I felt the earth move under my feet.

Cheesy as it sounds, I did. Well, actually I felt my apartment building move. My first ever earthquake aftershock tremor whatever. Let it be my last one too. Shit. It was scary.

I thought it was my wobbly chair being, you know, wobbly, or maybe I was just experiencing some vertigo (lack of blood and all that) until my mum burst into my room and asked if I felt anything. Oh ya, mum. I've got vertigo. Hahaha. Building's shaking, isn't it? Oh ya, I think you might be right.

Another earthquake struck the coast off Sumatra in Indonesia last night. Geologists say it's the aftershock to the December 26th quake. 8.2 (some say 8.5) on the scale, it sure felt much bigger than the previous one which registered around 9 (also owing to the fact that I didn't feel a thing the last time). And of course, now smarter, tsunami warnings were immediately issued all over. So far none have struck yet. Hope none will.

On a brighter note, only 13+ more hours to go before I take off for Osaka!

If all goes well, I should be taking off at 11.45pm tomorrow night.

Even at the very last minute, there are changes. That bit about the whole group coming down with diarrheoa? Well. I don't know if it's diarrheoa or what, but there is no group going now. It's just my friend and me. Gawd. Incredible or what. We're to check ourselves in and according to the agent here, there'll be a guide to meet us on the other end. We'll see la. I've already decided if there's nobody on that side, I'll just have the time of my life, spend like nobody's business, keep the receipts and come back and sue the pants off them.

Anyway, I'll be gone for about 10 days.

Don't miss me too much now, ya?

Hahahaha.

I need to rant.

Fucking bloody unbelieveable.

I don't know how many arteries I've blown over a travel agent's incompetence. I'm supposed to be leaving in 5 days but until I step onto the plane and it takes off, I cannot say for sure if I'm going or not.

Truly fucking unbelieveable.

And this is a travel agent I travel with all the time. Obviously, being a regular and long time customer doesn't count for shit.

The travel agent fucks up my travel plans and I'm supposed to be accommodating?

I had booked to leave on the 30th of this month. Before I paid IN FULL, I specifically made sure and asked if this tour was confirmed. Of course, she said.

Fine. Signed. Sealed. Done.

About 10 days before departure, travel agent calls to tell me there's been a change in plans. The majority of the group now wants to depart on 15th April. Am I ok with it? Of course not. If I had wanted to leave on the 15th, I would have booked for the 15th. Furthermore, my purpose of going is to see the cherry blossoms which bloom in the first week of April. Go on the 15th, see what? So what does she do? She proceeds to offer me my money back. No solution whatsoever. Just, we'll give you back your money. That was when I blew my top.

I wanted to go on my holiday. I didn't want my money back. And even if I did and went to another agent to book another tour, was her company going to compensate me for the difference, because everybody else was more expensive than them. No? Well, it wasn't my problem that they accommodated the majority. So, go settle the freaking problem.

There's a Singaporean group that we can join on that date. Would I be ok joining them, she asks. Sure. But I tell her I don't understand Mandarin, which I had already told her before I paid for my tour. Oh, she says, it will be in Mandarin. So what other solution do you have, I ask her. We give you back your money, she tells me again. At this point in time, counting to ten didn't help me anymore.

Then she tells me there's an American group that speaks English. Great, I say. But (yes, there's always a BUT) their itinerary is different, she says. So tell me what their itinerary is, I say. We'll fax you, she says. Which, of course, she didn't. I had to call her the next day to ask what the hell was going on with my tour.

Oh, we're getting a new group together now. We'll leave on the 30th, she tells me. I couldn't help being cynical. I asked her did it mean that if they couldn't get a new group together, she was going to call me up again at the very last minute to say they're cancelling once more? Oh no, she says, we're leaving on the 30th for sure. Ok, so I take her word for it.

Everything is fine and dandy. I thought all had been settled. I confirm my returning later than the group with her and proceed to book extra nights at a hotel on my own.

Sigh. It doesn't end. Just when I thought I was all ready to go, something else pops up.

