Our first deposit

We signed up our wedding package with 'Touch' bridal house (Jln Imbi) last Saturday. Quite spontaneous, since we only took 2.5 days to consider before we signed on the dotted line (after much haggering on the price and freebies heee). It started on Friday night- we took Jensen to One Utama for rock climbing and we came across the advert on this bridal fair so we thought no harm to 'look see'. Touch was the first booth we approached as their gowns looks simple, from browsing pictures in a friend's blog. The quotation for only renting the gowns is expensive, it's far more cheaper to sign the package with studio pictures, car deco, hand bouquet, large photo frame and other things I can't recall right now. Unlike Ivory Romance, whom couldn't understand why I want to look like myself in the pictures and not some super babe, Touch pictures are quite natural and candid. On Saturday, we did a quick survey in LV and Vogue Collection. They have some simple white gowns but their evening gowns are so gordy. eek! Fairytale dresses, bow motive dresses and dresses with shiny beads- not my cup of tea. Packages are so so only, relatively more expensive. On Sunday, we went to Touch and to my relieve, the gowns are simple and nice (of course they have some that is kuah cheong). Rushed home to meet up with 2 event photographers then rushed to One Utama to check out Touch again. We signed our package at 9pm, in time for the 9:30pm lucky draw. Of the 18 prizes, we won consolation prize 11! It will be a lot nicer if we won the free trip to Hong Kong, hee..shouldn't ask for too much- it's lucky enough for someone who usually don't win anything:)

Apple Guava- what a con job!

My mom bought some 'apple guava' from pasar malam yesterday and this morning we realised it's merely guava cutted in the shape of an apple and dyed with apple essence! The fruit seller told her it is a new breed of 'guava and apple' fruit, and gave them a slice to taste. The slice they had was seedless and the guy sold them 3 'apple guava' for RM7. The plastic bag is now filled with fluorescent green liquid *eek*.

Looks like an apple?

Skinless guava stained with apple flavoured essence!.Product from Thailand.

Beware of what you buy in pasar malam.

Now 29...

next year the big 30. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to reach my 30s. My coursemate mentioned that she had the best time of her life when she was 30- 35. Time will pass so fast that I won't know what hit me! Hmm...that I have to experience to see.
I spent my birthday at home, doing my dissertation. My sister had to work that Saturday, so we postponed the cake blowing and lam mee lunch (It's a Hokkien tradition to eat this during celebration- at times it's called Birthday Mee) to Sunday. D took my car when he went for morning hill walk and returned it with a new cd player! What a nice surprise :) I'm actually quite used to my trusty radio cassettee player but it sure is a bonus to listen to my favourite cds while stuck in traffic. D gave me one of his old cds which he had during secondary school, it's a compilation of some of my forgetten favourites- songs by SWV, Soul Asylum, Take That..and more (not to forget,the theme song of Beverly Hills 91210 hahaha) sure was refreshing listen to these songs again. Kel, Yvonne, Teng and Chia Hui- thanks for the birthday wishes! I'm so glad we are good friends, it sure is lovely to receive your greetings each year- I'm never sick of it! Heee.

The rugged cross...

We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
—Alexander

(quoted from the Our Daily Bread)

Picture: flickr (by Cieleke)

Day 2 of Silence

God, please make my voice come back..and if it's not too much of trouble, pls remove this piercing pain from my throat too. Amen.

I'm experiencing how it's like to be 'dumb'. Today, I went to Suria KLCC over lunchtime to buy Jensen's birthday present (yes it's today, at least I'm not late rite?). I just realised it's very challenging to buy presents for teenage boys. How difficult is it to buy a T-Shirt? I tell you..first, the prints- it either have 'indecent' language written on it (I saw one with 'I rather be HARD at work', and another with 'Fly with Rubberman' with a picture of an innocent cute flying alien, when looked closely, is wearing a helmet in the shape of a condom) or has splashes of designs at odd places , overlapped with meaningless words, such as 'Love run away' or 'Chill Street'. OK. Then I recalled he liking this polo design t-shirt with two collars (D and I bought it from Hong Kong, not realising it has 2 collars of different colours, and apparantly it's an 'IN' thing- we didn't tell him that, since he now thinks we are cool heee) so I tot I get something similar just a different colour. Now, after much searching, I found the pinkish orangie version in Padini. Stupid enough, the T-shirts were hanged so high that even I have to jump to reach it. Not wanting to jump since I'm wearing a shirt, I had to ask the sales assistant to get it for me.
Obviously she can't hear me, so I screamed (but still sound very soft) and she had to move close to me to hear me say 'I want one in XL pls'.

