#1002: Life after Work -- 13 posts from Feb - April 2006

We're just about halfway through our 10% recap of Life After Work in celebration of its first millennium of posts!

Today we look at the first two of what turned out to be six long months I was back in Malaysia, away from Kosh. Gotta love paperwork!! A lot of my posts during these six months were filled with mundane minutiae for Kosh to know what was going on with me without us having to try to catch each other via Yahoo Messenger with 13/14-hour difference to play with. Ah, fun times!

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Post #352: Some images from my past... [February 26th, 2006]
Back in Malaysia, and having to move "my room" from my parents' old apartment to the new one... and so I documented some memories before discarding them...

Post #362: Yesterday & Today [March 4th, 2006]
A navel-gazing post on mundane minutiae (plenty of those!)

Post #372: Concatenating randomly-generated words [March 7th, 2006]
... I forgot I had taken a stab or two at "creative writing" on this blog: here I string together random words into a mildly amusing dialogue...

Post #382: Star*ucks Sunday! [March 12th, 2006]
More navel-gazing, but from a Starbucks, and I whine about how much it doesn't compare to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

Post #392: Dis and Dat [March 17th, 2006]
Some random observations, including using the wifi from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and being recognised by the staff from another branch, LoL!

Post #402: my brushes with fate [March 20th, 2006]
... where I discuss the various vehicle-related incidents I've been involved in... and one major one I thankfully didn't witness - a girl getting run over by a bus just outside my high school...

Post #412: it's amazing how a SMALL thing... [March 23rd, 2006]
A teeny tiny thingy broke off my phone, rendering it practically useless to me. The start of my P800 problems.

Post #422: do you need a marijuana prostitute immediately? [March 28th, 2006]
LMAO I remember taking a photo of this sign in Yow Chuan Plaza (Plaza Ampang), I wonder if it's worth submitting to that engrish site?

Post #433: a self-tag :D [April 3rd, 2006]
... where I participate in a meme which asks random questions like color of underwear currently being worn, do you have a mental disease, and did you dream last night. Powerful stuff!

Post #443: 100s of stuff :-) [April 7th, 2006]
In the "look what I found..." category: a small collection of random discoveries on the 'net.

Post #453: What, me? Normal? [April 11th, 2006]
... where I make some scathing observations about the HR dept of my former place of employment, then move on to some on-air boo-boos: would you think of salt or talcum powder then you're given a hint of something white that your husband might sprinkle on his eggs?

Post #463: I'm front! [April 15th, 2006]
Fresh after participating in the Lost Blogs thingy, I catch up with some "look what I found..." links on the 'net.

Post #473: Sunday’s deep thoughts [April 22nd, 2006]
... a tmi post about bowel movements and grey hair!

Post #483: You sure it's Ethanol and not Methanol in there? [April 29th, 2006]
... where I speculate on the quality of some mega cheap booze I saw on the shelves of a local supermarket.

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I sure hope that veteran and new readers alike are taking the time to explore some of the links above... there are some gems hidden among the fluff, I assure you! :D

"Normal" programming will recommence once we're done with this recap... another two or three posts' worth, I think... hang in there!! :D

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#1001: Life after Work -- every 10th post from Oct 2005->Feb 2006!

Today we continue to celebrate the quantity, if not quality, of my posts at Life After Work.

For some reason I'm inspired to do some math: 1000 divided by 4.5 years oh wait let's go by months, so divide 1000 by 54, and that gives an average of 18 posts a month. Not too shabby!

... if you take into consideration the additional 320+ posts in my other blogs, my average posts per month skyrocket to about 24!

Anyways: let's continue reviewing every 10th post, starting from where we left off in Sept 2005 up until I had to head back to Malaysia in Feb 2006. Enjoy!

[image credit: calculator by blumik]

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Post #162: It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's super-Cage?! [October 4th, 2005]
A short post about what Nicholas Cage decided to name his son.

Post #172: not Aaron, just a blog on Spelling :-) [October 13th, 2005]
Where I ramble on a bit about spelling, or the lack thereof, on many blogs.

Post #182: you reap what you sow! [October 18th, 2005]
A rant that ends with "I'd rather to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all."

Post #192: Catching up : October 19 - 20 2005 [October 26th, 2005]
Painfully mundane minutiae about some of my days in Switzerland (this trip would be the last that I spent time with my Grandma - she passed away about a year later).

