Cheesey delight

What better way to conclude a sumptuous dinner before settling down for TV time? A delightful dessert, of course XD. What kind of dessert, you ask? Cheesecake, babe ^^. My aunt brought home a 3kg cake (I think) after lunch at Imperial Hotel, KL (formerly known as Sheraton Imperial). This time, it's a heavenly Boston Cheesecake with a soft biscuit crust as the base of the cake.

I love how each bite of the cake melts in the mouth, leaving a lingering creamy-buttery taste. It's incredibly soft & smooth, unlike those less pricey cheesecakes available at your local bakery which are overtly oily & smells like cheap, bad margarine due to excessive use of margarine, eggs, cheese...you name it. No wonder this dessert costs RM100+ o_O Btw, it's fattening. And the best part is - I'm not afraid of getting fat by eating all this stuff. Are you envious?? XD

Growing up

I've collected my graduation gowns several days ago while there's still one more week before D-day. The "graduation" word seemed so distant then each time I stopped to ponder about it. I was only 12 when the first thought came into my mind. Then came next year. And the following year; each year passing by so quickly that whatever happened in the past remained as faint memories now. I didn't even realise that I'm coming of age when my 21st birthday came. Never knew that I'm old enough to leave my cocoon & ready to take on the world. It never really dawn to me that I'll be wearing that mortarboard so soon.

At this very minute, I had flashbacks on the day I first reached puberty. My God. That was ages ago. I can't believe it. And I'm one decade older now. A full-grown woman. To be precise, a petite sized woman. Who dreams to embark on a successful career in the future. There I go...applying jobs offered by MNCs & large companies alike, hoping that I would be selected at least for an interview. Tough luck so far as there were very few replies. Nevertheless, I was determined to continue. This is no time for slacking. I just need to try harder, I told myself.

I wondered, if I was born as someone else...would I take on an almost similar path? Would I be able to see, feel & enjoy what life has to offer? Or would I be fortunate enough to live on until this age & beyond to tell the tale of life? Would I be this, that? It's just that I felt a sudden feeling of relief that I'm so blessed with what I have now. Though I may not be gifted with the most intelligent of minds nor will be able to leave a legacy, the fact is I feel proud being me. If only I could choose to be me again in the next life. And hopefully make-do for all the mistakes that I've made in this chapter of my life. If only all of us could...

Five star service

I've been to, dined & stayed at 5 star hotels before but never once being treated like a princess felt much pampered. Or perhaps back then I was too young to understand how a 5 star service is like back then when I used to travel a lot. Not to forget, I hardly frequent those exclusive places nowadays. Anyhow, I was fortunate enough to have a taste of exclusivity when my aunt decided to pay a visit to the Lexus showroom at Mutiara Damansara.

The showroom is actually situated right behind Cycle & Carriage Bintang showroom & it's only less than 5 mins walk from Ikano Power Centre. Painted in deep brown & with many glass panels installed, the building gave an impression of a place for people of wealth & sophistication. There was a guard stood at the entrance looking prim & proper; saluting each of us upon entering the grounds. We saw 5 different luxurious car models of various specifications & price ranges were displayed at the spacious, airy showroom. The moment my aunt approached the car model that interests her, one lady in a classy black suit followed briskly towards my aunt.

Without wasting any min, she explained everything my aunt needs to know about the product; showcasing her technical know-how. Meanwhile, another lady came by with a tray filled with glasses of apple juice. The tea lady immediately went to fetch a glass of water for Grandma when my aunt complained that it was too sweet. Omg. I was thoroughly impressed. Not only the service was unrivalled by many, even the salesgirl & the tea lady were gorgeous women.

As we left, the salesgirl gave my aunt a catalogue, pamphlet & a door gift as a token of appreciation for visiting the outlet. Again, I'm amazed at Lexus' effort in paying attention to every finer details to capture the hearts of it potential customers. Just look at the catalogue...O_O

Hard-bound car catalogue that doesn't even look like a catalogue at all. More like a photobook that can be kept for novelty. And who actually distribute biscuits (green box with yellow ribbon) as gifts to potential customers anyway?? Wow. Honestly, Mercedes' service is not even on par with this fairly new Japanese luxurious car brand. What an experience I had! ^^

Four seasons...nay~

This might sound a little embarrassing but believe it or not, I've never been clubbing before in my entire life. Last Friday was my first experience clubbing in the heart of KL. It was the Grand Opening Nite of Club Quattro at Avenue K, Jalan Ampang that I attended with cousin bro. Being a noob clubber, I have no idea what to expect. Anyhow, I was expecting an out-of-this-world decor considering the club claimed that their rooms have 4 different seasons. Each room decorated & temperatures adjusted in such a way to allow clubbers to experience spring, summer, autumn & winter...all in one place.

Here's a sneak peek on how the club looks like.

