FeR's

Not here anymore

2008-12-27T15:38:00.000+08:00

I don't blog here anymore - it's all at www.jewoley.com

Thanks!

Hello!

2008-01-13T17:14:00.000+08:00

Do not change my blog address yet because I'm still trying to work out the new template and stuff...don't think it's going to happen by this week, though.

Meanwhile, I will be updating here until I get the hang of things and until my very eligible *ahem* housemate gets back from India.

One more thing

2008-01-10T23:42:00.000+08:00

...to take up whatever time that I have in my hands.

No wonder I like being alone - there are too many things to do!

***

I now have WordPress installed by my very eligible housemate.

*ahem*

I am not happy because the test site is exactly like everybody else's who have WordPress installed - I want to come up with my own theme! Ambitious gila gila...

One day I will get it done...just not now. It's too crazy.
The tutorials are as if written in another language that I cannot understand. Either that or I'm not as quick of a learner in all things non-work related anymore (oh no! What else can I do then?)...

Welcome to a whole new world of CSS, XHTML, PHP...etc.
Not that new but still, it's confusing.

Why must I be so ambitious and insistent on wanting everything my own way?!

*wails*

Just pretend I didn't say I was on an internet/blogging break lah...*hehe*

If you haven't noticed...

2008-01-08T23:38:00.000+08:00

...I'm taking a break from the internet. Sort of.
(Yeah right. Pfft. Two days and you call it a break...and it's off blogging, not really the internet.)

Will be trying out probably two other recipes for CNY. It's next month!!!

Nothing I can write about here at the moment, life has been TOO eventful. *ahem*

While searching for recipes, I found Che-Cheh...guess what was the first thing that got my attention?

***

I accidentally deleted my own template. Thank God for internet cache's...

I'm frustrated trying to figure out how to work the classic template of Blogger. I've searched through the help page but it's all for nothing. Why can't I find a code for the "label" tag?! I don't want it to be before my signature, I want it to be after!

GARGH!

I can't even space it out further away from my post...don't know how (but I know something CAN be done because I've seen it on Jenny's site.

*sigh*

I think I shall dedicate one day (or more) to migrate to WordPress...if I feel brave enough. I pening looking at the instructions and all. Anyone wants to help me? (Whether it's to migrate or to solve my problem!)

Any volunteers?

2008-01-05T23:58:00.000+08:00

Any idea what is it?
It's not biscuits though it needs rubbing the butter into the flour...(and I AM interested to try AuntyJo's recipe one day)

I think before anyone reads this, I would already have gotten my voluntary guinea pigs at church tomorrow. *hehe*

I said I have something new to try out...and it's actually pineapple tarts! I wanted to try making them because I thought for this year's CNY I could make some for ourselves (rather than buying and this is one of mom's must-buy)...mana tau mom tells me they are not coming back.

I still chose to make it because I've already bought some of the ingredients/items to practice with, so practice I shall! At least I would have some pictures to show mom. *hehe*

I "cheat" this time by buying the pineapple paste because I want to get the pastry right first. This would be the first and the last time I would want to buy this paste (or at least, from this particular shop) because it's soooooooooooooooooooooo sweet!
Take one or two pieces, I think you'd be sick of it already.

It's literally back breaking to make these morsels. Ugh!
I'd not complain about the price of tarts next time...it IS a lot of work and it's tedious.

I'm really glad that the pastry came out right!
Wheeeeee!!! Melt-in-mouth buttery!
It shouldn't come as a surprise since the ratio of flour:butter is around 1:1 if not more butter!

Mmmm-mmm! (If I may say so myself *hehe!*)

I'm seeing another attempt for this...and still using the same paste, only because I've got loads left.
Anyone wants to help make 'em?

***

Edited 855pm [6th January]

Hmmm...I've tried searching if it's possible to reboil the pineapple paste and make it less sweet but nothing comes up. Any idea? Anyone's mom knows?
*hehe*
I have quite a lot of it left and the verdict I got today - it IS super sweet. Ugh. Thinking about it now makes my tooth (yea, this particular one on my lower jaw on the left) hurt...

If there is no remedy, I guess I will have to prepare more pastry for the paste the next time I attempt this again.

Less paste + more pastry = more work!

The second and third batch of tarts that came out, the pastry wasn't as melt-in-mouth because I kiasu and left them in the oven for too long...because they didn't brown nicely even after glazing it with egg wash. Probably I would have to follow the recipe directly to use egg yolk only instead of the whole egg. I thought since AuntyJo used the whole egg+milk to glaze her biscuits, I could use the same method to glaze the tarts. Tak jadi pulak...

Maybe by the time board-game's night comes around, you'd get to have some? *hehe*

For you to see, LC

2008-01-05T00:29:00.000+08:00

You know we all wished that you could be here with us...here are some updated links.

New Year's Eve with SKL
New Year's Day with SKL
Kin San Kichi - 1.1.08

Other updated links

[Birthdays]
Joanne's Birthday - 5.12.07
Joanne's Birthday - 10.12.07
Sze-Mien's Birthday - 20.12.07

[Events]
Leonard & Vivian's Wedding in JB - 22.9.07
Leonard & Vivian's Wedding in KL - 29.9.07
Christmas Musical 2007

[Outings]
Pancakes and Cards - 23.12.07
Christmas 2007

Friends

2008-01-04T19:10:00.000+08:00

One of my resolutions (although it's on-going) for this year would be to put in more effort to keep in touch with old and current friends.

It's funny...you may think just because someone has "known" you (or rather, know of your existence) for so many years, you are good old friends.

On the contrary, I feel that my "old" friends don't really know me...because I'm still discovering myself.

I guess my colleagues or church friends would understand me better at this point of life I'm in.

I can't write nice flow-y stories anymore lah...I am just writing as I think, so bear with me if this post is not coherent.

Looking at some pictures of friends (I don't even know if it's the right description to use "friends" - they were classmates, schoolmates, friends met from school functions, the internet...) - how much they've changed, grown up. It's a weird feeling - it's as if they are strangers, who are they?

Okay, I admit, I've been looking through Friendster lah...so you get to see their pictures. Most were added because I've met them before, talked to them before...but are they still "friends" of mine now?

Looking through their pictures, they've got smiling faces of other people in their pictures. Where do you come in? So how are you their friend?

I happen to read the article, "Anatomy of friendship" in Clove (Star newspaper) and probably that one article on friendship triggered all these thoughts in the first place.

I quote from the article (random bits lah):

Recent research concluded that at any time we have around 30 friends, six of whom we think of as close. Over a lifetime we will make almost 400 friends, but we will keep in touch with fewer than 10% of them. Almost 60% of us claim that our friendships are more important to us than career, money or family...

...It's very different for George, an old Etonian in his 50s, with a fat address book and enormous charm. As far as he is concerned, friendship is a club of seven men which was full by the time he was 23. They all share the same interests, they don't make emotional demands, and that's just the way he wants it. We all look for friends with whom we share some common ground, so that as our circumstances change, we're likely to meet new people we want to know. But it can be very difficult to tell, particularly if we live outside a small community, whether anyone is really interested in us or whether we matter to them at all.

Often, we don't know where we fit into friends' lives...

...Sasha is an academic in her 50s who had always assumed that her friends were utterly trustworthy, until she had a real crisis a few years ago...
...In the end, not a single one ever came with me, and it was a real shock. I felt so lonely.

"I look upon friendships very differently now. I don't think most people are really prepared to make an effort for anyone else. They're prepared to enjoy your company, and that's all."

...Anna, a full-time mother of three, thought she had a rich network of friends until her youngest child was born disabled.

"I assumed that when something went wrong, people would offer practical support, ask you out, arrive with meals. But they're embarrassed. If they ring, it's just to make a practical arrangement, like, 'When is the eldest coming to tea?' They ask if you're fine, and that's where it stops."

She thinks that friendships may have been different in the past. "People are so busy they don't really have time for it now. It's my parents' friends, people in their 70s, who are friends of the old school. They visit, they ask questions, they bring things. I think now I only ever had loads of acquaintances. Possibly that's what everyone has now."

It's noticeable that the people who are least disappointed with their friendships are either those who have never tested them, or those with the clearest understanding of what they are about. Sometimes that's because the friendships are rooted in the realities of their lives.

It's quite a lengthy article, two pages-worth (I can't seem to find the article online). I chose these few paragraphs because it made me think twice about my friends/friendships.

The club of seven sounds like what I have now.
*hehe*
However, I think we have one fall-out already.

Fair-weathered friends...I think it is quite true, that we have a lot of acquaintances but who are those who would really come to you when you have a crisis or when you're in trouble?

I've not personally had any life-changing crisis but I'm glad to know that I have friends who really care...who've been tried and tested.

*hehe*

Urm...I think.

I aspire to offer my friendship the old school way.

Some of you have been there when I cried, when I am faced with my personal "life crisis" (but not life-changing), when I'm sad, when I call up to ask for your company and you call me after all of that to follow-up on how I am.

I'm sorry if I didn't offer the same kind of support to you, but I am looking to change that this year. This doesn't mean I'm going to automatically be a doormat or a pushover...just want to put in more effort, for you to know how much your friendship means to me.

That is why that resolution is there.

To once again get to know people I've met in school, college, university and also at work.
We've all grown up and apart...sometimes it's not about being with old friends so that you can be yourself. "Yourself" may have changed since the last time they saw you and they may not recognise you.

I was wrong to think that I do not need effort when I go out with close friends...little do I know that those are the friendships that need even more nurturing, attention, love and effort to maintain.

Slugging

2008-01-03T17:59:00.000+08:00

I've yet to write up a few things...been lazy and also this headache has been following me around for 3 days. It pops up now and then but I'm not keen on taking any painkillers.

I've not even taken down the 2007 resolutions stuck on my mirror. Not even thought about what to look forward to in 2008 or what to do in 2008. What I want to achieve.

Looking around, it doesn't look like a new year. Basically it's a psychological event - to think that I now start new. Like a new document sheet in Word. Or like when I reset my statistics' counter. It goes back to 0...starting over.

In life, there is no such thing as starting over literally. We cannot go back to the time when we just got out of our mother's womb...then again, what gives us that authority to say that's when we "started"?

Psychologically I feel that I can "start over"...that this is a new year, a new phase of time for me.

2008, like what NJAPF says, has got a nice ring to it. I'm a sucker for even numbers...what more, it has an eight in it. Everything rounded up nicely.

2008

008

Who cares about 007? 008 looks so much nicer.

Now, some running to rid the headache. I'm relying on you, endorphines! You better work!

***

Totally unrelated...

I want to watch these movies when they come to our cinemas this year.

1. The Game Plan
2. Martian Child
3. Inkheart

***

This was what I wrote in December 2006

- Spend more time with Him and on His ministries.
[I think this will happen in 2008...soon, His ministries part.]
- Take IELTS.
[Done! Also sent forms for NZ]
- Go swimming. (This was written in 2005's list - did not do it AT ALL!)
[Did this but I think it was only 3 times or something in 2007!]
- Put in more effort in keeping in touch with friends.
[Tried to but still failed especially in writing emails, remembering birthdays, calling, texting...]
- Spend quality time with sayang and other girlfriends, at least once a month.
[Wasn't possible with sayang but for other girlfriends, I think I got it covered.]
- Be a better listener.
[Still trying!]
- Save and invest!
[Uhmm...]
- Read more books.
[I did try! Bought more, too!]
- Get crafty!
[Definitely!]
- Spend more time on my piano.
[More than 2006 ler!]

So what is for 2008?

Year 2008
- Spend more time with Him; be it quiet time, reading the bible and ministries
- Lose weight and tone up! Make use of gym membership!
- Put in more effort to socialize and time aside for friends.
- Put in more effort to keep in touch with old/current friends.
- Be a better listener, take time to care for others.
- Read more books.
- More baking and cooking experiments.
- Better time management!
- Be more environmentally conscious.

Actually, I think whatever I've written should be my life-long resolutions. Not only for this year. Except for the losing weight part...

For 2008, what I REALLY want to see happening:
1. Revival in my walk with Him
2. A change of attitude of how I view my family - to pray for salvation instead of talking about their faults
3. Lose 5kg
4. A new start in my career - be it in NZ or here
5. Start a FeR's place fund

I think those would be the highlights for the year. With Your blessings, I will see them through.

Rescue team

2008-01-02T23:50:00.000+08:00

After that mind numbing news, I needed something to take my mind off things.

I just wanted to hang out with friends who would be able to hear me out without judging me.

I needed ears to listen and not to criticize or advice.

To do what I wanted to do.

Initially I asked Sze-Mien out only for coffee...I ended up spending the night with Sze-Mien, JoFo and Keat - dinner and movie.
You guys have no idea how much it helped.
Not that I was really depressed or anything...I just felt funny. Just needed some company doing some things.

The jam was...as usual lah from Subang to Damansara using the NKVE. The rain didn't exactly help either.
I told JoFo our ETA at OneU was 737pm...

...this picture was taken at 725pm. By the time we got up the escalator (time in between was spent contemplating on taking pictures and contemplating on asking SM to take a picture of me lying in the middle of the parking lot), it WAS 737pm. Freaky, yea.

I'm just really good lah.
*haha*

Anyway, when we got to B2 (I expected it to be crowded so I didn't want to try going into B1 to park), I looked at SM and asked, "Err...we ARE in OneU, right?"

The parking lot was empty! Okay...not empty literally but compared to the normal traffic and capacity, it's considered empty!

"I think we just drove into a parallel universe!"

We were both laughing like maniacs in the car, wondering which parking lot to take! It's THAT crazy.

Look at the picture above. Behind Phoebe, those parking lots were EMPTY! And on the right of it (behind me), more empty lots!

I was still in disbelief when I was walking towards the escalators and I saw some cars (but leaving!) and asked SM, "Was there an evacuation notice that we didn't know?!"

It was pretty scary. Even in OneU itself, it was quite empty and quiet...

[Will load some pictures from phone later that I took of how empty it was. Left cable in Seremban]

We had dinner at Delicious.
Sze-Mien and I went up to check out the tickets for TheGoldenCompass...we ended up buying tickets 3rd row from the front (when if we got confirmations from everyone, Keat could've bought 4th row from the front...oh well! Not much difference, kan?)

JoFo ordered the Four Cheese Macaroni.
It may look like a small portion but it's got a punch packed in it!

Keat's Roasted Duck and Pomelo Salad.

I had everything! I wanted a few items, so I ordered and shared with the rest (except for the scones)
Scones, Fried Calamari and Wedges

Sze-Mien's Duck Confit Spaghettini.

You can tell when SM's hungry...when her food arrives, she'd be really quiet and swift! *hehe*

Picture taken 829pm...

Picture taken 840pm...mind you, this is not when she just finished her meal. It's when she's rested and wiping her mouth.
So in total, it was probably 9 to 10 minutes. *hehe*

I tried JoFo's macaroni (skipped Keat's because I do not fancy salads) and wanted to turn to my left to ask SM...but I stopped when I saw how fast she was taking in her food...I didn't dare ask for a bite to try.
*hehe*

She WAS famished. During lunch (which was at 3pm), there wasn't much left to choose from in the cafeteria. Poor thing!

Turquoise. Colour matching, kan?

Keat's t-shirt. So since he is going out with 3 girls at one time, would that make it "Bestest"?

A blurred picture in the cinema at 939pm.

The movie was supposed to start at 940pm...but the commercials started then! It was a bit freaky because when we got in, there was no one! It was completely empty. We thought we walked into the wrong cinema (again! *haha*)

Before walking to cinema13, I very eksyen said it was cinema3. After going to the toilet, we walked into cinema3. Our seats were number 3-6.
As I walked in, I walk to our supposed position, which was 3rd row from the front and in middle of the row.

I was puzzled when the 2nd seat was numbered "6" and as I got towards the middle, the numbers were increading! I was very puzzled until I decided to look at our tickets again and it was "13" instead of "3" - I kept thinking about 3rd row from the front...so I thought it was cinema "3", seeing there was a "3" on the ticket.

Oh my! It was crazy. I had to whisper to JoFo who was near me, "Let's go, let's go. Wrong cinema lah!" while suppressing my laughter till when we got out of the cinema.

*hehe*

Champion is me.

Thank God there wasn't anyone sitting in those the seats if not I would have even embarrassed myself further by asking people to get out of "my seats".

*shy*

By the time we got to the right cinema, we did a double take to see if it's really the right cinema this time. SM suggested that because we came in thinking it was cinema3, maybe cinema13 wasn't highlighted for "NowSeating" at the front...

We sat down for a good 5-8minutes or something without anyone coming in. The cinema was completely empty!
So I asked Keat to quickly snap a picture of us - which resulted in the blurry picture above - before the cinema suddenly went dark and the commercials started rolling. Talk about impeccable timing!

Then JoFo HAD to talk about All Soul's Day in Ipoh.

"Yer...after suddenly look at the back got bottles of mineral water on the seats like in Ipoh for All Soul's Day. They say they will run the shows in empty cinemas for the souls...in those old school type of cinemas."

Thanks, JoFo.

All of us were freaked out and kept looking to the back for signs of people coming in.

Finally a couple came in and that started the rolling in of the crowd. The cinema was quite full and the movie lasted for almost 2hours.

Another freaky part...when the movie started (both SM and I don't know nuts about the movie or the book) and they spoke about parallel worlds, SM and I looked at each and she said, "It's a sign!"

***

I match my phone today.
*hehe*

Look! And even with my bags and towel!
Was wearing the necklace Kohpu gave me for Christmas. *wub wub!*

Talking about phone, I don't even know when did this happen but I only saw it when I was fiddling with it while waiting for SM to get off work.

Can you see it?

Crack ady! You can't really see it unless the keypad's lighted up or if you use both thumbs and push both ends of the keypad.
Still...after finding out about it, I feel a bit irritated that my phone is not in "perfect" condition anymore.

Don't know what to say

2008-01-02T14:53:00.000+08:00

News boss broke to me over lunch at Nando's in BangsarVillage.

Now...

I don't know if I should say that You've got a funny sense of humour.

I don't know if I should say that You're gracious to answer all my prayers in a way that throws me completely off my course.

I don't know if I should say that You're testing me.

I don't know if I should say that You're nudging me, "This is the right choice."

I don't know if I should say that You're generous.

I don't know if I should say that You're scary.

I don't know if I should say that You're creative.

I don't know if I should say that I'm comforted.

I don't know if I should say that I'm hurt.

I don't know if I should say that I'm scared.

I don't know if I should say that I'm relieved.

I don't know if I should say that I'm excited.

I don't know if I should say that I'm glad.

However, I'm definitely sure of something - that I know I'm truly blessed and I'm thankful for everything.

***

Our office is finally done...though not completely.

This is our reps' room. No tables nor chairs yet. I don't know if we're still expected to report once a week when we have no where to sit.
My team now is going to sit here, no more personal cubicles for us.

It's like the Singapore's office now...

Pantry all sunshiney yellow...not done yet so I don't know how the office based staff are going to live without their snacks and hot drinks!

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T18:07:00.000+08:00

Regardless of what happened yesterday (last year), I should be happy to start the new year - with new beginnings, new determination, new spirit...despite it being just another week. Funny isn't it?

We're all so psyched about the "new year" but in reality, if the calendar wasn't invented...we wouldn't even feel anything as the year passes by.

I'm looking forward to a fresh new start for this year in my walk with God (the last Sunday's sermon came in good time!), in my career (whether with current company or overseas) and in my relationships with family+friends.

