will i am's delayed diary

The OUG Morning Market was still in a sad, suppressed state due to the MCO. DBKL did not allow open air markets to operate unlike the adjacent city councils in Selangor. When mum and I were there on Saturday, plainclothes enforcement officials threatened the vendors with summons and confiscation. The enforcement officers did cart away some goods much to the chagrin of the vendors. The vendors closed their stalls, and stood around grumbling about their predicament. Times had been hard for them because the situation had continued for more than a month. Some vendors rented empty shop lots, and others moved into the coffee shops. Even my favourite breakfast noodles were now operating inside OUG Lucky Restaurant . And a good crowd gathered in front of Fah Lian Trading because they were distributing food supplies to the needy. According to KH, they had been giving out groceries for a few days now.  Back home, I had fun with a can of foaming agent that BIL gave me. Pretty useful to plug up th

SimonLover introduced a Japanese consolidated shipping website to me that has promotion for first time customers. That devil really knows my weakness for Japanese underwear. Buyee links to more than 100 shopping websites like Mercari and Rakuten. Mercari is an equivalent to Carousell. After some browsing, I managed to find a couple of items of interest. Here's a breakdown of the charges: Discount for first item = -JPY3,000 Payment fees (Buyee places the order on behalf of me to Mercari) = +JPY500 Payment fees (my second package) = +JPY500 Consolidation fees (to combine both packages for shipping) = +JPY500 EMS Shipping fees = +JPY1,960 The costs exceeded the discount by a little bit-- JPY460 to be exact. Would have cost more if I opted for insurance or extra packaging. I initiated shipping on 6th, and by the 12th I got the package. My priority item was the Egde AMBIGUOUS leggings. Also bought a trio of Super Soft jammers from GX3 because I didn't want to pay postage for just o

One morning, mum found a gaping hole in the char siew bao that she had left on the dining table. The food cover had been pushed to the edge of the table, creating an opening for the unknown pest. We wondered if our resident gecko could achieve such a feat. When a loaf of bread was chewed through, it confirmed that it was something more sinister. A few days later, during a midnight water run in the kitchen, I caught sight of small black shadow dashing across the corridor. Definitely too big for a gecko. The answer was revealed eventually one evening when we were watching television. Heard a crash in the kitchen so we went looking for the source. On our first sweep, we couldn't find anything. Upon a closer inspection, mum found a small rat stuck between the wall and the back of our kitchen cabinet! Guess it entered through the crack in the wall. Sigh. The rat escaped that night, and we started making preparations. Firstly, we started covering the rubbish bin in the kitchen to avoid

Finally it was my turn to get vaccinated. On the fourth of July, at World Trade Centre (WTC). Did you notice the name change? I don't when they decided to throw out the word "Putra". The drive there was smooth, with little traffic on a Sunday afternoon. Zero police road blocks too. I parked at Sunway Putra Mall, and that was easy too. Plenty of available bays at the basement. I took the elevator to the first floor and lucked out because the lift lobby was just beside the link bridge to WTC. Plenty of signage, with stickers on the floor, and some on the ceiling. A short walk later, I arrived at the main entrance. Traffic flow into the vaccination center was not as smooth as I expected because they required an updated health assessment to be done in the MySJ app. And so people were standing around the entrance tapping their phones, with the RELA personnel needing to give instructions on what to do. There were three stations which basically meant three lanes. My station was

For the past couple of months, the intermittent pain in my left thumb had progressed into a chronic pain at the base of my thumb. Must be from my smartphone habit of single thumb swiping. Stretches didn't help anymore. Icing the area did help a bit though. But the pain would return pretty soon. I read that I should the thumb, so I bought a thumb splint on Shopee. When my package arrived from China, everything was there, EXCEPT the thumb splint. The seller tried their hardest to waste my time when I asked them about the missing item. In the end I raised a case with Shopee anyway. The seller kept asking me to weigh the items without telling me the weight of the missing item. Anyway, Shopee returned my money in the end, and my made my purchase on Lazada instead. Hopefully, this will give my thumb enough rest for it to heal. If things don't get better, I'd have to go see the orthopedic specialist. 

Ivan had been bugging me about having a crab meal for months. I finally agreed, and he killed two birds with one stone by inviting me to an early birthday celebration for his downline, Connie. Connie lived at Kota Kemuning, so it was considered gallivanting . Luckily, there were no police roadblocks. Actually it was my first time meeting Connie. She had been bugging KH to bring his spouse, so there I was. She's very friendly, and lives with her 5-year old daughter, Little Connie. Her daughter is really full of energy. The moment I walked into the living room, she jumped into my arms. Super friendly! Ivan packed two varieties of XXL crabs from Crab B Seafood Restaurant at Puchong Jaya-- sweet and sour, and salted egg. The birthday girl prepared a platter of raw oysters, and another platter of cheese-baked oysters. Oh la-la! It was a very satisfying meal. To crack the shell, Connie put a large pestle and mortar on the dining table! Surprisingly, Little Connie is not picky with food,

Agong's birthday gave me a long weekend, but what does a long weekend mean during the MCO? Work and chores. In the afternoon, mum was suddenly inspired to paint the living room. I took SimonLover's advice and bought a mini roller for the job. It really did make the job easier, and there was less wastage. Although we just painted two walls, I was aching in several places the next day. Just as we finished cleaning up, Sis asked us over for a steamboat dinner. A perfect end to a busy day.

