scratch scratch

remember those creamy yellowish fragrant pulps you find in the fruit called durian? gosh...eating it was heavenly but suffering from the heat released by the fruit is torturous.

the skin on my neck, forehead and chin is feeling itchy and my body feels hot. luckily we have been having very erratic storms which cool the temperature. there is no breakout on the face, but my neck...ooh....remember those prickly heat rashes kids have, well, i will have a big red patch if i dun stop from scratching especially at night when i sleep.

this morning, woke up and quickly poured medicated talcum on my palm and slapped it on the neck. aahh....it immediately relieved the sting. 30 mins later, i wiped the talc from the neck. heck, i couldn't go to work with a geisha's neck right? so, i have to stop myself from sweating and keep my fingers crossed that the heat in the body will subdue soon. grandma green herb pills will help. will swallow 2 as soon as i get home.

27/9 (sunday)

yeaayyy...i finally got my sleep in tm. although it was a very late night, (2a.m), it was a well-rested sleep. i woke up at 11a.m. atticus was coming in and out of the room, kicking the wall and calling my name (trying to be as soft as possible)....trying to do everything as subtle as possible. uuurrgghh....

decided to bring them to kl...they wanted to get an r4 disc for nintendo ds. we decided to go to one utama. but...only after i had my coffee, breakfast, lunch and finished reading my newspaper...haha....so we left tm at about 3p.m.

this is the kinda welcome beanie gave atticus. atticus loves to spray beanie with water....i told him not to spray his head.

durian for lunch....dad had actually ordered 5 durians yesterday and he picked them up today. they were good.....so thick and creamy. rm30 for 5 big ones. cheap ah. i only had some because we had to go to kl. dun think i want all shoppers to know i had eaten durian.

our destinations at one u were only 2 shops- the game shop and of course roti boy. atticus had one before dinner. and he had 2 more after dinner! his annual pilgrimage i guess. haha....
we had dinner at chilli's. he wanted to have ribs but of course the ribs we have here are different. he is used to eating pork ribs in tgif melbourne, now he has to eat those thick beef ones. he din quite like it and kept asking why there wasn't any pork.

well, so this is how i ended my official one week break. breathing a sigh of relief actually. din expect it to be as tiring as this.

thank goodness i have another day of break.

so back to work tomorrow. things are going to be fast this week too. no doubt a busy week but it is all in a day's work. will look forward to friday to relax. with atticus? NOOOO!!! he is going to irritate me for sure. keep my fingers crossed that his target will change to wei when he gets home on saturday. hahaha....

have a good week.

26/9 (saturday)

ok...if you have been reading my blog, you would have remember that i said i was going to stay another day in genting highlands and joined more sessions amway had in store.


well, guess what....saturday morning came and the alarm clock rang at 7.30a.m. but ......i did not freaking get any sleep at all and i decided to spend my morning in bed. i had to keep my level of alertness up because i needed to drive down from genting to kl in the afternoon. those hairpin bends are really treacherous if you are not careful and i dun want to take any risk.


so quincy got ready for her conference which was to start at 9a.m. while i lazed in bed till 11a.m. aahhhh bliss. that morning, a doctor was supposed to talk about his experience and someone else. can't really remember. bet my friend was disappointed i wasn't down there.


so i went down to starbucks with a copy of the star and sat there enjoying my cup of caffe latte while having my handphone charged at the same time. damn, those plugs in the hotel room just din work. at 12 plus, quincy called me and i met with the rest of the group for lunch.

lunch was at first world kafe, buffet style...and they managed to get me another meal coupon. it wasn't bad at all, the sort of dishes they offered. they had prawns, chicken and mushroom, siu bak choy, tofu, fish and egg. there were also salads and dessert...but i din check them.


i left genting at around 1.30p.m. after saying goodbye and all. i was invited to go to the global conference in taipei next march....promises of keeping in touch.... ..hmhh....but i do wonder how much was it was sincere. you have a feeling that these ppl do have an agenda to befriend you right? after all, they earn money from more friends they make. that is the one thing i dun like about this kind of multi-level marketing organisation. they milk your money and they get the benefit.

