Hi! I'm 'DJ Wanker'!

november 30, 08 sunday
2.40pm
OK, first thing's first. I HATE being called "DJ XXXX"!! I don't know why or how that term came about but it made me sound like a wanker! I was on radio for 12 years, but I was never a DJ. I was an announcer, because I never spanned discs. I produced and prepped my own programmes and was a paid working professional on payroll. I didn't work on a gig-to-gig basis. This was a full-time job. I cringed whenever people add the moronic term "DJ" before my name. Eew!


I have been unemployed for almost 6 months now (groan!), so imagine my surprise when Adek's girlfriend Haidi rung me up asking if she and some of her classmates wanted to interview me, as part of their celebrity assignment. They are students of fashion designing. I almost barfed. Celebrity?? I thought out of sight, out of mind. But Haidi assured me I am still remembered. Hmm. I said OK and set the date.


All 7 of them came. Shy. Quiet. Tongue tied. C'mon! You get to meet a 'celebrity', here's your chance - talk! Ask questions! Something!! It was so typical of Malaysian students. This whole 'being shy' b/s is old! Why can't our students talk?? Present themselves? Have confidence?? I was a bit annoyed that they were under-prepared as well, besides being shy. Only Haidi spoke. Even that she was quite unprepared - kept asking her group what else to ask?? I forgot. I remember when I was doing interviews for projects at college, and later on-air, I always had 10 questions prepared. Most times I never finished all 10 questions, because I'd go with where the conversation was taking me. But when I got stuck, I had that piece of paper with me. I was never unprepared for an interview. The whole thing made me feel I wasn't important enough for them to research and to prepare.

Good luck to them on their project. There were so many questions I thought they could've asked. They were fashion-related, they could've gotten a lot out of me.

Haidi came back in the evening and gave me a box of cupcakes the group bought for me, with "Thank you DJ XXXX" scribbled on it. I thought that was sweet. If only they didn't add the "DJ" before my name...The cupcakes were adorable, but sickly sweet, as I was never a fan of icing, and it was all icing!!

What a great idea for a gift!! I will certainly get this if I needed to buy food for guests or the host.

xoxo

Occupation: Housewife

june 18, 08 wednesday
I never thought in a million years I'd give myself that title. I always thought I'd be working for the rest of my life. Of course the idea is to work after a short break, but for now, it seems I'm stuck with 'housewife'...

*shiver*

I'd like to call myself a 'taitai', but husband J insists he doesn't have that much money. Me thinks he's just being tight... ;) eheh

Anyway, today is my first day at home, full-time!! Yesterday, at the office, I've done the running around to get all the signatures I needed for HR, (wasn't as cumbersome as I thought it would be, plus had a little help from the hubs), went for an exit interview with a star-struck HR official (!!!), submitted my med card and the like, hugged and kissed colleagues and off I went!

I had mixed emotions a couple of days ago, but yesterday, I felt a huge burden being lifted off. I am free. Broke, but free!

So here I am, at home, trying to make sense of what to do to kill my time at home.

Got up same time as husband J, at 7.45am.

Cleaned up the cats, fed them.

Water the garden.

Rake the leaves at the bottom of the house.

Sweep the garden.

Sweep the garage.

Hmmmm........

Hmmmm.......

Oh yeah, have breakfast.

Hmmm......

Go to the gym...

Occasionally, do groceries shopping.

Hmmm......

This is my life??

It's better than work anytime, but really! I need to find something to do...

Closing a huge chapter

june 14, 08 saturday
The time has finally arrived. Actually it came and went. Yesterday was my last day on-air. It was bitter sweet, but I held back from tearing up. The team did a montage of each of them saying what they would miss about me, which took me by surprise. It was like a greeting card on-air, and it was lovely. It was only at the end of the show did we announce it was my last day, and I didn't stay around to take the calls that were flooding in to say "good bye" to me.

The response overwhelmed me a bit. I spent the entire afternoon chatting with fans on Facebook, and replying to messages from shocked friends and fans. But I know, I will be a faceless nobody in less than a month. So I am soaking in all this "buzz" at the moment.

