Mass Blogging

OK This is going to be a collection of blog entries....

I have been blogging offline since I haven't been in the office and yes I still have no internet at home. Shocking, I know but I think I am getting used to it an internetless home now.

The Last of The November Collection.

De Ja Vu
Lately I keep having de je vu conversations with men who say they are not sexist after they say things like…

It is always easier for women.

That’s not true.

OK Maybe it is true to a certain extent. Like they say women get away with anything and everything or when they say women can easily sleep their way to the top. This is true but sleeping your way to the top can be damn hard work too. It ain’t easy. And is it fair to blame the woman for being a bitch for sleeping their way to the top when it is the men who create that kind of demand. Men can try sleeping their way to the top too.

Actually I am not so sure what is right or wrong anymore.

I couldn’t help feeling negative towards this guy who has been sleeping around. It is just normal to label a guy who has been sleeping around as Bad. Then a remark by a friend made me rethink. ‘Sleeping around is a mutual thing. A guy who sleeps around doesn’t mean that he is Bad. It is just a way of fulfilling needs. Why do you always blame the men? What about women who sleeps around?’

That’s true…

Fuck, I don’t know what I believe in anymore.

My friend made an illustration, once upon a time there was this man who is the absolute jerk and there was this gorgeous sexy bitch. The jerk got more crap from everyone than the bitch. Why?’

And I can’t believe I actually said ‘Obviously because she is a girl.’

Fuck, I hate it when men trap me into admitting the truth that I hate to admit.


Losing It

You don’t sound like a Malaysian.

I can’t believe someone actually said that to me. I have been here for almost 4 years but I have not picked up any British accent. But am I actually slowly losing my Malaysian accent?

Did you go to an American school?

Seriously…this is getting too much! Perhaps finally I am speaking some proper English (although it’s the American version not the real Queen’s English). But I love my quirky Malaysian accent. Am I really slowly losing it?

I reckon I am not really losing it totally. People who I am comfy with will probably still find me saying things like ‘Don’t worry lah. Its alright lah.’ I said this to a guy in the office the other day and I was so shocked by myself.

Maybe I am not losing it after all, just conditioned to speaking proper English so that people can actually understand what I am talking about. And if I do speak in Malaysian accent to you means I am truly comfy with you.

Oh and my cousin brother just said that I sound British on the phone.

I think I am just a bit confuse about how to speak English.


I Can Spell

‘You spelled the company name wrong…’ said the taxi driver in a very deep Pakistani accent.
‘Oh.. really. Just bring me to that address. It is on H street.’
‘You spelled the company name wrong…’ he repeated like a million times in 15 minutes.

He dropped me off in the rain in front of the wrong factory on L Street. I told him that it was not the right place and he had the cheek to repeat again that I spelled the company name wrong. I tried to explain to him again that it was not the right place but he just asked me to pay up. Fucking Piece of Shit! It was raining and I was in the middle of God knows where. Fucking bastard!

I asked a kind lady for directions and we ended up bitching about fucking horrible rude cab drivers.

I walked and walked in the rain with the lady’s directions.

Lost.

Shit.

So I called up the client who kindly picked me up. I felt awful cause I was already 10 mins late for the scheduled meeting.

I was in a complete mess. Drenched, cold, exhausted, and the day haven’t even started yet!

After the meeting, I spent the day at the warehouse counting car doors and bonnets of Jaguars, Aston Martin, Bentley…

I was absolutely knackered by the time I finish counting 100 tags of God knows how many thousand items of metals.

Really proud of myself. I did it all on my own.

I can actually count.

And I can spell too.


Lost Keys

I lost my keys! I know I spend 5 minutes every single day looking for my keys but I actually lost it yesterday. So fucking pissed and stressed looking for it the whole morning yesterday. It was the first time since a long long time that I actually was on the verge of tears. Then something really funny happened.... I heard my neighbours. I have never met them even though I have been staying in the apartment for almost 3 months now. Seriously. And yesterday was the historic moment when I finally heard from them.

I heard them having sex! No I am gonna rephrase. I heard them having Hot Sex. Its probably hot sex cause it was so loud. It was so funny that I forgot that I was going to cry.

God bless my neighboours.

Waffles and Chocolates...

Yummilicious stuff at the Christmas Market (think ang moh Pasar Malam).

