2009 in rewind...

Looking on the year that is now ending, I must say that this year has been one heck of a roller coaster ride.

There has never been a year as eventful as this one.

I've found people whom it felt like I've known them my whole life, and lost them a few months later.

I've had to deal with a person who had been strictly told straight to his face many times before that I was not interested - who wanted to let me officially diss him anyway. What a loser and sucker for punishment... Tsk, tsk.

I've had the "pleasure" of dealing with a Psycho Bitch (who was later promoted to the title of Deranged Psycho Bitch). She was a majorly insecure person who could see no fault in herself who needed to point the blame to any convenient target... that happened to be me. She created a whole fantasy in her head based on what above mentioned loser innocently reported to her about... and harrassed me for months via SMS and calls to my handphone saying I am the person responsible for causing the failure of her marriage. Blasphemy! Lies!

I have to thank Khim Hun for keeping me sane during this time and Jaselee for taking the last call she ever made to me.

And since I've mentioned about people that have my thanks, one other person deserving a mention is LT - the one with a lot of piss and one of the gang for "sesi harian: tembak Jeneral Jibby"... but also because he's the one with the car jumper cable when my 2 year old car battery breathed it's last in the "safari".

I've finally gone to Gua Tempurung... in the company of Yinglai, Jerry and some nutcase who brought a whole lot of photography equipment... and every time the water level was insanely high... we had to wait for said nutcase to safely maneuver the equipment across the body of water...

I've lost my aunt to cancer. God bless her soul. She was still looking towards doing many things if she ever had the chance to get better. However, her body had slowly shut down on her before that day would come for her. I admire her for her strong will to live on (I'm getting tears just writing about her)... She was often mistaken for my sister; shared my interest in watching animes, doing jigsaw puzzles and reading. She was only 43.

I have had the joy of playing a part in the weddings of 3 friends - and each of them are from my different social circles. One was my classmate in high school, another was my fellow student councilor in college and the last one was an ex-colleague's.

* Yinglai's jimui session has to be one of the most hilarious ones I've been to (there's a video on this where I have been tagged)...

* Ashwin's dinner reception was one that allowed me to re-live the experience of being part of an event planning committee... I've seriously not had to run in heels (the way I did for his reception) since the last Grad Ball! ^_*

* Huei's was one where it was a reunion with the PCS girls... (Beng Beng is still as nutty as I remember her to be... and oops... I think I still haven't sent over the photos I took!!!)

I have learnt to bite my tongue more often... But it's still not enough... Need to work on being less hissy when people are asking the same questions to me for the n-th time. Time to be more diplomatic when I deliver the "RTFM" line.

I still talk like a bullet train to the people I am comfortable with. (Please tell me to hit the brakes sometimes... ^_^)

I know who my lifelong heartfelt friends are... You folks are the sparkles and stars in my sky no matter where you are!

Just in case she makes noise about why her name is not listed in full sight... Joce, see above. *hugs*

P/s: The status message I've put up pre-Christmas... they are for you people too ;)

It went like this... just in case you missed it...

Everyone comes into your life for a reason, to teach you something (thank you!) or to learn something from you (you are welcome!). To each and everyone who means something to me - Merry X'mas and Happy New Year. It has and will always be a blessing to have known you.

Nothing But Best Wishes For You

20 minutes past midnight, I posted the following on my facebook:

Towards the stars I reach on a clear night sky
and grasps upon the stars within my reach I try
With nothing in hand I look above
and wish the best for all whom I love.

I didn't understand why I felt the need to write this.

Sometime around noon... while I was still at work... I was informed that my aunt (mum's youngest sis) had passed on. Her body had weakened tremendously in the past 2 months due to cancer.

Now I understand, that I probably sensed it was coming... to have written something like this in the first place.

Videos from 15Malaysia

The 15 Malaysia Project is a collection of 15 videos done by a group of independent directors in Malaysia. The topics in each of the these videos are related to things that are common in the socio-political space within Malaysia. Get ready to laugh your socks off... some of these videos are terribly hilarious while others are on a more deadly serious note.

Here's a sample of the hilarious-kind:

And another one:

To check out the other videos... go to the 15 Malaysia website.

p/s: They made it to the 2009 Pusan International Film Festival too.