Post #202: happy deepavali [November 1st, 2005]
A navel-gazing entry of randomness

Post #212: take the weather with you [November 6th, 2005]
Contains a weather report and a book report.

Post #222: Poser Schmoser #1 [November 10th, 2005]
Where I take a situation from my past, and mull over it publicly.

Post #232: schmitibank the inflexibles rigidities [November 30th, 2005]
Ah yes... a rant about canceling my credit card from afar, and how unnecessarily drawn-out a process it turned out to be...

Post #242: 2hr 53m 20s and counting [December 10th, 2005]
A short post while I struggled to recover from a bad cold. What those numbers mean? Click and find out :D

Post #252: pie in the sky? [December 21st, 2005]
A throwaway post reporting a blogthings quiz.

Post #262: urban legend chain e-mails: verify verify verify! [January 1st, 2006]
This rant was great to publish, then it turned into a handy reference to point people to, those who were guilty of passing on e-mails without even attempting to verify the veracity of the contents. A recommended read :)

Post #272: One time, back in Band Camp... [January 10th, 2006]
A short post bemoaning the rapidly deteriorating American Pie franchise.

Post #282: Effects of the Ferrari-less Monk [January 13th, 2006]
Where I review The Monk who sold his Ferrari - a book recommended to me by one of my ex-bosses. One word: disappointing!

Post #292: Kosh is President for the day! [January 20th, 2006]
Birthday wishes to Kosh.

Post #302: star stuff [January 28th, 2006]
It starts off with a quote of Delenn from Babylon 5, and goes on to explore what else but star- (and space-) related stuff.

Post #312: I'm a survivor! [February 3rd, 2006]
A throwaway post about yet another online quiz.

Post #322: Star Trek; New Voyages [February 12th, 2006]
I'll have to re-explore the link in this one: I remember finding this "continuation of ST:TOS" as web episodes, but I'd not taken the next step of downloading/watching any of them.

Post #332: VD#6: the end of VD [February 14th, 1006]
VD in this case referring to Valentine's Day, where I did a blog post marathon of sorts. This particular post wraps up how I spent the day.

Post #342: Nohari & Johari windows [February 19th, 2006]
My last post in the USA! The next day I left for Malaysia for what would end up being SIX MONTHS away from Kosh. Yikes! Anyways, so this post was a request for those who knew me to fill in Johari and Nohari windows for me. Only Kosh helped out. Oh well. I'd suspected as much, but had to try.

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Once again, I do hope that veteran and new readers will take this opportunity to explore some of my past posts... there are some gems hidden among the fluff, I assure you! :D

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#1000: Life after Work -- 10% recap of Oct 2004-Sept 2005

This is my 1000th post on this blog 4.5-year-old blog.

1000th!!

Over the next few days, I'll be featuring every 10th post or so that I've churned out here at Life After Work, from #1 all the way to #991. For those who have been with me from the beginning, I hope you'll enjoy this little trip down memory lane with me; for those who have joined me more recently, here's your chance to dive into some my older posts without wading through page after page after page of archives - there are some gems awaiting you!

Comments are still open - hint hint! :D

Enjoy!

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Post #1: ... the (threat of a) pen is mightier than ... ? [October 4th, 2004]
Back in October 2004, getting ready to up and leave everything in Malaysia to see if the connection between Kosh and myself was going anywhere, I ran into frustrations at the Income tax office.

Post #11: … the idiot box rules o.k. ! [November 5th, 2004]
A few weeks into my time with Kosh and I'm already zoning out to all the tv -- what else to do? Totally burned out wrt work, and since I was there on a tourist visa I couldn't work anyway. So I watched tv and tortured the cat. Here I list some of the shows I was watching at that time.

Post #21: in and out... of touch [January 10th, 2005]
Three months into my "retirement", my thoughts drift to those I left behind… schoolmates, colleagues, friends: or those I *thought* were friends…

Post #31: Noritta Samsudin: Case closed? WTF? [January 31st, 2005]
Here I try to wrap my head around an improbable statement by a police chief about a murder investigation, its failed prosecution, and subsequent closure of the case.

