Thursday June 12, 2008

So I find myself slowly getting out of my slump and have done a couple of things this week other than housework. Of course I'm still an internet junkie but I've actually gotten off the block. I am happy to see that Obama has won the nomination for Democratic candidate however since the announcement my inbox has been flooded with a lot of negative material directed at him. Things such as his Muslim background and lack of military experience while at the same time I've been receiving positive messages regarding McCain whom I haven't heard anything about until now. The great thing about America is the freedom of speech and the right to vote. Sure there will be different opinions regarding both candidates but the bottom line is that the people have voted for who they want to see run for the White House, both seem to be qualified politicians, they are afterall already serving the public as Senators. The thing I want to address is Obama's Muslim background. Socially in America the people see Muslims as a negative issue. I can say that after living in a Muslim society for the past 3 or so months everyone really needs to do their research regarding Islam. I think our media focuses mainly on the radical Muslims and never addresses the religion as a whole so people, turn on History channel, read a book, google search, whatever, just make sure that you're not judging a person by how they were raised. I came from a diverse background and I don't think I'm a bad person for it, I think I'm a better person because of it. It's easy to be fearful or opposed to something when you don't have all the facts, instead of being ignorant, educate yourselves to a different perspective.

So over the weekend Jim and I went to our friend Sim's birthday party. She turned 21 ( I know, I can't remember myself at that age ). Of course we got lost trying to find her house so her Mom had to come find us so we could follow her back. There were a few people there with a DJ, food and of course cocktails. I was really impressed with the house because when we first got there, we parked in the back entrance next to a house and when I looked to my right I thought the building next to us was a school but it was Sim's house. It was huge with a very nice pool and spa out back. So we ate, drank, swam, danced and met some new people. The party ended about 9 pm but Sim wasn't done celebrating her birthday so we all got changed and went to a bar called Finnegan's. I've mentioned this place before, there are several locations and last week when I went to the party at George's I got to meet a few of the managers. So we went to one that I've never been to before in Sri Hartamas and it didn't feel like a new place because when we got there I recognized quite a few people. Sim drank a couple of Flamin Lamborghini's which is similar to Flaming Dr. Peppers but they stack about 6 glasses on top of each other with liquor in the bottom one, then they take cognac and ignite it then pour it over all of the glasses so it looks like a tower of fire, then you drink the shot out of a straw at the bottom. I've been in the bar business a long time and I'm still impressed by it. I'll try to demonstrate it when I come home. So we had a good time but the next day I wasn't feeling so great and I came to realize that when we were swimming at Sim's house, my insulin pump became disconnected so I wasn't getting my medicine like I'm supposed to. I rested a couple of days and soon everything was back to normal.

I went about my normal routine after that and on Wednesday I decided to go shopping. Sim is about the same size as me so I had asked her where she shops so I could get some new clothes. I went to Mid-Valley Mall and was enjoying myself and found some cute things. I decided to go into a department store called Jusco and check out their women's department. I looked through the racks and of course everything was a size 2 or 4 and then I looked across the aisle and saw a sign that said Plus Size so I figured if my size wasn't in the regular women's section I must be plus size by Malaysian standards. I was right. Very depressing when you first think about it but if I need clothes this is what I have to do, I can't even get one leg into a size 4! So I'm all by myself looking through the racks finding quite a few things that I actually liked and then- it was like an elevator opened a group of women were all around me. One minute I'm by myself, the next I'm not. I really don't like being crowded so I tried to walk away to a different section but of course there were so many women around me it was difficult. At first I just thought it was the usual circumstances where people don't want to get out of your way and it wasn't until later that I realized what was really going on. I kept on shopping and when I was ready to check out, a sales girl took my items to ring them up. I looked down at my purse and it was unzipped. I knew that at the last store I zipped it up after putting my wallet in it so I thought it was odd that it was open. I went to grab my wallet just to find that it was gone! Of course I panicked and then retraced my steps but I already knew that it was stolen. Everything was in it including cash to get a taxi home so I had to call Jim to pick me up.

While I waited for Jim to come I went to the service counter and logged a report and then went to the branch police station to do the same. The officer filled out a form and even had me type in my contact information and what I thought happened. Those bells and whistles that were going off in my head when all those women were around me were trying to warn me and instead I took it as claustrophobia. After I filed the report the officer told me that I had to go down to headquarters to speak to an Inspector and have him take a statement from me too. So Jim picked me up and we went there. Now most people who know me know that I'm no stranger to police stations but this was definitely a first for me. It looked like a RV park, a huge parking lot with several police cars parked everywhere and then a few buildings. We stopped at the gate and asked where to go and the officer pointed us toward a building that looked like a run down Super 8 motel painted blue and white. He told us to go to the 1st floor and what room number to go into. Outside was a mountain of computers and monitors, not sure if they were confiscated or what I just know that there was a lot of them. We got to the "room" and inside there was a small waiting area and an office area that was separated by plexiglass like a currency exchange. The furniture was all beat up and torn ( me and Jim joked that it was confiscated from a drug dealer and the reason there were holes in it was because the cops had to tear it up to look for drugs ), a tv, stereo and speakers, I honestly thought I was in the Twilight Zone or candid camera. We were told that the Inspector was not in but we should wait. So we did and Jim started to make the phone calls to report my credit cards stolen. We waited a long time and my patience was growing thin because there were several people in the office area who looked like they were playing video games and I started to wonder if there was only one Inspector in the Investigations Division. Finally he showed up and took us up to another "room" on the 3rd floor of the hotel where he basically asked me the same questions that the first officer at the mall asked me. I told him that I did not expect to get my wallet back and he answered it was a 50/50 chance which at first I thought was good odds but then I realized he meant either I will or I won't. He promised to look at the security cameras at the mall and he would get back to me.

By that time it was past 8 pm and we were hungry and I was irritated and angry. I cancelled my lunch date with my friend Janet for today because I didn't feel like my mood would be good plus the business of cancelling the cards and trying to figure out how I'm going to replace my driver's license and social security card. My dad told me a long time ago when I used to venture out in Atlanta by myself to never look up because people would pick your pockets, now I'm adding if you're crowded by people to speak up loudly and say "get away from me" because theives don't want attention drawn to them.

So pretty exciting week so far, Jim's boss has invited us over for pizza and beer this weekend so I can give them all the juicy details of my stupidity. Talk to all soon.