The wall says it's time to go, so today is my last day with TI,
Texas Instruments. Yup, I have lived in Tucson AZ since
June 2001. The moment I landed in Tucson, all I had in my
mind is, I want to exercise my privilege when I obtained my
Permanent Resident. Walaa.......this is it. I obtained my
"Green Card" in Oct 2004. I guess I am a valued employee
since I stayed with my employer for more than 1 yr after
getting my Green Card. A majority of employees leave their
company immediately after getting their Green Card. Am I
dumb, stoopid or what? Anyhow, I leave it to the boss above.

As a matter of fact, I have wanted to leave on my 4th month.
Things were very rough and after talking to some folks, I
stayed. I have to say, I made it thru!! Though things were
rough, the boss above guided me thru and keep me energized
and motivated. It was against all odds. There are many
occasions that it was between the boss above and me and,
of course, the 4 walls. What's next? What shall I do? What??

In addition, during my 3rd month, I totalled my car. My
98 Nissan Altima was....wrecked!! My car was flipped and
it landed on its roof on Sept 1st 2001 at 2.30pm MST. I
was on my way to LA from Tucson and that happened near
Quartzside along the 10-W freeway . I broke my collar bone
and I had bruised on my left arm. I was on a band and thus,
that makes me one handed. For 3 weeks, I drove one-handed.

During that time, I have submitted my Labor Certification
as my 1st step towards the US Permament Resident process.
Next was the Adjustment of Status aka 485. Before filing, I
need to undergo a medical exam and from there, I took
some vaccinations. Well, that was to make sure I am healthy
and I guess it makes sense.

Let me rewind a little. I was a blood donor when I was in
Malaysia. When I arrived in Tucson, I wanted to continue.
I went to this church and they had a blood drive. I filled up
some paper work and readily to save another soul.

The nurse asked me some questions and later she gave me
a notice. The notice explained that I have to be remain in
the US for 3 consecutive years in order to donate blood.
What a bummer!! I assumed by that period, my blood
would be okay to donate. Anyway, I tried but I guess I will
never donate blood over here in the US.

Here is the summary of my qualifications. I am
actually looking for a job that could take the
advantage what I have. Let me know.........


B.A. SoH, B.A. CoS, M.A. HuCom & Ph.D BS


SoH - Sense of Humor
CoS - Common Sense
HuCom - Human Communications
BS - BullSh*t


What's the spanish word for BullSh*t?
Bullo-sh*tto.

Muy bien. Excellante. (Very good. Excellent.)

FINE

This is the word women use to end an argument
when they are right and you need to shut up.


FIVE MINUTES

If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five
minutes is only five minutes if you have just been
given 5 more minutes to watch the game before
helping around the house.


NOTHING

This is the calm before the storm. This means
"something," and you should be on your toes.
Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually
end in "Fine".


GO AHEAD

This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.


LOUD SIGH

This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal
statement often misunderstood by men.
A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an
idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time
standing here and arguing with you over
"Nothing".


THAT'S OKAY

This is one of the most dangerous statements
that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay"
means that she wants to think long and hard
before deciding how and when you will pay for
your mistake.


THANKS

A woman is thanking you. Do not question it
or faint. Just say you're welcome.


Almost forgot "WHATEVER"...
(it's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!)

It was a good dinner on the eve of CNY. We had hot-pot and
2 stoves ready to cook some awesome fishballs, slices of chicken
and beef, vege, etc. 2 stoves and 5 lbs of food? I think it is
reasonable since there were 13 hungry people that needed to be fed,
u know. On top of that, we have 4 iron chef singapore that
obviously define kiasu cooking. It was good. I kind of like the
idea of hot-pot since most of the food are cooked. All u need
to do is to make some good broth and put all the stuff in there.
When it boils, presto....E-A-T!! I can't remember when was the
last time me having a great CNY dinner. I think that was back in
Penang. My mum cooks awesome cantonese CNY dishes and all
the dishes have pretty cool names that associated with health,
wealth, porsperity, longevity, etc. No wonder, the chinese are the
good in business where they try to make every penny from every
business transaction.

