My American Dream

Going for a spin in Oklahoma with my rental car and handy GPS...

2010-06-12T01:33:00.003+08:00

When travelling, I have usually relied on tour buses, friend's transport or public transportation to get around. But this time around I decided to rent a car and drive around myself. I'm glad I did. For one, it's very convenient when I feel like going out on the spur of the moment and I can just drive myself to that destination. Second, with my GPS I could go anywhere without needing to refer to anybody for suggestions. I won't even be lost! ;D The GPS allowed me to time my visits and I was able to visit a lot of places in just a day and a half. Some of the places I went to were the Sam Noble Natural History Museum, the Sooners Mall, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the Beacon of Hope, 45th Infantry Museum, National Cowboy and Heritage Museum, and finally the Overholser mansion. This car you see in the picture was a Hyundai Elantra, which I got from Enterprise Rent-a-car. For just $19.99 per day, it's not a bad ride. ;D The only thing you have to ponder over is the coverage. I didn't take any coverage at all. :P Probably not a good idea since Oklahoma is well known for its hale storm, tornado storm, snow storm, earthquake and who knows what else. I saw a car drove by that had hundreds of dents on top of its roof. The hale rocks my friend told me were like the size of my palm!!! :O So, just be sure to take the right coverage that way you can rest easy.

Food trucks...

2010-04-15T02:31:00.007+08:00

In Malaysia, we have vendor stalls like Ramli burger or some tiny stall set up in pasar malams that sell all kinds of different delicious food. Here, they have food trucks. I find it interesting that it's such a big hit here that people would drive all the way to where the food truck is going to be and line up for the food. I guess I should mention the special thing about this food trucks is that they sell gourmet food.

Recently, I've had the chance to sample a few food trucks at Abbot Kenney, Venice Beach. Some of the ones I tried that were simply 'got-to-have-it-again' were the red velvet with chocolate chip and the yam pancakes. It was amazing! I posted more photos in my Facebook album if you're interested to see how it is.

The problem I feel with these food trucks is that they are not always at the same location. You have to Twitter them or check their page for their current location. :P Click here for a link of all the food trucks out there in the market.

The price is reasonable I suppose, although one time I spent like $6 for a Dogzilla!! :O It was good, but still...

When you just want to meet up...

2010-04-05T01:11:00.002+08:00

Sometimes it's just hard to find friends with common interests that you want to meet up with like say for boardgames, chat about manga and anime and stuff like that. So, one day, out of sheer boredom, I decided to google for maybe groups in Glendale or around the area with similar interests that I could meet up with. I found meetup.com and a sense of hope and excitement overcame me.

Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. All one has to do is type in the kind of interest group they are looking for, join it and then meet up whenever they have anything scheduled.

So far, I've been to one meetup with a hiking group at Griffith Park and it was tones of fun! I just need to buy my hiking boots and plan my schedules and then I'll be going semi-regularly for hikes now. I met a lot of new and interesting people during the hike and can't wait to meet more.

Yesterday, I went to my second meetup with a Pasadena Boardgame group. The organizer of the group has the session in her gorgeous house every first Saturday of the month. There are plenty of space and food is available with money contribution from everybody. They also plan to go on convention trips, which I'm eager to join once I know all the details in advance.

So, thank goodness for Meetup.com!!!

New car, more places to go...

2010-03-15T03:18:00.003+08:00

So, it's been more than 2 weeks now since I've had my car :D More than 2 weeks since I've used my bike. Although I'm not excited about the added expenses (I estimate for now approximately $200 extra per month), having a car to drive does bring a sense of independence I've not had for a long time.

What prompted me to get a car after 2 years of braving the cold night air at midnight and being burnt under the hot summer sun in the afternoon? Hmm, I guess it came about when I started driving again when I went back to Malaysia for a visit. The feel of the wheel in my hands, being in control and going distances beyond 2 miles was unbelievable. Nevermind the fact that I had to go through the ridiculous traffic jams on Federal Highway and Subang Jaya. I miss driving.

So, when the opportunity came that a colleague of mine was selling her car for $2000, I knew I had to get it. It was easier than I expected. Since I already have a driver's license, it was a matter of signing and getting the 'pink slip' or Certificate of Title from the owner and have it transfered to my name at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) or even at the AAA office, which I did together with my auto insurance.

Getting an auto insurance however turned out to be a little trickier. Apparently, while I was asking for a quote, I needed to present 3 years worth of traffic report from my country. And for Malaysia, according to the agent, the only way to get it was through an attorney??? Not sure if it was true but it sounded almost impossible to get right away. If you have the time, perhaps somebody back home could get the necessary documents. Since I didn't have that option, he proceeded to forward my case to their carrier, Infinity, which was affiliated with AAA. Another plus to get a discount for the insurance is if you have more than a year's worth of driving experience in California plus driving experience back from your country. They also calculate based on the car you're driving. Mine is a 1995 Honda Civic DX 3 doors hatchback. With all of that taken into account, my insurance per month came up to $108. I also needed to pay for the AAA club membership which was another $49 per month.

At the moment my $20 fuel hasn't finished. So, with that, $200 per month expenditure. Sigh...But, since then, I've visited a friend's house, gone for late night movies and hiking! ;D Now, I need to think of the car maintenance. The car needs a decent wash, oil and filter change and somebody to show me how to work the air pressure machine.

Watching Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010...

2010-02-18T02:29:00.005+08:00

I wonder why nobody I know seem to be interested in this Olympics. Yesterday, I tuned in to the Biathlon event where it involved cross-country skiing and shooting. And today, there was the Curling event involving driving a huge round stone down the ice floor to a target. It's something different and who knows what other winter sports I've never heard of before. Another event I'm interested to watch but unfortunately I'm working at that time, is Luge. Seems like a wild ride kinda sport but interesting to watch nonetheless...

Two rainbows!!! :D

2010-02-11T03:39:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, as was predicted, it rained. But for some reason, I didn't feel as gloomy as I normally do on days like this. Maybe it's because I was reading my favorite manga online. Or maybe it's because I kept myself preoccupied enough not to look out of the window. But what certainly lifted up my spirits was the sight of two rainbows as I was working! A kid pointed it out to me and I could just kiss him! The inner one was much clearer and vivid while the other was a fainter reflection of the first one. Too bad I didn't have my camera phone with me. Here's a sample picture of how it looked like. Now, I may have just found a reason to like rainy days...

Super Bowl 2010!!!!

2010-02-08T16:17:00.003+08:00

I didn't really think much about this event until Daniel mentioned that he was going to a friend's party to watch it. After that, I seemed to be hearing a lot of my colleagues talking about it and it got me curious. I am not a football fan, but since I had the day off, I thought to myself, why not watch it as well?

The Super Bowl feels like a second Christmas Day to Americans it seems. Laura's family came over to cook food and watch the Super Bowl. I helped peel the chicken for the enchiladas her mum was making. Beers were handed out. I had one and also the alcoholic lemon beverage that I didn't finish from December...;D There was also some cake and ice cream for dessert.

Despite not knowing the rules of the game, the football match was surprisingly fun to watch. I guess I'm a little bit of a sports person that I could appreciate the efforts the atheletes make to reach their goal. I saw the player from New Orleans Saints run for a touchdown and my heart cheered for them. I guess I already picked my team cause they seemed to be the underdog of the two teams. ;D And when they won against Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, I was happy for them.

The commercials were fun to watch too. One of my favorite ones was the Dorito's ad. Here's a link of it:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9bRSM4EbLFw%26feature%3Drelated&h=9f73cf9e5b81c577c682a98c00e5b926

I'm glad I took the time to enjoy the Super Bowl. Now I'm looking forward to watching future football matches and maybe even baseball or basketball matches. Lol!

Hmm...interesting....;D

2010-02-03T16:54:00.002+08:00

Interesting things have occured lately at work and it's always during the days I'm off. Why is that?

The first one was a 14 year old couple having sex in the women's restroom. Two of my colleagues discovered them (hard not to, I suppose) and after an hour of waiting them out, they were escorted out of the store. Needless to say, they were embarassed and won't be coming back again. lol

The second one was a suspect evading the cops that were chasing him at the Americana mall and finally arrested when he was cornered on the 8th floor of the parking structure.

For the video go to:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3998595/dangerous-car-chase-in-ca/?playlist_id=87249

Here's an article on it from LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/car-chase-suspect-caught-in-glendale-americana-at-brand-mall-garage.html

I suppose I wouldn't want to be around for the chase. I heard that the mall was shut down for 3 hours because of it. :P

What will the year 2010 bring me?

2010-01-28T17:29:00.003+08:00

Finally back to blogging after HOW MANY MONTHS!!!!! ;D I know, I know...might as well accept the fact that I'm not very consistent in this since there's Facebook updates. lol

Anyway, I thought I should get back to blogging again (yeah, right!) and welcome the new year with a few updates! ;D

First and foremost, I'm going to be getting a car by Feb 27! I know this person and she is going to sell me her car for $2000. It's a 1995 Honda Civic Hatchback DX with a 134, 000 mileage. Note, the picture is not her car. Just a sample of how it looks like. ;D I'm thinking ok-lah. I'm not that picky and I just need a car to get around more. Being stuck in Glendale within a 5 mile radius is pretty boring. ;D Time to venture out more. It's also part of my plan to get myself transferred from this current branch a real possibility.

Next, I'm thinking of repainting the bedroom walls to a brighter color. Possibly a lighter shade of blue and then rearranging the furnitures to make some change.

Year 2009 had some good and bad times but it's all in the past and now moving on to 2010!!! Time to make some changes!!! :D

Summer is over!!!

2009-09-17T02:55:00.006+08:00

This summer hadn't been as hot as it was last year. I guess it's due mainly to the fact that I made full use of my window fan instead of conserving electricity, wore clothes that's better suited to the weather and making smart decisions on when to go home from my workplace that has a/c.

Eventhough, summer hadn't been that bad for me, unfortunately for some it had been horrible. Several forest fires happened up north of California and I could see the smoke billowing into the skies like clouds of mushrooms. Almost every day, one could hear the fire trucks blaring their sirens as they raced to some destination where a possible fire was happening. It was also sad that in their line of duty, 2 firemen perished to contain the fire. My prayers to their family and loved ones.

Another good thing with the summer coming to an end is that there are lesser spiders around now. :D I guess they've ended their cycle and died out. Now, the next thing to look forward to is my plan to visit the Los Angeles Zoo this autumn, Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween!!!

Exploring HK Market...

2009-08-22T12:07:00.007+08:00

After our earlier sprint to China Town, Daniel thought of searching for asian markets in Glendale. He came up with a link today directing me to this place called HK Market. It's a Korean market selling all things Korean.

I figured, why not go check it out. It was pretty easy to get there. All I had to do was walk to Brand St. get on Metro bus 92 pay a $1.25 fare and stop at Glenoaks-Pacific Ave crossroad. I made a mistake of stepping off the bus too early. But it was just a short distance walk.

It turns out that I've cycled past this market before on my way to the DMV building in Glenoaks. :D Anyway, inside the place I found a lot of stuff that an ordinary supermarket would carry accept that it's Korean stuff. The extra new stuff that I saw there were like fried fish cake stuff for soup, kimchis, soy bean products, noodles from Korea, snacks from Korea and one oddest thing in a can...canned silk worms :P Ugh, not sure if I want to try that...

After going through the shelves, I finally settled on buying things I could carry home. Noodles and snacks to bring to work :D As you can see from the picture, there are plenty of snacks I want to try. ;D hehehe I wonder how the sesame and black soy bean drink will taste like. Hopefully, delicious. ;9

After that, I stopped by at their bakery place to buy this cute looking sponge cake and also a chocolate crumb cake :D

Yay, long holiday!

2009-08-07T13:49:00.002+08:00

I decided to take leave from Aug 3-10 in conjunction with Daniel's arrival so that it could be like a long holiday for me too. It's only 3 days vacation leave taken and the rest are my regular off days. So, there should be plenty (relatively) of remaining leave left to take to go back to Malaysia. :)

Daniel arrived from his long flight at about 11.30pm at my place. He wasn't feeling too good because at the last few hours he suffered from motion sickness. He didn't take the motion sickness pills because throughout most of the flight he felt he didn't need it. Thinking about the grueling hours of flight makes me feel sick too...

Anyway, the next day was spent mostly walking around to the mall. We visited Target to get a rough idea of what he should get for his room. We ate at the Glendale Galeria foodcourt at this Hawaiian BBQ place. Next, we bought two dvds to take advantage of the discounted coupons for the movie Bruno that Daniel wanted to see.

The second day was spent resting in the house surfing the net with our laptops (Daniel was using his netbook). I cooked lunch, which consisted of mushy brown rice (too much water), black sauce scrambled eggs with garlic, bak choi with prawns dish and seasoned (too salty as it turned out) fried fish. Later, we walked to the Pacific theatres for our movie. Had a little bite at Jodi Maroni's sausage stand.

Bruno was...what's the word...hmm, not sure if I can find a word for it actually. I'm just speechless. Suffice to say that, I think watching it once is enough for me. It is funny that nobody realizes who this actor really was and that the responses that people are giving in this movie is actually for real. Even the terrorrist! The most bizarre scene has got to be the one where Bruno was 'kissing' his 'ghost' friend in front of the psychic. I've never seen a goodbye kiss done quite the way he did in that show...;D

Tomorrow we're going to try to head down to China Town. ;D I think I have it down all in the map of Metro's bus and train services...if not, as back-up, I asked Daniel to bring along his netbook to search for info wherever there's free wifi.

The world of netbook!

2009-08-03T11:04:00.003+08:00

A few days ago, Daniel's Dell Inspiron mini 10v arrived. :D Daniel decided to get this a temporary measure for his university purposes until he get a proper desktop. Meanwhile, his brand new Dell desktop computer sits at home in DJ, collecting dust...unused...untouched...unloved...sob.

Anyway! :D I've been testing it out for him and it's working super fine :D Not as fast or powerful as my laptop but the good thing about it is its size, mobility and long lasting battery power (5-6 hours?) Ah, so jealous...

Now, all there's left is to wait for Daniel to arrive and collect it! :D

Went to fix my bike...

2009-07-01T04:22:00.003+08:00

A few days ago, the wire for my front brakes of my bike snapped. I could still ride on it but with only the back brakes to slow the bike. Yesterday, I thought of going to that bike shop near my place to fix it but unfortunately it was closed for some reason. So, today I called and it was open! :) So, off I went...

At the shop, this old rather portly guy but with a kind face told me that he had to go to Arizona to open his museum. It's a bike museum that would contain his antique bikes that he has been collecting. I thought that was rather cool and interesting. Maybe one day I would visit the place.

As he was working, there was this cat sleeping on his table. Its tail was flicking every now and then. According to him, it's a stray cat that's been around for almost 7 years. He calls it Hissy because when it first came, it always hissed at anything. Now it didn't even budge from its sleep when the guy poke and prod him. lol. Cute. ;D

Finally, after a nice talk with the guy, having met his free loader Hissy, my bike was fixed. It cost me $12.

Anime Expo 2009!!!!!

2009-06-26T05:31:00.008+08:00

The last few days I've been planning my day trip to the Los Angeles Convention Center for the Anime Expo 2009 that's happening on July 2-5. Originally, I had planned to go with an ex-colleague of mine from work but due to my work schedule I was unable to join her for the dates she picked out. I had almost decided to skip this year when some corner of my mind urged me to try and get a shift changed so that I could make it to at least a day of the convention. So, thank my lucky stars, I managed to get July 2nd off, which is the first day of the convention! Woo-hoo!!!

I've bought the ticket online: http://www.anime-expo.org/ It costs me $30 for the ticket. Not too bad for I think the biggest anime-manga convention in the country. :D hehe As for how I'm going there, I decided to get a TAP card and travel through the Metro bus and rail to my destination. Will talk about that how that goes later.

As for this TAP card, it's supposedly a card that represents money that you can use either on the bus or train that supports this service. I'm not too clear on how it works and the lady at the store I bought it from was confusing me a little bit.

TAP card website: http://www.taptogo.net/

From my understanding, that card can be used to store cash and passes (day, weekly or monthly passes). Apparently I bought a day pass when all I wanted was to store money in it to pay for my rides. Since it's a day pass, would the balance of the money still remain in the card? Again, I will talk about this card later. ;D

Now, for my Anime Expo excursion...should I dress up? :D I mean, everybody going there would most likely wear a costume...;D But I'm embarrassed to...maybe I'll go check out a store at Glendale Galeria to see if there's anything remotely anime like shirts to wear on that day...

Took a walk up and down Central Avenue and Brand Boulevard...

2009-06-12T02:06:00.003+08:00

Feeling extremely bored one morning, I decided to pick up my camera and start exploring the streets where I live. Some of the places I saw I've seen before. But for the sake of documenting it and letting my family and friends see what's there, I've uploaded it onto my Facebook account. You can check it out there.

