talked talked talked....oldmates time

my day's schedule:

9.30a.m.- left house for cheras
11.00a.m.- reached leisure mall and picked up sapaq. have not met since 2001. she still looks the same and dare i say....sexier!!! so slim and with 2 kids. some ppl just are born with good genes
12.00noon- reached upm and found the building where they were having a tourism quiz. our tourism minister was also there and saw bodyguards in dark shades outside the hall. intimidated. called fidelia to come out instead. again....have not met since 2001. still looks the same...slimmer i think.
12.05noon- shaliza appeared in her own car. again..have not met since 2001 ;). all jumped into her avanza i think and started looking for a food outlet nearby so we can hangout.
12.30p.m.- after getting lost a few times, finally found a mcdonalds and kfc. went into kfc and talked talked talked talked talked....until
2.15p.m.- left kfc
2.30p.m.- time to say goodbye under the rainy sky. fidelia continued with her chaperon duty, sapaq left with shaliza, i went to midvalley for gathering 2. sob sob sob....already missing them
3.15p.m.- reached midvalley. all carparks full. luckily, i only waited 5 mins and got a place. good choice for staying put and wait in that row.
3.40p.m.- reached petshop on the top floor and looked for a dog collar for beanie. he is much better now. today...this morning, at 3.30a.m. (!!!) he barked so loudly at crazy garbage collectors that he woke the whole house. sign that he is all right. phew! and no thanks for waking me up. do the garbage collectors do their round so early in your area?
4.00p.m.- got myself seated at secret recipe. ordered a mixed fruit yoghurt drink and started reading today's papers.
4.45p.m.- saw sim standing outside secret recipe and waved like a mad woman. but she was on the phone and talked there for like almost 15 minutes. she only came in at 5p.m.
5.05p.m.- aniq called to ask 'where to park?'. then she called to ask again, 'where is secret recipe? i only see ralph lauren perfume.' hahah....well, that is aniq kan? oh, sim and aniq, have not met for few years only...
5.10p.m.- aniq found us
5.35p.m.- geklian, ashley and her son, ryan arrived. have not met since 2001, ryan not included of course. ashley was desperate for food. no place at secret recipe, so we all headed to delicious.
5.45p.m.- all settled at delicious. ordered food and started talking and talking and talking........
6.00p.m.- sim left. fiance picked her up. congrats sim!!!!
7.40p.m.- we all left delicious and ashley foot the bill. thanks so much for the meal.
8.00p.m.- said goodbye to ashley and ryan. ryan is really an angel.
8.10p.m.- reached kamdar. geklian needed to look for curtain. talked talked talked while waiting for her hubby.
8.25p.m.- lian's hubby arrived with daughter and a friend, our junior from nz group, sheila. wow....what a day of many meetings for me.
9.15p.m.- said goodbye to lian and family. aniq and i went down to get our cars. goodbye to aniq too.
9.30p.m. - reached 17/6, pj to pick aunt up from mrs tan's house. straight home after that.
10.35p.m.- home sweet home. and put the transparent dog collar which i paid rm28.90 on beanie. he put up a little struggle at first....but once i got it clipped, he just let me finish clipping.

cute mou???? i wanna call him astro beanie boy!!!!


no problem sleeping with the dog collar on. the most important is he does not scratch his eye and ears and he will not bite his paw and belly.

ok...beanie progress- mom bought a syringe but without the needle and put the tablets to feed him inside. then pushed the syringe and there go the tablets into his throat.
mom also reported that since he was getting his appetite back, he gobbled his tablets inserted in his food without much trouble at dinner time. he had a bath this afternoon too. all shiny and clean again.
but his hind left paw is still swollen. he is still limping. did not put any eye/ear drop on him today. need to put the muzzle on him and then force the drop into the respective areas. need dad to pacify him in order to put on the muzzle.

thank you mr vet

a big boulder has been lifted from the shoulder. phew! i can breathe now. i can relax now. i can calm down now. i can check beanie now without feeling any heart pain.

the vet called at 9a.m. and woke me up from my sleep. i purposely did not put the phone on 'silent' mode because i was really hoping to receive his call.
he said he would be here at 9.30a.m.
so i woke mom up and we tied the dog.
oh, he did not take any of the food left for him yesterday. so he was still up but weak.

once i tied him, i think he was thirsty and tried to take some milk. but after one lick, he stopped. so we just threw the milk away and replaced with clean water and he drank and drank and drank. then he went over to the grass to pee. but still no food. i tried to give him bread, he refused. mom gave him his dog snack, refused.