It's only June? You are so kidding me!!

So many things have happened that I still can't believe that it is only June. 6 months into 2009. Yes, only 6 months?!!!

I've found new friends... including a few really great ones who helped me through the drama I've had to go through (see 2nd paragraph below this one). You people have helped to keep me sane and stopped me from going majorly bonkers or feeling helplessly shattered. Thanks for making me laugh and for showing me other perspectives when I needed it. Though I'm not sure why it does feel that as the dust is settling, some of us are drifting apart... perhaps you were just passing by to help me move on through a phase in my Journey. I'm kinda sad about this drifting thing but nevertheless I'm grateful that I knew you.

Not to forget are the people who will always make me feel a lot more anchored even when I'm not. These are the people whom I may not see for weeks or months or even years and yet we can talk to one another as though we have never been apart during our little gatherings. They are the same people whom I've known since school/college days. (Totally unrelated but I'm proud to say that we've successfully kept in touch... and that there are people who envy that little fact that we are still in touch after all these years!!)

Now to the drama part. I've been wrongly accused of being something/someone I am NOT by a frankly Super-Psycho-Delusional-Person. I've been stalked by same SPDP whenever tension breaks yet another high-strung thread in her weird mind... that has the unfailing ability to churn up yet another fictional bad soap opera-worthy story angle... and harass me whenever they pop-up in her pea-brain.

I've also found out that a certain person who claims to be a friend has absolutely no ability for remorse because he is too stupid to understand that what he says will have a cause and effect on other people... even when the fact is pointed out bluntly to his face. Loser. Moron. Nitwit. May Karma deal with you for the trouble that you have caused.

Bitter. Sweet. In. 6. Months.

Oops! My bad...

In the last few weeks, I've normally taken the following strategy when going for my weekly swimming routine. This normally takes about 40 minutes to complete:

- 2 laps of breast stroke
- take a breather and do some stretches (in the pool)
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 2 laps of breast stroke
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of breast stroke
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of breast stroke

Last week, I managed to use that same format and squeezed in an additional 2 laps

Today, I decided to try this:

- 4 laps of breast stroke
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a longer breather and do some stretches

Things were looking real good at this point since I've managed 8 laps in 20 minutes... so I tried to get to 12 laps again... and continued on by doing:

- 1 lap of freestyle
- take a short breather and do some stretches
- 1 lap of freestyle... err... then this happened...

A slight tug in my right calf muscle told me that a cramp was setting in halfway into my 10th lap. Luckily I was swimming on lane 2... which is pretty near the side of the pool... and doggy paddled all the way to the side of the pool where I could hang on too while I massaged the stricken muscle.

I finished my other half of a lap using the breast stroke and without the kicking action. It was super slow to reach the end of the lap doing this... but that's the only way I won't totally sink into the water since the calf muscle needed more rest time. Exerting it would mean a lot more pain that would extend all the way to the base of my right foot.

I guess I should have taken a longer breather and enjoy some stretches before I jumped into swimming my 10th lap...

So I've learnt my lesson. Even when the going is good... one needs to pace one's self according to one's physical ability at a certain point in time. Don't go beyond your limit!

The best Friday in a long while

Gluttony Session #1

It all began with a team lunch with my colleague's at OXO (Queensbay) to celebrate 2 birthdays and 1 farewell. Here are a few photos of what we had (wasn't quick enough to snap a photo of some of the other dishes before the food was attacked)...

After the main course, there was desert... and yup... I didn't take a photo of that either.

Anyway... gluttony session #1 was pretty good. We enjoyed the food. However, I must say that the waiters have to be a bit more alert since they didn't even know how to clear the butter plates without being prompted.

To be fair, as a considerably new outlet, OXO probably needs a little more time to get their staff up to speed in terms of service skills.

Gluttony Session #2

Dinner was at Spice Market, Rasa Sayang Resort, Batu Ferringhi. This was with my parents to celebrate the 31st Anniversary of their ROM. Among the stuff that we ate included lobsters, scallops, plenty of fresh sashimi, oysters, mussels, yabbies (crawfish), and etc. This was accompanied by at least 2 glasses of wine each.

We had so much food that we needed to take a breather before going for the desert. So while just sitting around, I decided to take a photo of the table deco-piece: spices on a stone plate.

