will i am's delayed diary

I am a little snowed-under at present. Swiped from archidave . Recently, I've been going through a rough patch at work. I'm still in deep shit. And you know what, the effluent is up to my nose. There is a chinese saying that best describes my current status: Attacked from ten sides . Yes, the workplace gang rape of sorts. These are days when the phone doesn't stop ringing, the e-mails don't stop coming and the problems don't stop popping up. Mutiple sites. Multiple environments in one site. Ad hoc demos. Politics in the office. Resource constraints. Pressure from the management. Double shifts. Felt like I was being pulled apart. Too much on my plate. No focus. And good help is hard to come by these days. But I'm grateful for whatever I have right now. Can only hope that I'll emerge from this stronger. And I noticed that my social life is kinda zilch at the moment. Does this mean that it's time for a promotion? Heh. No interest in that. Being ca

_DSC2395-Edit-Edit Swiped from by_cobalt . Remember "The Sound of Music"? The courtship song for one of the Vonn Trapp girls sung in a garden? "I am sixteen, going on seventeen..." Yes, the nocturnal crooning of a sexed-up teenager trying to get into her knickers. I kinda feel that way right now ( not referring to the sexed-up bit as that's a universal truth )-- lemme explain. My cover version is a little different: "I am thirty, going on thirty one..." In case you're confused, no it's NOT my age I'm referring to. It's not even near my birthday ( for the ignorant ones out there, it's on the 9th of October by the way ). It's my girth. My waist in inches. Pants size. Ugh. Just as BAD as age. I'd never thought that one day I'd slip into a pair of pants and actually FEEL my ass filling it up. Then, uh-oh, can't buckle it. Crap. Have to go shopping for slacks. DanielH... discount card oh..... P.S.: Have yet to tr

Jim Thompson in Glass Swiped from williamnyk . Recently, I made another short business trip to BKK and it wasn't pretty. More of those last minute ad hoc things. Here's the gist: KUL-BKK in the evening after a full working day. Had slight flu. Had a painful descent to the flu. Arrived at the hotel in BKK at about 10:00pm local time. Discovered that a room wasn't reserved for us. Blamed us for not booking. Stupid. Can request us to go over, but we have to request for a room to stay. Takkan tidur bawah jambatan?! After a quick shower, started to work past midnight because my boss wanted to show something not available in the demo system. Slept. Woke up feeling like crap. Had a horrible runny nose all throughout the demo. Had lunch. Caught the flight out (BKK-KUL). Had another painful descent. Found my ears blocked. Immediately consulted a doctor when I reached KUL. Started to cough. The cough has persisted till this day. Declared to my boss that I'm doing that a

collageGen2 Swiped from williamnyk . For those of you who know me, I'm crazy about Japanese food. The raw variety more specifically. Nothing salivates me more than succulent pieces of premium salmon sashimi with side of shoyu and wasabi . So far, Xenri tops my list of top-notch sashimi , but recently, a close second was added to it-- Gen Japanese Restaurant , The Legend Hotel. It claims to to have the longest Japanese buffet spread in KL. Finally tried it since Citibank Clear card holders get a 30% discount on Thursdays and Fridays in the whole month of April. Was there with Kenzon, Rich, KT and SK. SK treated me. :D. Thanks dear. Other than the salmon, their sashimi spread included maguro , squid, tako and butterfish. The raw oysters were also quite fresh ( got horny later in the night after half a dozen, but I doubt it's related :P ). Noteworthy dishes also include their sukiyaki ( I loved the broth and the beef slices were tender ), grilled crabs, unagi , clams

