I took a few empty boxes home from the store. While waiting to go online, I managed to pack some of my books into 2 boxes. Mum advised us not to unpack everything when we move into the apartment since we'll be moving out to the BI condo in about 10 months time. So I've separated the "unimportant-don't-have-to-open-till-10-months-later" stuff from the important stuff. So the room is about 1/5 done.

I hope everything goes well tomorrow. Coz I'm hoping to watch X Men 2!!

*smacks Abe for telling me the ending* CHEH!!

*ahem*

Hands got itchy again. Heh. Decided to go black up there coz the background colour of the 2 little pics were black. The guy on the left is actually taken from a pic of my friend who posed like that. Had both pics on my computer for quite some time. Were my early experiments with Photoshop hehehe... and I've managed to repair the line at the bottom... yayyy...

Mum has been fretting so much about the moving process. More than the usual, too. And I’ve just realized why.

We came to this house with practically nothing but the clothes we had. Because the house in Ipoh was a company house… with company furniture… and a company car… the fact that we’ve stayed in this house for 10 years may give you an inkling as to how much shit we’ve bought over the years.

… oh my….

We’ve found another apartment, ironically directly in front of the 7-11 and Kiddies Store. To refresh your memory, click here. It looks small. I haven’t seen the apartment itself, but from what mum tells me, it is small. Ok, so 4 rooms is a nice thought. But 4 rooms in an apartment that looks small from the outset doesn’t augurs well for the interior, no? But since we’ll only be staying there for 9-10 months, and the fact that it is spanking brand new, mum has put her confirmation stamp on it. I feel like I’m going back to where it all started since my 1st house in Ampang is just a stone’s throw away hehe. I’ll be in between Ampang Point and the whole 7-11 stretch. Hmmm…

I’ve gotta start packing my room. *Looks around*… this sucks. I’ve just painted one wall blue! Gotta go apply for my annual leave too. Dad has confirmed the dates we’re moving – 14th and the 15th of May.

Sigh.

Wahey...

Played around with the codes. Moved things around and gave it a new colour... how is it?? Too dark??

Stuck with those white spaces at the top of each side tables though... i.e. above my pic and the chat box... dunno how to fix 'em. And also if you scroll down till the end, you'll notice that the grey line at the bottom doesn't stretch till the end on the right.. sigh.

Oh well...

You know what?

I hate the rain. Lemme say it again.

I HATE THE RAIN.

Work started at 6pm yesterday. I was already ready and set to go by 5. And then the heavens opened up and it poured. P-o-u-r-e-d. So I sat for about 10 minutes before deciding to go out when the rain seemed bearable. Ahh... but the buses decided to play hide n’ seek with me… and the taxis decided “Oh, why don’t we join the buses too in the game..”

By 5.35pm I was already restless… and since my handphone expectantly died on me (the battery is fucked up after all these years), I trudged back home to call for a cab.

It was still raining, mind you.

The lady on the phone said ”the cab is on the way” so I thought that I could still make it. Alas, 5.55pm and I’m still at home. Called the company again, and after being put on hold for oh-such-a-long-time, they came back to me saying they’re sorry but the cab driver seemingly waited in front of the house for a long time and since nobody came out, he left. WHAT?? I sat on the chair next to the door with the door being wide open for all the world to see and I didn’t see no taxi pass by! PENIPU!! Liar, liar… pants, blouse, socks, bra, underwear on fire! And so I ended the call in a huff. Cheh.

And it was still raining.

I still had the phone in my hands while figuring out what to do when it rang. Abe. The moment I knew who it was… my mouth set off like a train driver in pursuit of his runaway train, complaining my bad fortune to him. Hehe. He was on the cab company’s side BUT I’m not gonna tell you why. And then, he can asked me this stupid question:

“..are you going to watch Kosheen tomorrow?”

Look. It’s tomorrow (today). In Genting. I don’t have the tickets, nor transportation, nor accommodation, nor people to go with. I know I’m off tomorrow (today). Which makes it more unbearable. Sigh.

And it was still raining.

And he was still banging me! On the phone! And I’m late for work!

I bet. That if I told him that I’m about to die also, he wouldn’t stop banging me. Whatla.

At the end of it all, I managed to get another cab and reached the store 40 minutes late.

And it was still raining.

A day of many firsts…

Just before I left the house this morning for work, a call came through from (Payal, read this!) Edward – a manager from another store who was working as the manager-on-duty today at my store. I had to drop by the Starbucks HQ in town to pick up a few stuff. So there I was, in the HQ for the first time. Quite intimidating seeing that a this is where most of the top brass were working. Heh.

