office like a war zone...

there are some changes going on in the office, with some reshuffling going on. resulting from that, i need to move from my "bestest cubicle in the world" to another work station (a not so best one *sob*sob*). but the moving is taking longer than expected coz some ppl who will be moving out are still here and some ppl who are moving in are already here, earlier than they should be.

anyway, to make a long story short, i'm currently 'cubicleless', coz i need to clear my cubicle for the move, but can't move to my new work station yet! so now my stuff is all over the place in the bossboss's room, making it look a war zone...

i dare say abt 75% of the things in here are mine!

let's go minum!

of all the different cultures in the companies i've worked for up until now, there's one glaring thing that sets my present company apart from the rest... and that is their minum culture!

i've never drank with any of my colleagues before i joined this company, but it's a norm now. but i'm not a heavy drinker... just a social one. if i need to drive back after our minum session, i'll just have one glass of beer. if i'm at the resort/hotel and have only need to walk back to my room, i'll have 2 glasses!

from a session at quattro recently...

but one thing's for sure, i've become a heavy 2nd hand smoker! :S

angel amigurumi

my colleague, A is leaving the company to go backpacking in china. so i made up an angel amigurumi as a farewell gift to her, to watch over her and keep her safe in everything that she does... completed it yesterday.

front view...

side view to show a bit of the wings and halo...

close-up shot...

read also:
1) i'm ami sifu!
2) more amis
3) amigurumi angels

less than one week before cny...

and one more working day before i go on leave! i think this will be my longest cny leave yet...

that being said, the cny mood, or rather the holiday mood has taken a firm grip on me. so even tho i've tons of work to finish before i go on leave, i'm moving at such a slow pace! and having my work external drive crashing on me is of no help at all! what better excuse to procrastinate than running recovery on my external drive, which stores ALL my documents? *note to self: backup all my files during the holidays*

anyway, i myself am also on recovery mode. the past few weeks have been a flurry of practices and rehearsals, that even tho' it's all over (well, momentarily, at least), i'm still so burnt out. ok, so part of the reason for my exhaustion is caused by the hk series gem of life, but it's also because i missed my 'hibernation session' the past weekend! *note to self: to make sure to sleep away my panda eyes before my trip home*

speaking of practices and rehearsals, our performance at the klpac open day last sunday was ok lar... not fantastic, but we didn't suck either (i hope!). oh, check out these great photos taken by adrian, a fine arts student, seen lugging around a big equipment with humongous lens that day. and see if you can spot a shot of me in action! hehe...

read also:
1) what i've been up to lately

what i've been up to lately...

hmm... what have i been up to ar? mostly work, work and more work... cny coming, so need to get all the pending job out before the long break. i hope i won't need to turn on my notebook once during the whole duration. keke... fat hopes lar!

other than work, been ingesting the latest and hottest TVB drama series --> the gem of life. blame it all on N for getting me hooked! coz she's my official supplier lar.

but even though i'm watching so much of drama series lately, my hands were not idle ok? i've been crocheting! hehe... lately i've been itching to pick up the hook again. so watch this space for my latest project, ya!

oh, and i've been bz with practices... first was for the new year performance. then immediately after that, we started practicing for a performance for this coming sunday --> klpac open day. so we've been practicing hard, even tho' it's so near cny and all other gakkai activities have stopped.

ok, just a short 'report' for now... gotta get back to the grind!

time for giving, time for caring...

that's the theme for the company's christmas csr program every year. this year's program took place today... so here are some photos...

having my face painted...

it's a sea horse! but very big hor?

with 2 very cute kids from the New Life Home...

going home... hope u enjoyed yourselves today...
pls study hard and create a good and meaningful life for yourselves!

must've jinxed myself!

right after i publish this post (specifically item #2 & 3), things began to turn crazy in the office! suddenly i'm so busy! and the boss is STILL throwing work at me, as if i've not more than i can chew on my plate. relaxing my @ss!

but yikes! u think the boss is reading my blog?! :S

first christmas pressie...

ok, just a short one. received my first christmas present of the year... from the bossbossboss! how sweet... (pls ignore the mess on my table!)

mount kinabalu challenge: departure day

opps... i realized that i forgot to explain why we need to cut our toe nails really short, as mentioned in my post on day 1.

