Leangz~**

2011

2012-01-06T06:22:00.003+08:00

I lost my head last year in the middle of flying across the Pacific Ocean. I could not recall exactly what I had done with my diminishing days of 2011. At least I have been at this foreign land, I have a totally legitimate excuse to be lost.

2011 Resolution check

1. ~~Step out from the comfort zone.~~

2. ~~The routine of hiking and jogging.~~ :: minus the last 3 months of 2011

3. Read 12 good books. :: only remember 2 books
4. ~~Blog.~~
5. ~~Write in Chinese.~~
6. ~~Keep contact with my friends.~~
7. ~~Eat less meat. Walk more.~~ Recycle more. :: this country is not helping for the last goal.
8. ~~Do community service/volunteer in museum.~~ :: once is considered done!
9. Save money $.
10. ~~Ensure my calcium intake.~~
11. ~~Drink more water.~~
12. ~~Prepare~~ for the wedding reception.
13. ~~Be a house~~ keeper.
14. Learn something new - a foreign language/music/Java/history, etc.
15. ~~Continue my toastmaster journey to ACB.~~

2012 Resolution

1. {secret - if it happen, I will be totally happy!}

2. The routine of hiking and jogging.

3. BLOG.

4. Mandarin BLOG.

5. Read 10 good books & 2 technical books.

6. Skype more often.

7. Draw for mum.

8. Sold out myself officially with elegance & grace.

9. Learn something new.

10. Call me ACB!

11. More carrots & greens.

12. Pay every bills on time.

13. Save $$$.

14. Travel to Washington DC.

15. Do a 365 project.

3D integration

2012-01-06T02:32:00.004+08:00

This sentence amuses me as I am perusing through this technical article about 3D integration: Breaking a planar die into multiple smaller pieces will increase the yield of the smaller dice, since more candidate dice can fit in a given wafer. Because there are more candidate dice per wafer, the number of defects (which should be roughly constant), will effect a smaller percentage of the overall number of candidate dice.

It is as if saying the more children from the same parents, the defeat percentage in the children is less. Unfortunately, one defeated child is just so significant that it can't be just ignored by assuming as a defeated die. Just a random thought of my queer mind while reading reading reading...

2012 first post

2012-01-04T01:42:00.002+08:00

HAPPY @)!@ 111

Mentally busy because of the upcoming wedding dinner and many other decisions in life. Should be back with more posts after coming back from Malaysia. Going back from 9th of January to 4th of Feb. If I never return before that, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YAER to you too!

Movies I want to watch now

2011-11-18T13:07:00.003+08:00

CSI, Criminal Minds, Glee, House, Revenge, New Girl, Survivor, Amazing Race, Person of Interest, Ringer, Weather Forecast, etc. are eating up all my time. I am practicing the typical middle-class American lifestyle. I am a couch potato repeatedly submerging in unrealistic stories or overly dramatic reactions in the reality show because it is the most cozy way to spend the time after dinner. Wrapping yourself with the throw blanket and curling on the sofa with full stomach is the best thing in life. My on-air TV programmes intoxication takes at least four hour of my time daily, so I am left with minimum time to do many things. One of the many things I want to do is watching the movies with story I would love to listen to. I wish to watch them before 2012 if possible!

1. You are the apple of my eye (那些年，我們一起追的女孩)

2. Starry Starry Night (星空)

3. 50/50

4. New Year's Eve

5. One Day

6. Nasi Lemak 2.0

7. Never let me go

And, I wish to read the book of (1), (2) and (7) before watching them. Time is too little. I am just lost occasionally in the easy routine. Let's see I can make my best effort to take charge of what I want to watch instead of sitting in front of big TV waiting for whatever that come by.

78 days

2011-11-11T12:17:00.004+08:00

New life. New settlement. New job. New agreement in 78 days - Donkoi is the Hubby, I am the Wifey. Preparation is progressing slowly, yet I believe our supporting cast will back us up at the eleventh hour. The to-do list is growing fast, yet items are being strike out from it one by one in a speed I keep on complaining to Donkoi. I am anxious, nervous and panic, yet elatedly anticipating the arrival of the day. It is going to be a good day, I know.

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-11-11T11:26:00.000+08:00

The kids were out asking trick or treat as early as 5 o'clock. I was still staring at my laptop screen by the living room window, surprised to see a little ghost dashing across the small field in front of my house with its orange Halloween basket. So, my first Halloween in the USA started at 5pm with myself trying to portray as a devil in red.

Invitation for trick or treat

The first kid came knocking at my door was a little felix with her parents. Before I could look at her eyes, she exclaimed in joy, "Trick or treat?". I extended the bowl with assorted tricks for her. She was politely taking one or two pieces of chocolats out of the bowl, then she said "Thank you" without the parents reminding her at the background. Yes, the kids are exceptionally well mannered in the Upstate New York. Of course, I sometime suspect the sincerity behind these routine gestures, but the formality is pleasant when the doubt is placed aside.

Anyway, Happy Belated Halloween & 11.11.11 (Everyone said happy 11.11.11 on the Facebook, but I would say happy everyday because everyday is a blessing)! ^.^

Slide.com is closing down

2011-11-11T09:57:00.001+08:00

The site that holds all the photo for my blog are closing down.

Google bought over the company last year around summer time. The rumour was saying that Google was trying to buy Slide's technology to obtain additional bullets to go against Mark Zuckerberg. May be Google wants the technology to be integrated into their hardly roaring Google+. I dunno. Whatever it is, closing down slide.com means big migration for me. No cool, -1.

Pumped up kids

2011-11-10T23:13:00.003+08:00

My old bones bounce on my car seat when this song is on air. My bewildered brain likey this.

Roast: Bridesmaid Speech for Katie

2011-11-10T13:06:00.000+08:00

My second toastmaster speech in the USA. It is an imaginary speech that I will give to Katie on her wedding night, too bad that I could not go back in time for her wedding.

XXXX

Hello, everybody. For those who don't know me, my name is Kerry. I am Katie's maid of honor.

Looking around the room, I have seen many smiling faces, who are happy to be here to celebrate the union of Keng Kar and Katie or happy that there is free flow of alcohol tonight. (I do not know)

Katie and I have known each other ever since high school. Being best friends for 15 years is a blessing for both of us, but it also bothers Katie tonight. Though she did not tell me personally, I believe she has asked our friends to keep an eye on my alcohol intake. She knows that when I am drunk, I would embarrass myself by repeating unnecessary stories related to her.

Katie, being thoughtful has been your trademark. Thanks for always taking care of me. I can't help myself to feel like returning your many years of kindness tonight. So, I decided not to talk about the good looking man in our radar, our crazy girl night-outs and stupid stories about exes. Then, I realized there is nothing left for me to talk about until I had a few glasses of vodka (pause) yesterday night. (joke aside)

After the vodka, I have scribbled down some words for you, Keng Kar. It is the proper feeding and caring tips of Miss Katie Heng.

Number one - when she is in the kitchen slapping the cabinet doors and swinging the refrigerator door, it means she is hungrily lost. There are three words to make all of these stop. That is McDonald French Fries. It is her favourite. She craves for it all the time.

The second thing you must know - Katie sleeps as early as a baby. Unless the house is on fire, Katie should be on bed by 11pm, else you are held responsible in making nose plugs for her running nose the next morning.

The most important thing of all is to love her, to pamper her and don’t ever forget her birthday. Getting a gift for her is just a piece of cake. You just have to count all the colours of the plain tanks in the cupboard, get the missing colour in size 0 and you should be able to stay in this relationship for the next 50 years. If she decided to stop her tank top collections, don’t panic. Work harder, earn more money. Tiffany and co. is always Katie’s best friend.

Katie, Keng Kar, I know the past few weeks has been stressful for you. (Believe me, I know. You don’t hold special title in a wedding for no reason.) But, when you look back many years down the road, you most likely forget the food you are eating or the flower displays right now. The only memory you should carry with you is you are surrounded by family and friends, who love you and bless your wedding.

Keng Kar, would you please place your hand on top of Katie’s hand now. (There is a point of this. I will get to it soon.) Keng Kar, please remember this moment because this is probably the last time she will allow you to have the upper-hand. Congratulation, my dear friends. Let’s toast for the bride and groom.

Another way to look at books

2011-11-09T11:01:00.000+08:00

zenhabits re-enter

2011-11-08T05:32:00.008+08:00

Habitually, I spent my little intervals in between work to read. I admit it is a geeky way to chill.

For the past 6 months, when I stopped working in front of a computer, I read less daily compared to my past five years. I knew very little about the world during my 6 months of "vacation" and the world continued its course not knowing too much about me, especially my blog writings were reduced due to the lacking of brain stimulants.

As I am starting to work in front of the computer again, many sites from good Penang days are finding their ways back to fill up my intervals. Zen Habits has always served as my lavender in the crazily time pressing moments. I admire how one is able to concentrate on just one thing while everything out of the focus becoming miscellany, fading in the background and not worth mentioning.

‘Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Random sunny day

2011-11-05T00:47:00.006+08:00

When I lifted my head away from my computer, I was found gazing at this beautiful view. So, they said a sunny day is a happy day. Are they saying one of the days like today? ^.^

First snow of 2011

2011-10-28T12:32:00.008+08:00

Finally, Donkoi and I were standing at the same spot on this revolving globe as the first snow of the year was occurring at the Upstate New York.

The first time I have seen the first snow of the year was at Seoul, Korea. As the weather forecast indicated the possibility of the first snowing day during the three days we were in the city, everyone in our tour group had been anticipating for it to happen. It finally happened as we were starting to have breakfast at the ski resort. A lady observed the white feather slowly falling down. She was definitely excited. She screamed, "It snowed. It snowed." Then, some of the group tour members just ran outdoor right away leaving behind the nicely laid sausages and eggs. As of my family, we sped up our breakfast eating. By the time we were outside, the snow was still falling. Only then I realized that it was difficult to capture the snow in the photo under the broad day light.

After our ski trip, we were going downhill on a snowy road. The bus driver was very cautious in his driving. At one point, he stopped the bus and went down to pour salt. Pour salt?! For the first timer in snow, I was curious what it was for. It was not until my second snow encounter that I knew snow could be very beautifully dangerous, just like a woman. :-D

I started typing this on the first snow day here. However, I typed slower than the weather changes here. The first snow trace disappeared in a sunny Friday evening. On Saturday, the temperature just continued to stay low and snow started falling again for at least 12 hours. I stopped counting the hours because I had a nice long sleep together with my Donkoi in this cold weather.

6 years later, I was putting on the same jeans and turtleneck sweater from my first snow at Korea - trying to hold the same pose like 2005. How do I do? :-P

Snow is coming

2011-10-27T09:34:00.006+08:00

The temperature is dropping drastically. We have to turn on our heater system whenever we are at home. The day is getting shorter. There is no more outdoor jogging for me because I am still at my working hour when the sky slowly becoming dark. So, fall is really over? My eyes were still remembering the picturesque fall foliage at Lake Placid.

Last weekend, Donkoi and I shopped for our winter clothing at the Old Navy and H&M after his company on-site family day. We spent quite a big amount to add more knit layers, mostly for me, who is not a big fan of cold weather. A moment before I started typing this post, I just put in an order for a down jacket from the Eddie Bauer. A few weeks of household fees went down in that purchase. Cold weather is burning a big hole in our pocket. Yucks!

our photo with Donkoi's colleague during the family day

The worst part is I am hungry all day long because of the weather. I am eating tidbits on and off throughout the day I am working at home. If I continued eating excessively in this winter season, I think my worry of not able to fit into my White in the coming January might become a reality. You can tell that I am anxiously wanting to stop, but I am hopelessly addicted to eating in this cold weather. The satisfaction is really awesomely warm and fuzzy like hugging a fluffy soft toy. :-P

Oh, our usual news channel is upgraded to HD. With the new clarity in the display, the animated weather icon indicated the possibility of rain and snow on tomorrow night. First snow of 2011...

Last bit of heat 2011

2011-10-10T23:26:00.005+08:00

Since the weather forecast was indicating a good weather for the weekend, Donkoi and I went on a road trip to Lake Placid with his fellow colleagues from Singapore. The weather was awesomely warm, so that gave me a valid reason to unwrap the new flowery blouse, which was supposed to be reserved for my sister. When she granted me the permission to wear the blouse first in our last e-mail exchange, I wasn't hopeful to put it in New York before going home next January because the temperature had been around 15 degree Celsius for the past few weeks. Surprisingly, yesterday was awesomely warm that a thin layer of shirt was sufficient under the sun! Tada, I am wearing this nice chiffon top! B-)

State Farm 9/11 Commercial

2011-09-26T20:55:00.001+08:00

I love NYC. :-)

The weather in Malaysia

2011-09-26T20:41:00.002+08:00

My first Toastmasters speech in USA. :)

Not many people in USA know about Malaysia. So, my speech was considered "informative" to them. Though we don't really talk about weather back in Malaysia, weather is a big hit here. If you don't know what is a safe topic to talk to any strangers, you just need to talk about the weather because everyone share the same thought about the temperature and the rain.

XXX

For many years, people outside of Malaysia thought that Malaysians live on trees. So the question here, do we really live on trees? Yes, I live on a tree in Malaysia.