Autumn Club
The interior walls were painted red with Japanese lanterns hung up high in the ceiling. Waitresses were clad in geisha-inspired satin jackets to add some Japanese touch to the surrounding. Disappointingly, the lights were so dimmed that I couldn't see much. Honestly, there weren't much decor to reflect the autumn season. And gosh, it was so stuffy in there that the supposedly cool temperature during the autumn felt more like summer. :/

Spring Lounge
This one is partially open-air as it occupied the space facing the road. Since this is a lounge, there's a small corner for live bands & comedians to entertain the club-goers while enjoying drinks from the minibar while soaking in the breeze & "rain".

Winter Bar
Most favourite among the four. Only measuring 8 Celcius, it made the environment so comfortable. There's a special partition with temperatures below freezing point & decorated with chairs, sofas, tables sculpted from ice. I couldn't even stand another minute or two in there. What's more, my rather thin black dress didn't help either -_-. Hence, sitting even only at the edge of the icy "sofas" hurt real bad on my bum. The bartenders, waiters/waitresses were all warmed up in winter clothing to complement the chilly season. Brilliant idea, I'd say.

Summer Restaurant
This alfresco-style restaurant has a minibar & table seats which span across the room as well as outdoors. Definitely for those who loves dining at the sidewalk. Not me since the air in Malaysia is so uncleaned & polluted. The air at the roadside might not be friendly to the nose, at least the view opposite Quattro is pleasing to the eyes. ^^ I didn't capture many shots of this restaurant cuz the low lights made taking pics pretty difficult.

Vodka & whisky were on the house from 8-10pm, hence me & cousin bro quickly grabbed a glass each before the time ran out. Interesting taste, indeed. It is a concoction of zesty lemon flavour with alcohol bitterness that burns the throat if taken pure without dilluting it with ice. Such is the greatness of vodka. Okay, um...not that great to some of you frequent drinkers out there. C'mon, it was my first time tasting hard liquor. I'm a noobie in this kinda stuff. Overall, I would give a 7 out of 10 rating for Club Quattro for that unique concept but falls short on the decor mainly cuz it failed to impress me. Seriously lacking the WOW factor.

I had a VERY good sleep that night after one shot as I have low tolerance for alcohol. I wasn't drunk, thankfully but I remembered having white patches all over my body when the alcohol effect kicked in. Till now, I still have the faintest idea trying to figure out what that is. It's not alcohol rash cuz it didn't itch. What the hell is that?? Hmm...

Find out more about Club Quattro at www.clubquattro.com

Under my skin

Ahh...it's been a long time since I last blogged about my beloved Dong Bangs. I have nothing much to blog about them for the past few months cuz they were pretty busy with their schedules in Japan & probably in the midst of preparing for the 4th Korean album release. Now that they're back with a brand new album; sporting different images & hairstyles - they're set to take the world by storm, bigger & better this time.

To celebrate their comeback, many fans made parodies off their latest single Mirotic by changing the lyrics. It's not like they did it on purpose to offend the boys but it's just another fun way to share their love for Dong Bang. Purely for good laughs. On the other hand, I don't usually look up on Dong Bang parodies so the decision to click on one of it was rather surprising. Mainly cuz the title of the video parody was Moronic. ROFL.

Unfortunately, this wonderfully done parody brainwashed & poisoned our minds in dbsg LJ comm that we have the tendency to hear the funny lyrics instead of the actual one. This is seriously bad news~ XD In case you got confused, here's a rough intepretation of the song by another member.

The boys are "more than cousins" close, they do not cheat on each other with girls, because they're so gay!

They did the jiggy-iggy on the beach when the monsoon came and rained baboons :O

The children kidnapped them and locked them in a box on the ship. The boys got hungry and made sushi on the red ocean (coz the sun set reflected on the water, yo)

Then some boy Mitchell came to join the orgy boys and they asked him the hand over the syrup (for their sushi), and tricked him (Yunho pinned him down, kudos to his mom, aha!)

No naked special pajamas and no naked Mitchell becoz 5+0=1 and 5+1=0 :O:O

Bwahahha children cannot top them, because they're so gay!

Credits to myvibrance@LJ (video parody) & jealous_sky@LJ (lyrics intepretation).

Is it not paper?

While slacking busy job hunting & running daily errands, I took some time off to learn handicrafts. I do enjoy making stuff though I won't deny that I'm actually good at it. I haven't been serious in this hobby for some time reason being Mum thinks that too works of art creates what we call...rubbish :/. She's right in a way cuz my room is seriously lacking space to accomodate more trash.

Anyways, I've decided to try out something new this time & flowers popped into my mind. Fyi, I do have fondness for flowers so it's kinda easy to get my attention (guys, take note!). I wanted to try making paper flowers; whether it'll be made into a bouquet & given to someone as a gift or just as a home decor. In my quest to gain this new skill, I looked up on Google for paper flower making walkthroughs. There I found a template & started working on my first crepe paper rose. After 2 failed attempts, this is what I've made...

