Having it all, then slowly watching it all die

I've reached a stage in life where I'm so content, that I feel like I have it all. A stable and loving relationship, a great drama-free family, great friends (finally!), financial freedom to some extent, and best of all, the flexibility of being self employed.

I'm past the days of being overly emotional, but I do admit my teenage years were trying, and the two years I spent working corporate jobs was unbearably depressing, it was difficult to even drag myself out of bed every morning.

That all changed when I finally had to do some soul searching and figure out what it was that would drive me in life, and make me happier. That's when I left the corporate world and became self employed.

It seemed like my world was my oyster - I felt I had a lot of untapped potential and was eager to release it without the constraints of being tied down to doing things the way other people wanted me to do them.

It was basically all high flying from there; the money I earned was finally inline with the effort I was putting in. I was seeing instant results, plus I had the time to pursue my dreams. This year I admit I felt like I was at the top of my game. I made my first car purchase; my lovely Volkswagen Polo, something I would never regret buying as its served me well. Then came my first property investment a few months later. I started feeling like I might be in a bit of a pinch, but then, as always, I was confident that as long as I kept making an effort, I would still be making money.

Now, ever since I started being self employed, I'm at an all time low. A big chunk of my income from my lip balm business is now coming to a halt, mostly due to my supplier's decision to double the retail price, making her product so uncompetitive in the Malaysian market, that no one wants to buy it anymore. It's not like she cares; I doubt that I'm a huge contributor to her business and its one market that she's probably willing to let go of.

Another big chunk of income came from my selling on a Singaporean shopping portal, and that was mostly due to the efforts of a very efficient and hard working account manager, who has since left the company. The result? I can't even log in to sell my products anymore, let alone have any chance of them being promoted. How about my eBay sales? Restricted. As eBay has super anal rules, I can practically only post up 6 auctions every month. How can that be effective?

What's frustrating more than anything, is that these three factors are totally beyond my control, and not having that control is what led me to being depressed when I was working corporate. It's the worst feeling ever, and I honestly feel like I'm back at the drawing board, analyzing what other potential businesses there are out there that I can conquer. But seriously with the loans and fees and what nots that I'm having to shell out cash for, I'm once again on a depressing uphill battle.

The most elaborate scam I've encountered

Have you ever felt that the people who fall for the typical scam (email scams, lottery scams etc.) are just stupid and ignorant, and deserve whatever they got for just being too trusting?

I felt exactly the same way, until my family fell for one of the most elaborate scams I've ever encountered, and it was an experience I just had to share.

My family was on holiday in Bangkok recently, and as most people know, there are scams that occur there, and are widely known if you know to research about them online before traveling there. My brother has been working in Bangkok for a good 3 months now, and even that wasn't enough to prepare us for what happened.

We were walking along the Langsuan road where our hotel was located, toward Central Worldfor shopping, when we were stopped by what we thought was a kindly man, who claimed he was a teacher at a nearby school. He suggested we visit the Lucky Buddha, which was only open once a year, and we were lucky enough to be around as it opens only for Chinese New Year. He offered to draw us a map there, but said if we would like to take a tuk tuk, he could negotiate a good rate for us, as most tuk tuks will overcharge for foreigners.

It just so happened that a tuk tuk drove past, which this man flagged down, and negotiated a 40baht return rate for us. We thought, ok what the heck, visiting a temple isn't going to cost us anything, and we ARE on holiday, what's the harm, since this kindly old man already took the trouble to negotiate a reasonable fare for us.

The tuk tuk took us to a really small, not impressive at all temple near a market, where we were met by a man with excellent English, who claimed to be a caretaker for the temple. The only thing strange we thought, was that his English had a Philipino accent. He explained all about the temple, including a brief explanation of how it was a feng shui temple, and one of the idols has a red stone on the forehead, which they call a Buddha's heart, as the highest form of feng shui is the balance of the self. My brother wanted to burn incense there, however for some strange reason he told us not to, as they were cleaning the carpet for a celebration there at night.

My dad casually mentioned, that there seemed to be very few people at the temple, for one that was open only once a year.

The supposed "caretaker" said the temple was open all year around, and it was the pagoda at the side which was only open to the public once a year. He led us there - it was very small and even less impressive. He asked us to go up the stairs, to a place of meditation.

Upon climbing the stairs, we were met by a startled man, who eventually warmed up, passed us a business card, and mentioned that he was a Singaporean here for the festival for the day, and that he was a successful businessman who won the contract to construct the infinity pool at Marina Sands Hotel, where his father won the contract for Suntec city. He mentioned that he comes here every year, as all those buildings contained the feng shui stones, and helped with his business. However, what was strange, was this "Singaporean" had a Philipino accent as well. He said we should have come earlier, as at 6am many successful Asian businessmen were here, as many as 5,000, including Lilian Too, which was his "friend". He then asked us to visit another building next to the temple, while he excused himself to answer a call. He talked loudly into the phone about flying back to Singapore that night, and about some other business deals that he would close upon reaching back home.