I didn't get to do a lot of things I needed to complete before the year ended...in fact, December has been CRAZY for me. I didn't even to collect the company's calendar to be distributed to my clients before the year ended! Now it's already January 2008!

Oops...

What a way to start the year...

2007-12-31T23:32:00.001+08:00

Half an hour to the new year (and my deadline!) and I can't access my database.

GREAT!

After rushing to clean up after the BBQ and abandoning friends who are watching "I am Legend" downstairs.

GREATTT!

It's been 10minutes and nothing is loading...

GREATTTT!!!

Not to mention, I'm sitting here with a sudden dizzy-headache.

SUPERB!

Aih...

I could hear fireworks setting off somewhere.
Happy New Year it seems...but somehow everything is still the same. Same old, same old.

Why does it still say "Launching" and nothing is appearing after 15 minutes?!!!

Help!

Hanging out - post festives

2007-12-31T05:05:00.000+08:00

After church, went home and stayed up till now! Despite having only about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I don't even remember now what I did on that Saturday night. I only remember that I couldn't really sleep, so I tossed and turned till about 5am or so.

Supposed to go to Winne's place at 3pm but because I started baking late...well...*hehe*

This is why you should cool your cupcakes completely before frosting them. The butter in the buttercream will melt.

She told me she likes bronze...brown...purple...*bingo*
Purple I can do.
Bronze...errr
So I mixed some pink with blue to get a shade of purple and lilac. Green was too...bright. Looked frightful, actually.

I'm determined to get back my "mojo" in baking...this one turned out okay but it CAN be better. I don't remember this recipe producing cakes that would tear away from the liners...don't know what went wrong.

Didn't get to take a picture of those frosted cakes. It's basically based with lilac cream and decorated with purple and white cream.

Leaving Anne's place, the sky was angry yet beautiful.
KinFei and I were the last to leave...we left after watching Mulan.

A few of us were to go hangout at AuntyJo's place - just for fun. And of course, she promised biscuits! Not the flat, crunchy type...the somewhere near scone looking kind that they have in US.
Initially it was supposed to be somewhere at 10pm because they've got dinner appointment with UncleJ's family - mana tau it was cancelled. By the time I got there, it was already 9pm.
*hehe*
So much for being earlier, Su-Ann and Joshua were already there when I arrived.

I was trying to bake a batch of cakes for the BBQ but my plan was ruined when I cracked an egg and the yolk was brown!!! I cracked it right into the batter so no way of salvaging it.
*sigh*
Got fed-up and left for AuntyJo's lor...

...and it's so comforting to be greeted by fresh baked goodies!

Su digging in. *hehe*

Duch: Why can't I have some? *pout*

Mid-chewing. With a pig t-shirt. It's so me at that point.
*oink*

After eating and chatting, we finally got started (our games) at about 1030pm?

Some played 7 of Spades, some played with the Taboo set, some played Boggle...
By the time I had a chance to join the table playing cards, it was near 2am or something!
The remaining few were David, Eugene, Joanna (who was sleeping, poor thing!), Joshua (because he has to wait for me to send him home *hehe*), myself and of course the hosts...

I think we only got home at about 330am...and I continued with my baking - for the BBQ in KL. I left the cakes to cool on its own, under the tudung saji. I can't wait till they are completely cooled and store them in air tight containers.
Pfft.
I'm going to bed. This is the 3rd night of sleeping so "early"...

Compromise

2007-12-30T12:33:00.000+08:00

I think today's message says a lot.

Sometimes we think we are on the right track but little do we know we may be compromising on certain areas the world deem as "small things"...

This same message also popped up last year as I did a reflection on 2006. This is something not to be taken lightly as there are consequences when you compromise your faith.

To hear the message again is like getting a confirmation that this IS something important and God is serious about it.

Updated links

2007-12-29T23:32:00.000+08:00

When I invited my colleagues, I didn't tell them I was going to be acting as Mary in the ChristmasMusical. Shy lah...in case things turned out ugly.
*hehe*

Sadly, no one turned up from work...well, Kohpu doesn't count as colleague.

Here are some photos and a short clip recorded by Hazel (thanks for helping me take pictures and videos!)

Here is one of my Christmas projects...biscotti!

I've yet to write about korkor's wedding, past birthdays of JoFo and Sze-Mien, the Sunday night at AuntyJo's and Christmas day.

After a while, I forget what I want to write and in the end...just going to post up photos with minimal captions.

*haha*

***

Went out for dimsum with Keat in the afternoon.
Plan to go back to Seremban in the morning failed gila gila because not only did I not sleep after the movie, I read "Me and Mr Darcy" until the wee hours in the morning...falling asleep with dreams of meeting MrDarcy (ColinFirth version).

Went to OverseasRestaurant at SriPetaling.
Note to self: Must tell Keat next time what's the budget for makan.

The porridge. Ok lah for the RM6.80 when usually the small bowl outside cost about RM2.50

CharSiewPau that SiewYe was craving. Not too bad.

SiewMai...

...and HarGau. My staple at dimsum places. They come in 4s instead of the reduced 3s at other places - there are only 3 here because it's too tempting to wait for me to snap a picture first before devouring it.

"I give face eat one charsiewpau okay!"

Ramblings

2007-12-29T01:21:00.000+08:00

Just finished watching "I am Legend"...thought I'd drive back to Seremban but imagination kicking in high gear at the moment after the movie. I guess it's best to stay in till day break. *hehe*

I have a lot to "say" when I'm not in front of the computer - usually when I'm driving. I talk to myself, think to myself and even debate with myself when I'm in the car. One would think that I need a better form of outlet...yet when I'm faced with the blogger's screen, my mind goes blank.

I don't remember what I was babbling about to myself in the day, while driving in the car.

[Random question: Am I scary? Am I easy to get along with?]

In the past few weeks (prolly I should say "in the past month"), I've learnt that I should be less vocal. If I cannot filter things through my head on what's appropriate and what's not, it's better for me to not say anything at all.

I seem to have difficulties in that. Saying the wrongs things at the wrong time...or blurting things that I tend to regret later.

Disney taught me a lot...remember Bambi?

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all."

Something in that line.

Trust me, I've tried.
It's unfortunate that I forget easily (about saying something) BEFORE blurting it out but ironically, once it leaves my mouth, it would be permanently etched in my mind.

*sigh*

I'm sorry if I've ever hurt your feelings. I do remind myself from time to time to just shut up.
It is true...when you get verbal diarrhoea, nothing gets filtered in the brain.

One of my resolutions for 2008 would have to be "keeping quiet when at doubt whether it's appropriate or not" - especially in matters which doesn't concern me directly.

Another would be keeping things to myself when something is entrusted to you. A secret. Do not pass on any judgements, do not speak ill of anyone...especially not to new acquaintances about friends - even if it's meant as a joke.

Some things aren't anywhere near funny when it's been "over joked" about. If I don't like people doing it to me, I should refrain from doing it to others.

Probably what I'm trying to say is that...I've to be more attentive/sensitive towards others.

Do not simply pass a comment - if it's not beneficial, if it doesn't encourage someone else...just don't say it. If you've got something against someone, if you do not like something about someone - tell it to them. Be tactful.
Don't goss to someone else because it would definitely come out different by the time it gets to the person in question.

Human relationships are often the most difficult to handle.

Give me a dog anytime.

***

My date for the night - while watching "I am Legend"

When I was scared, he closed my eyes. *hehe*

Supposed to...

2007-12-28T19:46:00.000+08:00

Go for dinner with yee mah. She said she'd be back today...

All of them in London now.

Kena ffk by my own aunty...

-_-"

If I didn't message to ask what time to meet up, I wouldn't know that they're not back yet. Prolly in the end, I wouldn't get to meet her before she leaves for US. Is this "pay back" for not being to meet her when I was in US?

*hehe*

***

Edited 1130pm

From wanting to go out with JoFo and LiMay, to going out to the pasar malam with Surt and SK...I finally ended up going out for dinner with FC, Sally and KinFei at KuchaiLama.

Went to this restaurant called Chicken Pot (or rather, Chongqing Chicken Hot Pot - what a long name!)

Wanted to have more variety so we ordered small portions of three meat varieties.
Clockwise from top: Dinosaur Ribs, Beef Behemoth and Chicken Hot Pot
RM16 for each pot (small portion)

Chicken
This one is somewhere near tasting like chik kut teh. *hehe* I like this soup the best.

You could add more broth in as you eat your way through to the bottom of the pot. They don't charge you for the extra broth.

Beef
This one tasted like Korean instant noodles (according to Sally - I was less "classy" to just say it tasted like MaggiMee)

DinosaurRibs - it's actually Pork lah!
A bit too sweet for my liking. Sweeter than pai kuat wong. To me, meat should be savoury!

You can also go grab some ready portions of beancurd, fish/meatballs and vegetables to add to your soup.

"Eh, you eat more than me this time, huh?"

*hehe*

It was a very filling meal. You can add more broth to be boiled with your meat and eat till 2am! (*hehe* KinFei asked, they close at 2am...I'm assuming you can lepak till 2am lah!)
Only with the pork ribs you couldn't do so (the adding of broth and boiling)...I don't know why and Sally don't remember the lady's explanation from their previous visit.
Seriously, though...the meal gets better as time passes by because the soup gets "sweeter".

LemonGardenCafe

2007-12-27T23:46:00.000+08:00

Thought I would be very late but I arrived at about 715pm.

Aveline, Willie, KuangHuei, PaikLing, Jordan and Alvin were there when I arrived.

Going to the LemonGardenCafe - have heard about it but never ventured anywhere close to it. Partly because of its location (KL lah...hardly go there except for work) and partly because I'm not a fan of buffet-styled meals.

This was actually at the end of the night already - thus the empty seats. Wanted to take pictures around the buffet line-up's but had a fear they'd kick me out. *hehe*
I especially liked the desserts' line-up...all things cute and colourful!

I'd expect more yellow tones rather than red. I'm fascinated with their red, see-through chopsticks.
*hehe*
So much so that instead of using a fork+knife, I was using chopsticks+knife to eat. Kind of weird but guess what? Most of them were using the chopsticks anyway!

Some scallop thingy. I sat down and Jordan came with a plate of these little things - distributed them to everyone on the table.

I must say, I'm bowled over by their cute little presentation of food. Too cute to eat! Makes me want to take EVERYTHING just for the sake of looking at them.

I started with this. Didn't have much of an appetite and was going around looking for soup.
Vegetable soup.
The chef/cook either had a sudden wrist-jerk or s/he was too engrossed in a conversation with someone else or s/he has a burnt tongue so s/he couldn't really taste properly or the container holding the salt broke over the pot - that caused too much salt to be added into the soup. It was that salty.

Derick arrived before I finished this.

Asparagus and cauliflower

Oooo! The lamb.
Yummy!!! In the way that I like it - not bloody, not dry. Just nice.

It says "Shrimps" beside the plate where I took this from. Doesn't taste anywhere near shrimps/prawns.

Butterfish wrapped with bacon (beef, I think). The fish is good! I peeled off the bacon after the first bite.

Duck.
They don't tell you how they've prepared it. It only says "Vegetable" or "Lamb" or "Duck" or "Chicken" - food labels, not dish labels.

Potatoes cooked with cherry tomatoes (obviously I didn't take those tomatoes) and sprinkled with herbs. The one I recognised would be rosemary.

Salmon.
They got salmon, tuna, oysters and some other types of rolls/sushi. This is crazy. I had so many things placed before me but I didn't have the appetite for it. What a waste...not by means of quantity, but by means of variety!

Kohpu arrived at 8pm, exactly like she said she would.
*hehe*
Very punctual, our sexytary.
*ahem*

Tiramisu (apparently) in a tiny cup.
Kohpu and I said it's not tiramisu - doesn't taste anywhere near it. Just cream and chocolate cake base. *shrugs*

So cute!!! All these fits on a small plate.
Vanilla creme brulee (which wasn't smooth...), Mango pudding, local kuih (can't name them for my life), cream puff and greentea cheese cake.

I had to ask the pastry chef (I'm assuming, since he was standing there) what was this and that and this and this...he didn't seem too happy. I just wanted to know what I was putting on my plate mah.

I couldn't finish.
*gasp*

FeR couldn't finish her food! And desserts summore!

[All thanks to Derick for our dinner at Shangri-La!]

---

End of the night, went to the washroom with Kohpu. We didn't say anything till we got out of the washroom...

"Wah! All the tai tai's!"
"Yea, no need to work."
"Everyone of them has an LV."
"Wonder if one day we'd be like them..."
"Errr..."
"Don't think it'd be anytime soon."
"No need to work, just come out and socialize."

Seriously though...LV bags. The classic MonogramCanvas is always a favourite with them (I think one Alma, one Speedy - don't know what size and I think a Cabas), one of them had a Papillon in DamierCanvas...and was there a bag from MiniLin? Don't know lah...

*hehe*

I love my FOC Lancome bag that was given to me by mom.
*phbbt*

Back to work!

2007-12-26T00:21:00.000+08:00

I don't want to work lah!

Just got back from Anne's place - where most of them (if not all) are on holiday...but JoFo and I had to leave. Feeling so sleepy already.

Back to reality...well, at least the weekend is only 3 days away now.

*hehe*

---

Looking back at December06's entry and found a picture of my Christmas presents, nicely wrapped and presented. This year, I have this...

Not very fancy. It was the only way I could show off both sides of the wrapping paper - the picture and candy stripes. I didn't get to take a picture of the whole set of presents I gave out...this is what's left of the presents.

Oh! I have these...any takers? Handmade by FeR.
Don't ask why I choose to make monsters instead of sweet looking ones for Christmas. Must be the aftermath of Project #1.
Though I must say, monsters are much easier to cut and sew than angels, lah.

*hehe*

Blessed Christmas!

2007-12-25T20:46:00.000+08:00

It has come and almost ending.

I admit, I was looking forward to the holiday rather than celebrating Christmas itself. Now it's time to go back to work. The sad, reluctant thing is...I didn't feel like it's been 4 days. Where did my 4 days go?

To the many people who have messaged (prolly they won't even see this), blessed Christmas back to you. May you spend the holiday season with your loved ones, be it family or friends. Take the time to reflect on God's goodness, count your blessings and appreciate those people around you.

Nothing seems to scream at me for attention at the moment when I look back at my 2007 - which, in my opinion, isn't a very good indication of a fruitful year.

I will take time to write a reflection later...I'm sure there are plenty to be thankful for.
Starting with the gift of salvation...this is the very day God sent His gift to mankind.

Thank you, Father.

***

Sidenote: I feel like I've lost my baking "mojo". Yesterday I made TWO batches of different recipes...it flopped. I don't know what went wrong. Today, the chocolate and greentea ones weren't up to what I expect either.

*sigh*

See?! I don't remember if this was the first or second batch.
What a waste of time, ingredients and effort in mixing the batter! Pfft.

Pre-Christmas bustle

2007-12-24T17:56:00.000+08:00

I have a lot to do...a bit stressed up but it's the good kind. It's the kind which leaves you in a high buzzed feeling. Don't know how to explain it.

I'm busy (with a lot of things running in mind - if you know me, you'd know how much CAN run through my mind) trying to juggle errands, gift wrapping (whatever little I have), gift-making (now this is fun but I don't like the aftermath), laundry (rain is NOT helping!), ironing (this makes me want to throw out every wrinkled item so I needn't do it!), work (as in work lah...you think company give you laptop just to come online? *hehe*) and house cleaining.

It doesn't help that my right eye has been twitching since this morning and it ITCHES! And is tearing! GARGH! What's wrong with me?

And I woke up today because I dreamt a very gila dream of me having a nose bleed in the manner of broken tap. Very weird (and freaky!)...it's been some time since I've gotten a nose bleed let alone a BAD one.

Home hasn't got any touch of Christmas feel to it...I miss AuntyJo's place. *hehe* When you step into her house, it's like as if you're already in another country (or dimension!)...it's really cozy. Especially in the evening, when it's dark and her lights are on in the house. Schweet.

p/s: Tesco ROCKS! They've got sour cream. Jusco has nuts (I don't mean it literally).

---

Look what I found in Tesco...I almost wanted to buy a few of them because it was going for RM2.35 (usually it's near RM3)
Mana boleh? TWO MONTHS expired.
Though they're still okay in my books because they've got SOUR CREAM!

This is what I attempted today. Biscotti!

Quite the gila...I have biscotti, cookies and cupcakes in mind today.

Taking a break - having a biscotto with a cup of coffee.
Mesti QC sikit mah!

...and some chocolate chip cookies (plus some dried berries that Hazel passed to me before she left - thanks babes! *hehe* You gave me quite a number of things that were very useful in my kitchen experiments!)

All as presents! Can't (really) go wrong with edible stuff, right?

Cupcakes came out...WRONG. So sad...

***

Edited 1127pm

Watching "A Christmas Carol" on 702 HMK while waiting for the oven buzzer to go off. If the electric bill goes through the roof, I'd know where the causes come from...yea. CAUSES! Oven and dryer.

I'm happy to be in a bustle but yet kind of sad because it's all by myself. Yet I choose to want to be by myself (with people around, it's VERY difficult to get work done - as proven during korkor's wedding).

You know what I'm talking about, I hope You'd give me a clear answer soon.

Fan pan monster

2007-12-23T19:07:00.000+08:00

This is project #1 going out today. *hehe*
Not the real merchandise lah...

I had to make do with black buttons for the eyes (instead of those rounded/raised top buttons) because I didn't get to go to any craftstores. Couldn't make a second one either because I ran out of matching, small black buttons. These buttons I korek-ed from sewing box.

So this is what I wanted to make for myself this Christmas...for my phone, at least. Now it's got something to protect it when it's sitting in my messy bag. With the lanyard, I think it'd be perfect.

A hungry monster is an angry monster!
*argggh!*

The lunch was actually as a farewell for WeiShung...I think it was also sort of like a birthday lunch. We sang like monkeys in Kensington and monkeys also sang for the table behind us, who had a birthday cake and candles. WeiShung didn't have any. Awww...

Curi makan in action.
Of ALL things, want to curi Anne's potatoes...didn't you know meat+potatoes are her favourite? *hehe*

***

Going to shower now...so byebye lovely curls!
These were done by Philip yesterday after my haircut. After the cut, my hair went back to looking almost completely straight (pre-perm)...I didn't mean it to be a sad comment when I told him, "Oh, it looks as if it's all straight already."

"Yea huh. Only left with a little bit of wave at the bottom. Why don't I curl it for you? With the curling iron?"

"Huh? No need ler...I'm not going anywhere after this."

"It's okay. Can last for one day. When you sleep, put your hair up so that it won't get flattened."

So I was looking gorgeous *ahem* yesterday while shopping for groceries. Looked as if I was a tai tai buying things for my household sans maid. *hehe*

Dinner with the "bowls"

2007-12-21T23:53:00.000+08:00

Surt and I saw this dog one night, while coming back from dinner...standing ON TOP of a car's bonnet!!!
Super dog, is it now? Crazy dog. Don't even know it got up there. Now we're all a bit wary about parking outside the house...

***

SIL messaged me to ask if I wanted to go over for dinner. Of course want lah! Got people to cook wor...*hehe*

Brocolli and carrots.
Yum!

She even made soup!

