Grocery Shopping

Yesterday I did my grocery shopping and what a nightmare shopping has become. To start with I always shop at the same place because I know where everything is.

Well the Tesco I shop at has started changing things around and I am the type of person who hates change. I live by schedules and that is how I raised my kids when they were babies. I always had a schedule and if anything came up to wreck havoc with my schedule my whole day would be screwed.

So this brings us back to shopping. I hate grocery shopping!! Especially now with food prices going up. Not that I buy a whole hell of a lot of food mostly crap for the kids. Veggies never enter my cart cause we don't like them, but in the past month I have cut down drastically on the crap for the kids. My son usually works late or comes back late so I don't have to cook for him. I now only cook for myself and the 2 youngest ones, which is a pain because the youngest one is picky.

Back to shopping again. The reason it was a nightmare is, I had wanted to go shopping and race around Tesco and get out of there within an hour. Unfortunately with things being changed around I now have to hunt for the things I want. Why the hell do they have to change everything. Did they do some kind of anal study and decided that the chips weren't placed in the right spot? A spot for maximum exposure or do the companies come in and check around and say "Hey I don't want my stuff here people won't be able to find it!" Don't worry we will find your crap. We go up and down every isle to make sure we find your crap.

The other thing that pissed me off yesterday was the price of chicken. Now I have never spent more the six or seven ringgit on a chicken. Yesterday I nonchalantly picked a chicken and gave it to the guy to be weighed and cut. I didn't really pay much attention so when he gave me back my chicken I almost shit my pants because the chicken was RM20.10. One lousy chicken and since it had already been cut I just took it anyways, and what about cheese! HUH ! I like to make mac and cheese once in a while but the cost of Kraft Cheddar brick has gone up to over RM9.00. Did they start putting gold in the cheese or something? Another thing we like to eat a certain brand of margarine and for the past month they have not had one tub available. Why! I had settle for some other crappy ass margarine. It better taste good.

When I finally made to the cashier and everything had been tallied the bill came to almost RM300!!!! Even after drastically cutting back. Hell if I cut back any more we'll be eating grass. I don't want to eat grass we hate veggies!!

Make Lemonade

When I first started my blog I seemed to have a lot to say, but there are those times I can't think of much to write hence yesterdays blog on Curse Words and today's blog.

I salute those television writers who day after day must come up with fresh dialogue to write. Since I have decided to stay home and try to work I have gone to writing sites where you can post your written word and have people pay you. A lot of people out there are making money this way, it's free to sign on and most of it seems to be scam free.

Now since I have decided to do this I have suddenly become blank. I came across this sight that will pay you USD48 for your article and commit you to another 11 if they choose you. Not bad for an article once a month and after the exchange rate it comes to almost RM150. The article is to be about being 50 and how fabulous it is. Now I will turn 50 next month and this should be easy peasy but I just can't for the life of me think about anything that is great about being 50.

At 50 I am jobless and still have two kids to put through school. The beauty industry doesn't want me anymore because I am too old and I refuse to travel. Just think about all the trouble darling Robyn would get into if I'm not around. Now a nice office job would be good but without the experience they would only pay me RM1,200 a month. With the cost of gas, toll and parking I'd be working just to pay for going to work. Just doesn't make sense.

So now I have started searching the writing sites. There is a lot out there and if you can sell a few articles a month you wouldn't have to worry too much. I really want that writing gig about turning 50 though, so hopefully something will pop into my head before the deadline. Maybe I can find a site that will pay for articles on beauty as that was my chosen career.

So as for now I'm muddling around trying to find the perfect writing gigs for me. After all you don't live to be 50 without learning a thing or two and as the saying goes "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Curse Words

The other night at Dawn's condo we were talking about the classes she was taking and during the course of the conversation she had said "Why is the word Fuck considered a curse word?" She went on to mention that it was only a word and only became a curse word depending on the connotation you put on it. Who was the one who came up with the word fuck and who said it was a curse word. This word has a multitude of meanings depending on how you use it in a sentence. When I was growing up we were not allowed to utter such words and yet today my children fling it around with abandon as do I on some occasions, especially when I want to get my point across.

You can say fuck you, fuck me, mother fucker, your a fucker, what the fuck, fucking A, fucking rocks and so on. Another word that is very functional would be that good old word shit. Now shit is a small word seemingly harmless but we all know what the meaning is. This word can also be used in many ways such good shit, bad shit, he's full of shit, your shitting me, when the shit hits the fan, bullshit, tastes like shit, looks like shit and so on.

Now Jesus Christ! and Goddamn you, are considered curse words for the very reason you are taking the lords name in vain, but what about hell or goddamn it why are they considered curses or ass, asshole, ass wipe. These words are considered curse words with out rhyme or reason.