the drive down to kl was realllly smoothh...haha.....if i had another passenger in the car, i am sure it wouldn't be that 'smooth'. it was a breeze at every turn.

i managed to reach taman tun before 3p.m. and went for a facial i booked there. gosh, i have to finish using all those facials i have with them. i have 2 more sessions and done. i won't extend....since i am not a regular go-er at all. i mean, how often do i go to kl and just for facial? i will just be more hardworking with my own home treatment e.g. steam and mask.

at 4.30p.m. picked up cousin en and off we headed to bangsar. my first time shopping at bangsar and visiting their shop lot boutiques. it was a hot hot day and gosh, how we wished those airconditioners could be colder.
we went to at least ten upstairs boutiques and nothing caught our attention. almost everything you see was almost the same. i din like the material they used. i think most of the stuff were manufactured in korea. these are items that you will only wear a few times and then not anymore because the material has worn down. but i do like one boutique- musse if i am not wrong. that is because they sell designer items. haha.a..okok...i am a snob. i tried on 2 dkny dresses but i din get them. din like the length. wish i have slimmer legs. haizzz....
hmmh... en and i only browsed one street and we were tired. if you google, you can actually read more about what ppl like about shopping at the boutiques in bangsar. i din even come across most mentioned in other's blogs.

this is the only street we went to. just one...all the way down and you got to bangsar village. we had our dinner at chatterbox and i did get something in the mall. a zara silk top with skull prints. haha....love it.

then i dropped en back at her home and off i went to the airport alone. how lonely. the traffic was heavy at the arrival area and i circled the area twice before i saw atticus peering into each car that was parked and each car that was coming his way. haha...it was funny.
reached home only at around 12midnight. gosh, what a long long day for me.

uncle unpacked his bag and i got all my treasures from melbourne. luckily he unpacked that night. those bottles of marmalade that aunty ginny made were not sealed properly and some of them had actually leaked onto their clothes. i think those marmalade will last grandpa till next chinese new year. the fridge has about 6 bottles now if i am not wrong.

i got my swarovski pendants. i love the grey one more than the red one. if the metal base is not visible in the red one, then it is better. a bit disappointed with that.

10 packets of haribo gummy bears for the kids....from their own money anyway. fine collected from unfinished work is put to yummy use.

hand cream for mom and grandma from auntie ginny and i got sunblock and rose hip oil. i am so pampered by aunt.

see....i told you i am pampered. my favourite soya crisps. it is so easy to get me stuff from aussie. haha....the bag of pistachio is dad's of course.

i wanna get something for aunt ginny but i really have no idea what to get for her. so dear siblings and cousins....if you know, please tell me.

25/9 (friday)

ok...ready for more amway stuff? dun worry, i am not a member but the conference quincy was here for was amway's right? and i had been invited to go....so there was nothing to lose. it would be interesting....and it was...sort of.

we left kl at 11a.m. i drove all the way to genting highlands and parked at first world's car park. with me were quincy and andy (the sifu). i guess i should be really honoured. andy could have someone to ferry him in a chauffeur-driven benz. instead, he went into the back seat of my poorly-maintained and slightly dirty vios. malunya.
ok, to know how important andy is...he is already at diamond level and different countries. he was one of the speakers at the conference too. he was revered at every corner he turned at the conference hall. they even assigned special assistant to follow him in genting. i am so lucky huh?

so i have to take a photo of where i parked my car. you would not wanna lose your car here. it would be impossible to search through every level. you can die!!!

once i had parked my car, i headed straight to gicc (genting international convention centre) next to first world hotel's lobby. the crowd was massive. more than 3000 amway members from 10 countries (e.g. china, taiwan, singapore, vietnam, indonesia, malaysia, thailand, etc). so it was kinda daunting and stiffening for me an outsider who is sceptical of this multi-level marketing company. they paid rm350 for this 3 days 2 nights conference cum retreat.

it was rather chaotic with groups dealing with registration and stuff. we couldn't check into our rooms yet as it was only 1 plus then. so i followed quincy around.

and gosh, she is also another popular figure there with the youngsters. ppl actually asked her to pose for them in photographs. she introduced me to all those teachers from taiwan..... all ladies this time, successful ones. i had a great time feasting my eyes on bags. haha....most popular choices: louis vuitton, gucci and chanel. but it got kinda boring when almost everyone had gucci with the logo on canvas and the easily recognisable lv. chanel was harder to spot.

