will i am's delayed diary

Picking The Best , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. After a long hiatus, SK rejoined mum and I on our Saturday morning sojourn. For the third week in a row, mum chose to go to NSK. For some reason, it wasn't very well-stocked that day, with lots of rotting produce put in the bargain bins. Breakfast was at one of the old coffeeshops at Taman Naga Emas, Salak South. Rivalry among the adjacent shops stopped me from trying pan mee from another stall, so I just stuck with our regular. Seeing some delicious Hainanese chicken, SK ordered a portion to be shared. The skin was super yellow and glistening, hinting at a delicious taste and an explosion of fat and cholesterol. But that was nothing compared to the side of chicken liver. Hehe. Scrumptious. The pan mee was great as usual. I like the torn variety because it's very thin, with zero flour aftertaste. And the soup was clear with little hint of flavour additives. For lunch, we headed out to Serdang for dishes at Leong Ngar . ...

hitsugaya toushirou , swiped from unreqiuted Love sh31$#@%$#54 on Flickr. SK discovered my first white hair during a BEC gathering in Kuchai Lama. At first she thought it was paint, then after further examination, we found it to be otherwise. =_=. Quickly, she pulled out the hair for me to see. The hair was partially-gray at the tip. Quite peculiar don't you think for the melanin to stop being produced at the start, then jump-started again at a later time. The engine is failing! Boo-hoo. Turns out that getting gray hair at the age of thirty is considered as premature graying! How can!? Sniff-sniff. Time to start eating black sesame tong sui in large amounts. Jom! But truth be told, my first gray hair actually sprouted up in my left nostril. Hehe. That was perhaps about a year ago. And guys... please don't talk about gray hair in the nether regions! Can't imagine... =_=

042/365 - Stand on the Right , swiped from armiller007 on Flickr. If you take the LRT frequently, you would know that on the escalators, one should stand on the left to let those in a rush to go by. It's not exactly an unwritten rule because certain stations do have signs instructing commuters to do so. However, many non-KL natives descend on Kuala Lumpur every day and they might not be aware of this arrangement and the freshness of the whole situation may cause them to 'miss' the signs. They would stand on the right, zombified with their luggage or children causing those on the morning or evening rush hour to be stranded behind them. And the problem is worsened by the fact that we Malaysians are a shy lot. We wouldn't say anything, just fume at the back. Very rarely does one see a light tap to advise the 'road block' to move out of the way. People would rather shut up, be red in the face and tap their fingers impatiently. People in London are a different story...

PetalingStreetLantern20111 , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Petaling Street isn't exactly my cup of the tea with its haphazard alleys and crowds, but I do admit that it's a photographer's treasure trove of heritage sights. Having read about the Petaling Street Communit Art Project in the Star Metro, I was tempted to go take a look. It was jointly organized by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and the Lost Generation Space to preserve the historic value of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan. It has become a priority with the MRT project casting a dark cloud of gloom over the area. Mum was also excited to go as it was ages since she was last there. SK picked us up at 5:00pm and we parked the car at Central Market before walking over to Gospel Hall Church ( stopped to have air mata kucing first ). The church was very generous to have borrowed out their whole compound as the focal point for the activites. Lanterns were everywhere-- Ultraman, Sailormoon and A...

fancy hem stitch , swiped from miriam.klaassen on Flickr. My mother is a very panicky woman. The smallest of things can set her on edge. Looking for an entry in the phone book can make her tense and snap at you. So, the other day, while my mum was driving Cyan home from pre-school the other day, he created a scene. The kid screamed that he needed to pee pee. My mother being my mother, got all flustered and stopped by the side of the road. As she got out of the car and slammed the door, she actually flattened her index finger. OUCH! Did you feel your balls shrink after reading that? The skin at the top and bottom of her finger actually split open. She got four stitches at the nearby clinic. Quite an episode huh? She got her stitches removed today. Just the other day she was telling me that the doctor asked her not to move her finger so much. But my mum being my mum, she went on a cleaning spree, cleaning stuff that hardly get any attention during other times. I can only smile.