The rose obviously didn't look right at all. I ordered a Martha Stewart crafts kit off eBay cuz I was determined to try again in order to perfect the rose shape. Alas, I made the right decision as the 3rd stalk looks exceptionally beautiful but still with minor flaws. From there I found that the problem arised from the template. The one I got online didn't allow me to get the shape desired. Martha Stewart's did. And I'm awfully happy that my masterpiece looks good & received compliments from others. Patience is a virtue, indeed.

Now I present you...the enchanted rose~

Any plans to give your beloved a bouquet of rose that doesn't wilt & lasts really long? Lemme know ;)

Bird's nest ain't that fun

For the past few days, I've been doing things that I've never done before in my life. And that is - cleaning the bird's nest. Most of you probably won't understand how great this delicacy is among the Chinese for over 400 years. It's believed to contain lots of nutrients which would enhance one's health. Some people find it disgusting to consume an animal's saliva for the sake of good health. Honestly, bird's nest doesn't look that bad after cleaning & soaking it overnight cuz it looks like gelatin. What's more, it's tasteless unless it's cooked in a soup with sugar or salt added to taste.

Eating bird's nest is delicious but the preparation is no easy task. In fact, it's a nightmare if you purchase the raw ones unlike those that you get from Chinese herbal shops such as Eu Yan Sang. There's just so much to clean before you can pop them into a pot to boil soup. First off, the bird's nest needs to be soaked overnight to allow the fibres to soften.

See the black spots? Those are swallow's feathers -_-

After soaking the bird's nest overnight, it needs to be clean under filtered water; gently shaking it using a sift to filter out the feathers. Here comes the no-fun part. Left-over feathers still stuck in between the bird's nest is to be painstakingly taken out using a forsep. Yes, I mean it.

I think I'll go blind if I do this everday. *sighs*

The feathers taken out by the forsep is to washed in another separate bowl of water. This is to prevent the feathers from sticking elsewhere & possibly fall into the bowl of bird's nest again.

Look at the immense amount feathers~

Now, do you still wanna drink bird's nest soup? Heh. Well, just go get the bottled ones by Lor Hon Kar to save the hassle. But I heard stories that bird's nest suppliers actually use bleach to clean their products before packing & sending them to manufacturers. Does this make you feel disgusted about eating bird's nest?? I do. As a matter of fact, I'd rather not eat at all.

Chocolate indulgence

A chocolate a day keeps a girl happy. Couldn't you agree more? I gotta tell ya that I'd tasted one of (probably) the best chocolate cake in my life. Like, seriously. This delightful cake was courtesy of my aunt who dined at Le Meridien KL recently with her fellow gal friend (aka my neighbour).

What's so great about this cake, you ask? Every bite you take on that slice of cake taste like heaven. It's incredibly rich in dark chocolate - my favourite! - that its natural bitterness works its magic on the tastebuds,. Guys probably won't understand this crazy feeling but girls...the chocolate-obsessed ones especially, I can assure you that this cake will drive you up the wall.

If you can't afford the whole cake, just grab a slice. After all, girls can't possibly finish the entire cake as it'll leave stuffed within a few hours. And bet that the weight conscious girls will regret eating them as they'll start counting the calories to be shed off for the perfect body. :/

The hotel name says it all...

Oh, heaven!

Black tofu

Have you eaten black tofu? No, I presume. Let me tell ya, it tastes as good as the usual white tofu that we normally eat in Chinese restaurants. The best part is that that it's organic - which mean it's healthy aka no artificial colourings nor preservatives. I have no idea how the manufacturers turned these food into black considering they shouldn't be using any colouring at all. I'm guessing that they used black soybeans to produce the black stuff. Fyi, I ate these for the first time at Summer Palace so I'm pretty sure you can find it there. The black colour indeed sparks curiosity. Go try it. You know you want to~ XD

So...black tofu, anyone??

Thank you for the music

Dear Nuffnang, I'd promised you that I'll ♥ you forever if you grant me tickets to the premiere of Mamma Mia! The Movie. You have my words & I would like to express my utmost gratitude to y'all who made my day. Thank you for the joyful night of music & laughter! It was such an awesome movie that never failed to keep me entertained. Honestly, I was tapping my feet in unison to all the songs featured in the movie for the whole night. The song selections were absolutely perfect - it's as if ABBA has created them for a future musical.

To those who have yet to watch it, what are you waiting for? The plot is easy to digest & not too cheesy. Though I can't guarantee it for guys who strictly don't enjoy musicals at all. I mean, most guys just don't fancy men singing, dancing & prancing around gleefully. Right? XD

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

After what seems like an eternity, we don't have to wait no longer. Why? Cuz...

...PlayStation 3 has reached Malaysian shores.

