Updated: Thomas List

Yeah yeah… it was a long and boring day at work. For want of something better to do and to make those Christmas shopping easier for you, I’ve made a list of Thomas & Friends, indicating the toys that Shane has and … want! I’ve already forewarned his grandaunt, that Thomas toys ain’t the thing to start us with. I’m a sucker when it comes to toys collection, and will not rest until I’ve completed the set. And you know just how expensive Thomas toys are and how broke I’d be at the end of the Thomas spree. So, get the hint and help me with the collection. Remember, don’t overlap! Check the list first!!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha….

Really, I’m not a monster. See…

You Are 42% Evil

You are evil, but you haven’t yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though – you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

I’m not a monster!!!

I’ve been wanting to blog about this issue some 9 months ago. As always, been lazy…. so finally, last night, I made the effort to dig the picture out and here it is.

Some 9 mths back, I made a call to Domino’s to order a pizza for one of those rainy evenings. As it was my first time calling take out, I had to give them my details, e.g. phone number, address, name. The lady over the phone spoke good English; fluent and confident. When I gave her my name, I was extra careful as I know just how often it has been misspelt or mispronounced. However, I took for granted that since her English “sounded” impeccable, I assumed her spelling was OK too. So I gave her my name in a clear tone. She repeated it and it was fine.

When the pizzas arrived, everything was in order. We paid and the delivery guy left. We chomped down, and half way through the meal, I glanced at the box and out of habit, started reading the order slip… and I almost choked on my pizza….

Note: Not a great Order ID even… but I forgive her. It was Shrek season after all.

it’s been 2 months…

wow, i’ve almost forgotten about the blog. guess I really couldn’t maintain one actively. lazy bum like me… rather be on scrabulous than wordpress! i think the hubby is worst. can’t remember the last time he wrote something interesting on his blog, other than picture update news. which doesn’t count as an actual posting. ok, i’m rambling. i’m knocking off work in 3 minutes… here’s a little something of my son. latest pix. he loves slide now… darn, why is the pix so pixelized?

Am I know the only one…

1. who thinks that the main reason why we have kids are not for “insurance” purposes? 
2. who thinks that treating a dog better than a baby is a sin?

This came about when I was listening to a colleague (let’s call her J) rant about her dog’s birthday cake. How she ordered it from Singapore and specifically asking for vanilla flavor, then had to hand carry it back for him, to only discover that it was a wrong design and WORST, wrong flavor!! Oh the greatest of all crimes, the cake was strawberry flavored and the dog HATES fruit-based cakes. He’s a vanilla dog! The dog licked up the cream and spat out the strawberry cake.

J naturally went ballistic! Who dares treat her dog this way? She promptly called up the bakery, complaint about it to the owner, and managed to get a refund. Last I heard, she’s getting her dog a replacement cake to make up for his terrible experience and ruining his “birthday celebration”.

OK, I may have inserted too much sarcasm into that last paragraph, but that’s the story in totality. Naturally, I got a bit irked and could not resist throwing in a punch or two at her. I said, “Honestly, I feel it’s a sin to treat a dog better than a baby”. Why I said this was because this same Ms. J has told me many times that…

1. Babies should not be spoilt or treated so nicely 
2. Dogs must be treated better because they cannot fend for themselves (and babies could? duh!)
3. Dogs should be treated well because her dog saved her life before (and she added, “I doubt my child would ever give his/her life to save me, so why should I treat him/her as well as I treat my dog?)
4. Babies should be treated like animals so that they will grow up tough
5. The reason why we have kids is to have insurance for ourselves when we grow old, if not, what’s the point of having kids (she added)? Oh, and she thinks I must be the 0.01% of the world’s population who thinks that kids are not our insurance policies. For me, we are parents, it’s our responsibility to take care of our children. In the same way, when my son becomes a parent, it will be his responsibility to take care of his children and so forth. So when we look backwards, it is also our parents responsibility to care of us. Not merely give birth to us so that we will grow up, work, and give them money when they no longer work. I mean, I’m not saying I’m opposed to the idea of caring for the elders, of course not. My parents brought me up well to know that I’m to respect and care for them. But as a parent, it should NOT be their expectations. If my son grows up and does not make a lot for a living, I will understand and not pressure him to give me money from his meagre salary. If I’ve a major illness that will not heal without a lot of money, hell, I’ll go in peace rather than lay any burdens on my children.
6. When I’m old (she claims), my kid must take care of me and give me money and not throw me in an old folks’ home (I’ve got nothing against that, but that should not be the main reason why you have kids)
7. Kids can just wear pasar malam clothes (but dogs can have nice expensive items?)
8. The elders come first, kids next (this is in response to a question I threw her: I asked her, if you only have enough money to feed your baby for that particular month, who would you give that money to? Your mother or your baby? Who would you feed first? Without even thinking, she said “my mother”). Naturally, I was upset with that answer. How could anyone consider the mother before her own baby? Perhaps I’m selfish, because the only person that matters to me is my son. And if my mother is a good grandmother, she would ask me to feed my son first before her.  

