will i am's delayed diary

St. Ignatius Church celebrated its 30 years by organizing a family carnival. Not an easy feat without a big organizing committee and the various ministries in the church to lend a hand. BECs were tasked with setting up various food stalls. Woke up bright and early to help set up the stall. And the week before, I was scrambling to get photos developed for our annual activity posters. Can't believe that a single 4R photo now costs RM2.50 to develop. You need a minimum order or 100 pieces for a slightly cheaper price. Yikes. Not going to say much, I'll just let the photos do the talking : Arts and crafts. Nuns and books. Cotton candy girls. Clown on stilts. The crowd burgeoned as the day got hotter! Pony ride. Lotsa food! Grilling in the blazing sun. Asking for trouble! Dunked! Not twinks in Speedos though. Wushu performance. By noon, mum and I had to rush off to Little Monster's year end concert at the Gardens Theater. Things were even more

For some reason, I had stayed away from Mutiara Damansara for many a year. eCurve, Ikano Power Center, and IKEA didn't excite mum and I anymore. A recent sponsored post on Facebook alerted me about beautiful balloon art at IPC ( Ikano rebranded ) in conjunction with the mid-autumn festival, so I decided to go take a look. I was shocked to find that IPC was a complete transformation. The place underwent an IKEA-fication. There was a big food court at the lower ground, but it was a little claustrophobic due to the close quarters and low ceiling. But that's my only complain. The rest of the space was great. We ate lunch at Hana Japanese Dining , a fusion Japanese restaurant from Taiwan. I love the menu for the simple fact that it's unusual. Many new things to try. From their hors d'oeuvres menu, I chose a sampling trio. What tickled my taste buds the most was the Hawaiian Maki, a rice-less roll using salmon belly. And the it has a nice crunch from all the fish roe. T

In less than a month, mum was on another day trip, this time to Kuala Sepetang or its historic name, Port Weld. Definitely good news for my sex life. Woke up in the morning, and headed to Restoran Joylnn , Taman Damai Utama for a simple breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, coffee, and toast. SK joined me too, and we had a long chat there. Some time before lunch, KH made an appearance and we got down to business. I had put on my white Pikante jockstrap, so he knew what I wanted that day. KH introduced me to Shin Zushi at Jalil Link, Bukit Jalil. The Japanese Restaurant serves a range of economical choice and also more premium items. Food wasn't bad, but sometimes the portions can be unexpectedly small. A word of warning: they don't have many tables, and they don't take reservations. For many years, I had worn rimless spectacles or at most half-rim frames. Time for a change. KH helped me pick out a pair of full frames from Library at IOI Mall. Fearing that I would not ge

Due to some scheduling conflicts, mum and I attended sunset mass on Saturday instead of Sunday morning mass. Right after that, we went to Publika to have dinner with KH. Not easy to meet him, so had to make the extra effort when our schedules aligned. Had a couple of nabes at Tsubohachi Izakaya . Took me ages to find the restaurant as it was actually facing the main road. Soup base wasn't bad, but I don't think it's a place I will purposely revisit. Did some walking around in Publika and managed to get some bargain pastries from Maison Des Pains . Then we went off to BIG for some grocery shopping, and finally coffee at 'Spetta . Surprisingly cheap and good coffee in an upmarket place.

The inaugural Japan Expo was held in 2017 at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. That all-Japan event kinda escaped my notice. In 2018, they managed to lure me to the 3-day event with a lucky draw prize via LINE Messenger. I got it after the 7th try. Right after church, mum and I headed to Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. Traffic was quite good that day. Starting out at the crystal fountain, we spotted several cosplayers. Can't say that I could recognize any of the characters. Out of those few cosplayers, there was one guy in the Grade A category with great hair, makeup, and handsome features. Youngsters were lining up to get an autograph from him. Can anyone name him? As one of the main sponsors, Oyoshi had several stalls outside promoting their drinks, and selling some Japanese snacks like gyoza and ebiko bread. Air Asia also had their own kiosk to promote their airfare and tour packages. The main hub of activity was the centre court with more stalls and a  performance stage that had back to ba

It was SK's last month at work, so she was keen maximizing her client entertainment claims. On Friday afternoon, she brought me to lunch at Makoto , Desa Sri Hartamas. Proudly emblazoned on the menu is the following statement, "The FIRST and ONLY Unagi Restaurant in Malaysia with live Japonica eel". Well, you can imagine the price range in this place. When we walked into the dark interior of the restaurant, we did not see any other customers ( halfway through our meal, a lone Japanese did walk in for lunch ). Ordering is so much easier when you're spending someone else's money. We went for the Hitsumabushi , a traditional way of enjoying unagi . Basically its grilled unagi on a bowl of rice which comes with three serving recommendations: eel + rice; eel + rice + seaweed + spring onion + sansho pepper + wasabi; eel + rice + seaweed + spring onion + sansho pepper + wasabi + broth; We didn't stop there. SK also ordered seaweed salad, a trio of sashimi , deep-f

Breakfast in Biei was a simple affair at home. Mum boiled eggs and blanched some asparagus that she had bought from Furano Marche, while sticks of coffee premix was provided by the host. The second day of our trip turned wet with constant drizzle.We didn't have far to go, as all of the planned sights were within Biei city limits. Hokusei Hill Observatory wasn't very impressive. Once again, its because we came in the wrong season. Took leisurely walk around it and ascended the unique Observatory that looks like a pyramid squatting an a grassy hill. At the top is a great vantage point of the surrounding landscape. Next came the tree-hunting. Doesn't sound exciting, but the drive around the rolling farmlands of the Patchwork Road is really beautiful. One of the famous trees in the area is the Ken and Mary Tree , a talllllll poplar that was made famous in a 1977 commercial. Another tree was the Seven Star Tree . Due to age, it doesn't look as lush anymore, b