Upon exiting the pagoda, we were ushered into another building by the caretaker, where we were met by yet another startled man, this time dressed in a suit. This time, he was definitely Thai, based on his accent. He explained that he was there to teach the monks to pray, as commissioned by the king. He also said he was a lawyer, and was working for the department of international trade. He talked to us for about an hour, mentioning that his wife works for Thai airways, and how he had to travel often to China as they were opening the biggest shopping mall in Asia in Thailand and had to facilitate that project. He also mentioned that his mother couldn't walk, and his wife had encouraged him to buy some Buddha's Heart gems to help her. He mentioned he didn't believe in this kind of thing, however he bought it and his mother miraculously could walk again, and the doctors couldn't give an explanation on how that was possible. He said his son was always sick as well, and that after giving him a Buddha's Heart gem, he got better.

He also read our palms, telling us some pretty accurate things about our lives, and giving us some advice. He said he learnt palmistry and face reading from a master in China, and had decided to use his knowledge to help people. He said that my father was prone to black magic, and had bad blood, and should wear a Buddha's Heart pendant to help him. He mentioned that my brother and I were prone to spending, and should wear Buddha's Heart ring to block the money from flowing out. This prompted my brother to ask where to buy this Buddha's Heart; the man's reply? It's really rare and hard to obtain. He said the Thai people treasure it too much and the mine from which it was mined from closed down due to too many accidents. He said that if you brought the gem to China town, the vendors there would want to buy it off us. However, due to Chinese New Year, a jewelry shop that carries it, which isn't open to public as they only export their wares, was open and if we were intrested, he could write the address for us.

He did, and we went there, a place called E-centre, where the same tuk tuk driver took us. Mind you, the tuk tuk driver had waited for us for a good hour and a half, and was all smiles and asked us to take our time.

Once we reached E-center, we were met by a lady who asked how she could help. We told her we were looking for Buddha's Heart, and she mentioned that the proper name for it was orange sapphire, and she would take us to see some. Her English was excellent, and she said she had been working in this line for 40 plus years. After seeing a whole range of stones and jewelry, we actually settled for some - 1 piece for each of our family members, amounting to roughly RM9,000. The nice lady even said that due to the Chinese New Year holiday, they were having this promotion where they would let us use their van and driver to take us wherever we wanted to go for a whole day, which we accepted kindly and arranged for the next day. As most of the jewelry we wanted was either custom made, or had to be modified, we paid and left, as they would deliver it to our hotel.

The tuk tuk driver casually mentioned that if we wanted to eat, he could take us to a restaurant with good Chinese food, which I promptly objected to, as I personally had read up on seafood restaurant scams which tuk tuk drivers were in on. We requested that he take us back to where he picked us up from. Since this tuk tuk driver was really friendly and could speak good English, my brother wanted to take his phone number and call him again if he needed him. Usually tuk tuk drivers would jump at the opportunity, but this one was absolutely fearful. He was very reluctant, and said that the next two days he was taking his son on holiday outside Bangkok, but in the end he relented and gave my brother his number anyway.

Once we were back at the hotel, we decided to google Buddha's Heart, and to our horror, the only results we found were those saying that this was part of a gem scam. The modus operandi mentioned by many of the people who fell for the same scam was similar, if not identical. It was mentioned that this was all a ploy for jewelry stored to sell more of their wares, and the supposed Buddha's Heart gem was really just an orange sapphire.

Outraged, we sought to get a refund, and to all those who actually fell for this scam too, all hope is not lost, as we managed to get 100% of our money back, and I'll explain how.

My brother called the tourist police the next day, and they requested for him to make a report at their station located at the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. Once my brother reached there, the police called up E-center, and mentioned that we wanted a refund. They said that we could only get 90% of the money back, the remaining 10% they would keep for credit card charges and workmanship done. My brother refused to those terms, and the people from E-center went to the police station to pick him up back to their place for further discussions.

They put him in a meeting room and asked him to wait for their manager. After waiting for a few minutes, my brother decided to walk into their showroom and demand to see their manager. Since there were a few customers there, they were quick to respond so as not to cause a scene or attract too much attention, and the manager promptly went to see him.

They once again offered a 90% refund, of which my brother said he wanted PROOF that the credit card charges and the supposed "work done" if any, was really 10% of the cost. The manager then said he would refund 95%, to which my brother outright refused and asked for the full amount back. And with that, that was all agreed. They cancelled the charge to his card, and we left with a good lesson learnt.

Why I said this was the most elaborate scam we've fallen for, was that at no point were we actually forced to purchase the gems - it was our decision based on the information or half truths provided to us by a series of people we met that day. That in itself (the offer of information) is not criminal, and is also one of the reasons the Thai police cannot stop these syndicates or arrest them.

The only thing that can be done, is to spread the word of these scams in hopes that people wouldn't fall for them anymore, or if they unfortunately did, they would be able to get their money back if they wish to. Incidentally, 2 days later we visited the Grand Palace, and who should we meet there but the same tuk tuk driver which claimed he was on holiday with his son, picking up some me unsuspecting customers!

My countrymen are not courteous at all

Dear governments of the world,

I suggest not wasting anymore money on printing "reserved for the disabled, elderly, and pregnant" anymore, because from what I've observed, my fellow countrymen cannot observe, or choose to ignore such signs.

I apologize for their lack of courtesy, and reassure you that some educated ones (myself included) feel horrible that such travesties occur and are embarrassed by them.

