will i am's delayed diary

On the second day of Year of the Rabbit, we made a trip to Bagan Sungai Burung to visit my maternal cousins. Did the usual visiting at the fishing village. For the first time ever, my cousin brought us to the nearby beach. The mind-blowing thing was that it was just a stone's throw from the old house. Just a short walk. Guess we never went there because it isn't a particularly beautiful beach. The government fortified it with stones to stop erosion. According to my cousin, its popular for wedding photography among the Malay community. That beach is close to the estuary of the Bernam River, so once in a while there would be tourists waving to us on their boats. Being a fresh spot, we took quite a number of photos. Would have taken more if not for the sweltering sun.  With the touristy things out of the way, it was time for a hearty home style seafood hotpot. Anticipating our arrival, my cousin laid crab traps at two in the morning, and brought home loads of flower crabs when the...

For the first time in many years, SK joined us for Chinese New Year reunion dinner. With the passing of her grandmother, she no longer returned to Kuantan. Since she was in town, we also attended the Chinese New Year mass together. For the first time, I was in charge of all the logistics and arrangements, and boy, was it challenging. Nobody wants to deal with obstinate people on  Chor Yat , but can't help it. The stress overflowed, and unfortunately it caused some in-fighting among the team. Lord, grant me patience and wisdom!  At the end of the mass, I was sweaty, and drained. Phew....

Ticket to Korea is one of my favourite Korean fusion restaurants. The menu is small, but the few things on it will get you hooked. Even if the food ( the cheesy ribs are recommended ) doesn't attract you, perhaps the K-Boss with the American accent will. P.S.: At the time of writing, the outlet at SetiaWalk is temporarily closed :(   

Tried my level best to catch up. Finally I'm blogging about 2023, although its 2024 in just a couple of days. No parties, no raves for New Year's Eve. Typical for me to spend it at church although in recent years, there's no fireworks or fellowship. Just the mandatory mass, and "Year in Review" video.  In the first week of 2023, there was already a wake service for a fellow BEC member. The death statistics have been higher than usual. On a happier note, the year started with a gathering at Apollo's house. His mum cooked up a storm again, and we had good bitching session. In terms of the Lunar Chinese New Year, preparations were heating up everywhere. The morning market was flooded with new year goodies, and students peddling calligraphy. Along with it, the signature traffic gridlock. At church, decorations were also in full swing with help from various Mandarin BECs. All sorts of design ideas were thrown around, and combined with a mash of whatever we could fi...

Christmas 2022 was memorable in the sense that there was a water cut on the 24th. Many a Christian housewife nust have been pissed with SYABAS. Christmas morning mass at church experienced a windfall turnout, no doubt bolstered by the seasonal CEO ( Christmas & Easter Only ) parishioners. Met up with the Tribe for a meh lunch of quinoa nasi lemak La Juiceria Superfoods . Then it was a 40-minute wait at Oomph Bukit Jalil, for a crazy noisy dessert session. Frankly, the lack of noise dampening at the place really annoys me. The kids were much more interested with the opening of the Christmas presents back home.   Later that night, I pulled on my red jockstrap, and  red Tartan pants to attend Terrance and Phillip's Christmas potluck. Lots of food ( KH decided to bring pizza much to my chagrin ), fun, drinks, and coffee. For some reason, the party is always segregated into the dining table gang, and the living room gang. And among the guests, there will be a midnight ga...

Lo and behold, this glamorous bowl of tang yuan  from my mum's kitchen marks a 1-year backlog for my blog! 

After a year of soreness and discomfort in my left thumb , and one useless trip to the orthopaedic specialist,  I decided to let my chiropractor look at the problem. Judging by the way the chiropractor tried to diagnose my condition, I don't think that he had the expertise. Still, that didn't stop him for trying dry needling on my palm. He chose 4 points-- 2 at the fleshy base of the thumb, and another 2 above the webbing of the thumb. Dry needling of the hand is very different from what I experienced for my back. It felt like an immense pressure going through my palm, bordering on pain. My left hand felt kind of numb after the treatment. And after I got home, there was some bruising at the area. Felt more sore than usual, but after a few days, the familiar chronic discomfort returned. Guess it didn't help at all.