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Friday, October 12, 2007
Days, maybe even a week ago me and a girlfriend (gla!) sporadically texted each other (being less than successful to catch each other online), to check in and make indefinite plans on meeting up. Indefinite plans can always be made without breaking a sweat, I mean, people are always setting up tentative dates and picking maybe venues. What are the odds of these non-definite plans following through or falling through?
Tonight I am proud of myself, for finally definite-ing our plans for dinner next Tuesday, after a series of talks and serious contemplation (date, time, venue, crowd..) akin to signing the nuclear NPT agreement.
Even though still time-pressed at work, I am slowly beginning to be more aware of my comfort zone paradigm shift, and the need to start actively remold my life to fit it around this new state of being, not just living in a 'temporary' state all the time. Prior to now, I delegate my time into two parts: work and non-work. Work consists of, well, work, and non-work consists of lounging at home just shutting out the outside world and taking a break from work.
Unproudly I have to say that for the past month family, friends, recreation (aka reading!), fitness, and the whatnots have been pushed aside big time, and my downward-spiralling health, dusty bookshelf and cobwebbed running shoes only stand testament to that.
So, in conjuction with this 5-day Raya break, here's to rebuilding a life in addition to the new work schedule, and more updates!
Posted at 10:54 pm by Vivacia
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Monday, October 08, 2007
HPV VACCINES AND JOB HAPPINESS
Thankful to everyone who still loads vivacia.blogdrive.com even after such lack of posting and a failed attempt at increasing my writing substance, today I'll indulge a blogging binge and write two posts.
But before I continue, here is an informative post on everything you need to know about the HPV virus and vaccine - the first ever vaccine for cervical cancer. Recommended for girls as young as 9 who hasn't engage in any sexual activity, the HPV vaccine might seem a little too controversial and revolutionary for the average dogmatic Malaysian society, but we have to keep in mind that ultimately it is a prevention for a previously incurable and still fatal disease. Sex is not a murderous crime or an unspeakable felony, and it is for no one's good but our own if we take on this light and rally the importance of being vaccinated. Already we shun any talks on sex education like it's the plague, bearing the mindset that to educate would mean to encourage, a typical characteristic of zero objectivism. Really, enough with the it-ain't-there-if-we-don't-speak-of-it attitude already. How did you think we got our lives?
For a lighter food for thought, click here for SexAndTheIvy.Com's take on the HPV and vaccine, as well as cross our fingers waiting for our countrymen to delegate some taxpayers money away from buying ridiculously expensive screwdrivers and instead allocate some subsidy for this costly vaccine.
(Malaysian market retails the 3-shot vaccine at RM 450 per shot, while college students in America can readily obtain a shot at $25)
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HAHA I am now jibing myself for demonstrating my capability for having infinite passion for some things yet also possessing as much laziness, therefore churning out only short paragraphs of my own thoughts and proceed to compiling links to other not-so-lazy people who hit the 1000-word mark on said topics. Well, forgive me for my brainpower-zapping 9-6 work! After work I want only to read and take things in instead of gurgling my rusted brain mechanics for productivity, and at least I got you your links.
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Tomorrow I'll be in Bangsar doing a feature on a boutique there, and the day after I'll be at One Utama's Batting Cages shooting the batting centre, so there's still lots of work to do even with Hari Raya coming up. One perk is that now I get to pick and decide on the events/places/activities/outlets that I want to feature in the program, so with freedom automatically comes satisfaction, and next week I'll go shoot Skoob Books, and who could not love books! Especially if it comes from a dusty old quaint bookstore with ancient shelves and an in-the-know owner.
Happy holidays!
Posted at 09:04 pm by Vivacia
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Boy have I grown to love the Ramadhan month. Working in a huge company with a majority staffing of muslims, work gets off as early as 5pm every day, on an assignment-less day. Starting this Friday, Raya celebrations give 3 precious days off, which spills over the weekend, so it's a 5-day break, all of which I'll definitely spend curling in bed and being a pjs-donning parasite at home, keeping my calendar sparkling clean and empty.
*20 minutes break*
Aah my mum just gave me the best rubdown ever. Today after work I stumbled home heavy-headed with mild vertigo, it was as if there was a thousand-pound load I was lugging along, leaving me a bunch of sore nerves and most uncomfortable. The drive home was especially unbearable, I was almost nodding off at the wheel. This is following an on-off 5-week flu/cold that has been plagueing me, even after resorting to chemical help to do what my antibodies failed to. But two weeks of antibiotics - the 2nd stronger than the 1st - later, the only change was my lighter wallet.
Finally today I succumbed and after dinner I went to mum for her always-work remedy - a body rub with the 如意油，a chinese cooling ointment with a smell strongly reminiscent of childhood and mum-rubs.
An entire rub of my back, shoulders, neck, head, and waist later, I am up and bouncing!
Posted at 07:55 pm by Vivacia
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
Here's proof that I wasn't lying about my writer job =D
Am so gleeful to see my name and writing in print!
Yes, I wrote for Thrive magazine, a lifestyle mag that's exclusively for Public Mutual RM100k investors. I only got in 2 articles before I jumped ship to be a broadcast journalist, which, when I think about it now, is super tiring and stressful compared to being a laidback writer.
Plus I had a super nice editor who gave me free rein and generous praises (which I don't think I ever deserved).
