My First Award

Gosh!! I almost forgotten all about this in my hectic schedule since I got back from my long holiday/training! My very first award and it is from Rose which awards me Treasure Blog Award. Ain't that sweet?

I know my previous posting about Turn Over a New Leaf had got many of my friends wondering what in the world is wrong with me. My colleagues are even telling me that there are occasions that we have nothing to do during our office hours and then it is ok to indulge in personal things at the time. As long as it does not effect the work performance, then it is ok.

Well, I guess inside of me, I know this is true and I totally agree with them. However, I do know my weakness. Whenever I attend any interview, the favorite question asked by the interviewer would be " Tell me your weaknesses". And I will always response that I am a perfectionist and I do not like to make mistakes. Yes, I know, we are human and it is human nature to slack a little sometimes and make mistake especially when you are trying to multitask.

So, dont worry friends (you know who you are^_^), I am not leaving my blogs totally (as you can see, new posting today:P). Just want to get my things and priorities aligned properly and slow down on this. Just I got over-excited at the prospect of earning additional income by doing what I enjoy, TALKING and BLABBING!!!

Rose, again! THANKS FOR THE AWARD!! MUCKSS!!!!

Live for A Reason

Live for a reason, that was the Table Topic for our Toastmasters Table Topic Contest yesterday. At the beginning of each year (some even at the end of the year) will start to decide on their new year's resolution. Some will have so many resolution or renewing their previous year resolution. Others might decided to make not resolution at all. Then again, what is resolution exactly? It is a set of goals that we want to achieve in order to bring meaning to our life, right? And hence, a reason for living.

Believe it or not, each and everyone of us live for a purpose. The reason for living might not be the purpose of life that the members of the society agrees with but then again, it is our goal in life that makes us continue living each day. A great example I believe would be the recent big boo-hoo about sex change by someone from our 'backyard', Jessie Chung. Jessie's goal is to be a girl and marry the man that she loves. No matter how controversial it was or how some members of the society might have shunned her, it is Jessie's believes that makes it possible for him to become her. And that is as good a reason for living as any. Love and self perseverance.

How about you? What is your reason for waking up every morning? Is it just to get to the job that you might or might not like? Or is it so that you can earn a living everyday doing what you hated but still doing it because you do not have a choice? Or do you wake up in the morning just because the society says that it is the right thing to do?

Well, let me leave you with this little quote that I heard from a friend, "Everyday is a new day but how whether the new day will be a good day or bad one is entirely up to your reason for waking up everyday to face the world".

Turning Over A New Leaf

I have decided. I am turning over a new leaf starting immediately. I know 30 days has past for the year 2008 and people usually make resolution and leaf turning at the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008. So I am different. That is good right? What is the point of making resolution to change at the beginning of the year just because everyone is doing it? Wanting to change for the better should happen at anytime of the year, month, week, day or for that matter, time!

So, yah, I have decided to change from now onwards. Actually this sudden realisation was bought about by something stupid that I did that I will not even tell you about it in details (or else my secret of my stupidity & carelessness will be out!) Sufficient to say that this has make me stew and worry since Monday. So much so that I can't even get proper sleep throughout the night. I think last night I might even have dreamed of stepping on sh8t. All this headache and fear is definitely not worth it compared to the slacking off and doing personal things during office hours.

Yap, I am talking about my blogging addiction (oh and chatting too). Do not snicker and shake your head at this. Can you honestly tell me that you have not put aside something important just to upload post to your blog or blog hopping? Or admit that you put full concentration on whatever that you are suppose to do instead of 'multitasking' and blog at the same time? So, I will be brutal to myself and admit that I have been careless and not giving my 100% concentration to the task at hand and my work. For this, I am being 'punished' by having it biting my butt real hard...

So, leaf turning are:
1. Will not blog during office hours
2. Will not chat online (until after lunch at least)
3. Will not go blog hopping during office hours
4. Will clean/catch up with the backlog of my work before CNY holiday
5. Lost weight starting NOW for my end-of-year wedding

Ok, so I will have withdrawal syndrome again but like all addiction, it is a habit. I know I will overcome it if I am determine enough (and believe me, I am determine!). So, if you do not see updates from me occasionally, don't worry, I have not abandon my blog and new found blogging friends. I just need to prioritise^_^. Wish me all the best people!!!

Another 2-tag-in-1

Another tag from my friend Rose. This time it is 2-tag-in-1 thing. So, I must make sure I do this without multi-tasking on other things or else I might lost myself some where. Cant help it, I am still blur!!

Tag No. 1
This time about how happy I am. Actually I am abit surprised that I am not 100% happy since I just got back from my long date with my babe! But I guess if i am happy all the time, then there would not be any improvement needed in life & not forgetting how boring it will me without any challenges! (Not to mention that I will look like a loony tune for being happy ALL the time!). So, I am 68% happy ^_^

You Are 68% Happy

You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world. Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up.

Feel free to check How Happy Are You by clicking on the link

Tag No 2:

Five things/People I Love and Hate

2nd tag is about 5 things/people that I love and hate. It will be pretty hard to name just 5 but I will try:P

Five things/people I love:

1. My family (including my babe since I consider him my family^_^)
2. Friends
3. Books!! (I cant live without books!)
4. Cooking & Baking
5. My blog (hahaha..my latest addiction)

Five things/people I hate:

1. Frogs!! I think I have a phobia for frogs after my bro shove one in front of my face suddenly many years ago. Now whenever I see a frog, even on the street while I am in the car, I can feel cold sweat coming on and heart pounding like crazy!
2. The cab drivers in KL. Still pull frustrated and steaming about this
3. Being bored with nothing to do.
4. Not being bored but not having enough time to do the things that I want to do
5. Not having internet connection when I desperately need one, for example, to blog!! haha

I am not tagging anyone for this. Too lazy...hehehehe...

I feel Stupid Today

I finally got the cottonwool out of my head. Well, most of it anyway. The remaining cottonwool I am trying to chug my nescafe kaw (thick) as fast as I can to soak the remaining cottonwool and hopefully the cotton will be wet enough that it is washed out through my system entirely after lunch. I guess it was not such a good idea to have long holidays after all. I mean, imagine trying to resurrect the dead brain after 9 days of inactivity and stress-less time! I cant imagine those coming back to work after 2 months off for maternity leave! Things can change and happened in a week, what more to say 2 months!

(lunch break!!)

Yeah yeah yeah, I only managed to get the one paragraph up before my lunch break but you cant blame me. I just got back from a long long holiday and was still swimming through all the 'important' chain emails in my mailbox. Really cant understand why people cant read AND understand the out-of-office email that pops back to them everytime they send an email to my mailbox. Unless they dont understand what my message mean???? Can you understand what it mean:

Hi, I am out of office on 21 Jan 08 and will be back to work on 28 Jan 08. My back up is XXXXX (email: XXX). Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thanks.

And on top of that, the daily activities are also flowing in non-stop. Of course, my lady boss just have to add a little bit more workload to me by giving me another system and report related project. And I thought I was being smart by putting current project enhancement in my performance review target for 2008!

I am feeling rather stupid today with all the muddiness. sigh..I can understand why over-achievers actually take pills to hype themselves up and give them more concentration. Not that I am planning to do that mind you! Drugs for 'recreational' purposes is a big no-no for me not matter what. And yes, I do frown on whoever that does that. This is a matter of self-control and self-preservation! Maybe I should get brands chicken essence when I go home later. Or take ginseng drink when I go home. But the last time I took that, I put too much ginseng root into the hot water and end up unable to sleep for 2 nights! geez.....

Really looking forward to the CNY holiday next week. The one week that I had last week just does not seem to be enough. Time seems to fly and before I am even aware of it, I need to catch the flight back to Kuching the Sunday evening already! So, yes, I am looking forward to the CNY holiday especially since the public holiday is on Thursday and Friday. I can imagine myself taking nap at anytime I want and lazing around watching Astro or read my new books!

Blabbing about Nothing

I am here again! I need to catch up you know after so many days missing from the blogging world! I actually have blogging withdrawal syndrome that one week that I was away without any internet access at the friend's place that I am staying. I keep on turning on my laptop to post something to my blog but then suddenly remember that I do not have internet connection! AGGHH!!