Working class men fill up all the seats on the LRT and pretend to sleep, while the elderly and heavily pregnant have to hold on to the bars for dear life when taking public transportation.

The priority seats at the airports are filled with youngsters plugged into their gadgets, while women with wailing babies are forced to sit far from the gate.

I don't know why this is, but from my humble experience, this doesn't happen in other Asian countries. A highly sarcastic and angry post today, fuelled by my experiences traveling with elderly parents.

Oxen have bad tempers

I'm an ox. I'm born in the year of the Ox, AND I'm a Taurus (almost wrote Tauren, I have obviously been reading to many World of Warcraft books. Just for the record, I have the whole collection). So those traits unique to the oxen, probably means times two for me.

I have a double dose of stubbornness. But one supposedly oxen trait that I DON'T have - I am NOT patient. I have low tolerance towards practically everything I encounter on a daily basis. I cannot for the life of me, tolerate incompetence, laziness, inefficiency, stupidity, and KIDS.

In fact, I think my impatience actually fuels my temper. I don't usually lose it, but when I do IT'S BAD!!! No joke. I hate myself when I crack and all Hell breaks loose.

One such loss of temper occurred today, I'm still seething like mad from the cause of my anger, but as I'm sitting he typing, and feeling zen from blasting music from my phone, I'm starting to regret how I handled the whole situation. In fact, I'm almost embarrassed. ALMOST.

You know how some people say never to send emails when you're angry, and just let it sit for a day before re-reading through to judge whether it's effective? Yeah, well I don't do that, I just don't have the patience. You piss me off, you WILL have an earful from me. And I will nag and nag and nag and go on and on and on about the issue and you will never hear the end of it. What's worse, I will always bring in highly irrelevant issues into the whole argument, and at the end of the day, no one really knows what I was pissed off about in the first place.

Yup, that's me. I'm a bit psychotic, but at least I admit it. I'm not afraid to admit it, so I guess I'm not a total lost cause as of yet.

At the end of the day, I just want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry we argued about dog t-shirts, of all things. It sounds super ridiculous now, but I swear I was so mad. And to some extent still am. But I'll be ok, and look on the bright side, the best people in the world were always a bit quirky :p

Armholes, armholes, everywhere!

This short, and seemingly rather nonsensical post, is dedicated to armholes. Yes ARMHOLES - as of today, the bane of my already -very-pathetic existence!

Today, just because I'm a very nice, and obliging person, I heeded the requests of one seemingly potential big fish buyer. Now I've come across some customers who have their weird and wonderful quirks about them, but spend LOADS AND LOADS OF MONEY (!!) with me, and so I willingly put up with their very strange requests. Like they want their clothes rolled and not folded, or they want every piece individually gift wrapped.

Anyway, the big difference between those big fish, and this potential one I came across, is they actually paid me for their purchases before such strange requests were even dished out.

This one is small in size, and where people usually ask for the sizing of an item based on let's say, a UK4-6 or maybe the pit to pit measurement, I got asked to measure armholes, for quite a few items. Now many of my friends would have told me off and asked me to ignore the request like a normal human being, but hey, times are desperate. Potential sales is better than having none at all.

So I obliged. Grudgingly, but the conclusion is I obliged, and will regret having done so for the rest of my life!! Dramatic, I know!!

The end result: I got no sales. The armholes of my items were too big for her tiny armholes. Boohoo, lesson learnt :(

Post Holiday Blues

It's the beginning of a new year, and everyone I know is excited for the year ahead. They've made brand, spanking new resolutions, and have huge goals and plans for the next 12 months.

Usually I'd be equally excited, a new year, new start, many things to look forward to. Not this year.

I'm horribly blue. I don't know whether it's because I feel that I'm still young at heart, and yet will be turning 27 this year, and just can't accept that fact. Sure, you can say that age is just a number, but in reality it DOES matter. For example, my ballet classes. I tire more easily than the younger ones, creak everywhere, and it takes a lot longer for me to recover. All that is due to the physically aging, and sadly, can't be slowed down just by "thinking" young.

Or maybe it's because for the past 4 years (has it been that long since I stopped working? It's been so long that I've honestly lost track) I've not given myself a break. No holidays, no MCs, no nothing. The good thing about it is that it shows that I actually enjoy and love what I do, but on the other hand it probably means that I'm tired, and worn out. I gave myself a small break at the end of the year. I let myself do nothing but play computer games, read, and watch shows without bothering with emails, and it's exactly THAT kind of break that I'm having so much difficulty recovering from.

Whatever it is, I honestly hope I snap out of it soon. Life is WAY too short to be spent being depressed.

Ballet Leotards - The New Age Chastity Belt

I love ballet to bits, it's my new passion! Well, my only passion. It was just one of those things that you think only happens in the movies.

I was stuck in a rut, experiencing a quarter life crisis, with my ego shattered to pieces by my boss who described me as "souless" and "passion-less". Thinking back on those days, honestly speaking, could anyone EVER be passionate about men's razors?!

But I digress.

