Today I didn't want to wake up for work. But today, I still had to drag myself to go to work. Oh heck! What'a another day of work while still much in holiday mood?

My colleagues and I have already purposely went out for a longer lunch on Monday... the day we worked in half darkness... since the facilities folks were doing maintenance checks and we were on generators.

We felt more like sleeping than working anyway... what with the aircon and bare lighting in the office. But that was Monday. And today is the 2nd day of Raya... and I'm not goofing off with friends coz... why is that? Oh yeah... I have to work... *type,type,type...*

SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!! to all who celebrate the festive occasion....

and Happy Holidays for those just enjoying some time off from pure mundane routine...

Meanwhile... I only have 1-day off since I'm following the Singaporean calendar... and well... that's the only pain of being placed to support Singapore in the Customer Service side of things.

Other than that... I had a blast for my something like 36 hours of time away from work (including sleeping time). Finally managed to watch 4 movies out of my pile of DVDs that I haven't had time to watch over the past few mths!

(1) Spirited Away: Mighty weird story (but heck... it's a Japanese anime, no?) but I sure enjoyed watching this one... where the supposedly most evil one turns out to be the good one...

(2) The Majestic: I really loved this one. If you believe Jim Carrey is only good for slapstick comedy - think again! He did some serious acting for this one. Jase!!! I'll lend you this one if you haven't already watched this one!!! It's even better than...

(3) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: Well... watching this after having watch #2 was like watching something a little lower classed. It's a fun movie no doubt but #2 had a better story behind it.

(4) Catch Me If You Can: Its about this Frank W. Abagnale dude - a legend in bank fraud history. The things this guy does all before his 19th birthday... without modern day PCs and the convenience of the www.... whoa! Not bad for a guy to be able to change from being an elusive fugitive who siphons money from banks early in his life to become a person who legitimately earns millions by becoming a check security designer for major banks later in his life. Whoa.....

Ok... so I conclude that my Singaporean mentor is not all too bright after all. In fact, he could be the easiest person for anyone to bamboozle if you ever need to find a target.

Lifetime Award for the Dumbest SMS interaction for year 2003.... has to be for this:

"Hey! You went home early today?" - the mentor

So yeah... I did go home before 6pm for once and that's a good thing... and people do notice when I go home before they do... coz usually I leave after most of them have gone home... so how much dumber can that question be to lil' old me?!

"Erm... that's my evil twin" - I decided that this reply would be one that is sarcastic enough

"You mean... You are still IN THE OFFICE?" - the mentor

Gosh! How dumb can this dude be?! I shall not reply... I shall not reply... and may some light shed on my mentor's somewhat dim-witted mind

Don't get me wrong but he does seem to have the capability to ask everyone dumb questions that can irritate the hell out of our minds... even when we are busy at work... via yahoo messenger. How do I know all this? Gossip with my colleagues lar... when sudah the terlalu stress.

You are Form 1, Goddess: The Creator.

"And The Goddess planted the acorn of life. She cried a single tear and shed a single drop of blood upon the earth where she buried it. From her blood and tear, the acorn grew into the world."

Some examples of the Goddess Form are Gaia (Greek), Jehova (Christian), and Brahma (Indian). The Goddess is associated with the concept of creation, the number 1, and the element of earth. Her sign is the dawn sun.

As a member of Form 1, you are a charismatic individual and people are drawn to you. Although sometimes you may seem emotionally distant, you are deeply in tune with other people's feelings and have tremendous empathy. Sometimes you have a tendency to neglect your own self. Goddesses are the best friends to have because they're always willing to help.

Which Mythological Form Are You?
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12th day since I last blogged... and nothing much has really changed. Ho-humm

Have watch Matrix: Revolutions with Jase 2 Saturday evenings ago. Still gotta love the effects although the movie is as confusing as ever... don't mind the tons of loopholes in the movie that screams... "Oooh... we'll make a sequel in years time! Just you wait!!"

Aside from the steamboat dinner my colleagues and I decided to carry on with last Tuesday despite the rain, life on weekdays is pretty mundane. I'm still working an average of 12 hours 5-days a week... and I carry work home on a CD every weekend. Life sure is mundane and pretty stagnant. I need to get out more. I need to see more sun.

Ooh... before I forget... outcast bitch of the office didn't leave on Tuesday as we'd much been looking fwd to... her last day was prolonged to Friday by some twist of events. Her courtesy farewell do was just really weird... no one had much to say to her... no one said they'd miss her... and some of us were just keeping ourselves from telling her, "Good riddance to bad rubbish"

As for how I spent my weekend - Sat evening was spent at Shen's BBQ. It was fun altho' I did stay away from the booze by keeping myself bbq-ing at the grill... hehehe... I didn't wanna get pissed that night coz I was already having an irritating headache.

