In Memory of Pei Sze

It's been one year- to be exact. Often during my quiet times, I would think and wonder about you. I would picture you as your usual bubbly self- recall the meaningful words you've shared with me...and your journey and courage in fighting for your life and happiness.

There's no words strong even to express how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, pleasant and true friend like you. We all missed you dearly.....

Cute Doll Biscuits

One's a Ram, and the other's a Doggie! D bought it from Ipoh yesterday...on his way back from Penang, reaallyyy cute eh?

Girls Day Out

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Woke up early, did my laundry then drove over to Kel's place to meet up with the girls. Kel arranged a Spa Session and lunch (@ RM38 per person) for the 6 of us at Rustic Nirvana. A bargain we couldn't resist :P All 3 of us (Kel, WL, Me) hopped into YM's spacious Avanza (woman, thanks for driving us down) and head to Jln Imbi. We were greeted with ginger tea, egg tarts and seremban siew pow (the tarts were yummmie). The session started off with the beauty talk, presented by the founder herself. Rather interesting (but long- an hour plus)- didn't realise that chicken curry spices with veg oil makes good body scrub! The spa was faaabulousss (although we had to put on a poker face each time the consultant asked how was thee massaaggeee...) It started off with 10 minutes dip in warm jacuzzi (can't remember what it's called- follows the jap steam bath concept). Then the chopstick massageee which was nice but hurts when she keeps adding pressure on those spots that I told her was REALLY painful. After the massage, I was placed in a black bag with a bunch of jamu herbs- to detox my body. Was nice and warm- I think i dozed off a little......All in all, was reaaally relaxing.....

We signed up the package and shared among ourselves. Managed to bargain for more free mask packs and a free rose quarts facial...

It was so relaxing that I doze off when I got home.....

I found the website, here's the details if anyone wishes to try out the treatments:

Go for the first trial: RM99 for the full spa session (jacuzzi bath, massage- any style of your choice and jamu detoxification wrap) and a Rose Quarts Facial.

Rustic Nirvana Jalan Imbi173 – 175A Jalan Imbi

55100 Kuala Lumpur(Beside Sakura Cafe & Cuisine)

Tel: 03-2141 9193Operating Hours:Monday - Friday : 11am to 8.30pm

Saturday & Public Holidays : 10.30 am to 7.30 pm

Closed on Sundays

Website: http://www.rusticnirvana.com/

Girls Nite Out

We planned this a week ago- to celebrate the end of our MBA (we assumed we pass our dissertation :P). SL and PW are my closest friends in this programme, have to admit I've not maximised the opportunity to 'network' with more ppl, still not too late to join the MBA alumni, I guess. We decided to binge that night, so met up in Hartamas. PW and I was there early, so went shopping at the small boutiques. Bought two dress, one from MINE and the other from Chyna Dolls. The dress from MINE was 1/3 the price of the shirt dress I saw at Raoul (which I liked very much)- I was lucky to fit in the last piece. The lady was nice enough to throw in an additional 5% discount! Hee....PW said it makes me look like a stepford wife :P Yes, it's something different from what I normally wear to work haha. It was 8pm when we finally decided to eat and the jap restaurant we wanted to go to (can't remember the name) was packed! So was Soul Out. Walked around, then decided to jump into PW's car to drive to Saffron.
I was trilled - northern indian food is one of my favourites! We ordered my fav spinach dish, chicken, mutton, alfo veg to eat with our briyani and their special naan. V nice- although it left me with a pretty hot tummy. The mango lassi was not too good, probably cause they were made from sour mangoes :( nvm, all in all was a delicious meal. The girls are planning to take me to Bukit Gasing- yippie. Yes, I've not been there before...err...heee....

Just read SL's sms- we forgot to use her camera!!! Sorry guys, no pictures this time round.
PW: Good luck with the Penang Marathon!! Go go go GIRL!

Silly Me

After close to 1 year of blogging...only today I realised that my blog does not allow readers to leave comments without signing in! Dop! I called WC today to tell him my excitement- bumped into L, an a level's friend and that is when he mentioned...

AL: Hello Leng Chai! Guess what? I bumped into L today...
WC: Wah issit...
AL: Ya lerr, small world, gosh she lost lots of weight...
WC: Uhuh. Oh ya, why do I need to login to leave comments in your blog?
AL: ISSIT??? No wonder I don't get any comments laaa....I thought no one was reading...
WC: HAHA...ya, so u been blogging in your little world....thought I wanted to leave a nice note...
AL: OKOK I MUST REMOVE IT TODAY

and I did a few seconds ago...
my apologies for my ignorance towards blogging technology...heee

Anyways, I bump into L in my office today. The marketing fellas helped me set up numerous appointments with premiums suppliers, which one of them was L! I went like, oiisss I know you!! Ok not too professional haha. For those wondering why all the sudden I'm looking at gifts, well, recently my job scope has expanded to cover marketing aspects of campaigns- in addition to what I currently do which is observing data patterns to pin point which type of customer buys what products etc (don't yawn, yes I'm a data nerd)....in short it means I have to do other dept's work, no fair :P I have to admit, it's fun choosing gifts (who doesn't like shopping?).

