know how to highlight something or press enter. Just freakin' wait, will you? =.= Not like she's damn efficient either.

5. She's always trying to rat out people for things she does herself. You know, little things like youtube-ing when we haven't got anything immediate to do, taking a leisurely walk to and from the place we buy lunch. It's nothing intrinsically bad or wrong. But yes, less than perfect behaviour. But hell she does it too and yet she's always finding ways to try and highlight the fact that other people do it.

Am I a terrible person for harbouring less than nice sentiments for this *AWFUL* person?

I just realised none of this actually explains why she's called the HFG.

You'll find out next time.

Card making

For a little while, I was a little worried about what to get a two-year-old for her birthday. Honestly, I have no idea at what age kids start reading, talking, walking and what not.

So, when my man said he'd settle the present, I was a little relieved. But also a bit miffed I won't get to pick out anything super cute that I otherwise wouldn't get to buy. And also I didn't want to seem like I wasn't bothered at all and left everything to him. So I decided to indulge in another activity I usually feel a bit weird carrying out without reason - scrapbooking /card-making. After a trip or two to Daiso and a bookstore to get felt and paper, here it is:

Given that I've pretty much sucked at art and craft all my life, I've just got to ask this, though. Can you tell what animal that's supposed to be? And does it look cute or will it just frighten the kid?

Blank inside - which I'll probably write a happy birthday

message or find some cute way to spell out her name.

I actually got the pattern from The Practical Handbook of Card-Making by Cheryl Owen.

It's a pretty handy book with templates at the back that you can trace and use in your designs. The felt I used (from Daiso) has adhesive on the back and also a grid on the backing so you can draw your design and cut out. I'd actually also bought one of those craft punches to add on little felt flowers on the card. But the punch can't cut through the felt. I'm not sure if it'll work with regular felt without adhesive, though.

After a long day

...of putting up with the annoying Self-Important Bitch (we shall now refer to her as SIB), it was great to have something nice happen.

But first let me bitch about the SIB. She's this annoying person who thinks she's the smartest person in the world and likes to insist she knows everything. And probably thinks the puzzled looks on peoples' faces are because they don't understand what she's saying, and not that they're puzzled by why the hell she's restating the obvious like it's the greatest discovery yet, which is the actual case. Bet she'd take hours to get all the preceding sentences in this paragraph.

That said, I was pretty tired after work. Self control (ie. not to scream at her or try to take her bloody big eye contacts out of her eyes - sorry I generally don't have a problem with them...just hers) is pretty exhausting. And so I was thinking of just quickly getting some take-out to eat at home in front of the TV.

But then I decided I should probably go look for a top to wear for graduation. I've been scaring myself that I don't really have as much time to browse shops as I think, given that I'll only be getting busier in the coming weeks.

So on my way to the store that I wanted to check out, I passed another one that I don't normally go to but decided to just have a look anyway. Walked around a bit, and realised they did have some pretty nice stuff. And they weren't to expensive. But not entirely my style...though I wouldn't mind switching up my look with some of the clothes here. Anyways, I was on my way out, pretty sure I wouldn't find anything...when I saw it! The most perfect blouse ever! It was exactly the kind of blouse I was looking for with those soft ruffles in the front. And also fitted all the restrictions my school has on attire. I was a little apprehensive lest they look like some growth out of my chest. But when I tried it on, they fell perfectly in place.

And so I bought it. Yay!

Oh, and it was about half the price of other similar blouses I'd seen in another store.

Having nothing to do at work is pretty demotivating. Here I am raring to go wanting new challenges, or at least to learn something. Instead, I'm settling into a routine of 9 to 5 bumming. So, I've been trying to keep myself busy. I've been trying to learn how to do more stuff with Excel, because I'm sure it'll eventually come in handy. But that doesn't last long - it's pretty boring if you haven't even got any real data to work with, and thus any real need to learn some of these functions.

I know I should just hang on for a little while longer until I'm assigned my real work. But it's getting harder and harder to just do nothing all day long. I also kind of feel like my time is being wasted and I could be gaining more experience elsewhere.

On the upside, this is giving me time to think about things I normally wouldn't bother to. LIke new ways to mix and match my work wardrobe and accessories.

And also what to wear to my graduation. Suggestions, anyone?

It's been awhile since I've had time to blog. And then a few days since I finally did have time but didn't have anything to write about. Writing about nice people I've met and the new people I'll probably bitch most about from now on just seemed a little too...boring.

Earlier this evening, I was going to write about my first indulgent purchase since I got my proper job. Between food, transportation and getting the necessary furnishings for my new room, I've felt pretty broke.

But then there were those heels.

Most girls have several pairs of nice heels to go to work in. Okay, I have a pair too. And then there are my two comfy work/walking shoes. But they're all pretty serious looking. I haven't found any nice, pretty, not-so-serious looking ones.

And then I found them! I'd seen them a couple of weeks ago and thought they were really cute. But I was even more broke then - I hadn't even gotten my first pay check.

And then I got them just now! :D They're a beautiful, cheerful yellow with brown bows. And they're so soft and comfortable. Can't wait for Monday to wear them. Think I'll wear them out tomorrow.

Yay!

And then I came home to put away my groceries. And a ginormous rat scuttled from the kitchen to the living room!

OMG

Now I'm just feeling super paranoid and scared. Never have I been so glad to see my housemate.

But I have pretty shoes. :)

Breakfast alone

A few things I've noticed about having breakfast alone on the weekends.

1. You can read the papers comfortably because there's enough room at the table. And also because you're not being rude and ignoring anyone.

2. You notice more things around you, because you haven't actually got an engaging conversation going on at your own table.

So, a randomly scary thing I noticed while at breakfast. There weren't that many screaming children. And it was Sunday!!! Okay I have to admit that part of it was because there were well-mannered children. But...BUT there were two families sitting near me. Just parents and a young child at each table. The first couple had their daughter watching Upin & Ipin or something like that on the iPad. The other couple, had their son staring at Barney on the PSP. I know I'm not kid expert but is that really what parents want to allow their kids to do at the table during meals? The PSP kid was just pretty much staring at the screen while the mum holds the cup and makes him take several sips of juice, and then the dad feeds him a mouthful of food at a time. Again I'm no expert, but I really don't think that kid looked like he had any kind of disability or anything. He just looked like he couldn't be bothered to look away from his show. If that's what kids are doing during meals, then tell me, during what activity should they multitask and learn about table manners?

