will i am's delayed diary

I remember Easter 2021 as a very hot Sunday. The air or celebration was subdued because we couldn't linger around the church compound after mass. And there was a marked absence of Easter eggs ( hot cross buns were also missing from Good Friday ). The Sunday school kids had their Easter egg painting contest via a Zoom call.  For lunch, we ventured to The Central Kitchen  ( previously Lima Pulo at Heritage Row ) at Taman Shanghai. Former-model Alan Yun transformed a corner lot into an old school Peranakan cafe, featuring its award-winning Nyonya laksa . The place is just a stone's throw away from Restoran Choon Sun  with its famous fat chef. Although it was sweltering, many chose to dine al fresco under the foliage of an old tree. Mum and I opted for the air-conditioning. The laksa was pretty thick and not lacking in spices, however I must complain that its pretty basic with some shredded chicken and egg. The volcano kopi c ( some assembly required ) was pretty fun. ...

Compared to last year, the Malaysian Catholic Church was allowed to celebrate the Paschal Triduum, the most important celebration of liturgical year. And of course with strict SOPs in place. In pre-pandemic times, the church would be flooded with parishioners. This time round, we had limited seats for registration. If not for the fact that I was volunteer for the SOP team, I wouldn't have gotten a place. Couldn't secure a place for mum because the seats were snapped up so quickly.  Maundy Thursday proceeded without the characteristic Washing of Feet. And the Altar of Repose was moved to a corner of the church, where parishioners prayed at their seats. On Good Friday, the altar was veiled and the tabernacle was empty. Usually, the Veneration of the Cross would see the faithful approaching the cross and kissing it, but obviously that was not allowed this year. During the Easter Vigil, the lighting of the paschal candle was witnessed by the cathecumens only. The rest of the congre...

JJ asked for a dinner meet-up with KH and I. KH thought long and hard on where to eat. In the end, he decided on So Cute , a Taiwanese restaurant in Sri Petaling. And since Sri Petaling is more challenging than usual a destination, SimonLover came along with JJ and Bunny in the same car. Reviewers on Google Maps kept complaining on the restaurants hideous interior, but many praised the food. Personally, the interior was fine, but the food sucked. Hated my bowl of spicy beef noodles with its weird texture and 'powdery' soup. Bunny took a long time to order, and in the end the pork that he ordered was too spicy for him. Since the food was so bad, it didn't bother us when Bunny described the sewage problem at his condo. The main sewage line burst at his unit, and the effluent marinated his floor a couple of weeks before the management office notified him. A home owner's horror story.  For after dinner drinks, we gave JJ a choice of bubble tea, yoghurt drink, and soy bean j...

I've never had air-conditioning in my room. For as long as I can remember, I only had my trusty ceiling fan. The typical three-bladed Panasonic fan. When it got really hot, the only option was to switch the regulator up to the fifth gear, open all the windows, and throw off all my clothes. My fan was doing fine except for an annoying creaking sound that would come and go. Still, I could live with it. One day, SK managed to get a free replacement for me. One of her super rich neighbours at MaisonSK 2.0 gave away fans and water heaters for the simple fact that he didn't like them after installation. So she grabbed one Deka fan for me, and got Drew to help me install it. Drew came one hot afternoon and helped me switch it. I was the assistant who handed him tools, and pointed a portable fan at his head.  After a sweaty sixty minutes, it was done. But he had to install it twice because of a stray screw. Comparatively, this new fan had only four speeds, and used a remote control ins...

As usual, mum and I went to OUG do some morning marketing. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that my car engine sputtered and threatened to stall while idling on the parking ramp. Felt normal while on the go. Every time I stopped at the traffic light, I had a little cold sweat. For peace of mind, I made a random consultation at a tyre shop in Happy Garden. The guy suspected two things: Spark plugs Ignition coils Since I had changed my spark plugs about six months ago, then the problem should be with the ignition coils. He gave me a rough quote, and assured me that since the problem just started, I still could drag it out a bit. On Monday, I made a trip to the Nissan service center to get it checked out. The diagnosis and the quote was similar. And while they were at it, they suggested that I change one part of the engine mounting.   At the end of the day, I was MYR1,500 poorer, but my car ran smooth, and was much quieter. Guess my car is at the age where a lot o...

On Saturday night, a dinner party was held at MaisonSK 2.0. I arrived at her condo at 7:00 PM, with a line of cars already forming at the visitor's entrance. When it was my turn, I was turned away with the reason that they had run out of visitor parking bays! Goodness! There were still many cars behind me, and there was no parking outside. It was chaotic because residents were being blocked from going in, and visitors were making three point turns in front of the entrance to get of the gridlock! In the end, Drew came down with SK's parking card and I parked at her spare parking spot.  KH and Ivan were the last to arrive. Luckily they managed to get a parking spot outside. For dinner, mum made red wine chicken, KH packed fish head curry, and SK boiled soup. Drew had some vegetarian dishes. After dinner, Ivan brought out a bottle of Koshi-No Shinobu Blended Whisky, and SK showed off her stash of beer snacks from Don Donki ( she actually spent MYR1000 there! ). From SK's place...

KH's belated birthday celebration continued with Gratitude and TZ at Thai Tae , Kuchai Lama. The missing Musketeer was Jerry. Coincidentally, the chosen date was KH's lunar birthday. The restaurant came highly-recommended and was touted as being quite authentic. The spiciness level was definitely authentic. My favourite dish was the grilled pork neck. So moist, so delicious. The squid salad had a great texture, but on hindsight we should have chosen spiciness level 2 instead of 1. Surprisingly, the green curry was the spiciest dish of the evening. The absence of Jerry made it convenient for us to bitch about him. Also finally understood why they always gave him the hashtag #superrichfriend on Facebook. Other topics for the night was Thai BL. Aieee! To our surprise, Gratitude and TZ actually bought a cheesecake for KH. The waiter brought it out with a birthday song ( not in Thai! ) blaring over the audio system. Think it was my first time experiencing such a scene in a Thai rest...

Mum had been waiting a long time to get her hair permed. Finally got her a booking at Bandar Park, OUG. The salon was located on the second floor and I was impressed that it had a secret garden. The stylist made good use of the natural light by planting all sorts of palms and greens by the clear pane windows. And his shop is a great vantage point for pigeon-watching. Didn't wait around in the salon, but went to spend some time with KH instead.   KH has an unexplained fascination with Snowflake. I don't really care for it, so I veto-ed that idea. Hehe. We went to Hey! I Am Yogost instead, another yoghurt drink joint ( and we just visited Yee's Yoghurt a few days earlier ). Our pick was the purple rice yoghurt. Personally, I prefer Yee's. The place looked brand new with loads of artificial lighting and loud Mando-pop. We actually asked them to turn it down. Uncle ma. Can't imagine the reason behind the brand name. Yoghurt ghost?! Once mum was done, I picked her up t...