Our tree houses in the city are at least 50 feet tall. Usually, a few hundreds of people live inside a concrete tree together. In the middle of the trunk, there is always a pulley system, which carries us up and down of the tree because we hate sweating. As the average temperature in the country is at the high 80, our tree house is always equipped with many ceiling fans and air conditioners. Then, what happened when we are outside of the house? Our car, our workplace, our restaurants and our malls have air conditioning 247. Most of the time, Malaysians try to avoid the sun as much as possible, especially the ladies because being fair is the trend in Malaysia. For me, it is really difficult to fight against the genetic inheritance. I just have to accept the fact that I would never transform like Micheal Jackson.

Thus, no ordinary Malaysian will exclaim in joy for a sunny day like my counterpart from San Jose. His name is Antoine. Habitually, Antoine and his fellow colleagues enjoyed taking a stroll around the San Jose company compound after lunch. So, when Antoine came visiting us at Malaysia three years ago, he could not resist the so-called beautiful weather. He insisted to take a walk outdoor in the noon even though no one was too keen to accompany him. After five minutes, Antoine came through the door. The back of his shirt was soaked with sweat. He said to us, “I have never appreciated the air conditioner as much as I do now. Phew.” Later on, someone must have informed Antoine that the average humidity level of Malaysia is about 90% because I have never seen him leaving his table after lunch anymore.

Besides the high temperature and high humidity, Malaysia also has high rainfall. The average rainfall is approximately 120 inches per year. As the heavy rain occurs frequently, we always go everywhere with umbrellas at the reach of our hands. When Antoine was inside my car, he saw a few of my golf umbrellas. So, he commented, “How fun it is to live in a country that you can do golf all year long!” Right after his comment, we were dumbfounded. 4 out of the 4 Malaysians inside the car have never played golf before. Golf is an exclusive game only for the rich among the riches in Malaysia. But, Antoine did not seem to notice the silent moment. He went on saying, “For the weather here, it is essential to play golf under these umbrellas.” Then, everyone just burst out laughing for half a minute. Of course, we did explain to him the purpose of the umbrellas. We just love the huge coverage of the umbrella under the rain.

There is really no distinctive seasons in Malaysia. There are certain months in the year that we get more rainfall due to the South-west and North-east monsoons. We normally claim those periods of the year as the raining seasons. However, Malaysians never let the weather impact their life by staying prepared all the time. During one of the weekends in his visit, Antoine went for a hiking with us. None of the locals checked the weather forecast. Halfway towards the peak, the sky started pouring. Everyone just pulled out their rain ponchos, except Antoine because the weather forecast told Antoine that it should be a sunny day.

Andy Wang pants on fire

2011-09-10T02:45:00.007+08:00

From Slide Album: 201101StoryBoard

In Andy Wang interview with Wedding Guide Asia, he mentioned that crafting a story of two hearts, two souls united as one, forever and ever is such joyous work. He certainly has helped us to realize that our union is blessed with our families and our friends because at the time he decided to throw us off his bus after using us, our families and our friends stand by us just like the day we first submitted our video.

Of course, to hear such statement from him after he had mistreated our wedding, I cursed his hypocrisy. A sensitive individual should know not to fool any happy couple for their pure intention to find a reliable professional to define their perfect picture moment. A man holds no integrity in his own word is NOT romantic at all. Stop misusing any word before referring to the dictionary, Andy Wang. Stop telling lies to your clients that you are able to capture the romantic moment because you are such a perfect jerk for playing us out.

Andy Wang Cinematography Negative Review

2011-09-09T22:55:00.021+08:00

During my last entry, I was anticipating the possibility of winning a videography package for our wedding. As we were the only couple submitting for the contest up till the closing date, Donkoi and I were really curious whether the organizer might cancel the contest. On 7th of September, we finally got a positive feedback from the Andy Wang Cinematography that we won the contest grand prize.

We were at cloud nine. As they left us a message on their fan page to contact them, I responded as captured below.

It was so obvious that they have viewed our video, known about our big day at this point when they sent us the following e-mail. After all, there is only one submission on the page. How busy could they be? But, at the moment when I received this e-mail, I was so happily giving out all of our wedding details. Whoever that is getting married or is married can imagine how excited I was to be assured by professional videography team that our most precious memory is going to stay with us forever!

Then, with less than 50 in-compassionate words, they rejected us totally by telling us that they are going outstation on 27th of January 2012. I seriously have no idea what to reply. Suddenly, I felt the hollow inside me. It felt as if I started travelling down the tunnel with a light at the other end of the tunnel, but the light was getting weaker and further away every little steps I moved forward. I should really gave up and return to the starting point? At the same time, I was still clinging on with the hope of getting a follow-up mail from Andy Wang's team. 1 hour and 6 minutes, 4 hours, 7 hours and 31 minutes...14 hours and 22 minutes later, I have calmed myself down and hoped to deal with them diplomatically. I corresponded as below.

It took Donkoi and I 862 minutes to gather our thought to trigger a win-win discussion. It only took Andy Wang's team 6 minutes to diminish the possibility of further discussion.

When I was still thinking of rekindling the possibility of having them to do something for us, Donkoi said to me, "There is no point having a crew, which doesn't truthfully share the joy of our wedding." With his exceptional language capability, he had came out with the most elegant rejection to Andy Wang's team.

When I reflected on the incident, I just slowly came to my logic that they might not have wanted to make it to our wedding at the very beginning of the contest. So, the possibilities of their situations should be one of the followings.

1. They already have a confirmed appointment by 26th of August itself (the day I submitted our video). But, they choose not to disclose that information to me, so we could help to build up his fan base.
2. They confirmed a deal in between 26th of August to 31st of August, without the anticipation of our winning though we were the only participant at the time.
3. They received the confirmed appointment after 31st of August (closing date). Oh, my god!

4. They did not have any confirmed appointment. The contest did not reach out to their targeted audience. Cost did not justify the publicity they were getting. OH, MY HOLLY GOD!

Whatever the situation the team was in, it did not justify their action against us. From consumer standpoint, Donkoi and I felt upset with their lack of accountability and ownership of their contest campaign. A few of our friends acted faster than us. They hammered their fan page with cute little messages. This certainly had caused the team to erase our contest entry, result announcement, and lock down their fan page comment capability.

Throughout the incident, I wasn't dramatic at all because I had experienced quite an amount of sh*t throughout my life. This is just another typical manner of someone failed to keep up to his promise. Not a big deal after all. I wasn't even angry when I went to bed yesterday after sending out our rejection. However, Andy Wang's team had started the fire when they deleted items from their fan page, which did not belong to them, especially those message threads my family and friends wrote in order to support our entry and to celebrate our winning. What made them mighty dare to remove the blessings for us permanently? And, when they decided to do this on a really special date, they were just headless whose birthday they were messing with. Have they not heard a famous Chinese proverb - Not only can water float a boat, it can sink the boat also.

Since someone messed up my happy birthday, may I ask for a favour from you to make up the day for me? Yes, two consecutive post about Andy Wang Cinematography. The team got a lot of "FREE" publicity from me! :-)

1. If you "Like" Andy Wang Cinematography’s Facebook fan page, click Unlike (bottom left of page, on the side bar) and do (3).

2. If you never "Like" Andy Wang Cinematography’s Facebook fan page, do (3).

3. Go to the Reviews page (left of page under Andy Wang Cinematography logo) and Rate 1 (ONE) STAR.

4. Tell people how they decided to disappoint us after we won the contest with the support from our families and friends. (How great they are?!)

5. Share your review with all your friends (important) from all over Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Bali, Cambodia and Paris.

6. You may invite your friends or family to click "Like" on your review.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-29T12:12:00.005+08:00

We usually do our weekly stock-up from Walmart on Sunday. However, with the hurricane visiting us during the weekend, we went to Walmart earlier to do our weekly shopping on Friday night. As we walked in with our cart, we saw a big crowd, which was not usually seen at this late hours. The candle row was crowded with families. A lot of people were on their cells to discuss with someone else on what they should purchase in preparation for the event. Besides, the bread shelf was 95% empty! Luckily, we got the last loaf of the white bread on the shelf, else we might die of starvation in this storm?!

Our save the date video

2011-08-26T23:51:00.006+08:00

We saw this competition notice from Andy Wang Cinematography during the beginning of the month. Both of us were keen to participate in it. Days just went by, but the motivation never came by. We were just too caught up with the other summer activities and (of course) our own laziness.

Last weekend, it was finally the moment of doing it or forgetting about it because we need to provide some buffered time for our friends and family to Like our video after the upload before 31st of August. However, the more crucial task always happens at the busiest time of your life. On Saturday, we had to get our baby Mazda to go through its first maintenance routine as well as to find out the root cause of the frequently flattening rear wheel. As expected the mechanics were really busy during the weekend, we waited for almost 4 hours, I read nearly 100 pages of Lee Kuan Yew::Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going. After a good late lunch at Latham, we went to Lowe's for the first time to try to look for a door mat in preparation for the rain in the fall and the snow in the winter. After all the waiting and walking, we were really exhausted. Of course, the thought of not doing this video did pop up in our heads, especially Donkoi, who has worked diligently for the past few weeks during weekdays and weekends.

We then decided to dedicate our Sunday to see whether we could come up with anything. After a lazy Sunday morning and brunch, we sat down to brainstorm on a white paper - what are the intended messages to convey and how to embed the messages in the story. At the same time, we also decided on the video editing software and installed some iPhone apps to try out the video recording.

By then, it was already 3:00pm. We started our in-house fashion show to decide on our outfit, followed by ironing clothes, make up, hairdos, etc. You know, it is just every little things to make one looks fabulous.

By the time we were ready for our first shooting, it was closed to 5pm. We started off doing some static photo indoor. We have quite a number shots with cooking spatulas, which we ended ditching aside because the effect was not as good as we thought it would be. Then, we had a few photos with props, which we used in the video. I love the one, which Donkoi was holding our big chopping knife (from the Penang Jalan Perak Market) against our poor Pinky. Also, I love the last photo available in our video, whereby Donkoi creatively used the hanger to act as a cupid shooting out a love arrow to me. As we did not have any expensive tripod, which was able to hold the weight of a DSLR with flash, we made used of our iron board to give us the height to take our couple photo. Smart? (^-^)

After the indoor photo, we proceeded to the outdoor video shooting. The video did not turn up as vibrant. The weather was gloomy. It was drizzling when we were recording them. We went home at around 7:30pm with hungry stomachs. Donkoi went off to prepare the dinner while I started to offload all the photos and videos to the computer.

We tried to stitch all the materials into place that night itself. However, the story line just looked so awkward. Since our brains were shutting down, we decided to continue it again later in the week. We were so caught up with things to do and earthquake to cope (not as if it matters, just mention it for fun) during Monday till Wednesday. We kick started our engine again on Wednesday night. The video was starting to look more polished, but some essences were still missing. So, we went on the last few iterations yesterday night to fine tune it to describe our idea better. Voila, our sampat save the date video was ready for the competition. :-D

So, what is next? Please support us by doing the following, thanks. By the way, my uncle told me that the first step was very crucial because if you did not like the fan page, you would never be able to like my video. B-)

Step 1: Go to http://www.facebook.com/andywang.com.my and LIKE the page
Step 2: Look for the "Save the Date" video from HuiLeang Ong and watch it
Step 3: Just LIKE our video if it made you smile even the slightest
Step 4: Just LIKE it even if you don't like it
Step 5: Ask more ppl to LIKE it so that we can win a free wedding videography package.

Soup #1

2011-08-26T08:50:00.005+08:00

It is unbelievable that I still able to cook one or two cuisines, which Donkoi have never eaten before at Malaysia. Thanks to my mother for a wide variation of food that she has cooked me throughout the years. I miss her now, sob-sob. :-\

On Monday, I surprised Donkoi with this bitter gourd soup. Basically, I cut the bitter gourd to around 1 inch thick, stuffed the minced pork in the hole, then, put them into the boiling water with carrot. I used to eat this with tang hun at home last time. As we did not have this at home, I used the thick bihun instead. The soup was bitter sweet. Since it is getting colder at night here, having clear soup is always a blessing! :)

I surprised Donkoi with cabbage soup yesterday night. He liked it so much that he took an extra bowl after the dinner. As we did not finish a potful of the cabbage soup yesterday night, he heated it up to serve as his breakfast. If I knew earlier that he would be fond of this, I would not have to crack my head everyday just to come out with more complicated cuisines. It seems to me that it is not too difficult to get to a man's stomach after all. Muahaha. :-D

African Daisy bloom #2

2011-08-26T08:40:00.005+08:00

Look, Look, the second flower is blossoming now. This flower would be the only flower from this pot that experienced 5.8 earthquake shock and hurricane Irene, I think. Anyway, I did not feel the ground movement because I was taking my NY driving test while it happened. Of course, anyone is welcomed to take a ride with this legalized driver in NY now. :-)

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks 2011

2011-08-20T10:35:00.003+08:00

After reading a few thread in forum, I have successfully unload this ~25 min (1.85G) video off my iPhone. YES!

The crazy me tried to upload this video from my iPhone directly to Youtube on the night itself. Guess what have happened? My iPhone went on strike mode aka "hang" mode for close to 30 minutes. I was in fear of losing many polarized photos I had from the trip as well as this 25 min firework clip. Seriously, my hands were numb by positioning the phone to film the action from the 2 branches of fireworks in front of me. When my iPhone finally came back alive, I reconciled with my baby and promised not to force it to do something beyond its limit so long I remembered this 4th of July's tantrum.