But regrets never serve to anything but dissatisfaction, so I'll take everything in my stride and march! -waves pompoms-
Geeeeeeee. Lighten up 
Posted at 08:16 pm by Vivacia
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Posted at 09:55 pm by Vivacia
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
This website has downgraded into a mini informative hub, where pictures with brief write-ups and uninsightful musings are posted periodically to serve as a sort of a clumsy update. Just to keep this blog going. There are scarcely any wholesome ol' honest writing here anymore, but it hardly bothered me since normally work pretty much kept my mind off something as trivial as the state of my blog.
But today, in this uncomely hour of darkness, I am crouched on my bed in a tangle of limbs and hiked-up sheets, determined to inject some frank thoughts into my blog and bring it back from a plasticky Mcdonalds into a quaint little diner with home-cooked meals. It's business.
The last couple of days were one-of-a-kind. I kept achieving milestones, treading new waters, and venturing into strange lands - emotionally. Every feeling I felt reached into my gut, no longer stopping at the brain to get weeded out by logical thinking.
I'd extricate thoughts and memories from my biological archive, then flip them inside out trying to understand these emotions better, because this entire library of my thoughts and memories had been unforgivably allowed to lay askew; I needed to re-catalogue and put into order this unruly library.
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I stared at the dim glow of the laptop screen for an indeterminate amount of minutes, then decided to go to bed white-flagged. Maybe tomorrow I'll be better at wording my heart's rhythm.
Posted at 03:02 am by Vivacia
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Friday, September 28, 2007
The previous weekend this me and Big plus this bunch of people had a pretty little getaway to Kuala Selangor:
with this collection of goodies:
of which we downed bottoms-up (the green stuff is Midori+pineapple juice):
till there was none left.
me and Big happy
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The mad bash was largely a farewell (again!) for Cow, seen here without teeth with girlfriend Krys. He's leaving tomorrow night for UK.
I absolutely feel like crying for them! Take care guys, all well WILL be well.
Posted at 12:01 am by Vivacia
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
RECOLLECTIONS OF FAREWELLS (cont'd) Saturday, September 22, 2007
RECOLLECTIONS OF FAREWELLS
Was supposed to post pictures but for some reason my photo host is inaccessible at the moment, so they'll have to wait.
Back to the topic, September is really farewell month. Personally I know about more than 5 people who are leaving the country for uni, and that's just within my immediate friends' circle.
With farewells there are bound to be parties and gatherings - the last minute meetings with everyone including people whom you haven't actually seen in a couple of years and probably will not see again. Saying goodbyes generate a need to make amends and renew good faiths, I guess, regardless of the form in which they come in - the long-dued expiration dates of some friendships.
Personally, I shun gatherings with huge crowds, being more in favour of smaller-sized meets with closer pals, since hanging out with a huge load of people necessitates some kind of a courtesy conversation, where people ask other people 'what's new' in their lives. It's jarringly obvious that people who inquire in such a way, at such a setting, are probably people who aren't that deep in your life to care about 'what's new', and the more I repeat 'oh I got a new job as a broadcast journalist', the more it sounds less fantastic to myself.
I am not averse to harmless gatherings with friends whom I have not seen and will not see on any other occasion, as sometimes great friendships can be reaffirmed in these random happenings. But as far as harm goes, how harmless are these meet-up thingies really?
After one too many encounters, the deduction is that 'what's happening in your life right now?' is just another overused long-expired conversation opener, with no more function than to bore the uninterested asker and irk the replier who repeated the same answer a million and one times.
So, what's new?
Posted at 11:56 pm by Vivacia
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
SO THAT'S WHAT JOURNOS DO
Work as a bj (broadcast journalist) will officially start next month, while in the (short) meantime I am so busy I can't believe tomorrow's thursday already.
In the morning I went in the tv station to check the contract, and also learn new stuff which ended up taking my whole day from 9am to 9pm, without pay. Being hired as an independent contractor saves the company a whole lot on the fuss and frills of an employer-employee relationship, as an 'independent contractor' is paid a flat cheque - no obligations from the company to provide anything else.
I had my first ever assisting a live show, though switching cues and counting down from 10 to 1 is actually less glamorous than it sounds; I can imagine myself yawning to death after maybe a week of rewinding and fastforwarding tapes and counting 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. A small perk might be getting to meet the (rather) well-known host (so THAT'S how she looks in real! Her eyes are rather small.) whom I shall not name but might bitch about - I want total immunity from the anonymity =D
A last minute outdoor assignment had me out at a Ramadhan bazaar (another first ever) with a small camera crew, catching people by thrusting a mic under their noses and shooting them with 'Sooo what does ramadhan means to u?'. I learnt this the hard way when nicely approaching people with a cute self intro caused people to bury their heads in shyness and turn the other way. It was fun and tiring and some parts boring, since you can only ask that many questions before you yourself get bored of your boring self.
My poor Muslim camera crew had to fast while watching me buy and chow down the yummy buka puasa food and thirst-quenching sugarcane.
Unrelated, I resourcefully spent this week watching House season 1, 2, and 3 (that Hugh Laurie is sexier than any other male sexies - and that includes Johnny Depp), explaining my super lack of time and sleep and human contact.
*fondles laptop*
Posted at 11:49 pm by Vivacia
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