Before the dinner, I was at Costco. I bought a X-file series,
called Abduction. Somehow, they reorganized all the 8 seasons
into categories, such as Abduction, Soldier, and 2 others. The
Abduction has 4 DVDs, which has 20 episodes. In 3 hrs, I
watched 4 episodes. It was good......especially when Scully was
finally convinced with the existance of extra-terrestrials. The
movie, X-files: Fight The Future, is actually an episode
somewhere during the Season 1. The cool thing about this set
of DVDs is that they explain the chronological order of the
episodes. That means, a few episodes of Season 2 are actually
part of Season 1. No wonder I am confused!!

The truth is out there.
Deny everything.
Trust No One.

Oh yes, someone called me this morning at 5am wishing
me Happy CNY. All I can say is that it was 8pm his time.
We talked a little on how screwed up things are and he
saw this commercial and how it related to me. What????

4 ladies were having lunch during the 2nd day of CNY at
a kopitiam(coffee-shop). 1st lady said, my son is a
surgeon at London and he makes a good living. The 2nd
lady said, my daughter is a successful attorney at Sydney.
The 3rd lady said, my 2 sons are CEOs for their companies
in San Jose California. 1 minute later, the son of the 4th
lady came to get her and they took off in a Proton Wira.


Gong Xi Fa Chai!!

When I see my laptop, some flashbacks come across
my mind. When did I actually start to own a pc or
when did i actually get hook to this thing called..........
electric brain, as you translate computer into chinese.
Nevertheless, it's a pretty cool translation huh. i wonder
how people from namibia address computer.....
!kokunicana ... in english... a talking box?

I could still remember when I was 13, my friend invited
me and some friends to play a computer game. it was
cool!! back then, i know that my parents could never
afford to get me one.

After being around on this planet for X years, I never
have a computer until I was in the corp world. Then, I
discovered email. From that day, things are really really
different.

Nowadays, kids wants a computer. Back in my time, I
have marbles, kites, action figures, Game&Watch and a
bottle of minyak urut. (minyak urut is something similar
to a tube of analgesic cream)

How much water does it take to process a
quarter-pound of hamburger?
One gallon(3.8L)

How much water does it take to make a
pound of plastic?
24 gallons

How much water does it take to make
a pound of wool or cotton?
101 gallons

How much water does it take to process
a barrel of beer?
1500 gallons

How much water does it take to
manufacture a new car, including tires?
39 090 gallons

How much water is used to flush a toilet?
2-7 gallons (efficient, 1 gallon)

How much water is used in the average
5-minute shower?
25-50 gallons

How much water is used to brush your
teeth?
2 gallons

How much water is used on average
for an automatic dishwasher?
9 to 12 gallons

On average, how much water is
used to hand-wash dishes?
20 gallons

How much water does the average
residence use during the year?
107 000 gallons

How much water does an individual
use daily?
50 gallons

How much of the Earth's surface
is water?
80 %

Of all the Earth's water, how much
is ocean or seas?
97 %

How much of the world's water is
frozen?
2 %

How much of the Earth's water is
suitable for drinking water?
1 %

Is it possible to drink water that
was part of the dinosaur era?
Yes.


Source: U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov

Manglish (or sometimes Malglish) is the colloquial
version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia
and it is a portmanteau of the word Malay and English.
The language shares substantial linguistic similarities
with Singlish in Singapore. In real essence, Manglish
and Singlish are one and the same although there are
a few slang words that exist in one and not in another.
For all practical purposes, Manglish and Singlish are
subsets of the same group.

From wikipedia.com

1. "lah" - Often used at the end of sentences, used to
affirm a statement (similar to 'of course'), usually ends
with an exclamation mark.
Eg. "Don't be an idiot lah!"

2. "mah" - Used at the end of sentences, used to
affirm a sentence, but not as strongly as "lah".
Eg. "She's like that mah.."

