NO parking

I didn't plan to have this post. I didn't even plan to come to this cyber cafe. But at this hour, not knowing where to go.. this is one of the safest place I can lepak for an hour or so. I was at the uni library just now, found the books I wanted then decided to go back to my friend's place early, so damn tired and hungry. So I stopped by a restaurant to tapau my dinner.. then drive back to the apartment.

But NO.. I was not fated to get a rest YET. The apartment is so close to the venue of Penang Fest.. and these pesta going people are so kiasu that they do not want to pay a few bucks to park their cars at the designated Tapak Pesta parking. They'd rather park their car further away, i.e. along the whole stretch of road in front of my friend's apartment and walk to the pesta site. That means no parking at all for me until the Pesta closes tonight and the pesta people find their way home.. hampessss!! The apt. guards will not allow my car or any visitor car inside the apartment compound, there's no empty space inside there anyway. I did 'tawaf' a few times already... and still NO empty space at the roadside. Tension makcik!

Penang Fest? No.. not interested at all to pay the pesta site a visit now. I've had enough of 'Pesta' back in my undergrad days.. name me what 'fun fair' rotating/swinging/going around thingy that I didn't get a ride on those days. I could laugh out loud when seeing friends 'pening mutar itik' or vomit after taking those rides. It was fun then.. but now, the lights from the pesta site can already give me headache! Wah.. a real sign of aging maaa.

So now, at almost 11, I'm starving and the nasi bungkus already berendam kuah in the car... I'll wait for another few minutes.. hopefully the coast will be clear in a while. Lapar wehh!

final year of my twenty-something

Tapau char koay teow & Iced tea at midnite, ate in front of the TV accompanied by Russel Crowe the Gladiator- RM3.70

Talk to Mak and getting birthday song from the nephew on the phone - PRICELESS

Having your good old friend coming all the way from KL to spend the day with you on your birthday – PRICELESS (endless thanks to you Scarlet!)

Late lunch for 2 at Coffee Bean - RM57.++

Making S.O.S calls when the car refuse to start – RM3.++ (thanks to Cak for introducing me to efficient Ah Lam da mechanic)

Car radiator repair charges – RM57.00

Cab fare from Burmah Road to Gurney Plaza (have to leave the car at the workshop daaa) – RM8.00 (if the cabs here use meter, I think the charge will be less than half!)

Catching up & reminiscing the good old days with your single girlfriends at a mamak restaurant – PRICELESS (thanks to MissDell for joining us!)

There are some things money can’t buy.. for everything else, Bumiputra Commerce dekat aje (if you don’t use a credit card like me!)

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AlFatehah to all last year's Tsunami victims.

Thanks for all the SMS wishes from some of you. Thank you very much for the thoughts.

Dear God, help me be a BETTER me this year, amen.

good old JAM

I almost forgot how old this watch is.. until today when I stopped by an old friend’s place. I haven't seen her for years. When I took off my watch before I go for ablution she noticed the watch and said “Ko pakai lagi jam ni Ubi?”. I said, “yeah, why?”. “Ko beli masa bday ko dulu kan..20th...Ko bagi jam lama ko kat aku” she said.

Yes, I remember now. I was eyeing for this watch for quite sometime that year but wouldn’t buy it because my older watch is still working and in good shape. I just don’t see the need to own 10 or even 2 watches at the same time.. the same goes with handbags. I don’t really wear handbags anyway. I use bags.. big bags that I can put everything in.. like Doraemon's pocket! Perhaps I’m just plain broke to buy more than one of the same gadget.. yes? I feel guilty if I buy something new when the old one is still ok. Luckily at that time, a day before my 20th birthday that friend suddenly lost her watch, so there you go.. I happily gave her my old watch and guiltlessly this watch became my property.

9 years, still working well and already gained a few scratches here and there. I hope you’ll still be with me for at least another year. Will ya? I’ll make a habit to buy a watch once in a decade… unless there’s anyone kind enough to buy me new watches la kan... hehehe.

