My First Pay Cheque

When I was studying and looking for a job, I had many ideals of how was I going to utilize my first pay cheque. I say utilize because the word spend sounds a tad negative. It sort of implies I’m going to spend the entire salary away in one go.

i always had the impression that when my first salary is in, I would be leaping for joy, jumping straight into the atm queue to get my hands on my moolah. And I would be off utitilizing it fully. Firstly, to give some to my parents and of course to take the family out for dinner. Treat my close friends. Give some to temple, that’s the least I can do because I’ve been really blessed and am very thankful. To get a new handphone, a really good, expensive, out of this world ridiculously fabulous handphone because I deserve one. Shopping! And the rest would be for savings.

The reality of the situation turned out so differently. When I heard that my pay was in, it felt like any ordinary day with the exception that my bank balance has increased somewhat. I did not rush to the atm to withdraw money to buy anything I had always thought I would. I did go to the atm machine 4 days later, but just to make sure the money was indeed banked in. And it was not till I inserted my card in that I realized I could do my banking online. I felt so silly!

The new handphone; I decided I didn’t need one. The current one functions just fine after a battery change. In fact, I think the idea of a new super duper canggih handphone where I would only use say 5 of its gazzilion features is nothing but an ego booster, a feel good material item so show off because the phone looks sophisticated when I take it out to answer a call or text message. But really, isn’t a phone’s main function is to make and receive calls and sms? My phone does that excellently. I won’t deny I would like a new phone but perhaps when the current one goes completely bonkers on me, then I know it would not be an impulse buy.

The shopping was minimized to the absolute essentials as I have almost everything I need. I’m really proud of myself to be able to hold so still with all the sales going on. The treats will proceed as I intended, so would all the rest. And instead of a handphone, I’m thinking of taking up a life insurance policy instead.

So what’s so exciting about my first pay cheque? The fact that I’m actually an independent person, that I’ve earned my dues, I’m a working adult, not a mere child anymore. It makes me feel more matured, like I’m grown up so much in just 2 months. That feeling is one of the best feelings I’ve had so far and no amount of shopping or a sophisticated phone can ever replace that.

Office Refurbishment

Due to the number of newcomers in the office, we have ran out of workstations for everyone resulting in some of us having to share spaces. Therefore, during the weekend, my wing of the floor underwent a refurbishment to rearrange the furniture and resize the workstations to accommodate everyone.

When I came in, I noticed I now have neighbours on my right, left and behind. I no longer face the corridor to the ladies and am not seated at the secretary’s spot. But asides all that, my workstation has also shrank!

There were a number of complaints over the smaller area we now have especially those who have a large number of things. Moving cubicles is like moving house for some and I kid you not when I say my colleagues have the same amount of things I had when I moved to KL!

My cubicle has gone from a 4x5 panels to 3x4 but I have no complaints coz my old space was huge and very under utilized. At least now I don’t feel so small surrounded by so much blank space because the size is just right for me.

I also love love love my new spot because I’m no longer isolated. Those around me are friendly, cheerful and helpful. The mornings are the best when everyone comes in, says good morning very brightly, checks on each other to make sure we’re all set for the day and starts working. It’s pretty nice being where loads of exciting things takes place. Gosh, how left out I am for the last 6 weeks!

Blood Donation …

… to the dearest mosquitoes of Casa Maya last night resulted in me running out of hands to scratch the bites. I now look like a recovering chicken pox patient :(

The English Language

Caller : Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan? (anyone)

Operator : Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller: No, I want to speak to Annie Wan!

Operator: You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Caller: I'm Sam Wan (someone) And I need to talk to Annie Wan! It's urgent.

Operator: I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what's this urgent matter about ?

Caller: Well... just tell my sister Annie Wan that our brother Noel Wan (no one) was involved in an accident. Noel Wan got injured and now Noel Wan is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan is on his way to the hospital.

Operator: Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn't an urgent matter! You may find this hilarious but I don't have time for this!

