Nothing beats seeing a good 'ol friend again ....

I thought it would never arrive, the day Elle was due to be back in KL/PG but when it's here, it's going by so quickly! Elle got into KL on 20.04 and I went to meet her & Melinda at Alexis in the late evening - though I had conjunctivitis and still having it. Boy - was it good to see her! The last I met up with her was in Sept/Oct '05.

She still looks the same as ever - cute & pretty. We catch up and chatted, shopped for a bit and went to fill her in on her cravings. I haven't realised how much I missed talking to her till now. We proceeded to Mont Kiara/Desa Sri Hartamas as there were a few boutiques to check out and also to get a taste of 'Wan-tan-mee' as my dear friend is craving it dearly. But sad to say, those in Pg tasted better. We were both really tired, for me due to my eyes condition and for her due to her travelling hours.

She spent a night at my place and it was nice having her around - someone to talk nonsense with and discuss about clothes, shoes, bags and boys! But we didn't really chatted much till Sat morning. Then we went off on a piggin' session for dim sum at Quality Hotel. Such a bargain RM24.50 - eat all you can! and the best of it all - it's halal. I'm so gonna bring my Malay colleague there.

I'm missing Elle already .... :-(

[pic: Elena and I at the flea market @ The Curve]

Farewells and Adieux

I suppose it's true when they say turnaround in large firm is speedy. I'm losing most of my colleagues in favour of greener pastures. Comparing since Janvier 2007 till now, there has been about 10 or so that has tendered in their resignation and a few of them which I have grown close to and became fond of.

Sometimes life can be cruel but nonetheless, educational. Friends and people come and go and there is not much one can do but to cherish the times shared and stores memoirs altogether.

Hui Yun will be leaving SLB soon and as much as I am sad to see her go, I wish her all the best in her future undertakings. We will miss you dearly!

[pic: Sheryl, I and Hui Yun at Souled Out]

I am absolutely beyond tired but this issue has been on my mind for quite a considerable amount of time.

I get it everytime I'm driving and it flows melancholy outta my mind when I stop driving but lately, it has been bugging me to the point of irritation that I feel such a need to rant about it. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but the road conditions in Malaysia is absolutely abominable and utterly atrocious. My opinion anyway.

There are millions and zillions of potholes and broken edges all over, even on the major roads. How can one enjoy driving or at least to drive in a smooth manner, even if not in an enjoyable manner. KL has such a wide market for employment and almost everyone from all over differential states travel to KL each day for work purposes, amongst other things. All the highways and freeways are interstate linked and yet the roads are in such a bad condition. Needless to say the conditions regarding non-major roads.

Potholes are considered dangerous (especially when one is driving in a speedy manner) when they are vertically sided, and if more than 20mm deep, with a greater than 0.1 sq. m in principal road carriageways and 50mm deep in non-principal road carriageways. I find these conditions frequently when I'm driving, be it local or back to Penang. On top of that, it's also bad for tyres and suspension system. This conditions are even apparent when road works has just been completed. Unbelievable! You will find many broken edges and potholes on the very same road regardless of the fact that road works had previously been carried out. Can't the Councils just get it right !?

Perhaps some of you may think 'Welcome to Asia' or that I'm just a whinging cow but honestly, I think our local Council really ought to maintain a better and sound system on road maintenance as to enhance a facilitative manner to control the efficiency of our local traffic management and more importantly to increase a preventive measures to safeguard th normal occurence of accidents. And exactly what is what is road maintenance anyway. There are a number of activities which are classified as road maintenance, amongst other things to fix potholes, rough patches, broken edges, recoating of bitumen and concrete surfaces so as to render our road conditions reasonably safe to drive.

. . . recently caught Shinobi on DVD - Tartan Asian Film. I loved everything about this film. It has excellent cinematography, lush and beautiful landscape and cast that you can fall in love with. Like all Asian films, it's basically about martial arts, namely Ninjitsu (did I spelt that right ?) Two clans are at war and typically, a courageous man and a beautiful woman fell deeply in love . . . each belonging to the other clan. They are periodically, separated by the war and so much more . . . and the fighting scene has been superbly chereographed. If you haven't seen it already, it might be worth making your time for it . . .