The Eye

it started on saturday, when suddenly i felt pain on my right eyelid. the first thought i had was it's ketumbit, so i just pretty ignored it.

last night, remembering some of the natural remedies that my mother taught me, i peeled a clove of garlic, and started tenyehing/sentaling my eyelid with it. despite the sting it gave me, i continued my endeavour with the utmost zeal.

until this morning when i woke up and saw that my eyelid was a bit thicker (swollen), which doesnt say much, since my chinese genes prevent me from getting those perfectly double eyelids. after a long arduous meeting after school, i came back home only to find myself staring into my big mirror and i was in despair! the eyelid is thick-err than the other side, and it's visible.

so i decided to call my nephew the doctor. he didnt pick up my call. so i called my fren as the specialist. she didnt answer either, but she smsed. so after some smses, i finally got the name of the antibiotics which is unpronounceable by layman like me, but sounds like rapid French when uttered by doctors. even French words are easier to pronounce than the antibiotics. i just remember the name of the antibiotics starts with a C.

and so i got the antibiotics from the pharmacy and the pharmacist told me it's an eye infection, but despite the modern med, i still keep tenyehing the garlic...

A Working holiday

now that's an oxymoron isnt it? how can you have a working holiday? if you're a teacher, you're used to it as the JPN people envy the teachers for getting a lot of holidays, so they have to be party poopers and spoil our parr-tay. what on earth are you talking about? you may ask.

bundles and bundles of exam scripts to be marked, that's what i'm talking about!

yes, we have to slave through our holidays to finish marking, just because the JPN people want the marks to be submitted on a certain date, usually during the holidays! well, isnt that just nice? and what do the JPN people do? sit on their chairs, dabble here and there for awhile, then go to some kedai kopi.

and what about us the teachers?

we have to come to school before a certain time. now, the latecomers get to have the prefects take down our names (like we're some students to be degraded like that). then we have to teach. we have to manage the class of more than 30 students. mind you, if you get a very obedient class you're lucky. then we have to mark the exercises. we have to give homework. we cant go out to some kedai kopi, we have to eat at the school canteen. we're sent to some courses, usually done by JPN at some crappy hotels. we ve to become camp facilitators at the very last minute, due to very late call letters.guess where do they come from?

and yet we're still underpaid, and yet it takes more than 10 years for a DG41 teacher to be promoted to DG44, never mind that some of us have more brains than those who sit in those comfy chairs.

now if you'll excuse me i've to shop to relieve the stress.

temptation part deux

remember about womenfolk having 9 lusts? it's struck again. i just bought an aigner bag (before i made the vow), and my itchy hands have been culprits into signing into ebay (just like i blame my feet for walking into Habib in Ampang and coming out with a glittering purchase). and there are too many gorgeous bags... gorgeous, dahling, simply gorgeous (read that in british accent). i spotted some nice pink dooney & bourke, they cost around US99. and that excludes shipping.

and while i was thinking of the cute pink bag, i remember my vow, and i also remember that i've another trip coming up next year, and i sighed a long sigh. plus, there are just too many expenses. especially after looking at my citibank statement. not good at all.

i should just drool at the pic then.

Trauma

have you ever gone through a stage of life when everything was going so well (or just passable) and then suddenly your world came crashing down?

yes, you must have. otherwise, you're not a human. nobody lives a perfect life, unless you're Barbie. last monday, there's a break-in at my house, the second in 9 months. thank god for the alarm system.

though physically the house is okay, the trauma stays with me. it envelops like a second skin, and i hate that. i get paranoid nowadays, but sometimes it pays to be paranoid. having said though, such traumatic experiences prevent you from being free, as you're constantly living in fear, and right now i can feel the strain.

it's a cruel world we're living in.

"don't make my blood go upstairs"

this was supposedly uttered by one of the local film producers, and it was featured in the locally produced film "Pengantin Popular".

so, today's topic will be about anger. yup, the green eyed monster. at school, most of the time anger is justified especially when students dont do their homework. or if they're playing truant from school. or playing football using empty water bottles as the ball....

anyway.

today, after my briskwalk, i decided to have my favourite McD's chicken porridge. the counter was deserted, and there were 2 staff there. okay, so far so good. another few steps away, and came this 1 guy who went to the counter. i thought he was placing an order. as 1 girl was listening to him attentively, another had her back turned to me. she turned around, and i know she could see me from the corner of her eye, but she just ignored me. hello, cant you see there's a customer waiting??? to make it worse, it seemed that the guy wasnt placing an order, he was just having a chat with the 1st girl!! he finally noticed that i was waiting (fuming, as it was) and told her she had a customer. yes, i could feel "my blood go upstairs" never mind that it's been malaysianised, i was just damn !@@## to say the least. no, i didnt scold her. i was cold, as cold as ice.

then, my favourite porridge wasnt available for the day. argh!!! so i had to change my order. and because she had already keyed in the order, the manager had to be called to change. and i, still feeling the blood boiling, asked

"are you the manager?"

shocked, he nodded.

"just to complain that your staff gave a slow service".

i didnt elaborate further as i was too angry.

look, working in the only McD branch in KT doesnt mean that you can do sloppy work. especially when you think that people in KT are "tak kisah" people. i refused to be bullied. they had better learn that there are discerning people around who expect the best service.

but being a softie, once i got into my car i realised something. now i ve to stop going to McD for awhile. i might have been blacklisted now *sigh*

The Vow of a Shopaholic

i paid my tailor a visit today, along with my silks. when i told her there are more cloths for her to sew, she exclaimed "but you have too many clothes already!"

and that woke me up from my cloth buying frenzy. yes, it sobered me up, especially after i remember that my closet is so packed with my baju kurungs and kebayas that all of them are wrinkled. and i counted how many pieces more i have with her - 9 pieces, which she'll sew in stages. i kept thinking of the money i could have saved (don't we all), but then i agree with the survey they did about malaysian women - that we shop when we're under a lot of stress. hey, i'm in a cluster school, that's enough to give any teacher a high b.p.

but then, i know i've to learn to be frugal.

therefore, i'll make a vow to myself that:

1. i will not make anymore cloth purchases no matter how cheap or how cute they look especially if the cloths are pink in colour.

2. i will not shop at kinokuniya, marks & spencer, habib, vincci, nose or any other shoe shops or dine at chili's when i'm in KL.

3. i will not buy any other handbags no matter how cheap they are...hmmph... on second thought, i still can't forget that blue Kenneth Cole handbag....okay, okay...focus, focus, be frugal...be frugal...

4. i will not eat out, but i will cook and buy fresh produce from the wet market. (hey, i've done that already!)

5. i will not use my credit card this month (this is the biggest challenge).

*long sigh*