then started the waiting game. i told dad not to go out for his breakfast first and wait for the vet to come.

the vet only came at 10a.m. it took him one hour from kkb....but when he saw his car, we knew how slowly he drove. the most important thing is- he finally came.

so the vet gave him a muzzle that he brought (size 4) and i put it on beanie. he only resisted once his snout was in the muzzle, by then it was too late. luckily dad held his head too. we bought a muzzle but it was size 2, so i guess it was a bit tight and harder to put on. will get another bigger size one later.
beanie was too weak to fight back and there was no bark at all. poor thing.

the doctor gave him 5 injections. please don't call me to recall all. i only remember anti-histemin and the last one was anaesthetic.....very very mild one.
beanie only winced at the first jab, then the rest went smoothly.
so the dog was semi-conscious and the vet's job began. but of course we still had to hold the dog to be safe.
he checked his paws first. his sole was broken and torn...it is very bad when this kind of thing happens to the dog. some skin from his paw was already gone. the vet trimmed the dead skin and the hair around the area and then poured hydrogen peroxide over the open wound. ouch! then he used the blue coloured spray that we had. so the spray that dad bought was really useful. we are to continue spraying that on the paws.

then he moved to the eye. sob sob sob. dead skin was already forming around the eye and the vet just cleaned and got rid of the dead skin. actually, beanie himself made the eye area all bloody this morning before the vet came with his own paw. i had to control him with the leash and quickly got the fan out before he made it worse.

finally, the ears. the anaesthetic was slowly losing its effect then and mom and i held his legs while dad held down his head. the vet really scrubbed hard with hydrogen peroxide and cleaned all the way iinnnnnnnto his ears. then he squirted anti-bacterial cream into the ears. according to him, the cream can last 3 to 4 days.

vet did not do anything to the mouth because it was still in the muzzle.
he mentioned something about psoriasis and eczema. that it could be due to inheritance or lack of nutrients in his diet.
so we have to buy proper dog food for his meals instead of only giving him rice.
now he is all groggy and sleepy....but it is good. let him get his rest and let all those topical cream work. have applied cream on his mouth too.
so beanie gets topical cream for the eye and mouth, eye and eardrop, antibiotic, antiscratch, vitamin and tablet for his skin. the vet also gives us a bottle of shampoo with certain active contents which we are to use to bathe him tomorrow.

don't let him go out onto hard surface. all beanie's business will be done in the garden in the house now.

so i hope he will get his appetite back and i can feed him his medicine. that in itself is another challenge. hopefully tonight he will not be choosy. mom will get him dog food later. 4 pills to eat. can?

vet has promised to come back 2 weeks later to give him vaccination. oh, i was so happy to hear that.

he charged us rm230....1/3 of that went to the jabs. he said it was always more expensive the first time around. we understand.

everyone is so relieved now. i called aunt to inform her the news. i knew she would not enjoy her trip to malacca today if she did not get good news. and she even told me that she dared not call me the whole time since yesterday.
there is still a lot to do but.... at least we get some reassurance from the vet already. phew!
i switch on the fan so no fly can hover around him when he sleeps.

thank you everyone for your concern and care. there are so many dog lovers on fb.
the battle is still continuing....so let the fight continues.

*even found a prayer for beanie here ;)

3 women and 1 dog....at 10.30p.m.

was planning to watch a movie after all the kids left at 9.30p.m. but beanie stopped me in the track.

it is only beanie, beanie, and beanie on everyone's mouth and mind today. grandma would recount his condition every time she takes a glance at him. aunt would refuse to go and see him because it will only makes the heart ache. i am running through ways to clean his infection in my head the whole time. haiz....

today it began very badly.

he was hiding and did not want to be found. even when we pushed food (with antibiotic in it) with a stick close to his snout, he would growl fiercely.

in the afternoon, he came out from hiding when he heard mom came back and went to poo. at least i know his bowel movement is still normal and it is not any liquid coming out. so nothing is wrong with his internal organs.

then he went to hide under the car...but soon we would have to tie him up as the kids were coming for his class. so the only way to get him to crawl out- spray water around the area where we did not want him to be. mom sprayed, and i got his dog collar when he came out and leashed him up. surprisingly, he did not put up any fight. he was really weak from not eating i think. yesterday he only ate a little and this morning, he did not eat at all.

he just sprawled there not moving when everyone passed by him.