well you see, during the descent, because we're going downhill the whole time, the front of our toes will always be hitting the inside of our shoes, for more than 6 hours straight! so if it's our toe nails that are hitting the inside of the shoes, we may run the risk of injuring our toe nails, especially on the big toes. i've heard of many cases where climbers come back with dead toe nails, meaning they turned black and then eventually fall right off! and the time it takes for the new nail to grow back is torturous, not to mention we can't wear covered shoes the whole time! that's y it's important to cut our toe nails real short, so that only the front of our toes hit the inside of the shoes, and not the nails.

but of course, it's best to wear those strapped-on sandals for hiking when descending lar. actually i brought along a pair, but as it was raining heavily and i don't think my sandals are the kind that are made to be worn wet, i decided against wearing them. and besides, since my sports shoes were already wet from the ascent, no point wetting another pair, right?

ok, let's continue with our story. i promise this will be the last installment on the mount kinabalu trip! hehe... i know it's getting a bit stale. just bear with me lar... :P


8am
woke up with an aching body! at first, i've decided not to follow HL to the market, but to sleep in and get more rest. if possible, i do not want to move any part of my body even for an inch! but in the end, i thought it'll be stupid not to explore the city, after coming so far. i won't know when will i have the chance to go back there again, right? so i had to peeled myself from the comforts of the bed lor!

turned out, everyone (except for kc, whose flight was at 1pm) was game for the walk to the filipino market, abt 2km from our apartment. we must've looked like a troop of OKU (org kurang upaya), walking like penguins around town! haha... we were laughing at ourselves along the way!

slow and laborious walk to the filipino market...

10.10am
arrived at the filipino market and walked around. nothing much to buy there, and the prices were not exactly cheap.

10.40am
HL wanted to go over to the wet market to buy fresh seafood to be brought home to kl. so our group splitted into 2. one group went to the wet market, while those of us who didn't want to buy seafood went to walk around the shopping complexes at the area.

11.00am
after walking around aimlessly and looking at whatever that caught our fancy, we got a call from R and wife, saying that they are at Warisan Square, having lunch. so we trudged over there to join them before heading back to the apartment to pack-up and get ready to go to the airport.

1.00pm
we were coached to the airport, abt 15 minutes away. as our flights were at 4.30pm (HL, RC, boss, A and i) and 5.00pm (SP and bf, and R and wife), we had much time to kill. so what else? continue shopping lar! :P

3.00pm
got bored with the shops at the airport. so we went over to a foot reflexology shop and looked at their various services. R and wife were contemplating on getting a foot massage... but in the end thought better of it, lest the therapists injure their already injured legs! so we just hung around at the seats outside the shop, talking and laughing.

4.00pm
took off from kk! but unfortunately, our plane had to transit at labuan... so 30 min after taking off, we had to land again and everyone was told to disembark from the plane. man, is was so painful getting up and walking out of that plane! the transit was for 50 minutes. quite long, right? but by the time we got off the plane and walked down to waiting area, it's time to board again! so can imagine how slowly we walked! :D

7.40pm
arrived at KLIA and took the KLIA transit back. it's cheaper, but oh how i regretted it! should've taken the limo home... coz when i reached the bandar tasik selatan station, i realized (only too late) that the stations did not have escalators nor lifts! i had to WALK up and down the stairs myself! urgh!!! i think everyone at the station must've been looking at this girl with the big red backpack, walking down the stairs like some weirdo! :P

read also:
1) mount kinabalu challenge: day 3
2) mount kinabalu challenge: day 2
3) mount kinabalu challenge: day 1
4) bestest friend in the world!
5) mount kinabalu challenge: failed
6) updates and such...
7) mount kinabalu challenge

mount kinabalu challenge: day 3

2.00am
morning call from SP. finally it's time to wake up! we jumped out of bed and got ready for our summit attempt. it's STILL raining outside... dang, we really came at a wrong time! we bundled ourselves in our winter jacket, gloves, caps and ponchos, and turned on our headlamps, and off we go!

see that gal at the far left in the yellow jacket and purple cap? that's yours truly lar! keke...

2.45am
it was really dark outside, and really cold. before we set off, our team leader, HL, told us that we need to walk in single file and to walk together until we reach the sayat-sayat checkpoint. i was placed at the 3rd position, behind J, who was behind our guide. at sayat-sayat, we would then decide if we want to/can proceed to the summit or to turn back.

so 11 of use set out, leaving one behind at gunting lagadan. one of my roommates, T, who suffered from altitude sickness, has decided to forgo the attempt to summit.