Then again, I'm the one reading the papers at the table, right?

Royale Bintang The Curve

So another one of my sporadic hotel reviews.

My family and I recently stayed at the Royale Bintang at The Curve. It's connected to the shopping center and is just opposite Ikano and Ikea. It's a four-star hotel, looks really nice...except for this super random fake life-sized camel at the entrance.

Great, right?

Not.

Check in time is at 2pm. We arrived in KL a bit early so we decided to go elsewhere first before checking in. At 2.15pm I get a call from the hotel asking when we're arriving because it's already past check in time. I assure them we're on the way - we're just running a little late and are a little lost.

We arrive at about 2.30 and I hurry over to the reception desk. And I'm told my room is not ready. WTF? Okay nevermind....she gives me a voucher for a welcome drink. We sit and have our drinks...in a leisurely manner, mind you. And it's about another 15-20 minutes before I go and check on the status of the room again.

They tell me that it's still not ready and will probably be yet another half hour. They can't locate the previous tenants of the room who still haven't checked out.

15 minutes later, they said it would be another 20 minutes.

WTF.

One of them tells us the latest check out they can give us as compensation is 1.30pm. She's the most junior staff amongst them, I think. The next guy says guests can have checkout as late as 4pm or 6pm. And the manager says it's typical for them to allow guests late check out for free. They obviously haven't gotten their stories straight. Until now, I still don't know which one of them is accurate.

Anyway by the time we check in it's past 3pm. We've asked them to compensate us for the super long delay by allowing us a late check out. Which the manager agrees to and claims he's set our key cards to allow for a 2pm check out.

So we go about our business and the next day we have lunch and come back at 1.30. And our key cards don't work. Luckily housekeeping is somewhere down the corridor and see us and open the door for us.

All in all they were just hopeless. Service was poor and they basically promised things and did not deliver. And then took an apathetic attitude to things when we complained.

Allow me to whine just a little bit

I started writing this post whining about something. But by the time I was done, I decided to delete the whole thing and rewrite this.

I wanted to whine about having to turn down this other job. I wanted to whine that, as much as some of my other friends who are having a tougher time finding a job than I would like to scold me for being a showoff-y bitch, I should still be entitled to feel a sense of loss. I was turning down a job I really really really wanted. (It's especially hard to do when the HR guy is so fit! Ok I'm digressing lol)

But yeah...I think the time for being sad over that has passed. Back to looking forward to the other job I really really really wanted - and accepted.

Lazy to read.....agh

There's this application I have to submit for this thing I don't even care if I get selected to go for but I think my school will have my head if I don't submit the application because I already told them I would. But agh! It's so damn tedious.

There are several questions that we have to answer and while they are pretty interesting things I wouldn't mind reading up about...I'm just so damn lazy to do this. Lots of reading 'intelligent' articles and papers and doing my homework before I can actually write a proper answer for it.

I know I don't care about whether I get selected or not. But....BUT....I'm not going to have my name on a form where the answer to a question on current issues and economics is:

"Umm...I guess our economy must be doing fine cuz shopping here is getting better! But we might want to hire better purchasers because they don't have enough stuff that cater to non size 0 and rather short girls - which is what Asian girls really look like."

Haha but yes, I think that's all I'd be able to have as my answer without doing my homework first. Agh.

What do you get...

for a friend's birthday? Ah the usual dilemmas of buying a present. Here's why this one is a little more difficult than usual:

She's one of those secondary school friends I've written about. She was one of the nicer ones but doesn't change the fact that we've probably only had a maximum of 3 superficial conversations in the past five years?

Anyway, she's making an effort to sort of keep in touch and she recently invited me for her birthday party which I guess is pretty nice. The turnoff is, of course, that a bunch of the people I don't particularly want to see from secondary school will also be there. Other guests would be people I don't know at all.

But I've decided I'll be a grown-up about it and just accept the invitation. But here comes my other dilemma: what do I buy for her?

Scarves sound nice but I'm not sure she uses them or what kinds of patterns she likes. Not sure about stuff like lotions or lipstick because I don't think she uses them. Not sure about books because I don't know what she reads.

Gift cards? Everyone goes to Starbucks right? But a RM10 gift card sounds a bit...cheap. Anything more than that, though is a bit insane. How much could you possibly spend there?

Chaining

I'm of the impression that many people don't realise that some of the things they do can be pretty cruel to their pets. I don't always blame owners (by this I mean people who make small errors, not people who knowingly hurt their pets!)- heck I'm not a perfect pet owner myself. But I'm trying and here's me trying to get others to try, too.

So, first issue I'm going to tackle in a series (I hope...do scold me if I get lazy and not follow up!) of posts would be chaining.

I seriously think many people here don't realise that chaining is a form of cruelty to their dogs.

Why is it cruel?

Let's just start from the least awful reason - it's bloody boring for the dog! Yes, you're slowly boring your doggie to death. Who wants to just sit around with a mobility range of only a few feet? He can't run off any pent up energy, can't play....he can only sit there and do nothing.

Okay so second reason - your dog could get tangled up in the chains. At best this would probably mean your doggie might get pins and needles somewhere when you find him like this and untangle him. At worst, your dog might choke to death!

Third reason - and this is a frighteningly common one - people who chain their dogs up outside to dry off after their bath. And I only have one question. WOULD YOU STAND OUT THERE IN THE HOT SUN? To put this into perspective for anyone reading this who isn't from around here - IT'S BLOODY HOT HERE! Your dog isn't some fluffy towel you want to dry in the sun so it smells nice and fresh okay.

I also have another huge problem with tethering your dog outside - he's vulnerable to attack by other animals and also people. Yes, there are a lot of psychos out there who kick dogs, beat dogs, feed dogs stuff that could kill them.

I haven't actually seen this myself, but I've read that chaining your dog for extended periods of time and neglecting it could also cause your dog to become aggressive. Oh yes and of course negligence! How could I have forgotten to mention that? The whole thing about chaining your dog is basically people who do this just want an easy way to sort of 'solve the problem' of having an energetic little ball of fur running all over and having to watch over it. But once chained up, you can forget about your little problem, right? It almost always leads down the slippery slope to negligence.

Anyways, I don't understand why people have dogs if it's not to love them. I mean, you actually have to go out and get a dog, right? Or at some point you must've felt like adopting that stray. It's not like you can accidentally have a puppy or something. So I don't understand why people don't just let them live inside like a part of the family. Yes, they need to be trained and disciplined but isn't that exactly what a pet owner should do? Not just take the easy way out and chain the poor dog up.