one of the teachers even lived on the apartment above wang lee hom's and quincy had actually met her idol at the lobby of the apartment. nope, she din stalk him all the way there.

ok, so you need to have a tag to go into the conference and since i could not register myself, i was given a special tag. andy lao shi got it for me.....

taaddaaa.....err...i only saw one tag like this...and it was on me. waaa....ppl also gave me one kind of look. the group from taiwan was actually vip taiwan group....so they got their seats reserved at the front middle section of the hall. it was a privilege joining them. oh, the dubai thingy there....i think that is where one of the global conferences will be held next year.

and so, we went in for the first welcome session at around 2.30p.m.

the emcee was a young lad. so young but the pocket is so full. haha..only 22, still in uni and rm150 000 a year.

the speaker was a malaysian lady. should be the top one lah....like with diamond crown or something. but i just dun like those malaysian speakers compared to taiwanese ones. ours were not as charismatic. they kept repeating themselves and felt kinda uneasy in front although they were trying to work the crowd. i felt bored.

the first session ended at around 4p.m. and groups had to organise themselves to get their room keys. but before that, most of the overseas groups got together in their own small groups and shared what they had learnt from the session. urgghh....they even pulled me in. well, since i followed one of their leaders, i could not escape lah. just rambled some intro in chinese and said i was looking forward to joining the sessions. blah. the tongue got all tied up having to speak in chinese in the group. tongue can get tied speaking in english, chinese also tie. such a bad orator.

the feeling you get here compared to whatever preconceived perception i had of amway was totally different. those few that i knew from amway, will go straight to tell you about their business plans. this group here, they have changed the strategy. they dun harp about business, instead they are more like motivator; encouraging you to take steps to change your life. but then, think again....when you change your life, directly you are also changing the life of the upline. so there is nothing to lose in spending extra effort on others when it benefits you as well. of course they din say they would get the benefit. it was always you you you and not i i i.

and so, this was one small group which extended their sharing session outside the conference hall. andy is the one in black shirt, quincy is the one in white coat. those listening, some were from china, singapore, taiwan and malaysia. those from china were sooo young.....like they are still in high school. but everyone was showing so much enthusiasm that i could drown. in the bottom left picture, you can see quincy sharing her tales and she could really speak. how could those who came with so much hope not get convinced? i mean, look at her! her stylish and glamorous appearance already won them over.

so they checked in at around 6 plus but quincy din get her room yet. we had to borrow someone's room to change and freshen up. they had the night event which required all to dress formally because there would be performances and speeches. i had to borrow heels from cousin in kl because i left all of mine in bidor. luckily i still had something to wear.

this sushi box was courtesy of the malaysian organiser....one of the teachers. she prepared a box for every participant. how generous of her. it was very filling accompanied by a cup of caffe latte from starbucks (own money lah). oh, andy was with us too and the person being sent to assist him was sent away while we had dinner.

and so with my vip tag, i followed the taiwan group and entered the hall at aroun 8p.m. our seats? on the fifth row. all those sitting in front of us, well, go earn your diamond pin before you take those seats. another feast for the eyes. there were lawyers, doctors, rich tai-tais, accountants, chefs, hawkers, etc who were on those seats. is amway that good or is the lure of money too tempting? but you also have to work your way up no doubt.

when you are working in a company, you have to listen to your boss. when you work with amway, you listen to your teacher. at the office, you can get fired if you do wrong and there goes your salary. with amway, you can work as much as you like and once you have reached a certain level that you are satisfied with, you can slow down and still enjoy the fruits you have reaped earlier. right?? or.....??

i hope some amway die hard won't shoot me for what i am saying here. it is my own opinion remember. those in the hall were really all charged up. amway is no 1. amway is their life saver. amway makes things possible for them. it is really their religion.

i also listened to their rewarding holidays with amway. everything paid for, 5 stars luxury. my friend had been on cruises, trips to europe, hawaii, united states, korea, japan, etc. next year, taiwan achievers will go to vienna. malaysian achievers will go to paris and london. so work harder, sell more, get more ppl, and make those tills ring at amway headquarter.

