||zeapleonia

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Today marks my Two Years Anniversary of my relationship with…

*rolls drum*

*rolls drum-harder*

…

..

the-jungle-dot-com

Talk about ‘power girls’ for both Pearl & I – not the super power power-puff girls, mind you!

*grins*

‘Power Girls’ title is not an easy title to earn. As featured on the employee’s newsletter back cover, the word CHALLENGE is indeed spelt in capital letters for the entire 2 years!

CHALLENGES ;

#First – The environment.

1. Restricted communication

Looking back to the day when I first landed in Miri, no -rewind a bit ; when I was told that I’d be posted to a ‘remote’ area, I thought, ‘Okay, how remote it can be’ and it struck me that remote is indeed REMOTE when the reverts I got from colleagues were ‘bad enough’ that they actually ‘bet’ that we’d leave on the very 1^st month!  They described to us per like below;

remote=jungle=no hp/internet access

of which being the brought-up-princess-attitude in me 10 years ago, I would have most probably just jumped into the ravines and die . Yet somehow, out of God-knows-what-miracle, I began to adapt on the challenges installed in the jungle for me.

2. Dialects & Language

What was worst for me – Sarawakians speak in dialects of Fuchow/Hokkien/Hakka etc OR Mandarin with you if you cannot speak dialects. And my dear friends out there, I believe you all know low my mandarin level was when I left JB ; thus I had trouble communicating. Back in UTM, from day one itself, I have declared that I couldn’t speak a single bit of mandarin and from then, my friends transformed into auto-set-mode to English whenever they needed to converse with me, until somehow only-God-knows how I was turned into an English walking dictionary to them !

#Second – The travelling

We travel up and down so much and we found trouble settling down especially in Miri. Miri is big, to be exact, ‘long’ city. Development only took place along the seaside, unlike Bintulu where development is evenly scattered  on land. Imagine, you need to drive 30 minutes on a straight road (mind you, at certain areas, the road is bumpy – unlike roads @ west M’sia )just to reach our once called temporary-home, until we just couldn’t stand it anymore the distance from town. We then decided to rent a room in town, of which the superb location did us well. I only need to walk 20 steps out from my room and I’d reach restaurants/cafes/the nearest supermarket/and what is best -the fruit stall! Not only that, our once transportation-desperation which was terrible enough was solved when finally Pearl brought her mouse deer from the City of Cats, and from there, she became the saviour of my life.

Most of the time, I’d fly back home , to be with dearest family & friends and…read on HERE (someone took my luggage my accident)

#Third – My health

1. Food – Before I start my story, let me assure you that I am most grateful to have people to cook my meals etc… BUT, perhaps that is not heaven to me after all. The food cooked here is either deep fried or stir fried with a thick layer of greasy & sinfully layer of oil. You’d be shock to see the dishes served with 0.5mm thick of oil ??? And there are no such thing as fresh markets here to buy what you call raw ingredients to cook my own meals, what more to buy fruits to detox & avoid constipation. So, it resulted in my soar of cholesterol level & me having constipation problems.

2. Exercise – Input without output is bad. For a regular exerciser like me, no exercise = brain moves slower. I’ve developed a habit of exercise during my Uni days but I stopped upon landing in the jungle as there wasn’t a slightest chance of doing so. My 12 hours of working hours daily does not permit me to do so of which at that time, no badminton court/soccer without-grass field/volleyball court was built yet.

#Forth -Friendship bonds

Being in the jungle with restricted communication access did limit communication with outside world. Especially when I couldn’t be there with friends to share their happy moments (I missed 90% of the wedding invitations I got) and also I couldn’t be there during their saddest moments. It struck me that how lousy a friend I could be, but I held on to the believe that true friends will understand my situation.

 *watery eyes*

#Fifth – Burns big hole in the pocket

Many people claim that I save a lot. I’d say that’s a ‘bullsh*t’ statement.

1. The frequent amount of my flying here and there, and the several times I burnt my tickets..??

2.  Price of food in Miri is comparative with KL’s standard.

3. You’d just pay to satisfy your cravings no matter how much your food costs.

4. You don’t practice buying as a smart consumer. What is the difference of 20 cents when you have not been spending much for the past few weeks in the jungle?