Steamed fish

Chicken+mushroom

TongYuen

...with sesame seed paste filling.
I prefer it plain, like how mom prepares it (though for the past few times I had it, she "cheated" by buying the ready-made dough from the market *hehe*)

Tak tau malu list

2007-12-21T17:09:00.000+08:00

Things I use
1. Cotton apron (Washable kind. Best if comes with cutesy design)
2. Bread knife
3. SE lanyard
4. Coffee/books/groceries vouchers
5. Shampoo and conditioner (H+S, Pantene, Sunsilk)
6. Wide tooth comb
7. Shower cream (J&J milk bath)
8. Stamps (postal kind to use ler)
9. Cute baking cups (1 or 2 inches diameter. Can't use the ones in between)
10. Craft scissors

Things I enjoy
1. Archie Comics
2. Scrabble Deluxe (best if comes with a player *hehe*)
3. Monopoly (Malaysian Edition sounds cute)
4. Spa/facial/massage vouchers
5. PreciousMoments cross stitch design books
6. Stand Mixer (to bake!)

Gadget related
1. Canon battery pack NB-5L
2. SD card 4GB
3. M2 2GB
4. Palm TX
5. iTech V Clip
6. GPS bluetooth receive
7. MacBook

And everything else
1. Accessories (especially long fashion chains)
2. Stud earrings (semi precious stones set in silver)
3. DiorSnow Pure UV Ultra-Whitening Spot Corrector SPF30
4. Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream
5. My own place
6. A GR or a pug (if I have to stay in a smaller space)

***

Slowly but surely, I will clear my lists one day. I shall be without wants. I shall be contented.
Actually, I'm happy with what I have...but it never hurts to daydream. It's not that I'd DIE without it. So please do not judge me.

***

I am slightly hurt and border-lining angry at colleague to think that my most important priority is wealth/money when it comes to relationships. I may like to say, "I want this and this and this and this and then that..." but it's just that. Saying. I KNOW money doesn't grow on trees or fall from the sky.

I'm very grateful for my parents to have provided me with a good life, good education...that I have means to lead a comfortable life. I confess that despite feeling bad about receiving things from my mom (because I know she could've used it for better things for HERSELF), I am also happy that she thought of me. It doesn't mean I don't stop to think that maybe this is a burden to her. Or if she has enough for herself.

If I were to name one of the best thing I've ever received in my life from God, it would have to be having mom as my mom. It smoothes out every single bad thing in my life and more.
I'm not talking in sense of material. Mom has given me precious lessons - on dedication, on love, on strength, on hope, on preserverance, on compassion, on determination, on courage, on understanding, on second chances, on trust, on family.

Most important of all is definitely love. I seriously do not know how she does it but she does it so well it puts me to shame thinking that I've not done justice back to her.

Haih.

Emo because Christmas is coming and no one is home.
Also because parents not coming back for CNY.

Well, at least I could go for dinner today with korkor and SIL. Tomorrow is goh tung...no one to make tong yuen for me. Make it myself in Seremban lah.

Right before my ride turns back into a pumpkin

2007-12-20T23:58:00.000+08:00

Arrived home 5 minutes before midnight.

It's weird to be able to wake up in the morning without the help of the alarm clock when it's NOT a working day...but I can't seem to HEAR the alarm go off when it's a working one. *heh!*

I have a confession ler...when I said I fell asleep yesterday night on the "Christmas list", it was actually my own wish list ler. Shy for a moment towards Anne but now tell "whole world".

Anyway, today was quite an eventful day. Yesterday I was feeling lazy, bored and weird (because I arrived home before 10pm with nothing to do when it's a public holiday today!)...and I think today made up for everything yesterday night was not.
Woke up at 815am, thinking I overslept and left Anne waiting at the station.
*hehe*
Picked her up and headed to OneU (with Phoebe low on fuel)...just to be stuck in a "hopeless" situation of not being able to get a parking. In the end, after near 45minutes of wasted time...I had to go.

Sorry for wasting your time, Anne! Felt so bad...

I took off, recharged Phoebe...emptied my bladder and drove back to OneU. Yea. Mad.
(When I was leaving, I saw the looooooooooooong line of cars waiting to get into the carpark...it's crazy!!!)

I got to the TTDI traffic junction and saw the jam towards OneU (massive! And knowing Malaysians, they even blocked off the yellowbox) - did a quick consideration and turned left to head back home. Was near to messaging Anne to apologize again but in the end, I decided to make a U-turn and headed back to OneU.

(I believe with all my heart that if You would just nod Your head, everything will fall into place. Even if it seems like the smallest thing in the world.)

OneU's parking entrances were blocked off and all the cars were directed to the open area. When I finally got in, there weren't many lots left. I took the one nearest to me at the moment and just parked there. I'm in no position to go around to scout for the "best parking" (ie nearer to the entrance). I arrived at 110pm to meet Anne, KinFei and Danny for lunch at Yoshinoya.

Would you believe it if I told you that this is the first time I've ever stepped into Yoshinoya?

Before long, time to head to Subang to pick Sze-Mien. It was raining! Bah! Had to walk in the rain to get back to my car. There were still a lot of people looking for parking in that open area - even when my parking lot is considered the furthest away from the entrance, it is still wanted. One car followed me all the way, barging through a lane that's supposed to be opposite in direction...should've offered to give me a lift back to the car right? Cis.

SM and I spent our time in Starbucks till about 615pm? We had to leave to pick JoFo up so that we wouldn't be late for dinner at 7pm.
What to do but to walk/run in the rain again? Halfway through, SM started giggling/laughing like a gila. Instead of acid rain, probably she got hit by drugged-rain.
*shrugs*
Now you know I'm not the only one with giggle/laugh fits. Birds of feathers flock together, they say.
*hehe*

***

We went to Carnaval Churrascaria - a place for Brazilian barbeque. The place was suggested by Lydia (SM's colleague) and it is a corner shop around the Atria square.

This was Hoey's message on directions to get there (which is really good! She went early to recce! *hehe*)
coming from LDP turn left after petronas/BHP/ss2. Go straight pass 2bumps, pass school, turn left at junction wif Fisherma's friend billboard, take 1st right turn then left again, restaurant is all d way to the end.

The restaurant is at the corner lot at the end of the road and what she meant by coming from LDP is from Sunway's direction.
She found the restaurant at 514pm (from her message) and she gave us the directions an hour later - she must've been bored! *hehe*

Apparently Churrascaria means barbeque in Portugese. It is a buffet dinner and there is no menu - the "meat waiters" (they are called Passadors) would come to your table to offer you all the different meat/cuts of meat. There are about 12 different cuts of meat, they say.
It IS a very meaty affair...good for all carnivors out there!

[Girls, I just only noticed in the note outside their restaurant - it probably explained a lot on why we were feeling so stuffed/uncomfortable after our heavy meal. *hehe* It says, "If you are unaccustomed to eating large quantities of meat, try not to over eat. It can cause discomfort."]

We is pigs!!!

*haha*

This is ShirleyTemple - Lemonade, Lime and Grenadine syrup.
Sze-Mien's glass was a darker shade of pink...not very consistent, huh?

We didn't use this little food tong because we didn't know WHAT it was for...till at the end when Hoey saw how guests at other tables made use of it. *hehe*
So now I tell you.
When the Passadors come to you to offer certain meat, they will slice it off their skewers. Instead of letting it plonk/splat onto your plate, you use the food thong to hold the meat as the Passadors continue to slice through the meat.

Cold salad bar - good to have some to balance out all the meat you're going to have.

They have side dishes also with rice.

I took these, thinking that meat would be served later...so I wanted to have something first. Hungry mah!

It didn't take them very long to come by! This is on of the Passadors. It is a bit scary when they hold those skewers and knife so close in proximity to your body and face...

Before I could finish my "side dishes", my plate was piled up with different types of meat. One type of beef "bled" on my plate and soaked my salad...needless to say, I left that aside (the salad, not the beef! *hehe*)
*shudders*
Since it came right from the skewer, no time for the piece of meat to rest before it gets served on my plate.
The garlic bread is yummy! I think they added mayo in!
The prawn...err...that was the first and the last time I saw it being served. *hehe*

This is the garlic beef - if you don't like garlic, probably not a choice you'd want to take on...though personally, the taste and smell of garlic isn't that strong on this piece of meat.

Chicken ham - Hoey and Kohpu (*hehe* something to do with error in workmail) liked this. I find it a bit salty to be taken on its own.

BBQ chicken - yummy! Not dry, not uncooked. Just nice!

I geli to eat something and taste blood in it. That's why I usually avoid drumsticks - from bad KFC experiences. *hehe* I never ate the drumstick, only skim the outer layer (flour and skin! *haha*)

Ah! Now it's ready to be eaten - with a little pink it in. Not bloody. Literally. *hehe*
I tried asking the Passador on what is this type of meat called - but I didn't understand/catch him except for the word "beef". No one else understood despite me asking about three times. Didn't dare to ask more than that...you do remember Passadors are carrying skewers and knives? Very sharp knives.

Chicken wrapped with beef bacon

BBQ lamb - taken with freshly chopped mint leaves.

BBQ fish - the marinade makes it taste like I'm having otak-otak.

They also served grilled pineapple and chicken sausages but I didn't have them. Gimme the REAL meat!

Ended the dinner with Sze-Mien's cake. We actually finished the whole cake!
Thanks to Hoey for picking a greentea variety - a light cake that helps you forget the amount of meat you've taken...

***

You think we'd end the night just like that? Went for coffee (again! For SM and I, that is) at BlackCanyon, CentrePoint.

Kohpu's Cappucino.
It's served with a small (shot)glass of Jasmine tea and alphabet crackers.

Hoey's Mocha.
Also with a small (shot)glass of Jasmine tea and alphabet crackers.
NOW I remember who started "playing with her food".

She didn't have an "O" so she improvised by bitting of the jutting bit of "Q". Can still see the crumbs, even!

JoFo's Jamaican Blast - coffee with Rum syrup.
Here, "J" was created with a "T" and a broken piece of biscuit.
We is creative!

...or childish. *hehe*

I took the Jamaican Blast, too!
First sip reminds me of Rum&Raisin ice-cream. Has a combination of sweet, sour and bitter.

Kohpu found "FER" in her crackers and gave them to me...I thought it was only for pictures. So I passed it back to her after taking pictures.

"Eh! You all touch already, I'm not going to eat that okay!"

*hehe*

Sze-Mien's Vienna coffee.
Served with a small (shot)glass of Jasmine tea and alphabet crackers. A cinnamon stick is provided as a stirrer. It smells delicious!

"What's different about this coffee? Why you like to order this?"
"Because got whipped cream!"

Trust our dear SM to have such a profound explanation. You must be ever ready to answer difficult questions in your daily life.

Can't see it after I re-sized the picture.
Hoey was excited, "Look! Got message!"

A drink from Paradise... available on Earth

It's their tagline ler.

LiMay's Pochino Ice-Cream Coffee - combination of expresson, rum syrup and Bavarian ice-cream.

Thank you SM and LM! For helping me "check" and complete my Diabetes papers! *hehe*
While they were engrossed in the Diabetes books, I was working on my last paper...or at least, I looked like it. *hehe*

SM and LM were looking through questions, Hoey and Kohpu talking across their table, JoFo and I were also telling each other grandmother's stories...so, I was perpetually stuck at Question4. Till the end of the night.

Yay for friends!

*hehe*

Christmas Present

2007-12-20T16:31:00.001+08:00

Having coffee with Sze-Mien now at SS15, chilling...waiting for dinner time to come. Finally got my stickers collection complete and this is the planner for 2008.

---

Had to come online, log into domain and change permissions for the uploaded pictures before anyone could see them. I wonder why is it automatically set to not show.
Ah! Mobile blogging may not be that easy after all!

I can understand, okay?

2007-12-19T23:41:00.000+08:00

This song is one of the many songs in the last CD of Michale+Victor compilation. I lost the CDs...kinda sad. Can't seem to find it anymore. Haven't tried REALLY looking for it though, but it's been sometime. In Form5, I think, this album came out.

One of the songs that I still remember.

I may not have studied in Cina school, but I do understand a bit of Mandarin here and there...all thanks to my younger days with aunt (cousins doesn't speak English, had to learn Mandarin) and Chinese songs during primary/secondary school (it also helps a lot with friends who read/write...and of course, the Oxford English-Chinese-English dictionary!)

---

Hair isn't exactly black...nor is it very dark. These are the ends of my hair.
I've had people asking what colour I have on my hair...err...my momma's colour?
*haha*
I've never coloured my hair before ler...if it's lighter brown, it's probably because it's dry and damaged!!!?

It's been pretty dry at the ends since I got it permed last year...so I called for an appointment with Philip this Saturday - *snip!snip!*

We'll see what he says and how it'll turn out. The plan is to let it grow to its original "glory" again - dead, lifeless straight.
Pfft. What a plan!

This is how I study

2007-12-19T02:17:00.001+08:00

Hopefully something will get through? Past 2am and still up, blogging with phone feature.

---

Edited 1012pm

Rushed back from Penang to attend a dinner called by immediate boss.

I almost wanted to give up looking for the place.
I was very close to throwing a fit because...

1. I was tired
2. It's dark
3. It's raining
4. It's jammed up!!!
5. I keep taking the wrong turning

By the time I got there, they were all nearly done with their food.

*sigh*

Went to Caff in Puchong.

Was already thinking "Chicken Maryland" in the car when Alan mentioned that the place serves "western food". Don't know why...prolly because of the banana fritter that usually comes with "Chicken Maryland".
This one, however, comes without. It's ChickenChop, Maryland style. Whatever that means.

The highlight of the night would definitely be this little cutie pie lah.
It was near her bedtime by the time I got to the restaurant.

Apparently she likes being "talked to"...
Qynn told me she talked to BabyAlicia about SPP and she just stared at Qynn talking.

***

I really *heart* my phone...now I can blog from anywhere!

Got home before 10pm and I'm still here. With nothing to do, no mood and no one to go out with. I wish I was back in Seremban right now, at least I've got some things to do at home...if not I still have Astro.

What to do now?

I laugh

2007-12-18T23:59:00.000+08:00

When I'm happy
When I'm nervous
When I'm in my own comic world
When I'm being sarcastic
When I'm alone
When I'm embarrassed

When do you laugh?

Talking about laugh...I've got something in mind to make for Christmas that may be laugh. Cute. *hehe* For myself, though.

*ahem*

We'll see if it turns out like how I imagine it to be in my head at the moment.

---

Please take my advice on this.
Don't ever be a hero to sleep for 4.5hours and then drive up to Penang ALONE the next morning. Seriously.
It's asking for trouble.

Makes you see stuff...

When I saw this from far, I thought the bridge was decorated with Christmas "wreath" or something...

Turns out - they were just cleaning the structures! *haha*

What is Penang without char koay teow? Yum!

Better than yours

2007-12-17T23:46:00.000+08:00

Prolly this is available for all the W-series (me a bit the slow lah in catching up with mobile phones' technology)

I can now be of "perfect pitch", too! With a bit of help. *hehe*
They have augmented and dimished chords also...warao!

I like this theme because it matches the colour of phone. The name of the theme is "Alone" but it can also mean "Standing Out" because the singled out f'ler is in yellow.

I *heart* my phone! I can even edit videos with it.
You have to understand I have no such items on computer. I don't have any photo editor (unless you count MSPaint in), video editor...stuff like that. That's why excited lor! I can make videos like the funky ones I see on YouTube.

*bounces off walls*

***

Anyway, my verdict of phone. Short summary (analogy, more like it)

Having this phone is like a girl buying the perfect, GORGEOUS looking pair of shoes...getting it in her size without trying (because you KNOW your size mah) but forgetting that different brands have got different cutting...then she wears it and it cuts into her feet. Would need more "break-in" time for the GORGEOUS shoe.

*heh!*

I need some time to get used to the keypad...

Oh! The earphones - perfect if you want to block off someone's nagging. *hehe*

Plans koyak

2007-12-17T22:27:00.000+08:00

So much for wanting to stay home to finish my last two papers.

Been too busy transferring files and contacts (painstakingly because low-to-high tech phone direct transfer is very troublesome) so I could use new (yet to be paid for!!!) phone.

I know how to paiseh one okay...I really feel bad that I didn't get to pay last weekend. It's amazing how I joke about not paying and then when I WANT to go get money to pay (I went to TWO different banks), I couldn't get anything out of those machines!!!
One bank had only ONE machine working and that machine has to be out of notes. The other bank refused my transaction for don't know what reason! I just got my salary leh!

*kicks ATM machines*

Anyway, I will bring my test papers together with me to Penang tomorrow so I can finish it in the evening. I hope.

My left eye is tearing without reason...only the left. I wonder what my right hemisphere is thinking about that the left doesn't know or doesn't care...

Beat

2007-12-16T03:23:00.000+08:00

Very tired but not THAT tired that I could still come online JUST to post an entry, writing "I'm very tired."

Pfft.

*hehe*

Last day of Christmas Musical tomor...today. Just got back from Lav's place. The late night, crazy laughters and kuah satay probably is not a very good combination to preserve one's voice. Feeling throat tightening and swelling...ugh!

Musical's youngest "make-up" person. Too cute!

I was called mad for wanting something and did something about it...*hehe*

Thank you, Anne!!!
*ahem ahem*

Hero...ambik tak bayar, nak tunjuk gambar sedang caj telefon untuk diguna esok!
I'm the epitome of muka tebal!

I've got quite a few funny videos taken in these two days but unfortunately, it's not suitable to be shared here. Oh well...

---

Though skin not blemish free or porcelain condition, at least it's not covered with thick+heavy makeup.
It breathes again when I get home and wash it all off!

Meeting I didn't want to miss

2007-12-14T14:20:00.000+08:00

Dear KOM commitee members, we wil be going to Jogoya for meeting buffet dinner on 19th Dec next Wed at 7pm. I hav booked the restaurant.Stay tune!;-) KH

I have another dinner with my team on 19th and it was arranged earlier before our first KOM meeting.

I've never been there! I want to go not only to looksee on what's the hype about but because I hardly get to go out with colleagues after work! And boss picking up the bill! *haha* I guess that's the main reason. *phbbt*

First time I hadap want to attend meeting.

This is the day!

2007-12-14T10:08:00.000+08:00

Map available at Agape Gospel Assembly, Seremban.

***

This is it. The first day of our musical. After MONTHS of practice...though if you count by the practices itself, we've only got about 10-15 practices? Choir started earlier than that.
A friend asked if it's a 3-days musical...as in the story is told over 3 days like a "mini series" thing.
No, it's not.
So you won't miss anything if you just choose any one of these three days to attend the musical.

***

Often people ask me why I travel back to Seremban every weekend - is there no church in KL?

Agape is my home church. Seremban is a town I call home (yea, it's still a town...not a city, right?)

Also it's a commitment I've made when I join the church's ministries.

Sure, there are instances when I go had to work (initially in KLIA) or overseas for vacation, that I had to miss church and choir practices. Most of the time, it's a difficult decision - a lot of thoughts and considerations were put into it.
I feel slightly offended when one doesn't understand and make fun or belittle whatever commitments I have with my home church. If my non-Christian friends can understand my commitments, why can't Christians?
Honestly, I don't think what you choose over attending service is worth it lor...but it's your decision. At least I don't talk down on what you choose to do, so please don't force feed your choice on me.

Bah! From musical to choir to commitments to ranting! *haha*

Ooops. Tersasul.

hyperventilates

2007-12-13T22:05:00.000+08:00

IT'S TOMORROW!!!