and so, the first pic was the view behind my back. the second, all the diamond crown achievers if i am not mistaken. that was the finale already. oh, the show...we had performers from indonesia, singapore and malaysia. the performances were like lion dance, beautiful girls in gowns 'parade', fast dance, joget ala indonesia and drama. the indonesia sing and dance was a crowd favourite because the person behind the microphone was an old man whose head was covered in all grey hair. he was heaving for breath at the end but all in a sporty manner. the performers are all amway own members.

the event ended at around 11p.m. and after another small sharing session in the small group, in which i said, 'the event had made me curious and i am staying for tomorrow,' (mine was the shortest ok)...and a photo taking session of our group, it was back to hotel room. yes, finally we had a room. if they couldn't get a room for me, i would have driven back to tm that night.

but....it was a damn cold night in genting and i could not get the sleep i wanted. my room mate of course got hers. waaaaaa!!!

pretty quincy. so different huh when she last came to tm??? the pic on the right was taken at proton city. brought her there in the evening. and that striking bag? no prize for guessing....lv. most of the ppl in the conference were having those monogram ones....hers really stood out.

this was the small small group....or rather quincy's group i was with. the sharing session group was bigger. here we have 2 taiwanese and 4 malaysians. how did she get to know those malaysians? well, they have business or bf in taiwan.

24/9 (thursday)

it is a sunday night and thank god for special leave on monday. i am very tired although i woke up around 11a.m. came back from kl at 10p.m. ok..that will be a few posts later...

let's countback now....so i won't forget things that i did these few days.

quincy's arrival. her flight arrived at 1p.m. so i left for airport around 11.30a.m. her flight was on time and she hasn't changed much. but the transformation in her was huge. from a teenage school girl who stayed with me for almost a week, she has become a fully grown business woman. will show you photos later. she arrived on first class mind you with her 'teacher'. do i have to go through what quincy is doing now?

well, her 'teacher' is sort of her sifu who brought her and introduced her into amway. she joined amway when she was 20. she had not worked a formal job or attended the work field at all after she graduated. and now almost 10 years later, she is earning at least rm150 000 a year (emerald level) and she is aiming higher. you can say her only 'religion' now is amway. she totally embraces their concept and vision. it is amway that changes her life.

ok..back to the airport. so her teacher (andy) and her walked out together but andy was going to leave with someone straight to the hotel in kl while quincy was to follow me back to tm for dinner first.

this is the arrival area now at klia. they din have the glass partition and the rails there last time. it was as if you are walking out of a prison. but i guess it is less crowding at the exit. i saw a group from galaxy productions there too. i bet they were waiting for some artistes who were to perform at arthur's day concert at sunway. black eyed peas arrived on the same day and who knows...maybe the same flight as quincy because her flight started from usa, then stopped at taipei before coming to kl. however, there were no fans there.

so we arrived at tm at around 3.30p.m. it was a hot hot day.

now for souvenir time!! almost all things are amway's. well, if you are with amway, it is convenient for you to get useful things for your friends too right? that kills two birds with one stone. and they come in nice box sets.

pineapple cakes from taiwan. must buy..but be prepared to pay the price lah. i heard this store is the most famous one. at times, the queue can be as long as 1 hour. yummy.....there is some egg yolk in the one she bought us.

and now introducing- amway products for everyone in the household. clockwise from top left: sea weed...to eat lah.

next top right: loc multipurpose cleaner and dish drop cleaner. that is for mom.

i have two gifts. first glister toothpaste and toothbrush. aunt (mom's sister) dropped in yesterday and said the price for the toothpaste is rm17.50. not expensive at all because the amount that you put on the toothbrush is as small as a tiny seed and it is enuf. i tried quincy's. quite good...better than the after taste left by those normal toothpaste. so can consider. mom's sister uses all amway products too and that is now i get to know about amway ages ago in their house. their products are not expensive if you look at the little amount you need to put compared to other brands. so you pay a higher price, but quality is assured. refund is totally possible.

anyway, you can go to www.amway.com for prices of all their products.

last set of gift- body wash and body milk, comes with a cute bee sponge scrub.

