will i am's delayed diary

When I was a little boy, Wesak was the time to go to the Kuantan Buddhist Association to bathe the statue of Baby Buddha with water that was full of flower petals. Mum would then take a few packets of that water to use at home. Before leaving, we would also line up for the free vegetarian food. Every year, it would be the same delicious fried noodles topped with vegetable curry, and faux roast goose. Fast forward 2017, I'm sitting at Foo Hing Dim Sum House having stuff that would never qualify as vegetarian. As expected, it was very difficult to get a table a Foo Hing, but we were lucky that the crowd overlooked a table right at the back of the place. In my opinion, dim sum there is quite decent. According to my colleague, they are pretty famous for the their big pao, but its sold out pretty quickly. Perhaps next time.

Bro was in town for mum's birthday, so as usual he would arrive on Thursday night and fly back to Singapore on Sunday night. Every Sunday he would join us for mass, and after that we would go for lunch. This year, I tweaked that plan a bit. We went for early English mass to catch a movie at noon-- "You Mean the World to Me" , Malaysia's first Hokkien film. Some 'big' names in it-- Frederick Lee ( looks oh-so-familiar because he is Christopher Lee's brother ),  Steve Yap, John Tan, and Neo Swee Lin ( from Phua Chu Kang fame ). Steve Yap plays the down-and-out drunkard father who was cheated out of the family fortune by his brother, and yet manages to maintain his hunkiness. John Tan plays the crazy brother who has the mentality of a sexed-up Standard One boy, but somehow manages to be all buffed. See the pattern? LOL. Anyway, the story is based on the events in the life of the director. A heavy theme about social stigma and family ties. There's some i

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

Gamarjobat  ( actually means "Hello" in Georgian ) is an award-winning duo who specialize in sketches, miming, and physical comedy. They are instantly recognizable with their red and yellow mohawk. They don't talk at all. Just a whole lot of expressive body language, whistles, and natural sound effects. Never thought that I would ever watch their show. For some reason, the tickets were going at 50% off, so KH cinched some cheap tickets for the VIP row. The show was held at HGH Convention Center, Jalan Ipoh as part of LOL Fest 2017. Spotted quite a lot of ang moh in the crowd. Among them, there was also a fan who came dressed like Ketch!, the guy with the red mohawk. It was a very high energy performance with both of them bouncing up and down the stage. The good thing is that their brand of comedy is universal, something that nearly everyone can laugh at. Even mum could appreciate it. Supposedly kid-friendly, but they do have some naughty bits in the act. By the end o

On a rainy Friday evening, I had a dinner date with KH at Isetan the Japan Store. Even before I reached Avenue K, I was half-drenched from the rain. Tried to shop for a T-shirt to change into, but I failed miserably. My first stop was at Uniqlo, but I left after seeing the super long queue at the checkout counters. Then I tried Isetan, but there was nothing cheap. In the end, I just walked into one of the changing rooms, stripped off my wet shirt, and zipped up my fleece jacket from Uniqlo. Nice and toasty! ( and it makes it super easy for KH to access my nips ). With that settled, I walked to Lot 10 via the underpass and sky bridge. Based on a recommendation from HornyBF and Simonlover, we ate at Tonkatsu Anzu , on the 6th floor of Isetan the Japan Store. Be warned that they have no English signboard unlike the other restaurants. The waiter put us at the counter where we were served by a young trainee. We took some time to decide on what we wanted and the kid was not much help a

HornyBF is not an easy person to meet since he is not based in Malaysia. The last time I met him was in 2013. So, when SimonLover suggested dinner, I tried my best to turn up. HornyBF requested for Chinese food, so I let KH do the thinking. Originally, we were supposed to eat at Mun Kee, but somehow, we ended up at a different restaurant called Loi Fatt Fatt in Happy Garden. According to Foursquare, the lady boss is infamously grouchy. Our lucky stars were shining brightly that evening, so she was in a good mood. She recommended three dishes-- Nyonya Gravy Steamed Tilapia, signature pork ribs, and pumpkin tofu. I liked all the dishes except the tofu which I found had a gravy that was too thick, like some kinda blended pumpkin soup. The power couple told us about their upcoming vacation plans to Okinawa, and HornyBF regaled us with his HK foodie tales. Also we got to hear about their adventures in New York! When the last of the Nyonya gravy was mopped up, we paid, and headed for

Ventured to Atria Shopping Gallery after a few months of absence to find it bustling with people. For some reason people were lining up for some kind of registration at the center court. The queues were so long that they snaked along the row of shops. Needless to say, mum and I went to kepoh at the counter. One lady in line was nice enough to tell us that she was registering for a lucky draw. Months ago, these people had spent a minimum amount of MYR118 in the mall, entitling them to enter the "Spring Splendour! Spend and Win" contest. The grand prize was a Misubishi ASX. Since it had nothing to do with us, we just ducked into Kame Sushi for lunch. From our table, we could still see the queue beyond the noren . Ten thousand people praying very hard for the same prize. Once we finished our lunch, we headed to center court to catch a magic show that included a costume quick change. I think the audience preferred the costume quick change over the magic tricks. The emcees

As part of the Lenten season, mum and I joined a community service activity that was jointly-organized by my parish and Kampung Chempaka. We were part of a clean-up crew to do what MPPJ failed to do-- keep the public areas clean. It qualified as a corporal work of mercy, an act of penance and charity which concerns the material needs of others. In addition to that, it was part of an outreach program to get to know our neighbours. Each weekend mass, they are probably pissed at us for causing traffic jams. Haha. The morning's activity started at the Balai Raya Kg Chempaka where we met the Kampung Chempaka headwoman and her aides. They had prepared for us a breakfast spread of nasi lemak , karipap , and loh mai kai ! All that food, and we had not even broke a sweat yet. Truth be told, that eating session took way too long. By the time we mobilized, the morning sun was already blazing. We took the tools, and split up to two different sites. Mum and I worked along a road that was