After some time, we headed on to get some dessert from the buffet line. While we were having our 1st coffee, the Rasa Sayang staff surprised my parents with this:

It tastes as awesome as it looks. So yummy! ...and with all that chocolate goodness, we decided to have a 2nd coffee.

After dinner, we decided to go have a nice long walk up and down the Batu Ferringhi night market. That really helped to ease off the feeling of being utterly bloated. *phew*

The Sing Song and Drink Beer Session

Ho ho! It's not yet the end of my very long Friday night... it goes all the way into 4am.

When I got home, it was about 12:30am but I am in no mood to go to sleep yet. Joce was pretty much up to going out and about too. She found out that her friend was in Red Box and does not mind extra company.

So we headed to Red Box, sang a lot and drank a few bottles of beer each.

The best part of all was it was raining when we were leaving! We giggled like little kids as we ran to my car (it was parked in one of the public parking lots along Gurney Drive)

Seriously... running in the rain was kind of a dream come through. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to run in the rain ;)

Of course... by the time I got home... it was a must to at least take a shower... because I surely do not want to catch a cold.

In short, it was a way incredibly awesome Friday!!!

Hot, hot, hot day out!

The day started early enough for me today... mmm... say like 7:15 AM... so that I could go for an early morning swim with my dad.

Before leaving the house, I remembered to send a message to wish my buddy (Hun) good luck for the Penang International Dragon Boat race... and a playful note of caution to not walk into anymore gaps in the ground. In reply: aside from a laugh and a note of thanks, I was asked to go back to sleep... bugger that!

Anyway, I finally got about to my swimming around 8:30 AM and I must say that I'm pretty happy with finally managing to squeeze in 12 laps (in a full Olympic-sized pool) within 40 minutes. The most important part is I could walk out of the pool without feeling that my feet would give way... you know... as in the jelly-legged feeling... when your leg muscles totally refuse to hold you up anymore.

This surely is quite an improvement from about a couple months back when I could barely squeeze out 10 laps in about the same amount of time without feeling all jelly-legged by the time I got out of the pool. Getting back into some kind of weekly exercise routine from an almost no exercise routine was kinda tough... but it had to be done to drive up my energy level (and hopefully my immune system too).

Anywaaaaay, when I got out of the pool... it seemed that I may not have a chance to go to the Teluk Bahang dam to be a spectator at the PIDB race. Seems like everyone who originally planned to go decided that they didn't want to go after all. That's kinda sad really... I've never gone to check the event out even after saying that I'll check it out next year in every year for the past few years.

Then I just chanced to ask Chin if she's already there or planning to go watch the race... and it turns out that she's planning to go there after lunch. So we decided to have an impromptu lunch together at about 1:30 PM before heading up to the dam.

Boy it was hot, hot, hot! Luckily we brought a supply of water to drink. As a precaution, I had also made sure that I had applied some sunblock before going out today... best idea ever... if not I would suppose that I'd be sunburned to a crisp!

Ok, so Chin headed first towards her ex-team. She used to row but have now shifted her attention to competing in marathons. Then we went to see the next race that was running.

I even had a butterfingers moment... dropping my bottle of water. Dang... 60 degree downward decline! Thank god I was wearing my sports shoes and that I am pretty good with hiking. Climbed down to retrieve my water bottle... the precious ambrosia that I probably couldn't do without on a day like this.

As the races were going on, Chin told me a lot more about the stuff that normally happens during a DB race. Not bad... learnt something new today. Spotted Hun as he was walking back to his team's tent after a race so I waved to say hello.

Chin and I did a lot of walking from the viewing area to her ex-team's tent. We normally walked to the teams' tent area in between races ^_^

Other people I managed to spot at the race included Jibby (the photo-sniper); and Azmy and friend. It so happened that Hun and his brother were walking back to the team tent area (one of those occasions) when Azmy was spotted... so we all had a little chat session.

It all finally ended around 5:30 PM. Ahh... my water supply was depleted by then... I must say it was rather interesting... though I'm not so sure that the best was done to get people up to the dam to view the race. Maybe there'll be more people there tomorrow as the International races are scheduled to commence throughout tomorrow...

Oh I have to say this though... the poster design for this year's PIDB is really nice!