My last 'physical' day at work is this Tuesday. I need to run around to get 15 signatures from people in departments I didn't know existed. The thought tires me. I also need to sort out the kerfuffle with my review bonus. For some reason that has turned into something else altogether, and it started out as just as an administrative error. It is very frustrating! p

Other than that, it still hasn't kicked in yet, the fact I have resigned, and for the first time in my 13-year career span, I am not financially independent anymore. That thought makes me a little nervous.

I still haven't decided what I am going to do. I had so many plans before I quit, but now, all I want to do is lay in bed and go to the gym, and lay in bed! I hope I'll figure it out soon.

But what got me yesterday was when husband J who took me out for a 'celebration', told me he is proud of me. I know he struggles with the fact I have resigned and that he's the sole breadwinner now. So for him to tell me he's proud of me is priceless. Y

The smell of freedom

june 6, 08 friday
I was preparing for a recording when Boss Anu came in with surprising news - next Friday is my last day at work!! I couldn't contain my excitement an let out a yelp. My two other co-hosts were none than happy, shoulders slumped forward. I almost felt for them, not that they will not have my grumpiness anymore, but that they still have to do the show and work there. We have many times discussed how we'd like to move on and I was the only one fortunate enough to do so.

I did one week's worth of recording, and promptly left. Anu hinted that perhaps I should wait around for the other two to finish, but I left anyway. I'm heartless that way, I guess. I think they are hoping I turn up on Monday night after they're done with their 'role meeting'. I don't know. I am really not interested to pop by after gym. After all, Monday is gym day. And you know how much I love gym days....*groan*

I told husband J that next week is my last week. He thought how I was told was a bit rude. Yeah, well. That's just how the office does things. I actually like working under Anu. She's a pretty good boss. In my 12 years of being a talent, I've worked with some dimwits as bosses. So I appreciate Anu.

I mentioned this to J as well, when I was leaving the studio, I felt sad. It was weird. I haven't even left yet, have another week to go in fact and yet I was feeling a little sad. For a tiny moment, I actually questioned my decision to leave. I'm sure I will feel a little bad when the day comes, but as we speak (or write), I am soooo excited to end my 12 years, not on air, but with the office/station.

Anyway! 'Point is, another chapter of my life is opening sooner than I thought.

And I know it'll be good.

*smile*

A week of sorts

may 30, 08 friday
Another week has gone by. And this week hasn't been all that uneventful. Plus, it brings us to the end of May.

Besides the sty (read last blog), let me run down in brief how the week went...

The other boys (trainers) at the gym also noticed the mat salleh (read past blog) has been openly checking me out. So what did his trainer do? Introduced us, very casually. So now I know his name, and what he does for a living. I find it flattering. I mean, c'mon! I'm closing in on the big 4-0 and some dude finds me hot?? I text husband J: ugly white guy ogling at your wife. Husband's reply: Blow him a kiss. I showed husband J's reply to Trainer Ela. He burst out laughing. Hmm. During my last session, I noticed the mat salleh at the gym was still ogling, but a little more controlled. He looked flustered. I think he knows the boys are teasing him. Well, at least my time at the gym this week was a bit of a lark...and not so mundane.

Moving on...

The buzz with my aging neighbours was the fence between my house and my right-side neighbour and my neighbour living behind me was violated. There were holes made so that whoever can slid in and out. Husband J has managed to fix the fence but these days we're a bit more vigilant with locking doors and windows. Nothing was taken or vandalised and we hope nothing will happen ever. These are tough times we live in. Malaysia is a faaaar cry from what it was 10, 15 years ago.

Had a huuuuge fight with husband J, something worth writing about! But, I won't dish details! I was so determined not to speak to him for a few days, but the next night, my heart melted when I saw husband J curled in bed, lights off at 8:30pm!! Auwwww! And he said he had a miserable day! Auwwwww! I just could not stay mad any longer. So, the 'cold war' ended. My life would be so meaningless without this man!

Work was as painful. This week, more than any other weeks, I was incredibly tired. Getting up in the (very early!) morning has been harder than ever. I get to work, I sit in the car for 5 minutes before dragging myself to the studio, and spent the whole 6 am hour with my head on the table (most of the hour is usually recorded. Gotta love technology!!). It's hard being at work. It's even harder pretending you're having a good time doing the show, when the truth is your heart isn't in it anymore. The topline survey results came out. We lost 50,000 listeners, which isn't a huge amount, but we slipped back to no. 3 from no. 2. Honestly, I was happy we slipped. Proved my point that we suck. And I hope the station will eventually die. Hah! Wishful thinking...