Caller: You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator: I'm Saw Lee. (sorry)

Caller: Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!!

A shocking discovery

2 days ago, my collegue came up to me all excited to tell me a story of how much I remind her of her good friend's daughter. The part where we're tall, thin and have similar features are pretty usual to me. A lot of people have told me that I remind them of someone they know - sibling, friend, classmate, neighbour's sister-in-law's uncle's daughter's niece's godsister, you know the whole works. I either look like someone, or sound like someone. I'm already beginning to think how common I am, no special factor :(.

Anyways, the last portion of the story was the most interesting bit. "Asides all that (tall, thin, similar features), you both are quiet." I looked at her all stunned, shock written all over my face and then quickly covered it with a smile before she noticed.

Quiet? Like seriously? How is that possible? I can bet a gazzilion pounds that all my friends and family members will never use the adjective quiet to describe me. Because i'm not. What they would say is this, "Oh, that girl ah, she can talk non-stop wan. Mouth never get tired at all"

Why do you think this blog is called the Mouth Marathon? Simply because it describes me pretty accurately. I'm talkative, bubbly, highly excitable and should never be seen high with coffee.

Episode 2 happened yesterday. Another colleague came over and said this, "You're very quiet aren't you? No work also quiet, now got work, you've become even quieter". I just nodded with my head exploding - QUIET??!!

Well, that shows how much people in office know me huh? I brought it up with a friend and there's 3 ways of looking at it.
1. You could be quietly productive, get your work done excellently and the boss knows it.
2. You are quiet but people mistake that for unfriendliness or even arrogance.
3. A bit of both.

In my defense, I am indeed quieter in the office because everyone else is. I'm seated at the corner so I do not have neighbors on my right. Behind me is a whole wall of cabinets and a printer. The corridor opposite me leads to the pantry and the ladies room. The person to my right is an extremely busy manager who is hardly around. And this person is around the 40's. What am i going to talk about - wife/husband and kids? So you see, there is no one really to talk to nor do people come up to talk to me.

But please, I'm not quiet nor arrogant, just a tad quieter. Get to know me a little better and trust me, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise.

So what am i? The selective speaker. *winks*

Plus One

Dear Diary,


It’s once said, the loneliest number is one. Today, I agree with that statement. I’d rather endure the sleepless nights wondering if you’re ok from being so far away from me, countless fights because I know deep down you care, tears of happiness when you surprise me so lovingly, than to spend one single night alone. It is so scary to be here in my own room without having you in my thoughts to comfort me. When I wake up, I don’t have you to text saying good morning and that I love you. As I turn of the lights at night, I don’t have someone to talk to about my day. Minus one, I feel scared and lost without my rock, my pillar of strength, the one I run to tell of my smallest news, divide my worries and shoulder my sorrows. Yes, one is a lonely number.


Sophie heaved a deep sigh and shut her diary.

False Alarm

My weekend was absolutely interesting in the oddest way. Since I’ve started working, I have been staying at my aunt’s place. I moved in yesterday to my place which will from now on be referred to as Maya Casa. Maya means dream or illusion while casa is castle so put together it’s the Castle of Dreams.

On Saturday on my way to Maya Casa, I had the strangest cramp and the pain lasted throughout the day. I didn’t make mention of it to anyone coz I could still tolerate the pain. And I figured it would eventually subside. The pain gradually got worse at night but I still tahan la.

By the time Sunday morning, I couldn’t stand straight anymore and the lower right side right under the tummy freaking hurts. I was walking like a hunched old woman tugging her tummy. Dad got me to the clinic and the doctor suspected I have a case of appendicitis. However, he said I look pretty comfortable for an appendicitis patient. I was referred to the hospital just in case.

The alternative was to wait for about 6 hours and if the pain gets worse, I should get admitted so I picked this option instead. He prescribed some painkillers, I popped one, slept and woke up with the pain in tact. So my original plan to move in to KJ on Sunday morning had to be postponed.