On Central Avenue there's just plenty of commercial and office buildings. But as for Brand, there's definitely plenty of restaurants to try if you have the money for it. Half-way down, I spotted the chess park. . There are 41 public parks in Glendale that I'm planning to visit. The north part of Brand contains the restaurants. Due south are the cars: Honda, Chevrolets...

The entire walk just took about 1 hour and a half. I think on my next off day I will explore a little bit of San Fernando and Loz Feliz and some parks...

Kogi truck...

2009-05-22T00:46:00.006+08:00

Yesterday, my former colleague decided to take me to Eagle Rock to eat Korean BBQ tacos. It's not at some restaurant but it's from a truck, namely the Kogi Truck. :) This is their logo.

These Kogi trucks use Twitter to let people know when and where they are going to be. It is so effective and their food is so popular that a lot of people actually come to line up in advance! When we reached the spot where it would be, there were already a bunch of people lining up.

The food that they serve is basically tacos and burritos filled with Korean style fillings. I had Spicy Pork and Short Ribs tacos. The tacos are the soft types and relatively smaller than a Taco Bell's taco shell but they did give two of those shells. The vegetables in it are mostly cabbages. But what's delicious is the meat and sauce. ;9 Not bad, really.

So far, they only have two trucks. But because business is doing good, they are getting a third one. They had better cause they are getting popular! I wouldn't mind going to them instead of Taco Bell if only they were more convenient to go to. I had to take a bus to reach them! :P And when I'm hungry, that's a hassle...

An update...

2009-04-22T02:07:00.004+08:00

Since my last post, I've gone for my driving test and passed it. I've even received my driver's license! ;D The driving test was okay but the main points deducted were because of my speed and my lack of stops at the junctions. In regards to my speed, I was beeing careful with how fast I turned cause my instructor said that I turn too fast. Looks like the examiner thought differently. As for the lack of stops...hmm, maybe a 1 second stop was too short a time...

Anyway, apart from that, work is fine. But I am starting to find myself having some issues with the management. I know it's the same everywhere, but it's still a little frustrating to bear at times. The only consolation is that I'm not the only person that feels that. lol...

I have read quite a number of books also. There was a considerable amount of books that I bought during Christmas time and now I'm left with 23 more books to go. :D The last one I read was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, which was rather...interesting to say the least.

I also recently finished watching True Blood. Originally, I had read the first two novels of Charlaine Harris when I was back in Malaysia. But I stopped because at that time the third book wasn't out yet and forgotten about it after that. When the tv series appeared on HBO and after watching it, I got the feeling that the story is somewhat different. So, since there are algether 8 novels now and one coming in in May, why not read the books to see how different it is. At the moment, I have the library email me when the books are available. Going to pick up 2 of them today afternoon. :) Oops, looks like my books on my shelf would have to be neglected again temporarily. hehehe

Not sure whether I mentioned it here, but I also got myself a new laptop. It's a gaming laptop and supposedly allows you to play the latest graphic intensive games out there in the market. However, my laptop seems to be having moments of freezing displays. I've emailed Gateway (that's the brand of my laptop) about it and they say base on my information, it could be because of the game. It happens a lot whenever I play Left 4 Dead and Mass Effect. I've begun to accept that maybe despite its stated system capabilities that exceed requirements of the game, it would still be at its limits when it's so graphically intensive. :P Because old games don't seem to cause the same problem.

Also, my credit card was apparently involved in a fraud activity. The bank froze the account so I called them to find out what happened and after some verification of my last purchases, they determined that one of the purchases made through the card was some kind of fraud. So, they've sent me a new card to replace it and I have yet to use it. Hmm, how does one determine whether an online website is legit and safe to use? :P

Lastly, I've been receiving a lot of unknown calls on my cellphone. Every time I pick it up, there's not reply on the other side and it ends after a few seconds. I don't know how to block it since the number doesn't show. Right now I've resorted to just not answering it at all. If I change my phone number, I lose my current phone plan, which is the cheapest one out there and can't be found anymore since it was a promotion at that time.

Well, that's it for now until I find something interesting to blog about. lol

Driving lesson...

2009-03-17T02:44:00.005+08:00

So, after 10 months of procrastination, I finally decided to take some driving lessons. I guess, after the vacation I had recently, I felt there was enough motivation to get going to do what needs to be done before the permit expires in May. lol

Anyways, today was my first 2 hours driving lesson. They charge $40 per hour and I used the option of having a female instructor and she picking and dropping me off. First thing I noticed, was that I should have slept much MUCH earlier cause I had trouble concentrating on what the instructor was telling me as I drove due to lack of sleep. Because I had to focus extra attention to what she's saying, I was breaking a lot unnecessarily.

Second thing I noticed was, I should have refreshed my memory THOROUGHLY on the driving rules like the lights, turnings and signs so that most of my time spent with the instructor wouldn't be on explaining them. ^_^"" Oh well....but I will be more prepared next time. I definitely want to have at least one more lesson before I take the test.

There were a lot of adjustments I had to make while I was driving. :P Almost at every street and turning, there were speed limits constantly changing between 25-40 mph. It was eye straining to look out for them. But note to self: after every turn, look out for them. We don't really have such things in Malaysia...

Other adjustments were the stop signs. The "all way" stop sign is pretty understandable. But if there isn't a sign like that below the stop sign, you have to stop before the pedestrian crossing and then inch out for a SECOND stop to see if cars are coming at a blind corner. But if you can see just fine, you don't have to make that second stop.

When making a turn into a lane or changing lanes, one HAS to exagerate when looking to the sides to check whether there's any incoming car or pedestrian.

The two things I was doing wrong, I think even by Malaysian standards, was when turning the wheel, my hand placements/ grabbing of the wheel and letting go were wrong. :P The hands must always go over the wheel not under. I used to grab under because I didn't want the wheel to run away if my hand slipped off. But by grabbing from under, it prevents me from making changes when I need to if in an emergency. I would get a minus point if that happens. :P The other thing I did wrong was not looking at the mirror before slowing down. ^_^""" I always thought that as long as I was still moving even at a slowing speed, the car behind me would still have time to compensate for the change.

A good thing to note is that during the driving test, if you don't look over your shoulder when changing lanes or turning, the examiner will fail you straight-away cause in reality that could have caused an accident and killed someone.

If only I have a program that would run simulations that I could practice. ;D I don't have a car to practice on so that's pretty difficult. During the test, I would have to rent a car from the driving academy and I'm planning to use my instructor's car since I'm learning and adjusting to that car.

My first US vacation...

2009-03-11T01:15:00.004+08:00

At my friend's encouragement, I decided to spend some money from my savings to go on a vacation with her. It was fun and it made me see how easy it is to just pack my bags and go exploring US. ;D

My first destination was Boston, MA. Because we only had 2 days in Massachusetts, we spent the first day just walking on the Freedom Trail. The whole trail was about 4 km and along the way one got to see a lot of historic sights and other major attractions. Although there were some attractions we missed due to lack of time, but it's definitely worth going on again just to be thorough. Plus, you'd never get lost. If you want to eat, you can go to Quincy Market or to the oldest restaurant in America (apparently, that's what they claim) called the Oyster Union House.

The train system here is pretty easy to understand. One must get hold of a Charlie Card. It's an empty card they put at the counter for you to use to put money in and then use to go through entry and exit points of train stations. Even if you don't have a Charlie Card, the machine would spew out a ticket for you. The only difference is the Charlie Card allows you to put in certain amount of money in it so you won't have to buy a ticket at every single station in case you need to change trains.

Salem, MA was our next destination on the second day. It was during this trip that I got to sit on a double decker train. :) We did a mistake of not checking whether the attractions were open. It seemed that they were all seasonal and would only open from April onwards. However, the Salem Witch Museum was open and it had an interesting tour that one should not miss.

To go to New York City, we chose to take the Amtrak train, which cost us $67 each. There were other alternatives but we wanted to experience the train service. However, not wanting to risk getting motion sickness, Ileft the exploring of the snack car to my friend. According to her, the only thing seperating the snack car and the train that's towing it was two black tarp-like materials that was always in danger of breaking away. As we were nearing our destination, I got to witness what she meant. One of the black tarps detached from the next car and whipped out. :P No way in hell am I going to try go to the snack car for a bag of Doritos...

New York City was like Kuala Lumpur. Smoky, congested, full of people and honking cabs. One day alone in NY was enough for me. :P We walked to Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central, Korea Town and to the Wicked Musical Theater. What seemed like the 4 km in Boston was just a 10 blocks radius of NYC. But luckily, I had practice and stamina walking since my job requires it. ;D lol Unfortunately for my companion, she ended up with sore feet.

New Jersey was a more pleasant and soothing place to visit. We went to Sandy Hook and had a look around town. However, I don't see much entertainment facilities here...:P I don't think I can stand driving to NY every time I feel like watching a movie...maybe they have it in other parts of NJ.

At the end of the 4 days trip (yes it was all in 4 days), I think I will come back again to Boston and New York just to be thorough with the attractions. :)

....x_x

2009-02-06T15:30:00.002+08:00

A few days ago, we had an unexpected visitor. It was morning and like all mornings, my housemate would get up to let the dogs out into the yard to take a leak. But this morning came with a surprise. I woke up with a start when I heard my housemate screaming for her dogs to come in. Not wanting to get up from bed and yet needing to find out what went wrong, I put on my bedroom slippers and opened the door.

What hit me in the nose was this horrible smell that I nearly gagged right there and then. Hurriedly, I closed the door again and took a deep breath before opening the door again. I saw my housemate in the toilet turning on the tap and calling for her dog Luna to come in. But Luna was hiding under her bed. I asked my housemate what happened and she said Luna got sprayed by a skunk!!!

Only having heard about a skunk, I never really knew how bad the smell could be. I'm telling you right now, it's really bad. It's a cross between strong onions and sour durian. It burns the eyes and throat whenever you breath in. The door to my bedroom was closed but after a few hours, the smell of the skunk spray had penetrated and even got into everything. My clothes, my bag, the carpet and the closet, everything smelled of skunk. x_x

Luckily, Luna was fine if not a little bit shaken by the incident. Joey the other dog just got a little bit of it but was equally distressed. My housemate went out to get bottles of tomato juice and some solution to counter the smell. Later on, she had somebody come in to professionally wash and vacuum the carpets in the house. All of our clothes were put into bags and left on the porch to be washed later. I had to air my pillows because it had a trace of the smell on them although not as bad as my clothes. I had work that day and had to bathe twice before I was satisfied that I could go to work. I called my boss in advance to prepare him for any skunk smell. Thankfully, I just smelled like food (the tomato must have done its job and masked the smell).

Now, my room smells reasonably okay. I had my scented oil burning and making the room smell nice. But the house still has that little bit of skunk smell left. If you just stepped into the house, you can smell it. But after a while it stops to bother you since you more or less get used to it.

You know what is the funny thing about this skunk incident? The previous morning, as I was cycling to work, I saw a skunk crossing the street and running to one of the residential houses. I wanted to take a photo of it to put it up on Facebook but it ran away so fast. I wondered to myself whether or not I would see it again. Looks like it paid me a visit.

It's that time of the year....

2009-01-27T16:39:00.002+08:00

What time of the year is it? Tax payment time...;D

Few days ago, I received the W-2 statement (equivalent to our E-1 statement back in Malaysia) together with my paycheck. This W-2 statement comes in 4 copies. 2 copies are to be filed with the employee's State, City or Local Income Tax return form, 1 copy to be filed with the employee's Federal Tax Return form and the last copy is for the employee's records.

Wondering how I'd fare I let my housemate use her Turbotax program that calculates how much tax I need to pay or how much tax I get refunded. Turns out I don't have to pay any tax nor do I get any refund. My company has paid my taxes for me. ;D lol

So, I don't have to file any taxes and I get to keep the W-2 statement all 4 copies of it. Boy, that was easy...

Fifty Nifty United States...;D

2009-01-08T12:10:00.003+08:00

So, I thought to myself how can I remember all the 50 states of United States of America, right? I printed out a map and pasted it in front of me above where my notebook is and glanced at it every day but I can't seem to get past memorizing the 3 states on the west cost. I know pathetic. ^_^" Geography was not my favorite subject. :P Anyway, I googled and I found this song that somebody suggested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivpUBvOeD1s&feature=related

Still not sure if it'll help but I sure can remember the "Fifty nifty United States...." part. hehe

Now to paste the list of states in alphabetical order....hmmm....if that doesn't help maybe getting a jigsaw puzzle and working it every day would...;D

Pepper spray self defense...

2008-12-29T08:52:00.002+08:00

Today, I thought it was high time I got myself a can of pepper spray. At the end of the day, I realized that it's actually not that easy to get pepper spray where I'm living. :P I checked Target and Albertsons. They don't have it. One suggested checking at a local pharmacy like CVS. Haven't gone there yet but maybe my next off day I'll go and check it out. When I reached home, I searched the net for pepper sprays. A handy key-chain type pepper spray can costs like $6-8. There's even one that looks like a gun but that one costs $80! :P Then I noticed something on their page. Pepper Spray Law....hmm, interesting.

http://www.guardian-self-defense.com/pepperspraylaws.htm

It would seem that some states have restrictions on pepper sprays. It's not illegal, but they have restrictions on the size and the strength of it. :P Gee, they protect the victim AND the criminal I guess. ;D Or maybe they don't want anybody accidentally spraying an innocent and cause permanent blindness, thus putting the victim as the criminal instead. lol

Wouldn't it be cool if I don't need the pepper spray? Wouldn't it be just awesome if I have super powers to protect myself like maybe super strength....hmm, no, I may accidentally rip off that person's limb. How about the ability to turn invisible? ;D Yeah!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

2008-12-26T08:33:00.004+08:00

It's Christmas Day! :D Merry Christmas to everyone! How's yours? I woke up this morning to a cold and cloudy morning. No snow but there's the rain. My housemate assured me that Albertsons would be open. Curious, I walked to Albertsons to find it, not surprisingly, closed. Of course.

Anyway, I'm just chilling in the house right now. Earlier on, I did plan to go with a colleague to visit somebody's house. But in the end, I felt lazy and decided not to.

The time now is 4.39 pm. I'm going to celebrate Christmas by watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with two of my colleagues and my housemate! Gosh, just look at those eyes, man! Makes me wonder how his kid is going to be like when all grown up.

What did you get for Christmas? My housemate gave me a plush throw and a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. And I got her a book that she wanted. Call me crazy but I can never get enough B&N gift cards! I had a $120 B&N gift card from Daniel and went crazy with it. A colleague of mine gave me a $20 B&N gift card just because I share the same birthday as her daughter. Right now, I have like 28 recently bought books to read, add another 6 books I brought with me from Malaysia that I've yet to read and another 2 books that I borrowed from the library. At this moment the only reason I'm not going into a book shopping frenzy is because I haven't found anything I wanted to read that I haven't already bought. ;D Any suggestions? hehehe

A visit to the Glendale Public Library...:D

2008-12-08T15:51:00.002+08:00

A colleague of mine has been wanting me to hurry up and finish reading this fantasy novel called A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin so that we could discuss it in our informal reading group book club. I think what is slowing me down and making me read other books instead of finishing it like I promised I would is that it lacks the fantasy elements that I so love. There isn't any magic, there isn't any special abilities. There's only political intrigue. Granted, it's interesting but it didn't motivate me to buy the next novel.

So what should I do? Then it hit me. ;D Why not borrow it from the library? Before, I didn't have any reason to borrow anything from the library but now I do! All it took for me to get a library card was to show some photo identification and proof of address and I was all set!

I looked around at the library books and found lots of books that I would borrow in the future! I look forward to it! ;D Whatever I don't feel like getting from Barnes & Noble, I would borrow instead. Excellent!

My first Thanksgiving Dinner in Santa Monica...:D

2008-11-30T13:41:00.004+08:00

Instead of staying cooped up, I decided to go to a friend's friend's house in Santa Monica for Thanksgiving. The experience, I suppose, wasn't all that different from a Chinese New Year dinner. :) Good food and plenty of nice and friendly people.

My friend, Jaime, invited me to go to her friend Elizabeth's house in Santa Monica. Elizabeth was her student. Jaime is a make-up artist that does make-up for celebrities. Cool job. ;D And thus, all her friends at Thanksgiving were either make-up artists themselves or working in the entertainment industry. Even cooler. I'm just a boring bookseller. Correction, I'm a head cashier. ;D lol

Anyway, at the house, there were little gifts placed on the table for us to mark our seating placements. It's also a magnet, which is now on the fridge. As you can see in the picture, my face isn't clear because the only picture they got of me was my profile photo on Facebook and it was too far away and it became pixeled and blur after they enlarged it. Jaime emailed the photo over but didn't know what it was for. Oh well, I can always replace the photo with a clearer one.

Each of us also wrote what we were thankful for on a plastic leaf. After that, we hung them on a branch for all to see. At the end of the day, we took our leaves back. Mine says "I'm thankful for my parents for supporting my decision and my boyfriend for encouraging me."

