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September 28 40 MinutesI called one of my favorite people today. He picked up the phone and I whined, "Why are all the intelligent, witty, good-looking men I meet all gay??" It is a gripe I come back to time and time again, usually after I meet an especially engaging male person who ultimately turns out to be gay.
He said, "Where, hon? Where are these smart, funny, handsome men? And more importantly, WHY aren't you sending them my way?"
He is, of course, embroiled in some sort of love-hate situation with his current boy - as gays tend to do, drama mamas that they are.
So we spend the next 40 minutes analyzing his relationship and his inability to call it quits - and bitching, of course, about his boy. We laughed so much! One of those conversations where you hang up the phone and think "Man, that was FUN!", because - and we've already established this - he is intelligent and witty and drop dead gorgeous.
Best 40 minutes I've spent all week.
September 25 Sweet RevengeMy phone rang today. I picked it up and this desperate voice said, "I need to go on your open water certification trip in October."
I said, "I'm sorry, who is this?" - knowing full well, of course, who it was.
"This is Rita," she replied, "You said you had a trip on October 16th."
"Oh, hi Rita," I said, "Yes I do have a trip, but I'm sorry, it's already full."
If memory serves me correctly, she is an extremely difficult person. She has gone on an open water trip before, and not met the performance requirements, and therefore has to make another trip. And the reason she didn't meet the minimum requirements necessary to become a certified diver is because she refuses to take my suggestions and advise on how to improve. She moans and groans and whines and complains constantly. The sun is too hot, the water is too cold, the wind is too strong. She refuses to make the effort of coming to the pool and practicing her skills, like I tell her to, at no extra charge on my part. And even worse than that, she has, on more than one occasion, NOT shown up after making an appointment with me, with nary a phone call to let me know. And WORST of all, she signed up for the last trip - I had made ferry ticket bookings and allocated her a room - and less than a week before the trip, when I call her to remind her to make payment, she informs me that she is unable to go.
"What?" she goes, "You mean there are no more places on the trip?"
"I'm sorry," I say sincerely - even though I am anything but - "there are no more rooms available."
"I don't mind squeezing into a room and sharing it with others," she tries desperately.
"Let me check and get back to you," I say.
I hang up, smile to myself, and call her back in 15 minutes.
"I'm afraid it won't be possible to squeeze in an extra bed for you. We're really full. Sorry."
"So you're not going to squeeze me in?"
"I can't. Sorry."
"Then I won't be able to complete my certification until next year."
"I'm sorry," I say for the hundredth time.
Rita hangs up the phone, and I'm still smiling to myself. You waste my time by not showing up for appointments and you expect to join my last east coast trip for 2009? Think again, mate. Simple physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The thing is, I actually can manage to make space if I really want to. But believe it or not, I sometimes choose not to do business with people I don't like. That probably doesn't make economical sense, but my human nature gets in the way of making money sometimes. Whatever I lose in monetary gain, I make up for in the sadistic joy I get by cheerily denying her this one trip.
September 22 MemoirI am reading a memoir by this Australian lady, Susan Duncan. She was a successful career woman with a happy marriage - seeming to have it all. Then she loses her husband and brother within three days of each other - one to an illness, and one to a heart attack. She tries and copes by making work and routine her saviour, and manages to do it for eighteen months. And then one day, she just can't summon the energy to get out of bed, her grief is so intense.
That's where the story starts.
She makes a decision to quit her high flying job and to start a new life somewhere else, with much criticism and well-meaning advice from her friends. And she writes the following two passages:
"They do not see, perhaps, the courage it takes to walk away and embrace change. And yet without change, without taking risks, where is growth to come from? At this stage of my life, the growth I want has nothing to do with the material. I know that money in the bank may make you feel less vulnerable and open up choices, but it doesn't guarantee happiness. How I wish I' d known that years ago when chasing the dollar seemed worthy. Or perhaps time alters our perspective and what is compelling at one age becomes worthless at another?
I want to know about the mind and spirit now. I want to understand why some people wake up joyful each day and others struggle out of bed. Why some people see good in the most devastating situations and others see the bad in the best. Why do some people die too young? Why does success fall at someone's feet while others slog and get nowhere? Are there heroes - or are we all flawed? Is it luck? Is it timing? Why do some people get on a plane that is doomed to crash and others wait for the next flight? My friends might shake their heads but at least I am having a go, giving myself a chance, chasing life instead of hoping it will find me. I guess I am finally taking responsibility for my own happiness and not looking for it through anyone else."
It kinda summarizes what I have been mulling upon this last week - and is much more eloquently put than I could ever have.
Hope it gives you something to think about too!
September 20 LifeRecent events have found me ruminating on mortality more than I normally would. Not in a morbid kind of way, but rather, to acknowledge that life is unpredictable, and that from time to time, it throws you curveballs, and that when it comes down to the crunch, what matters is family - the people you love, and the people who love you.
I am not afraid of death. As far as I'm concerned, heaven is the utopia you dream for yourself here on earth. So my heaven will be white, baby powder beaches, with warm, turquoise blue waters lapping against the shore - where I can dive in without bulky equipment and paraphernalia, and stay as long as I like. Where I can enjoy the sunset and then walk back to my villa, where those I loved who have gone before me are waiting to sit down and have dinner and cocktails together.
That's my heaven, so I am not afraid of death. I still have places I would like to visit (Tibet, Nepal, Marrakesh) - and things I would like to do (surfing, sky diving, attending Mel's graduation) - and food I would like to eat (whale blubber, sheep's eye, monkey brains - no, just kidding, heh) - so I would like to hang around on earth a bit longer. But when the time comes, I would not be afraid.