Still no sign of 'Auntie Flow'. Body still uncomfortable... Still aching...

Got my first ipod. I know, I'm a little left behind...Oh! Well! I'm not a gadget chick at all. Husband J received a free piece from his 'team building' trip to Langkawi. He already has one-bigger, better, cooler. Naturally...*eyes rolling* So what did the good husband do, give the new ipod to wife! It's tiny, I can clip it on my collar. But it's only 1 GB. Yeah! Like that means anything to me. So we spent half the night downloading songs I wanted to upload onto my small ipod, and so far I think I have like 26 songs. I'm not a huge fan of music (and I work in radio!), so I'm not too fussed about putting in more songs. I doubt I'll use the ipod often, like I see most people do.

Oh yes. The Mac iBook husband J passed on to me? It died. It had problems charging, so we took it to the shop, and a week later, the shop told us we have to pay RM3,000 to fix the motherboard (which was the reason why it couldn't charge properly). So we said "no thanks", brought it home, and now we couldn't charge at all!! Aaarrrrggghhhhhhhh!!!!

Wrapped up the work week with a mean plate of rissolles, the great Australian dish. Or so husband J claims... But damn! I make awesome rissolles! He he...

Back at work sulking

april 28, 08 monday
We (the team and I) were given a week off from work and it was too short. During that time, we were inundated with emails asking us to come back and some demanded(!) that we should never ever go on leave ever again.

Wah! We're not super humans, you know! We are flattered that you love us, but honestly, if we didn't take off, we'd end up killing each other, and you'd hear about it on-air. We need a break to regain our sanity. We were seriously burnt-out. And I am still burn-out.

As for me, coming back to work only proved one point - that I absolutely hate being here. It was the hardest thing to wake up and the only thing that keeps me going is the fact I am leaving in 2 months. I'm on radio, I should be having fun, but instead I am sulking everyday. I don't feel rejuvenated/refreshed etc. I feel like cr@p!

SIGH. I so want to get out of this hell-hole!

Puss is blogging!

april 20, 08 sunday
So yes, I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and start blogging. If the name Puss-inheels made you decide to read this blog, thank you. But there is nothing explicit/porno/suggestive about this blog. Sorry. It's just another lame blog from a nobody. OK, maybe not so much a nobody. Some people in the country know me. Or my voice.

Funny thing is, I have always read about myself on the net, on some meaningless blog from some nobody someone. Some are good, some are bad. I guess it comes with the territory. I am on radio. If you are an ardent radio fan of the adult contemporary type, then you've been listening to me for 12 years. That's how long I've been on air. 12 fuck!ng years. Out of that, the last 3 years have been the absolute worse. Maybe I've been on air for waaaay too long. Maybe its the age. Or maybe its the bunch of wannabe morons I've had to work with. Showbiz! It's the same everywhere! Shallow. Pretentious. And huge massive egos. It wasn't too long ago when I actually enjoyed going to work. These days, I'm dragging my feet to the cold on-air studio. These days, the business is not for me. I've had enough!

After mulling over the prospect of leaving, I have finally done the deed - I tendered my resignation. Without any offers/jobs waiting in the wings. I know, I must be nuts/stupid/an idiot etc. I just didn't care. Though I admit that i wouldn't be able to do what I did if I was still single.

What I am hoping is for an oportunity to work at the newst radio station in town. The word is out, the minute something opens up, I'm there. I just hope it's on-air work, and not programme management. I have tonnes to offer. After all, I have 12 years of format radio.

But for now, I am serving my 3 months notice, and man! This is the longest 3 months ever!

Anyhow, I am in no hurry. To go back to work that is. I have picked up cooking and made pizza for the hubs today. It was pretty good. I just haven't learned Asian/Malaysian dishes. Too much cr@p goes into the dishes. And I HATE cleaning up. So western dishes are the way to go, and I've gone pretty good at them, much to my husband, J's delight.

This is good.

A long blog to start with.

Not bad.

Let's see if I'll blog more.