Hope...

Though I know that we may never be
what I hope we could some day be
Does it matter that I care for you still
when all I can see is a cold empty void
where there should be more soul in you?

You may never know what I feel for you
I was never brave enough to tell you so
I can see you when I close my eyes
and smile to myself when I remember
something silly that you have said or done

Wistfully I hope against hope
but it's a dream I can never hold on to
So I tell myself it's time to let go
be thankful of what I have in front of me
and yet hope has a life of its own
I can only hope that time will lead the way

*sigh*

The more I think about it, the more my head hurts.
So why do I think about it?
I might as well flick a switch to forget about it!

*Sigh*
But as usual...
Things are easier said than done.

*flush!*

Nope... that didn't work either.

About an epiphany I had about myself

A few months ago, a friend told me that I have set up invisible walls to keep people away from coming close to me. Even though I appear at a glance a most cheerful and friendly person, I just have a knack of keeping people at arms length away from me and never allowing people to get within that wall.

I just realized that I do have these invisible barriers set up around myself. I don't really know how or why exactly they were built up around me unconsciously... but it sure is time to start letting go and start living.

I guess I'm just starting to tune-in to knowing myself better... and I sure need to learn how to give more trust to others like how a child would trust a person they are comfortable with.

Probably the "trust no one" concept that was occasionally droned on by either one of my parents throughout my teens and college years caused me to do this to myself... but nevertheless... it's not something that I should hold on to.

My dear friend, thanks for spotting all this about me. It's slowly helping me to be my own true self. I know it's been annoying for you to point things out to me point blank without my initial recognition of what you see in me... but hey! It's starting to hit me in the face... so yeah... thanks.

Last Day for Submitting Borang BE

This year... there is no community service announcement from me... so I'm just gonna gloat.

All you last minute people out there, happy queueing at the LHDN offices. Alternatively, happy trying to get the e-submissions page to load.

I heard it's loading extremely slowly from a colleague who stayed up until 5am to complete filing his income tax claim... just because the site was not responding at about 10pm... so he tried to get into the site again at around 3:30 AM (after watching some EPL footy and playing games)... completed submission only at about 4:45 AM... HEBAT!

May patience be with you... but you should have done your income tax submissions earlier... like me... and whoever else who did it more than a week ago.

To rub it in... I did mine like 3 weeks ago. Go me!

Good luck, all you last minute kakis!

Watch out for team Brawn GP in the 2009 F1 GP season

Those who have followed the F1 sport will know that Ross Brawn was a technical director in Ferrari - back when Michael Schumacher was still driving for the team with the prancing horse.

Today, Ross Brawn has his own team. It is simply known as Brawn GP and he has financial backing from Richard Branson. "The" Richard Branson who owns the Virgin group of companies. And... this team used to be the Honda team that was No. 9 on the Constructor's Championship at the end of the 2008 season.

An amazing feat was done today. Brawn GP drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello passed the checkered flag first and second respectively in the Australian GP (Albert Park, Melbourne).

In short, a new F1 team makes an incredible debut by sweeping in a big bag of points into their pot.

Oh... and the Brits must be awfully proud. A British team and a British driver won the race. Moreover, there is also much hope that they can dominate the season and take over as the best constructor. Last but not least, there is a likelihood that they can help put another Brit up there as a world champion (driver's championship) after Lewis Hamilton's feat last year.

What's not to like in the eyes of the Brits?

Another realization sets in

In just a few days, it cannot be more apparent that my grandpa's mind ability has deteriorated sharply.

The clue was when he kept talking about his next appointment with the specialist on Friday morning.

But the clincher was when he asked me, were were we earlier.

Oh - my - gawd !!!

And the other thing was he speaks a lot more than he normally does at home... but mostly to ask about the most mundane of things.

It was a matter of time before it happened. We knew it would get full blown one day. It seems, he's almost there. The dementia thing. Ahh... time to hone more patience when talking to the old man.

Living with a stubborn geriatric

Everyone gets older. Your systems slows down eventually. It's common sense.

However, gramps doesn't seem to think that he is any older than he was 5 years ago. He's been having vomiting spells in the last few months. He's been choking on food. Why? We know why...

