Sunday, July 22, 2007

Harry Potter & The Blood Donor

This is an excerpt from the latest Harry Potter book, for those who have not laid their hands on it:

'Harry Potter rose, even though he was in great pain from the blast that Voldemort inflicted upon him. Voldemort gave a cruel laugh. 'You should know better, Potter boy, than fight me. For I am immortal! I've hidden my souls into seven Horcruxes!' Harry replied in contempt, 'And I have destroyed all but one! The one in your body is the last one!' With that, he directed his wand at Voldemort and blasted the Dark Lord, wounding him. As Voldemort lay dying, Harry said, 'Because your blood runs in my vein, it's too bad I am not a blood donor, right?'

*Mrs Rowling performed Cruciatus charm on me and I lay bleeding, with my newly-acquired book in my lap*

Ok, I get it. I'm not supposed to tell the story here. The excerpt above certainly wasn't from 'Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows', the much anticipated book in the world. That was me, telling you to buy the book yourself rather than depending on me to tell you the ending to the Harry Potter saga. I did not pay RM99 just to give free commentary of how the main character of the story died.
*frown to self. I sound like one of the Death Eaters, particularly that mean Bellatrix with her sneering face telling, 'Go buy your own book!'*

All I can narrate to you friends here, are the events that took place on the jubilant day I got my Harry Potter book, a hamper and held a baby in my hand. Ahem.

21st July 2007

Story #1: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows... my... precioussssss....

Unlike all Harry Potter fans all over the world who spent their night camping outside bookstores, wanting to be the first person to receive the latest installment of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows on this day, I had had a good sleep on my comfortable bed and then woke up late because it was Saturday, the day to catch up on sleep. The email sent by MPH, asking to collect my book at Midvalley stated the time from 9am to 3pm. They also mentioned that I will get a limited edition mug and a paper bag if I picked up during that window of time. Instead, as usual, we only made our way to Midvalley by bike at 2.45pm. Then we had to turn back and went by car instead because the weather looked as if Dementors are coming to get their books too.

When we arrived at Midvalley, there wasn't a long queue to buy the Harry Potter book. Hmm... Strange, strange. I know we Malaysians don't pay too much interest in books, but hello, this is Harry Potter ok? Maybe Mrs Rowlings and her team ought to save all the trouble they had to go through to make sure the books are safe by keeping them in Malaysia instead, because Malaysians don't make pirated copy of books. Or maybe Malaysians already bought the pirated copy of Harry Potter book, which explains the lack of queue. Walioweh, if that is true I must be the last person to know what happened to Harry Potter!
*scurry over to an Aunty and ask, 'Aunty, have you read the ending of Harry Potter book?' Aunty scorns at me, 'We read that already! Same as Hong Kong time!'*

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

We went to Customer Service Centre, and after signing my name on a form, and waiting impatiently for the CSA to look for my pre-order book, she handed to me a paper bag with the precious book inside.
Finally, I am a proud owner of Harry Potter final book! *shoot Patronus Charm all over the place, and all Dementors flee from the bookstore without their books*

Story #2: Bloody work

After getting my book, we went to have lunch at the Food Court, and even then I was impatient to at least, read a page of the book. So suami terchenta had to go buy lunch while I dived, eyes first, into the hard-cover book. After having our lunch, we found ourselves, Imperius-style, wandering into Higher Education Fair at the Exhibition Centre and we asked about getting Masters at IIUM. At that time, I spotted the National Blood Donor Unit recruiting some blood donors at the opposite hall.

Prologue: I've always wanted to donate blood ever since I was a student. However, fear of pain turned me away from doing so. Not only that, I heard a number of stories which made me shudder and it has nothing to do with Voldemort, mind you. I read news about people getting HIV because they donate blood or an inexperienced aide sticking the needle directly in the donor's main blood vessel, and causing non-stop bleeding. I do not want to die of AIDS neither of non-stop bleeding, God forbid. What about Suami Terchenta? Who will cook meatball spaghetti for him after this???

However, in the drunken mood of having Harry Potter book, I found myself extraordinary brave as I approached the counter and a friendly girl who asked me whether I wanted to donate blood. I said, yes but not without having my few doubts vanquished. There was a couple of guys writing down their particulars as I stood and asked questions:

Question #1: Will it hurt?