Ok that's settled. My throat is now red and sore (after much screaming at other sales assistance for other things I saw which I thought was interesting), I rushed to guardian to buy honey. Couldn't find it, so asked the sales assistant.

AL: Can pls show me where's the honey?
Sales Assistant: Harr?? Whatt???
AL: HONEY!!!!
Sales Assistant: Money???
AL: Ok, MADU
Sales Assistant: Harrr? CAR?
AL:!!!! WAIT
*Opened my handbag, took out a pen and wrote 'MADU' on a piece of random receipt (which I should had done a long time ago
Sales Assistant: Ohh..sorry couldn't hear you. She looked at another Sales lady, then the lady asked me..
Sales Assistant 2: How can I help you?
AL: !!!!!!!!? *sweating*
Sales Assistant: Oh she looking for Honey.
*At this point, Sales Assistant 2 looked at me at a funny way....

Sales Assistant 2 did show me the honey section, and I got CAPILANO in a 'easy to squeeze' bottle (coz it has a really cute waving bumble bee printed on the label..and of course, its convenient to use in the office since I don't have a teaspoon..hee). I'm v impressed, it don't drip, as stated on the label (Non Drip, No Mess). Hurray...

Now my collegues are eating dodol, Sue just asked Steve if Ai Leen could have some and Steve said NO.
Sue: Ai Leen, you tengok kita makan saja hor
AL:!!!! ARRGGG (in the heart, too painful to scream after all that...)

:) Hope the day is kind to everyone

Losing my voice

My sore throat has gone worst, infected my vocal cords so I can only whisper speak right now (quite sexy eh?). D took me to the 24 hours clinic in Paramount Garden (it's a public holiday today so my usual clinic is closed *aiya*) and the doctor adviced me not to speak, shout or scream. In a few days, I will completely lose my voice before I get well again :) Sms is my best friend right now. The doctor gave me cough syrup and another course of antibiotics (stronger ones) but I think I'll skip it and let it heal naturely. We shorten my lumut trip and left Swiss Garden Resort Damai Laut after breaky. Once again, I've left my camera behind, so only managed to take lousy shots using my sony ericsson. Will do la :P

D turned 30 yesterday. Got him his favourite Vanilla Fruit Cocktail cake to celebrate at midnight, cause we were heading off to lumut on the actual day. His dad sent a really cool sms greeting from Singapore- it has the recording of him singing happy birthday to his son *sweet*. I dropped by the cake after my class, I think I got everyone unprepared, Jensen still has his 'mask' on and D's hair was in a mess! Don't think they mind me posting this picture :P heee...

His mom got him a pair of khakis and Jensen, a mercedes classic car model. Not too sure what's the model (am not a very 'car' person) but his expression shows that he's very very satisfied with the pressies! What did i get D? Nothing :( Shame on me...hee...

We started off our journey to Lumut at 10am the next day. It was a nice scenic 3.5 hours drive. I enjoyed looking out at the paddy fields- so peaceful and calm. We reached Swiss Garden, had our lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon, indoor....SLEEPING. It was really hot outside and all I wanted to do was hide in the comfortable aircon room and take a short nap. I missed viewing the sunset (darn), lucky managed to wake up and dash to the beach to catch the last bits of the view....

We celebrated D's birthday at a seafood restaurant in Kg Cina, introduced by the locals. Had steam fish (v fresh, yums), prawns, fried oysters and vege. Couldn't order much since there's only the 2 of us. The coconut juice was really refreshing :) Managed to catch a glimpse of the resort before we left the next day...here's the shot of the pool (which I missed)...

I'm glad D is very understanding and enjoyed himself during this trip. Happy Birthday D, you are simply the best :)

The last tag..EVER!