i wonder when we will finish using these gifts. of course i have to finish using my existing body care and oral care. yeah, i can save money then.

at night, we went to fook mun lao for dinner. mom, dad, quincy and i. no rice for everyone because everyone is watching their weight....so we only ordered 4 dishes and yummy....

deep fried salted pork (you won't believe how delicious this is until you have taken your first bite. do not be put off by the layer of fat on the bacon. melt in your mouth), the four heavenly king (brinjal, long bean, lady's finger and dunno what you call this bean...the one with four pointed edges), steamed fish with lots of ginger and prawns coated with salted egg yolk. i love 4 of them!!!

quincy and i left for kl around 7.30p.m. our destination was coronade hotel at jalan walter greenier (next to lot 10). this was where we put up for the night.

oh, i gave her this box of mooncakes....hmm...but i doubt she will take more than a bite. watching her weight again.

coronade hotel is the only hotel i have been to without their own parking lot!!! i couldn't believe it. i had to pay the valet service rm10 to get my car parked in the basement carpark. why can't the hotel management take over and give this service to guests?

i did not really sleep well because the pillow was kinda hard and high for me. ok..i am fussy with pillows. so there i was tossing and turning the whole night while she slept so soundly with her mask on her face. jealousnye.

the pic on the left is the restaurant where we had breakfast in the morning.

and i got a call from the office- i had to attend a meeting on monday. i told them i would call the assistant principal and discuss with her....send someone else please....after all i had applied my leave. it is time to let someone else go for the meeting. haha...so next year, i can push that post to someone else.kinda sick of holding that post for like 7 years now.

you call this a break or a road trip??

ok, so my butt now is settled on the chair in front of the home pc...but it won't for long....
my schedule for the past few days is listed as below:
24/9 (thursday): tg malim- klia- tg malim- kl
25/9 (friday): kl- genting highlands
26/9 (saturday): genting highlands- kl- klia- tg malim
27/9 (sunday): tg malim- kl- tg malim

ok so the trip to kl is taking place after this...but it is going to happen in like 30 mins.

i reached home yesterday at midnight after picking uncle and atticus who flew in from melbourne. it was the first time i saw major congestion at the arrival area and into the car park. even uncle said there was surprisingly a big crowd in the terminal. maybe those holiday makers were returning from their extended raya break.

well, i will post photos and details of my 'break' when i come back from kl later tonight. i can sleep late as i have another day of 'guilty holiday'....shssssss.....i applied for that special leave and now i can use it to recuperate. thank goodness they have found someone to replace me for a meeting tomorrow. i nearly had to cancel my leave. aarrghh...so now buat tak tahu about things at work for one more day.

coming activities

finally....something to look forward to....starting tomorrow.

but before that...i have finally finished all the work i brought back from work. 35 books, and 70 plus papers. finito. now i have chucked them aside.

ok, so what am i doing??
quincy has managed to change her flight to a day earlier. so she is arriving tomorrow at 1p.m. at klia and i am going to pick her up. she is coming with her 'teacher' (sort of superior in the line...she is doing amway). someone will pick her teacher and send him to hotel in kl.
meanwhile, quincy will follow me back to tm and we will have dinner. tomorrow night, i should be spending the night in the hotel in kl with her. yes, after dinner we are going back to kl.
then friday morning, we are going to head to genting highlands. me- driving. her teacher has an early meeting. hers will only start late afternoon. so both of us are going to hang around in genting. mom said we will go out for dinner instead of eating at home. i will come down back to tm on friday afternoon.

on saturday, atticus and uncle will be arriving at klia again at night...should be around 9p.m. again i am going to pick them up. but before going, might go down earlier to go shopping with en. then i am going to drag en to go to the airport with me to pick them up. haha....but of course i will send her home later.

yeah....these are stuff to occupy the rest of my week.

no update= some updates

updates: well basically there is nothing to update about me and my the things i do at home. zilch.