Hope to bump into more old friends, sure puts a wide smile on my face :))

Phone Etiquette

I work at a Bank. Recently, we been receiving mystery calls from the audit department- yes, to check how 'politely' we answer phone calls. For starters, we do not receive direct calls from Bank Customers- we do Data Mining. Our calls are mostly from departments we support, basically ppl who knows us pretty well and would cut us at 'hello'. They are cool with my standard, 'Good Morning, Ai Leen speaking'. Now, I have to do this:

1) Pick up within 3 rings...(which is standard)

2) Then say...

Good Morning/ Afternoon

CAD

Ai Leen's speaking

How may I help you?

(We have to keep the script near us for reference)

So far, I can only manage 'Good Morning, CAD errr'.....(then I hear giggles- ish)..I'm so bad at this.

Holidays

My parents will be flying off to their annual holiday destination tomorrow. This time is Russia and Scandinavia *jealous-nya*. I'm too old to receive sponsorship and I can't fit in their luggage, so this poor lil girl has to stay home. Yes, and Work. My collegue will be on her mandate leave(compulsory for banks- 6 days straight, and loving it) starting tomorrow-going to Singapore for the SALE! *jealous- nya nya nya!* I really need a break from working too hard (not to forget the traumatic presentation) :P After much day dreaming, here's the top 5 places I wish I'm at right now:

1) Charles Bridge (absorbing the surrounding scenery and watching ppl sketch)

2) Central Park on a Sunday Morning (scouting for squirrels and making friends with other ppl's doggies)

3) Lying on the deck chair (under shade) and reading a good chitlit

4) Looking for a romantic restaurant along the cliffs of Santorini- and finding that restaurant so I can binge on mousaka and greek salad

5) At home, lazing on the coach and surfing Astro :P

Ok, anywhere but work.

Early in the Morning...

Since last week, I've been arriving early to work. As early as 7:00- 7:30 am. The feeling is great, even Mr. Smiley (my silent work companion) agrees with me. I've been wanting to change my lifestyle, to sleep early and rise early to watch the sun rise (yes, 6am). Now that I no longer have evening classes, I'm able to doze off by 10-11:30 pm! Good eh?

The benefits of coming in to work early:
1) It's quiet- gives u a piece of mind. You can read the papers, sip some tea before starting work.
2) NO TRAFFIC- yes, I work at Jln Tun Razak, my usual 1.3 hrs drive to work has cut down to 30 mins (the max)
3) Lower petrol consumption
4) Best parking space

Let me show u:
7:15- Arrived at work
7:17- Boot up my notebook
7:20- Watered my money plant and my neighbouring collegue's plants- with the remaining water in my kettle (It's ok to do that right?)
7:30- Went to the Loo
7:40- Fill up my kettle at the pantry, washed my cup (No queues, since I'm realllyy early heee)
7:50- Set my kettle to boil. Blog
8:00- Ahhh...nice steaming cup of Green Tea

In the past, I used to come in late (9:00-9:30am- my office hr starts at 8:45am), rush to my seat, quickly boot up notebook, boss asking this and that, rush to pantry, rush back to desk cause forgot my cup...you get what I mean la...

Have a great week people!

Traumatised

It all ended today. I've completed presenting my dissertation late this afternoon, it was HELL.I thought I would enjoy this moment, since it's the last thing I need to do to get my certificate, but NO, the whole thing had to be sooooo UNORGANISED -very IRRESPONSIBLE of UM.

Let me tell you what happened. I arrived 30 minutes earlier, to find my friend presenting to a class of PHD students (her supervisor was on MC) who later bombared her with anal questions which left her feeling like a helpless chick, surrounded by a pack of wolves. I gave my supervisor a call to confirm if she's around and she said, ya she'll be coming. Fine. When it was my turn, she was no where to be found. Wasted 30 minutes waiting for the frontdesk to call her, then I got fed up and gave her a ring on my mobile. She said she can't make it, she thought it was tomorrow and asked if I could reschedule it. HELLO, I'm not the organiser and no way am I going to sort out this mess, since I didn't start it. Haihz, can't really blame her- the darn Uni (mind my language) only sent out the schedule last Friday afternoon, and I was shock to find out that my slot is TODAY (after previously confirming with the office that the slots will only start Tuesday onwards). After much seeking, I got a replacement Supervisor, who is this Professor (who I didn't catch his name) and he gave me such a hard time during the whole presentation! Stopping me in between slides, asking me in depth question on some statistical thingy which of cause I do not know- lucky I have the 2nd examiner helping me to answer along the way (which he was not surpose too, lucky I shared the slides with him before hand so he sort of know what is going on). My other friends who were surpose to present after me were shaking in their pants, some rolling their eyes! Yes, its THAT BAD. The misery ended beyond my allocated 20 minutes (I think it took 40 minutes, felt like forever) and it was too late to go Putrajaya to apply for ROM. It was truely dissappointing :(