Food was fantastic. Elizabeth did all the cooking cause she loves to cook and also because she needed to make sure that the food were gluten-free since she's allergic to them. There was turkey and cranberry sauce, pumpkin pies, cookies, chocolate covered caramel on sticks, salad, croissants, vege dish, mashed potatoes, duck, fried rice, and bread pudding. Oh, there's chocolates as well. ;D hehe

Everybody talked about stuff at work and stuff in general. After dinner, we basically sat down and watched football and World's Dumbest Criminals and Black Friday moments. Black Friday was new to me. When I saw the stampede of customers rushing into the stores just to get little things like Elmo dolls, old used computers for $50, a chance to get to buy a $600 worth of electronics...I thought to myself, gosh, I should see what happens tomorrow at Americana! But when I went there the next day, nothing much happened. It was the usual weekend crowd on a Friday. Maybe I was there too late. ;D It was some time in the afternoon...

So, how was your Thanksgiving Day?

A wonderful invention! ^_^

2008-11-08T13:26:00.004+08:00

The reason I've always hesitated in shopping for work pants was because I would need to adjust the length. Normally back in Malaysia, my mum would take it to the tailor for me and it would be like RM5 per pants. Here, I'd have to take it to the nearest laundry where sometimes there would be somebody who'd be willing to do the adjustments. I hate having other people measuring me and then the hassle of bringing and collecting the pants just makes me feel lazy. And then it hit me! Why not do it myself??? :D

I went to Target and the cheapest sewing machine is like $15!!! I was about to buy this tiny looking sewing machine that you put on the table when my eyes caught sight of a peculiar looking model. It looked like a stapler but in fact it was a portable sewing machine in your hand. It's a dollar cheaper and only does the basic chain and straight patterns. But I figured, all I need it for is to adjust the length of my pants. So, I went and got it! ;D It comes with three different color thread wheels and a holder for a longer thread wheel. I also bought some pins and a sewing seam ripper (if that's what it's called). It operates on 4 AA batteries. You can also get an adapter to plug it to an electrical source. But I don't think it's necessary.

The first time I tried it it was pretty difficult because one hand would be holding it and the other would be pulling the material in the opposite direction. But after a while, I sort of got the hang of it and it looked pretty neat! Well, nobody is going to look at the stitches to check whether it's super straight so, it works!!! Saves me money in the long run too!!! And I won't have to hold myself back when I see a pair of pants that I want to buy in the future. :D hehehe

Happy Halloween!!!! ;D

2008-11-02T01:52:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was Halloween Day and I got to see people having fun dressing up in various costumes and going around trick or treating. At work, we were allowed to wear our costumes so long as it doesn't interfere with our work. Some of my colleagues came as a pirate, military officer, zombie, Heath Ledger's Joker, mechanic, Indiana Jones, Catholic school girls, and some just wore something that was related to Halloween like pins and stuff.

As for me, I bought two pins. ^_^ I couldn't decide on a costume to wear. The good quality ones were expensive and a tad too revealing while the cheap ones approximately $30 were basically cheap looking. :P I went scouting around at the nearby mall too but none of them were something I would like to wear. Since I didn't know how my colleagues were going to dress up as, I just decided to play safe. ;D

The Happy Halloween pin had blinking lights that I could turn on and off. My colleagues liked that. ;D I got if from a Hallmark shop. Unfortunately, the batteries can't be replaced. :P Oh well...The other one is a pin of a Scaredy Cat. hehehe The customers that came to the store also came in various costumes. I think the ones that looked the best were the kids. ;D They are just so adorable...There was a Mickey Mouse, Buzz Light Year, Transformers, a ninja, Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and Raggedy Anne. One kid came in wearing a Bleach anime character's costume (Death warrior) and that's when it hit me that I could have worn that to work!!! Oh well, there's always next year.....

Americana also had something for the crowd gathering at the courtyard. They set up a stage and because I had to work I could not really see what went on. Candies were given out. People were taking photos and there were decorations all over the place. Unfortunately, we did not give out any candies. A manager told us that we could get sued if anything happened to those kids that ate candies that could be spoiled. :P Geesh...

I've acquired the taste for tea...

2008-10-27T11:51:00.003+08:00

I was doing my groceries at Albertsons today when I came upon this new range of Lipton tea. What caught my attention was the shape of its tea bag. :D I think I've seen once before a tea bag in this shape. It might have been the tea bag given by a friend when she came back from her trip to Japan. Is that right, Daniel? Anyway, because of the shape and my recent acquired taste for tea, I decided to try out the chamomile and mint tea since it's suppose to be tea that helps you to sleep better. Maybe the way it was packaged and the color of the packaging aided in my decision as well. hehehe. When the tea bag was sitting in my cup of hot water, a soothing and minty smell was wafting from it. Not too bad. I can get used to it. But I can still feel the tension in my jaw after a while. :P It's suppose to be caffeine free so not sure what's causing the tension. Maybe it still has a small percentage of it in there. Or maybe the fact that it's still tea has something to do with it. Oh well...I wonder if I'm going to sleep well tonight without bruxism...hard to tell since I would be asleep when it happens. :P

Interesting....an official voter information guide...

2008-09-30T01:25:00.006+08:00

This morning I woke up to check the mail and I found this guide in the mail box. It's a mail distributed guide of about 145 pages long, for the public to view for the upcoming California General Election on Nov 4th 2008. This guide provides propositions made in detail like what it would mean if you voted yes or no and what are the pros and cons, an overview of the state bond debt, text of proposed laws, voter bill of rights, information pages on where to vote etc, and it even provides the secretary of state's website. When I saw this, I was impressed by the level of transparency and detailed information that they were willing to provide. I see this and then I think about my own country (well, there were maybe a handful of flyers, through politician's blogs and brief summary in the media), and I wish that similar practice could have been made. People would have been more enlightened and educated on what they are voting for...This goes to show that Malaysia still has a long way more to go...:P

Note: One proposition grabbed my attention. It was the proposition that eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. I wonder how that will turn out...:P

Meghan McCain...

2008-09-16T09:31:00.008+08:00

Today, Sept 15th 11 a.m., I was at an author's event, Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Senator and 2008 Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain. She wrote a picture book entitled "My Dad, John McCain".

She started off with an introduction of herself, as if anyone would not know who she is. ;D After that, she read the entire picture book. She then opened up the floor to any questions they might ask. And finally, the book signing and photo session began.

There was a fairly big crowd involving parents and their children. Among the crowd was an old guy that claims to be related to her through an aunt. ;D Not sure whether it's true, but that's what he tells everybody including Meghan McCain. There were 'bodyguards' stationed around her, always constantly pressing their fingers to the ear piece attached to their ears to "check this person out" or to "keep an eye on this person". There was this strange lady that didn't buy her book and just wanted her to sign on her notebook, which had lots of other scribbles on it. She wasn't smiling, dressed in all black and wore a pair of sunglasses. She looked rather suspicious to me and no surprise, she was one of the people that the bodyguards "had their eye on". ;D Nothing exciting involving bodily tackle happened though.

Lots of media people at the side and even a kid from Time Kids magazine came to do an interview with her. It was rather cute the way he held the mike and asks his questions that's prepared on a piece of A4 paper and as soon as she answers his question, he pulls the mike back quickly almost cutting her off, really, to ask the next question. You can tell he wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying but just focusing on smiling and laughing at appropriate moments and making sure he had asked all of his questions. There was a video camera on a stand right across from them.

It's also interesting to watch all the fans and supporters out there saying all the good stuff about her and her father. ;D But when I told my housemate who I met today and took a photo with, she couldn't care less since she's an Obama supporter and she hates Meghan. Oh well...

A pleasant day....:D

2008-09-10T13:22:00.006+08:00

Today I decided to head to Barnes & Noble to have breakfast at their Starbucks cafe. ;D I had their Marshmallow Smores cake, which was yummy and a hot White Chocolate Mocha. After having my fill of that, I started my thorough peruse of the shelves. It's funny how when you're so busy with work that you never have the time to spend time with books.

Anyway, at the end of it, I bought a book holder, a book light and a special double issue of Entertainment Weekly with Blake Lively and Penn Badgley on the cover. I didn't buy any books to read because I still have tons that I own that I've yet to read.

The book holder was $5.95. I'm not sure if it will hold paperback novels well but it can sure hold my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book that I'm currently reading. ;D Been getting a neck ache from reading it flat too long, so this is one measure to counter it.

The book light was $8.95 and it uses 2 AAA batteries. The LED doesn't need replacing, which is good. I need this to read in bed since I can't get good light while the the ceiling light is above me shining at my face casting a shadow on the page I'm reading.

The reason I got the magazine is because it features a guide to 92 of the season's biggest shows! ;D After briefly scanning the magazine, I took note of the dates of upcoming new shows or new seasons onto my handphone so that I can remember to record them. This is the list of shows I'm going to watch:

Mondays
- My own worst enemy (10pm - NBC)
- Heroes (9pm - NBC)
- Gossip Girl (8pm - The CW)

Tuesdays
- 90210 (8pm - The CW)
- Eureka (9pm - SciFi)
- The Biggest Loser (8pm - NBC)
- The Fringe (9pm - Fox)

Wednesdays
- America's Next Top Model (8pm - The CW)

Thursdays
- Ugly Betty (8pm - ABC)
- Survivor: Gabon (8pm - CBS)
- Supernatural (9pm - The CW)

Fridays
- Stargate Atlantis (9pm - SciFi)

Sundays
- Family Guy (9pm - Fox)
- The Amazing Race (8 pm - CBS)
- True Blood (9pm - HBO)

Some of the shows have already started but most of them are just starting this month! ;D Can't wait!

After exiting B&N, I decided to look for a new pair of work shoes. The shoe that I normally wear is not suited for constant brisk walks and it's been bothering my feet lately. Finally, I bought myself a pair of Sketchers shoe. It looks really nice I think and sort of non-atheletic kind of shoe that my company would allow employees to wear. The only problem though is what socks to wear with it. :P I'm not too comfortable without wearing one, so I guess it's gotta be a skin tone one. Unfortunately, I only have black socks. I tried looking for some skin tone ones but all of them are either leg cover types or thigh high ones. :P None of them are ankle high. Hmm, how strange. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. I'll try my luck again tomorrow.

Latest update. ;D

2008-08-20T07:18:00.004+08:00

Good news. I've been recently promoted. Can't say much here but if you want just message me and I will tell you all about it. ;D

I recently bought box sets of Stargate SG-1 season 9 and 10 for $19.99 each! That's pretty cheap. I bought it from Costco. Normally, it would have cost like $39.99 each. So, thank goodness there's Costco near where I live. ;D

Hmm, what else? Oh! I'm now lactose intolerant. ;D My father says most Asians develop this lactose intolerant thing early in life. Not sure if that's true or not, but I guess I'm one of them. :P I keep getting this stomach upsets...Soy milk is the way to go I guess or milk that is lactose free.

I have come to the conclusion that bathtub cleaner spray is the best way to go to kill spiders. ;D Not sure whether I've blogged about it before but I think I definitely mentioned it to Daniel before. I tried using hair spray, sun block spray, perfume spray and air freshener when I didn't have a bug spray in hand. Didn't work. Finally I grabbed the bath tub cleaner spray and after just one dose, the spider fell off, struggled and died.

Tostitos's corn chips are the best! :D Okay, not sure if it is the best since I've not tried others to compare but it tastes great.

I've read the latest craze of the Twilight series written by Stephanie Meyer, all four books Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, and I think it's not the best paranormal-romance book out there but definitely interesting enough.

One last thing. I may need to go to see the dentist again soon. I think one of my tooth (bottom right) is sensitive to cold and hot liquids either it's because of receding gums or something else. :P Sigh, sign of old age....WHY??????

Breaking Dawn....

2008-08-03T01:25:00.004+08:00

It's August 2nd and the sale of the Breaking Dawn fourth volume of the Twilight series written by Stephanie Meyer started around midnight. Teens were already lining up outside the store since 6 a.m. A booth was set up inside the store to give away free stickers and buttons for die-hard fans. There was also a form where they fill in their details and which character did they like best, Edward or Jacob. For some reason, I prefer Jacob Black the werewolf.

The crowd started to pick up around dinner time. Teens started coming up to the booth to get their wristbands that would tell them which group they should line up in. Their group names would be called out one by one when midnight was here.

There was a face painting session going on in one corner of the store. It was nothing extravagant, just words like "I love Edward/ Jacob", pictures of apples, chess pieces and paw prints. Some time when I was helping out at the booth, a KTLA t.v crew came in and filmed the whole event. I wonder if I was on t.v. The raffle ended about 11.30 pm. The gift card that was given away was a limited edition Twilight series gift card. I have one of those for winning the reservation contest within the store. ;D hehehe

When the time struck 12, teens started screaming. They screamed as they entered the store. They screamed as they saw the book being handed to them. They screamed when they see people buying the book. They screamed on their way out. And they screamed some more from sheer excitement. I couldn't help goading people to scream just to laugh secretly inside at their excitement. ;D hehehe Just a little jiggle with my arms and me opening my mouth at them triggered their scream.

I wasn't really impressed with the first 2 volumes, but as I quickly scanned the last page of the fourth volume, I decided I wanted to finish reading the 3rd and 4th volume after all. ;) A good ending was ensured.

So, read any good books lately? ;D I'm now listing out books that I want to buy with my $15 gift card.

July 29th: Earthquake felt in Los Angeles...

2008-08-01T07:16:00.003+08:00

In the past, I've always wondered what it would be like feeling the tremors of the earthquake while I was going to be living in California. Would it be scary? Would I be cowering under the bed (if I can squeeze under it in time or find anything to hide under for that matter) while berating myself for not preparing an emergency kit like I promised I would?

When the tremors came, I didn't even realize it was happening. :P I only learnt about it when my house mate told me about it hours later. Duh...

When the earthquake happened, I was in my room with my laptop searching for ways to get to the Eagle Rock Plaza, approximately 2 miles away from where I live. I had the sudden urge to buy the Sims Complete Collection for pc game that was only available at Target in that plaza. While I was researching, I vaguely heard a loud crash outside that lasted for a few seconds. It was Tuesday, the day when the trash would be emptied out by the trucks. Time, 11.50 a.m. It didn't bother me, so I went back to my laptop.

After bathing, grabbing my things and the directions on how to get to where I want to go, I proceeded to lock the door on the way out. Too late, as I was closing the door with Luna my house mate's dog staring at me happily, I realized I left my house keys in the house, thus locking myself out. Great. What a way to start my day. Hopefully, my house mate would be back soon since it's the summer holidays and the summer classes she teaches would end early.

Arrived at the plaza and bought the game I wanted. I had a bowl of Beef wanton noodle soup at this supposedly "Chinese" fast food joint managed by Filipinos. It didn't taste good. I knew I should have ordered the rice instead. :P The plaza wasn't as big as the Glendale Galleria and my short tour ended pretty quickly.

I headed back to Glendale and decided to hang out at the Starbucks cafe in Barnes & Noble with my book. I was currently reading New Moon, the second volume in the Twilight series written by Stephanie Meyer. It's the current bestselling series and her latest book is due out Aug 2 midnight. Everybody's excited about it even my 30 year old house mate. Curious as to why it's so good, I started reading Twilight, the first book and thought it was just o-kay. After being convinced by my approximately 40 year old assistant manager that it is REALLY good, I decided to give it a second chance and that's why I was reading the second volume, which I had already bought earlier.

I had left a message for my house mate on her phone telling her how I needed her to call me as soon as she got back so that I could get into the house and play my Sims. The call came an hour or so later and excited to get with the game, I walked home with my cup of Starbucks drink in hand.

As soon as I got home, my house mate asked me excitedly, "Did you feel the earthquake???" I was like, "Er...what earthquake?" :P After registering what she was telling me (how she and her students went under tables and how the classes ended earlier than usual) I checked out the news through the internet.

There really was an earthquake. :P It can be felt even in Glendale (although not so much as how Chino hills felt it) and there was a video feed to prove it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgJC5DqSz7s

Among many other videos available at You Tube. But the funny thing was, I didn't even realize it was happening. :P People are saying how big it felt (5.8) but I didn't even realize! How blur can I be? But then again, I've never felt tremors before so I probably didn't recognize it and even thought it was the truck taking out the trash from the metal bin outside.

Oh well, nothing major happened. But I'm making emergency preparations for the earthquake one of my things to do list. Did anybody receive any news about it?

Big on help...

2008-07-21T15:41:00.003+08:00

One thing I've noticed around Glendale is that the fire trucks or the police cars would be speeding off to some emergency. Just the other day at the place where I work, some old lady tripped and fell when she walked in and she complained that her arm hurt. The security guard from the Americana plaza noticed the incident and must have alerted the authorities because 5-10 minutes later a red fire truck stopped beside the store with its flashing lights and in came two firemen equipped with a first aid kit.