On a whim, I decided to join an adult ballet class, since I was newly self employed and ready to exploit my freedom. In the words of my former colleagues, it's called being fun-employed! I remembered loving ballet when I was younger, but only did it til I was 10. Anyway, joined my first class, and experienced this roller coaster of emotions! Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, rainbows were shooting out of my ears and bodily orifices! I knew I was in love. It became one of those things I looked forward to doing on a daily basis (ok, the only thing I looked forward to doing) and the time I spent dancing, took all troubles and worries away.

I ended up taking classes 4 times a week. I would take more, if 1) there were actually more classes to take, and 2) if the classes weren't so ridiculously expensive.

My point is, if you have a young daughter who loves ballet as much as I do, always encourage her to do as many classes as possible. Not only will it nurture her talent and passion, I guarantee that she won't be doing the nasty with some boys.

I mean, have you SEEN what ballerinas wear?!

To demonstrate my point, I will now narrate what happened during my class tonight:

Class just started, we're all warming up nicely at the barre. We're halfway through our plies, and thanks to all the bloody squatting (to all the ballerinas out there, yes, I know we're not really squatting, but it does feel like it ok!) I have this sudden urge to pee.

I rush to the washroom and I:-

1) Take off my hip aligner belt
2) Peel off my leotard. It's body fitting mind you, it's a pain in the arse to pull it up and down.
3) Pull down my tights and undies. Which are also bloody tight and a pain to pull up and down.

That's just to pee.

Yep, at least 3 layers of clothing to remove before everything's gone. 3 layers of tight clothing, I cannot stress that more! By the time everything's off, you won't have the energy to do anything else.

And whomever watched Black Swan, and got the idea that ballerinas are all sexed up and get high all the time, you have got to be joking. Play back the scene where Tomas is groping Nina. Key word, groping. Nothing more. It's just too much of a hassle to do anything else.

Anyway! I hope this strange message actually does help to encourage you guys to send your kids to ballet!

Typical Malaysian Drivers

I'm on the left lane, and signal to switch to the right lane.

Car on right lane, 3 car lengths away sees me signal, and accelerates.

Car on right lane signals left, and over takes me.


Yup, typical Malaysian drivers.

Change of Heart

It's been 2 years since my last blog post. My "passion" for writing whatever I wanted to just went "fssst" and "poof" into thin air. What happened? I got greedy and materialistic, sad to say.

I became too ambitious and wanted to keep one of those blogs that everyone reads. The ones which I could make a killing out of from my readership. I wanted to transform this blog into "one of those" blogs!

So out comes the checklist - at that point in time, what did it take to own a "successful" blog?

1. Pictures and loads of them. The most successful blogs I've seen are those that have practically more pictures than words. I know, reading crap isn't as much fun as oogling that hot girl's cleavage.

2. A pretty face and a hot body. I say this because my boyfriend personally ONLY stalks blogs which have pictures (first point!) of the pretty blogger fully decked in make up, false lashes, colour contacts - ok a nice rack is also definitely a plus point there. Someone who looks good, and relishes in their narcissism. I have tried being like that, but after many, many futile attempts, I have abandoned trying completely. I am just not that kind of person. I don't even like to take pictures!

On that point alone, I don't even like wearing make up. In fact, I DON'T wear makeup and can't be arsed to do so! I am a very low maintenance, live-in-tank-tops-and-loose-pants kind of girl.

In other words I'm very lazy.

I could say I'm finally now comfortable in my own skin, and will not attempt to be someone I'm not. I don't mind dressing up for occasions, like the odd wedding and gathering I attend like, 4 times a year, but NO WAY could I do it every single day! I shudder at the thought.

3. Beauty or Food Blogging. Now I ADMIRE beauty and food bloggers, because unlike MOST bloggers which fall into point 2 above, their posts are full of substance. It takes a good handling of the English language to actually come up with all the adjectives to describe products / food. It takes time and dedication to write the posts. Unlike pretty bloggers who can finish up the writing portion of their blog posts in just about 30 seconds*

* I am not trying to be a bloody bitch and dismiss all pretty bloggers. It just so happens I'm very sore about a certain incident. I spent a good amount of money on an advertorial by a famous blogger, just to have churned out a good sized piece of CRAP. To add further insult to the injury, she blogged another post just less than 24 hours later full of nonsense SHOPPING pictures, which totally diminishes the impact of my advertorial!


So I actually tried beauty blogging (see my previous posts) but have failed dramatically. Sorry, I don't actually use enough beauty products to justify turning my blog into a beauty review site [see: Am too lazy to wear make up].

Food blogging is totally out of the question. There's no way I could actually refrain myself long enough to take pictures of food before actually scoffing it down. I enjoy food, I don't ever want to relate food to work of any kind. Plus I don't take pictures, enough said.

After all is said and done, I found that making money from blogging isn't for me and so totally gave it up. Until today. After my horrible experience with the advertorial, which was just last night, I realized that I didn't want to make money from blogs the way some people do, just by being pretty. I wanted to write stuff with substance! I wanted to be myself! Who cares if 99.9% of the global population wont' give a rat's arse about what I write or even come close to reading this?

From now I'll be writing to amuse... even if it's just myself.

Conflict Resolution - Not taking sides!

I'm pretty sure everyone's had to deal with major conflicts before in their lifetime, and I'm also pretty sure everyone else, like me, detests them. Some resolve them by facing and dealing with it aggressively, others deal with it passively, or just plain ignore it.

I fall into the latter category.

