Shopping is tiring. I believe many ladies will object on this statement.

With a few colleagues, I went to Petaling Street to shop for Christmas ornaments and some decorative items for our company Bollywood Bling’10 Dinner. I found one shop very interesting as they have a lot of cute and nice stuff for gifts. Plus, the price is rather reasonable than others selling almost the same stuff. Then we moved to next destination for more bollywood items – Brickfields. The streets were busy, many shops were playing very loud music, we walked along the main street, hopping from one shop to another, to survey the price of Indian costumes and decorations.

We spent about four hours to do all these. By the time we fed our stomach, it was already about 10pm. Throwing myself on the bed at 12 was not enough to get myself recharged from the exhaustion of walking and shopping in such crowded places at all, and getting up early for work today is totally the most difficult task to do among all.

Have a blessed weekend all!

tumblr has been down for hours now.

the past weekend was rather extreme.

a gloomy saturday vs. a green relaxing & zen sunday

shean said i need to build a shield. to shield away the negative energy. it's rather scary and surprising, that i was so down and emotional that day. i cried so hard that i had nightmares that nite. first dream: someone close was sleeping next to me and suddenly got possessed by a ghost and tried to swallow me. and the following stories and next dreams i couldn't recall now eventhough the memory was clear when i woke up on sunday morning.

good, i don't have good memory on these you see.

12.11.10

didn't realise it is in descending sequence until Kenny mentioned that this is quite a special date today.

Thanks to the babes and dudes who wished my birthday by calls, sms-es and fb. i really appreciate it :)

don't ask me if i have any plans because i really have no plan. let's see what will the random idea be after work. of course the final best of the best plan is to be home with my loved ones and spend time like the other normal great days!

Lots of hugs!

Chyi




AA goes crazy with free seats offer too

 all is aware of the free seats offer now by AA. the web flight booking systems started going mad as soon as the clock ticked at 12 in the midnight. i tried purchasing my flight to SG, which has nothing to do with this offer but failed. now i am still trying to get my ticket...
honestly speaking, who is the lucky one to have grabbed the free seats already? tell me. let me check your internet bandwidth. let me check the fengshui of your area too, perhaps. i didn't see any free seats offer even though the availability of free seats shown on AA webpage is all green.

and i am so outdated. i was so surprised to see one surcharge as "convenience fee" when i clicked on credit card payment. Oak said this surcharge has already been implemented a year, duh. i felt a bit of unwillingness to pay for that though.

* * *

update (11 nov 10)

it has been unsuccesful for me to book the flight for the past few days. finally today the system is back to normal and tix is purchased. ;) And yeah, after searching many destinations and dates i managed to find a zero fare to Langkawi! go grab it before it's finished if you are planning for a trip to the beautiful island!

enjoying the option of viewing next blog.

there are many lovely blogs out there. it's surprising and heart warming. people share about their newly wed life. share about being a mother to a new born child. lotsa photos of baby in action, super cute. people also share about their passions in designs, photography and so on so forth.

life is all about sharing, isn't it?

if you are ready to share, you will never be alone.

* * *

it's 5th November tomorrow! Happy Diwali, my Hindu friends!

May this festive day brings peace and joy to everyone. :)

Doha

The beach @ Sharq Village & Spa

would love to visit this city again.
the november in 2008, i did not spend time at the beach as it was a business trip. most of the day time i was suited up for the events and when it came to dusk, the weather became too windy and cold to get myself closer to the beach. the city is full with luxurious and fast cars on the road, as well as expensive bikes, i was worried when the chaffeur driving so fast and people was crossing the road, the driver assured me: "don't worry, BMW is a very safe car and has good brakes." lol. i was so pai seh...

it was an eye opening experience to explore the souq. i managed to visit one and it was like a maze to me when i walked into the small lanes for more shops. i did not buy anything from souq last time. the best thing i got from there was a yogurt drink with various flavours one can choose from the menu, from fruits to ice creams, it was so thirst quenching, tasty and so filling also worth the price!

people i met were very friendly and hospitable. they were all from sharq village and were very much upholding the good values in hospitality industry. (to be continued)

recent hang out spot

1.
i always like their marble butter cakes.
everytime i asked my parents where they bought these cakes, they always told me "Campbell Road".
i totally had no idea where Campbell Road is!

2.
many tv food shows have recommended Yut Kee's roti babi. i got attracted by the name itself, and found it funny because it is simply too straightforward. until we watched one tv show together, my mum told me the butter cakes that i like are from Yut Kee and their porkchop is rather famous so i decided to find out this place and check out their food.
but i missed the ending of the show when the location of Yut Kee was shown!

