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!

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….

Isetan sale – The queue was horrendous!

I love Isetan sales, especially the anniversary ones. However, after having experienced it 3 times over 3 years, I think it’s time that Isetan do something about their payment counters. It took me only 15 minutes to grab the things I want and head over to the cashier counters. I did not particularly survey which is the better one, instead, I headed towards the nearest one where there are about 8 people in front of me.

As I was standing near to the Thomas & Friends toys, I was busy admiring the toys before I realized that 10 minutes have passed and I have not moved an inch. Slightly agitated, I waited another 10 minutes and managed to move 2 steps forward. After 30 minutes, there are 4 more people in front of me. What the hell is the cashier doing? 30 freaking minutes to ring in the purchases of 4 customers???? My gawd!!! By the time it reaches my turn, my watch says “You sucker! You’ve waited a good 40 minutes for nothing, and your stomach is growling!” Yeah, darn right.

I plunk the entire FOUR items that I have been carrying for the past 40 minutes; albeit a bit awkward coz there are 3 boxes and a pair of corduroy pants and I think my arms fell asleep somewhere after the 25th minute. The assistant cashier picked up the pair of pants and tore off the price tag and put it on the small plate next to the cashier. This is the norm as it helps to speed things up considerably for the cashier whose job is just to ring up the items. However, the irritating cashier, for only God knows why, absentmindedly picked up the price tag and put it on top of the cash register. And before anyone noticed what she did with the tag, it was gone from the cash register. She scolded the assistant for “not” having given her the price tag, in which I retorted, saying that it was her who took it and put it on top of the cash register. So where the heck did she throw it? She refused to acknowledge it even, and proceeded to open the plastic bag to dig out the pair of pants to look for the price tag. Again, I told her, it’s NOT THERE, damnit!!! Stop fiddling with the bags and just look for the damn tag that you’ve just thrown away. It can’t have gone far right? Probably just on top of the dustbin. She refused to look further, but proceeded to take the pair of pants and walk to the bargain bin (at the furthest ends of the corner) to get the item code. To make matters worst, she grabbed my credit card with her. And boy, was she gone for a good long minutes. Other customers were getting agitated by then, and I don’t blame them. After 45 minutes and counting, anyone would be annoyed.

Finally, she came back with the item code and phew! She was still holding on to my credit card. I was worried she would discard it just like she did to the price tag. And in 2 minutes, I was out there – sweating, flustered, and hungry!

urgh! disgusting!

my gawd, I thought I’ve eaten bad mee hoon before, but nothing beats this!!! it tastes like the mee hoon was soaked in hot water for a short period of time, then taken out, mixed with very little chili and some spring onions. It’s orangey in color, which means… not even dark soy sauce was used. I think the reddish color came from the chili and nothing additional. In fact, I think the idiot forgot to put salt even!!!! Ended up, I felt like I’m eating dry mee hoon with chili. Not much different from having mee hoon dipped in plain water. The location? Kelana Jaya LRT station. The proprietor is a guy.

working up a juice…

I’m an avid fan of juiceworks (together with the hubby) and cannot resist a large one whenever I see an outlet (namely 20 large drinks in 5 weeks). I frequent juiceworks at all the available branches and have no complains about the staff or the quality of the juice.

Today, I’m at the KLCC outlet, introducing the Carribean Cocktail to a friend. The bill was RM7.88 each. I paid with a RM10 note. And I got back RM2.10. I hate companies that “tax” the customers by giving them back a few cents less just coz it is a 1 cent coin. I mean, at this rate juiceworks is going, their tip box will be quite full in a short while.

My friend ordered the same drink and paid RM10.93. Don’t ask me why, but women are calculative. She probably wanted to get rid of her 1 cents and get a 5 cent back instead. But anyway, her change was RM3, instead of RM3.05. Thing is, I’ve never had this problem with any juiceworks outlet before. I always get my change back, in full. If the KLCC branch does not want to spare 1 cents, then absorb the govt tax. What are they thinking? Visitors to KLCC are extra rich is it? Sucker tourists, they think!!

