Redbabe's Cozy Corner

9th Day of CNY

2012-01-31T01:37:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year come, Chinese New Year go. As the clock struck at 12 midnight on the 8th day of CNY, fireworks can be seen blasted in the air all over our neighbourhood, fire crackers can be heard from blocks away, and.... our 4 dogs, were driving us mad. One was found sitting on our window sill trying to climb into the house. Another was at the back trying to chew off the plastic sheet fastened on the grill thinking he could get into the house if he chew it off. The two smallies were whining and whining. OMG.... I am so done with dogs this lifetime.

Fill My Heart With LOVE!

2012-01-29T02:03:00.002+08:00

Relatives

Relatives are the support system of the family. In times of crisis and in times of happiness, no matter what situation you are in, you always find relatives by your side to help you come out of it. Relatives share the burden of your sorrow and grief and double the essence of happiness.

My relatives are never the support system of the family. In times of crisis, they hide to avoid involvement. In times of happiness, they hide too because they are so full of jealousy. No matter what situation I am in, I can never find relatives by my side to help me come out of it. My relatives never share the burden of my sorrow and grief but double the essence of it. Awesome right! Yay!

We are never given a chance to choose a family. Family is essentially made of those people who look after, who play a crucial role in our upbringing and who teach us such lessons in life, which can never be learned through any textbook.

Yup, we are born into a family. No choices. Maybe we did have. There must be a certainreason why I chose mine. Tough luck. Strangely, my family is essentially made of those people who don't really look after us but take advantage instead. Who did, in a way, play a crucial role in our upbringing and who teaches us lessons in life, which can never be learned through textbook - watching our own backs and ensuring we are not backstabbed.

9/1/2012, 10.09pm (16th day lunar calendar)

This linen washing is really an embarrassment. But then again, behind every closed door, there is a story. Mine is complicatedly strange. Not even sure what it was actually. Year after year, somehow, there sure to be some kind of hurtful episodes. It never fails. One thing or the other. Over time, I sort of toughen up and got immune with it. Lashed back irregardless of seniority whenever I am threatened. Distanced myself too especially so after PP's passing. The last ugliness was my cue to leave.

There are many things we must learn to let go in life and that includes people too. I read somewhere that letting go doesn't mean giving up but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be mend. We just need to let go and move on so that we can fulfill our life path that is awaiting us ahead. By refusing to let go of the pain, it will be tougher to let love in again. On this, I am still learning. :)

Oh LOVE! please fill my heart. :)

http://redbabecc.blogspot.com/2009/07/greed-stupidity.html

Happy Dragon Year!

2012-01-26T18:53:00.000+08:00

A surprise gift from a colleague... So cute! So, how's your cny thus far? :)

Boxing, Unboxing & Cooking

2012-01-20T10:41:00.000+08:00

Steamed Egg With Minced Pork & Stir-fried Potato

We have taken to eating at home more. Missed simple home cooking. We had these last night. :)

CNY is around the corner. The festive holiday will be starting tomorrow. Don't need to wake at 7am for the next 9 days. Happiness to the max! I am looking forward to the sleeping in and lazing around more than the festivity of it. Lols...

Not much CNY atmosphere this year. Didn't even bother to put up any CNY deco at home. Most of it has already been boxed up months ago in preparation of moving which has been delayed. :p Too lazy to dig them out.

Same goes for the kitchen utensils. All boxed, and then unboxed cause we simply missed home cooked food. :p

Happy 2012 - Reso Time

2012-01-01T17:23:00.000+08:00

First day of 2012, Happy New Year People!

Dragged out of bed at 6:30am by the husband for our first touge of the year! My god.. those ungodly hours. I remembered mumbling something about.... "today I don't want to go work..." when he nudged me, hahaha. Outside were still pitch black!

We took a new route today thru Semenyih-Jelebu-Kuala Klawang and breakfast at Titi. I took over the wheels after breakfast (and coffee more importantly) and it was indeed an awesome drive! Other than the scenic misty Jelebu stretch, it is also my first time driving after it's engine transplant. *LOVE* Can't wait till another drive soon!

So, first day of Twenty Twelve. I guess time for resolutions? Well, I only have two....

1) Eat out less, eat in more.
2) Spend less, save more.

That will be good enough for the rest of the year! :)

(Above was shot on Christmas Night at Putrajaya)

Being the BLESSED one.

2011-12-31T19:15:00.000+08:00

Last day of the year..! :) I wanted to do a recap, halfway thru, I thought it was rather boring. Then I thought of sharing my fondest memories for 2011. As I was browsing thru, I noticed I have tonnes of fond memories and I don't know where to begin. And then, I've come to a realization - I AM BLESSED. VERY INDEED.

I've GREAT FRIENDS.

MANY great friends actually....

HUNDREDS I think...

TONNES of them really....

And I think I lost count. That many. Ya. (Disclaimer: For those of you who faces did not appear here, you are still awesome. Just grab me for a photo when we meet next) :)

A cute mom who put up with a cuter daughter's nonsense irregardlessly.

A crazy husband who lives with all my crazy rules & ideas ...

... which can get quite out of hand sometimes. Example, for a moment, I would like this... God knows what I was trying to do...

...next I will be on the dirt.... lols... So, it's quite a package he signed up for. Hahahaha....

I've an AWESOME job where I've met many greater people and lots more fun things to do!

Other than lots of mad parties....

There were lots of mad activities too which I enjoyed immensely!

Some were even charitable like how we cleaned up the beach in Port Dickson or....

... when we painted an old folks home at TiRatana.... or the last for 2011 where we helped out at the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen to hand out food to the underprivilege right thru midnight all over the city center.

Not that I love my job exactly (not that I hate it either), I guess I simply love all the other things that comes with the job. :) The many happy people that I met. :) Just last night, we decided to go karaoke and had a blast crooning away!

Other than the many various individuals, I am Blessed also because I get to do many things I love. I get to dance; can be quite tiring sometimes but still, I get to dance, I get to travel and lots lots more I am blessed with.

To cap it off, I am not just indeed VERY BLESSED, I think someone up there must have loves me to bits & pieces. :) And for that, heartfelt. Thank you.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T00:04:00.000+08:00

A little late, but better late than never. Wish you had AWESOME Christmas last week and even more AWESOME New Year come this weekend!

- Happy 2012 -

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000+08:00

Couple of weeks back, I was very gungho about extending my lashes. It was playing in my head for awhile and when I saw this promotion on one of those coupon site, I jumped right it. Got myself an appointment first before even purchase the voucher. :p Kiasu syndrome... Lols....

And so, I had my lashes extended on Saturday at 3:30pm and got it removed on Sunday 5:45pm... hahahahaha.... No, it was not a blotch job. In fact, rather nice. It would be nicer if it is thicker. But I can live with that. Reason of me having it removed after 24 hours was because, it irritates the hell out of me. I don't like the feeling of not being able to wash my face and sweep my eyes freely without having something rough getting in the way and poking away on my eyelid. I was so so very tempted to just peel everything off... and of course I didn't. It was some kind of super duper powderful glue. I might probably peel off my entire eyelid. :p

It was so disturbing until it was written all over my face... hahaha... While the husband was talking away over brunch on Sunday, he just stopped whatever he was saying and said this... "We will find somewhere to get it off by today ok?"... hahahahaha.... any of you out there have eye lashes extension done and dont feel a thing poking???

Finally got them all off in the evening by the pro using some kind of special solvent and I was all ME again, with my very own lashes. Lols... I learned a lesson from this experience and I shared them with the husband. I told him this...

"The moral of the story is, whatever that is not originally part of us like eyelashes extension, acryllic nail extension, hair extension and so forth would feel weird/uncomfortable/clumsy/awkward. So I guess if I get a boob job done, it would feel the same too - weird/uncomfortable/clumsy/awkward." He paused for a moment and replied this..."Not neccessary since it is embedded inside you..." (Men being men! So typical!). And I continued..."... probably I will be knocking things off with my bigger boobs since it is not part of me to start with and I am not used to the added dimension!" hahahahahaha...... the thought of it was so funny! Lols...

Anyway, back to my eyelashes extension story. Here are some pointers I found on the internet if you wish to get your's done.

1) Cheap not necessary be good. - Mine was ok. But finds it a bit messy and not thick enough.

2) Make sure it is a certified eyelash extension-er... :p - meaning, well trained and have good reviews.

3) To let them know exactly what you have in mind. Preferably a picture.

4) Do not allowed extended lashes to come in contact with any oil based eye make up remover.

5) It's a hassle to remove your eye make up. Need to use a cotton bud to slowly remove them.

6) Never ever try to DIY the removal of your extension. There are many online site that recommended to use eye make up remover, steam & so forth. Just go back to the same place you have them fix to remove them. Only them have the solvent to melt away those super glue. :p

So, good luck & have fun!

p/s: Oh, the lady said that so far, only 2 have got it removed due to irritation. So rest assured that I am just a minority few. :) Go ahead and try them!

2011-12-04T23:28:00.000+08:00

I am back from my retail therapy after 4d/3n. :) Since the last trip I was in Bandung in March, I have told myself it is not worth splurging my hard earn money shopping here in Malaysia - too expensive for high quality pieces. And likewise for Bangkok, though cheap, the quality was of ultimate lousiness. A pant that I gotten from there didn't even last more than 3 wash! Tsk!

(Day 1's loots)

Before i was exposed to Bandung, whenever someone mentioned about it being a shopping paradise, I would wonder.... "what is there to shop in Bandung?". How can a remote town in Indonesia which I hardly heard of be a shopping paradise? What kind of things can one shop from such a third world country? I always have this thing in my head that puts Indonesia as a backward country. The only kind of shopping that I can visioned of are those like in Bali, little stalls all set up along roads and I am really not so keen. Nevertheless, I went in March this year cause I wanted very much to get away to some place.

I was caught flabbergasted when I got there. The shoppings were indeed amazing. If you were to tell me about shopping in Bangkok, I would say, save your bucks. Though cheap (not so cheap now compared to what it used to be), its quality were of total sham! The first thing I did after I got back from my trip in March was to book another air fix for Nov so that it would be timely to shop for Christmas & Chinese New Year.

(breakfast by the pool)

And that's how I ended up in Bandung this time round :) Believe it or not, I was there all alone. My travel buddy, Terri, couldn't make it on the very last minute. I was already on my way to the airport. Decided to just go ahead, on my own. The husband was worry though... It's too last minute to have him join me. Anyway....

Despite of eating alone, chilling out alone, watching tv alone, shopping alone, sleeping alone (which I don't like but got used to anyway) for 4d/3n straight, I actually had a great time!

The day was all about shopping, shopping, shopping and coffee, coffee, coffee. And the night was all TV. There are so many channels to choose from. Cesar Milan, The Kardashians.... It has been a long time since I've watch so much tv. :p

(Entrance to Rumah Mode)

Prior to my trip, I've already decided that my first stop would be Rumah Mode. I was there from 10am - 4pm. Crazy right? Hahaha... That 6 hours include lunch break and hopping out to two other outlets next door.. Lols... The husband was quite alarm when I told him I was at one place for 6 hours...

Look what I've found in their menu. 'Nasi Goreng Buntut'. Direct translation would be "Butt Fried Rice"... hehehe... things like these always cracks me up! It was actual 'Oxtail Fried Rice'!

And this other one, they refer toilet bowl as closet. Lols.... And we keep clothes in closet. :p

I spent 1.5million in just a day.... sound like so rich.... hahahaha.... 1.5million Indonesian Rupiah la.... (which is just about RM470 or US$150). I almost blew up my entire budget on that Day 1. Like a mad woman set free. Kept grabbing everything in sight. Luckily I realized in time or I would end up watching tv for the rest of my trip. hahahaha...

The other thing I love about shopping in Bandung is, most of the outlets have a little alfresco cafe set up within it where you can just sit back and relax with a book when you are tired (after shopping a whole day). Day 2 was spent at Jalan Riao. Picture above was taken at 3rd floor of Cascade. :) The kois in the pond were bigger than my two thighs put together!

Found a brand new Korean supermarket along Jalan Riao (which wasnt there the last time we were there). Bought a loaf of bread which I super love cause it is without skin, a can of tuna & some junk food. I dislike bread with skin and I dislike wholemeal. I know, they are suppose to be the healthier choice, well, I just don't like them. :p

The initial plan was to just head down Jalan Riao for awhile. Then maybe I would head back to Rumah Mode. Unfortunately , by the time I am done there, it was already almost 5pm (and quite a bad damage to the purse too). Since I am on my own, didn't wanna be heading back too late. One must be a little streetwise when travelling alone. When the cab driver asked... "you on your own?" I would just replied, "Oh no... I am meeting my friends there...".. you get what I mean?

My best best buy on day two was a Burberry trenhcoat! I am still head over heels grinning from ear to ear... :) hehehehehe....

Picture above was my favourite spot at Rumah Mode, right by another beautifully landscaped Koi pond which was taken on Day 3. :) Nice. Especially so when it rained. And it has been on/off raining throughout my trip. It can be sun shining one second and heavy downpour another second before it was sun shiny again! Weird highland's weather! This time round not as cool as last trip though. The local says that when it rained, it will be less cold.

My lunch of Ayam Penyet (Smashed chicken?). The husband said it looked pathetic when I mms him the picture. But it tasted rather delicious *yummy*!

Bought bunch of stuff on this third day. Basically, just browse through the entire outlet again to see if I missed out anything. Hahahahaha.... what to do, nothing else to do what... :p Got myself a nice comfy Victoria Secret PJ, dresses and more shirts for the husband. He is in dire need of more new clothes. He is one man with ZERO fashion sense and have total NO interest in clothing. Believe you me, he still wearing some of the shirts I saw him wearing 10 years ago!

Back in the hotel, had fun going thru all my new stuff! Trying them on, taking picture of them... hahaha... before packing them up... :)

It was a good trip nevertheless. Love solitude-ness of it. When the husband came to pick me up at LCCT, the first thing he said was.... "No more another time... " :p Hahahaha......

p/s: Not only did I gone Bandung and came back, I also gone to Ruby's Resort (again) and came back, volunteered at Pertiwi Soup Kitchen, almost donated my blood and etc........... omg. I need to slowed down!

Retail Therapy in Java - I am so destressed!

2011-11-18T00:33:00.000+08:00

Greetings from Bandung! Yep, a much awaited shopping trip for Xmas & CNY. ;) in was awesome irregardless of some last minute stupid unforeseen circumstances. Should be 'foreseen', have we not chose to 'think' it wont happen. Anyway, let's not get into that. Lesson to be learned... A matured wine may not neccesary be mature as it claimed to be.

So, Bandung, my second trip to this shopping haven. Blessed with beautiful weather with occasional short downpour before it was all sun shiny again. :) The shopping was more focus this time round. Knew exactly where to go for what. :)

Arrived early on Wed and the first stop (after breakfast at the hotel) was Rumah Mode of course. I have to constantly reminded myself to take it easy before finishing off all my $$$ on Day 1... '4 days to shop.. No need to splurge all in a day!' hahaha... Everything is simply too irresistible! This for mom, that for hubby.. OMG! It's crazy!

And today is all about Riao Street! I thought it's much busier now as compared to my first trip here. My favourite outlet along this street simply have to be 'The Secret'! This time round, found a really huge Korean supermarket plus departmental store further down the road. I still remember the last time how we braved the cold weather drizzle to hunt for mini mart only to be pointed to a 4'x4' raggedly hut for our 3-in-1 coffee & mineral water. Pathetic. We were even doubtful if they were edible! Hahaha...

I've taken some pictures. Just a pity can't upload here thru my phone. But then again, on second thought, better not. You will all be green with envy! Haha...

If you are planning a trip to Bandung, here are the clues:-

1) Jl. Riao, Jl. Dago - almost same area, plenty of shopping lining up both sides of the road. There are outlets like 'The Secret', Oasis, Rich & Famous, Heritage and plenty more. You can spend one whole day here. If that's not enough, there are more along Jl. Dago not too far away. :)
2) Jl. Doktor Setiabudi & Jl. Sukajadi - same area, plenty of shopping too. My favourite would still be Rumah Mode for better quality and more branded stuff and of course it's alfresco setting.
3) Generally there are lots of branded stuff here. Clothing mostly. Armani Exchange, Guess, CK, Nautical. But some does look pretty suspicious. You just need to look carefully.
4) Children clothings are mad cheap and cute. If you have kids, don't be too harsh with yourself if you accidentally spent everything on them. Who can blame you whn they are selling Oshkosh, Cotton On and etc dirt cheap! Even I, couldn't resist and kept wanting to get for everybody's kid until I came to this realisation... 'cute clothes for others means less goodies for me'... Go away you mind possessing cute stuff!!! Lols
5) Rental of car & driver - not necessary if group of 4 & below. Can grab a cab. Most expensive for me would be R50,000 (rm17). From Sukajadi to Jl. Riao. I may hv been charged double but it still pretty reasonable to me. For 2 days I've spent R200,000 on cab fare rather than spending R600,000 a day for driver who just drop you on one end of the road, spend whole day idling, before picking you up from the other end of the road. You may have him for whole day, but you may not have the stamina to shop whole day. It's a total waste of money! Cab are generally pretty easy to get. Just walk up to the security of any factory outlet/mall and they will hail one for you!
6) or you can stay somewhere near your preferred shopping street. Then, like me, you will get to save on transportation! I still chose to go on a cab due to that expected 'unforeseen' circumstances.. Hahaha.. Will elaborate when I get back.

That's all for now. Will update more whn I thought of anything more!

So long!

Monster-Demon-Angel (keeping fingers & toes crossed)

2011-11-09T11:09:00.000+08:00

Remember Husky the Menace? My lopsided ear dog? The plant eater, autogate/car/everything else destroyer? The monster that we banished to the never never land of our backyard? Well, he had remained at the backyard ever since and as a result of lack-of-attention/training/discipline (he is basically left to do whatever he likes), he had transformed from a Monster to a Demon.