3.
until two weeks ago i ajak chuan for a lunch as i had to settle bank stuff in kl, she brought me to this shop at jln dang wangi to try out their famous pork chop. voila! that's the shop i always wanted to try and hey, that road i have used for N times but hell i never noticed such hidden gem along that road!

Hainanese Pork Chop

1+2=3
now the mystery has been revealed and the heat of trying+enjoying their food and ambience is still hot. i spent my past saturday mornings over there and i am still going to spend more morningsss there. it's totally an enjoyable moment when you can have a sip of their own brewed coffee, a taste of freshly made french toast and admire the morning serenity before kl street comes alive again.

zip-killer

there is a very obvious hint from the recent happening cases of broken zips!!!

* * *

Suresh named me zip-killer after i told him this.

we realised our bodies are slightly out of shape and some areas are becoming very obvious (esp tummy!) so we decided to put up a "No-Meat" diet for this week. let's see if this really works out.

Will update my status for this week campaign again. ;)

Up! Up and Away!~

don't be misled by the title, this time we just got to go Up in KL but Away is not permitted by the authority. :)

in one bright sunday morning, we participated in a hot air balloon workshop organized by JCI KL West at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. if you noticed, it was a very fine day as the sky was so blue without much clouds in it. after a quick registration, story telling cum briefing session started and everyone was eager to start getting hands on experience on setting up the hot air balloon! we were divided into three groups for tertiering, ballooning and another one that set up the basket and gas (term forgotten, oops!). after a test run of the installed hot air balloon, it's our try to ride on it!

be careful of your head! the burner is kinda close and the heat is superrrr warm!

the ride up to have a bird view of kl was only about 5mins. i wish the next time i ride on a hot air balloon i could have a tour around the area! of course the scenery must be nice or else it would be a waste not capture any photos from such memorable experience. :)

thanks to the bunch of enthusiastic young men in JCI KL West for organizing such wonderful event or else i wouldn't know when i have a chance to experience this hot air balloon ride. we had enjoyed our sunday morning very much and the photos captured in this bright fine day are just gorgeous! don't you agree?

a daughter of my mother

as a daughter of my mother
i believe there is much more i can do for her

i was moved when i saw my bathroom shines and clean later that night
i was ashamed of myself when i realised my mother did so much for me
that i always find excuses and be lazy to do something i supposed to do

earlier that night i even asked her why she looked tired
without realising the fact that she has been so concerned about us and taking care of our daily chores when we complain that after work we are too tired to wash our clothes, clean our bathrooms, vacuum the floor and so on so forth

i am forgetful at times
therefore i am posting this
to remind myself to remember this feeling
to remind myself that i can do more than what i am doing now
for my mother, for my family and anyone that deserves it

DO STH DIFFERENT TODAY

YEAH IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN :) FEELING PLEASANT AS THE WEATHER IS SO FINE. AND BECAUSE, THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY AGAIN! TRYING TO DO STH DIFFERENT, OUT OF MY NORM, I AM WEARING MY WATCH ON THE RIGHT HAND TODAY. AND AS YOU MAY NOTICE, I AM TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS NOW. IT MAY NOT SEEM TO BRING ANY BIG CHANGES. BUT THIS IS A TRAINING, FOR ME TO ADAPT THINGS THAT GOES BEYOND MY NORM OR COMFORT ZONE. WEARING WATCH ON THE RIGHT HAND MAKES ME FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE, I FEEL WEIRD WHEN I REST MY WRIST ON THE TABLE AND TYPING THIS. BUT REMEMBER, THIS IS A VERY SMALL TRAINING ON MY ADAPTABILITY. LIKE HOW I USED TO TRAIN MYSELF USING RIGHT HAND TO WRITE, WHEN I REALISED I AM THE LEFTIE AMONG MOST OF MY FRIENDS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL. NOW I CAN USE BOTH HAND TO WRITE.

HAPPY FRIDAY! TEE-HEE! ;)

trust

it is based on one's instinct
it is based on one's thinking
it is based on one's decision

he doesn't leave a good impression on me, i don't trust him
she doesn't seem trustable, like a two headed snake, i don't trust her
they are doing good all this while, i think i can trust them

we put our trust in someone by,
his appearance
impression
treatment received from the someone
others' opinion
and most unavoidably, our heart

sometimes we think, we analyse,
whether we should trust somebody
sometimes we don't

i trust my instinct very well
whether to trust a person
i trust my instinct very well
that it decides whom i want to trust

analytical thinking only comes in a while
when instinct becomes weak
when heart turns confused

analytical thinking only comes in a while
when something needs to be taken into serious consideration

runaway weekend!!!

