Mon, 28 Apr: Minding my own business when I got a call from Sunny Kan that he'd like to interview me at about 4:45pm today at 11am-ish. I said OK... and soon as I put down the phone - I panicked. It just hit me that I have no copies of all the documents required for attending interviews *sweats!*

At 4pm, I walked to HR to take one of those interview application forms to fill and was told that my name wasn't in the list of interviewees for the day. Nevermind that... if Sunny called personally - it should be on anyway.

At 5:40pm, I came out from the initial interview. I was told that the interview was just a formality and that he (Sunny) wanted to profile me for the most suitable spot that he can think of among all those job openings that are being rolled out. *That means I'll have a new job?! Cool!! ...but wait! I'd be happier when I see the offer letter...*

Later at 7-8-ish, a HR admin from Agilent called to ascertain certain details and also to arrange a 2nd interview... and so I was scheduled for an interview on Wed, 5pm. *Wonder what will happen, nih?*

Oh... p/s: I need sleep!! Came in earlier to work to reach a deadline and ended up having a Nod-Off at a traffic stop. For the split second that I relaxed and let go of the brakes... my car slided forward and lightly kissed the car in front of mine. Thankfully there's no damage to that guy's car. Mine just suffered a partially broken license plate. I glued it back together much later at night.

Tue, 29 Apr: Photostated everything I needed for the interview in multiples of 3 - I hope they don't mind that I have only one passport photo left. Too much of a short notice sure doesn't allow me to get new copies done in time since it's quite hard to find a photo shop that opens til 10pm or something like that.

At home, I continued with my makeshift sewing for the costume... I just need it for one night so all those temporary sewing stitches will do. Of course it doesn't help that the cloth is soft or else I could make use of the sewing machine. I'm going ala Greek.

Sat, 26 Apr: Went shopping at Kamdar with Sze Lin. I bought 2 lengths of cloth, one white and one purple - more than enough for me to experiment with. Can probably wrap myself into oblivion? Yup! Very likely. We later met up with Vijaya at Gurney Plaza. I managed to find some accessories while Vij bought herself a pair of pants.

Sun, 27 Apr: Woke up early today for my road trip to Taiping with Chin Chin to visit Lokie. Left Penang at 8:15am and reached Taiping in slightly more than an hour later. Luckily for us the directions to Lokie's place were easy to follow - if not I'm sure we'd be lost in an unfamiliar place.

Lokie & her husband took us round Taiping. First stop - we had koay teow soup for breakfast. It's slightly different from the one we have in Penang. Next, they took us round to see Lake Gardens and we decided to go into the Taiping Zoo too. It's a pretty nice place and most of the animals looked OK except for the ostriches who look like they are half plucked. We also had the chance to play with a young horn-eared owl. Cute little fella... :)

Later on, they took us round to see some other landmarks near the town. We were also taken round the base of Maxwell Hill (Bkt Larut). Then it was lunch in town at a place Chin said her colleague said that the "Mee Rebus" was good followed by a little bit of window shopping. After that we went for tea before heading back to Lokie's place for a short rest before heading back to Penang at 4pm.

Later at 8pm, I went to Gurney Plaza's Nandos to meet up with Dan Khoo, Malcolm, Ash, PK, Jen, Pei Ling, Poon Wei, Jacob, Steven, and Norlman. We later moved to Segafredo's to chat. A busy but nice day indeed.

YeShHHh iT's FriDaY!! Wonder what kinda outfit I will end up with for the charity ball in aid of children's aid/protection that my colleagues asked me to join them for.

It's on 30th April. Must be dressed in a Mediterranean-like costume or be fined a hefty RM50 (if I'm not wrong). Not much time left so must think about something simple that needs the least time sacrificed for putting it together.

So what's been going on for the past few days? I housekept my work mailbox coz I nearly hit my quota on the server, dealt with a cranky data entry system, and a frantic data entry requestor because... well...

as usual... some people just realise stuff at the very last minute and feel as though the sky is falling on them. Of course it didn't quite help that the system was cranky and it is difficult to explain in detail to my customer (without using technical jargon) on what's screwy. Amen.

Anyhow, I've passed my resume to Angela late Tuesday. I do hope I get the interview and a new job soon. Having too little to do kills braincells faster than you can say... Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Yes... blogger has been rather cranky - Get this: Pre-typing in notepad, copy & paste would usually work fine... but clicking the post & publish just gets me a screen of "Page not Found" and other quirky errors. Ah well...