3.00am
after only abt 15 min of trekking in the dark, i was really short of breath. and because there were people following closely behind me, and also HL had asked us to just follow the line and not to overtake, i was very pressured to keep up with J and our guide, so as not to slow everyone down. but the air was really very thin that i couldn't breathe properly! i felt really faint and began to sweat cold sweat and see stars! so i stopped to catch my breath... and everyone else behind me had to stop too! imagine how stressed out i was! not wanting to keep everyone waiting and also not wanting to pass out when we got higher up, i decided that i'll turn back.

along the way down, i kept contemplating if i should turn around again and try another time... but by then, my teammates would have gone quite far ahead and also the thought of passing out at the cliff made me stick to my decision to give up the attempt. so i crawled back into my sleeping bag and continued my sleep when i got back to gunting lagadan.

3.30am
there came a knock on my room door... as it turned out, my boss also can't stand the thin air and has decided to turn back. he was walking really slowly that the guide (he's at the 2nd last position, with the guide behind him) said to him, "eh, kalau macam ni, takkan sempat nak sampailah" (at this pace, we would never make it in time). so he just turned back!

around 7.00am (did not look at the watch)
woke up to KC's voice. he was the first of my teammates to come back to gunting lagadan. he was talking so loudly, that i can hear his full accounts to my boss from my room, even with the door closed!

anyway, i learnt that KC and J were the first to reach Low's Peak, at abt 6am. and the weather up there was absolutely hellish! the wind was lashing at them like nobody's business and the rain was practically hitting their faces horizontally! some of those wearing disposable ponchos had pieces of their ponchos torn off by the rain and wind!

9.00am
by then, all my teammates were back at gunting lagadan and the 3 of us (T, boss and i) got the full story from everyone. all 9 of them managed to reach the summit, with 5 of them (KC, J, A, RC and SP's bf) advancing on to Low's Peak (the highest peak of mount kinabalu). the 3 of us listened in a mixture of awe, envy and relief at their stories - awe at their courage in facing the harshness of the situation, envy that they made it and relief that we were not subjected to the harsh weather and difficulties ourselves!

9.30am
we packed our bags and went down to laban rata for breakfast. again, the buffet line was not that fantastic. but we needed the energy, so no choice lor! have to eat what was dished out in front of us... but my appetite seemed to be better than the previous night, coz i took a 2nd helping of french toast! haha...

10.45am
time to descend! it's still raining, tho' more to drizzling. but still cold!

one final group photo before we leave this place... see the
thermometer there with the red dial? it shows 11.1 deg C!

the earlier leg of our descent. statistics has shown that most ppl fall down during the descent! so we had to be very careful with our footing, esp with the rocks so wet and slippery.

anyway, the trek down was more torturous compared to the trip up. it was really really difficult! because we're trekking down the whole time, it's very tiring and really put a strain on our knees. luckily N had advised me to bring along a pair of knee guard, so the impact was not that bad. but our legs still felt like jello at the end of the journey!

along the way, we begin to spread out... and after a while, i'm trekking alone again. the journey down seemed longer than up! i kept expecting to see the end of the trail at every corner, but was disappointed every time. and the rain got really heavy! at first, i tried to avoid the puddles so that i don't get my socks wet. but then the trail turned into a mini waterfall as the rain got heavier. so in the end, i just didn't care abt getting wet anymore. i just put my legs one in front of the other methodically, on the rocks, into puddles, down the man-made stairs as if in a trance.

i was so dejected and miserable, that crazy and silly thoughts began to play inside my head. "could there be some secret road up that they've been concealing from us, that they used for ambulances in cases of emergency?" "where would the helicopter land if they found me unconscious among the bushes?" "i wonder what will happen if i just crouch beneath this tree and simply refuse to budge?" "are there indigenous ppl on this mountain? are they peeking at me from behind their hiding place, laughing at me the whole time?" i think other than challenging ourselves physically, this climb is also a test to our mental endurance.

3.15pm
finally, i reached the timpohon gate! i'm the 3rd, after kc and my boss. the feeling? well, utter exhaustion and feeling like wanna die! every tiny movement spells P-A-I-N in capital letter! even when announcing my name and number to the guard at the gate (to be ticked off as arrived), i had to take a breath in between each syllable that came out!

and that's not the end yet! we still had to wait for the rest of the team... so we just sat around, feeling miserable and so exhausted! and because we've stopped moving, our bodies got really cold! even though in the shelter of the timpohon gate, we were reluctant to take off our ponchos, coz it acted as an insulation from the cold wind. but the ponchos were so wet and we were dying to get dry! so can imagine our dilemma...