"i feel like going for a weekend trip..."

"let's go fraser hill..."

"shall we go melaka for food?..."

... ... ...

Yes, we were thinking of having a road trip again. A short one lar for the weekend.

We were so indecisive about the places to go, like the food here but the weather there; what can we plan for activities here, what else can we do next? Bla bla bla... so much of options and thinking. The final decision was only made when we started our driving journey on the road heading north. Why North? Because the night before i felt like having scone and enjoying the greenery at Cameron Highland. While we were on the road we started discussing again, the final of final decision was only made when we were reaching Tapah R&R and so we passed the junction to cameron highland and went all the way north to ... guess what? it's Penang!

It didn't take long to reach there. We entered the town area around two o'clock in the afternoon, were trying to follow the signboard to Batu Ferringhi. Too bad the direction was gone missing half way in the busy town area, we had to follow our instinct to find our way back to somewhere familiar.

Beyond our expectation the occupancy of hotels around Batu Ferringhi was rather high in the weekends. Finally we got ourselves check-in to Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel, it's time to rest & relax! Grabbed a late lunch of Teriyaki Chicken Rice at Shores Restaurant, I like its ambience of simplicity with transparent glass wall, the natural daylight has enlightened my weekend holiday mood :) We spent the evening with Chyn around Gurney area, only did some short walking, chatting, and the rest we left it to EATING! :D

The happiest moment was so much of nice food presented in front of me and I was about to start finishing them! There is one interesting stall called Pasembur, one can pick whatever food (which is available) that she wants and one uncle will be dancing while preparing to serve your food. With loud happening music, of course.

After a hearty full meal we headed back to hotel and called it a day. The lovely morning came after we had a nice and sound sleep, with some moisture in the air after a heavy rain. It's Sunday, we enjoyed our breakfast at the hotel, passed the famous cendol and char koay teow and we were slowly moving back to the city again. :)

low season...

of blogging?

hv not come up with any new post recently.
life has been rather pleasant and relax. i thought i'd hv more time to write thus be more productive to blogging. yet i left myself blank, spending more time in catching movies and dramas. glad to hv more time to meet and catch up with friends too.

about the just finished world cup...
goodbye italy and so i supported germany as my second favorite team. i didn't follow every match but the argentina-germany match was awesome! the team work among german players was very good and fast. it's the most exciting match i had ever watched in this wc2010. the italy-slovakia was the heartbreaking one. the funny part of this wc was animals being a part of this happening event. first was paul the german octopus, predicted and picked the winner for each match accurately. then mani the parrot, pauline the dutch octopus, wild boar and so on so forth joined the trend of predicting the result of final game. but paul was the legendary one, 100% accuracy for the countries that it picked hv then became winner for that particular match. it makes me wonder if this is an animal instinct / intelligence or this is a manipulative game. ironically for the final i did not bother to stay up and watch. probably it was not italy or germany playing, and too much nonsense was going around for this wc. more than just a pure competition and passions for football shared by many people around the world.

killing the liver...
it has become worse after wc is over. new dramas are up on astro for july and one drama has caught my attention in it. couldn't wait to watch only one episode per day, i googled and started watching it online. causing me up all nite and like shean's status 'liver or wc?' lol. mine is 'liver or drama?' letting myself loose and overly watching drama in these two days makes me wonder if this is a pre-working-in-a-new-environment syndrome. after all i do need to manage my time well and work out the best in me for everything.

Happy mid-July of 2010! :)

Forza Italia

Feeling sad over the result of today's match. Slovakia three, Italy two. This is the end of their journey for this South Africa World Cup 2010.

This is the first and the last match i could watch them play for this world cup in South Africa, 2010. It is rather unusual for me, that this year when the world cup started I have not been watching much of the matches at all. I tried to stay up for a midnight match of Italy vs Paraguay last week (or two weeks ago?). But ended up I was down, dead sleeping on the couch and only opened my eyes twice to check on the result. It was when Paraguay scored the first goal, then another time when the result has become 1:1.

i was playing hotel city when the match started at 10pm just now. i wasn't interested to watch as i know the Europe teams have been performing very bad lately. until it was after half time, i felt the urge to check out this match. my heart was telling me maybe i should watch and show my support to Italy.