Tonight, on the way back from work, I saw a fire truck and several police cars parked around a house AND a flying helicopter with its lights targeted at the area. I stopped to ask a lady that was walking her dog what was going on but she didn't know anything. :P I would have stayed to watch but it was getting late and who knows there might be some sort of shooting going on what with the number of police cars parked around the area, it might not be safe. ;D

So, Glendale may be small, but there's always some sort of action going around. ;D hehehe

Having fun with useful tools. ;D

2008-07-08T01:02:00.004+08:00

Ever since I got that magnetic checklist pad for groceries that I now hang on the fridge, I've been looking for stuff that will make my life easier and at the same time have fun using it. ;D A few weeks ago right after my dentist visit, I decided to get myself this dental kit. It comes with a mirror and a pick (?) that shines light. It's especially useful after brushing to make sure no dirt is trapped that you might have missed. I've been diligently using it. :) I bought my father a pair too.

The next thing I bought just yesterday, was a magnetic white board calendar that came with 2 magnets and a marker. My schedule is not fix so I've been listing the days on post-it papers and sticking them on the fridge so that my house mate knows what time I get home or when I'm off. Here's the thing though. I was eager to write down my schedule and hanging it on the fridge but the darn thing is, the marker was dry! ;( Crap. And I don't have any available marker at hand that's not permanent. So today I have to go back to Target and somehow get it exchanged. Hopefully, I will be able to have it up on the fridge by this afternoon.

Anyway, I love the fact that there's so many useful organizing products around. There's this brand of products called Real Simple that specializes on this kind of products and they have them at Target. I'm currently eye-ing this mail organizer since I have all kinds of bills and receipts that I keep to go through or record before I throw them away. I will probably buy it next month.

On a different note, I was just talking to my mum about how my cousin who now resides in Melbourne, Australia is earning a lot. The currency rate for AUD is slightly higher than the USD now and it doesn't bode well for America. :P Their hourly rate for a regular job is even higher here! Like AUD 10+! I hope that after the presidency election is over, the economy will be better. Cheaper and better health plans too. :( It's too bad I can't vote but just watch...

Oops! However did I forget about my blog??? :P

2008-06-23T01:48:00.003+08:00

It's been a while. I know. I've been saying that in most of my posts lately, huh. ;D To summarize what's been going on, since the beginning of June, I went traveling with Daniel and his family to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World and then to the Disneyland theme parks in Anaheim. It was great fun. They are all well maintained unlike the ones I remember going to back in Malaysia and the shows were enjoyable to watch. :)

Work is as usual. Oh! Just about a week ago, my workplace gave me an additional 10% discount on top of my 30% discount I normally get, so I went and bought a whole lot of stuff. ;D I love discounts...

Summer is here. :( It's blistering hot during the day! It even hit triple digits, as high as 106 degrees. I couldn't get out of the house to go to work fast enough. But then again, my work place has these huge glass windows and a glass roof that it kinda warmed up all the cold air. My managers had to ask somebody to walk over to the mall to Target to buy some standing fans for the top floor info desk cause it was unbearable for the people working there.

I called the dentist earlier to make an earlier appointment like next Tuesday cause I wanted to get my cavities fixed before I use my night guard. Can you imagine? I have to replace ALL of my old fillings because they are old and some cavities have formed under it. :P God, please, no more root canals for me.... Malaysian dentists sucks. Okay, maybe they don't have the tools needed to give me a thorough check up. If it weren't for the 8 mini x-rays I took I wouldn't have spotted the rotting teeth and all of my teeth that had the old fillings would have started rotting from the inside as well! Ugh! :'( I wish I can turn back the time...A word of advice, just because your teeth looks perfect from the outside, that doesn't mean you shouldn't check on your old fillings through x-ray scans. And don't think that just because you have perfect teeth (no filings) that doesn't mean you can skip the yearly visit either. If it is perfect even after the visit...well, good for you then!

May 20th was NOT my day.....:P

2008-05-21T23:50:00.006+08:00

I noticed a strange black line at the side of my upper back molar and decided to go to the dentist to have it checked. I followed my friend who was having her teeth done at a dentist in Beverly Hills (big ka-ching!) and let her dentist give a free examination of my teeth. She said that there was some decay and that she couldn't really tell without any x-ray done. She quoted to me the price it would cost in total, which was $500+ in total. I figured I'd take a second opinion somewhere Glendale since I don't have any dental insurance yet.

So, I asked around and my colleague recommended her family dentist to me that was in Glendale. There I was cycling to the dentist after passing my DMV written test, in a happy mood. All of my dentist visits have always been fine. There were always dirt to be cleaned but no noticeable decay. I wasn't that worried.

The dentist took my x-rays (8 small tiny x-rays), cleaned my teeth, called in the receptionist/ nurse lady AND THEN told me the BAD news. The tooth that had a black line....needs a root canal. I was like....WHAT???!!!!! How is that possible???!!!!

The dentist said that there was an old filling there but what happened was some time ago, it broke along with part of my tooth and its been decaying at a low grade (what the heck is a low grade??!!!). In order to save the tooth I need root canal. I was stunned...why didn't my previous dentist back in Malaysia notice this when he pulled out my wisdom tooth in January???

Well, there was no point in wondering about how it happened. I still had to deal with the fact that it needs to be taken care of. Never mind the fact that I still don't have dental insurance. My company won't give it to me until months after I've been confirmed. So, I agreed to have the root canal done. Then came the other bad news....it will cost me $1025 in total for the cleaning, x-ray, the filling and the root canal. Without the root canal, it would have been just over a hundred or two. RM3296....I'm never going to tell my parents about this. Maybe years later. If I tell them now, they'd probably send me money. :P

Should I wait and worry day in day out about my ever decaying tooth? Or should I get it over with right now and to h*** with the expenses. The worst thing that could happen if I wait is that I lose the back teeth and I will permanently eat and grind only on my left side. :P That did not bode well....

2 hours later after subjecting myself to an aching jaw from hanging my jaw open, painless drilling, draining of nerves, shoving wires, digging for nerve holes, implanting 'posts' for the crown and applying a temporary crown, I cycled back home in a stunned, sombre mood and the knowledge that I will be getting a big credit card statement this month.

For better or worse, I saved my tooth. I will soon get an almost original tooth for grinding again in a week or two. But STILL!!! WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! :'(

The DMV written test...

2008-05-20T13:39:00.003+08:00

I know, I know...it's about time, right? I don't know why I've been procrastinating for so long. Laziness I guess. ;D Even though the driving license is used as a main form of I.D. in the U.S., I never got around to getting it because I walk or cycle to work everyday anyway. I don't need to drive. But when a friend of my boyfriend offered to sell his car to me, that prompted me to take the DMV written test. I still have not quite decided whether I would buy the car or not, but I'm getting the license anyway.

So, after a crash course reading through the DMV booklet, I took the sample tests to see how I would do. I'm telling you, I'm no good at remembering numbers. There's so many speed limits, seconds, distances to remember for all kinds of different situations, I'm not sure how I would score on that part but otherwise, I think I'm good on the overall knowledge of driving.

Here's a good site to go to to take sample tests:

http://www.dmv.org/ca-california/practice-tests.php

I like visuals, it helps me to understand things better. So, the flash test really helps. But you have to retake the flash test lots of times to get a different variety of questions and some of it might be a repeat.

You can also check out You Tube for videos that demonstrate traffic rules.

Alright. I'm going to read over again the DMV booklet to memorize numbers and facts I might have forgotten. :P Wish me luck!

Wonderful system....NOT!

2008-05-09T08:31:00.003+08:00

Since it's my off day today, I figured I should head out to the nearest UPS drop box and send a return package I've been postponing for quite some time now. I logged on to the internet and searched for one. Turns out there's one located not two streets away from Central st. It's on Brand st.

So, there I was carrying the light but cumbersome box to the drop box and when I pull open the lid to put the box in I found out something annoying. The box won't go through!!!! I was thinking what I should do when this DHL guy that was dropping off a parcel told me that I could just leave the box on the drop box and nobody would take it. The UPS truck doesn't arrive to pick-up till 4.45 pm. I gave one last attempt and decided to do just what the man suggested.

As I was about to leave, a couple of guys from the car dealer shop stepped out and called me. They must have seen what I was doing and suggested that I do NOT leave the box there cause anyone passing by would take it. :P I'm like....what?

The nearest UPS store is very far from Glendale. :P Looks like I would either have to coincidentally see a UPS officer with his truck and pass him my box or look up the number to call them up on how I could get my box sent. Sigh....if only the drop-box was a little bit bigger...

On a different note, later this evening I'm going to head out to the Americana for a tour as a visitor with a friend of mine living in Glendale and her neighbor. Believe it or not, I haven't had a chance to actually look at the stores around there because I was working and it was so packed with visitors. So, today is going to be the day. :)

Big...and I mean BIG!!!!

2008-04-29T08:42:00.004+08:00

Everything is US is big. For example, just today as I was brushing my teeth in the morning, I saw a BIG spider sitting in the bath tub. You know, I hate spiders. Can't stand them. So, not wanting to pick it up with my hands or leaving it there to spin webs, I flushed it down the hole in the bathtub. :P The other day, my housemate killed a spider that was as big as what the picture is showing here. It was under the kitchen sink!!! I'm like OMG!!! So, now I always check every corner of my room including my wardrobe. :P Right outside my window on the ground is a big web. I don't see the spider now...it could be the spider that was crawling on my wall one night and I had my mum get rid of it. :P The tree in the yard is also covered with spider webs. :'(

Another animal that's BIG and common here are possums. They aren't as scary as spiders but I heard that they can be a nuisance. While I was having dinner with Sujatha and her boyfriend the other day there was a baby possum just outside the restaurant. I would have loved to be able to see it but I was blocked by other customers around me. Anyway, haven't seen one yet but maybe one day.

Animals and their BIG sizes aside, today was a hot day. Not as bad as summer is going to be but still it was hot enough that I was feeling disoriented at work today. :P We were having this session with the regional managers where we played jeopardy on the history, services and other knowledge of my company. There were prizes involved but I didn't get any. :P I think it wasn't fair that they included some of the senior staffs who knew most of the answers. bah! Anyway, we had free food as well served to us. :) There were croissants with turkey slices and salad, fruits, cakes and red velvet muffins, chips, shrimp and cheese. Also free drinks. :9 It almost made my day until I felt sick from eating the chocolate cake. ;D hehehe

Accents, accents....;D

2008-04-17T11:48:00.003+08:00

One of the things I've been thinking about these days is accents. Namely the American accent. Before I left for California, people keep telling me that very soon I will adopt the American accent. Somehow, I doubt that will happen...at all! ;D Back in Malaysia, people tell me that I speak English very well. But that is only true from a Malaysian's perspective. I suppose what they really mean is that I don't have much verbal grammatical errors. But what I would have loved to hear is that my English 'sounds' good. ;D hehehe

Anyway, it's been what...one month and a half now and I find myself tripping over words that Americans pronounce without a problem. For example, I can't say the word 'alphabetize' fast like they do without tripping over it. I almost always end up saying 'alpha-pha-tize' -_-" I'd have to say it slowly to prevent that. But now most of the time to avoid embarrassing myself I just shorten the word to 'alpha-tize' or just use another word like 'organized'. ;D lol Sometimes they give me confused or weird looks but I think they'd excuse me for being a foreigner. heh

So, just a few minutes ago, just out of curiosity, I browsed You Tube for lessons in American accents spoken by British people and Asian accents spoken by American Asians. One thing I noticed is that people really exaggerate the Asian accents. :P I don't talk like that! "You think we sound that dumb-ah?" ;D And then I thought about the Singaporean group called the Kopi Kat Klan and browsed for that too. I found a British (?) guy singing "Ice Kacang". Somehow, I find it a cute and sweet attempt and now I'm longing to hear more from the Singaporean group. Does anyone remember Laughing Stock? Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0QKfORaRFA

Somebody I know back home suggested I try talking like a Malaysian and see how people react to it. I thought "hey, why not?" and tried to do that but the funny thing is, I can't seem to speak Manglish around them! When I went out with my mum and my Malaysian friend the other night, it seemed easy enough to slip back into it. So this means, I have to be around other Malaysians in order to speak Malaysian. But there isn't any at work! So, omg, I'm going to be having trouble speaking normal English???

Just a couple of things to say...

2008-04-15T10:04:00.007+08:00

Just the other day I went to Albertsons for grocery shopping, I spotted a strange looking strawberry. I didn't plan on getting strawberries initially but because of this siamese strawberry I decided to. Shortly after I took this photo, I ate it. ;9 hehehe If there was a way to preserve every single siamese fruit or food I find I would. Oh yes, strawberries here are very cheap! :) In Malaysia, a big box would have been like close to RM20 but here it's only $4!!! :D And they are available since I got here. Another fruit that I am happy to find here is small sized mandarin oranges. Usually I don't like taking regular oranges because I find them too sour but I like mandarin oranges and I can take them everyday especially during Chinese New Year. So, I'm happy to find that mandarins here are popular. Yay!

On the way to work yesterday and today, I took a couple of shots of the road I take. I won't mention the street name but suffice to say it's a pretty clean street except for those black spots on the ground. For the longest time I never noticed them. And when I did I thought it was chewing gum. But seeing as to the number of black spots I figured it ought to be something else. Yesterday confirmed it for me. I was walking back under the heat of the sun (it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit!) and I saw this wet looking black spot with what must have been seeds in the middle. It was bird poo being fried on the pavement!!! :P Eewww!!!!

At the end of this road you will find Glendale Galeria mall on the left and the new Americana place on the right. Borders is opposite Mervin's, which is the end part of the 'L' shaped Glendale mall. Barnes & Noble is at the Americana, which is currently not opened yet. It's just about 15-20 minutes walking distance. :) But I wonder, if I were to cycle, where should I park my bike? Do they fine us if we park anywhere we want if there isn't any bicycle parking what-not?

How's work like so far...:)

2008-04-08T09:03:00.004+08:00

Sorry for not updating for so long. I've been busy with work. ;) That's right! Work! My first day was on Saturday and today is my first day off. The past two days of work have been interesting. I'm part of the setting up crew for now. I've done it before back in Malaysia so I know what it's like and what to expect.

Here are some photos of the place I'm working at that I took in secret. :D hehehe Those of you that know about the place I'm working at, well, this is it! The first picture is a view from the third floor of the courtyard in the center of The Americana. There's this big water fountain in the middle. I can't wait till it's completed.

The second picture is a view of the store from the first floor in front of the elevator (in Malaysia this would have been called Ground Floor).
Three floors of it! The first and second floor is pretty much like the old Glendale store. The third floor is like MPH Mid Valley or longer!

One thing I notice here is that there's plenty of walking space. There's a cafe serving Starbucks (ooh, lucky me!!!) in here, which I get 50% off. :D There's also restrooms here unlike the stores in Malaysia. The staff room is equipped with a microwave and a fridge but no tv (Targets and Best Buy staff rooms have them).

Having previously worked in a similar industry I'm amazed by the different types of display tools used by the company here. It's like they've thought of everything. The one thing I don't think they provide us though compared with Malaysia, is uniforms. Darn, I was hoping I wouldn't have to spend money on clothes. :P No sneakers allowed too.

Anyway, the past two days was spent doing various small tasks with other people in similar positions like myself (new). Taking out the trash, carrying stuff, arranging stuff and marking stuff. Oh, I also get to wear a hard hat and keep it during the set up for my own protection. Some people thinks that they look dorky but I kinda like it (although it does give me a flat head). I have this constant urge to start swaggering while wearing a checkered shirt. The only thing I'm missing is a tool belt. Anyway, by the end of the day, my feet was killing me. The work shoe I bought has a narrow front and I don't think it'll be comfortable for me. So, I'm going to have to get some comfortable working shoes soon.

The people I'm working with are great. I'm still trying to fit in. They are funny and friendly but I'm just too conscious of my Malaysian accent that I seem quieter than usual. :P Maybe that'll pass. I want to make a funny quip but I keep wondering whether they'd get it through my Manglish. I have made a couple of friends already though. It's only been two days so I hope my social skills will start kicking in soon, Malaysian accent and all. It would definitely be easier if I had a smiley mask though...

I have Bruxism...:P

2008-03-28T02:27:00.005+08:00

What is this you ask? :P Well, I was getting concerned when I heard from my boyfriend and my mum that when I sleep I occasionally grind my teeth. Snoring is not so bad to me but this bit of news is a concern for me because I do not want to have to visit the dentist because of an aching jaw. And so I asked my father and he said it's Bruxism, a sleep disorder. I looked it up myself on the internet and basically it's probably due to stress among other things.

