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Accounts of an Adolescent |
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Began the day rather eventfully.. My mom, dad and youngest brother went off to Ipoh at 6am to witness a relative's engagement.. Then at 8am I tried calling for a taxi, only to be greeted with "Harap maaf, nombor yang anda panggil tiada dalam perkhidmatan" ('Sorry, the number you've dialled is unavailable').. Alamak.. The chess tourney was at 9am! Frantically, my brother and I walked all the way to Kompleks PKNS's taxi stand.. We eventually managed to get to the Kelana Jaya LRT station.. We arrived at Menara Patriot about 5 minutes late :P
(Moral of the story : ALWAYS be prepared for the worst.)
Today I performed reasonably good.. Well, I could've done better, but being out of my old rut was refreshing enough.. Out of the 3 games today, I won once and drew the last 2 games.. So in total I have 3 points out of 5 games.. Pretty cool.. I think 1 more win (or a draw) could at least seal me a prize in the women's category :)
I got ripped off!!! I went to Sungei Wang Plaza to buy that Nokia 3315 handphone.. Paid RM260.. Only to realize that I've been given a second-hand phone! I didn't see the display when I bought it because I only got my replacement SIM card after my purchase.. Imagine my frustration when I anxiously turned on the new phone, only to be surprised with the word 'Helmi' on the screen.. Grrr.. I'm sooooo going to rip off that handphone guy's head tomorrow.. But then, what if he tells me I can't ask for a replacement? My dad seemed like he didn't care too much about it.. He wanted to change handphones with me already.. But since I was so upbeat about the head-ripping thingee, he agreed to wait until tomorrow..
As soon as I arrived home, I met my aunt CD.. Apparently she was having a tiff with her husband's 1st wife (yes, she's the 2nd wife) so she's sort of in this runaway mode with her 10-month-old toddler.. And soon after, my uncle came.. With 1st wife in tow.. Her face was so sour.. She wouldn't even touch the food on the table despite repeated invitations.. Aunt CD confided in me that she wants to leave those two 'lovebirds' alone but they wouldn't let her leave with the baby.. So she doesn't know what to do and she asked me what she should do.. What the..???.. The only thing in my head at that moment was 'MOM!!! WHERE ARE YOU???'
Later all 3 of them went home.. An hour later, my parents came home and I relayed the whole day's events to them.. I left all the counselling my aunt needed to my mom :P
Tomorrow I still have 2 rounds of chess to go.. And I hope I can pull off being serious for a while so that I can get the handphone replaced :P
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NHA at 2:22 PM ::
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Friday, January 23, 2004
So much for finding an 'affordable' 7250i.. The cheapest was around RM999 so I quickly scrapped my initial plan :P
I asked for the 3200 model, instead.. The cheapest Nokia with an integrated camera.. It still costs around RM850.. So I have to choose between what I think is an ugly camera phone which will cause me temporary poverty, or the ancient 3315 which costs RM250.. I had placed a bid on BuySell for a 2nd-hand 3310 model for RM150 but I was outbidden at the last minute :P
My dad did offer to exchange handphones with me.. He said I should buy a decent one for him and then I'll get his 3610 model.. He said he doesn't use it that much.. That's the same thing my brother told me when he offered his Motorola which has colour display.. Why do guys in my family splurge on handphones when they're not used that often? Well, anyway, to me there's no use for a coloured screen so I think I'm going to take up my dad's offer and go buy that 3315 model :)
I won 1 out of 2 games today.. Same as my brother.. Surprisingly, after my loss, Gregory Lau came up to me and said 'It's OK.. Don't be too disappointed' and proceeded to analyse my game.. Whoaa.. since when did he start to notice my presence? OK, that's an exaggeration.. He knew who I was since the National Closed tournament where my mom finished better than I did :P But.. to console me? It was revelling yet overwhelming at the same time :P
Uncle KZ asked if I was wearing contacts today.. When I said yes, he said I must be having a boyfriend.. Hahaha.. If he only knew..
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NHA at 1:31 PM ::
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Thursday, January 22, 2004
What a boooorrrrriiiiinnnnggggg day! Just wasted myself away at home.. Occasionally I'd go online.. Only to find the same set of people on my lists :P
I browsed around for new Nokia handphone models.. What really caught my eye was the 7250i model.. and its RM1000 price tag :P Still undecided over which one to buy.. Especially since I forgot to withdraw my (supposedly) 'untouchable' savings and with the 2-day Chinese New Year holiday, I won't be able to do so until this Saturday.. I'm planning on scouring Sungei Wang Plaza for a good bargain.. If I can get that 7250i for around RM700, I'd snap it up right away.. Hmm.. wishful thinking? :P
My dad went to register our participation in the PCMM chess open.. at the wrong venue! He waited for 2 hours only to find out that the registration was at Menara Patriot, not The Chess Network :P
I had to endure an earful from Uncle KZ, our chess friend, when I asked for his help to register for me and my brother.. My dad eventually paid the fees.. Hopefully I can steer clear from Uncle KZ for the whole 3 days of the competition :P
Another chess tournament looms.. Will I prevail? Or will I still succumb to the lingering ghosts of my ex..?
I really hope there will be a lot of cute guys there :P
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NHA at 2:57 PM ::
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004
I've been very busy these past few days so forgive me for not blogging.. For the last two days, my mind had been someplace else - Shah Alam to be exact.. Because Tuesday night is the beginning of our 2-week holiday for Chinese New Year.. And I couldn't wait to get back home..