Flying the Flag , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Does this constitute flying the flag upside down? A quick check on the internet reveals that flying the flag upside down is considered a distress signal. "...not a mark of disrespect, and in fact is considered by many to be the highest form of patriotism." Ye ke? How about the fella who met Najib at his open house dressed in the Malaysian flag from head to toe? I thought the flag was not supposed to be made into clothing? And yet we see the fella with a big grin on his face shaking hands with our Primer Minister. And it's not supposed to be draped on your car bonnet unless you're driving a coffin. And even if you were driving a coffin, it's only allowed for state funerals. For more information, looks at this flag ethics guide . Love your country. Love your flag. Don't mistake loving your country with loving the government of the day. :D

Jicama , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Sis organized a Mid-Autumn Festival party at my place on Sunday night. A small affair with two of my sister's best friends from Kuantan, their kids, Mel and SK. Mel had actually arrived earlier to have a talk with me. It had been ages since we met up for a bitchin' session. Haha. For several times I had to cancel due to scheduling clashes. Sorry dear! But the best part was she brought her baby Cameron along. He's a splitting image of his mother. Cute with anime-like eyes. And such a restless little worm! Wriggling here and there non-stop! Quite impossible to sit still. Seems that motherhood really agrees with Mel. Later in the evening, I fetched them to SK's apartment. They had their girl talk while I went swimming downstairs. The whole pool was filled with dried bamboo leaves... it's so not a good idea to plant Japanese bamboo near the pool. On the way back to my place, we stopped by the neighbourhood Chinese medicine hal...

Beta carotene & Capsaicin , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. My wet market excursion on Saturday took a modern twist. Instead of the traditional places, mum decided to shop at NSK , Kuchai Lama. That wholesale market feels just like a hypermarket with loads of fresh produce and other groceries. Open twenty four hours a day and hires loads of workers to man the counters and sort out the goods. Air-conditioned and clean with prices that are sometimes even lower than the pasar ! Forklifts zip around near the parking lots and they even have Zamboni-like machines keeping the floors dry. After shopping, we had breakfast at the shops nearby. Rushed home to attend a 1:30pm wedding mass. Since the bride wasn't Catholic, it was a half mass and although the rite was predominantly in mandarin, the groom made his vows in English. It was the funniest wedding march I ever saw, with the bride walking slightly like a lurching zombie. During the ceremony, an old aunty asked me, "Do you ha...

Waiting , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. This kid is all alone waiting for his grandmother outside a shop in OUG. Guess what his grandmother was doing: Buying groceries in the Chinese medicine hall Smoking a ciggie Taking a dump Buying Magnum 4D Playing mahjong Getting her hair done Gossiping with her gaggle of friends Tapau-ing breakfast Truth be told, kids shouldn't be left all alone. Some goldfish uncle could just come by and spirit the kid away. I have heard of horror stories in Disneyland HK where a parent lets her kid go into the loo alone. For a long time, the kid did not come out, so the mother went in to look. In her panic, she asked her other child to wait outside. When she came out empty handed, she found that her other kid had also disappeared... Never let kids out of your sight!

Hawk , swiped from BradWilke on Flickr. Out of the blue SkyHawk messaged me and asked about some work-related matters. As quick as can be, he arranged a lunch meeting near my office. Very efficient and decisive. Recognized him immediately. Had an imposing stature ( and a face that looks a bit like it was chiseled from stone ), but luckily that was somewhat softened by his smile. Quickly ordered and went straight to business. With that out of the way, we talked about lighter matters of love and life. After sharing each other's stories, I find that we have much in common, especially the fact that our lives are very family-centric. Although our circumstances are different, we can actually draw parallels. We both have our commitments and leading a double life in pursuit of our personal happiness can be quite stressful at times. With quality time being a premium, it is sometimes very difficult to juggle things. Most people take for granted the fact that they have much freedom in what t...

September 11th Shoes , swiped from eyes of disarray on Flickr. Today marks the tenth anniversary of the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York and three other coordinated attacks. That episode elevated the word "terrorism" into a household term and cranked up the paranoia against Islam. Ten years is a long time, but I remember I was home alone watching TV. My show was interrupted and footage of an airplane crashing into one of towers was shown. Vaguely remember having my jaw drop open and scooting closer to the TV set. When a second plane crashed into the tower, I was really stunned. Do you remember what you were doing when disaster struck?

Snow Lotus , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Home-made enzymes are all the rage these days. Here's a documented effort at producing some snow lotus enzyme. My colleague gave me a box of those jelly-like bits as a starter kit. They're lighter than they look and will float. Smelled very much like those oils used by Chinese bone-setters. Most probably alcohol from the earlier fermentation. According to wikipedia , the snow lotus is a type of plant that is traditionally used to relieve inflammation. I don't see how the jelly corresponds to any part of the plant. To kickstart the process, one has to dilute five hundred grammes of brown sugar. Apparently, it only works with the usual brown sugar. Use any organic sugar and it fails. Too clean? Haha. Just dump the jelly into the diluted sugar with 1.5 litres of filtered water and leave it in a big glass jar for four days. Sounds simple right? NOT. My mother was complaining the whole time. The sugar is bloody hard to dilute in co...