Taking as an example, a common conflict between two parties who are dear and close to you. When they are fighting amongst themselves, what do you do?

The natural reaction for the two parties is to look to you to take sides. "Well? Who's right? Aren't you going to support me on this?" They look to you for support. And for me, well I just don't give it to any party. I stay out of the way, choose not to get involved, and let them duel it out themselves.

I seriously HATE choosing sides, and hate it more when I'm forced to. And if I am, I STILL won't choose sides. If you see your parents arguing, eventhough you may have your own opinion on who is right, and who is wrong, would you back one parent up over another? I definitely won't, I love both equally and siding one just adds fuel to the fire, plus builds contempt between yourself and the party you didn't support.

I have often been blamed and frowned upon by not taking sides. But so what? I still choose not to, and I won't ever choose sides, so don't make me, and don't blame me for keeping quiet.

Campfire Legends: The Hookman

I downloaded this game just a couple of days ago. With a few days left to Halloween, the timing couldn't be more perfect! This is a GameHouse game, and with so many great titles under their belt, I knew I couldn't be disappointed.

And I wasn't.

This is a hidden object game infused with some great puzzles, based on the infamous Urban Legend of The Hookman. Don't expect it to follow the Urban Legend exactly; it has it's own little intriguing story line to it. That being said, this is one hidden object game that has a strong storyline - you actually become the main character, Christine, and help her in her exploits.

What's best about this game, is that the graphics are pretty good, with the sound and music matching perfectly with the mood of the game. It's eerie and creepy, and for the very first time since I started playing PC games (almost 17 years ago!) elements of this game really scared me. I was practically jumping out of my seat, I had to actually turn down the sound effects in order to refrain from crapping in my pants. Seriously.

The objects are actually pretty difficult to find, so it does pose a challenge. However, for once, you're supposed to find objects relevant to the game (ie. the things you need to change a flat tyre) and not some random objects like saxophones and barber poles. The puzzles were definitely challenging - I had to practically wring my brain out to even get close to some of the solutions.

There were a few minor downsides, one being that the game was way too short! It could probably be completed in an hour, which means you could probably complete it within the one hour free trial of the game. Other than that, my cursor response was horrible, but that could be due to my out-of-date laptop and specs.

All in all, I loved the game. Would rate it 5 stars, and recommend it to everyone out there. A word of caution, though; it's not for the faint hearted!

I anticipate more Campfire Legend games to be released. Can't wait!

Who IS Bringeroflite

Some people I know, must be thinking that I'm this pretentious little girl.

"Who does she think she is? A Bringer Of Light? Who does she think she's kidding?!"

Ok, they don't say it to my face, but I know some people out there do think it! So here's the history of my "nickname".

My sister gave this to me when I was a tiny tot, barely old enough to be able to read the words on this card. But it was from my sister, and boy I treasured it so!

I loved it so much, I kept this card with me wherever I went. It made me somehow feel at peace whenever I felt the world was so unfair.

And then, when it came a time when I started playing MMORPGs, finding a unique nick name for myself seemed easy as pie... "Bringeroflite" the shortened version.

The rest as they say, is history :) I now use this nick for everything!

My New E Shop!

I haven't been updating... because I've been ecstatically happy! :)
Remember in my previous post, how I said I would launch an E Shop to sell those tank tops I love so much? Well I actually created it, and after a week, I've had overwhelming response! So I've been busy with that basically.

Here it is!

Tanks For 5

Happy Shopping! :)

My Top 10 Best Bargain Buys

Who says good things can't be cheap? :)

I love bargain hunting! Even though all those books on keeping your finances in check always warn you never to buy during sales etc. I usually can't resist. Here are my Top 10 Best Bargain Buys! In no particular order of preference.

1. 3/4 length white terry cloth pants - RM25 from FOS



I have always been a fan of Juicy Couture track suits. This pair of pants, I must say, comes close to the terry cloth track pants they sell at Juicy. What I love most is that it's low waist, something that I look for in all pants I buy (I cannot stand having the waist band dig into my belly!). It's also super comfortable, being terry cloth, without it getting too hot when I wear it out. It's supposed to be Old Navy brand as well, but tags were cut so couldn't confirm.

2. Nike Sports bra - RM24.50



It's no secret that I go to the gym everyday. And for ladies, you definitely need proper support. I've tried other brands before, but I always find Nike has the nicest, most comfortable, and supportive sports bras out there.
The original price for this was RM149, and it was on 50% sale. I had an RM50 voucher, and voila! I got it for RM24.50 :)

3. Carrefour make up removing wipes - RM0.80 for a pack of 10 wipes



I'm pretty fuss free, so I don't wear make up on a daily basis. Just maybe once a week? I know, sad for someone my age. But still, when I do, it'll be on a weekend and I'll get back home late. Tired and lazy, the best make up removal option for me is to use wipes.
I've used quite a few brands prior to this and all have served its purpose relatively well, but at a price of RM16 for maybe 20 wipes?
I am totally fine using house brands, and make no mistake, this one works just as well as the other more expensive brands, at a fraction of the cost! Plus, since I don't use it often, it can stay moist even after it's been opened for a long, long time.

