Chet’s Chatter

The Grand Old Lady in my life

Posted on 30 March 2006 @ 11:11 in Family

My mother. She turns 80 today.

Happy Birthday, mum!

Mother, Christmas 2005

2005 Birthday Post

Too organised for my own good?

Posted on 27 March 2006 @ 12:23 in Personal

I’d gone to Singapore for a quick personal business trip on Saturday. On Friday night, in an ultra organised mood, I did some packing (some, but not all). On Saturday morning, I completed the packing, and couldn’t find my thumbdrive or box of meds to put into the backpack.

I left for the airport with another set of meds but no thumbdrive. I figured both items were somewhere in the apartment. After I got to Singapore, I went straight to the meeting that was the whole purpose of the quick-quick trip. Business out of the way, I walked about a bit, bought some stuff and returned to my brother’s apartment. Somewhere along the way, I dug into the backpack for something, and found both the thumbdrive and box of meds.

Either I need to do my packing in one go, or have a checklist of what has been packed in and where each item is.

BTW, the trip this past weekend felt like a dry run for the big one in two weeks’ time.

12 days to London
20 days to Rowy’s birthday party, featuring Janis Ian in a charity Living Room Concert

“Oops …”

Posted on 23 March 2006 @ 13:12 in Stress Busters

“… wrong end. Sorry, Ma.”

Tai - A People Panda

Posted on 23 March 2006 @ 00:18 in Stress Busters

He loves his keepers, especially this pretty one. Her name is Cathy.

Picture of the Day

Posted on 21 March 2006 @ 15:48 in Pictures, Stress Busters

“Carry me, please? Please, please?”

At the Janis Ian Forum

Posted on 20 March 2006 @ 22:31 in Fun Stuff, Janis Ian

I just posted my 802nd post and earned myself the tagline of “Has been around waaaay too much” .

Stiffed by the national airline

Posted on 20 March 2006 @ 21:11 in Rant

Last year, when I found I’d been given a place at Rowy’s UK Living Room Concert, I told myself the only way I could attend was if I could get a promotional fare at one of those travel fairs that seem to have become an annual event here.

Later, after checking the MATTA web site, I found that the next travel fair to be held in KL would be about 3 weeks before I have to leave for the LRC. It would been a bit too close to the departure date and I might not get a ticket. I considered just going ahead and getting a regular fare, but changed my mind after checking both MAS and SIA web sites.

Then, a month ago, MAS had its own travel fair, one that you didn’t have to go to the venue to queue and get your ticket, but could book online. When the fares were published, there seemed to be something wrong with the offer. Only one-way fares were shown. No return / round-trip fares. The airline’s explanation was that it allows people to fly into one city and return from another. Fair enough. But I was flying back from the same city, would the fare be cheaper? Nope, it would be two one-way fares (KL / London and London / KL) added together. I went ahead and booked my ticket, assured that I would at least be able to attend the UK LRC, see Janis perform “live” again, as well as meet the UK Rudies (including the other two honorary UK Rudies - Anna from Dublin and Marjan from the Netherlands).

Last weekend, MATTA held its travel fair and advertised return fares. As it turned out, the KL - LON - KL fare is about RM300/- cheaper than what I paid for. I am consoling myself that at least I didn’t have to go queue for the ticket, and that who knows, if I’d waited, I might not have gotten a ticket.

But RM300/- is still RM300/- and could’ve gone into my spending money there, or into the tip jar for the Pearl Foundation.

Posted on 16 March 2006 @ 17:12 in Tech Stuff

Technorati Profile

Chick Magnet

Posted on 15 March 2006 @ 12:03 in Stress Busters

At eight months old, Tai Shan at the National Zoo in Washington, DC is quite a handful. The last we heard, he now needs two keepers to haul … er, carry him!