Sony Malaysia decided to launch the gaming console by introducing the 80GB version in the market priced at RM1,599 (console only) or the Soul Calibre IV bundled package which is priced at RM1,799. And no, neither I nor my cousin bro bought the unit cuz it was still pricey to us. I went to 1 Utama where the official launch was held as I was curious what Sony Malaysia has planned for to hype up the event.

We were pretty late for the event, sad to say. Reason being cousin bro was out almost the whole day & I didn't have a car to drive there myself. By the time we're there, almost half of the activities were over. The most interesting agenda of the day was most probably the first-come-first-serve cash voucher for the PS3 purchase. Perhaps you're not aware that there were ppl spending the night at the event venue several days before the actual day. Ain't that madness?? o_O

The stage & booth set-up wasn't too bad. I would say it was pretty happening in a way cuz it was at the Highstreet Outdoor area. There is no way that you'll miss the event as every vehicle that passes by the New Wing would definitely see it. As you can see below, this is the main stage of the event (my apologies for such a bad pic cuz my sis took it :/).

There was a section that displays the console & Sony's breakthrough technology - Bluray. Just look at the beauty of the sexy black PS3. Oh my!

The power of connectivity - BRAVIA TV, Sony Handycam & PS3. (Noticed that we were actually taking a pic of us appearing on the TV screen XD)

Gaming enthusiasts had the opportunity to experience the power of the PS3 at the gaming section where the 24-hour games marathon was held the night prior to the event. Seen here are ppl playing Soul Calibre IV (Not the best PS3 game. Why no MGS4? How about DMC4??)

Not to forget the chicks galore. As per usual. *shrugs* Well, they were actually cosplaying as some random female game character to compete for the Best Game Girl title. A little too thin but still hot, nevertheless.

How can I not take a snapshot with at least one of them, right? XD

Cousin bro was complaining that I didn't inform him about the cash voucher thingy. Heck. It's not like he had the time to go camp at the venue. After all, he had to fetch my aunt from the airport that night. Tough luck~ I'd have to admit that it was a good deal but...was all the long queueing hours & sleepless nights camping outside the cold worth it? This is very subjective. What do you think?

Mid-autumn come & go

The Mid-Autumn Festival this year turned out to be rather depressing. Mainly cuz it rained cats & dogs last night, during the time that we do prayers & light up lanterns, candles etc. What was supposed to be an open space celebration in my garden with several members of my family turned out to be a solo thing - me being so semangated to play lantern alone. For the past few years, we've been using self-made lanterns as we use blackout candles that are longer lasting. Well, this year...I had no idea why Grandma decided to buy two fish lanterns; knowing that the candles are tiny & burns out easily.

It's quite pricey to be paying RM8 for just a fish lantern. Nevertheless, it always looks good cuz it's an all-time fav lantern shape.

C'mon, how can a self-made lantern like this one can be compared to the one you buy outside?

Overall, it's a pretty boring celebration this year. Maybe not. There could other places organising a huge one with lots of ppl joining in the fun. It's just that I was too lazy to go anywhere. And I don't eat mooncakes either. Oh well...perhaps the jelly ones, yes. *shrugs*

A chance encounter with the Cruiser

After cousin bro's graduation ceremony, we left & headed to our usual dim sum restaurant for lunch. We were travelling on the LDP highway when suddenly a four-wheel drive cruiser was tailing us. Another one of my cousin bro who was driving asked if that vehicle is hitz.fm Cruiser; so I turned around & confirmed his statement. It's a coincidence that the Cruiser was travelling the same road as us.

It seemed that the driver & the passengers in the Cruiser saw me turning around to catch a glimpse of them. Guess what they did? The driver pressed on the pedal - increased the acceleration just to get closer to our car. And he started flashing at us using the headlights in order to get our attention. I turned around to look at them again - this time they started waving at us as their car got nearer each time. LOL. I waved at them too & burst out laughing XD.

I seriously couldn't help but laughed at their sillyness. Without wasting any time, I took out my camera cuz I wanted to capture a shot of the Cruiser & hopefully the guys in it waving happily at me. Now guess what they did again? They knew that I was pointing the camera at their direction & purposely drove closer to our car - without switching off the headlights - did some goofy pose & kept it there for about a few secs just to ensure that I took a pic of them. ROFL. So adorkable!

Not expecting their next move, the hitz.fm Cruiser switched to the left lane & moved faster so that our cars were parallel. Then, the guys started waving excitedly at us; at the same time checking out who's driving & the chicks ppl who responded to their silly acts. They seemed to thrilled about following us. Haha. In the end, the Cruiser took a left turn & headed off elsewhere. Even then, they smiled cheekily at us for the last time before they disappeared out of sight. Oh boy, what an experience it was~

Here's the conversation I had with my cousin bro (the driver) after the incident.