But she doesn’t understand. Ms J is born with a silver spoon. I certainly don’t see her parents treating her like a dog, or buying her pasar malam clothes. She’s got the best of everything, so much so that I find her sadly spoilt, childish, and immature. It takes a certain kind of people to like her and accept her as a friend. I’ve known her for 2.5 years. Most times, I’ve tolerated her as I view her as a little girl. But this little girl is getting married in a matter of months, and she’s already at loose ends with the future sister in law and her idea of marriage is “as long as the guy is good to me and don’t whack me around, that’s all that matters”. Perhaps I’m a hopeless romantic, but where is love? I don’t hear it anywhere… definitely not when you go on dates and bring your mother along!

While I can only rant about her, at the end of the day, I know it’s all her decision. It’s getting difficult to maintain the friendship… but I’ve got to give it to her, she is a very good natured person and doesn’t hold grudges with her friends. She can sleep over it and by the next day, everything is the same again. Perhaps that’s why we debate over issues like these all the time. But for the sake of her kids, I hope she’s only saying all these NOW coz she’s not a parent yet. I’ve got a funny feeling when she’s a mother one day, her kids will be spoilt rotten… haha… I will see and hope to see that day!

Heavy diaper contest

If there was a competition for the heaviest diaper category, my son would win hands down. After 16.5 months, I finally found the winner to the heaviest diaper! On Saturday morning, my son woke up crying after having wet his bed, pillow, and blanket thoroughly. I took off his diapers, and I could swear it is alive! Sealed up the heavy thing, put it on the weighing scale and boy! It was 620 grams!!! WE HAVE A WINNER! (and this not counting those that went to the bed, pillow, and blanket).

I tell you, if I’ve taken a sharp object and poke a hole in the diaper, the “water” would gush out and drown me. I was tempted to take a picture of it and load it up, but I guess I shouldn’t gross you out.

Same ol’ tree with an ABC touch!

 

This will be the 3rd time “celebrating” Christmas at KLCC. What I meant is… I’ve been working at the Twin Towers for quite a while, and this will be the third time seeing all the Christmas decorations going up at KLCC in December. And for the 3rd time, the center court is dwarfed by the gigantic Christmas tree that has become the trademark of KLCC Christmas decor. Yawn… the only thing that changes are the baubles, tinsels, bells, and the choice of colors for the theme of a particular year.

This year is as before. Same ol’ tree, same ol’ boring look. To make it different, there are actually “snow” at the top of the tree… for that white snowy feel I supposed. But really, it doesn’t have that feel at all!!! Actually it looked more like our “traditional” ice kacang with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Now, that’s a Malaysian Christmas tree for you!

restrain and refrain… from isetan

Today is ANOTHER Isetan sale — with lots of goodies and discounts for members. I went with a few things in mind; 1) a pair of shorts for my son, 2) a Mega Bloks set, 3) anything else.

I headed straight to the toys department, saw the Mega Bloks but didn’t have the design I wanted. I wanted the excavator set, but they only have the dump truck. But at RM29.90 for a set… it was hard to resist. I carried the box with me for a while. Then I saw some sing-along hardcover books. Very cute and the book reads to the kid, that’s pretty good for lazy-me who finds reading to a kid a waste of time. Then I saw a pair of shorts, rather nice corduroys, at 30% discount. Next I picked up was a really cute t-shirt… tot of buying it for Eleena.

Then I saw the queue at the cashier counter — and decided to switch on my “practical” mode.

Ok.

No 1 – Dump truck. Does Shane need it? I reckon no, and I don’t want him to eat the small pieces anyway. I put it back on the shelves.

