Not so many weeks ago...

I actually, finally, made it to......

Batu Caves!!!

Now, for those unfamiliar, Batu Caves is somewhat of a tourist/religious place on the outskirts of KL, where I've been living all my life (and now too even though I'm technically in another state) which being a KL-ite, I should have been several times before in my lifetime.

But me being me, I've never, I mean, not ever, set foot on that holy ground until now..Or in proper timelines, 20 days ago.

This place isn't really big, but it does have a really big statue supposedly in gold (at least it looks like it, though I can't fathom why on earth humanity would waste so much gold on such a big thing, which makes me belief it could just be the colour...). Now in case I myself forget when I was and what I did there, here's some photo evidence (and no, I didn't do no photoshopping since really, I don't know how....yet...)



That's me in my overused Lord of the Rings T-Shirt..Which I got free from Comics Corner...hehehe. Oh, The pidgeons were to busy scurrying for food they ignored me as a potential toilet....:P



That's the statue I was talking about. Now as you can tell, thanks to non-existent special effects, I look smaller than the statue. Really, I'm bigger.. I mean it.. Really..No, don't believe?? Dang....I did try....:p Oh, notice the step all the way up? That's the main 'tourist' thing, climbing the stairs. I was there with a friend, so was this bunch of primary school kids. Unfortunately taking photos of random kids I know not off may result in some paedophilia trigger somewhere on the internet had I posted it so I decided to not take any of their photographs as proof. You'll just have to believe me that there were these kids around. Why are they so important that I had to mention them? Wait for it....



Oops. Said it too soon. I did catch them on the background of this photo. I repeat, that was unintentional (now where's that sod of a camera man I relied upon to take my photo WITHOUT the kids in it...Gonna give him a good hiding!) In any case, I'm right at the bottom, preparing my ascend and these kids were already running up the stairs. Now, it's just 272 steps, so surely it's not a problem. (yeah right. Tell that to the fumbling cameraman going there with me!)

Much like the story about the hare and the tortoise, the hare (those pesky school kids) ran quicky up the summit while the tortoise (Me. My friend couldn't run even if he wanted to, haha!) slowly went up one step at a time at an appropriate pace. While I didn't really required any stopping (it is really just 272 steps after all...), we did end up taking some breather so that the other 'young man' can catch up...As for the kids? needless to say, much like the tortoise eventually catching up to the hare and finishing first, the kids ended up puncturing midway top half as I expected. Wisdom does come with age sometimes....hehe



Now this was me right after the steps. I don't look tired one bit (shhh). As for the other guy...well...How many times can I use him as a target of ridicule in one blog entry (err, plenty..But in real life I'll probably get 2 girly slaps, 1 chick kick and a Widow's Peak to boot, since he like's Victoria so much..:p). Anyway, the cave looks quite impressive and there are several Hindu idols/gods to worship ( I think, I maybe wrong since I didn't really find out for sure). We venture deeper into the cave and here are 2 more photos of the view from within.





Oh wait, what's this?



Well, I guess it's nice to see a relative even in these places. Unfortunately being related and all, it knew I had no food to offer hence the disappointed look away..:-(

After we were glad we 'conquered' Batu Caves, we decided to take an unplanned visit to the caves next door, aptly named dark caves (I think. haha). Now this was a cave which is riddled with bat poo (I don't recall the proper term, too bad) and cockroaches and it stinks, but we figured since we're unlikely to ever make a trip to Batu Caves for the rest of our lives, might as well. It's a paid tour by the way. RM 35 for an educational trip. Again, thanks to the poo and the roaches, do not venture if you can't take the perfume...I mean, fume....:p

The cave was nice and all and we were given a quick lesson on caves and why over time the cave turned into what it is now. Luckily they allowed us to take pictures at one spot inside the cave. They call it the 'air-cond' area. That's because this part of the cave is smallest in diameter and with a nearby entry to the cave provides air that fizzes through the cave more quickly there than anywhere else we get a really cool breeze constantly. Hence the temperature there is lower. Oh, more photo..



Yup. That's the poor bloke who got conned into being the scapegoat of all my snipes on this blog entry. Thank you for volunteering. It was nice of you to go through all that and end up becoming target practice. At least the pidgeons avoided you too!

After we exited the dark cave, which, by the way, is called so because if we we to lose our torchlights inside the cave we would be in pitch dark. Really pitch dark. Ok, so dark cave visited, Batu Caves conquered. Next?

Time for me to pitch a trip to Gua Niah, the world's largest natural cave ( I think....haha!)

So who's interested??

Mamma Mia!

Watched it last Saturday. It was funny in the sense it was a movie I wasn't all that keen to watch but I seemed destined to watch it anyway. Over the course of a month since it came out, I seem to be in a position where I would be and then I wouldn't be watching it. But now I have. So what's the verdict?

The verdict is that it was an entertaining movie. Not because I am an Abba fan, I'm not. I only know 1 of their songs by heart and it isn't even their most catchy tune. I have no idea why I know that song. All I could remember is that my elder brother about 16-18 years ago had the lyrics and since then I've more or less still remember the lyrics. Which song? 192116518 2018152116518.. hehehe...