Note: This, and other brands, does not seem to be effective against removing waterproof make up ie. mascara, but I team it up with baby oil and it works fantastically. Will blog more on that later.

4. SK II Body Designer - RM74.40



The most expensive of my Top 10, but one of my favourites! I think this has been discontinued, but it has got to be the best body lotion ever! IMHO. I bought two 250ml bottles at 70% discount (obviously via staff sales). Original price? RM248.
What I love about it is that I have perpetually dry skin, and upon application, it immediately makes my skin really soft and supple, without it being greasy at all! It has a slight rosey fragrance to it, which is lovely, as one wouldn't want to walk around smelling like Pitera. Pitera isn't disgustingly pungent, but its fragrance does take some getting used to.

5. Bling bling hair clips - RM1 each from Shenzhen



Super huge haul! The hair clips are so blinged out, of relatively good quality and super cheap. With inflation and all, I was surprised that we could still find things this cheap in China. I got these and a ton of other things including cute butterfly and lobster magnets. If you're ever in Shenzhen, look out for the 2 Yuan shop. I can't for the life of me, remember the street the shop was on. The total damage on the hair accessories purchased above? RM11. What a steal!

6. Multi- purpose pouches - RM5 each from Jatujak Market



These were cute, I couldn't resist getting them! They're of a relatively good size, about 5 inches in length and 4 in height (though I could be wrong, amongst the many things I cannot do, accurate estimation is one of them). They come together with the dangly bits on the zip, and are currently used to store the bits and bobs I usually have scattered around my handbag. JJ market is a complete maze though, so I doubt I could find the stall that was selling this again :(

7. Over-sized bag - RM10 from Times Square



I absolutely love this bag to bits! The exterior is woven in pretty pastel colours, and the interior has ample space to throw in all the garbage I like to lug around at times. I also use it as an overnight bag, as it can store all my clothes and toiletries without being bulky. Surprisingly, it hasn't fallen apart (like the other cheap bags I've bought in the past) and is in pretty much the same condition I bought it, despite my mistreating it.

8. Casual dress - RM10 from Times Square



I bought this from Silver Trend in Times Square. It looks better on me than on the hanger, though. Silver Trend sells everything in their store for RM10, and sometimes you can find really nice buys there :) I love this dress - this is my first casual one. On its virgin outing, it already garnered some compliments from friends :) I liked this so much, I went and bought two others:


9. Low-rise, corduroy pants - RM7 from FOS Warehouse Sale



Ok, to be completely honest, I only bought these because they were cheap. I was going through the warehouse sale, and this was the first item I picked up. Saw the price tag, and 7 bucks for a pair of long pants of decent quality is DIRT CHEAP can die. So it was a no brainer, I brought it home. And tried it. AND FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! Fits like a charm and is low rise (I like!). I FINALLY have another outfit option besides jeans! :)

10. Racer back singlets - RM5 each



I have like a hundred of these, in different colours and patterns. NO JOKE. Not only are they cheap, they're versatile, and they don't shrink or get screwed up in the wash. If I'm not dressed to go to the gym, chances are I'll be wearing one of these. Anyway, I have practically a 3 month supply of them, even if I wear a different one every day. I liked these SO MUCH that I now sell these at the Times Square store, AND I will be creating a shop blog specifically to sell these. Stay tuned for the link if interested. Just sharing the love for my staple clothing :)

Ok, so that's it! My Top 10 Best Bargain Buys. Just goes to show that you CAN get nice things even on a budget. In fact, my entire Top 10 are things you can get for under RM80, with 9 out of 10 things being RM25 and below :) Retail therapy is goooooooddd.......

Almost got robbed - blah!

Ever since stepping out of the corporate world (I think it's been, 4 months?) I have had yet ANOTHER slap across the face on facing reality. This time I've learnt, it's a cruel, cruel world out there. I have lots more to say on that topic, but cutting to the chase, let me share my yet another awful experience at the shop.

This time, I was at Times Square, alone.

A Middle Eastern guy came into the shop to browse some t-shirts. He looked pretty well off, was wearing a nice long sleeved button shirt, almost business man like. But then again, looks can be deceiving. The weird thing was, he kept panning the shop, concentrating most on the ceiling.

"Gee, he looks like he's looking for a CCTV" I thought to myself.

I couldn't be more correct, and my suspicions were proven awhile later.

He pulled a shirt off the rack, and said he wanted to buy it. BUT he only just landed in Malaysia, and had ONLY USD. He then opened his wallet, showing a nicely rubber-banded stack of $100 notes (which I suspect were fake). So then he asked whether if he could pay me $100, could I give him the balance in Ringgit?

I said no. And asked him to go to a money changer.

He then said he wanted to see what Malaysian money looked like (wtf?!)

Feeling even MORE suspicious, but decided not to be too paranoid, I pulled out RM10 out of my pouch, and held onto it tightly for him to examine. He asked to see a RM50 note, and I showed it to him, holding onto it tightly again. He then asked me to show him a NEW RM50 note, while tugging at the old one in my hand.

He found out the hard way I wasn't going to let go of it, and proceeded to stuff his hand into my pouch and grab the stack of cash inside. I was outraged! Who on Earth has the audacity to do such a thing??

He started speaking in Arabic to me, trying to point out some things on the RM50 note he "supposedly" wanted me to see. And while distracting me, carefully stuffed RM300 from my stack into his pocket.