Suneo & Maxine Swiped from williamnyk . Faux Bachelor No. : 9 ( a tribute to Love Potion No. 9 ) Name : Suneo Honekawa Occupation : Software Simian ( year of the monkey mah... ) Age : 28 ( coming birthday, so insurance ) Zodiac : Libra ( fickle! ) Fave Hangout : Old Town Kopitiam ( where's my VIP card?! ) Talent : Being a Negative Nancy 3 things you can't live without : Good food, good friends and good money! What is the sweetest thing a guy/girl has done for you? SK has done the most thoughtful things for me. Too many to count. The most daredevil thing I've ever done is : Had some hanky-panky in a hotel restroom ( no details forthcoming! ) What’s one thing you’re glad you’ve outgrown? My baby clothes. Your biggest mistake is : Not admitting the truth to myself earlier. Which actor would play you in a movie about your life? : Saiful Apek. Why do men... love women? If you were a product, how would your advertising campaign read? Buy Suneo, or he'll get Jayan

yodell ♫ lay-od-lay-od-lay-he-hoo, ♫ lay-od-lay-od-low yodellay, ♫ yodallay, yodal-low… ♫ and they fly low supreme! ♫ little egrets from bali- egretta garzetta ♫ Swiped from bocavermelha-l.b. . Come to think of it, it's been ages since I've gone out with friends-- mainstream and alternative. Mainstream even less. Mainly talking about politics, general knowledge and gossip about ex-coursemates that truth be told are not relevant in my life anymore. Thank God they don't talk about about cars and football. And even then, only Mel is the only active member in this group. SK doesn't really count coz I see her nearly everyday. Kinda like a semi-permanent fixture in my life. For the alternative group, there has been not much regular face-to-face contact. We visit each other's blogs when the topic has the skankiness factor of at least 5; join some "e-mail-chats"; random SMS and IM. The last gathering was at SK's unofficial belated birthday dinner at L

Photo-0046 Swiped from williamnyk . Such an opulent ceiling, right? Could it be from a a) Five-star hotel? b) The lounge in a rich man's house in Damansara? c) Government office in Putrajaya? d) Place of worship? e) Posh restaurant at Changkat Bukit Bintang? Well, the nearest answer is (e). But it isn't exactly true either. Well, the picture was taken in Kuchai Lama. At a kedai mamak -- ABC . Impressive isn't it? Don't worry, the roti canai does not cost MYR5.00++. How standards have gone up.

School Swiped from williamnyk . "Congratulations!! You are at school." The above signboard was spotted at SMK Seri Indah, OUG, smack dab at the entrance of the school. Were you ever THAT enthusiastic to get to school? I'm sure it galls students who trudge to school each day, eyes half-burdened with sleep and their backs bent over with textbooks. Perhaps the teachers hate it more. Hehe.

Squirrel & Orange Peel Swiped from williamnyk . Yet another edition of William's STAR LRT Celebrity Watch . This time round we spy Squirrel Boy , Cellulite Sally and Boisterous Biatches . Never seen Squirrel Boy before, but if you do, you can identify him from his large backpack. When he sits, he puts it in front of him and fidgets with it like a squirrel does with a nut. The way he bends his hands, the fidgety movements, while his eyes dart left and right ( predator alert! ). Come to think of it, he could've been a LRT terrorist with Sarin precursors stored in his bag. But he got off at Tasik Selatan, so I'll just let KTM Kommuter worry about that. Oh yeah, on the right side, is Cellulite Sally . Curvaceous body with long legs and sweet face, but still she has the confidence to flaunt her orange peel thighs with those ultra-short hotpants. My female colleague was VERY impressed. I've met the Boisterous Biatches on numerous occasions already. I think they

Mr. Rocket Swiped from williamnyk . Read a great article by Joceline Tan in the Sunday Star (30th of March, 2008), entitled "Keeping Up with the New Politics". Was basically about the politics of the Malaysian Chinese as discussed in a Sin Chew post-election forum. A very honest piece. Here are a few excerpts that caught my eye: "The Chinese are not angry with the Malays, but they are angry with UMNO's arrogance." --Rita Sim, INSAP "We keep asking the Chinese for full support so that they will be well-represented in government. But wasn't that what they gave us in 2004, total support?" --Teng Chang Yeow, Gerakan "Leaders like Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin must realise this. People equated their behaviour with UMNO's inability to change with the times. If an Oxford-educated guy still talks like an UMNO politician of 10 years ago, what hope do we have for the rest of UMNO?" --Teng Chang Yeow, Gerakan