4.00pm
HL arrived and called our agent to tell him to send a coach for us. by then, A, RC, R and wife have also arrived, so HL told the 7 of us to go on ahead to the kinabalu park where our lunch were waiting for us. actually the buffet lunch is from 12.oopm - 4.00pm, so she was worried they would not wait for us. so off we went, leaving HL to wait for the rest.

4.15pm
lunch! we were famished! but all of us attacked the soup first. ah, how good it felt to have something hot in our stomach! the buffet line here was much better than up in laban rata... but we didn't eat much, due to over-fatigue. all we wanted is to get warm and get dry!

5.00pm
HL and the rest of the team arrived at the balsam cafe at kinabalu park. by then, they have closed the buffet line, but i've asked them to pack up the food for the 5 of my teammates. so while they ate, the rest of us went to claim our backpacks from the potters' station and also our stored luggage at the concierge.

5.30pm
departed from kinabalu park to kk town... it's a 2 hour journey, and we slept all the way. i've not had the chance to change into dry clothes, so i had to shiver in the van for 2 whole hours, even with the air-cond turned off!

7.30pm
arrived at Marina Court, an apartment-style accommodation by the sea. we've booked 2 units, 6 to an apartment. after the basic guesthouse of Fairy Garden and the icky lodging of Gunting Lagadan, this is 5 star, baby! :)

and ooooh, my hot shower that night felt like heaven! i nearly didn't want to come out from the bathroom! hehehe...

8.45pm
as J's and T's flight was at 4am the next morning, they've decided not to join us for dinner, but to stay at the apartment to pack-up and rest. so the remaining 10 of us walked over to a seafood restaurant nearby, about 10 minutes' walk away. by now, we were beginning to feel the full effects of our adventure. normal walking were still ok, but when we need to sit down, get up from the sitting position, or lift our legs to step over a boulder, it's pure torture!

we deserved the freshest seafood after all our hard work!

11.00pm
after we've all had our fill, it's time to walk back to our apartment. some time before that, it had began to rain again, after a respite of about 2 hours +. when it's time to go, KC announced that he's wearing his last dry t-shirt and there's no way he's going to walk back in the rain (even though we had umbrellas). and a few of my teammates were also groaning at their aching legs... so A went out to negotiate with a taxi driver, who agreed to take us at RM2/person. so 5 of my teammates (RC, KC, A, and R and wife) squeezed into that taxi, leaving the other 5 of us to walk back in the rain. the taxi driver must be laughing in his heart the whole way... RM10 for a drive of less than 3 minutes!

11.15pm
no, we did not party or meet up to chit-chat after dinner. once we got back to our apartment, we just konked out from exhaustion.

read also:
1) mount kinabalu challenge: day 2
2) mount kinabalu challenge: day 1
3) bestest friend in the world!
4) mount kinabalu challenge: failed
5) updates and such...
6) mount kinabalu challenge

mount kinabalu challenge: day 2

*san, see, u dun have to wait until next year to read this post! hehehe...

6.30am
woke up bright and early, in excited anticipation to our trek ahead... too cold to bathe. i didn't even want to take off my jacket!

7.00am
breakfast at the guesthouse. i was still so groggy from sleep that when i was offered a choice of American Breakfast or Noodles, i said i wanted American Noodles! wakaka... everyone at the table was looking at me with a big question mark on their face for a second, especially the waitress!

8.00am
after breakfast, we were coached to the park headquarters (abt 15 min away from our guest house) to get ourselves organised. here, our extra luggages are stored (at RM10 per luggage), the backpacks we wanted the porters to carry up the mountain were weighed (at RM80 per 10kg) and also name tags (with our names, numbers and group) were handed out to everyone. on the coach also, the driver asked us if we wanted to buy the 'tongkat' (walking canes) from him. he said the tongkat is sold for RM5 at the Timpohon Gate, but he's offering it to us for RM3 only! and they don't even looked new. we're sure they have been used and discarded by climbers after they came down, so the driver just collected them and sold them again! renewable income! very enterprising hor?

name tag to be taken home as souvenir...


name, date and group number at the back...


yeah! got my dog-tag and all set to go! :)

8.45am
was coached to the timpohon gate (another 15 min from the park headquarters). actually there are 2 trails up. one is the timpohon trail and the other is the mesilau trail. the timpohon trail is the more common trail, less challenging and shorter. the mesilau trail is the less-travelled one, longer and more challenging, but with better scenery.

together we stand... everyone in high spirits, ready for the challenges ahead!

at the timpohon gate...

briefing by the guide at timpohon gate... but i'm bz taking photos! hehehe...