I keep on bugging my babe that I want to go to Starbuck or anywhere with wifi. And everytime we go out to any shopping mall, I will tell him to bring my laptop backpack in case I have the time to log on. But funny thing is, each and everytime that I go shopping with him, we cant seem to find the time for us to go to Starbuck and me to go online! I mean we lugged the laptop and leave it in the car, promising ourselves (or rather myself) that we will come back for it when we want to have our break or coffee. But no matter what, never did it. There was just never enough time. Those shopping malls really takes up alot of time. Even a simple fast browsing at the smallest place (eg. Subang Parade) takes up to 3hours!

Of course, babe just had to go to every shoe shop, especially hushpuppies to look for a particular shoes that he likes that is currently on 50% sale but despite going to so many different hushpuppies outlets (I think we went to abt 6), all do not have the size 7 that he want. It seems that everytime he have his heart set on a particular shoe at hushpuppies, there never seem to have size 7 when it is on sale. I just dont have the heart to tell him I want to go online for blogging when I saw his sad disappointed face! It almost make me want to beg on bended knees for the salesgal to please check with their other outlets...

Even the free wifi at the lobby of the hotel that I was staying in was not working on the day that I actually have time after the training. In the end, I went to Starbuck in the shopping mall that was linked to it. Somehow, time just flies and I only managed to get 2 posts up that day. Good thing that I do not have any assignments from people like nuffnang or Adsense yet. Or else I will be sure to get blacklisted for not completing assignments.

I know, I know. I am rambling on about nothing almost. But I have not unpack anything yet, including downloading the pictures that I took while I was there. Didnt take much pic though. Blame it on the old muddled brain of mine and my babe for not reminding me! He practically swallowed all the food that I cooked for him like a vacuum cleaner before I have the chance to remember my camera! Almost each time, he will be eating more than 2 plates of rice! hahaha.. But I am happy of course because he likes the homecook food that I made for him.

I told babe that if I move to KL to work next time, I dont think I will have the time to cook everyday! He will have to do his share of the cooking since his workplace is about 15minutes from where he is staying now. No jam, no stress and not too much work. And hence, seldom having to OT. He can be home by 6pm usually! I doubt I will be so lucky as that and able to find something so near to his work place. Most likely will need to commute at least 1 hr daily to and from work. So, I told him, he has to share with the cooking if he want homecook food. Guess what he said? OK~ Yah happy right and then he said, he will cook the rice and the rest wait for me. PENGSAN (FAINTZ!!) hahaha!

Tagging Along

Tagging along from Rose reminds me of a game that we used to play when we were a kid, the choo choo train or something like that. It is a good way for us kids to have fun and at the same time learn to be social-adapt & follow the leader ^_^. Would love to see how long will this list gets!

*Start Copy Here*

You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.

1)Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*

2)Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.

3)Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.

4)Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like the scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.)

5)Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.

1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-The Down Side OF Up 25-Ladyjava's Lounge 26-Cat Tales 27-moms.....check nyo 28-Colorado Baby 29-It's a Woman's World 30-ENLIGHTENED BITS 31-My View of "It" 32-My Reviews and Finds Along the Way 33-Our Hep Chat 34-Rantings of a Woman 35-The Callalily Space 36-Mom Knows Everything 37-Hazel 38- Chronicles and Tales Unlimited (RED) 39-From the Mouth of Jabber Jaws.40. Nyumix's Blog.41. Jen Jen Place

*End Copy Here*

So, I am tagging this bloggers: Didi, Apple Jul

My Cartoon Character

Maurica has tagged me to see which cartoon character I am! I am a Sponge Bob Square Pants! hahaha.. and to think that I hated that silly looking yellow sponge wearing pants with ugly big eyes! That is what you call karma!

*(29-35 points) You are Sponge Bob Square Pants: You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never wants to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey, it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people, and you will be stress free.
errrrrmm...classic, everyone love, never understand your feelings, funny, calm...keyword of my life?

Anyway, I am tagging the following people. Let me know what your cartoon character is ^_^
Rose, Didi, Billy's mom, Big Fish Chin, Apple Jul

Answer all the questions (only 10) with what describes you best, add up all your Points (which are next to the answer that you choose) at the end and look for your results. Do not cheat by looking at the end of the e-mail before you are done.Then ask your Friends to answer it. (Make sure to Highlight your answers)

1. Which one of the following describes the perfect date?

a) Candlelight dinner (4 pts.)
b) Fun/Theme Park (2 pts.)
c) Painting in the park (5 pts)
d) Rock concert (1 pt.)
e) Going to movies (3 pt.)

2. What is your favorite type of music?

a) Rock and Roll (2 pts.)
b) Alternative (1 pt.)
c) Soft Rock (4 pts.)
d) Country (5 pts.)
e)Pop (3 pts.)

3. What type of movies do you prefer?

a) Comedy (2 pts.)
b) Horror (1 pt.)
c) Musical (3 pts.)
d) Romance (4 pts.)
e) Documentary (5 pts.)

4. Which one of these occupations would you choose if you only could choose one of these?

a) Waiter (4 pts.)
b) Professional Sports Player (5 pts)
c) Teacher (3 pts.)
d) Police (2 pts.)
e) Cashier (1 pt.)

5. What do you do with your spare time?

a) Exercise (5 pts.)
b) Read (4 pts.)
c) Watch TV (2 pts)
d) Listen to music (1 pt.)
e) Sleep (3 pts.)

6. Which one of the following colors do you like best?

a) Yellow (1 pt.)
b) White (5 pts.)
c) Sky Blue (3 pts.)
d) Dark Blue (2 pts.)
e) Red (4 pts.)

7. What do you prefer to eat?

a) Snow (3 pts.)
b) Pizza(2 pt.)
c) Sushi (1 pt.)
d) Pasta (4 pts.)
e) Salad (5 pts.)

8 What is your favorite holiday?

a) Halloween (1 pt.)
b) Christmas (3 pts.)
c) New Year (2 pts.)
d) Valentine's Day (4 pts.)
e) Thanksgiving (5 pts.)

9. If you could go to one of these places which one would it be?

a) Paris (4 pts)
b) Spain (5 pts)
c) Las Vegas (1 pt)
d) Hawaii (4 pts)
e) Hollywood (3 pts)

10. With which of the following would you prefer to spend time with?

a) Someone Smart (5 pts.)
b) Someone attractive (2 pts.)
c) Someone who likes to Party (1 pt.)
d) Someone who always have fun (3 pt.)
e) Someone very sentimental (4 pts.)

*Now add up your points and find out the answer you have been waiting for!Put your character in the subject line and forward to your friends and back to the person that sent this to you. Very interesting to see 'who' your friends are!

*(10-16 points) You are Garfield: You are very comfortable, easy going, and you definitely know how to have fun but sometimes you take it to an extreme. You always know what you are doing and you are always in control of your life. Others may not see things as you do, but that doesn't mean that you always have to do what is right. Try to remember, your happy spirit may hurt you or others.

*(17-23 points) You are Snoopy: You are fun, you are very cool and popular. You always know what's in and you are never are out of style You are good at knowing how to satisfy everyone else. You have probably disappeared for a few days more than once but you always come home with the family values that you learned Being married and having children are important to you, but only after you have had your share of fun times.

*(24-28 points) You are Elmo: You have lots of friends and you are also popular, always willing to give advice and help out a person in need. You are very optimistic and you always see the bright side of things. Some good advice: try not to be too much of a dreamer. Dreaming too big could cause many conflicts in your life.

*(29-35 points) You are Sponge Bob Square Pants: You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never wants to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey, it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people, and you will be stress free.

*(36-43 points) You are Charlie Brown: You are tender, you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious about all relationships. You are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday. You have many friends and may occasionally forget a few Birthdays. Don't let your passion confuse you with reality.

*(44-50 points) You are Dexter: You are smart and definitely a thinker... Every situation is fronted with a plan. You have a brilliant mind. You demonstrate very strong family principles. You maintain a stable routine but never ignore a bad situation when it comes.

*Try to do less over thinking every once in a while to spice things up a bit with spontaneity. Now don't spoil it! Have some Fun!!

Living in Alternate World

Finally back to work today. Still feeling abit blurred and have that floaty feeling, like the world is unreal and I am still dreaming. I guess it is to be expected after 1 week of lazing around and doing whatever when I feel like it. Of course, wishing really hard that I am really in a dream now and wishing that I will never have to wake up and face the day. I think I am looking forward to most would be my blog.