collageKampar Swiped from williamnyk . It has been years since I've actually went for Ching Ming . Think I've only done it twice when I was a kid. Have vague memories of running around my grandfather's grave ( sometimes on, cucu celaka ) and eating roasted pork after burning hell money. This year, my mum decided that we should visit the columbarium holding my uncle's and grandma's ashes in Kampar. I had not been there since my uncle's death years ago. So, mum, SK and I drove down on Sunday to Kampar. SK was nicely speeding at 140km/h. Hopefully there were no speed traps. We stopped by at Bidor to buy food offerings and have breakfast. The food was really disappointing. Seems that Bidor-ians like to eat dry yellow noodles. Ergh. Reached the columbarium at around 11:00am and I thought that things would be much simpler since it wasn't a graveyard, but boy, how wrong I was. After pulling into the parking lot, could alreday see the hustle and bustle, smo

Pull and Bear Swiped from williamnyk . Received an SMS entitling the bearer to a free Pull and Bear T-shirt the other day and I so happened to be at KPMG Tower slogging for some stupid demo. I immediately rushed over to One Utama and I happened to be the third person to redeem. So damn kiasu hor? The salesperson was surprised: "SMS tu baru je dihantar!" I took one girl's T for HP ( as SK couldn't fit it, :P ) and SK took one guy's T for me. Supposedly costs MYR109. Looks quite nice but the brand is blatantly splashed on the front in big, bold words and in eye-catching colours. MYR109-- that's my worth as a walking sandwich man perhaps?

collageBKKDay3 Swiped from williamnyk . ... Continued from here ... On the last day, the presentation was repeated for the Managing Director and it was dumbed down to make things flow faster. Good feedback but it all boiled down to monetary negotiations. The MD was kind enough to give us commemorative notes of the King's 80th Birthday. Cool. Lunch was at Esplanade Mall again, but this time we had local fare-- green curry, fishcakes, tomyam, sweet and sour fish and stir-fried vegetables. Dessert was low fat yoghurt with fruit toppings at Red Mango. Everything ended early, so we took an earlier flight home. But still, we had plenty of time to burn at the airport. I just went around taking photos for a couple of hours while my boss went for a foot massage. The flight home was much lousier than the one took flying into BKK. The stewardess were obviously ground crew material by SQ standards and had attitude. The head stewardess refused to take my tray and expected me to neatly

collageBKKDay2 Swiped from williamnyk . ... Continued from here... On my second day there, I got up early with my boss to have breakfast at the buffet line. A good mix of western (toast, croissant, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and ham) and local fare (dim sum, porridge, noodles). Took a 40-minute cab ride to the potential client, somewhere near Esplanade Mall. The presentation was mostly boring with my boss doing his stuff for the Executive Director and several department heads and me driving the slides. Luckily, just one or two minor hiccups occured when we showed the demo system. Lunch was at a Japanese fast food restaurant where orders were taken with a PDA and the ocha came in polka-dotted tea pots! So English Tea. At the end of the presentation, my boss and I took the subway ( my virgin ride! ) from Cultural Center to Silom to interchange with the BTS and on to Siam station where Siam Paragon is. Dinner was at the food court, and boy did we gorge. Two persons ended up

collageBKKDay1 Swiped from williamnyk . It's been nearly two and a half years since my last business trip overseas and I broke the dry spell with a short 3-day visit to the Kingdom of Thailand. Went with my boss for a demo at a local bank and come to think of it, my presence wasn't exactly necessary and doesn't quite justifies the cost. But he dragged me along anyway and it effectively stole five man days from my current project ( don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. :P ). Upon arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport, we took a cab down to Sala Daeng for a meeting with our local counterparts. Had to lug my luggage up and down the BTS station ( I think the height is more than two storeys! ) because my boss had forgotten on which side of the road the office was. Pengz. Saw the same faces from long before and some of them actually recognize me from my cicak kobeng ah beng phase! Amazing. After the meeting, we flagged a cab to Centerpoint Serviced Apartments. A ni

