saturday 8th december

hadijah, the malay massue was supposed to come today at 2pm. she called at 2 to inform that her van broke down while she was on the way here and that she is not coming afterall. i dont believe the event but i didnt press on. if she doesnt really wanna come, im alright with it. of course i was a little annoyed because i had prepared the room and made her tea with honey. but nevertheless, i was not angry. angry was last evening at the service centre at sony-ericsson. i had argued with the counter girl and we both raised our voices. understandabily, i was frustrated because it was the third time visiting that place and to collect my phone for the third time. it didnt help that there wasnt any return call from the centre manager despite requests to speak to one for the past 5 days. plus, ying shan, my 5-day-old new colleague who gave me a lift to orchard was telling me how she gave up on them after her phone was serviced eight times but they couldnt solve the problem on the phone muting itself automatically. she has just bought the phone for two weeks when it gave her the problem. despite this, her next mobile phone is still from the same brand. had i not liked my phone, i would have forget about getting it fixed. but i feel that this is really not the way to do business. if a brand oversells and could not deliver in terms of its quality and after-sales service, it is asking for trouble. my colleagues who are nokia loyal user would tell me tongue in cheekily -- i told you to stick to nokia. it is funny how my brain has to learn, unlearn and relearn when i switch between my old motorola and the sony-ericssion, for a while, i couldnt compose my smses correctly because they key functions are opposites and i keep getting it wrong. the first few times when i was using the old phone was quite terrible. i had to do it slowly. makes me think if my brain cells has gotten old and taking a longer time to adapt. hence i feel that learning new things and skills are really important. look at such a small matter as efficiency in smsing. sometimes, i use my left hand to do task i normally do with the right, so that i could just employ some of those brain cells that are hardly used and to re-wire them so that my mind could be more agile. oh i forgot to tell you what we were arguing about. the counter girl said she has to make a photo copy of my ic because i am collecting the phone on behalf of my husband (he had sent in the phone for me). i said you can copy but i am not collecting the phone on his behalf because this is my phone and he had sent in on my behalf. she raised her voice, pointed to the document and emphasised you see HIISSSS NAME? HEEEE sent in the phone, YOOOOU are collecting on behalf. in a manner she was supressing her anger for me being stupid. I said to her, bringing up the document that has the record of purchase. this IIIIIISSS MMMYYY phone. HEEEEE sent in FOOOOOR me. IIIIIII am collecting MMMMYYYY phone. my face must have been red or black. she said she will have to make a photocopy of the ic and i said whatever just give me the damn phone. i left the place fuming mad for a whole ten minutes but i felt that they must be having a hard time being front line and it was just a matter of technicality. i was just angry because in service line, YOU DONT ARGUE WITH THE CUSTOMER. it is not as if i didnt allow her to copy the ic, it was just that i have a problem with the technicality of it being me collecting my phone on the behalf of someone else which is bullshit. went for a good shashimi but really shouldnt have, because no food will taste good when i am upset. walked along for a while before some good old shopping took my mind off it. i tell you, i am learning to know myself every time. hardly anything will stir me being angry but if it happens, i would really reflect upon it and learn from the episode. that's what growth is about. you know learn and reflect what was done and what could be better next time. i walked on to tangs and bought a dress that might as well be a peacock costume. it is in the print of green feathers and those uniquely red patterned that can only be from a peacock. a proud one flanging his glorious tail. it is really a very nice dress and i pondered about buying for a whole 10 minutes. normally a decision is made in 30 to 60 seconds so you see, i was seriously considering it. anyway, i had bought it and i must show you myself in it when i have the chance. every year my family has a christmas party and the hilights is the gift exchange. this tradition started in 1988 and it beagan with only eight people. that was before my aunts and uncles became christians and this year alone, two more families became christians. you know, when you face with some critical life and death incident, sometimes the change is 360 degree. that is what happened to aunt elsie. she had some unexplainable illness and was in the hospital for about 2 months. one of the week she almost died while in ICU. she is recovering well now and has since denounced her taoisim and become a christian. good that her sister lily could help her with the transistion. i am a buddhist whom other buddhists will have a problem with. i feel that i am living a life that is ever-dynamic, ever-living, ever-alive and life itself is not limit to any parimeters. anyway, i shall not touch on religion here and there is no need to explain. ok so where was i, ya the gift exchange. it started some 19 years ago and we have it every single year. i have been the chairman to moderate the picking of names where you buy a gift for. so anyway, this year, brendan and i will have to buy for my cousin yang and sis's BF tim. both guys. i have no problem buying for guys, while some of my aunts would ask me to switch the names if they are buying for guys because they said they dont know what to get for them. so anyway, i stayed at the stationary department for sooooo long. if must have been a whole hour at the stationary and toy section at isetan. can you believe it, i bought myself another toy. i couldnt help it! it is this tiny remote car from TOMY. look at the picture. i must illustrate to you how small the car is, it fits into a soup spoon. one thing i respect is the japanese. they are practically good at anything they set out to achieve. so anyway, i bought both tim and ah yang a set of mini remote control cars. you know, if they are stressed with studies or work, this tiny little thing could just bring some amusement and entertainment. and so this is my idea.