So another year is almost at the end.. and another number to add to the age. A friend quoted a line from a Philipino series (that I’ve never seen)-> “people should stop counting their age after they turn 30”. So it will be another year before I should stop counting eh? Will I get to turn 30? Or will I even get to be 29 tomorrow? I don’t know.. ajal maut ditangan Tuhan kan. A lady from my former school passed away recently at the age of 30 *AlFatihah to her*. I didn’t know her well, but it was sad to hear that news, reminded me of things that I easily forget. There is no promise that we’ll live up to 70, 60 or 50.. God could call us back any moment now. Are we prepared for that? I am so NOT prepared. My ‘bekal’ to be in the next world is next to none. Really reaaaalllly need to improve on that part.

2005 has been a wonderful year although on my part, I’m not satisfied with my study progress.. I should have done way better. I Thank God for all the blessings. Had new experiences this year. Met new people, made new friends.. some of which I’ve never met – blogfriends la.


Nway, I’ve just did something that I’ve NEVER tried before.. I went fishing! No this is not fishing in the sea or big rivers. I went ‘puyu fishing’ at a canal. Best wooo… for me who was born and brought up nowhere near sawah.. I’ve never seen ikan puyu before this.. ape lagi nak mancing puyu. Gile jakun first time dapat ikan, tu pun nasib baik in ‘control ayu mode’, yelahh kan.. depan makcik pakcik, kalo tak mesti aku dah loncat terjerit2 dapat ikan.. muahahaha hipokrit gilerrr… caught 12 puyus in within 20 minutes.. not bad for a first timer ek?.. nyam nyam nyam.. I’m now in love with pekasam ikan puyu. Bess bess bessssss!!!

40% of U.S$12.5m dollars.. wohoooo... pakcik kayo!

FROM THE DESK OF MRS DORATHY KANJOBILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
THE AFRICAN BANK (T A B)
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO

DEAR SIR,

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of The African Bank. I am writing, following the impressive information about you through one of my friends who runs a consultancy firm in your country. He assured me of your capability and reliability to champion this business opportunity.In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of U.S$12.5m dollars (Twelve million five hundred thousand USD) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in November 1998 in a plane crash.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidlines and laws, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery, I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill. The banking law and guidine here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after Seven years, the money will be tranfered into the bank as unclaimed bill.

I therefore agree that 40% of this money will be for you as foreigner partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10% will be set aside for expenses incured during the business and 50% would be for me.There after I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated.

Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin to the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will be remitted.

I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me immediately as soon as you recieve this letter. Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Dorathy Kanjo


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I lost count how many millions/billions/ or trillions have been offered to me now. Seriously, I'm sick of getting this kind of scam in my mailbox... and it seems that Bank of Africa is now keeping too much of dead ppl's money!.. ni dah penat delete.. so today I better make use of it and post it here.. well, just incase you've never received anything like this.. and perhaps YOU wanna be the 40% receiver of the money... go on.. go reply to mrs_dorathy8@hotmail.com. All the best.. muahahhaahaa.

Kalo betul dapat 40%, bulleh gi Mekkoh balik hari! I'm just so surprised by how some people could actually believe this kind of scams.. who in the right mind would want to share millions with a total stranger.

Whoever the sender.. if you happen to read this ('Mrs Dorathy' could be googling her own name and reach my blog kan), stop sending me more offers, please. I'm already a billionnaire (mimpi la Ubiiii!) . Go send it to others, ok.

Break

Selamat Pengantin Baru to Mimi & Syed. After 13 long years, they're finally together. Love really can wait.

My eyes are blur, pain at the right end of my head, I have to keep the lights at the minimum. My headache is back since the day I came to Penang.. thank God no noise around here to add to the pain. Now I’m the host of the house. Those who live here are away - one getting married, one on a holiday and one didn't come home.

One tip, if you’ve already bought something that cost you your whole month’s allowance, don’t ever look at the price of the same merchandise in other shops. I forgot that. I bought a digicamera few days ago, burn a hole in my pocket, and today I found the same model at another shop, priced at RM300 cheaper. Adussss sakit jiwa raga!

Ubi will take a break from blogging. She'll be away. Donno for how long.. there’ll be no updates for the meantime. She'll be back if she misses her blog too much :D Taaa..

a visit to alma mater

"Ubi..you look so.. err.. perempuan.. ayu satu macam." That's the first sentence my mentor said to me as I walked into his deputy dean office. "Doc, this is my old skirt and blouse, you've seen me in this before.. was I less perempuan then?" He just laughed, and we went on chatting about everything I missed when I was away. Gosh, I envy him.. he zoomed from a lecturer who just return from his doctorate to the youngest deputy dean in the uni, won the uni's best lecturer of the year (judged by both students & administrators) and I can bet he'll be an associate professor by early next year. His research & teaching career seems like a breeze, but I know he worked really hard for that. With a beautiful wife and 3 kids, he seems to have everything!