I tried to offload the clip to my PC the old school copy and paste method. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I attempted, I kept getting a 0byte movie file on my PC. I was screaming furiously at the top of my lungs at the N times I tried. But, like I promised to my baby, as long as the 4th of July's tantrum was vivid in my mind, I would not try something foolish again. Slowly, the excitement to share this amazingly awesome firework faded away with the more counts of attempts.

This unfinished task was finally becoming the priority again because I intended to clear up my phone for more summer - fall photos in iPhone. So, I followed this instruction.

The photos and video files are stored in 'Backup' folder ("C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ (for win xp)) just before iphone is sync'ed with itunes program. So, after you sync it, find the backup folder, try sorting the files according to size, and find the big files which should be the video files. Then copy them to your folder & rename them to .mov extension.

Voila, it works!!! Finally, the 1.85G video was moved from my phone to my PC. Then, the Youtube took nearly 5 hours to upload this video. What is so wonderful about this video? You have a chance to see 6 massive explosions happened altogether on the Hudson River with Hokkien narration from both Penang-lang, Donkoi and I. By the way, this fireworks is the biggest annual fireworks performance in the USA. May be you should drag to the ending highlight if you don't have the time to sit down to watch this video. :-)

aabus

2011-08-11T00:55:00.005+08:00

aabus is just like the USA current credit rating - s*cks! The name has given the quality rating away. We just did not see it at the beginning.

Both Donkoi and I did not fond of the bus service. It is like a China village bus for the backpackers in the Big Apple. The bus cleanliness probably scored 3/5. However, if you sit close to the toilet at the back, you would not be happy at all. Besides, the bus driver cleared his throat like a typical Chinese man and spit on the floor while we were waiting to get on the bus. Horrifying!!!

Though Donkoi and I bought our return tickets on-line, we were not given the priority to go on the bus compared to those passengers, who pushed to race up to the bus and purchased the ticket on the spot. At the end of the day, both of us actually did not sit side-by-side because we were too cultured waiting to go on the bus in patience. :-\

We are not likely to take it again even though it is the cheapest among other public transportations from the Capital Region. We are thinking of trying these two services the next time we travel: Megabus or Amtrak. The next Big Apple rock and roll is on 10th of September for the US Open Men's Final. Muahaha. :)

CDTA bus from Clifton Park to Saratoga Springs

2011-08-11T00:30:00.005+08:00

Found out about the bus system which took more than 1 hour to travel to Saratoga Springs from Clifton Park. As the horse race track is an on-going event at Saratoga Springs, the chance to avoid the downtown with your own vehicle might seems like a good idea! The other routes info can be obtained from Capital District Transportation Authority website. :)

Bersih 2.0 in NYC #2

2011-08-11T00:09:00.002+08:00

Donkoi is in the video! Roll to 4:26 to see him! :)

African Daisy bloom #1

2011-07-29T01:45:00.004+08:00

I purchased a pot of African Daisy with two full bloom flowers from the farmer market at Saratoga Springs. After two weeks, both of the flowers were fully mature. Their petals slowly dried. Some of the petals dropped on the floor while some of the petals hung on the stem, which I still did not cut off.

Day after day, I water the plant with the water I wash my vegetable. Last weekend, a new flower was observed! I am excited! This is my first success case in growing a flower! Hopefully, I can share more good news later. :)

709, I am part of the history

2011-07-13T05:19:00.007+08:00

Story of mine from NYC

On the 9th of July, the alarm clock went off at 5:15am. Though my body was exhausted, my mind was fresh. I put on my yellow T-shirt and packed my yellow hair accessories. While waiting for Mr Chia's Murano to go to Bersih 2.0 in NYC, I checked the Bersih 2.0 rally progress to see if any one person had made it to the Stadium Merdeka after I went to bed at 2am. As my expectation, no one made it, except the police force. I was not disappointed by a bit, especially when I saw a photo of my friends at Bersih 2.0 in Melbourne. Neither pictures nor articles from Kuala Lumpur were widely available at 6 o'clock Malaysia Evening Time, but I could visualize the obstacles to suppress the Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur by reading the simplified version of Malaysia Kini.

At around 6:45am, Mr Chia came to fetch Donkoi and I together with his housemates, Mr and Mrs Wong. After 3 hours, we arrived at the Manhattan city. When we were looking for a street parking near to the General Consulate of Malaysia, we saw one or two people in yellow walking quietly towards the end of East 43rd Street. "Were they going there as well?". We discussed inside the car. We started to imagine how many people are going to attend the event.

After 25 minutes of guessing game inside the car, we finally found a spot and parked our car safely. When we reached the destination, we were welcomed by our fellow Malaysians. There were Malays, Chinese and Indians among us. There were senior citizens and young kids among us. There were all walks of professions among us. However, the differences were invisible that day because all of us assembled for a more important cause - a fair and clean election system for Malaysia. Though the majority of the attendees were Malaysians, there were a few non-Malaysian friends coming in to support our cause too. One person, one vote - the idea is just not too difficult to grasp, right?

We started our peaceful rally right at the opposite of the General Consulate of Malaysia under the observation of detective Frank, the free-lance reporters, the East 43rd Street pedestrians and the assigned spies from the government/UMNO. By 11:30am, some motivated individuals carried the large horizontal banner, which was prepared by the organizing committee, started to march to Ralph Bunche Park. Besides the big banner, everyone displayed their own posters. There was one poster expressing exactly why I was there - We love, hence, we care. There was no complicated motive, such as money, power or political reason, as some might claimed that I had as a rally participant.

Once we were at Ralph Bunche Park, we were just right opposite of the United Nations with Detective Frank observing us from afar, allowing us the liberty to do our peaceful rally. We stood along the 1st Avenue with our banner and posters, facing to the United Nations as well as the passing traffics. "Malaysians for fair and clean elections" was a simple message attracting supports from the people. At least a dozen buses of tourists said hello to us. The well-known yellow taxis and cars gave us honks to support our cause, thanks to Donkoi's spontaneous idea to write a poster of "Honk if you support". The cyclists rang their bells as a sign of support too. In addition to the overwhelmed supports from the vehicles, the walking tourists and pedestrians stopped to take photo with us or take our brochures to understand our pledge. At the same time, the attended Malaysians took the opportunities to communicate out their wishes for our country on the freedom of speech platform provided in the Ralph Bunche Park.

We walked back to the General Consulate of Malaysia after an hour of sunbathing. In front of the Malaysia oversea office, we sang our National Anthem again with all of our heart, wishing for the long live of our king and our country. Before a press interview, we ended our peaceful rally with a 30-second of silence for all the Bersih 2.0 Kuala Lumpur detainees. Majority of us then traveled to the Chinatown for a lunch together using the subway from the Grand Central. What a good way to put a perfect full stop to the event. :)

After thought from the event

This would be my third time repeating myself. I am doubtful that any of the demands from the Bersih 2.0 are going to happen with our present government. Even with the high turnout of Malaysians at Kuala Lumpur and the other 30 cities in the world, the government is still stubbornly rejecting the reality publicly. But, they are more likely having nightmares every nights now. It is my pleasure to contribute to the statistic to instill the fear in them. The ridiculously panic statements in the press are the best daily laughing stock. I feel the exhilaration of toying the men older than me, richer than me and more powerful than me. High 5, all the Bersih 2.0 members!

Though the Bersih 2.0 demands are yet to be fulfilled in the future, when thousands of people believe in the same ideology, the emotional joy is beyond the word descriptions. The togetherness with the fellow Malaysians from the rally assured me that the Malaysians had broken free from the imaginary enemy, which was constantly plotted as part of the government tactics in dividing the Malaysians. The politicians could insist on emphasizing our differences, but we are well aware that all of us share the same root.

After seeing the violent oppression against the peaceful rally, many of us can't wait to topple this feudalistic government, who clings on the power to deny our basic human rights. The Bersih 2.0 effect is gradually subsiding. But, we must not forget how the Malaysians are being treated on 9th of July. In the incoming election, we shall use the one vote in our hand wisely. Let's us vote to elect our own government! Let's us show them what the new generation really wants!

Bersih 2.0 in NYC

2011-07-08T22:45:00.004+08:00

The pledge has gained international concern. Even the Bersih believers failed to arrive at the Merdeka Stadium tomorrow, the message is loud and clear now. My salutation to all the Bersih fighters in Malaysia.

Over here in NYC, I feel thankful that there are a few patriotic heroes among the Malaysians. We are going to have a peaceful walk from General Consulate of Malaysia to Ralph Bunche Park (across of United Nations). The organizer has contacted NYPD regarding the walk. The officer is helpful to guide us in planning the route and promise us a walk with no worries. Finally, I am experiencing the true meaning of "freedom of speech"! ^.^

As I mentioned before, I do not pin high hope in the outcome of the Bersih 2.0 rally. But, I believe the following message has already been conveyed - the people power has to be taken seriously. The message is for our government, our Sultans, our police force and our EC. If they continued to be part of the dirty politics, they are responsible for the tarnish of Malaysia democracy system.

Lastly, I must say, "Really, Khairy?!". I do not believe that his mentality is so low, but he is rather manipulative of the situation. In order to raise his popularity in this corrupted party and ensure his benefits from the internal business, he has chosen to be part of the dark side. I must say this is a road with no return - he has killed his own dignity for the dirty money. So, what is the big deal of an Oxford Graduate? You are just another ordinary hypocrite, after all.

Bersih 2.0

2011-07-01T23:14:00.014+08:00

Let's discuss about the video...

Should these 14 fellows be arrested according to Laws of Malaysia?

YES, please refer to the UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLIES :: 83. A Magistrate, gazetted police officer, police officer not below the rank of Inspector or officer in charge of a police station may command any unlawful assembly or any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace to disperse,and it shall thereupon be the duty of the members of the assembly to disperse accordingly.

Why Mr Chang, Miss Leong and 12 others are so stupid to think they are above the law when the law states only Mr Chang, Miss Leong, Ali, Ah Kau and Muthu are allowed to assemble?

Probably they did not quite follow the six-year brainchild of Tun Dr Mahathir - Membaca, Menulis and Mengira. I believe they are too old to be "taught" to display violent action in the public by our ex-Minister of Education (Dato' Seri Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein).

Why Mr Chang, Miss Leong and 12 others fight to reject the police station invitation?

Who wants to be the next Teoh Beng Hock?!

Did the police officers aware of the law?

NO, please allow me to comment on them - Tau makan, tau kopi, tau pangsai, but tak tau the correct law of conduct. They should immediately arrest the 14 clean yellow bees. What is the point of having this 12-minute of argument? Because they are seeking their little excitement out of the boring goyang kaki routine at police station everyday?!

Should the police officers arrest the banner?

I do not know. If there is no information regarding the rally on the banner, I believe the banner is innocent.

Bersih == Rally?

Again, the police officers are living their days by makan, kopi and pangsai. In fact, Bersih is in line with our previous Prime Minster's vision when he was elected. It is just a wishing list from the Malaysians. It has nothing to do with a rally. Of course, we are well informed that a rally is on the way to happen to express the majority demands. I can only say "majority" because Perkasa and UMNO Youth are not with us this time. No matter of the obstacles, it is going to happen because there are no better way to love the country than to see the long term sustainability of the country by having transparency and fair system.

Should any of them be cuffed (especially when he was holding a Malaysia flag, it is a true hilariousness)?

NO, because I do not feel these bees are displaying any violent resistance, such as swinging their fists. I am really pissed when the police force humiliates anyone by misusing their power. Please refer to the UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLIES :: 84. If any unlawful assembly is commanded to disperse under section 83 or under section 5 of the Public Order (Preservation) Act 1958 [Act 296], and does not disperse, or if, without having been commanded to disperse, it conducts itself in such a manner as to show a determination not to disperse, any police officer, any member of the armed forces or any other person acting in aid of a police officer or member of the armed forces may do all things necessary for dispersing the persons so continuing assembled and for apprehending them or any of them, and, if any person makes resistance, may use such force as is reasonably necessary for overcoming resistance and shall not be liable in any criminal or civil proceedings for having by the use of such force caused harm or death to any person or damage to any property.

My thought...

Will Bersih really membersihkan Malaysia right away?

In my dream and in your dream. But, it is crucial to let the electoral roll and Yang Di-Pertuan Agong aware that Malaysians are SERIOUSLY thinking they are failing to execute their social responsibility. After all, we pay for their makan, kopi and pangsai, so, we deserve our total right to demand for their quality in service. Don't we?!

Should we participate in the activities to support and promote Bersih?

If the demands are in line with your own vision, the answer should be yes. For kiasi people with Facebook account, minimum effort would be click "Like" at the Bersih 2.0 Facebook page or wear a Bersih PicBadges. For kiasi people with free time on election day, you can legally be a volunteer as the Polling/Counting Agent during the next election. For less kiasi people, you can drive to KL and enjoy the man made rain party. For less kiasi people but currently not in the country, peaceful rallies are available in quite a few major cities in the world. [San Francisco/Los Angeles/New York/Washington DC/Australia(Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide & Bisbane)/Osaka/UK/Korea/Taiwan/Singapore/Paris/New Zealand/Hong Kong/Canada]

Am I the less kiasi people going to NYC for the rally?

