I Hate Kids

It's not an unknown fact by now that I hate kids. Or more specifically, I hate other people's kids. They are noisy, abnoxious, annoying, attention whelps and are a pest in general. Like today for instance, they overran the gym. Because of that, I couldn't go there and exercise, because they literally overran the gym, those little monkeys. I hope they get hurt and never come back.

Obviously this family only stays over for the holidays. Another reason to hate school. They shouldn't keep those kids away from school for too long.

I've decided to back off for now and come back in an hour, when I am less traumatized and less cordially-inclined :P. I am not going to give up my precious day of working out due to some kids. The lot of them should just jump into the pool, seriously (and possibly drown).

I hate kids. It had nothing to do with my mom suddenly deciding to have another child 8 years ago. I already disliked them even then. But since I have an 8 year old sister anyway, I am not sorry for the fact that I bully her a lot simply because she is a kid. And being the youngest she will have to put up with it until I deem her no longer an annoying kid. Don't feel too sorry for her :P. She gets anything she wants. Except my attention.

I hate other people's kids and their parents. If you couldn't control or look after your little pests then why bother having them in the first place? There's a thing called a birth control pill in case you haven't heard of it.

To summarize: I. Hate. Kids.

Iroiro na Mono 2

Hello. I'm quite sick of this background for my blog. My new year's resolution will be to change it.

I didn't realize that my last post was the one I made the night before JLPT. I was so traumatized post-JLPT that all I wanted was a cup of tea and some high-calorie cookies. I took N4 in the morning and N3 in the afternoon. The wait was so...hot. And I was wearing jeans. Uuugh. N4 was easy enough. But N3 slapped me left, right, upwards, downwards and diagonal.

After N4 my friend and I decided we will just take N3 for the experience. It wasn't that hard. I was just lazy to memorize all the kanji. As well as ill-prepared for the ridiculous time allocation. But N3 was a nightmare for more than just the content of the paper itself. Firstly it was set during the hot afternoon sun. Secondly, it was freaking postponed by 30 minutes because we had to wait for candidates who haven't arrived due to traffic! And despite that, our classroom had at least one empty desk at every row. Thirdly, we had to fill in an annoying questionnaire egged on by a predictably boring 'omiyage from Japan'. Fourthly, because of the annoying questionnaire, we left quite late. I walked out of my desk at exactly 7pm. The school didn't deem it necessary to turn on the lights, and although there was still a little bit of sun, all shaded areas of the school (stairs) might as well be nighttime.

So I walked down the 9 storeys stairs because it was too dark to be waiting for the lift on my own.

But things went up from there. Petaling Street was disgusting. There was pork and people spitting everywhere, yet I had to check out their game store. 5 ringgit PS2 games are still sold there after all. When I was done, I went to the head of the Street and contemplated my transportation home. Ideally wanted to drive, but being unfamiliar with the area, I decided to take a cab that morning. There were only two ways; bus and cab. Cabs are smelly but busses are infrequent. Walking would take close to an hour, and I was in need of a bathroom.

So I went to the Kotaraya side and stood by the roadside, contemplating. Then suddenly, a couple of haggard-looking tourists came up to me. There were two girls. One short, one Tall.

Short Girl: Excuse me, do you speak English?

Me: Oui. (Just kidding) Yes, I do?

SG: Do you know where is the monorail station around here?

Me: Ah, unfortunately there is no monorail station in the area. There are only the LRT stations...somewhere nearby. I've never actually been there.

SG: I see. *looks around desperately*

Me: May I know where you're going?

SG: We're going to Bukit Bintang. The Pavilion, you know.

Me: Oh. Well, from here there are only two ways to get to Bukit Bintang. Taxi or bus. Or walking. But that would be very tiring.

SG: *said something about how hard it is to get taxis* well, anyway, thanks for your help. *remains standing around*

Me: It's no problem. *contemplates, contemplates* You know I'm also going to Bukit Bintang. You wanna share a cab?