Feeling abit depressed now because I just realised that I did some paperwork & system error in July last year and now need to think back and see how to clean the mess up. Ai yai yai. So tempted to pretend it does not exist or that the problem will go away on its own. But I know that it wont and I will need to explain what happened and see how to do damage control. What a mess! Sometimes I wonder just what is going on with me. I mean I am someone that dislike making mistakes and seldom makes them. When I do make them, it really makes me wonder about my competency.

It also makes me wonder if I am bored with my work and starting to slip? Yah, I know my weakness, I have the tendency to get bored easily. The more routine the work is, the more bored I become, then the more careless I am. I know there are alot of helpbooks that talks about motivating yourself, blablabla. But seriously, how many of those helpbooks actually help? Firstly, to read them, you have to first place your in the right mindset (read that somewhere:P) and then after that, you need to analyze and try to understand what the author trying to say with an open mind. Errr...if I have all those, I wont be needing a helpbook in the first place right???

Ok, so here I am, living in my alternate reality now. Trying hard to concentrate on the tasks at hand and trying to prioritize. Seriously speaking, looking at my jobscope now, I really think it is time to change. Of course, one of the factor that contribute to this feeling is because I know eventually I will have to get up and go since my babe is in KL. Another contributing factor is of course my obi that is forever the incompetent b8tch that she is and always will be that create the unmotivated atmosphere here. Then of course, another factor is because I am simply bored....bored bored bored...

Malaysian Taxies....

Do you shake your head at the title? I think some might especially those that have bad experiences or have feeling of being cheated when trying to go from one place to another in Selangor area. I being a frequent visitor to KL knows exactly how you feel. I mean, here we are a metropoliton city that is suppose to be more civilised have unscrupulous taxi drivers that decided they would take advantage of the unfortunate and tired travellers by cutting their throats!

Even as recent as last month, it was mentioned by our prime minister himself that the taxi drivers need to act appropriately as they are the indirect ambassador to our tourist to Malaysia. Is it a wonder that we keep on reading in the newspaper on and off that our government is concerned with this and warned the taxies' driver over and over again to use the meter. But it seems that nothing is working. All taxies have stickers that says if you have any complaint, please call such and such number. And yet, if you are like me, you wont be bothered to call anyone eventhough the taxi charge you a fixed rate instead of turning on the meter.

I am not sure about others but I know why I didn't make any complains. For one thing, I feel kind of stupid. After all, there are all this article warning us and yet I still AGREED to go into a cab with driver that tells me RM30 to drive me from The Submit, Subang to Crystal Crown Hotel in PJ. The excuse they gave me, bad traffic jam and it will take at least one hour to get there. I did hear about the notorious jam that people in Subang and PJ faced every working days. After a few taxies all saying the same thing to me, I finally had no choice but to get into one or risk being late (or worst, missing) the training. And I got there in abput 30-45 minutes!

Not only is it a cut throat in the monetary sense but I am literaly risking my life using the taxi. OK, so I am complaining about one particular taxi here but I have been in a few and basically, they all felt the same, just the smell in the taxies are different! This driver zipping in and out, cutting lanes here and there as if his sedan car is actually a big truck or something. We almost hit a merz on the way there and yet, instead of being apological, he was even more aggresive in his steering wheel turnings. I think my life must have shorten by a few months if not years!

I can understand the reason why the driver need to charge me 3 times more than what a normal taxi with meter would. After all, you never know how bad the jam would be along the way. A car might died in the middle of the road and no one can move anywhere. But for goodness sake, is there a need to show-off the stunt driver abilities?? I can even understand the fact that you do not want repeat business from me because I might not be in the area again. But is it necesary to show impatience verbally and gesture???

Of course, not all taxies are like that. I was lucky that I was able to meet a very nice taxi driver to drive me back from Crystal Crown Hotel back to Submit. A nice uncle that is very kind, courteous and knowledgable. On top of that he was dependable and very friendly. We basically chatted all the way back and I just couldn't let up such a luck and not ask him to pick me to and from my training again today. Noticed that I used the word luck because like luck, the taxi uncle only comes once in a blue moon. (Ya, of course I kept his number and name. So, if you are interested to have the number, let me know:) )

No wonder we Malaysian are not considered a developed country yet. How can we be when we can even keep our 'house' clean and become the civilised society? Is it a wonder that we have the lowest rating in terms of politeness? We used to be the most liked country because of our friendliness and polite culture! What in the world happen to those? Have we become so proud that we cannot or would not be humble?

How to Remember?

FINALLY, training is over and now I can enjoy the real holiday or as my Japan customer like to say, vacation! And yes, I miss you all alot & especially itching to go online and start blogging. I do have some pictures but unfortunately, me being old liaw and absent minded, forgotten to take photo of the food we have TGIF until we paid and got out of the place. Babe lar, didnt remind me! hahaha.. We were both too hungry (dinner was around 9pm) and by the time the food was here, we just attack it without stopping until every last scrap is gone!

Yah yah, I pigged out since I arrived on Friday and went to SS15 for supper! hehe... I actually make my babe promised to bring me there to have the oyster omelette even before I got on the plane. And up to today, I think I must have gained so much weight that I dont even dare to think about it! All the diet and exercise effort going down the stomach! But I cant resist mar.

And then you know lar, training time is actually equal to makan time mah! We are suppose to start at 9am but were asked to come in at 8.30am so that they can serve us breakfast in the seminar room. And then class starts at 9-ish. Morning teabreak at 10.30am, lunch at 12.45pm and class starts again at 2pm, afternoon teabreak at 3.30pm and class ends around 4 .30pm. We hardly had time to digest our food and the digilent & fantastic waiter-in-charge will quietly wheel in the trolley with food for teabreaks.

I sometimes wonder why do they feed us with so much meals during training. Is it to keep us awake or maybe they are charging us too much and decided that they better feed us to keep us from complaining? I wonder who started this trend of meals every 2hour plus during training. Yah yah, I know, I can always say no thanks right and stay away from the teabreaks especially. But how many of you can actually resist those tiny cute little pastries that you know will melts the moment you pop it into your mouth.

Serve some yummy walnut chocolate cake with coffee and I will not even remember to resist! Eiks! JUST only realised now that I did not even take any picture of the food eventhough I have my digital camera with me all the time! Oh man! Anyone have training how to remember to take pictures for blogs!! Too bad you cant see me now. I am at Starbuck in a shopping mall that is linked to the hotel. I come here just to check my hotmail and blog! Can I smack myself on the head now? sigh...in Sarawak I will be called 'ngok' which means stupid (but direct translation mean PIG!)

Pain & Tears

sigh, mom called to complaint about grandma again. My grandma is 80+ and require 24hours care. So, my dad and his siblings have no choice but to put her into nursing home. It was not an easy decision and the my dad's siblings actually had a big argument over this. On top of that, money issue which always the biggest reason for family disputes and jealousy. I guess I cant blame them. My grandma is the opposite of the old fashion old folks. She actually prefer and favor the daughters more than the son. My dad, her eldest son and child was actually taken care by my dad's grandparents. Perhaps that is why the relationship between them has never been that close.

But with my grandma in the nursing home, my dad tries his best to be a good son. He visit her everyday except Sunday (Sunday is when the other kids and grandkids visit her). And every time he visited her, he will definitely bring some of her favorite food because she was complaining that the food in the nursing home is tasteless. Just a few months ago, my dad organised a birthday dinner for her at a chinese restaurant, inviting relatives such as my grand aunt and grand uncles. There were some presents and ang pau for my grandma which was of course handed to my dad.

All in all, the dinner cost around RM600 which is a pretty big sum for us Kuchingnite. But dad insist on footing the bill since h e is the one that wants to organise the birthday dinner for grandma. It was a beautiful dinner actually because we get to meet relatives that we have not seen for a long time and repeated exclamation and reminiscence of old times. As usual, I get the popular question: When want to get married? :( Anyway, I thought that it was beautiful and memorable. After all, with my grandma health condition, not sure how many birthdays dinner such as this we can enjoy in the future.