Maybe. There are three of us contemplating in going to NYC from Albany by bus on Saturday morning, but we are going to miss the start time of the event. Thus, I am hoping to have more companion, then, we could share out the cost in driving to NYC and arrive on time. :)

Macy's 4th of July Firework

2011-07-01T11:18:00.004+08:00

Yes, I am heading to NYC for 4th of July celebration. After many nights of result-less discussions, Donkoi and I finally decided to spend our Independence Day holiday at the city. This would be my third time in NYC, but I am still exhilarating to explore the city again. Manhattan, 5th Avenue, Wall Street, Chelsea... trigger happy molecules inside of me!

I used priceline.com to book our 2 night hotel stay. Donkoi had been using this website for many times. Though he is the existing expert at home, he assigned the task to his shaking-leg house maker to handle it. After a week of battle to get the cheapest deal, I could claim that I am the second expert at home to handle hotel bookings now. As a smart consumer, I did my comparison between all the famous hotel deal vendors, such as hotwire.com, hotels.com, kayak.com, etc. to realize that priceline.com is doing a better job this round. We are going to stay at Four Points for $110 per night + tax. Bravo!

Besides, we are not driving our car to the city this time because the parking is BLOODY EXPENSIVE! Never in my life (dollar-to-dollar) that I have paid $45.00 for any parking, except in NYC. After two trips of driving journeys to NYC, slightly malfunction GPS due to all the skyscrapers and BLOODY EXPENSIVE parking fee (emphasize again), we decided to try out the bus system from Albany. We are using aabus for our virgin coach experience in East Coast on Sunday. I am going to complain about the service if it s*cks; stay tuned. :)

At this point, our accommodation, transportation and schedule are ready. We are still lacking the details on the firework itself. I will try to read up on the subject on Saturday. The event introduction page displays the possibility of cool fun, don't you think so?! The biggest firework displays in America, hmmmph.

The Independence Day holiday has lifted everyone up. Donkoi is at the mood of pampering himself again. We are going to have dinner at Cheesecake Factory and watch Transformer tomorrow night! Time off for the home maker... :-D

Dia Frampton

2011-07-01T11:12:00.004+08:00

My favourite voice came 2% less than Javier Colon. Both are excellent singers, but I can't help being drawn to Dia Frampton because of her unique personality.

Lobster dinner #1

2011-06-24T12:33:00.007+08:00

It was $3.99 per pound at Price Chopper on Tuesday compared to $15 each at Rockport. Donkoi joined the crowd to get this big claw animal.

Donkoi ended up getting 3 creatures home.

We took pictures of them individually. Attempting to use the relative comparison to show the size of the lobsters.

Loster #1

Lobster #2 - trying to escape(!)

Lobster #3

Donkoi killed them, according to the internet instruction. Yes, we are inexperienced with this cooking ingredient. Lucky us for living in the age, whereby Google is providing endless information when our fingers type. :)

We cooked according to an on-line recipe. First, we prepared a pot of boiling water with salt. The lobsters were then thrown in the pot for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes...*tada*, the lobsters are ready! They turned up awesomely yummy. Heaven! :)

.Ohnomnomnomnom.

"Hmmph...I am a lobster!"

House Moving

2011-06-22T23:37:00.002+08:00

Currently in the schedule, the second house moving in 2011 is happening this weekend while third house moving in 2011 is going to happen right before my birthday. Many friends and family members are confused with my constant change of addresses at Upstate New York. It is so difficult to explain the whole scenario over the e-mail, msn, skype or even Facebook without providing the story from head to tail. So, here goes the full story. *tada*

The first house I am currently living is actually a temporary house, which is part of Donkoi relocation package. Staying at this temporary house is easy because the furniture, towels, bed sheets and the kitchenware are provided. All we did was carrying our luggages, moving in and sleeping on the provided bed. Besides all the provided household convenience, the house is snapped right at the edge of the Saratoga Springs downtown. As I emphasized many times in my previous entries, Saratoga Springs is a very popular vacation spot at Upstate New York. Since our residency is so near to the Saratoga Springs downtown, I have learned to like strolling leisurely at Broadway and Congress Park. I must say that we have our good time enjoying it.

After three months of staying at "vacation" house at Saratoga Springs, we have to move out of it because the temporary term is due. Though Donkoi had paid a booking fee for our next renting place, the building construction actually falls behind of the schedule for 8 weeks now. We talked to the renting property management and decided to let them put us up at the phase 1 of their renting property while waiting for our actual renting place in phase 3 to complete in construction. Yes, we could have looked around to find other renting place to cut out the hassles of house moving. However, the renting price around the area has increased significantly compared to Donkoi's current deal as more and more professionals are flocking in the area to support the new foundry. Therefore, we are going to move to our new temporary house this Saturday and expecting to move again later. By the way, I am going to unpack my shipment this Saturday at this new temporary house. Yeah, I will start wearing proper clothing for summer! :)

As the new renting place does not come along with anything, we are busy doing the shopping. Then, I realized even little thing in the kitchen can be quite expensive. In order to get the cheapest deal in town, I did quite a lot of research and price comparing. Hopefully, we can keep our budget under control. *Fingers Crossing*

Go West

2011-06-20T11:59:00.004+08:00

Anyone remember the movie "Milk"? The movie started with Harvey Milk meeting Scott Smith at one of the familiar New York Subway stations in the middle of the night. They brushed shoulders with each other at the staircase of the subway station. There was an exchanged glare between them. Then, they began having passionate kiss at the staircase. The next scene carried us to the morning after, whereby we could imagine the awesome one-night-stand they had. They continued to develop a steady same-sex relationship in the New York City. However, the nonacceptance of the society had driven them to make the decision to go west. The story of Harvey Milk had then transfer to the gay utopia of the USA, San Francisco.

Academically overqualified actor in Hollywood

On the way to his Permanent Head Damage

Due to such movies as well as the popular song, Go West, I have been assuming that California has legalized same-sex marriage. However, California is neither the first state to legalize same-sex marriage nor one out of the five states that legalize same-sex marriage. Currently, four out of the five states legalize same-sex marriage are from New England (East side of the USA). So, it should be "Go East"!

By the way, there is a possibility that the New York state will join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire to be the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage! It is a heated debate in Albany state assembly now. There are clips of the debate at the 10 o'clock news daily for the past one week. We heard voices of agreement as well as opinions from oppositions. The key point in the debate is how do you define marriage. Marriage should be between two mutual souls of any genders or it must be restrained by the centuries old formula - one male and one female? Personally, I feel that it is kind of cruel to deny the married status of two loving souls. Therefore, I wish the bill will be passed to reduce the stigma against same-sex lifelong commitment. After all, everyone has their own right to lead their life so long it does not interfere or do anyone else wrong. Don't you think so?!

97 to 54

2011-06-14T11:59:00.007+08:00

On last Friday morning, my family from home was asking me, "How does it feel to have the same weather as Malaysia in New York?" Apparently, the record high temperature in New York was an eye-catching headline in Malaysia. Donkoi and I went for our routine jogging that hot evening, but the weather was so hot that we failed to finish our usual laps.

Just when we were complaining about the hot and dry weather, the cloud decided to pay us a visit. Our Saturday was so cold that we turned in for a nap because the weather was so nice to hibernate. We had such a cozy live-in weekend as the weather continued its course. Ever since Saturday, the weather has not warmed up at all. I can't wait to have sunshine for our habanero plant and African daisy, which we got from the farmer's market. According to the "farmer", hotter the weather get, hotter the habanero will get. Mr Sun, please chase away your cloudy friend soon... :)

African Daisy before moving to the big pot

The soils were displayed at the carpark.

Donkoi just carried it away without paying it. Kidding.

Pots, sauces and natural garden soil.

Time to start house moving for our plants.

Walmart ran out of the spade in the store.

So, we wrapped our hands in Walmart plastic to transfer the soil to the pot. :)

All of the baby plants are in their big nourished cradles.

They are waiting for the sunshine now.

Maestro's at the Van Dam

2011-06-13T12:46:00.004+08:00

We were not celebrating anything that very night we went to Maestro's. It was just another ordinary weekday that Donkoi was feeling to spend. And, I played along by forgetting our tight monthly budget. Of course, I wear my one and only BCBGMAXAZRIA size 2 black dress in the closet. With the bless from God, I have not grown too much to fail to fit into the dress.

Before leaving home

The restaurant was really crowded when we arrived. We were being placed at a dark corner. Besides the seating, we were a bit offended when the waitress pointed at the house pour wine menu while we were browsing through the wine list and asking for the recommendation. However, we just brushed off the incident by teasing each other that we can't really hide our poor status under all the fancy attires. :) We ended selecting a bottle of lush and lavish Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was about $40. We enjoyed it to the last drop. It had been a while since we enjoyed a whole bottle of wine during our dinner.

Our wine from Napa Valley

While waiting for our dinner, we were served with sesame biscuits, beans, bread and butter. By the time our chilled melon avocado soup was on our table, we were no longer hungry anymore. There was a long wait in between the soup to our actual entree. We just sat in the dark discussing our incoming house moving. How romantic?! Hahaha. Anyway, the entrees were worth the patience because they were awesome. I loved my grilled hanger salad, especially the steak were prepared in medium rare. It fulfilled my craving for juicy beef! Donkoi's wild salmon went perfectly with the bed of black beluga lentils. After finishing both our entrees, we decided to pack our desserts home. We left the restaurant at around 10pm after burning a hole in Donkoi's wallet. Wink. ;)

Wonderful food, yummy.

Maestro's, I am coming

2011-06-10T05:23:00.004+08:00

Donkoi just said that he made a reservation at Maestro's at the Van Dam. When I first arrived at Saratoga Springs, this place was still under renovation. It did not appear to be interesting in any way. However, during the Skidmore graduation weekend, this place was swamped with eaters in their summer outfits. I am sampling it out tonight. Hopefully, my limited wardrobe is able to match the elegant ambiance of the restaurant. Are we celebrating anything? None that I am aware of. :)

33 degree celsius

2011-06-09T21:20:00.005+08:00

Yes, this is really summer. But, what I like about this temperature? We have more outdoor activities. You can actually walk around in lightweight clothes and eat ice-cream to treat the thirst rather than to act cool in the wind. Interestingly, I noticed the empty sunblock, insect repellent, lemonade and nail polisher shelves in supermarket! I deem this as seasonal behaviour as durian eaters emptying the durian shelves. Haha. :)

At the same time, Donkoi & I are preparing to move to an empty house at Clifton Park in one or two weeks time. We have one long list of things to purchase. The list is getting longer each day. I am researching on what is good to buy and what is the reasonable price of the item. Though we are going to spend a big amount, I am quite excited with all the purchase! I am like a kid on her toy shopping spree now.

Sunshine.Rockport.Boston

2011-05-28T13:27:00.006+08:00

Sunshine

Donkoi's German colleague complained to him that Upstate New York is crazy. The spring is too short, according to him. We had a few weeks of rain with gloomy sky to the extend that Donkoi and I decided to buy ourselves an umbrella. Suddenly, the cloud moved out and the temperature is shooting up. Upstate New York feels just like home now. It is so warm that everyone is wearing shorts, tanks and sandals. With my shipment is still at the warehouse, I was basically the most odd girl in town, whereby I am wearing a pair of short pants with a long shirt. It might be acceptable look in Malaysia, but it absolutely doesn't blend in here. However, I welcome the sunshine. We have more outdoor activities now, like visiting lakes & mountains. And, this is my first time experiencing packing winter clothing when the season is over. :)

Saratoga Springs at summer from the chart

Rockport & Boston, Massachusetts

Since the weather is awesomely good, it is easier for travelling too. With the Memorial holiday happening this weekend, Donkoi and I (& friends) are going to Rockport and Boston. Yeah, we went to do some shopping for the vacation this evening. I got myself a pair of the sandals because my cheap-po shoes from Malaysia have rubber coming out of their side. I got myself a hat, which we saw a month ago at H&M, but we found no reason to buy because the weather was still quite cold back then. We got sunblocks for face and body from Walmart after dropping off the recyclable items. Yes! Yes! Yes! Holiday in sun, at last. :)

Inferno Pizza, Saratoga Springs

2011-05-25T12:09:00.002+08:00

As we got a brochure of Inferno Pizzeria at our mailbox, we decided to give it a try on last Saturday night. We walked in the pizzeria to realize there were no decent table for dine-in. So, we just ordered a six-cut plain cheese pizza with 10 pieces of Buffalo chicken wings to take home at the counter. We paid $17.00+ to the cashier, but had no good idea whether we should tip the cashier or not. (At time of doubt, we always choose not to do it.) Then, we stood outside the pizzeria while waiting for the food to get ready. After around 10 minutes, the cashier came out from the shop with her bubbly smile to notify us the food was ready. So, she was not "offended" meaning no tips is really required?! :)

So, let's get back to the pizza... Even the heat of the food subsided when we reached home, the plain thin crust pizza was still cheesy-ly awesome. I never tasted such a good plain pizza at such a good deal price. We selected the second most spicy Buffalo chicken wings from Inferno. The spiciness was not really a challenge to me. I am definitely going to get the "Inferno" (most spicy) Buffalo chicken wings next time. Almost forget to mention it - I did like the chicken wings coming with a pack of green celeries and carrots. It lessened the guilt of having sinful indulgence of carbohydrate and meat. Hiak-hiak.