For more about chaining, you can read the peta website or this other one I found while doing a little bit of reasearch on the matter.

I'm too aweseome for this job

Yes I can be arrogant and cocky. And it usually comes out when someone is arrogant and cocky towards me.

I woke up in the morning knowing that I wasn't particularly keen on this job. Low pay, lousy location and not in a field I'm particularly interested in. But heck, they called me. And it's fairly close to home. It'd be my backup job if all the ones I'm really vying for fall through.

Never mind. Trial run for my new shoes that I want to wear for my other interviews.

Anyways the place was okay I guess. Typical small office. I go in and someone immediately sends me to my interviewer. She doesn't strike me as awful...just someone who has been thrown into a position where she has to struggle to maintain some image of awesomeness without having been given the tools to be awesome. Sounds a bit weird right? Okay let me make it a bit clearer.

This was one of the offices of an mnc (a mnc? That sound's weird because pronouncing M sounds like am which sounds like it starts with a vowel which makes it seem natural to say 'an' but do you write 'an' or 'a'?).

Back to point. This was the office of an mnc. I can't even say the usual interview questions were asked. She repeatedly badgered me about why would I want a job that isn't related to chemistry? Why did I choose this job? How did I come here today? (Read: do you possess your own transport?) And after like the first two times of proper, polite answers I really felt like telling her, "Lady did you forget you engaged the services of a recruitment agency and you're the one who sought me out, not the other way around?"

Anyway, next she gives me some no-brainer test. She's all like how some people don't know how to do these things and like as if it's so difficult to understand and so she has to see if I've got what it takes. She gives me a pile of papers and writes down on a blank sheet four things I'm supposed to find out from the stack of papers. When I look at it I feel like laughing.

1. What kinds of documents are these?

Swt. Lady, the answer is written at the top of at least the first page of every document. Are we testing me to see if I went to primary school?

2, 3 and 4 were similarly stupid questions whose answers were found also at least on the first page of every document and also on the cover of the folder. =.= See what I mean about no tools for awesomeness? Aren't these people usually provided with some kind of somewhat standardized test? Oh it gets better...

Of course, what interview at an mnc would be complete without some form of English assessment? What did I have to do? Write an essay about what I did that morning. Just to prove that my written English is as good as my spoken English and that I've got good grammar. Uh...that's why we were forced to take MUET (okay so I'm lazy and stingy and didn't want to take IELTS on top of that) and English papers in uni (She didn't even want to look at the results of these...come to think of it, I'm not sure if she's aware these exams exist.). I felt like writing something really mean, similar to the beginning of this post as my essay. But I behaved myself and saved that for now.

Pants!

Okay now I've finally figured out what they're called, these pants someone gave me awhile back. They're Aladdin pants! Okay don't laugh at me for being such a fashion dork. Flowy clothes aren't exactly something i normally give a crap about. I'm too short, and not in the petite-big dresses-make-me-look-super-cute way. Anyways for the longest time I couldn't figure out where on earth I could possibly wear these pants to. There was just so much fabric in the middle bit (indicated by the arrow I put on the pic) that I looked like I might be swallowed up by my pants...or like I could carry my little dog in there. Ah one of the few times I hate being short.

Then one day it occured to me that I should probably wear them as like a one piece

suit but didn't think I should try doing that in public for fear of looking like a complete idiot.

But then I saw someone who wasn't very tall or skinny either wearing them exactly that way yesterday. So I guess I can try it out! Yay :)

Or I guess wearing a top underneath wouldn't be such a bad idea either...especially for fat days! I'd totally look like it's just my puffy clothes and it's not that I've got a huge belly. *I hope*

But then again baby doll dresses totally backfired when I was having an awesome skinny day and wore one...and a lousy aunt asked me when my baby was due. WTF. And no she wasn't kidding. She really leaned in close and asked me so discreetly like she'd figured it out and wasn't sure if I wanted the rest of the family to know.

Got these pictures from http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/isara/item/ahb_252/

Another one crossed off my list

I woke up this morning ready to write a really long rant about people neglecting their pets. Then I got this call and that's all out the window for now. Right now I need to whine about how there doesn't seem to be an awesome...ok I'd settle for a decent... job out there for me.

I was so excited for like about 5 seconds when she introduced herself and which company she was from. "This is it! I'm being called for an interview!"

And then she says that they're not taking any graduates in my field for the position I applied for but would I like a 6 month job more related to my field at their plant in a far far away bit of the country? :(

No I don't.

Jobs at awesome companies with decent pay and benefits and terms...where oh where are you?

Puppies for adoption

A friend of mine has three puppies she needs to put up for adoption. They're really cute and friendly. I went over to see them the other day and they were so shy at first. I was with two other friends, and I think it was the first time so many strangers have come to see them at once. They kept wanting to run back into the house. But by the time we were about to leave, they were scrambling to try to come back out and didn't want us to leave! So cute!!!!!

I don't really have many details just that there are one male and two female puppies for adoption. They're a little over a month old now.

They won't grow very big, if the size of their mother is anything to go by.

My friend adopted their mother, which was a stray, to avoid her being killed.

They didn't know at the time that she was pregnant, though.

They've taken in dogs before and already have, I think, five dogs. So they can't afford to keep all the puppies.

If you're interested, or know of anyone who is, let me know!

But on a side note, please make sure you are able to care for a puppy and give it a good home before you take one in.

Dying without internet

It's been killing me that I haven't been able to sit comfortably and read and blog while travelling. Don't kid yourself. Doing these things on the phone just isn't as comfortable. I'd been looking forward to being able to do all these comfortably back home. But I came home only to find that my internet at home is a bit messed up. Ugh. Back to buying a drink to be able to sit and blog *almost* comfortably.

Who gives a crap about unifi if you can't get your regular broadband to be reliable?! =.=

Hotels

So, more about my stay in KL.

The first hotel I stayed at was the Corus hotel. As I mentioned in the earlier post, this is one of the drop-off points for Aeroline buses. Passengers will be dropped off or picked up at the bus stop out front.

The staff at the Corus were really friendly and helpful. I didn't have any trouble checking in or getting some directions or advice on how to get to the places I needed to go.

My room was clean and comfortable. A jug kettle and some instant coffee, green tea and tea were provided. Read the sign on the table carefully, thought. The mineral water is not complimentary, as they are in some hotels. Bathroom was comfortable. A toothbrush kit, shaving kit, sweing kt, shower cap, shower gel and shampoo were provided.