MCTS Swiped from williamnyk . Finally the certificates that I earned after passing the Microsoft exams I took in October have arrived in the mail. One certificate is for my induction as a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and another is for the specific paper that I took. Both are "signed" by Bill Gates. Lame. In the package is a welcome note, a 20% discount voucher for purchases from the MCP site ( geek stuff no doubt ) and a member card that has no use whatsoever except for the number that is on it. With the number, I am able to access the MCP site for information and it also contains my transcript. My current MCP status is also useful to my company as it is currently hungering for points to maintain Microsoft Gold Partner status. But you know what, I only contribute a measly 1 point. :P. Anyway, this is just the first step as I plan to take more exams to make myself more relevant and to pad my resume. Might as well take advantage of the current leniency in c

Suneo & Maxine Swiped from williamnyk . Ever since I brought Suneo under my wing last October, he has been living on my colour box. It was good, for a while. As time went by, Suneo became withdrawn. Even the surprise visits from Mr. Gnome had failed to lift his spirits. Something was wrong, very wrong. Food went untouched. Porn left unplayed. The bed lay in a mess of sheets, the sign of fitfull sleep. I was nearly at my wit's end when one day I found Suneo walking on the edge on of the colour box, toying with death. I caught him just in time, or he would just another scatter on the parquet of my room. He was desolate. The solitude and lack of companionship had cracked his fragile soul. I did not know what to do. I felt helpless. However, the funny thing is, the solution to problems sometimes presents itself without us needing to find it and it came to me in the form of a teddy bear, Maxine. He came to me during Chinese New Year, an ambassador of love from the land dow

❏❏❏ Let's PLaY !!!! ❏❏❏ Swiped from €eErRbBbiiIEe€ . On the 3rd of March 2008, I celebrated five years with my current company. I even did my industrial training there and just 3 days after I took the last paper of my semester, I joined and I have been working since. It didn't hit me until an ex-colleague of mine sent me an sms reminder. I was given plenty of exposure, with regular trips to Jakarta in the early years of my employment and in addition to that, I was given the chance to visit Bangkok for a short stints. The regional experience was valuable, and there was the monetary factor as well. Most of the people that I have known have left. From junior, I am now one of the old faces and have moved in to fill those voids in the organisation. I see opportunities before me, but they are quite a double-edged sword as well. Within my company, there is much flexibility, but with it, comes chaos as well. I guess have I have grown a bit accustomed to such an environment an

Seabass Tagliatelle Swiped from Ahmad 'Cipoi' Saiful . A double birthday celebration in the month of February. In the afternoon, I celebrated my sister's belated birthday at Melaka Street Restaurant , SS2. Forever the direction-less dolt, I forgot how to get there again, and made some rounds around SS2. Ordered quite a fair bit of spicy stuff. All the usual favourites and something else I had not tried, "Chicken in Foil". Seared chicken wrapped in foil and fragrant gravy make a very good appetite stimulant. Non-spicy and juicy. Recommended. Later in the evening, SK celebrated her belated birthday at a French restaurant in Changkat Bukit Bintang, named Le Bouchon . Joined by Apollo, Jason Jr, Kenzon, Rich and KT. It's an expensive place and the only reason we dared to venture there was because I had a 50% discount voucher. Hehe. Anyway, before dinner, we grouped in front of Lot 10 and from out of nowhere, a group of dashing male models in tuxedos stru

Ballot Paper - Pakistan Elections Swiped from Ameer Hamza . Marilah mari, Kita mengundi, Tunaikanlah kewajiban, kepada negara. Gotta love this song. A classic from Penerbitan Filem Negara Malaysia. Way up there with the classics like "Kurangan Gula", "Cinta IT" and "Alhamdullilah Syukur Nikmat", but I digress. Although we're not party members, I SK, HP and I voluntered to assist DAP as polling and counting agents at one of seven the polling stations in the Seputeh constituency. SK and HP were involved in polling, basically observing and striking off the names of people who came in to vote. SK got the oldest end of the electoral roll, whereas HP got the youngest end, so the latter got more eye candy! I on the other hand was the coordinator. Had to sit one hundred metres away from the polling station entrace under a small parasol. My job was to arrange relief agents, make sure that volunteers turned up for their shifts and to send food and water