As I walked out of my mentor's office, another lecturer asked "did you change skin or something? you look different." No, I'm still the old Ubi, I didn't get any fairer the last time I checked.

“Sekarang cik ke puan Ubi ni?” I got this question so many times from the department’s clerks. And one of my former lecturers even gave me the advice- “Ubi.. u better go find someone now, I don’t want you to come back later single and become cranky & snappy like MissX”. Oh yeah, right, thanks for the advice, Sir.. as if every single women will become Miss X. MissX is not the epitome of single lecturers, OK. You only know MissX, sir, there are other single lecturers (and lecturer-to-be) I know who are so nice and not cranky like MissX. By the way I never know MissX first hand, never talked to her before, I only heard stories from other lecturers and students, they could be exaggerating. I noticed this ‘stereotyping’ long ago.. back when I was in my undergraduate years. When a single lady lecturer gets mad in class- I heard ppl saying- “garang sgt.. tu pasal tak kawin la tu”. When a male lecturer mengamuk in the class, no one make any personal comment. Sungguh tak aci!

Now I wanna write more.. but my tummy need filling, its already at nite and all I had for the day is 2 mugs of Milo. what la.. dah balik Msia tak selera makan pulak.. need to go for some sushi now. Ta..

keys to my heart?

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when everything is uncertain, one moment heaven... the next moment hell. You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy. You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic. Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage something you've always wanted... though you haven't really thought about it. In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

These ARE the keys?? oh yeah, REALLY??

what I say...

- at the moment, I can't say forsure what kind of ppl attract me the most.. sometimes I'm attracted to someone without clear reasons.. Ppl don't stop and tick their 'attractive trait checklist' when they meet someone new, do you?

- no, I don't want both heaven & hell.. I want heaven, heaven & heaven (can aa?)

- I don't want him to just 'think' I'm happy.. I want to be happy and hopefully he'll make me happier

- NO need to force me to break up with sarcastic ppl. I will not stand sarcasm

- on openness, cheating and marriage.. quite right

- LOVE?.. i need, i need not, i need, i need not, i need, or not?.... (tell me when to stop counting, will ya?)

23rd and 5th

Red&green faced Amir tagged me… liat betul nak buat meme nih..

here’s the instruction:

1. Delve into your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas.
5. Tag five people to do the same.


So I digged.. My 23rd post entitled Gym Babe, on the day I registered for my gym membership.. but my 5th sentence got nothing to do with gym, as always.. I can go sukahati to write any title I want. Here’s the 5th one:

“Hm.. may be today will be different, there'll be a Hall's Party tonite... with the theme 'SUPERHEROES & SUPERVILLAINS'..”

It was just a simple ceria ceriti, no subtext or hidden agenda. I was rambling on how my weekends are just like any other weekdays. My Saturdays were typical-> get up-> go for nasi lemak/roti canai breakfast in city-> go sundry shopping-> go home. Life was monotonous. And that day some friends (they are wayyy younger) coaxed me to join the night’s party. I did join them, but only in tees and jeans<- off-duty superhero, whatever.. ok, I’m not into parties, unless if its eat-only-no-need-to-do-anything-else-party.. I just didn’t know what to do there…. Dance? Hell NO!! I only dance when no one’s looking and only in front of my small nieces and nephews (which only meant to make them laugh!). Nway, some kiwi girls pulled me to the dance floor that night.. and for a few minutes I did make a fool of myself- dancing (if such moves qualified as dance), feeling so awkward and looked silly on the dance floor. The moral of the story is- I shouldn’t have been there.. better stick to my boring Saturday routine when I get back there. Ubi has no life! Ok. That’s it.


Now the 5 tags go to:

1. CikYY – to give you a break from thinking of MrDiesel.
2. Scarlet76 – wait.. do you already have 23rd post?
3. Onde – coz I didn’t know you also have a blogspot blog.. I wanna know what's in the archive
4. Sr – because you’re blessed with too many pyrex now.
5. MIV- coz there’s so many things I can’t understand in yr blog, just explain to me one sentence.


Have a good weekend people!