Monday, November 01, 2004

Out of time - Blur

It has been a hectic weekend. In fact this whole week shall be very hectic. Since I am flying off on Thursday and will be gone from the office for 2 weeks, so many loose ends to tie up.
There was the pre-raya buka puasa relatives from all over gathering ("Eh?You wont be around for Raya?Where?Europe? Ok, EUROs or GBPs for my kids duit raya please...)

And then there was the packing. One thing I hate about going to the Northern Hemisphere at this time of the year is the cold. not snow, but the cold. And the bone freezing, lip cracking, balls shrinking wind chill. Which means having to pack Baa Baa Black sheep have you any wool? sweaters.
And those humongous winter jackets. Me being me, I tend to overpack. Im one those (anal retentive to some people) people that will evaluate a worse case scenario and the solution:
"What if the coverall gets REALLLY dirty?"
"what if the dryer doesnt work?"
"What if they notice I am wearing the same short from yesterday???"
"What if they dont have an iron??"
That sort of thing. This despite me being a seasoned backpacker for donkey years. I have been known by my Uni buddies as "Mat Lengkap" *Closest Translation:Guy who tends to things ready for all sorts of situation*
Makes it even worse that Im having this sniffies ( Doctor:" You should get a jab before Europe" Me ( being macho and all): " Eh?isnt that for senior citizens only?") and body temperature has since tropicalized for the last 3 years Im back in Malaysia.
laptop lagi....wool sweater lagi...more wool sweaters...and then dah la Holland is one WET country during winter/fall....makes it even worse...so which means I had to include a waterproof jacket. Oh yeah...I'll be sheep in the city alright.....

*

My apologies to all who who have vistied my blog and commented and I didnt reply back.
I will try. Promise.

*

Something happened during the weekend that made my blood go upstairs.
You know those express checkout lanes at hypermarkets ? Do you think they have done a good job at putting adequate and BIG signage to inform the people what constitutes express checkouts?Well, I think they are doing a good job. Signs are everywhere and pretty clear AND bi-lingual too.
"Kaunter Express: Untuk 10 barangan and ke bawah sahaja!
Tunai sahaja!"
*Translation: Express Counter: 10 items or less ONLY!!
Cash Only!!*
You would think people can read. Esp in Mutiara damansara's Tesco.
Apparently not. I notice there are 3 types here:
1) The one who has 11 items ( Ala, boleh la...satu saja lebih). Excuse me potatohead, 10 items or less does not mean 10+1, 10+2 or 10 plus whatever number.
2) The one who forgets that cash means paper ( or nowadays, polymer) money, not plastic, not your stupid AMEX gold card which you cant really afford to pay the full balance anyway. ( Alamak, tak cukup cash la, card boleh?)
3) The innocent in denial que cutter types. This is even more worse. They go smiling "wee..i have 3 items only" but at the same time, they send out their minions to get so and so stuff that they forget and these slaves bring back stuff one by one as the slave driver approaches the counter. sneaky bastard.

Give me an Uzi already. No wonder some people can go postal over these kinds of stuff.