Best things in life are free Swiped from annfrau . Some days back ( now even ), I was quite annoyed at work. I had worked lateand was quite tired. My phone had nearly run out of juice. Sis, brother-in-law and mum had fetched me from the LRT station, but they were not going home yet as they wanted to listen to a political speech at Seri Petaling night market. At around 9:30pm, my colleague called me to say that there was a problem with the demo system he was preparing for the monkeys at marketing. And of course, my phone died the moment he described the problem to me. I scrambled to the nearest bakery to whip out my laptop and plug my phone into the USB port. I called SK who happened to be there to lend me her phone. Due to some communication problem, she couldn't assist me in time. By the time I managed to called my colleague, he had left and expected me to pick up the pieces. Api naik kepala ! By the time she arrived with HP, I flamed them both in my temper. Most of my fr

Hoist Those Flags Swiped from williamnyk . During the two-week campaign period, I merely attended half a Teresa Kok speech at Sri Petaling night market and a Carol Chew dinner at Happy Garden. Teresa stood on the back of a truck to deliver her speech, while Carol had a proper stage with three local ge dai entertainers to fill in the lulls. Carol is a fantastic speaker with a speech that reads like a Pengajian Am essay, while Teresa goes for a more down-to-earth approach-- fiery and sprinkled expletives. Hehe. Being the newbie, quite a number of MCA heavyweights spoke for her during the dinner. One speaker was most honest when he said: "Don't let our Carol lose too many votes..." I definitely clapped to that. At least they're not deluded. But they still pour out the campaign funds, just in case lar. In addition to that, they even had an ex-DAP member denounce Teresa. Many allegations and mud-slinging. Halfway through, it rained really heavily, and his voice

perfect? Swiped from Megan * . Here's an update from the frontline of my war against acne . I recently consulted with a highly-recommended recommended dermatologist near Tung Shin hospital. Heard only praises about him and apparently SK also found someone raving about him on a blog. Lotsa patients and the weird thing is, appointments aren't allowed. Walked in on a Saturday at 9:30am and found that the doctor would only be in an hour later. So factoring that in with the fact that I was fifth in line, SK and I walked over to Wisma S&M to do some really EARLY DVD shopping. Only one or two were open, and I bought a couple of DVDs from the bargain bin at MYR3.50 per disc. Fantastic! Got myself "Hoyakashi - Japanase Classice Horror: The Animation", "Tales From Earthsea" and "Dororo". Believe it or not, SK got herself some anime with a busty girl in a bikini out front. :P. By the time we got back, it was just in time for my turn. Dr Chang tur

It has been shitty this past week. Work has been overlapping between phase one training sessions and mock runs with phase two development. The timeline is so screwed up. And more ad hoc stuff like demos had to turn up. Stupid internal red tape and power struggles in top management, each trying to usurp resources for their own gain. Sigh. Pelanduk Mati di Tengah.

Stand Behind the Yellow Line II Swiped from williamnyk . The 12th General Elections results are already out and here I am talking about the nomination day for the Seputeh Parliamentary Seat that happened some Sundays back. Just a simple police-escorted procession from the Seri Petaling bean sprout chicken shop to Seri Petaling Multi-purpose Hall. Everyone wore white with a red-streaked DAP cap. Flags were distributed ( not the pathetic mini flags but the broomstick-as-flag-pole variety ) and they found that there were more flags than hands. Therefore, I ended up hoisting two ( *&*@&^%*&*: ). Everyone followed behind a Hilux laden with over-zealous flag-waving women and an AV set blaring the song "Together" ( a political song calling for change ). Even had a "leader" who would scream out slogans and the rest would follow. However, certain phrases were more popular than others... "Vote for Change, Vote for DAP!" "Teresa Pasti Menang

umbrella mushroom Swiped from AraiGordai . Hi guys. I'll be away in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok from Wednesday till Friday for work-related stuff. I'm going with my boss ( UGH )and the schedule is tight, so I guess no naughty stuff can be arranged. :(. Anyway, I'll be home in time for election, and that will be another draining weekend to be blogged about later. See ya later.