And then at the store, it wasn’t really busy during the lunch hour period, but just as I got an order for two lasagnas and was preparing them… Hajar comes and pops by the pastry case next to me hehehe. This was her first time in my store! She and the others in Monash are having a week of holidays so Hajar is back in her family’s home in nearby Melawati. Gosh. Hope I didn’t disappoint her because I had to talk to her while preparing the lasagnas… and she left with a friend soon after. Maybe I’ll see her again. Who knows…

About half an hour before my shift ended, the evening crowd started pouring in. And who pops by? Wynnie and Max! This is the first time anybody I know visits my store twice in 3 days hehehe… guess Wynnie’s aim to make the store her hangout place ain’t a fluke, eh? This time, seeing that I was already on duty, the both of them got their discounts hehe. I sat with them after my shift ended at 5pm, yakked till Max left at 6 and Wynnie soon after.

Oh and as we stood to leave, I spotted Caleb grinning at me a few metres away! CALEB! (Hoe Fong… READ THIS) He knew Wynnie because his new girlfriend, Poh Yee, is in the same college as her. Aww… but we couldn’t chat long coz Wynnie’s mum was already waiting and I had to leave to avoid the jam. Did manage to talk a bit to Caleb though, he’s gonna be promoting perfumes in the concourse area in front of my store for the next 18 days! Yay yay… we’ve been classmates for 5 long years… oh and Hoe Fong… Caleb n’ Poh Yee just got together. How I know? Through Wynnie! He he he he.
First time me and Caleb gonna be working under the same roof. Good. I got lunch partner. Huaaaaaa I’m gonna dig some stories from the fella *Rubs my hands together*.

Let's see..

My parents went to have a look at a few houses today, namely 1 house in Bukit Indah and 1 apartment next to Ampang Point. The BI house, its owner only wants a Malay family to move into it cheh. The apartment....hmm.. its a bit dirty as a result of the present tenants.. but mum said its not impossible to turn it into a cosy place. Its just beside the whole Ampang Point area, so it would be easy for mum to go to work and dad too, whose office is just 5 minutes away. And as you all know, Celeste likes to stay in a place that does not have any transportation problems coz she loves to go anywhere and everywhere provided buses and trains are not hard to come by. This is where Dad tried his very best to get my approval ( like I said, I don't prefer to live in a condo/apt ) coz you see, from this apartment, I get to take any bus that travels along Jalan Ampang.... unlike Bukit Indah and it's 'only-#23-bus' rule. Then there's the Starlink buses to the Ampang Station (for STAR Lrt) and the PUTRA feeder buses to the Jelatek Station (for PUTRA Lrt). Ok papa, you got my approval to put this apartment into THE list. :D

And then and then and then kan... I gave my very first tuition class today.

*laughs silly*

I can't imagine I'm getting paid for this! He is my close friend's brother who is in Form 3 now. Yea... mula mula sudah ajar budak PMR! Macamlah terer sangat muehehehe. I'm teaching him English which is odd for me. Why? Well you can imagine the headache I had when I had to get myself an English referance book last week in order to prepare myself. Yeh, cikgunya pun mesti bersedia... dan proses persediaanya tak boleh dipersendakan tau! Prosesnya sungguh membingungkan... but all in all, I guess it went well?

Payal: Did you understand the Malay sentences? Hehe. Try to ask your lecturer to explain them if you don't.

Others: I added a few Malay sentences in my entry in order to help my non-Malaysian friends who are taking Malay Language classes in college as part of the (damn) LAN programme. Biarla kita sama-sama tolong diorang. Hehe

1st of June.

And it's bye bye house.

I feel like making a scrapbook or something. An ode to the house kinda shit, y'know? Why? Becoz my memory sucks, and I don't want to forget the little things that made us stay here for so long. This wasn't a perfect house, that term is being held by the Ipoh house.

I've got a month or so to complete this task. Wish me luck to do justice to the house. Will post the pictures online too in my website.

To those who didn’t know, I had a Coffee Master Challenge this morning. Only getting the resource manuals the night before, I decided to stay up throughout the night reading all that shit. Nearly made it except for an hour of sleep and an hour of Internet. Hehe.

The Coffee Master Challenge is an inter-store competition held during the months of April, May and June where the winners of each batch at the end of June meet up for the final showdown in the Grand Finals in October. A batch consists of 4 stores, which could be from a single store/combined stores, and each team must have 4 baristas.

