Wow! I am so domestic nowadays that I am amazed by myself. I am totally into housework that I can proudly announce that I am as good as any homemakers juggling between kids and household chores, no kidding. Okay, okay, I might be a bit on the exaggerated side, but who cares? Here are some of the perks of being a student domestic goddess:

Quirks of the Kitchen

1. Never, ever leave leftover food in the rubbish bin. If you did, which you most probably did, do not freak out. Buy any insecticide and spray the hell out of those slimy maggots before disposing them. Else you can do it my way - just grab them and run fast, before the maggots start to crawl all over you.
2. The plates and bowls are never too dirty until there are living beings growing out of them.
3. If you want to cook, or attempt to cook, do some homework or at least have some common sense. It wouldn’t do if you are trying to make carrot and pea omelette but you have no idea which one goes first - the carrot, the pea, the eggs, or the oil.
4. It is the unspoken rule that for those who do not cook, please do the clean up.
5. Pasta, instant noodles and canned food are the staple diet.
6. You have no idea what inhibits your fridge, until they grow, and propagate.
7. Keep at fast food delivery numbers - you need it whenever your pasta’s stuck at the ceiling or your lasagna is sticking at the bottom of the pot.

Quirks of Laundry

1. You’ve enough of clothes until there is a lone shirt/underwear/pants in your wardrobe.
2. You realize about rule #1 and you still think that you have somethng to wear - by going through the laundry basket.
3. You wear your underwear inside out during the uhh… rainy season (not me!)
4. You found molds growing on your shirt when you do the laundry by chance.
5. You have no idea that you actually own that particular piece of clothing.
6. You have no idea when you last worn that shirt.
7. Cologne is your best friend, perfume is an expensive acquaintance.

Quirks of the Bathroom

1. Molds are complimentary bathroom tile decoratives.
2. You scrub the bathroom floor only when it is smoother and slippier than an eel.
3. Bathrooms are toilet paper core collection center, so is empty shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, etc, etc.
4. Air freshener is your best friend.
5. The abalone brush is the cleanest and smartest thing in the bathroom.
6. You can practically write silly stuffs on the bathroom mirror and it will be VERY visible.
7. Your landlord’s maid is gonna faint the moment she saw the bathroom.

Quirks of Housekeeping

1. Always wear a slipper around the house except for your own room. It will make the floor more durable and hence, less sweeping and less moping.
2. Forget moping the floor ala Japanese - a small cloth on the floor, two palms pushing on it in a pumping-like pose, slide around the house til the floor is clean or you break your back, either one comes first. Ever heard of a thing called the mop?
3. Windows? What windows?
4. The amount of hair accumulated on the floor is sufficient for you to attach on a few dozens of dolls.
5. Its ok to collect rubbish, but be sure to dispose them before the roaches and rodents find their way to it.
6. Do not leave malfunctioned computer peripherals - monitors, printers and etc to rot in the living room. It’s an eyesore.
7. Procrastinate.

Wow! I could actually make a list out of it! Gotta go! Housework calling! Ciao!

People come and go throughout the journey of our life…

Some were insignificant, unnoticed, such as the strangers you bump into when you were travelling in the same public transportation, to be forgotten once you unboard.

Some were acquaintances, familiar faces you see everyday. Sometimes you smile to them, sometimes you gave them a nod of acknowledgement whether when you are parking you car at the workplace or when you pay at the same checkout counter at the neighbourhood shopping mall.

And then we have friends, people who come and make a difference in our lives, sharing our laughters and tears, our hopes and problems. With them the harsh world seems easier to tolerate, for you are not alone, because you have them - friends.

However, the world is made of meetings and departures - when we say hi we are bound to say goodbye. Be it a brief encounter or a lifetime of friendship, the day will come where adieu will be hard, but be glad, for they once fit into the puzzle of your life and they will always remain in your heart.

I do not know how to put this but this post is dedicated to my graduating friends, also my six months housemates. Although the time we are together is brief, I enjoyed every single opportunity where our friendship shines and hopefully, we will meet again in future. May we keep in touch.

Last but not least, I would like to wish all of you, best of luck in all your future undertakings, hope that you will pursue a fruitful career, and in case you are getting married, drop me a bombshell!!! =P

Saturday night…We planned to have dinner and catch a movie afterwards. All was set and I was sent to buy the tickets before heading for our dinner. 9pm tickets, okay? I was instructed to purchase. Fine with me. I just followed orders.

Over the ticket counter I told the staff. “The Pacifier, 9pm.” I was given four tickets, paid MYR32.00 and left with the ticket. Didn’t pay much attention.

It was a nice evening, tasty dinner, loads of laughter and merry chats. Afterall, it was a farewell dinner for my housemates who are graduating this semester. They picked up the tab and we left for the mall to do some window shopping whilst waiting for our 9pm movie. 8.50 pm and we were in front of GSC with popcorns and drink, eager to go in. However, there is a teensy weensy problem.

The movie started an hour ago. I was flabbergasted. They gave me 8pm tickets instead of 9pm. There we were, four of us, standing in front of the entrance like lame ducks, trying to absorb the full impact of the situation and for the first time, realized that we were holding void tickets. I was adamant to get a reimbursement. So were my friends. We were practically stirring a ruckus at the entrance and the more I spoke to the usher, the more enraged I was.

I was furious at the usher because he could not give a valid explanation to this human error. I was furious of the ticket counter staff due to the inefficiency of handling her job. In case the customer made a mistake by telling some irrelevant show time, she should’ve corrected them and tell them the actual time instead of issuing the ticket randomly, which was what happened to me and in my case the schedule was between two screenings, 8pm and 9.50pm.

With my invalid tickets clutched furiously in my hand, I headed to the ticket counter to demand an explanation and a compensation. I was particularly upset and couldn’t be bothered to tone down my volume. It was a total fiasco, I tell you.

