Am I sick?

Aw shucks! My head and eyelids feel heavy. My throat is starting to feel irritated. Feel like coughing. What a time to start feeling horrible! The weekend is here! And I have ideas in mind of what I would like to do.

BLR

BLR= base lending rate. Only people with housing (or other types) loans are concerned with this. When I saw that the interest rates are going down, I was quite happy. The first time it happened, end of last year, my banker told me that that action shaved off three years of repayment! Less that half a year ago, our rate is 6.75% per annum. Then it dropped to 6.5%. A 0.25% drop is equivalent to 3years of repayment! That is amazing.

CIMB and Maybank over the course of the last few days announced that they would cut the rate further to 5.95%, effective 3 February. Imagine that! But I'm still waiting for good news from OCBC. So far, silence. Calling out to OCBC! Please adopt this ASAP! Talking about banks, specifically OCBC, they should do something about their internet banking system. It should also allow loan customers to track the loan status and payment online.

Then, there is the bad news that the fixed deposit interest rates are also down. 2.5% for 1 month deposits! Seems like pointless (unless one person has a humongous amount). This will impact mostly the pensioners and the older generation, some of whom lived on interests earned from FDs. That is sad.

We couldn't have the good without the bad.

PS, 30 Jan 09, OCBC announced that they will be reducing their BLR to 5.95% effective Feb 3rd. Yay!

Mall incentive

Today would go down in history as d day that my nephew, S, progressed one more step in the pool. He could kick and move!

After many tries of just pushing the board around the pool and enjoying the water slide, he finally dared to pushed his legs up to the surface and started kicking! Boy! He could move! And what dared him? The thoughts of going to the mall!

Fitness Plan (2)

Fitness plan for 2nd week failed miserably. Enough said. Must get myself motivated.

Anyway, the thursday squash did not materialize since we had the new year cum birthday dinner at the new steamboat place. Since I'm on this subject, let me say that that new place at Krystal Point sucks big time. We were charged RM75 just for the soup (we should be told of that before)! Talk abt fleecing! We have since implemented a total ban on that shop!

Happy (I)

What image conveys the meaning of happy to my mind? When I saw those people on American Idol, after coming out from the judgement room with the yellow piece of paper that meant that they were going to Hollywood for the next stage of AI. Jumping and screaming or shrieking. With joy in their eyes. Wholehearted happiness. I could jump and scream too, happy being infectious.

That is a moment of happiness...

The right thing to do...

Is the one that feels right. The problem is, what if at a later time, that right feeling turned bad?

Who would know that the right thing is the right thing. Everything is subjective. Nothing is carved in stone. Even carved in stone, over time, erosion could erase everything.

This will remain a vague blog entry... I rest my case.

Inaugural Speech

We are one! That's what the inaugural celebration was called. How apt! I think that should be the direction all of us are heading. After all our histories, have they not show us that all of us bleed red blood? What happened to one community would affect other communities. We are inter-linked.

The inaugural speech blew me away. Gave me hope and made me believe in a better tomorrow.

Hoorah!

Why do I have a blog?

A friend once told me that I kept a lot of things to myself, especially how I feel and think. It makes getting to know me and getting really friendly with me, difficult. I think in some aspects, I've come a long way, in others, maybe not so much. This blog is one of my effort to open up a bit, express more of myself, and at the same time allow me to practice my writing. Who knows? I might get published (for real) one day.

Life is continuous improvement...

Fitness Plan

I have successfully played squash for two times last week. I was still short of one session of work-out since I was targetting for three-times a week. I wanted to swim on Saturday to make up the number but was too tired after the late-night on Friday and ended up sleeping late.

I will try harder this week.

A Good Friday...

Things went quite close to plan last Friday. Left work about 5.30 pm to rush home to change and got myself to the squash courts by 6 pm, although the in-campus traffic was quite bad.

When I got there, Clement was playing with Mr Lim. Megat was jogging. I had a few strokes with Mr Lim before playing a game or maybe two with Clement. Then a game with Megat. What a surprise that KengLong appeared with CheeHoe! But then, they seemed to be busy together - talking and playing - and not much time for others. Weird!

Anyhow, I left and tried to get hold of PS and Pauline to confirm the plans for the later part of the night, but failed. Seemed like everybody had their phones off (or rather their batts were dead). Pauline, called me back later to firm up the plans and off we went to hang out... with Wai...

It was a good night of ribbing and laughing...

Perchlorates

A friend asked me about perchlorate detection today. Wow, what a topic!

Perchlorates, in the form of ammonium perchlorate and the other perchlorate salts are used in a wide range of applications, including pyrotechnics and fireworks, blasting agents, matches, lubricating oils, textile dye fixing, nuclear reactors, electronic tubes, tanning and finishing leather, rubber manufacturing, electroplating, aluminum refinishing, automobile air bag inflators, paint and enamel production, and pharmaceuticals (1).