CM: Oh man...we should've followed them.
Me: What for?
CM: Who knows they might recognise us & give us shit loads of freebies. Or perhaps, concert tickets.
Me: There's no upcoming concert at the moment.
CM: It would be CDs, then.
Me: Nah. I don't need their CDs. Don't fancy much English songs nowadays.
CM: We could sell them. They're originals, y'know. *smirks*
Me: Right... -_-"

It was one of the most random incident ever happened in my life. This makes life's so exciting & bizarre, no? ^^

Finally graduated!

After waiting for almost a year, my cousin bro has finally received his degree certificate. He's officially declared a graduate yesterday. Congrats to him! It's a pity that he didn't managed to take a good studio shot of him wearing the gown, mortar & holding his scroll. Honestly, I really wanted him to for it but the price was extremely expensive. Why on earth is the photograph charged at minimum RM450? I know that it comes in a package in which several sizes of the photographs will be printed. Still...RM450?? Nah. Way too pricey. Money minded ppl they are, I tell ya.

It was the first time I attended a graduation ceremony & everything was so prim & proper. Can't possibly believe that time flies by so quickly. About 10 years ago, I thought attending university & graduating one day seems so far away. Look at us now. We've gone through all of that & now we're stepping out to face the harsh realities of the real world. There're times when I can't seem to recollect all the memories of things that I've done for the past 10 years. All that had happened seem so vague now -_-. Well, I guess there's no reason to dwell in the past as we have more important things to do look forward to. In about 2 months, it'll be my turn to walk down the hallway; ascending the stage to receive my scroll & smile to the camera with the Chancellor. Not long after that, I should be working my ass off just to earn an extra dollar.

This is life. *sighs*

Anyways, congratulations to our dear Chun Hoe! He deserves a good treat for being the first to earn a degree in the house.

Click the thumbnail to view more pics of his graduation.

I've got an iPhone 3G!

TA-DAA!

I'VE GOT AN iPhone 3G!!

NOT! Lol. Did you guys actually believe that I got one?? Well, it actually belongs to my uncle in JB. Yeah I did mention about it in my previous post so here it is - some snapshots of the real thing as shown above. Didn't bother taking more snapshots of it cuz it's the same like the iPod Touch, just as I've said it many times. The only difference is the firmware which allows users to make calls & send text messages. If I'm not mistaken, the applications are similar to the iPod Touch.

Here's the peculiar thing. The 16GB version is supposed to have 3G embedded in it but I don't see any secondary camera. I thought 3G phones should have 2 cameras so that the one facing the user can be used to make video calls. There is none in this case. Indeed this gadget is cool but in terms of usability, I would rate it mediocre. Typing messages was such a hassle using the Qwerty keyboard. It's too cram & small thus causing typo errors to happen too often that it's supposed to be. I find it rather annoying too cuz the fingers tend to touch the wrong letter. What's more, typing becomes less precise using only the finger cuz the touchscreen doesn't detect stylus nor pointy objects.

Overall, it's a pretty cool gadget to play for fun but I believe the it's not worth spending over RM2000 in Malaysia. My aunt bought it for my uncle cuz she managed to get one of her Singaporean clients to sign a 2-year contract with SingTel who's entitled to buy the iPhone at dirt cheap price. It's not even close to RM1000. Can you imagine that? Lucky Singaporeans! Though the phone is exclusively available at SingTel outlets, it's not unlock. Ain't that great? Even those imported from US are network-locked to AT&T which requires a HyperSim or software unlock so that we poor Malaysians can insert our SIM cards in it. And that already costs a whopping RM2200 plus.

My uncle had no idea why his wife bought such a high-tech phone to use. She know nuts about handling this thing while my uncle is still in the process of learning on how to fully utilise it. In which I think it's very unlikely he'll succeed cuz he doesn't even know how to download apps to add on to the phone. Furthermore, he has no access to Internet at home whereas he's definitely too busy with his job instead surfing the net in the office. Oh well, it's not too bad a phone to flash around & show off. I bet iPhone won't be reaching our shores very soon. Not surprising. :/

Merdeka Trip Part 2

Here's a recap of what I did during the remaining days of the weekend holidays. Lots of time wasted, really. Oh well, time doesn't wait & we all know too well.

Day 2

Me, my sis & I woke up pretty late that morning due to long drama session the night before. It was already late when we left the house. Had lunch first with my uncle before we entered Singapore. Our initial plan was to shop around Parkway Parade where my aunt works but soon enough, my cousin & I decided to take our grandparents to visit our uncle who's currently living in Choa Chu Kang. It only takes approx 1/2 hour to reach Choa Chu Kang from Woodlands but we went straight to Parkway Parade. Imagine spending another 40 mins to drive out from that mall back to Choa Chu Kang. Not knowing Singapore roads well; driving oh-so-cautiously so as to avoid getting caught by speeding cameras & getting slapped with a summon that costs a bomb - all these definitely did not help us reach the destination any faster. To top it off, Grandma's naggings about us getting lost half way that lasted almost an hour made matters a lot more worse. Yeah, I know how much it sucks but she's my granny anyways. What can I do?? *shrugs* Meanwhile, my sis was stuck at the salon doing her hair & that saved her from all the commotion during the journey. Lucky her!