Christmas Musical starts TOMORROW!!!
14th, 15th and 16th December (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Agape Gospel Assembly Seremban

Map available at Agape Gospel Assembly Seremban.

All are invited!

I forgot who asked me if they require tickets - No, you don't! It's FREE!
Just bring yourself but to ensure a seat, come earlier!

Retail therapy

2007-12-13T19:51:00.000+08:00

I was *this* close to buying a phone today.

Until I asked about the price...

It was RM100 more than the RRP of Sony's website! I may as well buy from SonyStyle, right?

Unless they tell me Sony doesn't provide the 512MB memory card together with the phone's purchase - then it comes up to about the same price lah...but the explanation was fantastic lah.

"Oh maybe that's the RRP. Maybe the phone price went up."

You think just because I am still using a 3years dated phone, I didn't do any homework prior to walking into your shop?

*huff huff*

Anyway, probably a good thing. I NEARLY wanted to go for second option (cheaper than what I expected) but it's good that I held back. I came back, checked the price online and AGAIN their price was more expensive than the website's price - buy online from the official website also cheaper! What is this?!

I dislike this. This is the second time I get such nonsense from a phone shop.
The first time it was in MV and the person didn't believe me when I said it was cheaper at SonyStyle KLCC.
He "made a call" to KLCC and told me that I was wrong (in a very proud "I told you that YOU were wrong, silly customer")...when I was just in KLCC a week ago, looking at the SAME phone.

This time, I give credit to him for being patient and honest with his recommendation on the phones - the features, problems, etc.
I'm sure the price wasn't set by him but I don't like it when he told me that "maybe the phone price went up" as an excuse. He should've just stopped at "that's the best price from our outlet."

*tsk tsk*

If the official store and website says the phone is priced at RM X, how can you just jack up the price? To make up for your rental, is it?

Pfft.

In the end, tak jadi...was quite gung-ho initially but I guess it's a blessing in disguise.

***

Completely unrelated : I looooooooooooove the smell of just-peeled-just-boiled eggs. Imma gonna go make meself a toasted egg melt!

***

This morning after meeting for KOM 2008...

Had my craving of chu yuk fun fulfilled - purposely drove to SeaPark after meeting to slurp this down! Alone...all for food!

I even bought some of these to munch. Pig is I!!!

Teaser

2007-12-12T07:06:00.000+08:00

I never knew my hair was so shiny.
*perasan*
Taken on Sunday.
That's Philip...I trust him with my hair. He's really good!

Aren't you curious why I'm blue?

***

Christmas Musical starts THIS FRIDAY!!!
14th, 15th and 16th December (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Agape Gospel Assembly Seremban

---

What a surprise!!!

Is this a mask?! I thought I was hallucinating when I saw her walking behind AuntyJo! She came back to see our musical - awww!!!

The next minute, she jadi anti-social during mamak. *hehe*

Food-filled day.

2007-12-11T23:42:00.000+08:00

It's sooooooooooooo good to have a day break in a work week!

I'm sooooooooooooooooo glad that my office is about 200m away from the Selangor-KL border. *hehe*

I slept in, watched TV...eat...sleep some more. Went for facial.
This is the life, man!

My "brunch".
I had some leftover ham that I NEED to finish and mozzarella to utilise. It didn't come out like I expected it to be but still goody! Anything with cheese and meat is good for me!

Make-do "pizza" - with bread, leftover ham (finished it, finally!), tomato puree and mozzarella (need to use it, remember?)
Had this for dinner, with a mug of coffee. Coincidentally it had Santa on it. *heh!* Reminds me of last year's (?) Christmas skit at church.

I kept thinking about the greentea powder I bought about 3weeks ago. I wanted to experiment with other flavours so I thought, "Why not?"
Especially when I have everything at home already - so after my "dinner", I started work.

The colour is so frap-looking! Yummy looking!
Hope it comes out good.

Yay!
Though after sitting for a while in room temperature, the surface became a bit "wet". I don't know why this problem keeps popping up in my cupcakes attempt. It's irritating!
Probably I should've stopped when I put in 1/4cup of milk...

Texture is okay in the inside. I hope it stays this way for at least 3 days.
There's a thin layer at the top that looks like it's uncooked but it's actually "crunchy" already, so I couldn't leave it much longer in the oven.

I was lazy to make a batch of shiny buttercream with eggwhites and stuff (although I have meringue powder now). I wanted the buttercream to be white...so this time I used shortening, buttermilk flavour, clear vanilla extract (using it for the first time since I bought it!) and icing sugar. Just threw everything into the mixer (ya...lazy to hand-beat it. Am tired already!).
It came out quite grainy but I couldn't give two hoots. It tasted okay to me.

The leaves so the fail. I don't know how to do it properly...but I guess it's not too bad for a first attempt, right?
Spot the odd one out!

Instead of looking "healthy" (greentea mah), the frosting made it look like it's made for a wedding or something more romantic. *hehe*

Coincidently it was the parents' anniversary yesterday...so this is for you guys there!

My funny friend...

2007-12-11T16:24:00.000+08:00

I think.

Let me share a joke with you that I got from Hoey yesterday. Sorry if I don't allow any time/space for you to think of the answer first while typing this out.

"Why is Superman's shirt so tight?"
Because it's S-sized.

"Why is Spiderman's shirt so tight?"
[FeR : Spiderman don't have "S" on the outfit also, it's a spider!]
Because he asked Superman to buy it for him.

"Why is Batman's shirt so tight?"
[JoFo and FeR : Huh?!!]
Because it's "Buy 2, Free 1"!

This is why we only meet up as a group about once a month or so...

WooGaChon

2007-12-11T03:33:00.000+08:00

[Apparently there is another WooGaChon in Ampang? We went to the one in SunwayMentari]

As requested by the birthday girl, we went for KoreanBBQ. Initially, Taipan was mentioned but in the end, "Woo something" became our dinner spot.
[That seemed really familiar because I heard Chris' description of the place when I was in SJMC]

Which hero decided that we should have dinner at 7pm...huh? *hehe*

Sze-Mien and I arrived at 10minutes past 8pm. Hoey and JoFo arrived at near 830pm. For nearly half an hour, the people at the restaurant probably think that SM and I have got imaginary friends.

No one knows how to get to the restaurant, actually...and everyone thought that SM knows - when in fact, she told me she's not sure/doesn't know either. We got there fairly easy...it's in SunwayMentari, just beside Shell. It's a corner lot shop.
This place was chosen because it's been said that the food is better than the one in the Taipan's restaurant (no idea which one is it). *shrugs*

It's my first experience and I was so excited looking at the utensils! It reminds me so much of Jewel in the Palace! Though I don't really know what's what and how are we supposed to have our meals...
[I just remember that we do have a "Dai Cheong Gam" in TamanDesa. Wonder if it's any good.]

This is to the hero who said 7pm.
*hehe*

Is that a guilty wave?!!

Ah!!! The costume.
I had to take a picture of other people's server (don't know what to call them lah...) because ours weren't wearing this.

We ordered FOUR types of meat - beef, lamb, chicken and pork.
The "beef lovers" section has got 11 choices.
The "lamb and chicken lovers" section has got two choices - one lamb, one chicken.
*heh!*
The "pork lovers" section has got two options.

SM's conclusion : That's why there's no GoddessOfMercy in Korea.

Ah!

I guessed the beef must be good!

We didn't know which one to choose (the rest were no brainers)...so we asked the waiter. He recommended Saeng-Gal-Bi (beef ribs, unmarinated), Bul-Gal-Bi (beef ribs, marinated) or Ju-Mul-Ruk (beef sirloin, marinated) - this is what I understand from him.
*hehe*
We chose Bul-Gal-Bi because the menu says, "This is your excellent choice."
*hehe*

I don't know if it's right to say that we ordered "too much"...probably it's because we completely forgot about the side dishes that are served together with the meal. We ended up with A LOT of food...

Salad. It tasted as if it's got wasabi in the sauce.
HuiPing really like this - it's the first thing she finished before running into her car to have her conference call (so kesian! She only came back near 1030pm!!!)

The side dishes (BanChan). I think there were about 11 dishes in total.
Right after we ordered our food - all these dishes came...*bap bap bap!*
And our table was filled up. I felt like royalty!
*hehe*

Sorry lah...I've never had Korean before, so quite the katak.

*hee!*
Got little "umbrella" for our hot stove...apparently to prevent the smoke from going upwards. That sounded weird...hmmm...
Basically the exhaust is not at the top, hovering over your head. It's at the bottom of the table - which is much better. SM says it's less obstructing, especially when you want to talk to the person across the table.

Chilli paste (I think) and garlic.
Our server told us that if we were having marinated meat, we dip it with the light, brown sauce. If we were to have unmarinated meat, it's more "flavorful" to dip it in the paste.

*shrugs*

Eggs! Somewhere between steamed and scrambled tasting.
Like Hoey said, "Who doesn't love eggs?"
I think it's called Gye-Ran-Jim (I searched for it online) - apparently complementary when you order two sets of BBQ items.

Fresh lettuce and whole green chillis.

Sweet corn - it tasted very creaaaammmy. By far my favourite side dish! *haha*

*oink oink*

Dol-Sot-Bi-Bib-Bob - gotta have this when it's still hot/warm. The stone pot really does wonders - keeps the food inside it warm for quite a long time after it's served.

The beef and chicken were cooked first - later came our lamb and pork.

I think this is also complementary - and it came with a bowl of rice. Really spicy but it's fantastic on a cold day (it was raining when we arrived AND it was STILL raining when we left).

Dwen-Jang-Ji-Gae
This is apparently complementary when you order two portions of meat, too.

We were actually stuffed from the BanChan and soups rather than the our "main dishes".

Young-Yang-Dol-Sot-Bob - very nutritious rice, indeed! Waiter explained it's black rice.
From what we could taste and see - it has rice, hak loh mai, redbeans, ginseng, pak gor...what else huh? I don't remember. It tasted okay but I am put off by the smell of ginseng because I don't like it...

So-Ju - ordered this half way when JoFo said she wanted to have some. It was as if something was missing from our Korean meal. *hehe*

Sikhye - traditional sweet Korean rice beverage.

The bill came up to about RM200++...if we knew better, we could've ordered less (and finished our food) - I think it's a fair price to pay for so much!

We went for coffee and cake before heading home near 130am!

I arrived home in Seremban...

***

More details later in my "hidden section"...
I've got a few videos - really funny but to protect my fellow friends' reputation (if any), I shall refrain from putting it up.

*hehe*

I'm really keen on putting the "How-to" by SM...

Monday blues...

2007-12-10T17:40:00.000+08:00

The weather isn't exactly helping either - cold, gloomy...perfect weather to STAY HOME!

Bridge between Gardens and MV.
Bumped into AuntyPang, AuntyYokeChan, AuntyLinda, Veron and Su-Ann at the Gardens. I was going to MV for lunch with colleagues.

CentreCourt of MV.

Record breaking

2007-12-09T23:11:00.000+08:00

Spent 12hours in church today...

JoFo messaged me not too long ago to tell me that it's jammed up from Seremban's tol heading into the highway.

I will go back tomorrow (despite preferring tonight) because I'm bummed.

Not bothered to post any pictures...have not transferred to computer. Blogger is giving me problems in uploading photos...am lazy to upload to site then link to blogger, etc. Blergh.

Go sleep lah...tomorrow is another long day.

Thank God for the public holiday on Tuesday and next Thursday...because I foresee madness.

Monday - KL
Tuesday - PH
Wednesday - JB then back to Seremban for last rehearsal
Thursday - KL
Friday, Saturday, Sunday - Christmas Musical

Week after...

Monday - KB
Tuesday, Wednesday - PENANG!!! Then dinner in KL with team.
Thursday - PH
Friday - KL

And then it's Christmas...I can't wait for the long break. I need to sort so many things and recharge my batteries. For real.

Or maybe I shouldn't be too ambitious with my itinerary.

*sigh*

***

This is what happens when you forget your eye makeup remover. You use your eyecream and cotton bud.
Not a very economical option but it helps remove panda-eye rings as result from trying to rub eye makeup off with tissue. Pfft.

Full dress rehearsal

2007-12-08T19:43:00.000+08:00

It's crunch time!
We were expected to be in church at 9am...but I think we started our worship session 920am? 930am? Thus the word - expected.

Oops.

I'm one of the culprit who arrived late lah...

It's mad...we only got to go home at 5pm. At least we got home at 5pm...I think those who are with sound/backstage/costume went back even later!

We only started practice at about 1pm, I think.
After worship, we dispersed towards our respective costume/makeup stations after the briefing. I went around taking pictures because I couldn't find my station.

-_-"

Actually, I KNOW where the station is but I was running here and there to kepoh...and for the two times I checked in between my running, costumes were not available yet in the prayer room.

Pastor said, "Don't take my picture ah!"

Like this also considered meh?

Our tree in church, at the Friendship/HospitalityCorner.

My, my! What a speedy worker!

Colour palettes.
Reminds me of days in school when I still had seni classes.
I had no talent whatsoever and am lazy to put any effort...but believe it or not, I've been for art/painting classes in Standard5. Needless to say, I didn't survive long. I think it was only for a month or so. *hehe*

When I finally got my costume, I had to sit quietly in the prayer room - to wait in line to have my makeup done. *hehe* Cannot go running around anymore...
The highlight of my day *ahem* came after AuntyPang finished with my makeup...lunch! *haha*

Don't...just don't go there. A lot have been TELLING me I'm exceptionally "hungry" these days.
Pfft.
It's the mood...end of year, see.

*hehe*

[Off topic: Monday is another round of birthday celebration for JoFo. Makan lagi! Monday WAS supposedly gym night. *heh!*]

Found Anne in the toilet after my lunch...putting on her contacts.
Initially I couldn't see anything, "Is there anything there, Anne? Don't look like it also!"
She groped around in the solution and panicked a little when she did NOT find any contact lens in there!
*hehe*
Turned out it was stuck on the aluminium foil.

Mengada punya "angels".
Kelvin was saying, "You cannot enter! Cannot come in!"
Pfft.
This is a glimpse of one of the costumes...I've taken pictures of some of the other characters, am tempted to post it up but I'm not going to. Want to know we all look like, come seeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! It's next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Something's cooking behind stage...

I'm sure tomorrow it'd look better when we have the rehearsal in the evening. I think this was just put up in the past few days.

***

I was planning to make banana cupcakes (again) this weekend and guess what? I wasn't really tired (yet) when I first got home.
Reheated the baked potatoes to have for dinner and I started work. I'm hoping to get at least ONE recipe consistent...thus this same recipe again.

I THINK it looks like how it did before...though the surface is a bit more "sticky" - a bit worried at this point because the poppy seed cupcake's surface was also like this!

Yay! I think it's okay. I finished the whole cupcake!
The top is still a bit weird. Looks and feel a bit uncooked but it's actually a bit overdone already...*shrugs* The insides seem okay, so I hope it holds up. I promised Sally this cupcake tomorrow.

***

Christmas Musical is next week!
14th, 15th and 16th December (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Agape Gospel Assembly Seremban

No sneak previews...though I have a short video clip of the choir and dancers. Do come by! Starts at 8pm.

Do you know that Seremban has got some pretty good cheese crabs? *hehe*

Mixed feelings

2007-12-07T22:34:00.000+08:00

I'm REALLY glad the weekend is here...this would mean, our free weekends would soon be restored! *hehe* Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being in the choir and serving in church. It's just that now when it's nearing the musical, everything is doubled. In a way...

Tomorrow we're having our practice from 9am to 4pm. Sunday is till late evening (or was it night?)

Then again...I kinda dread the weekend because it means the musical is nearing!!!

*kan chiong*

I'm feeling serba salah...to invite people or not. I'm excited because this is one of our ways to reach out to our community here, our friends...but...err...yet a bit paiseh because of the current musical's arrangement where I'm not exactly in the choir. AuntyJenny mentioned that we are not a separate group, but we work together...

Errr...

So how?

Nevertheless...if you're around or if you fancy coming to Seremban next Friday, Saturday or Sunday, do drop by Agape Gospel Assembly in the evening. The map can be obtained from the website.

I want to shout to the world to come but yet am scared. *hehe* Not because I'm shy to be a Christian okay, it's about something else related to this particular musical.

Curious? Come and see for yourselves!

***

Probably won't have time (*HAHA!* I don't sleep also would make time for all these ler!) tomorrow and Sunday due to our final rehearsals...so I tried out something today.

Driving back from KL, I was already hungry. I was thinking of what to eat and "baked potato" kept popping up in my mind as I recall Nigella's program on TV. I remember I have some potatoes at home (left over from the last time when I made soup) so I went to Jusco to get some things. I had RM15 in my wallet and I thought I'd go in and just get a few items.

Blergh.

Got carried away lah! I thought it'd be nice to get some ham for my baked potato (should've taken bacon lah!)...went to the non-halal section and blew RM10 there.
I don't really like using my card to buy groceries but since I already have no other choice...*hehe* I got everything that I think I need.

Guess how much did these cost?

I've to bake potatoes because stove running out of gas. Pfft.

Baking it the first time till it becomes soft.

Middle section of potatoes were scooped out and mashed together with mozzarella, ham and cheddar.

In to the oven...

*Ting!*
Can you see the mozzarella oozing out of the potato? Yum yum!
I had 4 pieces (!!!) and the other remaining 2 pieces have to go into the fridge for tomorrow, probably.

---

When Surt came back with poppy seeds, she had plans to sprinkle it over yoghurt. I don't think she has ever done that up to date. *hehe* I asked for her permission to take some of the seeds back to experiment with some poppy seed cupcake. I think it was 2-3 weeks ago and I didn't even touch it yet.
One of the recipes I found online called for sour cream but I couldn't find any earlier. I searched again and in one blog, it was revealed that the cupcake "base" recipe could be a normal recipe (vanilla cupcake)...replace the milk with OJ and you'd have your orange poppy seed cupcake!
I went ahead and experimented on my own (I couldn't follow the recipe because it uses self-raising and normal flour...I only have normal flour. I didn't know how much baking soda to use!)

*sigh*
The cupcake fell and shrunk from the papercup...I think it's because there's too much moisture. I have a feeling the insides would be damp.

Looks nice here, right?

You can't see it here but in real life, the cupcake is a bit gummy and dense inside.
*sigh*
I lazy to re-try the recipe. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Sunday. Maybe not. See how lor. In the mean time, I don't know if I should bring this to practice tomorrow.
It smells of vanilla but the taste is a bit tangy-sourish (I used lemon+orange juice)...not exactly what I expected (from what I remember when I last bit into an orange poppy seed muffin in US).

I'm tempted to throw away the whole batch - as I always do when things don't come out right. Like throwing a tantrum but it's with the cupcakes. Fatt lan char.

How? Are you willing to eat it?

For you to see...

2007-12-07T09:05:00.000+08:00

And if I missed out anything, please let me know.

I get overwhelmed with a lot of photos that most of the time, I tend to cheat. *hehe* I would only post up (unedited summore!) photos of the day's event.

Some was from a few months...the record is the KK trip last year! Almost two years now...Anne would remember me bugging her for details (because I couldn't remember much!)

Birthdays celebrated in 2007
Sze-Mien's belated birthday
HuiPing's birthday
Hoey's birthday
Hazel's birthday
FeR's birthday
FeR's birthday - actual day
JoFo's birthday

Outings/trips in 2007 (and ONE in 2006)
KK Trip 2006
US Whirlwind Trip - very long picture-winded.
Dinner at Elaine's place

"Project"
Sesame Seed Balls and Banana Cupcakes

The older ones are here or click on "We" at the side bar.