Char Koon, Saratoga Springs

2011-05-24T23:43:00.005+08:00

Char Koon is voted as the best Asian food restaurant at Saratoga Springs, New York by my "chef crew". Before I arrived at Saratoga Springs, the crew had adventured at many different Asian restaurants and found this hidden gems at Saratoga Springs downtown, along Broadway street. I have been there twice within two months. I was there with Donkoi the first time. My second trip was with all of our Malaysian friends when Han Keong visited me from Minnesota.

The restaurant chef is famous for his Thai cuisines, so, I ordered Thai food during my first visit. The green chicken curry was the best I ever had out of Thailand. The chicken was justly cook that I could feel the chicken tenderness when I bit it. The curry itself was cooked using fresh coconut instead of the usual packaged coconut. I believe that was the reason why the curry tasted exceptionally good.

Besides than the Thai cuisines, the Chinese dishes are quite well prepared too. During my second dining here, we had 8 people. We gave the authority to the restaurant boss to decide on our menu. Surprisingly, the Chinese dishes turned out beyond meeting our expectation. All the picky diners were at cloud nine that night. After the dinner, the boss gave us dessert samples, which were happily finished by the Malaysian boys. These poor souls have been missing good Chinese eateries since Saratoga Springs is 3 hours away from New York City. Of course, this is listed in our handbook as a must go "tourist spot" for all the visitors coming to Saratoga Springs. ^.^

Rule of 72

2011-05-24T23:32:00.004+08:00

From the "Secrets of Millionaire Investors":

Albert Einstein, the greater genius of our time once remarked that compound interest was the greatest mathematical discovery ever made! He came up with a formula called the Rule of 72. It states that if you take 72 and divide it by the Annual Percentage return, it will give you the number of years your investment would double!

And, I did a few calculation to discover that Rule of 72 is bulletproof. Gosh, I admire his talent with numbers. ^^

Menstrual Pain & Donkoi

2011-05-18T11:22:00.006+08:00

Yes, I have not worked out as much as I was back in the island. I am a lazy potato sitting in front of the TV so much till I memorize the different TV programs for every weekday nights. Isn't it "scary"? The Saturday after Donkoi bought a 46" Samsung flat screen from Bestbuy, we just chilled indoor for the whole day with the TV. Our lunch and dinner were pizza. Typical couch potato lifestyle, except the fact that we replaced the couch with our bed. :-P

The result of this inactive lifestyle was the tremendous menstrual pain I just experienced in the afternoon! I was in this terrible cramp this afternoon, and the only luck was my iPhone sitting next to my hand reach. I called Donkoi with my remaining strength. (Exaggerating, of course) And, surprised to hear that he was willing to come home and cook me lunch during his busy Tuesday. (Tuesday is always his busiest day at work) While waiting for my steaming hot food, I

continued curling in with the blanket. Not pretending, seriously in pain.

Then, he came back with his laptop to work from home. At the same time, he quickly cooked me a bowl of chicken porridge. I got better after that and drifted away in my sleep. I always feel extremely exhausted after my stomach cramp, let it be my menstrual pain or stomachache. I wonder how some people are able to function perfectly normal even after the great pain?

Anyway, I just wanted to say big thank you for being here, Donkoi. And, the chicken porridge is delicious even though it means that I need to scrape the pot in the sink tomorrow! xoxo.

Weekend crazy

2011-05-10T10:20:00.005+08:00

At one go, I had finished editing all my photo. Phew. Mostly, the photos are from my weekends fooling around Upstate New York. Do I enjoy myself here so far? Of course, it is like a holiday for me, except that I need to iron clothes for Donkoi. :-P

17th April 2011

We went to NYS Military Museum at Saratoga Springs downtown. The museum exhibited items from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and World Wars. Also, the artifacts narrated how the American army being organized to become the strongest military force in the world.

24th April 2011

We finally went to see the Egg and many other important monuments in the Capital of New York State. Besides the iconic theater, the Empire State Plaza was quite interesting for the first time visit, especially the art collections and memorials, which was placed around the plaza area. :) Besides the Empire State Plaza, we spent around 2 hour walking around the downtown, discovering the different shades of red brick buildings in this old Dutch settlement and finding the assimilation of German and English influence in the architecture.

30th April 2011

We went to Saratoga Springs Art District to join in a vibrant Mardi Gras event. The weather was mercy to this outdoor event, no spring rain. Food vendors were lined up at both sides of the pavement, which spoiled us with numerous food variations; shiny necklaces on the kids were shimmering when they danced to the celebration music; greetings were exchanged among the adults with giggles intervening their conversation. All was good, especially when I did not sweat during this afternoon event. :)

1st May 2011

We had BBQ session at Donkoi's boss's backyard. The beef cube was so juicy that I am missing it dearly now. In addition to the beef, I discovered that portobello mushroom and clam were good ingredients for BBQ too. Slurp*

7th May 2011

Albany Tulip Festival is a historic event occurred annually. 200,000 tulip bulbs blossom into a sea of multicolor field at Washington Park, Albany.

I might sound like a frog under the well now. At the event, I learned things that I never know about tulips before. My impression of a tulip before the festival/coming to Upstate New York - the tulip's shape is always the tulip bulbs and there are only single colour tulips. So, the event surprised me with almost every divisions of tulips. When a tulip blossoms, it actually shows the stamens and stigmas at its darker colour base. Some of the tulips can grow to look like peony. :)

The festival was so crowded with people. Again, the festival was filled with even more variations of food than the Mardi Gras event. Donkoi was so excited with the food that he vowed to try everything in the venue. Haha. :-D

Chic Ministry Singapore

2011-05-03T05:46:00.005+08:00

What have kept me from updating this blog recently? Because I am running my first trial of internet business - Chic Ministry Singapore. Besides the in-store products, I am brainstorming on the next possible projects - to be a remote personal shopper at Big Apple. This project is at the brainstorming phase, also depending on how successful is the first project or the indicated interest from my possible clients. By now, I realize running a business is not easy, with all the fuss of purchasing, calculation, planning, publicity, etc. I am like a toddle learning every steps I do. :)

Please recommend Chic Ministry Singapore to whoever you think is chic; xoxo.

Terry Lin - Ye Ye Ye Ye

2011-04-23T03:25:00.002+08:00

I want to save $ to go to see Terry Lin's concert in Taiwan. He is just simply able to express every songs with his heart and soul. And, he spends a lot of effort in analyzing vocal techniques and implements them in his singing to bring the listening pleasure to the next level. :)

The golden age

2011-04-20T11:05:00.003+08:00

Heard of this song on Heineken commercial everyday. Just like it. :)

Coffee matters

2011-04-16T14:16:00.003+08:00

I have never tried to remember the differences among Milo-O-bing, Kopi-si-bing, Kopi-o, Kopi-mai-liao, etc in the local coffee shops back at home. However, when I have to stand in front of Starbuck's order counter for 10 minutes to understand the drinks' ingredients, it frustrates me because I look pathetically dump. :-\ Luckily, a friend posted the following scientific representation for different types of coffee at the Facebook.

Now, it explains why Donkoi always selects the Mocchito and Latte because two of them have milk in them. And, they are foamy. When he takes a sip right above the foam, his mouth is circled with the milky foam. He is just a big boy, who loves milk in everything. :)

Wedding stamp

2011-04-13T22:21:00.003+08:00

Came across this wedding stamp on USPS website. It is like any other wedding stationary. It is adorable to my eyes. Do I want it? Yes. Do I really need it? No. Milliseconds of happiness by staring at it. :)

USA geo class 1

2011-04-13T05:42:00.003+08:00

I am back in school. Though I had been to USA two times previously, I did not spend any of my time, pulling out maps to see where on earth I was sitting/standing at unless it was sightseeing and shopping related requirement.

But, it is different this time. I have to live here and communicate to people. I had a friend planning a trip to drop by. He was telling me that his location by the end of the month would be Syracuse. "Where is it?" Google the place up and it is apparently one important city in the Central New York.

New York State is more than just the scenes from Sex and the City, The Apprentice and CSI: New York. New York is divided into 62 counties and into 11 regions. The vibrant never sleep city we normally see in the movies are usually at New York City region. Other than the New York City, there are 10 more other regions. I am staying at one of the other 10 regions, namely the Capital District. In the Capital District, there are 5 counties - Saratoga, Schenectady, Albany, Washington and Rensselaer. The county is further divided into cities, towns and villages. So, my exact location right now is Town of Wilton, Saratoga County. As the closest downtown for Wilton is Saratoga Springs, all the mails coming to our house has Saratoga Springs before the State and the postcode. For a girl coming from an 1048 km squared of island, this county itself is HUGGGEEEE! The New York State is indubitably humongous! (My mouth is at its maximum exclamation.)

Anyway, let me share a little bit more about Saratoga Springs. This part of New York State is actually a popular summer getaway for New Yorkers. When the summer hit, Saratoga Springs downtown is swamped with people, who are here for their summer vacation and horse racing events from July till September. "Restaurants and hotels are charging 30% extra than normal time", Donkoi says. This town is totally fanatic about horses. You see the horse sculptures at the hotel lobby, on the pedestrian pathway, in front of community building, in the park and even right in front of my neighborhood entrance. And, there is a museum solely focusing on horse racing. Mama, though you have been telling me to keep my hand off the betting on horse racing, I am definitely going to read up a lot about it. :)

Donkoi will be home in any minute. I need to start cooking our dinner. And, let me end this post with the table topic ribbon Donkoi got from the Thorobred Toastmasters Club. And, the ribbon is of course showcasing the love of this town again - the horse.

Hello from NY Chinatown

2011-04-03T02:16:00.002+08:00

I am sitting on a white bench outside a barber shop, observing people strolling by in their big coats and boots. In front of me, a few cantonese people are greeting each other. Am I iPad-ing? Nope, I am iPhone-ing. Donkoi surprised me with the gift! Need to set up the phone when I am back in Saratoga Springs tonight...

20% Completed

2011-04-01T13:36:00.005+08:00

Waiting to transit now at Hong Kong Airport now. Initially, I was thinking of getting the ramen Siew Li recommended me at airport. But, I am not exactly hungry now. It is already passed my usual lunch time. Probably, I need to buffer an hour to do my boarding since it is going to be a direct flight to New York. And, it is 15 hours!

Interesting events during my first flight of my New York journey:

(1) A Xia Men uncle was sitting next to me. He was visiting his uncle at Penang. He invited to visit Xia Men next time. In our conversation, he commended in a polite manner that Penang's development was incomparable to Xia Men. High 5, uncle. Instead of doing that, I just smiled shyly.

(2) One of the stewardesses told me that I looked very familiar to her in a friendly manner. Evyn/Eryn/Eyn? I got confused by the alphabets on the name tag.

(3) Helped a Korean couple to put their two-pin plug into a three-pin power supply slot. They were so amazed. The wife gave me a super sweet candy and said bye-bye to me when they were leaving the seat next to me.

(4) Back to Hong Kong Airport - meaning closer to Mainland. Exposing to their strongly audible culture again. Heard some harsh comments from a mother to her son and her daughter-in-law in an out loud fashion. Probably, her eyesight was so bad to notice my presence. I was sitting right next to them. -.-

Time to hunt for a drink and a quick snack before heading to my boarding gate by 3pm. :)

80% to happen

Last Post Using My Streamyx

2011-03-31T12:35:00.005+08:00

Terminated the internet service under my name this morning. The service will be gone anytime. All the bags are packed and ready. I am staying over at my aunt's place tonight. In case I did not come on-line tonight, let me say farewell to Penang, my family, my friends, my little cute Kancil, my vintage curtain and my bed. I think I should have longer list than that. At the meantime, to all the mentioned, you are the most adorable things I can have. I am going to miss you so much that I will cry. Buh-bye. :,|

Till we meet again, take care. Hugs & Kisses.

High tea with aunts

2011-03-29T01:20:00.005+08:00

6th of March 2011, Sunday

I was lucky to redeem some free Starbucks voucher last year during my company family day. By using the vouchers I obtained during the lucky draw, Auntie Tin, Auntie Choon and I were acting like three English ladies having our 3:15 at Starbucks Gurney Plaza.

After that, they accompanied me to survey G-hotel and E&O Hotel for my wedding reception. Finally, I made up my mind after my many visits to both venues. That put an end to my sleepless nights. Done deal. :)

Ex-cubicle

2011-03-29T01:11:00.004+08:00

In memory of my old cubicle in my ex-company, I have decided to create a photo post of it. :)

Need to start packing!

2011-03-24T13:59:00.003+08:00

Just came back from lunch with my ex-colleagues. After the lunch, everyone had to go back to office while I went hunting for shoes, which were be more suitable for Upstate New York weather. Bought two pairs of flats at Brand's Outlet. Comfortable shoes to walk at 5th Avenue, race at Central Park or stroll along the beach in Long Island. Besides, I spotted a decent leather office shoes at Aldo. After the discount, it was still priced at RM238. It is really expensive! May be I can get mine later when I am about to go for my job interview at Albany.

