will i am's delayed diary

Nothing much of interest happened at the end of April. The only notable thing was mum's decision to start her no-carbs diet. So whenever we ate out, there was always special food considerations. SK's ex-coursemate invited us to her daughter's Upacara Mencukur Rambut , basically a traditional Malay baby shower of sorts. The baby's hair is cut in a ceremony that is observed by family and community members. Anyway, I missed that part. We arrived just in time to eat. Mum ignore the rice and went straight for the fried chicken and roast lamb. Haha. While dining at Kakatoo in IOI City Mall, mum just ate the chicken chop, and left the mash untouched. Their mainstay is actually Nyonya food, but the price range is really a little on the high side. Wonder if they will survive for long. Even when we had cendol at Teochew Chendul , mum could actually resist. At our post-mass lunch the next day, we ate a Purple Cane where we just ordered dishes without rice. An interesti

Location: Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart, Avenue K. HBCT Harry ain't exactly an exceptional looker, but I was attracted by his lean, sleek and tall silhouette. He really rocks that pullover over shirt look. No frumpiness at all. Talking of HBCT, I'm not crazy about it at all. Tried the warm version and I was quite overwhelmed by the pungent taste. Pop it in the fridge and its much more agreeable with me.

Made a dinner appointment with Lifebook and Bless on a Thurday night at KL Gateway Mall, one of KL's latest addition to the glut of retail space. In case you hadn't notice, it's located opposite the Universiti LRT station. There's even a pedestrian bridge directly linking the station with the mall. Anyway, it wasn't any 'ol dinner, it was a farewell for Bless who was leaving to work in Johor. Another minus one. None of the food choices were very compelling, so we just ate at Tovista . The name actually stands for Touch, Vision, and Taste, which doesn't really represent the brand very well. LOL. Just ordered a couple of mains and coffee. Stayed away from the cakes after seeing Lifebook shake his head vigorously ( he and bless had arrived earlier ). Took a look around the mall and I just didn't get a good vibe from it. The layout just didn't appeal to me. Wonder if business will pick up over there. Felt kinda dead to me. Perhaps the only reason I

Simonlover organized an early birthday dinner for JJ. We met at Kimiya , Avantas for a nice Japanese dinner. Our conversation was centered on Simonlover's recent adventure in Okinawa. Interesting that he described it as a very un-Japanese place in Japan. Guess that's to be expected from the long years of US military presence there. And he complained about the weather having brought all sorts of super short shorts and tank tops, only to have it cold and windy. LOL. Simonlover was also nice enough to bring us famous Okinawan snacks made from purple sweet potatoes. Right after dinner, we went next door to Inside Scoop for some ice cream. I opted for the salted egg waffles. I was kinda disappointed because its just normal buttermilk waffles with a drizzle of salted egg sauce. They do give some extra sauce in a small syringe, but that doesn't make much of a difference. In the end, we called it a night after a group photo, which was taken by a very helpful sister from the

While driving to work one morning, I noticed a loud clunk when turning a bend. I looked up to the rear-view mirror but couldn't see anything on the road that might have caused the noise. The car just ran normally. Thought nothing of it since my Iswara Skyline was already 16 years old! When I was driving home however, I finally noticed something weird-- the battery indicator light was on. Hmmm.... I reached home with no untoward incident, but I did check with my mechanic to make sure if its something I should worry about. He told me that it was probably a serpentine belt problem, so I went to take a look under the hood. Did look like something was missing, so I took a picture for my mechanic. He confirmed that I was missing the serpentine belt. Mystery solved. So the clunk was the sound of my serpentine belt falling off. The serpentine belt's purpose is to drive the alternator and water pump. Without the belt, my battery wasn't charging, hence the battery indicator

On Easter Sunday, mum and I attended mass, and left church with some free Easter eggs from church. Lunch was at ThirdWave , Nexus Bangsar South. Mum loved the food there. She thought that it was different and quite novel, although she's usually not a fan of Western fare. We had two mains-- the Retro Scotch Egg, and Golden Salmon Bell. Both were deep-fried, an oopsie on my side. The Scotch egg was kinda interesting as its egg wrapped in a shell of minced chicken and sitting on a bed of mashed cauliflower. Delicious! However, I wasn't crazy about the fritto misto of beetroot as the batter was way too sweet. The Salmon bell was another great dish. Deep-fried Salmon flakes on a bed of sour quinoa salad. We really enjoyed the combination. Wanted to let mum try ThirdWave's wonderful desserts too, but we were way too stuffed. Before going home, we scoured a small Doraemon merchandise sale on the ground floor. Old stuff from the 100 Doraemon Secret Gadgets exhibition in 2014.

Brunei o Brunei. I have such fond memories of it. Never thought I would return there after my last trip in 2011. Anyway, the pot of shit over there had been brewing for years and years, and the shit finally hit the fan in 2017. The client complained about everything and did it directly to my chairman. He finally got sick of it and mobilized a team to take a look at the pot of shit. As luck would have it, my boss was appointed to spearhead the whole exercise, and I was roped into the team. Ack. Long story short, we charged into the pot of shit, shook things up, rocked the boat, and came out of it with a lot of shitty details, that had to be documented. From then on, had to work my ass off completing the the damning report that shows how 'shitty' that pot of shit is. Had to engage all the internal teams for details but they weren't always forthcoming with information because they were either hiding something, or weren't part of the original implementation tea