She calls last night and asks me about my leave from work. When do I start my leave bla bla bla. Why did she want to know, I ask. Oh, just wondering, she says. Fine. So I told her my leave starts on 31st. But we leave on 30th, she says. Yes, we leave at 11.30pm. I can still go to work, I tell her. Gawd. Duhhhh! So anyway, it was left at that. She didn't tell me why she had wanted to know and I didn't ask.

Today she calls again. And it is finally revealed. The 30th group is Mandarin speaking. The 29th group is Cantonese speaking. Can I change my leave dates, she asks. When will the tour end? A day earlier? I told her even if I could change my leave dates, my hotel has been booked. Where was I going to stay because I would have one day without accommodation now since the tour ends a day earlier. And did she check whether my friend could leave on that date? No, she didn't. So I did, and guess what, my friend can't leave on 29th because of work. So I didn't bother checking if I could change my hotel booking to a day earlier. Plus, what about our later flight? Is there going to be a seat for us coming back if, according to our original plan, we were to stay two extra days? She never brought it up, so I assume it didn't occur to her, therefore further stamping her stupidity and incompetence.

It's Good Friday and I really should be nice. But I'm beyond all niceties. I am so fed-up.

I tell her I'm not prepared to pay over RM4K to go for a tour I won't understand a word of. She suggests maybe my friend could translate for me. I say, sure, and were they going to pay my friend the tour guide's salary? 'Cos my friend needs to work now and do their freaking job. So what does she do? She offers to give me back my money again. Fine, I tell her. If I agree to it, what about the hotel I had booked? The transaction has been done. Were they going to pay me back for that? How much is the hotel, she asks. Check their website, I tell her, they're about RM1K+ a night. I had booked for two nights, that makes it over RM2K. She was silent for awhile. I couldn't help but give a silent snigger. Pay me back la!

And then...oh, this really takes the cake...she starts sobbing and says she's done all she's can, she doesn't know what else to do. I usually have a soft heart, but she's irritated me to the point of no return that I really don't give a rat's ass that she's crying.

But I relent a little and say, fine, I'll go on the 30th. But because it's a Mandarin speaking group, I want some form of compensation. After all, I have to settle for something that wasn't in the original agreement. She sobs even more and again says she doesn't know what to do. She says that she already found me a Cantonese group on the 29th but I can't go. Gawd. So it's my fault now?

Just truly fucking unbelieveable.

If she was smart (then again, that's asking too much), she would have said, we'll take care of that extra room night and settle the flight deviation surcharge for you. But no, all she could do was sob and say she didn't know what to do. So I told her if she wanted me to tell her? If she left it to me to tell her, I would tell her to pay for my whole tour. Did she want me to suggest that?

Sob sob sob.

Gawd.

I'll call you back in half an hour, she says. Fine, you do that, I tell her.

It's 2 hours later. Obviously, she's not calling back today.

I give up.

But I will try to be nice. My friend will try to get out of work a day earlier. I will call the hotel tomorrow to see if I can change the booking. I will remind the stupid travel agent to check if there are seats on the flight back a day earlier. If either one isn't in the affirmative, I shall suggest they pay for our extra night and flight deviation surcharge. If they're both in the affirmative, I shall suggest they pay our flight deviation surcharge only (and that's letting them off the hook big time - cos it's not much).

Sigh.

We shall see what other stories she cooks up tomorrow. Maybe the group will come down with diarrheoa and they have to cancel again. I won't be surprised.

Maybe I should consider being a loner and not have any friends at all.

That way I would have no expectations of them and they would have no expectations of me.

That way I wouldn't have to pretend to be someone else in front of them.

That way I wouldn't have to be treated as though I wasn't there.

Yes, it's my fault.
I'm the lame one.
I'm the sensitive one.
I'm manipulative.
I'm the one who doesn't understand.

And you're just, oh, soooooo perfect. I am soooooo not worthy.

Can someone clue me in as to what is going on?

Or maybe I'm just being overly sensitive.

But what am I supposed to think when you ask me out and then proceed to ignore me the whole night?

WTF?!

And when you show up, you squeeze into the booth where two of our friends are already sitting when i'm the only one sitting on the other side.

WTF?!