Answer #1: A little bit, like ant-bite. Ok, I can stand ant-bite, no worries.

Question #2: Are the nurses trained and have they been doing this for a long time?

Answer #2: Yes, they are fully-trained and they are not new staff. Cool, I can evade the non-stop bleeding situation.

Question #3: How long would it take?

Answer #3: Around 7-8 minutes.

Question #4 (final): Will I get HIV?

At this stage, the guys who were almost finished writing their particulars froze, pen in mid-air. I can practically read their minds, 'If I got HIV, who will marry me???'

Answer #4: We don't re-use needles, if that is what you are worried about. Sigh with relief. Let the pain begin...

The conclusion? The filling form part is not painful. The blood test is just a sharp stab that lasts a second. The jab is like any other jab and contrary to popular belief, I don't feel a thing when my blood flowed out of my body into the bag. I settled back, reading Harry Potter and squeezing the thing they gave to make the blood flow quicker. Within less than 5 minutes, the bag was full. A nurse ran to me and immediately cut off the IV tube after stopping the blood flow. Then she removed the needle, gave me a cotton pad to stop the bleeding and asked me to rest for a while before I went to get a drink.

All was well and I even got a hamper full of junk food! I definitely will donate blood after this! It doesn't hurt and I've conquered my fear of pain :)

Story #3: Hanis Nabila

My friend, Ubie, had just delivered a baby girl on Friday, 20th July at Ampang Puteri. I wrote about her wedding last year. Talk about a good combination number, 20.07.2007. Plus, her baby was born on her husband's birthday. My good friend, Bib and I together with Suami Terchenta went to see her.

The baby has a lot of hairs. She weighs 2.9kg. Like all newborns, she has wrinkled face and crying expression. And she's gorgeous. All I can say is, congratulations Ubie and hubby! :)

On our way back home:

Me: Have you started longing for Little Carneyz or Little Junaidix ?

Suami Terchenta: A little bit.

Me: Same here.

Suami Terchenta: Maybe next year?

Thank you Suami Terchenta, for understanding me. That is why I love you so.

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Till Death Do Us Part (Terms & Conditions Apply)

Suatu malam tu, Suami Terchenta dan aku sedang duduk2 di atas sofa baru yang dah tak berapa innocent, sambil menonton tv yang kaler-kaler. Suatu malam tu, seperti malam2 yang sebelumnya, tapi tak seperti malam2 sebelum laptop Suami Terchenta kembali ke rahmatullah. Sebab kalau laptop tu masih bernyawa, Suami Terchenta akan menghentak2 keyboard sambil ketawa terbahak-bahak. Tak. Sebenarnya, sebelum tu dia akan sibuk buat programming sambil download animasi ‘Bleach’. Jadi tak hairan la laptop Suami Terchenta pendek umur sebab tak pernah direhatkan dalam 24 jam.

Suami terchenta tiba-tiba bertanya,

‘Kalau abang meninggal dunia dulu, awak akan kawen lagi tak?’‘Tak tau. Mungkin. Kalau saya meninggal dunia dulu, abang kawen lagi tak?’ aku pulak bertanya.‘Tak tau.’ Jawab Suami Terchenta. ‘Kalau saya meninggal dunia dulu, saya izinkan abang kawen lagi.’ Kata aku, isteri mithali yang paling comel di dunia (hahaha! Hahahaha! Terserlah sikap buruk aku).

‘OK.’ Jawab Suami Terchenta sambil menonton tv.

Aku diam. Dia diam. Kami sama-sama terdiam. Seperti ada yang tak kena. Suami Terchenta tersenyum-senyum seorang diri.

‘Apa kata abang ulang balik ayat saya tadi?’‘Ayat apa?’‘Ayat yang last tu?’‘Awak izinkan abang kawen lain?’

‘TAK! Saya kata, KALAU SAYA MENINGGAL DULU, baru boleh kawen lagi!’ aku histeria + mengamok mendengar kata-kata Suami Terchenta. Aku sudah agak dia akan dengar ayat yang hujung sahaja. Dasar lelaki. Sengal.

Suami Terchenta sudah ketawa terbahak-bahak macam dunia ini dia yang punya. Oh senangnya dalam hati, dapat berbini 2…

‘Bukankah awak kata, abang boleh kawen lagi?’

