People are firing their employers?!

Has it ever occurred to you that your colleagues are leaving the company as most of us are trying to survive the worst economy crisis ever? That is what happened around me right at this moment. Week after week, I have been getting news of employees leaving their respective employers, some found themselves good opportunities, good for them, while some just want to take a break from all the shit they have been endured for a long time, it's like this is their way of getting back at their evil employers .. lol ..

As much as it doesn't make sense to a lot of people, recent study shows that the economy is improving and we might find ourselves at the end of this economy slump. It actually makes a lot of sense as plenty of employers out there who are financially well managed and funded are taking this once-every-ten-years TALENT SALES opportunity to grab the best minds out there, preparing themselves for the next decades of battles. Some offer better packages, some give better career advancements, some provide super brand experiences etc etc. So full of possibilities out there!

So are you staying? Or are you leaving?

Working Weekend! + Wifey in China!

There are good and bad about working on weekends. The benefit of it is that I get to ignore every other possibility of moving around and chain myself to the desk. And because there is much less to do during the weekend, I get to do my own things at the company expense. (Shhh..!!! can't let my boss know that!) On the other hand, the bad thing about it is that it is darn boring, feels like as if I am wasting my precious weekends.

Anyway, as of now, I am glad that I finally get to sit down and write something. Boy, has it been a while since my last entry!

I was having a great time during my wife's visit here in China. Get to see her and my baby girl who is still hiding herself from me inside her mother's womb. Thinking of it now, I really can't wait to see her in November. I supposed that's one of the joy of becoming a father, huh? I am very delighted to feel her heartbeat and her movements inside her mommy's womb for the first time. Sometimes, she even tries kicking, as if she knows that I am right next to mommy's tummy, listening to her heartbeat. Look! Look! Faster put your hand here! it's kicking again! Can you feel it? I remembered my wife said it to me while I lay my palm over her tummy and feel the liveliness inside. It's unbelievably awesome!

Speaking of Beijing and Tianjin, my wife and I just went there for a "family trip". It was really nice. The weather was not at its best but it was nice. This time around, the feeling was entirely different. Feels like a family. Haha! I was enjoying the whole journey. We have conquered one of the world's 7 wonders - the Great Wall of China! Been to the Tiananmen and the Forbidden City, well, didn't really tour the entire Forbidden City, only did a brief walk. Our feet were tired and the weather had gone bad when we were in it (good excuse not to walk the whole City huh? :P) The Birdnest and the Watercube were magnificient, Wang Fu Jing walking street was boring, except for the branching food street which hosts a lot of the exotic bugs-lizards-scorpians-etc-etc food sticks, Tian Tan park was nice as it offers a lot of eye-catchy and ear-pleasing activities - Dances, music, traditionaly Chinese comic dialogue etc etc, mostly for art appreciation.

Check out my Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FattyCoke for more photos.

What's with you and the gym?

Let me first make a statement. "Honey, I am not GAY!" What's wrong with me trying to watch over my figure (currently the not so eye-catchy 88kg bulk!), having a little vanity being spotted in the middle of me buying new toner, moisturizer and blackheads remover? I supposed a lot of the new age men are doing that, trying to impress girls and what not. Okay, then again, considering the pregnancy, maybe the hilarious "me being gay" statement was being enunciated out of the pregnancy blue. Therefore, I give in. In this case, you are always right.

Anyway, in the middle of my after work and weekend boredom in China, I managed to find something that I can get myself acquainted with, without spending too much unnecessarily, at the same time get myself occupied in building something beneficial - WEIGHTLIFTING. I am not going for Arnold-Schwarzenegger-style mass (cos I think it's too heavy for me to carry around), nor I am going for Hugh-Jackman-Wolverinely ripped asset, all I want is simply healthy, lean body. Okay, maybe add a little lines to it and make the girls go "Hawt!" (I am dreaming)

Apparently, normal bars and clubs are not the scenes people would associate me with, (note I use "normal" for bars ;) Jazz bars are my thing!) neither is going out really really late at night. I am sort of boring, and people would actually think that I can make an excellent husband or daddy, which I try not to comment too much. Because if I do say yes, I would agree I am totally boring. Otherwise, I am a bad person who does not deserve the title "husband" or "daddy". Contradictory huh? I do, however, a frequent gym-goer now. Hit it at least 4 times a week on busy days or 7 times a week on a bored-to-death schedule. Trainers/friends there are exceptionally motivational, make you go like "give me 6 months I will be like you!". They too, help with the incredible advice on routines and diets.