It was a really short walk to Avenue K where one can get across to KLCC without having to cross the busy street. I didn't take the LRT but yes it's easy to get to that, if necessary. There would be the one between Avenue K and KLCC, and about a 5 minute walk in the opposite direction would be the Ampang Park station. Food in the area isn't a problem. Along the walk to the Ampang Park station, there are several food outlets. I saw an Indian food place that looked really good...didn't have the time to try it, though. There's Old Town and McDonald's for the less adventurous.

I also stayed at the Boulevard. I didn't like this hotel as much. Most of the amenities were about the same as the previous hotel. My problem with this hotel was the lighting, though. For some strange reason, their placement always meant getting an uncomfortable glare in my eyes. The bathroom was nice, though. Unlike the Corus, this hotel had the bath and shower at separate ends of the bathroom, ie. no uncomfortable climbing in and out of the tub, trying not to slip, just to take a shower. However, this hotel does not have its own separate car park.

Travelling by bus

My first day of having absolutely nothing to do! :) Which probably means I'll be blogging more.

I spent most of last week in KL. The trip down was better than usual. This was my first time using Aeroline. It wasn't as great as I'd expected, but then again, I think I was expecting a little too much! The staff (there was only one guy doing all the running around) was really friendly and helpful. Upon getting on the bus, we get one bottle of mineral water. A little while later we got a packet of food: two slices of bread, a packet of jam and two slices of ham. I'm told the menu varies...some friends have told me they've gotten food from Subway or The Chicken Rice Shop before. I'm assuming that varies with the time of the trip, too. This was kind of like breakfast for us.

The same problems I have with most types of travel still persist: strong smells in enclosed spaces. Yet another reason I liked the food we got - no pungent smells. The onboard lounge wasn't as great as I expected. It was pretty cramped and would probably be cozy if everyone in there were your friends...but with strangers...not so great. But yes, it was definitely more comfortable than taking the regular bus. The fact that it only stops once and there's an onboard toilet really cuts down the travel time, thus reducing the amount of time I have to tolerate the constant motion and the smells in cramped spaces. A hot drink provided helped a bit. We had a choice of coffee, tea or Milo.

The movies shown were also much better than the usual morbid crap I've had to tolerate on previous trips by bus - the last time I went to Johor I had to watch (or rather, try to not watch) one of the Ong Bak movies. Another trip, I think to Melaka, it was 2012. Oh and lets not forget how I've ended up watching Bangkok Dangerous twice. On buses, of course.. and National Treasure, too. Hmm...Now I've just realised two things: Nicholas Cage seems to be a popular bus movie choice, and wow I've taken the bus quite a lot, eh? Sure, it makes me feel so much better watching all these movies when I'm already an anxious traveller. So yes, The Devil Wears Prada, some other comedy and several episodes of Grey's Anatomy were a pleasant change.

More about my stay in KL later I guess. Lazy liao.

Helloooo?

Okay, I'll admit it - I've been like this before. In fact I've been doing this a lot lately...being so busy I can't really remember anything that isn't immediately important to me. That means not really bothering about what anyone else is doing, even those closest to me. Sometimes not even paying attention to what they're saying to me.

Therefore, I know I shouldn't be annoyed..being on the receiving end. But it does annoy me just a wee bit when I talk, the other doesn't listen. Annoys me even more when I'm being asked something but the one asking doesn't even listen to my answer. Even worse when I've barely answered when I'm told ' gtg ttyl'.

I'm starting to think really sitting down and having a proper conversation without any interruptions or distractions really isn't that easy to do. Ah, Multitasking, you little pest.

Turnaround

Earlier this week I thought to myself, I'm becoming such a bore. What have I done all week? Go for intensive language classes. That's it. I was going to write that my job searching is at a standstill, too. But then I started looking again just before I wrote this. Wheee! Two more applications done. And they're for jobs I really really hope I'll get.

I had a bit of a knock on the head yesterday. Was so paranoid that I have a concussion. Thankfully, not, I think. But I did wake up with a sore throat. I've had that coming for awhile, especially having a week of spending long days in that intensive preparatory class.

Singing unnaturally close to my speaking voice (I'm a soprano...and no I'm not syok sendiri saying that...I've got certs to prove I can sing ok) at the karaoke with my friends on Friday didn't help. Neither did the fact that another friend who can usually sing was being super duper emo and was just screaming everything out, off key.

Not as easy as I thought

I still stand by what I said earlier in the week. Preparing this presentation is still better than studying for exams.

But it's definitely not as easy as I thought it would be.

Sure...I finished my first draft, fairly decently, in about an hour. And my supervisor didn't have all that much to criticism for it.

But now that I've done it up properly, I'm re-reading my presentation and tried it out once...I find a lot of questions I could probably ask as the lecturer evaluating me, and I wouldn't have a very good answer to it. Thing is these things aren't covered in my thesis either. And I got pretty good comments for my written thesis. Do I just suck or am I expecting too much of just an undergraduate thesis?

Finals 2 of 2

Gosh I'm nervous. I think I'm prepared, but there's always doubt. The only exams over which I don't have any doubts are...well there aren't any. I never used to be such a nervous test-taker. It just gets worse and worse every semester. Well hopefully this will be the last a-lot-at-stake exam I take in awhile.

I'm just worrying myself for no reason, right? I've read through everything...understand most of it, and can get a decent number of past year questions right without peeking at my textbook. I'm okay, right?

I can't wait for all this being cooped up, studying to be over. It's bringing out the worst in me. Turning into such a needy girlfriend. But it will be over soon. By this evening, I'LL BE FREE! Okay, not really. But at this point, preparing my thesis presentation sounds like so much fun compared to...this.

I'm being so good it hurts

I've been at home all weekend. Studying...Haven't been out and had fun in...awhile. Also not going out, having my bestie in a different time zone, and having a mild texting addiction = texting waaay too much with my man. I'm starting to think it is possible to run out of things to say. After all, what could you possibly have to say between me sitting at my desk trying to figure out Chemistry all day, and him finally having a lazy weekend?

Now I'm craving drinks and loud music.

One more week!!! And after that...intensive language classes before my external exam. Ugh. At this rate I'd really, really love to just take some time off before I start working.