‘Bukanlah! Kan ada terms & conditions! Kurang acheeemmmmm!’ Bedebuk! Satu bantal sudah melayang ke arah Suami Terchenta. Nasib baik bantal saja tau. Kalau ada pinggan di tangan aku, maka sudah pasti Suami Terchenta sudah masuk wad kecemasan. Itu kalau ada pinggan. Kalau ada benda lain yang lebih tajam? Maka, aku sudah pasti menjanda.

PENGAJARAN: Jangan bagitau suami yang dia boleh kawen lain, hidup atau mati. Sebab dia automatik cuma dengar part yang dia suka sahaja. Kamu! (tunjuk arah Suami Terchenta yang sedang baca entri ni) Suami Terchenta! Jangan berangan-angan kawen lain! Haiipp! (dah tak de harapan jadi isteri mithali)

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Send Large Attachment Through Yousendit.com

LOL. I’m so behind in this technology. How could I? I thought I was a graphic designer true & true (at heart, anyway), but I hardly keep up with the technology that is so useful to a designer’s world. Like sending large files to the printer which previously, you can’t stuff it in the attachment compartment when using ordinary emails.

Anyway, who says woman magazine is rubbish? I found out about yousendit.com when I was flipping thru Female mag. Nowadays, they feature mascara breakthru side by side with IT breakthru (read: Women don’t just know how to put on make-up. We are IT-savvy too, dork).

So back to yousendit.com, this is a brilliant free FTP alternative provider that allows you to upload large files up to 1GB (for free account) and then email it to whoever you want to pass the file to. It’s like an email account, with a powerful capability to upload large files. When the recipient receives the email, they will be given a link as to where they can download the file. Which is cool. It means the email won’t reach the inbox in snail-pace speed (which always happens when you attach >5MB file to an email).

Picture this. Usually, email with a large attachment is equivalent to a courier service. If the attachment is small, the courier guy rides a motorbike, skips the traffic jam and passes the parcel to the recipient in no time and no sweat. If the attachment is big, then the courier guy has to put the package in a van, crawls in traffic jam, gets out a trolley, hauls the package on the trolley, and then only passes the package to the recipient. Which takes a longer time.

Now, with yousendit.com, the courier guy becomes a messenger boy who goes to the recipient, informs him / her that he/she has a parcel to pick up at yousendit.com.

I am extremely blissed by this discovery. My world has become a brighter place now. I can now pursue my dream of becoming a graphic designer without having to fret about logistics problem. Hahahaha! <-- the sound of laughter goes on and on until someone shouts, ‘Eh, shut up la!’

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Some Ramblings

Me getting wistful while stretching my legs watching the blue, blue sea

Song listened to right now: Do You Know (Enrique Iglesias) - he has really nice eyes, hor... oh, yeah. Married already, can't comment some other guy's eyes. But hubby's sleeping early, aiyoh. Can't see his eyes, that's why can only comment on Enrique's eyes).

Why listening to this song: Nice song! Get addicted to the chorus part. No, never got anybody in a hurry to throw me away. Except some targeted sponsors I called up yesterday. Eh, not that crazy for your RM, you think I like faking my voice to sound like some 'sugar, spice & everything nice' girl kah? What to do, my boring job requires me to do something boring i.e. asking sponsorship.

I feel sick. Have been sneezing since morning. How to play kaler2 when I'm sick? Why I'm sick when I'm free to play kaler2? Eh, don't start thinking that kaler2 tau. My kaler2 has something to do with opening Photoshop and then playing around with colour palate and come up with some nice design. Walioweh. You guys... TKM (tak kawen murtad. Don't ask why).

Now I'm worried. If I'm too sick to drive on Monday, but I have a meeting in JB, who's gonna drive me there? I don't care mah, I'm tai-koh my husband has no choice but to take emergency leave so we can go to JB. How about that, husband? If I leave you alone, don't tell me the TV pulak rosak. Just joking, don't bite my head off lar. Ok, I'm your cute wife, right? *give yummy-licious seducing looks at hubby*

We all know, I am not really in a loving relationship with my work, only with my hubby. When I said we, it means we all, like my boss, my colleagues, ex-colleagues, my friends, my husband and perhaps even Trump. Trump told me, 'Ok la, if you want to find some other job, go ahead. See how it's better than here.' I tell you, Trump likes to dangle carrot in front of me. More like, dangle the resignation letter la.