In order to treat this condition, I read that one needs to obtain a mouth guard. A mouth guard is placed over the teeth to protect it from the grinding. Similar to those that wear for sports. There are other tips offered:

- avoid coffee and chocolate (NOOOoooOOOoooo!!!!!!)
- avoid alcohol (I don't drink, so that's fine)
- don't chew on things as a habit (I loved pacifiers when I was young. I wonder if that's a factor...)
- train yourself not to clench your teeth during the day.
- Relax your jaw muscles at night by holding a warm washcloth against your cheek in front of your earlobe.

So, I guess I should look for mouth guards and try it out...:P

Do you know if you grind your teeth during the night? ;)

Hooray! :D

2008-03-26T13:35:00.005+08:00

I feel great now that I'm hired by the company I'm aiming for. :) The second interview went without any mishap. The person that interviewed me is an Iranian lady. She's the new store manager with a lot of experience. The place I'll be working at is at the new Americana mall near my place. So it's going to be a short walk or cycle for me every time. :) Anyway, question: Should I be really worried if the place I live in has a sign that says this? :P People are still living here so it must be safe enough. But why the warning sign and such a consequence too! :(

A typical day's musings...

2008-03-24T01:49:00.004+08:00

Next Tuesday I'm going for a second interview with this company (don't really want to mention the name yet cos I'm scared I'll jinx myself or something) and if everything goes well, I'll be working by April. :) It's a company I really want to go for and it seems promising since it's going to be their biggest outlet in the company and the best part is, I can walk or cycle to work. :D The only problem is it might be a little ridiculous cycling in my formal office clothes if that's the dress code. ^_^" I'm hoping it can be a casual style.

Anyway, besides the job part, I have recently gotten myself a printer from Best Buy (also within walking distance from my house). It costs me about $70 and it's a Epson CX7400, a basic copying, printing and scanning machine. Ooh, I love this all-in-one concept. The only problem is, it doesn't come with a USB cable. -_- So, I can't try it out yet till I get one. Grr...

The one thing I love about US is that everything is so cheap and affordable for them! 500 sheets of good quality printing paper is $5.99. A romance novel that's usually $7.99 is given a 25% discount and it's reduced to $5.99 as well, You buy enough books you're given a discount for your next purchase of 20%. One whole roast chicken at Costco is $3.99. It never ends! I'm in heaven. :D Oh, the amount of mangas I can buy...

What I've not gotten used to yet is the weather. The weather here in the morning now is 27 degrees. You can say it's almost like back home in KL. But some time evening say 6 in the evening, things start getting REALLY cold like 15 degrees. It's so cold that my sweater isn't enough for me. I'm looking into getting myself a couple more thicker sweaters. I wonder how winter is going to be. Thank goodness for my heater.

But I have a question. Why is it that I'm constantly feeling itchy all over? :P Daniel, my mum and aunt have all complaint of the same problem. My dad says it could be due to the dry weather and our frequent bathings are getting rid of our skin's natural moisture. Or it could be the detergent we used to wash our clothes, it's too concentrated? Hmm...anyway, I'm applying more moisturizer now and sun-block since it's getting hotter now during the day. My dad says Calamine lotion might help, so I'm going to search for that later on when I get my USB cable.

The weather and the resident dogs...

2008-03-18T01:08:00.008+08:00

Since arriving here in Los Angeles, I find myself facing with constant dry skin. But surprisingly none on my face since it has always been a little "shiny". If you have oily skin, be proud of it. It protects you from the dry weather apparently. But still, other parts of me is not as well protected.

Here are some of the things I need to put on in order to keep myself moisturized. On the far left is a bottle of hair moisturizer. If you don't want your hair to feel very stiff and dry from the winds, use this ALL the time. Next, is a big bottle of skin moisturizing cream. The WHOLE skin of your body needs it. Trust me. Top small sized bottle from the left is a pumice foot scrub. It has some moisturizing elements in it which my feet could certainly use. All that walking without a car and with dry weather causes crack heels and dirty (ugh...). It's also sometimes painful. So, with that in hand and also the stone, after a few days your feet will be feeling soft and CLEAN looking. The can beside the stone is sun-block spray. Don't need it yet but when summer comes, I'm hoping this will be my shield. The lip balm comes in handy as well. My face may seem supple but my lips are not. :P Definitely a DAILY application. Below that is a milder moisturizing cream for alternative usage. Next to the left is followed by the hand and foot cream (2 tubes). These help heal the already severely dried skin. Works like a charm for my heels.

People always say California is full of sunshine and warm weather...yes, you do get sunshine but the wind is still cold!!! It's spring and I'm thinking winter must be coming. :P If this is just spring, what would winter bring for this poor Malaysian soul? Time to scout for thicker clothing before it's all gone... It hardly rains here but when it does, it's cold and once, I got hail smacked onto my face. Ouch! I was on this tour where they made us sit in a vehicle that's like a van with the back part without a cover, when the hail started. One lady at the back laughed hysterically at the thought of hail in Hollwood. Funny. Not so says my face.

Okay time to introduce the resident dogs that are living with me and my house mate. They are hers of course. One is called Luna (the one totally black with a white front) and the other one Joey (black but with patches of brown). Luna is the domineering and mischievous one whereas Joey is the patient older brother (they are not really related actually) that lets her do whatever she wants and would sometimes join in the fun. They are pretty active and when they land on you in bed, they are pretty heavy as well! But they are cute. When they tore up the tissue roll from the toilet and left it on the living room floor, they were still cute. When they peed in my room and later pretend like it wasn't one of them, they were still cute.

Joey salivates a lot. See that dark patch next to his face? That was from him. :) With practice, you can almost always avoid getting your hands wet. And he makes weird noises. Sort of like part whine part growl and part howl. The owner said that whenever Joey sees the dog beach he would whine so loudly and weirdly that she was always so embarrassed by it because everybody was looking. Aww, wish I could have been there to hear it. Sounds funny. ;D

Another day in Glendale...

2008-03-11T15:49:00.006+08:00

I don't know if it's the bed or the new comforter, but I seem to be sleeping in bed longer and longer these days...I also noticed that I didn't need to turn on the heater much anymore. Could it be the coming time of summer or maybe again it's the new comforter. ;D Anyway, one thing to note if you're planning to buy stuff like heater or fan here, is that buy them before they are out of season! :P Searching for a heater was difficult because fan is the in thing now (even though you don't need them yet). Luckily I found mine in Sears. No more freezing feet in the mornings!

Anyway, today I read up a little more on the California's DMV driving guide book. If you want to get a driving license in CA, you need to pass the written test first before you can take the driving test. And they all say that it's quite difficult. :P I'm wondering how difficult can it be. One can download a pdf format version of the guide book from the website. I love the way they do things around here. It's so convenient. :)

Some of the things I distinctly remembered was that in July, all drivers above 18 years old must use hands-free kit while on their cell. Whereas, for those under 18, they are banned from the use of a cell while behind the wheel. Second thing is, a kid less than 6 years of age or 60 pounds must be in a special child restraint seat and never in the front unless under certain conditions. Must not be left alone in the car. Must be supervised by a person above 12 years old. For pedestrian walk lines, the yellow ones is usually around school area, otherwise they function the same as any pedestrian walk across the street.

Me and Daniel shopped some more at Target. This time he bought some food stuff to bring back to Malaysia. I bought a few myself to try out because I've never seen them being sold in Malaysia. :D There's the Double Stuff Cool Mint Cream Oreo where the fillings are green. ;9 And then there is the Dark Chocolate Ferrero....ooh, smooth and lovely. Also there's the Hershey's All Natural Extra Dark Pure Expresso Dark Chocolate with Coffee bits. Last but not least, the Carribou brand of Iced Coffee Regular. Back in Malaysia, I could get the snack bar of the brand and they were heavenly and here is the drink version. :)

After Target, we walked to the theater, which was 2 blocks away from Glendale Galeria. There are two theaters to go to and both of them are like two blocks away from each other and owned by the same company (so says Daniel). The one we went had 10 halls while the other one only had 4.

We watched 10,000 BC. It's set in...duh, 10,000 BC. Basically, a girl from a far off village arrives in this tribe and brings along with her a prophecy that would lead the tribe to salvation. Together with this girl will be a warrior that will take up this heavy responsibility. The animation is great but I can't really say the storyline is original. The guy lacks self confidence at the beginning but later proves to live up to the task in the end. Typical. And the girl doesn't do much except being captured and being the sole motivation for him to chase after her and fulfill his destiny. But I still like the show overall. ;D Call me shallow but the dude was handsome and it's a romantic flic somewhat. hehehe

After the movies, we dropped by at Borders because I wanted to ask a little bit more about the job vacancies there and also to check out their manga section. It's such a shame that Barnes & Noble didn't have that section. But no biggie, I can get my supply at Borders. :) I was so tempted to buy the mangas I'm missing but decided to be prudent and wait till I have a job at least. Daniel bought Nana vol. 8 & 9.

We then head out for dinner at the In N Out outside Glendale Galeria. Had burgers and fries. Nothing like McDonald's but still a satisfying fast food meal after a walk in the cold. With bloated stomachs, we walked back home. :)

A flattened penny...;D

2008-03-10T17:23:00.007+08:00

I have lost like almost two weeks worth of things to say. ;D So, I'll just mention about stuff I can remember. The other day when we were at the California Science Center, we had a penny flattened out to have an engraved image on it. You just plonk a penny and pay like a quarter to have it flattened out at this machine and it instantaneously flattens and prints an image on it. :D Check it out! For comparison sake, I took a photo of the original penny with it. ;D

What's up, Malaysia!!!

2008-03-07T08:58:00.008+08:00

Yep! I am presently in Los Angeles. :) There's so many things to see and so many things to tell. The feeling of excitement and adventure is starting to come to me but there's still that remaining anxious feeling in me. ^_^ Mainly because I would only feel safe and secure once I have a permanent job. :P But let me just briefly tell you what I have experienced so far.

Day 0 (26th Feb, Malaysia)
-Slept late at 3 a.m. Tried to finish watching some shows I'm leaving behind. Woke up at about 8 Packed the remaining stuff like pillow and toothbrush. Had to lighten the weight of some bags. Took some family photo with my pet dog, Nicky.

Daniel and his family arrived at my house and off we went to KL International Airport (KLIA) It's 12 p.m. Interestingly, the China Airlines officer did not weigh my bags separately to ensure that it was not above the weight limit of 32 kg. Instead, she weighed both my check-in luggages together to a total of 44 kg. :D Hah! If I had known, I could have packed a little more into the bigger luggage if then. ;D

At the airport we took another group photo and this time it included Daniel and his family and Cheng Cheeng and Elfron! ;D Thanks for the scarf, you guys!

At the check point near the gate, a U.S. embassy officer stopped me to check my passport. After a few questions on our purpose of our flight, we were allowed on board. Ooh, scary...

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the seat was comfortable, there was plenty of entertainment on their touch screen panels in front of the seats to amuse ourselves for hours. There was also a coat hanger at the chair. :D Wow! Our first flight to Taipei was practically vomit-free!

We entered Taiwan airport and we accidentally tried to enter the next gate illegally. ^_^" Some officers directed us to the right path and we found the "shopping" place of the airport.

The nice thing about this airport is that they had a machine that gives you change for coins in case you needed to make a call and a machine to charge your handphone! ;D Their trolleys were cute too, albeit a little small. The airport also had Hello Kitty and Disney nursery rooms, Hello Kitty playground and waiting area and galeries for tourists to explore. The bad thing about the airport is that their toilets didn't have a hose of any kind. So, I was faced with a dilemma when I had a stomach ache. Let's just say I don't want to ever repeat that experience ever again. There's no hose!

During the time we were about to board our next flight, I was stopped again for the second time concerning my passport. The officer wasn't sure why my picture on my visa was greyish unlike Daniel's colourful one. We think it is because of the safety features that was included into my visa to prevent fakes. We were allowed to board after some shrugs from us and the officer, and we found our seats. Unlike the window seats we got earlier, we were given this time the seats in the middle row. And unlike the seats we got the first time, the ones we got now were absolutely UNCOMFORTABLE!!!! :P The head rest forced my head to tilt downwards much like the seats in GSC cinema in 1 Utama and the back support on the seat left a gap between my shoulder blades that had me hunching throughout the journey. Thankfully, I did not vomit but Daniel was close to vomiting. :P We ended upexchanging our seats so that he could get some air sitting on the outside.

FInally, after long hours of flight, we landed in LAX airport. The airport doesn't look as modern as I've pictured it. We took a shuttle bus to the main terminal, went through a series of stairs and lines and finally to the checking counter. I had to go to the one near the end to submit my PR documents. Daniel's queue was much longer than mine but the shocking thing was, he managed to go through already and I still had to wait for 2 more hours! The officers were just taking too long to process one application and there were so few of us waiting. Well, I'm glad I don't have to go through all that ever again. ;P"

Shahril, Daniel's old classmate who lives in LA was already waiting for us. Unfortunately, when we called the temporary lodging people to tell them we've arrived, they weren't there. In the end I had to call an old classmate of mine. She lives in Glendale, in an apartment. After crashing her place, we just bathed, and slept till the next day.

Present Day
- Took the rented car for a spin. We rented it for a total of about $50 including insurance and gas. The auto and driving was pretty easy. But then again, I have yet to drive onto the freeway. But if I have to rent a car, at least I'd know how it's like.

Went to the public library next to finish up my resume and cover letter. Daniel helped a lot in editing and refining it. :) The library has wireless internet and in order to hop on to it, you have to log on to their website and sign in. After that, it's basically like anything you can do. Check emails, youtube or whatever. Except surf porn, of course.

Later at about 3.30 p.m., the cable company came to install the wireless and now I have internet access!!! :D So, it won't be long now before I finish updating people on what's been happening. :)

Okay, will continue the rest of the story-telling for another day. :)

Today is the day! Finally! :)

2008-02-27T02:26:00.002+08:00

I can't believe it, I just really, really can't believe it! Today is the day I finally leave for U.S. :P First of all, I would like to apologize for not posting up any news lately. It's just that I've been so busy thinking that I should be busy doing something else other than write on my blog. ^_^"

Anyway, the day has arrived and I thought it's a good time as any to start blogging back again. Yesterday I spent the day going to Mid Valley to collect my testimonial (yes, I managed to get one from the Human Resource Manager of the place I used to work at!) from my colleague and then to go shopping for things for Daniel that he needs for the trip.

Later that night, me and Daniel went to attend a ceramah at SS2. It was quite a memorable event for me as it's the first time I attended such public talks and to see for myself the drive and determination behind the politicians giving the speech. What's more, I'm unable to vote while I'm in U.S. :P That's the unfair part, so I wish everybody to vote wisely on my behalf. ;D lol

Today, I called the LHDN office for income tax and just found out that I was suppose to submit a CP-21 form given by my company for the 2008 income tax before I leave for U.S. That's so dumb. The officer that I spoke to the last time didn't mention this at all! So, I called my previous employer about it but they can only get back to me later. So, now the plan is to have it sent to my house and for Daniel to submit it for me in order to get the letter of clearance from LHDN. Luckily, it doesn't require my signature to get it. At least that's what the officer said this time around! Hmph!

Now, I'm sitting in the hall, almost 3 a.m. not sleeping yet, surfing the net, watching show on t.v. and converting files in my laptop. I'm not even sure if I can sleep.....

15 more days to go...

2008-02-12T10:18:00.000+08:00

I can't believe LA is just 2 weeks away! The feeling of excitement is there but it's closely followed by a sense of impending independence (or loneliness, call it what you will). The shock of reality where my mind will shout "This is it!" will only arrive on Feb 27 itself.

I have finally sold my Kancil on the 6th of February without "much" of a problem. Once the documents were handed over to the JPJ officer, I couldn't get away from the new owners fast enough. I'm glad at least that we didn't leave on unfriendly terms. We shook hands and drove off on our separate cars (them in my formerly-owned Kancil and me riding in my sister's car as a passenger). There were some days after that that I sometimes forget that I didn't have a car anymore and would actually look for my car only to realize later it's somewhere in Klang probably being modified into some form of a speeding demon on wheels.

Travel Insurance arrangement is on the way. The lady that processes it wasn't working yesterday but I have submitted my form to her colleague and I would be informed once it's been completed.

The year 2007 income tax was also settled yesterday. I calculated the amount during the weekend, posted the form to the LHDN processing centre and made the necessary payment to the bank that handles it. There shouldn't be a problem unless they did not receive my form, which I am leaving a copy in case of anything. The dumb thing about this whole thing was that I couldn't do it through e-filing, which would have been so much easier, because they said the server would only be ready on March.