Those were  5 examples of my situation when I first landed in Miri. And after merely 2 years, most of the things changed, towards the better I would say.

How CHALLENGES did me Good

#First – The environment

I picked up mandarin eventually. I have to converse in Mandarin daily!

*woohoo*

An achievement I would say. Thanks to guidance from Pearl, bosses, colleagues and those who are willing to explain patiently to me. Although I wouldn’t say that my mandarin improved a lot, but comparatively it’s is now better than when I left UTM – I only spoke mandarin to order my food.

But if you were to ask me to chose my mode of language, my answer remains the same – English please!!

#Secondly – The travelling.

I got so used to traveling that I’d doze off no matter where I would be – the car/plane/bus. And all my traveling plans are planned months ahead. That was when I name it r.e.s.t

                                      

#Third – My health

1. Food – I changed my eating habit – to eat wisely. I ‘wash’ my food with water before they end up in my tummy. Yes it takes some time, but if it solves my health problem, why not? As for constipation problems, I eat lots of oats & dried fruits, since they have longer shelf life too. Also, I stock on fruits before heading back to the jungle. Although they can only last for some time before they begin to rot, but it is still better than not having any right?

2. Exercise – After jogs & badminton games, I started to see an improvement in my cholesterol level, not to mention the positive outcome on my physical fitness. I also begin to pick some skills on badminton, of which in the very beginning, I had not the slightest idea how to even hold a racket! As for my jog, there is nothing much of a record to break. A 1-hour session jog daily (when I am in town) will be just nice to keep the doctor away!

#Forth -Friendship bonds

I have to say that friendships do blossom in Miri, of which their presence brought much joy and happiness throughout my 2-years in the jungle. I even celebrated my 24th birthday in Miri! As for my friends back Peninsular, I made it a point that I’d hunt for them whenever I am back, depending on their schedule of course..I even divided my visit into few phases- north, central & southern peninsular !

Not forgettting some who are indeed very very nice to make their trip here to visit me be it in Sarawak or Sabah! Apparently I helped boost tourism in Sabah & Sarawak eh?

*grins*

Right now with internet access in the jungle all thanks to good Samaritans, I can reconnect to the world !

#Fifth – Burns big hole in the pocket wisely

After the 1^st year, I didn’t travel back so much. It is expensive to travel so much and besides, the economy suddenly reported a fall. I also realised that sometimes having a quiet time  to myself instead of travelling so much & catching up sessions with friends in Miri is good enough to make the few days leave in Miri a memorable break.

#Sixth – Independent

I realize that I am now a very independent girl. Daddy’s or mummy’s girl NO more. A more organized & mature me.

Throughout our 2 years in the jungle, both Pearl & I were not left out in the company’s activities.

1) Datuk Yaw’s foundation launching. Related link HERE, HERE & HERE

2) Featured as the back newsletter cover . Related link HERE

*pats own shoulder*

Please wish a very Happy 2 Years to the Jane(s) of the Jungle!

Our 1^st Year Anniversary HERE.

Saturday June 27, 2009

Out of curiosity, I checked out what Twitter really is, and somehow the ‘cat’ was killed when I signed up an account myself.

Anyway, follow me @zeapleonia?

Have a great weekend ahead peeps

Wednesday June 24, 2009

It poured rather heavily today…thus I decided for a day off from my daily game of badminton…of which coincidentally during lunch today, I spent the entire 1hr ++ cleaning my humble room which drained much of the energy in me

And so, I took this very opportunity to
- let my wet hair dry naturally (I have to use a hairdryer to dry my hair every night ! Imagine the damage it caused…)
- put on a facial mask (finally, after much procrastination – the mask is stuck on my face now)
- perhaps catch an early rest tonight…I am seriously a sleep-deprived-monster

And, speaking about cleaning, let me just share the ’si-lai-ness’ (housewife-like) in me, below;

I realise that cleaning is an expensive task for a nomad person like me. How much does a broom costs? Take the simplest broom available in the market – RM 10? And a mop?? RM 15 !! Gosh!~! OkOk, to many of you it is a one-time off payment, but to me…urgh…imagine paying like 3 or 4 times blindly just to clean your room whenever you shift? And cleaning comes with rugs, pails, dustpans, {you can add on here}

The option to have my room being cleaned by others is a No-No for me (although I have the privilege now)…I am just not comfortable with the idea, unless my mom is the one doing the cleaning. Else, I’d rather dirty my hands and do the cleaning all by myself …And if I ever make cleaning as an income, I’d be fired the very next hour upon resuming job. I am very bad in doing house-chores, because I never did (back at home-sweet-home) ..and merely started during my undergraduate days.