Already slightly irked by this, we waited for our drinks. When it came, it wasn’t even full. Perhaps this was an oversight on my part to expect all my large drinks to be filled to the brim instead of just to the line on the cup. I didn’t even know there was a LINE on the cup to indicate the quantity. But after 22 drinks in a few short weeks, I’ve come to expect a nice full cup. Every outlet has given me a full cup. My view of a full cup is when the cover is actually messed up when the staff closed the lid. When I questioned the staff regarding the quantity, I was told and I quote: “You only paid until this line” (showing me the line on the cup). I was annoyed not at the mere 2 cents. And I was annoyed not because my cup isn’t filled to the brim. I was annoyed because the 2 cents is a matter of principles, and I’m annoyed because the staff was not trained to handle customer’s inquiries in a polite manner. So, if I top up another 8 cents (granted they are keeping my 2 cents) totalling a nice 10 cents, would I get enough juice to fill the cup?

Bah… the lid is so clean I could have given it back to them to recycle for the next customer. And, anyone who knows me would know that this is what I would do – next. I happily surfed to juiceworks.com.my and dropped off a nice “complain” e-mail. Let’s see what they have to say about this!

Man, I’m so kiasu… and I enjoy it! Oh, that reminds me… time to file a complain against Logitech as well, but that’s another story!

the nanny from hell…

After so many months of crap from one old lady (namely the nanny to my son), I’ve decided to compile a list of all her quirks and you can tell me if I’m being the fussy me, or my nanny is really from hell! Granted, some of the mistakes are pure mistakes due to her inexperience, but nonetheless, it irks me very much! It is probably her attitude and refusal to admit her mistakes. Also, she is a very forgetful person!

This is one proud and very defensive lady who can’t wait to take a jab at me and my skills as a mother. She tries to insinuate that my son prefers the father because I’m a lousy mother who doesn’t care for her son (I do! I wake up 4 – 7 times a night caring for him), play with him (I do, we love to dance together, and I sing to him), or change his diapers (I do; till now, the father still can’t change a poop-filled diaper).

She is also trying her best to let me know that I’m fussy and that she rather deal with my hubby than me. I’m fine with that, really. Just care for my son. Anything else, I really don’t mind. Insinuate all you want, I’ve nothing to lose. But when it comes to #$%^ things up and messing Shane’s routine, that’s when it hits my boiling point!