Post #41: yes, i'm alive... and I need your feedback please! [March 23rd, 2005]
Here my thoughts are slowly turning to what I can move on to: yes, some healing from the trauma of work has actually happened!

Post #51: Aduuuuuuh, my feet hurt!!!! [April 12th, 2005]
Here I describe my pretty productive day, including my first ever reflexology session.

Post #61: SHORTCHANGED: They tried to pull a fast one on me!! [April 30th, 2005]
Ah yes... the whole "lawyers are pigs" saga... my blood still boils even after four years... I'll know better next time...

Post #71: ... a temporary solution ... [May 8th, 2005]
A continuation of the "lawyers are pigs" saga ...

Post #81: ... a medieval future [June 29th, 2005]
Where I discuss the works of Robert Jordan, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Isobelle Carmody; Stephen King; specifically their work that involves tales of a ‘medieval future’ of sorts.

Post #91: ENT Part 2: of stones and blues [July 12th, 2005]
I took a trip down memory lane, sharing my not-so-pleasant experience getting a stone in my salivary duct taken out. Funny thing is, some readers thought it was happening to me then and there. Part One starts with "Back in the late 90’s, ..." *rolls eyes*

Post #101: From "flesh&blood" to "metaphysical meteors"? [August 1st, 2005]
Here you get a glimpse of my not-so-conventional thinking. I blog about how much I enjoyed an Ancient Astronaut author, and how surprised I was to find out that he had done an about turn, from flesh and blood aliens to metaphysical meteors. Yikes!

Post #111: A hazy shade of Malaysia! [August 10th, 2005]
From the haze-free environment of Urbana, I sympathise with Malaysians suffering through a particularly nasty round of haze.

Post #121: ... of doors and mates? [August 19th, 2005]
One of my many "fluff" posts, where I talk about a blog about doors, and discuss a movement to ban the use of "Mate" in Australia.

Post #132: Malaysian Miscellany [September 1st, 2005]
Where I ramble briefly about some things Malaysian, what with it being Merdeka and all...

Post #142: a quick catching up! (Part 2) [September 13th, 2005]
Where I give a detailed accounting of our trip to Cleveland, with a surprise announcement right at the end!

Post #152: somewhere at the end of the rainbow... [September 20th, 2005]
Ah yes, one of my favourite, most colorful, posts! And it was all a set-up for the photo at the end!! You ~have~ to check it out!!

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Image credits:

• Hands Up Jumping by nookiez
• watching tv by romexico
• Foot Massage by aamag
• GoodReads
• my own photo

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#999: The Sims Serendipity

So last week, I came across this hilarious conversation between a Video Game Store clerk and a customer:

Customer: “How do you change the language setting on The Sims?”

Me: “Well, I’d imagine there’s something in the game’s options. What did you need to set it to?”

Customer: “English.”

Me: “Funny, I’d think that would be the default.”

Customer: “But I can’t understand them!”

Me: “Wait, you mean the Sims themselves?”

Customer: “Yes! They’re speaking French!”

Me: “No, they’re speaking Simlish. It’s a gibberish language.”

Customer: “Oh. Well, it sounds like French!”


[Source: (The Customer is) Not Always Right]

.
And today/last night (again, it's past midnight but I ain't sleeping yet, so...) Kosh pointed me to this little gem: a Star Trek parody using The Sims 3.


(found at The Awesomer)

I started laughing as soon as the voiceover started.

Ah yes, sometimes it really is fun to be a geek. nerd. whatever. :D

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#998: book disposal!

Over the past week or so, Kosh and I found the energy and motivation to go through his boxes and boxes of books, assessing what was worth keeping (for rereads, sentimental reasons, etc) and what really needed to go. ... . He's been harbouring his father's physical education text books from college, for heaven's sake!

... I'm groaning, and I'm a packrat myself!!

Anyways, so we had a few boxes of books, and figured we'd try to get some money back for them then donate the rest.

First stop was online: CKY Books and Powell's Books!

Punched in every single IBSN we had (and some books were so old they didn't have an ISBN!!), got some hits, took note of the titles and offers: so in theory we had about 30 books that would get us maybe $50. But that involved the hassle of packing the books, shipping them (at no cost to us), and hoping the evaluators would keep to the original quote upon seeing the condition of the books.

So we decided to go ahead and see what we could get from bookstores that are known to buy books here in town.

