Chose Life!

English is a language originating from GREAT BRITIAN. All countries who had been colonised by the Englishman would know a smattering of English.

To have an American tell me that English is NOT MY NATIVE LANGUAGE is not only an insult to me; it is an insult to all MALAYSIANS (Read: Malaysians do not have a good command of English). Plus, he is a laughing stock to the Americans who had conveniently changed the pronunciation and spelling of certain words in English (Read: butchering the language in the process of being set apart). Now, may I ask, "Is english the native language to this particular American?" He certainly likes to think it is; but in my opinion… Its a far cry trying to identify himself as an English NATIVE.

Who is this culprit? Hahaha, he is none other than Spider King; who thinks of himself as a superior species of humankind and the Malaysians are just scum of the Earth. Hmm, wonder what gave him that thought? Isnt it the reverse? Obviously he is delusional.

Well, Spider King was obviously sarcastic to me as I couldnt understand him. Hmm, is there a problem there? I think not, as he is obviously from a different century than the current one I’m living in (Read: He is an old fart). The other wonderful Americans in Harrisonburg can certainly understand me clearly… And they are nearly of the same age as he is. Hmm, guess they are more up to date with the 21st century wavelength than the old chap. What a pity.

I clearly voiced my displeasure at his comment by retorting, "So let me get this straight, you want me, who is not proficient in English, to compose a letter and  fax it to this customer?" He realised his error and later said that the male gender do not have good PR (to which I replied, "Obviously!"). How about that guys? Now, not only is he putting down Malaysians, he is also putting down the entire male homosapien species.

I’m eager to hear your comments, Malaysians, Americans and guys alike. Please drop me your comments on how I should deal with this pompous freak without compromising my dignity. Thanks a lot..

Monday morning… dragged myself outta bed feeling blue abt going to work. Hey, dont u guys look at me tat way >:(

Dont u feel the drag sometimes too? Well, I did this morning. After working late yesterday nite reading a bunch of documents Spider King had conveniently dumped on me. Geewhiz, I did feel sleepy… After a quick "pick-me-up" shower that wasnt really a pick me up, I sat down for breakfast. My two "cheerful" colleagues came down several minutes later looking no better than me. =P

So after a hearty meal of bagels and juice and bananas.. We hit the road to office but upon coming to the South St, there was a detour for roadworks and gosh! Wat a big detour we had! We reached office extremely late. The guys were so confident of the road (only shows that they werent); it scares me! What should I say? I dont wanna be a backseat driver.. So I zipped up and just cringed in fear as we get honked on three or four times for being slow, taking the wrong turn and (hmm, this one’s my personal favourite) trying to turn to the other side of the street when the lights turn yellow to red! Yup, I made mincemeat out of the leather on the back seat of that car!

*Bashful* Actually, the detour we took got us lost somewhere which wasnt on the map. Errp… Hahah, tat shows how good our sense of direction was. *Paiseh* 3 heads and none the wiser! Bwahahahah!! But anyway, our Chimney Pot wasnt in office when we arrived; so we were spared some disciplining.. Heheh, but then.. as the day progresses, Chimney Pot didnt come even!

Well, I didnt miss him really, I was kinda relieved coz that gave me some time to attend to my inquiries and calls w/o him coming ard my office to discuss matters of the state (grim business that is). [Note: any company business is grim business]

By 5pm, we had already exhausted our brain matter and the silence in the office became unbearable.. It was only the 3 of us again. Richard had to go home to type a report. Could u believe that after working with the co. for 2 weeks, there wasnt even a laptop for the poor guy? Hmm, i guess the move really crippled our buying power (Doink!).

By then my "cheerful" colleagues were already egging me to go home. Err, hotel.. Guess i had to bring work back again.. Sigh… Hmm, wat am I doing here chatting wif u? I gotta get my ass off to work. Kla.. C ya!

As I sit here and type this entry, I am overwhelmed by a sense of homesickness and longing for some touch of familliarity. None of which i get comforted on by my two "sensitive" boys. They are clueless of my moodswings and utterly useless in offering words of encouragement or a pat on the shoulder when i need it the most. Sigh, all they ever do is argue with each other and eat. I cant really expect much from them coz I’m not their significant other. They dont need to put up wif all my crap (unless i say i refuse to cook for them *evil grin*).

Anyway, in my tiny boxed up world at the moment, I have nothing much to look forward to; except to expect harsh phonecalls from annoying reps and "well-meant" criticism by my arch-nemesis Spider King and Vampire King.

We reached CT at ard 11pm on Wednesday nite; insanely tired after travelling for days! The next morning, rising up early to do the usual 8-5 thing; we were delayed by our sleepy Chimney Pot who wanted to "show" us the way to office. We ended up waiting for him and when we started going to office, it was already 9am. After a lot of wrong turnings, Chimney Pot finally got us into office. That was when Spider King came down upon us, wrapped his poisonous web ard us and brainwashed us to do the cleaning of "our" offices. Richard; the man we heard so much abt but never met, was finally introduced to us (he sprayed me on the face wif cleaning detergent the moment i shoke hands wif him - some introduction, huh?).