It was impossible to pat him without having him snapping at our hands. He already left one too many scratches on the husband's arms. He is not exactly attacking, he is just hyperactive and didnt know that he is not suppose to do that. When the husband feeds him, he would push him, jump on his back and mind you, this is one strong dog. He barks incessantly and do not respond to 'No' or 'Stop'. He would probably just pause for sec before continuing again not giving a toot about it.

The last straw was when he left two bite marks on the maid's leg when she tried to bathe him like how she always did since he was a puppy. That was like 4 months ago and since then, that part of the job had became our responsibility and naturally, we failed miserably. He simply doesnt like being touch! What we did was just drench him with a water hose. Done. Considered bathed!

We contemplated of giving him up (yeah, shame on us!). But the thought of not knowing if he is safe or warm enough bothers us. We decided to give it one last try, and another, and another.... We came up with many ideas hoping to re-train him.

1) One of it was, to take him out for a run to drain him off hoping he would have less energy to be aggressive. Verdict: Mission failed (drastically). We cant even get a collar on him in the first place. He kept aiming to bite off our hands whenever we are anywhere near his head.

2) Then the husband thought probably Husky doesn't like the feeling of a collar around his neck. That's why he bites. He felt threaten. And so we bought him a set of harness. Verdict: Mission failed too (horribly). Putting on a collar was already hard enough and what were we thinking? A harness? That's a little over ambitious arent we?

3) At this point, we still thinks that he felt threaten with the collar/harness/leash. And so we embarked on playing/training him while holding onto the collar/harness/leash so that he will get used to the sight of it and won't feel threatened by it. Hopefully, over time, he would stop attacking us when we try to put them on him. Ermm, well, it doesnt make a difference. Not even a tiny weeny bit. He still attack.

4) Then we caught an episode of Caesar Milan and used the opposite side of a leash to create a loop to hoop over his neck. With that, we managed to take him out for a short walk before he quickly learned to reverse, tilt his head, and voila! Neck out of loop in a sec. Mission failed.

We were once again back to where we started. Contemplating of giving him up. We ran out of idea/tricks to train him. At some point, I was jokingly telling the husband, let's sell whatever we have, pay Caesar Milan to come over to help us. Lols.... I even tried writing to Caesar for advise but my post somehow disappeared when I clicked on 'Post' and then a bunch of registration requirement pops up. I got lazy.

Photo from arcatapet.com

5) We finally caught sight of a tiny light at the end of our dark tunnel when we chance upon this huge tug-of-war thingy at our regular petshop. An idea manifested! The husband suggested that we get that (since Husky likes to bite so much), drain him off his initial burst of energy (according to another episode of Caesar Milan), before trying to put him on a choker (yeah, we decided to get him a choker in the end) and it actually works! He got drained not because of tugging at the rope (I know, what a loser!) but running around the rope :p We left the choker on him for a few days to let him get used to it before taking him out for a walk.

Couple of days later, we finally succeeded in hooking on the leash to his choker (without getting snap at) after draining him for awhile with the tug-of-war rope. He was pretty apprehensive of the outside world initially but he is getting a hang of it.

Yesterday (3rd outing for Husky), we managed to give him a good bath without any injuries to anyone. He just stood there, calm & steady for a good shampooing and brushing :) ! *happy*

And today, the 4th fourth outing, we don't even need to drain him first with the tug-of-war rope at all. The moment we have the leash in hand, he immediately sat in front of us waiting to be taken out. He even tilted his neck a little upward during the process... hahahaha... smart!

We are both simply over the hill now smiling from ear to ear! Mission impossible is finally looking possible! Hip hip hoorah! Hopefully this change of behaviour stay. He is such a lovely dog when he is cooperative like that. :)

The man & his best friend.

Halloween in Malaysia

2011-10-30T23:59:00.001+08:00

Remember I was freaking myself out when I was doing some research on a certain character I was planning to dress up as for Halloween? Well, this is it. The character I had my heart set on... the Zombie Nurse.

I thought it was rather spooky. And so, since then, with whatever little time I have for the past two weeks, I've tried googling for the costume and found this online...

Next, I googled for 'how to make fake blood'... which, in the end, I did not make but used a mixture of blue & red acryllic paint (which I found in my piles of arty stuff) instead to bloodified the costume. I am just lazy, tired and don't have the time.

When I couldn't find any white face paint left in the market (party shops, art shops, toys r us & etc, never knew Halloween was such a big thing here in Malaysia!), I ambitiously thought of making them myself. And so I googled it. It is not that complicated. Just that I don't know what glycerin is and not sure if i wanna waste money buying it when my concoction might not be successful. I didn't in the end. Becky, a friend of mine was over at our place to do make up together and she have extra :) I just used her's.

And lastly, I tried youtube-ing some basic zombie make up tutorial, managed to pick up some tips and here's the end result of my character. :)

The security guard almost had a heart attack when we drove past the boom gate late last night on our way out to Modesto. :p There were three of us in the car. A zombie nurse (me), zombie patient (the husband) and Emily (the corpse bride)! Lols.... If the neighbour had caught us leaving the house last night, they might begin to wonder who we really were.... human really? :p

Our clan at Modesto. It is just a pity that not everybody dressed up to the occasion unlike the previous year and the year before that. We were probably the most happening ones there last night...

Florence came to join us later all dress up as a pirate... hmm.... more sexy than scary. :p Couldn't dance much throughout the night cause didn't want the make up to melt away... lols...

We did a thriller dance though, Glee's version of Thriller. Though a little messy but with the lighting and all, it turned out pretty cool though.

Personally, I find character like mine are a tad more spookier as compared to demons, witches and etc. You know, like zombie doctors, police and so forth. All one have to do is just to stand there, complete with make up and a hollow look. Lols...... Easy job to spook.

So that's my Halloween. The first I went all dressed up. How's yours?

2011-10-26T00:52:00.000+08:00

I tried not to start my entry with "I am so busy lately". But, I don't know how else I am going to start it. I am indeed very busy. So busy that I only get to do my laundry in the weekends, that my dogs beginning to stink, my hair is all out of place, a layer of dust begin to form on my camera, clean & ironed laundry have been hanging on the ironing rack since forever, my blue car beginning to look somewhat brown, untidiness has became a fixture in our house with things all over the place, my nails are still coated in purple, I take to shaving instead of plucking (you know what I am talking about), grass began to sprout out of my many potted plants which began to dry up and so on, so on.

I am supposed to do more packing but the 'supposed to' is still remained as a 'supposed to'. I wonder when would I find the time to complete them all. Thinking back, I used to have soooo much time!

Just yesterday, I was out at Pavillion to collect some stuff at about 3 plus for the office. For a moment, a sense of nostalgia washed over me. Those nice peaceful crowd-less afternoons doing MY own things. Ooo how I missed those good olde days! :p

I guess whatever little time leftovers from work, I tried to squeeze in as much as possible. And that explains how I always felt, everyday seems like Monday. It is always Monday over and over again. The rest of the days simple vanished. Maybe if I just stay still and don't do anything, I'll have more time? Hmmm..... But then again, what's the point of having so much time then since I have nothing to do?.... hahaha.... So it is all in the mind. An illusion. *wiser*

Freaking Myself Out! (what a joke!)

2011-10-13T11:13:00.000+08:00

I am in the midst of doing some research on a certain horror character I planned to dress up as for Halloween for an oncoming event this month end. The results of the research kinda freaked me out. Darn! It's scary ok!

Bitten By the Wolf

2011-10-11T23:03:00.002+08:00

I got bitten by the Big Bad Wolf Book Fair :) Head over right after work today instead of during the weekend to avoid the weekenders. Over spent a little but it was all worth it. A total of 17 books (I think) for just RM134.00. Non-fictions that usually sold for RM39.90 - RM45.00 at bookshops were just RM8 each!!! How la to resist...? Luckily I only brought RM100.00! :) Otherwise, wouldn't be surprised ending up with a mini library at home!

You can find more info re the fair here: http://www.bigbadwolfbooks.com/

Productive Weekend

2011-10-10T00:12:00.000+08:00

Productive weekend.

Rainy Saturday night - checked
Bright blue sky on Sunday morning - checked
Cool & crisp wind - checked
Laundry - checked
Packed away some stuff in preparation for moving - checked
Bathe dogs - checked
Facial appointment - checked
Wash down the wet kitchen - checked
Spruce up my potted plants - checked
Visit photography fair - checked
Tidied up house - checked

How's yours?

12 Hours Marathon....

2011-10-05T17:10:00.000+08:00

I know, after being away from my blog for a month, there should be many things that I should be blogging about. But before all those interesting things, I must first blog about this important thing. I've just experienced the worst bout of food poisoning for my entire life of 34! Something I had for dinner last night must have not jived with my system.

Luckily I am finally feeling slightly better after 12 hours of being a fixture in front of the toilet bowl. I've puked every last bits of stuff that could possibly still be in my stomach. The last was just some yellowish slime. Eww.... :p As I was puking, the more i look at it, the more i wanna puke. So basically I disgust myself out even more.

Medications and bread couldn't stay in for long enough too before being wash out. wtf.. so basically i just have to go thru the whole motion without medication. The gastric pain was so unbearable and I have half the mind to call the doc over to give me some kind of jab to stop all this agony. Of course I didn't.

After the last puke of slime, I decided that die die I must eat something or there will be nothing to puke next round which would be more suffering. I managed to stuff a slice of cheese which was appetizing enough. You know, when you have food poisoning, everything seems unappetizing? That's why everything I had earlier for medication sake just got rejected again and again. So far, the cheese and some cookies which I took after it still stays in. Let's just see for how long...

Why must i share this yucky experience was because, this is probably the first and the worst puking marathon I ever had in my entire life this far...

Alive But Brain Dead

2011-10-04T00:25:00.001+08:00

Yes, I am still alive (in case you are wondering). But at the verge of brain dead though. Not out of working but out of handling 'people'. The husband finds it comical or even entertaining though when I tell him bits and pieces of my day. Take today for example, these are just some of the happenings.

Case 1

I have a 'Sales Manager' of 'Targus' (supplier of laptop cable lock) telling me they never face the problem before and that it is human error when we filed a complain on their malfunctioned lock which is still stuck in our laptops. He even told us to get 'the professional' for assistance. I almost died. If a technician replied me that, I can understand. A "Sales Manager"? What was he thinking??? I emailed him this with a caption, "I wouldn't be so sure. Try googling it and see what pops up on your screen!". Of course it was not just that. Let's just say the email was longer and acid-er.

Case 2

I am arranging for a chauffered car for an event this Saturday and am in the midst of finalizing the cost. There is this annoying Administrator that kept asking me for the 'driver's details' every half hour. From 9am - 12noon she had asked at least 5 times. The last straw was when she asked again 15 minutes later. I almost screamed at her but of course I didn't. I just tell her "If I have the details, I would definitely give you right? Why would I keep them in my pocket for? So please stop harassing me. I will give it to you when I get them. I am not as patient as you are. So just, please, stop. I can't take this shit." :p And she knows very well driver's info will only come a day prior to the event.

Case 3

Decided to grab some groceries from Mercato after dance class. Was stopped by a guard as I was pushing the cart out after paying. He said I am not allowed to push the cart to the carpark (which was just about 25m away and it was not even in the carpark yet. You know those escalator area?). So I told him if that's the case, then he would have to help me carry my stuff for me. I had a cart full of stuff. He just kept repeating.. no no. At this point, after a long day, my patient is wearing extreme thin. I just pushed the cart away from me and tell him I don't want these stuff anymore. Refund my money. :p Reluctantly, he allowed me to push the cart right to my car and stood there watching me loading everything into the boot. Not even helping. Wtf? If you have unusable cart, put a big note there that says "IT IS ONLY FOR USE UP TO THE CHECKOUT POINT". Stupid.

Case 4

This one happened last week I think. I noted some irrelevant bills being charged to our department and so I requested for more info re it. This smart alec replied that the payment is correctly charged and that she had made this payment before. Having payment made before doesn't necessary means it is correct right? Upon some verifications and I was right. It was wrongly charged all these while and God knows how much it has cost us. I think brain cells are very precious these days. So they decidedly to use it wisely. They don't think anymore! Just do blindly cause "I have done it before!".

Now I seriously 'feel' Big Cow whenever she blogged about work or Alina whenever she complained about working with morons. I have a whole new perception of the words 'morons' now. They actually do exists and they got a job! OMG! What a shock!

Chillax Weekend

2011-08-29T16:26:00.000+08:00

It's a super long weekend over here in Malaysia; Hari Raya + National Day holidays. Everyone were already in holiday mood last Friday. One just need to apply leave for 29/8 & 2/9/11 and will get a 9 days long stretch of holiday! But, believe it or not, your's truly is back in office today and it is eerily quiet here with just skeleton staff clicking away on their keyboards in their respective cubicles. If not for the carpet flooring, definitely can hear a pin drop!

The husband and I still did managed some sun, sea, sand plus good food over the weekend. Just one of those chillax getaway with a good book and suntan oil. I think I can still catch a whiff of seabreeze/suntan oil in my hair. Or probably it's just my imagination!

Happy holiday people! And Selamat Hari Raya to all my muslim friends.

Imagining our LIFETIME

2011-08-26T11:06:00.000+08:00

Imagine this…

1900

When we thought about 1900, the first thing that came to our mind would be.. “Wow.. that’s like a long long time ago!”. Classic. Ancient. History. Women in puffy long skirt carrying tiny lace umbrellas, curvy moustache men in hats.

In the same era, the Wright Brothers also successfully flew their flimsy craft for 59 seconds, covering 852 feet, Thomas Edison invented light bulb and Mark Twain wrote “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn.”

2000

One hundred years later in 2000, this is OUR time. We are advance, modern and high fashion. Life revolves around work, family and friends and all things deemed important which include mankind greatest invention, computers, and after that, Facebook of course.

The Wright Brothers may have invented a flying craft; who we studied in school but couldn’t give two cents about, it is Tony Fernandez that we kowtow to. If not for him, everybody still can’t fly now! Flying on a plane became as routine as milking a cow in 1900s!

Light bulb? Who uses light bulb anymore? It is the LEDs era now. And same goes for Mark Twain. Classic? Err… I mean no offense, but let’s swap for a JK Rowlings or Stephanie Meyer anytime. :p

2070

We are either in our 70s, 80s or 90s. We are no longer the hot young thing we used to be. No amount of collagen/placenta/botox would un-sag our sagged/wrinkled skin.

We might not even remember what we did yesterday let alone remembering the colourful life we once live. Most of us would have already gone on senile if not dead.

2100

It's just a little difference in the numbers. 2000 & 2100. But we will no longer be in existence except for that few bits and pieces of bones left in some coffin (which I am not even sure will last that long) buried somewhere. Dust to dust.

Imagine all these... then process it. Ya I know... what's the point right to all we have now?

Working is making me busier...

2011-08-21T00:59:00.002+08:00

... and the busy-ness is not from work but the other distractions/entertainments that come with the work. I am not sure if this is just my luck or working in Standard Chartered is memang (really) like this one. I officially join the company on 9th May and to date, I've worked 3 months 10 days and within this short span of time, I've participate in 4 company's events.

(1) The Standard Chartered KL Marathon - 5km fun run - 26/6/11

(2) Family Day at Sunway Lagoon - 24/7/11

I had so much fun here though I don't know many colleagues then. What the heck, as long as I get to play, everyone is a friend. :p

Participated in 3 telematches and our team (which was form adhocly) won twice. First & second place. A total of RM150 cash voucher per person. :)

We came out first in 'form the longest line'. It was hilarious seeing the other team trying their best to stretch for that additional inch which was totally useless cause our line were already longer by 1 person's length.

Here we are, happily posing for a group photo after receiving our prize money. :) Hehehehe...

(3) Our SME Offsite Meeting at Swiss Garden Spa & Resort, Kuantan - 29/7/11

Which I just covered on my last entry. You & I know, though it was a short offsite work related event, it was still a happening one.

(4) A Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Event which was held just this past Friday (19/8) at Pantai Cahaya, Port Dickson, to clean up the beach. - 19/8/11

It was mandatory for each employee to complete at least 2 days of CSR per year and I decided to start my first for this particular event organised by our HR department.

Seriously, the beach was so freaking clean that there weren't much stuff to clean up. We just tried our best to dig up as much rubbish as possible - ciggy butt, bottle caps, tiny bits of papers... grass... twigs... anything...

Light meals were also provided for us at the event. After all the cleaning works, we took a breather by the beach for some kodak moment. :)

So for those of you who visited PD this weekend, in case you are wondering why are the beach & park so clean, it was our hardwork ok :) And so, please please do remember, "DO NOT LITTER" and help us keep the place clean so anyone who visited Pantai Cahaya will have a great time there! :)

My First Offsite Meeting @ Work!

2011-08-15T23:08:00.001+08:00

Since I started working 3 months plus ago, things has finally begin to slow down a little. It was really mad crazy busy that past few months having to organize few events concurrently, at the same time, juggling daily usual businesses, on top of that, daily dance practise towards the end of July was not helping at all. But all in all, thank God all had simmered down and things began to slow a little and I get to catch a breather after clearing all rubbish that had piled up high on my desk during that few maddening week close to that offsite thingy that I had organized. In fact, now that I am finally able to smell the roses, I am sort of bored. Hahahahahaha.....

3 weekends ago, was at Kuantan for our company’s offsite meeting which was held in the Swiss Garden Spa & Resort. I was there not to participate in the meetings, but to coordinate and ensure that the 2d/1n event goes on smoothly without any hiccups. Though tiring, it was a great experience coordinating everything right down to its details - which resort to go to, detailed itineraries, team building & tele-match games, meals, transportations, who to go on which bus, who to bunk in with who, vegan and non-vegan, various awards and prizes and etc.

Though I have a choice of not required to attend the back-to-back meetings which will most probably bored the hell out of me, I was too busy running around arm wrestling the hotelier to submit to my whims than to enjoy the sun, sea, sand & beach while sipping on colourful mocktails. Really, prior to the trip, I had that vision. I was so looking forward to that. It was really, just a vision afterall. Lols... It will be a real luxury if I get to do all that. Hahaha... Other than coordinating with the hoteliers, I still need to coordinate my brain for events of the night – Retro Nite!