3. "nah" - Derived from the Malay expression, "Nah!".
Used when giving something to another person.
Eg. "Nah, take this!"

4. "meh" - Used when asking a question, especially
when one is skeptical of something.
Eg. "Really meh?"

5. "liao" - Means 'already'.
Eg. "No more liao."

6. "ah" - Used at the end of sentences, unlike 'meh'
the question is rhetorical. Eg. "Why is he like that ah?"
Can also be used to when asking a genuine question.
Eg. "Is that true ah?"
Besides that, some people use it when referring to a
subject before making a comment(often used to make
a negative comment).
Eg. "My brother ah, always disturb me!"

7. "lor" - Used when explaining something.
Eg. "Like that lor!"

8. "leh" - Used to soften an order, making it less harsh.
Eg. "Give me that leh."

9. "one" - Used as an emphasis at the end of a sentence.
Eg. "Why is he so naughty one?"

10. "what" - Unlike the British/Americans, the word 'what'
is often used as an exclamation mark, not just to ask
a question.
Eg. "What! How could you do that?"

11. "got" - Used as a literal translation from the Malay
word 'ada'. The arrangement of words are often also literally
translated.
Eg. "You got anything to do?"
("Kamu ada apa-apa nak buat?"). This particular particle is
widely abused in Manglish, mainly because of the difficulty
for the Manglish speaker of comprehending the various
correct uses of the English verb 'to have'. Therefore, 'got' is
substituted for every tense of the verb.
Eg. "I got already/got/will got my car from the garage."

an interesting find, thanks to wikipedia.com........


Ah Beng is a term commonly given to a certain group of young
Chinese men in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and
Malaysia. These Chinese men, whose age ranging from their
early teens to late 20s, usually centralise in the busier and more
developed cities in the region. Ah bengs typically speak local
slang, which is Hokkien or Cantonese mixed with English and
Malay, such as Manglish or Singlish. They are often
stereotypically portrayed to be anti-intellectual, superficial
and materialistic and shallow. These values often lead to a lack
of culture or indulgence in criminal activity or being involved
in brawling or affray out of disagreement with other people.

1) What's your greatest accomplishment?

2) What do you like about yourself?

3) What don't you like about yourself?

4) Describe yourself in 5words.

5) What/when is your most unhappy moment?

6) What/when is your most happiest moment?

7) What's your 5 favorite movies? Why?

8) Who would like to meet and why?

9) Where is your favorite place/spot and why?

10) What is your greatest fear?

11) Name 3 things that you can't live without
other than H2O and carbs.

12) If you have only the next 24hrs to live, what
will you do?
($, place, weather has been taken care of)


CIAO!!

I could confess that this is the truth based on my observations
and some research.


Man falls in love with her because she answers his questions well.

Woman falls in love with him because he supported her emotionally.
In addition, he has these qualities that triggered an emotion called
attraction in within her; dominance, humor, unpredictable,
adventure, strength, indifference, generousity, cocky and funny,
honesty and sincerity.

!! DOUBLE BINGO !!

Talking about maids.....some stories are just too much.

Over here in the States, well, u could get someone to
come to your place to clean up and do your laundry
at an hourly rate, usually from USD20 to USD50.
That depends on the work that needed to be done and
also, the location.

In Hongkong, the Filipino maids are very popular.
I am not sure how much the cost is but it is pretty
pricey. In Indonesia, Indonesian maids are very
popular since the country produce the most maids
to the South East Asia region. Some household has a
few maids. WOW!! One specialize in cooking,
the other keeping the house tidy and another,
ensuring the laudry is taken care of.
TOO MUCH lah!!

In Malaysia, Indonesian maids are popular. I know
a few of my relatives has maids. You could see
maids from households to the restaurant and from
the nursing place to the street vendors(hawker).

The maids at the nursing place are paid around
USD100 per month and they work from 6am to
11pm 24/7. The maids hired for domestic chores
are paid the same amount. Here is the problem.