Sigh..what is so sad to me is that my grandma, instead of remembering and feel happy that my dad celebrated her birthday in a big way, she only remember the angpau money. Since that day, she been pestering my dad about it. Sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. Occasionally, she will suddenly say she wants to get herself a new glasses when her current one is perfectly fine. Or suddenly decided that she needs something that is extremely expensive and is senseless to get. But to top it all off, with Chinese New Year around the corner, he tells my dad to change RM500 into RM10s and RM50s for ang pau for her grandchildrens.

I cannot tell you how much that hurts. I feel the pain on behalf of my dad. Here we are, trying to give our best and love to her and yet all she can remember is the money. My dad even bought her a bed table that cost more than RM200 when he went to his KL trip recently. We (my bro & I) try to help out as much as we can but both of us are working and basically the only time we are free is in the evenings. And imagine my father who has a history of heart attack, driving to visit my grandma everyday and bring her lunch. No matter how tired he is, he will always make sure that he visit her. I feel like sobbing thinking about it.

And instead of being appreciative, my grandma have to be a mean person that she always was and 'slap' my dad in such a way! So, I told my mom to tell grandma exactly how much the amount was received as ang pau during the birthday dinner in case she thought it was a few thousand ringgit. And also explain to her that if she would like to change RM500 to small change, then she would have to request the uncle/aunties that is holding her ATM card to help her withdraw the money and pass it to dad to change (grandma has pensioner salary from government every month and also pensioner salary from my grandpa who has passed away). Also explain to grandma that dad has spent alot of own money for her and dad not working much now. So not much source of income. Just small business that is enough for everyday expenses.

Am I wrong to ask my mom to say that? sigh.....pain in the heart with dry tears in the eyes...

By the way, the ang pau money for her birthday only amounted to RM310!

My Addiction

Judging from my luck the beginning of this week, I am actually phobic to start jumping up & down with joy and anticipation. Like I said, I might be jinx or God have something against me having what I wish for. Johnny Ong would shake his head and tell me to trust in God! But sometimes, it can be rather hard especially there seem to be a trend. Or is it me being overly sensitive? Ok, ok, I am being paranoid!!!

OK here goes:
YEAHH!!!!! YABADABADOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Another 6 hours before I fly-off to meet my babe! Trying real hard not to start jumping in my seat. Could hardly sleep last night (or maybe that is the coffee that I drank around 4.30pm yesterday? Didi!!! It is all your fault!! HAHAHA). Only finished packing my bags around 11pm. Actually, the first packing was done by 10pm but when I stand on the scale with my bags to test the weight, I decided that I better change to the wheel-less bag to reduce the weight just in case its overweight when I check-in. Luckily, I am going to be using MAS this time or else I will definitely be paying through my nose.

And this morning, I leave the house extra early to collect the pork that I ordered from 7mile. Imagine my shock when the shop owner told me the total is RM115! Without realising it, I have ordered almost 9kg worth of pork meat from different part of the pig. Oh well, my babe is going to have a great feast. Hopefully, the pork will be able to last him until the time when either one of us visit each other. If not, then he will just have ration it or go buy the organic pork.

So, 9kg pork + 7 kg tikar = 16kg. That leave just about 4-5kg for my bag! Aiyoo...I hope the MAS personnel is feeling generous today and let me check-in without the overweight charges. OMG! Just realised that if I have to pay for the charge, then the pork will cost more than those organic ones....Or maybe I will move some clothes behind:P That would be a fantastic excuse to go shopping! haha..

Hopefully the hotel that I am staying will have some kind of internet access. With my current addiction to blogging, I am not sure I will be able to survive 9 days without sharing almost every detail of my life and thoughts. I am even asking my babe if he can send me to somewhere with free wifi when he goes back to work after lunch. Sufficient to say that he felt so kek tiok (ermm..how to translate kek tiok to English? Frustrated+Irritated+Unbelieve??).

I am even having withdrawal syndrome this morning because I was too busy to update my blog or go blog-hopping! The temptation was so great that I actually open my mozilla a few times and type in my blog url but close it again when I realised what I am doing. Oh boy! This is getting severe! Do we have rehabilitation centers for blog addicts? hahaha..

Well babe, at least you are competing with the computer & internet only and not another guy! :P

Secret to Long Interesting Relationship

wow!! Today is one of the busiest day since a few weeks ago. Everything seems to come at one time. The moment I sat down at my desk till the time that I leave. It seems that they have some six sense that I will be going away to have fun for one whole week. Well ok, so Monday & Tuesday will not be fun since I have to attend the training from 8am - 5pm. But it will still be away from the office for the WHOLE WEEK!! Hahaha... (eh, if you are my colleagues and you are reading this, dont be jealous yah! haha)

Anyway, I was feeling very tired, stressed and extremely blur when I suddenly receive an internet message asking me " What makes you sayang your babe so much?". And I go, HAH???? hahaha...I seriously do not know what or how to reply that. I mean, I do know how to explain to the colleague the reason I sayang my babe so much? I know, I know.. I should say because I love him without condition and reason. But at the time I can hardly put my thoughts into word in a concise and rational manner! Then at the end, I realised that what she is asking is what is the secret to the long lasting relationship that my babe & I have.

To this, I was finally able to answer. To me, it is really simple actually. If you sit back & think, the secret is actually no secret at all. For me there are only 3 things and they are Humor, Acceptance, Love and Forgiveness. This, if you notice, the first letter of each word will make the word HALF and this is important because in a relationship, you are actually half of the partnership.

Why humor? If you look around you, the couples that tease each other lovingly are the ones that have the most fun! Imagine being lovey-dovey and just saying sweet nothings all the time. I mean, of course this will be very intense at the beginning and all that you want to do is tell each other that you love each other. But after a few years, it will be very boring if the daily conversation goes like this:

Babe: My darling, you are the most beautiful today.
JenJen: Oh Babe, you are so sweet.
Babe: I want to live the rest of my life with you.
JenJen: I want to live the rest of my life with you too.
Babe: My heart my soul.
JenJen: bla bla bla bla..
Babe: bla bla bla..

hahaha..so you know what I mean? Thank god my babe and I always enjoy teasing each other. With him in KL and me in Kuching, basically the relationship is based on phone calls and video calls. And if we talk like I portray above, I think pretty soon, one of us will say that it is not working out. It is simply too boring! So, one of the important element in a good lasting interesting relationship is humor.

Then it is acceptance. I think if you have read the previous post about what is love, you will know that what I am going to say is not something that is foreign. How many times you hear the phrase 'Love is Blind'. And the general intepretation of this is that no matter what the other person do, you are blind to it. Actually, to me, my personal intepretation of the phrase is that love makes us pretend to be blind to the faults of our love ones. When we are in love, we tend to IGNORE instead of accepting the faults of our darlings. And believe me you that one day, he or she will wake up wondering who is this person that is sleeping next to me.

Love, I think I do not have to illustrate to much about this. Initially, you fall in love with someone but when you start to mellow out and perhaps is no longer falling, then you need to feel love to sustain the relationship. I dont mean the type of love that makes you feel like fainting everytime he/she hold your hands or worse, talk to you (not sure how you wana survive thru that!:P) but rather the type of love that makes you willing to sacrifice yourself just so that he/she do not have to feel pain. I always tell galfriends that ask me whether a guy that is courting them is right for her, I will ask this, Imagine waking up to go to work the next day and never see the guy again. What is your feeling? Usually soon after that, they become serious with each other or go their separate ways. (hahaha.. now I really sound like a love consultant).

Forgiveness to me is another important factor in any relationship. I heard from someone somewhere that NO ONE IS PERFECT. No matter how much we want to put our darling on the altar and treat him/her like God, the truth is, he/she is just human. They will make lots of mistakes and you might find out about some of them or then, you might not (yah, trust me, you rather not know! haha). The bottomline is, grieviences & relationship does not go together at all. It is better to forgive and forget. It makes life much easier and more pleasant. Anyway, anger will give you wrinkles too! hahaha..

Now, I am not saying that you should bend backward and let your darling do whatever he/she want. A relationship should never never based on abuse of any kind, be it physical or psychological. So, if you are in a relationship that seems to go no where, have the gut to take that step and leave. One last word from loso talkative me, cherish the one that you love. Never take things for granted. Anything can happen at anytime and you might suddenly lost the person that you love and find that it is too late to tell him/her how you feel.

What is Love?