SG to Tall Girl: Hey you wanna share a cab to Bukit Bintang?

TG: Really? You would? Sure, sure!

Me: No problem. It's easier for me to get a cab since I'm local hehehe. Now stand back.

So we ended up sharing a cab. The two girls were Australians who are not quite tourists. They were on some internship program arranged by their college. Their actual internship was only for 1 week, but their college put them up for 3 weeks at the Renaissance Hotel. Prior to meeting me that night they got lost while walking on the highway. Thus, their haggard appearance. We chatted a lot in the cab and in addition to covering the fare (only 4.60 hehehe I'm good) They gave me a banana!

Funny how I didn't even ask for their names. But they were totally fun. I like such encounters. No attachments, just pure fun. Like one-night stands hehehehe. We parted ways at Pavilion which turned out to be a boon for our taxi too because he came to a long queue of tourists when he dropped us off. The moment we said goodbye I dashed off to the toilet.

I like American and Australian tourists in general. They are very friendly, and readily admit their own ignorance or shortcomings in a foreign country. And are willing to accept help. Unlike those European tourists.

Well then. I'll stop here before this post gets too long. Ta'ra!
p/s Klops: Yyes it's kinda nice getting back to exercising. I'm not going to lose to funny looking guy who thinks he's such an expert now even though he ran only ONE half marathon! and thanks for the suggestion!

Long Holiday That Should Not Be

I am still reeling back from having tea squirt out of my nose when I choked while watching 'Sonny with a Chance'. It's incredible, really, since I already watched that episode. The one where Chad Dylan Cooper was making a movie about himself but did not want to cast Sonny as herself in his movie. Instead he invited Selena Gomez to play Sonny. The ending where Chad said "So you think I have sparkly eyes?" was what got me. Man. My nose tastes sweet. Also, the Camp Hip Hop parody and the 'Jonas Brothers' at the end was hilarious.

Anyway, I noticed that I need to type in shorter sentences. Thus, shorter paragraphs. It makes my point clearer. And gives more impact. And I need to stop starting sentences with 'and'.

I asked for the week off from work due to JLPT this Sunday. I kept forgetting that I was taking two levels which meant I had to be there at both the morning and afternoon sessions. Sighs. I am not even sure of the exact location. At least everyone knows where UPM is. Far thought it may be. I supposed it's better for it to be in KL itself. Closer to home. And no, I have totally not been studying. I just had a test last Tuesday. Studying is the last thing on my mind. Though I supposed I should endure some anime tonight to redeem myself. It's good practice for the listening test.

Physically, I have been exercising for a full two months. I started early October, seemingly out of the blue, but really, there were several contributing factors. As I'm sure you people are interested to know.

REASONS WHY I STARTED EXERCISING AGAIN:

1. I picked up reading SHAPE magazine again. And that is always a motivator to start working out. No arguing there.
2. A colleague I label 'funny-looking guy' (F-LG) went on the Penang Bridge Marathon and I'm jealous. Therefore I decided I should join a marathon next year. F-LG made a comment where it's just so easy to just change into your running clothes and run at the KLCC park after work. Well excuse you for your ignorance. You don't have to wear a sport's bra. And of course, I told him that to his face. Hmph.
3. Since I made the decision to join a marathon next year, okay, more like a 10km run, since all marathons usually have a 10km event. I asked sensei to join me. He said yes and asked when. I said every month next year so he should start preparing. Since you know, there's always an event every month. And he lives in the neighbourhood so it's easy to meet up. So now that I have a marathon buddy, I have to train for a marathon, which includes losing weight. You can't train for a marathon and not lose weight, really.
4. Because people have been mistaking me for colleagues who wore at least two uniform sizes bigger than me! And they laughed as they said it, as if it was funny. Well of course they found it funny. Funny how I don't. I'll say more about this later.
5. Because it's cool. The scale hadn't budget much, since I got a new electronic scale that weights to the grams, I wouldn't call it a change until I could keep off 1 kg for two weeks straight. I am not expecting anything until the end of this month.
6. Because I just want to lose weight! And not complain that my uniform is getting too tight. It's not.