Finally, we found our uncle's house & we met up with my cousin sis too. Had yum cha session somewhere near & dropped by at Lot One Shopper's Mall. It's a pretty decent mall selling nice clothings, shoes, bags...you name it at decent prices aimed - mainly aimed at middle income earners. The interior is surprisingly good too despite the plain exterior I saw upon entering its car park. Saw aplentiful of pumps that I was so tempted to buy but knowing my Grandpa was there wheelchair bound & may be bored if we spent too much time looking at clothes, I'd rather not hog everyone's time. Then, Grandma decidedly chose those designs that I don't quite like & kept on complaining why most of them have sharp, pointed nose made me fed up. Of course, I was silently calculating the price after conversion at the back of my head just to make sure that I don't overspend. Seriously it's tough shopping in Singapore if you keep on taking the currency conversion into consideration. You practically can't get anything cuz everything seems so pricey. Look, I can't help thinking like that especially when the price of those less branded pumps cost merely $35.90 end up becoming RM70++ a pair. Not so worthy, isn't it? Now I kinda regretted not getting one after returning home cuz the designs there were much, much better. Boo-hoo!

Of course, we can't just go home without snapping some pics? Am I right? ^^ After all, it's not like we always hang out with my cousin sis & uncle in Singapore.

Just as we were about to leave the mall, a note was placed on our car's windshield.

Heck! Didn't expect the management was freakin' anal about vehicles parking at the wrong space. Fyi, we parked at a space specially for handicaps reason being my grandpa couldn't walk far & needs to use a wheelchair. Parking at the handicap spot was the best option cuz it's the closest to the entrance. I don't blame if the management didn't know if there was old fellow who couldn't walk but believe it or not, a vehicle with a Singapore plate number also parked at a handicap spot next to ours & didn't receive any note. Not fair~ Unless the vehicle just parked not long ago & yet to receive the warning letter, I have every right to say that the management is discriminating us. This sounds very sensitive so let's hope that whatever I said it's not true.

After dropping off our uncle at his apartment, we drove my cousin sis back to her university. And off we cruised our way to Woodlands checkpoint, then home.

Day 3

We were supposed to be heading back to KL today. Me, cousin bro & my sis being sleepyheads again ended up waking up from slumber pretty late. Say, around 11am. No one was at home except the 3 of us. Cousin bro drove us out to eat yong tau fu & later met the rest of my family at Sutera Mall. Didn't fancy the place that much cuz it reminded me too much of Sungei Wang, except that it's newer. It's like lala land where the lala ppl gather. There's a shop that sells goth-styled clothing, seriously. Honestly, it looks damn cool but it's just plain inappropriate to wear it in public especially in Malaysia. I wouldn't mind putting one on if I'm at Harajuku or Akihabara. Some teenager wannabes were seen walking around in lolita dresses & gothic outfits which attracted so many stares from passerby. My uncle was dumbfounded when he saw them & asked what on earth these young kids are up to. I answered, "They're cosplaying~ XD". He was like...bwuh? o_O

Next stop was AEON Tebrau City. OMFG. Huge place. Enormous. Bigger than ever. Comparable to 1 Utama. Awesomeness. Walking on such a long stretch of the 1st floor was a daunting task. There were so many shops to walk around & see. It was the last day of Mega Sale therefore I told myself that I need to at least get something before I return home. In the end, I bought two blouses from G2000. Hell yeah I know their stuff have hefty price tag. They're having sale though & some of the blouses have 50% off. Without the discount, I wouldn't have consider buying any cuz their blouses are bloody expensive. Like RM179 each depending on the fabric type. Now I only paid RM179.90 for two items instead. Not too bad, huh?

It was too late to drive back to KL which was why we made a last min decision to stay over for another night. Cousin bro took an emergency leave since Grandma doesn't really like travelling in the late evening. As you know, we would be reaching home during nighttime. We did her favour by opting to go home tomorrow.

Day 4

We're going home for real this time XD. Again, we woke up late but we quickly packed our belongings & stuffed them in the car. Went for lunch at a coffee shop operated by a lady who hails from Ipoh. Wooo~ Nice food, I tell ya. Gah, one of these days I should go to Ipoh for a gastronomic feat. We bidded my uncle farewell & travelled home. We're going to see him again anyways as cousin bro's convocation is coming up this Saturday. My uncle wanted me to stay back for a few more days but I couldn't agree to do so. I needed to be home in case the employer that Mum recommended would call me up for an interview. It wouldn't be too nice if I requested the interview to be held the following week. I'd totally stay longer & have more time walking around Singapore; maybe shopping for lots of interesting items. Pity, isn't it? Nevertheless, it's good to be home. I miss my bed. XD

The End.