With helps of some colleagues, and the sporting-ness of all the other colleagues, the entire 2d/1n event including our themed Retro Nite dinner turned out rather well and we had so much fun laughing out heads off checking out each other’s costume. Seriously, never in my wildest dream they would dress up to the theme. And I thought my wig a little extreme.

I almost didn’t wear it. Alina was so adamant that I should and I threatened her that if she doesn’t go down with her crazy hair too, she gonna so get it from me... lols... (we went down separately cause I was rushing). Until a colleague came up to the room in crazy hair as well, I was convinced that I would. He said... “Don’t worry, you are not the only one with white wig!” hahaha....

Believe it or not, the moment I stepped into the ballroom, I felt right at home. :) I was so thankful I wore it. Without the wig, I would be SOOO....under-dressed. Hahaha.....

It was such a fun night filled with silly games, free flow of beers, retro music blaring, fashion shows of our funky retro fashion sense, prizes & awards presentation,

Working life is turning out not too bad afterall. :)

p/s: I told Alina this that night..."Babe, working together not too bad after all eh? We get to go on girlie holidays under the company expense!" hehehehehehe...!

2011-08-15T18:05:00.000+08:00

Just something to share. This happened like 3 weeks ago. I walked into Coach and asked the friendly salesperson this... "I am looking for something around RM300 (US$100 approx).". His demeanour immediately changed from being 'warm friendly' to 'cool friendly'. I guess the value is too little to garner his interest. Hahahahaha...

And so I ransacked thru the pile of items which were price tagged at RM300 each, picked out about 10 items and placed them on the table to decide which one I wanted. At this point, I could feel him a little impatient. He must be thinking... so picky for just RM300. hahahaha......

Then I shortlisted 4 items and told him this... "I need 3 pieces of each design...". He was caught off guard by the quantity. His demeanour immediately changed back to 'warm friendly' after that.

Sigh... such attitude. Coach is just an average brand to begin with. *shake head*

2011-08-12T01:10:00.000+08:00

3 days after I was born many years ago, the husband too was born (note usage of 'many years ago' instead of the actual number of years.. hahahaha). By then I had already learnt how to drink milk and he was just crawling out of... erm... his mom? Lols.... :) Now that we are at it, it just dawn on me if I had decided to pop into the world a day or two later and he a day or two earlier, we might very well be sharing the same birthday! Boy! Lucky me. Otherwise my birthday would not be special anymore! :p

And so we had a low key celebration last Monday at Laziz (one of the husband favourite restaurant), a little middle eastern cuisine restaurant in Solaris which we had coincidentally be thinking of going that very day.

We had a mixed grilled platter of some exotic name which basically are just chicken, mutton & beef kebab, briyani rice, stewed mutton plus some naan. It was a satifying dinner. One of the reason why the husband love it there was because the kebabs are simply yummy. Juicy and succulent even after grilling.

We chanced upon Laziz sometime ago when they did a promotion on Groupon; one of those online vouchers thingy. Bought it out of curiosity and wanting to find new places to dine with the husband as we hardly spend much quality together since I started working plus all those mad dance trainings. These are the only occasion where we would actually make an effort to dress up for. :)

From Laziz, we head over to Dr Cafe for coffee and a super yummy oreo cheese cake before calling it a day. Though sort of ordinary, it was pleasant and nice. A simple birthday celebration doing ordinary simple things, for someone simply beautiful. :)

Simple Birthdays - The Best.

2011-08-10T01:06:00.001+08:00

Birthday come, birthday go. Just like any other day. Yet it still gets pretty hyped up the day before it. And yet, if you ask me what I did last birthday or the one before that, I can tell you this... "I don't know and I can't remember exactly". Hehehehe... It has become such a normal day these days especially at this era where we basically can get everything we wanted (not necessarily have to be rich), everyday is a BIRTHDAY! :) Unlike years ago where one would only get to eat an egg or a special piece of meat come his or her birthday (that's according to my grandparents la...).

My birthday celebration started on the eve, 4/8/11 with the husband giving present no.1. Talking about the present, it was hillarious. We met up at Pavillion early last week after work and he was all grinning from ear to ear having gotten me a birthday present. When I tried to squeeze hints out of him he just said this... "Not letting out a single thing!". Lols... Or how I would teased him when we strolled past a certain shop... "You breathing so hard. You got it from here? This shop?" Heheheheheh.....

He even went to the extend of hiding his car keys cause he kept those presents in there. Oh yeah, there were two. He was quite smug about it when he gave me the first present on the eve of my birthday and went... "...present no.2, tomorrow." I laughed my head off when I unwrapped present no.1 and found both the warranty catalogue for present no. 1 & 2 in the box. Hahahahaha.... He was cursing and cursing at the shop... still he made me waited till the next day before giving them to me despite of me already know what I am getting. Hahaha... It was so funny...

I told him... "Just imagine if a wife received one present with two catalogues/receipt for two items in it..." all hell will certainly broke loose man! Super duper hot soup....!"

In case you are wondering, well, he gotten me a Swarosky pendant and a pair of earrings. It has been sort of a custom. I was digging out all my Swarosky collections and found that I've quite a number of them. Nice. *like*

Having not-a-real-job for the past four years also meant that I don't really have much colleagues. Colleagues usually revolves around my ex-boss of more than 10 years, his sis-in-law who used to share an office with us and also who I've grown very fond of and my GM who is pretty closed to us. And birthday are usually just a nice lunch with them. That simple.

This time round, it was different. Birthday wishes just kept pouring in the moment I strolled into the office. Actually, before that even. On facebook that is. That's why I shared this caption on FB the other day... "I suddenly ♥ Facebook very much. It made me feel so..... LOVED! Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes my friends.... ". Seriously, irregardless of everything, it makes me feel all mushy and warm inside. *thanks people if you are reading this*! Oh, I must add here, BIG COW actually posted birthday wishes for me every avenue she gets! On my blog, FB, mobile & etc (did I missed out anything Big Cow?)... hehehehe.... BIG THANK YOU TO YOU!!

Ok, ok, back to the colleagues thingy. They even gotten me a birthday cake and sang me a birthday song! I thought it was really nice. It has been quite awhile since I've anything like that. *super like*. A colleague of mine posted the above picture on FB with a caption that says... "So happy...". I went like.. "Of course la... got cake to cut le...!" hehehehe... And it didn't stop there. We all left office at 4:30 (instead of 4:45 for Friday) and head down to Snowflakes for some dessert courtesy from the boss man himself.... :)

I am into owl these days. Always like owl but never really into it until recently and Alina was observant enough to get me these - an owl brooch and necklace. They were so pretty. :) Thanks babe! *love*

Alina & I decided to join another group of colleagues for some Friday Happy Hours after Snowflakes. The crowd was good, we had fun. Unfortunately I didn't stay long enough to blow the candle off the cake. The cake look absolutely divine...hehehe.. yeah, DIVINE. lols....

That evening, we supposed to head down to Hakka Republic over at Menara Hap Seng. Even had reservation done. But the mood felt more Brussel than Hakka Republic. :p The husband and I both enjoyed our beer as we nibbled at some pork belly, sausages & etc. Can't remember exactly what we talked about but we had a great time tokkok-ing & sing song-ing before Florence & Mambo came to join us later the night. All in all, it was good and we had fun.

Florence gotten me a present and her colleague does the wrapping for her using whatever they can salvaged from their office. She wanted them to wrap it with flyers from Watson and they just couldn't do it (I would have love that really... lols). Not bad ya the wrapping? So what did she gotten me? Actually she already RSVP dinner reservation for both the husband and I. The present is just for fun. She simply said it reminded her of us. :p

Her hint was... "try thinking what the husband always complains about you?" and my answer to that was.. "no, he never complains about me and he loves me very much..!". Hahahahah.... You see, I realized later that the point here is good. We forgot each other's shortcoming and only remembers the good ones. :p One point to "Good Relationship"!

Yeah, she gotten me an Iphone sound amplifier. Lols... Cause the husband always complains that I never answer the phone cause I can't hear it ring. Hehehehe... It works ok... :) It really does make the ringing tones louder. Thanks babe! :)

So, birthday come, birthday goes. It was just another day. Now that we are older and wiser and have less expectation, simple birthday gestures suddenly became so nice and treasured. For all of you out there, once again, thanks for remembering me. :) I feel loved.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2011-08-05T01:26:00.002+08:00

Today is my birthday. Yay! Happy Birthday To Me! :p But I already celebrated my birthday almost 3 weeks ago. Hahaha... strange hor... but no choice. Due to all of our tight calendar, that was like the only date my that particular bunch of friends is free (The Deliquenos). Besides, we were celebrating not just me alone, but other two too. Supposed to be four of us, but unfortunately the other one can’t make it. That’s why.

As like any other get together of ours, it turned out really good. It was a long anticipated event reason being, there was a theme to it and the date has been changed and postponed a thousand times before we finally concluded a day where majority of us can make it. :p So basically, we (the girls), already gotten all our themed dresses ready and was just sitting around waiting for the date to be finalised. Hahaha.... girls would always be girls.

Unlike the previous year where we went to Seremban for BBQ crabs and followed by a drinking session back at home, this year, we decided to head over Elcerdo (http://www.elcerdokl.com/). A quaint little place along Changkat Raja Chulan specializing in pork dishes from around the world. Please be warned that the price were rather exorbitant. For the 6 of us, the bill came to about RM700+ I think. We had half a piglet (smaller than Sunshine even), a cold meat platter (hams), a paella, a sausage platter plus a mug of beer for each of us. Though expensive, I thought the experience were sort of worth it!

We get to chop the piglet with plates and then smashing the plates in a tub! Weird, but sort of fun and thereupedic too. :) Yeah, thereupedic. Good way of destressing.... *thinking of all those plates in our kitchen*..

The theme for our birthday party was 'The 70's' and I think we, the girls, really dressed to the theme! The guys merely scrapped by. It was funny when everyone was staring and pointing at us as we were walking into Elcerdo. Lols.... They must be wondering which era does this bunch of people come from?!

The August babies.... gone mad. Seriously, we were having so much fun by ourselves there. Just the six of us. WK, the superman, was imitating HK's gangster of the 70's, strutting around in his shades... it was hillarious. At ElCerdo, they even sang us birthday songs that goes like this.... "happy birthday to you, oink oink..... ".... as if singing to pigs. Lols....

As usual, a night with The Deliquenos will not be complete without some salsa-ing. From ElCerdo, we adjourned to Modesto to dance the night away. At the carpark, we gone mad again....

Cam whoring ala 70's style. Hahahaha.... I tell you, i laughed so much that night. Seriously crazy bunch of fellas. Or probably it was just 3 of us that was crazy. But then again, even with just 3 crazy fellas, it was enough to fill the evening with merriness. :)

So, it is my birthday today. I am at a junction of life now where I felt things are falling into place perfectly. I've no particular anticipation for this special day as I am already contented the way everything is. The husband already given me present number no.1, (he said there were two presents, YIPPEE!!!). I've no particular wishes either, except, to continue being happy as I am now and living life at it's best come what may. :)

P/s: Ppssttt....! Oh yeah, from the cash vouchers I gotten from the bank's family day telematch games + appreciation for organising the offsite event + retro queen + some cash from the husband, I topped it up a little and gotten myself a simple nice everyday bag from Anya Hindmarch. *grinning from ear to ear with happiness*

Yep, It Was Indeed A Brilliant Night :)

2011-07-30T23:54:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the delay of this update. I know you guys must be waiting for it. I've been so busy with work stuff these past weeks. Was busy organising & coordinating an offsite meeting event for half of our department which took place just yesterday and today. All I can tell you is, it was SPLENDID, AWESOME, SUPER and of course I gonna blog about it. Sometime soon I hope. Meanwhile, let's just get to the performance we did.

I somehow managed to get thru my anxiety on that Friday night (erm, two Fridays ago?) rehearsing at Modesto. Come Saturday, I was all cool and good. :) As our event was at night, it was hilarious seeing my team mates counting down the hours in our private FB group. Suddenly, we were all so free. I guess all were nervous and seeking out each other for comfort! Lols....

This is us, Team Monday, all dolled up. I call us the sluts and that was actually a pretty polite term as compared to the words coming out from Alina. She just yelled out to Pat (our instructor), "Pat...! Your prostitutes are all ready!" o.O WtF?!

Met up with the girls from our team at the studio for a quick bite before working on our make-up. We had so much fun along the process. The smokey eyes didn't turned out quite as what we have in mind, fake lashes doesn't seems to stay in place... hehehe... getting into those corsets were even funnier when we tried to push up as much boobies as possible. Hahaha... In the midst of total choaticness, some of us even tried to put on the net stocking while still having our shorts on. Lols...I tell you, it was total madness.

Despite of everything, we still managed to get to Modesto on time. Picture above is Team Wednesday who will be doing the Jive, Modern, Cha Cha, Merengue & Salsa Medley. Their theme was all sailor/nautical... Totally opposite from our slutty/prostitutes/cabaret theme. Lols... So decent! hahaha...

Our team did the Paso Doble, Hip Hop, Modern, Bachata & Salsa Medley which lasted about 7-8 minutes. I had so much fun that night. All anxieties prior to Friday suddenly just melted away with the rehearsal. Thank God. Otherwise, I am not sure I would even flip.

This is the flip that I have been talking about in my past few entries. The one with the crooked leg at the back was me. I still couldn't quite get the whole methodology into my brain. I always have the tendency to bend my legs. If I remember to hold my breath, I would forgot to kick. Or if i remember to kick and hold my breath, I would forgot to straighten my legs. Lols... sigh.... Nevertheless, we got it pretty in sync this time round. I was quite impressed actually looking at the video. For once, we flipped and land at the same time. Amazing. :)

Not only that, we managed to end at the same time too. The applause were ear shattering. Seriously, I have a feeling it was more for the outfit than the performance. Right? Right?! Those super short mini skirts, net stockings, corsets..... hahahahaha.....

It took us almost a year to put everything together. When we were at it practising day in day out, it was so exhausting and can't wait for it to be over and done with. It was worst for the last two weeks when we were practicing every night from 9 - 11:30pm. Work, dance, work, dance. It was even worst for me since I also got a life! You should know by now :p Work, dance, play, socializing, traveling, dinners. Now that it is finally over, no more daily practice, it somehow felt something is missing. :p Suddenly not sure what to do at 9pm. Hahahaha....

Remember a long time ago when all these dance practices just started and I mentioned that we will be trained for a performance which we will be audited? Some sort of audition to get into the Ritmo Dance Team? Well, we were all called back to the studio for a meeting last Wednesday and yours truly is now officially a Ritmo Dancer. :)

It was a mixed feeling. A part of me wishes to be in. Another part of me wishes otherwise. Wishes to be in cause I love that team spirit. Love being a part of something. Love my Ritmo family which I've grown so close these past few months. For the otherwise, it was most because of the time & effort involved as well as how things will go all crazy when the stress level is high.

Anyway for time being, since I am in, I'll just do what I can and enjoy it along the process. :)

Almost one year of hard work... for tonight.

2011-07-23T17:17:00.000+08:00

I think I am living life on the express lane. If you asked the husband, he would probably say this... "Express lane? You must be kidding me. I thought it was bullet train's lane!". Lols...

With so much to do these days (besides working 8 - 7pm unofficially), it is making it worst. Days just zapped by one after another. Just the other day, I was caught by a colleague after work and went for 2 mugs of Stouts. And another day, had a spat with a fellow dancer due to some costume issue. And another, kicked the very same dancer on the head real hard as we were doing the flipping stunt simultaneously due to space constraint. Believe me, it was an accident. Though I tried very hard to find guilt or sorry-ness within me, it simply wasn't there. I am just concern if her skull cracks. :p No cracks, fine. I know, I know...tsk! tsk! evil me! So what? Lols...

I've never been categorized as the nervous kind. It was always "come what may", "bring it on". Shoot! Surprisingly, this time round, for the rehearsal last night, I was overwhelmed by anxiety. Serious shit! I could feel my heart popping out of my chest. It was beating so hard that it sort of get pretty annoying. I wish I could just put it on silent mode. :p Alina commented that the dancing was good, just need to smile and flash that 'come fuck me' look. I told her I know... just that, with those anxiety within me, the only look that I can conjure up that very moment was 'come fuck me and you die' look.... lols... we both had a good laugh over it. hehehehe...

But then again, I think tonight would be better after last night's rehearsal. I've gotten over the anxiety. I guess I was freaking out cause the kicking accident was still pretty fresh in my head, that's why. Strange. I was just telling the husband the other day, I am the kind of girl that met an accident on the first day I gotten my car license and would still drive on the next day. No phobia, nothing. And now this.... unbelievable. I guess I am just worried that the second time round I would kill somebody. Lols... Afterall, I got pretty strong legs according to the Russian I kicked. :p

We took the opportunity to celebrate a dear friend, Jonathan, also a fellow dancer's birthday last night and had a great time. Seriously, irregardless of everything, I really do enjoy the team spirit we have. The constant motivating each other despite of bad comments. The looking after of each other making sure everyone is alright and etc. End of the day, the show is secondary. The team spirit should be the priority.

A final shot of everybody last night. Both Team Monday & Wednesday. :) Good luck gorgeous people! Tonight is gonna be brilliant! :)

Sibu Islands Resort - WE LOVE IT!

2011-07-13T01:22:00.001+08:00

Remember I shared this teaser photo two weekends ago? Well, this is it. This amazing place that I went was a super amazing place (lols... brain dead. Can't think of more words.). It was totally beyond expectation not just on my part, but for my girlfriends too. All of us have this thought that we are going to some kind of island off Johor, where there will be other villages besides the resort we will be staying in. Just like what Tioman Islands or Pulau Besar or Perhentian Islands would have been. We gonna just spend some girly time together, bumming out at the beach enjoying the breeze.