With the pandemic and multiple MCOs, my social life has really dehydrated to a pitiful state. Really miss meeting up with friends over coffee and cake, or having a grand 'ol time at my favourite Japanese restaurant. And lets not forget about the private parties at Maison SK 2.0! Sad times. Be that as it may, there are still ways to close the gap. For example, the whole claustrophobic situation did not stop Apollo's mum from making several batches of her signature chicken dumplings ( bak zhang ), and sending them out to friends to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival! Lalamove to the rescue. When I received the package, the food was still hot! So touched, and I really missed her cooking. Speaking of dumplings, this year we saw the advent of the vacuum-packed variety. Lasts a couple of months at room temperature. Perfect for e-commerce in these trying times. 

University of Malaya's Astra Zeneca vaccination center at the Examination Building has a capacity of 1,000 vaccinations a day. Chose this venue because of the proximity, ease of parking, and relatively low capacity. We left the house at 8:30 AM, and arrived at the KL Gate of the university before 9:00 AM. Traffic was extremely smooth as most people were working from home. The security guard let us in after checking the appointment date on the MySejahtera app. The security guards checked the appointment date a second time before allowing us into the parking lot. It was just a short walk to the building. I was surprised to see so many people loitering outside the building. Were they too early for their appointments? We joined the line to enter the vaccination center. At the entrance, the RELA stopped me from going. Turns out that they don't allow anyone to accompany unless absolutely necessary. Hence the reason there were so many people outside. Anyway, they had sufficient staff

Bought this Groove Bikini from GX3 because it looks like a pair of competition swim trunks instead of underwear. Upon closer inspection, I was impressed with the details on monogrammed material which is used at the back. Think it would look good on KH. Perhaps I should get a pair for myself to film an amateur version of Surf Surf Revolution. 

When there's an impending lockdown, the Chinese will start stocking up. Doesn't matter that markets and supermarkets will continue to operate. What's the most important item? Not rice, not toilet paper, but PORK. That morning at the market, the butchers closed up early. And since the regular pork was sold out, customers raided the organic pork shops like An Xin, and Long Farm. Even the more premium Sanbanto saw brisk business. Buy, buy. buy! No pork, no life. What's your must-have item during a lockdown?

Religiously checking mum's MySejatera app did not help in hastening her vaccination appointment. So much for priority for the elderly. Since it was so slow, I decided to register mum for Astra Zeneca on May 23rd instead of waiting for the government to arrange. Rather than being a sitting duck, might as well grab whatever was available. As expected, the first thirty minutes after registration opened was a complete waste of time. The system was fucked up. But things normalized eventually and I got mum a slot at Universiti Malaya. Three days later, it was my turn to register. More than a million slots were available. Firstly, registration did not start on time. When the doors were opened, the system completely failed due to the immense number of requests. People were frustrated because they had to keep filling up the form only to have it fail when they try to choose a slot. Most of the time, the list of vaccination centers could not be loaded. And when the list could finally be loade

My father had only one elder brother. Perhaps if my grandfather didn't 'vanish' during the Japanese occupation, they would have had more siblings. While growing up, spending Chinese New Year with my cousins in Teluk Intan was a highlight of the year. Once a year, we would make the 8-hour journey from Kuantan ( no highway back then ). In the family, I was the youngest, so I would tag along my elder cousins for fun and games. Back then, it was a whole lot of fun with Moon Travelers, Thunder King, King Cat, and other fireworks. When indoors, it would be hide and seek, and perhaps a game of carom. Sometimes they would bring me a long for a bowl of lai fun or the famous chu cheong fun . Among my cousin brothers, the second eldest was called Starry. He was the most artistic of the lot, and eventually started his own business dealing with events and advertising with his wife. They had two beautiful daughters, but somewhere down the road, their marriage failed, and his business su

The MCO put a big damper on Hari Raya Puasa for the second year in a row. Because no visitations were allowed, the Muslims needed an alternative way to celebrate. The answer: fireworks, lots of it. From night flowers to red crackers. No holds barred. The super shaky photo is of my neighbour's kids playing sparklers in front of their porch.   On the first Syawal morning, Muslim men also missed out on their congregational prayers at the mosque. So what to do after breakfast? Put on your pretty clothes and go to AEON! At least one can get a little Raya feel there because the staff are in baju Melayu  and baju kurung , and Raya songs are blaring over the PA system.   In the evening, I received Raya cookies from my neighbour. Raya complete.