The weekend was a pretty quiet one for me. So what did I do? Let's see... Saturday (19 Apr) morning - went for a hike up to the Air Itam dam and back with Kok Keong, Sze Lin and her sis Evan. Sze Lin was pretty much the most exhausted one among us on the hike up. Later in the afternoon, dad had the car towed back. The radiator is leaking... brave of him to even attempt going to Prai. So car will be visiting the workshop on Monday. *sigh*

Tried to meet up with the Kalamari but we couldn't really find the time to do so. In the evening, it was time for plastering myself on the seat for the San Marino (Italian) GP Qualifying round. The weather looks sombre as though it were reflecting the mood of the Schumacher brothers. Their mums in coma and they were to return to Germany with their wives to see her in the hospital after qualifying.

Easter Sunday (20 Apr) is yet another quiet day for me. Morning - cartoons and cartoons and cartoons. Couldn't go anywhere anyway... the car is still best left alone and thought of as out of commission. Don't wanna get stranded anyhow. Evening? You guessed it - glued to the TV like super-glue.

The 2003 Italian F1 GP race is on... it was a fairly boring one at that. The only really interesting things to observe were the pitstops where some fuel rigs were malfunctioning... and Montoya was one hell of an unlucky driver to have to go in for an extra pitstop just to get fuel coz it didn't go in the first time round. It cost him the contention for a 3rd or 4th position and finished in 7th. *sigh*

Anyhow, the Schumachers did well although they've been told of their mum's passing hours prior to the race. As Michael Schumacher puts it, "...she would have wanted me to race...". Ralf ended up 4th and Sir Frank Williams sang his praises for his driver who managed well although he was under emotional distress.

Meanwhile, in light of their situation, the understanding race committee announced before the race start that they have made a decision to exempt the Schumachers from participating in post-race formalities if they choose to do so. All in all, a great race for both Ferrari and Williams albeit a bittersweet one for their top drivers of the day, a good one for McLaren, and a pretty disappointing one for Sauber.

Today: Woke up with minor headache but as I grow more awake - the worse it got... Quickly took something to eat b4 taking a painkiller and 2 panadols... and the decision that I should not drive today. And so... I have a lunch appointment with friends and still haven't settled transportation... sweEeeeEet :) -

Updates: I have a ride to and back from lunch - neato! Had a nice bowl of glass noodle soup for lunch today. The group included Chin², Ashwin, Malcolm, Dan Khoo, Julian & Angelia.

A Happy Good Friday to those observing this day... "Gosh, TGIF already!!" to all others... and a Happy Easter way in advance! May the sweeter toothed among us be blessed with loads of candies from the Easter Bunny... hehehe... :D

According to World's Smallest Political Quiz - I'm a centrist. "Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty."

Your Personal Self-Government Score is 70%.
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 40%.

Thu, 17 Apr: I took a day off and found myself in the NRD to apply for MyKad. The time on my ticket, numbered 1152 and last number called 1050, was 8:34am. About 10 mins later, I saw a college friend - his number was 121x. 50 numbers in 10 mins... amazing! I was called to have my photo taken at about 10am... and was shepherded along with 9 others to an office.

Just our luck that the last 4 of us had to wait a while coz something went wrong with the NRD digicam and the lady didn't know what to do with it... until some guy came and saved the day. Turns out that she didn't know how to focus the camera... ahh... bless the ignorant.

With photo taken - it was time to go back to the main waiting area to have my number called again so that I could be thumb-printed. Application completed at about 11am. Next - I decided to drop by KDU to visit a bunch of my favourite people there... it's nice to catch up with them. Then it was home for lunch.

After lunch, I bugged my mum to move faster since she was taking her time to preen herself... banks close at 3:30pm and I was afraid of long queues for the ATM card upgrades... it was 1:30pm when we left... and surprise! Maybank on Jln Masjid Negeri had virtually no one there... no numbering system to contend with... total time taken to complete all our banking transactions - 15 mins.

Next, to town to find a Commisioner of Oaths 'coz mum needs to sign some insurance claim legal documents... we are finally getting back the $ from the accident I was in on 30 Aug 2002. Then it was a tea stop at McD Drive Thru b4 heading home and a nap. At 5pm, I was woken up w/ what seemed like a headache... "Nvm" I thought... just get grandpa home. But when I got home... headache was just getting worse... Watched TV until 8 and decided I've lost all want or need for dinner. Slept at 8++pm.

Tue, 15 Apr: Had a sinfully heavy buffet lunch with my colleagues in Shangri-La's Coffee Garden... *burp* We were celebrating a belated birthday for Lyne (our secretary) and also the promotion of Angela (my soon-to be former supervisor).

Anyhow, my brother arrived home from KL in the afternoon but he'll be going back late tomorrow evening. For once after a pretty long while - I indulged in some "char koay teow" for supper...