Most people who has maids claimed that they
do not work hard. To make things worse, I know
there are people who 'make sure the maids are
isolated from the world'. They, sort of, lock them
within the house itself with no correspondence
with the outside world. I think this is too much.
Well, if I lock you in your house 24/7, how would
u feel?

When you are really bored, u will do whatever it
takes to kill time. Some people complained that
the maids ransack the whole house and steal the
precious belongings. Ever wonder why they do that?

Maids are humans after all and they deserve some
sort of freedom. They are not slaves you know.
There are many stories that the maids eloped with
the husbands, etc. Ever thought of why that is
happening?

It's pretty sad that 'sweat shops' happens and there
are no authority to investigate. Are they all related
to corruption in one way of another?

The housing market in Penang is crazy. You could
see big and high dense apartments being build. Well,
who is actually doing all the hard labor? Indonesian
workers!! How about their dorm? I witnessed that
some of them actually walk across the street to get
water from the tap nearby. What does that mean?


The truth is out there.

Here Come The New Years

(to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm")

Here come the new years
Marching round, E-I-E-I-O
And one of the years
Is the year of the Rat, E-I-E-I-O
With a squeak, squeak here,
And a squeak, squeak there,
Here a squeak, there a squeak,
Everywhere a squeak, squeak.
Here come the new years
Marching round, E-I-E-I-O.

Other Verses:
Year of the...
Cow - moo, moo
Tiger - grr,grrr
Rabbit - sniff, sniff
Dragon - roar, roar
Snake - hiss, hiss
Horse - neigh, neigh
Sheep - baa, baa
Monkey - chee, chee
Rooster - cock-a-doodle
Dog - bow, wow
Pig - oink, oink

---

Lion Dance Song

(to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

See the lion dance and prance,
Dance and prance, dance and prance.
See the lion dance and prance
On Chinese New Year's Day.

Hear the firecrackers pop,
Pop,pop,pop; pop,pop,pop
Hear the firecrackers pop
On Chinese New Year's Day.

---

Chinese Hello Song

(to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")

Let's wave and say "Ni hao (nee how),"
Let's wave and say "Ni hao."
Let's say "hello" to all our friends,
Let's wave and say "ni hao."

---

Happy Chinese New Year

"Gung Hay Fat Choy!"
In China, every girl and boy
Celebrates the New Year
in a very special way -
With fireworks and dragons,
colored red and gold -
They welcome in the new year
and chase away the old!

Helen H. Moore

---

Chinese Dragon
(to the tune of "Frere Jacques")

Chinese dragon, Chinese dragon,
Breathing fire, breathing fire,
Happy, happy new year,
Happy, happy new year,
Gung hay fat choy,
Gung hay fat choy.

Where's my 'hung pau'(red packet)?

adapted from:
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems54.html

I can't seem to find the perfect answer to this question,
Are you chinese? To me, chinese means you were born
and raised in china.

I HAVE A REVELATION!! (all out of a sudden)

In that case, american means you are born and raised
in the States. Wait a minute, that makes me a ....... Malaysian!!
Let me rewind a little.

I was born and raised in Penang(Pulau Pinang) aka
the Pearl of the Orient and aka Prince of Wales Island.
Well, I was raised in the heart of Georgetown and the
neighbor are all Chinese??? No, the neighbor are all
Malaysian Chinese. Most folks over there speak Cantonese
and/or Hockkien/Fukien. So, me as a kid, speaks Cantonese,
yat, ee, sam, sei, mm........ (1 to 5 in cantonese)

When I was in primary school, I started to speak Malay and
the Queen's English. Actually, I went to Wellesley Primary
School. At one time, my neighbors always tease me, saying
that I am a 'ang mor kau' (white man in hockkien) since I can't
speak Mandarin and I can't read Chinese. ok..... To add insult
to injury, I go to church. That makes things even more
complicated and they teased me most of the time; He is a banana.....