The weather is quite lazy now. I feel totally comfortable in my dark room. It would be good that I can lay down on my bed with Jodi Picoult's Sing Me Home. I bought this book on Monday and thought of bringing it along for my long haul flight to New York, but I got a feeling that I will finish reading it way before I am on the plane. :)

Arggh... I am struggling with my slothful soul to make my physical body moving! I really need to start packing now.

Hiking at Air Itam Dam

2011-03-23T23:11:00.003+08:00

6th of March 2011, Sunday

Some photo from my Air Itam Dam outing with Ellie. I'm going to miss this place for many reasons. The most apparent reason would be the aqua tranquility surrounded with green trees. When there is a morning sun, the environment gives hope and momentum for the rest of the day.

Though Ellie was swamped with critical tasks at hand, she still kept to her promise. After our quick hike, she went back to work again though it was a Sunday. As one of the many stock holders, I should say word of encouragement - keep up your good work! :-P

The morning rays light up the Georgetown and Air Itam area. We missed the first ray of the day because we went for the hike pretty late. If you start to hike around 6:15am, you should be in time to catch the moment the sun starts to rise and bring light to the ground.

Cherry's Lesson 65

2011-03-23T21:19:00.007+08:00

5th of March, 2011 (Saturday)

For a girl, who spent her money, time and effort to pursue her dream, my only support would be just sitting on the stool for 2 hours. Feeling her soft breathing through her mask, listening to her tutor strict comments on her end product and seeing her patient attempt in fixing all the weaknesses the tutor told her amazed me on the power of a dream.

Making up for different woman during each lessons are challenging because the make-up techniques to be implemented are required to change according to the facial features of the model.

With my eyes shut, I can really see the art on my eyes. Now, I can understand why some girls fancy purple so very much. Purple can be quite dreamy and romantic.

After the session, Cherry accompanied me to E&O hotel to survey the wedding venue again. We arrived to a sunflower series decoration in the grand ballroom. Though sunflower has been the flower of my heart, this decoration was way too yellow to my liking. But, it was just my personal opinion.

Then, we the ladies went to Segafredo for afternoon tea. We shared a piece of white chocolate cheese cake. It was sinfully delicious. I am going to let myself chill for another 2 weeks with pleasant meals until I arrive in New York. Hopefully, there won't be too much accumulated fat for me to burn then. :)

My bridesmaid invitation

2011-03-23T11:31:00.004+08:00

Created this using InnerBride from theknot.com and Photoshop. Took me around 2 hour to decide how my best friends should look like, how tanned my color skin should be, etc. Holly, I am growing into a fickle-minded woman!

Update on 22nd of March

2011-03-22T16:25:00.004+08:00

Location?

I am still in Penang.

Doing?

No longer an engineer. I am basically running errrrands, shoppping a lot to fill up a 20-feet container, organizing our wedding reception, having farewell lunch/dinner and etc. In need to start my packing routine real soon.

Flight is still going to Narita?

Nope. I have rescheduled my flight at Cathay Pacific instead of ANA. It is flying to Hong Kong on the 1st of April 2010. From Hong Kong, I will fly for 15 hours to go to JFK Airport. If there is no delay in my flight schedule, I will get to sleep at New York city for a night before going to Albany in a car with Donkoi. Road trip, yeah! I am anticipating it. Need a break from my chores and recharge myself before I heat up my engine again.

American Dream

2011-03-07T21:42:00.007+08:00

Donkoi got a permanent job at Malta, New York on 2nd of January 2011. From then until now, I slowly got used to the meaning of time difference. Good morning...ahem*, it is good night!

I am going to quit my permanent job of (almost) five years on 18th of March 2011. From now until then, I slowly transfrom from a busy engineer to a jobless bummer. At the meanwhile, I will farewell with everything I know and I love temporarily.

Start my first journey from Malaysia to Albany, New York on 1st of April 2011. I will have a 14-hour transition window at Singapore before boarding my flight to Narita Airport. And, I need someone to adopt me, feed me and clean me during the 14-hour transition. (You know who you are)

I shall see The Egg on 2nd of April 2011 if I survived my (near to) 48-hour travel. I have no blueprint of my future in Albany. I might be a sandwich maker, a babysitter or a barista of Starbucks. I am a free soul living an American Dream with unpredictable possibilites! :)

Robbery in Queensbay Mall

2011-02-27T21:35:00.003+08:00

Today, I went to CIMB branch in Queensbay, Penang. While waiting for my turn to do my transactions, I overheard a frustrated client claiming that he was robbed inside Queensbay Mall. He was suspecting that he was followed by the three youngsters right after he left the ATM machine. Tried hard to eavesdrop his complain to the branch manager about the whole story - I could not string the pieces together, thus, I am not going to try to elaborate the story here based on my random guessing. Just a friendly reminder that don't think you are safe even if you are inside the mall, watch out for your own property.

This crime was strategically arranged with strong motives and tactics. But, why these people can't use their talent to the best by helping the country to develop? I guess the phrase "learning from the best" is quite true. When the big boss in the country steals from the country legally, the citizens definitely learn from the best example in town.

Lately, I have been doing a lot of comparisons between Singapore to Penang. Both islands share the same historical background. Singapore has blossomed to the number 2 most favorite expat portal in the world. Penang is lagging behind to the world class standard. The statistic might claim that our crime rate is dropping. However, we care more than just the crime occurrence. We also concern whether the legal actions are taken against the criminals. We need a society with efficient operations are installed to maintain the peacefulness for all the good citizens.

Saw this almost everywhere in Singapore - well planned, well organized.

Are we there?

Penang in LOMO

2011-02-15T11:59:00.006+08:00

I did a hard disk clean-up last weekend. Burnt 20G of memories in 2010 into DVDs. And, I found some random photos exhibiting the historical element of Penang. In order to cast these heritage buildings with additional ancient feeling, I decided to polarize the photo. I downloaded the Poladroid software for free. It polarized the photo as if the photo was taken using a instant polaroid camera, but it took a few minutes to produce a polarized photo. You got to have the patience in waiting for the product. One cute thing to note about this software is you can pretend that you have taken a real instant photo and shake it to speed up the appearance of the print. :)

Motel along Lebuh Keng Kwee off Penang Road

A row of terrace house along Jalan Kuala Kangsar

Windows of the old house in Penang old town area - one is always opened for house ventilation (at the top) and the other one is normal window we have right now at home (at the bottom)

Ti Gong (Jade Emperor) is the most important God in this highly populated by Hokkiens state

This might be the most fashionable parlour in 50 years ago

Donkoi's favourite Teochew Restaurant along Kimberley Street

Robe de Mariée

2011-02-09T23:15:00.004+08:00

Just the pretty photo I like while surfing freely...

And, I have found myself a collection of bedtime stories: Wedding Guide Asia & Pretty in white

10th Anniversary

2011-01-27T00:03:00.003+08:00

This is the first page of our relationship. I was in your dream, you told me. Then, you woke up hearing this song on the radio. That was the moment that you made up your mind to love me for 10 years long. :)

Anyway, thank you for your love, patience and endurance in the past 10 years & more years to come in the future. I can't say enough to express the emotion containing within me. Till we see each other again, I love you always & Happy 10th Anniversary, donkoi. :)

The blower's daughter by Anthony Neely

2011-01-21T00:25:00.004+08:00

Insanely in love with this song. Actually, I don't think that I have a good understanding of this song at all. But, I just can't help myself to be sucked into the complicated emotion of giving up a lover. Though it seems like a sad song, the song is so beautifully composed.

2010

2011-01-20T20:33:00.008+08:00

As today is a public holiday in Malaysia, I finally found a good excuse to laze. While laying around, I finally have the thought to write a conclusion for my 2010. I am not good at my conclusion, according to many of my toastmaster speech evaluators told me before. Though I heard the same comments for countless times, I still enjoy ending every stories abruptly. HaHa.

Ok, back to my 2010. The first thing I remember most vividly of my 2010 - I am up in the air on a monthly basics. Let's counter check with my monthly highlights to see whether it is true.

January 2010:

1. Flight from Hong Kong to Penang - both Donkoi & I were up in the air at the same time, but going to different islands.

2. Boon Hong's Wedding.

3. Reconnecting with many people in my life to realize that I am blessed that I am alive to talk, to laugh and to share.

4. Talked bad of a couple so frequently till I finally felt sick of them.

5. Have a delayed 9th year anniversary with Donkoi at Singapore. (And, we had our first anniversary in Singapore many years back too.)

6. ION Orchard & Bread Society were awesome.

February 2010:

1. Tiger year CNY.

2. Bought a godzilla pod from internet for Donkoi.

3. Traveled to Singapore again with original Woohoo in my bag.

4. Went to see Egypt mummies at Singapore National Museum.

5. Started to prepare for Ko Kah Ho Chiak food fair with Lee Fong, Siew Kong, Poay Ying, Jess and Saw Leng

March 2010:

1. Senior Engineer.

2. Stepped up to participate in International Speech contest.

3. Upset by someone's action.

4. Went to Hatyai the next day with my colleagues.

April 2010:

1. Cleopatra Leang is in town!

2. Came to know Arnold's fried chicken at Singapore.

3. After months of preparation, Ko Kah Ho Chiak food fair happened.

4. Upset by the same someone again.

5. Fled the country on the flight on the next day; thanks Donkoi for always being there for me.

6. Came to know Udders rum rum raisin & Din Tai Fung.

May 2010:

1. Went to Singapore back-to-back weekend.

2. Neway came to Queensbay - I went there the first time spontaneously with Lee Fong; we had double dinners that night.

3. Aki gave out her wedding card.

4. Yi Ling, McEgg, Bobby and I had a lot of fun together as if it was summer holiday in Malaysia.

5. Donkoi went to Dresden and I burned my flight ticket.

6. Mei Yee decided to leave after 10 years. Good luck.

June 2010:

1. Ate a lot for the month.

2. Sat at home and cleared up the house - now, it is messy again.

3. Donkoi surprised me with a lot of gifts from Dresden.

4. Longchamp. Longchamp. Longchamp.

July 2010:

1. Started the fundraising for 30-hr famine.

2. Decided to do the Penang Bridge Marathon again.

3. Aki's hen night.

4. Sue Cing came to visit Penang. We carried the giant flag at Fort Cornwallis.

5. I went to Singapore again.

6. Aki's awesome wedding.

7. Introduced Ching Liang & Chew Shya.

August 2010:

1. Healthy still for blood donation. wink*

2. 30-hour famine finally.

3. Went to Singapore again.

4. Lie Wei decided to sponsor a kid in our names.

5. Surprised my sister with a platinum necklace on her birthday. We went to TGI Friday to celebrate her 21st. I wished her to have the time of her life from then till forever.

September 2010:

1. Decided to spend my overloaded leaves finally.

2. Went to Singapore for a day before flying out to Bali from Singapore.

3. Enjoyed Bali very very very very much.

4. My birthday at Ubud Hanging Garden & Donkoi popped d question.

5. I said "Yes!" And, we have the blessings from all over the world in facebook.

6. Came back to Singapore for another week.

October 2010:

1. Prepared for our solemnization.

2. Dyed my hair again.

November 2010:

1. We = Donkoi & I = Mr Lim & Mrs Lim

2. Hotel hunting.

3. I did the marathon again!

4. First FireFly propeller flight.

5. Guat Ching & Ah Ooi Wedding - my name appeared to be Ah Leang on the guestlist. :)

December 2010:

1. Touched down in Changi airport & thought that it should be the last flight of the year.

2. Sin Eee & Lee San Wedding - Congratulations!

a. Traveled to BP again in PEJ 2718 with Hooi Sze & Sue Cing

b. Amazed by Hooi Sze's tolerance with her illness

c. Went back to KUiTTHO with Sue Cing, Hooi Sze, Ah Pang, See Khee, Samantha, Ah Lun, Eddy, Yong Khang, Ah Phuah and Kar Guan. We made a lot of noise in the rumuoured to be the largest campus library in SEA.

d. Saw a lot of the Shisi gang too.

3. Tim Allen passed away. I suddenly had a big hole in my heart.

4. Went to Singapore again to:

a. Saw the city by riding around in PEJ 2718; just the two of us.

b. Ate many different food - fell in love with Singapore clear soup noodle (serious).

c. Clubbing at KuDeTa (50+ floors above of Marina Bay) with Donkoi's buddies. I wasn't sure whether the guys were drunk or not. They saw Lisa S and Remy at the member zone.

d. Went to Pompeii exhibition.

e. Spent Christmas in a rather quiet way.

f. Bought a lot of winter clothing with Donkoi.

g. Boxed up everything of Donkoi in SG.

g. Left a wound on my left leg.

5. Road trip back to Penang from the most south point of Malaysia

6. Accidentally cut myself one day before New Year, on my left leg again

7. Quiet New Year with live telecast from Taipei and wish silently that I am there

2010 Resolution check
1. ~~Start back the routine of hiking, jogging and yoga.~~
2. Read 12 books for leisure and ~~1 technical book~~ .
3. ~~Blog~~ more.
4. Write in Chinese.
5. Find a community work ~~related to Mandarin~~.
6. Watch more foreign movie and series.
7. ~~Keep contact with my friends.~~
8. ~~Help mum in housekeeping~~ more often.
7. ~~Take care of my face. Take care of my skin.~~
8. ~~Eat less meat. Walk more. Recycle more.~~
9. ~~Continue my 2009 resolution - do community service.~~
10. ~~Go to work~~ on time!
11. ~~Travel again by the end of the year.~~
12. ~~Save money~~ $.
13. ~~Drink milk~~ everyday.
14. ~~Allow space/time for day~~ dreaming.
15. Figure out the formula to give out my unwanted clothes.
16. Drink more water.
17. ~~Take at least 12 good photo.~~
18. Etc.