Today I will be doing some banking stuff, exchanging money into US currency (the best place I found to change is at Mid Valley because there are many tourists there due to the hotels there) and visiting my ex-colleague. Here's a list of money exchanger that I got with their contacts in case one needs to find out the rates:

KL Ilham Holdings (Taipan)
Tel: 5636 2266

Taipan Money Changer (Taipan)
Tel: 5631 7071

N.Z. Mag (MV)
Tel: 2287 2000

A.V Forex (MV)
Tel: 2284 4761

Wawasan Sentosa (MV)
Tel: 2287 2786

Bagok Money Changer (1U)
7710 5786

Anang Bureau de Change (1U)
Tel: 7726 6484

Halasuria Money Changer (1U)
Tel: 7728 9829

- Bank Draft vs. Foreign TT (telegraphic transfer)

Depending on the bank you're doing it from, Foreign TT will have a different fee for the transfer and possibly a different maximum limit per daily transaction. For Maybank, one can transfer up to RM10,000. Each transaction will cost RM10. This method of fund transfer will be much faster compared to a bank draft. However, I am unable to do the transfer by myself because it requires the bank to send me the approval code via sms and that could be a problem if I'm in U.S. And relying on my mother to transfer from her account to me in US would be difficult as she is not familiar with this kind of thing and would need somebody to guide her. The rest of the family won't be able to accompany her to the bank as they are all usually working.

Which leaves the bank draft option. The maximum limit can be up to RM200,000 or the equivalent foreign currency (for Maybank at least) without needing approval from Bank Negara. The bad thing about this method of transfer is that it would take longer for the foreign bank to clear it, it could get lost and it would take months to settle it.

I'm thinking that if I have enough ready cash, I won't need the money that urgently, so the clearing of the bank draft shouldn't be a problem. As for the second scenario, I pray it wouldn't come to that. In this case, bank draft would be the better option. All I need to do is to make sure I declare it when departing for US. As for the amount to bring, I would probably leave behind about RM1000-2000 in my savings account. What do you think? :P

Daniel has also bought for me a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved luggage belt from Samsonite to use for my luggage. Anybody who's going to U.S. can only use a TSA approved lock, which their side would have a master key to open your checked-in luggages without resorting to breaking it open. All TSA approved locks would have the symbol on the left.

The art of selling one's car...

2008-01-29T11:05:00.000+08:00

I can tell you one thing about selling cars....it is NOT EASY! Advertising through the newspaper was easy. It only cost me RM46 for 7 days in a 4 lines advertisement under Metro Classified (The Star). Then it was just a matter of time for people to call in and ask about your car.

The difficult part starts when you make the appointment for them to see the car. They'd negotiate their way to reducing the price as low as possible. If you are a good negotiator then it's alright, you'd have the fella around your little finger. But if you're like me, hearing them negotiate and trying to negotiate back without much success, you'll find yourself with a lot of headache.

Some things you will have to make clear from the beginning:

- Both parties sign a purchase agreement letter. Make sure you make a copy for yourself with a photocopy of that person's i.c.
- Name will only be transfered after payment is done. If it's a loan, that has to be done first and presented.
- Car will only be given after name has been transfered.

Some things you have to make sure is done before the transfer of name at JPJ:

-service your car to make sure it's tip-top condition. I skipped the repainting of the car since it'd cost me RM1000+. Some buyers are willing to overlook a minor scratch or two. Same goes with tyres. But if it's bald, replace them of course. Make sure the car remote has sufficient battery.
- get your car analyzed at PUSPAKOM and get the report. It takes about 1 to 1 and a half hour. Best to go there as early as possible. I went there at 11 am and I had to wait behind 10 cars...
- New buyer must have their own car insurance first before the JPJ would allow the name to be transfered.
- Photocopy all important documents for your future reference (god forbid if it should involve you anymore. It shouldn't and you should not have to hear from the new owner anymore in your life)

Because the new owner didn't get a car insurance yet, the transaction had to be postponed to next week, Wedndesday. Grr...

Anyway, change of topic...I was at 1 Utama yesterday. Went to MPH there and bought a security money belt and a combi strap for the luggage. My reluctant model on the left is "wearing" it. :D Unfortunately, 1 Utama only had one left, so I'll have to look around for Daniel. :P

Just a little note. Before my reluctant model scampered away, just to let you know the belt is suppose to be worn on the front. I put it on the back of my reluctant "poser" because it can be seen better. ;D he he The combi strap is supposed to be put under the handle of the luggage and around. If you want a more secure hold of the luggage, you can get another one, just adjust the length and put it vertically. I got the one with the lock combination for better security. It cost me RM32. The belt, RM30.

Travel Insurance and a little bit of extra info..

2008-01-17T00:48:00.000+08:00

I thought I'd find out more about travel insurance today. I wasn't sure at first to get it because Daniel said it wasn't necessary. I went to a Maybank branch in Taipan business centre, Subang Jaya and the lady there said that besides the Air Travel care package they offer, my credit card also has some form of travel insurance coverage but that I'd need to call the credit card centre.

Anyways, the Air Travel Care package offers this:

Plan A - bigger coverage
- 1-5 days coverage for individual worldwide including US is RM75.

Plan B - smaller coverage
- 1-5 days coverage for individual worldwide including US is RM50

The general coverage for both plans:
- Accidental death & disablement
- Medical expenses & emergency medical assistance
- Hospital Income
- Baggage and personal effects (up to RM1500 for plan B, RM5000 for plan A)
- Baggage delay (only available for plan A RM500)
- Personal money and travel documents (up to RM3000 for plan B, RM5000 for plan A)
- Personal liability
- Trip cancellation (NA for plan B)
- Flight delay (NA for plan B - pays RM200 for every 8 hour delay)
- Curtailment
- Hijacking Inconvenience (RM300 every 24 hrs for plan A, RM250 for plan B...lol)

It takes 2 weeks to claim in which I have to fax the necessary documents and checking. Application for this travel insurance is 24 hours immediate.

Seeing that it doesn't cost that much for the necessary coverage, I thought I'd get it if the travel agent doesn't have anything better.

The other info I gathered was that the 'plus' and 'visa interlink' symbol found behind my credit card and atm card need to be activated to be able to use it in U.S. and should only be activated when it is near the departure time because if it was activated now and used in Malaysia not overseas, the card would be suspended. :P Okay, that's good to know.

Besides that, I contemplated increasing my credit card limit. But no confirmations on that yet. Need to do some calculations on how much I need to bring and all. So that's on KIV.

Update on things to do....

2008-01-04T23:59:00.000+08:00

My last day at work is on 18th January. I'm looking forward to the time off from work because that means more time to focus on my "research" and more time to spend with friends and family. For the moment, here's a list of things that I have left to do (I think, there's always something additional to do):

- Selling of Car

I've gotten my car insurance ready already and I have given the car ad to my sister to post. Because she works for Star, apparently she can get a special rate to post the ad. I chose the 2 days + 5 free plan for RM5.50 per line (4 lines altogether). It's around RM44 I think not counting the discount. Now the only thing to do is clean up my car the items I've stored in my boot and make it look clean and shiny as much as possible. Hmmm, should I get a car freshener? :D Only then can I go to pay my income tax before leaving to U.S.

- Check up more on handphone related stuff

My handphone is the Motorola KRZR. I looked in the technology info of my handphone and it says it's a quad-band GSM. Terms like tri-band, T-mobile and GSM is a bit confusing for me...but my technology should be better than tri-band, shouldn't it? :P In Wikipedia they seem to be mentioning GSM, tri-band and quad-band together, shouldn't they be related one way or another and available in the US then? A bit blur in this tech area...

- Income Tax

After my exit from my current company, I have to see the Human Resource for an exit interview and at the same time claim my last remaining claims and inform them to do up my taxable income.

- Perfecting my resume and photocopying documents

This should be a simple matter and I will most probably do it some time after my Fraser Hills trip. :)

- Buying clothes to bring to US

I've made an inventory listing of all my clothes I'm possibly bringing over. The ones I'm not planning to wear this time around are already in the big luggage. ;D It's still half empty. Hmm, that could either mean I don't have enough clothes or I'm good to go with the number of luggage I have now (one 29" luggage and a 20" cabin luggage)

- Lawyer

The lawyer I contacted to do the power of attorney change to the contract still has not contacted me yet but it's a simple matter provided all the terms of the contract is what I assume it to be. But just to be safe I think I will call the lawyer again on Monday. :P

- The stuff I can't sell off

There's been no news lately of people wanting to buy my books or computer table. For the books, I'm planning to get Daniel's help in bringing the book to the buyers and collecting the money for me. Thanks in advance! :) As for the table, I tried calling IKEA but they don't take in used IKEA furnitures or allowing us to see through them like they used to years ago. What other choice do I have? My sister doesn't want the table to be there at the apartment forever but my car or any of our cars can't possibly fit it if I want to store it some other place. And mum also said there's no where else to keep! :P I'll try reposting again but if still can't sell, then how? Any suggestions? :( Give for free?!

Car and phone...

2008-01-01T18:40:00.000+08:00

Few days ago, I decided to visit the person that spray paints cars as recommended by the person that services my car. The guy lives nearby my house apparently. How convenient. Anyway, I figured all I need to pay to spray over a scratch on my car is just maybe a couple of hundred ringgit. But it turns out that it would cost a lot. Spraying just to cover the scratch would be noticeable, spraying the whole car would cost over a thousand ringgit! :P So, in the end, I just opted to pay RM20 to paint over the scratch (it's still there to see, just that it's blue...er) and to replace a broken front light. If the buyer wants to reduce the price, it's negotiable.

In order to sell the car, I need to get a few things for the JPJ:

- Car registration certificate
- Original I.C of current owner
- Original I.C of new owner
- Car Insurance certificate
- Letter from owner to sell off the car (for real?)
- Letter from buyer to buy the car (again...am I interpreting it correctly?)
- Change of address from new buyer if needed (don't know what THAT means...)

Turns out that I can't seem to find my latest car insurance certificate. I think I should be able to get a copy from the insurance company with a minimum charge but the annoying thing is that it's so hard to get through to them! The operator won't listen to what I'm asking for and transfers me to somebody unrelated and then that person would transfer me to another person and then the other person is not around and suppose to call me back but never does! Grr....I wrote a complaint and emailed to them but so far no reply. I'm assuming it's because it's the public holiday so I'll wait till tomorrow and see how. ;(

After I've gotten the certificate from them, I can then post up the car ad. It will read:

PERODUA KANCIL 850 EX (M)
'01, Met blue, 1 lady owner,
good cond, RM14500 call
Sandra xxx-xxx xxxx (S. Jaya)

I went to check out a few websites recommended by a friend regarding mobile phone call packages :

- www.wireless.att.com
- www.sprint.com
- www.verizonwireless.com
- www.t-mobile.com

Each one of them have a variety of packages and I couldn't really decide on which to choose so I looked around some more and came across a website that helps you decide. It gives you a series of questions to narrow down your needs and then lists down the available packages out there from various companies. :)

The website is: http://cellphones.about.com/od/prepaid_phones/qt/plan_chooser.htm

From what I can see, Virgin Mobile's "Pay by the Minute" prepaid plan seems to be the cheapest for 60minutes/ week. Average monthly cost is $36.58. The monthly fee would be $6.99 on top of the prepaid card.

There's this term that I'm not familiar with. What's 'mobile to mobile'?

Permitted and Prohibited Items....

2007-12-23T10:18:00.000+08:00

I thought I'd check up on the things I could and couldn't bring. Luckily the guide book provided several links that gives out the inventory list. Here's one of them:

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm

Basically, the first thing to note is that one is not permitted to bring more than 3 ounces of liquid, gel or aerosol of any kind. Hmm, how much is 3 ounces....it's about 88 ml....There goes my plan to stock up on skin care products before flying over. :P

Another note is that all of these items must be in a one, quart size, zip top and clear plastic bag. And the traveler must remove it from its bag and place it on the conveyor belt when being x-rayed. Even if you want to bring above the limit, you must declare it to the security. Hmm...

There's a pdf format of the list of items which you can print out. There are also other links on other stuff such as "The right bag for your carry-on", "Screening Step-by-step" and "Know before you go travel card".

After exploring a bit further, I stumbled upon a link on Safe Travel with Batteries and Devices. All it mentions is the dangers of it being a fire hazard and that it should not be placed in the carry-on luggage. I don't think they would check the hard disks then, do you? :P Oh, my lovely dramas...

Social Security card. I checked out this website (www.uscis.com website) and it says that I can use my passport which should contain a special chop that allows me to apply for an unrestricted social security card and a driver's license.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c9426552f2a9e010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=aab807b03d92b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Doing the usual stuff...

2007-12-21T22:04:00.000+08:00

An update on things. I should have known being this time of the year a lot of people would be on holiday. :P The lawyer is on leave and I have to wait till Monday to settle the Power of Attorney stuff. Well, the lawyer said it wouldn't take long to prepare the documents. It would cost about RM300+ too to do it up.

Anyway, at least I managed to get some other things done. I sorted out all of my personal documents that I want to bring with me. I bought a box file to put them in. Pretty handy. The next thing I need to do is reorganize my certificates and photocopy a couple of copies of my resume.

I also visited this LA Times website passed on by my sister's friend in Orange county, CA.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-growth-sg,0,5951143.storygallery

It contains links like traffic info, earthquake maps and crime area maps. Apart from that there's news that there's some urbanizing progress in downtown area. Interesting. I think I shall follow up with the news going on...

I've also prepared my resignation letter that I'm going to hand in on January 1, 2008. I can't believe it's 10 more days away. During my long leave from 23-30 December I'm planning to visit my old boss, currently our Regional Operating Manager for Klang Valley and let him know of my resignation personally.

Now, to continue on with my usual stuff...job hunting, accommodation scouting and reading up on the guide book...

Feeling lazy lately....;D

2007-12-17T23:58:00.000+08:00

Lol! Somebody has commented that I have not blog for about 3 weeks already. ;D That's because there wasn't anything new to blog on and I have been feeling lazy lately. But that's all going to change soon as time waits for no man, even myself.

This morning I called the lawyer to check on how I can have somebody sign on my behalf when I'm in US when it comes to selling the apartment. The lawyer said she would call me back tomorrow on it. It would cost about RM300+ to change the documents again.

Next, I checked on the rates for the ad in the newspaper to sell off my Kancil. It costs about RM5.50 perline. And since the standard car ad is 4 lines, it would cost me RM5.50 x 4 lines x 1 to 4 days worth of advertising in the classified section. Hmmm...I hope people will call me for the amount I'm paying for that short period of time. Anybody want a Kancil from me? :)

But before I can sell off the car, I have to have my car fixed a bit. There's this huge scratch at the side that some nasty neighbour put there. I've already service the car, so next is a visit to the mechanic maybe on 21st this month.

I've also extracted my wisdom tooth (for those of you who know me on Facebook, you already know this). It costs me RM450 for the surgery-extraction. My stitches is coming off this Wednesday. Before I leave for U.S. I'll probably do a scaling. I heard that the fees for such a thing in U.S. can be extravagant, so my plan is to visit the dentist every time I come down to KL to visit my family. lol...

That's it for now. :) heh...

What is so far settled since my last post...

2007-11-30T14:03:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered that sometimes things are moving too fast, or that time is moving so fast that you just don't have time to do everything? Well, lately I've been feeling that way. I don't even have time to read my books anymore. :P

Anyway, these were the things I've accomplished/ settled since my last post:

EPF/ KWSP inquiry:

- My sister mentioned to me before that I should look into withdrawing some money from my EPF while I still can. I called up the main office at 03-8732 6000 to ask. Basically, if it's not under a particular scheme, I can't withdraw. In my case, leaving the country doesn't entitle me to any withdrawal unless I've obtained a US citizenship or when I'm of the retired age.

LHDN (Income Tax)

- This was another source of my worry. How do I pay for the taxes while I'm in US? After handing in my resignation in January, I would still be working during that time. And the income tax processing is sometime March or April, so how do I do it? After calling up the Kelana Jaya branch at 03-7882 7500, the officer told me that my company should submit a calculation of my remaining taxes to their branch and I am to pay that amount before I leave the country. Hmm, so I'm going to be pretty busy sometime end of Jan or beginning of Feb...

Gym membership termination

- From the contract it said that in order to terminate the membership I'd have to send them a letter telling them of my intention but I decided to call them up to check. It was a lucky thing I did cause that day was the last day before they handled the monthly payments. So, I went over to their branch, filled up this form and it's over. I have December as the last month of gym activity and the month will be paid for using my earlier deposit. :) I could have transfered my membership to US but it's just an additional cost I don't need...

Selling my books

- I've been asking my sis on how to sell off my books she mentioned some stuff. But I decided to post the items for sale in the Facebook marketplace application and surprisingly, I got some response! :) So far, I've gotten rid of my books to 5 separate buyers including my star wars figurine collection that I'd gotten when purchasing cereals. lol. To this date, I'm RM77 richer. The only ones that didn't get as much response was my manga collection. But I'm a patient person...up till Feb that is. ;D After that, maybe I'll let somebody help me sell them off. There's not much left. Only about 1 carton plus full of books.

Browsing for flight tickets...

2007-11-21T00:04:00.000+08:00

I was working on a half day morning shift yesterday and it was part of my plan to visit the Penguin warehouse sale after lunch to see my supplier. Since he would be busy with the sale and couldn't make his usual rounds at my shop, I decided to go to him instead to get some return approvals for the returns (don't worry if this doesn't mean anything to you).

