will i am's delayed diary

The endemic phase was upon us, so it was time to renew our passports. In an attempt to make passport renewals easier, the immigration department launched an online passport renewal service. But in our heart of hearts, we know that it would only work in a perfect world. Let me recount how horrid my experience was. The first step was the passport photo. I got mine done at photo studio in my neighbourhood, while KH insisted to use his smartphone. The photo guidelines in the website were actually quite pointless because the online cropping tool would settle everything. Had to do it a few times because the interface wasn't intuitive, but I finally go it settled. And this arrived in my inbox:  Untuk makluman, permohonan pasport melalui myONLINE PASPORT di aplikasi web dengan no borang ENXXXXXXX telah TANGGUH/SIASATAN kerana CAP JARI TIDAK SAH.. Whopeee! Here's the chronology of events at Pejabat Imigresen Kuala Lumpur, near Publika: 0720 - RELA allowed vehicles into the compound. Ho

Made a visit to a church friend who lived nearby. His father was a Parkinson's patient whose condition was deteriorating. Once he returned home from a stint in the hospital, we decided to pay his father a visit. His dad looked frail, but was still able to get up and about for short periods of time. Things were kept lively in the house by their cute pet Corgi, who seems to understand Hakka. Drools all over the place as his tongue seems permanently lolled to the side. And he goes crazy over tissue. Literally, crazy.   In the evening, it was date night KH. Hubby made reservations at Palilos , a Spanish fusion yakitori restaurant. The place is so popular that one needs to book months in advance. To avoid any traffic weekend traffic snarls during the weekend, we arrived a little earlier. Went to Elephant Republic for an iced coconut latte. Another IG-worthy cafe, but I can do without coconut milk in my lattes.  Palilos is one those places that you avoid if you're hangry. Great amb

MyTown is not a shopping mall that I frequent. Don't find it very interesting or convenient, and I'm not an IKEA fan. On a whim, I brought mum there and I was quite surprised to find that the customer demographic there is now primarily Malay. Apparently, the Birkenstock outlet from Mitsui Outlet Park in Sepang had moved there. Walked out with four pairs. Back at home, I realized that I only paid for three pairs. So, the next day, I visited MyTown again to make payment. On my second visit, I brought KH along with me. It took hours to settle the unpaid shoe because I demanded the bulk purchase discount. The error was their's, not mine. While the staff was settling the issue, KH and I went to Book Excess. Spied two cuties there--  Bookstore Bryson and Piano Philip . Bookstore Bryson was tall,  and dressed in a muscle T to best show off his guns, while Piano Philip was twinky, and wore an oversized sweater with kinetic tape on his legws. Perfect for a height difference BL pair

After years and years abroad in Canada, Kenji has finally relocated back to Malaysia. The usual scenario-- to help out in the family business. Long before his return, we had already been discussing what Malaysian food he would like to gorge on. Picked him up ( still not braving the Malaysian traffic ) from his new place in Shah Alam, and brought him to dinner at T.J.K. Little Wok . Not exactly a famous place, but KH chose it because of the proximity, and variety. Kenji looked well, but he wasn't exactly thrilled about his homecoming. Hopefully he would get a hang of things soon enough.  No makan-makan session would be complete without dessert. Deliberated with Sharky and found that Subang was the closest option.  Soypresso piqued Kenji's interest because he has a weakness for those taro and yam balls. Why stop at one dessert place, right? Before calling it a night, we went to Roji Monster Ice Cream . They seem to put googly eyes on everything, but imagine my disappointment wh

All of a sudden, my colleagues were busy trying to arrange a karaoke session. Turns out that it was triggered by the fact that there was a junior staff who had never experienced a karaoke session in his life. Maybe he thought its like those hostess clubs. His manager was committed to making sure that he lose his KTV virginity during his farewell party. The event was rescheduled once before due to a COVID infection spike, but in the end, it happened, and even my CEO attended. We booked a room at Loudspeaker, Sri Petaling. Pretty basic furnishing, but seems popular. I can't even remember my last KTV session, but it was probably during the height of the Neway era. Back when I was working near SOGO, we would often have a LONG lunch and KTV at Redbox Ria. Some of the most obvious advancements I noticed were on the KTV system. The large touchscreen makes selecting and shuffling songs much more intuitive. According to my colleague, some systems allow the use of mobile apps and personalize

Lady Luck smiled on my brother when my neighbour ( the metal detector hobbyist ) passed me lemang and beef rendang on the second day of Hari Raya Puasa. When we split open the bamboo sheath, the fragrant aroma of creamy glutinous rice wafted out. Frankly, I think my brother enjoyed that more than the modern Italian dinner we had at A.zeta Kitchen to celebrate Mother's Day. Not to say the restaurant's mediocre, just that my brother is not lacking for choice of great Italian restaurants in Singapore. But lemang is a different case altogether. Beggars can't be choosy yo! 

The last I saw my brother was CNY 2020 before the borders were closed due to COVID-19. With the borders open, lots of annual, and an expired passport, he returned home. Good timing because it was my mother's birthday and it was Raya Puasa ( lemang season ). KH helped me organize a joint ( Little Monster's birthday as well ) birthday lunch at OUG Jade Restaurant . The minimum order for a private room was RM1,000 but it was worth it because the whole place was swamped with people celebrating mother's day. Although we were so full from lunch, and the non-halal Tiramisu birthday cake from Say Cheese Cafe , we still went to Mikaa Cafe for coffee. Very spacious, but the acoustics were horrid. Just one table of makcik bawang was enough to give us a headache. In the evening, we had a very light dinner at aboutyu , a new family-owned cafe in Happy Garden. Their mascot is a lizard named Tofu who 'greets' customers at the counter, together with no less than a hundred Bettas