One funny story that I heard from the trainers/friends, some of the Chinese men are there for a common reason - to regain the healthy body (and mind, hopefully) in order to reproduce after their years of enjoying oily and overly nutritious packed dinners, puffing tobacco heavy ciggies and most of all, pouring down bottles after bottles of potently prepared white wine. Hilarious huh? Believe it. It's true. It's like a last minute thing, but you know what? Like we always say, it's better than nothing! Gah! They only got one shot. They make the best out of it. *Remember one child policy in China?

On becoming a daddy

As many people would have put it --> Your life is OVER! I, for one, do not seem to think that way. I have absolutely no idea what the future holds for me now, as compared to the one that I have imagined without having an additional member of the family, but I would like to keep my positivity afloat. Yea .. there are certain level of responsibility that I have to take up, as any pro-single men on this planet could think of, and I do have my fair share of stress level increase from my wife.

Wife: Have you discussed with your friends who has experience about pregnancies?
(note: with frustration)
Me: No. Not yet. Will do.
Wife: Have you read up on pregnancy material? (note: Gotcha! I know you dint!)
Me: Hmm .. A little bit here and there. (So friggin lucky she dint test me on that, damn!)
Wife: You go download some music for foetal training/antenatal education. (note: an order)
Me: Ok.

Wife: Where have you been? (note: authoritatively)
Me: The bar.
Wife: Who were you with? (note: still authoritatively)
Me: The normal bunch .. the Americans.
Wife: What time did you come back home? (note: it's coming)
Me: About 12am.
Wife: Wahhhh .. very SINGLE hor?! (note: pure sarcasm, priceless!)
Me: Hehe .. no la. Sometimes only.

Occasionally she's in good mood, anything's possible! But if sometimes she's not, I painstakingly have to accomplish whatever she demands, just to toggle her switch back to the "good mood" mode. The fetus needs it and I need it, and everyone's happy. Speaking of which, the first 3 months of the pregnancy was hell, as expected, (Honey, I read the book, you see, I know!) the new mother-to-be is said to be going thru some emotional readjustments, hormone imbalances, extra gravitational pull, supersizing (without having to pay extra RM1 for a set meal), delivery horror and what not. Blah blah blah. Oh wait! Do I sound like I'm complaining? Well, I am NOT. Get used to it.

On my feelings of becoming a dad, 5 months ago: Unbelievable. Present: Still unbelievable! Hell of a miracle. Godsend. It's a BIG turning point for me. Imagine this, I bought a condo unit in 2007 (big debt), a new wife in 2008 (bigger debt) and a baby in 2009 (should I go bigg-est?) , should I be getting worried things are going too fast or is this like the a-man-must-go-thru-stages-so-get-used-to-it kinda things?

Having said that, I am happily anticipating the arrival of my little one. Preparing myself along the way. Learning how to be a dad, though not really well-informed, yet. Running some errands remotely, just to help out my wife. Participating in pregnancy discussions and exchanging information with colleagues at the office (you will not believe how many people are getting pregnant this year at my work place) etc etc. From time to time, I will go "Oh oh .. Look! There is another one with the apron/anti-radiation dress!" on my male colleagues. *Anti-radiation apron is an apron-like outfit that preggies wear on the outside to prevent radiation waves or some sort being propagated towards their wombs to harm the fetus in one way or another. Apparently it's really popular here in China for some unproven medical reasons.

Life's not over for me. In fact, it is just the beginning. So much to learn. So much to experience. So much to get frustrated with. Though life can be tough sometimes, I still move on.

I am a Sexy mummy to be !!

And Yes !! i'm curenntly pregnant with a 5 months 1 week little angel in my tummy. Woohoo...this is such a great news for my hubby as he loves kid so much and the fact is, he can own one now.

It is still very fresh in my mind, i did home pregnacy test once at home on Saturday and too bad the result was not obvious. The moment i was feel like ...huh....kena or not kena?? hahaha.....Since i can't get the result, so we have no choice to have a second test at the clinic after 5 days (Thursday)and hope that we can get a confirmation at this time. Unfortunately, the doctor on duty also gave us the same comment; "You might be pregnant, but still can't confirm now".

Argghhhhh.....how come still can't confirm? Hubby was asking me to go for a another accurate check up by a gynae at SJMC hospital. On that day, after we registered at the counter, u know what...we've wait from 11.30am till 3pm as it was Saturday and the gynae was having such a good business with a lot of patients are in Q to consult by her. In fact, i was a bit of inpantience and start to ask hubby to come back next time.

While I'm persuading hubby to go off, it's my turn after 30mins. We went into the consultation room and i was asked to lie down to let the gynea has a scan.