Imagine our ecstatic-ness when we were greeted by these free roaming docile deers the moment we walked out of the jetty. All earlier discontentment of having to fork out the additional RM150 to charter a speedboat dissipated! Well, the chartering was because we missed the arranged ferry. We underestimated the distance from Kluang to Tanjung Leman.

It was such a pretty place! No villages. No rubbish strewn all over. Surroundings were all landscaped to perfection! Pretty gentle deers lazying all over the place minding their own business and peacocks too.

There were nice table and chairs put out at every corner of the island for us to chill and enjoy the sea breeze. By the beach, in the middle of the garden amidst the deers, along the walkway to the chalets and etc. I remember when I just got back from my trip, my other friends asked "WHY?" when I told them that I didn't go for any dives, I simply replied: "The island is simply too pretty to leave. I don't feel like going anywhere!" Lols... Really, it was that.

The weather was awesome too. I guess we were really blessed for having such a nice weather. Blue sky, white clouds, breezy.... The first activity we did was went dipping at their pool! A pool on an island you asked. Well, that was cause at that time, we have yet to discover it's gem! :)

Lucky for us, due some reasons, probably cause we were all four hot girls group, we were given the best service ever. A guide was arranged to show us around the island, activities were all arranged and planned out for us all. Free of charged. Or probably their occupancy were low on the day we arrived and they have no one else to entertain. Well, I still prefer the first reason :p. That we are hot! Lols....

It was archery next. We were all so ambitious and wanted to start off at 15m and was pretty disappointed when the instructed make us start at 5m range. All four of us broke out in hysterically laughters when our arrows began flying all over the place except for the target (even at 5m and we wanted 15m!)! Hahahaha... Nevertheless, as we progress from 5m to 10m to 15m, we did managed to aim better. No wonder we are ladies! It gonna be a huge problem if we are men! Hehehehehehe....

This was what greeted us when we decided to check out Beach 2 (their best) after the arrow game. It was so pretty and crystal clear. Can see right thru to our feet. Even caught sight of fishes swimming around us. Oh my......... I never knew we have islands like these right here! Who needs Maldives or Mauritius?!

We enjoyed the crystal clear and calm sea so much that we stay right thru sunset till the sky turned dark before heading back for shower and dinner. The sunset were really nice too with clouds like on that first day we arrived. Lucky lucky!

The first thing we did next morning after breakfast was... snorkelling at Beach 2 together with our guide, Ah Long. There were so many pretty colourful corals and fishes. All of us was so excited. But this is still not the best yet.

I found Mr Krabs (Spongebob Squarepants) loitering on the beach. Probably checking us out!

The not so appetizing canned food we brought were exceptionally appetizing after a day out at the beach! We even made Ah Long take us out to another island to purchase more. :p Seriously yummy I tell you! No bluffing one! We had chilli tuna, curry tuna, anchovies sambal & etc. We didn't bring enough bread though and have no choice but to purchase a loaf from the hotel. It was freaking RM10 for a loaf of bread! So guys, bring more bread next time ya if you going to island!

My blue mask and snorkel.

This is by far the highlight of our trip. The best. Ah Long took us out for an Island tour as well as island hopping in the afternoon and brought us to this little island called Kukus island. It was so beautiful that we started screaming even before we get off the boat! Lols.... yeah, when you have a bunch of crazy girls travelling together, do expect lots of screaming and laughing! Lols...

The sand was powdery white, the sea was greenish blue and there was a bunch of seagulls awaiting us when we arrived. Typically out of postcards scene. Or movies even. James Bond. Lols... We had so much fun there. I know I did. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Went mad taking photographs. The corals were absolutely fantastic. We were all screaming thru our snorkel!! It was a hillarious sight!

After Kukus, Long brought us to this other island where they have shops to chill. We each ordered a fried noodle and gobbled it down within minutes! This is the place we bought extra canned food. Long show us this kitty cat that has deformed paws. I am no expert in cats, but I am sure u can tell the difference.

This was what greeted when we finished our fried noodles. Such pretty sight. Sigh....... I am missing it so much! Shimmering golden sea.... We were actually talking quite loudly until we caught sight of the sea. We just we silent and each pulling out cameras to capture the beauty!

When we got back to our island in the evening (yeah, our island... lols)... the deers were all out. Nice.

And of course the peacocks too.

We absolutely had a great vacation though it was just a 3d/2n thingy. Just nice. Am missing the island so much and can't wait to get back as soon as possible. :) Such a nice place right in our backyard. If you are keen, try googling Sibu Islands Resort. You might be able to find them. I am too lazy to dig out the receipt for their website which was probably buried underneath a huge piles of documents on my desk. Anyway, I highly recommend this place if you are seeking for some relaxing short vacation!

2011-07-11T00:26:00.001+08:00

I've a lot to say. I had a great weekend despite of the Bersih demonstration. In fact, it was because of it that my weekend was great (other than the facial, the gymkhana, the shopping, the eating and etc). Yeah, I did all that in one short weekend. Not only that, I even went back to my old office to do some works, tidied & cleaned up the house a little, bathed Rumba & Sunshine, gone out for some lace for our performance skirts, bought the fish net stockings too (yeah, going for slutty theme complete with super hot corset! oo la la! *smack*).

Was following closely on the updates of the demonstration thru the internet. Wish I was there. I should have. Sigh... It's too late to say that now isnt it? Should've walk the walk and not talk the walk. The more I look at those updates, the more frustrated I became. Just for your info, I hate politics. Especially so in my country. It give me a sense of hopelessness and despair whenever I read something about it. That's the reason why I don't read the our newspaper (which was monopolized by the government) too.

So I thought about it, and I've decided that should there be a BERSIH 3.0 come next year, I'll definitely go. No more hesitation. No more being a coward. I shall stand together with my people to fight for what we believe in.

Then I thought about how can I get pass the police to get downtown wearing yellow? A bright idea came to mind almost immediately. I shall bring a tube of yellow body paint, and paint myself yellow when I get downtown. :) Tell me it is a good idea cause I think it is SUPER! :)

Bersih, Clean, クリーン, Schoon, สะอาด, чистый

2011-07-09T01:40:00.002+08:00

What is BERSIH?

Wikipedia: Bersih, literally means 'clean' in Malay. In Malaysia, it is also a coalition of Malaysian opposition political parties and NGOs with the stated aim of reforming the electoral process in the country specifically:

1) Usage of permanent ink to ensure that voters may only vote once.

2) A clean out of the electoral rolls to remove entries that are no longer valid such as deceased people.

3) The abolition of postal votes on the basis that they are easily abused.

4) Bersih demands that all candidates and political parties have equal access to print and broadcast media.

So, what about it?

Well, BERSIH scheduled a second peaceful street demonstration for tomorrow, 9th July, ahead of the anticipated 2012 national Malaysian elections.

What's the big hoo haa?

1) The government & pro-government media critised the demonstration extensively.

2) The police arrested a number of BERSIH supporters in the lead-up to the event.

3) The government banned the demonstrations.

4) The government requested for the demonstration to be held at stadiums but did not approved stadium usage? Confusing?

5) Placed road blocks on all road leading into city centre to prevent demonstrator from entering.
6) Block/Checks on light rail transit and arrest whoever carries a BERSIH t-shirt.

7) They mislead the general public of BERSIH with 'May 13 Tragedy' which was erupted out of racism rather than fair electoral system thus creating dejavu sense of insecurities and anger within the people.

Seriously, what's so wrong in demonstrating for a fair electoral process? What's so wrong in using permanent ink to ensure voters only voted once? Or cleaning out the electoral rolls to remove deceased people's entries? Die already definitely cannot go vote right? Or abolishing postal voting which are easily abused or equal access to print and broadcast media?

Unless of course they don't want the electoral process to be fair and they need people to vote more than once, even the dead too. Tempering with postal voting when necessary and monopolizing the print and broadcast media to mess up the general public's mind.

You decide. I gave up. But, I wore YELLOW today! Yay!

Another 5km Run Two Weekends Ago

2011-07-05T23:13:00.001+08:00

Pardon me for my 'lack of blogging' lately. I am so tired, all the time, really. And it's not helping when you are working with some 'funny character'. Sigh... really need to oo-sha a little more! Or, I can do with a few more vacations (despite the fact that I just got back from one over the weekend which I will leave it for the next entry. :p

Nevertheless, a sneak preview of most recent vacation. Another hidden jewel right at our own backyard! :) Awesome isn't it? Well, this is the kind of sunset I've been enjoying this past weekend. Not forgetting to add, dozing in and out to the sound of lapping waves and gentle breeze... Ahhhhhh! Ok, that's it for time being on this part. Will leave it for next entry :p

Participated the much talked about Standard Chartered Marathon two weekends ago (last last Sunday). Accidentally joined that is. Forget about the details, it's a long and not interesting one. To cut long story short, when I wanted to register, the registration was closed. When I didn't want to join, the opportunity opened. Complicated, yes. Anyway, went for the 5km run with one of my run buddy, Mambo (yeah, quirky name :)). Almost sign for 10km but thought better of it. Why la I wanna torture myself like that on a Sunday morning?!?

Our 5km run was scheduled to be flagged off at 8am. Nevertheless, still needs to get to town by 6am due to all the roads closure. The full marathon (42km) was flagged off at 5am. When the husband gave me a ride to the train station at 5:15am, the runners were already at the highway outside our house! It only took them 15 minutes to run from Dataran Merdeka to MidValley. Unbelievably fast! I can't help but thought of these:

(1) They definitely will find no use of a car. They can run to everywhere. Go green. Save the environment!

(2) It gonna be good fun to watch them chasing down snatch thieves.

(3) McD can consider hiring them for delivery services. Then we would not have 'traffic jam' excuses. :p Hehehehehe......

Lucky for Mambo & I, we managed to execute 'Plan A'; i.e. to catch the last free shuttle service from the train station which took us right to the flag off point instead of 'Plan B', i.e. taking the train which will require us to walk for quite a fair bit to get to the point.

Though still having bout of cough/flu, I couldn't resist going. I simply don't want to miss a thing. Nevertheless, I kept reminding myself not to over exert myself. Just run at my own pace. Surprisingly, I was feeling rather ok that morning and I thought I did pretty alright. 5km under 40minutes. :) It was quite an enjoyable route actually. Not much terrain, pretty flat.

Conclusion, it was not the run that was tiring. It was the whole hoo haa of getting to and from the venue that is tiring. The early hours, the bus rides, the train rides home which we got lost on the way (thanks to Mambo) & etc... *yawn*

Will I do it again next year? A definite yes and I will do 10km next year!

Cameron Highlandst

2011-06-25T00:39:00.000+08:00

Took a short breakaway last weekend (real short one, just over the weekend, 2d/1n). Before I find any time to update, it's now weekend again. Gosh... at this rate, I think 50 or even 80 not gonna be too far off. Before I know it, I'll probably be at retiring age. Mad crazy.

The short weekend away was good. After two weekends of staying put in town, it's time to start moving again. Lols... Like the birdpark tickets, I bought a promotional voucher from a friend when they participated at the recent travel fair. :) I think it was RM175/night (approx. US$60) for one night accommodation at Strawberry Park Resort. The recently renovated/revamped rooms were really cozy and nice.

A short info on Cameron from Wikipedia:

The highlands got its name from William Cameron, a British surveyor who was commissioned by the then colonial government to map out the are in 1885. It was the late Sir Hugh Low, a resident of Perak, expressed the wish of developing the flat terrain as a "sanatorium, health resort and open farmland".

The highlands is one of Malaysia's most extensive hill stations which covers an area of 712 square kilometers. It was first developed by the British in 1920s. The temperature seldom soars above 25deg cel during the day and during the night, it can sometimes drop to as low as 12deg cel. It has 3 main townships - RInglet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang, which nestled at an altitude of more than 1200m.

Yeah, this is the same place I went for the treasure hunt event with a bunch of friends August last year. At that time, we never get a chance to go sight seeing around the highlands. Just treasure hunted from KL all the way up the hill, spent the night, and back to KL the next day.

This time round, went with the husband and he was sport enough to check out all the flower nurseries with me. The plants were all so pretty. I wish I could bring them all back. Lols...

Of course I didn't. Seriously, how many can I buy? Actually, it is more like, how many would survive in our non-highlands weather? I just bought some small cute ones. Not too many.

I've been to Cameron quite a number of times and have tasted their strawberries before but this time round, they were never quite like what I've tasted all those times. I always remember Cameron's strawberries as tiny and super sour. I was quite surprise when I found some huge ones at the market there. Even more surprise when they were all juicy and yummy when I bite into them! Nice!

We went to quite a number of flower nurseries. Not exactly looking for anything. Just look see look see. Basically that's what people do when they go to Cameron highlands. Buy flowers, plants, vegetables, eat... lols...Yeah, I ate non stop. Now that I work, I need the energy. So it's absolutely alright to indulge! :p

We were recommended by Florence to visit this Time Tunnel Museum while we were there. It was really nice. Feels like walking down memory lane. The husband and I was so excited when we spotted and antique/classic stuff from 'our' time. Lols... Yeah, our time.

Sometimes when I thought about my childhood days, it doesn't feel like so long ago. But when we started seeing these stuff from our childhood on display here, oh boy.....! It looks like it was from a LONG time ago! Hahahaha... Anyway, it's worth visiting. Just RM5/entry.

Went for and early steamboat dinner. Couldn't resist steamboat on cool weather like that. There were many of them. We simply picked the shop with the most customer. One can never go wrong that way! Right? The extra long funnel (if that is what you call that long thing) was because this particular set is using charcoal instead of running on gas.

After dinner we took a walk to their famous weekend night market nearby. There were more goodies there. This man is frying sweet potato balls. I was so tempted to get some. Unfortunately we were simply too stuffed. Still, we bought some other food stuff - fried crab (super yummeh), apambalik (some kind of malay flour stuff), sweet corn (must try)!

The weather was rather nice throughout our stay until it began to pour while we were there in the market. Though there were lots of umbrella for sale, we simply refuse to get one. No, it was not expensive. Just about RM10 each. And rather wait out under all those canopies with chattering teeth. Lols... I think the feeling of not-wanting-to-own-another-umbrella were rather overwhelming. Especially not one with loud huge strawberries print (which we will never use again)!

Next morning, wanted to bring the husband to Boh Tea Plantation (which my friends brought me the last time) for breakfast. We got lost for a little while and ended up having lunch instead at the same place we had dinner the previous night before heading to the plantation for tea after getting better directions from the lunch waitress.

Though the tea & dessert were horrible, the experience was good for the husband. He loves the place. We also get to see how tea was processed. Picture above is a tea grinding machine which was used since the plantation was set up a long long time ago and is still being used now.

Everywhere we walked, the air was filled with aroma of tea. Nice. Just a pity that the tea served at it's cafe doesn't taste anything near the aroma! Personally, I feel they should outsource their cafe to more serious cafe people who serve freshly bakes yummies like scones with fresh cream and strawberry jam, variety of pastries, cupcakes and etc instead of some soggy sandwiches, spongelike cakes, tasteless tea which they are charging RM0.50 for refill of hot water! *shaking head* Can see it was a half hearted effort.

Visitors still throngs the place despite of the overly priced yucky food. It's the environment that matters. What a waste of superb location and beautiful set up. *Sigh*

We head back home after that. Though just a short getaway, it was good. Rejuvenating enough. The beauty of traveling not in a group. Easy going.

Breakfast with the Birds at the Park!

2011-06-17T01:15:00.000+08:00

One thought in my mind this past week.

"Complications, problems, unresolvable issues, obstacles are all self created. Meaning, we created them in our mind and let it grow. If we don't perceived them as what they were but part and parcels of life, how complicated can them be? A problem will not be a problem if we don't see it as a problem."

So, it's all in the mind. Of course I understand that sometimes they are beyond our control. Hormones and all are much to blame for this uncontrollable perception or emotion. But, as long as we are aware of the contributing factor, we wouldn't be too far off. Agree not?

Example: If you think your husband doesn't love you, no matter what he did, you will still think he doesn't love you. When he brings you flowers, you would perceive that he is just trying to make up thus insincerity and that he is just doing it out of obligation. As time goes, it will just escalate.

Or, many other instances which have been popping up in my head except for this very moment when I wanna blog about it, nothing pops. Lols.... It's always like this isn't it?

Anyway, was out at the Kuala Lumpur Birdpark last Sunday and it was great. That was until my camera's battery depleted. After that, it was not so great already. :p Lols... I supposed to bring my camera bag which has a fully charged spared battery. On the very last minute, decided to chuck them in my handbag instead of that cumbersome bag. Naturally, I missed out the battery. Sigh... what's new? Well, at least this time round, I remembered the memory card! Lols....

Gotten the ticket at half price sometime back when I visited Matta Fair (some travel fair). Thought it would be good for some photography practice. Never been anyway. Nothing to loose.

We got there at 9:30am and had breakfast with the birds at their Hornbill Restaurant. The food sucks but environment was nice. This bird here was at first just perching on the grill looking cute. The moment I leave my plate, it just walk towards it. Lols.... Seriously. No joke. Despite of there were another two human sitting on that table. The husband was brandishing fork & knife threatening that he will eat it alive. It and it just strolled away cooly. *super cute*

The only downside was, I should've paid more attention to the names of these birds. I was too happy snapping away. Now, I don't know what bird are these. :p some kind of stork?

Nevermind. I really don't know. All I know is, they are dangerous. They will snap their long pointy yellow beak at you if you are too close to one.