But hey, nowadays guys can do house-chores better than their counterparts right?...*hints* [Guys will have to agree on this statement - due to their egoness in them?]
*LOL*

I guess this short update from yours truly and also to prove that she is still alive of which pictures are banned temporarily to avoid unnecessary accidents of her readers pretty much sums up her day today!

Ok, time to remove my mask already !

Sunday June 21, 2009

Many of us are so into photography these days that many do not realize that a good picture depends on both the combination of the title of my entry today.

Let’s see how I can illustrate with some recent photos that I took in KK last month.

Brief Intro :
Had a blast in KK, the environment/people/food blended just into perfection. We settled at Mercure Hotel (Located at One Borneo) and due to its newly built reason, the hotel comes with a good package with the best facilities for a 3-star-hotel !. From the toilet to the bed to the equipments – all are brand new and the service is just perfect I would say. Hotel parking is provided, which saved us RM 5 per parking entry at One Borneo, which I would say is costly for KK standard!

                         
   Flat screen TV with quite a number of ‘channels                                                      Still-new! I personally love the transparent glasses!

                
The sink – lovely and classy. Spot the hairdryer!

A Photographer MUST (know how)
- to use the camera (DUH!!) Selection of aperture, ISO, flash etc – You wouldn’t want to waste your time taking blurry/unclear photos?!
- to play with the blow of wind/light/backlight/background – You don’t want your subject’s hair to be blowing here and there all the time?
- to capture the best angle of subject
- to think/create new poses that best suits subject
- to edit photo(s)

A Model …ought to
- be able to pose naturally
- chase shyness away

If both photographer & model are not ‘cooperating’ …photos will turn out like the below ;
 
Pose OK , but photographer had a wrong setting of the camera          Setting of camera is now ok.. but model fail! ???!!

 
      See the difference peeps? Power of ‘Photoshop’

 
Size of model is OK, background (wanted to capture the huge fish-’long dan’) OK – SUCCESS!

OK, that is about is. Eternity photos of yours truly again
Btw, I busted flu already! Can kill a tiger now lol!

Wednesday June 17, 2009

As the titles goes, it was indeed a price to pay for leaving my gigantic umbrella in the plant yesterday. Didn’t bother to bring along with me back home as I naively thought the clouds were playing tricks on me..until when I heard a load moan from the sky when I was happily munching…erm, dinner? [not sure if I should call it 'dinner' because it was only something light to keep my tummy filled?]

Without hesitation, I turned into a gluttony the next second (well at least I looked like one when I ate my portion hurriedly) and rushed for my daily religious game of badminton….to my dismay, the sky ‘cried’ the moment I started playing….what was worse..it didn’t stop at all! So… I hurried home after badminton under the rain lor..(oh, IF only there was a prince charming someone to shelter me with an umbrella).

Everything was a normal after the shower, until I started sniffing continuously in the middle of the night…(and obviously, I couldn’t sleep)..of which out of my supreme laziness, I forced myself to wake up at wee hours to hunt for antihistamine pills, which did me good as my flu subsided and I eventually greeted dreamland.

Aw..don’t I miss the spoon feeds of medications, home cooked meals or the easily obtained MC to have a good rest ? As you age, being sick is something so common that when you look back to the past, having minor illnesses eg ; fever or flu or headaches were actually ‘nothing’…working when you have a slight fever, bad flu or even headaches is something I dub as ‘common’. Perhaps the environment here that trained the Jane-side in me Am definitely missing mom’s porridge or dad’s common phrase – Go see a doc!

My whole point here is to convey my theory of busting sickness when they come knocking at your door – pop those ‘relevant’ pills before your illness turns ‘major’. It helps, unless you really want to fall sick lar..corrective maintenance while it is still ‘early’ saves cost & reduces downtime *gosh, the engineer speaks here again*

Anyway,yours truly ought to have a good rest now. Rest assure that you will only see my next entry when I am 100% recovered.