And when the food arrives, it takes some coaxing from my friends to get you to move out of their booth seat before you reluctantly sit over at my side.

WTF?!

Then I go to toilet and when I come back, you're back on the other side.

WTF?!

I had to ask if there was something wrong with me. Did I smell? Did I have some disease? Still, you didn't move a single inch. It was my best friend who sheepishly got up and sat next to me.

WTF?!

We sit there discussing dinner plans tomorrow and you openly and enthusiastically offer to give my friend a ride, and when I said I probably couldn't make it cos I might not have transport, you pretend you didn't hear it.

WTF?!

Fine.

Whatever.

Disappointed.
Irritated.
Angry.
Pissed off.

All I want to do is go on holiday.
Why is that even so hard?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

I'm going on holiday!

Can't wait. Only another 16 more days to go. Woohoo!

It's costing me a bomb and that's not yet counting how much I'll be spending there. Ugh. But at least there's something to look forward to after all the stress the job's been giving me. And the only reason I'm still at this job is cos it'll pay for my holiday. Yea, I know, I'm such a sell-out. Why do I work? Cos I need money to go on holiday.

I'm just sooooo excited.

To hell with work. To hell with the people who still say they didn't hear the client say this/that in a meeting which my partner and I were at. Is that what they teach in account management? To have selective hearing? No wonder each time there are so many changes to the work we do. Very obviously the people who are supposed to listen to the needs of the client don't do so. Or they just hear what they want to hear. What a bunch of morons.

Don't go anywhere Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto. I'm coming!

Ten days not having to see or deal with hypocritical good-for-nothing idiots.

Heaven.

I have just bore witness to the most childish display by a senior manager. Senior manager here being the same fucking idiot who has been one of the major causes of my stress here at this place, the guy who professes to know whether a piece of work is creative or not, yet tries to come up with some stupid marketing/business plan that will allow us to do award-winning work. Wake up, idiot. It doesn't work that way. Just leave the creative stuff to us and go back to your fucking bullshit.

We were at the same meeting for goodness sake. How is it that our interpretation of the meeting was totally different? And then that outburst of, "Are you accusing me?!" Fuck. That was totally uncalled for. We were having a professional argument and you take it personally. You're a fucking senior manager, act like one. Not like a fucking baby. That really accords soooo much respect.

This is just a fucking prelude to what this place is going to be like when our boss leaves. You have fuckers like the one above who pull rank and make it his right to bully us. Great.

Time to bring out that resignation letter again.

I'd like to see them die when we leave.

I met someone this weekend who reminded me of hocc.

She's got hocc's exuberance, a certain air about her, a certain coolness about her, and she's rather cute too. Unfortunately she's got a fiance. What the heck, she's not married yet. I can still lust after her.

I have to thank a friend for enticing me with a "You have to come, there's someone here who looks like hocc." I was like, yea right, you've only seen hocc's picture once, like you really remember what she looks like. My friend was like, "Just come. I guarantee you'll like her."

Damn. I'm so easy to read. I liked her the moment I saw her.

Actually, I've liked her for awhile. Turns out, I listen to her every morning Mondays to Wednesdays on my way to work. But of course, I couldn't let that be known, I couldn't be seen as a gushing fan. So, there I was, pretending not to know who she actually was and being my nonchalant self. Haha. Right. I could tell that my friend was grinning away.

Unfortunately it wasn't exactly a good place for conversation (the music was blasting away), so I didn't really get to know her or speak to her much. Trying to get my friend to arrange another meet with her now. Would love to see her again.

Some people just aren't worth my time.

On another note, just found out today that my boss has resigned.

First reaction: What?! How could he resign before me?!

Second reaction: Wow. I thought he was going to retire in this agency. After all, he's been here 16 years.

Third reaction: This means I can threaten resignation now and they'll be so desperate to keep me that they'll give me a pay rise.

Hmmm...

Actually, rumours had been circulating around within the industry. Last week we heard he was contemplating resignation. Yesterday, my ex-partner called me and told me she heard through the grapevine that he had resigned. Big news. Especially since he had just hired her.

So today, my current partner and I asked him.

And so it turns out, all rumours were true.

Damn.

He beat us to it.