My favourite - an owl. Some kind of owl :p I know, I am pathetic. Lols... I have a thing for owl. Most people think that they look evil & spooky. But I think they look so adorable with those heart shape pattern face, flattened, small little pointy beak curving downwards... not cute meh? In fact, I think they are very intelligent! Don't ask me why I think that. I just think that. :p

You may notice that my blogging has been pretty senseless these days and that's because, I really can't find a good time for it. If I am not working, I am dancing. If I am not dancing, I am out with the husband compensating for limited time spent together these day (of course all those cleaning after the doggies too which somehow has become his job these days). Or sometime, catching up with friends. So the in-between time would be like now, at midnight? And even that, if I have not passed out. Literally. The moment I hit the bed, I would be gone in not more than a minute. :p

Honestly, there are so much happenings. I just don't have the luxury of time anymore. Just last night, a girlfriend invited me to this really nice Contemporary Dance Performance called 'Scissors, Rock & Shadow Box' hosted by the Dutch Embassy. Decided to just skip my training for once to enjoy myself and catch up a little. We had such a great time and enjoyed the performance immensely. I am never much of contemporary dance appreciator but this one, I simply love it. The dancers were so expressive and strong. Totally enjoying myself. Oh, bumped into another friend there too from the Mauritius embassy and we had so much fun joking about.

Workwise was equally good too. Began to mingle with other colleagues, feeling more comfortable at work, and every lunch time seems to be an 'updating' session or laughing senselessly with senseless jokes. Looks like working life is fitting me rather well. :) yeah, work fits me. Not me fits work. Lols. Switching of perception. :)

Though I've no MSN nor FB connection at work (which, the thought of it used to be a nightmare), it was good too. Some friends would always send me a 'good morning' email which never fails to add a little cheer to my otherwise maddening crazy hecticness at work! :) Yes, my work are all those words described. Even my mom thinks that I lost some weight few weeks into working. Lols... Well, the only downside would be, I can't communicate with mom as and when I like. Even though we don't chat all the time last time, but at least I knew she was 'online'. Now, I don't know. So, it's a little weird.

Anyway, here's me, with an owl perching on my shoulder praying hard that it won't go crazy and start pecking my eyeball out. :p It's name, Kitty. Love how it's feather swing outward above it's eyes.

With another smaller one on my wrist. This one was a quiet one. Shy little bird. :)

And last but not least, till I find another micro slot to blog, is a photo of us, shot with all those colourful birds. Basically, we just sit ourselves on the bench and not move. The workers then decorated us with those birds... Hehehehehehe.... Nevertheless, another great photo, another great outing, another great week! :)

Cheers!

Have a great week people!

2011-06-13T00:55:00.000+08:00

A photograph shot this morning to share before I find time to update my blog :) Have a great week ahead people!

Celebrating 3 Years of Bliss

2011-06-08T09:00:00.003+08:00

Our 3rd anniversary came and gone without much fanfare. We never really celebrate. Actually, we not exactly sure which day to celebrate.

You see, we registered our union on 12th March 2008 (civil ceremony). Had our wedding only on 30th May 2008. In the eyes of law, we are officially husband & wife on 12th March 2008. But we only start living together after 30th May 2008. So, tell me, do we celebrate :

1) the day we register our marriage? or

2) the day our actually wedding took place?

Year in and year out, we faces the same dilemma. Not knowing which day to celebrate, so we usually just let it be or just let it pass with a simple 'Happy Anniversary!' :) Lols... If we are free, and we remember, we'll go for a nice dinner. But then again, we have nice dinner every other day too. How nice would it be nice enough for an anniversary celebration? Lols... :p

We celebrated our 1st Anniversary on 12th March cause we were in Bali and the husband got me a pair of delicately crafted silver earrings to mark the occasion. Our 2nd Anniversary was celebrated in advance to the date of 30th May cause we were in HongKong and the husband got me a really nice Swarovski pendant necklace from The Peak.

This year, we were both too busy to do anything. Lols. I was at work till 7pm followed by dance training at 8pm and got home only at 11pm, all drained. And he, not too good a day either. Our car decided to act up and he has to get the tow truck in to tow it back to the workshop and catch a cab back to office. :p

Anyway, things has been rather crazy around here lately since I started work. We'll probably find something to do the next couple of weeks to mark the occasion.

I guess, for us, we just celebrated our anniversaries by convenience. Hehehehe.... But then again, as long as we are happy and in love. Who cares about the anniversaries. ;) We have certainly come a long way...

What about you guys out there? Which day do you celebrate? What do you do usually to mark the occasion? Do you get a gift for your other half? What do you get? What is suitable as an anniversary gift? What happen when your other half forgotten about it? Share with me :)

2011-06-07T00:21:00.000+08:00

When colleagues around me starting to go on MC one by one, I got panic. Virus these days are very contagious. True enough, I caught it. Bout of cough-till-can-die kind of cough. Tsk tsk... I don't remember virus being so contagious just few years back. It has been horrifyingly passable since last year. It is because the virus strand is getting stronger? Or, I am getting weaker? Hmm.... lifestlyle wise, I've never been healthier as far as I can remember. *question mark*

Anyway, the clinic being just another floor makes it easy to get medical care. So easy that I don't feel I am sick at all. Lols... Last time, it used to be, sick until like dog, crawl home from work, wait for the husband to get back, then head out to the clinic. Not only that, it was so expensive. Now, I don't need to worry a thing. Just get into the lift, and voila! *super like*. Doesn't mean I gonna get sick always ok... Choy!

0 Expectation = 0 Disappointment

2011-06-05T23:36:00.002+08:00

A conversation with a friend who recently threw a lavish party lead to these and I wonder....

1) When you throw a birthday party, do you expect your guest to bring presents?

2) When your guest brings a present, does value of the present have to be more or less the amount you spent per pax on the party?

3) When you throw a wedding banquet, do you expect to make some money out of it? Meaning, total angpow received will not only be enough to cover the banquet but hopefully, enough to cover for a little honeymoon too?

4) When you gave someone Christmas presents, do you expect them to give you something in return?

5) When you buy dinner/lunch, do you expect the next time it would be them buying?

It was hillarious for both the husband and I as we listen out his laments. Probably cause he is a Mat Salleh (Caucasian) and not familiar with our culture here. Then he asked, "Does this kind of things happened to you? Do you have friends like that? That don't bring anything attending parties?". The husband & I just blurted out 'plenty' without second thoughts and we laughed.

1) We have invited friends for birthday dinner who not only didn't bring presents but added remarks like... "Do we have to pay for the dinner?!" (Though they are not expected to, but harlow? Do you speak like that?).

2) Our wedding event was a deficit of RM100k.

3) Year after year, we gave Christmas presents but we hardly getting anything. That's ok. Cause we wanted to give. Really, I couldn't resists.

4) When come to dinners/lunches, miraculously, we are always the one fastest with our wallets. We are so tired of this kind of crap that we decided to split the bill there and then however uglifying that is.

So, this Mat Salleh friends of ours was so surprise! Lols... The next thing he said was, "You should stop all that. You are being taken for granted!". Lols... The thing is, I think it is like this in this part of the world. People simply don't understand the term 'give & take'. They only understand 'take & take'. Hehehehe... I even shared with him an experience when I put in a little less effort, a friend got disappointed. Lols.... His eyes almost pops! Hahahaha....

Life is just like that la... there are so many different kind of people in this world, how can we expect everyone to respond or react exactly how we expected them to be? Don't worry, there is remedy to this. And this is, DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING IN RETURN. Then we would not be disappointed. :) Like what I posted on my FB status yesterday... '0 Expectation = 0 Disappointment. It's happiness all over again!". There you have it. :)

So, how is it like for you guys? What's your expectation? Do you get something in return when you give? Or like us, you have friends that conveniently forgets? :D This is one interesting topics. Let me know!

p/s: It's 11:30pm now, and the husband said this.. "Go to sleep. It's your bed time." o.O. All because he wanna watch how a cobra swallow a rattle snake on tv which I refused to see. :p I have this thing about reptiles. They give me nightmares and goosebumps.

Our Normal Saturday!

2011-06-05T01:52:00.001+08:00

We have been so busy and travelling so much for the past few weekends and we decided to just stay put and not go anywhere this weekend. Though staying put, we still did lot of stuff and gone to quite a lot of places just today alone

1) Breakfast nearby.

2) Kota Damansara to buy dog food, bring a blouse I bought last week back to the boutique to have it's magnetic tag removed (they forgotten last week), some shopping for daily stuff.

3) Check out the construction site of a house.

4) Head down to Pet's Exhibition in MidValley to visit Aunty Suzi (a pet artist) who have a booth there.

5) McDonald for lunch.

6) Car workshop to check out a new paint work on my car.

7) Groomed and bathed Rumba and Sunshine.

8) Took Husky out for a walk.

9) Updated blog.

10) Head down to Pavillion for a pair of shoe the husband desired.

Mad crazy huh? We certainly need to tone down those activities. Really miss one of those lazy weekend that we do nothing at all. Or those afternoon of movie marathon at home. Sigh.... But then again, it feel sort of normal too. Just like how it used to be when I was working a long time ago.

Other than all those craziness, today also marked a very important occasion. After watching an episode of 'Dog Whisperer', we finally managed to take Husky; our monster dog, out for a walk! :) You see, we have been facing some problem with him for quite some time. Remember he was transferred to the never never land of our backyard? Well, since then, he has been off leash, off collar, off everything and gone a little crazier. As time goes, he began to snap. Not only were we not able to put a collar on him, we were not able to leash him or stroke him. He would simply aim to bite our hands off.

The husband has taken upon himself to patiently train Husky for the past one month. Those ordinary stuff ~ sit, stay, left paw, right paw... good boy! And it went on and on... just to get him comfortable with human touch and oh boy, he was learning fast. Very food & touch motivated. He learned all that in no time. Still, he wasn't quite comfortable with the leash/collar. And the poor husband suffered quite a number of scratches along the way. We were joking about it the other day, he said if he gone a little crazier, it could be from those scratches. Mad dog disease. Lols...

We accidentally caught an episode of 'Dog Whisperer' being aired over Astro last week and that gave us a new inspiration on how to handle our monster. Following the technique shown on tv, we finally succeeded in leashing Husky and managed to take him out for a walk. He was rather excited and at the same time, wary. But ok. Almost set off chasing after cats when he spotted one! Luckily I had the leash rolled tightly on my arm. Nevertheless, it was a great attempt. What an accomplishment. I certainly hope he will get used to it soon.

A Drive That Turned Out To Be A Day Trip - Ipoh

2011-06-04T20:30:00.001+08:00

Last last weekend was Penang. And last weekend, was Ipoh, Perak ~ Just a day trip though. The guys had planned it weeks ago. It was supposed to be Malacca initially (changed to tomorrow). Not sure why the change. Either way, it will still be good for me. I am missing 'dim sum' in Ipoh! They have one of the best dimsum I ever tasted! And no, we are not joining them for Malacca tomorrow. We are just too tired and needed some rest desperately!

Dressed in a simple short dress and slipper, dragging along my camera and a shawl, groggily, I got into the car last Sunday morning at about 7ish and continued zzzz while the husband drove. I was under the impression that one of the guy in the group needed to test his car, thus the trip. And so, I expected that we would just drive 200km there, have dimsum breakfast and be right back to KL again.

Wikipedia:

Ipoh developed into one of Malaysia's main cities around the turn of the 19th century due to the booming tin mining industry. During the British colonial era, Ipoh was Malaysia's second city for administraative purposes. There are several notable buidings from the British Colonial era such as the railway station and the town hall. 70% of Ipoh's population is of Chinese origin.

There were altogether 16 of us in 5 cars. We arrived at our first destination at 9:30am - Restoran Yoke Fook Moon, for our favourite dimsum breakfast. The place was packed to the brim with the weekend crowds. Taste wise, hmm... I thought it was tastier the other time we were there. :( I wonder, could it be my tongue was still asleep? Lols...

I thought we were good to go home after our little dim sum escaped. Little did I know it was a whole day eating trip o.O.

After dimsum, it was the Ipoh White Coffee at it's Original Coffee Shop. All 16 of us, adult and children alike, were packed to the back alley. The coffee was awesome. Probably cause the weather was super hot. An ice cold white coffee would be a real treat!

Comparatively to all the Ipoh White Coffee outlets here, this one in Ipoh tasted slightly better. Less heavy if you now what I mean.

Half boiled eggs' pot, coffee pots, gas cylinders at the back of shop, nearby where we were seated, baking under hot sun. To all my blog friends over in 4 seasons countries, don't be deceived by this nice ray of sunshine. It is REALLY hot. Not just some sunshine with cool breeze. It was easily 40 deg cel. Blazing hot!

Some flats nearby. Packed like sardine. So packed that I can hardly breathe just by looking at it.

After coffee, it was the 'Perak Cave Temple'. Despite of having been in Ipoh numerous times, never once had I visited any of these cave temples. There are plenty of them in Ipoh.

The husband and I donated a piece of roof. It was hillarious when the temple operator asked how to write our Chinese names. Yes, we can write our names, can read some characters too. We simply just don't know how to explain to another person how it is written. Lols.... After some chicken & duck talk, we finaly got it right!

The ceiling inside the temple. Natural formation of a cave. But I think it might has been smoothen over the years. The edges were simply too squarish to be natural.

We also lighted lotus candles. :)

Check out the inside of the temple. Rather interesting right with images of Buddhist god painted onto the wall of the natural cave. Though it was super hot outside... inside the temple, it was so cool and nice. As if there was an air conditioner! Such a relieve for all of us who had been baking under the hot sun the whole morning!

A temple dog enjoying the cool floor. :)

This shot was taken from inside of the temple facing out.

It was more food after that. A trip to Ipoh would not be complete without a meal of it's famous Ipoh Beansprout Chicken Rice. Sorry, no picture of the food for this one. Cause I thought the presentation of the food were not so nice. We didn't go to Lou Wong but the one next to it. I still like the other one near Excelsior Hotel. Unfortunately they only open in the evening. :(

The other famous thing in Ipoh - pameloes. Somehow, the pameloes from this city is really nice and sweet. Not just pameloes. Even their beansprouts were extra fat and nice.

And their soya bean milk too. Though has a funny name - "Funny Mountain", it's extra delicious and yummy. Not only were there a long line of people queueing up right outside the stall under the hot sun, there were also a long line of cars queueing up outside as if it was a drive thru counters like that. Madness huh?

They said it was the Ipoh water. Spring water that is. Even their girls are fairer and prettier. Really. So if next time, someone walked up to you and ask.. "Are you from Ipoh?". Take it as a compliment. Ipoh are know for it's pretty girls! :)

Redbabe casting a CURSE.

2011-05-28T22:21:00.001+08:00

I got a call on Monday (the Monday I got back from Penang) from Mambo (an ex-colleague/friend) who currently rented a small office space at my ex-company informing me that our office was broken into over the weekend. My heart dropped. No. Not because I love my ex-company very much. But because I left my laptop in the office over the weekend so that Mambo could install some stuff for me. Sigh...

And so, there goes my laptop of 4 years which was still in tip top condition! The strangest thing was, that very morning, as we were traveling back from Penang, it crossed my mind for a brief moment. Hmm....maybe my laptop trying to say goodbye? :p lols.... Anyway, I lost not only my laptop, but my external hardisk as well as my walkman stand + cables. Sigh...

A friend asked... "How come you can still be so calm?"... I replied... "It's already gone. What can I do? Even if I report it, I won't get it back. All I can do now is just to curse that asshole who stolen it. May he rot not only in hell but his entire lifetime too.".

I was in Paradise (a month ago)

2011-05-27T13:33:00.000+08:00

This is a long overdue entry. Another trip taken to our little 'paradise on earth' a week prior to my starting work. Hmm... a rough estimation, about a month ago? Wow.... this is truly overdue-ed. Thousand apologies. Hardly have time to do anything else these days let alone updating blog. Sigh...

It has been 3 weeks since I started working and on average, works end around 7+ every day. No, I didn't pretend to be hardworking. There is just simply too many things that needed to be done. The earliest that I've had left office was yesterday. At 6:30pm. For once, the sky was still bright when I left work! Hahahaha....

By the time I got home every evening, after all the dance classes or training, I would look exactly like Dino, the cat in the picture above. Drop dead in bed within seconds after showering and blow drying my hair!

Was out last night with the Fernandez and our instructors for supper after our training. The occasion? To celebrate my first pay of course... hehehe... We ended up bitching about some 'stressful' stuff and by time we got home and settled down, it was already 2am. This morning, when the alarm went off at 7am, I told myself to go back to sleep cause today 'no work'. :p Luckily I realized I dreamed the 'no work' part. :p Hehehehe....

Anyway, back to Ruby's Resort. Nothing beats a cool Ruby's Ice Kacang (shaved ice) after a long drive from KL to Cherating! It has been like a ritual. First, check-in. Next, ice kacang!

I don't plan to blog too much about this paradise of our's. By now, I bet you have know this place really well already. Right? Will just let these photos speaks for itself!

Some local guys fishing out at the beach caught a stingray! Immediately I imagined it bbq with sambal (chilli paste) and mixed vege.... *hungry*.

Here, a young pet monkey belong to a shop owner we visited. The poor little fella were chained up while we were there for dinner. Seriously, don't understand why would they want to keep a monkey as pet? Aren't monkey supposed to be a wild animal? Unfortunately in Malaysia, I think we have too much monkeys and the government wouldn't give a peep if you keep one. :p

This is where we had our first dinner. Limbong Art, a souvenir shop with a 'nasi kukus' (steam rice) stall by it's side.

Generally 'nasi kukus' would come with a piece of fragrantly fried chicken and some 'sambal' and spice condiments. Here, fragrantly fried chicken in the making!

Taa daa! The verdict, hmmm.... I wouldn't say it is not yummy cause it is yummy in it's own way. But I guess their version of 'nasi kukus' are just a little too bare. No gravy, too little 'sambal'. Other than that, I pretty like it.

This is, apparently, famous fried kuoy teow in Cherating. We went for it after Nasi Kukus. Verdict, I don't quite like how it tasted. Couldn't really figure out what taste it was. Totally don't like it's presentation. Look like some not very healthy pile of poo poo.... :p I know... *ewww...* hehehehe... You know I am right about that! Lols....

We chance upon someone's bright idea here! *lightbulb* hehehe... Found this humongous lightbulb by the beach when we were all out for a walk after dinner. Actually, I conned them into believing that there was a turtle up at the shore, laying eggs. :p They believed me.