Indulgent weekend

Make that half a week of indulgence. In this family birthdays = eating. And eat we did. Buffet at Traders was delicious! While I'm one who does not believe in stuffing myself at a buffet just because 'I've already paid for it', the food here was so good, I definitely did end up over eating. The number one thing I have to rave about is the apple crumble. It's unfortunate that over here, really good apple crumble is hard to come by. And when I had this one, I just had to go for seconds! Another thing to add on my list of things to do after exams: learn to make apple crumble. Of course the other thing to add to the list would be to work out. I can almost swear my belly has grown an inch. Didn't help that after watching this video Jo shared with me about how to measure your bra size, I measured myself again today...and discovered I've gone up a band size! And here I was so happy that I've lost weight. Sigh...why doesn't losing weight necessarily equal getting skinnier everywhere?

Image from http://happy-to-cook.blogspot.com/2011/03/apple-crumble.html

Finals 1 of 2

The first of my two final year final papers today. Confident? Of course not. Exam anxiety persists. But am I excited? You betcha! I've been getting all impatient and antsy just waiting for exams to be over. To feel like I can see a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel...just makes you want to run faster...okay then again, not. Today is the less worrying of the two papers. But after today, expect to hear less of me as I'll be the one attacking the huge pile of equations, papers and questions to prepare for the somewhat scarier paper next week.

Desperate? Or am I just being a snob?

A friend who's been single for awhile after she broke up with her long distance boyfriend whom she'd met because he'd been a friend of a friend, is now sort of seeing a new friend of a friend who's also not living in the same city as us. By sort of I mean I don't know if the two of them have even met in person. I think they'd only even met online because she'd just pretty much turned their common friend's Facebook friend list and photo albums into her personal classifieds section.

Anyways, now she's planning a vacation and he's invited. No, make that the dates and everything were pretty much planned with his and her convenience on highest priority. And if I wanted to go on the trip, too, it would involve a lot of rushing on my part. Which I didn't want. I want to go on a vacation to relax, not stress myself out. Anyways, nobody was particularly bothered about my not going until another girlfriend pulled out. And now they're trying to convince me to go on the trip, which as it turns out has been reduced to the girl, the guy she's after/with/I-don't-know-what-they're-doing, and their two common friends. Can anyone else see the words awkward and uncomfortable hiding behind that line? It's not really all that bad because I've been to school with all four of them at some point or other. But still...I get the feeling I'm being asked to reconsider not going just so she has a roommate to keep up any pretenses that erm...to pretend that um...oh hell you know.

Am I just being a relationship snob or is she seeming a tad desperate?

Mostly Meatless...and other things I've been up to

I read this article the other day about this movement for going meatless on Mondays for health and environmental reasons. This sounded like something I wouldn't mind trying to do...not so much for the same reasons, though. I just sometimes feel a little sick when I think about eating meat.

Thankfully it's study week. I finally have time, and am at home, to make my own lunch - a nice meatless lunch with very little oil. Oily food is yet another thing that I sometimes just need a break from. Yay. I should do this again next Monday.

Then there was the weekend. I think I had a pretty good sort of first attempt at scrapbooking, if I may say so myself. Gina's birthday was during the weekend and I made her this cute little scrapbook. And finally got to use the cute little gift envelopes I bought from Daiso.

A few of us took her out for dinner on Saturday night at Lolipot, this Shabu Shabu place near Queensbay. It was pretty nice, though my only complaint would be that we didn't get the round table. Instead we had to be split up into two booths. But that wasn't the shop's fault. Sometimes, you just can't trust others to do anything right...like make dinner reservations. But it was prety good. A tip for anyone going there, though: sit under one of the air conditioning vents. I saw this guy who was sitting in the middle area, far far away from any air conditioning vents...and he was seriously sweating!

Procrastinator? Not!

That's two applications done in one day. And it's not even lunchtime yet. Of course that just makes up for my slacking yesterday. But I'm making pretty decent headway with my list of companies to apply to. The best part was I found a job to apply for that might make me a planet-saving person after all! Yay!

One thing I've found that I have a hard time with in application forms: ranking your language abilities. I know exactly in which order the languages I speak would rank. But if your choices are only excellent, good, elementary and not applicable...By comparison, yes my English is excellent as opposed to my Mandarin. But is it actually excellent? No. But on a scale of excellent good and elementary, isn't excellent = good, and good = mediocre, and elementary = poor? Is it possible for me to be only mediocre at my first language? Wouldn't that imply poor communication skills?

This is where those close to me would tell me I'm starting to think too much.

Letting Go

I will learn to let it go. I just had a huge fight with an ignorant ass who likes to correct the shit out of everyone but finds it inconceivable that there may be something wrong with him, too. One who faults the speaker when he's the only one of all the people listening who misunderstands, and yet cannot accept that he doesn't always come across right either. One who yells at people to shut up and listen to him and let him finish his long-winded version of everything he says, but when people need to express themselves, they must allocate unlimited breaks for him to refute everything they've just said, even if it's just the speaker's opinions and feelings, which everyone is entitled to. How do you argue with one whose purpose in life is to do everything in spite of you? Well, I've had enough of it. Which of course pains me. Morality dictates that one should be accepting of others and carry out your obligations despite the receiver's ungratefulness or just plain obnoxiousness.

But after this fight, I felt the tightness in the left side of my back, the slight discomfort in my left arm. I think this is where I draw the line. No way I'll allow anybody to shorten my life, or reduce the quality of my life. I will not let an obnoxious ass slowly kill me.

This is it. This is the point where I say I couldn't give a shit anymore. He can do and say whatever he likes. It's his problem, his own karma. Fuck it.

Cocktail reception

I ask a question that I think makes me sound intelligent and inquisitive then proceed to listen to the answer. Sip. Yum...this wine is delicious. Gulp. "Mmm hmm yup absolutely. Yes I have a degree in Chemistry." Sip. It's getting stuffy here...I should have chosen a different table. Sip. "Yes, that's interesting," I say when I see him looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to comment on something he's just said about planning my career.

It's a bit of a relief when he walks away to go talk at some other student. My friends and I have a couple of bites of food...and then the next manager comes. She's nice and friendly, and after briefly asking SY and I about our interests, she proceeds to tell us about what her division does. I try not to flinch at the thought of spending my days figuring out how to kill mosquitoes, cockroaches and lizards while the lady from finance who's joined us tells us about the time she couldn't figure out why she had to approve money for buying lizards. Eww. We ask a question or two..and dam it's getting hot; another big gulp of the lovely chilled wine. And then as I try to pretend to care about what she's talking about, things start to go a little dark. I think I might faint. Have I really been drinking all that much? I excuse myself and head for the bathroom. The moment I step inside the air-conditioned hall from the patio, I feel a lot better. Once I get into the bathroom, I lock the door and sit down for a bit. Never have I been so happy to just not talk. And apparently I'm not as narcissistic as I thought...talking about myself over and over again does get tiresome.