The next day wasnt any better coz we started to receive faxes and phone calls even though our filing cabinets were not all here (still moving up from harrisonburg). Worse still, word from Malaysia forced me to do the work of another personel from Harrisonburg who had been retrenched. I am now an applications engineer, a customer service agent, a purchasing officer, an order entry clerk and an engineering draftsperson. Heheheh, how’s tat for a job title? Hello!! I’ve only got a pair of hands! I’m not an OCTOPUS! Spider King had to catch an airplane at noon, so he left the office early; but not before dumping a pile of documents for my perusal! In the afternoon, it was just the 3 of us in the office. Chimney Pot went to c to his "newly furnished" apartment and Richard went out on a "sales call"? Hmmm, how come i get the feeling we 3 are the only ppl running the show?

The weekend came ard and I was so relieved of the break. I’ve been pampering myself wif a jacuzzi soak and a swim in the hotel swimming pool for the afternoon (after a very late breakfast). Afterwhich a long needed facial put me back to my former self (moods and sentiment). We went to do laundry after tat and got a rude shock! Not only is Weatherfield a rather dirty place; its got dodgy ppl! At the laundromat; we were shocked at the price of doing laundry is $5 plus per load. What ever happened to the 75cents that our dear director told us before we came here? Boy, he must get his facts straight before he gave that sum… He even assumed that the allowance we get can cover for all these expenses *blinking eyes in disbelief*. Looks like its skimp and save time for us! While waiting for the laundry, we went shoppin ard. There was this place called Price Right nearby which we went in and bought something. Lau got a rude shock when he purchased something and didnt get a bag to put it in. He then saw a customer wif a bunch of bags so he went to reach for one. The lady snapped at him and said those were hers! *blinking eyes in shock* Then we found out that we have to pay 11cents for the bag! Arghh!! This place is insane! I sat at the laundromat after tat for half an hour just recovering from my shock.

Sighh.. I hope the Lord will guide me to nicer ppl in the Chinese Baptist Church I will be going to tomolo. I’m sure there’s lotsa nice chinese ppl ard to make me feel at home (cant cure my homesickness but, at least i know which places i should not go to to repeat tonite’s incident).

As I woke up in the morning, I realised that this would be my final weekend here in Harrisonburg. After stepping into this little city last month, I’ve grown to love the stillness and tranquility of this sweet hospitable city. It isnt as congested as KL or even good old Kj; even not much happenings around here.. But the warm friendliness of its folks really makes me love it.

Especially my dear friends Dick and Diane. He has been extremely patient teaching me; not to mention so hospitable and warm. I felt like a daughter being pampered by them. They brought us ard Harrisonburg, to visit the Mennonites, the Frontier Museum, we ate ice-cream and even delicious baby-back ribs for dinner at Staunton. Dick is such a good mentor that I’ll miss him when I go over to Hartford this coming monday. Its goodbye warm Harrisonburg and hello cold Hartford.

Our farewell dinner yesterday really made me depressed coz I wont have a friendly face to look up to every weekday morning. Sigh.. I’ve already been missing a great brother in Christ, YS… My big brother who scolds me, teaches me and puts me in place. Boohoohoo… Now I’m gonna miss a great mentor. Not to mention the awful homesickness tat I get, missing my loving parents, cool lil bro, lovable cats and cuddly rabbits. My best fren’s great.. She yahoos me almost everyday, knowing i’ll miss her *hugs to her*.

DB is now leaving its 20 over years of history in Virginia and I’m sure many of the great ppl I know would feel sad. I felt sad too when they closed the doors on Thursday. A tinge of sadness and mournfulness was in the air. Kudos to Julie (she’s got a great 1934 Ford), Shelby, Rick, Don (and his lovely dogs - Honey, Razor, and another 12 more!), Carl (his pick-up truck is monstrous), Linda and John! May the Lord bless them in all their future endeavours!

Sigh… We r now on the 2nd phase of our mission here, the move to Conneticut. Hence, we are on the move again. For more news of our adventure, pls tune in to… CHOSE LIFE! =P

Did u know I waited for you so long?? I was sitting alone in the bench at church when u said u’d come around after service at 10.15? Service ended early and I was waiting since 9.45 with nothing to do so I walked around the church and browsed at a few brochures. When 10.30 came and there was no sign of you yet, I sent u a message.. No reply.. The longer I waited, the more worried I became. I thought the car broke down or you were involved in an accident. I totally dislike waiting though I have kept u waiting b4. Could it be revenge? How could u? I had never let u wait so long before. I may be a few minutes late, but never an hour!! This is absurd.

The moments I spent in Holy Communion that gave me peace no longer had an effect on me. As I waited at the open door, the cold spring wind blew around me and gave me the shivers. Not so much of a shiver than when I imagined something’s gone wrong somewhere. Nay; u must have forgotten about me. Or u had forgotten to put the clock an hour early for daylight saving time. All these thoughts flew around in my head as I waited. Trying to read my Bible but I get fidgetty thinking if I am really abandoned there.

When u came at last, I was relieved. But I casually chidded u, "I’m so glad you’ve not forgotten about me." You gave no expression and just shrugged your shoulders. Sigh… "Did u remember to set the clock ahead? It is 11 now." Here was your queue to tell me you’re sorry for letting me wait so long or even just an offer of explanation on your lateness… Again, no reply.

I sat at the back keeping mum the whole while you were driving back; ignoring me. Fine, three can play the game! I ignored you all the way into Walmart and out of it. I refused to speak to you or to be near you at all. As if by impulse; you followed me around. My forgiving heart knew that you wanted to apologize but your hard mouth and ego didnt allow you to. Sigh… I’ll let it slide. But i refuse to be civil with you for a whole day. Sigh.. I know I wont keep it up. Its my nature to forgive ppl easily. I guess God’s peace is wif me and that’s why I am at ease.