Later on, I took some Mandarin classes. You see in Penang,
there is always a religious class everyday and they offered Islam.
I opted to take the Mandarin class instead, else I would ended
in the library figuring what to do but reading. It was fun!! Making
me more Chinese..... I suppose. In the end, I took Mandarin class
for 4 yrs. Every day, 40 minutes. WOW!!

As time goes by, I went to a prestigious secondary/high school,
Penang Free School. When I was there, I speak mostly English and
Cantonese and thus, my Mandarin became rusty. And then, I was
more involved with the church activities and in general, makes me
more ..... banana.....

So....... let me summarize again......
Are you Chinese? Where are you from?
(Here in the States, people always ask me.)

Well, that depends on how far you want to go? Tell me as much as
possible. Well, I am actually from....the Garden of Eden.

All right. Are you Chinese?
I am a Malaysian Chinese, from the Republic of Penang.

*** The truth, I am 96% Malaysian Chinese and 4% Portugese.

After living in Arizona for 4 1/2 years and 1 yr in the
San Franciso Bay Area, I am ................... (U tell me!!)

CIAO!!

a friend named panjang(long in malay) says,

Blogging is like drying your dirty laundry
to the public.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A blog is a website in which journal entries are posted on a
regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The
term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a
blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog
is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are
called "blog posts," "posts" or "entries". A person who posts
these entries is called a "blogger". A blog comprises hypertext,
images, and links (to other webpages and to video, audio and other
files).


to me......Blog is ....

Boring Life Of Girls

it's no surprise that 80% of bloggers are indeed..... GIRLS!!

RSVP which is Respondez S'il Vous Plait - French for
"Please Reply" or "Reply if it pleases you" (literal
translation), means guests should reply to the invitation
early.

Some invitation cards have the words "Regrets only."
This means if you cannot make it, call and tell the host.
If you do not respond, it is taken as "Yes, I'm coming."
You are duty-bound to go, unless of course you die
before the dinner.

RIP - In Latin, it is Requiescat in pace (may he/she rest in peace)
is a common funeral prayer and grave inscription.
Remember, it is NOT Rest in Peace NOR Rust In Piece.

gigi rongak - the space between teeth in Malay. There is no
translation in a word in English..... (i didn't know that!!)



kiasu - in hockkien/fukien. in english it means, afraid to lose.

kiasi - in hockkien/fukien. in english, it means afraid to die.

kiaboh - in hockkien/fukien. in english, it means afraid of wife.

kialang - in hockkien/fukien. in english, it means afraid of people.

these 4 words are very popular among the malaysians who speaks
manglish(malaysian english) and the singaporeans who speaks
singlish(singapore english).

let me know when those 4 words become ----phobia.
i.e. arachnophobia - afraid of spiders.

Ah, Arizona!

The devil wanted a place on earth
Sort of a summer home
A place to spend his vacation
Whenever he wanted to roam.

So he picked out Arizona
A place both wretched and rough
Where the climate was to his liking
And the cowboys hardened and tough.

He dried up the streams in the canyons
And ordered no rain to fall
He dried up the lakes in the valleys
Then baked and scorched it all.

Then over his barren country
He transplanted shrubs from hell.
The cactus, thistle and prickly pear
The climate suited them well.

Now the home was much to his liking
But animal life, he had none.
So he created crawling creatures
That all mankind would shun.

First he made the rattlesnake
With it's forked poisonous tongue.
Taught it to strike and rattle
And how to swallow it's young.

Then he made scorpions and lizards
And the ugly old horned toad.
He placed spiders of every description
Under rocks by the side of the road.

Then he ordered the sun to shine hotter,
Hotter and hotter still.
Until even the cactus wilted
And the old horned lizard took ill.

Then he gazed on his earthly kingdom
As any creator would
He chuckled a little up his sleeve
And admitted that it was good.

Twas summer now and Satan lay
By a prickly pear to rest.
The sweat rolled off his swarthy brow
So he took off his coat and vest.

"By Golly, " he finally panted,
"I did my job too well,
I'm going back to where I came from,
Arizona is hotter than Hell. "