Merdeka Trip Part 1

Sorry for the lack of updates. I just came back from a short holiday trip in JB. It was the Merdeka weekend & my grandparents had decided to drop a visit at my uncle's house. It's a norm for us Malaysians to go for trips on National Day as we usually have nothing else better to do besides hitting the malls. We just don't join in the fest & watch the parade like other countries do. But that doesn't make us less patriotic or love our country lesser than others. Let's just say we love our motherland a lot, not the one who governs it. And we have our own ways to show our love but on a less extravagant style.

Day 1

Travelling to JB alone already took us almost half a day. By then, we were already too exhausted to enter Singapore. Had lunch at one of the restaurants nearby my uncle's office. He ordered this rather unique kailan dish which is cooked using 2 different methods - fried & deep fried. This means one side of the dish has dried, crispy kailan leaves with its texture similar to nori sheets while the other half of the vege is like your typical fried kailan dish. Very interesting dish, indeed. Oh btw, he's using an iPhone 3G 16GB. OMFG. Effing cool design (just like the iPod Touch) but so-so on the functionalities. More on that later.

We settled down at my uncle's cribs while he returned to the office. Driving to Singapore was out of the question as we were too exhausted. Besides, it was late in the afternoon which means it would be pretty late by the time we reached there. And we need to return to JB again to stay for the night which left us very little time to do real shopping. Moonlight Resonance DVD was the only thing available to entertain us. What more can I expect when there's no Astro nor Internet to satisfy my daily needs. Nevertheless, I didn't mind cuz the house is really comfortable. It's so quiet & peaceful that I can sleep soundly & wake up feeling fresh later.

Our tummies started making noises when evening came. Off we went to a mamak to fill up our hungry stomachs. It's been ages since I last dined on mamak food. Oh, I so miss eating them. Mamak food in JB is a little different from what we have here in KL. For instance, there's no Indomie in JB which I think is quite a turnoff cuz I'm a huge fan of Indomie. How can they not have such tasty instant noodle?? I'm not entirely sure whether this applies to all JB mamaks but my uncle doesn't seem to know anything about Indomie either. So I'm assuming that Indomie is just not popular there. I ordered fried Maggi as a substitute to my fav Indomie. It turned out pretty delicious though it was a little too spicy for my liking. And then I had roti planta, a must-have dish each time I patronise mamak stalls (during the day, of course). The difference here is that there's no sugar but only margarine in it. This makes it rather bland & a tad too oily but the thin texture of the roti made up for it. Roti tissue was really good. I'm totally loving the thin, crispy pastry coupled with sweetened condensed milk. It was a little too sweet but still heavenly~ XD

Nothing fancy to talk about for dinner. The only thing was that we ate at 10pm cuz we had to wait for my aunt, uncle & cousin bro to return home. What's more, my aunt took the wrong bus home from Singapore & wasted lots of time stucked at the Causeway. We had crabs for dinner however I don't quite fancy crabs so I shall refrain from giving any comments. I just don't know how to appreciate it, if you ask me. After all, I didn't even touch the crabs. *shrugs*

It was foggy that night & cold air filled the surrounding. Cousin bro, my sis & I stood outside to enjoy the cool air since we were too stuffed from the late dinner & didn't want to go to bed early. It was the perfect time for shooting pics but it's a pity that my camera couldn't really capture the scenery well. This was the best I could do.

The quiet night sky

My pathetic attempt to capture my own jump in the pic is shown below. Here's a blurry vision of me jumping while my sis tried really hard to take a pic of me.

To be continued...

A robot with huge responsibilities

After months of missing out on good movies, I finally went for a movie outing with a friend of mine. The thing is...I have 2 advertiser's passes to use up before they expire. It would be a waste not to use it cuz there's no restriction on the types of movies to watch i.e. free listing movies. Hence, I didn't wanna miss out on the opportunity to watch a new movie. And so, we've decided to watch...

Yup! The ever adorable trash cleaning robot, Wall-E. I saw the teaser trailer to this movie months ago & thought that maybe I should give it a try. The robot looked cute, no doubt. As much as I adore every Pixar animated film & never failed to watch all of them in the cinema, I'm starting to get a little tired & wondered what else can Pixar do this time. No doubt it's the usual 3D animation featuring humans, talking animals, objects (you name it) with a moral behind the story. I wasn't particularly interested in The Incredibles in which I don't know why. It was good but not quite what I was looking for. Cars was very interesting to watch but Ratatouille was spot on! I saw the downloaded DVD ripped version & it was so good that I'd wish that I had enough HDD space to keep. Unfortunately, no T.T.