I have lived in 5 different houses. My birthplace being OUG, 3 in Ampang and a short stint in Ipoh in between. The one I’m living in now, has been the longest. Came here in Dec’93. We chose this place as a gamble, because there weren’t any shops nearby and the neighborhood wasn’t developed yet. The managing company was new, too but their future outlook on the whole Bukit Indah concept was well taken in by some people. As we couldn’t afford a house of our own, we rented one. We didn’t think we would still be here 10 years later. The place has thrived. The shop-lots behind my house have become an essential part of our lives. I live in the 2nd phase and the company has stuck by its promises to limit the housing phase to only 3 so as to keep the green lung behind us intact. But then when demand rose, they consulted the residents and decided to not build anymore houses, but rather condos and apartments. The 1st project, the Emerald Hill condos, was a hit. Big, spacious grounds beckoned. And so a few more projects came along.

Papa and Mummy hoped to buy over this house we are living in, though Papa doesn’t really like it because “… the sitting area and the dining area is just one small square while the kitchen is pathetic..” but knew we had grown to love this neighborhood and buying another whole new house wasn’t in our grasp. Unfortunately, the owner showed no signs of giving us the key so when another project came up – the Crystal Tower – with prices that seemed affordable, Papa handed over half of his withdrawn EPF savings for a unit, with more payments needed in the next 1 year or so. This is why we are suffering now. The whole family is geared behind the idea of finally having a place of our own – though I don’t like the idea of living in a condo but Mummy already has the idea that I’ll be living on my own when the project is finished haha. Can’t imagine… me living on my own in a year’s time. No prizes for guessing where I wanna live when I venture out on my own.

And then this morning, I woke up as usual and was just about to head downstairs for breakfast when I heard voices below. Mummy was talking to the owner. So I sat on the steps and listened.

The owner is renting the house she’s living in too. Her house owner wants the house back in April.

So she wants our house back now.

I just sat there looking at the familiar cracks on the wall.

A lot of people seemed to have liked my previous entry. Thanks. I thought I was a tad sappy there.

Today though, it’s the future that’s in my head. I found myself standing behind the espresso bar in the store… and remembered what I used to want in life. To travel. When I was small, I thought the concept of ‘vacation’ would satisfy my whims. Unfortunately, I came to realize the stark fact that my family did not share my enthusiasm. We didn’t go anywhere without purpose i.e. weddings, funerals etc. So then I thought… education. Perhaps, I would study overseas. Nah uh. Recessions took care of that. Then I thought, maybe I’ll keep aside some money and one day go on this trip I planned all my life – backpacking around Europe, you know… going on train trips across borders, staying at YMCAs, really roughing it out but taking pleasure all the same. Seeing places, seeing people, seeing cultures.

Ok y’all, come back to reality now. You’re not somewhere in Bath ogling at old huge buildings, you’re reading my blog. Hehe.

Now how am I suppose to keep money for that trip when I can’t even settle my day-to-day matters without hoping for money to grow on trees? And then one day, in accounting class, my lecturer reminded us that being an accountant is not all that doozy as it is made up to be. She was an accountant. She worked in an international company. She traveled. My hopes soared.

And landed. I look down, I see myself pulling an espresso shot, steaming milk, making a latte. I’ve only been in this job for 3 months. Yet I feel restless. Tired, maybe. But restless all the same. I thrive at chatting up a customer… to get to know another person, another character, another culture, another place altogether.

I envy my college friends, they who practically hop between countries during their holidays, but pity them all the same coz they don’t really explore the place they’re in. Don’t really taste it. But they know I want to, hence they bring back gifts for me. I wear a blouse from Bali, and I imagine clear sun kissed beaches, shady trees and aquamarine waves. I touch the blouse from Mumbai, and the beating of drums go about in my head as people dance in swirls around me. I hold the paperweight from Maldives, and I imagine waking up to the smell of salt water in the mornings. Maybe Bali, Mumbai and Maldives ain’t really like that… but I’ve never been there. So let me imagine it all from behind the bar.

I'm not goin for the test tomoro. I woke up today at 1pm, felt SO tired so I called my manager and told her I won't be coming into the store earlier to sit down and finish my Core 2 book. Hehe. I can be a Coffee Master another time. Then I went back to sleep and woke up at 4pm for work at 7pm. Heheh.