This is where I usually "hide" my photos if there are too many for one blog post.

heehee

2007-12-06T22:27:00.000+08:00

I am glad I didn't appoint anyone to my gym-accountable or weight-accountable...if not, I'd definitely get an earful (or more!) about my eating these days.

GeoMin even messaged me saying, "You seem to be stuffing your face quite often these days, huh?"

Oh no!

*hehe*

The more I WANT to lose weight, the more cravings I get...*sigh*

New transparent packaging wor! Me like!
I can't explain what kind of packaging I like but this kind is definitely one of them. Where you can see what's inside but yet it's not all plain. That is one of the reason why I got some Halloween tupperware from Glad when I was in US...because it was transparent but with colour. Hmmm...am I making sense?

---

Now KinFei and I know that there are more than one Shell station in Section17. I spent almost an hour looking for his house (to get my keys back! I left it in his car when we went out celebrating JoFo's birthday)...just to find out why I couldn't find it. It was a completely different area. Pfft.

Incoming Ad

2007-12-06T18:32:00.000+08:00

Hello! After one week, they sent me another email. Woot!

To those who are more femes (more traffic/unique visits), this may probably seem like, "What's the big deal?" to you...but it's a big deal to me, for now. *haha*

It's like being acknowledged by the super popular group in school when all these while, you're the one that no one give two hoots about. Quite the metaphor, huh? Been watching movies and cartoons that's somewhat related to that.

What ad is it? Definitely non alcohol brand related and I've seen it on other blogs already...just look out for it on my side bar next week!

***

Y'know, I've read people password-protecting their blog as one of the means to see how many people and who are reading their blogs. I'm tempted to do so because it's weird to see hits on the counter but a little eerie to not know who is "watching" - as most are silent. Then again, no one may be bothered. *hehe*

I definitely know AuntyChris is reading.
*waves at AuntyChris*
Because she would sometime come up to me in church and tells me she reads my blog. *haha* That is what I call and internet-savvy grandma! Don't play-play!

I think my AuntJanet reads...once in a while. She mentioned before that I keep posting all those good food here that it makes her salivate while reading it in LA. *hehe*

I don't even know if LyeChan reads this anymore to "update" herself with what's happening back here. *hehe* I've not exactly been a very good correspondent.

Back in 2002 when I first started (don't bother looking for archives, I deleted the blog but saved it for my own record), I write about...anything and everything.
No such thing as hiding people's name, people's jobs, people's opinion, people's jokes, people's habits, people's disappointments, people's achievements, people's words, people's food, people's crush, people's love life...and the list goes on. You get my point.
Blogging has come a long way since then.
Sometimes I look back at my old posts (before 2004), I am reminded of so many things that I've forgotten...but looking at posts after 2004 or 2005...I don't even REMEMBER what was I talking about because I used metaphors or "stories" or have changed the names or wrote in abstractions.

So at this point of time, I wonder if my motives in blogging are still the same as before. I don't think so.
Last time I really wrote of what I thought, what I liked and what I did...as it was. No cover up's or lacing it with better words. Or trying to make it sound more interesting...just blarrred everything out as the words run through my head.

I think I should spend more time with the good old paper and pen - where I can write anything and everything without consequences.
*hehe*
Like I hate so-and-so...I am frustrated with so-and-so...I am angry at so-and-so...I wish so-and-so...I like so-and-so...I think so-and-so...I want to so-and-so...

[I have 3 diaries filled with diligent writings of my life and feelings at that time...it's a whole mixture of feelings when I read the entries of those diaries.
Writing with a pen takes so much more effort than just typing all these down. I can even "remember" whether I was tired, in a rush or happy just by looking at my handwriting, which varies depending on my mood and feelings - does your handwriting tells you that, too?]

Happy Birthday JoFo!!!

2007-12-05T23:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday pigged out, today pigged out some more! Wheee!!!

Diet? What's that? Never heard of it before. Ever!

***

We celebrated JoFo's birthday at NeroTeca but the "invitation" email reads as below...

Dear all,

You are all cordially invited to dinner to celebrate my engagement to Jude Law. Details as below:

Date: 5th Dec
Time: 8.30pm
Venue: Nero Teca (www.neroteca.com)

Please RSVP coz I've to make reservations. Also, please go through the menu and see what are the specials you want. Have to make order a day before.

Thank you all....

Blissfully engaged,
E.Goh

So she did...is that JudeLaw's hand? Doesn't she look "blisfully engaged"? *hehe*

[Whenever you go out with FeR or AuntyHazel ah, the camera would always be around and they'd always be taking pictures.
Yea, but 20 years down you look back and there are so many photos to look through...]

Nero Teca is located in KL, Somerset's ground floor. I didn't know how to get there, neither did Danny (who graciously offered to give me a lift)...so we waited for KinFei (he picked up Lav, Elaine and JoFo) at JalanAlor to lead us there.

Nero Teca was suggested by Elaine (trust her to know foodie places in KL!) and it was chosen because the birthday girl was busy at CrownePlaza, getting off work at 8pm. Going somewhere else would be a hassle, besides wasting the time driving through traffic.

I would not go into details on JoFo's birthday itself (*hehe* that would come under "Birthday" section lah) so it's more like jotting down what we've eaten and experience in the restaurant.

I had no idea on what to have so I was grateful when Elaine arranged the choices for us. I think it was just the nice amount - we shared most of the food (except for Wyn and Sarah...who didn't take much!) and by the time we got to desserts, we were glad we ordered half the portion.

Piemontese salad (juicy romaine and lettuce in creamy caper vinaigrette, grilled marinated chicken, mushroom "trifolati", half dried tomatoes, parmesan and rosemary croutons)
Notice I only took a little of it?
Me no like salad but this was pretty good! I think it's because of the parmesan..but I do like asparagus! It doesn't say it's got asparagus in the menu but...*shrugs*

Tagliatelle Funghi e Prosciutto (ham and mushroom)
It arrived at our table a little dry. I don't know if that's how the texture should be...but a leeeeeeetle bit more of the sauce wouldn't hurt. It was dry that it was difficult to even separate a portion out of the bowl. The pasta were sorta stuck together.
Mine looks nice (*ahem!*) because I rearranged all the dishes in small portions on my plate. *hehe*

Speck (smoked ham & buffalo mozzarella antipasto with steam veggie)
*hehe*
First look at the cheese, "Hurrah!"
I guessed it was mozzarella due to the colour and "softness"(? is that even applicable to how you judge a cheese?)
I don't quite fancy cheese in chunks - I don't know how to appreciate cheese+wine. Mozzarella, however, I'm okay with it. As with cheddar and parmesan. Common ones you get in pizza and pasta lor.

Parmigiana (eggplant, ham and smoked cheese)
Am I feeling adventurous these days? It's like as if I've got a quota for a day (which is ONCE a day) to let go of my dislikes and dive into something I would not take or haven't taken before.

Remember I didn't even touch my eggplant/brinjal/aubergine tempura? It's probably because I've already used up my quota to try the shishamo earlier in the day. *hehe*

Then again...I don't even know if I've got any eggplant on my plate. It may well be only ham and cheese!

Grigliata Mista (grilled pork chops, spareribs, bacon & sausages served with rustic potatoes and green sauce - for 2 pax)
Ah! My favourite! The meat dish. *hehe*
Items arranged in clockwise direction if referring to item description (leave out the potato and green sauce)
Pork chop - ooo! Juicy! *slurps*

Risotto - with prawns
Can't find this on their menu and Elaine said that you've got to pre-order it a day before. *shrugs*
Why eh?
I find it a bit "fishy" but the rest said it was wunnnnerful!

Tiramisu (the authentic with Marsala and Mascarpone); Gelato (chocolate or vanilla, 1 scoop)
Ah! The tiramisu was worth having - one of the better ones I've tasted.

Lav caught me "feeling" the texture of the spongey layer and asked, "What are you doing??"

*goofy grin*

It's quite a small, cosy restaurant so do book a place before going there to avoid being turned away.

***

It's late night and the sky is supposed to be pitch dark.
Imagine the amount of energy to light up the whole building...which in turn, able to light up the sky-area around it.
GothamCity-like, no?

JoFo calling a friend to tell her joke.

"What is a Happy Burger called?"
"Bergembira!"

And she was laughing like a mad woman.

We seem to act like we were intoxicated but the weird thing - nothing else but good food and companion involved!

Another example...I asked what was it on the platter (which I found out later was grilled pork chops)?
JoFo : Wait. Let me ask.
*looks at pork chops* Eh! What are you ah?
*pause* No answer woh.
Lav : Wah! You very funny huh tonight?

Hope you had a good time, babes!

The restaurant was a good experience - the interior was quite interesting, they really make full use of their space. The "walls" are fitted with shelves to display their retail items and I'm sure they serve as part of the restaurant's deco as well.

They sell imported items from Italy - so if you're like me, who knows nuts about what's good and what's not (or whether there are any differences between other Italian products available in our Malaysian market)...we may not know how to appreciate their retail line.

Not very funny but funny when I first read it

2007-12-05T19:32:00.000+08:00

Reminds me of korkor who calls me "stupid".

-_-"

930pm and I'm sleepy

2007-12-04T21:28:00.000+08:00

It's been a loooong day for me. A piggy day, too.

Extravagant? More like...no discipline to control own mouth and appetite...and splurging habit.

I had Japanese. TWICE. Lunch and dinner.

My reasoning?

Throat getting itchy and I didn't want to have anything that would make it worse.

Japanese food = raw food = safe for itchy throat

I'm a mathematical genius. Really.

Dear God, please not let me fall sick...although it's ALL I want so I can get out of working.
On a serious note though, I really did pray. I cannot afford to be sick at this time - many things are affected if I breakdown at this moment.

I'm feeling...chatty. Absolutely random.

***

You know what? I kembang-ed today when colleagues praised my cupcakes. *hehe* Don't know if they were forced to say so (as they were to eat them!)

From CK
"Jen, I must say d banana cup cake u baked was great. I liked it bcos its not too sweet. By d way do u sell? I thot of ordering some 4 my family & gf 2 try."

WAHHHH!!! Did it get sent to me by mistake?

*hehe*

Well, I don't and I'm still experimenting. Wanting to perfect it so I would be consistent instead of just getting it right...sometimes.

This is the cupcake in question. Yummy yum yum. If I may say so myself. *perasan giler giler*

Even Malau approves, okay. He gives this a thumb-up!

***

Let's jump back to my lunch and dinner.
Lunch was at Hajime KL - it was with my boss and a client. We had the lunch set and some other ala carte dishes, which was recommended by our client.

[Boss initially wanted to order the "Hajime Lady's Set" *haha* but in the end, stuck with the lunch set because we all could share the dishes and have an assortment to choose from]

Lunch set's price range is between RM28++ to RM36++ - which isn't too bad for the food you get.

BUSINESS HOURS
11.45am - 2.30pm Lunch
6.15pm - 10.30pm Dinner
Tel : 03-2143 0073

When we got there, I was the katak bawah tempurung lah. I hardly dine out in KL...or is it never? Anyway, I don't go to KL that often, except for work (and that's to hospitals!) and I memang don't know about where to go for good food and sort. I just...hear from what people say or read from what's been written online to "know" about the place but have never got to experience it for myself.

[So much so that one of my clients (who is more friendly and chatty) thinks that I was being cheeky when I said I "read/heard" about the places I'd tell him (he asked about where to hang out, find a good pub/bar and where to enjoy a live jazz band) - he thinks I've been there (but really tak pernah...I'm just an internet junkie who spends my after work hours at home, in front of the computer screen - like now)]

Okay, I went off track.

Where was I? Oh...when we got there, the place looked like a normal, bungalow house. I was thinking to myself, "How do we get in?"

To the left of the bamboo tree in this picture...that's where you get in. Client mentioned that that is probably why there's someone to greet you when you're outside (this is taken when we were leaving, so obviously no one is standing there to greet us!) - because for a first-timer, you may not know where is the door and end up going round the house. *haha*

After looking through the menu, we ended up choosing the lunch set anyway. If we shared, we'd have 6 different dishes to try (provided we choose all 6 different options). The set comes in three groups of dishes and you could choose any two in your combination. The dishes come together with rice, miso soup, appetizer, pickes and Chawan Mushi.

Oh! The Chawan Mushi you get from here is the premium of its kind, I tell you (from my own humble experience of usually having "Japanese" from franchised sushi outlets). This Chawan Mushi hasn't got the "crab stick" (which is actually fish meat, anyway) but it's got (a piece of) prawn and (a piece of) unagi and the usual meat and mushroom. Oh! The top is sprinkled with shreds of scallop (dried or otherwise).
Fantastic!
The most delicious Chawan Mushi I've ever had!

Sashimi Moriawase (Assorted Raw Fish)
This, we had two plates. Who could resist sashimi?
Okay, maybe mom. *hehe*

Shake Butteryaki (Grilled Salmon with Butter)
This became a bit dry when it was let to sit for too long before having it.

Salmon Niniku (Raw Salmon with Special Garlic Sauce)
The salmon is lightly grilled on the outside of the "roll" so the inside is still raw. I don't know if it's because I am not sensitive to the taste and smell of garlic...I didn't find it off-putting. Just nice.
A twist to your normal sashimi.

Shishamo ("Pregnant Fish")
I can't believe I just ate this today...it's my first time and I never did try because it seems so cruel.

*sob*

Poor thing kan. Tried and test, I don't think there's going to be another time.

All the babies-to-be together - dead.

Actually, I've never taken any sushi with fish roe (safe for when it's a garnish on top of sushi or siew mai)...just because it seems...not right to me. *hehe*
So when I had this, I had to take it together with rice and swallow it with green tea...as discreetly as I can to avoid boss and client asking. Hmmm...makan pun susah. *hehe*

Oh! This is very good. For RM8 a piece, it better be good! *hehe*
But I may be biased. I like prawns. Okay, I LOVE prawns.

Other than these, we also had Spider Maki (Soft Shell Crab Roll) and Saba Shioyaki (Grilled Mackerel with Salt) - which is available from the lunch set menu.

Instead of the normal ice-cream (which you could get for an additional RM4++ when you order the set lunch), client recommended this for dessert - Jelly Noodle(?).
I agree with what boss said - that our eyes/mind and mouth processes this differently, so it's a bit difficult to enjoy it. It LOOKS like thung fun (glass noodles) and you expect it to be savoury...but when you put it in your mouth, it's sweet!!! The brown colour is from gula melaka.

Interesting, right?

[While Googling for Hajime, I found this - it's got much nicer pictures and pictures of the interior. I was with a client...although we are pretty friendly, it's definitely not professional to be snapping pictures like I was there on a field trip.]

***

Hurt my finger (it's not visible in picture but at the moment, there's a dark red bruise on my finger)...don't know how but I know it involves Phoebe's BLUNT sided left side mirror.

Broke it while pulling the chair in Hajime to sit myself down. FANTASTIC!

***

How long is this post, huh? From 930pm I said I was sleepy...it's now way past 10pm. Pfft.

Lastly, my dinner.

[I thought of jotting my random voice notes that I have in my mobile...but I think it's too much for one post]

Surt and I went to Ikkyu for a quick, reasonably priced Japanese fare.

Ooo-errr! More Japanese?

Can I start yet?

Before...

And after...
I actually finished my food (except for the lady's finger and brinjal/eggplant/aubergine - me no like slimey food!) - even the raw slice of tomato! And the Miso soup!

While we were pigging out, poor BoonLeong had to make his own dinner - instant noodles with fried egg and vegetables.

We thought he went out paktor because when we left the house, his car wasn't there. If he left his car at home, we would know that he went jogging mah. Apparently he was lazy to walk back after jogging in the park, so he drove and parked somewhere nearer to the park. *hehe*

Ooops.

Okay. I SHOULD go.

Good night. More to come.

Operative word : should.

I may not. Knowing myself, I'd probably make myself a cup of green tea and continue updating.
It's like ironing. Quite difficult to tear away once you start. *hehe*

They make fun of me

2007-12-03T20:57:00.000+08:00

I don't mind.
They would usually do that only when they see me rummaging through the garbage for recyclable items (I would only do it when I KNOW someone threw something that could be recycled in lah or if the item is visible in the thrash).

Or if I (maybe sounding too bossy while at it) tell them how they can help reduce thrash.

I'm actually a sucker for packaging...it takes a lot of determination and strength to walk away from items which are available in pretty (more thrash!!) packagings.

I try my best to separate my thrash.

Housemates may be sick of seeing bags of empty plastic/glass bottles around in the kitchen. Ooops.

Don't you ever wonder where our thrash go to?
Dump sites, yes. But where? Surely not into the sea. So it's SOMEWHERE. What if that somewhere is near your home?

*shudders*

Reduce or recycle. Or both. It's not easy but it's worth doing.

I'm thinking of taking out my hankies to use again but it's not everyday I'm wearing something with pockets in it. Back in my school days, I use a hanky. Not tissues. *hehe* So old school, huh? I think it started from mom buying some batik ones from Indonesia. There were really good!

Do your part. Every little thing matters and CAN help.

I have to remember to put a grocery bag in my car - I keep forgetting. Jusco and Ikea bags are okay though. They do "degrade" quite fast, those epi bags.

Some adverts I saw on TV made me think about this - I don't agree with it because I feel that the money and resources used to come up with those things in a way contradicts their cause/ad message. *shrugs* It could be used for better things.

---

Oh...I'm also a sucker for all things cute. Things that are cute to me.
When I have time, I may want to make this for my poor naked iPod.

When I have the time...

Tired but keeping busy

2007-12-02T20:01:00.000+08:00

I keep saying I'm lazy.

I keep saying I'm tired.

I keep saying I've got no time to do things.

Guess what I've been doing these two days after practices, when I have a little time at home?

Bake and experimenting some other recipes.

I'm motivated to do everything else except work. Actually, that's a lie. I'm just motivated by anything to do with food and its preparation at the moment. It's...a phase, I think.

Or not. I don't know. I am turning into a "mom"! I feel happy to bake/cook/make something to give to others.

o.O

---

Edited 1106pm

I'm very happy that I've finally managed to bake a batch of banana cupcakes. Previously it's either too dense or the taste of banana is lacking.
This is just nice - moist, not dense and can taste bits of banana!

*beams*

Wheeeeee!!!

My other project is this - sesame seed ball (I know it as zhin dui).
I also made the red bean paste myself (my goodness! Soaked beans overnight, boil, blend, add sugar, cook till dry...can die)

*bangga*

See what I mean by turning into a "mom"?

perasan

2007-12-02T17:05:00.000+08:00

I feel cute.

-_-"

Tak tau malu, right?

*haha*

Actually, I feel like a little girl...maybe it's because of the white maryjanes. *shrugs*

Derrick kena dera - initiated by Kelvin - just because it was his birthday. Don't you love your friends?

---

See what I mean? Frosting also tak jadi - ganache was runny, didn't even set properly. To me, the cake was on the dry side.

I even tried to make chocolate-orange cake for JoFo during yesterday's baking attempt but cake came out...blergh. Chocolate-coffee also...*shakes head*

Byebye Poreiz!

2007-12-01T23:29:00.000+08:00

It was agreed for our extra practice to be pushed to 145pm instead of being there at 11am (at least for the few of us who were at the airport to send Poreiz off).

