Credit to Ipoh

With the Budget 2010 announcement that every credit card that I have will be levied an RM 50 tax, I’ve been in a dilemma for the past week. The dilemma being, although nothing serious, is trying to figure out which credit card to cancel.

My reactions to the Budget speeches are always the same – divided. On the one hand, the economist me is rather pleased that the implementation of the levy is intended to stop errant spending. On the other hand, the shoppaholic in me is rather unhappy that I have to give up one of my cards. I have four cards and I only use two at most and on some months, none at al.

But I have one of each: a Visa, a Mastercard and AMEX. And I have a silly reason for holding each – Visa because it’s a Visa, as a kid, I always thought credit card equals Visa. Mastercard because, for everything else, there’s Mastercard. And AMEX is for a corporate hot shot – which I’m not anymore – but holding an AMEX makes me feel like one.

They’re all ridiculously sentimental reasons which should have no bearing on what should be a rational decision. So three of them have to go, but which, I really don’t know. Gah. Any ideas?

***

Ipoh is often spoken of in sentimental terms in Malaysia. There was that highly irritating song by Jacqueline Victor, where she sings ‘Ipoh Mali‘ (Coloquial for ‘I’m from Ipoh’)  over and over again. And then of course there’s that stereotypical belief that if you’re an ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, you’re probably from Ipoh (of course, if you’re an ethnic Malay, you’re from Kampung Baru, ethnic Indian, you’re probably from Brickfields) and people talk about the food. The glorious food.

Over the years, I’ve been inundated about the awesomeness that is Ipoh that I would have thought that the streets were lined in gold, and there were ghosts of our colonial pasts sauntering in the streets. Like randomly bumping into our old Imperial masters as we cross the street.

What I didn’t expect was well, not to like the town very much. It was a lot like Kuantan, in some parts. A lot like Penang in the more plush parts by the palaces. But the roads at night were dark and bumpy, and I thought it looked tired rather than historical. Ipoh just didn’t fill up my soul with any kind of sentiment the way other old quaint towns in Malaysia did.

In the morning, when the sun rose, and light streamed through the limestone mountains and set against blue skies – that feeling was still nothing. Don’t get me wrong, the limestone caves and hills were stunning and I would probably return to give Ipoh another chance.

It could be that I expected too much from Ipoh over the years. Or it could be I’m just rebelling against the awesomeness of Ipoh since everyone had been harping about just how awesome it is.

Somehow, I left Ipoh this morning a little depressed with the city.

***

So…Shiseido introduced their new line, Girly Erotica (Majolica-Majorca). My mum thought it was the most hillarious thing ever, that a girl would wear make up branded Girly Erotica.

What I do know is that I’m so buying the line, because hey, it’s Shiseido. This is a bit like Hermes making a plastic bag, like yes, I would so buy it. It’s Hermes after all.

Losing Your Addiction

I hate it when this happens to me. This being losing interest in my current addiction after I’ve spent good money to fuel said addiction.

It happened with the Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. I picked up one of his books, spent a good few hours cracking up over his rogue wizard cum private detective series and was thoroughly addicted at the end. The next day I went ahead and bought the second novel. I finished it in a day. And then I could not sleep, I was shivering from withdrawal symptoms until I got my hands on the third book – and I devoured it overnight.

By the fourth book, I thought I was sufficiently addicted enough to pay a good RM 200 to buy most of his series.  I was so pleased with myself as I walked home with almost the entire collection in the bag.

Except some time in book 5, I suddenly found myself irreverently bored with the series. No matter how hard I tried, I could not finish the story about how Thomas, the sexy vampire was involved in the porn industry that Harry was hired to investigate. I just couldn’t.

Now I have a bunch of books in my Billy bookcase (alliteration! ahah!) I have not yet completed.

I worry I’m losing interest in Bones as well. I picked up Bones because it fueled my hunger for a murder mystery that is darkly comic. I loved it, it was smart and sassy, I couldn’t wait for the next episode.

Again, I bought the second season without thinking. Except two episodes in, I find Bones tedious – I really don’t care about Camille Saroyan (I know she improves later on – watched the other eps on Star World) and am irritated with Booth criticising Bones endlessly. Yes, she doesn’t get it. We know. Yes, she’s smart but clueless about life. Stop hitting us on the head with it.

I’m not really looking forward to the next episode. The wit from season 1 has disappeared somewhat – it’s not as fun as it used to be.

Bah, more money spent on things I’ve lost interest in. So despite being darkly fascinated by Mad Men, I’m going to wait till the sister comes back with the DVDs. I’m not going to spend any more on a show that I might lose interest in halfway.

Other than that, it’s been difficult to blog lately because life has become rather dull. My cousin got engaged recently *yay* and I’ve been hassling vendors for my own upcoming nuptials *boo hiss* – nothing worth blogging about. Oh! Oh! I’ve been trying to read more. I’ve finally picked up Crime and Punishment that I abandoned a few months ago. I picked it up from the dark and cobwebbed corners of my bookcase where it was squished between recipe books. I lovingly dusted its jacket and right now, it’s next to my bed so that it can be ignored prominently.

And editing. I’m up to my eyeballs with words…it’s hard to concentrate working on drafts. I’m a little bit enamoured with posting my ahem fanfic. Plus, it’s fun to get reviews! So do read it! And leave a message! You’ll make me a happy bunny.

Winter Theme

Now stupid Facebook advertised that there was a Malaysia Airlines competition online whereby all you needed to do was capture winter in a photo and you could win two tickets on MAS to any destination of choice.

I had perfect photos of winter on my PC from *gasp* six years ago which I impatiently uploaded in my efforts to win this competition. Of course, it was only after hours (read: ten minutes) of agonizing which photo would be the winning shot and then after pressing the submit button did I realize the competition deadline was umm…29th September.

Meh. A message for The Star and MAS: DON’T ADVERTISE OUTDATED COMPETITIONS  ON THE SIDEBARS OF MY FACEBOOK! YOU’RE WASTING MY TIME.

But anyway. Looking at the old photos gave me a chance to traverse down memory lane, and surprisingly, instead of leaving me depressed with a hankering for tequilla (which I do not drink – but it sounds like the appropriate liquor of choice to drown your sorrows away), I looked on at the photos with a smile, remembering just how good things were and how good things will be.

I think I’m starting to look forward to the future again and not terribly miss my time in the UK. I think that’s a good thing – to not feel burdened about what I had assumed to be better past than the now and feel a little more assured that the future is well, something not too bad. Let’s see how long this bout of peace and contentment will last – I’m a writer. I need to feel angry and upset all the time. Fuels the writing.

Or so I say.

Anyway, without further adieu: Winter in Warwick

David and Eizwan – Young and carefree

I’ve no idea where I put that hat now :-s

I love this picture – we didn’t have classes and we played around in the snow. Awesome times.