This Episode Has Been Brought To You By The Number 4

Hooray, I am slapped with a meme. Finally, fun with questions.

4 jobs I've had in my life:

1. Promoter - For one month during my third year in university, I was one among the slaves who toil at one of the great monuments of capitalism that is Mid Valley Megamall. Until today I have great empathy to these frontline cannon fodders of those pretentious clothing brands. To this very day, I have a distinct hatred towards security guards of a certain departmental store for their anal ways. However, never since then have I had colleagues who were that fun to work with.

2. Multimedia/Web Designer - I am not sure you could even call this work. I was paid a measly RM700 the first month and then nothing for the next three. How I managed to survive that long surprises me to this day. I was young then and very much in love. Yes I worked with the ex, and the explosive confrontation in and out of the office shall forever scar my memory. But being trained in this line, I am still a web designer till the present.

3. Writer - This was one of the best jobs ever, great colleagues, great perks. Pity the evil fiend of a marketing director whom we are still in the middle of suing.

4. Group Exercise Instructor - A profession I accidentally stumbled upon, and never looked back since. I get paid to exercise and yell at people now who wouldn't want that?


4 movies I can watch over and over again

1. Under the Tuscan Sun - A chick flick with a not too conventional but idealistic love story loosely based on the book of the same name. Plenty of lovely Italian scenery.

2. Calmi Cuori Appassionatti - A multi-lingual love story starring Kelly Chen and Yutaka Takenouchi about a lover's tiff which separated a pair of lovers for 10 years and a promise to meet again at the Duomo in Florence. Soundtrack by Enya and yes, more love scenery of Italy.

3. The Sweetest Thing - A total no brainer romance-comedy with Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair that serves no purpose other than to make you feel good on your worst days.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Do I need to explain this one?

4 places I've been on vacation

1. Singapore - I like this city state. It reminds me of Legoland.

2. Lang Tengah - A quaint little island on the east coast neighbouring Redang and Perhentian. I have always hoped to go back but haven't come about to doing that.

3. Langkawi - I thought it was nice the first time I went there, then it just lost its novelty the second time around. The best part of the whole trip was my mom's quest to locate her long lost landlord who kindly took her in during the days when she was a struggling trainee teacher sent to no man's land. Turns out missing landlord's family is now one of the richest on the island.

4. Melaka - Though I am just a mere one and a half hour's drive away from this place, the rustic feel of Melaka town never fails to calm me down. I had a totally tragic date which turned out to be one of the best there. I had not went back since the relationship turned ugly.

4 favourite foods

1. Yin Yeung
2. Braised Yee Mee
3. Jalan Gasing Chicken Rice
4. Just about any kind of fruits except durians and jackfruits.


4 favourite places I'd like to visit

1. Italy - refer to above.
2. Egypt - I am just dying to see mummies.
3. Greece - I am just dying to see who came after the mummies.
4. Europe - I am just a sucker for rustic European landscapes.

4 most overused words

1. "Sungguh!"
2. "OMG/Oh my God"
3. "Mahder (mother)"
4. "Kan ne... (Fuck...)"

4 TV shows I love

1. Ally McBeal - Do I need to say more?
2. All 3 CSI's - I just love those whodunnit series.
3. Star Trek - I can just re-watch these over and over again, except Enterprise, that one sucked.
4. Six Feet Under - There's something about this series that just keeps me hooked. Used to watch it with the ex. It took me over three years before I eventually went back to completing the whole series.

Nobody Sleeps

And so I am back after almost a month on hiatus, not that I was really truly away anyway since I actually log on everyday, just that I never bothered to post anything. I really should be working but I am not and for what is worth, I don't really care. I hardly have time for myself nowadays. My house is in a bloody mess, and for some probably loneliness driven reason, I got myself involved with someone. Don't think I want to discuss this as of yet as I have no real vision of where this is headed but for once, maybe I am with somebody who likes me more than I like him. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing, we shall see as time goes by. I don't know if I am feeling happy or not, but ever since falling out of a messy love affair over a year ago, I set my life on a fast pace and found it very hard to slow down since. Finding time to cultivate a relationship at the moment makes it feel like I drove right into traffic jam.

There are differences to work out which I have yet to overcome. Things which have I picked up along the way to keep me going which I am still reluctant to sacrifice to sustain a second person in my life. The ghosts of previously failed loves return to haunt me periodically though I might say they are more of an annoyance than a source of fear. I think I have become so jaded that the fear of falling out again seem trivial. However I have not found the generosity in me to forgive exes and former lovers. It feels remarkable to me sometimes how one can love and hate someone at the same time. Perhaps those two are the one and the same after all. Love is hate, hate is love. Without one, there is no other.

Of recent as well, I found myself mentioned in passing from someone's blog. A mention from a time when I spent hours on mIRC while I was in university because back in those days, internet was the only entertainment you could find. My university is located in what today I still term as Nuclear Holocaust. Nothing but barren red earth for miles. Buildings so sterile that algae wouldn't even grow on the walls. There are roads that abruptly end mid-air (I am not kidding). In any case, the location mattered little, it's a more decadent past I would rather put behind. I think my IRC nickname is still notorious till today, my dry humour and sarcasm in chatrooms coupled with a good command of English was often taken as a sign of arrogance by most. Then again it was an image I often encouraged. Still, it was pretty unnerving to see my nickname mentioned again after all these years since I retired mIRC. Even the chatroom in which I promoted my notoriety is no longer in existence. I often found it amusing that people often tried to put a face to that personality I cultivated online. More often than not, those who do eventually see the real me still maintain that impression from cyberspace. Cold, bitchy, arrogant, aloof.

Some things never change even if you do.