JoFo got permission to have "Kiki" to bring us to the airport and on the way there, we passed by quite a number of army trucks (we think it's Australian because one of the trucks had "Australia" on it). We also skodeng at the passengers lah...

"Wah...next!"
"Wah...why all so old one?"

*passes by one of the smaller trucks*

*JoFo and FeR looks at each other*

"WHOOOOOAAAA!!!"

*laughs*
*giggles*

---

I don't know why we tend to crouch when people ask us to come closer together. Pfft. Not like there's anyone at the back of us also.

Last picture of Poreiz and her of us.

She didn't cry while hugging us younger 'uns...though I saw her eyes were slightly teary. She started crying when she got to hugging her mom. Paul selamba only, looking excited to go off. *hehe*

We will miss you, Hazel. Take good care of yourself and keep us updated through your blog!

***

Very long day

Since they only went through the gate at about 1pm, we were late to get back to church for practice - we arrived at about 205pm.

The stage greets us as we enter the sanctuary.

I think we practiced for more than an hour - working to "perfect" our pitching, singing, diction, expressions, tone. By the time we were done, it was time for tracking with 29:11 - madness! I've not been home since morning and I wasn't in a "suitable" gear to go walking around. I thought I would have time to go home, get Phoebe and change into shorts. Well...

Thank God the weather was kind, though. *hehe*

After tracking, got home and napped for a bit before going out to get some stuff from Jusco. I thought by going out at about 9pm, it would be easier to get a parking but nooooooooooooooo. Boy, was I wrong. It was equally MAD!

*sigh*

Seremban people no where else to go meh? If not because Jusco was the nearest the house, I would've gone elsewhere.

Caramelizing banana. I think I'm not supposed to use bananas that are a too ripe but that was the only ones I have. Purposely bought them so it would be ready to eat and softer if I need to mash them up (sweeter, too!).

In the midst of madness (trying to recreate the cake I baked on Tuesday - but my baking is not consistent so it came out...not as I would like it), this keeps me going.

Damansara Intan

2007-11-30T23:12:00.000+08:00

Our office is under renovation so we had to go to Damansara Intan to have the web conference. It's been SOME time since I last saw some of my colleagues - because we weren't encouraged to go back to the office (and I found out later why).

After the conference, my team went for dim sum at SS2 and to have our short district meeting to discuss our plans/targets for the next month.

A Little Dim Sum Place.
Boss kena ticket just in front of this restaurant because he forgot to place a parking ticket. Ooops!

For a place which looks more atas than normal dim sum places, I expected better. *hehe* Boss said probably want to keep the "authenticity" of normal dim sum place.

Riggghhhht.

My favourite (I think so...) porridge in the whole wide world! *haha*
The one in TaiThong SS2 is really good!

Food isn't too bad but the only downside is that you have to order your food through the menu...for those who need visuals, better to go elsewhere. The place is too small to have a dim sum cart rolling about.

---

I had to go back to the office building to retrieve my laptop.

I saw this and turned to the other side, thinking that it's not our side...mana tau it IS our office. WAH! Door pun tarak - to think I even dug out my access card before arriving on the 18th floor. *hehe*

No more cubible for me lor...we used to have the "no door" concept but I guess now they've changed their minds.
I think they are expanding the rep room so in the future, our team will not have our own corner...we will be sitting together with the rest.

To think I was excited having my own desk, my own phone line. Then again, no one has ever called for me at my cubicle lah nor do I sit at my own desk. *haha* I prefer to go kepoh at the rep room with the others.

Brains or looks? Style or substance?

2007-11-29T21:19:00.000+08:00

Okay. My phone is alive and well...sometimes. Sometimes it treats me nice and the joystick works. Sometimes it merajuk's then I can't scroll down and read messages that are longer than one screen's page.

End of the year, I don't feel like working and instead, I feel like splurging. Blergh. Not good. So not good because I've already made a promise not to spend on things I don't need and put the money away on more important matters at hand.

However, before my phone "got better"...I was browsing through the phone models. I've not observed phone models for quite some time now - the last time was when K800i was launched. I thought when I DO change my phone, I'd get that (because of the camera and 3G function) - even though it's bulky looking (and literally bulky).

I couldn't find something that I like (in the K-series) because most of the K-series have the joystick, still. I want my phone to last forever (!!!) so I have quite a list of "requirements".

I even ventured to look into Nokia's website (*gasp!*) but nothing caught my eye (except the N93i - but that is...crazy expensive) and to me, the designs are quite blah.

Back to the SE website...

I was quite stubborn and am adamant to getting the "right" model out of the K-series (well, because I think the K-series is the one that is more camera-focused, right?) but the quest of searching for a phone without the joystick led me to the W-series.
See...I'm not a big fan of music (ironically I have the iPod and I like singing) that I need to have a player with me 24/7. That is why I never ventured to the W-series. HOWEVER...I stumbled upon the W580i! The grey-turquoise one.

It was...love at first sight. Sight.

Then reality sets in and mind took over. Mind says, "K618i not too bad what."
In fact, my two housemates have that phone.

Mind says, "K618i got 3G, got decent camera, cheaper, can store the numbers you want..."

Sight says, "But they only have white and black...and W580i in the grey is soooooooooo nice. And the slider. I want something different for once."

Mind replies, "Remember the Zire71? Slider? Went wonky and couldn't perform hotsync with the computer?"

Sight whines, "But it's so sleek...so...so...cool."

"K618i value for money lah, so many things in one! The W580i don't have 3G. What if the slider spoils?"

"I'll be very gentle. Won't be spoilt one! And I don't have a 3G sim card also! Like Surt said, who would I be able to make video calls with?"

"You've got a lot of money meh now?"

"No...but that's not the point. I'm so sick of candybar models already - I want something different!"

"K618i is the most practical. You don't need to worry about your slider mechanism going wonky...no need to worry about your 2nd screen koyak as with the clamshell models. Got keylock, nothing can go wrong with candybar. It's the LEAST risky one. You want it to last forever, right?"

"Hah?! If last forever cannot get anything new? I've been looking at the same thing for 3 years now! Other people's one so canggih." *sulk*

"Stop it lah. Not like you've got the money anyway, so why bother debating?"

"Hmmmph! If I've got money, I won't even bother debating with you, okay. Just buy both."

"The day you print money, please let me handle some of it so that at least you'd have a retirement fund working for you."

"Sigh. If only the W580i comes with 3G...I'm sure Mind would shut up then. No...don't think so. Will find other things to 'be practical' about - probably will pick on the slider mechanism. One day. One day when Mind is somewhere else, I will go get the phone. By the time Mind comes back, it'd probably be too late to return the phone or do anything about it!"

So people, any input?

Sony Ericsson W580i - what a beauty!

Sony Ericsson K618i - everything you need!

Christmas Musical

2007-11-29T01:36:00.000+08:00

Do come!

Map available at Agape Gospel Assembly, Seremban - under "Contact Us."

The choir are going to be angels this time around! Wheeeeeeeee!!!
No wings though, wouldn't fit into the stage and there'd probably be quite a few "fallen angels" if it was insisted. *hehe*

Farewell, GurneyHeights

2007-11-28T23:45:00.000+08:00

Aih.

Sad to say that this is the last time I get to go to GurneyHeights. It's only been slightly more than a year but I already miss being able to be here on Wednesday nights for cell. So today is like a "last time" thing for me to go there on a Wednesday evening (I missed the last two cell meetings because I was away!).

*sigh*

Sentimental.
See #4 on my "banner" on your left? The description of FeR? It's still the same.

Actually Hazel said they were going to be busy packing and I didn't want to kacau but in the end, I still tebalkan muka to ask if I could pop by to see the place one last time. Like saying goodbye, y'know. Actually, I just want to be in your place with you guys for one last time lah, Hazel. You've been really good to me. Coincidentally it is also their last night in their own apartment in KL.

She was gracious enough to say, "Can come anytime...buy us dinner."

*haha*

So Hazel lah.

Since both of them not feeling too good, I bought some soupy noodles for them. When I arrived, I saw Lav's car right in front of BlockD's entrance...at the corridor of 20th floor, I called out, "Hi Lavi!" (Saw the light from the apartment, knew the door wasn't closed)

And she asked me how I knew she was there.

Car parked so "strategically" summore want to ask me how I know.
*slaps forehead*

Meau was also there to pick up some stuff.
I was having my dinner half way when the movers came to take the couch. I ended up eating on the floor...but there was still TV. I'm still good.

I wanted to "have dinner together" with Paul+Hazel but they were really busy...and I was hungry. So I went ahead with my chap fan. *hehe* Useless me.

Most of the time while they were packing, I stayed in the TV room (literally because there was nothing much left in the room besides the TV). I didn't want to be in their way of packing (and UglyBetty was on TV! *hehe*)
I hate the feeling of packing up and leaving a place, y'know. When I packed from RJ to S2 last time, took me some time to "let go" of my old place. I would cry when I go back to the old house to get my things - the house empty and hollow. Look at my room...*sigh* So many memories.
I'm sentimental and emotional like that.
[Summore so excited to leave for work overseas - my heart and mind are in a mess!]

Last view. Last time.

I feel like crying even though it's not my place and not that I'm leaving.

I think I may need to bring a box of tissue this Saturday lah.
*sniff*

---

After reading an entry from Innit about a blogger, excited on being chosen for an ad campaign , I was just wondering when would I get selected. I didn't think it would be any time soon since...well, not that my blog has got any theme to it or a lot of "readers".

But guess what? I got an email today from Nuffnang telling me I've been chosen for an ad.

"Guiness Week 1 SS." (No idea what is it going to be about)

They were frank to have a note at the bottom saying

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS AD IS FOR AN ALCOHOL-RELATED BRAND. IF YOU HAVE ANY OBJECTIONS TO RUNNING AN AD FOR AN ALCOHOL-RELATED BRAND ON YOUR BLOG, PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL TO NUFFNANG BY 5PM ON FRIDAY, 30TH NOVEMBER 2007 SO WE CAN PREVENT THE AD FROM APPEARING ON YOUR BLOG.

I took probably 2 minutes to contemplate. *heh*

Well, I won't deny that my intentions of joining Nuffnang was to have some side-income (if any) and also to be able to "network" between members when they have events (so far I've not been to any and always seem to "miss" something because I don't really check in regularly).

In the end, I emailed Nuffnang to tell them that I'm not comfortable with alcohol related ads. They were very prompt in their reply and I hope they do keep a note of refrain from such ads as mentioned in the reply.

I'm not a prude. I do think a cold beer on a hot day can be quite refreshing. Sometimes wine adds flavour to food.

It's just a personal preference, a stand that one makes in one way or another.

...though I'm puzzled. How on earth does the advertisers choose the blogs they want to advertise on? Because I certainly do not see how my blog can appeal to an alcohol brand. *haha* How is it related?

Love note hehe

2007-11-28T17:26:00.000+08:00

Had to leave the note somewhere...and it must be somewhere she'd surely not miss.

From FeR to Surt. She replied with an orange highlighter.

This is the cupcake in question.

Stuffed the banana and cream inside, too.

Verdict: Yummy, apparently. I hope it's not just lip service.

Test

2007-11-27T10:37:00.000+08:00

I emailed the College and I was told I needed to get above 80%...shouldn't be a problem, right? *ahem*
I was excited to start rightaway! I thought I would need more time to read and all...turns out it wasn't anything new lah! I'm glad, in a way...but also a bit mm dai to feel that this is just one way of ripping off more money from me. *sigh*

Anyway, I should be happy!!!

*yay!!*

Finally had a chance to relax on my own and have a cuppa. The last time was a frap with the girls at TheCurve (2nd November?).

Doing second test for diabetes.

After this, heart health!

This is what I call EFFICIENT

2007-11-26T22:58:00.000+08:00

Remember I said I was told that I would probably receive my modules in 5-10 working days?

Well, HELLO!

It arrived TODAY. Before I left for JB...so am doing the questions now. Read as I go thru the questiosn. *hehe* Cheat, hor?

I'm going to ask for confirmation on how much I need to score (hopefully it's not 100% since it's an open-book assessment!) and is it confirmed that if I pass, I get to proceed to Step3.

YAY!!!

---

Then I got to JB and my mood took a bad turn when I got a call from W about my road tax renewal. I was told I had a saman to be paid before I could get a renewal done - so I went to the police station here. My road tax expires this week and I'm supposed to go collect it when I get back to KL - no time to go appeal or anything (plus, I couldn't "appeal"...you would know the story later).

Quite the long story lah, actually.

See, I thought the saman was the one I got in Seremban town.
At the Lorenzo's junction, I didn't know that we couldn't turn right anymore (coming from the market's direction). I REALLY didn't know and didn't see the sign. I remembered that I jeling-ed at a motorist who didn't stop at the traffic light! Well, I thought can turn one mah, so I was thinking to myself, "Wah! So terrible, don't even stop at red!"

[Sorry MrMotorcycle, I didn't know. Thank God we didn't collide!]

I wanted to park there to get the photos from Kodak - photos to make the scrapbook for mom (so the scrapbook costs quite a lot ya!)...and I didn't even know that the police behind me was behind me for a reason. I thought they were turning, too!

It was really bad...I was that blur.
[After finding out, I kept thinking, "THANK GOD there weren't any cars! Oh my!!!"]

...but when I was at the police station, I found out I had THREEEEEEEEEEEEE samans. Can you believe that?
Do go check at the traffic police station on whether you have any samans or not, don't be so clueless like me.

One of it was the one in Seremban (the latest one), second was in January this year (now THIS, I had no idea) in PD and the third (which was causing my renewal to be blocked) was the one I got when I was on the way to SriHartamas, LAST YEAR.
No wonder kena block lah!!!

It was a saman I got because I was using my handphone without a hands-free kit. I didn't have one. I was soooooooooo into the conversation that I didn't even KNOW or realise that the police car was beside me and waiting for me to pull over. What's with me and blurness with the police, man?

[Anyway, for both samans that I signed, would you believe it if I said that they never did hint for other means of "settlement"? Of course they did! Both times those people asked, "Kena saman tau? Nak kena saman?" where I replied - "Ya Encik, saya tahu. Saman lah, saya tau saya buat salah mah." Cheeky? No...I'm just stating the fact.]

Now, when I got to my destination, this CHAMPION of a CARING then bf said, "Oh, I'll help you settle it lah. Don't worry."

TODAY I finally find out the chickenshit didn't do nuts about my saman. At least have the decency to TELL me...even if you DON'T WANT to help me pay for it, rather than it being a big shock to me today. When the report was printed out, there was a comment on issuing a warrant at the side of this incident! It was also asterisked with another comment stating that my road-tax renewal is to be blocked.

Fantastic, no?

Thank you very much for STILL being able to make things difficult for me at this point of time, ACK Lim.

The saman from PD...I didn't even get any letter or any warning about it. The only time I drove to PD was for my KickOff Meeting and I don't think I could've sped with 5 people in my car! Do you know how heavy that was??? Poor Phoebe.
Lav suggested prolly there was a 90kmph stretch or something.

Probably lah.

So two samans that I know of but one I thought was settled already and another one that completely threw me off.

Office said, "Kita ada hantar surat."

I've already said I didn't get any (if I did, I wouldn't be shocked to see it, okay!) but since I was in their "territory", I didn't want to offend anyone.

Total damange: RM550

To think I was contemplating on whether I would want to get a new phone or not (my SE's joystick is giving me problems at the moment...)

Packed, squeezed, tahan

2007-11-25T23:59:00.000+08:00

...a lot of things into two days.

...in a last minute outing plan.

...the aches and lack of sleep.

A fluke that turned out to be one of the better pictures taken tonight at PD. *haha* Thanks to our camera man - MrD.

James took us (Anne, JoFo and I) to collect the satay and to buy KFC before heading to Derrick's place. We arrived at 740pm? Ooops. We had to get the food, mah!
Pigged out beside the beach (in partial darkness, safe for the torchlights that helped us choose the chicken parts that we wanted) - taking silly pictures, dancing, shaking our booties, having silly conversations - and our night ended with a bit of wine sipping ('celebrating' Hazel's leaving *haha*).

Lower neck still aches...ugh!

Don't want to go to work...don't want to go to JB. I don't mind if someone else drives and I get to sleep in the car. *hehe*

Actually, I would have taken days off work if not for one very crucial fact.

I have no off-days available anymore.
Pfft.

hehe

2007-11-24T20:33:00.000+08:00

Can you guess what is it I'm attempting? Look at the ingredients - there's one thing that stands out and I've not used it before in my baking experiments.

Okay lah, this is what I wanted to do. I don't remember how I got myself to this website and saw this entry - I think it started from searching for bread recipes. Hmmm...but it's cute, no? [Please refer to her website's one lah, not mine.]

Why bread?

I don't know. I think I wanted to try making doughnuts, but it requires yeast. I know nuts about bread or yeast. So the ambitious me not only wanted to try making bread, I wanted to make fancy schmancy bread.

Mini loaves. Left over from the bigger "Panda bread".

Not too bad, kan? I need a bread knife lah...the bread also kemek already when I tried to cut it. Now panda's got a widddddde face.
A lot of work though because I don't have a bread machine - I did it all by hand. I didn't use the same recipe as Florence's entry...I was looking for the SIMPLEST bread recipe online. Since it's coloured (and flavoured, actually. Green tea and chocolate), I didn't want it to be a plain white bread recipe (yea, ambitious gila gila!)
Found a recipe for "sweet bread" and I just assembled the dough according to the PandaBread's instructions (which originally is in Japanese! I actually spent a bit of time using Babel to translate the original site but...I didn't understand it any better than when it was in Japanese. *haha*)

The texture of the bigger PandaBread. It was dense at the bottom - probably I didn't give it enough time to rise before I put it in the oven.
It tasted nice, though! *hehe* I don't like honey so the smell actually puts me off a bit...a hint of sweetness from the honey and the smell of chocolate/green tea as you bite into those respective areas of the bread.

Baking with yeast is...interesting. While kneading the chocolate and green tea (okay, for the green tea I cheated a bit because I hadn't got enough green tea - used the macha powder that Mi-Chelle gave me to try DRINKING - so I used a bit of green food colouring), the plain one kembang like crazy and I could see air bubbles forming within the dough. Amazing! Couldn't take pictures because hands were dirty/oily. Peh.

I've not finished what I wanted to do...still in the process.

When Anne called me to see if I wanted to go for young adults, I was preparing for second experiment - time flies, yea. I didn't know she messaged me. I think I spent too much time trying to get the bread right...quite an exercise to make from scratch, without the help of a bread machine. Phew!

Back to work!

---

Edited 12:37am

This is the last bit...

Chocolate cupcake with white chocolate mint ganache (I added green food colouring because white chocolate turned off-white...not nice), topped with Andes mint parfait thin.

Chocolate-coffee cupcake with chocolate ganache, topped with freshly baked mini gingersnap! So cute, if I may say so myself. *hehe*

...actually, the last thing I'm waiting for now is for my gingersnap dough to chill - then I could bake two batches of it.

Been wearing a newly acquired apron (free gift, if not I'd definitely get a cotton one) the whole day and I look like those sample servers. *hehe* Shoulders are achy...need to go to bed soon since I'm serving tomorrow.

Haven't started

2007-11-24T03:45:00.000+08:00

The weekend is FINALLY here!

Had a headache but it magically disappeared after taking teh halia...am still up watching AFC.