When I was in the fourth grade I had just started into a new school and so I was in the process of trying to make new friends. There had been a girl in my class whom during recess had called another girl a Prick. Now seems she had a much older brother and this is where she probably learned it from. I had never heard the word before and so that night I had gone home and called my sister a Prick. Unfortunately my sister went and told my mom and after that well you know what happened . I couldn't sit down for a week.

So why in this day and age are they even considered curse words when every where you go people throw them around with such abandon to add color to the English language? I don't know, all I know is that in my day any body who used such words were considered ill mannered and low life's. Oh well what the hell who gives a shit anyways.

Monday Morning Meetings Part 2

I have previously written about my last job and our Monday Morning Meetings and what a farce they were. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I always thought that company meetings were for 1. Brainstorming and 2. Bringing up matters concerning the day to day operations. Not so in that company.

The company is a family business run by a husband and wife team along with their eldest son. They meeting was always chaired by the wife with the son sitting shot gun. At the start of every meeting the mother would go around to each of us and ask if anyone had anything to contribute, so as she asked each one, each one would reply no nothing to contribute. This took all of 5 minutes and the reason no one wanted to say anything is because nothing ever got done and somehow or other if you said something they didn't like it would eventually come back and bite you in the ass.

This went on month after month and the Matriarch started getting royally pissed that no one contributed and that she was the only one who had anything to say. Her son eventually didn't bother to attend meetings.

One day during one of the meetings she went around and asked all of us if we read books. What this has to do with company business I do not know. She also asked what do we read. I already know what is going through her mind I had her pegged, so I said I was presently reading 'The Secret' and it was about the power of positive thinking and how it can change your life. This greatly excited her as this is the type thing she likes to hear. I mean this lady always likes to bring god into her meetings and as far as I'm concerned god has no place in our meetings.

A few months later she brought in some books and passed them out to all the staff and asked us to read the books. The book was entitled "How To Be Happy'. Of course we all glanced at each other and rolled our eyes. Now if you expect your staff to read a book don't you think they should be able to read on company time.

The following week she asked if any one had read the book and of course everyone said no. I decided I better start reading so that evening I went home and started reading. The book had been written by some guy who had had a six figure income who gave it all up in the pursuit of happiness. The book was boring and so I managed to finish only half of it. The following week she asked again and this time only two of us admitted to reading the book. This went on for a few more weeks when she finally got the message and gave up on everyone and stopped asking.

Reading the book was absolute bullshit as she, her husband and son all have a business so they can earn money. Don't expect your staff to read such drivel when you yourself are pursuing the almighty dollar. If you didn't want to be rich why have a business in the first place and hound your sales staff into selling more. Don't tell your staff to think of themselves as being part of a family. If we were part of your family wouldn't we be getting shares.

Now I am an avid reader but I like to choose what I want to read not something my boss forces me to read and stop bringing god to the meetings. Your staff are not all Christians. They are made up of Chinese, Indians and Malays with different religious beliefs.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

When I was growing up in Canada my parents had always celebrated our birthday. So the festivity was celebrated with a birthday party and we could invite a few of our friends and of course our cousins. The party was always held on Saturday and if our birthday happened to fall on a weekday my parents would give us their gifts, to us, on that special day. The food served at the party would always be hotdogs with the birthday cake and ice cream for desert. That was because it was the easiest to make.

When my kids were born I too made it a practice to celebrate their birthdays. When we were in Canada it was fine but once we came to Malaysia things just weren't the same. I lived with my in laws for 11 years and the only birthdays celebrated in that house were my father in laws and my mother in laws so I made it a point to celebrate my children's birthday on my own. Every year they would get presents and also a birthday cake to mark their special day.

To this day I still celebrate my children's birthday with a present and a cake. Since Dawn's birthday was on a Tuesday this year we managed to celebrate it last night. Alex had smsed us that he had wanted to take us all out for dinner along with his dad.

Saturday morning he messaged me to come around 5 o'clock so we could have a couple of beers before going off to dinner. Of course, as usual we were late. My first born son was dragging his ass and when I bitched at him about it he told me to chill. "Can't we ever be on time for anything?" I had whined. "Christ we were late for your sisters wedding." He replies "Since we were late for her wedding I don't think it matters if we are late going to her condo." With that I turned to Pei Shin, his girlfriend and said ,"This guy will be late for his own wedding!" "Probably"
he says.

We finally got to the condo had a beer then went off for dinner. Before we left we all needed to visit the loo which is in Dawns room. Now apparently there is something wrong with her ceiling fan so they cannot switch it off. Justin didn't know so when he came out of the room he switched it off because I taught them to conserve electricity. Luckily Dawn and Alex informed us yes the fan will start up again on its own but it takes time, so before we left she opened her bedroom window to let some air in.