Perchlorate is of concern for the following reasons (2):
(a)it has potential human health effects at low concentrations - another source mentioned that it inhibits the thyroid function;
(b)it may be widespread in the environment;
(c)removing it from water and soil may be costly; and
(d)it may have deleterious effects on ecosystems.

And aside from that, in the industry, it may have corrossive properties. That is the one that bothers us most here, since the environmental bit is hopefully taken cared of by the powers that be.

Off my head, would ionic chromatograph (IC) work for this? Afterall, they are talking about anions. And true enough, googling 'perchlorate analysis' gave me a list of hits which uses IC. And surprisingly, ESI-MS, which was a darling topic of mine during grad school. Which was one of the factors that pushed me into the field that I am in now, TOF-SIMS. Apparently, using the EPA 314.0 method for IC, there would be some interfering anions (e.g. chlorides, sulfates and carbonates) which would give false readings since the IC detection is via retention time identification. Other methods were made to overcome this, mainly, IC/MS/MS, LC/MS/MS and ESI-MS. I wonder if there were work done with other ionization methods e.g., FAB and MALDI.

This has been interesting.

(1). A Systematic Approach to In Situ Bioremediation in Groundwater
Interstate Technology Regulatory Council, 2002. www.itrcweb.org/Documentation/ISB-8.pdf

(2). http://www.clu-in.org/contaminantfocus/default.focus/sec/perchlorate/cat/Overview/

The Outlander

James Caviezel - I called him as the man with the sad face. Almost all his movies involved him in some kind of sad, down-trodden situation, most likely with tears. Maybe I am wrong.

This movie is so cliche. But ofcourse with a title like that I should have expected that the end of the movie would favor the outlander or the outsider. I bet the guy, can't remember his name, the king-in-waiting was also thinking the same thing as me. "What is this guy doing, just dropped out from no where and trying to exert his will and wisdom on his community, and also usurped the king's affection, and the king's daughter affection."

But then, this outsider or outlander as he was known to the Vikings, was the hero of the show. It's his right to shine. So, he did. He could do no wrong. And most importantly, he could not die. Atleast not in the movie. The girl would not die too. Because the hero had to get a pretty girl.

The show is ok, except for the butchering and people got eaten alive. That's just vile.

Lucky

On the way to work yesterday, I heard this song on the radio and was immediately captivated. I had at first thought that the singer was Michael Buble. It turned out to be a duet. The singers turned out to be Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. And the song turned out to be Lucky.

The harmony was just great and lovely. The lyrics dreamy. Overall, it's just a really nice and happy song.

I should be so lucky.

Where friends come together...

Friday night saw me hosting a get-together-cum-house-warming for a dear group of old friends. Fridays are typically not a my favorite day or rather night for a lot of things after work, as, fridays usually would turned out to be a rather busy day for me. Work to finish before the week ends, etc. etc. (the king n i?)

There were ChongSing & HwaSiew & their 2 sons, Angie & CK & their 2 daughters, Kenny (with his arm sling) & MuiKeok, Jonathan and WeiNien. This was easiest the biggest group I have ever hosted, other than the gathering of aunts, uncles & cousins during the school hols. Being such a big group, we ended up sitting and chitchat-ing on the floor.

OK, I was a bit apprehensive about hosting the event due to the size, but it turned out alright. I had fun catching up, and I think everybody had fun just fooling around. I'm not sure about MuiKeok, though. She seemed kind of quiet. Anyhow, hope she wasn't too bored.

We had the birthday cake for ChongSing, CK and Kenny to blow candles but it turned out that Kenny lied about his birth date!!!

And they got me an IRON! Exactly what I needed....

Should I?

I have a friend who lately was saying No to all my invites. Am I being dumb for inviting him for more? After so many years of living on this earth, after reading so many books, after interacting with so many different types of people, after all my life experiences, I still am not sure how people think sometimes.

I guess I may not have encountered too many 'No's in my life, atleast not where it mattered. I don't like rejection (who does?). And as a matter of practice, after a few nos, I would have stopped calling. But after a decade and more of friendship, things are harder. And not so clear cut. I dislike situations where people don't tell me what they feel and I, not knowing if I did wrong or they just prefer things differently, don't know how to act. I feel so clueless, and helpless.

And when I don't understand things, my brain goes high powered. Damn! Was that a curse? From Me? I rest my case. For now.

Post-Holidays Blues

All good things come to an end. That's sad, but that's the way life goes. C'est la vie.

Life could not be just the fun. It had to come with hardships, heartbreaks and hardwork. That's why it's samsara. Some people call it the school of hardknocks. Guess what's the lesson life teaches us?

After the awesome week of xmas-new year, where could I go but back down to earth? That were moments when I totally forgot all my troubles and worries and was just completely in the moment.

My family being around was the greatest joy. Everybody feeling as if they were away on vacation was fun. Watching the kids play and make fun was priceless. I'm glad I bought my place.

