will i am's delayed diary

With just a fortnight left till CNY, the OUG morning market was in a frenzy. You know things are getting serious when RELA is deployed to control traffic. Roads once accessible to traffic were closed and the extra space occupied by vendors selling fireworks, waxed meat, biscuits, sea cucumber, dried mushrooms ( a lot of 'em! ), etc. While I was walking past Restoran New Sun Ho, saw another example of the globalized Malaysian breakfast-- roti canai with salmon sashimi. One day I might start seeing roti sashimi on the menu. Lunch was a simple meal of chicken porridge with a can of fried dace. Very traditional fare. CNY was around the corner, so we spruced up the house a bit. Bought a can of white paint and repainted the metal grills at the living room. Was a little woozy after inhaling the paint fumes. Felt better after we had dinner at Dao Dao . A plate of tofu with mixed vegetables and Marmite chicken really hit the spot.

Lego was very much a part of my childhood. Back then, I saved my pocket money, angpao money, and Cantonese Association award money to buy Lego. Back then, the cheapest set cost MYR5+. I think the most expensive model I bought was around MYR80+. Just the normal Lego, for age 5-12. Back then, the only other ranges were Duplo and Technic. So many varieties have popped up after the Lego resurgence. Today we have: Star Wars Creator Minifigures City Friends Nexo Knights Ninjago DC Comics Superheroes The Batman Movie Marvel Superheroes Elves Disney Juniors Architecture Mindstorms Scooby Doo Minecraft Speed Angry Birds Ideas Superhero Girls Pening kan ? However, all those varieties don't interest me. Technic seems way cooler to me with all those gears, shafts, and moving parts. A sort of kiddy mechanical engineering. More worth it to pay for design and complex parts, rather than paying for copyright costs. Back then, they had pneumatic models, these days, electr...

Closer and closer to CNY, the market was getting redder and redder. The pace was catching up. Definitely more people than usual judging from the crowds and the lack of parking. Mum stopped at a fishmonger's truck and I was shocked by a large grouper that was on the weighing scale. It was not the size of it that caught my eye, but the fact that it looked like it was dripping in cum! Guess bukkake is not uncommon among fish. Haha. On a serious note, the slime is a layer of mucus that helps fish with gas transport, provide protection, and reduce turbulence in the water. Ventured to Taman Bukit Desa for Sarawak Laksa at Charlie's Cafe because we were bored of the food options at OUG. Taman Bukit Desa was very peaceful compared to the chaos at the market. Always quiet at that neck of the woods. On the way home, we turned into Pearl Shopping Gallery , an interesting new addition to Pearl Point. Located across the road from Jalan Sepadu, it's connected to the old wing v...

After a whole month of babysitting, mum and I finally had the chance to go to the market. The first visit of 2017. With all the year end holidays out of the way, it finally dawned on people that the Lunar Chinese New Year was less than a month away! Start the panic buying! The earliest merchants to start the ball rolling were the those who sold religious paraphernalia. They had already started stocking all sorts of special paper offerings, fancy joss sticks, and even the stuff needed to Pai Ti Kong were already on sale. Breakfast was our favourite curry noodles in the alley. In the afternoon, KH came over to my place to chill ( kind of like a chaperoned type of  paktor ). We would just laze on the sofa and chat. Sometimes, we would play our current addiction-- LINE Rangers. So cute, so pointless, and yet... Haha. Received a call from SK and we were out to The Coffee Sessions . More updates from SK regarding her family issues over a cup of mocha and a side of fries. People nev...

For mum and I, church is the best place to usher in the new year. Bilingual mass started at 10:30 PM and ended fifteen minutes shy of midnight, giving parishioners enough time to find a good location to watch the fireworks display outside ( some places actually started the fireworks five minutes before midnight ). And a snack box was provided too. By the time we got home, it was past 1:00 AM and we had mass to attend on the 1st of January too! Not that it was mandatory, just that I had traffic warden duties to perform. A thankless job that nobody wants to do. You have to come to church before the crowd, and leave only after everyone does. And its not pleasant when the weather is hot. And drivers are a cranky bunch. Basically, traffic wardens are disconnected from what happens in the church. Been a while since we ate at Nihon-Kai , so we gave it a try for lunch on New Year's day. Got there at 1:30 PM and it was still crowded. Had to sit at the bar counter. Interesting to experie...

