Golb♥bloG

Many people have warned me not to do it. But i just haaaad to go and do it. The end result wasn’t really quite what i expected. I dont hate it altogether, but then i’m not exactly crazy about it as well. What am i talking about ??

                                        I got my hair permed !!!

                        How now, brown cow? (i hate self-taken pics, btw)

I know i shouldn’t have, considering the super frizzy state of my hair but i just couldnt help myself : )) Pre-perming, my hair was in its neither curly not straight phase. And it was either rebonding or a perm. And since i’ve been straightening my hair for four years now, i decided to give something new a go. Besides, i hate the hassle of newly rebonded hair. Not being able to tie or in any way manipulate your hair and just letting it lie flat. Especially when it’s wet, otherwise it will become oddly crooked (haha). Having to blowdry it after every wash to maintain its pencil straightness. And i even resorted to sleeping without a pillow for over a month so that it wouldnt lose its shape. Having to hold my hair back with a towel everytime i washed my face or showered without washing my hair. Man…the hassle is not really worth it. Plus it makes the hair super dry as well.

Anyways, i got my digital perm done at my regular salon near my place for only RM198. They’re having a promotion rite now. Another reason why i bit the bait : D And i sat there for four hours. Straightening usually takes about 5-7 hours. The funniest thing is, my other half was always against the idea of me getting a perm. And after i told him i had permed my hair he immediately retorted "Dont give me a heart attack ar this weekend!!" Hehehehe….no worries. There are simpler ways to give u a heart attack, darling ; p

ps : i don’t foresee myself keeping the curls for more than 5 months.

It’s Deepavali today!! And we kept to another one of our yearly traditions, ie. Visiting our Hindu friends : ) I remember during my secondary school days, we’d have a ball going from one friend’s house to another. (And the same would happen during Hari Raya and Chinese New Year as well) But now that the majority of us are in KL, we don’t really get to enjoy that house-to-house thingy anymore. Since I came to KL, I’ve only remembered going to Rajes’ house for Deepavali.

But no matter, we alwiz know how to entertain ourselves and pass our time at Rajes’ house : )) Me, Wee Leng, Sock Hwee and some of their other friends made our way in a convoy to her house in Subang Jaya with our starting point at Giant Kelana Jaya. Apparently there was a dead body found in the area somewhere outside Kelana Jaya Medical Centre which was why there were tons of police cars there. But it was on LDP in the direction headed towards Kepong so none of us saw it except for Wee Leng hehe. Wee Leng led the way to Rajes’ house. This is one dangerous girl to lead the way : P

And keeping with our tradition, we ate, watched TV and took tons of nutty photos : ) Sock Hwee even brought her laptop AND we detected a wireless connection so we uploaded some of the photos immediately into Rajes’ friendster account for her LOL. Talk about efficient !! As usual, the food was good and the muruku was great! : ))

Then it was time to say goodbye and the rest of my friends headed back to Malacca after our little reunion session.

I came home to watch TV : ) And then Yien called me. And we talked and talked for almost an hour. And everytime I speak to her I thank the highest heavens that im not a solicitor practicing in one of the top legal firms in London. She gives me reason to actually kiss my comparatively reasonable working hours here!! Anyways, as usual our conversation encircles around people we know, latest gossips, funny updates, the male species and of course work. Which is what she will be doing soon at her office. On a Saturday and regularly throughout weekends and til 3am every day. Sighs. You take care, dear. And come back soon ok. For good. *hugs*

Am going out for dinner in a while with my sis. Am still waiting for my other half to come back, he’s on the way back from S’pore with his mum today. Hope u all had a great Deepavali and hope u have a great time the rest of these holidays!!

she’s bringing sexy back!! : )

This afternoon we were asked to attend an interview by the top company in one of the world’s leading metal industries. They required legal assistance for a transaction in Malaysia, and hence were conducting interviews with the some of the leading legal firms here. So I attended this interview at MO with my boss and another partner before the company’s regional counsel and their Hong Kong solicitor. They insisted on the presence of Associates, ahem. To cut the long story short, at the end of it we were asked to provide them with our hourly rates, in USD. And upon hearing how much we charged, they were blown away. Coz our fees were apparently ridiculously cheap. And then the company’s counsel actually said that it would be cheaper to hire all three of us combined than to hire the HK lawyer alone : p

It’s not the first time im hearing this. Previously one of our clients mentioned that Malaysian legal fees was very cheap, in comparison with Singapore which is double and Hong Kong which is four times the rate. That’s why legal firms here have to take on more work which in turn leaves them less able to dedicate an immense amount of their time on their existing clients (but I know someone who still does it, albeit without proper justification or fees, hehe).

Which in turn tells us why lawyers earn comparatively less here than their counterparts in neighbouring countries. We don’t need to look far. The market value for fresh graduate lawyers in Malaysia is between RM1,800 to RM3,000. The market rate for our contemporaries in Singapore is above SGD4,000. Even without a conversion that’s quite a big difference. And we’re not even looking at international or the top legal firms here. Is it a question then why Singapore only limits itself to graduates from certain universities to practice law there?

If we were to raise the legal fees to rival or be at par with the other countries, the local individuals and corporations would probably be at detriment. Even with the current fees many people are screaming bloody murder. But if we maintain our current fees, we’ re probably being underpaid and overworked. So this definitely debunks the myth that all lawyers are rich and drive big cars. Well, Malaysian lawyers that is.

There is also an underlying myth that the cost of living in Malaysia is much lower than elsewhere. Actually, I beg to differ. We have a weaker currency, yes. But definitely not cheaper products. Once again, let’s use the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur comparison. Disregarding lawyers, the general workforce would probably be earning a similar salary -  dollar for dollar. Say a business exec here earns RM2,500 and there they earn SGD2,500. And take a simple item like Starbucks coffee. A frappucino costs us about RM12 but only sets them back by SGD5. I don’t know bout u, but if I only paid RM5 for my coffee I’d probably have it everyday. Everything is half-priced there, and for certain items even after the conversion it’s still lower than over here. It may sound crazy but I actually shop for certain stuff there rather than here. Designer items are cheaper, so next time u want that Prada bounce off to our neighbour down south : )

Even cars are cheaper there. SGD50k will get you a middle class Japanese car. RM50k will get you a Proton at most. The only thing which is blatantly more expensive over there is of course real property. And even the cost of that is on a drastic rise in the premier parts of KL and PJ. I can make the above comparisons coz both of my other half’s sister and brother are married and living in Singapore and as everyone knows that he’s working there now and so I see real figures and then I bitch and blog about it.

Heck, even the car salesman suggested he obtains a PR and registers for a weekend car (which is cheaper than the daily use vehicle) and then bring it back to Malaysia. (we were looking at the RX8 hehe. I loved that car from the day it replaced the RX7) But no, its obviously not gonna happen. Although we made a pact that our wedding car was supposed to be one of our own cars and not a borrowed Brabus…hehehe. Just to make it more special la but GET REAL…im definitely not waiting til im old and crippled before I say I DO. I do? Haha once again i’ve completely veered off topic.