just minishorts.

The last time I quit my job I went back to work in less than three days (left company earlier than usual - notice period was waived you see, and I had to get to the new office almost immediately), so it didn't feel at all as if I was actually having a break.

But this time around, I've got over 30 days leave (ah, Thank God for working at the weekends and 20-day-a year leave entitlements as well as left over days from the past year…), so I'm right now, tengah menikmati the very very long leave that I SO VERY DESERVE!

The last time I had such a long holiday, I was still in pigtails and carrying over five KGs of weight while trying to make my way from lecture to lecture.

***

On another note, I finally took my ring to Soo Kee for an ultrasonic bath. For some reason that silly tub really works wonders compared to dishwasher liquid and the old toothbrush that I've been using. The guy told me that the yellowing on the ring is due to the natural colour of white gold showing up, apparent I'll have to get the ring plated again if I want it to look the platinum-ish colour that it was sold in. 'Then it will look brand new…'

'How much?'

'RM50 - 60… '

Doh. Ticking that into my list of must do's for the wedding.

***

I haven't got the flowers settled yet. Can't still decide whether to get a florist to take the whole package of decorating the church and the car and the bouquets, corsages and the boutonnieres… or to get the flowers from a vendor and get my friends to do it for me… Can't decide can't decide.. 

***

I'm getting a bit nervous over the conditions of the nation. Yes, yes I'm pretending not to know it. I'm a bit shallow, don't mind me, but what I'm most fearful of is that whatever's happening's going to affect all my plans for the big day! But its natural to worry like this, I think.

***

Eric's moved into the new place already, but because it's so far away from where I live now we don't get to see each other every day anymore. Sigh. This is so strange. I miss him so much! But I must say I love love love the new house, and I can't wait to move in together with my future hubby. Now because I am such a good girl (or rather, I have to be a very good girl) I can't move in with him BEFORE the wedding, but mummy tells me that bunking in with him every once in a while is ok 'as long as you don't do naughty things and get yourself sick before the wedding!'

'What sick means ah?'

'Haiyah you ask for what, you know lah!'

'What?'

'People will count the months if ANYTHING happens, so whatever it is you please take care of yourself. And don't over do it.'

Obviously I've gotten used to my mom talking weird. MY MOM IS SO COOL!

By now many the blogosphere regulars would have had a through-the-bloggers'-eyes preview of the new M2U interface (Maybank2U site), or if not, here it is:

Obviously, this sleeker look is a huge graduated from the predecessor, currently still the welcome site for those who key in http://www.maybank2u.com/ or http://www.maybank2u.com.my/. The older site, shown below, has been a personal 'monthly must visit at least three times' site - I use M2U for most of my banking needs, and haven't physically visited a bank since two years ago. And with all honesty, the new version, while being sleeker, takes a lot of getting used to. After all, we're moving on to the sleek, clean version, from a very chaotic this:

Since most people have spoken on the new interface, I'll skip to what could have been missed by Erna, Suan, KY, davidlian (among many other bloggers) and get a little more personal on my opinions. To make it easier, I'll do a list of what I like, and what I really didn't like about the new interface.

Likes

• The new design deserves several thumbs-ups. It's sleeker, and CLEANER, definitely, so much easier on the eyes. Just see the older version which I've posted, and compare it to the new one.
• The speed - it seems to be faster, but then again that's probably because there are lesser people viewing it right now? On the first day when we all logged in at the same time, my m2u screen got stuck for a while, resulting in me not being able to do any banking at all other than viewing what it looked like.
• No ads. For now, I suppose its because they haven't added their advertisers on board yet, so everything looks neat and compact. I wonder how will the neat and sleek site turn out once it goes live with ads and promotions added in … some how having the MAS blue on that yellow-black-white thing doesn't quite cut it for me.
• I really like the colours mmkay… someone on some blog said that the yellow and black looks 'gay' , but I'd like to think it means 'gay' in the happy and busy way. I suppose the yellow and black relates to the maybank tiger mascot identity, but for some reason, the new M2U reminds me of a busy bee, which is great. After all Maybank, like any other gohmen related agency, suffers from the terrible identity and image crisis thanks to the nonchalant procrastinating inefficiency of our clever kerajaan Malaysia.  And speaking of bees, I'll get to what I didn't like about the new site.

Dislikes

• I have to concur with Suan, that agent M mascot thingy totally doesn't cut it, and to me that dislike level is kind of elevated to a 'wtf'?. Introducing M, the so M2U agent, who's supposed to everything as the following poster tells you. So, yah, lemme say that again. WTF is an M-agent?

• Now I'm the sort of person who really can't stand mascots, and for one, I'd like to imagine that people who use internet banking would be considerably familiar with the regular HELP section. I don't know about you, but most of my friends deactivate that paperclip mascot thingy that comes with word (bloody annoying thing, that one) so the Ironman look-alike M Agent, IMHO is a total waste of time. Like errr, why the hell do I wanna know where a fake person lives, and why the heck should I even bother having M as an MSN Live online buddy?
• Ok even if they wanted a mascot anyway, why the heck was M created to look like an Ironman lookalike with a cast-away body (wasn't one of the armours Ironman designed and casted away a gold and black coloured version? )  Whatever happened to something more Maybank, like the Tiger, for instance - oi, use lah some animal that's Maybank related… Even using a Bee would match the yellow and black colours, but heck they had to come up with Ironman.
• On to more serious matters, I thought it interesting that Maybank2U can still, only be accessed by keying in the full http://www.maybank2u.com or http://www.maybank2u.com.my URLs. Key in http://www.m2u.com or http://www.m2u.com.my gets you nothing — the domain isn't even owned by anyone yet. Now I find this kind of odd considering that we've been refering to Maybank2U as M2U, on the goodie bags 'M2U' is printed on sparkling fonts, and even M is noted as belonging to the M2U society. Maybe Maybank should do something about it, imagine accessing the online portal through just 'm2u.com' rather than the more tedious 'maybank2u.com'?