9.10am
after a short briefing and toilet breaks, we set off from the timpohon gate at an easy pace.

departing from timpohon gate (at the back). coming back,
climbing up these steps was the most torturous part!

can see me at the 2nd last position there? still early on of the ascend...
still pretty easy stroll, like our regular jungle trekking trips

9.38am
after abt 1/2 hour's trek, we came to pondok kandis at 1,981.7 meter a.s.l., the first of the 7 pondok (shelter) along the trail. so far so good...

everyone still looked quite fresh...

there are toilet facilities and water tanks at the shelters. the water are free, but untreated. so drink at ur own risk! we drank loads of those water, coz they were very fresh and cooling! hehehe... oh, and there were a lot of squirrels at the shelters, very fat ones too! once a human stopped at the shelters, these squirrels will appear. coz to them, human = food!

they're so tame, they'll even take food right out of our palms! dem cute...

9.57am
we were advised not to rest for too long at each shelter, because we need to keep our engines running. once our engines cool down, it'll take more energy to get it started up again. so mostly we rest for less than 5 minutes, just enough to drink some water and get ourselves reorganized (maybe need to take out sweater, or keep poncho etc).

after another 20 minutes' trek, we came to the 2nd shelter, pondok ubah at 2,081.4 meter... a little before reaching this shelter, it began to rain. so we all had to don our poncho and walk around like the yellow man from digi! hehe...

"i will follow youuuuu..." photo taken by SP from pondok ubah...

10.07am
we covered 1.5km (from a total of 6km ascending trek to laban rata) in 1 hour... good progress! along the way, lots of porters overtook us. some were carrying their clients' backpacks (a few backpacks to one person!), while some carried gas tanks, long wooden planks etc. they were really quick and sure-footed, and some of the porters were really young, around 13 years old!

a while rain, a while no rain... we were like doing fashion show,
keep putting on and removing our ponchos!

12.48pm
after abt 3 1/2 hours, we reached the 5th shelter, pondok layang-layang at 2,702m a.s.l., where we stopped to have our packed lunch. this packed lunch was part of our package deal, consisting of sandwiches, a piece of fried chicken, a hard-boiled egg, 2 pcs of spring rolls, an apple, a bottle of mineral water and a can of 100 plus. the whole packed lunch weighed abt 1kg! so we had the porter carry it up for us, at RM8/pack. i think that's even more expensive than the packed lunch itself! but nvm, better let them earn that bit of money, than lugging it up ourselves and regreting later! :P

lunching at pondok layang-layang. most of us can't finish our food,
maybe coz we were too tired, or too cold, or the food was too much.
or maybe all of the above!

after the layang-layang shelter, our trail became more
challenging... most of it are like this (or worse) all the way up!

the trek after lunch became more difficult and i was beginning to get out of breath. i think it's because the air was getting thinner and also the trail was getting more challenging, not to mention the rain was heavier, the wind stronger and the temperature colder. so from here on, my progress became slower and i needed to stop to catch my breath every 10 minutes or so...

i'm mostly walking by myself now, coz the faster ones are already ahead of me and the slower ones are far behind me. occasionally, i'll only glimpse one or two of my team members in front of me before they disappear at the bend. however, during the whole way up, we're always meeting other climbers on their way down. we would smile at each other and sometimes exchange a "good morning" or two. for the friendlier ones, they would encourage us to go on, telling us that we're very near the basecamp of laban rata and to not give up. for us, we'd enquire if they managed to summit and to congratulate those who made it.


2.45pm

colleague J at waras hut...

see this hut? "waras hut"? this is situated at the top of a particularly steep part of the trail, so we can only see the top of the zink roof when we reached the bottom of the stretch of the trail. imagine the happiness and relief we felt, thinking we've finally arrived at basecamp! but our happiness was short-lived, when we got close enough to read the sign... *sigh* and so, we trudged on dejectedly, questioning why did we put ourselves through such torture!