No 2 – Corduroys shorts. Is it really cheap at 30% discount? (Mental calculation at work). Nah, still RM50++ after discount. I put it back on the rack.

No 3 – Cute t-shirt. It’s really worth the price, but the queue was long and I’m only buying one item?

Summary: It’s either I buy everything to make the queue-time worth it, OR I throw everything back and just get lunch.

Conclusion: I left everything, bought lunch, and went back to the office.

Verdict: Very proud of myself. Wallet still looks reasonably padded. Isetan didn’t manage to get much off me this time! (I bought lunch from Isetan though, but that’s a different story).

Conclusion to the conclusion: Nothing is irresistible. KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT!

(Real story behind it: I just went to the Metro Jaya sale a few days back; kinda emptied my wallet there. Explains the sudden refrain and restrain).

Maxis, retrain your staff!!!

Oh, I’m super pissed at Maxis right about now. I got a call from one of their guys, Alex, asking for my feedback on their line and services. It was a perfectly routine call that ended up with me finding out that I’m on the “wrong plan”. He randomly mentioned, so… you are on Package 75. I pounced on that immediately.

“What Package 75?” I asked him.

I distinctly remembered asking for my line to be changed to the Family Plus Plan. At the beginning of October, hubby told me that Maxis now have a Value 50 plan. I thought, since we are not using our phones that much, why not just pay 50 bux a month instead of 75 bux? So I told him to call up to get more info. Hubby called up and was told by Maxis customer service that Family Plus 50 is more suitable for us. I asked hubby, what’s the difference? Hubby, as usual, did not get all the information. He said something rather vague and told me to call up Maxis myself to double check.

I called up Maxis a few days later. About the 9th of October, I called up Maxis and enquired about the differences between Family Plus 50 and Value 50. I was told that Family Plus 50 has free SMS and a certain number of hours of free calls between the principal and supplementary line. But both also charges 50 bux per month. In NO WAY I was informed that the Family Plus 50 is only applicable to the supp line. In fact, I remembered clearly, asking the customer service this, “Does this mean I only pay RM100 per month for both lines?” He said “yes”. So I said great, can I change the plan now? He said no, it is better to call up on the day just before my billing date to change it, and that my husband should make the call cause he is the so-called principal line.

On 13th Oct, I reminded hubby to call to change the line. Again we ask, “So this is 100 bux only right?” Again, we got the confirmation.

And now, after 1 month, I was told that I am STILL on Package 75, and that my hubby is on Family Plus 50. I’m like WTF!!!?!??! Apparently, this is not applicable to principal line and (in tiny fine print on their website), it says it’s for supp line only. But how come I wasn’t informed of it when I asked for my plan to be changed? I specifically say, ”OK, pls change both our lines to Family Plus 50″. Surely someone should have told me that my comprehension of the plan is incorrect. But no, they let me think that I’m only paying 100 bux at the end of the next billing date.

So I’m getting my bill tomorrow. We shall see how….

I asked the customer service fella, “So, do I have to pay for your mistake?”

And as with all customer service personnel — “you can go to our Maxis center to file a complain”. Yeah, easy as that. Damn Maxis. Maybe it’s time to look at Digi. Sheesh….

Damn Facebook, damn Scrabulous!

I’m hooked on Facebook, not coz I am eager to find all my long lost friends. I mean, I’ve been really amazed at how many old friends I’ve hooked up with since I got myself a facebook account. Friends I thought were lost forever suddenly popped up from nowhere and added me to their list. It feels great to find friends that went to kindergarten with you. Then you see their pictures, find out their locations, and realized that time has passed us by… they have kids, spouse, careers, a life! Can’t imagine some of them with kids though. Hehe, then again, they can’t imagine me with a kid either.

But most of my time spent on facebook is no thanks to Scrabulous. I think I have like 8 games running at any one time. And the annoying part is, I kept on losing!!! How the heck do you form words when it’s not even found in the English dictionary? Damn Raveena, she kept on beating me with those 7-letter words that sounded plain gibberish to me. Hell, how did she even know she can form words that sounds foreign? Out of a handful of games with her, think I’ve only beaten her once. Geram betul, I tell you.

So anyone game for a game of Scrabulous? Look me up on Facebook yeah? You start!