5 more weeks to Christmas!!!

And the best picture award goes to...

Statuef..

I had a go too but somehow I am not as talented as Ef in doing the Joanne-posing-thingy. Guess I am just not born with that talent.

Men In Pink

Last summer I went shopping with my lil bro and I suggested him getting some pink shirts. He was like ‘No.No Pink for me. It is gay!’ Seriously, pink is the new ‘in’ colour for men. It is not gay because it is out of date for gay guys to wear pink anymore. It’s the same for the ladies. Pink is no longer ‘in’ for us and the gays. But it ‘is’ in for the men! Pink is the New Black for men.

I find men in pink really macho. I feel it shows confidence and a kind of masculine sensuality. I know its weird but I find men in pink really sexy.

So ZS, go get some pink shirts!! Its sexy!!!

I love autumn even though it is rainy and depressing. I get truly fascinated by the beautiful colours of the leaves red, yellow, orange…. I love watching them on the train. But yes it does get a bit depressing to leave the house when it is dark to go to work and come home when it is dark. The whole day is spent at the client’s office which is in the middle of nowhere. So you can’t go out during lunch time unlike when in Birmingham. Besides it is too cold to go out anyway.

Autumn is often the forgotten season. I could not remember my first autumn. All I remember was the shocking first cold winter. And every autumn I will make a mental note to take pictures of the autumn leaves but I always never remember.

This year I actually remembered to take pics of autumn. Went on a crazy picture taking round Birm with Ef yesterday. Will put the pics up soon. Was gonna do it today but i stupidly left the cd with the pics at home. It was really fun taking pics like tourists and doing the crazy-Joanne-posing-thingy! Ef will kill me if I put the pics up but I can't resist putting them up cause they are really good.

The German Christmas Markets are up again in Birmingham! You lot who were there with me last year, I just want to say that walking around the Christmas Market reminded me of all the good fun we had and everyone of you are much missed and often thought about. I hope you guys are living well whatever you may be doing!

I have 3 days holiday starting tommorow. But its not a real holiday. Just taking time off to study for the exams in 3 weeks time. But still it will be nice to lie in and not wake up at 6.30am!

French Onion Tart

No no its not PJ’s infamous egg tart. It is French Onion Tart this time. I only made one tart cause I never had onion tarts before and I didn’t know if I would like it. Surprisingly, it was pretty good despite being a bit burnt.

French Onion Tart

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Quick Flaky pastry:
4oz butter
6 oz flour
Pinch of salt

Filling:
2tbsp olive oil
4 large onions thinly sliced
3tbsp vinegar
2tbsp muscovado sugar
A little egg beaten or milk
6 oz cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Make the pastry. Chill for 30 mins in the refrigerator.
Cook the onion until soft and brown with the vinegar and the sugar. Cool it.
Roll out the pastry into a circle. Spread cheese in the center and leave a bit of border.
Add caramelised onion on top of the cheese.
Fold the edges and brush with egg or milk.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
Bake for 20-25 mins.

Knackered!

Its quite a free day at the office today cause I finished up all my work in the morning and I asked everyone in the team if there is any work for me and nope, no work. So I spent the day revising for the exams, replying e-mails (yes I finally got round to that after so long.), surfing the web,dreaming about going somewhere sunny for a holiday, helped to do some filing, blog...

I feel knackered even though its been quite an easy day at the office today. Absolutely knackered. Maybe I have been working too hard for the past few days. I am growing to love this job. I know I can't believe I am turning into one of those people who love their jobs. I realised that I am quite a workaholic. I love being busy. I love having work to do. Maybe its cause I don't really have much of a life outside work. All the crap about work life balance. There is no such thing about work life balance. Work is part of life. They are not separate therefore it is impossible to balance work with life cause work is a subset of life. I guess I don't have much of a separate life from work. The people I meet at college are from work. The people I meet at the office are from work. The bit of time outside work is spent sleeping, watching TV, occasionally going out for a meal with friends from work... Its all about work! Even after work you hang out with people from work! Just imagine those people who date and marry people from work. They probably love their work till death do us part.

ok enough of moaning about work life balance and the impossible mission to achieve it. I am thankful to have a job and I can't help my growing love for it. The love maybe fiery now but it will probably fade with time. Or will it grow stronger? Ask me in a couple of years time. Hopefully I can tell you that I still love my job. We'll see...