Anyway, that was my main intention but then I started looking around while waiting for the approval to be given and then I spotted something I thought I ought to purchase since it's cheap. :D I got myself a RM9 Top 10 Los Angeles guide book and a RM5 California map. Although it's a bit outdated by a few years (2005) but it's still useful and a great buy.

I am currently working on checking the flight rates on this website www. bezurk.com. It allows you to see the cheapest flight along with its schedules of all available airlines. You can also narrow down your searches to just one stops, your choice of airports and which currency rate you want to view it in. So far, one way ticket for me costs about RM3000+ while the one with the return ticket for Daniel costs about RM3800 plus. This is excluding some tax.

I checked out the Malaysia Airlines website and did a search for the round way ticket and it costs RM4210 (passenger fare RM3140 & tax RM1070) for one stop. Now for the one way it's a bit different. :P I clicked for the cheapest fare option and it said that there wasn't any, so I clicked the other option which was the availability option and what it showed me was a RM9074 one stop ticket price! :P What is wrong with this search?

When I went to the multi-stop tab section, it wants you to state the places you would be stopping at in between. How am I suppose to know whether the flight takes me there? :P I think this search system is not very user friendly. It makes my search very difficult.

The things I need to get from here rather than when I'm in US...

2007-11-13T18:09:00.000+08:00

A lot of people have been giving me some advice on what I would need to buy first before leaving for US. Here are a few of the items:

-Iron

My mum says it would be cheaper and I would need it when going for job interviews. How much cheaper I don't really know.

-Hair Dryer

Okay, I don't know about the weather there, but I would think that drying my hair naturally shouldn't be a problem. But let's just say I'm in a rush, I may need it. Hmm, maybe the easiest solution would be to cut my hair real short. ;D

-Mini Rice Cooker

I don't know how I'm suppose to bring this over, but is this absolutely necessary? For that matter, would I be able to cook much rice there???!!! I'm not much of a cook as well. :P

I already have three American plugs, which my father got for me but I'm still getting a few more. What do you think?

Bit by bit...

2007-11-08T09:27:00.000+08:00

My sister just came back from L.A. and she said that the place is just so-so. Things are expensive there. And it's cheaper to live like 3 hours away??!! :P I don't know how true is that but initially, when me and Daniel (and possibly my mum and aunt) reach there we're planning to live in L.A. itself first and then go scout around. I'm hoping that that bit of info is not true. My sis still insist that own transport is a must. ^_^"

Anyway, she brought back some info stuff for me. A L.A. frontdesk booklet containing info on various places to shop, dine and visit, Where magazine also about similar stuff with a bit of history background, MLS opening house guide on mostly properties for sale (none really for rent but I guess it's okay to check out the kind of houses in the area) and the LA Times, a local newspaper.

There's also this Global Malaysian forum where Malaysians overseas visit. There's a few things I found out from there like at: http://www.mascusa.com/MalaysianOfficials.html a general guide on rules, http://www.malaysianconsulatela.com/index.htm a general guide on migrating Malaysians and it also led me to here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bookings/flights.do to compare cheap flights.

The day before yesterday, I visited Standard Chartered and asked them for advice on opening bank accounts. The lady officer there told me that if I have this certain symbol on my atm card I can withdraw from any atm (with a minimum charge of course). I can also use my credit card but only for the maximum limit. If I want to open an account, we can't do it from here. We need to bring some supporting documents like I am currently working to open an account? :P I thought that as long as you have the money, you can? Or a travellers check? Anyway, Daniel says not to worry about that. It would be easy to open one there.

I also finally completed my aunt and uncle's application. But the bad news is downstairs computer is out for repair. The printer is not hook up to anything at the moment. :P So, I may need somebody's help to print it out again. :)

Mum's visa done! :)

2007-11-01T11:04:00.000+08:00

Although there hasn't been much response regarding my table but that's okay. The main focus at the moment was my mum's non-immigrant tourist visa application. The good thing about this application is that you don't have to go all the way to the embassy to get the forms. You can do it online from your computer. First thing is you would need to take a US size passport photo, photocopy your passport and go to Alliance Bank to pay the fee of USD100 plus RM27 for the service.

After that, you go to the website: www.vfs-usa-my.com to apply. At first I had problem processing the thing because of some error. I emailed them and they said not to use any other internet browser other than the windows internet explorer. -_- Hmmm.....

You can set your appointment base on their schedule. My mum's appointment was for 29th October 8.50 a.m. That's the easy part. You print out the appointment letter, and other documents available for printing. Now comes the hard part. Filling the application form.

You'd think that with the ready information you have it would be easy but when it comes to last minute changes, it could take about several tries before you can finish. It took me about a day to complete it. -_-

Finally, documents all done, photo ready and passports ready, we headed off for the American embassy on the day of the interview. I didn't trust myself nor the traffic in KL so we opt to go there by Putra LRT which would bring us to Ampang Park about 1 km away from the embassy.

We had to go through some traffic to reach the train station. Although there's no traffic using the train, but there was still the crowd. At one point I thought I might pass out from the lack of air. :P After getting off from the train around 8.30 a.m., we started our "short" walk to the embassy. Suffice to say, when we reached there we were sweating and my mum's shoes were killing her feet. Note: wear comfortable sandals and change them later.

I couldn't follow her in, so I waited for her to come out for about 2 hours. Luckily I brought a book with me. There were others waiting as well. One guy brought a book to read as well. A lady opt to stare at her handphone for 2 hours.

My mum came out and it was all confirmed. She could collect her passport the next day. :)

With that success, now my aunt and uncle want to do theirs. Tomorrow I'm planning to put some time into getting theirs done......

Goodbye my blue room...

2007-10-27T08:51:00.000+08:00

I am renting out my room at my apartment and moving out by this Sunday! :) At first my sister was worried that we couldn't find anyone to rent but after I posted at Facebook using Marketplace application and Adpost the Malaysian network, I got quite a few responses! See, it's not that difficult and we didn't have to rush. Anyway, the tenant has shifted her stuff over since her previous place wants her to move out fast. I've already cleared my stuff in cartons, just need to dismantle the table and shift the bookshelf out.

About the computer table, I decided to sell it. I used the Facebook's marketplace application again and within the same day I got 2 inquiries about it saying that they're interested to buy it. I replied to them about it but so far no further replies, but things are going good. :) I'm wondering whether I should sell off my car the same way...

Monday is my mum's interview for the non-immigrant tourist visa application. I'll be accompanying her there at 8.50 a.m. Feeling kinda nervous for her also...A bit worried for her also because a recent "thing" came up. Can't go too much into detail about that but suffice to say that it might affect her going to U.S. with me and Daniel. :P

During job searching...

2007-10-25T00:32:00.001+08:00

Tonight was one of those nights I look out for jobs and submit resumes and cover letters. One of the requirements for some of the positions I'm looking at was typing skills of at least 50wpm. I wasn't sure what was my level so I decided to take the typing test at this website:

http://www.typingtest.com/

After taking the test, I was around 70 wpm. Wonder what's yours? :D

Also, another interesting thing I came across was this job ad:

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/job-JHLCJGCWYAE;_ylt=As0jRRglYwifnLu5sHcjrfv6Q6IX

Hmm, I wonder, should I? ;D But this is like a temp thing for me...

Here it is!!!! :D

2007-10-22T23:35:00.000+08:00

A lot has happened since I last posted. :) For one thing, I've gotten my passport back that has the temporary visa. It expires on 9 April 2008, so I need to make sure I'm in US by then. The Indian guy at the counter also gave me an envelope that had my Immigrant Data Summary attached to it to be opened only by the US Immigration or Public Health Service officer at the board of entry. Besides that, he also included a flyer that says "Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants" on it. Inside, it gives you a list of information that I would need like the complete guide on the USCIS website at http://www.uscis.gov

The guide has things like:
- Finding free information in your local community and on the internet
- Finding a place to live
- Getting a Social Security number and driver's license
- Getting a job
- Registering your children for school
- Finding healthcare
- Locating English language and adult education classes
- Preparing for emergencies
- Finding community organizations that assist immigrants

Besides that it also tells about your rights and responsibilities as a Permanent Resident on things like filing your federal taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), registering with the selective service (for males 18-26), giving DHS your new address within 10 days after you move, and maintaining your residence in the US.

Haven't really check out the stuff yet, but will get on to it. Printer needs fixing before I can download and print the guide and read it. :P

Temporary lodging

2007-10-19T00:11:00.000+08:00

Since now the plan is to temporary stay somewhere first before deciding on a place to rent, I looked up the Living and Working in America book and here's the websites they recommended:

Reputable sites:
- www.expedia.com
- www.travelocity.com (amazing race, anyone?)

Hotels
- www.quickbook.com
- www.180096hotel.com
- www.1800usahotels.com
- www.americaasyoulikeit.com
- www.usholidays.com

I haven't really check out the sites in detail yet, but it's certainly promising. But the lowest rates I've seen so far is around the range of $60+ per night. :P

I also found the details for the YMCA branch that allows male and female travelers to stay:

California
Downtown Berkeley YMCA
2001 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-848-6800
Rooms for: Males and Females

The only problem is you need to call them directly for rates and reservations. :P

Rental websites

2007-10-14T22:52:00.000+08:00

Below are the list of rental websites I've been looking through and receiving updates on posts from renters:

- http://www.adpost.com
- http://www.roommates4you.com
- http://transworldroommates.com
- http://www.move.com
- http://www.roommates.com
- http://www.rentnet.com
- http://california.metroroommates.com
- http://www.apartmenthunterz.com
- http://www.rent.com
- http://www.roommatelocator.com

Out of the the whole list, I find that the first, seventh and last link has a lot of affordable range of rooms, some with pictures. The second and fifth link is a great place to find roommates. The fourth link has great search options with pictures. The rest I didn't mention does not have many options that suit my price range and location. :P

I'm just wondering, if I'm aiming to go by end of Feb next year, how should I tell the renters. Plus how should I tell them that my mum, possibly my aunt and Daniel will be coming along? :P What kind of place should I rent initially to accommodate everyone? Hmm...

My PR is ready for collection! :)

2007-10-12T09:17:00.000+08:00

Just called the embassy this morning and they said it is ready for collection. :) Ah, such speedy service. Unfortunately, I can only collect it next Friday after the Raya holidays. :P But no worries. Yesterday night, after coming back from work and drinking coffee, I stayed up to work on my cover letter and resume. I have a cousin who knows somebody who has connection with the workplace I'm aiming for. But he's going to leave his present company soon (the company that has that connection) and that's why I have to prepare the documents and email it straight-away.

I hope in my rush state I did not do any mistakes. Oh well, I can always apply again online to that company. It's just that this guy can give a more personal touch to the application since I know him as well. :)

Now to work on other stuff. I have to search online for the online application for non-immigrant visa for my mum and aunt who will be following. What is required is a payment of USD100 (non-refundable) to Alliance bank and then go back to the webpage to complete the application according to the instructions stated.

The day of the interview!

2007-10-10T08:19:00.000+08:00

I was all a bundle of nerves yesterday. I woke up at 6 a.m. and left the apartment half an hour later to fetch Daniel so that he could accompany me to the American embassy. We arrived quite early about 7.45 a.m. because I estimated to avoid the jam, we had to leave about 7 a.m. Since we had plenty of time till 9 a.m., we decided to walk to the nearest petrol station to get some breakfast. The food didn't help to calm my nerves. ^_^"

Some time 8 something, the security guard told us to line up already because there was going to be a riot outside. Daniel couldn't come in with me to pass the documents because there were too many people inside apparently. :P But luckily they said he could follow later in the afternoon during the interview appointment. When I reached inside the main building, sure enough, there were people waiting. I got the number B400 and the number being called was As and Cs. I was wondering if I had to wait after all of these people to get to my turn. Luckily, I didn't have to. Probably because I was assign the first number of the B series and it's about a separate issue I get to be called much earlier.

The handing in of the documents passed without much incident. The guy behind the window called out for the documents one by one. He then put them into a brown office folder to be looked into later by the interviewer. And that was it. I went out, met up with Daniel and decided to go back to his house and have lunch instead of lingering around in KL till the appointment time 1.30 p.m.

After having a hearty meal of wanton mee, we took off again at 12 p.m to KL. There was quite a jam getting to the embassy. I was getting worried that I would be late. But thankfully, we arrived there with just enough time to spare. When I reached there, the people that were there this morning had gone back and it was only this Indian lady with her kid and me and Daniel. Her name is Mary and like me, she's here for the interview.

Her husband is an American citizen and they married in Malaysia years ago. But she couldn't follow him to U.S because of some reason. She said it's been about 6 years now that she has been trying and now she finally got it. :P She was quite friendly and I was glad for her. She's going to Wisconsin.

When my turn was up, my palms were sweating. The Indian guy was back and he asked me where I am staying in U.S and I told him I haven't got a place yet. The next thing he told me had me panicking. Without an address he can't process my application. The moment he said that I thought that was it! It was not approved. I explained to him that in the form it didn't state that it was required and after all it didn't make any sense to search for one when I haven't gotten the PR approve yet. But he said in order for them to issue the Social Security card, it is required. The feeling of dread started to grow. But luckily, Daniel's brother is in San Jose, California. Quickly, he went to call and get his address and the guy said it's okay. So long as I have an address, doesn't matter how we're related, it's good. Later if I needed to change the address, I could. Phew! After paying for the processing fee, he then ask me to take a seat again.

The next time my turn was called it was handled by an American dude this time. He first asked me to place my fingers onto the scanner in front of the window for finger printing scan. He next asked me what was my highest qualification. After answering that it was a degree, where it's from and how I got it through which college, he asked for my transcript. He looked through all of my documents and then he said it was 'approvable' and that I could come and pick it up on Friday or Monday. I was shocked. That was it? That was the whole interview? Wow! I was so happy I almost forgot to ask my questions. I didn't want to go into too much detail cause other people were waiting behind me. After a few minutes of brief talk, I left for home. :) I wished Mary good luck and walked out of the embassy with Daniel with a feeling of a new beginning fast approaching.

One important thing an applicant must remember. You must know somebody in US with their address and contact! :P Otherwise nothing can be processed. I wonder, if the applicant doesn't know anybody, no friends who knows somebody there, then what? They have to quickly make a friend through the internet? Hmmm....thankfully there's Daniel's brother. ^_^""

To finish up on things...

2007-10-02T12:52:00.001+08:00

The interview day looms even closer now. Besides organizing my documents, I have to start listing down the questions I want to ask. Here is a list I've thought of so far:

- Any info on accommodation or work they can provide
- Medical options for people like me
- What are the terms of the PR (coming back to Malaysia)
- Contacts of people that have gone before me or going there at the same time (if its not P&C)

Some of the above I more or less know it's available in the books or online but just to check with them. Are there anymore things I should ask about? :P

Eight more days to go...

2007-09-28T00:15:00.000+08:00

As the interview day looms closer, life for me goes on. Discussions with my family members. Stress at work. Sigh...It's so hectic nowadays it's hard to even spend time to read a book. But the sun will rise and set no matter what.

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to photo copy the necessary documents. Later after that, I will have to clean up the apartment a bit for the board game gathering that's being held here. I wonder who's coming? I might take this opportunity to tell them the news of my going to U.S. Who knows when I'll be able to see them next. :P

Checklist for the interview...

2007-09-24T09:54:00.000+08:00

Fourteen more days to go...Not panicky yet, but getting there. Now relaxing a bit but I get the feeling that if I relax I might forget something. So I decided to make a checklist ahead of time before it's too late to rectify anything I missed out:

- All passports (current and expired)

I have 3 out of 5 passports including the current one. Will need to make copies of it. Perhaps I will need to check my car boot. I remember stashing a few things there. Maybe the missing passport is there? :P

- One photograph

I would think they want the US size. I have both Malaysian and US ones. I will bring them all. Checked.

- DS 230 Part II - Sworn Statement

The guy at the embassy said just ignore it since I submitted it together with the forms to US earlier on.

- Applicant's birth certificate (original and copy)

I have the photo copied one, original and even the translated ones! Checked.

- Marriage Certificate (original and copy)

N/A

- Divorce and/or death certificate (if applicable. Original and copy)

N/A

- Certificate of Good Conduct (Police Certificate)

Done ahead of time already. Just need to photo copy it.

- Education certificates

I have the original and photo copies ones as well as the translated ones. Just need to arrange them nicely for the interview.

- Medical Report

X-ray and medical report all ready after I had picked it up the other day. A little big. Was wondering if I should borrow my brother's art bag that can put in art blocks...hmmm....maybe I will.

- Fee USD 755

Haven't withdrawn money yet. Will need to withdraw whenever I can in small amounts. Not safe to carry around so much money. :P

- Letter of interview and Case number

It's all in the envelope. Just need to be sorted out or made copies of.