Sunday was all about catching up on lost sleep, watching cartoons, ironing my 2 weeks worth of laundry, preparing some decorations for my team's official "Go-Live" party in about... 16 hours, and finishing whatever work I took home from the office on Friday.

Last note... am looking forward to LOTR: Return of the King... the new wallpapers are as darling as expected!!

Oh look... I'm starting to go home late again... 9:30 pm?!!! Crazy...

Oh gLeEEeeEeee! My manager had happily announced in a memo to the team that those of us who stayed til very late on Friday can go home early provided we have no work to do... and so... the happy campers of my team slowly trickled out of the office starting from 2pm... and I only went out shortly before 4pm... but what the heck?! I'm still leaving way earlier than I normally would...

Did I mention that one outcast colleague will not be eligible for this little bonus? No?! Ok... so she was the only bitch who left at 5pm sharp while everyone else in the team stayed back to help team mates with huge workloads to clear their pile. Oh justice is served!!

Btw... we won't miss her when she leaves on the 11th... it's no loss at all to the team coz she wasn't a team player in the first place and has been a pain in the neck although most of us gave her a benefit of a doubt on her personality... good luck to her next employer man!! Amen!!

During the weekend - I joined my colleagues, Michelle and Jeffrey (this guy is my Singaporean mentor), on an impulse trip to KL. Muahahahaha... Ok! So I had a pretty great time.

We left Penang late Saturday morning and stopped at Ipoh's Jusco for lunch. Then we headed to my dad's house in USJ to drop off our bags prior to a rendezvous with some other colleagues from S'pore in KLCC - had to battle some down nasty rain to get there

...and later a scrumptious dinner at Modestos in Bangsar... then it was off to some clubbing. We ended up in Beach Club after seeing ppl being true to the concept of the Barfly at the Bar (12 SI)... barflies all!!! I kid you not...

On Sunday... we more or less woke up between 10-ish and 11-ish. But my big surprise was that my brother actually woke up at 11! Usually he wouldn't be alive to the world until 2-3pm... maybe 4pm at times... and the reason that he woke up was "Kim Possible". Hahaha... so that explains why we can reach him over the phone by 12 noon on Sundays!!!

Prior to going back to Penang - Mich, Jeff, & I spent some time walking around Sunway Pyramid. It was a nice stroll... and it's still one of the malls that I love. Can never seem to leave without ending up buying something from there...

Before heading home - we decided to go for a seafood dinner at Batu Kawan / Tambun. The food was absolutely wonderful... aside from the fact that we have to constantly swat those big fat flies away who are just looking for a chance to get to our food... nyah nyah... nasty flies. BUzZzz off!!

29... 30... 31 Oct... 3-days in a row I worked from 8am til more or less up til 12 midnight as it was our year-end closing. Free dinner provided on 30 & 31 ~ I won't complaint coz I had a really great time with my team mates and our manager during our "Community" dinner.

Besides... we essentially had a fantastic Halloween... Although I must admit being initially disappointed for being unable to join my friends for a Halloween party.

As busy as my colleagues and I were over the week, I must say that it's pretty amazing how we even managed to squeeze a bit of time thru-out the whole week to produce some pretty decent last-minute custom-made Halloween deco and to put it up during the nite of Hallow's Eve. Hmm... musta been all those de-stressing breaks we take... hehehe...

5pm on Halloween - the freaking system was down and out. People were tensed. We NeeeEEeeed the system... but we can't do a bloody thing... so we did the only thing we could - take a goof-break. Apparently something always happens to our system every 31-Oct... sPooOooOOky...

But before you knew it - it was back to work... just 30 mins later... yeah... so it would have been mundane, senseless toil yet again at work again - but the whole office suddenly became alive!

Hmm... what's up? What's up? It seems like we have "uninvited" guest. 2 Chinese Ghost!! One totally decked in black, the other all white... hahaha... OMG!!! Those 2 are part of our team of Singaporean colleagues...

Wait! A look around entailed us to discover that there's more - Our dept. manager is in a cape with a "Scream" mask... my direct manager had put on a "paper bag" with a monster's face drawn on it, one of the supervisors was a fairy, and another was an angel... and all of them went around the office handing us goodies!!! Meanwhile, some ppl in my team (including me) put on our "crooked witch hats".

By now... no one was working. Everyone was taking whatever candy that came our way, everyone was taking pictures with our costumed managers and colleagues. We were just plain having fun in the midst of a tensed period in the office. Woo-HoOOoOOo!!