We went off for dinner and forgot to bring the birthday cake, so we decided to go back to their place and sing happy birthday there. As we waited for Pei Shin to come (she'd gone for her grandfathers birthday dinner) we talked, I drank beer and the rest of my kids disturbed the cats and watched a DVD. After the DVD and Pei Shin was there we sang happy birthday.

When I want to smoke I usually out to Dawn's laundry area to smoke and so towards the end of the evening I heard a cat meowing, after which we discovered two cats were missing. It seems the two had pushed open the bedroom window and had escaped. Dawn had forgotten about the window and the cats had discovered that their mom had forgotten and made their escape. They managed to get one cat back, but when we left one was still MIA. This morning she told me they finally got the cat back it took them until 2 o'clock in the morning and her shower is working.

Last night as we were driving off she had called her brother and asked if anyone had been pissing around in the shower, seems there was no water coming out. Just a series of unfortunate events.

My Fourth Child

Before I start writing my blog, I like to check to see how much traffic I'm getting and to see if there are any comments. Well this morning I noticed there was 1 comment posted on my blog Premature Alzheimer's.

Of course I have to check the comment to whether they are favorable or not, this comment it seems was sent from Robyn my fourth child. She wrote "You bitch about me too much on your blog." Yes she does seem to be my favorite topic and I do mention her a lot.

She is 16 going on 30 and she really does provide with a lot to write about. She is a good girl but she is a typical teenager and in the mind set of me me me. Some of the things she does I just have to comment about and because she and I spend a lot of time together well you know how it is. She is the one suffering the most because of my unemployed situation. I have to cut back on expenses so that means I am not able to give her the same amount of money I used to give her and also I have curtailed her jaunts to Aeon.

Robyn is like her older sister. Also a very head strong girl so she and I get into it a lot. We say nasty things to each other when we are pissed but the one thing about Robyn is she gets over it easily. She doesn't carry a grudge. She is funny and can come up with some really good lines and in this way she is like her older brother. She knows when to draw the line because she knows once I get really pissed it's time to call it a day so she can live to fight another day. We have had our ups and downs and at present my on going nagging at her is about her studies. She is not stupid but very lazy when it comes to studying and with exams coming up well my whole time is spent nagging and threatening. I usually end up telling her if she doesn't want to study then quit school and get a goddamn job and make my life easier. Of course the good mother I try to be I would not like to see her do that and spend the rest of her life working in Aeon.

I do love this girl dearly and hate to think how boring my life would be if she were not in it. I have given into her many more times then the others, which they always remind me about. I can't help it she's Robyn my fourth child.

The Power Of Positive Thinking

Last year my daughter lent me a book called 'The Secret. I'm sure a lot of people out there have read the book. I am an avid reader but I did not finish the book because frankly it bored me. I did read some of the book and from what I gather the book is saying that if you use the power of positive thinking you can be successful in life.

Now basically I can be a bit sarcastic and I have a dry sense of humour. Humour is what keeps me going through life. Hey if I didn't laugh I'd sure as hell be crying all the time.

Going through life I have found that the power of negative thinking is more powerful then positive thinking. When I was working, the drive to and from work was spent alone and so this is the time when my mind would start working. Lots of things would pop into my head, most of it not good. For a while I'd be thinking what would happen if I got a flat tire. Once that popped into my head I'd think of nothing else everyday until one day it did happen. There I was stuck on the side of the road at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in the blazing hot sun with a flat tire. No one stopped and I didn't have any numbers in my hand phone of any one that I could call to help me. So I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to change it myself. I did manage to change it after a lot of sweating, grunting and cursing. At least there was a positive side to this situation I wasn't wearing a short skirt that day and the spare tire had air in it. At some point the idea popped into my head that my speedometer might stop working and sure enough it did. On days when I got up on the wrong side of the bed I'd drive to work thinking that someday I would get fired and sure enough it happened. So all through my life I have found that the negative thoughts always happen more often then positive thoughts.

Now that I am into the second month of unemployment I have been trying to think positively. Every day I go online and search for jobs that can be done at home. I day dream of finding a job that will enable me to work from home so I do not have to sit in traffic jams, spend huge amounts of money on gas, toll and parking, and not have to put up with idiot bosses. If I am at home I can keep an eye on my two teenagers making sure they study, don't skip school or mix with bad company.

With my new found power of positive thinking I am hoping that I will find that job and that's what keeps me going. Unfortunately most of the jobs online that I have come across are mostly big scams and promise you, that you can earn thousands of dollars, but hey I keep hoping.