I started an explanation with my equally annoyed friends behind. They refused to compensate, and in fact, the oldest staff had the rudest behaviour of all. Had it not because we were separated by a glass pane, I would’ve shove the invalid tickets down her throat and walked off. Intimidated by them is therefore the last thing on earth. We agigated and so were they. It was a matter of seconds before the manager was called.

Perhaps it was due to the fiasco who had attracted a number of curious movie goers, or perhaps the queue was a tad too long, whatever it was, the manager painstakingly aggreed to reimburse us either in the form of cash/tickets and we chose the latter.

The furious staff assigned us to first row seats - definitely not good, but hey, it was better than throwing MYR32.00 into salt water sea. Thank god I was not framed to keep the dead cat/chicken/shit whatever. However, one thing bad was that, it was so not good of me to practically shout at the face of the new ticket counter staff at GSC. So, my apologies. But hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. *Winks*

After a period of hiatus from KFC (or any fast food, for that matter) I decided to pay a visit to the nearest KFC outlet here for my all time favourite hot and spicy fried chicken. To my dissapointment, KFC had decided to introduce something new to replace their hot and spicy fried chicken. Again.To their credit, they came out with and savoury tom yam fried chicken that gives an impression of consuming stale, going to turn bad food and I assumed that they were discontinued because of a drop in the sales. Those damned tom yam fried chicken left a bad aftertaste in my mind and this, I reckoned, shouldn’t be any good. But what the heck, I was yearning for fried chicken and despite all the misgivings, I stepped into the diner anyway.

Damnit. I should’ve turned back the moment I caught a whiff of the air inside the eatery. The air smelled funny, sort of like that kinda smell you get when you step into a particularly aging grocery shop selling lots of dried chillies and garlic. Everywhere I looked, the patrons had on this bemused expression while chewing the chicken. It couldn’t be that bad, could it? Heck, let’s just hope for the best.

Great! With a new recipe, the restaurant increased the pricing again. I was not so cool with it because I am paying for something that I don’t want to. And I want hot and spicy fried chicken. Not some alien curry whatever. Shucks!

I am not gonna describe how the chicken looks like because you can check it out at KFC where they put it on every single surface imaginable as if they are thoroughly selling that and that only. Anyway, finely chopped curry leaves are visible on the skin of the chicken and other than that, nothing’s significant. I took a teensy weensy bite and… Super shucks! It was a dissapointment alright.

They have no right whatsoever to call it curry chicken when the only reagent lending to the chemical of curry seemed to be the curry leaves and the curry leaves alone. The exotic curry flavour was by all means, too low to be approved. If I were to place it on my spiciness scale with a range of 1-7, the chicken could only qualify for 1. Not only that, it was not salty enough. Now, to me, when there is a deficit of sodium in food, the taste of the food will diminish greatly as the usage of salt brings out the flavour of the dish. To top that off, that particular outlet lacked the expertise to cook great fried chicken and all those dried, tough flesh concealed underneath the crunchy skin was a big turnoff. Needless to say, the chicken does not taste all too good to me. Not at all.

The conclusion? I am not going anywhere near KFC until they realize that hot and spicy SHOULD NOT be substituted by weird flavours.

Uhuk! Uhukz! Bleaks ptuuuuii!Woh! That's a lot of phlegm! I think I need a spittoon bucket. Eeeww, geli~lah. I am so geli~ed by myself. Sigh.

I am smarter this time. I went to the doc before things got out of hand. If you think that I am a wussy who must see a doc for minor illness like this, keep the thought to yourself and shut up, because I know myself the best. Bear in mind that not everyone is born as healthy as a bull as you. And don't label me as stupid or a loser. I had had enough of that, no thank you.

Just because I was too dumb to go for a visit to the doc four months back that I landed in the hospital for two and a half days at that time. It all began with a mild fever and harmless cough. And I thought that I was wonder woman and all that, until I scared the shit out of my housemate, bedridden and convulsing badly, frantically alarming my neighbour in their public holiday mood to drive me to the hospital. Heck, it was so bad that it looked as if my neighbour was carrying a frozen statue in his arms. (Thank you, Ruben!)

Blearghhhs! Reached the hospital, got a lot of jabs on the butt, got transferred to a quasi sharing ward, got poked all over my arms just because a MALE trainee nurse said that I had RUNNING VEINS that makes him miss the correct VEINS. Darn, seriously, with so many pokes I would have qualified as a drug addict. Hospital is a funny place, really, they know that you can't sleep well but yet they wake you up when you are sleeping just to give you medicine so that you can sleep better. Not to mention that they must take your blood and urine every day and night so that they can write in their reports but I have yet to uncover what they wrote. And they keep messing up with the speed of the flow of the IV fluid. Slow, fast, faster, slow, super slow. Aiseyman. I couldn't resist but to slap my forehead every time one of those misi (nurse) came and meddle with the tiny dial.

Geez, after three days, two nights and five packets of IV fluid I am out of the place for good, with an MYR1000 hospital bill that will definitely cause HLA's blood pressure to shoot to the max. Good thing that the hospital did the claim, else I would have to fork out money for the bills first and God-knows-when can I get my money back. But still, I spent Hari Raya there with only one daily visitor. That's kinda depressing when I saw those aunties with so many visitors that they have to stand at the corridors. *Wiped tears with the edges of the hospital sheets.*

No worries, I learned from my past experiences; went to the doc today and found out that I’ve had a very bad throat inflammation, came back with 4 packets laden with colourful pills (antibiotics, fever, flu and lozenges) but no cough syrup. "Makes you drowsy." doc said. And that was the last thing I need during this time of life and death. What an understanding doc. Just hope that I recover soon, ahem…