Old Dining , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Right after mass on Sunday, I visited Cahaya Puri to help SK look for a statue of Christ the Redeemer for her altar. They only had one, and the design wasn't very nice. I think she would have to opt for the Sacred Heart instead because Christ the Redeemer isn't a very popular choice among the artisans. Or perhaps anyone here has any idea where I might source for one? Thanks in advance! Every Sunday I make a random decision on where to eat lunch. My latest whim brought us to Kota Damansara for Nyonya food near The Strand. We were actually deciding between two shops, Kung Fu and The Wok . Both had very attractive interiors and business seemed brisk. Finally chose Nyonya over Chinese. The boss was telling us that his shop was among the first to have opened in the area three years ago and that his neighbour changed every five months or so. Supposedly the best Nyonya food in Petaling Jaya with authentic Penang taste. Lots of ant...

Fresh Produce , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. On Saturday, my wet market schedule was back on track but luckily a chunk of the normal market-goers were still out of town so I got a choice parking spot with ease. The pace was easy and mum didn't buy much as well. Noted that "Angry Birds" have invaded the mid-autumn items. MYR8 for a battery-operated lantern. Even paper lanterns cost MYR2 each. I remember when it just cost MYR0.50 for a medium-sized lantern. Inflation! and mooncakes from the usual manufactures cost MYR15-17 this year. That's obscene pricing in my opinion. And to overcome it, discounts of up to 30% are offered even BEFORE the festival. For breakfast, mum and I had soup noodles at one of the side lanes. So ching right? But we couldn't resist ordering a pair of curry chicken legs feet to go with them. Haha. Back home, I mostly surfed the net, read and watched "Fringe". Feeling like a couch potato, I decided to go for a swim. Just as I ...

putrajaya , swiped from gigibiru_kukuning the cats ♥♥♥♥ on Flickr. In the evening, we left for Putrajaya to makan-makan at SK's friend's place. Let's call her Laura. She was SK's coursemate during university. Her parents were down for a month, so she invited us over for a simple open house. With the help of the GPS, it was quite easy to find her house. It was my first time visiting any residential area in the administrative capital. In her area, all the houses were unfenced and identical. Apparently the disallow any external renovations and even the colour of the paint must be standardized. A dictatorship! According to Laura, she even received several warning letters from Perbadanan Putrajaya for not cutting her grass. Haha. The design of the house was quite weird with the toilet right beside the front door. And in the kitchen, there's a small metal door that opens to the side of the house. Laura shrugged when I asked her about the use of the door. Her mother gril...

Minions , swiped from noticiana on Flickr. Breakfast was leftover ketupat and rendang . And as I opened the front door in the morning, I found two tenacious kittens outside dashing for the door. I immediately shoo-ed them! Had to close the door. Guess they were hungry seeing that all their usual benefactors were away for the long holidays. Fed them some bread. Was quite surprised to find that the kittens were quite blur. Had to practically lead them to the food. Later, SK fetched us to IKEA. So much parking available. Such a rare occurance. Mum and SK did most of the shopping, I just went with the flow. I was never very aroused by IKEA. Some steals due to old stock clearance. Put everything in the car and we continued shopping at IPC ( it had been so long that I did not know that Ikano was rebranded ) and The Curve. Did more shopping at Daiso and Metrojaya after lunch at Pho Hoa . Truth be told, that bowl of beef noodles was quite expensive, but it was really healthy. Could not dete...

On the first day of Aidilfitri, we made a bee line for the Selangore State Government Open House at Bangunan Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah , Shah Alam. At first, I had wanted to go the Agong's function at Istana Negara, but decided against it after pondering about parking and the short slot for the public. Arrived at the place before 11:00am and walked in through the kitchen area. Heavy duty food preparations were going on and truth be told, better not to be scrutinized before actually eating. Haha. Food was abundant-- nasi briyani , grilled mutton, lemang , beef rendang , rojak buah , fried noodles, fried bihun , CKT, cendol , satay and biscuits. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded and seating was ample. While eating, we were entertained by a group of musicians called "Balle Balle". Dressed in straw hats, tie-dyed clothes, sarong and clogs, they entertained the crowd with classic Raya songs thrown in with a middle-eastern song that really got the middle-eastern v...