Why the movie was so entertaining was for several reasons:

1) I believe the biggest reason is because I've always wanted to write a musical. Ok, want and actually being able to do it is 2 completely different things. I always toyed the idea of telling a story with just the songs. I would turn my life into a musical if I had better way with lyrics but no thanks to my poor command of English, I always find myself repeating the same old lines. Which is boring, since the music always seems new. (ok, the music seems new because I can hardly recall the previous ones since they were all impromptu).

2) The young woman playing the daughter of the lead actress had such a great voice. Reminds me of the time I felt so buoyed by hearing female choir singers. But this was just one person. Still, I guess i'm a sucker for good voices, or at least, voices that appeals to me. I'm sure my mom would never like Amy Lee, but I admire her voice to no end.

3) The movie was a no brainer to some extent, though it did have an interesting dialog. I didn't enjoy watching Pierce Brosnan try so so so hard to sing in tune however. He did managed, but you can tell he was in pain. hahaha.

Now my problem is getting Abba out of my head. Some of their songs can be quite, timely and it doesn't help me when I need to have my mind thinking about other things.

Time to listen to Tragic Symphony again...:p

YES!!!!!!!!!

I've finally gotten a soft copy of Schubert's Symphony no.4 in C minor "Tragic"!!!!


Listening to it as I type....This is going to be a lifesaver in my times of troubles....And what troubling times indeed it is...

Now I need to get my hands on Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20 in D Minor. Bizet's Farandole (proper copy). I should be able to complete another CD of angst recovery, similar to my Evanescence CD.

Hmm, I might live after all.....hahahaha

Interesting developments at work...

For those who were clued in, I'll mention it here quickly. I am not retrenched (yet)....I've seen enough information that makes me feel somewhat secure of my not too distant future, so all's good so far.

HOWEVER.....Aside from knowing I will have a job for the short term, I've noticed a drastic change in the atmosphere of my office.

It started on 2 fronts. One is a strained relationship with a colleague of mine which I believe is due to irreconsilable differences. Now that's fine with me, but let's keep business, business, please?

The other stems from the fact that with the recent changes in my company, knowledge of what's to be can be both powerful and dangerous. Where I sit, as a large group, we are one. But on a smaller scale, I'm dwarfed by a larger team of 4 women who's boss is also a woman. Oh, I'm a one man show with a female boss too. A different female boss. As their boss is located in KL (mine's in Australia, btw.) they got news of the changes first. When the first person came in, she was shivering and ended up giving me some idea of what was told. Me being me, that's as far as it goes. I think she was reprimanded by the other colleague (see above) to not discuss it as it wasn't public knowledge yet. Now, I've been expecting these changes for awhile as I've been clued in as much as I can by my boss in Australia. So I kinda expect this to happen. Not so much of a news to me, the new's I'm to hear from my boss later in the afternoon was by far more....intriguing.

So they go about not talking about it but in their casual conversation they didn't have a problem hinting it left, right and centre. Take top and bottom too. Or maybe I was just sensitive. In any case, my boss calls and while what I can say now is that I was told I'd be safe and I was told I'd be joining the bigger team soon as a new construct of sorts. Jolly good news...Until recently, that is. But what I didn't know was that the other team's communique was of a lesser extent. They know about them and that's it. They know not about our larger larger group and it's fate. I do. So it made sense for me to not allude much but just plain keep my mouth shut.

But I couldn't. The news was so big for me I had to talk. So I went to talk to a senior manager in my company (yes, as senior as it can go where I am based) and spilled my beans. A good 30 minutes later it wasn't so bad but I still was a little sore. Oh well, change sucks. Get use to it..

Then a few days later, their boss called for a meeting which at first didn't involve me. Now, I'm used to them doing things without me. As bad as it feels, if it ain't my problem, don't get involved. But it turns out the meeting was to find out if one of them spoke to me about what they know and obviously the boss is not happy. And, that colleague of mine (see above, haha!) later hinted they think I spilled elsewhere. Which I did, but only to someone of a much higher level. Is that wrong? Funny though, I'd have my boss tell me things too, no? They're not the only ones with access to the news, you know....

So I denied it and acted dumb. While the official announcement was still a way to go, the team gleefully incorporated what's to be in their casual conversation. And they have the cheek to want to find out who told me??? Gosh, I'd have to be dumb AND STUPID to not find out at the rate they were going. Wait, probably being dumb wouldn't help. Deaf, maybe...

So I got pissed and started alienating myself that day. Just that day.

Since then, I keep getting this feeling they've convened and decided to treat me as I have. Now I'm feeling more and more alienated from that bigger team than before. They'd talk, ask random questions and I'd never get involved. I sometimes try to join in, but it feels so uncomfortable. They would talk across the room but all that's been said is for everyone but me..

Now, I wouldn't give 2 hoots if we were still going to be 2 different teams of a larger department. But in a very near future, we will be ONE BIG FAMILY. I already feel like the bastard son. Now, that's bad business.

Maybe I'm just sensitive. I've alienated myself before but I've not felt that they cared. Now it seems like it's up to me to do something about it.

I'll have to wait for news about the new construct to know what my next steps are.

So much for me predicting them would leave the team first, since they've been complaining about their work since the day I joined. Initially I figured everyone's got complains, but....Anyway, I still feel I'll last longer than any of them. But changes have a way of fast tracking plans...

In any case, it's not the first time I'm left on my own. Story of my life. Get used to it.

Oh, just want to mention that there are actually 3 certainties in life. Death, Taxes and Change.