Prime Numbers

Currently reading The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night Time by Mark Haddon.

I just started it yesterday. Its pretty good. It is really different from any other books that I have read. Not that many but I think it is really special book.

One of the quotes from the book that I am dying to share with everyone.

Prime Numbers is what you get when you take away the patterns. Life is like prime numbers. It is logical but we can spend all our life thinking about it and still not being able to figure it out.

Life is actually quite simple and logical but somehow it is so complicated. And yes we will never ever figure it out.

As some of you can see the Work In Progress link (Not in any particular order). These are the links that I got from those of you who have been leaving comments lately. Do do send me your links so that I can add them. I was reading Fel's blog yesterday and realised how much I missed reading blogs and how out of date I am at reading blogs because I have been so busy. My deepest apologies. Oh and Fel, I want to comment on every hillarious entry of yours but never got round to it. Absolutely love your blog!! Don't stop blogging. I think you have the Kenny Sia potential. Don't forget me when you are famous.

Oh and Happy Belated Birthday to my dear ex-uni-mudder, Daffy!! Continue to cook and make your dreams come true!! xxx

Sushis

This is for you Stella!! I made sushis. Really wish to share it with you cause I know how much you love sushis.

Currently watching Goong!

This one is recommended by Fel. I thought it was damn childish when I first watched it but I am absolutely hooked onto it now. Its got 20 ep. I have got ep 1-8 on my computer and seems like the company has finally banned me from downloading it. Damn.

Guess I just have to be content with watching ep 1-8 again and again until I get sick of it. Maybe I will try downloading it over the weekend. Fingers cross that it will work. Or I might have to ask Fel to ship me pirated CDs from Indonesia!

Awayday

I realised that since starting work I have a slight addiction for 2 things.

Alcohol. I am not alcoholic yet but last Friday I was actually seriously craving for alcohol. Its the damn drinking culture. I haven't got drunk yet but its becoming a habit to have a pint on Fridays.

And the second wee addiction is coffee. I never am a coffee drinker but now I actually need the caffeine to keep me going. I hardly drank any coffee at uni.

Well, addiction is bad, trying very hard to get rid of these addictions. I guess I am just normal like every other working people.

The lovely Edin. My fave city in UK...

The extremely posh meal at The Witchery. 86pounds (About 500 ringgit) per head! Never ever had such an expensive meal all my life. I think its crazy to spend so much money on a meal but it sure was an experience.

This is the pretty dessert (macarrons, sorbet,chocolate torte, cherry in whisky..) which I was so reluctant to eat cause it look so damn pretty. After the heavy starter (Scottish Salmon with poached egg and caviar) and the absolutely wonderfull main of seabass with clams, I could not finish the dessert even though it was absolutely gorgeous. So the guy next to me happily helped me not to waste food.

It was great to get out of Birmingham. Great to know that I will be working with a great team. Great to see Edin again and of course to catch up with Dr Han. Its a great awayday!

Now back to reality of preparing for my mock exams. PJ needs to concentrate and figure out how to study smart for her exams. Ciao.

PS - I got your parcel Stella!!! I love the necklace!! Its gorgeous and it actually matches my new dress. Will reply your e-mail soon. Je t'aime!!! Gros bisous...

Break-time

Yes Fel, I still cook albeit badly. It’s the working life draining all the creativity in me.

Even my e-mails are becoming precise, straight to the point. I am becoming damn boring.

Anyway, some not-so-bad creations..

Couscous with prawns and leek. Couscous is the easiest food to prepare and I absolutely love it.

Daisuke Japanese Cheese Cake. Of course it didn’t taste as good as the original by Chef Dais since PJ is Miss Cut Corners.


And lastly this is PJ’s very own crazy invention. ‘Spicy Vegie Stew’. Its so easy to make and so comforting on a cold winter's night. Just fry the onions until fragrant, add in curry paste, add water, add herbs, add yoghurt, add in aubergine, cheekpeas, mushrooms and carrots. Cook until veg are soft. Serve it when its boiling.



Oh and I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow. It’s a team away day. All expense paid working holiday.

Awesomeness!! See you soon Dr Han!