What is love? This is the question that came to my mind yesterday and today. Feeling melancholic and abit depressed actually. Maybe that is why I am thinking of all the blue-blue topics for blogging. So far, nothing seems to go my way this week. The maid's father decided not to let her daughter start working with us until after the harvest season, which will be in Mar08. Despite all the questions and worries that my mom and I had about leaving her alone most of the time at our home, we were looking forward to it.

And then, yesterday, just after lunch, received an email from the training provider that the training next week very likely will be postponed as a group from a company has cancelled. She requested that we do not issue the airticket yet and will confirm latest by today. OMG! How can they do this so near to the training. My tickets and hotel vouchers are all issued and waiting for collection only. I recommended another training provider to my manager which will be on 21 and 22 Jan but I guess I need to wait for the current one to confirm before I can even think of registering for the other one!

So, last week was a beautiful week where everything seems to go so well. But this week, I just dont know..sigh.. Sometimes I wonder if I am jinx or it is just God's way to train me not anticipate until it actually happens. Sigh.. Sorry for sighing again.

Anyway, back to the topic, What is love? I actually did this once for my Toastmaster Speech projects but cant find the draft in my archive. Actually there are so many definition of love. It can be the love between mother and child, love between friends, love between to lovers, love for God and so forth. There are simply too many combination to write them all down here. But based on my understanding and to put it in a very simple form, love is when someone give themselves to another without reason and accept the other unconditionally at all times.

Imagine this, a son who is a drug addict with AIDS and the mother acceptance of the son into her arms when he is released from the rehabilitation center. The mother have every reason to be angry at the son and reject him but without condition or reason, she accept him back to her and most definitely will nurse him when he become sick in later stage of his life.

Another scenario, a married man and a beautiful widow, seen together at the cafe, chatting & laughing animatedly. A small town where everyone know everything, people started try to stare discreetly at them and wonder if an affair is brewing. And wondering how daring the husband is to do this openly in public. And as always, gossip travels faster than good news, the wife heard about it. Almost immediately, she dispute the rumors and said that she trust and love her husband very much. She firmly said that the lady is a family friend and need her best friend (in this case the husband) support. This is love without reason, without condition.

I can give you many more examples but I think I better not bore you. I am fortunate that I found my love at early age, or rather love found me. I do not know what the future will hold for my babe and I. It might be tough or it might be smooth sailing until old age or till the day we die. The world is never perfect and will never be. God make it in such a way that we know the meaning of suffering so that we can understand what is happiness & joy when we experience it. Life that is without its up and down is like cooking without spices.

No matter what, I do know that because of love, we will be able to accept each other without any reason or condition other than the fact that we love each other. I hope that each and everyone of you will at least experience the different kind of love at least once in your life time. I hold tight to the believe that it is better to love and lost than never to have love at all. Hugs and kisses to all!!!

Homemade Honey Dried Pork

So many people is shocked with the price of dried pork people are selling this CNY. And I was really glad Rose told me to get my butt to Windy's Corner and have a look at her homemade honey dried pork. The recipe and method is so simple that I can hardly wait to try them out. But before that, let me share them. Perhaps we should boycott the bak kua people selling this year and make our own?? hahaha..

Ok here goes, recipe from the Windy's Corner blog:

200g minced pork
1 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark/light soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon sugar
Some salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix them up with a pair of chopsticks or fork. When the mixture becomes sticky, prepare a sheet of baking paper and put the mixture on it. Put a sheet of cling film on top and use your hand to flatten the mixture a little, then using a rolling pin, roll until it’s only 2-3mm thin.

Put the meat mixture now on a wire rack and grill it for 12-15 minutes on once side, then turn over and cook for 5-7 minutes more. Take the rack out and let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into smaller pieces. The meat should be a dark golden colour and a little sticky. Serve it warm or cold.

Oh yah, it was also mentioned that you should not roll the meat too thick, otherwise it would be harder to cook and tougher to eat.

Inflation and Crime

My colleague were telling me that her house was burglarised yesterday. Luckily only the 2 tong of cooking gas outside the house was stolen. The house alarm must have scared the thieves away. The neighbor actually saw the whole thing but dare not make a peep. He saw 4 men carry away the tong gas and escape using motorbikes. I guess we can blame him perhaps if he have shouted from his house, the thieves might have been too scared to do anything and run off?

But has situation become so bad that 4 men is willing to risk it and trespass to a stranger house just for 2 gas tong? I mean most likely they will only be able to sell it for a couple hundred ringgit and divide that by four of them, RM50 each? Situation in Kuching has been increasing scary in the recent months actually. Just recently, the newspaper reported that the thieves actually waited to pounce on a contractor and his family just as the wife was opening the gate to go into the house. The thieves then proceed tie the contractor's family up and force the contractor to reveal where all the valuables are. And worse still, thieves actually have weapons such as gun and knives with them!

And not too long ago, Kuchingnites, ladies especially, were all warned to be careful where they place their handbags. Apparently, there seem to be a trend where the snatcher riding a motorbike will smash the passenger seat window and grab the handbag right off the seats. However, seems that some people just never learn. A lady just withdraw some money from a bank and just about to leave in her car got the shock of her life when a motorbike came right up to her and smash her back passenger window and snatch the handbag (Forgive me for saying this but SILLY WOMAN, leaving the handbag full of cash at the back seat!).

I am just wondering if the inflation and crime is related. I mean, it seems that just about everything has increased in price and keep on increasing. Especially since after the increment of the civil servant salary, the floodgate seems to have open and flooding everything! Just imagine, abowl of kolo mee which as selling for RM2-2.20 is now RM2.50-2.80. Some are even selling them at RM3. The reason given, increase in price of the flour. What the heck! I thought the flour only increase 20 - 30 cents per kg? Well, I dont know how many bowls of noodles can be made from a kg of flour but I think it should be more than 1 bowl?

Yesterday, during lunch, a colleague was commenting that she is thinking to go away for the CNY holidays as a vacation might be cheaper than the CNY preparation. Then last night, mom ask if there is still any cheap fare around CNY time. Apparently, she and dad went to look for pork floss and discovered that the dried pork is now at least RM85-100 per kg! Unless I dont mind eating the dried pork from China which is alot cheaper @ RM25-30 per kg and face the potential risk to health, then I think my house will not be serving any dried pork during CNY this year. OMG! It would be like serving gold nuggets!

Honestly speaking, I think I need to seriously look into finding source of side income if the inflation rate continue to go up this way. Just hope Smorty and Sponsoredreviews will approve my account soon and start giving me assignment!

Typical Man Answers

3 days! 3 days! 3 days! hahahaha! I can tell that my babe is very excited about this Friday also but he being the man, always try to act cool lar. Typical conversation this few days (including this morning :P) :

JenJen: You know how many more days?
Babe: Dont know.
JenJen: 3 days lar! Excited or not?
Babe: Nolar. What for excited?

And then he will launch into his daily reminder for me so that I wont forget to bring this from his house, buy that from that place, go see his dad to get this and call him mom to remind her that. And the list goes on. So, yap, he is excited too! I just dont understand why he has to pretend to be manly and act like he is not. hhmm..gals, your partner does that too? Hehehe..Oh well, what to do? Who ask me to find him adorable, cute & irresistible!

The list started with something very simple only actually, go buy a few kg of raw pork from the shop at 7 mile. Get the 3 layer pork, soft bone pork and also meaty part of the pork. I do this almost every time I go KL. Buy and smuggle the pork into the cargo (check in lar). I will freeze and wrapped them in many layers of newspaper before sealing them in carton box. Babe complained that the pork in KL somehow tasted different especially the so called organic pork. Not to mention that fact that it is super expensive compared to the normal pork.

Anyway, the list this time include his t-shirt, shorts, blanket, bedsheet, medicine, boxer from such and such shop and tikar (floor mat). hahaha, yes tikar! It is those weaved ones and this is the reason that I will be going to his dad's shop tomorrow after work to collect them. I am estimating it to be about 6-8kg. That plus all his order mail order, plus my own clothes, I hope I wont be charged with overweight charges when I check-in.

Luckily he did not ask me to tapau any kolo mee and Sarawak laksa this time. Or else I will have to smuggle those onto the plane itself in my backpack! Try imagine carrying a few packets (around 10pkt total) in the backpack and carrying them on your back. Sort of like a warmer without the comfort? I ever offered to buy the laksa paste and cook for him when I go there instead me buying the cooked version. Much simpler and less messy to bring. But he rejected. Reason, no nice sambal paste how to eat? Jiak Lak~! So choosy! I thought the beggers cant be chooser.....