What goes around comes around. I've previously tagged my cousin Wee Pin, now I'm tasting her revenge :P Since I'm home on sick leave (high fever started last night, bad timing huh since I'm going to Lumut tomorrow) and can't sleep (after the 14 hours marathon sleep...), might as well just do it.

LAYER 1: I'm leaving this out, since everyone reading this blog knows me personally.

LAYER 2: ON THE INSIDE.
My Heritage : Chinese - Hokkien
My Fears : Speed (which includes roller coaster, speeding cars etc...)
My Perfect Pizza: Thin crust with lots of salami!

LAYER 3: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW.
My Thoughts First Waking Up : Is today a working day? (I'm really bad with dates..)
My Bedtime: Many attempts to sleep early, always ended up sleeping past 12. Still struggling to keep my new year's resolution
My Most Missed Memory: My first visit to Disneyland, when I'm 9 years old. It's never the same now.

LAYER 4: MY PICK.
Pepsi or Coke: Same taste to me
McDonald's or Burger King: BURGER KING!
Single or Group Dates: Group Dates, the more the merrier
Adidas or Nike: I like Adidas but both my trekking shoe and runners are Nike.
Tea or Nestea: Definitely Hot Tea.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee: Erm, I don't drink coffee. If must, I'll pick Cappuccino.

LAYER 5: DO YOU...
Smoke: Nope
Curse: Is the word 'Basket' a curse word?
Take a Shower: Of course, silly questions.
Have a Crush: Haha ya back in A'levels, some who knows are still teasing me till this day...
Think You've Been In Love: Yes!!
Go To School: Yes- night classes.
Want To Get Married: Soon
Believe In Yourself: Of course, its the most important thing else no point living
Think You're A Health Freak: I want to but I love char kuey tiow too much :P

LAYER 6: IN THE PAST.
Drank Alcohol: Yes, btw beer is good for you.
Gone To The Mall : Er, yes. Silly question again.
Been On Stage: Hahaha performed several times in Yamaha Music Concert, those where my little girl days (wearing 'sweetheart' dress with two pony tail hair style hair). Story telling back in my JB primary school days.
Eaten Sushi: Yes, yum.
Dyed Your Hair: Yes, last time, now it's back to the original colour.

LAYER 7: HAVE YOU EVER...
Played A Stripping Game: No. Is it fun?
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: Erm no.

LAYER 8: AGE YOU'RE HOPING...
To Be Married: 30

LAYER 9: IN A GUY...
Best Eye Colour: Doesn't matter
Best Hair Colour: Short hair-Neat and Tidy

LAYER 10: WHAT WERE YOU DOING...
A Minute Ago: Talking to D- he's checking if I'm still alive :P
An Hour Ago: Lunch (Mom cooked century and salted egg porridge which is my favourite- how on earth can I stay healthy la...)
4.5 Hours Ago:Shower, I think
1 Month Ago: Erm most probably working
1 Year Ago: Ok I can't remember.

LAYER 11: FINISH THE SENTENCES...
I love: Eating junk
I hide: Away from mean people
I miss: My friend Pei Sze
I need: To get well ASAP so I can have fun tomorrow!

Phew! No fair these are long questions. To tired to tag anyone, maybe in my next posting....
Off to bed, medication kicking in.....zzzzz

Weekend

Last weekend was crazy for me. On Saturday, went to Covershots with Kel and WL, spent close to 3 hours browsing pics, chatting and looking at gowns. Later I rushed to UM for my 2 pm replacement class and after, had group discussion (for this Thurday's presentation) which lasted till 6 pm. Had bak kut teh with my parents then watched chicken and duck talk on VCD. I think I drooled all over D's shoulder. That's how tired I was.

Sunday, woke up at 7:30am to take my mom to wet market (both tmn megah and kampung chempaka). Rushed to Bella for facial appointment- furious cause they messed up and booked me on a Monday slot (urrgghh). Nvm, made another booking. Popped by Dry Cut for a quick trim (now my hair doesn't look like a mushroom) then had lunch with sis, colin and parents at ban seng. Took cute pictures of Colin while waiting for my fried loh see fan. After lunch, went to visit Izura and baby Era- had v good roti jala (obviously not made by our dear Izura). Had to rush off early coz D had to fetch Jensen from futsal. Got home in time for dinner, did some work, then slept.