collageKluang Swiped from williamnyk . Nestled between Dataran Prima and Aman Suria is a cosy little restaurant called Kluang Noodle House . Just tried it on a whim. Aman Suria has become a weekly haunt for me since there are a lot of eateries there and the traffic situation is calm and parking is ample. What's their specialty you may ask? Hand-made noodles without preservative and what not. The noodles they make are slightly thicker than your japanese ramen, kinda like the Kin Kin Pan Mee that DanielH recommended. The texture is good and firm, without any floury aftertaste. Tried their Curry Tomyam Noodles ( an interesting mix of curry and tom yum soup with a generous seafood toppings ), Rendang Chicken Dry Noodles ( a lemak-y, whole chicken thigh rendang served on dry noodles, minced pork and vegetables ) and Ma Lat Noodles ( Taiwan-style spicy noodles. I find it a bit oily due to the chilly oil used, but I guessed that can't be helped ). Good food and big portions

collageAnnualDin2008 Swiped from williamnyk . "The Sexiest Voice" "The Most Kissable Lips" "The Best Ass" "The Most Sparkling Eyes" Believe or not, those were the awards given out during my company's annual dinner at the KL Hilton recently. The recipient's weren't exactly the best candidates as it turned out to be like past year's popularity contests. The recipient of the sexiest voice award even did a stupid William Shatner impersonation. Sexy? Not. Well, come to think of it, if I combine two of the above awards, one can get: "The Most Kissable Ass" Now, THAT would be something. Attended the dinner in quite a zombified state as I was out the whole day menziarah my married colleagues. Got some red packets and won at blackjack. :D. When my colleagues and I arrived at the venue, we entered into the lift with a family of three. (Why this mamat so familiar one?) ("Oh shit! The Chairman!") The Chairman gav

Shokubutsu Grapefruit Sparkle stinks! Long live Orange Peel Essence!

collageVDay Swiped from williamnyk . Technically it was KH and I's second VDay, but we didn't celebrate it last year because we had just started off late January and were away from each other. We really haven't really understood how much we loved each other. So, this year, we officially celebrated it as as our first VDay as described here . Since most of the salient points had been blogged about, let me just fill in some of the holes. Yes, we did celebrate it the "tourist-y" way at KL Tower. And true enough, I did pull a long face when I had trudge around Bukit Nanas carrying a 3kg laptop bag in the sweltering heat. Oh, wait... KH offered to carry my bag, but still I sulked. :P. KH had wanted to exchange some SGD, so when actually stopped at a money changer near the Bukit Nanas Monorail station and the guy actually offered to give us a "student rate". This has no importance in the story, just trying to jemur nyawa a bit. Indulge me. By the time

Gai-Sensei! Swiped from Seloy . Note: Pathetic filler post until I get my photos in order for the next "proper" post. It's so disturbing to see someone cosplay as Gai-sensei....! I'd rather do a Mayuri. :P AND... the office air-conditioning system is on the blink till the end of the week. I'm dying here.... lack of oygen... ack!