As usual, I woke at 6:30am trying to catch sunrise! Caught a moon instead!

Ruby's Resort in the wee hour of the morning!

Breaking thru.... sky turning pinkish! *love* The sea look super calm isn't it.

Fishermen were still out at the sea at that hour. Wonder what time do they all goes out to the sea and what time to they return. Hmm... Note to self: Do a one-to-one interview with a fisherman when opportunity arises.

Naturally, I got bored waiting and decided to entertain myself. I imagined I owned that beach! :D

There you have it, another photos of sunrise at Ruby's Resort, courtesy from my sacrifice. Lols...

Can you spot the crab?

Though I've shot this numerous times, they were never once same. Every sunrise is unique. Colours, clouds formation, sea reflection.... *super love the orangy sea*

Ahh.... now, I wanna go Ruby's Resort pronto. Wish there were some kind of portal that we can simply zap over. You know, like the magic door frame from Doraemon, or that floo network from Harry Potter & etc. So easy and convenient. Then I would be able to go for a quick dip + fresh air and zap back home as if I never gone anywhere! Awesome.

The wild blooms along the beach were not really nice this time round. I guess it is not blooming season. Spotted just few purple blooms. I call them Ruby's lavender. Even that, they look rather pathetic. Nevertheless, the green are still very nice!

The whole waking up early thingy, was not so much for shooting sunrise. Actually, I enjoy the peace and quietness at that hour. Finds it rather zentifying to stroll down the beach looking for objects to photograph..

Check out the many red angry blemishes on my leg. They were actually a result of sand fly bites from Avillion Resort (Port Dickson) which I went two weeks prior to Ruby's. I tell you, that was the first and the worst I've ever been bitten by sandflies. More than 20 bites. Super itchy like shit. The more I scratch, the worst it became. Since then, I've developed some kind of phobia for beach. Now, whenever I am near one, I'll drenched myself in insect repellent. Yeah, I will still not stay away from the beach. Lols...

Note: If you ever get bitten by a sandfly, never ever scratch. It will get seriously ugly and worst. Never apply mopiko or anything minty. Apparently, according to the pharmacist, the ingredient will make it worst too. Same goes for hot shower. No no. Get some insect bites cream with antibiotic from the counter. It does really help.

Silhouette of Evie against the backdrop of sunrise.

Back at the cafe, found Dino snuggled into the cap of a friend. Super cute!

This is Princess. New addition of Ruby's family. A super samseng (rough) female labrador.

Trademarks of the resort. The many scribbles of praises from guests who came and went.

Famous 'har mee' (prawn noodle) in Cherating manned by these ladies.

Verdict, though ok, still a little bland. Can be better.

And of course this too. We tried another restaurant this time round. River something... :p Verdict: Would certainly be back. Their stuffed crab are less oily! I like them this way!

Some other food besides the crabs. Here, calamari!

This is Rumba, my lhasa apso, chillaxing out by the beach. This trip, they didn't get wet in the sea cause mommi is too lazy to bathe and dry them... lols...Anyway, they told me they are not such a big fan of swimming in the sea and rather give it a pass. :p Hehehehe....

Tree trunk of love (or whatever that is left of it).

The boys enjoying the sea!

Oh, this one. Sunshine's tail. Lols...

This is another nasi kukus stall in Cherating. Famous one. Long queue ok for takeaways....

There were 8 of us in total. We ordered 8 packs to be eaten there and additional 8 packs to takeaway for supper!

Verdict: Super yummy. It is situated in Kemaman's pasar borong. Just ask around. There will be people pointing you to the right direction.

After nasi kukus, it was durian. Our king of fruits. The gang couldn't resist when we drove passed some fruit stalls. Quality of durian - somewhat way below expectation. Not a big fan of durian myself. But I will know if it is good.

Another tropical fruit we have. I can't remember it's name though.

Back at Ruby's, found this two little rascals playing in the bushes. They were found abandon in a dipilated house. Was rescued and nursed back to life by Ruby.

Hyperactive kittens. So difficult to get a good shot of them. hmmrrfff!

And this, you should know by now, is Stout. Ruby's black labrador.

Our marks for the trip right below all our previous trips!

Angry ~~birds~~ dogs in the boot. :p Time to head back to earth. :)

Though this whole new work life is super hectic, I am getting a hang of it and beginning to enjoy the whole hecticness. :p

3d2n in Penang stuffing ourselves mad!

2011-05-23T19:08:00.004+08:00

It felt kinda strange to be at home today after being at work for two weeks. Today felt just like old time, staying home doing my own stuff, houseworks and etc and yet, it doesn't feel quite the same. There was a nagging sense of responsibility at the back of my head wondering what's happening in the office or does my absent causes any catastrophe? Yeah, I have a tendency of thinking too highly of myself sometimes. :p Anyway, I am on leave today.

A map of Peninsula Malaysia for my non Malaysian followers :)

Checked out of Equatorial Penang at 5:30am this morning and arrived back in Kuala Lumpur at 9:30am. Why the ungodly hour you asked. Well, the husband had absentmindedly set an important something to do at the office today despite of the fact that he was the one asking me to RSVP the hotel to check out on Monday cause the wedding dinner was on Sunday which will be too late to drive 350km ~~295km~~ (the husband sent me an sms asking me to correct it :p) back by time it ended. Not forgetting, intoxicated too.

A map of Penang island.

Anyway, and so, we were in Penang, a pretty developed island off the northwest coast of Peninsula Malaysia for 3d/2n to attend a wedding dinner of a good buddy. Didn't do any touristy things except for non stop eating. If you are unaware, Penang is known for it's hawker food! But now, on a hindsight, I should have eaten less and done more touristy things. Then I would have more photos to share and I would not have gain more weight. :(

Shot this thru the windscreen as we were crossing the priciest assets of Penang, the 13.5km bridge linking the island to the mainland. The bridge has been the icon of the little island since as far as I can remember. I used to think these steel structure were so enormous and it stretches throughout the entire bridge's length. Only did I found out about 14 years ago when I first set foot there that these steel structure were actually just built on a small stretch in the middle of the bridge. :p Believe it not, I was a little disappointed with the revelation...

The view from our balcony. Breathtaking isn't it?

Freshen up, we took a drive to the other side of Penang when our attempt to meet up with another bunch of friends down at the beach at Paradise Sandy Bay failed due to some parking issue due to some miscommunication. We supposed to park at this empty land next to Dalat International School. But due to some miscommunication/carelessness on our part, we thought we are supposed to park at Dalat International School and drove right into the school compound which have it's gate wide opened. The next thing we know, this old Malay guard started screaming down at us despite of us apologizing. When I apologized and said that we are tourist, he answered "SO WHAT??! YOU CAN'T READ IS IT???!? YOU SHOULD STOP, WHO ARE YOU?!! WHAT BUSINESS YOU HAVE HERE!!!!" That did it man! I rolled the window down to its max and started my screaming match. I told him, all he need to do is just to tell us. He don't need to scream and be so rude and he said he was not and continued with obscenity. If not because he is an old man of around 70+, we would have love to punch his face. Seriously??? People these days are so weird. If they are unhappy with their work, then just quit.

The other day, I received an email requesting me to go to a certain floor to collect my new credit card and so I went. Not knowing how this person look like, I asked around for Thevarajan (that's why I noted on the email). Then out of the blue, this girl nearby where I stood went... "Mambulan" or something. And I said I looking for a Thevarajan. At the top of her voice she went "That's my father. I am Mambulan" and went on giving me the look. I realised then I got the name mixed up and I apologized. And she went blabbering it was clearly stated in the email... blah blah blah.... I went like wtf is her problem? You see, it is sometime quite difficult to tell which is the first or last name in Indian names. So? I shouldn't have apologise for that kind of attitude but I did. And yet, she still going on and on and on... I sent a complain letter to her boss after that. I don't deserve that kind of attitude.

Anyway, enough of these weird characters. Don't wanna waste braincells. As we drove along from Tanjung Bungah to Batu Feringhi, thru the hills towards Balik Pulau on the other side of the island, we caught this beautiful sunset (photos above) which supersede all the earlier unpleasantness. The sunset were simply awesome. It is also along these route you will find a lot of durian stalls serving you any grade of durian your heart desire! :) We gave that a pass. Neither of us a big fan of the king of fruit!

That evening we decided to grab some hawker food for dinner over at Gurney Drive. We had 'orr chien' (fried oyster), 'prawn lam mee' (prawn noodle), fruit rojak (mixed fruit with some kind of sauce). Would have had ordered more if not for we have to catch a movie over at Gurney Plaza at 10:20pm. We went for Thor. Yeah, I know. Finally. :) The only part I like about the movie was that rainbow bridge. I thought it look so cool! Like a bowling alley or something. I can lay there on my back, staring up the starry sky forever! ;)

Woke at noon the next day. :p Went around town to hunt for the famous Nasi Kandar Kayu Penang (Indian mixed rice). Yeah yeah... I know I should boycott them for the discriminating comment against us Chinese. I just gonna eat one time ok. Just one time only. :p We ended up at Pelita Nasi Kandar instead for we simply couldn't find the earlier one. Might as well. See... I didn't support Kayu! :) Equally yummy at Pelita.

After nasi kandar, it was Penang Char Kuoy Teow. Just a random stall at New World Park Foodcourt. Other than this, we had another fruit rojak. Still, not the same from the one I had long time ago :( Nevertheless, personally, I find hawker food in Penang are generally yummy. After all these stuffing, we headed down to Queensbay Mall; the most happening mall in Penang to grab some stuff which I forgotten to bring from home - foundation and stocking -.- before heading back to the hotel.

Managed to shoot this from our balcony. The fame Penang Bridge! Nice ya? Just a pity the weather were a little hazy.

We went for a short walk in the garden around the hotel viccinity later that day before getting ready for the dinner that night which will be held at the hotel. It was a really short walk. Not more than 10 minutes. And yet I still got more than 10 patches of mosquito bites! Super itchy!

After dinner, we changed into our comfy clothes and headed downstairs for some drinks. On way, we caught the newly wed couple and posed for another photos. I was not in the picture and I think you know why. Lols... It looks funny with everyone looking so laid back in their tshirts and bermudas except for the bride & groom. As if we wore that for dinner.... hehehehehe...

The view this morning while cruising down the highway back to KL were simply spectacular. Mist shrouding the many hills. This was shot thru a real dirty windscreen of insect mucus. Nevertheless, just to share. :) Like I mentioned earlier, we got back at 9:30am this morning. And, I am so not used to staying at home today. It felt weird. :p

So, how was your day? Hope you had a great one!

I am so glad for all these... REAL DEALS!

2011-05-17T10:00:00.001+08:00

Remember this? A deal I found online which cost only RM48 for a 2.5hours spa treatment at S Spa? Well, we went and it was awesome. Overall rating, I would give a 7/10 but because it was just RM48, I would say, 10/10. Especially love their massage! It was really good. The pressure were just right!

And this? RM39 for hair services at Colorz & Curlz which I promise to share my experience once I went for my treatment? Well, I went for it two Thursday ago and the verdict, superb. Though I just had my hair trimmed (instead of a new hair cut), still, it falls better now over my shoulder. The hair spa was awesome too. My hair felt so soft and bouncy. Totally revitalized! Would definitely be back for more hair spa with voucher or no voucher!

And since then, I've also went for this - a RM58 gold facial treatment which include a neck & eye treatment which lasted for 2.5 hours at Skin Affairs leaving my skin so supple and nice and seriously, I love it there too. Wanted to buy a couple more treatment immediately but thought better of it since I no longer work near the area. It would be quite a hassle going there just for facial.

When I shared these deals with some of my friends, they will usually ask...
1) Sure or not?
2) Will they use inferior products?
3) Bluff one arr?
4) Spam?

Hehehe.... really, these deals are for real. And the treatment quality are as what they promised. If inferior services/products are used, they risk being complained/criticised in FB thus tarnishing their reputation. Besides, these onlines deal sites (Groupon/Milkadeal/Dealmates) make sure services provided are of tip top quality too. Otherwise, they will lose their credibility.

Anyway, other than the above few which I've bought and used, I've also bought this - a lakeside steamboat at P'riok Steamboat Restaurant for two for only RM30 which I planned to go with the husband...

... 2 vouchers at Nolita Caffetteria which entitled us to 2 cups of frozen yoghurt plus a latte per voucher. Perfect for an afternoon outing with a girlfriend.

And a hair colour + treatment + cut + wash + blow treatment at Stage for only RM68. What a deal! I was just chatting with the stylist at Colorz & Curlz the other day, for my length, it would cost at least RM300 for colouring! And now, I am just so glad that they are offering a hair colour deal. I am in dire need for recolouring!

They have all sorts of deals. Real deals. Crafting, dancing, fitness gym, restaurants, hair, facial, mani & pedi, kidz gym, car wash/polishing and etc.... the list just goes on. I am sure you would be able to find something you like. Here are some links that I have. I simply have to share. :)

1) Milkadeal
2) Groupon Malaysia
3) Dealmates.com

Go on, go on check it out now!

p/s: I think besides the above deals, I also have another spa voucher & dinner voucher bought by my other girlfriend. Anyway, we decided that we shall try out new restaurant each time we hang out and thanks to all these online deals, they are made possible! :)

Work + Social

2011-05-15T11:15:00.000+08:00

I've successfully survived 1st week! I think I am getting a hang of this whole waking-up-early business! Planned to sleep in this morning but eyes were already wide opened at 8am. :) Decided to get out of bed and get some houseworks done. One week's worth of LAUNDRY! :p

(Spotted this cute mini two Thurs ago)

And of course, some blogging too. Here are some random photos I shot with my Iphone. Sorry for the bad photo quality. Oh yes, I gotten an Iphone finally. Forgotten to update the story to it. Remember the week the husband got his? Well, I was playing with his phone one fine night and the next morning when I woke up, it was like "I WANT AN IPHONE TODAY!". Got ready, drove to the nearest outlet, and registered for one. :p When I finally gotten one, I still couldn't quite get over it. Went to a nearby cafe for breakfast, stared down at my two phones on the table and went... "Now what?"... Lols... It felt like sleep walking. Maybe it was that. Or maybe, all Iphone had been voodoo-ed. The moment you touched one, you will be voodoo-ed... lols...Anyway, in the end, I got my old number terminated. Don't like the idea of carrying two phones.

On another note, this is what I've gotten mom for Mother's Day. She mentioned sometime ago that she has ran out of perfume and I know that she loves Pleasures from Estee Lauder. This Mother's Day set comes with a couple of other things too - a lip palette, mini loose powder, a Pleasure vial and some other mini stuff which can all be dumped in the handbag conveniently :) Haven't have a chance to pass it to her though. I was too excited re the first day of work which was the day after Mother's Day and decided to stay home and rest before the big day rather than travelling outstation. :) Anyway, I hope she likes them.

This was taken on Wednesday, when we had a short get together near my workplace to celebrate Mambo's birthday (the one in white) as well as my getting back to work before I headed for my dance training at 9:30pm. Though short, we all had a great time! I thought it was really nice. Getting together with non-colleague-friends after a long day at work, sharing light moments talking craps enjoying the moment. You see, it doesn't really feel like 'off work' when we still hang out with colleagues... lols.. you get what I mean? Conversation, jokes, will still lingers around 'work/office'. Can get pretty brain draining you know... lols...

Here's a picture taken of my Gloxinia on Friday morning. 3rd batch of blooms since I gotten it in March this year! This time round, it has 3 buds! I was exhilarated! Lovely aren't they? I really thought they won't survive. Not only did they survived, they have been blooming pretty flowers too! What a pleasant surprise! *super love*

Though exhausted, I still headed up to Genting for some fresh cool air on Friday night with some MRS buddies. Just wanna feel cool air lapping on my face as we touge uphill. It was nice. Enjoyed hot chocolate and shared jokes with the girls while the guys burying their faces into the many different engines exchanging horsepower tips. Lols... Seriously, they never get bored of it!

I was so busy that I didn't even know the husband had gotten my seat changed to a Recaro until I got into the car that Friday night. Lols... Looks like my getting-back-to-work has somehow allowed him more time to his vices. Hehehehe... no wonder he was so motivated with the alarms and all (worrying I couldn't wake up to work). Lols... I must say, with the Recaro, I enjoyed the touge much much better. At least now I don't get flung left and right all the time. :) Nice!

I've not much issue when it come to working. The busier, the better. But fusing 'working' and 'social' together, now, that's tacky. :p With the dancing, happy hours, touge, it can get pretty handful. This past week was 2 hours of dance training on Monday & Wednesday, 1 hour on Thursday, touge up Genting on Friday, Kuala Kangsar for some personal stuff (250km+) on Saturday. By time I got home on dance training days, it was already closed to midnight and I was exhausted. But then again, the exhaustion could be from the 'flip' we experimented on Monday. Let's see how it goes this new week. :)

Even Rumba & Sunshine noticed the difference. Despite however late I got home, I will still let them out to linger for awhile. They will choose to accompany me even though I've coma-ed out in bed instead of the husband who is still wide awake watching some tv programs (he is usually the more favoured one). I used to complain to the husband that they (Rumba & Sunshine) are his dogs. Not mine and I shall not pick up poops or bath them anymore! Hehehehe.... But I guess now I understood them. They just trying to compensate to the one they hardly see! They used to see me so much. So when the husband got home from work, naturally they wanna spend more time with him. How sweet!

My 3rd Day At Work :) (Still smiling)

2011-05-11T18:42:00.000+08:00

Work was super busy. I tell you... the pace of the banking industry is like... bullet train. Super fast! Before I even realised it, it was already 7pm everyday. Goodness gracious!

Wanted to go for a movie last night, Thor. But my eyes can hardly open after dinner. Accummulation from the dance training the day before. I think I conked out before 10pm. In fact, my muscles are aching all over now, a result from the flipping. And tonight, there will be another training session O.o plus a short drinking session with some friends to celebrate a birthday and my getting back to work prior to it. Kill me please!

p/s: Today is just the 3rd day and they already asking me to chart out my annual leaves (and I have plenty of days!). :) I can foresee myself working here for a long long time :). I like!