On Monday, I was ousted as the house treasurer in the most disgraceful way.. I wasn't even nominated for the post.. Well, granted, I wasn't exactly cut out for the job.. And not that I wanted to keep the post anyway, but still.. It did sort of dent my ego a bit.. I mean, two losses in a span of 4 days.. how's that for moral support? :P
Then on Tuesday I skipped my 1st Computing lesson in KMYS.. hahaha.. I've already finished all the work he wanted our class to do.. And it was raining heavily outside, which only added to my laziness.. It was kind of liberating actually.. Heh.. for now laa.. wait till I face Mr. Ravi later :P
So I packed and waited till 9pm while the whole college community disappeared into thin air as early as 4pm.. By the time I went home, my chalet was the only one with the lights on.. It was sort of eerie walking through darkened paths amongst hollow chalets..
After a good night's sleep, I quickly adapted to my old habits (read: wake up late).. I looked at my handphone and realized that the screen was blank.. The battery must've run out during the night.. So I got up and went into the toilet.. I heard someone walk into my room.. Must be the maid..
Then I proceeded to unpack all my stuff.. I got all my small items out of each nook and cranny of my bags.. Then when I sent them all into my room, I discovered.. My handphone was gone! The table was inexplicably empty and I started to search high and low for my phone.. After turning the whole house upside down, I couldn't find it..
Only then did I realize that the maid had accompanied my youngest brother to school, the way she usually does.. Which meant that I was alone at home..
Oh well, there was nothing I could do.. So I made myself a bowl of Maggi mee :P Later when my mom returned, I told her about it and she discovered that her bracelet was missing too.. So it was confirmed.. A stranger had walked into our house and robbed us.. It was strange that he only took those few things when there were a multitude of other things to take..
Later on, the maid dragged me into a corner and whispered to me.. The maid next door had seen a tall man arriving on a motorcycle and he entered our house.. She didn't think of anything odd because it was the norm in our house to have visitors, especially relatives studying in universities nearby..
But did she say she used to hear those motorcycle sounds? Does it mean that the culprit was somebody close? Our maid told me that there was this one relative, R, who always comes to our house to ask for money, food, etc.. He was the king of all slackers and still he could prey on poor helpless (or mindless?) girls into his trap.. He impregnated the mother of his two kids out of wedlock and he divorced her before the 2nd child was born.. So was it him who stole our stuff?
Anyway, luckily I signed up for DiGi's SIM Guard program so I won't lose the number and the credits.. The only thing is that I'll lose contact (and all 250 numbers in my phone book) for the next 2 days :P
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NHA at 6:06 AM ::
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Sunday, January 18, 2004
I woke up around 10am today.. Then I finished off (almost) all of my Excel homework before I got myself ready for my KLCC trip to another MPO concert.. This time it was still under the same conductor as last week, Justin Brown, but with different songs..
I planned on commuting from KLCC to Dang Wangi, where our chess club members were playing today's tournament, as soon as I arrived in KL.. Of course, that was because I thought we would arrive before 2pm.. It turned out I only made it to the KLCC LRT station by 2.15pm :P So I had to rush/walk/run as fast as I could so that I could still make it before the the concert starts at 3pm..
When I arrived at Dang Wangi, I was sweating bullets.. Me and J went to ask Gregory Lau about buying chess sets and clocks from him and also his fees for training and becoming an arbiter for our upcoming invitational tournament.. All the while, I was talking like a bullet train because, well, I did have a 'train' to catch :P
As soon as I finished all four (4) questions I wanted to ask, I zoomed back into the Dang Wangi LRT station, weaved my way through the KL crowd and managed to get into the MPO hall just as the orchestra members were in the middle of tuning their instruments.. phew.. A few more minutes and I would've been disallowed from entering :P
This time, it was worse than last week's concert.. I practically started to doze off 10 minutes into each piece.. The only redeeming factor was, of course, the encore.. And the cute violinist.. Well, at least my friends R and A think he was cute.. They were practically swooning over him.. Then during the interval, they decided to ask for his autograph..
But the funny thing was, as soon as he was standing in front of us, both of them went totally speechless! He must've been thinking 'Why the heck are these girls blocking my way?'.. So I stepped in and broke the ice.. I did the asking, they both did the giggling.. Then he said 'But I'm not famous!' and they both went silent again.. So I said 'Oh, it's because you're so talented'.. bla.. bla.. bla.. Anybody could see I was bluffing my way through this.. But I can't say 'Oh, we think you're cute'.. I mean, that's soooo bimbo-ish!
But anyway, we got the autograph.. Found out his name was Sebastian, lives in England, has a German father and a Malaysian mother who used to live in Ipoh.. Pretty cool info for a 2-minute tete-a-tete.. Then after the show, I bumped into the man who played the timpani (some percussion thingee) and I started some small talk with him too.. His parents are from Grenada and he's living somewhere near Jalan Tun Razak :) It was as if when I meet all these fascinating (and talented!) people, somehow just talking to them makes you feel so proud already.. As if you're amongst an elite group of.. well.. elites.. :P
Then we did our usual round of shopping.. There was this chocolate pudding which I used to love so much until my neighbourhood supermarket stopped selling it.. And I found it this afternoon! I'm writing this while indulging in sinfully delicious bliss.. mmm..
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NHA at 3:28 PM ::
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