Keeping up with my Resolutions

Hello pals and gals! (I just finished reading an Archie comic so please, excuse my overly enthusiastic undertone) Hope today was a brilliant day for you as it was for me too. Today's blog installment is about an issue that has been very close to my heart for a very long time. My yearly resolutions. Like most of the world's population, every years I follow suit with creating a list of New year resolutions that I vow to keep at the beginning but end up disregarding towards the end of the year. 

This year's resolutions have by far been the best and third month in and I've already found myself getting way too lazy to keep up with them. I'd like to say that New Year resolutions are not as easy to keep as everyone thinks. It's so damn hard and takes a lot of willpower and patience (which I have none to spare) to successfully complete. Instead of writing down my entire list of 20 something things to work on, I've decided to narrow it down to the 5 most important things I prioritized on that list. Suffice to say, it's so hard trying to keep up with these five alone so imagine keeping up with the remaining 15 or more?! So, the five most important resolutions on my list are:

1. Eat More Healthily

2. Work-Out More aka Lose Weight

3. Make an Effort in Dating/Meeting New People

4. Travel More

5. Talk to my Mother more often

Now I'll just let you know the progress of each of these resolutions. Let's begin with the first one, which is:

Eat More Healthily

Everything in this one sentence goes against my beliefs that I can eat whatever I want and not give a care in this world. I am extremely ashamed to say that I have started to fall back on this resolution because unhealthy food is the quickest option and easiest option to satisfy my ravenous appetite. Also the fact that I live very uncomfortably close to an endless stream of fast food restaurants doesn't really help at all. So how did this resolution come about? I was watching this documentary about what really goes on in the fast food business and that really freaked me out for a bit so I took the initiative to change my diet once and for all. I started off with eating once a day (dinner)  and then I realized how terrible that felt and now I'm stuck with having at least a  cup of yogurt and green tea with whatever I'm having. I'd say I'm progressing quite well so far. 

Work-Out More aka Lose Weight

This is insofar the best improvement I've seen so far! I am very proud to say that I have lost 7 KGs at the beginning of this year (Success!). Part of this resulted from drinking green tea whenever I could and having small meals and walking at least 10,000 steps everyday and also stretching too. The reason this is on the top 5 of my resolutions is because I've always had body image issues and I'm the type of girl that is fearful of gaining too much weight (Gee, thanks a lot media!). I was always surrounded by washboard skinny or thin girls with no curves so being the only one out of my friends who has curves sort of brings unwanted attentions to myself. One of the reasons why I prefer to wear baggy clothes or clothes that hide my figure. I do hope that I can reach my goal of losing 20KGs by the end of this year so i can be on my way to that almost perfect body that I've always dreamed of. 

Make an Effort in Dating/Meeting New People

Hahahahaha. This one is the funniest to me. Not a single stride has been made in this area. OK, fine, that doesn't mean that I didn't try at all, because trust me-I did. It's just... it's way too much effort that'll only end in either heartbreak or lack of communication. BUT, I can say that I have made new friends so far into 2014 and they are the funnest people I've ever hung out with. Suffice to say, on the meeting new people front, I'm doing pretty OK, but on the dating front, I really really suck. I don't know why I'm not even bothering to make any strides at all. Dating takes up way too much effort and I like being single because then I won't be able to receive any disgusting teddy bears from boyfriends. The effort I've made so far have come in the form of useless dating apps such as Tinder and OkCupid. All they have gotten me are lewd messages from guys who are too h*rny to control themselves. I have made new friends on those apps too but most of them are more eager to rush into a relationship rather than getting to know someone first. So hopefully by the end of the year I'll develop more interest in that field and actually try to make an effort so I don't end up being a 53 year old cougar who preys on young prepubescent boys. 

Travel More

In my whole life, I've had a dream- to travel around the world and see the world. Unfortunately instead of being born into the Royal family with an endless supply of cash, I was born into a middle class family full of love and caring. I'm joking but on a more serious note finance was never on our side so travelling wasn't a privilege that we were endowed with. And now that I am working, I have been travelling too. So far, I've been to Macau (a country that sounds like it should be in Africa and not Asia but what the heck!), Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. Countries I'd love to travel to are Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, London, The UK, Wales, Scotland, Italy, Romania, Germany and many more! I've got plenty more on my list and hopefully that dream will come true soon :D 

Talk to my Mother more often

This is a part of my life that I haven't shared with anyone just yet but most of you don't know who I am so I feel more comfortable sharing this with you guys than saying this to someone who knows me well. Also the probability of you finding out who I am is very limited. The truth is... my parents are separated, have been for a very long time. But we, the kids, only recently found out (they were doing it to protect our interest or whatever). Anyway, 2 years ago, my mother ran away and left us, without any explanation whatsoever, and my brother who was staying with her was abandoned (my brother has Aspergers so he needs constant watching over) so since then I haven't talked to her. It's been 3 years now. I wouldn't mind talking to her but the woman is virtually unreachable. Nobody knows where she is or who she's with. All we get are rumors that she is somewhere. Anyway this resolution entails me to try to track her down and talk to her for the sake of my siblings. Hopefully we do find her soon.