Before ANY of you accuse me of being a lazy ass and pity my manager... it was not my fault! It wasssss... *points to Amit*.... his fault! He had to be soooo in love with Ampang when he used to live there... and he had to know all the backroads and secrets of Ampang, that I stayed up till 7am talking and laughing while re-living my childhood days. Man. No wonder I'm tired. I felt like as though I went on this really long bike ride through Ampang Jaya, like the old days.

I miss the old days. I miss my old gang. I miss oggling at the big houses. I miss wheezing past adults on my bike with my really huge gang.. all of us giggling and screaming at the top of our voices at each other. I miss having to stand at the Kiddies store just reading all those beautiful colourful magazines. I miss cursing the steep hill in Taman Tar.. pushing my bike up and up and up.. only to sit for awhile in the spring drain-like thingy, dangling my legs in the cool icy water... before going on THE RIDE down the hill on the other side.. the main reason why we were all up there anyway. The adults in the parked cars on the hill, they were up there for ANOTHER reason hehe. And I thought they wanted to see the spectacular view from up there. I thought they liked it as much as I did. And ooohhh! The notty monkeys! We used to cackle in squeaky voices in imitation of them! Haha

Eeeee what has happened to me?

.... I've grown up...

I wonder.. do the kids around Ampang these days have fun like I did?

Guess what? My manager is sending me for the Starbucks Coffee Master Test in the KL Sentral store on Thursday. If I pass it, my apron won't be green anymore, but BLACK! And I'll be termed a Coffee Master. But first, I've gotta finish my Core 2 book, which I just received today because the KL District didn't have stock.. but somehow my manager got hold of one for me just so that I can go for the test.

And I wanted a relaxing part time job, eh?

Work finished at 5pm. Too lazy to go to French class. So what did I do?

I went shopping!

Well kinda laaa... dropped by Ampang Point - Cash Converters and British India Warehouse to be specific. Got myself 3 CDs for RM30, a cushion insert for RM9, a bluish-purple checked cushion cover for RM9 and a striped top for RM29.

Wah I haven't done this inna long while.

Starbucks just called. I’m working the closing shift from 5pm-12am today.

I’m supposed to be off today. ARGH.

Yesterday, I worked from 4pm-12am.

I was supposed to be off, but then the day before they managed to persuade me to come in at 6pm coz not enough people. But then at 12pm they called to ask me to come in 2 hours earlier. ARGH.

Last Friday, I was supposed to work from 6pm-12am… and what time did I actually go? 3pm.Yeah. NINE hours. ARGH.

And I think, the work is taking its toll on me. Let’s see, there’s this one guy at the store whom everybody has argued with. Including me. But of all, I’m the one that can stand him the longest. Like Amit said, Pisceans are tolerant. Bah. But then on Friday, I argued with him practically the moment I came in for work. Yeargh. And the nite before, I got pissed off at Abe online. Me getting pissed off at him??!? I’ve known him long enough to know that he’s always on banging mode. And that it doesn’t mean shit. Sigh. And I’ve screwed up my eating habits. Lost 3 kgs already.

But the one thing that’s gotten me worried is the fact that I hung up on a friend. Usually I’m the cool type, you know. I’ve got many different types of friends – high school, college, work, others – and I think I’m the type who lets things roll off my back, just because I don’t prefer to make enemies.

I’m beginning to hate my ‘kind’ attitude. Because of it, I’m not capable of telling my manager ‘NO’ when she asks me to come to work early/on my off day. Sometimes I wished I was a bitch. Hehe.

Hmm.. *holds a VCD in her hands*

Chi gave me this VCD. He said it was suppose to be in French.. looks like a documentary on skateboarders... hahah.. ok, even English skateboarding terms I cannot understand, how would I fare in French? Hmmm... hehehe

This VCD exchanging thingy started on Tuesday, when we all were hanging out after class. We were watching the old folks learning how to dance ballroom style when I mentioned that I wanted to join but it seems only old folks joined it, to which Chi said why don't I join the salsa class coz got peeps our age. And then I started talking about the movie "Dance With Me" and me and Chi started yakking away.

So as of now, Chi has my "Dance With Me" VCD, Smita has my "Le Fabouleux Destiny de I'Amelie" VCD, Sanju has Chi's "8 Women" VCD and I have Chi's whatever VCD.

I can't wait for Tuesday. I'm getting the huit femmes VCD.. hehe..

La.. Vince just said it's quite boring. Cheh.

Oh I just realised... Chi loooks like Kiki! hahaha.. but not as blur as him.. but yea.. he does!!