still hanging around. watch movies when the opportunity allows. watched laughing gor, ice-age 3, and sophie's revenge.
sophie's revenge staring zhang ziyi sucks. i only finished the movie for the sake of finishing it. the characters looked too beautifully made-up to be real. how can zzy look desperate in that oh-so-flawless look?? shudder. siew- you can watch it because your ruby lin is in it. just click to her part and that is enuf lah.
laughing gor aint't bad....but it is another hk triad movie. why must all hk movies be on this topic? i hope they are only exaggerating in the movie. scared man.
ice-age 3 is still funny. wei and i watched it together and we laughed together in the middle of the night. then i couldn't sleep...too much adrenalin. hahaha..

ok...sharing some nice photos i got in the mail....

would you buy mooncake just for the packaging? my answer- a big NO! reduce waste! love the earth! you are only paying for the box which is soo overpriced. i think it is more of an indulgence than a need now....those mooncakes. go simple. well, i am not telling you guys to follow my cheap taste for mooncake. just spend wisely and moderately.

this is it

am i an mj fan?? i will say no...but i will not miss this is it- the movie.

i am still looking for ppl to go with me to watch it...if i can get the tickets. sale for the ticket will start on 15 october and it will only be screened on the silver screen for 2 weeks starting 29/10.

it should be a good movie kan?? he is a great entertainer and those behind the scenes are stuff i like too.

crazy fan ...doraemon fan and sammi fan ;P

ok..time for some updates after few days of silence.
not something i decide, but because there was just too much work to finish before the one week break starts.
yeah...and so many of us got extra day of holiday. well, din make any difference to me. i only came back to tm because i had my stuff to do.
so is anyone stuck in the balik kampung exodus?? i wasn't. both ways were smooth when i came back at noon. i am not sure about tonight though. i am keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be any accident on the road (impossible i know). the roads are really slippery and driving in the night makes it worse. the rain has been coming consistently every evening and the night is so cool. some might wanna make use of the discount those tour operators are giving for driving at night. i personally shudder at the thought. night time driving is the most dangerous. safety first.

okok..happy thoughts now. mail time. as if i have fans out there.

my postcard from postcrossing. first one from brasil. hmmhh...everyone knows brasil but to go there for holidays?? it has not crossed my mind at all. heard too much about the security there i guess.

also got a number of things in one envelope from regent in hk. she is always sending me knick knacks. this is a postcard on taiwan.

here are some travel vcds she got from expo. haven't played them yet. but i think the jiu zhai gou cd on vcd should be interesting. there is also a packet of teabag and some facial samples of a korean brand. thanks friend.

that's all in the post.

next....atticus....i am such a good cousin. i know he is such a huge doraemon fan that i shamelessly go and ask a friend who works in speedy for stuff. hahaaha... i can't wait for him to see these stuff when he got here next satuday from australia.

these will definitely be useful to him and he can show them off to his friend when he gets back. after all summer is just around the corner. oh, he needs the fan to keep off mosquitoes too back here.

and these rings...naah...not for him. i like the decepticon ring (right) better. do i want to give one away? they are such good keepsake of the movie. maybe will give one to jet....if he wants. so? u want or not???

and now....the holiday has started...what am i going to do??? i am.....going to just sit at home...and rot. naah...i won't rot. i just hope that i can keep myself disciplined and not go to the kitchen all the time to hunt for food.

make sure i finish marking all stuff i am supposed to finish (not much now). then i am going to watch movies. i have finished watching the first episode of gossip girl season 3. yeah! that is a start.

then at the end of the week, i am going to go to genting highlands (still not sure) to go and meet quincy, my friend from taiwan with mom...she wanna meet mom again. on saturday atticus and uncle are arriving from melbourne. then there is one day left....but wait....i have applied for another day of leave..waakaka...yeah...the boss asked me why i must choose that day. well, i told her about quincy's coming. so on monday i am going to meet quincy in kl before she flies back to taiwan on tuesday.

and luckily i am in my break...i can start searching for hotels in krabi.

and another trip for the end of the year is confirmed. one more time to hong kong in 2009. aahh....ask me=- aren't you sick of hk???

this is when the fan in me have to speak out.

sammi cheng is going to have her concert from 24 to 29 december 2009. the dates have just been released. so being a die-hard fan, i have attended her past 2 concerts in hk as well. how can i miss this one knowing that everything is going to be much better there in the coliseum than those stuff they do for world tour.