Firstly, he still stuffs his mouth full as though he has not had food in days. Not a very wise thing to do when the muscles in his digestive system is obviously slowing down.

Secondly, he obviously doesn't take his time to chew his food properly.

Thirdly, he is too stubborn to steer clear of foods that he should try to eat way less. When he gets annoyed that we are nagging him too much, he shouts at us saying we want him to go to the netherworld ASAP. WTF!

Fourthly, he seems to like avoiding the doctor... because he thinks he is his own best doctor. That is sOOoooo annoying. We have to nag him and drag him to go for a checkup.

Lastly, did I mention that the only person he may listen to is my dad? Bless mum and I if for any reason dad is traveling and we have to deal with the old man on our own.

*sigh*

And yes... I do wonder why my grandpa would rather suffer with the vomiting than to take the necessary precautions to avoid this complication in the first place. That's what any other sane health conscious person would do though it seems... that kind of logic just does not compute in gramps head.

The most I can do is watch and probably help to clean up after him... and have a superb amount of patience. I've been known to answer back to his more ludicrous comments... but I know... I should hold my tongue more in front of the old man... even if it kills me... I just need to vent my frustrations and opinions elsewhere. Like now... on this blog... or to my friends.

Edit, 2:30pm: Oh god help me! I've just spent the last couple of hours... cleaning up the house... this time... drips of diarrhea leading from the living room... and bombs away in the bathroom. Oh man... the walls, the walls... were hard to clean...! And all this before gobbling lunch too... errRrrk... o.O

The Ghost of Friday the 13th

Amazingly, today was the one time that I'm not aware of Friday the 13th. Coincidentally, it's also the day that things decided to take a life of its own at the office.

All the task I had for the day were lined up pretty and I had all the confidence in the world that I could get things done... until of course... the LAN port at my cube died. It totally died!

And get this... the office phones are VoIP ones... which means... I'm doomed with no cabled network and phone to use. As if that was not bad enough, the wireless network signal where I sit... is next to useless during peak office hours.

Yeah, if it was any other day where I don't have tasks to complete... I would be more than happy to bask in the glory of being literally cut off from the basic things that we need in modern office life.

With no obvious empty desk(s) on the 1st floor, the only thing I could do in order to get some work done was simply... to park myself at one of the empty cubes on the ground floor... one where I can see a wireless access point just about right above my head.

Oh yes... I went to squat at some "abandoned" cube.

Well... if that is what it takes to get my work done... so be it... amen to that and next time... I will try to remember to notice you - Friday the 13th... you sure know how to strike when I don't joke about you or notice that you are here.

If my computer could speak...

It would tell me that it needs an overhaul... software-wise. Oh yes indeed!

A lot of little niggling bugs are creeping up and the best way to go around that would be to totally wipe out the main partition and reinstall Windows XP.

The only reason why I haven't already done that is because the time taken for me to totally rebuild the software on the computer is honestly... way too long for my parents to bear... they want the computer working whenever they want to use the computer and that won't happen if I can't locate all the necessary CDs... it's been ages since my computer had to have a major software overhaul.

Besides... I'm not even sure if the installation CDs that I have can still be used... because some CDs do seem to have some data deterioration after time.

So for now, I will settle for stop gap measures that can be found via Google... but those are surely temporary... until my brother can send back his old PC to me.

By the way, his old PC happens to be actually newer than the one I'm currently using at home right now... my trusty old clone desktop powered by a Pentium III. Yes! A Pentium III machine!

To Hoard or Not to Hoard

...that is the question!

I think I may have thrown out one too many of my clothes prior to Christmas since I am beginning to think I am running out of options for my normal mix and match routine. Thus... I am thinking of breaking into my CNY hoard of new clothes. :P

It is time to call onto the power of self will to not break into the CNY hoard...

Sidetracking #1:

You will never know when you will bump into another person who is on the same wavelength in terms of thoughts. Some may even call it a kindred spirit. I am super lucky to have found another one recently. Oddly... this person would be the 2nd Taurean in my mini-list of kindred spirits. Go figure... o.O

Sidetracking #2:

Some people have no idea how fortunate they are and go on lamenting about how life is so unfair and nothing ever seems to be going right for them. I do not pity those who fall under this category if you are perfectly healthy and do not have the decency to find at least one perfectly and positively good reason to live on for yourself.