2011 is going to be...

1. Step out from the comfort zone.

2. The routine of hiking and jogging.

3. Read 12 good books.
4. Blog.
5. Write in Chinese.
6. Keep contact with my friends.
7. Eat less meat. Walk more. Recycle more.
8. Do community service/volunteer in museum.
9. Save money $.
10. Ensure my calcium intake.
11. Drink more water.
12. Prepare for the wedding reception.

13. Be a house keeper.

14. Learn something new - a foreign language/music/Java/history, etc.

15. Continue my toastmaster journey to ACB.

Just Friday

2011-01-14T23:48:00.003+08:00

Tired, yet filled with plenty of thoughts and excitements. I simply love Friday. The anticipation of its arrival. The laziness is creeping in with the excuse that this can be done on next Monday. Why rush when life is so short? I should just enjoy the breeze of life. Take a deep breath, and I hear the joy of life. :)

I said words of encouragement and white lies. I applaud for some tiny achievements, such as an ant successfully crawling past the 1cm of distance. I laughed at the unresolved yet humorous family affairs in Parlez-Moi De La Pluie.

Life keeps on rolling with hustle and bustle, emotional drama and connections with people. I simply love today and tomorrow is another happy day. Girls' trip to Langkawi. Boozing time! Work hard, play hard - motto of my life.

First Skye of 2011

2011-01-06T22:36:00.006+08:00

First skype of 2011.

First voice chatting with Donkoi ever since he arrived at New York.

Figured out what he did for the very first day he touched down at New York.

Big Leg, Big Leg

2011-01-06T21:06:00.005+08:00

While I was happily discussing Interlaken with my colleagues along the aisle, the phone rang. Display was Billy.

Leangz: Hello!

Billy: Big Leg! Big Leg!

Leangz: Billy?

Billy: Big Leg, Big Leg!

Leangz: You are looking for who?

Billy: You-lah, Big Leg.

Leangz: (Scream)Oiiiii....

(embarrassment. I think the whole office heard me shrieking over the phone.)

Billy was in Penang to meet his customer. He asked JKK, Hui Ling and I to go for a dinner together. We went to an ordinary Zhu Char place at Sungai Ara. JKK ordered 4 dishes, including a special cuisine known as Mongolian Taufu. While hanging out at Penang's Zhu Char, we started to reminisce about our King's Drain (Parit Raja) stories - the Shisi Zhu Char food fight, the gossips, the people in that countryside, etc. Suddenly, I realized that it was a collection of stories from almost 5 to 10 years ago...

Billy + Myself + Sye Sye @ Mei Zhen's Wedding [2009]

First Home Fix of 2011 - Fluorescent Light

2011-01-05T19:24:00.006+08:00

The light in the bathroom had been out for almost 2 days. The routine of waiting-for-a-saviour started between my mum, my dad and I. As usual, I am the one that can't withstand the incompleteness of the bathroom. Imagine washing a car in a dark room, how can you ensure all the dirt stain on the car is gone?

With my high heels, I walked along Bukit Jambul area to buy a fluorescent tube after work. Asked a few shops to realize only Seng Heng was selling it. And, the brand was limited to Panasonic. I wonder why not many shops are selling it.

Anyway, once I reached home, I replaced the old tube to realize that the light was still out. Geram* Finally, I unplugged a workable starter and plugged in it. Voila! Can't really say that I am a dumb brunette, right? I went through a lengthy unsuccessful process of fixing the old and the new to realize that I turned the wrong way when I fixed the light. Finally, it is...shower time!

first post of 2011

2011-01-04T00:22:00.008+08:00

Happy New Year, people.

I know that I have been abandoning this blog for weeks and you miss me slightly. Don cha?

How is the new year so far? I have a few cuts of my left leg and irritating hives on my palms. Carelessness + over sensitive palms against foreign agents. Doesn't sound very good. Luckily, these are just some minor recoverable conditions. By the way, do you know that my love had fled Asian region? He is now in Big Apple, making a snowman maybe. As I have been seeing him almost everyday for the past three weeks, I am missing him by just not seeing him for two days. Till 31st of January, I will be right here waiting, Mr Donkoi.

And, I am eagerly waiting for our anniversary to come too! :)

Mont Blanc Starisma Alcina

2010-12-17T18:32:00.003+08:00

Saw this bag in 败犬女王 and 命中注定我爱你. I wonder how is the actual bag looking like? I think I like the symmetric Mont Blanc logo is seen on the leather as well as the silver chain of the bag. :)

Traveling traveling

2010-12-16T05:20:00.003+08:00

Two weekends ago: Went to Singapore - JB for Sin Eee's wedding two weekends ago.

Last weekend: I was screaming out loud from my lung to the top of Genting. Department team building event.

Today: I am flying down to Singapore for a week before heading back to Penang in Donkoi's Iswara with all of his items, which are going to be shipped from Penang to Malta. On the way, I will probably make a stop at KL to meet up with friends and Ipoh for food. Hiak-hiak. :)

KL KL 2010

2010-11-23T00:07:00.012+08:00

My plan would be...

Arrive at Subang airport in the late night Firefly.26th

Girlie shopping till syiok with Samantha and Sue Cing.27th

Guat Ching & Ah Ooi's wedding.28th

KL tower restaurant for lunch & fly back to Penang in the evening flight. 29th

anyone care for coffee/tea/me: please ring

Lone Pine Hotel, Penang

2010-11-17T23:13:00.008+08:00

Lone Pine Hotel was reopened in November after months of refurbishment. I happened to be at this post-world-warII hotel a week after the opening ceremony. The buildings were maintained as my memory with just a new coat of white paint on them. The furnitures were chic modern with bright radiant colours, such as orange and yellow, blending in with this purely elegant sanctuary. Most importantly, the garden of this bungalow-like lodging was still shaded by a veil of old casuarina trees, which was the iconic trademark of the hotel to the locals.

You know that I am running out of words to describe how I adore this old yet new hotel. I would let the further illustration to be done by the photos.

The lobby

Lobby waiting area

The drinking place seating

A table set for four people - modern with Asian rotan feel

Wide antique garden bench reminded me of apples rolling inside a picnic basket

Hotel rooms surrounding the garden and hearing the sea waves melody

Garden path

Sun bathing in the garden, facing the sea

To act absolutely dumb - is this a Red Indian tent?

Restaurant by the pool side

*heart* the white pebbles lining the black marbled edge of the blue tiled pool

6th of November.cherry.make-up

2010-11-15T03:13:00.001+08:00

6th of November was solemnization day of Donkoi & I. Putting the job of face transformation at Cherry's hands again. Once again, she rocked my day by giving me the most-est awesome look. Thank you, Cherry. (Today, I said a little prayer for Cherry. May you recover fully soon...)

For the event, Cherry thought it would be suitable for me to get some white hair accessories. Thus, I went hunting for a lot of white hair accessories at Forever 21 since I was not exactly sure what Cherry might need to decorate my hair. Cherry ended using the white hair band and white rose clips.

Photo of Cherry being a professional make-up artist. Thanks to her dedication in waking up very early on a Saturday morning to make my memorable day extra memorable. ;-)

At 8:40am, I was ready... I like the back view of my hair. However, I have only one photo to remember it. I think no one snap a photo of mine from behind on that day.

Snapped a lot a lot of self portraits because I was so beautiful Donkoi put his focus in driving and there was no one else in the car to talk to me, blek! :-P

Maroon 5: The air that I breathe

2010-11-15T00:37:00.002+08:00

From Maroon 5: Hands all over, I am waiting for the MV of this song.

I figured what it is all about.

It's you that I could never live without.

Your everything,

The air that I breathe.

Cloud outside of the window

2010-11-14T22:30:00.004+08:00

There are no rules of architecture for the bubble thoughts on the sky.

Humorously Speaking 4: Chance of Rebound?

2010-11-01T23:21:00.002+08:00

I am still trying to strike a balance between an entertaining speech and an informative speech. After another AC, I am half way to my AC Bronze. Gambateh! :)

In the invitation card for my high school reunion dinner, the attire was stated to be casual. According to my definition, casual meant a super cute Mickey Mouse tee and a pair of tight fitting jeans. With the thought of outdoing others by a little bit, I switched the cute tee to an elegant white top. Then, I started to visualize everyone telling me how beautiful I have become compared to ten years ago, I was grinning.

I reached the school hall with happy thoughts within me until I noticed most of the people were like Paris Hilton or Megan Fox - super hot dress, gorgeous make-up and perfect hairdo. Out of the expectation, no one came to tell me that my attire was nice. Everyone is either carrying a classic Louis Vutton leather tote or a Gucci latest season hobo bag. At that point of time, I wished I can get out from there because I had images of people giggling at me as if they were seeing an outdated fashion disaster.

After coming back from my reunion dinner, my self-esteem was like a deflated balloon. Suddenly, I realized that my manager had been lying to me by telling me how high paid I was. My inner voice kept shouting, “Mr Manager, I can’t even afford a Louis Vutton handbag! How dare you for telling me that I am earning more than Tom, Dick and Harry?!”

Due to my frustration toward my manager’s deception, I decided to skip work on Monday. I woke up really late on Monday morning. I started to take my own sweet time in front of my laptop. The first thing I saw was a mail from Dr Wakawaka in Nigeria, who had $100million left over from a big oil company deal. He wanted to give away $50million to me because I was the special one. Without a second thought, I grabbed on the rebound opportunity and replied my HSBC account number to Dr Wakawaka.

As a smart financial person, I decided to look for secured investment opportunity while waiting for the money to be wired over. I found a London diamond company, which guaranteed 100 percent return within a week. Awesome, by next week this time, I will have $100million. I made up my mind to spend 10% to buy a lot of Louis Vutton bags. I started to believe the existence of God because he understood the agony of being a poor person and decided to transform my life!

Before I can say my grace to God, my friend sent me an urgent note. Lillian Too predicted that bad luck would occur to whoever failed to forward the same mail to 20 people. That was terrible. I was horrified. I was going to become a super millionaire by next week. Though I was not a superstitious person, I could not stand the thought of my $100million might get jeopardized. I quickly forward the mails to 40 friends of mine to be extremely sure that nothing bad would happen to my $100 million.

Before I could click “send”, I got another super urgent mail from a HSBC manager informing me that I am receiving $50million from an unknown source. He was writing from a Hotmail account, which seemed a bit strange. But, his note explained that it was a standard protocol to check with the customer upon receiving a huge fund transfer. In the same mail, he was requesting me to kindly key in my name, account number and password to approve the transfer.

I can’t wait to feel $50million in my account. I quickly located my password on a yellow sticky note in front of my mirror. When I was about to reply to the manager, I received a forwarded mail from my best friend. A mutual acquaintance of us just lost all of her savings because of her carelessness. She accidentally left her bank account information at public computer. An unscrupulous soul had transferred away her money to an oversea account, which was beyond the power of Malaysian police to trace the crime. What a pity.

After reading the story, I realized that I had delayed my reply to the HSBC Manager by 5 minutes. I was not going to give up my chance of rebound. I decided to send to him right away with a wrong password. If the clarification process was valid, I should get a telephone call soon…

Hair dye 2

2010-10-31T22:34:00.006+08:00

I'm getting more adventurous with my hair colour. I had this hairdo at Hair Innovation, Prangin Mall. The total price of the dye + treatment = RM273. Besides the vibrant reddish brown Wella hair dye, I got myself a comfortable SHISEIDO Fuente Vita Voltage treatment, which worth RM140. The treatment was pricey, but it soothed my scalp with cooling effect after the dying process. Besides, the hairdresser said the treatment was supposed to wash off all the dye chemical from the scalp and the hair. :)

Megi is coming?

2010-10-31T21:58:00.005+08:00

It was gloomy throughout the day.

I accidentally fell asleep after I woke up at 10am with no fan was switched on.

Wind was blowing strongly when I opened up the window.

I could hear the doors banging echoing within my apartment.

The wind had slowed down after a quick pour in the evening.

May be it was not as bad as the weather forecast was expecting it to be.

Days with my grandfather

2010-10-17T15:22:00.005+08:00

Hearty collection of Philip Tolendano: Days with my father

One of the night during last week, my aunt dreamed of my grandfather, who had passed away 10 years ago. In the dream, he was not wearing any shoes and saying that he has no money to spend.

Following her dream, my aunt initiated a trip to visit my grandfather's graveyard. According to Taoism tradition, we delivered the items by burning paper models of the clothes, shoes and money on yesterday morning after a short prayer. We bought my grandfather's favourite Green Bean biscuit and vegetarian meal for him too.

I do not remember my grandfather hugging any of his children or me. He was not the type of person, leaving behind a long list of achievements for the descendants to reminisce. He did many wrong doings throughout his life, which we didn't hold any right to question, but rather have silent fury against him. Though we were not be able to live a life truly comprehending each other like good friends do or liking each other in all aspects, we all still miss him in our own way occasionally, even after 10 years he had left us.