updates (12/06 Tues)- My supervisor called me today to apologise. She explained that lately she been busy and disorganised, hence forgotten. OK. Apparantly, her other student who was surpose to present after me, was scared off by the remarks of the stand in professor, she decided to escape n reschedule to another day. DARN. Wish I had that luxury!! She had to rub it in by saying that this professor is famous for giving PHD students a hard time (pity me, I'm only doing my MBA...). Was reassured that he has a sharp tongue but may be generous with his grading (the word is 'may', no guarantee). She better give me high marks to cover up this mess :P

Handy "Baby"

My sis bought Colin a toddler's table and chair set from Ikea, last Sunday. Here are some pictures of Colin helping Ah Gong and Daddy assemble his chair using an alan key. Full concentration :P Hehe...even tried to fix one of his toy...

eBooks

My friend, Kok Pin pointed out a v good site to download and share eBooks. To access, click on Scridb. It takes awhile to launch the download page, be patient- it's all worth it :) Tip: It's faster to download in MS Word format.
Just downloaded a recipe book using Campbell soup, currently downloading Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Let me know what you downloaded ya!

Wee Pin: I know you'll love this site! Have a blast!

Last Episode of American Idol

It's a blast! Am watching the reruns as I'm blogging right now. So excited cause Beth Miller just sang my fav sound in the whole wide world- Wind beneath my wings :) *gleee* After an amazing performance, I am even more convinced that Melinda Doolittle should be in the finals!!!!!

The Horror of California Fitness (Midvalley)

Yesterday, me and Kel went for the free trial at Mid Valley, with all intentions to try out the hip hop class (and me forgeting that I have BAD legs and hands coordination). Upon arrival, we was greeted by a consultant, filled in the usual forms and was given a tour of the place. The place is PACKED with people working out and 'walking' about. As we were close to being late for our class, we quickly collected the towels (they provide u a big and small towel, which is nice) and headed to the women's dressing room. Frankly, I hate the lockers! It's built in an odd 'F' shape, meaning the only usable place is the upper part of the locker. What happened to the conventional square lockers? Anyway, we got changed and head straight to the studio. Our hip hop class only lasted 10 minutes (yes we gave up) and decided to try out the stryder machine. There was hardly any unoccupied machines, noticed some of the machines were not 'oiled' as they were squeaking- v annoying. Non the less, we managed to have a good workout- didn't keep the time as we were busy chatting while swinging our legs hee. That's the beauty of having a Gym partner :P. After the fulfilling workout, we head for the shower. The shower cubicle is 5x smaller than the ones in RHB Gym- yes it was v stress to find place to hang my stuff. Got out and change, rush out and met the consultant. He was busy so we were 'entertained' by another of his collegue, which was rather RUDE. We asked about the 7 days free trial and he said it doesn't exist and it's only a 1 time trial (they obviously have not visited their own website). Asked about the RM35 for 6 weeks of workout+ 1 personal trainer session, he got a little impatient and said, if you feel u want to be healthy and work out, then why not sign up for a permanent package? Well, I didn't want to waste my breath to tell him that I've been working out in my office's Gym and was deciding on joining a fitness centre to try out the class exercises. By then, me and Kel were a lil bit pissed off (and hungry too), we gave him the 'we wish to consider further' and walked out. Instead of feeling 'relaxed' after a good workout, I ended up feeling pretty 'stressed' out. Probably caused by the crowd, queuing up for things, the 'red' around the centre and of course, the 'unmotivated' consultants . I'm sticking to RHB Gym- the best so far :)

Changing the World

...begin with yourself. Came across this topic in the Daily Bread yesterday- very meaningful, so wanted to share with everyone . Jesus told a parable about the problems of not seeing our own faults. He said, "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? First remove the plank from your own eye" (Luke 6:42).

It is easy for us to point out other ppl's fault and it takes a lot of courage to ask ourselves if it'sour own attitude that needs to be changed. Maybe it's ourself that need to apologise. Maybe it's ourself that needs a humble spirit. We can't change others, but with God's help we can change our own behavior. And when our attitude changes, it may seem as if others have changed as well.