Haiks! I couldn't believe that the journey of Champion for WC 2006 ends so early. we cheered, shouted and even cursed in front of TV for the blue. our emotions went up when they managed to score; it went down many times when the white scored and when one goal was dismissed for the reason of offside and another goal got blocked by the Slovakia player.

i haven't got to see Buffon play for this WC yet and now they have to pack and go home. not much of emotions / expressions was shown on Lippi's face, but from his frowning eyes, i can feel his worries, frustrations and desperation to win this match and lead the team forward.

i guess this SAWC is not for the teams that i have been supporting the most. France's gone, and now it's turn for Italy. i wonder if i still could see my heroes in the future world cup. to the wonderful footballers that got me so emotionally connected when i watch football: Totti, Canavaro, Del Piero, Buffon, Panucci and more, ti amo and keep moving forward! Forza Italia!

me?

hmmm... why do i feel bad or have low self esteem most of the time i come out from an interview? in fact, i already know i am not perfect but i know i can progress. there are more rooms of improvement and development for me i believe, to be a better person and to achieve something greater in my career. that's why i am there applying the job to grow with the company. i know of my weaknesses or i would say, what i am lack of. but i do not know much about my strength. like a saying, it is always easier to criticising people than giving compliments to a person. once S told me, i am a detailed person. that's part of what i am good at. i can see things that people usually do not see or might ignore it. (i am not referring this to any supernatural phenomenon though. ha!) N was right about me having split personality because of my birth date. i do believe one's decision/action/attitude may change as according to different situations. for example, i may be very patient at an occasion but not at another one. this leads to the question of purpose, what am i doing that requires me being patience? why should i be patience? is the outcome of which the process requires patience achievable and/or desirable?

that's a reason why i do not usually define or identify myself as a certain characteristic or personality. because i believe in change. i trust change is very essential in our lives. being flexible and adaptable to a positive development and environment, we must not limit ourselves to progression and to a better person we can be.

Wesak morning @ Broga

when it comes to Wesak Day, i usually drive my mother to temples for blessings and prayers. it's rather different than the past years, this year i had a very early wake up in the morning, met up my friend at cheras-kajang highway (along the roadside after 90cents toll), and we headed south to the famous broga hill.

just a brief on directions to broga hill:
from kajang go all the way straight to saujana impian, keep driving until you see a junction turning to left with signboard written 'rinching / semenyih'; remain driving on the main straight road you will pass by the university of nottingham, only after some distance you will see a signboard written 'broga' that leads you turning to the left; follow the curvy road and drive all the way into the broga village, you will eventually see the oil palm plantation at your left and a rabbit farm at your right. find a parking, and yes, you may walk into the oil palm plantations and start your hiking at broga hill!

the crowd was huge on this public holiday! we had to park our cars far away from where the entrance is and walked into the plantations. along the hike i made a few stops to catch my breath. it was relaxing and fun because i did not force myself to move faster to reach the peak. finding your pace and moving up as according to your capacity is important because that only makes yourself suffer if you feel exhausted/pass out when you go over your body limit. this time i managed to reach the second peak that breaks my previous record. as you may not know, i felt dizzy last time after the first peak and i had to stop and rest while waiting for the others to continue hiking to other peaks.

half way to the first peak!

sun's up; reaching to the second peak :)

we rested for a while on the peak and enjoyed the breeze before we slowly walked down from the hill. it was challenging to walk down because that was when i felt slight pain at my ankle. blame it on the kgsss that i have put on recently. after that we went for a quick breakfast at a chinese kopitiam nearby, the tauke said it has never been so crowded especially during the weekdays! even the staff were not able to clean up the dishes and leftovers of the previous customers. we grabbed some roti bakar and wantan mee, then there ended our morning hike at broga hill.

this roti bakar was good.

darn, for the first time i got stung by a leech! only discovered this when i was about to take shower. the blood stain had dried and from it i could see the shape of a leech! freaked out.

hmmm this is weird.

i lie on my bed, my mind seem unstoppable from thinking, calculating, and analyzing. i realise this happens every time i come back from insurance meeting. and also every time after i get some lecture from him which usually, turns to be very motivational and inspirational. i should take him as my mentor, perhaps.

my brain cells have been very numb and dull / inactive when i am working, i guess. (because majority of tasks i have been handling are so routine and less challenging). but the figures and calculations, terms and conditions, have successfully triggered my brain cells to functioning again. lots of queries and assumption i come out with, and sometimes i think i am thinking too much and asking too many questions. haha!

i don't know if this causes me insomnia or i am just too excited /  interested in it, so i wake up from my bed, switch on this desktop again, and am sitting here alone typing this post now.

when my brain works, it continues brainstorming and functioning. but when it gets dull, it takes time to re-activate i guess. ha!