Anyway, I walked through the picture by Philip Tolendano of his father this morning. Remembering a decease is a common feeling sharing among us that touching my heart. For that reason, I shall share it with my friends too. Hopefully, this also serves as a reminder to us to foster the bond between ourselves and our elders when they are still around.

Southern Ridges

2010-10-17T13:38:00.003+08:00

30th of January 2010 Part III

After our full dinner at Kuishin-Bo, we went for a night walk at Southern Ridges. At Southern Ridges, the Forest Walk and the Henderson Waves were constructed right above of busy intersections and the forest reserve, surrounding by flats and condominium.

No choice was made; we went both.

If only life permitted me to get the best of both worlds...

Quiet Forest Walk with the trees and skyscrapers in the background

Donkoi said that the model was not very cooperative in putting up her best pose, what think you?

Henderson Waves with teenagers sitting in circle reading notes/listening music in group/talking, families enjoying evening breeze and couples kissing in the public.

Siberian husky on the bridge - blur - but, I like the effect of the photo, Happy Halloween!

Taking off my shoes to run on the deck, buh-bye!

Before I end my post today, *tada* this is my anniversary gift. But, it was in terminative state after my Bali trip. "Medical" assistance was required. No news so far... sob-sob. ;-(

She wanted Pizza Hut

2010-10-13T21:55:00.010+08:00

After seeing Pizza Hut commercial during her soap opera hours everyday, my mum has been craving to have pizza at Pizza Hut only. She hinted me a few times too. Oh, my god! The power of advertisement was obviously working at my mum.

Finally, I took her to Queensbay Pizza Hut last Friday. When I looked at her excited face trying to pull the pizza out from the sizzling hot pan, the money was well spent, except that the Queensbay Pizza Hut waiters s*cks in their messy appearances, unwelcome faces and slow response to customer request and the restaurant condition was untidy. Yaks* I would not go back to Queensbay Pizza for at least 3 - 6 months, or may be even longer.

Aside of my complain, I just want to say, "Don't you just *heart* her smiling face?" :)

Ok, time for bed now. Good night, world! 8(",)8

Cebu Pacific Gaga-ish

2010-10-09T00:10:00.004+08:00

I can't remember the last time I paid attention to the safety demonstration in the flight. But, I youtube this after seeing this on the news. But, this is just so uniquely different. Fun to watch and wish to see it happen live in front of me. Need to wake up early tomorrow. Saturday is a sunny beach picnic day! Don't jealous* :)

I heart fashion blogshops

2010-10-05T23:57:00.011+08:00

Found this jacket @ My Closet. I have been thinking whether I should buy this throughout the night. I started to give myself excuses that the jacket in the office is worn out and old. The jacket is out of fashion. I got it 3 years ago from Cheng Du, way before the earthquake. However, in actual fact, it still keeps me warm when my office is as cold as North Pole. So, I have absolutely no reason to get this, especially it is priced more expensive than any normal jacket in Padini.

Sigh, no buy no buy. Did I not say my hobby is browsing through the on-line stores and making my head painful in resisting the temptation? LoL. Time to sleep already! Record down the sites for Il Dolce Far Niente entertainment: niBBuns: Hollywood Street Fashion;Cherrykoko;Vin Closet;Ministry of Retail;Milktee *my hands are on the air now; learned my art of doing nothing from eat pray love movie! :) *

Eat Pray Love @ Bali 1

2010-09-28T23:29:00.010+08:00

<>Our Eat, Pray, Love @ Bali started from 4th of September till 10th of September. I was procrastinating my posts because Donkoi had high expectation on his photo. Therefore, my Bali posts are idle until he could find time to adjust his photo and cast his approval for public publishing. Let's roll for the first day of our chilax romantic Bali trip.

::4th of September, Saturday::

Flight was 6 o'clock evening. After close-to-4-hour flight from Changi Airport, Donkoi & I arrived at Bali. It was our first time in Indonesia too!

The first thing we experienced was the taxi monopoly in the Denpasar Airport. The guy in the counter charged us 10000 Rupiah more than the price list shown on the wall. Donkoi protested slightly in his Bahasa Malaysia, expecting Indonesians to understand his complain. I think the guy understood him, but ignored him and waved to indicate the next-in-line to come forward. (_")? Anyway, there was nothing we could do, so, we just paid and got out from the airport.

About 10 minutes, we joined the traffic jam in Kuta with motorcycles squeeze themselves on our left and right, attempting really hard to move one car or half car ahead of us. (_")? The bizarreness was the amazing effort of motorcyclist to try to make "good" use of the space.

After hearing the horn for another 15 minutes, we finally arrived at our hotel, Ida Hotel. It was located next to Tune Hotel, Kuta. Unlike our previous trip in Bangkok or Hong Kong, we were staying right at the happening radius of Bali! Of course, this was one of the cheaper hotels. Therefore, we had to walk a little more to go to the Kuta beach, Poppies Lanes and Legian Street. But, the distance was not comparable to our walk from Sukhumvit Soi 7 to Sukhumvit Soi 57 (our longest walking distance to a destination with absolutely nothing planned on the way. Why? Because Bangkok traffic jam was driving our cab driver nut and suggested that we should walk from Sukhumvit Soi 7 to Sukhumvit Soi 57) .

So, I would recommend anyone to stay in if only anyone is not willing to pay a fortune to stay in the heart of the tourist spot, but willing to bear with the delayed hot shower (basically, you have to turned the hot shower on for 5 minutes before you could actually get the freaking hot shower), a bathroom required of renovation and a nail showing up at the bed frame on the third day you slept in. Other than my little winding, the room condition scored 7/10 and the facilities scored 9/10 for budget hotel level.

Phone number == birthday?

2010-09-21T23:09:00.003+08:00

Went for my running ~~routine~~ finally after almost a month. Yes, pampering myself a lot during my two-week break and one week before holiday. With glee music hitting my eardrums, I imagined Mr Will Schuester/Finn Hudson was in front of me. I ran, ran and ran to reach for my "target". (I know that I sound like a crazy scene from Desperate Housewives.) Yes, it is just Glee fever now. Post syndrome for watching 17 episodes in just two days.

After having my hand phone number for almost 10 years, I realized by applying some arithmetic operations to my phone digits, the final result can actually represent my birthday. Hooray! The thought actually came to me when I was running to achieve my 4-click goal. Isn't running awesome? It gives you time to reconsider a lot of things and miss someone too. Anyway, I am going to sleep now. Happy to feel so related to my phone number now. Ha, good night. :)

Kuishin-bo Suntec

2010-09-17T18:06:00.010+08:00

30th of January 2010 Part II

Donkoi had been telling me regarding this awesome Japanese buffet in Singapore ever since he made up his mind to bring me there for our anniversary. I love Japanese food because it is not oily and sushi is always wrapped in seaweed. Like~

We had fasted since the morning and the afternoon because we are going to this buffet. (Joking. We just woke up too late on the Saturday morning, simply too lazy to volunteer to prepare for each other.) Due to the fasting, two hungry ghosts arrived too early for the dinner, thus, we went to the garden at the rooftop of Suntec City. In case you are not aware of it, most of the malls in Singapore usually have a well decorated rooftop garden. ;-)

Dong Dong Dong. Time for buffet. Luckily, we reached the restaurant early because the queue was so long after us. Who doesn't adore the gracefully discipline Singaporeans, who always line up patiently regardless of the waiting time? Wink* The following photos are meant to make anyone, who like Japanese Food and Snow Crab, turning into a green-eyed monster.

or may be a green-shirted monster

Alert, you are on your way to your transformation like Mr Donkoi! Detected colour in your eyes is blue. Please skip the followings if you want to stop your miserable craving for Sashimi, Tempura, Sukiyaki, Teriyaki Chicken (....). Blek!

Detected the yellow presence now.

Blue + Yellow = a green monster!

(((Super Lame)))

Happily filled Mr Donkoi & I

Bali & Singapore Sep 2010

2010-09-17T00:14:00.005+08:00

A lot has happened during this holiday. The most important thing throughout the last half month is the marriage proposal from Donkoi at Ubud Hanging Gardens. And, I am happy to be known as Mrs Lim now. ;D

Choa Chu Kang - Suntec City

2010-08-31T15:45:00.008+08:00

My laptop hard disk is going to be full again. It is time to burn out some old photo. I am cleaning up now...The first roll of film - anniversary of Donkoi & I.

30th of January 2010 Part I

The celebration came 3 days later as Donkoi and I were separated on different islands. [-.-]~ In order to show his sincerity in dating me, he borrowed Victor's at least 15-year-old Ford from JB to drive in Singapore. The poor old car ramped on the road, attracting unwanted attentions whenever we stopped at the traffic light junction. The car just failed to blend in and be ordinary among all the young cars. [x_x]

Other than being really "special" on the road, the car actually served us well. Both of us were able to see the scenery along the journey to Suntec City from Donkoi's place. The sight seeing experience was so much different compared to the view from MRT. We took CTE on our way to Marina Bay area. The road was in good condition with lushly abundant tree sheds along of it. No awful buildings were designed along the expressway. The HDP location and architecture indicated strong pre-planning, whereby the HDP beautified the city with its vibrant colour and style. When the car entered Marina Bay area, we were like two frogs under the well, finding every architectures impressive and breath-taking. [^0^]~

I *heart* the tree (but not sure of its name)

underground tunnel along the CTE.

Traffic jam.

Never ending of construction

Marina Bay Sands Hotel before the grand opening

Another view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Helix bridge before opening ceremony too

Riverfront of Marina Bay

Holiday 2010

2010-08-31T09:22:00.004+08:00

Counting down three days...

I am leaving for 16-day of Bali & Singapore! ^.^

Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan

2010-08-31T00:51:00.005+08:00

Many people know that I am a religion-less. Yet, I believe there is only one God in this world. The God is divine beyond the comprehensive level of human being. For me, no one religions is capable to describe Him. But, all the religions hold some truth about Him.

The wisdom in the first pillar of our Rukun Negara is to have faith in Him. The faith would make you a better person, who should commit no aware sin to hurt people. Therefore, I believe God would not forgive the self-aware hypocrites, who continuously confess their sin, but have no remorse in it. They would be burnt in hell no matter how much they donate to the charity or how obedient they are to the rituals. They, who bring suffers to people, would live in pain when the time comes. There is no way for them to cleanse their sin because the ways are all defined by human, not God. There will come a judgement day, whereby I would have to admit my sin too. Just may be I am less severe compared to you-know-whosssss. Happy Merdeka Day!

Before God delivers his punishment,

you can do something to make Malaysia a better place for the poor, and righteous people.

Malaysia is my country

2010-08-30T23:27:00.006+08:00

I welcome whoever think that Malaysia is for Malaysians.

I love my country even though some people actually think that I should find my way back to China by doing breast stroke across the South China Sea. [-.-]? I pay my tax to fix the road so that the Malaysians can wind down their windows to speed their Kancil or Proton Saga. I am super berbudi bahasa that I don't burn firecrackers in the middle of the night during the Bulan Ramadan. I come from a typical Malaysian family, whereby neither of my parents were highly educated and had gone through the phases when they were trying to make the ends meet. Thus, like many ordinary Malaysian kid, I strive to change my quality of life. Yet, I need to always feel rejected and deprived in my very own tanahair, whereby the powerful and rich people think I am demanding. Should I just drop into the South China Sea and no one should even care about it? What make me less significant comparatively?

Do I still feel proud to stand besides him? *confuse*

2010 first birthday gift

2010-08-25T23:36:00.006+08:00

After listening to my starvation experience, my best friend, Dory the Fish decided to sign up one-year child sponsorship to serve as our birthday gift. With RM50/month, both of us are going to instill hope in one of the less fortunate kids in this world. What a meaningful gift. (Since it is our birthday gift, I think I can use both of us. Literally, we are raising a kid together. ahem*)

I saw this video in my 30-hour famine camp. And, I feel everyone should watch this in order to feel the reality presented in Slumdog Millionaire. It is quite disheartening...

Goddess Run

2010-08-25T07:06:00.004+08:00

Never stop, else, it is difficult to start again. I am talking about myself. It is so easy to fall out from the routine when I pretend to be busy. I keep saying "tomorrow", but the "tomorrow" never come.

So, good morning, Wednesday. I'll run today. Yes, today after work. The world would not end with fewer lines of codes or fewer e-mails. Thus, no more procrastination, missy.

My new shoes ventured to park connector and East Coast Park.

Will stretch it a little further during the two weeks break.

The world they live in

2010-08-23T21:01:00.003+08:00

It is a two-year-old production. I just watched it not so long ago. I like the conversation in the series. Yesterday, I recalled a line from the series while I was driving.

(Both the lady and the guy were directors in the series)

The lady said, "Is it necessary for you to wear formal attire every time you are shooting the last episode of your show?"

The guy said, "Since I am a director, that is my minimum respect to the industry I favor."

Yes, my dress code indicates my level of respect to the event, most of the time. Occasionally, I might overlook the significance of the event by wearing short skirt or short pants, like last weekend when I was visiting a mosque.

Anyway, if you hate heavy conversation in series, you can ignore the conversation by just staring at the pretty woman and handsome guy. They became actual couple in life after making this series together. What an adorable item. *envy*

I love her fringe; mine is ugly now. Grow grow grow faster*