My First Day At Work :)

2011-05-09T23:55:00.000+08:00

It's 5 minutes to midnight and I just got home. Am dead tired but still I gonna blog a few lines cause I know you guys out there are as excited as I am on my first day back to work. :) No, they didn't slaved me till close to midnight. In fact, work finished at about 6+ but I just stayed behind to put in a little extra while waiting for time to past so that I can hop over to my dance training at 8+ :) So yes, it was all about dancing from 9-11:30pm.

I got up at 6:45am this morning, left the house at 7:15am and arrived at my office at 7:30am. I know, I know, freaking early right. I just wanted to gauge the morning traffic. On normal traffic, it will only take maximum 15 minutes to get there. Since it is the rush hour, better be early than be sorry on the first day of work. ;) Tomorrow morning I going to try for 7:30am and see how it goes. :D

Though yes I've been working all along (part time), the feeling is still strange today. The brain haven't quite registered that I am working full time. After lunch today, the mind was like ... "Home... need to clean this, do that, blah blah blah..."... hahahahaha.... Cause my normal routine are usually like that. Lunch with friends, then home to do housework!

Work part was sort of fine too. First half of day was quite a bored. Things started to move come second part of the day. :) Overall, I like it there and I think I can get used to this new lifestyle. Just need to retrain the brain to be 'meticulous'. Like a friend said, I am too free spirited. Need to chain the spirit back. :p

Dancing wise, it was awesome today. We FLIPPED, literally. Where we kick up in the air, and flipped 360 degree and land on our feet again. At the beginning, I did had a slight panic attack. Come on, afterall, I am not that dainty. Standing at the height of 166cm and weighing 57kg, flipping 360 degree? Yes.. it was O.M.G.! Anyway, despite of my fear, I just went... "Ok la.. die die la.. just do it..." :p Just wanna get it done and over with rather than sitting there being gripped by that sinking fear over and over again. I am proud to say, I SURVIVED it and enjoyed every bit of it. :p

That's all for now. Gotta go snooze. Tata!

p/s: Did you know the husband was so worried that I couldn't wake up this morning and he set additional 2 alarms???? Lols.... I think he is more motivated of me going to work than I actually am. Lols...

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T11:03:00.001+08:00

People said, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend!".

But I would say, "A girl's best friend should be her mommi!".

Despite of having everything, you are still my most treasured. I love you always.

Happy Mother's Day to you as well as all mothers alike!

Restless Sleep & Fast 5

2011-05-08T10:30:00.000+08:00

It was a restless sleep throughout the night. :p This may sound a little, ermm, I dunno what you called it, but like it or not, I am indeed a little nervous + a whole lot of excitement in anticipation of tomorrow. Dreamed so much last night and all of them was something to do with I was late for work. I couldn't wake up in time, I was caught in jam, I was somewhere else and forgotten I gotta work, I messed up the days (like what Alina said)... :p Then half asleep I kept running a check in my mind what day is today? Was it really Sunday or maybe it is already Monday and my mind is denying it cause it wanna sleep in a little more... Boy! I tell you, that is scary! Lols...

Was out with The Fernandez last night for Fast & Furious 5 and it was awesome (it was 2nd watch for them). I suddenly feel like wanting so many cars and suddenly have a strong urge to be fast & furious... lols... About time for another drive. :p

Seriously, can 2 Dodge Charger cart away a vault like that? Lols..... And the vault was filled max with paper money. Easily 40 tons? Some more can drag it all over town, reverse pushing it, fling it & etc and yet, there is not a scratch on the car not the vault. Seriously seriously? Come on Hollywood, at least add some dents to make it a little more realistic.

But then again, they probably got the idea from our very own headline here in Malaysia. Remember some years back, there were some ingenious robbers at our very own backyard carting away ATM machines? I guess the movie people just dramatized it to a bank's vault instead. Movie mah... have to be a little exaggerating :p. Now let's just wait and see if there is any 'robber' out there inspired by Fast 5 and decided to drag a bank vault out onto the street :p. It will definitely be quite a sight! Can't wait!

2011-05-06T17:13:00.000+08:00

I am rushing against time, to accomplish all that is needed to be done, b4 'The Day'. Am starting work on Monday!

Nothing important... just some thoughts

2011-05-04T11:45:00.001+08:00

Having not been on a 'real' job for almost 4 years, I am actually pretty glad this time round to be getting back to work. Like what my other girlfriend said, "Welcome back to the rat race!". But there is no where that I wanna race to. :p I am contented just to go to work.

I was having a conversation with mom the other day re the job while she was in town and she said... "Good to be working in this company... have opportunity to grow.." and I replied, "I am just a small fry, where else can I grow?".. lols... and she replied ".. CEO".. we both had a good laugh over that. That was just a joke. I thought it was rather funny to share.

Many lamented that I am just plain lazy that's why I choose not to work. Or rather, I am living off the husband. But who can be certain who is living off who? :) But I guess all these bores down to different mindset. After all, variety of people spices up the world.

Throughout this period, I was offered not once but many times of a full time employment. Both from my existing company as well as some other companies and I've turned them all down without hesitation. I don't know. I guess I just needed 'my time' rather badly that's why. I started working right out of college in 1996. After more than 10 years of working day in & out, piling on responsibility after responsibility (and it usually gets bigger and bigger too), I just had enough of it. It dawns on me what's the point of having more money when I don't even have time for myself? I rather enjoy my hot coffee in the garden than having a Gucci hanging on my arm. :p

I consider myself blessed these past 4 years of non-real-work. Money simply falls from the sky. Don't ask me where, it's a secret. :p hahaha... I guess if one wishes to takes 4 years off, it is really, not impossible. One just need to reorganize one's life and plan well ahead. Reduced liabilities, increases alternative incomes (online biz, direct selling, part time job, rental collections & etc) and prepared to cut back on luxuries (Gucci, Prada, Anya & etc). It was just that simple. Once you have all that in place, toss in your letter. :) Like I said, sometimes, all it take is just a simple hot cup of coffee in the garden to make one happy.

But then again, I am never ambitious to begin with or I would not have taken that 4 years off. :) To the ambitious ones, that would be a total waste of time. But to me, it was a gain in life! The luxury of doing things that my heart desire, visiting places that I wish, waking up to nothing stressful or crucial, enjoying the malls at it's most non-peak hours (i.e. during the work hours), catching up with friends over lunch/coffee/dinner, indulge in my hobbies of various crafting/gardening/baking & etc. Besides these 'fun' things to do, of course it also comes along with the not-so-fun things to do as well like chores - houseworks, groceries shopping, bathing & grooming the furkids & etc. Since I am the one at home that doesn't work for 'real', everything else involving the house will be my responsibility. This is what some said, you win some, you lose some. But I would say, I still wins them all. :)

p/s: Some of you may ask "so why I decided to work now?" and this is why... (1) I am beginning to get bored, (2) I miss working and most importantly, (3) I can't get Anya Hindmarch & Canon 7D out of my head. :p

2011-04-27T14:19:00.000+08:00

I am most probably gonna start a real job soon. 'Most probably' cause it is still subject to some stuff before finalization and 'real job' means 8:45am-5:45pm (I wonder how am I going to drag myself out of slumber at those ungodly hours!), 5 days week (no more hanging with friends for 4 hours lunches!).

The strangest part is, I am actually *excited*!

The Sensational Energizer Night Race 2011

2011-04-22T02:12:00.003+08:00

By now, I am sure most of you already aware of the whole Energizer Night Race's fiasco that took place last Saturday. Both Energizer Malaysia (the title sponsor) as well as Expose Media (the event organizer) had issue apology letters to all runners of the night. It was such a pity really. That was one event that many look forward to. And I, was one of the many. :) When I said 'many', believe me, it was really MANY. A total of 10,000 runners to blow your mind away! If each of them gonna fart simultaneously, I think it would be toxic-er than Fukushima. Ok ok, erase that last part out of your mind. It's disgusting. :p

There were many reasons why the Energizer Night Race 2011 was a highly anticipated event:

It was an international format race - done in South Korea, Argentina, Philippines and South Africa.
Every registered runner would receive a unique Energizer LED Headlight to be worn on while they run.
This year's race will be held in the Sepang International F1 Circuit (SIC), barely a week after the Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix leg, where many would never have a chance to set foot in if they are not a motorsports enthusiast. If try hard enough, one might still sniff some leftover smoke! :p
Winners would have a chance to stand on the very podium Sebastien Vettel, Jenson Button & Nick Heidfeld stood less than a week ago!
Plenty of big sponsors. Meaning, plenty of goodies too!
Get to run alongside iconic runners such as Mohd. Shariff Abdullah, the 'Singapore Blade Runner' who runs with a prosthetic leg.

But, despite of all the awesomeness listed above, there was just one reason for me running. I ran because it was a night race. Just that. I love running at night. Somehow the night air seems to suit me better. Less allergens in the air to trigger the whizzing plus I am usually more 'energized' too unlike running in the morning when I would still be half asleep. Lols.

I didn't managed to register a place for the run actually. By the time I dilly-dallied, the registration was already closed. My running buddies were grumbling at me. I was actually secretly celebrating it :p. Can kick back and relax a little :p. (I know, shame on me!) What can I do? It wasn't my fault the 10,000 places was filled in 45 days! An average of 222+ registrations per day!!! Mad crazy right?

Unfortunately, my celebration was short-lived. A week prior to the run, Evie (3bittersweetlemon), my run buddy (who dengki (jealous) that I didn't signed up) called. She mentioned something about running as 'Media' and that she will be forwarding an email to me and all I have to do was just to register. That was how my fate was sealed for the 5.5km run. Evie kept instigating me to go for 11km. Mad woman. I seriously don't want to torture myself that way. (And now they are conspiring to sign me up for 21km! I might as well just go dig myself a hole and die!)

Overall, the run started off rather pleasantly for me. I was not caught in the tunnel ('tunnel of death' some claimed) to the paddock nor did I have any issue at the headlight collection point. The husband & I arrived at 6pm where the human traffic in the tunnel were still alright. Didn't collect the headlights at the end of the tunnel cause I was under the impression that I ran under 'Media' and was not entitled to any goodies. Meaning, even if I break the world's record time, I would still not be entitled to prizes. I was just a 'free' runner. :)

Met up with the rest of the gang at PowerBar's booth and was informed by Evie that I should go register myself at the Media Center. And so I went. (7)

I was surprised when they gave me not only a big bagful of goodies (a photographer vest, a sigg bottle, shavers from Schicks, tampons from Playtex, battery charger from Energizer & etc) but a run bib as well. :) I certainly didn't expect anything like that. I just wanted to run at night. But now that they gave me a bib number, I like :). Felt that I am part of something big. :) Luckily the husband came along or I would have no one to jaga (watch over) my loots.

Together with my bib, I return to the end where participants are emerging from the tunnel to queue for the headlight. Evie said I won't be able to see on the track without one. I doubt. Nevertheless, I don't wanna be left out. :) I got my headlight without much drama. I was told that the headlight collection point was later abandoned by the person-in-charge when all hell broke loose. Runners agitation for being stuck in the tunnel for too long (1). Everyone was free to help themselves to those headlights. As usual, in this part of the world (unlike Japan), when something is free, they would grab as many as they can. A defect in the mindset that would take many more generations to perfect.

Upon collection/registration of everything that needed to be collected/registered, I joined the rest of the group at the carnival site. The carnival site was set up actually for people like the husband - supporters & spectators, so that they will not be left out of the fun and at the same time get to kill some time while we ran. :) Besides the many more free goodies given out there from the event sponsors' booths, there were also screenings of movies and an in-line skating competition. :) The husband should be very well entertained right? But he prefer to stand by the pit waiting for me to finish my lap. Lols... Probably he was worried that his blur wife would roll into a drain or something or lost her way. Hahahaha...(8)

One photo with the battery!

There was a session of massive group warm up exercise too led my trainers from Fitness First.

The atmosphere was nice seeing so many people warming up at once with loud music blaring in the air.

Of course I didn't follow the session or you wouldn't have all these 'funtastic' photos. Actually, it was because there were these three girls sitting on the floor right behind me. I don't like people staring up my butt from that angle when I sway them left and right. -.- Unless of course if that person is some yummilicious hunk, I wouldn't mind swaying them all night long. ;)

Spotted 'man of steel' flashing his undies while we were chilling out waiting for flag off time. I was joking with the girls... 'Let's grope and see how 'steel' man of steel is'. Hehehehe... Seriously, 'Man of Steel' undies????! And flashing it still???? What was he thinking?

Soon, the time has come for flag off. The kompang group (malay traditional drum) can be seen here leading the 42km runners to the 'start line'; the first category to be flagged off.

Our F1 circuit at night. Beautiful. :) There was a line of marshals on bikes getting ready too for the flag off (2).

And hooligans climbing up the concrete divider, to get a better view over the fence above the divider. Seriously, sometimes I wonder where did they came from. Some jungle or something? Didn't it every crossed their mind the fence is there for a reason? Or, with so many people hanging/leaning against it, it might collapse? I guess, again, 3rd world mentality, when it collapse, they will cry foul and sue the organizer.

There was this young mother, carried her young son up the already packed divider and asked him to hold on tightly. Then she pull herself up too followed by the husband!!! My spot was without the fence for photography purpose. The son just kept inching till right in front my lens! I was very tempted to bite him. Wtf man? The mother apologized hoping I would be kind enough to let her son stay where he was. Kindness went on leave that day :p. I just gave her a look and told her to please remove him. I've no issue with the boy but the parents. What kind of parenting is that? Anyway, enough of bad parenting. Like I said, it would take many more generations for rectifications.

All hyped up runners getting ready at the start line. I wonder what's going on in their mind at that very moment ~ "Oh shit... wtf have I put myself into?"... hahahahaha... For me, I know it pops up halfway thru my 5.5km. Lols... Somehow, 5.5km seems so much farther in that F1 circuit. It was like a never ending stretch! One corner after another, and another and another and another..... Usher's OMG kept playing over and over again in my head for every corners I turned! Just the chorus part though... hahahaha....

The runners dashing off on sound of a horn :)

Slow and steady pace. :)

Check out the coolness of that LED headlights caught in this photo which runners had them strapped on while they ran. It look like a long stream of lights! :)

Runners for the rest of the categories packed into the pit waiting for their turn. This is more or less the point when more chaoticness set in. The music were just blaring too loud, announcement over the PA system were too echoey. Runners not sure where to go. I am alright though cause the itinerary was given to me at the Media Center.

5.5km category was the last group to be flagged off. I managed somehow, got myself to the starting line, amidst hundreds/thousands of sweaty bodies and smelly armpits. :p It was exciting standing there, all ready, waiting for the cue to run!

I just sprinted the moment they counted to 1 followed by a loud horn indicating the flag off. I know I should pace myself but there were just too many obstacles to pace myself properly. I just wanna get myself out of that mass! :p I think I ran for about 1.5km before I slowed down to walk to catch my breath before continuing on with a walk & sprint pattern. Seriously, all runners should be educated with 'running etiquette'! Common sense mostly.

If you need to walk, walk on far left lane.
If you are running slow & steady, middle lane.
Keep the right lane clear for average to fast runners.
And if you need to stop for whatever reason, do it off the course.

I find the run quite bored cause there were not much entertainment to look forward to along the route or perhaps I was just spoilt by Nike 10.10.10 Run where entertainment were abundant (3). Over here, the only entertainment I had was a medic kiosk and a water kiosk. Both of which I gave it a pass cause nothing in me cramps and I am not thirsty. The water kiosk was packed to brim I tell you. Cups & cans were littered all over the track! Sigh... (4).

It was pitch black mostly save for the headlights strapped on the runners - head, leg, waist and everywhere they can think of. I had mine on my arm instead. Didn't want to strap it on my head cause it somehow gave me the urge to tap rubber, just kidding...hehehehe... (used to see rubber tappers wearing a light on their forehead when they goes out to work in the wee hour of the morning).

I got back pretty fast, faster than what I clocked at Nike I think (5). The husband pointed to a counter for 5.5km finisher to queue for 'something' and I queued. Another reason I think I got back pretty fast also cause the finisher queue was just less than 5m long when I joined. Upon collection of my 'something', I turned around and saw that the queue had suddenly grew so long! Lucky me!

The 'something' that I collected was actually more goodies :) More or less the same stuff found in my Media's goodie bag, minus the photographer's vest, plus a 'Certificate of Participation' for me to fill my name in and a 5.5km finisher qualifier medal! Wow... they actually gave us a medal! Unlike in Nike, it was just a plastic figurine. I was a little disappointed when I got that at Nike's. But now, on second thought, I think a figurine would be better as compared to a medal right? At least it can be displayed. Hmmm.... the heart never contend. Lols...

Watched 'Transformer' being aired on the big screen while waiting for the rest of the group at our agreed 'after-run-meet-point'. Waited for about 45minutes and still no one turn up. Decided to go survey the area for them for just in case we messed up the points.

It was then that I witness how crazy the finisher's goodie bag points has turned into. It was no longer that orderly line I was in earlier. Everyone just helped themselves to the bags. Sigh... (6).

I saw runners carting away bunch of bananas, crates of mineral water & etc and I was so tempted to walk up to them ..."Hey monkey, you never eaten a banana before is it?" but thought better of it. I only got a husband with me for protection. Not a whole squad of SWAT team. Seriously?!? Bananas?!?

Luckily I only ran 5.5km and I managed to skip all these madness. Just pity my friends who ran for 11km & 21km. They smacked right into all these nonsense. Those 42km runners were the worst. They were still running outside when the organizer abandoned the venue/when we drove off.

Like what I mentioned earlier, it was a much anticipated run event. It was just a pity it has to turn out this way. From what I've observed, these are my findings:-

(1) Headlights collection point was unstrategically placed. Organizer should have study the venue more carefully and take into consideration the massiveness of the crowds before deciding on the points of collection.