Friday June 12, 2009

For the past week, I was in Miri chilling out, at the same time settling important items for my…*coughs*

Let me see, I was so busy with so many activities that I cannot really recall what have I done and what have I not!

Well, just some highlights to share on my interesting break 

Catching Up

Oh, on the day I arrived Miri, Pearl ‘played chipsmore’ with me (now you see her, now you don’t!) ,so , we had staff dinner, proceeded by several yumcha sessions (yes in a night!), no photos sorry, our looks were too haggard (traveling) – can kill the rats in your kitchen , or perhaps halts few seconds of your heart’s pump if we have ever taken and publish any photos of us here.  Not surprising that we ended up heading home fatigued but since the next day was a Public Holiday, that was not a problem for both of us, nor for our kakis. We had our fair share back home, updating each other – ah girls talk..both of us fell asleep while chatting halfway *lol*

Upon reaching home, the thought of cutting of the pineapples that I bought for RM2/piece (we are the pineapple midnight queens , me the amateur  one) was so tempting, but it was so so soOO late that we figured out that we’d better not torture our aging stomachs – we ended up gobbling the pineapple the next morning instead,  before I left for Brunei ; after breakfast with our boss + his lovely family. Breakfast was good, I had my tuna sandwich (topped with cheese) toast + 2 half-boiled eggs crave satisfied!

*yum yum*

Brunei

Brunei was next, for only a day trip as the main focus was the ever famous huge portion-yet-cheap sushi/sashimi *winks*.

Pearl couldn’t join us as she had to head back jungle for work….*pouts*

          My all time favourite Sashimi Bento !                                                                              Contented Mich !

After filling our tums’, shopping was next– just nice I should say. I was trying my luck to hunt for a reasonable priced handbag and to my amazement; I found a piece that I really liked instantly! Handbag hunts for me have never been easy; I have been hunting for one that suits my liking since ages ago, but me being me, if I don’t like it, I will not purchase it. The handbag that burnt a hole in my pocket is by Charles & Keith, a new arrival item, priced at BD 62.90. At the moment, 1BD=2.42RM. You do the conversion …

I enquired if there were any new piece for that particular design, to my dismay, the promoter reverted that the one I was holding was the last piece. I carefully scrutinized it and found several not-so-obvious flaws of which being the usual me would never cross my mind of even purchasing it, but sighs, I really liked it, so I ‘daringly‘ asked for a discount (betul2x tak tau malu)– of which she offered me only 10% . I tried to bargain for more but 10% was the max she could offer,  with her excuses that the new-arrival bags will never be entitled for any discounts + only members are entitled for a 10% discount. Satisfied with her explanation (or more to my sudden discovery), I decided to damage my pocket, and proceeded to buying my new found sweetheart! *smiles* And…I used it immediately LOL!

After we were done with shopping, along the journey back Miri, we stopped by at the ever famous 5-star ‘The Empire Hotel’ . The place is magnificent & awesomely grand and [I can’t describe anymore with words]. The moment you turn into the junction leading to the hotel, you’d be so speechless and dumbfolded with the design, concept and the architecture of this property. It’s something like a mini-Cyberjaya , the moment you turn in, there are road signs leading you to wherever you want to go, there is even a cinema on its own building *gosh*

  You need to walk a lil from the parking area to get to the main entrance

We visited the place, only to find ourselves drooling over that decorations and unique concept. Lobby is located at ground floor, and you will have to make your way 2 floors down (escalators provided) to get to the swimming pools/room. Each floor has their own dining area (with a grand piano!). Rooms are designed on apartment-style basis. Shall let the pictures do the talking. .. I am pretty bad in explaining things *blushes*

                 The main entrance

 The Lobby – What you see upon entrance

                             Yes, this is at the lobby too !                                                                                     Menu also nicer than anything ok..

Looking down from the lobby

  Complementary internet access – I tried, kinda slow

  Heading down from Lobby

 What you will see on your way down

                                                                       Needed to pee, so toilet time! Toilet also so nice isk …so MUST camwhore!

 Landscape – Hotels or..apartments?