Herbal Duck Swiped from williamnyk . ... continued from previous post ... As soon as the food tour ended, we drove out of Penang Island to Sungai Petani, Kedah. Destination: My brother-in-law's sister's place. It was my first time in Kedah actually. The sister lives at the industrial area of Sungai Petani-- a up-and-coming township. The roads were good and the housing areas looked organized. I felt like I was in KL. Spent the night there watching "The Fellowship of the King" and playing "Brave Story" on my brother-in-law's PSP. The next morning, I met the little prince of the house, Yang-Yang. An extremely shy and xenophobic kid. I heard that he won't even let his aunt carry him though she had lived with him for a month! Surpisingly, the kid took a liking to me. I had been told that the odds of him letting me carry him is like striking 4D. Heh. An interesting fact about the house-- there are no mirrors, except at the dresser in the master be

It is Friday and I get no TGIF feeling at all. Had a farewell KTV lunch for my resigning colleague this afternoon, and no amount of fooling around with mic cheered me up. Understaffed with no replacement in sight. 101 problems and matters to attend to. Then I received an sms from KH. More bad news. Something was lost. Was a bit sad, but KH was quick to console me and something Jaded Jeremy told me about the importance of the intangible over the material things made me snap out of my gloom. Sorry I made you worry dear. I am ok now and it is not your fault.

collagePenang20082 Swiped from williamnyk . ... continued from previous post ... Woke up to this: (Mum on the phone) "Do you have a hairdryer?" "Sudah habis." (1 hour later) "Are the hairdryers available yet?" "Actually we don't have any." ($#@|@^%&*^&<%*:<*}?&^%) This is the kind of service one gets for MYR110. I wonder if this was the case when I asked for an extra bed the night before. Even our doors had to be opened using the hotel's master key since the keys were "misplaced". Oh well. We checked out and had our breakfast at Restoran Shiang Hai , at Wisma Red Rock. Kinda a shock for me-- self-service dim sum . Get the food yourself. Refill the tea yourself. Average fare. The only thing worth praising is the char siew bao and the steamed pork ribs ( love the fragrant rice wine gravy ). Our food tour started at 11:00am on Saturday at Restoran Chopper Board , Gurney Plaza. Met the rest of the foodies

collagePenang2008 Swiped from williamnyk . Almost half of three centuries had passed since I last set foot on Penang Island. My last visit there was with a rombongan sekolah for World Children's Day. I was also supposed to visit during Mel's sister's wedding but that plan somehow fell through. Normally, my CNY is spent cooped up at home. This year is an exception to the norm-- my sister invited the family to a food appreciation trip there. Never passing up a chance for a family trip, mum, bro and I signed on for it. 138 smackeroos per head. We left for Penang on CNY2 and also managed to cram in a pit stop at Taiping to visit an old friend of mum's. Traffic conditions were good, except at the Penang Bridge. Now I understand why I keep hearing the same traffic reports everyday. Bountiful toll booths, but they all eventually converge into a measley two lanes. Lunch was at a random food court as not many places were open. Ordered chicken rice, Char Kuey Teow and Yong Tau

Leave Swiped from ·BigGolf· . With phase II of my development in full swing, my resource pool has taken another hit. A colleague has decided to resign after 6 years with the company. Didn't even bother to wait for the increment that was to be in one or two months time. Can't really blame her. Promises are made, but they are never kept. You either wait or you leave. Sigh. But I must say that it's really bad timing. The requirements are pouring in and other projects are starting too and this constantly puts a strain on my small kingdom. The Emperor will sooner or later raise troops for the looming war ahead, and sad to say, my holdings will be commandeered. Good troops are hard to come by and replacements slow to be found. The Emperor plays a dangerous game of balance. Shifting his troops here and there. Too little butter spread over too big a piece of bread. "So when is it your turn to leave? Are you still learning anything from your work? Too comfortable alrea

Princess XX Swiped from williamnyk . The newest addition to my STAR LRT celebrity member is Princess XX. Aptly named so because she is the epitome of femininity. The XX sex chromosome. She is the Puteri Lilin of legend. The damsel in distress. A fragile flower petal. The moment she enters the train, she will glide to the handrail and cling to it-- barely. As if the lightest of secret farts from nearby passengers can dislodge her from her place. She rests her weight on one foot. She lightly bends her leg and cocks her head to one side, letting her curls dangle. She looks up with hooded eyes, bedroom eyes. She pouts. Ever in the most feminine of dresses ( perhaps she buys XXL at "Little Princess" outlets? ). Strappy dresses ( often the bellpepper variety! ) with a cardigan over. Sometimes a giant bow on her bosom. Her dainty feet are always in shoes fit for a ballerina. Crystal bracelets crawl up both her forearms. I wonder if she stirs interest in the men who share t

