The training

Was at my client's place for training, for the whole week. The first day was introduction on the keys and icons - it was a disaster! It was messy. I totally clammed up and I don't even know what I was talking.

Thank God, it went fine on the second day. I just briefed them using the screen as a guide. Everything went smoothly for the rest of the week apart from me being build-up by anger towards a colleague of mine from China.

The only question she will ask is 'What time are we going back?". I want to go home early, as much as she does. But the time is not set by me. We are there to make sure the system can go live as scheduled. Anyway, why should she worry when I usually send her to her apartment doorstep. My home is another 30mins from her place and I have no complaint ... why must she nag me everyday. I like to reach my client's place early, in order for me to prepare for my training. I told her to wait for me at 8.15am and she always try to push until 8.30am. So what if the training starts at 9.30am? The most we will reach the place at 9.10am .... so, what's wrong with reaching 10-15 mins earlier!!!

I am just so fed-up with her now ... I just can't bear to look at her.

Beading

A friend of my aunt brought me to this shop, where they will teach you how to make earrings when you purchase the materials from them. The shop has been opened for just 6 weeks. Her daughter learnt hers from there too. She guided me throughout the process of selecting beads, crimps, ear-wire and told me to jot-down the price for each item.

I managed to make a dangling earring for my sis. I am allergy to a lot of product thus nothing for me. After the first earring, I bought some materials ... no, lotsa materials but only know how to make 1-type of earring.

When I gave that earring to my sis, she was comparing the one made by her friend. Practically, from her look, I think my creation was a bit on the ugly side.

I think my bracelet is more succesful - I took my sis's pearl necklace and undo the clasp..and made a bracelet. I think I will made one for my grandma cos the pearl necklace is a gift from her. I am quite desperate for materials. I actually removed the clasp of a bracelet which my friend gave me in order to use the clasp. It is a bit hard to get the materials here and it is more pricey anyway. The only way is to source the materials from OZ/NZ. Even the price in Singapore is too expensive.

MABC

I attended the 10.30am service at Mount Albert Baptist Church while I was in Auckland. For the service on my last week there, one of the Praise & Worship included a song by Don Moen - Shout to the Lord. I used to listen to my sis's cassettes and this is one the song that I remember best. I am not good at remembering lyrics you see.

Not sure why, but I have been listening to my yahoo radio - Praise & Worship station...waiting for the song to come online. And it did yesterday. It wasn't sang by Don Moen but by some other artist ... and I don't feel satisfied. No point looking for the old cassette ... don't think I have any player to play it. Guess will have to look for a CD instead.

My Journey Home

It was a long hour flight. Left Auckland at 1pm and reach KL at 1am Auckland time (which is 8pm Malaysian time). The journey was not pleasant. It all started at the check-in counter. My luggage was overweight. The normal allowance is 20kg but they usually allow up to 30kg. But sigh, they came up with a new ruling (which I came to know yesterday only)..the max allowance is 25kg. So, I was 5kg extra and the kiwi fella was telling me, I might need to pay for the extra baggage.

I told him it is ok and I will try my luck at my parents' check-in counter. They changed their mind to return early due to the weather. My parents flew Air NZ and I was with MAS, so it was kinda like 10-15 counters away. After checking-in my 2 luggage bags, I ran to the Air NZ counter and gave them a box full of my mum's purchases of biscuits. They managed to check-in my box but they went above their allowance by 2kg. So, they stuffed the rest of the stuff into their hand-carry.

Their plane depart an hour earlier than mine so I was left wondering the terminal alone. I felt a rush of sadness ... the weather was awful but I quite like this place. Going back to Malaysia means I have to face with traffic jam and the heat. It is nice not to work and can just wander freely. Sigh...

Boarding the plane, there's another small weighing scale waiting. It is to weigh passenger's hand-carry. Anything more than 7kg will get an instant fine of NZ200. Cool!

The plane was not full - it was not even quarter full. One of the steward even shouted with joy when he saw the back of the plane is empty. I still don't understand how MAS is rewarded with the Best Cabin Staff. The cabin crew were sulky and they don't even smile. I asked for a pen three times and I never see it. One of the steward were strutting the aisle like Carlson Kressley of Queer Eye fame. I think the MAS academy forgot to remind the cabin crew that the aisle is not a runway. And I wonder whether it is his height or is his nature to glare at people. During dinner, I asked for blue cod and I got a chicken. The stewardess didn't look happy to admit the mistake. She kinda shouted at the guy sitting at the other row not to open cos it is wrong and she will change it.

I hate to say this but I think the poor service has got something to do with me being an Asian. They were very nice to the non-Asian. Must I bleach myself in order to obtain the same service by the non-Asian? Or maybe someone should remind the cabin crew that they are Asian too. They also should be aware that, with existence of an online feedback on their website - people can feedback. And that's what I did.

"Out-Of-The-Office" E-Mail Auto-Reply

Was clearing up my mail this morning and this is the best junk mail I read today.If I have gotten this early, maybe I can set my auto-reply to one of it!

1: I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2: I'm not really out of the office. I'm just ignoring you.

3: You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I were in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at all.

4: Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed in preparation for my promotion to management.

5: I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation on 10/18. Please be patient and your mails will be deleted in the order they were received.

6: Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each word thereafter.

7: The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again.' (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals actually did this over and over).

8: Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply inapproximately 10 weeks, if I am still around then.

9: Please reply to this e-mail so I will know that you got this message. I am on holiday. Your e-mail has been deleted.

10: Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

11: Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to leave me any messages.

12: I've run away to join a different circus.

AND, FINALLY, ABSOLUTELY THE BEST:13: I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons.When I return, please refer to me as 'Loretta' instead of 'Steve'.