Anyways, back to Wall-E. I definitely thought the movie was excellent & very entertaining. It was a little slow at the beginning but no qualms about that. Disney & Pixar were trying to build the story with minimal narration by solely depending on robotic actions & facial emotions expressions. What's even more hilarious is that they managed to inject some lovey-dovey stuff between Wall-E & Eve, the probe robot. Aww...so cute! The most important thing is the message that the movie is trying to deliver to the audience. It highlighted the issues of pollution & the consequence of not having proper waste management. In this movie, humans no longer lived on planet Earth but in space reason being the planet can no longer sustain life. Pollution level is at its peak & skycrapers were replaced by mountains of trash. Using robots to clean up the waste while they left for space showed how irresponsible humans can be.

Honestly, I was hit hard by the message as I'm convinced that we, selfish humans might do the same thing. It's time to make a change. Let's not wait till matters become worse that is beyond our control. At that time, any remedial efforts will be deemed useless. Our Government's proposal to reduce import duties on hybrid cars is actually a good start. But how significant can it be? How about the public? Are they aware of the need to go green? Are they willing to adopt the "Go Green" attitude & put it into practice? As a matter of fact, my family couldn't even recycle about 50% of the trash we have. What about other households? It's a shame that we can't even follow Japan. I guess it'll be a long, long time before the majority of us would realise the seriousness of the problem. *sighs* It all falls back to the mentality of the public. You know how difficult it is to change people's minds. Nevertheless, a good movie it was. Entertaining yet educational. Now let's see if Nuffnang's gonna gimme tickets to Mamma Mia! The Movie. XD

Pic courtesy of Movie Poster Addict

Mamma Mia! The Movie

ABBA was the word that came into my mind when I heard about the musical movie Mamma Mia! The Movie premiering in the US. Surely this adaptation from the Broadway show is filled with unforgettable, addictive ABBA tunes such as Mamma Mia! (of course ^^), Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, SOS & the list goes on. I'm quite a fan of late 70s to 80s music so bands like The Bee Gees, ABBA, Earth, Wind & Fire just to name a few are not new to me. And to actually have a movie featuring all ABBA tunes is awesome cuz the late 70s to 80s is the golden era for all good music, imho. It sure makes me wanna jump off my chair & start grooving XD.

When Nuffnang announced that free tickets will be given to Glitterati members, I jumped at this opportunity & pondered hard about what to blog about. This is my first time trying to get free tickets through blogging so I need to make an impression for me to be selected. But what am I gonna talk about? First off, this movie will feature an all-star casts with the likes of Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth & many more. I personally haven't seen these celebs starring in a musical so I bet this movie will definitely be a feat for everyone. Dance, singing, dramatic acting, love lost & found - what an exciting ride it would be!

I last saw Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada & thought that she did an amazing job in portraying the icy, fearsome Miranda Priestly. Being an Oscar winner, I'm convinced that she'll be able to tackle different roles effectively by injecting her very own style into her characters, especially in this musical movie. I think what's surprising is to see Pierce Brosnan taking up a role in singing & dancing when all this while I have gotten accustomed to his suave demeanor in his Bond films. It would be interesting to see this man shake off his Bond image & strutting his stuff in this movie of romance & music. Not to forget Colin Firth whom I fell head over heels in love with after watching Love Actually. I didn't watch him in action in Bridget Jone's Diary but he's certainly a great actor to begin with. Definitely one of my fav British actor whom I look forward to see vying for the attention of "his" daughter.

The location. Oh my! What a heavenly place~ Choosing to film in a Greek island really sets the mood for this movie. I seriously can't think of a better place for the shooting. The clear blue skies, crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, captivating landscapes...what perfection! It reminded me of the island scene where Lena Kaligaris visited during the summer in The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants. Can you picture it?

Nuffnang, you know how I much want to watch this movie soooo badly. It would a memorable one reason being it'll be my first free movie from Nuffnang. Just like the movie tagline, Take A Trip Down The Aisle You'll Never Forget. I'll definitely take a trip down the cinema entrance that I'll never forget if I get to be part of this event. Pls, pls...gimme the tickets to the premiere of Mamma Mia! The Movie. I'll ♥ you forever!! ^^

Pic courtesy of Movie Poster Addict

Farewell Beijing, Hello London

Yesterday marks the end of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. How time flies, eh? The 16 days seemed to pass by in a breeze. After watching the Closing Ceremony last night, I told myself that I'm gonna miss Olympics very much. This is the best Games I've ever witnessed so far with many records broke & new ones made. Coming from a Chinese background, I'm proud that the host country had succeeded in promoting the rich culture for the world to understand more about us. Let's see how the London Olympic Games in 2012 can fare up to the new benchmark set by China. Meanwhile, farewell Beijing 2008! All the memories you have given us will leave behind a legacy in years to come.

Pic courtesy of Wikipedia.org