will i am's delayed diary

One by one, my friends announced on social media that they are now wearing multi-focals. The fifth today. Actually, I need a pair too, but I'm just in denial. Can hardly read product labels anymore, and the even the smartphone screen can appear blurry at unoptimized distances. More often than not you can spy me looking over my current pair of spectacles, or pushing my face towards the laptop. The big four ooooooooooooooooo, 

Been a while since I met Mei and MiniMei, so KH and I organized dinner with the pair. KH recommended a new shop in OUG called Zhuji Spicy Soup . Don't be misled by the name, they actually specialize in pepper pig stomach soup, not the type of spicy soup popular in Kajang. Mei looked so fabulous when she walked in because she made her face, and had eyelash extensions put in! The food was pretty nice, but it's kind of hard to share food there due to the seating arrangements, and the type of the food. The pepper pig stomach has a nice aroma or peppercorn ( but a tad salty ), and I also recommend their shrimp paste fried chicken wings. Crispy and moist. MiniMei walloped 3 pieces by herself.    Super hard to talk at the dinner joint, so followed up with coffee at Morrow ( previously Doors Cafe ). Although MiniMei didn't take any coffee, she was pretty worked up, giggling all the time. Maybe it was sugar from the cakes ( she liked the rum and raisin... like mother, like daughter...

On Hari Raya Haji, KH jio-ed me to breakfast at Birch , DC Mall. It was a breakfast gathering with three other guys whom I had never met before. They went to the same school as KH, Lasallians all of them. Very chatty people, with lots of playful banter. I just had a cup of Americano as I already had my breakfast at home.  I couldn't relax in the afternoon because I suddenly had work to do. Bloody proof-of-concept for a prospect. They kept changing the requirements. Was supposed to take a tour of MaisonSK 2.0 at Desa Petaling, but I had to FFK her the last minute. By dinner time, things were settled. Finally could unwind, and enjoy a Vietnamese dinner at Banh Mi Cafe , Jalil Link. After dinner, I brought SK to 6Yi Cafe for coffee and cakes.  The biggest surprise of the day was a packet of Hokkien bihun from GrabKH for supper!  

Towards the end of July, mum and I registered to attend Sunday mass. A week before the date, I registered through an ever-changing Google Form. Once we received the confirmation e-mail, we knew that we were good to go. Rules were enforced, an amalgamation of parish. archdiocese, and government SOP.  Entry to the church compound will be prohibited half an hour before the mass time. Maximum seating for each pew was two parishioners. Due to that arrangement, the church was running at 30% seating capacity. No choir, only pre-recorded hymns. Parishioners aren't allowed to remove their face masks, except for a brief period during communion.  No hugging and shaking of hands during the "sign of peace". Communion by hand only ( there are Catholics who are not happy about this ). No lingering in the church proper, and on the church compound after mass is over.  The mass went on without a hitch, but I couldn't help notice that the parish priest was very stressed out when giving ...

OUG morning market finally updated their SOP by implementing a "no mask, no entry" policy. So funny to see mahjong tables used at the temperature checking and registration checkpoints. The management tried to limit entry to these checkpoints by using barricade tape, but it's obviously a very porous border. Well, better than nothing. At least I didn't see any Karens making a fuss. On top of that, they tried a one way traffic flow as well.  Mum and I went to Taman Desa for breakfast. A very unlikely vegetarian breakfast at Kuchabe . Wouldn't be there if not for the buy one, free one promotion. Their curry noodles is super thick, and bursting with coconut milk. The local coffee is also great ( a not so local price of MYR5 ), and topped with foam.  

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I had stopped taking the LRT and MRT to work because Prasarana did not do any crowd control. Basically, once you're in the train, you are at risk of being crowded in. If you follow @askrapidkl on Twitter, you can see passengers Tweeting about "no social distancing?", and the official answer would be "we are running at full capacity, and it is the responsibility of the passenger to maintain social distance". I know the reality is that those inside won't get out because the train is too packed. And those outside will still board if the train is already like a can of sardines. So, it's basically ride at your own risk. Since I have the option of driving, I started doing that. And the good thing is, I could share the parking because I have a colleague who stays nearby, and we are actually on alternating teams. At the end of every week, we would pass each other the parking disc. But driving definitely comes its own set of ...