But not quick enough. I noticed, and since I was in a shopping mall, I wasn't afraid this time.

I pointed at his pocket and demanded loudly, "Give me back my money".

Luckily, he gave it back, and insisted he wanted only to exchange his USD with me. I asked him yet again to go to a money changer.

Apologizing profusely, he left.

I wonder how many other people he scammed. 3 things this time, tripped the alarm bells in my head:

1. Who checks out the damn ceiling in a shop?
2. If he JUST landed in Malaysia with no Ringgit, how on Earth did he end up in Times Square? Fly there? As far as I remember, technology here isn't that advanced that taxi cabs can accept credit cards.
3. A foreigner that has NEVER seen Malaysian money before, knows that there's a new RM50 note out. Wow, way to go, you psychic or something?

I was lucky this time, that I got my money back. And this lesson made me realize that I need to take more precautionary measures to prevent this and other unwanted things from happening in the future. For all small boutique owners out there, PLEASE take note and learn from my lesson.

Theft in our store - left me traumatised.

*Warning, long ass rant ahead*

Ok, I'm now going to relate to anyone who would listen, exactly what happened yesterday which has haunted me vividly until now. (Plus, writing is very therapeutic so yay for me!)

Two guys from Sabah, Malaysia came up to the shop.



A mish-mash of pictures. The shop doesn't look like this now, layout has changed.

Coincidentally, Gwee had to run off to the post office. It's Puasa month; they close at 5pm. So these two guys looked around, and one of them passed me two tee shirts - he wanted to buy them and paid on the spot and said,"I'll look around some more, but give me a big plastic bag. I'm going back hometown tomorrow and I want to carry clothes".

That was warning bell number one.

So I did. He went around and picked up another t-shirt, and this time paid too much for it. He asked me to keep the change first, as he'll pick out another shirt. He finally did so, but asked for me to put this last shirt in a different bag - it was for his friend. He took the big bag and proceeded to browse.

He then went behind a rack where he knew I couldn't see him from where I was and proceeded to open the plastic bag (rustling sounds, can tell) and supposedly "count off" how many shirts he had bought.

Warning bell number two.

I quickly rushed over to him, and found an empty hanger on the rack with "RM330" printed on it. I wasn't too sure what to do, and to make matters worse, a couple of his other friends came up at that time. I was sooo itching and dying to say "Let me look in your bag, I know you took my hoodie". But because I was worried about losing more than the hoodie (Maybe they would get violent? Rob me? Run away? I don't know but I didn't think at THAT time it was worth the risk), I didn't confront the idiot. A slight distraction by his friends asking about other clothes was enough for the guy to slip the empty hanger off the rack, pretending it wasn't there in the first place.

But it was too late. I knew he stole my hoodie.

They left. I contemplated chasing after them, confronting them in public to avoid any probable bodily harm, but I was in shock. I was still unsure of what tot do. And because of that shock, it prevented me from preventing a theft. I don't know whether it was out of self-preservation, or stupidity that I had let them get away with it.

I was alone in a 2nd floor shoplot with no one occupying the floors below, and workers occupying the floor above. I was alone, with 3-4 guys who were taller, and stronger than me. I did what I thought best at that time.

But that wasn't enough...I could have prevented it.

I will never stop hating myself for that, and I doubt I ever could. Gwee reassures me that the theft wasn't too big and at least I wasn't hurt, so that's alright. It doesn't, however, stop the deep, fiery rage that is slowly, but surely building deep inside of me. My dreams are filled with violence; my fury so blinding that I am only satisfied when these guys get their well-deserved retribution.

I understand there are several stages you go through when you have experienced something like this ie. trauma, but it looks like acceptance will be something I will never achieve. I am still distraught, and to be honest, I know this is a small and petty thing, but I WANT to see those guys get what they deserve, and I will stop at NOTHING to prove to them that they shouldn't have messed with me...

Video viewing til late at night

Sorry for the hiatus - been super busy viewing the video entries (and counting unique votes AND judging for creativity) for our "HeatWave Raving Gear Global Dance Competition". It's my first initiative since taking on this business full time, and I'm madly excited!

The response has been really fantastic; we've received maybe 100-200 entries from all over the globe, and it's been great viewing them all. Well, I've not actually gone through all of them as of yet, but from what I've seen.

I find it super touching that so many people of all ages and nationalities can find common passion in a not so common dance :) Videos are available for public viewing on YouTube, just search for the phrase above (in red).

Will resume blogging once results are out! :)

BOYCOTT - Ai Yi Ping Seaweed Jelly!!!

You know how the "pasar malam"s (night markets) in Malaysia (or maybe Selangor, I don't know) usually have the same vendors, rotating to different locations on different days of the week? Well, there was this one incident that occured with one of those vendors maybe 4-5 years ago which I've never forgotten, leading to this post.

There is this one particular stall that sells maybe the best tasting "ai yi ping" lime flavoured seaweed jelly drink around. I've been searching all over the net for at least a picture of the stall, but either there isn't one available, or my Googling skills are awful.

Anyway, back to the story and the reason for my boycott.