I guess what I have realized of life is that each day is a gift. Sometimes, we take it for granted and assume that waking up every morning to face another day is our God-given right. No, it isn't. It is a reason, instead, to be thankful and to live it doing what you are passionate about, caring for those people closest to you, and - most importantly - to do things sans regret.
September 15 A Funny MemoryWhen my sister and I were still lower primary school kids, my mom and her pharmacist friend joined forces to open a pharmacy in Damansara Utama. This was way back when Damansara Utama was still Damansara Utama, and not Damansara Uptown, as it is now known - and also when Bandar Utama, Tropicana and Dataran Prima were non-existent - and the toll gates that now lead from Damansara onto the NKVE was a dead end road with thick foliage.
It was a L O N G time ago.
Anyway, with all the creativity and originality so typical of my parents' generation, they decided to name their shop Utama Pharmacy.
However, when they wanted to register that name, they were told by the powers-that-be that the name of their business would have to be in Malay. No problems there. They simply - again innovatively and very resourcefully - turned the name around, so that it was now Farmasi Utama.
In their innocence and ingenuousness, they had their logo designed - signboard made - stationery and business cards printed.
Only when everything was ready, and they opened up their pharmacy for the first day of business, did they realize that the logo on their signage was a huge in-your-face F.U.
I don't think it ever once crossed their minds that F.U. could stand for anything other than Farmasi Utama.
And although they sold off the business ages ago, if you drive by, you can still the old shop there. It makes me smile everytime.
Tennis As a sportswoman, her actions on court during the US Open were appalling.
As a role model for hundreds of millions of young girls worldwide, her behavior was despicable.
It cost her the semi-finals though, so life is fair.
 She took some time off the tennis scene to start a family, and what a comeback!
She is living proof that a woman can more than successfully juggle family life and a career - that being a wife and mother does not mean you cannot still accomplish your dreams.
What an inspiration!
Boo Serena,
Yay Kim!
September 14 Books, Glorious Books! I've been re-reading some of my old books for the last week because I have not had time to run to the bookstore to get any new ones. So since I decided to give myself a day off today (it's great being your own boss!) - I took a trip there.If you're an avid reader like myself and spend quite a bit of your hard earned dosh on books, let me share with you this gem of a place.
Go to Atria Shopping Center in Damansara Jaya - on the first floor, there is a Big Bookshop Warehouse - and they have bargains galore. I picked up three novels today - originally priced between RM39.90 and RM79.90 each. They had been knocked down to RM18.00 each.
And then I proceed to the cashier, and she tells me if I purchase two or more books from the RM18.00 section, I get a further 70% off per book!
So I ended up paying RM16.20 for three novels - as opposed to RM170 if I had gone to say MPH or Times or Borders. To put it another way, if I had parted with the same amount of money as I would have had to pay by going to one of the major bookstore chains, I would have been able to buy THIRTY ONE books!!
Hard to believe, I know!
They have children's books, novels, travel books, cook books, comics, autobiographies, religious books, historical books, crime, horror, humor and every other genre you can think of.
The only thing is, you need to have the time to browse because they don't categorize the books. It's all piled up nicely, but not in any particular order.
But hey, who's complaining??!
September 10 ???I was online this morning, going through my mountains of email and trying to sort out which ones to reply to first, when my friend from Sydney popped onto MSN. She and me - we go back quite some ways - and we have quirks in our friendship that only the both of us will understand and appreciate. So as soon as I saw she was online, I sent her a cheery "Oi, bitch!". Two minutes later, this reply popped up: This is Jamie's mother-in-law, she isn't around at the moment but I will pass her your greeting. ......................... There is a lesson to be learnt here, I know there is. Now if only I could figure out what that was .... September 09 Holy ShitAm back from the worst Tioman trip ever in living memory! Hang on, let me clarify that. The people were awesome, the socializing great. The sun wasn't really shining, but then, it wasn't raining either - so weather-wise, it was okay. Not fantastic - but okay. But man, did they have winds blowing or what?? When I got up in the morning and looked out of my window, the coconut trees were all leaning to one side - and I glimpsed, through the trees, the white caps of the crest of the waves. White caps are never good news when you have to do a shore entry. White caps mean high waves. White caps mean huge surge. White caps mean strong undertow. White caps = holy shit. So we spent half a day sitting at the dive center, watching the surfers (YES, that's how big the waves were!) and waiting for the wind to die down. It didn't. Then after lunch, we had to make the decision to dive at the Marine Park just for the sake of completing the student divers' open water certification. The Marine Park is a sheltered bay, so the wind and the waves are not an issue there. But the visibility is always really low - 2-3 meters at best - and it is also really extremely silty. It is one of the worst sites to take student divers to because once they kick up the silt, visibility can drop to almost zero. So when you have a group of 8 student divers, you can be assured you will see nothing. Marine Park = holy shit. Not the best of conditions. But the people were great - there were no complaints, no moaning, no whining. Everyone accepted the situation and managed to complete their certification. In that sense, I suppose, the trip was a successful one. But whaddaya know ... the morning of the day we left the island - the sea was so calm, it was like a mirror. Oh well .... September 01 PhotoThere's usually so few pictures of me underwater because I'm always behind the camera - and also because I hate having my picture taken. Short of going into all the physics involved with water - it MAGNIFIES. Enough said.
But Bee Yong took this shot of me photographing the school of jacks. It was from the back so that I didn't know and couldn't protest - and far away enough so that I don't look gargantuan.
 Love the burst of sunlight!
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