Going back to point 4, yes, it was insulting when people mistook me for someone who was fatter than me because I know I'm not the skinny type. Even when I lost 10kg, I was still curvy because I was made that way. What differentiated me from those people is that I'm taller than them. So even though I'm not as broad as they were, when I sat down I looked broader. I want to say that I'm not complaining, and I do like the way I'm built, but if I was happy with my weight I wouldn't be trying to lose them would I? Also, it must be said that it's very offensive and insulting and it hurts my feelings when people, even in good spirit, commented how "cuter" you look after they haven't seen you in a while. DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO MAKE COMMENTS ON HOW FAT PEOPLE LOOK EVERY YEAR YOU SEE THEM!?!?

If you have been at the receiving end of this comment before, you know how it feels. You try to just brush it aside and focus on how happy you are to see your friends/relatives and not concentrate on how fat they think you are. Now that you know, from now on, stop making such comments to other people. I don't. I used to do that just to annoy that person, but it's such a habit to these people now that they just do it without thinking. Now start thinking. Don't do it. Find something else to comment about! Their hair, their clothes, anything!

On the subject of fitness, everyone has an opinion. Even people who have only been jogging for half a day fancy themselves fitness expert. For example, some time ago, there was a jogging phase at work. I saw a few cashier staff changed into their jogging gear and went jogging at the KLCC park. After a few days I asked what's up and they explained just that. So I asked them where do they put their bags when they jog. One girl said they put them in a colleague's car before they set off. So I nodded my head and said 'I see'. After all, when going jogging you want to be as light as possible, right? and then this bimbo just had to say something so stupid as:

'or we just bring them along sometimes'.

I was flabbergasted. "But they're heavy!"

"Itu bagus lagi lah!" (that's even better you know!)

I stared at her, bug eyed, as I received a lecture on the benefits of carrying a one-shoulder bag on your run. Of course, I didn't even get to bring up the point where you will only strain your shoulder and ruin your lower back due to the uneven weight, because they left soon after, bags and all. Like I said, experts. The jogging fever lasted for only two weeks. :P

And they were still fat.

I'm not calling myself an expert, but I have enough experience and enough knowledge to know what is safe to do, at least for my body type, weight, and sex. And if you know as much (or as little) as I do, you'll know that you have to be a certified expert to be imparting fitness knowledge on other people. So if you have enough sense in your head, you wouldn't be imparting fitness knowledge on other people. You can advise them on what is generally safe, but for anything further, you must refer them to the experts.

Now, if you really want to know the basics, as a female, here are a few things I vouch for:

1. Never run alone at a secluded or non-populated area. It's dangerous.
2. If you do have to run alone, do not use ipods or anything similar. When alone you need to keep your ears peeled for possible perverts or attackers.
3. Wear light clothing. Bags, unless they are small hip pouches to keep your essentials ie car keys, cellphones, etc, are not necessary. You may think you are losing extra weight by carrying those weight, but you're doing it at the expense of ruining your muscles and doing permanent damage to your back. Some people run with leg weights or arm weights. Do not do so if you're an amatuer. Women have more tender muscles than men. The weight could tear your muscles easily.
4. Wear suitable shoes. If you've been running for a month, and enjoys it, then go buy yourself a good pair of running shoes. The shoes must be labeled 'running' shoes. Cross-training shoes are ok too, but never substitude them for those plasticky-soled shoes meant for mall hopping rather than sports.
5. Wear socks. No argument.
6. SPORTS' BRA! Unless you're an A cup, then forget it.
7. Let someone know where you're going for your run and what time to expect you back. So important when running outdoors.
8. Stay hydrated. Drink before, during and after your run/jog. And it must be water. Not sports drink, carbonated drinks or lemonade. Drinking water does not cause that tightness at the side. Nobody knows what causes it, so drink up.
9. STAY SAFE. And enjoy.