haven't decided which show i am going yet. headache. have a feeling they are going to add two more shows. i want to go to those ending ones. i have just checked prices for flight tickets. pokai!!! going to hk end of the year is a big no-no. even the prices on airasia can go 4 digits for hk. crying!!!! hotel leh?? who has a place to offer me??? price of concert ticket is cheaper than what they charge in malaysia for most expensive seats. only hk480.

mom does not know yet. gulp. she will definitely scold again. am getting used to it. first time going to hk in winter. wonder if they have boxing day sales there. wakakaka....pokai still wanna shop.

yummy omochi

ok...as mentioned in the earlier post....omochi by kam lun tai. these are the remaining ones today. will be finished soon because we cannot keep it for long. you can see them in sushi king sometimes but they are very expensive. they put three on a plate and charge you rm5 i think.
mom got this box for less than rm7. there are 10 inside.

hungry ghost festival

if you have been wondering why the local tv stations have been showing so many chinese horror/ghost movies recently, well, you must not be a chinese. ;P

it is the seventh month in the lunar chinese calendar and it is the month when hell's gate opens and ghosts and spirits are released for their 'annual' visit to our realm. we on this side of the world also takes the opportunity to pay our respect to them by having a 'hungry ghost festival' and ask for blessings at the same time.
many small towns will have this and different towns will have their 'climax' of the event on different days in the month. in tm, the last day which is also the 'climax' will be err...let me see the time...ok..today, 13 sept. there will be festive air in the area where ppl will display all their offerings in all grandeur and the burning of the paper effigy of hades. folks in town will come out with their families and admire edible stuff on display on rows of tables and there will also be performances on a stage nearby.

ok back to my story. so my family went and pay our respect today. mom, grandma, bro and yours truly. we went in the afternoon to avoid the morning crowd.

mom and grandma had started preparing all the offerings since yesterday. some of the foodstuff we made at home: agar-agar (sucks big time...hancur...lousy agar-agar. down the drain liao), chicken curry pau, butter cake, ang ku kiah (dunno what you call this in english), fried fish, fried trotters,and steamed fatt gou (??). bought: mooncakes, mochi, roast chicken and duck, instant noodles and fruits.

so here you can see our offerings to hades represented by the big paper effigy with a bloated tummy. there is also a 4-digit no (5688) next to the effigy...and guess what.....3 of the last digits came out today in magnum 4d. aish aish aish....if only i were greedier and placed a bet. i would be a few hundred ringgit richer. i remember mom telling me that 699 came out in the draw few days ago instead of 688. inside, i was telling myself in jest that 688 would come soon. wanna knock myself in the head now. not my luck.

and this is the part where we contribute to the air pollution index in the area. ;P
a 15-year-old told me that we chinese are made to pollute the air. he said that we burn all those joss sticks and prayer papers (silver and gold paper) the whole year round without any guilt.
well, anyone has any environmentally friendly way?

anyway, all of us came back covered with dust and ashes...from head to toe. i used to like burning those papers when i was a kid...it was fun seeing them burn. but now, i just can't stand the smoke and heat. so much for my filial piety.

anyway, we finished everything in 1 hour flat. and now, we have a lot to eat at home. my favourite is the mochi from kam lun tai which is sold once a year for mid-autumn festival. will try to get a pic tomorrow. the agar-agar should have topped the list, but not this round. mom suspected those agar-agar are not real stuff. so it wasted sugar and gas just cooking them yesterday. she has thrown the rest away now. i miss agar-agar!

ok...end of my report. time to get some sleep.

happy morning

ok....so i am on a diet....but i won't deprive myself of all the good things in life right??

yesterday, sook hua came back from kl and brought me krispy kreme glazed doughnuts. yahoo!!!! i have been wanting to try it since it came to malaysia few months ago. i tried it once in gold coast and love it. some ppl said it is very sweet....yeah if you choose the others with different toppings. glaze is still ok.

so i brought the doughnut bag to work and opened it few minutes ago....and gosh...i did not expect to get 2!!! bonus!!! so i am having one now...and for lunch, i will have another one. i am sooo stingy for not sharing!!! it is realllly gooooddd....i must be really hungry.

and sweet cousin en sent me this.....hehe...nice. i will keep it...maybe i can put it in my handphone, notebook screensaver, etc.....
both of us wanna escape somewhere during raya weekend....but dunno where to go...haiz....
hmmh....a sign? look up at the clouds and find the answers???