The bunch of us weren't really crazy about the jobs we were being offered. In fact I think we were all pretty fuzzy about what exactly we were being offered. I wasn't there to ace an interview. I was there to hang out with my friends with some free food and good wine on a Saturday night. But that wasn't happening. These people were serious about talking to us. By the end of the evening, I'd been asked countless times what I study, where my interests lie, where I see myself in the future...I'd been given more advice than I could or even cared to process in one evening.

What I learnt? Work-related cocktail parties and schmoozing aren't as fun as they seem on TV. What else did I learn? Perhaps I shouldn't become an event planner or PR person if it means every party is work.

Stress Eating

I never thought I did it. Until I started writing my thesis. Then in retrospect, I think I've done it a lot over the years.

I almost never open junk food. Have some when someone's already opened a bag or a can, maybe. But I never open a fresh pack myself - to avoid getting started in the first place. But every time a particularly stressful deadline approaches, I find myself having a whole bag of chips or some other kind of junk food to myself.

Today was an insanely stressful day. I woke up in the middle of the night, worried for no apparent reason. I couldn't get back to sleep for awhile. When I finally got up again in the morning, I switched on my phone and found I had voicemail from my man. On it, he was talking to someone else -he'd pocket dialed me- and it sounded like he'd been in an accident. The good bit was he sounded fine. But all the same, it was distressful knowing he'd been in an accident. For the first time I'm really REALLY REALLY hating being so far away. All I can do is call him to know he's okay, listen, and worry for him. This sucks.

Then there was the interview. Okay, I'm not really crazy about getting this job, but no harm in trying to ace every interview I go to and have my pick of jobs, right? I liked my interviewer - she painted a very realistic yet promising picture of the job and how it would agree with my aspirations. By the end of the interview, with a clearer idea of what they were hiring me for (more about this company's somewhat messy recruitment procedures some other time), I kind of felt like this was something I wouldn't mind trying out.

And then there's the test tomorrow. Which I should be studying for. But I just can't seem to settle down and read. I'm still shaken by what happened this morning, despite my not being directly involved.

I went to the kitchen and opened a packet of twelve biscuits. I'd already munched three before I even got out of the kitchen. That's when I caught myself. This is totally me eating because I'm stressed out. I took out another three to bring with me to my desk and put the rest back into the box and left them safely in the kitchen. Yes, I shall put my laziness to some good use.

Incompetence

I just don't get it. Why can't people seem to get their act together?

There's this tournament hosted by another uni that I'm signing up my team for. I don't really give a crap anymore because I'm graduating, but yes, it's my job to register them. First they faxed over the registration forms to my uni. Which we filled and sent back like a month ago. Next, they have a facebook page, which didn't seem to have been updated since the last time they hosted a tournament 2 years ago. Then they sent out a post on a forum saying they've extended the registration period and finally gave a link to their website - which also looks like they've just finally started to update. There are multiple e-mail addresses to contact them by, two different ones stated on their website, another different one stated on their registration form. Oh and they pathetically only have 3 institutions listed on their Participating Institutions list, and no, my uni isn't one of them. =.=

Procrastination

It is now day 3 since I handed up my thesis. There's still 3 chapters to cover before my test next Friday, lots of grammar to get the hang of before my test on Monday, a resume to write, job applications to do, reports to write...and there something else I know I was supposed to do but I can't quite put my finger on it right now...oh right! Lab report due Tuesday.

What did I do today? Discussed current affairs with my friends over coffee, satisfied my noodle craving, and then went for a make up workshop.

What will I do after I write this? Take a nap.

How oh how will I get myself to go back to getting my work done?

Huge sigh of relief

Finally. After two consecutive Mondays of having to spend all day editing stuff just because my supervisor leaves things to the last minute, it's all finally done. My thesis has been submitted!

I've also found more reason to love me the way I am, even when some people consider me too pushy or anal. Because my supervisor had left everything to the last minute, she had 5 theses to look through on the day all our undergraduate theses were due. That's five really desperate people trying to get their theses approved before submission. Thank goodness my pushiness meant mine was getting read first. Which ultimately meant I was the only one of the five who actually handed it in on time. I'm so glad that's over.

To add to my relief, I've also finally turned down that job offer that I didn't really want but didn't quite know how to turn down either. No...I won't allow myself to settle for a company which... just hasn't made a very good impression..at all. But yes, I do realise that between wanting to graduate as soon as possible, and turning down this job, this blog might very well turn into one about my journey through joblessness for several months.

Choosing a Violin Teacher

I was recently asked to be part of a string quartet for an event at uni. It was to be a fairly standard and, if I may say so, boring piece : Canon in D. So cliche. But anyways, I went expecting a fairly standard rehearsal where we could just meet up once or twice before the performance, sort out whatever issues we have with getting all four parts together and that would be it. But when I got there, I found a cellist (the one who invited me) who couldn't seem to play in time (and that's an especially big problem for Canon in D), and two other violinists who just aren't at a level where they can easily play the piece. I actually felt pretty sorry for the two violinists. They've only been playing for a relatively short while and the cellist who got all of us together and picked the piece didn't seem to get it that she was just making them play something they couldn't realistically learn in such a short period of time. In the few days leading up to the rehearsal, where discussion on where and when it would be and stuff, I'd also found her demeanor to be somewhat unpleasant - the sort who wasn't into explaining anything properly. Just short clipped answers.
What bothered me most was when I asked the two volinists how long they'd been playing and they told me two years, the cellist pipes in that well so has she and now she's already got her Grade 5 and is teaching! While the fact that she learned much faster than the other two is pretty impressive, the thought that dominated was OMFG this girl is TEACHING?!
I just couldn't get over the fact that this somewhat unpleasant person with little ability or patience to help slightly weaker peers, who couldn't recognise when a piece was not of a level appropriate to their abilities and frankly, limited ability herself, was teaching! The worst part was when she found out I was teaching too, she basically said "Ooh can I take lessons from you? Now my boss wants me to take the Grade 8 exam." Wth?
So here's the thing. For anyone who's looking for a teacher, and especially parents who are looking for one for their young child, it's always important to take not of a few things:
First of all make sure your teacher is qualified! This may not necessarily mean paper qualifications although that's the easiest way to judge if your teacher is qualified. It would be best if he/she has a degree, although in some places that's pretty hard to come by. In that case a diploma such as the ATCL would also be good. Extensive experience performing or teaching may also be useful. Also make sure that the teacher is pleasant and is willing to explain or repeat stuff when your child can't get it the first time around.
I can't stress how often people neglect to consider these two very simple things when choosing a teacher. Most just go to the first teacher they find. And it's alarming how many people so readily send their kids to under-qualified teachers like this girl. You don't want to do this because as I already saw during our rehearsal, such limited musical ability and knowledge, coupled with an inability to recognize when others are struggling with a piece that just isn't the right level for them, means that you've got a teacher who doesn't know how to decide what repertoire to work on with the student and doesn't see what the problems faced by the student are. You'll want a teacher who knows how to correct mistakes instead of just blindly having the student repeat something until they hopefully stumble across the correct way to play.
Another worrying thing is how some parents also think that they can just settle for any teacher when their child starts learning to play a violin, and then plan to move to a better teacher if the child shows potential. While this makes sense in some ways, it's still important to find a teacher who is sufficiently capable of bringing out whatever potential your child has in the first place. Or at least, a teacher who isn't going to allow your child to develop bad playing habits that will be hard to undo later on. Unpleasant teachers may also just make your child hate the instrument or even music altogether.
Agh can't stand unethical people who teach even though they're not good enough to do so!