Rationalisation Subsidy Lab Open Day

this forum and exhibition was organised by PEMANDU - Performance Management & Delivery Unit. Established under the Prime Minister's Department, they were there at KL Convention Centre to present background information as well as the facts and figures of subsidy implemented in different sectors in our country and to discuss whether the government should continue subsidizing sectors of education, health, fuel, electricity and so on.

as a concerned citizen, i went there to check out this event.

this event received a very good response. it was overcrowded that many of us had to stand and watch the entire forum. there were also some people sitting on the floor straight. apparently, the organiser did not allocate a sufficient space to accommodate the crowd that came for this forum. many questions raised by the concerned rakyat during Q&A session were not answered. there were even some very good questions and facts raised up by Tony Pua, the MP for PJ Utara. however, nothing much has been explained or clarified by the team. A very clear message i got from this event is the govt will anyhow still proceed its plan of removing subsidies with time frame they have proposed regardless the true opinions from rakyat. as a common rakyat struggling to survive in this city, we will be required to find more ways to gain extra income to cover our increasing basic expenses. so, be prepared for it.


after Q&A session we proceeded to visit the exhibition area where statistics, problems as well as proposed solutions were exhibited booth by booth as according to the categories subsidized by the govt. complimentary buffet lunch was provided to all visitors. i had a quick lunch, visited some of the booths, and that's the end of lab open day.

the following day it was reported on the star news that majority of our rakyat supports the govt's decision to reduce subsidies on the areas mentioned. nv reported was the suggestions and opinions raised by the concerned rakyat during the forum that the news reader should be informed of.

sketch

simply try this out and it looks cool. :) got this link from my multiply contact - totolee

my trial sketch with chrome effect.

everyone can be creative/artistic. 

start your sketch here

in suspect of...

high blood pressure. on and off i have been having headache since last saturday. when the headache stops, sometimes i feel slightly dizzy or something pressing my head. and ever since i started working, neck and shoulder stiffness has been with me most of the time.

i feel worried about my health. shouldn't have such problems at this young age. but obviously, it is due to my diet as well as my daily lifestyle.

seriously my daily life has been very imbalance. most of my time is spent on working, driving, sitting in front of computer, whereby the chances of workin out, enjoying a sweat has become very less. recently i even started feeling sick of sitting in the office all day long. the flow of energy in my body seems not going smooth anymore. i feel the urge of leaving the office and take a walk for fresh air. i actually enjoy sweating. it makes me feel relief. like the energy is flowing throughout the whole body. negative things are not stuck inside body and i can even feel that the brain functions better! but of course, not sweating in an working attire which one still needs to meet people or stays in the office continue working.

i wish my health would be in control and in good state. it's right of a saying i saw on twitter, we need to be more discipline to manage our time. instead of complaining that we don't have enough time or too busy for something good.

i am looking forward to fully utilise my time to accomplish what i have planned to do but have not been done all this while. and of course, to tune up my body for a better health!

leica cameras!

i went into a camera shop and had a window shopping after i left career fair that day. omggggggg ever since then i can't get the camerasssss out of my head. when i am about to fall asleep i saw that camera. when i am waking up, in between the blurry mind i saw the camera again! aaaaaaaaaaaa... how can a person not fall in love with leica? i am so madly into getting one of its cameras but the price pauses me. urgh. let's indulge into the wonderfulness of leica and forget about the price now. the pictures and information from internet can help satisfy my desires now first!

indulge yourself here! http://us.leica-camera.com/home/ and check out their lfi gallery!

a saturday evening

5-6pm i finally left the career fair. couldn't stand to stay longer as it's very crowded. way too crowded that i couldn't even have a longer conversation with certain companies that i wish to know more.

very hungry. i feel very hungry. i am starving! walking to nowhere after i came out from the exhibition hall. wanted to have a meal at the manhattan fish market, but that'll be a heavy meal and i had to wait for my love one to take dinner together. that will be after 7pm of course, until he finishes his duty. thought of having a hot choc at starbucks too, but after a few more thinking, i decided to go for a nutty meringue at alexis. mmm... i miss this cake since the last time we had on chris ong's birthday.

a guy in black shirt greeted me at the entrance. however after i told him that i'm alone and was looking for a seat, he turned to be unfriendly, told me to sit wherever i want and just left. a short & skinny guy. hmmm. the couple sitting in front of me are quietly eating their pizza. no conversation at all and doesn't seem happy. both wear the same colour of shirts though. the family sitting next to me are chatting. it's a foreign family, having a conversation is so common among them. but in chinese family, it depends. i can't have much conversation with my parents particularly. aaaaaah... the couple finally talked when they are paying the bill and going to leave.