Anyway existing M2U users can expect to get invites to test this new version on their screens rather soon. When you do , haha, try adding that M Agent to your MSN Messenger, and tell me if the dude's friendly, yah? For now, I can't wait to be able to access the new version through the simple domains, but we'll just have to wait till the big launch, yah?
 
But in the meantime, have a look at my conversation with Mr 'Friendly' M, the M2U Agent.

Dear Diary,

It's almost three years since I've entered the hectic hectic world of the GLC public relations industry. I am most happy to tell you that today (or rather since yesterday) onwards, I will be taking leave while serving the last remaining days of my notice.

What's next? I wonder. The wedding is coming in just a few more weeks, so this 'brief' hiatus from the super hectic lifestyle of work, work and more work, is most welcomed. There are rumours going around that I'm going to be in the same circle still - I'm rather amused that the rumours seem to fly even before I arrive at a final decision. I can't decide on what to do… for someone who prides herself on being as opinionated (and hence, decisive) as I do, surely being decisive is a luxury that I should afford myself every year or so?

I just got out of my handover meeting with my temporary superior and I'm glad that things are on the way. Thanks for the years, thanks for allowing me to confide in you, so privately and then so secretly.

I'm updating my 'About' page on my website. The latest status of my 'position' in life shall be, 'Happily trying to keep to her budgets while getting ready for the most important day of her life!'

I've never thank God so publicly here before, but today I want to say that and dedicate this entire post to Him. For the opportunities, for the twists and turns in my life, for giving me these skills, for the friends who've helped me get to here, for the future (bright, I'm convinced), for what's possible, for the dreams I'm allowed to realized, I thank You.

Less than two months to the wedding.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock! Scared or not, girl? Worried or not? You've just been an adult for less than a decade and now suddenly you're stepping into the strange new territory of marriage.

I won't say it doesn't freak me out - because it does. Already my vocabulary is changing, my concerns are changing. At shopping malls instead of checking out the clothes and accessories, I visit Home DIY stores all the time. I'm checking out crazy bargains by scouring through the Metro section and looking out for warehouse sales on not shoes, not clothes, not makeup, but cooking pans and woks. At furniture malls we spend time lying down on beds and rolling around, 'Dear if I roll and shake the bed like this do you feel it on your end?'

My future sister in law tells me that when you're pregnant, the quality of a bed makes all the difference and you really don't want to cause your spouse sleepless nights just because the extra weight in your belly makes you turn around in bed a whole lot more.

At the Matta fair we had a mini argument over priorities, at the counter! 

'I've never been to Bali in my life..'

'We can go there again mah…. I wanna stay at a REALLY REALLY luxurious place, just you and me, and we can stay in the hotel all day…'

'WTF… What you want me to do in the hotel all day…'

'Do what people on honeymoons do lah. Eat, sleep, kiss, spa, relax… eh give you five days four nights in a personal villa you don't want ah?' Eric said.

'Want. But NOT THE SAME VILLA. Five days four nights in the same freaking place will bore the shit out of me… plus its not cheap ok!'

In the end we settled for Blue Point Bay Uluwatu and then the Ubud Hanging Gardens. Two nights of each.

You know I'm looking forward more to the honeymoon than to the wedding? Please tell me this is normal.

As the big day inches in, Eric and I have been struggling to find time for each other - as in real, 'us' time, where we can just be with each other and not think about what to do for the wedding, how to handle the parents etc.

Have I said this before? Eric's the only son, I'm and only child, and we both come from single-parent families, plus that 'we are oh so Chinese' cliche, the pressure on us to 'do it right' and 'right on a budget' can get overbearing…

I don't always thank God for credit cards, but Citibank's having this awesome promotion where you can get 50% OFF the entire bill at Pavillion's Dain Ti Hill Restaurant.

The place serves fusion Jap - Taiwanese - Western dishes in very nice food presentations, so dishes at this restaurant ranges anywhere from RM15 - RM30. Drinks on the other hand, are pricey - a fancy iced tea sells at an average RM15 per glass. But with the half-priced menu (all items except for takeaway and alcoholic servings), it's gotten affordable!

The quality of the dishes are generally above average, but during normal non-promotion seasons you generally pay more for the food presentation than the food itself.

 
 However, this one dish deserves a special mention (IMHO lah). It's soft tofu ??? fried in salted egg yolk. Check out the cubes, I'm quite amazed that the cook didn't smash up the tofu and yet still managed to get every cube evenly coated in the ooey stuff. This cooking style's usually done with prawns or crabs and gets a bit 'eewy' after a while since its so rich - but because the Dain Ti Hill uses tofu instead of seafood, it turns out marvellously light instead! I'll come back for seconds on this dish. I forgot what's the actual name, but you'll see it in the menu - can't miss this one.

I'm going there at least one more time in this month. The promotion ends 30th September, so if you do own a Citibank card, and you're ok with non-halal stuff, check out this place (don't go during weekends lah, parking at Pavillion is obscenely overpriced at the weekends.

BTW we got ourselves a superbly luxurious honeymoon package to Bali! I love the matta fair!