thisguy

it's not just about knowing the answers
it's not even asking the right questions
it's the process of finding out
that's i m p o r t a n t

parental units are back and joel's been evicted. he's had a rough week and a very bad grooming session. it's been a hectic hectic week for me too with crashing deadlines, especially after i found out i'll be :

away the whole of this week on training in some high up place.

so yea. my life is on hold for a week while the "administrator" upgrades my "software". will resume human mode on friday.

meanwhile - if anyone can tell me where i can get a fibre optic lit christmas tree for under RM200, and a suitably expensive but value-for-money wedding gift for two, please leave a note. thanks.

"happiness is good health and a bad memory."
-ingrid bergman

"give my gun away when it's loaded, is that alright with you? if you don't shoot it, how'm i spossed to hold it?"
-nine crimes, damien rice

i try to avoid drama in my life as much as possible, but perhaps this has made me a little too constipated. and as people tend to do when they're constipated, you've no choice but to let things just hang before you can clear up the clogged-ness inside.

instead of resembling damien rice song lyrics, don't you wish your love life and relationships could be as it is in hip-hop songs - sexy, shallow and fit to rhyme?

as usual, i'm really looking forward to the end of the year. not because it's been particularly bad or anything, but - you know - just to get it over with. next year's itinerary is one to look forward to and i'll tell you why maybe later - like - next year.

work is frantic at the moment so excuse me if reports of my demise spread - as the saying goes - they've been wildly exaggerated.

i'm cool with the doubling up and crazy workload and deadlines though. why?

coz i'll be taking my first unadulterated week off (this year) during the christmas week!

whereupon - hopefully - i'll be :-

• updating/refurbishing this blog
• finally getting my travelogues done - (got renewed motivation from nyx's hanoi travelogs)
• clear up my hard drives
• take a quick roadtrip alone somewhere remote and not too faraway in malaysia
• throw a post-christmas party
• redefine my goals in life
• spend some time with my dad
• finish watching four seasons of the west wing
• paint seremban a little redder than it is right now
• determine how to link the items 5, 7, 9 and 10 together

quite a long list of KPIs attached to geekery, wholesome activities, soul-searching and random stuff - all needing to be addressed before year end.

plugs : [blog : we're hiring again] & [main website]

i don't often write about her here, but tonight i remembered something that i want to write down lest i forget it :

it was about 2 years ago. there's so much that she's done that warms my heart, but one of the random-est yet most kitten-ish things was when she got her very first luggage set using hard-earned cash from her barrista job for her trip down to london for her boyfriend's graduation.

as with many of this year's events, i never got around to writing about it here, but a couple of weeks ago i went for my first company annual dinner.

if you want to know how it went, read justin's account of his one here.

mine was at the same hotel, just different company, probably different food, a week or so earlier, different people but similar (if not more) rowdy behavior from my department. also - we pretended we were auditors too.

good tactic - when you're drunk and inappropriate behavior is imminent, never give out your real name or place of work. if only i practised this more often...

after a hectic couple of weeks pushing 18 hour days for work, i finally get the time to sit and absorb some MTV.

if you haven't already caught it, look out for U2's collabo with Green Day -

Punk-rock and Bono - sticking it to the man like only music videos can.

then there's the killers' new video - bones. am thoroughly disappointed with this video - but i'll post it here anyway coz it's so bad.

crap - pure crap. how do you make a video with a hottie like devon aoki and screw it up this bad, i'm not even sure if it's kitsch or ironic. are the killers gonna be cursed with bad videos like coldplay?

so it's been 2 years since we were sitting on that fence in westminster watching london revel.

and it's been a year since we were gathered at bahir's place in the city watching the valley revel.

tonight will be relatively quiet, and i've decided that i am ok with that. sobriety should be embraced gracefully every now and then.

if you haven't already noticed, i've not been "in the zone" as far as writing is concerned. but i'm determined to put out a decent post before the evening is over.

without further ado, i'll let the sentimentality take over -

thisyear found thisguy;

• participating in the production of one of Malaysia's most exciting new local films
  
• getting lowballed by some bastards in the industry (and some outside the industry)
  
• gaining weight in penang
  
• setting up house for the kitten in seremban
  
• riding camels in karachi
  
• scoping thai chicks in bangkok
  
• tomb raiding, playing erhu and guzzling amok and angkor beer in siem reap
  
• hitting on hooter girls and sipping s'pore slings with an englishman in singapore
  
• singing queen anthems with the mafia and guzzling speedy's wild boar curry with jon in cherating
  
• chilling, brokebacking and getting super wasted in pangkor
  
• drinking beer topless with the five families and upgrading my software with colleagues in genting
  
• scaring suburban passers by at oktoberfest with the lousiest indian drinkers this side of the city
  
• migrating this blog then losing half a year's worth of journal entries
  
• catching up with old friends and struggling to re-establish ties (didnt do so well in this department)
  
• buying a new christmas tree for my family (it's a symbolic thing)

i don't think i've worked harder ever in my life before, yet i seem to have squeezed in a crazy amount of play too. to top that all, i got my best ever new year's present - my first promotion! (no raise yet though)

if you've stopped by to read this, drop a note and i hope you've had a good year and an even better one to come.

if you've had a shit year, go visit this site, and thank god for not having it as bad as saddam.