Ooopss...does the above sounds like I am complaining? @_@

Ok, yes, I am complaining in a loving way lah. At the end of the day, no matter how tedious and bothersome it is to rush here & there to get the things he asked for, I guess I will still do them lar. hahaha! Am I an idiot? ^_^

Counting Down

YES!!! 4 days to go before I go KL to see my babe! I been counting down since the day that my taukeh niu (lady mgr) confirmed that I will be going there for training on 24 and 25 Jan (Thurs & Fri). And I very cleverly asked my tkn whether I can take annual leave on the Mon-Wed before the training and leave on the 18 Jan! I have to admit, although I really cant stand her, at least she is the sympathetic and understand that my babe is in KL and I NEED (MUST, ABSOLUTELY NEED) to see him. Yah, as you can see, I miss him terribly.

I think my friends and colleagues must be pretty irritated with the loso talkative me the last few weeks. First I get excited about having the whole big party coming to my house to ask my parents permission for their daughter to marry their young man (read here if you have not). But I can see that my friends and colleagues are also very very excited for me because when I came back on the next working days, they all start to ask how how how? hahaha.. in the end, I told them to go check the blog instead of repeating it over and over again. Very very very touched that they are all so happy for me.

Which brings me to my next loso session. I recently got headhunted by a job agency and although the location is pretty far, the job description (and the pay) looks pretty promising. Which got me all hyped up again. And of course, being the talkative person, I shared them with my colleagues/ friends to discuss on the pro and con of the location vs job desciption vs pay. And then of course, there is another high possibility of job offer from a company nearer to my babe current location but a fairly new company. But what the heck, they are going to get listed this month. So, should be fairly safe and the possibility of closing down should be pretty slim (right?). Anyway, all this is a big 'IF' and nothing is confirm yet. But we are already feeling sad at the prospect of being so far away from each others (we = the friends and colleagues lar).

Then, now, the excitement of going to KL for one week. Flying off this Friday night right after work. So, will be Friday when I arrive in KLIA and so, technically, only 4 days to go although counting today and whole of Friday, should be 5 days to go but I will cheat if I have to make it seems like it is a day lesser to countdown! hahaha..yah, that is how excited and anxious I am for Friday to be here. If I have the universal remote from the movie 'Click', trust me, I will have no hesitation to fast forward the time to this Friday!

hahaha..my colleagues are already starting to tease me that I look berseri-seri (shining) and nothing can ruin my mood for the next few days. Not even my lady mgr, OBI! To be very frank, they are right actually. I just cant help myself ok. I think even here, my happiness is shining out of this posting! Oh boy! I feel like jumping and skipping as I type this. Can I??? hahahaha....

MAXIS Family Plus Plan & Motorola KRZR K3

I got the handphone as a gift from my dad about 2-3 months ago. Dad got it during a promotion for Maxis whereby if you are on the 150plan, then you are entitled to purchase the phone for RM599. But of course, subject to the terms and condition. I think one of it is that you will need to have a contract with them for 2 years, i.e. you must not terminate the account in the 2 years. It is one of the Family Plus Plan or something like that. The plan is pretty good especially for family members. The principal line can have up to 5 supplementary lines with different value plan. And balance of each plan can be shared out among the family members. For example:

Who Value Plan Used
Dad 150 200
Mom 80 80
Bro 50 50
Me 50 0
Total: 330 330

So, the balance is 0 because what I dont use is being used to pay for what Dad use. (ermm..hope this is not confusing). On top of that, we can call each other for free (up to 20 hours each person), mean that I can call dad, mom or bro for 20 hours for free or mom can call of us for 20 hours for free. This is including voice and video call. So, good reason to own a 3g phone! hahaha.. And free 2000 sms for free too.

Anyway, the motorola phone promotion is pretty worthwhile although the phone does not have much accessories except handset, charger and battery. I No software or anything. Think the market price for original set is around RM1500? I think they have another promotion now for motorola v6. Get the 80 plan and can purchase the phone for RM399 but of course also subject to the 2 years contract and other terms and condition. Got that for my babe and so far we are having a lot of fun with it!

I have always like using motorola phone. The K3 is my 3rd motorola actually. The first is the E something, cant remember the exact model. The black & monochrome one. Really durable and nice to use but pretty bulky and the color fades easily. Actually, babe's friend and gf got it first and we like it so much that we went and got ourselves a pair too not long after that. No regrets since then.

After that my bro went to KL and bought a v3 from a second hand shop and so far it has been pretty good too. It is pink by the way! hahahaha...But now I am having problem with it because I cant find the software to upload anything from the handphone to my PC/laptop. I tried a few times via files from the websites but so far nothing seems to work.

Tried everything from installing, re-install, re-boot, off & on the handphone, etc. But nothing works! I think I will just give up and let my blog of photo-less. I have so many pictures in my phone now but there is nothing I can do about it except to mms them to my babe and make him drool :(

The Spring, Kuching

Ok, you wont believe what I did yesterday...I cant believe what I did. Even while I was walking there being part of the crowd, I feel like kicking myself for being one of the sakai...Ok, here goes..


I decided while I was posting my blogs yesterday afternoon that I want to go out and eat Thosai Rawa at Sri Khan in town. So, I sms my friend "hi!! Wana go out for thosai and cuci mata (wash eyes) at The Spring? Pick you at 6pm:P" Yah, me of all people invited a friend to go out to the Spring where I know fully well that the rush will still be on since it is Saturday! Dont ask me what came over me. I have no idea at all. Wait till I tell you more...you will be snickering and shaking your head!


So, I took a nap and woke up around 5pm. Shower and changed. Helped dad with his fish tank. (He has decided that he want to revive his old hobby but no idea. Another reason I am glad we have a maid soon! Cleaning an aquarium is definitely not my idea of fun!) Anyway, I picked the friend up at around 6pm and we went to Sri Khan.


Sri Khan basically serve authentic indian cuisine whereby the cook is either indian or mamak and the waiter/waitress are malays and the shop owned by chinese (hehehe..so so so typical). I ordered my Thosai Rawa which is basically thosai topped with spices and spring onions and comes with 3 different sauces, dhal sauce, curry and grated coconut sambal. The thosai tasted abit like pancake with papadam spices (Am I making sense?).


The friend ate some kind of rice with condiment and I cant remember the name (oii...fren, if you remember the name of your, type in the comment yah:P hahaha) ! Anyway, the rice is spice rice that is pretty spicy. Apparently they ground up all the spices and stir fry them together. And in come 3 dishes and 2 small bowl of sauce. Basically one of the side dishes were spiced lamb which I tried and it tasted more like beef to me. The overpowering spices covered the lamb taste totally. The other two was pumpkin cooked in watery curry sauce and cabbage. The sauce was rich fish curry and dhal paste. I guess the food was not bad if you dont mind smelling like a spice shop when you burp!


By the time we finish eating everything, it was around 7pm and it is time to start our 'adventure' to go the spring. By the way, it is spelled tHe Spring. I have no idea why the capital H in between the t & e. If anyone knows, greatly appreciate if you can tell me:). We decided to try going there using the backway from Kenyalang residence area in hope to avoid jam. However, everyone seems to have the same idea! The same was about a mile long. Luckily we were able to escape using another route to go to the Simpang Tiga roundabout which is near to the spring.


The friend then suggested parking at Swinburne which is opposite of the spring. I thought this is a clever idea. After all, if the security guard ask, the friend can just flash his Swinburne student card and say that he is going to the lab! haha...yah, that backfire as we discover that the gate nearest to the road to cross to the spring was closed. Geez, guess the Swinburne management must have knew about this and decided to make things difficult for anyone trying to take advantage of the parking space there.


So, finally I decided what the heck, lets just join the crowd and try to park in the spring basement parking. I told the friend that I will only tolerant one hour being stucked in the car and looking for parking space and the time then was roughly 7.45pm. Meaning, the limit for me is 8.45pm. But actually, it ONLY took us about 35min to get into the basement parking and find a space. However, I really really must comment something. KUCHING DRIVERS ARE SO RUDE! The queue was long but please lar, wait in line and follow the rule. Do you think that just because you are more clever, so you go and cut queue right at the entrance?? No wonder Kuching people have the reputation for being lazy and rude! I am embarassed!