i am alone here having my nutty meringue and iced choc. the iced choc is not nice at all. so diluted. but the nutty meringue of course, it's yummy! some waiters are friendly. as compared with the black shirt guy who seem to be the supervisor or manager among all. they are preparing a joint table for 15persons. the conversation is still going on among the foreign family.

i am here at alexis with a piece of nutty meringue and a glass of iced choc.

information undisclosed

along the journey from studying to working now, i believe many of us have met the similar situation in relation of information sharing among the assignment team mates, or among the colleagues at workplace. sometimes in a particular discussion you may find yourself not being informed about certain details that you should know. or you may find a person trying to avoid certain topics by intentionally or unintentionally leave out information that others should know.

this is a very common situation that one feels that one self is in control when that person knows something more or hold certain information that others might not know yet. this happens in every industry whereby an organization keep info from the other competitors in the same industry, be it the future ideas and plans of the organization or tips given by insiders and experts about the forthcoming trends and market that may bring profit or loss to the industry.

however, when this happens in a workplace among the colleagues, i find this has created a very unhealthy environment. in fact, it doesn't bring any benefit to any party because when there is information supposed to be shared among working team mates but it's not shared, it will slow down the working process or cause the work direction gone wrong. thus, bringing down the efficiency and effectiveness of a work progress.

keep the communication and information sharing going on is very important among colleagues i would say. and i do believe this only requires some tiny effort which won't make one tired or brain-crashed. i personally hope some people would understand this importance and make works easier for everyone working for the same organization. as a result, a harmonious and cooperative workplace will be formed.

Schyi. :)

frust. me

sometimes you might feel like you wake up from the wrong side of your bed, everything seems not right and feelings are not good the whole day. don't know why. i am feeling this today. slight dizziness and frustration. lost concentration and even lost my temper to my love one.

perhaps waking up early at 5.30am and driving in the smooth traffic does help making one's good start of the day. i did this for the past few days and found myself actually happily doing this. i started my day with less car on the road and breezy cool weather. took a nap again and had a simple breakfast of packaged noodle and uncle's nescafe before i went to work. it was so relaxing and i felt energetic and refreshed to handle my tasks at workplace.

but i didn't do this today. i slept until 8am and found myself still tired. dragged myself to take a cool shower. and my mind is still blur. can't even focus at work. and keep nagging about this and that at him. decided to join colleagues for lunch and haiks, the food sucks. the choices for lunch here are very limited. and so far i haven't found any good one that i can stick to it for lunch.

dizziness.

wish things would go smooth and well for the rest of today.

upcoming kl marathon...

i have not joined any marathon since my last charity run in march 2009. (oh wow, it's been a yr huh. time flies.) and i have not run much since i bought my lovely nike running shoes. haiks. always lack of determination. but, joanne has surprisingly developed a strong interest in joining marathon and it amazed me that she has taken part in many marathons since the last same charity run we took part in. i remember for that charity run, i had to persuade her many times before she agreed to take part. but now, the situation has turned the other way round. haha!

since i have not run in any marathon for about a year. this time i am kinda moved by joanne as well as some other friends to participate in the coming standard chartered marathon in kl on june 27. i must admit that my stamina is not good now for me to take part in even the 5km category. and after the fall at poppy, i have been suffering some pain on and off now around my left knee. surely will need some training before the marathon takes place.

first thing now i need to decide which category i'll be going for. and we'll see how my training goes. hehe.

if you happen to read this post, you may want to find out more about this marathon at http://www.kl-marathon.com/.

let's run! ;)

seriously i wish i could blog more, as much as the number of blog posts i read.

blogstipation huh.

lost

again, i am overwhelmed by the feeling of lost now.

i have been here for more than 4 months now, this feeling showed up not less than 5 times i think.

seems like there are so many things and rooms to progress for me, but tasks that i am handling now are not focused and sometimes i feel like i am doing everything but don't know what i am doing.

i have been thinking about this over times. would it be me that have not adapted the industry and new working culture yet? or have i got into the wrong industry? was i too rush into the decision to take up this job?

i am giving myself sometime to work and see if i can build up my career here. because i think it will not be justified if i make judgement / decision too quickly because of this feeling. yet it just uncontrollably raises up and affects my emotions at times. sigh.

yet to master...