One fine day, my family and I were walking around the SS13, Subang Jaya pasar malam, and as usual we wanted to get our jelly fix. Now this stall sells their drinks in styrofoam bowls only, and not in cups (do you know which one yet?) as they say you can't enjoy it as much by slurping it through a straw, something about not getting the right amount of each ingredient in each sip.

So my mum orders two bowls, from a man that was working there. Maybe a relative or the husband of the lady that's usually there.

Then my mum looks up and sees their sign, with all their prices on it, "Wait! There's an option to have it in a cup!" so she asks the guy to change the order to just one cup, easier to bring away and drink. However, in fine print, it says that the cup is for "Green tea flavoured seaweed jelly".

I pointed this out to mum, who obviously doesn't want green tea flavoured, as we came for the original, told the guy to change back to the original order.

With that, the guy threw a bloody tantrum. He said my mum was being difficult, REFUSED to serve her and asked her to get lost.

Being young and naive (and very timid during that time), I did nothing. I wish I had said something to him at that time, I wish I had made a big fuss in front of every single one of their customers back then. But I didn't, and I regret that.

Obviously, we both were pissed. Here was this stupid, fat man, waving his finger rudely at my mum, red-faced and telling her to go away. The lady boss quietly asked the man to not be so angry, but besides that, she did nothing.

Thus, the reason for my boycott. If you know which stall this is, PLEASE do not buy your drinks from them (they are the ones that sell the green tea ones in the cup!)

Being in my line of business, I know how important it is to keep a good reputation. Customers are always right. What on EARTH was this man doing? Who did he think he was? There was a long queue behind us, for goodness sakes, if we didn't want what he had already made, then someone else would have wanted it - no wastage involved.

I feel that my mum was not in the wrong - she was merely trying to order something that she wanted. Isn't that a consumers' right?

MAS Stewardess - The Stereotype

Over the past few years, I have seriously made a conscious effort to not judge people based on their stereotype, nor their looks. I have realized that stereotyping all blondes as "dumb" is dumb in itself (not like many Malaysians are blonde, but oh well I hope you get my drift) as many gorgeous and well-groomed people out there tend to smart and successful as well.

Anyway, back on topic. The MAS Stewardess stereotype - in my experience, the common thing that happens when they are mentioned, is "Oh. Pretty girls looking for a rich husband, get paid to travel & love bonking the pilot". Probably because of all the sex scandal stories which had been circulated about the MAS cabin crew. Huge detriment to their image, eh.

I don't get to travel much, but over the past year or so I did my bit of business travels. I had always found most of the stewardesses of the airlines I used pretty much friendly and willing to assist - as well as being pretty strict when it comes to adhering to airline safety upon take off and landing. Which is definitely what you want in an employee. Plus, there never seemed to be any extra special attention thrown on the obviously rich businessmen.

So far so good, I felt proud of myself that I didn't subconsciously label the stewardesses as air-headed gold diggers. To be frank, I had heard that to be selected as a stewardess, you had to go through a pretty rigorous selection process, so not everyone would be able to make the cut.

But seriously, it only took one flight to change my mind.

I was on a short flight back from Jakarta one day, sitting at the aisle, next to some middle aged European guy (I do not know of what nationality, it really did not matter). He was trying to be friendly and tried to make casual conversation, as most people sitting next to you on a plane do.

However, his conversation turned towards his "conquests". He was telling me about all the girls he meets on his business trips, and how he had some really sweet girls in Malaysia. How one of the sweet girls cried when he left, and wrote him a really touching note, which in turned made him cry. And of their travels to beautiful islands such as Redang together.

It was all getting a little uncomfortable, and as I usually do, I avoid further conversation by turning my head away, plugging in my earphones and pretending to sleep. The only times I ever got disturbed by this guy after that was when he got out of his seat.

He only came back just as the plane was about to land - seriously, when the wheels were extended and it was just less than 5 minutes to landing. He probably violated all the safety measures possible then and there:

1. Chair reclined.
2. Tray table down, with cup of red wine still sitting on it.
3. Not wearing seat belt.
4. Stands up every few seconds to look out the window.
5. Messes with his handphone / PDA.

So this stewardess came over. "Great, PLEASE give this guy a warning," I was thinking to myself. The red wine on the tray table next to me was making me nervous, ok. I didn't want the damned thing spilling on me! Well the guy picked up his drink (phew!) and smiled at the stewardess.

"Hah! He's going to get it!" <--- yes, me again. So she stones for awhile, standing on the aisle, then reaches her arm past me, and strokes this man's arm and purred, "Nice meeting you, sir. You have my number; keep in touch." Then walks off. Just. Like. That.

All credibility. All assurance that we will be kept safe from harm. Baboom!! Bye bye. Out the bloody window, never to be seen again.

And I really did try hard to disprove the stereotype. Honest.

I am such a noob...

My switch from my previous Blogdrive to Blogger, has taken some getting used to. It has taken me two whole days to figure out how this thing works, find a relatively simple template to use without all the fancy - schmancy tabs which I will never for the life of me, be able to edit or personalize. Can someone please tell me how do I remove the "Contact Me" link from the top of the page? And how on Earth do I underline stuff? I am so confused.

And I haven't even begun to personalize it yet. +_+ <---(What?! No smilies? Where can I get me some smilies?)