Anyway, we go in via a the famous water fountain which was not working at the time (yah..after just 3 days..) I can see lots of coins in the fountain though. I wonder if this is the reason the fountain died. (We heard an announcement over the PA system as we were leaving to request shoppers NOT to throw coins into the water fountain and pool! hahahaha!) Anyway, I am sorry to tell you that I didnt have any pictures to show at all. I mean, I have my camera phone with me and I keep on waiting for something that entice me to start snapping away.


After walking for about 1.5hours, my friend said:That's all. I think my jaw actually dropped and I ask him: Huh? That is it?? hhmm..so WHAT IS THE FUSS!!!


hahaha..I seriously do not see what the fuss is all about. True, there are shops that previously was not available in Kuching, eg. Sushi King and so on. But at the end of the day, the whole of the spring is just one wing of Sunway Pyramid or KLCC. It is no wonder that Jusco refused to take up the offer to be the anchor deparmental store there. The excuse given, it is too small for them. Sorry if I offended any Kuchingnites out there but I really really really dont see what the fuss is about. Anyway, please allow me to make up my photo-less posting with links to other blogs with pictures of tHe Spring for your viewing pleasure:



Rose' World
World of Didi
Apple Jul
Expressions of Creativity

Toastmasters Meeting At AZAM

Fridays has always been a day that I love-hate at the same time. Hate Fridays because it seems that the customers somehow is determine to give you all the last minute request and orders before the end of their week. And somehow, after having a rather peaceful week, all the issues start to arise on Friday!

I love Fridays because it means I will have 2 days off or if I want, to come to work and claim for OT! hahaha! And I especially cant wait for next Friday (18 Jan) when I will be flying to KL to meet my babe!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOO!! *BLUSH*

Anyway, this Friday was no different. Came in to work slightly earlier than usual but surprised that there is still alot of cars on the road since Thursday was a public holiday. Reached the office, turn on the mailbox and saw that the customers has already get started with their Friday routine, I had 200+ new emails in the mailbox!

Thank god I had a potluck dinner at AZAM Toastmasters meeting that night. The meeting usually starts at 7.45pm but since there is a potluck dinner, it started at 6.30pm. As usual, everyone was late and most of them arrived around 6.45pm. It is a good thing that I had to rush back home to collect the fruit jelly that I made or else I would have arrived right on the dot or earlier.

The food was great. There were seafood casserole, pie, rich chocolate cakes, KFC chicken, fruits and so on. Everything tasted delicious and I admit that I overate last night too! Cant help myself especially when the cook of the chocolate cake told me that it is calories free (hahahaha!!). Everyone was so excited that the meeting actually start early at 7.40pm.hehehehe...I think it was a first in the history or something like that. The meeting stared of as usual with toast to the King, Toastmasters International and AZAM Toastmasters.

There were two speakers and both were doing their ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze). Then it was the dreaded table topics. Table topics is a session where the table topic master will create opportunities for those that have not spoken during meeting. The table topics that night has outdone herself. She invited pairs to come out front to do role play. The first pair had to pretend to be Mother Theresa and Larry King. The lady who was supposed to be the Mother Theresa was really hillarious. She really sounded like Mother Theresa. Then there was the Donald Trumpt & Oprah Winfrey, conversation between the brain and the rectum, conversation between a cat and a mouse and finally an aunt and niece (reverse role, i.e. real aunt become niece and real niece become aunt).

The night ended around 9.30pm with everyone in high spirit. It was really an enjoyable night, full of laughter and fun. There was lots of leftovers and some stayed back for supper. Others decided to hang around and get to know each other more. Some were discussing the trip to Penang in Apr08 to receive the award for Distinguished President Club. This is when the a club managed to achieve min. 9 out of 10 of the goals set. Sigh..and I as the VP of Membership for my club, is responsible for two of the membership goals.

A House Maid

What a nice day today is. Woke up around 7am and helped mom to clean the house. Yah yah, I know it is Saturday and you think that I am crazy. I think that I am too but I do not have a choice. It is either laze around in bed and pretend not to hear my mom nagging about how come she is the only one up early to clean the house, bla-bla-bla or might as well get up, help her do the housework at the her designated time and then take a nap later.

Hence, I was truly happy when my brother told us that there is a housemaid from a village near the school where he teach. My mom was excited at first as she was thinking that finally she can sit back & relax while the maid do all the things (And I was excited because I can sleep more during the weekend!hahaha!). But then suddenly she starts thinking, if she got to stay here, dont that mean she have to take care of the housemaid? Making sure, that she have things to eat in the morning and afternoon.

Mom & dad goes to their office every morning. My bro & myself of course had to leave for work as well. Hence, leaving the maid at home alone for most of the morning and some part of the afternoon. Then mom start to worry about leaving her alone at home with all the valuables! On top of that, will she be able to help mom with my physically and mentally challenged older sister. Will she be able to cope with the housework? Will she be homesick? Will she understand when we talk to her. Or maybe instead have having the maid stay at the house and going back once a week or every fortnight, she should just come three times per week.

All the questions my mom had and finally my bro commented that this is not a life sentence! We can give her a month probation and if it does not work out after that, my bro will send her back to her family. I have my concern as well as she is still a teen but married. I guess her family need her to source for income somehow. On the other hand, I am glad someone will be doing my cleaning for the baking and cooking for Chinese New Year! hahaha..yes, I am day dreaming again!!! Dont burst my bubbles!

What Does Your Name Mean

I was blog-hopping and as usual, stop by at Anything Goes which links to Spiff the Spaceman and stumble upon the posting about 'What's Your Name Hidden Meaning". Me being the usual kepoh (busybody) and curious as the cat, click on the link just to look & see....
So, let me share the meaning of my name (and my own opinion of how true it is:P)

What JENNIFER Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
(JenJen: Not sure about being respected, fair, honest and logical but I sure love to be kepoh and lead!)

You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.
(JenJen: I promise to never give up blogging and getting myself approved by Smorty no matter what!)

You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.
(JenJen: I wonder if that is the reason I am becoming love consultant to my friends in the last 2 yrs!)

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
(JenJen: Yes! You all LOVE ME!!!)

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
(JenJen: WOW! hhmm..maybe I am in the wrong career? Shall I change career to consultation services??)

You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.
(JenJen: ALAMAK!!! hahaha...like this also can?)

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.
(JenJen: Hei doesnt this contradict with never giving up??? OK, again I promise never to stop blogging or get myself approved by Smorty)

You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings.
You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun.
Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them.
(JenJen: hahaha..I am starting to sound like a Saint!)

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.
(JenJen: hhmm..my parents now cant blame me for being rebellious. They gave me the name!!)

Go on, I know you want to. Go ahead and check what your name's hidden meaning is at the below link:

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Butter Rice

Another simple easy recipe that come to my mind when I think of the Chinese New Year. Whenever we decided to have a open house, we will of course cook the usual curry, rendang, etc. However, instead of serving plain rice or lemang, I will cook up some butter rice. It smells really fantastic and goes really well with the curries. So, here goes:

What you need:

1. Rice - washed and drained
2. Butter - general rule is 2 spoon butter for 1 cup of rice
3. Lemon Grass - few stalk. Cleaned and smashed at the root
4. Red Onion and garlic - sliced and fried to golden brown
4. Water - general rule 1 cup water to 1 cup rice (more depending on the grade of the rice)
5. Chicken stock cube
6. Salt & Pepper to taste

How?
1. Melt the butter but do not burn them
2. Add rice to butter and stir fry for a few minutes to enhance the smell of the butter.
3. Pour the rice into the rice cooker.
4. Add in lemon grass, fried onion and garlic, water, chicken stock, salt & pepper.
5. Cook like normal but stir the rice occassionally to ensure that the butter coat the rice evenly

DONE! hahaha..told you it was a very simple recipe but taste very yummy.

p.s I promise that I will take lots of picture for my cny baking and post them here as soon as I can. Right now I am just too lazy to actually bake anything. All the cleaning up!!