Dang ...Dang....Dang.....Dang....I was told that im confirmed 5 weeks pregnancy with a significant water bag in my tummy !! hahaha...the moment, i feel so touch and im going to be mummy soon!!....can't really imagine that.

5 weeks (with water bag)

7 weeks (with heart beat)

9 weeks (with hands and legs)

12 weeks (with significant bone structure + fingers and toes + very active in movement)

16 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks (This is how am i looking now.)

Our sweet little angel is expected to come to town at 6th Nov 2009. And no need to guess is a baby boy or girl......is a healty baby girl!!!!!

Losing my patience ...

Going for grocery shopping in China, or more precisely in where I am right now ,is one of the most unpleasant things that I have to do especially during the weekends. It's just so full of people. Yes, 1.3 billion population here in the mainland is no joke. There are people everywhere. What more to say, when the weekends come and everyone is doing grocery shopping.

They are getting on my nerves, most importantly. There are a couple of things you would notice if you come shopping here. First of, they just don't give a damn about you. So I was pushing my shopping cart through aisles and I came to a point where a couple who was talking to salesgirl is blocking my way. They had their cart with them. So they freaking block the whole aisle! I noticed the guy saw me and I kind of like giving him that "get out of my fucking way" look, and you know what happened? Nothing! Yes, nothing! He turned back his head and continued participating in the conversation. WTF right?!

This actually reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend from the United States. He said, the Chinese, generally older generations behaves like this. They think they are more important all the time, and nobody else matters. They cut queues like nobody's business. They use the car horn so frequently that the government needs to put a signboard telling drivers honking is prohibited in some areas and also constructs a decibel meter in the middle of the city to measure the noisiness. Having said that, does any one of the drivers even care? haha .. One of the jokes on a Chinese buying a car .. what is the first thing they check before buying? Not the suspensions, not the trunk size, neither is the warranty period but the HORN! Okay .. maybe the warranty period of the horn. :)

Alright, back to grocery shopping. One other incident happened. I was looking for a box of packeted milk at the dairy aisle. I could not find it so I asked one of the salesgirls, telling her that I could not find it there, wondering if she can get my a box from the warehouse at the back. Without hesitation, she told me it could not be done. I assured her that this had been done by one of her colleagues back then for me and no problem. Why not now? Well, the answer is simply, it cannot be done! Then she walked away, pretending she was looking on the other aisle. You know back when you were a kid, your mom tell you to read a book while you have no interest of doing, you would just fake the whole act and hoping that your mom would buy it? That is exactly what the salesgirl was doing. Fuck, I am mad, but at the same time, I found it hilarious and shaked my head and left. I figured I could go back some other day to pick the milk up when a different salesgirl is working.

Somehow, I think it does not make sense at all. What happened to the values our parents taught us when we were kids? Aren't they somehow from China, judging from the point that a lot of old Chinese sayings and idioms reveal some of the basic values, some of which do not really available in western education system? I just don't get it and they are getting on my nerves, not all the time, but sometimes.

Okay ... I am lazy! Oh wait! Both of us are .. Haha!

Yes and I think everyone who does follow my blog would agree so, not that anyone is following it ... Haha. Anyway, it has seriously been a really long time since I last logged on and blogged. I guess I gotta get myself back on track someday and today seems to be a good day to do so. (Okay .. what can I say, I am free during working hours and I hope my boss is not reading this! Or anyone that knows my boss .. please dont tell him about this ... :)

Let's do a little recap for what was happening for the past several months in my life, briefly. A lot had happened. To begin with, I went back to Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year's a little different from the past where I will go back home and leave Malaysia for a family vacation in another part of the world. This year my family and I traveled to Northern Peninsular of Malaysia - Penang. That's where the good food are.

Stayed at the G-Hotel, 4-star + stylish, check out the interior.

Had some good food while we were there.

Tested a Subaru WRX Version 10! Awesome ride. That's my brother in law in the pic.

Celebrated Valentine's Day! Twice! Haha .. :D

Got my knee ligament fixed in a surgery. 10 days in hospital. 3 months of rehab. 6 to 12 months down time.

Got into a car accident. My car was sandwiched in between. Some asshole crashed into my car from the back. Oh well, no biggie. Car is fixed now.

And last but not least, I am soon to be promoted. From Danny bro to Uncle Danny. Haha. My wifey is pregnant and fatherhood is coming. And yes, I cannot believe it too!

Oh well, that pretty much sums up what had happened during that 3 months while I was back home. It was a big 3 months break with so much happening, especially I got a kid on the way. Pretty excited by that. Haha.