3.30pm
finally, i really arrived at the basecamp of laban rata, at 3,554m a.s.l. the first of my team members arrived there at 2.50pm, so i'm considered not too far behind lar. the warm interior of laban rata was really a warm welcome, from the 11.5 degrees C temperature outside. my shoes and socks were soaked through! luckily i wore shorts, so my clothes were fairly dry under my poncho.

since dinner will be served at 5pm at laban rata, we decided against going on to gunting lagadan, our resthouse for the night. so we just sat around to rest our feet and trying to get warm. some of my teammates couldn't wait for dinner, so they ordered maggie mee, fried rice, hot tea and some other food, just to get something hot down their stomach.

5.00pm
finally, dinner was served! just a simple buffet line... the food was not wonderful, but edible lar... and since we're cold and we really need to replenish our energies, so what the heck? just eat lar!

6.00pm
after dinner, it was still raining outside and the 10 of us still need to continue on our trek to our lodging place, gunting lagadan. the resthouse is cheaper compared to laban rata, but that's not the reason why we chose to stay there. it's because laban rata was full! if i had a choice, i'd rather pay more and stay at laban rata, coz their rooms have attached bathrooms and also internal heater!

anyway, the air was really thin even at basecamp, and even tho it's only 15 min away, it was really a difficult trek. i was so short of breath, i had to take one step at a time and stop occasionally to catch my breath.

gunting lagadan is really a very basic lodging place. its made of thin plywood and a zink for a roof, with rows of small rooms fitting 4 bunks, a kitchen and unisex bathrooms. the bathrooms were really icky, wet and with loads of bugs flying around! and not a single nail to hang your things! when i went in with all my clothes and bathing things, i just stood around inside the cubicle, looking around and thinking how on earth am i to take a shower here? after a minute, i decided that i'm not going to shower after all. so i just changed my under clothes, changed into a fresh set of clothes and proceed to 'dry clean' myself with a wet towel.

this is how our resthouse looked like... 4 bunks in a small room, with only a small gap in between the beds. there weren't any place to put our things, except for our shoes. so we need to sleep with our backpacks on our beds.

7.00pm
as we have to wake up at 2.00am for our summit attempt, we need to be in bed early to get some rest. but it was so cold (still raining outside!) and everything felt so damp! i was in my long johns, t-shirt, long pants and jacket, thick socks, sleeping inside my sleeping bag, with two layers of wool blanket on top of my sleeping bag, and STILL i'm freezing!

and i don't know if it's the altitude, the cold or the anxiousness of what lies ahead (maybe all 3!), but i kept waking up throughout the night and needing to pee! looks like it's gonna be a long night ahead...


read also:
1) mount kinabalu challenge: day 1
2) bestest friend in the world!
3) mount kinabalu challenge: failed
4) updates and such...
5) mount kinabalu challenge

mount kinabalu challenge: day 1

opps, i did it again! leaving for a trip without sleeping at all the night before... *sigh* when will i ever learn?

got off work very late the night before departure, coz need to make sure all my work is settled and also need to leave lots of instructions to my intern during my absence. haha... u should see her desk that night! filled with post-it notes all over the place, on envelopes, water bottle, her pc screen, on top of her table... and follow-up instructions in e-mail too! that should keep her bz for the next few days... hehe...

neeways, got home late, took bath, waited for N to come to do her drop-off, do my laundry, settle some stuff... and not yet pack! started packing only at 2am! crazy... decided to bring only my backpack and a small 'casual backpack' for this trip. so need to pack sparingly.

by the time i finished packing, there's only abt 1 hour left for me to sleep before i need to wake up again and prepare to go to KLIA. so i decided not to sleep at all, becoz if i were to get only an hour's sleep, i would run the risk of oversleeping and not being able to wake up on time! so i continued to do the things i need to do, took my own sweet time to check and recheck my bags, going through my 'to-bring list' and even had time to cut my toe nails (a must! will explain y later).

at 5am, i went to take my bath and prepare for my trip. left the house at 5.45am and took a slow stroll to the lrt station (coz it's just so early!). but even at that early hours, there were already quite a number of people commuting to work... *haiz* that's city life for you!

anyway, switched to the KLIA Transit at Bandar Tasik Selatan. as i've already checked-in my departure flight the previous day (online), i only need to get to the airport at 8am for my 9am flight. so convenient of MAS to come up with this feature! anyway, i was making good time and was very relaxed. that is, until i discovered that i've forgotten my phone!!! argh! of all the things to forget!!! *sigh*

there were 8 of us on that 9am flight, and flight from KL to KK took abt 2.5 hrs... at KK town, met up with clg SP with her bf, who went to KK a few days earlier for their holiday, and also clg J with her friend, who took the 6am flight due to no more seats in the 9am flight. from KK international airport, clg HL (our organiser for this trip) had arranged for a van to bring us to the Kinabalu Park, 2 hrs from KK town.