I've met my share of perverts outside that's why I prefer doing my exercises indoors.

My Kujong has finally kicked the bucket and swallowed my FF12 DVD. He will be retired. Although I'm planning to get a ps3, I am still getting another PS2. A small silver PS2. I've always wanted one hehehe. Right, now time to endure some anime. Uuugh. I don't know just what sort of anime interests me anymore these days.

Wish me luck! Ta'ra!

They are out, out, OUT!!

Who? Jess and Lani of course! It was childish, but I actually pumped my fist undignifiedly when Allan Wu announced their elimination. Of course, I'm talking about the Amazing Race Asia 4. I've been a sucker for the Amazing Race Asia Season 4. It was because one of the Malaysian teams are Sarawakians, and we support our home team hehehe.

There are 10 teams participating in the race, and ALL of them, EXCEPT the Malaysian teams, had a member who are some sort of local celebrities in their home countries. I'm serious. You can check the wikipedia page. But despite the lack of celebrity presence in the Malaysian team, which suits me fine, they had performed remarkably well. If there had been a 'Miss Congeniality' award, either of the Malaysian teams would win it.

Now, let's break down to my favorite moments. These are the two Malaysian teams:

Ivan and Hilda, married. The Sarawakian team.And Ethan and Khairie, friends.

I started out rooting for Ivan and Hilda just because, but they were eliminated at the end of leg 6, which broke my heart a little, but then the other Malaysian team are still in it. I loved that episode in New Zealand when Ethan became the sheep whisperer. I laughed so hard. xD These two can be so funny together. They were eventually eliminated in leg 8, ending at 5th position. But because Ethan and Khairie are good friends with the Singaporean team, I started supporting them too. Michelle and Claire are now in the top 3, so you know who I'm rooting for!

Despite their elimination, I must say that I'm quite proud of their performance, both to each other and with the other teams. You don't see them backstabbing or using dirty tactics to finish a task. They were only focused on themselves. And they are nice to the other teams when they crossed paths, even though they knew they were being last and the team passing them by is going to beat them to the finish line, they still managed to wish them luck. Sincerely. Which is a hard thing to do in their situation.

Needless to say, the Malaysian teams went down fighting, with their honour intact. I'm proud of you guys!! (The temple challenge in Korea clearly showed that both the Malaysian teams were put down as teams with 'most likely to team up with' and 'enviable relationship' by the other teams).

The Philipine teams are being represented by fake Filipinos. They have been proven to be good racers, and the Richards turned out not to be spoiled brats after all (as opposed to the Indian teams, surprisingly). But despite representing the Philipines, all four of the participants don't even live in the Philipines. The Richards are of Filipinos ethinicity to a certain degree, but were both raised in the United States, while Jess and Lani are Australians with Lani having some Filipino ethinicity. Team Philipines spoke with either an American accent or an Aussie accent. I bet the Filipinos are proud of them. I think the first thing I disliked about Jess & Lani is Lani's accent. I didn't know she was Aussie. But if she was, then what is she doing in the Amazing Race Asia?? They were proud, and they had mentioned very early on they were willing to do anything to win the race; lie, seduce, flirt, take advantage, ANYTHING. And they did. And they claimed to not know why the other teams didn't like them eventhough they have explicitly mentioned that they are friendly to everyone, but never went out to make friends. Still, I had no problem with that. But it was probably their little snide comments about the other teams throughout the race that annoyed me the most. They were already ahead, winning 1st for three legs. Do they really had to put down the other teams behind their backs so much? When they finished fourth in the race for top 3, I was aesthetic. They totally did not deserve to be in the final.

