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Last night, I was asked by Alvin if I’d like to drink since he was bored and he has a half bottle of his RM50 Langkawi-bought tequila to spare. The alcoholic in me didn’t want to pass up on such a chance, so I agreed, and he came over to my house as I was in the midst of watching The Amazing Race Asia Season 3 Episode 2 with the rest of my family in the living room.

Lemme digress a bit by saying, the teams in TARA 3 Episode 2 were in Ho Chi Minh City and I couldn’t help but interject each time I saw a place or a landmark that I’ve been before, and tell my mum exactly that, “I’ve been there before”. When the teams were visiting those familiar places completing various tasks, I was revisiting my own memories I had during the time I backpacked, projecting me and my backpacking partners, Gopi and Siew, there on the television screen – the memories of which I am unlikely to forget.

Anyway, Alvin and I went off to Shawn’s house to borrow the shot glasses from Yen as I thought Shawn wouldn’t be home that early from interning at Third Floor – but lo and behold when we got off from Alvin’s black Gen 2, and walked to the front gate of Shawn’s house, who should be there but Shawn arriving at exactly the same time as us in his car.

So I asked Shawn if he’d like to drink, coaxed him a bit when he said that he’s only a week away from his goal of not drinking for a month, and then he agreed and we went in. :D Andy who initially hesitated on drinking with both Alvin and me, came over, followed by Ding who needed much persuasion for some reason, and then Fangki. Yen joined us in the kitchen for a while, to cook and talk to us.

It was.. so completely spontaneous, because initially it was just going to be me and Alvin – but then it quickly expanded to 6 drinkers wtf. And so we took tequila shots mixed with 7-Up with salt and lime, and finished the remaining bottle of Bailey’s that Fangki brought, which for obvious reasons – because it’s a creamy liquor – I couldn’t consume.

The night went on with Alvin mostly telling us erm ‘bar stories’ hahahaha despite the fact he probably only met 2-3 of the rest for the first time (actually, I think it’s only Shawn) – even more hilarious when Yen earlier asked if Alvin’s my collegemate, and I answered, “No, Ding’s ex-collegemate” wtf. The notion that I was seeing Alvin more than Ding does was funny.

Anyway we wrapped it up at 2am, and left the place feeling slightly high as usual courtesy of the tequila.

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Ya know, I swear I am not destined to be a Maxis user. My port-out request under the MNP (Mobile Number Portability) from DiGi to Maxis has been failing me consistently that I am under the impression that I am meant to be a loyal DiGi customer after all. I am miffed, tired, frustrated, and disappointed – and lemme tell you the long tale why:

1. First went to the Maxis centre in Taipan two weeks ago, only to be told that I have to go to the Maxis centre in Pyramid to do the port-out. I did as I was told, and went to Pyramid’s Maxis when I happened to go there to collect and purchase my Across the Universe CD. On arriving there, I was told that they don’t do prepaid-to-postpaid porting yet, and that I have to wait till September 15th.

2. I went to the Maxis centre in Carrefour on September the 14th because my dad told me that it could be done there, when he enquired there the day before. It turned out to really be just a Maxis dealer, and the Chinese girl who was attending us was rude and told us false information that the MNP can be done there when in truth, it CANNOT until early October.

3. Went to Maxis Centre Pyramid on the 17th September, taking advantage of the fact that it was a public holiday in Selangor, thus my dad could come with me to do the porting, as I wanted to have a supplementary line under my dad, under the Family Plus plan. Submitted all our details etc.

4. Received two SMSes from DiGi and Maxis yesterday at about 11am, telling me that my port-out request has been unsuccessful. Went to Asia Cafe with Esther (we contacted each other via Plurk to meet up wtf, as neither of us could use our handphones to contact the other), bitched to her about my failed porting, then I called DiGi’s customer service (the lady on the other end was very polite) and then I was told that my name in the system doesn’t tally with what was requested by Maxis, as it was missing the letter ‘H’ in my name. The lady told me that I just needed to go to the nearest DiGi Centre and ask them to re-forward the request to port.

5. Went to DiGi Centre in Taipan to change my name in the system – Indian lady was slightly rude. I was then directed to Maxis Centre Pyramid to ‘forward the request’.

6. Then went all the way to Maxis Centre in Pyramid ONLY to be told I need to re-register all over again, thus I needed my dad with me (“according to my boss”). WTF. At this point, I was very, very pissed – but didn’t blast it on the poor Indian dude that was attending to me.

7. Went back to Maxis Centre at night with my dad to have it re-forwarded – and the weird part is, I didn’t have to re-register all over again as I was earlier told. What is this!! Then I was told that everything has been completed, the request had been forwarded, and my port-out should be completed by tomorrow (which is today, at the time of writing).

8. Received the similar “port-out is unsuccessful” SMSes at 4.29pm. Rang DiGi, who then told me to call Maxis, who then told me to wait as they’d call me back. They did, about 20-30 minutes later, and this patient Indian dude dealt with me as I told him the entire story again and he then said that he was pretty sure that my Maxis line is now active already as he could access my 016 number in his system. Which, when I tried to change my SIM card later.. I got a ‘SIM card error’ message. :/

And, oddly enough, my 016 number in Maxis is under my dad’s name, when it should be mine, which might’ve prompted the error SMSes. Which, would be the Maxis Centre Pyramid’s fault.

Next course of action: visit Maxis Centre again…......... for the millionth time. If this doesn’t work, screw porting to Maxis lah.

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I recently received a letter two days ago, a progress report of my sponsored child, Don, from Kapur, Thailand.

The cute little guy has grown up now. :) Attached with the report was a small drawing of a house with a Thailand flag on top of it, with his handwritten words: Please take care of yourself and your family. And I actually might put his photo on my shelf to serve as a pleasant reminder that I have a kid wtf.

It’s heart-warming to receive bits and pieces of news like this, like how his chores at home are cleaning, washing dishes, babysitting, watering plants, taking care of animals, and cooking, or how his GPA is between 1.00 – 1.99 wtf, and that he was being promoted to Grade 4 in his primary school.

My contribution isn’t much, but I sincerely hope it’ll actually make a difference in his life, even if I couldn’t be there physically to help him.