before that, we dropped by at the KK Reliance office to have lunch with D. as there were 4 muslims in our group, D planned to bring us to a malay makan place around that area. But in the end, half of us decided we wanted chinese food, so we split up into 2 groups.

meatball noodles for lunch... no comments, as i dun take pork! :S

after lunch, we continued on our journey to the Kinabalu Park. on the way up, we were supposed to be able to view the peak along the way but that day was raining. so the peak was hidden behind a thick mist. reached there at abt 3.30pm and we were brought straight to the Kinabalu Park Headquarters to get ourselves registered.

in front of the map board at the Kinabalu Park Headquarters...

hmm... no wonder i couldn't reach the top... i was only pointing
at Sayat-Sayat! next time must stand on a chair to point to the peak!


9 colleagues and 3 friends...

after registering, our van took us to our guesthouse a little up the hill from the headquarters, the Fairy Garden Guesthouse. by then i was very very tired already... so right after i took the photo below, i konked out for 2 whole hours!

view from the balcony of our twin-sharing room,
already at 1800+ meter above sea level...


chilling out after dinner at the eating hall of Fairy Garden...

after dinner, HL did a short brief on our trek tomorrow, things to bring etc. after that we sat around to chat for awhile and then went back to our rooms. on the way, there were talks of a card game session, since it was still so early (8pm plus). but when we all got to our rooms, everyone just went to sleep! long day tomorrow...

read also:
1) bestest friend in the world!
2) mount kinabalu challenge: failed
3) updates and such...
4) mount kinabalu challenge

updates and such...

*phew* the spa has finally been launched! so now i'm back to the office, but still need to do some follow-up work... with the press, sorting out the event photos, burning CDs, etc etc... on top of my usual work load.

yours truly with the guest usherettes for the launch night...

anyway... i've been doing a lot of post-dated posts lately, if you've not noticed already! i keep starting a post, but did not manage to finish it. or i just upload the photos i want for a post, then just save as drafts until i find the time to finish writing them.

don't seem to have much time for myself lately... and have been missing my orchestra practices! my cello is collecting dust in the corner! *sigh* really need to start attending practices more actively. i've no idea what's going on in my section as well as the rest of the group. YW was telling me that the orchestra is in a bit of mess now... gotta go get myself back into the pack!

on another note, i'll be off to conquer mount kinabalu this weekend! *shudder* i've not been training! just hope i make it back in one piece. flying off to KK tomorrow, starting the climb on sat, summit on sunday morning and back to kl on monday. so if you still dun hear from me by wed or thurs, please call emergency!

oh yeah, found out that my trip to borobudur, which was originaly planned to happen in the next 2 weeks, had to be canceled. so sad... :(

read also:
mount kinabalu challenge!

work work work!

argh!!! i'm so burnt out! this past few weeks have been really crazy!

i'm in my room at the hotel now. it's past midnight, but i'm still working... burning the CDs for the press kits and checking all the press kit folders to make sure everything is ok.

boss said i can sleep in tomorrow... we only need to be at the resort at 8.30am, which is a good thing. have not been getting enough sleep lately. was working until quite late yesterday, and then had to rush over to sg. wang to collect something for the launch as well as get some last minute name cards printed for my bossboss. got home at abt 10.30pm, dead tired and have not even packed! and boss wanted to get down to the resort early to have breakfast with mr. t! having a morning person for a boss is really quite torturous sometimes! *sigh*

a long and tiring day today... bossbossboss is down at the resort and we finally had a meeting with the full team. so lots of confirmations and decisions done. tomorrow will be another long day, with last minute guest list confirmations, briefings, meetings and lots of running here and there! oh, not to mention the night arrivals of some of the guests...

ok, i know i'm not making any sense to anyone. *yawn* too tired to explain or go into detail on what's going on. just waiting for the last few pieces of CDs to be burnt and then will just crawl into bed.

good night!

on a good day...

this is how my work station looks like...





don't try to imagine how it looks like on a bad day!

surrounded by poisons...