colossal.waste.of.my.time

I wonder if all interviews are like this. I'm guessing not. After all, if it's a job that lots of people want and the company is in a position to ask "Why should I pick you over the other [insert huge number here] people who are lining up outside the door?", I doubt the interview would go this way.
In the interview I went for the other day, it wasn't nearly this bad. It was for a sales job, which I'm not too keen on. But by the end of the interview, I actually had quite a bit of respect for the guy interviewing me. I could see why he was the boss. He'd done a good job of selling me that job!
But today, I went for another sales job interview. (Why on earth do these people keep calling me for sales jobs? Bear in mind, these are all happening at career fairs in my uni...I'm not really seeking these sales jobs out.) And really by the end of the interview, I just felt like telling the guy, "Thank you for that colossal waste of my time." It was a crummy job. With lousy benefits. The first annoying thing was that the person who called me up yesterday to ask me to go for the interview told me it was sales and marketing. Fair enough. I went today. The sleazy looking fellas at the fair couldn't be bothered to answer my questions, and just basically told me to sit down and fill in the form - which was pretty much a questionnaire. Then I had to follow one of them to the other exam hall where interviews were being conducted. I don't know if it's my ciak-ness or if he's just really desperate for employees or if he's just a pretty lousy salesperson. I ended up being the one asking the questions. And he ended up being the one with the less than satisfactory answers. And it wasn't even a sales and marketing job as in an actual sales and marketing job. It's the kind of job I'd put in the category of being an Avon lady or a Tupperware member and so forth. Fun if it isn't your only source of income...or you work so super hard at something that isn't particularly...chic. I can't think of a better word to describe it.

Woman on Top

I always knew it existed out there in the big, bad world. But being in a girls' school kind of shields you from it for the first 17 years of your life. Especially if you've got no brothers. When you're also already a minority in a school where the existing policies ensure there are fair opportunities for girls, it also didn't seem that apparent to me.
But now, for the first time ever, I'm starting to feel what it's like to be in a situation where, whether the people doing so realise it or not, I'm being given less respect due to my gender. It hasn't happened in awhile, I think - this having a woman at the top of the ladder in this particular society.
I'll admit that perhaps my leadership skills are not infallible. Of course there's room to grow. But it doesn't excuse blatant disregard for my say in decision making, not bothering to show up on time for meetings I organize but expect me to be early for the less important ones they do, treating me like I'm just someone to do their bidding for them. As much as I'm aware of my own shortcomings, I cannot help but be quite convinced that such behaviour is just misogyny. Why? Well, my predecessor was even more disagreeable to all of us than I am. Back when I was their equal, I was included in decision-making, and while there were already some vestiges of sexist behaviour, it was not so obvious. And as much as they disrespected and didn't like the previous guy, they didn't dare climb over his head, and act as if they were the ones who got to call the shots.
Such chauvinistic behaviours really outrage me. So many wrongs in the world I wish I could make right: animal abuse, child neglect, poverty, education...well this is on the list, too.
And the most frustrating part is I'm not too sure how to deal with it. And by deal with it I mean desiccate the stupid little sausage-ego-fest and pound them to dust.
On one hand, I could easily shrug and say "Well, you losers are still going to be here, while I've graduated and moved on. Happy screwing yourselves over with your shitty attitudes." But then, I realised this won't be the last time I'll encounter this. If anything, the next time I'm put in such a situation, the stakes would be a lot higher. So yes, I'm still thinking of ways to crush their little boy-egos.

In the meantime, some interesting stuff I found when googling this issue:
http://blog.monicaobrien.com/deal-with-sexism-in-the-workplace/
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/18/are-we-there-yet.html
http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/key-debates/sexism-in-the-workplace-returns-d18004.html

The confession

The Confession: The typical peak of a love story where one confesses their love for the other. To be used wisely at the appropriate point of the relationship.
In a Relationship: The relationship status used to indicate you are, in archaic terms, going steady.

In reality, people often misuse The Confession and the idea of being in a relationship. It was a strange realization I recently had. Someone asked me how many relationships I'd been in and how long each had lasted. Of all my high school misadventures, I realized, I had only one proper relationship. The other two who are often referred to as my exes by most people who had witnessed those relationships growing exponentially only to quickly crash and burn, I'd consider as people who had misused The Confession. The rest had even more grossly misused the confession and had just scared me right off.

Here's the thing about many people I see around me. Almost everybody seems to be looking for love. To draw a How I Met Your Mother analogy, they're all Teds and by comparison, I'm a friggin Barney! Incredulous? Yes, anyone reading this who knows me personally might have fallen off their chair and possibly died of asphyxiation because they can't stop laughing long enough to breathe.
So, it's a lovely world to be in, isn't it? There are no sluts/tramps/man-whores to be found anywhere and everybody wants to find a serious long-haul relationship. How sweet.
Not.