On the last day of the Christmas long weekend, I finally managed to spend some time with KH. Normally, Gratitude would cook Christmas dinner, but fears of water disruption, and a lack of a maid to do the clean up made him change his mind. Instead, he invited us for a dim sum brunch at Mayflower Restaurant , Le Garden Hotel ( not to be confused with KK Mayflower nearby ). It was a nice reunion with KH, Gratitude's mum, my mum, Apollo and QueerRanter-D. The dim sum was pretty good, with a larger portion. They had all the standard varieties, but KH was disappointed that they didn't have custard buns. I liked their siew mai and egg tarts. For coffee, we moved to Brew and Bread . Now, they operate upstairs with the kitchen located in a nearby lot. Compared to last time, this arrangement gives them a whole lot more space to play with. With windows along the whole length of the back, the whole place is spilling with natural light. However, their furniture arrangement is a bit...

I did not wake up bright and early on Christmas morning. Just as I hit the send button on What's App asking my sister whether the kids had woken up, I heard a commotion downstairs. No mistaking it-- it was The Tribe. My sister had moved all the presents to my place. And it was a lot of presents. Combined with presents from SK and I, it was truly a formidable heap! The excitement and anticipation from the kids was palpable. However, they had to wait a little while longer. All of us donned our customized Christmas T-shirts and took a group photo first. Before we began, I brought out a laundry basket to contain all the discarded gift wrapping. The kids went through their presents like locusts. They got toys, shoes, clothes, bags, and water tumblers. Guess they were on Santa's Good list else they would have received white envelopes filled with cash from Sump'n Claus. Got some pretty nice stuff for Christmas this year: 1. Black Herschel laptop bag from The Tribe. 2. Leg...

Unexpectedly, my sister turned up at our doorstep on the morning of Christmas eve. Naturally, the kids were thrilled to see her. We had a day out in Bukit Bintang ahead of us. First stop was Pavilion Kuala Lumpur to look at the Christmas decorations. Like past years, there was a huge tree out front. The only difference was that they had a train that traveled around the tree. In my opinion, its quite a nuisance to have that when so many people mill at the entrance. Swarovski returned as the main sponsors for the center atrium's Christmas decorations, but I wasn't very impressed by it. This time round, the center atrium is dominated by a castle and a crystal carousel. In the overall theme, it's not very attention-grabbing. Mum shopped while I kept the kids in check. The typical running around, and crawling in and out of clothes racks. Difficult to shop in peace with kids around. All that running around helped the kids build up an appetite. By noon, they were asking for foo...

Tang Yuan come in many styles, shapes and sizes. Kinda like cocks. Yes. above is a dango style that my mum made purely for food photography. And this is the typical Tang Yuan that I have been eating since I was a child-- in palm sugar and pandan soup. Delicious enjoyed hot or cold. Strangely, I prefer the salty over the sweet like this Tang Yuan in chicken leek soup. Best served hot of course. Lastly is Tang Yuan that I had while at work-- with crushed peanuts and ginger soup. How do you like to have your balls?

In order to make it to English mass at SIC, we had to get up at 7:00 AM. After getting ready, one still needs to fuss over the sleepy kids. At church, we bundled them into the soundproof family room and hoped that they would not be too rowdy. Big Monster asked me a legit question: Big Monster: Is Jesus dead? Moi: Yes, but he resurrected after three days. Big Monster: Oh, someone threw him a Potion of Regeneration. In case you were wondering, he was talking about something from Minecraft! Obsessed with that game, they are. We ate breakfast at Mian then headed home. Mum needed to prepare for her event in the afternoon. She boiled the tang yuan and packed loads of pots and ladles. There was even a portable stove in the heap of stuff. Sent her out to Happy Garden where she would carpool to Brickfields with her friends. It's daunting to handle the two monsters alone so I employed the help of KH. Picked him up and went for a late lunch at Secret Loc Cafe , Kuchai Lama....