lately, the environment in the office is getting quite tense... although i'm not directly involved in it, but my manager is the main protagonist. and as my seating arrangement is right smack in the middle of the opposing parties, i'm literally caught in the middle of the cross fires.

actually, from a 3rd party's point of view, the matter could've been settled quite amicably. and anyway, it's all higher management's matters. shouldn't involve us small fries.

but the problem is, the assistant of the other manager is such a petty person. in secret, i nicknamed her 'mulut laser' coz everything that comes out of her mouth is like poison, spewing vulgarities and vile remarks left and right. even on good days, she'd have lots to say abt everything and everyone. she may be very nice to you in your face, but the moment you turn your back, she'd be gossiping about you. and nothing escapes her!

so since the outbreak of hostilities between my manager and her manager, her fav topic of the day is of course my manager! her mouth is yakking non-stop the whole day long. and tho' generally she leaves me alone, but she is so loudmouthed that one can't help hearing every word she says. even the designer intern under me is scared of her!

so tired of all her complains, gossips, petty squabbles, name-callings and vulgar remarks. i need earmuffs!!!

mount kinabalu challenge!

guess what?! i signed up for my company's social club's mount kinabalu expedition in oct! sei mou?

even though we're paying for the trip ourselves, the organiser still wants to make sure each of us will be able to reach the top. so every week, we're to attend a training to build up our fitness level and not bring shame to the company. keke... so far, there has been 3 trainings at the batu caves, but due to one reason or another, i was not able to join them until the 3rd training.

well, basically, we're just to climb up and down the stairs at batu caves and keep adding more rounds each week. and i'd say i did pretty well for my 1st training. with 1 up and 1 down trip considered as 1 round, i managed to do 2 rounds! this is not bad at all, u know! other than the organiser, the rest of the gals only did 1 round for their 1st training (the organiser gal did 5 rounds - crazy hor?). i'll try to increase my rounds to 3 this coming weekend... hopefully lar, coz my leg muscles still hurts like hell now!

other than climbing up and down the batu caves, we'll also be going for trekking trips around kl. should be quite fun, and at the same time, it'll be a good chance for me to work out some!

back in the rat race!

so after 10 months of working from home, i think i'm ready to join the workforce again. i know a lot of people envy me for being able to freelance full time. flexy hours, no dress code, be ur own boss etc. yeah, working from home is really nice and all, but there are down sides too.
1) no medical coverage
2) no epf
3) no other benefits
4) u need to be really disciplined to sit at ur desk and get the work done, coz no work means no income
5) no colleagues to be chummy-chummy with
6) no company events to go to
7) no annual bonus
8) u dun get to dress up smartly for the office

and so, i've just been job-hunting actively again, coz u know, i NEED TO GO OUT AND MEET PEOPLE!!!

anyway, i'll be starting at my new company on the 1st of april. so, it's back to commuting to and from work, waking up early, headache with what to have for lunch and ironing clothes!

and here are some weird coincidences:
- i started my previous 2 jobs in april too!
- all 3 jobs made me an offer only 1 day after the interview!

funny, right?

zzZZzZzZZZZzzzzz....

ever since i went freelance, i've been doing things at my own time, as and when i like it... going to bed and waking up, eating, bathing, working, checking n replying mails etc. at the oddest hours, it's absolutely glorious! but now, after my doings have been discovered (by those who love to nag!), i'm careful to avoid sending/replying e-mails at abnormal hours (esp to family members).
reply from bro: what were u doing still up at such unearthly hours?! have u any idea what time it was?! 4.30am!!!
yikes! hehe...

anyway, this has made me quite accustomed to sleeping at any time of the day... which is really a bad thing. esp when i'm in the cinema. for the 3rd installment of a trilogy. with the first 2 installments i've yet to watch. that runs for 3 hrs. which the bf has practically dragged me to the cinema for.

can anyone believe i actually fell asleep in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End? twice??? and an afternoon show at that??? and it's not that it's a boring show. dunno y, somehow i just dozzed off! i'm so ashamed of myself. *hangs head*

jobless...

as of today, i'm officially part of the statistik pengangguran m'sia! hehee... so while looking for a new job, i'm gonna do freelancing work to (hopefully) make ends meet. need to work out my daily schedule (and hopefully stick to it) so that i dun sleep the whole day away, everyday! :Þ

and seeing that i'm now not sitting in the office the whole day with internet connection anymore, i'll be updating my blog even less now. but will try to put up a word or two sometimes, just to let u ppl know that i'm still alive! hehehe...