1. She does not listen! What goes in on the right, comes out on the left without having passed through her brains for processing.
2. On the 1st day, I gave her two bottles. One is Shane’s Top-To-Toe bath soap. The other is the bottle cleanser; aptly named so for its purpose is to clean his milk bottles/teats. I took the bottles to her, and showed her the difference. Come bath time, I saw her using the bottle cleanser to wash Shane’s hair. She thought it was a bottle of shampoo. At that time, Shane was only 4 weeks old. To me, that was a really bad sign…
3. The first day he came home from the nanny’s house, Shane had ciggie smell on his clothes. I brushed it off, thinking I was just being paranoid. Later, I found out that at least 4 people in the family smokes – in the house! That was a different story from what she told me during the interview… “ooh, we’re a non-smoking family!” (my foot!!!) 
4. The first time she used disposable diapers, the diapers slide halfway down Shane’s butt. It was not fastened correctly. Oh wait, she fastened it the other way around. You know, when fastening diapers, the sticky part comes to the front. My wonderful nanny seals it the other way around, sticky part goes to the back. No wonder my son was wearing his diapers around his knees!
5. Refusing to wash Shane’s clothes with baby-friendly detergent. Insist on merely using softener. I told her, softener does not clean clothes and the chemical may not be good for babies. She nodded. I still smell Downy in his clothes. But really, Downy is great at blocking out the ciggie smell from his clothes.
6. Returning the potty to me, telling me it’s too troublesome to clean up after him.
7. Shane was sick once. I gave her his medicine and told her, you feed him twice. Once in the morning, and once in the mid-afternoon. I’ll feed the 3rd time when it’s time to put him to bed at night. She nodded. When I picked Shane up, she said, “I think you better not feed him medicine tonite.” Naturally, I asked why. And she replied, “That’s because I cannot remember how many times I’ve fed him his meds today.” I flipped! This is no joke, this is medicine for a 4 month old baby (then) and you cannot remember if you’ve fed him or how many times you’ve fed him? I dare not even ask her if she got the quantity correct. I might pop a vein.
8. Melted two Avent bottles – and burning the pot that was used to boil Shane’s bottles.
9. Losing Shane’s romper and insisted that she has given it back to me. Mind you, it was a Mothercare romper; gift from Hazel.
10. Losing Shane’s Lamaze toy lion and again insisted that she has returned it to me (30th May – she finally found it!!!).
11. Shane has been using Avent’s Size 4 teats for a few months now. I gave her a box of brand new Size 4 teats a few months ago. She insisted I never gave it to her. When I persisted, she said she has the box to the Size 4 teats, but the teats inside is Size 3. I’m wondering, would Avent make a mistake like that?
12. When I told her that would be quite impossible, she told me she threw away all the teats. *smack forehead* Even though Shane has outgrown some of them, yet many are still in brand new condition. At least give it away? Duh!
13. I provide fresh ingredients for Shane’s daily meals since he started on solids. I wanted to instruct her on what or how to feed him. She brushed me away by saying, “You don’t have to teach me, I’ll know what to do”. Fine, I thought!  
14. One week later, I casually asked her what she’s feeding him – and realized she got it all wrong. I told her to boil porridge for Shane with 1 portion of fish and one type of vegetable PER meal. She nodded. Shane now gets 1 portion of fish (no veg) with his porridge OR 1 type of veg (no fish) with the porridge. I thought I told her to give both meat and veg together… not either or.
15. Then I told her again. No.. no! Not “either or”. Instead, I told her, you must feed Shane this like per day consisting of 2 meals:
    Correct for two meals
    2 pieces of fish + 1 type of veg + Porridge = Healthy nutritious meal.
    Incorrect for two meals
    1 piece of fish + 1 type of veg + Porridge = 1 piece of fish is missing!
    She nodded in agreement.
16. 2 months later, she told me that 1 piece of fish is not enough to feed Shane for the day. I’m like… what?? Of course it’s not enough. 1 piece of fish is only for 1 meal, not 2 meals. And she triumphantly told me that she is giving him 2 pieces of fish per day. HUH? Wasn’t that my original instruction?
17. As with the norm, on Monday mornings, I will bring over all the fresh ingredients for the week. I told her, please feed him the leafy vegs first, since those tend to spoil fast and can’t really maintain its freshness throughout the week. Food items like potatoes and carrots are ok to be fed later in the week. 
    On Thursday, I asked, ”Have you fed him the carrots?”
    She said, “Yes, of course! On Monday. Potatoes on Tuesday.”
    And I said, “What? Then what are you feeding him now?”
    She said, “The green leafy veg.”
    I said, “But I told you to feed him the leafy veg first, since it has probably lost its freshness by now.”
    She brushed me off again with a “NAHHHHH it’s fineeeeee!” attitude.
18. Later, she said Shane hates green leafy vegetables in his porridge. Since he hates it, let’s just stop feeding him porridge. Only give him plain rice cereal. My poor son now gets only carbs in his meals; no protein, no vitamins!
19. She takes the next day off with only a moment’s notice. If she wants to be off tomorrow, she’ll tell me the evening before.
20. She told me her wrist and shoulders are hurting. It’ll take a month to heal. Minimum 1 week. Go take leave and take care of your son. She needs to rest her shoulders and wrist. Just like that! I’m running helter skelter looking for help now. This is ridiculous! At least, help me think of a solution. But nope, she just asked, “Do you want to take the blender home?” She probably thought I’m working for my father!
21. Using bottle cleanser to wash clothes.
22. Shane was constipated once. She told me to give him laxative. I’m a bit worried of her decision.

So, to date, that’s all I can remember. If any of my friends can remember some of my previous rantings, please let me know. I’ll include it here. I’m looking for a replacement, definitely I am. But it is not easy. If you know of anyone willing to care for a really fun and sociable kid, let me know.

A&W Fish Burger – blech!

OMG! This is like the WORST fish burger I’ve ever tasted – EVER! and I’ll say EVER again! Horrendous and disgusting, it tasted like the fish was left out in the open far too long before being stepped on by the kitchen help then picked up and thrown into the fryer. It was dry around the corners and has an oily smell/taste. The lettuce was dying around the edges and the cheese was barely there. Err, was there cheese in my burger? As I was halfway through the burger, some semblance of tartar sauce or mayo oozed out and my bad experience intensified with the taste of something truly horrible. Sweet tasting tartar sauce… I tot tartar is supposed to taste sourish for a refreshing taste. It was not merely sweet, it was a sickly sweet taste. What? Unless they left the bottle of tartar sauce out in the open too long, or someone dropped it on the floor and was scooped up again onto my burger, there is certainly no forgiveness for such vile tasting food. Next time, just stick to the Mozza burger or Coney Dog. URGH! Cho Seung-Hui must have had that damn burger for breakfast before he snapped at Virginia Tech. Can you blame him? Blechhhhh….