I couldn't start my "experiments" because I got back from Ipoh...late. Well, I exited the highway at about 6pm but got stuck in a loooooooooooong jam because I took the wrong turning. Blergh! I was hoping to get back before 6pm so I could go get some items from TamanMegah...probably have to make do with whatever I have at the moment and go get the items next week, then.

By the time I got back to the house in TamanDesa, it was 730pm. I thought I could come back to Seremban and go get some stuff in Jusco - but was so tired that I decided to just do it tomorrow (later! *hehe*).

I just realised that I left my mini tripod in KL. Fantastic. Especially when I planned to record my "experiments" - so much for planning. Memory's getting really bad.

So far two people asked me what exactly is it that I'm planning to do. Two mentioned, "No need to worry one...she will surely blog about it."
*hehe*
I'm preeeeeeety confident I'd be able to blog about it - that is, I WILL succeed! Tak tau malu betul.

*heh!*

---

In other news, they've compiled my modules and are sending it out! I've been told that I would probably receive them in 5-10 working days...and she'd give me the tracking number.

Thank you, God!

Finally! Something's finally moving.

Story telling

2007-11-22T20:59:00.000+08:00

Would I say I'm inspired by her cupcakes entry? Maybe not...because I'm not writing tips here (I'm no where near to THAT level yet).

I'm writing this because...

1. I don't want to work.
2. I've already paid for the internet connection.
3. I don't have any pictures to share at the moment.
4. I was thinking about it while driving (when MC told me she was going to bake and she hasn't baked for a very long time)

So this is a story about my baking "experience" - the bad, the ugly and the better. *hehe*

I don't remember seeing mom bake when I was young - despite the fact that I'm using most of her baking utensils. I didn't grow up like those little girls in movies and stuff - where they watched their mom cook or bake, wanting to help. (I grew up watching TV - quite a lot of Mickey's cartoons *hehe* The TV and the video player were my "baby sitters" sometimes.)

I don't remember when exactly I started wanting to try/experiment baking. My memory only goes back to 2002. I wanted to make a cake for mom (it was Mother's Day, I think. I just know it's before going over to Glasgow) but didn't know how to do it from scratch (back then, Google wasn't my best friend yet. Nor did I know who YouTube was)...so I thought that I would bake from the box. I bought a cake mix and frosting in a tub. Should be fool proof, right?

No.

The cake flopped, the frosting was too sweet for mom's liking. I think in the end, the cake went to the belly of the thrash bag. *sigh*

I felt like a failure, the worst kind, because it's a cake mix! It's supposed to be fool proof! And I messed it up - I'm THAT bad! No talent, whatsoever. Not in the slightest bit. I told myself I wasn't going to bake anymore.

...

Fast forward to Glasgow. The cakes there...ugh. I don't like marzipan (because I don't like almonds) and most of the cakes available in Sainsbury were frosted with marzipan. I remember the first birthday we "celebrated" was LiMay's and there weren't any other choice but to buy the marzipan frosted cake.
Before Pauline (my mentor) left, she also gave me a box of baking materials. It was totally ignored (placed in the shelf above our fridge) for a few months until...

...don't know when. *haha*

Was the first cake I baked the one I made for Sze-Mien? Maybe. I remember that I was experimenting (!!!) with an orange chocolate cake - so daring to substitute milk with orange juice (wanted it to be more orange-y because I doubted the orange zest, mah! *haha*) I got the recipe from the internet (I just got to know Google but yet to meet YouTube) and just got cooking(baking)!
Ah! The life of a student...somehow you have more time to do things that are not academically related. *hehe*

After that, I baked two more cakes or something - but still the same stuff only. Play safe mah.

I like egg tarts but they were expensive in Glasgow (well, after conversion lah, if dollar to dollar, it's still okay) - so I searched for the recipe and tried it. It came out...edible.
*hehe*
My housemates and I finished them (right out of the oven) but I think it's because we've been deprived! The crust/pastry could have been better and the layer of egg custard was thin (the little cups that were left over by Pauline weren't very deep).

We also made tiramisu - a recipe from LeeAnn - for LeeYen's birthday.
Siow made super cookies! They grew super big in the oven! *hehe*

What else ah?

*shrugs*

Came back to Malaysia, I didn't dare to bake because I thought it had something to do with the weather. Can't bake here, can bake there.
*hehe*
Till end of last year, I decided to try making cupcakes as gifts. It was from there I started getting to know Google better and met up with YouTube more often.
[I FINALLY found out why my cake mix project flopped - I opened the oven before it's time! I didn't know! I'm not a hopeless failure, afterall! *hehe*]
I started watching cooking shows, reading blogs, searching for recipes, tips, pictures, videos...so many things you could find online!
Biggest projects up to date are favours for korkor's wedding and cupcakes for Hazel's birthday.

I wish to have my own place one day so I can have a complete set of things I need/want to do everything I want to.
*hehe*
...and it's not limited to just baking.

Thus my journey from cake mix flop to baking from scratch with handmade frosting.

[So YOU are really missing something and lost something precious. Not me.]

Baking...out of comfort zone

2007-11-22T00:49:00.000+08:00

Bread shaped cake.

Doesn't it look like Noah's Ark? *hehe*

Baking with those over-toaster looking kind of oven. It works but I'm not used to it so I didn't even help MC at all - save for laughing at her and being in the way. *hehe*

This is why we want our own places. Exactly the same sentiments.

Even now when I'm home without anyone around - it's still different. I can't "personalise" things at home. I can't throw things I don't want and replace with things I want/prefer. I make-do, lor.

Other than it being weirdly shaped, the cake tasted really good. MC said not sweet/chocolate-y enough but I think it's just nice. Seeing her bake a cake makes me want to go back this weekend and attempt one.
A mini one with the pan I bought from Jusco last time. This time I will line it with parchment paper first to prevent the batter from "leaking".

How can?!!

2007-11-21T18:06:00.000+08:00

I'm disappointed. How can they remove Starbucks from here?! *sob*

I found out that the Starbucks outlet in GurneyPlaza has been...removed. The place was boarded up when I wanted to go there to kill some time while waiting to meet up with Mi-Chelle. It was one of the crucial reason of why I chose to stay in this place - cheaper rate so I could instead spend my money on a cuppa while leeching off their internet connection. *sigh*

At least Subway's still here. I will get my breakfast on Friday before leaving for Ipoh.

What am I going to do now while waiting? Where to wait? What to do? Huh?!

---

Yesterday night I slept very early - I was feeling really tired by the time it was about 9pm! Don't know why, though. I went to bed at 10 something...

I woke up suddenly (left my bedside lamp on so I would not sleep so soundly - it's my personal theory/practice) and I was excited, thinking to myself, "It's finally Wednesday!!!" This is because I woke up feeling like I've slept for AGES!
Guess what time was it? 1155pm. Not even officially Wednesday yet. Pfft.

Went back to sleep...when I had to wake up again (for real) to go to work, I lost all enthusiasm (except for going back to sleep). Was late, even. Blergh.

Looking forward

2007-11-20T17:53:00.000+08:00

I'm actually feeling excited! After feeling crappy for...quite some time...I'm actually feeling excited about something.

Definitely not work related lah!

I'm looking forward to the weekend because it is then I would get to work on my little experiment/project. If it works out, you'd see it here! If it doesn't...the curiousity would probably kill you because I'm not posting any failures here! Hmmmph!

Can't wait! Tomorrow's Wednesday!

Three more days...yay!!!

*hyperventilates*

Equally lazy

2007-11-19T22:34:00.000+08:00

At least she's doing her job. Was just telling her to not encourage me if I EVER say I want to eat (this refers to us talking about her wanting to get ice-cream and me wanting to go get a burger after gym...) junk.

Ambitious Sunday

2007-11-18T23:49:00.000+08:00

New microphones for the choir. I'm amazed! Compare it to the size of the normal microphone stand! And it catches the choir MUCH better than the normal ones - fantastic! The choir sounded so much better!

[I do realise I kept ending my sentences with exclamation points...I'm just excited.]

---

I wanted to get A LOT done today. I'm ambitious but lazy. Not exactly a winning combination.
Out of the 7 things I WANT to do, I only got to do 3. I left out ironing, cleaning the room, updating OnDemand and going to the bank. Ironing and cleaining my room is the most time consuming and tedious - I don't think I'd get to do it till after Christmas (!!). Bum. Me. Classic.

Anyway, I went out to get groceries after practice and came back to wash my clothes. I'm waiting for the soup to be done...still have to add salt to taste. It doesn't take this long usually but because I'm using the slow cooker this time. (I think the stove is running out of gas...I don't want to push it and have to do double work if it runs out half way while making the soup)

ABC soup.
I wanted to make a pot of stew and keep it refrigerated so I can have it for the coming week. The operative word : wanted to.
I thought I could improvise. I put in more carrots/potatoes and use less water...I'd probably get some sort of "stew" but Chinese style, right? *hehe*

All in one pot.

At the same time, I thought I could try making some cookies. One of my favourites. It's my first time trying to bake cookies - weird, huh? Well, I just never thought of making cookies last time.

Guess what cookie am I attempting to make?

Any idea?

I am disappointed that there aren't any cracks on my cookie. Like those mass produced ones. Came out crazy sweet. Will probably need to have it with bitter coffee...by the time you have 3, your coffee would probably be sweet. It's that crazy.
I will probably try the recipe again next weekend - reduce the sugar and use fresh ginger.

The second batch I baked - I added more flour in to the existing batter and used coarse grain sugar for the "garnish".

All nighter

2007-11-17T08:49:00.000+08:00

YeeChin is leaving for the UK on Wednesday and we talked about playing last week.

It's madness.

Feeling better

2007-11-15T21:55:00.000+08:00

So I made this...inspired after reading a blog entry and thinking about WKCCT's french toast.
Probably better effects/out come with creamy peanut butter rather than chunky peanut butter.

---

What I'm about to write probably contradicts my title but I just want to say that that title refers only to my physical self.

Anyway, been feeling lousy (apart from the diarrhoea) lately. Probably the job, probably the self expectations.

I've come to "realise" something about my job. I don't know if it's because I'm not suited for it that I find it difficult or is it because I don't have the right back-ups for the job. The support.

Feedback I get from colleagues - I'm better suited in my current work rather than being confined to an office space and time.

I don't know if it's the nature of the job itself or is it just my particular products. Like I've probably shared before, I don't want go out and feel like I'm wasting both my time AND the client's time. I have no support to go with me, I go out feeling quite the fool (after more than a year with NOTHING to offer?) when after the formalities they ask, "So what's new?"

"Ehmm...nothing."

Some may say I didn't put enough effort. Probably have to read up on other things to talk to the clients about but my job is to talk about my products and the diseases my product can cure/help! Even if it's not about my product, I should at least talk about the disease?
So in a way I'm glad that NZ gave HeartHealth as one of the modules to take up. (Now that is another story - why haven't they processed it or given me any news yet?!)

Well, I think the effort should also come from my support side. If they don't give me the support I need, the materials I need - what do I need them for?
Let me put it clearer...I need materials to support my products. Not just using my face, not just building rapport. I need to be professional! Not just looking them up for social calls! How many social calls can you make??!!
Even I know how it feels to waste people's time. It's STUPID. Makes me feel and look stupid. And without anything that would benefit the client professionally, you not only help me shut the doors of opportunity to see them, you personally lock them up for me, too! Oh wheeee!

*GARGGGHH*

I wonder if I would feel differently if I had different products to handle. Products that have more marketing support. At the moment, I feel that I do not have any job satisfaction is because (this may sound corny but it's true) I don't feel like I'm contributing anything to the society. I don't feel like I'm helping anyone out.
Yes...the drugs help save lives but I don't FEEL it. I don't feel the impact, I don't see it!

Back in retail, even if it was a bad day...I'm pretty sure if I dig through my memory, there would be at least ONE customer that appreciates what I do. At least ONE who would be happy with what I have for them. I make a difference in their lives.

Right now...I'm doing nothing! Society's leech. Pfft.

I'm frustrated because I don't see nor feel myself helping anyone, in any way!

Now you know why I'm eager for them to send the modules to me, to study and to get moving. I don't want to be in this current position anymore if there is no change! I WANT to move on and I want to be a community pharmacist once again (just not here *hehe*).
At least that meant something. Even if it was just helping a customer's query on which one is a better brand of fung yau.

MC

2007-11-14T22:05:00.000+08:00

You know what? Taking MC is crazy.
Already am sick, have to go to the doctor to get an MC. If not because of that, I would've just gone to the pharmacy to pick up the medications I need. Dah lah having diarrhoea (since yesterday morning!!!), have to wait 1.5hours to see the doctor to get...activated carbon, loperamide and hyoscine.

You know why I got those items?
1. I told him I've got diarrhoea.
2. I told him the feeling it's like passing wind.
3. I told him that I had stomach spasms.

I also know how to give lah! *grumbles grumbles* Just for the MC.

And even after meds, I'm still having diarrhoea. So it's TWO days already. It's madness! Doctor mentioned if it lasts till Saturday (!!!), it may be more than just food poisoning...possibly bacterial infection in the gut. Sounds so canggih, huh?

After a long wait at the doctor's, went home to cook. I know Surt was on the way home so I made soup for two and asked her to help get some greens for the meal. Quick ching tong meal for the two peng mau's (sick cats).

Slurpppppppy!
Rice noodles, meatballs, minced meat and Chinese cabbage!
Yummy soup! *hehe*

Two sick f'lers - still taking cili padi.
Sorethroat one gets worse, diarrhoea one also gets worse. Classic.

This is what I've been having - alternating with water. I don't like ORS.

Dinner.
Milo, soft boiled egg and man tau.

About 10 times

2007-11-13T21:55:00.000+08:00

I don't even know what I ate yesterday that may have contributed to this.
Maybe the iced Milo?
Because my other colleagues had the roti kosong, too.

Maybe this?
See, JoFo? I told you I don't take salad! *hehe* But nothing happened to her, and we shared the salad.

Maybe this?
JoFo had warm water, I had this.

After that, this morning was the start of my diarrhoea. It's not even loose stools...it's just fluids, y'know. It's not the normal stomach ache thingy, too...it feels like you're going to pass wind (fart) but it's actually time to go to the loo.

*sigh*

Diarrhoea sampai dizzy. Despite that, I went to the gym with Surt. Instead of going for BodCombat, I used the machines. Can control mah...

Feeling cold and having bodyaches...I can't believe I'm going to bed at 10pm.
At times like this one, no matter how independent I am..."I want my mommy."

New place

2007-11-13T16:56:00.000+08:00

Guess where?

I was walking towards to the concierge to ask about how to get to my meeting place and I didn't even notice the stream in front of me! Until when my foot was over it...it was like a reflex action - I took a step back, a little gasp escaped my mouth. Turned out it was part of the design - there IS a stream but there is also glass over it.

Person at desk must be thinking, "Sheesh. Sua ku."

Stamp collection

2007-11-12T23:02:00.000+08:00

What is the first thing comes to your mind? Summore with the picture below being viewed on my phone.
Postal stamps lah!

Message from Janvier:
Have you started your stamp collection yet? We don't know if we want to but the 2008 one looks real nice.

Only when I saw Janvier today that I finally understood what he meant.
It's the Starbucks sticker collection thingy for a 2008 planner. *chuh!* I was so excited that I called Sze-Mien just to tell her that...*hint hint*

*hehe*

Never met him in everyday places - although he seem to hangout at the same places as I do. This is the very first time...and JUST before we got the bill, too. All in good time.

A touch of pink

2007-11-12T03:16:00.000+08:00

Need to get rid of these "strawberry chocolate chips" - which in true fact is made out of nothing but sugar. I've another pack of white ones, too. These things are evil - they ruined my cakes when I was rushing to finish baking for korkor's wedding. Stress gila.
Vanilla cupcakes - recipe taken from Cheryl's blog.
Buttercream is simply hentam - too lazy to measure out exact proportions.

Got to use my new nozzle and adapter/coupler.

These are some of the things I bought from US - Wilton items.
Crazy kan? I was more interested in craft and baking items rather than clothes.
Pfft.

---

Sleeping at these times is not getting me anywhere. Even if I got this at a cheaper rate (thanks to my SIL), don't think it'll make a difference when I don't get my REM between 11pm to 1am.

Heh!

Hitting a low note

2007-11-11T22:33:00.000+08:00

Possible causes:

1. Looking back at this, I remember my plan was to achieve it when I'm 26. No where near.

2. It is nearing.

3. Not seeing any improvements, work wise.

4. Feeling pressured in ministry, like as if I woke up and I lost the passion this morning.

5. Weight (!!)

6. Disappointed with self - for a lot of things other than (1).

---

I told Su-Ann that because of this, I feel like I've even lost my passion to sing. I like singing but this makes me dislike it.
What happened today didn't help either - miscommunication in distributing lunch, being reprimanded for not going to the back for costume/makeup try-out (which I completely forgot!)...to think I nearly wanted to not go for service today. Just feel like shutting down completely.

*sigh*

I feel bad now because I know I've been feeling selfishly.
AuntyJenny was tearing when she said, "You may feel like giving up on yourself but DON'T give up on God."
I know some (if not most, or all) leaders would rather not be in their position if given a choice...and me? Making such a big fuss when am faced with an emotional hurdle.

*sigh*

I really feel unmotivated.
In a lot of areas of my life, I feel like such a failure.
This year has been especially difficult...it's not entirely untrue when I reply my colleagues, "Hit already? Hit wall got lah!" I feel like I've been hitting the wall, going nowhere. Have not moved anywhere either. No progress, no improvement.

*sigh*

Trust me, I know ALL the pick-me-up phrases - the "right" way to think and "right" things to say, all those lines to tell myself...unfortunately I can't help feeling it.
One would say, "It's all in the mind. Think positive and it'll turn out positive."
Another would say, "Things will get better, don't worry."
Some say, "Cheer up!"

Nothing is more irritating than me feeling down and you not knowing when to stop feeding me "positive-ness". It doesn't work for me, not that I have anything against you. It just doesn't work. Instead of uplifting my spirits like you intend to, I feel irritated and want to stay away from you even more than before.

I say, "Let me wallow a bit."

Joker

2007-11-11T21:36:00.000+08:00

Probably the first and the last time I'd ever get to use this microphone so I asked Derrick to help snap a picture.

Derrick: Joker lah you.
FeR: You also joker to layan me take this picture.

---

Korkor and SIL came back from JB and we had a very filling dinner at BeeKee (again).

Farewell BBQ for PorEiz

2007-11-09T23:53:00.000+08:00

Ah! Ever since I got back from my holiday, I look forward to my weekends.
I think I'm still suffering from post-holi blues. *hehe*

Soon Paul+Hazel would be leaving for HK...this time around, Hazel is more excited (not teary eyed!)...
I would be excited, too if I had such a beautiful apartment to "start-over" in! *hehe* She showed me the video of their new apartment and it's GORGEOUS! I aspire to own something like that one day - apartment with a view, plenty of light and everything nicely fitted (no wet bathrooms!!!)

I asked JoFo to come pick me up from the house because I don't know how to get to Johnny's place. I don't even know how to get to LeisureMall...am pretty lost in Cheras area. We thought it would take some time for us to get there (I think we left the house at about 640pm?) because of the notorious Cheras jam but we completely forgot that it was a public holiday the day before. The roads were clear! We were the firsts to arrive at Johnny's place.
Thank God I asked JoFo to pick me up because I don't think I would've made it if I were to drive and navigate on my own.