OMG the nightmare of making our way to Myopic!! Finding parking on a busy narrow street in the middle of a beautiful Saturday afternoon with seemingly everyone out on/in the streets enjoying the weather - f.u.n! They didn't take that many books, but offered $22 for what they would take. Tolak $7 for a book I found while browsing waiting for the evaluation to be done, we walked out $15 richer.

We then made our way to Powell's (no idea if it's related to the online one), and they took TWO books, for a measly $1.50. On hindsight, seeing as Powell's had more eclectic tastes, and that their payout seemed to be 75¢ per paperback instead of Myopic's 50¢, perhaps we might have done better to hit Powell's first? As it stood, what we got from Powell's served to cover the parking meters we'd had to feed at both locations.

After those two visits, we still had three rather full boxes of unwanted books - but guess what? We still had 13 books that we'd gotten hits for online! So we set those aside, and dumped donated all the rest to Goodwill.

Tomorrow/today/Sunday, we'll go ahead and reenter all those ISBNs, for reals this time, get the necessary labels printed and books packed, and off to the Post Office we will go.

Once the dust has settled, and we get the/any $ from those online buy-back sites, I'll report back as to whether we might have been better off just shipping off the 30 books before bringing the others to be evaluated at the local bookstores.

... so, how about y'all? Have you done something like this too? Was it worth the effort?

(Photo credit: Old books... by nkzs)

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#997: My niece and I

Here's the cop-out post of the week... I'm gonna hope it features such a cutie that y'all just absolutely MUST drop me a comment to coo over me my niece...

Here's me at 18 months

Here's my niece at 10 months

... hmmm... serupa tak? :D
she's got SO much hair compared to me!

... and here's me attempting to pack my niece in my suitcase, back in March:

Lil' Ms Drooliana

... Have a good weekend!

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#996: A wink at Firefly :)

For your weekend enjoyment:

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:


Part Four:


Part Five:


Source: xkcd - A Webcomic (Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five)

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#995: May the Fourth be with You!

May the Fourth Be With You!
Originally uploaded by chandelirious

... today is

STAR WARS DAY!

Get it? Get it??

:D

May the fourth be with ...

.. oh never mind.

I like the pun.

:p

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#994: Review of books read in April 2009

My tally for last month's reads is atrociously low:

TWO.

Only two!!! Why? How did this happen??!! Because of "The Ghost in Love". Ugh. I read one chapter, set it down, and didn't pick it up for a week. Then did another chapter, set it down again, and again left it to gather dust.

Seriously, though. The idea is good. Something is happening: people who are supposed to die are NOT dying, thus throwing the folk in charge of the afterlife into disarray. Thing is, the "normal" system that the author has envisioned is already kinda weird, with a ghost that comes in to finish up your unfinished business once you die and go to wherever it is you go in that version of the afterlife. Then add to that the disarray. I wondered if this would have been better presented as a cartoon, and watched while under the influence of LSD. Yeah, that weird. It just didn't hook me.

Strangely enough, reading the other reviews on GoodReads, so many people are totally gushing over Mr Carroll and his work in general, and The Ghost in Love gets a lot of praise too. Hmmmm. I might give this guy one more chance.

Someday. No rush!

... So after I was finally done with that (took about a month!!), I could move on to other things... like:

Body Surfing. Another book with an interesting, different, unique premise. I think I'm a prude, though, because I didn't quite appreciate how sex and orgasms were so vital to the whole thing :p (I finished this in the wee hours of May 2nd, so it doesn't count toward the April tally, though!)

... and ...

Joey Yap's Bazi The Destiny Code Revealed - Delve Deeper into the Four Pillars of Destiny. Yeah, research for my side project. I'm dabbling a little in this method of Chinese luck forecasting, or destiny analysis.

I found this book to be more detailed, more systematic, more readable, and ultimately more easily understood than the similar work by Lillian Too. Reading it once is of course not enough, I'll continue to be flipping back to it while I figure out how to frikkin interpret the charts :p

To see my full reviews of these books and others that I have read over the years, come and join me at GoodReads.com. By joining, and being signed-in, if you click on the images above you should be taken to the book's page on GR, and scrolling down a little you'll see the section of "Friends' Reviews", and that's where you'll my two cents (or sen).

Ciao!

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