... the skills of time management!

i have so many plans i wanna do. but time flies in week by week. so fast today is friday again. nothing much i can do from monday to friday, it is almost impossible to leave work at six thirty sharp everyday and by the time i get home, take my dinner and shower, i will probably be too tired to do anything. not to forget that one of the after-work nites i need to wash and hang my own clothes too. haiks! feel like i am having less time for exercise, time for personal interests, and even time for chit-chatting with my family. i wonder why. sometimes i feel that i cannot catch up with topics that my mum and sis are chatting when i coincidently staying in the living hall with them.

oh yeah, i haven't sent my first roll of diana film to develop too!

okay, maybe i can make my activities for the weekends. but don't you think two days are just too short for things that i wanna do? :( besides, i wanna do some beauty sleeps too. haiks. i believe many of us are still competing with the pace of time and try to do as many things as we could. but who on earth has the best time management? maybe yes maybe no. yes to those who has money to get ppl settle the nitty-gritty in daily life so they can focus on what they wanna do. i am not there yet therefore i gotta strive to make an imbalance but interesting and content life happen.

lomo collections

i used to lepak at kinokuniya, klcc during high school time. taking putra lrt from terminal putra was very convenient for me to travel to klcc when i was staying in sri gombak. speaking of my first lomo camera, there was one fine day i browsed through the books in creative design and architecture section, one unique box of camera with multiple lens had caught my attention.

i didn't know much abt lomo that time. and it wasn't so common and popular as compared to now. i was very interested and excited of getting it. sharing my excitement with joanne, we finally decided to share buying it together. wonder why we shared for a lomo camera that only costs RM200? we were secondary school students and we only spent when we got extra savings from pocket money. pocket money given that time was not much but luckily it's still sufficient for us to accumulate a small amount of money. roughly i remember it was in year 2002 or 2003, we bought this cool blue dude home. it's lomo supersampler. four lensed camera that allows you to take continuous action into four frames.

it's fun snapping photos with supersampler. i don't bother using viewfinder to snap a photo, just hold the camera towards the intended object and snap one by your instinct! the 'heartache' part is when you develop the film, because some shops may not know how to develop lomo pic to the best. but who defines the best? it's subjective. plus, developing analogue photos here is not cheap. it will be quite an amount of investment on lomo photossss. because of the factor i mentioned of vitamin m, i have had to hold myself from buying other interesting lomo cameras that i always wanted to buy, like the fisheye; and i have seldom snapped pictures with my cool blue dude until now. a couple of months ago, my sister finally promised to buy me a lomo camera as my belated b'day gift. and after some research and got some opinions from friends, i have made up my mind to choose diana f+ as the second lomo in my collections. woot!

joanne bought me the snowcat edition with flash and hotshoe adaptor. it's cute! we like the body built with plastic and leather, it looks more solid than the blackjack version we planned to buy. two weeks ago i coincidently got a chance to drop by pavillion and visit mooks for some lomo shopping. from there i grabbed a lomo 120mm film roll and a box of 36 frames iso400 films (with 3 rolls in a box),as well as the 35mm back so i can use normal film for my diana. (the 120mm film is quite hard to find and it's rather pricey that i thought!)

my snowcat from twitpic.

Equipped with basic essential for a lomo camera, schyi is now back in action again! Snap, snap! More lomo pics to come! :D

the reunion gathering...

...that we promised and witnessed by mrs. sum six years ago has ended with six people. one of us was not from senior 3 science 3, we met him when we were having our dinner at tepi jalan.

our gathering spot

kenny is the earliest to reach there. i am the second. we called a few others to check if they were coming. the replies were not positive.:( a quarter past eight, kienchong reached. we waited there for a while more, decided to go makan first as we all hadn't had our dinner yet.

my favourite curry wantan noodle!

we came to a stall next to a playground field along jalan ipoh. it's nearby two famous dim sum restaurants. this stall sells curry noodle, porridge and char koay teow. its curry has been my family's all time favourite since many years ago. we come here less after we shifted to cheras, kinda miss it. i had a curry noodle for my lunch but it's just too irresistible so i ordered this again. 

Live Performance!

we got the table nearest to him and listened to him singing. he sings quite well. Listened a few nice songs from him like 'no woman no cry', 'you are beautiful' and etc. we found out that he could earn quite well too in a night! haha. Don't know why, this guy left when tyan came. our live music show ended earlier than expected. (haiya!) later on, chuan called back and joined us here. unexpected guest joined us, the birthday guy yik ming came look for tyan. we stayed a little while more, sharing updates about life and works, and decided to call it a day. 

i+chuan+kienchong+kenny

went back to chong hwa and took some photos together before we headed home. i am glad that at least a few of us made it there for this gathering, although at first i was rather disappointed when so many did not show up. i didn't know that i'd care for this gathering so much. hmmm...

we have a date today

looking back of year 2004, we were graduating from high school. we wondered how we would be in the future, and decided to fix a gathering date for all to come back and meet up again.

"should we make it ten years later" 

"umm... way too long to go." 