 Ah, camwhoring again , someting NOT to be missed ! Btw, the sun was scorching h.o.t !  *LOL* Btw, the pic on the right is not a shampoo advertisement ok..

 There were so many mirrors outside the conference rooms, perhaps for executives to ‘tidy up’ before entering the room(s)?

So huge a swimming pool , check out the seats-so comfy and got shade somemore! The pool is designed whereby the water flows to the sea, you can taste salt water at certain areas !

P/s : You can check out the price here. Affordable I would say, perfect place for a honeymoon? *grins*

And so..I went back Miri feeling superbly c.o.n.t.e.n.t.e.d

Photoshooting

Under the HOT sun that was, with my bunch church friends, only to realise that I don’t have the model-look nor pose. I think I could do better as the photographer, because I do believe I have good sense of capturing the best angle of my subject plus a lil ‘photoshop’ skill of mine which helps. Eh, not blowing own trumpet, must be confident ma ..*chuckles*

Nevertheless, we had a great time with 5 lovely girls and 2 dedicated male photographers. *winks*

Okay,  I think I’d better stop here, I guess you all wanna vomit already seeing the sudden picture-blasts of yours truly ..*shy*

*chuckles*

Thursday June 11, 2009

Question : What would be a girl’s dream?

My guesses below (in random order)

- Owns a huge diamond collection

- Appears on TV !

- Marries a rich hubby?!

- Be a magazine cover girl

- Owns Angelina Jolie’s lips or Jennifer Anniston’s hair ! lol

- To eat a lot yet doesn’t putting on weight !

- To successfully climb up the career ladder and be a leader!

*chuckles*

Just some rough guesses of mine. Different individuals will have different wants.

With so many girlfriends of mine around my age who are so successful / getting more and more famous each day, eg ; some appeared on TV, some on magazine covers, some are already on managerial posts, some married & are living happily ever after, some had travel to so many places, some achieved their dream of becoming a Dr. ..the list goes on and on. You can never compare an individual with another as everyone follows their own different paths.

Anyway, appearing on a magazine cover does sounds cool (no doubt) ! That would be like – WOW !

Have a close look on the magazine in your hands now; usually on covers , models will appear either on the front cover OR the back cover. I believe advertisements for both front covers costs more compared to those of inner pages. The front is so much a common, *rolls eyes* (signs of jealousy la ni ), so, why not try something different, by being featured on the BACK COVER instead? How many have appeared on the back cover anyway?

Proud to present to you, the Last-But-Not-Least column of Kata-Kata (my employer’s employee newsletter) featuring both Pearl and I , the scholars, dubbed as the ‘POWER GIRLS’ who are based in the jungle. As this is only for internal circulation, I believe I can only release certain portions of the 1-page-article , privacy protected ok. Blurred effect done on the full page article below *grins*

Full page cover

Headings

Mom , I’m on the cover – the back one

Thursday June 4, 2009

for mom’s birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!

Promise that I’d save up and spend wisely this month for our trip kay

Mom’s birthday is like 4 days after dad’s !! And another 8 days will be my bro’s birthday…leaving me the  ‘odd’ one in the Cheang’s.
So in the future, I know pretty well to standby my May’s pay cheque for their pressies….

Wednesday June 3, 2009

I am in the dilemma situation where things seems to be bothering the mind…just as thoughts on this and that come and go , and restlessness best describes the numbness because I feel so lost & helpless.

What got into me? I wish I could answer, honestly.

Just when things seems to be running smoothly, suddenly something pops out from nowhere, and my location seems to halt my plans.. and again, my planning skills are put to test.

And then I’d have to look slightly further into my future when it comes to cash flow balancing because I ought to be saving for my trips *coughs*  40 days fast sounds great 

Just when it strikes me that I am about a quarter decade old living on this planet call Earth and I have yet to achieve anything great. Am I being too greedy or perhaps it’s just the destiny laid ahead for me which differs from Angelina Jolie’s or Hillary Clinton’s?

Ah, preventive maintenance plays much role here before the ‘machine’ name Zeapleonia ‘crashes’…it’s time to grease ‘her‘ with good food and social events!

1 more day to Jungle Break!

*jumps for joy*

Tuesday June 2, 2009

 
Whether it is work, or family or friends, or the girl/guy or the environment, or the $….

Don’t Quit!