090909...special??

ok so yesterday was 090909
did anyone do anything special?? it was a friend's birthday yesterday and i smsed her and told her to do something special.....
but i forgot to do one on my part.

but let's see what i had ....
ooh...ooh....i bought oreo and had four pieces of them yesterday. that i will consider special. it has been ages since i last bought one....like many many years ago...... yummy...but i wish they will only have oreo without the cream. i like the dark round biscuit.

and i also got an e-mail from a friend (quincy) in taiwan whom i have not heard from for ages...like around 7 years. she is coming to malaysia end of the month and i hope we get to meet up. we were both wang lee hom fans when we first met and she flew down here for his concert. i have got a few buddies from my idol-woshipping hobby. hahahaa...

i also know a couple who went to register their marriage yesterday. my neighbour jack.

so it ain't a bad 090909 after all.

hol in november

ok, one trip for the end of the year is confirmed.

destination: krabi
dates: 27 to 30 november
travel companions: pikkien and friend. now i am still looking for one more to make it 4. anyone?
idea: pikkien's- to get away from the house. ;)

loving september

hands up if you do not like september.

i just lurve this september. haha...it is a month which is divided into half work and half holidays. let me calculate how many days i have to work.

out of the 30 days in september, i only have to work 16 days (officially) woohoo!!!
next monday is another day off. then we get one whole week for hari raya. what is there not to celebrate?

well, of course the only thing i am not celebrating is hari raya itself and the idea of sitting at home the whole week.

the newspaper is bombarded with holidays tours and packages almost daily because of the matta fair and i wish i can go on one. feel like going to south korea in that one week because one, the price is affordable. two, it is time to get lost in a country where everyone speaks a language you do not understand. it is a good escape from normal daily life.
however, the thought of joining a tour alone is setting me back. there is just no one to invite or interested to go. some are worried of h1n1, some said no holidays, some said no money. anyone out there???

ok the following video is not so related to the post but the song just comes to my mind to my mind when i think of september.
it is the song 'try to remember' which i first heard in the movie 'city of glass' staring leon lai and shu chyi. the one i have here is the original one sang by jerry orbach in the musical comedy 'the fantasticks'. roy orbinson also has another good version.
i think my september will be just as slow but not melancholic as the song.

bigger thighs are better????

yeah, you heard me right. i couldn't believe my eyes too when i read that headline and i had to click on the article.

so according to the study, basically those with bigger thighs will not die a premature death and has lower risk of heart disease. shall we drink a toast to that??

i have always wanted to get rid of my big thighs and now they are saying this. hmm....

buying jeans is not easy when you have big thighs. and i love jeans very much. when you manage to push that pair of jeans up your thighs to your hips, the waist area will still have so much space area left even after you button it. that is why i keep wearing the same pair of jeans whenever i want to be presentable in jeans. i dun want to wear it down because i still wanna wear it for many years to come, so i have to look for another pair fast. the others that i have will usually be scrunched at the waist after i have put on the belt. ugly.

did i mention i like to wear shorts too?? how to look sexy in shorts (not short ones lah of course) when your thighs are as big as tree trunk.

but at least now i can say one good thing about the big thighs if the result of the study is really to be believed.

back to diet

work has started and the same goes to work for the body too.
went jogging yesterday and found that i was huffing and puffing halfway through the normal distance. sucks.

but another good thing about coming back is that i am eating less too. at home, one has the liberty to rummage the kitchen and mom's cooking is always tempting on the table.
but at this rented house of mine, i dun even have biscuits. i do have some pieces of chocolates and some fruits. so a healthier week is what i get when i come back here.

at work, i dun even eat at lunch. after breakfast of an apple and a cup of coffee before i go to work, i have snacks of maybe another cut fruit or buns midmorning. in the afternoon, maybe a steam pau (if i bring it back from home) or more fruits. for dinner, i have the caterer's food and i take them without the rice. 3 dishes and a soup. the amount is just moderate. so i am training my stomach to be smaller too. you will get used to it. i dun need that much energy anyway.