But I don't really like to quit like a loser with my tail between my legs *try to picture myself with a tail but I'm not an ass* (ass=donkey. That's English lesson for adik2)

I made a grand entrance and I should leave with a standing ovation. Right or not? What really ruffled my feather is, Trump acknowledges Chairman is cleverer than me! I knew that already since Day 1, but do you have to point it out Trump??? *Chairman tried to play it down by saying, 'Yeah right, my brain's full of fluff!' but he looked pleased all the same. I knew Chairman's poyo face, true & true since we were good friends for 3 years already*

Now at office, busy as hell (how people know hell is busy? Baffled). Become kelam-kabut and gabra already. Poor Survivor, can't really comprehend what I wanted to say because I couldn't make up my mind. All she could get out of me was, 'Meeting... on Tuesday morning. Eh no, make it earlier. Wanna leave early. Ok, ok. Monday, Monday afternoon. Should be sempat kot to go back same day. Eh, but so many work to do there. Omigod, omigod, OMIGOD!'

Survivor, I'm so sorry. I was trying to think 300 other tasks to do simultenously. That's why my brain got jammed. I almost burst out in tears when I found out what I did about the event. I'm a makcik already.

Last Friday, just as it nearly made me jump off the building in frustration to my own self (screamed at myself, 'You are less clever than Chairman! You only drive a Kancil when your friends drive BMW and Honda City! You are still a corporate slave and your friends are already working with big thinktanks or becoming assistant manager at your age! You screw up details when it's just a simple job! No wonder you are still a slaveeeeeeeee!') God saved my soul and sent some good news along. Some sponsors have agreed to sponsor the event. I'm soooo happy! On the other hand, one sponsor got annoyed because he claimed we were supposed to meet up with him on Thursday. Puzzled. Didn't we mention that we were still in JB on Thursday because we had to go to Singapore for a meeting?

Talk about Thursday meeting pulak. My first time going to Singapore for a meeting! *Excited, clap hands for myself* <-- Chairman's been to as far as the Phillipines to attend a meeting, I'm only crossing the Causeway pun dah bising2.

Aiyah, Chairman still the cleverer one than me! *wail in despair*

I spent the night preparing for the meeting. I wanted to impress the guy with UK / Aussie accent. Even though I don't come from IT background, I can speak website language hor. Wore formal dress macam nak gi court. Ha-ha. Why is this meeting something I look forward to more than the meeting Pak Lah chaired & attended by top think-tanks of the country? Is it because it has something to do with something I actually understand, like a website? I love website. I love html. I love flash. I want to learn how to create a Flash website some day. I want to be a website designer. How many times I mentioned that already, huh?

Also, last Friday managed to rush my boss to check articles I wrote for the newsletter, and sent in email to all subscribers. Seronok like gila ok. Like one burden off my shoulder (for this month). So far, I never missed the deadline for this one. For the rest of the month can focus on the website and this event. If I can accomplish both by next month, can hand in my resignation already! *drool at the thought of freedom from unnecessary pressure on my poor heart which, every time have to meet Trump, will beat erratically and at top speed*

By the way, I can safely include in my resume, 'Able to achieve targets on tight budget,' as one of my strengths. But then again, why would I want to work for another low-cost company again, huh? *rub my chin as if I have janggut like my hubby*

If When I quit, I will go market myself to some rich company, then no need to bang my head on the table every time my proposal came back, un-signed, and with a note to 'try slash the cost by another 20%' as if the price comparison on the memo done nicely in a table for quick reference does not prove that I have spent enough time sourcing for the BEST price.