“see hum” withdrawal symptoms

Man, there is nothing I love more than “see hum” (cockles/kerang). I had to go without any the whole of last year due to my pregnancy. I had no cravings whatsoever during the pregnancy, but I do crave for see hum. Every time I see someone eating it and I know I can’t, it drives me crazy. Now that my little monster is almost 9 months old, I have begun binging on see hum again. I take it like 3 times a week!!! And nope, I’m not worried about hepatitis because I’ve antibodies that can ward off any crap that comes with the see hum.

Recently, in a matter of 2 weeks, a colleague’s mom died from breast cancer. Another colleague seated next to me has been diagnosed with breast cancer too. And worst, another colleague seated like 5 feet away from me has the same illness. When chatting with them, all three of them said the same thing… “watch your diet, be careful with what you eat”.

Suddenly, I get nightmares about see hum. I can see it swirling around me, attacking me, giving that evil laugh…!! Is that “thing” safe to be consumed? I mean, hasn’t there been a lot of rumours and talks about the dangers of overdosing oneself with see hum? I don’t know the effects of it, but I don’t want to wake up one morning and find that I have cancer or anything of that sort. Will hepatitis be the only ailment I will get from too much see hum? Or will I get something else like cancer? I know, I’m ignorant when it comes to things like that. I mean, just half a year ago, I didn’t believe in insurance. Now, I’m padded with it. So touch wood, if ever I contract one of those major illnesses, my family will survive fine.

So, I take a pledge to cut down on my consumption of see hum. I’ve not had any for the last 10 days. It was tough. Each morning, on my way to work, I would pass by the pakcik’s nasi lemak stall. This pakcik cooks up a mouth-watering, lip-smacking see hum dish. You know, for a moment, I wanted to say mouth-watering, to-die-for see hum, and then I realized, no see hum is worth dying for. But it was tough. Tough to say NO when pakcik asks me what I want for breakfast. Yesterday was worst! I bumped into a fellow colleague on the LRT and she was holding a pack of pakcik’s wonderful nasi lemak… tambah kerang! I stared at her pack longingly and told her of my pledge to cut down on see hum. She laughed at me naturally. As we were about to reach KLCC, she looked at me and offered to exchange breakfast with me.

“Here, take my nasi lemak!”

I stared at her for the longest time and then I said, “No thanks. I’ve survived 10 days, I will survive another 4 without it.”

She grinned at me, nudged me a little, and swung the pack under my nose. But it’s ok. I will persevere. I will only take see hum twice a month. And later, I will cut it down to once a month and on special occasions only. I never realized how difficult it was to say NO to those small and sweet succulent bits of heaven.

income tax filing – DONE!

I’m such a procrastinator when it comes to filing in my income tax form. No, it’s not that I’m an irresponsible citizen and all that. I’m ok with paying taxes, albeit reluctantly, but that’s part of life. There is nothing more certain in life than death and taxes. Heck, even death is to be questioned, but taxes — ah, you can be sure it’ll be here till God’s 2nd coming.

I’m such a calculative person. That’s what the hubby always says. You would think there wouldn’t be any trouble for me when it comes to filing my taxes. But I so hate it. The forms are in Malay and I’m confused. I would stare at the form each year and still be muddled by it. Worst, ever since I got married, I’ve to fill in forms for the hubby as well. At first, I thought it would be a good idea to file it together; that means one form less to fill. But the more I looked at it, the more confusing it became. I’ve finally split them up and filed them separately. Double trouble, basically.

Each year, I’ve had to check with Hazel (thanks, woman!) as to what I need to fill in and what not. This year, I even offered to pay her to fill in the forms for me. The woman smiled at me only. But it was OK. She was “next to me” all the way. I attempted the e-filing format this year and I got to say… I’m impressed. It took me only a few minutes to completely fill in both forms. Not so bad after all, eh? What I like about it is, it gives me some form of control. As it does auto-tabulation for me, I can at least heave a sigh of relief that my additions are being taken care of.

Well, with that said, both hubby and I now owe LHDN a fair bit of $$. Ish… don’t pay, can ah? %(*@#$(*!$!!!

numero uno!

Here I am! In another lame attempt at starting and maintaining a somewhat decent blog…

*time passssseeeedddd… total silence…. the wind is blowing….woooshhhh….*

In what seems like an eternity, I realized that a good 30 minutes have slipped by and I have yet to write anything substantial for my first posting. Nothing that I’m proud of and able to say TA DA! to. What the heck! How am I to maintain this thingy if I can’t even get my 1st posting off the ground? What’s wrong, man? Sheesh… but whatever! Stay with me and who knows? I may actually make this last.

 So there!