I'm so looking fwd to this weekend's get away in Lumut.

ahh...progress..

I've been waking up early to write my report. Being a morning person, the silence helps me to focus, the only drawback is me feeling realllyyy sleepy at work....heeee

Work done (to remind me not to stray out of track):
Journals 15/25
Survey responses 80/200
Chapter- Introduction (90%)

Not thinking straight...

...cause there's so much on my mind right now. Am taking a break from the 'never-ending' literature review (I'm at my 13th article, have 12 more to read...boooo hooo), which is a bore and a real pain! I still don't get why every statement made in my research has to be backed up with findings from previous researches. If everyone follows this 'written rule', how are academitions ever going to discover new behaviours? We are not allowed to put our gut feel assumptions even if we see it happening in the world today, just because no one has published a journal of that topic. *Silly* Another thing I've realised is there's not many published bank journals conducted in the context of Malaysia. When I browse for Asia, I see journals from Hong Kong and Singapore. Why can Singapore lecturers produce journals once in 3 years gap when our local lecturers can't even produce one that is legible to be published in the International Journal of Bank Marketing? Even if there are journals conducted using Malaysian sampling, why the authors have foreign names?
I feel the problem is our local uni lecturers are too busy handling administrative matters, attending strings of 'meetings' and 'seminars'. UM lecturers have been a slave to 'attendance sheet', 'filling up forms', 'provide proof of ownership' (when applying for car sticker, I need to show a photocopy of my car registration...for what right???) and etcc...ever since they have gotten ISO9000. Seriously, this is the first time I heard ISO is needed in Universities. ISO9000 is important to ensure the consistency in quality of products, yes very relevant for manufacturing industries but I don't see how it is useful for the education sector. I thought universities are centres that encourage creativity and growth of knowledge- how can these things be made consistent? There should not be a rule that dictates creativity and ways to acquire/share knowledge.

Hee..now that I've gotten it out of my chest, I can move back to the rest of the journals....may the week be kind to us all :)



Work done (to remind me not to stray out of track):

Journals 13/25

Survey responses 44/200

Chapter- Introduction (20%)

I've been tagged...

by UBEAN! The first 3 questions are not relevent to me cause I'm not an active blogger :( You can count the number of blogs I frequently visit with one hand. Nevermind, let me give it a shot...

Q1: Who is the most wanted blogger you want to meet?

Tricky question. 'Most wanted' as being notorious or famous? I don't know any notorious blogs, as for famous, I guess Kennysia's blog is famous since JJ and Rudy from Hitz.fm personally contacted him to write about their Johor Flood donation drive. He seems like a rather down to earth, witty fella, so probably good company for chat, then again, he does give me an impression that he quite 'ham sap', ok I don't know about this one....

Q2: Who is the group of blogger you most wanted to meet?

Oh gosh, now I'm stuck. Ditto to UBEAN's answer...easy way out..heee...

Q3: Who is the “I can meet, want to meet but somehow never get to meet blogger’?
*Pening*. Sorry, can't think of any. But I have a few blogs in my list, belonging to people whom i sort of know (i.e. acquantences), whom I can meet if I ask but I don't really want to meet...ok I hope I'm not as confusing as this question :P

As for 3 Weird Things I Do.....

1) Sometimes when I'm thinking at work, I like to start the kettle to boil (yes, I'm very 'aunty', I have my own electrical kettle, so I can have green tea and such), it acts sort of like a timer to force myself to focus and think of a solution before the water boils... heee..silly I know but effective

2) I like brushing my teeth in the shower! Seriously u should give it a try. It's good for people who are too lazy to fill water in the gargle cup, lift the cup to the lips, collect water in your mouth then gargle....its faster and more refreshing to have 'water fall' flowing water clean the foam and bubbles from your mouth- just remember not to swallow!

3) Even on an extremely hot day, I must have a comforter/blankie to cover my feet when I sleep. Some say it's due to being insecure, hmm maybe. I find myself waking up on some nights when the blankie is away from my feet!

I like to tag my cousin, wee pin. Hope she reads my blog, else the chain ends here...

The earth greets you!