Well ladies and gentlemen, that was it! I hope- as always- that this post didn't bore you to death and that you actually share this with your friends and also let me know what your top 5 new year resolutions are and how far along you've come with them. Feel free to leave comments or share your thoughts with me through the form right at the end of this page. All haters are welcome too! 

So until then, adios, bitchazz! 

How I Almost Got Scammed (with TIPS)

Hello readers! I hope your 2014 has started on a good note because mine has started on a fantastic note! Wanna know why? Read on! Now as ashamed as I am o admit this, I was almost scammed out of 1700 bucks. Yeah, that's a lot of money, but before you go all "how could you have been so stupid?!" on me, just remember that even the smartest people in the world have been tricked before. Being scammed once doesn't mean that you were stupid enough to fall for the scam but being scammed twice means shame on you, because the first time should've been a lesson.

Now, let me get on with my story. Firstly this all happened in the month of December after my brother had left overseas. I was all alone at home and had started my first job at a secret company which will not be mentioned for safety purposes. So, two weeks into my job and I had already received my very own salary (which was more than I have ever received in my life) and I thought to myself, "Hey, why not buy something useful with this money! Like a new phone since that bullshit HTC phone has started to fail you." OMG, the pain and struggle that has accompanied me from using that piece of shit called a phone! I cannot even begin to explain the many times I've smacked it, beat it and even let it die, all from the frustration it has caused me. And now because of this ONE DAMN PHONE I hate all HTC phones. I'll NEVER buy an HTC phone in my life. F*cking piece of shit!

So back to the story, I decided to do just that- replace my POS phone with another much better phone. Now I've always been a fan of Android simply because its easier to customize. I've used Apple before and though it's performance is indisputable but its really boring interface just stymies me every time. So in the end, it was the battle between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5s. I decided to go with the 5s because I figured, now that I'm a career woman, why not, eh? So instead of being smart and going straight to the Apple/Mac store and buying if from there, I decided to surf the web in hopes of finding a more affordable ORIGINAL iPhone5s (*Gasp* I can never settle for an imitation!). So I did find one on this website called Locanto.com.my and seriously, the fact that the ad was too good to be true should've been the warning sign for me but my common sense was clouded by desire so of course, that didn't register one bit.

There was a number provided too, so I called the number and talked to the seller named "Jack"(I really don't know his real name, that was the name he gave me) and we came to an agreement. So then, I banked in the full amount which was 1700 bucks and waited for him to make the delivery. [Side Note: I have never ordered anything online for fear that something like this might happen to me. So that was also the day when I decided to make my very first online purchase] The asshole promised to make the delivery out on Friday which meant I should receive the package on Saturday or Monday as that's the latest. He gave me a tracking number (which then turned out to be fake) and I went to the post office to check it out.... only to find that it wasn't registered at all.

Monday approached and still no sign of my delivery. I called him frantically and wasted my credit on him. Still no reply. That's when it hit me that I had been scammed. Motherf*cker! I immediately felt stupid and ashamed because all the signs were there but my impatience seemed to cloud them. So instead of wallowing in my own sorrow, I decided to take swift action. I filed a police report and they advised me to go to the Consumer Claims council that deals with these kinds of cases and it was there that I had to fill in a form and then send a copy of that court order/summon form to the scammer's address. The problem was, I didn't have his address but I had the name of his Company. So I went to the Companies Commission and they gave me the address of the company. So I mailed the court order/summons and waited for the reply. Suddenly a few days after mailing the court order, I receive a call from an alein number and the caller sounded very frantic/

Turns out "Jack" was a labor worker in that company and he had scammed a lot of people. Luckily for me and those others, the money was deposited into the company bank account and so it was still there. So we made a deal that I would cancel the summons if he returned my money. Which brings us to today, when I check my bank account and the full amount was there. Now guys, let me simplify the entire process for you in the form of bullet points. Here's what to do if you have been scammed:

• File a police report
• Go to the Consumer Claims department in your country/area and file a complaint with them. They should give you two copies of a summons/court order document.
• Head on over to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (those living in the states), Companies Commissions in any country or any department that deals with company registration and then search for the company. You will have the address, registration number and etc.
• Then, go back to the Consumer Claims department and then get your court date. 
• After that mail one copy to the scammer's address (which you would've gotten from the previous step) and then wait. 
• On the day of your hearing, if the scammer doesn't show up, you automatically win and the government will refund whatever amount you were scammed off. If he does show up (in most cases they don't),  you are still likely to win because you have stronger evidence

Just remember to keep all bank transaction slips, text messages and any evidence that can be used against the perpetrator. Honestly I am one of the rare cases whereby I do get my stolen money back and I'm thankful for that. God is indeed great. And remember don't feel stupid if this happens to you because even geniuses get scammed. I hope this is helpful to you guys or anyone going through this. Share, because this could help someone.