Gratitude was going through some relationship problems, and was feeling a bit down. But he had the secret to happiness, which was of course through the stomach! He invited us over for crab dinner. For  weeks he had been praising the freshness of the sea crabs which was sold near his house in Klang. To showcase the natural sweetness of the seafood, he prepared a platter of steamed crabs as the main dish. We were not disappointed! The crabs were paired with fragrant saffron rice, kerabu , clams in superior soup, and curry chicken. We toasted to a better tomorrow with a bottle of sakura-infused Chinese white wine.   After dinner we sat down in the living room, and Gratitude put his moka pot on the stove. The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee. Our chat was often interrupted by the newest member of his family, a kitten named Kody. A very feisty, and playful cat. Lanky, with a tail that looks more at home on a civet cat. Kody flies around the house, full or energy...

GrabKH surprised me with a bunch of delicious yong tau foo , wu kok , and egg tarts from Seremban. He's trying hard to fatten me up, but I think it's backfiring on him. Haha. Out of the blue, Alan asked KH and I out for dinner. Been years and years since I sat down at a table with him ( even longer since I met his boyfriend ). We ate at Fu Wah , Puchong Jaya. Wasn't a long session, just a short catch-up.  Not knowing where to go next, we just went to Souffle Dessert Cafe that was located opposite the road from our dinner place. For some reason, we ordered a platter of cholate waffles and soft serve ice cream. When I saw it, it immediately reminded me of poo. Haha. Coincidentally, my ex-colleague was there with her family. She said that the owner of the place is young, handsome chap, but I don't think I ever had the pleasure of seeing him. 

Revisited Xenri at Old Klang Road after a long hiatus. Still as expensive as I remember it. Haha. Perhaps that's why I stopped going. KH had an appointment at All Thai which was located at Jalan Awan Hijau, not far from my dinner venue. He recommended that I try a new cafe located above it, called 6Yi Cafe . It was pretty interesting place with a semi-retro feel, and a feature wall that looked like it was decorated by The Hulk. One big hole in the middle of the cafe. And the cafe has a resident cat that lazes around, behaving like it owns the place. I kinda liked the Black & White, a fizzy coffee drink. Their cakes are in limited supply, you might or might not be able to try their Rum & Raisin Chocolate Cake. Think the share the same cake supplier as Morrow at Jalan Hujan. I left mum a while, and made a quick dash downstairs to join KH and his friend, who worked as a part-time private investigator. Never had I met anyone who was in that line of work. That was about it, ju...

One would have thought that working at home would be less stressful, but the reality was completely the opposite. Pressure was turned up because my CEO wanted to take advantage of the situation by rolling out a solution that's tailored to the lockdowns. We worked day and night, with remote commands coming via emails, What's App, and Microsoft Teams. The whole episode did 'wonders' for my skin. I started getting stubborn acne along my jawline. So annoying. Acne is usually no biggie for me, but my last encounter with stress-related acne drove me to a skin specialist. Solved that problem with a dose of antibiotics, and a prescription of retinol cream. This time round, I didn't want go on that route. I had to experiment with several products to find something that worked. And it didn't help that I kept touching my face, especially when faced with problems at work. Sigh. Blemishes. Blemishes. Found this to be the best combination so far : Nu Skin Epoch Yin Yang Mask ...

In the past week, I had Peking duck twice with two different group of friends at Restoran F1 Kitchen , Puchong Jaya. For just MYR50 per bird, it was quite a steal. As if that wasn't enough, the meat-travaganza continued with Gratitude at The Birdland and Fat Cow at SS15 Courtyard. From the name, its obvious that they specialize in poultry and beef. Ordered two portions of steak with foie gras, one hobayaki style, and the other sumibiyaki style. Hobayaki is a style of cooking on dried Honoki leaves, giving the meat an extra smoky flavour. I found the sumibiyaki better. Don't order the Hokke because there's no mention of fish in the restaurant's name. The staff manning the restaurant seemed mighty young to me. They all look like apprentices.    Next up was coffee and cakes at Naj & Belle . We sat right at the entrance of the mall, with a whole lot of human traffic, and flies for some reason. Not exactly ideal. The rose almond lychee crumble ( what a mouthful ...