Just received an earth message from a good friend. Sure put a smile on my face :)) Thx Kok Pin! You can send one too at http://www.geogreeting.com

Here's how it looks.....

Hope everyone has recovered from post CNY moodiness...:P

*I managed to escape from work early...heee....

Very Special

Can you spot my name? One of my friend created this heart using the name of his friends.....pretty cool eh?

On this Valentine's....

my heart was set on fire.....

Youngest Child Syndrome?

I always had it better than my sis. That's the privilege of being the youngest in the family. During my childhood days, my sis is often part of my many blames (as the eldest, she has to set a good example- any of my unjustified actions are 'seen' as partially her fault) and my parents were more forgiving and less strict towards me.

I'm use to people giving in to me. As a child, I used to run to my sis and say 'hor ee, hor ee' (in Hokkien it means 'give it to her') whenever she had something I don't have. My mom used to say 'hor ee' to my sis whenever I sulk, so I guess that's where I picked that from. Over the years, being wiser and more matured (ahem!), I like to think that I've learned to give in more to people. I'm no longer the sulky and demanding child. Instead I'm the other extreme, I find it difficult to voice out how I really feel. When caught in the situation of me and another person wanting the same thing, I no longer demand 'hor ee' out loud. Instead I curl up and give in (it doesn't mean that I'm willing, but I'll do so to keep the peace).

Recently I met my double. The double is years younger than myself and we were both saying 'hor ee'. Well, something like that, just that one is silently saying 'hor ee' in the heart and the other outloud. Being the elder one (which means I have to be all matured about it..ish) I gave in and the next day patch the friendship with a box of chocolates. It's my first time acting as the elder sister and it's difficult. I'm still stuck with the youngest child syndrome.

Sooo cute....guarantee to brighten up your day!

Baby Denise

Isn't she a sweetie pie? As beautiful as her mother...heeee (I've been bribed!) :P

You're doing great KB, I'm so proud of you!!!

Happy Birthday Kel!

My poor friend has to work on Thaipusam Holiday, which so happen to fall on her BIRTHDAY. Hang in there, work will end soon (in about 4 hours time, when most of us are nicely relaxing at home...heeee). Thanks for all these years of true friendship. You never fail to look out for me, tell me off when I'm not thinking straight (works better than splashing icy cold water in my face) and lending me your ears- it's great to have you around :)

Enjoy your dinner tonight!

waterbaby

Colin is a big fan of water. He loves to take shower, drink from his 'Anti Spill Drinking Bottle' and play in puddles. Of all the water activities, his favourite is SWIM. Whenever we mention the "magic" word, he will run to the back room and grap his 'blue sea creatures' swimming trunks and 'Bob The Builder' towel from the lower drawer. Once, he did it in such a hurry that he accidently hurt his finger while closing the drawer! Ever since, before we are REALLY CERTAIN of taking him swimming, we will spell the word in our questions- Are we taking Colin to S.W.I.M?

Last Saturday, my sis took Colin to our pool in Aman Suria. My dad usually takes Colin to swim after his work (it's not a myth, some people has 'good life' and reaches home at 5pm sharp). I decided to follow them and watch him play.

Oh another thing, Colin LOVES to pose for cameras! Heee....

Do Something New

My friend was feeling down and homesick (she's far far away in Perth), so I went surfing around for fun things she can do. Came across this 'wheel of new things to do':

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dosomethingnew/

'Make January exciting this year with our Do Something New Challenge. From becoming a wine buff, learning a circus trick or smiling at everyone you see, to tattooing a banana - we've some great ideas to banish those January blues. And why not sign up for our daily Challenge alert? Every day an inspirational new idea will wing its way straight to your inbox. Happy January!'

I gave it a spin, see what I got as my Today's Challenge:
Grow an avocado
Open the avocado and remove the seed. Rinse and blot dry. Carefully push three toothpicks into the thickest width of the seed. Suspend the seed over a glass filled with water. The water should cover the base of the seed by about 5cm. Place the glass on a bright window sill and within three to eight weeks a sprout should emerge from the top of the seed. Then you are ready to plant your avocado in a pot.

Errm...can we grow avocado in Malaysia? Oh well...

CH, hope this will keep you busy :) Cheer up k?