You see, everyone should have a healthy goal and steer oneself in reaching it in the most positive way.

Case in point, an old friend from college who is about the same age group as I am has cancer in his brain. He has just gone for a second major operation in 3 years and had his right eye removed. He has an admirable will to do all he can to appreciate life while he still can. Read his blog. His name is Brendan Leng Kavern.

If Brendan can do it, you can too. Think about it.

Happy New Year!

Whee! And so far... I must say that I have had an awesome start stepping into 2009. Beginning the year on a high note sure gives one a sense of euphoria.

New Year's Day was greeted in a super-non-boisterous way... away from being in a crowd. Essentially, I was just sitting in front of my PC chatting away with like-minded friends over MSN. After the stroke of midnight... it was all about watching the Miss Universe 2008 pageant on NTV7. The added sense of fun came in via the discussion that I was having with 'the Hun' during advertisements as the pageant progressed on... nyahaha... madness!

In the afternoon... it was off to Kay-el for my once a year mega-shopping spree! Upon arrival, a girl on the same bus asked if I knew how to get to the KTM commuter station and I was like, "Hey! Just follow me! I'm going there too!". Along the way, I advised the girl to make sure that she notices the name plate placed at the windshield of the arriving train... or she could end up heading to the wrong location. One good deed completed on the 1st day of 2009... not bad at all!

Towards the end of New Year's Day... the Hun apparently sent out a (mass?) message to make us think about how time flies and it's almost the 2nd day of 2009 *le gasp!* - pure evil that one!

Day 2 of 2009, Shopping Day 1: Joy! My brother is not working for the day and he told me I could take the car. So off I drove to Sunway Pyramid firstly for lunch and then yup... it's time to shop, shop, shop! Oh... and it was kinda weird... the new wing in SP still had a Christmas display/stage while the old wing had a CNY-themed one all done up. Luckily I had a camera with me to take some shots of those displays. Probably I'll put them up on FB at a later time... if I don't conveniently forget about it first.

Day 3 of 2009, Shopping Day 2: Hitched a ride with my bro to Mid Valley in the morning and made the mistake of going into MPH a little too early into my shopping spree there. I should remember never to buy books at the early part of a shopping spree... that is a lot of weight to carry. Darn...

Anyway, the funniest thing that happened was getting a call from Kalamari when I was... in the fitting room. I bet the sales girl was probably cursing me for hogging the room a little longer that she would have preferred while I spent a little extra time to have a chat on the cellphone while separating the pieces of clothing that I wanted from the ones I didn't want. Talk about multi-tasking... it was actually quite hard to do all of that in one small space... lol ^_*

Eventually... it was time to meet up with Bowie for lunch and to past to her my copy of the Kite Runner. Oh... and of course... her partner was around too since both of them just finished their session in the gym. We checked out the food court in The Gardens and found that the food there is pretty good and the pricing is not that bad by KL shopping mall standards.

After lunch, we all browsed around and continued window shopping after I had dropped of my now rather-heavy-to-lug-around bag of purchases to my bro who's working in one of the shops in The Gardens. That was the best idea of all from Bowie... thank you!

Sure feels good to walk without the weights of my purchase... literally... lol. Anyway, we eventually went to the Body Shop where I purchased my all new favorite scent - Japanese Cherry Blossoms EDT. Bowie said it kinda reminds her of lychees... the ones that you can get from the tin. Eventually, it was time to part ways as Bowie had to go collect her car from the service center and well... that's enough shopping for me for one day.

Ahh... and the one thing that was a definite confidence booster? Seriously, I don't remember the last time a random rather cute and charming person hit on me... but it did happen as I was about to leave the place I was having dinner at on this particular day. It really did make me feel super-elated.

Day 4 of 2009: All good things must come to an end... it was time to go home. I had my last encounter with Astro and my bro's nice new Mac computer in the KL house... packed my stuff up... and got on the mid-afternoon bus home to Penang within exactly the scheduled 4.5 hours ride. That's rather amazing considering the fact that it was raining along some stretches of the journey.

Ah well... it's back to work tomorrow... first day back at work... and I am already all psyched up to face the traffic... it's going to be bad considering that it's also the first day of school for 2009... but who cares... bring it on!