Hahahaha! Now feel so enthusiastic to change my cover letter again! :p

Commercial break: Hubby rolls over on the sofa, mumbles something in his sleep, looks really adorable, I'm tempted to do something get Gillette razors and shave all his janggut. Muahaha. Muahahaha! But he will kill me for once when he wakes up. His janggut matters more than me apparently. *me look daggers at bidadari who are hanging on his janggut and returning smug looks at me. Grrr!*

Oh, now 1.30am in the morning. Should get off now and wake hubby to sleep in the bedroom. Poor hubby. I insisted that we should ride the bike with flat tyre behind from Midvalley to Brickfield because I don't want to pay RM20 just to change the tube when I can get the synthetic motor oil and a changed tube for that price. I'm so stingy with money. I don't earn as much as my friend who is driving a BMW in UK to just throw it away like that, ok! Hubby says, 'Macam main ice-skating tau bawak motor tayar pancit!' I'm sure it's not that bad because I was riding pillion and I haven't lose my weight yet (still fat ol' me) and became the stabiliser so it should be easy to ride the bike that far. My two cents anyway :p

Now, everyone can go to bed *everyone sigh with relief and go to bed*

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Konspirasi...

Mesti kalian pembaca-pembaca yang budiman sudah menjengok blog Suami Terchentaku. Kalau belom, silakan ya! Kerana entri ini ada kaitan dengan teori konspirasi aku tentang misteri 'kematian' laptop Suami Terchenta. Jeng.. jeng.. jeng!

Semasa aku bercanda bekerja keras di JB selama 2 hari yang lepas, Suami Terchenta membuat laporan di blognya bahawa laptop kesayangan nya telah jatuh sakit. Sebagai wife yang prihatin (baca betul2 ayat ni ya!) aku menyatakan rasa terkilan di atas sikap tak bertimbangrasa laptopnya itu sebab Suami Terchenta banyak kerja tau! Dia balik dari ofis pukul 10 malam (mentang-mentang aku outstation 2 hari dia amik kesempatan balik lambat) semata-mata untuk menyiapkan tugas-tugas negara programming yang due date nya sudah mampir dekat (aku kedengaran seperti warga Indon pulak dengan ayat ini).

Tapi, di kepala otak aku yang sangat super duper aktif ini, pelbagai teori konspirasi telah bergabung dan berkuasa dua, tiga & empat:

1. Sehari sebelum aku berterbangan ke JB, Suami Terchenta beli surat khabar. Tak pernah2 tau! Lagipun dia beli akhbar The Star. Dan cuma baca bahagian 'Star Tech'. Alasannya, dia dah lama tak mengikuti perkembangan dunia IT sekarang [teori #1: Dia sebenarnya tengah survey laptop yang best utk dibeli].

2. Malam tu, aku prepare untuk ke JB. Aku iron baju, tudung, dan sediakan semua barang-barang ke JB. Bila dah siap packing, aku letakkan beg di ruang tamu supaya senang besok pagi terus sambar je. Suami terchenta tiba-tiba offer supaya aku pakai beg laptop kesayangannya memandangkan aku kena bawak laptop ke JB. Aku rasa musykil pun ada. 'Abis tu, camane abang bawak laptop gi ofis?' aku tanya. Dia jawab, 'Abang pakai la beg lain.' Tak pe, takpe. Dia just nak jadi suami budiman. [teori #2: Dia sebenarnya takde plan nak bawak laptop balik rumah sebab dah plan nak rosakkan di ofis. Sebab tu bagi aku guna beg laptop kesayangannya tu]

3. Bila aku call dari JB, dia bagitau laptop dah rosak! Lepas tu pura-pura buat nada sedey la tu. [Teori ke #3: Sebenarnya takut nak bagitau dia nak beli laptop baru sebab laptop lama masih elok cuma kadang-kadang terkedek2, takut nanti aku pun nak beli laptop baru jugak. Muahaha. Muahahaha!]

4. Masa dia amik aku di KL Sentral 2 hari kemudian, dia dengan gumbira bagitau company dia nak bayarkan separuh untuk beli laptop baru [teori #3: Dia memang dah tau company nak bayarkan separuh!]

Kalau tak percaya, boleh tengok entri terbaru di blog Suami Terchenta. Dia dah announce laptop baru yang dia nak beli! Kan, terbukti sudah teori2 aku ni! :p

P/S: Sebenarnya teori2 ni adalah rekaan semata2. Tiada kaitan dengan yang hidup atau 'mati'. Apa lagi ngan Suami Terchenta aku yang jujur tu. Dia cuma tau main kaler2 je. Jangan salahkan dia yek... Muahaha!

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