Of Saturday work, Green Packet, pool, and Aaron Yan

Where I'm interning, we need to work on alternate Saturdays. Sometimes it's bummer, but it's a half-day work thing and you can wear anything on that day, which is an unfathomable plus to me.


This particular Saturday was cold, so I opted for my long-sleeved orange abstract Mickey tee and shorts to work (I still don't get why I chose to wear shorts). We had breakfast at Sunshine Boy before heading to work.


We refer to An Sim Cafe in Bandar Puchong Jaya as Sunshine Boy, because there's this guy who works there (we assume he's the owner) who looks like a Japanese guy with a closely shaved head, ripped with a tribal sleeve, and a personality which would light up anyone's morning. He's impossibly cheerful, and really good with interacting with people; hence, the nickname Sunshine Boy.


Anyway, work was slow on this day, because I was still waiting for my modified/updated press releases (in three different languages) to be approved, but my superior asked me to do radio listing first. Alrighty, so I took it as an opportunity to check if my previous submissions have been posted; and to finally find the infozone part of the website for the Malay radio stations.


Even after posting, I still had to wait for my press release approval. So, in the meantime, my fellow intern suggested that I check the operating hours of the P1 HQ and I saw that it closes at 1pm - the time when I get off work.


I went up to see the people from accounts and asked if I could claim from the company should I have to pay for any outstanding charges as informed by P1.


Here's the thing: we were to apply for a P1 modem to be used for our 4-day event, and cancel it before it exceeded the trial period (7 days). So my colleague and I both applied for the modem and called to terminate our services on the same days. I took my modem to the Sunway Pyramid kiosk within 3 days (even when I was told that I had 14 days to do so) and the staff informed me that I had MYR320 in outstanding balance.


WTF?!


Naturally, I started throwing a civilized tantrum, and even if I had wanted to pay to settle the issue quickly, I didn't have the cash. So I went to lunch while towing along a useless device.


Anyway, I got permission to leave the office early to resolve the issue at P1 HQ, which was on Jalan Templer. This is a place I absolutely detest - there are a total of 3 roundabouts along this road, 2 of which have NO SIGNBOARDS. Well, fine. It took me 3 runs up and down Jalan Templer and the help of Waze to finally get to P1 HQ, a.k.a Green Packet.


I went in and got a number, and waited for about 10 minutes for my turn. The service staff wasn't as efficient as I would have liked, but they were courteous and helpful. It seems that the Sunway staff miscategorized my case as an early termination, which meant that I had voided the contract that came into place the moment the 7-day trial period ended, which I obviously didn't.


Anyway, the issue was resolved without much further arguments, and I went through the typical Jalan Templer roundabout-to-Jalan-Gasing-and-Jalan-Klang-Lama-and-NPE traffic jam. My laptop was passed to the boyfriend (who somehow got to the food court outside my office) and my card punched, so I went straight to where he was, and we headed out to lunch.


We chose a Taiwanese place from the Setia Walk website, but couldn't find it, so settled for some overpriced nasi kandar food - my chicken tandoori with cheese naan wasn't too bad, though. A movie was due, but there wasn't any that we wanted to watch at a time that allowed enough breathing room for an upcoming concert later in the day.


That was the day he taught me how to actually play pool. My first pool lesson was taught by Jasmine, who taught me the basic rules of the game. My boyfriend taught me how to play the game with the proper physical positioning for optimal game play, which involved a lot of tush attention to and from both parties.


After a few games - a couple of which that he obviously let me win - we went home to freshen up before the concert. The last time I consciously listened to Aaron Yan's music was when he was with Fahrenheit, and that was when I was around 17.


I picked up a dapper man in a long-sleeve turtleneck (you have got to love a guy in a turtleneck) before heading to Kenanga Wholesale City. I expected long car lines entering the parking lot, but there were none to be found, though most of the mall parking was full, but then again, it was a weekend.


Parked the car at a lucky spot, tried to take the lift up but it stopped on the 14th floor (aptly named 13A because 4 is an unlucky number for the Chinese, proving ethnicity of the ownership of the mall). I felt super special because the both of us were like "let's take the stairs, it's only a floor up, and the direction to the stairwell is this way". It was like we were leading the rest of the people up.


The concert started at 8.30pm, and this was the first concert I attended that had numbered seats. Personally, a concert has to have a free-standing area/mosh pit, and everyone has fun with everyone else's sweat. Seats, for me, are meant for orchestra or opera performances, or in other words - high-class entertainment.


Fun fact: Aaron mixed up a set of lyrics from a song (one of the only few that I knew throughout the entire concert). There are two parts of the chorus from Hebe Tian's 《寂寞寂寞就好》, and he mixed up the lyrics there.


Overall, we came to the conclusion that Aaron has a really good, solid voice, but it isn't too versatile - it's weird listening to his voice in a jazzy number. Guest performers included a young girl in a purple dress, and James (Malaysian musician in Britain), who has a record/album coming out in about February (he has the sexiest raspy singing voice, btw).


Dinner was Taiwanese food (complete with stinky tofu), and we headed home.

~

It's been a really long time since anyone had felt the need to pamper me like this. Sure, he's not perfect, but neither am I. Who am I to ask for perfection when perfection is impossible for myself? But he's been the sweetest I've ever met, to the point where I had my cheese naan cut into bite-sized pieces while I ate my chicken.


One of the things I like best is that he isn't squirmy - like how some guys would be with their girlfriends when they're out with friends. PDA isn't preferred, but he doesn't mind the occasionally quick peck on the lips.