When everyone left after christmas, I suddenly didn't know what I wanted to do. I was lost. Then the New Year plans started and I was buoyed upwards again. The plans made and more got executed, and now it's back to daily life.

Sigh!

Full Schedule

I've not had the opportunity to sit and finish any blogs for the past few days. I've been busy, what can I say?

There were just no breaks at work. It's one deadline after another. Being chased by one person after another. And then, there were talks (rumors) of pay-cuts. That sucks and quite disheartening. Not that I work solely because of money, but that's an important factor. Work satisfaction is all important but if there were no compensation, who could afford to work?

On to a lighter note, other than work, it had been fun, fun, fun! I guess fun could be tiring too. Too much of a good thing, you know... I've been meeting up with friends, going shopping (I'm still standing) and catching up. Catching up with friends and catching up on my shopping...

I don't think I've shopped like this for ages. It's shopping everytime I went out (Other than the New Year BBQ), starting 24 Dec. And we had to go shopping for the BBQ too! This was a reminiscence of my US xmas-new year shopping 06/07! Ofcourse nothing could beat that. A whole boot-load of goodies belonging to 2 ladies and a gentleman! What a DAY! What a TIME! What an EXPERIENCE!

Break-Ups Are Painful: My 2-cents

That's why they are called break-ups. If a person did not feel pain or hurt or sad, that person is not normal.

Things begin and things end. That's the fact of life. Phases of life begin and old phases end. And on and on. That said, being a woman, especially if we didn't want the break-up, we'll have a thousand and one questions.

I'm writing this not because I just broke up. I'm writing this because I wanted to bring things out to the open. Talk it over in words and let the negativity flows away. So that we'll be filled with positivity and light and happiness. I see the therapeutic values in talking and writing.

Back to us having many, many questions. I'm going to write this as me going through the horrid ordeal.

Question 1: Why couldn't we work things out? If he loves me (as I love him), things could be worked out.

Point: He doesn't love me anymore.
If he loved me, he wouldn't have broken up with me. No matter how intensely I insisted that he loved me (still, a bit), that was just me. And my will that he would act as how I wanted him to act. Pressing the point with him will only backfire upon me.

Question 2: What happened? What changed? When did that happened? He promised he'll love me forever.

Point: Nobody knows for sure. But it happened.
Questioning him again and again would not work. He has no answer. But prolonged pestering would break him down, and he would give an answer that he hoped would satisfy me but most likely not the truth.

Question 3: Why couldn't he love me?

Point: He did.
But not anymore. Not everyone could persevere.

New Year 2009 BBQ

Yay! BBQ at Goy's. For year 2009. Surprisingly, I had fun. The food was good. The few good friends were there. Since there were there, I was sure the night would be good.

The night started off drizzling. Everybody were kind of worried about the rain. Soon and Goy had to re-assure many ppl who called that the event was still a GO. We were early and hung out at Goy's place. While we were there, he aired Mamma Mia, high def, on his big big Plasma TV. It was incredibly cool. The songs were still very nice and exciting.

Note to all: The food was still too much!

Shopaholic in me out and about

O ya, my shopping adventures continued on this weekend. It's kinda scary but I haven't felt this good for a while. For one year after coming back from the US, I -had been on a 'shopping-ban'. And then, after the leash was cut, I found that I was used to not going to shop for fun and couldn't get my rhythm, and had really dismal shopping outings. then, felt bad afterwards. That's horrible! Shopping is ONE of my favorite past-times.

I think started from a few months back, having to shop for my home kinda changed the whole thing. Since I needed to fill my house, I had to make time to shop and had ample reasons to spend money! Still, that was mostly on household items, furnitures and electrical stuff. But still, a good start!

Then, the Christmas holidays, with so many days off and so many sales and so many ppl around, it was shopping, shopping and shopping! I have shoes, shorts, jeans, tops, swimming stuff and hols decoration! It has been incredible! Awesome! Amazing!

Shopaholic me is back!

New Year 2009

New Year's eve ended early by a few minutes when I witnessed the fireworks at the mainland of Penang which started about 10 mins before midnight. Or my clocks were slow. It was a long show which I enjoyed from the comfort of my balcony. Towards the end of the show, fireworks at other locations were started. This I know because of the noise.

This year, although, I was alone, surprisingly I didn't feel melancholy or sad. The fireworks really cheered me up. And dinner with close friends earlier had also bouyed me up for the countdown. And I had close friends online with whom I could count down with.

Last year (2008) had been a good year for me (although there were some low moments). I have broken out of some shells and chains that held me back from some of my personal goals. Thrown away some heavy baggage that was weighing me down. And brushed off things that were not meant for me. Taken a bold step and purchased my first home. Saying NO to more things. Doing things that make me happier. And spread my wings to Europe, which has been a long time dream of mine. So 2008 had been a liberating year for me.

Although I have gone some distance in 2008, there are still some areas to work on and new things that I would like to explore in 2009. I look forward to the year with gusto!