Boulevard Kuching

Oh no, not again. The craze has started again and this time is another new mall in Kuching. Yup, you guessed it liaw, The Spring opens today! Once again, I do not understand what the fuss is all about. I mean, the anchor store is not even something new to us Kuchingnite. It is just the plain old Parkson. Ok, so the name is a little grander, Parkson Pavillion. Ok, so Sushi King and Starbuck will also be there. And a few other stores that is well known to people in KL. So? I still dont get what the fuss is all about...Am I a dungu (dungu = slow and stupid)?

I was feeling rather happy today because I thought I finally will be able to go to Boulevard in peace, peace from all the traffic jam and people crush. I mean, surely all the crazy Kuching people will move themselves and their cars to The Spring. After all, that seems to be the trend so far. Everytime, there is a new place, we the Kuchingnite unites and go in super huge group, determine to jammed up the road. Oh, and not forgetting, snatching every item in sight as if it is either on super cheap sale or free!

Anyway, my parents, sis, bro and myself left the house around 10am and first stop was dad's office at Seng Goon Garden. We were rather surprised that the carpark at the shoplot was full and so is the back. At the time, I didnt think too much of it, but now thinking back, I realised that some people actually park at there and walked all the way to Boulevard. To give you an idea how far is that, imagine walking from BB area to KLCC!(Yah, I did that once with my babe and make him promise that he will NEVER ask me to do that again!) That is how far it is!!!!

The next stop was breakfast at BDC. Even this place is jammed packed with people. Not sure if all this people out of the house is because of the public holiday or they too want to have an early start before starting the 'battle'? After that, we went to my grandma and as we are leaving, dad says, let go and 'survey' the situation at The Spring. Want to see how jam it is. Oh my god! My bro say, ok, I will sleep first. Tell me when we are there (his way of anticipating the traffic jam we will be in). Since dad is driving, we have no choice but to let him.

Surprisingly, the jam was not too bad. I mean, there were alot of cars parked at road side, illegal parking no doubt (I wonder where is all the police! They will for sure make their target today if they issue summon in front of The Spring.) And as we passby, we can see empty parking spot in the parking lot. This should have been a sign of what will be happening at Boulevard. The moment our car turn from the third mile roundabout into the road leading to Boulevard, we are almost at a standstill. I mean, the jam is so bad that even the flyover is jammed!

Mom & Dad insist that we go on. So, dad got bro to drop us all off at the back entrance and get him to go look for parking (Smart dad! haha). Inside Boulevard, especially the supermarket, it is really a nightmare for me. There are so many bodies in there that I am glad the aircondition works well. I was really practising my patience as well. Somehow the people at the back of me just have the tendency to lost control of their trolleys and push it up my butt! Me of course, turned and glare at them. But little good did that do. They just turn away and pretend that nothing happened. Very good make-duno-attitude! hhmppff..

Of course, there are those inconsiderate few that just have to parked their trolleys in the middle of the lane while they look at whatever that interest them. And even when you politely say excuse me, they somehow have temporary hearing problem and simply ignore you! GGRRRRrrr... Of course, the ladies at the toiletries just have to start introducing to you some other brand although you are trying to select from the brand that you already knew is good for you. Yah yah, I know they are just doing their job but for godsake, when I say no thanks once, it mean no! Geez..and they say man dont understand the meaning of no.

But I must admit that there is one good thing about Boulevard. There are so many cashier counters that there is hardly any queue. Most of the counter only have 2-3 customers at each counter. And guess what, ALL the counters are OPEN!!! So, if you ask if I will go back to Boulevard again? Hhmm...yap but not anytime soon. At least not until the craze dies down or I will go when others is working and I am on leave!

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that there is still a long queue of people applying for Boulevard membership card. The queue was about 25-30pax long. And also a queue at Kenny Rogers, about 10-15pax long. And a queue at Sushi King, also about 10-15pax long. If you decided to brave it, dont say I didnt warn you....

Pineapple Tart

Pineapple tart has always been a family and friends favourite especially during Chinese New Year (ermm..I think especially during CNY because I refuse to make them at any other time..haha!). This is a recipe that I have been using for many years. The crust is extremely light and it is the kind that melts in your mouth. The pineapple jam is also homemade and it is not too sweet. The ready made pineapple jam (especially for jam tart) can also be used but this can be rather sweet. The ready made pineapple jam can be found in almost all bakery supply store. Some larger supermarket do have them as well.

Anyway, here goes:

Cookie
400gm flour
250gm butter/marjerin
50gm caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspooon vanilla essence

Pineapple jam
400gm caster sugar
2 big pineapple (grated)
1 tablespoon butter/marjerin
1 cinnamon stick

How?
Pineapple jam
1. Cook the grated pineapple and caster sugar until the sugar disolved completely
2. Add the butter/marjerin and cinnamon stick.
3. Stir and cook using low fire till the pineapple jam is thick and the color is slightly brownish.
4. Once done, turn off the fire and leave the jam to cool.

Cookie
1. Cream the caster sugar and butter/ marjerin
2. Add in the egg and vanilla essence and mix well
3. Add in the flour slowly and mix well.
4. If using pineapple tart cookie cutter, leave the dough in the fridge to cool for about 10 min.
5. Remove from the fridge, roll out using the pin and cut with the cookie cutter.
6. Place the cookie on a buttered baking tray and spoon a small amount of the pineapple jam on top of the cookie
7. Bake the cookie in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degree celcius.

This makes about 100pcs depending to the size of the cutter. If you are making your own jam, please make sure that the jam is cooked throughly and thicken well. If this is not done, then the pineapple tart will go mouldy rather quickly.

A New Beginning

As I was blog-hopping again during office hours (yah I just couldn't resist the temptation!sigh!), I realized that that it is almost a month since I started my virgin blogging on blogspot. It has been an interesting journey so far. Starting with me trying to understand the complicated blogging world. Trust me, it is not easy for a non-IT person like myself trying to manipulate the html code. Thank god I have really nice friends that is very willing to help and make my blog look more attractive! (thanksssss people, you know who you are ^_^)

Actually, I am still struggling sometimes and I envy those with really nice 'customised' blogs using self-written template! Makes me wish that I have taken up some programming course or paid more attention during my uni time during the e-business course! We actually had to create an e-business webpage from scratch using html code. I have no doubt that this was the reason that I had to increase my contact lense number from -2.00 to -3.00++. All those source code that I tried to 'borrow' didn't help much too since I tried to modified them to ensure that I dont get sued for stealing:P

On top of that, there is also this craze to earn income while blogging. There are interesting places like smorty that gives assignment to the bloggers and all the bloggers have to do to earn extra income would be to write and post it on their website. Sounds to good to be true. I mean actually getting paid for speaking out your opinion? Of course, you will be given a topic/product/issue to write on but what the heck, I dont see the harm in it. After all, this would be the best time to blah out all your opinion (good and/or bad)! hahaha..good way to release the penned-up frustration!

So, I have registered myself, waiting for them to approve my account. Once done, you will be seeing some assignment on my blog soon! I just hope I will have the time to do this *tsk tsk* seeing that I am trying to be a Good Employee again:P

Belly Dancing

yap..u got the topic right(or rather I got it right): belly dancing!!! hahaha...
Just got back from aerobics and stayed back for abit to accompany a colleague that was feeling faint because didnt drink enough water prior to the class. I have learned my lesson about that. I will always make sure that I drink plenty of water before, during and after the aerobics classes(or any exercise).

It seems that the next session at the center was about to start, i.e. belly dancing! And so the kepoh me was really surprised when my friend pointed a well proportion lady (errr...just in case you dont understand, that was a nice way to say plump! haha..sshh). But when she start her belly dance, you just cant take your eyes off her! She looks so sexy and mouth-watering!! Yap, you heard me right, mouth watering! I bet if a guy is there, for sure he will have nose bleed and saliva flowing from his mouth like an idiot! And her body, when she move, with that scarf tied around her waist, no words can describe.

My colleague (the one that was feeling faint) said that those with more flesh on her body will make sexy belly dancer because even a little shake will make the butt move from side to side sexily. Compared to the skinny ones, it will make more effort to show the butt move! Of course, it is even better if you have big boobs or butt! hahahaha..

So, my new craze. I am surfing the net for every information that I can find about belly dancing. I am trying to persuade my colleagues/ friends to join me for at least one class. The class is rather costly though, RM10 per class! Aerobics was RM4 per class. Oh well, my motto is try everything at least once in your lifetime. Who knows you might end up liking it so much and turn it into a career or life long passion! hehehe..mucks!