The Indian Teams! Where do I start? There are two Indian teams, the Indian Boys and the Indian Girls teams. All four of them have appeared on the local television there, which explains their good looks and spoiled personalities. You would have thought people from third world (developing) countries to be a little humble and hardworking, but obviously not these people! Sahil & Manas are hands down spoiled city boys. I agree with the father-daughter Indonesian team there. the girls are more hardworking though, but their cocky attitude made them hard to get along with by the non-Malaysian teams (because they dont have drama). Their rivalry with the Singapore team made me dislike them even more because I like the Singaporean team. overall, I think the Indian team were very un-Indian-like. They were so eager to prove they are not the typical Indian from the poverty-stricken country that they were practically acting like, uugh, God save us, Americans. Indians acting like Americans. Enough said.

The Indonesian teams. Such a contrast. The first father-daughter team. And a beauty queen and TV presenter. The former, a real underdog from the beginning, came out first to be in the top 3 in th leg before the finale. And the latter, was the first team to be eliminated. The father-daughter team is quite cute. They made it first in Korea because the father negotiated with taxi drivers to show them the road around. As opposed to Jess & Lani who refused to pay the expensive taxi cabs and got amazingly lost. It turned out to be a great factor to their win, and elimination hehehe.

I look forward to the finale. I'm supporting team Singapore now. How about you? xD

Ta'ra!

p/s I GOT AN A!!! AFTER 4 LEVELS I FINALLY GOT AN A!!!!! Ok that's it.

Feet Tea

It's not that I have smelly feet. It always depends on the type of footwear. And socks. It's a given that your feet would stink after a long day of work. The locker room would stink so bad you could literally taste it on your tongue. A certain bitterness. I am not against changing footwear after work, but some of these people leave their stinky socks in their lockers together with their smelly shoes, leaving a very pleasant frangrance!

My lockermates did that before; leaving their shoes and socks in the locker without so much as putting it in a shoebox. It made my apron smelled of their shoes eew! Don't they have common sense!? So, rather than complaining to them, I took the matters into my own hand; I prepared a shoe box in the locker for their use! At least, when they left, the shoe box would remain there for future idiots to take notice of!

And no, I wear my shoes straight from home, so the only thing I left in my locker is my apron and nametag. And a bottle of lotion I hardly use.

But when I get home, my feet are tired, battered and smelled of mouldy socks. I remember seeing my homie back in uni soaking her feet in saltwater. I thought, 'oh how nice'. The first time I tried it, I just wanted to soak my feet in something herby and nice. I remembered this episode on Oprah where the girl was told to soak her feet in tea to cure her smelly feet problem. Normally when they bother me, I just go and take a shower and scrub my feet. The smell can be persistent even after thorough washing and they won't completely disappear until the next morning.

Determined to relax my battered feet, I foraged around the kitchen and found some old tea bags. I doubt their taste is suitable for consumption now which made them great for foot soaking. I popped two teabags in a bucket and poured hot water. I let them seep for a while and then added tap water to the right temparature. Then I settled into my chair and soaked my feet. Ah~ bliss.

My feet emerged like prunes, but man did they not smell - of anything! Not even of earl grey! I do this about once a week or when I feel like it. It's a lot of work, you know. Carrying the bucket around. But then I found this article about the benefits of soaking feet in tea. Apparently if you soak your feet in tea for 30 minutes everyday for a week, you can keep smelly feet at bay for weeks to come. And from then on just do it once or twice a week to keep the symptoms at bay. The tannin in tea shrinks the sweat glands in your feet, causing your feet to sweat less, giving bacterias less surfaces to breed and cause smelly feet.

Like I said, I don't naturally have smelly feet. But I might just try it because it's so nice and relaxing hehehe!

Try it! You'll love it! Ta'ra!

Random Crap V

Since this is Random Crap V, yes it means there have been Random Crap I-IV proceeding it.

So, staying true to the title, let's start with work. After the initial outburst of work-related posts almost exactly one year ago, it became obvious to me quite quickly that I did not like to blog about work. Simply because work should stay where it is; at work. As you know, my work involves carrying a lot of books around. I do my best to transfer the weight to my thighs and butt, trying to spare my back as much as possible, but you get tired and you get lazy.