(2) Lack of race marshals. With more than 10 corners along the route, there should be a lot more marshals on site to make sure runners do not cut thru shortcuts as well as to assist should someone injured or something. (I know, I don't know why these cheaters ran in the first place. As I had mentioned, 'mental defect'.)

(3) Have every kilometer marked along the route so that runners know how much they have completed. Also, can set up cheer leading groups at every corner to cheer the runners on! Thus creating a merrier atmosphere with more entertainments.

(4) More water & medic kiosks certainly! These are very very important. Again, more hands to get the drinks ready in paper cups instead of handing out cans which proves to be a nuisance when it was thrown all over the track. I've to make sure I don't trip over one as I ran pass the area.

(5) Invest in disposable time recorder strip for every runners to be strapped onto their shoe not just for the 21km & 42km runners. Then all runners can be flagged off at the same time save the messiness. All that is left to do were just big signage at cross junctions for different categories to be branch off. Recorded time would be automatically uploaded into a system and every runners would be able to know their time.

(6) Simplify process of handing out finisher's goodie bag so that the queue can be cleared as soon as the runners come in. Instead of just having one queue handing out goodie bag + water + banana + medal + certificate, have 5 queues per category to just hand out medals & water. Set up this queues say 100m from the finish line. Have big signage showing queues for 5.5km, 11km, 21km & 42km so that runners knows where to go to. As for the goodie bags, have few booths set up at the carnival area for runners to collect later. Not only will this clear the traffic, it brings them to the carnival where sponsor's booths are. Good for publicity too.

(7) Again, more signage please. If not for Evie, I would probably never find the 'Media Center' .

(8) Non runners shouldn't be allowed into the pit.

As I was writing this, another Media Statement was issued from Energizer Malaysia stating that they would now take over Expose Media's prior commitment to fully distribute all certificates, medals, finishers' t-shirts, headlights and complimentary gifts to every registered participant in the race. Not only that, they will also refund the full registration fees for every registered participant as previously announced.

Well, as of now, the event has already came and gone. Good or bad, no point crying over spilt milk. Whatever happened, has happened. Whatever shouldn't happened had also happened. At least the organizer as well as the title sponsor (Energizer Malaysia) has came forward and taken full responsibility of the mismanagement of the event. I just hope that all future organizers of such events would be more meticulous in their planning process. Put runners well being first priority. It was just fortunate that this time round there was no more untoward incidents. Worst could have had happened.

Nevertheless, I still think it was a sensational race. Both in good & bad ways. :)

A Short Getaway To Avillion PD (plus some points to ponder)

2011-04-20T02:54:00.001+08:00

In the midst of dinner the other night, I was chatting with the husband. I said, "Darling, if a Genie were to jump out now and give me two options to choose one from...

(1) blasting me back to the past to school days time where there were no worries; or

(2) blasting me to the future,

... I would ask the Genie to go fly kite instead :p. I love life so much that there is not a thing that I would like to change if I were to relive the past nor would I want to fast forward to the future and miss the process of getting there be it good or bad. Good or bad, I want to embrace it all. They are just life experiences that adds value. :) Don't believe me? Let's take a walk down memory lane. Identify the 'worst' part of your life. Does it even feel that 'worst' now? Not really isn't it. If you allow yourself to, you may even smile at it now. :)

***

Anyway, two weekends ago, went for a short weekend getaway with Flor & Mambo to Port Dickson to unwind and chill out a little. Just a short 2D/1N thingy. Nothing elaborate about the short trip. A less than an hour journey to sun, sea and sand and not forgetting a whole lot of imagined fresh air too. Still good. (Imagined cause I think it is still too closed to city for any quality fresh air!). :)

We stayed at the much talked about Water Chalet at the Avillion. A perfect idyllic little place for a short getaway :) It was really nice and I fell in love with it immediately. It was my virgin trip to Avillion. My other two friends had been there before. So they are not as mad about the whole place as I did. :p

Each of our unit came with a private sundeck, a huge bathroom with an open air shower (which I forgotten to take picture. No, actually I don't really fancy taking pictures of toilets to share... :p), a really nice day bed to chill plus a huge four posted king size bed!

We forgotten to request for a twin sharing or probably the agent who handled our booking at their KL office thought we are just a hot lesbian couple on honeymoon! Lols.....

This little town where Avillion is used to produce charcoal a long time ago. Other than charcoal, tin ore were plentiful too in Lukut (an area within the district) which attracted Chinese immigrant miners. The British envisioned the little town to have great potential as a harbour. It was later developed as a small port by the British. It was believed to be named after a Sir John Frederick Dickson who was the officer in-charge during that era in 1889. Since then, it has evolved into a busy trading centre with construction of railways to facilitate growth. Today, Port Dickson is no longer a busy port nor trading centre. Just a little town with beautiful tourist destinations. :)

All three of us agreed that though the resort is pretty near to the city, it still able to emit the 'feel' of a vacation. The only downside was, the people working at the resort were not as hospitable as resorts in Bali or Phuket. One don't get friendly smiles or greetings whenever path are crossed. Hmm... probably is just a Malaysian to Malaysian thingy. Maybe a local tourist is not considered a tourist. You save your smile for another more worthy tourist. :p

There is even a petting zoo in Avillion that housed many cute little animals which include a variety of rabbits, beautiful pet chickens and colourful peacocks. There was a time as we were walking past, we found a chicken outside the fenced up little zoo, pecking at the fence wanting to get back inside. Worrying about it's safety, we rounded up on the little chicken with the intention of getting hold of it and putting it back to it's rightful place. As we were closing in on it, it suddenly flew and went across into the zoo. It really caught us all by surprise. We were in shock for a sec before breaking out in hysterical laughters. We forgotten that chicken do fly! Lols... With that, we realized that the fence was not built to keep the pets in, but, to keep the human out. Dang...!

The birds are free to roam/fly anywhere they like in the resort. This peacock was seen taking it's evening stroll by the pool where we were sun tanning (Flor)/swimming (Mambo)/lazing out (me with a book!). It was so cool isn't it?

Nothing beats a cold beer by the pool on a beautiful hot sunny day except for Coke Light of course cause I am having it! I was pretty tempted to go for a beer but was watching my weight. Somehow, I just bloat madly with beer. Better watch it before I crush my dance partner to pile of nothingness. :p

What I love most at Avillion (besides the fabulous water chalet) is their other pool which is strictly for adults only. No, nothing of that sort that is currently playing in your mind. We don't swim in nude. Lols. Just no children. Rather nice actually for a change. Can just sun, swim, read, drink and doze off there! :) Peaceful. What more to ask for for just RM200? Yeah, just RM200, about US$70. Not RM2000. :)

What happened was, sometime in March, Flor and I was in desperate need for a short vacation. Then she remembered a friend mentioned something about some Avillion package promotion that was going on. She immediately called up to enquire and the next thing I remembered was, the two of us marching into their office in KL and purchased a 1 year membership for RM599! With this membership, we are entitled to:

1 night stay in Avillion Port Dickson

1 night stay in Avillion Admiral Cove

1 night stay in Avillion Legacy Malacca

plus a whole lots of discounts vouchers, free meals and special room rates.

RM599 divided between the two of us were just RM299.50! I would say that is like super cheap! And that, is how we ended up with a 2D/1N getaway to Avillion Port Dickson! :) As for Mambo, he couldn't resist the deal when we told him about it during one of our happy hours session.

When we got tired of the pool, we went fly kite at the beach. Literally. Actually I was busy taking pictures most of the time. They were the ones who flew the kite.

Flor was smart enough to bring a kite or we would have one less thing to do there (or I would have one less object to shoot) :p. The vivid colours of the kite against the blue sky were simply awesome!

One of the many shots that I like :) My unsuspecting targets enjoying the sunsetting beach.

And another of a golden sunset with tiny stretch of dry land with trees plus an oil platform caught in the far distance.

And of course two hot babes by the beach to complete the picture. Afterall, what is beach photography without babes?!? Hehehe... It was also at this very moment that I was attacked by sandflies. I tell you, they really are the most annoying little bunch of creatures in the world. The itch..... can die arr!!! I have counted a total of more than 10 nasty big red bites on my legs and arms. Just perfect when I have to look my best for a dinner event!

That's me having a go at maintaining the kite up there and oh boy! They were surprised when I could handle it so naturally. Come on, flying a kite is like the main hi-light of my childhood ok... (and adulthood too but that is a totally different aspect altogether :p). I was like one of the best kite flyer along my jalan (the street I lived in). Under 'little girls' category that is. :) But still.... it is worth something. :)

We had a simple dinner of chilli crabs, fried rice and eggs/vege (I couldn't quite recall) with help of a GPS which pointed us to a rather presentable place listed under 'restaurants' in Port Dickson. The name of the restaurant was something .. Seaview. :p Lols... I was too hungry to take note of it. But, I also believe there are many other equally yummy restaurants scattered around Port Dickson too. Just be adventurous when you are there next time. Mini myni mini mo to pick one :D

We collected our pre ordered complimentary marble cheese cake from the hotel's coffee house before adjourning back to Mambo's suite (cause we don't wanna mess up our's :p) for a small belated birthday celebration for Flor. The cake were simply delicious. Not too sweet and the texture were just right. It was just a pity that we were not able to finish it and it was too big to be stuffed into the mini bar.

Our one and only group photo for the trip. Can tell we had had a great day!

It was monopoly after that. I tell you, playing a game of monopoly with filled tummies + good wine can get pretty, ermm... pretty crazy. Everything just seems extra funny and hillarious. We laughed so much that evening, at practically everything. The best part was, we only had a bottle of wine plus a sip of tequila which eventually had me swore off it for good. It was yucky! I don't like TEQUILA.

Here I got bored building so many houses, I gave myself a silly teenager's hairdo while waiting for them to settle their debts :p

I was never into monopoly much but this set that Mambo brought really had me fallen head over heels with the game. It was a cashless game. Transactions of million dollars are done strictly thru credit cards. Monopoly credit card that is. Impressive. Now I am itching to get a set for myself. :) Oh, did I mentioned that Mambo collects Monopoly set from all over the world?

Picture of my properties in London and New York! If only they were real... I really can goyang kaki already (shake legs)... :p

The first one to hit a balance of 600k and below and a bankruptcy eventually.

The other bankruptcy.

And the millionaire for the night was yours truly :) Millionaire, millionaire, millionHAIR got la....

We relax out at the patio after that enjoying our wine together with the sea breeze and the shimmering lights from a distance shore chatting away at nothing of importance before calling it a night. I love an easy outing like this one. Going home smelling of sun!

***

Even though I may stand a risk of not remembering a thing at the end and still, I wouldn't want to miss a thing. I simply love being alive and welcoming what each day would bring be it exciting or not. I love breathing in a lung full of fresh air (though they are usually not fresh in this part of the city we are living in, but still...), I love irritating the hell out of the husband, I love running through the dance choreo in my head over and over again, I love making silly jokes out of myself, I love having nothing to do though sometimes it bores the hell out of me.

What's the point of living life complaining about it? At the end of the day, we just wasted our lifetime away. I really don't know what's the meaning of 'a lifetime'. Is a lifetime now? Or now is it just a small part of a bigger thing? Like in a game or something. Like this is just a stage that we have to get thru to get to a bigger picture. Hmmm... points to ponder. But then again, whatever a lifetime means, does it really matters?

Another Real Deal I Found

2011-04-14T00:37:00.000+08:00

Just something to share. Accidentally bumped into this site (Groupon Malaysia) days ago and bought myself a 'Professional Hair Service Session' from ColorZ n CurlZ worth RM113 for only RM39. Am in need of hair trimming + treatment afterall. My hair is turning into some unmanageable grassland :p. Dry from all the colouring, splits end and all those common hair issue. I am not particular with salon for simple trims. Since it is near my office, why not. If you are in need for a cut, give it a try. It's only RM39 for hair cut + treatment + wash + blow. :)

My IPhone4 Surprises

2011-04-11T11:24:00.002+08:00

Last Tuesday the husband finally gotten his long wanted & awaited IPhone4 when it was delivered to him to the office. So for the rest of the afternoon, he was busy taunting me.

Sometime after lunch, he messaged me this... "I have a surprise for you and I am so excited and I am not gonna say anything more... "... and so I replied "A surprise?? Ok, I going to Celcom now to have my big ass simcard change to the mini simcard!" I was actually just teasing him...lols... At the back of my head, I was thinking, if he had all along intended to get me the phone, then he have pretended really well. Wow...! What an improvement in 'secret keeping' department! Anyway, the last message was, I told him if the surprise is the Iphone4, he should keep it for himself. He deserve something nice for once. I am still happy with my Samsung.

When he got home in the evening, he placed the IPhone box on the table right in front of me and have something else hidden under his shirt. :p I was asked to close my eyes for the surprise. I really did half expected the emergence of an Iphone. I thought he probably have gotten two behind my back. While peeping thru my lashes, I saw out came a bar of chocolate instead! Lols... A tiny weeny bit of disappointment but it was alright cause I never really wanted it anyway.

Halfway munching down my bar of surprise (and i tell you, it was super yummy), the husband told me to go check out what's in the gloves compartment in the car. I found something wrapped in this ugly wrapping paper. The first thing I asked was not what is in the box but... "Why the wrapper like that one??? So, erm.... classic!". Hahahahaha....

By then, I actually sort of have guessed what's in the box. The chocolate was the giveaway hint. Lols... Remember Enzo? The Italian chef at Buonasera? He sort of already called me that afternoon and told me that he got me some chocolate from his most recent Italy trip. And that evening, I've actually planned to head over to his restaurant to collect the chocolate as well as to pick thru some leather goods that he had brought back with him. So now you now, by the time the husband asked me to check out the gloves compartment, I already know what's up in his sleeves. :D

I did, I did tried to act blur and stupid. But I was never really a good actress to begin with! :p

He got me a Miu Miu purse. Love the green! Always love colours instead of conventional black or pink (like most thing I've got). The next question I had for him after I opened up the box was... "No Gucci or Prada???" :p He just rolled his eyes and walked away... Hahaha....

The Weekend Mom Was Here...

2011-04-07T15:42:00.000+08:00

... and we did all these. A long overdue post. Remember the weekend mom was here with tonnes of socks for that 'Socks for Japan Drive'? Her 2d/1n trip ended up being a 3d/2n trip :) and we did some stuff together.

Brought her to Foundry cause wanted mom to try their wacky cake (as per Enzo's words). We had brunch there. It was 'nasi lemak rendang ayam' for the husband and I, 'chicken chop' for Flor and 'chicken cordon bleu' for mom. (nasi lemak = rice cooked in coconut milk)

We all enjoyed our food so much. The total bill came to about RM100+. Pretty alright for 4 mains, 3 drinks, 3 cakes!

But what mom enjoyed most was the 'Vanilla Mille Crepe'. One bite into it and she went, "I can finish this piece by myself" (erm, we were supposed to share?)... hahaha... and she went on discussing with Flor how it was baked.

And said that come her birthday, she don't mind having mille crepe for her birthday (ermm?). Lols... :) I am happy when she enjoyed the food I brought her to.

We went shopping at Uniqlo after that and she found some stuff that she really fancy and had a great time. That evening, we had dinner at Enzo's. The food were yummillicious. Mom kept saying that she was very full and yet she still managed for dessert. But who can resists Enzo's dessert?! Hahahaha...

Headed down to Modesto after dinner. Wanted to show mom the salsa scene in KL. It is afterall, part of my life. We got there pretty early. No, actually the crowd seems to be coming in later and later these days. The dance floor will only start filling up after midnight. We used to go at 10pm and be back slightly past midnight. Nowadays, we will probably be the only ones there between that time. :p Since we were early, we camwhored a little. Lols... Check out mom's blue top which she just gotten that afternoon. She looks good in them! And my little dress, with black sequinne top and leopard spot frills below, which I bought from Singapore some years back, and I always must stressed, cost only S$9.50 (RM20+ or US$7+). :p

The husband and his mom-in-law.

Florence & I with mom.

Mom on her 'fatt hao' mode (vain mode). We were having so much fun snapping away until an ass*ole sitting like 100m away came over to tell us our flash is disturbing him. Ok fine. The crowd has started to fill in anyway. :p We danced a little, introduce mom to some close friends, chit chatted a little and left at about 12ish I think.

On way home, the husband decided to take us to supper. Yeah, men eats all the time. Lols... So now you know why I seems to be putting on weight (besides the happy hours). Hehehe... We went to our favourite 'lok lok' stall in Solaris. Favourite cause I never really a big fan of 'lok lok' cause I felt it is very unhygienic with everyone sharing the same boiling pot. Some irresponsibe clown might double dip. The owner of this particular van is extreme particular about clowns like that. That's what I like about it. :)

For those of you overseas and not knowing what I am blabbering about, 'lok lok' actually means 'dip dip'. Same technic as 'steamboat'. Just dip your food into boiling pot and wait for it to cook. These lok lok stalls are actually converted vans.

The back portion of the van has been modified to fit trays of food on display, boiling pots, as well as bbq grill. Neat huh!

Different food have different prices and they are colour coded on the stick. Just like how sushi are with their different plate's colour!

And here are the prices. Colourless stick = RM2/stick. Green stick = RM1.80/stick. :)

And they do house parties too. They charge a flat rate of RM750+ for food enough for 30pax. Anything additional will be charged separately. I think it is a fair rate. Save us the trouble of having to prepare food and all. And guests can have fun lok lok-ing or grilling their food. After the party, the mess will just be driven away. Cool huh...Lols.

I managed to 'interview' the owner on one of the nights we were there. Basically he runs the biz on commission only. Meaning, the van, the food, everything belongs to the boss. His earning would be based on how much he sold and it is his cost to pay off all other misc fees such as gangster fees, coffee fees (bribe), summons (if any).

Anyway, we went on enjoying our food. Just as we were about to go, a fight broke out across the street. The four of us were like sitting there, yummies in hand, waiting for some real drama. Unfortunately for us, there was none. It was just shoving and pushing and yelling. After that, dispersed. No fight. What a disappointment. :p