I know a girl whom everyone considers such a sweet innocent darling. Nobody could ever possibly even imagine her being anything but angelic. She's only just slept with everyone she's ever dated. And she hasn't gone long between relationships since she was 16. But of course she's sweet and innocent, she's only ever slept with guys she thinks she really loves and wants to marry and have kids and grow old with. And she only breaks up with them when they're no longer conveniently in the same place as her and therefore no longer conveniently available to satisfy any cravings.


Girl likes guy; gives him The Confession. Guy freaks out, says no. Then he realises he wants to get to know her. She's nice, and he kind of likes her. He's just not really all that sure he wants to be in a committed relationship. But to even just go out with her, it's going to take a counter-confession. And to make up for initially saying no, he throws in the L word for good measure. She freaks out and wants to run away.

This heartbreaker didn't mind getting to know guys who showed an interest. Didn't mind going on a date or two. When things go too far and you're not ready, you say no and you stop. She earned a reputation for being a tease and a flirt and is immortally known by friends of one of her exes (some of whom are now her close friends), as the girl who stomped on *insert his name here*'s heart.

So here's what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to judge anyone. Everyone's entitled to live their life according to their own ideals, moral standards and opinions. But let's be a bit more honest about the facts. People are overlooking the idea of a date. Just the thrill of being into someone and having that someone show interest in you, too. You go out to dinner, watch a movie, wonder if you should hold hands. You talk to each other and see each other, discover foibles and idiosyncrasies after which if you still find them endearing, might consider talking about editing your relationship status.

Why insist that you love someone you barely know and call yourselves a couple, even if you know you're not there yet? Why does the negative label to go the one who dares to say no instead of the one who really just likes getting busy but calls it something it's not.

Creepy

I hate to think that my outlook is anything but cosmopolitan. But there's this guy whose somewhat extreme 'chivalry' that creeps me out. At first all the foreign post graduate students in my lab seemed pretty unfriendly. But after a couple of months, I've gotten pretty used to them and most of them are pretty nice. But then just before the break last week, I met this other guy. He isn't from my lab but is buddies with one of those in my lab. He's kinda cute but hell creepy.

It started the last Friday before the break. I was alone in the lab. And suddenly this guy walks in to get some super pure water thingy that's dispensed in my lab. While I'm busy trying to take my samples at regular time intervals, he decides to introduce himself to me and keeps talking and talking about what he does at the school bla bla bla. He gives me his card and tells me to call him if I ever have any questions or need any help. Even asks to add me on Facebook, and of course I tell him I"ll add him since he's given me his card. Here's this postgraduate fella trying to be nice and helpful to undergrads. Who am I to burn that bridge? But this was definitely making me feel a bit crowded. He even kept talking while I was trying to concentrate on my experiment. Anyways after a little while he leaves. And I thought I was finally rid of him.

I was. Until about 2 hours later. I'd just finished my analysis in the instrument room and was on my way back to the lab when who should walk out of one of the doorways just around the corner? Him!!! Agh! It's 5pm on the last day before a break. There's no one else around and I'm stuck with him! He follows me all the way to the lab, talking talking talking... saying stuff like "You're still here! You shouldn't be working. Your lecturer should. Pretty girl like you shouldn't be working so hard." Ick. Then as I'm cleaning up he stands there watching me, talking, asking me about myself. Urgh!!! At one point I actually said he didn't have to wait for me. But he did. So I quickly dumped everything into my locker without washing and wanted to get out of there as quick as possible. He waited until I was done, turned off the lights and all and locked the door for me. While it can be interpreted as just niceness...it was just damn creepy. He even walked me all the way downstairs. *shudder*

The other day he came in while another male friend was with me in the lab. He didn't say a word to me. But the next day when I was alone, he proceeded to talk to me again even when it was apparent that I was really damn busy with my experiment. This time I knew better. I made as little eye contact as possible and gave really short distracted answers.

I know in some ways I sound like I'm unappreciative of gentlemanly behaviour. But really, you just had to be there to get what I mean.

Reunions

The kind with your ex-schoomates. Redundant. Pointless. Sometimes pretty annoying and even awkward.

I think I've written about my very blah relationship with my friends from secondary school (technically, they're also my friends from primary school). Most times I assumed that they'd also felt the same way about me, since I've hardly seen or heard from them since I changed schools in high school.

But then I just had to go and do that lunch a couple of months ago. Then there was that weird afternoon with my friend who'd moved to New Zealand. And now suddenly I'm personally being tagged in multiple Facebook posts to meet up. I just don't get it. The ones I DID meet up with were the ones I'd always been pretty okay with and wouldn't mind hanging out with from time to time. The ones who are hounding me now are the ones who never seemed to like me all that much and I felt most uncomfortable around.

In addition to the multiple post-tagging, some have even resorted to texting. Here's one I got at 7.30 this morning [7.30 THIS MORNING! First reminder why I'm no longer that close to this person lol].

"Hi! Is this Penelope? We're having a gathering today at ******. U probably were too busy to come on fb so I thought I'd let u know by sms too."

1. If you're not sure if this is my number, I probably don't know who the heck you are either. At least identify yourself!

2. No I'm not too busy, as you can see from the many other posts I've commented on in the past 12 hours (oh maybe not..I think I restricted your access after the last time you posted some lame pseudo-deep thing on my wall). I just couldn't be bothered to participate in that thread of mindless and insincere 'I miss yous' all round.

3. For the 5 years that I wasn't included, nobody bothered to text me...why start interrupting my sleep now?

Don't get me wrong. I don't feel any bitterness or anger or anything negative towards these people. I just never really fit in well with them and didn't mind leaving them behind. Changing schools, though for other reasons, was the best social decision I've ever made. I'd never felt more at home with these people than the friends I made after changing schools. Besides, clearly for a long while none of them felt compelled to keep whatever relationships we had out of a coma anyway. Initially when we'd all just left school for a year or two, I did meet up with them a couple of times. Everyone else was still so close and basically I felt like the only person who didn't know what was going on. It got to a point where it was just a bit pointless to even pretend to still be friends. The annoying 7.30 am girl tried. She was into some lame (and somewhat creepy) guy at my new school. She and I were close enough to be able to go out to dinner just the two of us. But then one night when I'd been prepared for a girls night out, she brought this guy along. She was picking me up, so not only did she bring this guy along, she brought this creep to my house! Later she suggested we hang out and talk some more at my house. Except that when she got there she was afraid of my cute little dog and insisted I tie him up! That was the last straw.

Sorry, girls. You lot just aren't important enough for me to make time for you right now. Maybe sometime when I'm so bored I've got nothing better to do.