To change can be a wonderful prospect,

Though often it's met with resistance,

The transformation begins within us

And will take a lot of persistance - Hess

When God works a change in us, He can change others through us.

Whoopieee

...I passed the 1st draft!!

AL: Woman, sorry missed your call, what's up?
PW: Good news, we passed our 1st draft submission, don't need to submit 2nd draft!
AL: Really?
PW: Ya la, I know u don't check your emails, so called u la
AL: Yippie!!! So straight to presentation?
PW: Yups. Remember CENSORED in my CENSORED class, she has problems with her assignment leh..not included in the presentation list, asked to see supervisor.
AL: Huh? Who la?
PW: CENSORED
AL: Oh, she...ermm poor her. How many ppl didn't make it?
PW: About 15 people, 35 made it.
AL: Wah like that also can.
PW: So when can we meet up to review our presentation?
AL: Erm...I have not started on the slides lerr....
PW: WOMAN! Don't slack k....lets meet up next weekend.
AL: Ok lo... *sweating*

This post is dedicated to you, PW, for pushing me through this and keeping me on track....
Oh yes, thanks for reminding me to pay fees...hehe...will pay tomorrow....

Updates: Just checked my email, it's 32 out of 52 ppl (which makes approx 61%) who passed the 1st draft! Thank goodness I manage to con my way through :p Oppss...I mean all my hardwork finally paid off...lalala....

You are what you eat

My collegue sent this to me yesterday. Quite entertaining, give it a try!

This is what it says about my character...


What do you think? Frankly speaking, I'm no angel :P I am sometime prejudice, never is a STRONG word hehehe

'Fake' Apple Guava

Covered in The Star papers today.

My mom bought some at pasar malam a month ago, lucky we didn't consume any of it!

He said artificial colouring was used to fool the people into thinking that the guavas were jambu-apple hybrids.

He claimed that colouring agents brilliant blue and tartrazine were mixed for the light-green effect while carmoisine was used for red colouring.

Mohamed Idris said studies in Britain had linked tartrazine and carmoisine to temper tantrums, poor concentration, hyperactivity and allergic reaction in youngsters.

He said the Food Standards Agency in Britain had been reviewing the safety of such additives since 2000.

“Although the colouring substances are currently permitted under the (Malaysian) Food Act 1983, we need to question why fresh fruits are allowed to be coloured and modified?” he added.

Mohamed Idris said CAP had received complaints from foreign and local tourists who felt cheated after the fruits went bad within a day or two.

Bored so Blogged

I'm almost done and ready to submit my 1st draft tomorrow. Yippieee!!!! Planning to reward myself with 10 straight episodes of Crayon Shinchan after it's completed! (meaning tonight la hehe :P). D bought me 3 DVDs (10 episode in each DVD) with ENGLISH subtitles! I left my collection in Singapore when I was working there. At that time, no one wanted to watch with me cause they have to help me translate. Hehehe...can't believe I'm still missing this cheeky lil' boy after so many years!
For those who don't know Crayon Shinchan, u r missing lots! Trust me, if you like Homer Simpson, you like Shinchan! The story plot is simple- a 5 year old Jap boy, lives in suburb of Tokyo with his parents and small white dog (direct translation of his doggie's name in mandarin). The whole mini episodes is about him being a pesty lil ham sap boy. Sometimes he acts like a grown up, sometimes he is so naive, it's hard to know if he's pretending or really is that innocent. His character is what makes his so laughable :)

Oh almost forget, Happy Mother's Day to all mummysss reading this blog. I gave my mom her Mother's Day pressie yesterday, thinking it's yesterday. I got a valid reason this time- my sis had a bbq on Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day for herself, her sis in laws, mother in law, aunties and my mom, so I got my dates confused. Oh well, she loves the card (said it's nicer than the one I gave her last year) and she loves hip in the kakis capri pants. Yuk! May all mothers remain beautiful and radiant alwaysss!!!

Happy Beads!

Kel made me fun jewelries for my (belated) birthday! The original bracelets were made with proper hooks (dunno what it's called in beadie jargons), she had to re-string into elastic bands since my wrists are so unpredictably small :P I hope she hasn't gave up on making bracelets for me heee....

Decided to take pictures using Colin's first nursery rhyme book as backdrop. Took these yesterday night- my handphone camera is doing injustice to her work, its looks a zillion times nicer in real life!

Thanks for the lovely lovely surprise *hugs*

A good read

This book made me tear (several times). V. touching and heart-warming. I simply adore Tiga and her words are sooo precious. For those planning to read this book, the romance bits can get a lil' bit annoying :P It took me quite some time to finish this book- I think I had it since Nov last year :P Kel, remind me to return to you the next time we meet ya. Going to read a book on a murder investigation.....