"what about six years later?" 

"okay..."

it falls in year 2010. our class was Senior 3 Science Class 3, so we chose the date to be today 3rd of march. we assumed that most of us would start working by then, so the time has set at 8pm. venue? at our school of course, in front of the main gate.

we even had our class teacher mrs. sum to be our witness on this promised date.

i wonder how many of us remember today's date. who will turn up at the front gate. i am looking forward to it. our gathering at one and a half hour later...

elephant sanctuary at kuala gandah

early in the morning, we parked our little kenari at where the agathians shelter home is. together with me there were suresh and justin. thanks to suresh and miss kim, justin and i got a chance to be a part of the volunteers and went for a day trip to kuala gandah with the agathians kids. i did not sleep much in the night before, so i fell asleep during the 4-hour journey to kuala gandah.

stopped by at the rest area in genting sampah and had a quick breakfast. i haven't got to know any of the kids yet. we visited deerland first when we reached there. the feeding session was fun because we all were so excited! some kids were shouting and laughing at the same time when they went closer to deers. and when deers became aggresive for food, they automatically came closer to humans and some even stood up and left footprints on our shirts to grab the food held by our highly raised hand. it's totally fun!

moving on from the feeding session there were more animals that we hardly find in the city nowadays. there is a lazy bear which we could feed it with honey and touch it. it just sits there and lick all honey the visitors feed. ha!

it started raining when we reached the elephant sanctuary. had a lunch at the canteen, the food was good. we were starving perhaps. then we headed to the auditorium to watch a documentary of the sanctuary and the working team behind this. the following activities were elephants feeding and riding session. we waited for the rain to stop to no avail. but the fun still went on, because the kids are so excited and playful.

we ended this trip in the evening. went home with grateful and contented heart. wish the kids enjoyed this trip.

i bet they did. :)

Run! Run! Jessica Run!

Ever since the first charity marathon I took part in, I told myself that I needed to buy a pair of running shoes. It hurt when I ran with my canvas shoes last time, and I don't want this happen again for future marathons that I will be joining.

Went to look for Nike running shoes. And wow, running shoes has evolved so much that the design has become so sophisicated! The latest tagline for Nike running shoes sounds cool, "actually, it's rocket science." After browsing many running shoes, I kinda like the nike+ designs with extra gadget of apple which you can read your running data via running badge, iphone or ipod touch. Even ipod nano can read the running data but you will need to buy an extra sensor for the nano. (I am not sure if the 5th gen of nano needs the extra sensor or it already has a built-in though.)

I made up my mind buying Nike Run Avant+ as it's the most comfortable for me among the rest I have tried on. I have bought this new pair of running shoes for months but have not been running often lately. I still want to pick up running as my habitual exercise and hope I won't be lazy and find more excuses to not run or jog in my taman. Take this as my another resolution for year 2010, shall I? ;)

Spotted!

Will be revealed soon!

Hello China!

It was a 5-hour journey to reach XiaoShan International Airport. Thinking that it would be a shorter journey, we did not book any meal on flight. So it ended up we were de-hydrated and starving by the time we reached there. Immediately dropped by McDonald and enjoyed our first meal in the airport, wow! the french fries and grilled chicken burgers were so delicious! Service at the counter was good, and I noticed there were only female staff working at McDonald.

We then took a shuttle bus to town area and headed to Hangzhou Train Station. Along the bus journey there were a lot of houses/apartments, standing block by block at both sides of highway, with large area of plants and flowers. It's very scenic, I wonder if they make the plants and flowers for agricultural purpose or sth else. As we went nearer to the town area, there were more constructions of skycrapers of offices and residences. First step into Hangzhou town area I was terrified by the traffic system. Cars, motors, and bicycles were everywhere. Pedestrians were walking everywhere too, and the honking by motorists never ends. It was so challenging for us to cross the roads. I wasn't used to their pace and didn't understand their lifestyle yet.

We managed to buy CRH train tickets to Shanghai station. Got ourselves into the waiting area, walao! it's so crowded! We realised the fact that China's population is so huge that there will be a crowd everywhere, especially in town/ big city.Waiting for the train made me anxious. Too many passengers were there waiting, some spit, some coughed, some were having their cup noodles, and lots of them were smoking. One thought in my mind was "It'd be very fast for a virus to spread here", and I didn't have any mask with me...

bye bye china

came back from the mainland.

No access to FB, Twitter and blogspot for a week. Miss here so much! 

Indulged in taufufa and char koay teow in Seremban food stalls after we touched down. Yum :) no more meat-y smells here.

Will write more in the weekend.

Now, work.