If you are worried about my back, thank you. But I assure you, they do not get as much abuse as my butt. I squat and lift from it a lot. From the rate I'm going, I'm surprised that it hasn't grown muscles down there yet!!

What irritate me so much is how, 7 times out of 10, each time I have a huge and heavy (huge does not necessary mean heavy, of course. Books with lots of pictures are heavier than text-only books) load in my arms, I will get customer inquiries looking for the most impossible book! SERIOUSLY! CAN'T YOU SEE THE HEAVY LOAD I'M CARRYING GLARING AT YOU!?

I went to bed at night and I couldn't sleep thinking at how irritated it made me. RAAWR!!

...

They speak so fast. Those Japanese. And I returned Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei because of the annoying faces. Go watch it yourself. It Irritated me just thinking about it. I thought the files were tampered with, because obviously 70% of the animes sold there are downloaded materials and so not original. So I returned it, and although having convinced by the guy that the anime was not tampered with, I insisted on changing it. I bought Black Butler instead. I always thought I'd end up watching it one day. Might as well be now. And I downloaded K-ON Season 2. After I did some porn transferring of course hehehehe.

Speaking of Japanese people, we finally met up with Ooshiro Sensei and her baby!

I have better pictures in my camera but so mafan to upload. Wakana-chan was also very excited to meet us hehehehe.

Earlier the same week we celecbrated Andou Sensei's xxth birthday.
He's always ready to humor us (also because I already confirmed with him that he's free after class that day so there's no getting out of it!).

And also, Kinokuniya's Annual Dinner! My Assistant Unit Chief is in the picture.

I'm sure you can pick him out hehehe.

A lot of things happened after I came back from Sabah it seems. Now if only I could get some homework done. Sighs.

Ta'ra!

I Went To Sabah. And Stuff.

I went to Sabah last weekend for my dad's old friend's daughter's wedding. This is my second visit to Sabah. I enjoyed my first time there immensely and I enjoyed this trip too.

My last dinner at home before I left for KK. That day was awesome. I stayed at home, cooked a total of three times and sat at home watching TV and eating. All day. Awesome. It was at the spur of the moment too. I suddenly decided that I wanted to eat meatballs. So I went down to Carrefour and bought some minced meat and spaghetti. Then I used all the leftover ingredients from my open house and made some awesome meatballs and put them in the spaghetti sauce. And TA-DA! Spaghetti meatballs!

The verdict? It's as good as it looks.

Anyway. I have been watching (listening) to anime these days (forefully). My interest in it has dissipated long ago and nowadays if not becasue of the prospect of failing JLPT, I wouldn't be putting myself through such torture. I selected anime of the right cast of characters, setting and timeline. To ensure I don't suddenly stun my sensei with vocabularies that would have made his grandfather proud. Since I don't like dramas, so I've chosen these two animes;

K-ON.

I could only take two episodes per day. I turned off the subtitles and let the words run wild. With subs I'll just end up reading. I've finally finished all 12 episodes. Only 2 OVAS left! Yay me! This is not an anime review blog so I shall not review it. I'll just say their Sawa-chan-sensei is my favorite character hehehe.

And Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

The guy at the store said that it's kinda old now, comparatively. But Ive been eyeing the manga at work you see, but I'm too lazy to read them (or have enough resources to start collecting. It's up to vol 7 now). And besides, I previewed the first ep on youtube. And aside from the slow start, I like the voice actor for the sensei hehehe. The art is fresh too hehe. The store only had a compilation of seasons 1-3 plus OVAS. So I have no choice but to swallow all 38 episodes eventually. I hope the story is interesting enough to keep me going.

When choosing these two animes, I chose those that I think are interesting enough to follow yet I don't really care enough for the storyline to want to know every single thing that was happening since I'll be watching them with subs off. With K-ON I only turned on the subs a few times on only 3 episodes. Just to the part that I was curious about. But so far I'm amazed at how easily I understand them and how much I understood if I just listened carefully. Thus, headphones are imperative.

Okay time to shower! Ta'ra!