JoFo says it looks like JB, I say it looks rather like BU.

One of the corns had a visitor!

Unconventional corn.

Suppose to start at 730pm but the fire was started at 715pm...took quite some time before the charcoals were just right.

745pm - Hazel all ready to go!

Hazel: I like to BBQ one!

Well, when she goes to HK, the popular thing to do during winter would be having steamboats rather than BBQ lor.

Most of the wings were probably done by her...makes me hungry now looking at this picture (but at that time we were all too stuffed to finish everything!)

Didn't take a lot of pictures because I was too busy stuffing face - it's been some time since I went for a BBQ (I love BBQ chicken wings, actually!)

Paul giving a speech.

Sally: Don't want Hazel to give speech, after she cry then we have to wait for her to finish.

*hehe*

All the best, you guys! Will definitely miss going to GurneyHeights every Wednesday - though I hardly get to attend cell these days.
(I will not visit you in HK *hehe*)
One year since I started work in KL and it's been a source of encouragement - especially in the midweek when everyone's feeling drained.

Happy Deepavali!

2007-11-08T23:07:00.000+08:00

We went for brunch (it was near 12pm) at OldTown Kopitiam in KuchaiLama. OiSin and ChiaLing stayed over yesterday night, after coming back from a trip to "mini Genting" (don't know where is that - didn't get to go because I went for cell).
I was very hungry but worried if I ate too much, I wouldn't be able to stomach anything at Padmaan's place. *hehe* Hor fun, soft boiled eggs, toast and milk tea. Fuhh!

We left KL at about 130pm...thought we'd be late since we were supposed to meet up at Padmaan's place at 2pm. Mana tau in the end, Keat and I were the earliest at 210pm. Pfft.

Whatchu looking at?

*jeling*
Seriously, whatchu looking at?

She's so cute lah. Her name's Angel...and she was quite an angel, too.

"Lei mou thai kui hou chi hou si man gam, kui jung sik gor ngor ah!"
The guys were discussing about...well...bath/massage places. *hehe*
I was standing from afar snapping their pictures. I was the only char boh there, I don't think they want me to be there as they plan their activities for tomorrow. Not that I'm keen to know...because I'm not invited. Pfft. Then again, better not ask for it. *hehe*

Scavengers

2007-11-07T23:38:00.000+08:00

Not exactly but close.

JoFo and I eating the patient's food. Well, she didn't want it...she said it didn't look appetizing but both of us thinks it's fab! *haha*
She took the soup, I took the tea. And we shared the rice, vegetables and the sweetsour fish. *smacks lips*

Room 427.
I assume it's on the 4th floor but I just wanted to be sure, so I went to the concierge desk.

FeR: Hi, room 427 is on which floor?
Man: 427 huh...what's the name of the patient?
FeR: Err...LSM. Which floor is that room on? Room 427.
Man: Room 427 huh...is it...L..S...M?
FeR: Yes, which floor is her room on?
Man: Room 427 is on the 4th floor.

And I thought it was a rather straight forward question.

A very painful peripheral IV line. *shudders*

No more solo expeditions!
You can call me to see if I'm available. *hehe*
Aih...to think I met up with you yesterday and you looked fine. It's definitely something to do with post-holiday blues lah...*hehe*

Get well soon!!!

You've got the look...

2007-11-06T23:15:00.000+08:00

Colleagues have the weirdest comments.

Colleague: Do you have a boyfriend? You look(!!!) like you have a boyfriend wor.

Colleague: You give us the impression that you would have a boyfriend, probably a foreigner...an angmoh. You look like it.

Keat: So does that mean they think you look like an SPG?
FeR: *glares*

Great.
One question though...got "look" one meh?

---

Sirap limau - it's been a long time since I've been here and this seems to be a "new item" on the menu. Both Sze-Mien and I didn't notice it being there before.

My lovelies!!! Yum! Can you believe that I've not had these for AGES? Not even at home.

The bridge connecting new parking lot (so far it's free!) to SJMC.

After work, I met up with Keat to go watch Stardust. Going in without a single clue (only read that Janvier's watched it and Elaine said it made her want a boyfriend after watching it *hehe*) and it turned out really good. Fantasy. The good-feel kind of movie...where things end happily ever after.

Since we watched movie in MidValley, I got to finally see what's Gardens all about. When you walk in, you are greeted by a porter (well, he was in a porter's uniform...but the second time we went inside at about 840pm, he wasn't there anymore) and personally, I feel like I've stepped into a very KLCC-ish atmosphere.
Well, at least I can now say I've been to at least one of the new malls (from all the posts and talks from others).

They have DinTaiFung here! Lookie! SiewLoongPau.
Now I feel hungry looking at it...earlier on in the restaurant, I wasn't feeling so good. Rather grumpy and disturbed so appetite actually shrunk.

My porkchop fried rice...which I didn't finish! How can FeR not finish her food? Since when? NEVER!
Then today it happens...
I look at it now and think, "Wasted."

CRIES!!!

2007-11-05T10:42:00.000+08:00

I CANNOT BELIEVE I ACTUALLY DELETED MY BIRTHDAY PHOTOS!!!

AND I HATE MY DILIGENCE IN CLEARING MY RECYCLING BIN.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

*BANGS HEAD*

*BANGS TABLE*

*BANGS COMPUTER*

*HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF!!!*

I didn't know that half the photos I transferred were already in the my Ipod...I thought if I clicked on cancel it would mean that nothing gets transferred. So I deleted the file in my Ipod, thinking my whole folder of photos is still intact in my computer (because when viewed in thumbnail, the first 4 pictures looked the same on both folders!)
Now I don't have any pictures of my birthday with colleagues, Roe+Ju and the bunch at night.

*CRIES*

Whacky Sunday

2007-11-04T21:56:00.000+08:00

Look! Guess who? Which angel? Is this heaven? *hehe*

KinFei, JoFo, Wyn.

I do think this is a very good picture...minus JoFo at the back with her peace sign.

Wyn asked why the photos he took came out so blurry - "Shaky hands, lah!"

We is a daisy. Yellow center, white "petals". Awww...I love daisies.

---

Updated some photos from US trip and my birthday celebration...find it! *hehe*
It's quite a heavy burden for dial-up...

Best shopaholic

2007-11-02T21:12:00.000+08:00

You know why I am the best?

I spent RM380 without touching/looking/browsing/being there in person.

Great, isn't it?

RM100 for night cream (SIL was in warehouse sale)

RM280 for the external HD (ShwuYan was in LowYat)

Both "purchases" were call-in's. I got sucked into "telemarketing"!!! *hehe*

Yea. So am pretty much broken for this month even before getting my pay.

---

Experimenting with eyeliner.
I KNEW I had some stashed somewhere and true enough, it was STILL in the shopping bag together with the other things I bought from the warehouse sale back in...don't know when but it's this year. July? I forget.
I have dark brown and this blue. I didn't buy them on purpose but everything came in a pack. I wanted the eyebrow pencil but it came with these two eyeliners. Since the price was still cheaper than the eyebrow pencil itself (retail price outside), I decided to just take it.
My left eye was lined with the dark brown liner. This is my right eye.
This colour goes well with the red lipstick I have (a gift from HP and SM) - very the drama. I am a closet drama queen. I don't think you will see me in person with these colours anywhere in the near future.
Then again...who knows? *hehe*

Where else? A last minute meet up with JoFo, Sze-Mien and LiMay.

While waiting for them to arrive, I went to Borders. I had a voucher for RM50 and I thought I would buy the book "Tough Choices" with that.
I was looking for it (and didn't bother to enquire at the info desk) and ended up on the upper level, cooking section! *hehe*
Instead of reading about her experiences in a man dominated corporate world, I opt to learn more about cooking/baking and entertaining. Eeeps.

So dead

2007-11-01T20:43:00.000+08:00

It's November ALREADY?!!

Oh dear!

I completely forgot that yesterday was the last day of October. I forgot to sync my data and didn't email operations about the problem of product input.

I am soooooooooo dead.

Dah lah this month so many empty slots in my call sheet because of my days off, dah lah sales figure was bad...now I don't even sync (which is the same as submitting my report) on time. Missing this deadline means I get a big RED blob on my SPP. Everything is not favourable this month - job wise.

Holiday also sort of disturbed by this fact - I mean, I was happy when I was abroad but when I got back, everything sort of hit me even harder. A punch right in the stomach that leaves me out of breath and senses.

At times like this, I feel like curling up in bed and do nothing. Unfortunately I do not have the means or the luxuruy to take days off to indulge myself.

I don't remember

2007-10-30T00:30:00.000+08:00

...what I wanted to write about. It was a short sentence but a *cough*profound*cough* one - when will I get that kind of inspiration again?

Since I don't remember, I will just jot down some random things since I'm already on this page.

1. There are kittens stuck in between the roof and ceiling...AGAIN. They are a noisy bunch!

2. My neck aches.

3. I wish I was the one flying off tomorrow.

4. I wonder if there's a big secret to having it all.

5. I should've taken pictures of the cards before sealing them in their envelopes.

6. I don't think I'm fitted for my current job.

7. But I don't know what else I can do/work as.

8. There must be more than just this.

9. Why does it take 10,000 years just to copy a few folders of pictures into a disc?!

10. I feel really...low...after coming back from US. It's not (just) post-holiday blues. It's a few things in one. Just too overwhelming that I feel helpless and hopeless.

11. If anyone bothers checking/reading, you may have noticed I've been "silent" lately. I'm brooding. Don't mind me. I'll bounce back soon by posting back-blogs.

12. I hate ironing. Really.

Abandoned...

2007-10-28T17:16:00.000+08:00

That's the feeling, huh?

*hehe*

I was lazy to drive. Anne was the one who was really "abandoned" by this group who went out for lunch before our first combined practice.

Now you see...

2007-10-27T22:01:00.000+08:00

Guess which part of the fish was this?
Wiped clean by dad.

The head.

Bonding time!

2007-10-27T03:45:00.000+08:00

More like last-minute time!
Had dinner together with the cousins before Julie+Ronald flies back to Holland. Had dinner at this place called PantaiSeafood. It's my first visit there but I think TC mentioned she's been there many times - it's one of her family's favourite places.

Ronald, Julie - with their respective "tea"

Missy poo!

TC treated us all to facials! Wheeeee!!! Joanne and I had to look "cool" because we had our masks on mah.

[Talking about cousins...I just realised that I didn't take any pictures of Zach. I THOUGHT I did during breakfast at Denny's. Did someone fiddle with my camera?!]

Anyway, we started our facials near 12am!!! We only left Julie's place at about 3am. Madness, no? Was more worried for TC because she had to work later while the rest of us could just bum and sleep in.

Thanks for the facial, TC! I may need some "follow up" sessions. *wink*

Renovation

2007-10-26T17:48:00.000+08:00

Before packing...didn't really know where to start. Things were EVERYWHERE!

Done! Threw out a lot of things, too. I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me in the likes of..."Where are those consignment approvals from 3 years ago? Where are the files of the campaign from 2 years ago? Where are those slide kits???"

I will drop on the floor and die.

Seriously.

Timing

2007-10-24T23:40:00.000+08:00

Is it good or bad?

I'm supposed to be out of KL this week but because of the meetings on Thursday and Friday (which I only found out this morning), I had to reschedule. I don't like one of these meetings - for that it is quite bad lah.

There is no cell this week because there's a combined cell meeting on Friday AND LyeChan arrived from Bintulu today. Now that's the good side of this timing.
[The free dinner is an added bonus! *hehe*]

Although this is only my 3rd visit (but hey! Every visit it was a different outlet!), at least I'm over the taking-picture-with/of-the-mug phase. *hehe*
This is LC - smaller sized than ever!

The theory of dai peng face - the one nearest to the camera is always the victim. Either that or it's just a plain fact that my face is already in its dai peng stage.
LC asked, "You used to have very strong will when you said you were going to lose weight, what happened?"

-_-"

Not helping, lor...though it DOES say something. I'm also wondering where it all went. Must stick to the plan!

While LC and Surt was chattering, I amused myself.

---

Completely off topic.

Spot the odd one out!

Though it's "odd" but it's still in the same colour code! AuntA passed it to me, along with the medicated clearing gel - the gel works wonders, I tell you! No more blackheads.
Problem is, Surt tells me they've "banned" this product. If I'm not mistaken, I think I've heard about them discontinuing this product. I look thru their products online and I think the closest match to this product so far is the overnight clearing gel - sounds almost similar, no? The ingredients are fairly the same, too.
Great for blackheads! Tried and tested.

I forgot that I used the hydrating serum that Sze-Mien and HuiPing got me on the night I received their gift. When I looked at it again just now (I left it in KL, didn't bring it along in my bag), I was shocked to see the bottle opened!!! I was thinking to myself how come it was opened...they couldn't have bought one that was opened!

Then...it dawned on me. *hehe*

Why?

2007-10-23T18:56:00.000+08:00

Why would people point out the obvious only after I come back from my trip?

I TOLD them I put on weight but I guess they think I have some self-image issue...I don't. I am just telling it as it is - that I did put on weight. And everyone goes...

"No lah!"

I did put on weight and didn't even manage to get it off before mom came back the second time this year...and put on some more even BEFORE I went to SF. I came back weighing the same as before I went for the trip and they tell me now, in all ways, that I've put on weight.

Pfft.

I know lah...I'm just irritated because I tell you THE TRUTH, you deny it. Then now you come tell me like I don't already know. Bah! Just because I came back from a holiday, everyone suddenly notices what I've been telling them all the while and reacts as if it's something new. Grrrr...

Global Leadership Summit

2007-10-22T23:00:00.000+08:00

Day one.

Session1 was horrible. Not the speaker but my condition/feeling at that time. Had a neckache that radiated to my shoulders and head (headache!)...feeling cold, hungry. Grumpy. Blergh. Couldn't wait for the tea break. *hehe*
I'm just being honest.

Subsequently (after downing JoFo's last two paracetamol) after the tea break, everything was MUCH better! I especially enjoyed Session2 - probably because I could relate to it.

GLS Malaysia - the date and venue for next year has already been set. It's still going to be in Agape Gospel Assembly, Seremban in October. Couldn't quite remember the date but it's late October.

No regrets in participating - though am tired from own hectic schedule. Even managed to squeeze in a short "jog-walk" with JoFo after the conference. *hehe*

JoFo and I at the registration counter.

Lunch time! I'm colour coordinated with the GLS theme.

So are the rest...except for this someone who ARGUED with me about the name tags' colour - saying Agapeans got blue coloured tags when I said EVERYONE gets a blue coloured tag. The other "colours" she saw was yellow - and that was the only other colour. They were given to the volunteers (not attending summit, just there to serve the congregation).

---

Realised in the morning that I've got mail from the council. Snail mail, that is.

"The panel could not ascertain equivalency with that of a current NZ BPharm graduate."

Ah! More obstacles.
Emailed the person in-charge and will see how it goes. If it's just to take those 4 modules, I don't see a problem. Diabetes module would be good because would be able to further explore the disease and I've always(have I? *hehe*) been keen on our CVS.

Sometimes I really don't know if this is what You've planned and if You want me to continue with this. Sometimes You humour me, sometimes You frustrate me because I do not understand all these that are happening. I will continue to trust You because I believe You have good plans for me.

Was it a dream?

2007-10-20T16:32:00.000+08:00

One minute I was worrying about my visa, the next thing I know...am back home.

Back.

Kind of sad...kind of in a daze and wonder if it was all just a long, long dream.

Last day of holiday

2007-10-18T23:32:00.000+08:00

David&Goliath tees and book from Emily and Evelyn.

1106pm I'm already at the waiting area...flight is at 130am but I don't expect them to be with me till late at the airport.

Having my last burger before going home. Tahpau from Milbrae.

As my trip comes nearer to its end, I took less and less photos. Nothing grabs my attention anymore because I'm distracted by my impending departure.

Of food and cat

2007-10-17T21:34:00.000+08:00

Poor mom waited for me for nearly 2 hours! The bus got delayed because of rain+traffic...also the driver didn't seem to know how to get to Oakland! We were scheduled to be at Oakland by 630am but we only got there at about 720am!!! It was jammed up all the way going onto the BayBridge. Madness!
There were no means to contact mom. Even if I did use my phone, she didn't have one. She couldn't call me through pay phone either, right? So she patiently waited for me at the station on 1st Street. Must have been worried!

Chocolate chip bagel with cream cheese at Noah's Bagel, near Embarcadero bart station.

In the Chinese saying, they say bring money along for just-in-cases...mom gave me this last Sunday to keep with me while traveling on the bus. *haha*

The stuff I blew my money on at Michael's...the back portion after the squiggly eyes are Hazel's.

California Pizza Kitchen at Hillsdale mall.

Steve in his favourite spot.

Seafood buffet in FosterCity(?) as a "farewell" dinner.

It is a very cold night! I love the cold weather...last night to cover myself with the Penguin printed fleece blanket while watching TV, last night to tuck self into bed under the Dalmation printed fleece blanket. Do this back home, you'd get a heat stroke or something (I don't use the AC mah! Think global warming!).

Mom's helping me pack my bag - she's experienced. *hehe*

Hello and Goodbye!

2007-10-16T19:00:00.000+08:00

So much for "catching up" with AuntJ yesterday - could barely keep my eyes open!

I probably looked weird and "stoned" because sleepy as I was (and eyes taking extra effort to keep opened), I could feel AuntJ looking at me funny. *hehe* I WAS listening, okay...just that not much of a reaction except for cringing during her "show and tell" part.

So this morning I woke up bright and early! I heard AuntJ opening the sliding door (by the way, sleeping on her couch was the BEST sleep I've had...since I didn't get much rest on the bus for the night before) and I got up, too! It was about 615am? Not exactly bright outside.

Chicken making hard-boiled eggs! Quite the salah because chickens are supposed to LAY their eggs, not cook them!

Curry chicken! Yum! AuntJ said her curry chicken very laku suddenly because I'm around. *hehe*
I quote Mike, "I hate to see good food go to waste."

If you can see the hard boiled egg - there is no grey ring around the egg yolk. Perfect eggs! Also the fact that normal tap water here is icy cold! Do you wonder why I'm saying all these things?
I read online (while researching on how to make deviled eggs last time) that to make the perfect hard boiled eggs, you have to soak the eggs in cold water immediately after they are done to prevent the formation of that grey-green ring (oxidation) around the egg yolk.
Super, right? The eggs look so good!!!

I had the first bowl of rice when AuntJ first finished cooking the dishes...then I showered, waited for AuntA to come over to pick me. While waiting, I took another bowl of rice at about 10am. *haha*

Pig is I!

Such an exciting place! To me, that is.

I felt bad that AuntA was walking around without much to buy (prolly already sick and tired of it whereas it's a first for this jakun here) - she went around and came back to the first spot, I was still there! *haha*
I asked her if she had any errands to run because I would've been perfectly happy to spend my entire day there. *hehe* Unfortunately, my trip there had to be cut short not so much of the time limit but because I spent everything I had there in less than 2 hours. Pfft.

Yummy! Joey's BBQ - this is the combination of chicken and baby back ribs. Preferred the ribs because the chicken was kind of dry.

Going back to SF later...so this is really a "hello goodbye" trip to LA.

Finally!

2007-10-15T21:49:00.000+08:00

Guess where was this?

Came all the way to LA on the Greyhound bus for this.

Oh...all the way for my aunts and cousins, too. *hehe* You guys know you come first...right?