Since sleep wasn’t helping, I decided to go ahead and move in to Maya Casa after lunch. While helping my dad with the cleaning up, I suddenly realized that I could actually stand straight and the pain has vanished! I was so surprised coz I didn’t notice it earlier. I guess I somehow recovered along the 45 min journey from Aunt’s Place to Maya Casa!

Of course my dad was still concerned coz it’s hard to believe that someone who could barely walk an hour ago can recover just like that. He wanted me to stay at my aunt’s place one more night just to be sure but I convinced him I was fine. And true enough, the pain didn’t come back and I’m as good as new. The false alarm was so not plesant.

The puzzling part is this – what caused the awful 2 day cramp which really felt like appendicitis and how in the world could the pain just disappear? That’s a mystery I have yet to uncover. But I’m super duper thankful that the pain is no more, I do not have appendicitis, no hospital and no surgery. I pray this episode won’t make a comeback.

Sleep Sleep Go Away

Seriously, I’m dying of boredom. Asides attending 3 meetings and consolidating data for a document, I’ve been doing nothing but reading manual after manual after manual. And these manuals are not designed to keep me awake. Reading them is akin to reading an entire textbook filled with technical jargon.

I’m not saying that the manuals are not educational. To the contrary, I’ve actually picked up a lot of information of what my group and department does as a whole, the systems in place utilized to help one another etc. but seriously, if I had to read another manual, I’m not so sure if I can keep sane anymore! It is becoming a very conscious effort to stay awake in the world of terminologies and thousands of acronyms.

For crying out loud, just give me something to photostate or type or something. I’d rather do clerical work even than to be staring at Arial font size 11, single spacing, justified paragraphs of my manuals.

Sigh… someone pray I don’t nod off. Or if I do, then pray nobody sees me.

The Moi Who Didn’t Fast

I wanted a change in outfit from the usual corporate wear so I donned a baju kurung instead today. Wearing the usual slacks, skirts and collared shirts are getting a little too routine so I decided to throw something traditional in to spice things up.

And the reaction it got me was rather amusing especially from those working in my department, which I have decided to name the Prefect Board. I’ll get to its name in another post yeah. So many people were excited to see a non-malay wearing a baju kurung and I had quite a number of compliments on how nice my baju kurung is.

Inside I was chuckling coz I only have 2 baju kurungs in my entire wardrobe and this is a really old one which had made not more than 5 appearances since 5 years ago when I bought it. In fact, it is an extremely simple outfit, nothing fancy and I know how much nicer my colleagues baju kurungs look like.

The best part is I got loads of people outside my department confused as I unashamedly ate my tuna sandwich at the pantry without any guilt or remorse. You see, they actually thought I was malay girl! I even heard two ladies whispering to each other about me not fasting (quite kepo huh don’t you think?) until someone said I’m not malay. And when I went for lunch at the nearby foodcourt, I could feel dagger stares penetrating through my thin and tiny frame for queuing for food.

When the office boy left for home (those fasting leave at 4pm), he turned around and said “Moi, jangan lupa buka puasa tau.” There you go; a supposed Chinese girl in a baju kurung not fasting. Hang on, I look Chinese?? *puzzled*

Ang Pows for Merdeka

As weird as this sounds, I received a number of ang pows during my Merdeka family gathering. In fact, I don't remember receiving so many ang pows even for Chinese New Year! So, how come ang pows on National Day?
Well, its for my graduation! I had no idea my uncles and aunties were going to give me those red packets. I've already gotten so much support and love, beautiful messages and emails from them about my recent convocation (it's exactly a week ago, oh, how time flies!) and this was so unexpected in the most pleasant way.

Well, like most girls (ok la, just me) , the money can be spent in one or two shopping trips. So, i got myself to the bank and deposited the money in *like a good girl* cheh. I am hoping to go for a holiday at the end of the year so this will be part of my vacation fund. Now, where should i go for holiday? hhmmm.....