collage1CNY2008Home Swiped from williamnyk . No Yasmin Ahmad CNY ad for Petronas this year. Read in the papers that the "Go home for reunion dinner, if you can" ad was visualised by a young hotshot from some gweilo firm. Thinking about it, reunion dinner is getting to be a smaller and smaller affair with each passing year. When I was a kid, my whole family would travel from Kuantan to Teluk Intan ( a 7-8 hours trunk road drive ) to have dinner with my grandma, uncle and cousins. As the years passed, nearly all my cousins started their own family and it was quite a challenge getting everyone together in one place anymore. Later, dad passed on, my grandma passed away and even my uncle called it a day. Eventually, we had reunion dinner in KL and my lengthy CNY trip eventually became a day trip to see my aunt and cousins. With my sister married, reunion dinner is just me, my mum and bro. A quiet affair, but still mum outdoes herself every year though she complains that

collageGrandMillennium Swiped from williamnyk . "Sir, would you like to do a balance transfer? 0%..." "Sir, the holiday season is coming, interested to take a cash advance for a well-deserved vacation?" "Congratulations, you've been given a free check-up with the Heart, Stroke and Cancer Center..." "Hello Sir, we are offering you a free-for-life platinum credit card..." "Just for a small membership fee, you get to enjoy our dining benefits and you get a complimentary night's stay..." I said no to all of them, but I kinda caved in to the last telemarketer. Benefits and privileges. You actually pay for them. The whole year I was holding the card, I just used their free buffet voucher and treated my sister and bro-in-law to a 50%-off high tea. Since the complimentary stay I had was already expiring, I decided to use it on FT Day lor. When I purchased the membership, the hotel was called "The Regent", now it is ca

Neway Swiped from williamnyk . Note: I'm back! Some stale posts for y'all! Enjoy... Was at Neway Karaoke, Bandar Puchong Jaya a couple of weekends back with SK, HP and BeiBei for a kind of pre-CNY crooning. It was my first time at that outlet and I must say that the floor space was pretty impressive. Everything was shiny and new. Our room was tastefully decorated unlike RedBox's gaudy wallpaper. My only complaint is the English song selection. Really pathethic. They don't even have Rihanna's "Umbrella" ( I can imagine KH heaving a sigh of relief )! My song list was as follows: Theresa Teng's "Don't Pick The Roadside Wild Flowers" Madonna's "Vogue" Siti Nurhaliza's "Bukan Cinta Biasa" Ella's "Gemilang" The Carpenter's "Goodbye To Love" Spice Girls' "Two Become One" Hoobastank's "TheReason" The Cranberrie's "Dreams" ???'s "Lov

Hi readers. Just a short post from my phone. Hope everyone is enjoying this Mickey Mouse Year holidays. I am currently in Sg Petani and will be making my way back to KL on Sunday. Major food post in the pipeline! Keep an eye out! Ciao! p.s.: Dear KH, sorry that I couldn't spend as much time with you as I wanted. Hugs. I'll make it up to you. :)

QN07: Bears in Cart Swiped from williamnyk . KH and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Monday. How time flies when you're having fun. It is a big milestone for us as it is the longest relationship that either of us has ever had. Looking back, I have seen much growth in our relationship and much change. I have changed. KH has changed. Even our attitude towards each other has changed. We talk of different things. We communicate differently too. And I actually asked KH about it one night: "Dear, I noticed that we don't do (this and this and this) anymore." "Has anything changed?" "Of course they have. It is inevitable. We can't be in the honeymoon phase forever, right?" KH told me so matter-of-factly that I was rather taken aback at that time. But I also eventually found much wisdom in that. I cannot expect things to stay stagnant. Things will change and we must also change to keep things moving. Each of us work hard to keep the lov