I finally continued with watching my Smallville episodes of 15 and 16. I bet guys would love season1 ep15 (Nicodemus). Look out for it and you'll know what I mean *wink* May your jaws drop to the ground.

News of war is depressing yet I've managed to watch up to 6.5 of 10 episodes of Band of Brothers over the weekend. After watching so much about soldiers during World War II - my heart also goes out to soldiers who have been roped in to fight in arms. Some will lose a limb or two, some others severely injured and may not fully recover, some will not be able to even go home alive. It's a job they can't get out of even if some of them don't believe in the justification given by Bush/Blair and their respective military top dogs.

F1 Updates: Fisichella is officially awarded the win for the Interlagos GP! With the results now changed to be based on the results at the end of Lap 54 instead of Lap 53 - there were some winners and losers in this instance. Meanwhile, Fisichella will get his rightful podium for the Brazilian GP in a ceremony organized by Ford, days prior to the San Marino GP.

F1 Updates: It looks like the F1A is reviewing the results issued on Sunday and Fisichella may be announced the victor. Fisichella will not set himself for disappointment before an official decision is declared after an F1A discussion scheduled for Friday.

Looks like the Jordan team and Fisichella might be having a celebration after all... and also... Fisichella might finally get his first and well-earned GP win!

With so much being said and reported about Coronavirus Pneumonia (previously known as SARS) and the war in Iraq... that's all we hear about while walking in public areas, and read about in the newspapers. Heck! Even TV stations are putting up hourly updates regarding the war. There's no escape from it all!

For instance - last Saturday morning. While taking a "cool down round of walking" around the Botanical Gardens after hiking halfway up the tar road trail to Penang Hill and down a dirt trail with Kok Keong - a bunch of people jokingly asked their acquaintance, who they bumped into, if he had SARS when he was heard coughing...

Next thing you know, they were playfully interrogating him along the lines of making a diagnosis to confirm whether he is a health threat to the public or not.

Interlagos F1 GP Race, Sao Paolo, Brazil (Race 3 of 16, 2003 Season): IN A NUTSHELL

The Brazilian GP sure is one of those races we've haven't seen in a long while. It's very wet and high in drama. F1 is back to being an interesting watch after 2 rather boring seasons. Here's a run through of yesterday's race:

4 Safety Car (SC) Sessions: The race starts with an SC leading the pack for 7 laps. 3 more SC sessions were called for throughout the race with a possible 5th SC session to be carried out if Alonso (Renault) didn't crash into debris from Webber's mutilated Jaguar.

Turn 3, A Killer Turn (KT3): 7 cars spun there. 6 of them crashed into the barrier. Only one managed to get back in the race. There seems to be a mysterious source of water that keeps flowing across the race track here.

Only 10 cars finished this very wet and highly incident filled race... and Fisichella (Jordan) was assumed the winner after the Red Flag (Race Stop) was issued

Jordan's jubilation was cut short mere minutes later when it was announced that results will be based on the results of the previous lap, Lap 53, in accordance to F1 Regulations on Red Flag situations.

Hence the result for those in the points were - 1st: Raikkonen (McLaren), 2nd: Fisichella (Jordan), 3rd: Alonso (Renault), 4th: Coulthard (McLaren), 5th: Frentzen (Sauber), 6th: Villeneuve (BAR), 7th: Webber (Jaguar), 8th: Trulli (Renault)

Oddball fact #1: Barrichello (Ferrari) has been keeping a streak of incredibly bad luck on his homeland's race track. 9 out of 9 times - he did not finish (DNF) the race although he hungers for a win here.

Oddball fact #2: Both Webber and Alonso gets points although they crashed out.

Oddball fact #3: This is the first time a winner is absent from the winners' podium. The medics have since taken Alonso to the F1 medical facility for a check-up as a precaution. (News Update: Alonso is fine and only suffers from a sore foot).

Oddball fact #4: Fisichella wouldn't be on the podium if the race wasn't Red Flagged - being couped up behind a really slow SC caused his engine to burn shortly after his car was parked in the pit.

Oddball fact #5: This is a long-standing fact - Considered to be one of the best drivers ever known in F1, Fisichella has yet to win a 1st placing in his F1 career.

- - - The DNFs - - -

Car Failure #1: In Lap 17 - Heidfeld (Sauber) retired by parking his car on the grass as his car was losing oil.

KT3 Victims, Part 1: In Lap 17 - Wilson's Minardi took a spin and is out of the race.

Freak accident #1: In Lap 18 - Firman (Jordan) suffers a broken right front suspension and the flying debris from his Jaguar takes out the rear wing of Panis' BAR Honda, effectively taking the both of them out of the race. The 2nd SC is called.