- Additional forms

The lady at the embassy gave me a form to fill in. I think it was a list of countries I have visited over the years. I will have to check through my passports for that info. Should I write it in the form? I think I will. Or maybe write it on a separate piece of paper first. :P

Well, that's about it I think...did I forget anything?

Medical results...everything OK! :D

2007-09-22T12:51:00.000+08:00

Friday morning, I called the American embassy regarding my 'missing' passports. The thing is they require the expired ones as well right from my childhood to the current one. I'm missing the joint-parent one and the second last passport. The guy said to just bring whatever passports I have and to answer the interviewer any queries he has regarding it. I assume they just want to know where did I go during that passport period. Hmmm....got to check my family's passport for reference.

Anyway, the next thing I found out (not sure whether the info can be relied upon) was that during my PR status, I am allowed to return to Malaysia for vacation purposes but not to work, of course. So that means, I won't be stuck for years in US. ;D That's good news and did relieved my parent's worries somewhat.

So happy was I about the news that I forgot to contact the panel clinic for my medical results. So, this morning I called them and I am to collect them before they close for the day at 12 p.m. Everything seems to be okay from what the receptionist tells me. I'm happy to hear that. One less worry. :D

Another good news is that I managed to get hold of a few of my old school mates whom are residing in US. One is living in Minnesota and two others are living in California, the place where I'm thinking of heading. :) Another friend tells me she has a friend in Pasadena. All good. Just need their contacts for emergencies or queries.

What about the person who's accompanying me? :P

2007-09-20T00:01:00.000+08:00

It never occur to me because it didn't concern me but now that I think about it and after my mother brought it up, if she is to accompany me to U.S., she would have to apply for a separate visa to U.S., right? According to her, usually the travel agency would handle everything. Now that she's going there on her own (so to speak) she would have to apply for it on her own, right? But how does one do it? I am also clueless as I have never arranged for this kind of thing before. :P

The Medical Check-up

2007-09-19T08:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was my medical check-up at the embassy's designated clinic. My mum accompanied me because I wasn't familiar with the area. After looking at the map book, it seems that we could go there using the Putra-LRT to Masjid Jamek. After that it is a short walk.

When we left the house about 7.00 a.m. the traffic in Subang USJ was already building up. When we reached the Kelana Jaya LRT station, which was about 7.40 a.m., the parking was almost full. Luckily, a Kancil can squeeze into any available spot. ;D At about 8.10 a.m., we reached Masjid Jamek. Finding the clinic was a bit difficult. The map book I had wasn't the updated version so it failed to tell me that the more accurate landmark would be a church. But after asking some locals, we finally found the building. The word 'Bangunan Ming' is somewhere at the ground level of the building which was blocked from our view.

The receptionist at the counter was very nice. Sally was her name I think. She smiled a lot and was very helpful in helping me to fill up the forms. My passport was checked and then I had to give one US passport size photo to complete my medical forms. Next was the check-up.

A small plastic cylinder bottle wrapped in brown paper was given to me to collect my urine sample. In my unprofessional opinion, I would think the fact that it has a clear color indicates I'm healthy. ;D A nurse or attendant took my weight and height and checked my vision. Perfect vision. ;D hehehe The Indian male doctor was friendly. He asked me some questions regarding my health and proceeded to take my blood pressure. Normal. Next was a physical. A nurse was present to ensure my modesty was protected.

The doctor checked the pulse in my leg right around the ankles. He then checked my internal organs by pressing and feeling around its shape. Next was my lungs. He put the stethoscope at the front and back while i breathed deeply. And then he used some tool to knock around my leg joints to test the reflexes.

What followed was the blood test. My memory of the last blood test I took was when I was in primary school. I vaguely remembered feeling the needle going in and there was this tremendous pressure as it brought out the blood. I think the government nurse that did it for me failed to tell me to clench my fist. I was surprised when this doctor told me to clench my fist
and I asked him again to confirm. I hardly felt the needle at all! Grrr, I should have known ...government nurses. Anyway, once that was done, I didn't mind taking the vaccination shot that was required. I was all smiles. ;D

The next thing I needed to do was take my X-ray at the PKNS building near Dewan Bandaraya Star-LRT station. It was the same place I took my x-ray for my teeth. I was told to take off my top and wear this thin shirt to take my x-ray. My passport was also required for them to check. When the x-ray came out the nurse at the counter said everything was okay.

That was the entire check-up. Everything ended about 9.30 a.m. What have I learned from this experience? Blood test is not as horrifying as it was before. ;D he he he... The final reports will be ready some time Friday. I am to call them up to check and then go to collect. Now to concentrate on the interview on October 9, 2007.

No downloads? Noooooo.......

2007-09-16T23:09:00.000+08:00

One of the discussion over dinner was that when I'm in U.S., I won't be able to download stuff into my laptop...Is that true? :'( No anime or dramas for me??? Would I be in prison? Tell me that's not true!

My trip to the American embassy

2007-09-15T09:51:00.000+08:00

With Daniel's help, I managed to get to the embassy. It's pretty easy I suppose to get there but we took a long way back with heavy traffic. If you're driving there, you're not going to find any parking in the compound. Be prepared to park quite a distance away. But like what Daniel had observed, the shady trees along the road makes the long walk bearable. :)

Once you're at the embassy, you're required to line-up at the counter beside the gate. Be sure to know which line you're lining-up for. There's one small line at the other side. That's the line you should go for if you're there to make an appointment. They'll give you a pass and you will go through some tight security with x-rays and you are not allowed to bring certain objects that might potentially be used for lethal intent. After search, we walked on to the main building.

There are no signs or anything but there's a big logo of the American embassy in the middle of the building. We headed there and was stopped again by another security check. We walked on into the room on the left where we waited for our numbers to be called. It's interesting to see the staff working there. They are all behind what I think is bullet-proof windows and they speak through speakers. :D

When it came to my turn, I told the lady behind the counter what the guy at the embassy told me to say over the phone. But somehow, she didn't understand what I wanted. She didn't understand why I didn't have the forms. :P And she asked for an appointment letter which the guy didn't even mention. Gosh. She disappeared into the office to check on it.

While waiting for her to return, I listened to some of the other people's conversation when they were called. One guy wanted an extension to his visa to remain in Malaysia but was told that he should have applied for the extension before leaving America. Another guy came to get his visa but it seems that the interviewer forgot to get his signature to proceed with the process and so has to wait again. The process of the visa it seems takes about 12 days to do. Hmm, I had better take note of these things so that it doesn't happen to me. :P But how would I know if the interviewer had missed anything? Oh well, I'm not in a hurry anyway.

The lady finally came back with the forms plus a few other documents she said I might need. Hmm...I'd better take a look at the forms before my medical examination... :P Once I had checked everything was returned back to me, we got out of the embassy and drove back home.

This morning, I called the embassy's panel medical people and they said they couldn't change the appointment time to afternoon because the x-ray unit is closed in the afternoon. :P But they said they can wait till I arrive if I have to go through traffic and finding the place. Oh well, I'll see if I can find the place by driving there or going there by train...

A frantic search and some scrambling...

2007-09-14T09:40:00.000+08:00

Earlier on I mentioned that I wasn't sure if I had my old expired passport? Because of that, last night I was having trouble sleeping. But thankfully, I finally did because I had quite a workout at work. This morning I woke up and I vaguely had the feeling that I was suppose to do something. When the passport thing hit me, I rushed to look for it. The reason I didn't do it last night was because I didn't want my mum to think I had lost it. ^_^" Now this morning, nobody's around. But after going through the cupboard, it wasn't there...Dread hung over my head. I had to call my mum and as to be expected she began to feel as frantic as I was. But luckily she said she thinks it's at the apartment.

Grabbing the apartment keys, I drove as quickly as I could (but at the legal speed limit, of course) all the while praying silently. As I opened the cupboard and search through my family's old passports, I breathed a sigh of relief when I came upon mine. I did not foolishly throw it away. Calming down a bit, I took a closer look at the picture of myself years ago. I must say...I look quite cute actually! ;D hehehe A little 'blur'-looking but definitely cute (smug). Okay, self-praise aside, I went in search for my birth certificate next. Luckily, inside the folder that contains it also had the vaccination records. Phew! Hmmm...but I could have sworn I took the shot for Hepatitis B...

Contacted the embassy's medical panel next and made an appointment for Tuesday 18th Sept at 8 a.m. I'm required to bring my passport, one passport size photo, the forms that was not included in the envelope which I now have to get it personally from the embassy today afternoon after 2 p.m., and the vaccination records. I think to be on the safe side I had better photo copy a set. Oh god, where's 376 Jln Tun Razak?

Contents of the letter...

2007-09-14T00:27:00.000+08:00

I have finally taken a look at the letter. Basically, it tells me to make an appointment to have the medical check-up before the interview. And yes, the dreaded blood test is needed. And they need my vaccination record. God, should it be stated at my birth certificate? If I don't have it, would I have to take the shots AGAIN? These are the listed vaccinations required:

- mumps
- measles
- rubella
- polio
- tetanus and diphtheria toxoids
- pertussis
- influenzae B (HIB)
- Hepatitis B
- Varicella
- Pneumococcal
- Influenza

I'm sure I've taken a few of them before but they need proof. :P Hmmm, would it be harmful to take those shots again? Got to ask them before they poke me.

One thing that puzzles me is that they need my expired passport as well? :P Hmm, do I still have that? And they said that I need to present certain forms attached which I don't seem to see anywhere in the envelope. I will have to call the embassy about it tomorrow morning.

One shocking thing is the amount of money I have to prepare. The total fee for the Diversity Immigrant Visa is $755 US dollars! It includes the Immigrant Visa application fee ($335), the security surcharge ($45) and the Diversity Visa Lottery surcharge ($375). Why is the surcharge so much? :P According to this conversion site I found (http://coinmill.com/MYR_USD.html#USD=375), $755 is RM2649.22. And this is not inclusive of the medical fees. :P

Oh well, it's to be expected I guess.

The letter has arrived!

2007-09-12T22:14:00.000+08:00

This morning I received a call again from the guy at the American Embassy. He asked me again whether I've received the letter. I said I have not gone back to my parent's house yet where my usual mails are sent. This evening itself my mum called to inform me the letter has arrived! :D Can't wait to check it out. A bit anxious and excited at the same time, wondering what the letter would say. After that I have to call back the embassy for more details like the address of the embassy, fees and any other info mentioned in the letter.

Hmm, I wonder what should I wear for the interview? I'm thinking maybe something like what I wear for work. Casual-professional?

My feelings concerning my leaving for America...

2007-09-11T23:27:00.000+08:00

People have asked me why I'm still deciding to go to America when I am the only one going. Besides, I'm a girl. What about my boyfriend who isn't going at the same time as I am? Honestly? Of course, I feel sad to leave behind family and friends. Of course I feel lonely that I am leaving behind a wonderful boyfriend of many years. Of course I'm worried about starting a future in a foreign country. But why am I still going? Is it because somebody told me to? It could be part of the reason, but the decision is still up to me, isn't it? It is a big decision and I wouldn't act on it out of somebody's orders only. But those people still chose not to believe me. They still think I'm pretending in front of people out of the influence of another. Even after several repeated private conversations, they still think I'm lying to them. Do I not know my own feelings or mind?

Anyway, I hope, by listing my thoughts and feelings and the reasons behind my going to America, it will end the never-ending questions. Maybe not...:

- The fact that I got it by luck when people have tried for years but was not successful makes it clear that I should not waste the opportunity.
- I have occasionally thought to myself before, wouldn't it be nice to live and work in America. The pay is better and standard of living is definitely better as well.
- Some people I know have let go of opportunities for the sake of others they later regret in life. I do not want to be one of them. I want to at least give it a try for myself. Besides, if America does not pull through, I can still come back to Malaysia.
- I know some people who have had the privilege and opportunity to go overseas because of work or studies. I never had that chance. I have it now and I fully plan to take it. Even though I am scared and unsure.
- My boyfriend plans for us to have a better life and future in America in the first place. The original order was for him to go first then me. Or at best circumstances, together. But currently, it's reverse but it does not change things. We will eventually be together in America. :) Hopefully it won't be long...
- In terms of tackling loneliness, there's the internet, phone and occasional flights back to Malaysia. I'm sure I can handle it eventually.

There are other personal reasons as to why I'm going but I shall not post it publicly as it might offend some people. But it is definitely not because of only one person like how some people still insist on believing.

You know, regardless of my reasons for going, people should try to support my decision instead of putting pressure on me by being pessimistic or listing out the negatives or second guessing for me. It is not helping. Instead, it makes me feel sad, angry and lonely (even before going!). They should help me by offering advises and support or even listing out the goodness of going to America. They should be proud that somebody they know is going to U.S. or abroad for a better future. My boyfriend's two aunts are living and working in England and their family is so supportive of it. Friends I know are also looking into ways to do the same thing.

Somehow I know all of these endless question is like a test for me to test my convictions. I will not fail this test! :)

Books to look into and cities to look into...

2007-09-11T21:30:00.000+08:00

I find myself still in a state of 'blur'-ness. After checking out the local bookstore and Amazon, I managed to find a couple of books I ought to look into:

- Living and Working in America by David Hampshire (1901130398)
- Living in the USA by Alison Raymond Lanier (1931930198)
- Living and Working in America by Steve Mills (1857039130)
- Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and living in the USA by Mike Livingston (0912301570)

The books above gives a general info on rules and regulations and tips on working and living in America. The first one is pretty comprehensive and I think the best of the lot. Hmm, I think after work tomorrow I will check out MPH Mid Valley for the books. It also gives me opportunity to check out their wide range of travel books. :)

Another thing I decided to look into to narrow down my choices was which cities with large Chinese American population. The reason I decided to do this is so that I do not feel so 'foreign' in an already foreign country. ^_^" If there were other people that looked like me living around the area, at least I would blend in some what. Anyway, these are the cities Wikipedia listed:

- Boston
- New York
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles
- Washington
- Houston
- Seattle
- Chicago
- Philadelphia
- Portland
- California

San Francisco was listed as the highest populated followed by California and New York. So far, the sites I visited base on these cities have not really given me much options for rooms to rent, but I am still trying and awaiting the day of the interview. Who knows the people at the embassy can shed some light on how to find places to rent. I am even thinking of talking to the people waiting for the interview to sort of get some ideas.

The things I can't bring to U.S.

2007-09-11T09:43:00.000+08:00

I am staying at the apartment I'm sharing with my sister at the moment. Looking around my room at the things I own had me thinking of how I'm going to miss the things I own when I go to U.S. :( Some of the things I can have it sent over and I think there's a special condition where we are allowed to send over items during the moving period for free because it's expected when you're migrating. Not sure but I think I read it somewhere from a book "Working and living in america".

But there are some things I think I'm not allowed to bring over like my downloaded shows burnt on cds. I already have a box full of them. I'm still downloading shows at the moment. Seems like a waste to stop even though I know I won't be able to bring them over. :( I have decided to transfer some of my favourite shows into my laptop and external hard disk. If there isn't enough space for all, I was even thinking of buying another bigger external hard disk just to accommodate more. But see how...I do have to save money as well...sigh.

Hmmm, another thing, would they scan my laptop for anything? I don't think they have the time for that, right? No, I don't think they will and if it does go through the x-ray it won't get damaged too, right? yes, yes...I'm sure...

Looking around the room again, I suppose I don't have that many things. It's just books, cds and clothes. Some of the other personal stuff is all in a box that can easily be packed along. Let's see, I'll have to list down the shows I want to bring along now. :P

The awaited call...

2007-09-10T08:33:00.000+08:00

Some time end of last year, me and my boyfriend, Daniel, decided to apply for the American Diversity Immigrant Visa program 2008. After taking the necessary photo and filling up the online form, we sent our application. Few months later in March, I received a mail from the United States Department of State saying that I've been among the randomly selected and registered for further consideration. After filling up the necessary forms again and mailing it by courier, I received a call a few days ago from the American Embassy, saying that my interview appointment is in October 9, 1.30 p.m. I am to wait for a letter mailed directly from U.S. before calling them back for confirmation. This was it. This was the moment I start preparing for my journey to America...

There were things to think about now. Here's a rough list of it:

- Apartment shared with my sister
- Currently owned car
- My income tax
- My non-existent life insurance
- Bank procedures
- Finding accommodations
- Preparing my resume and passport size photo
- Looking for a job in U.S.
- Extracting my last wisdom tooth
- Hand phone
- Current gym membership
- Savings plan

Hmm, is there anything else I need to look into besides the above? :P

I've decided to look into these things once I've gone for the interview. At the moment, I've got to prepare for the interview. First thing's first, I have to organize my certificates and the photo stated ones and get ready the fee for processing the application. My mum says to be wary of a hoax. At the moment, I doubt it's one. And then I have to mentally prepare myself for a possible blood test. The last time I had one was when I was in primary school. It was quite a harrowing experience, one of which I hoped never to experience again, but alas...I shall mentally prepare myself...