KT3 Victims, Part 2: In Lap 24 - Montoya (Williams) and Pizzonia (Jaguar) crashes into the same spot in 2 separate incidents. In Lap 25 - "The Rain Man", Michael Schumacher, loses his touch and crashes there too. The 3rd SC is called.

KT3 Victims, Part 3: Verstappen (Minardi) spins out in Lap 31. In Lap 32 - Button (BAR Honda) became the 6th victim of KT3.

KT3 Survivor: In Lap 45 - Webber spins at KT3 but manages to regain control of his Jaguar to continue in the race...

Car Failure #2: In Lap 47 - Barrichello's Ferrari shuts down as he was leading the race. It's heartbreak again for Rubinho (see above fact).

Freak accident #2: In Lap 54 - Webber has been destined to hit the wall one way or another in this race. He loses grip and takes a massive crash near the pit lane entry. A 5th SC was called but before it could be carried out - Alonso hits the debris from the Jaguar and takes a big crash into the wall. He limped out of his car, seemingly dazed but fine, and rests against a wall as medics approach him. The Red Flag was enforced and there will be no restart.

Fri, 4 Apr: Survivor 6: Bye-bye Dave! This dude, a rocket scientist by profession, was duped to think he had allies. HohOHO!! Well... and so... he bombed out. Next person to go would most likely be that crackpot named Matthew (If he doesn't win that chunky-funky imunity necklace). He's getting too creepy.

Sat, 5 Apr: Jelly-making experiment using the Konnyaku powder mix went rather well. Just gotta remember to lessen the amount of water added into the mix on my next try at this.

Update: I forgot to add - Went hiking up until 42 of Penang Hill tar road trail with Kok Keong. Sze Lin was to join us but we decided to let her recuperate. Poor gal had stomach problem and hardly sleep since Thurs nite.

Sun, 6 Apr: Ching Beng prayers at home OK. I don't feel as stressed out and irritated as I usually would when they do stuff like that at home though my legs are killing me. I definitely need more frequent exercise and a better warm up routine before a hike.

Anyhow, my 2 grandaunts stayed the day and a 6-yr old cousin followed her grandma here. Dad said she must have had the mojo to sense that I made jelly last night - it's been a long while since she came.

At some point, I became a "colouring book artist" for the lil' rat. She does get lazy sometimes and tries to get me to finish colouring the drawings for her while she shifts her attention to other "attractions". Oh yeah, had to be on sugar patrol too... had to make sure my parents don't give her too much sweet stuff to eat/drink.

She's already quite restless... if she gets on a sugar-high... gone-lar! I couldn't even manage to finish reading a page of any newspaper article without her interruptions... and I don't want to imagine her when she's officially in hyperactive-mode *sigh... kids...*

Peace and quiet finally reigned supreme after both grandaunts and especially my cousin was sent home after dinner. Tonite's episode of Phua Chu Kang was a real riot - Afdlin Shauki played a nice supporting role to teach PCK ala Yoda to a young Skywalker on how to get back his "Juju (Mojo)". After that - a nap was in store. I needed to stay awake for the Brazilian F1 Race that's scheduled to start at 1am, Malaysian Time.

The most effective way to waste time in the office is to get your PC formatted - leading to an endless bout of re-installation of everything you need to work & enjoy a full multimedia experience - and then to top it all up - a nice long wait for the system to finish defragging.

At last count: Total time wasted at work since last friday = 3.25 work-days (roughly covers 4 mornings + 1 day). Absolutely stressful when you know the backlog pile is growing.

Hap-pee A-pe-ral FooOOools' Day!!! *Puts on a clown's silly red nose, blows a party horn thinghy, pops a party popper*

Fri, 28 Mar: Stayed home and watched Survivor 6. Roger is finally voted out - as a member of the newly merged team of Jacare (Portuguese for alligator).

Sat, 29 Mar: Today I can withdraw my pay. Today is an expensive day. Money seriously rolled out of my pockets when I bought the OST of LOTR:TTT and the Princess of the Danish Court Barbie doll from Mattel's Barbie Collectibles - Dolls of the World: The Princess Collection series.

Finding the doll available in Carrefour is a really odd thing since all the other obvious toy departments in Penang have yet to stock it.

Dinner included fresh raw salmon that dad bought from Carrefour, sliced at home and served with wasabe and kikoman sauce. *grins from ear to ear*

Sun, 30 Mar: Ugh! I hate waking up to be dragged to the graveyard for Ching Beng stuff... and I won't bother to argue either. I'll just sleep in the car while on the way up to Balik Pulau and back.

Mon, 31 Mar: My boss is getting a promotion. We'll be missing her. At home, I reworked on my soon-to-be launched personal website's design. I love it!