at around 10p.m. just now...as i saw him motionless there, the disinfectant spray appeared in my mind and i realised that we had not sprayed it on him the whole day!

so i got hold of the can of spray and tried my best to spray on his 4 paws. he was quite weak so he was not able to fight. and i was holding his leash short, so he had no way to run. i successfully sprayed his paws.

then i thought of his ears....it was difficult...but i tried......and i FAILED! and i think some spray got onto his eye or the wounded area around his eye and he started putting that side of his face on the floor and started rubbing. gosh....i quickly shortened the leash till he had no way of putting his face on the floor and got grandma to bring me her fan. i think the spray stung the area so he had to scratch.

so there i was, together with grandma, one fan each.....fanning as hard as we could. and phew.....he stopped struggling after a while and seemed to enjoy the cooling air.

then mom came and i suggested cleaning the dog's ears. mom thought of using the coal tongs to hold the cotton and she went searching for the tongs.

so we got the bottle of dettol out, dipped the cotton into it, made the cotton as dry as we could and mom shoved the coal tongs into his ears while grandma and i were fanning furiously so he would be distracted. he stopped struggling after a while and enjoy the fan patting on his head.

then we realised, since he enjoyed the cooling air, why not get the fan instead.....i had been fanning for like 20 minutes with grandma since the spray got his eyes.

what a relief that idea was.
so there was the fan on the fight and mom's coal tong as well. see his blue paws?
so depressed. he did not even bark when he felt uncomfortable. he could only growl. ;(
i think the dettol left some cooling effect in his ears, so he let mom do it without a struggle after that. the infection of the ear started from the infection of the ear flap first. so the inner flap was red and there was a thin layer of pus. we managed to clean that.
after disinfecting his ears, we also cleaned his eye using clean water. then we applied aloe vera gel onto his ears and eye with the help of cotton and the coal tongs too lah. the coal tongs was a great help.
so you get the whole picture here. and the two bowls? untouched milk with panadol in one and the other is his rice with antibiotic and sleeping pill shoved into cooked chicken livers.

the question now is: is he going to drink any of the milk or finish his meal later?
if he finishes his meal, i will find him knocked out somewhere (he is unleashed now). one of that sleeping pill knocked me out for maybe 6 hours flat. so imagine that effect on the dog? but the pill was halved and one half was actually quite fine in powder form because it broke unevenly when i tried to break it with a knife.

well, we will only know tomorrow. at least now i am not that worried about his ears.
i just worry about how i will find him tomorrow and whether the 2 bowls will be empty or not.

my heart bleeds just like how your paw is bleeding

oh, how it pains our hearts to see him like this. we are all so worried about him and like everyone else, we do want him to get better.

i waited one whole day for a veterinarian recommended by a pharmacist to come, but cis! that vet did not even call to say that he could not make it because his car broke down. he said he was coming after lunch and i waited till 5p.m. to call him because i did not want to seem pushy. he can't come tomorrow but maybe he can come on sunday.....sunday!!! no, we can't wait!

just because beanie is not any special breed, it does not make him less special to us.

you can barely hear him bark these few days and even if he does, the bark has lost its ferocity. it seems hoarse and suppressed ;(
paws are bleeding, mouth and eye are bruised, ear is infected. can it get any worse?


how much can he lick? we try to spray anti-disinfectant and it is quite a task to spray it too. the paw is possible after much hide-and-seek but the ear??? he wants to bite every time you lift the flap. you can see the hair outside the right ear slightly wet right? it is because of the infection sob sob sob
this is what he does a lot. he also sometimes rub his eye and snout on the floor to ease the itchiness but not knowing that it actually worsens them.

so the plan for tomorrow?....please...hope this work. feed him sleeping pill, then tell the vet helper who stays near my house to come and inject him and hopefully clean his infected areas.
if he is around tomorrow....

i have been to this vet helper a few times with my questions but why do i sense that only i want an urgent solution? he says that he can't do much with his supply here and tells me to bring him to a proper vet clinic in rawang. imagine driving my dog there! impossible!

am i over-reacting?
the anxiety will not end till he gets well.

bird-buster

i have finally found a way to fight those irritating chirping birds outside the windows!!!!
and i need to thank yeelyn for that....she who is sitting for a major exam and still has time check the blog and smsed me the solution. thank you so much.

and when i mentioned yeelyn's suggestion to aunt, only then she recalled seeing some other people doing that back in germany on trees.

so what does this ghostbuster......ooooppps.........birdbuster need???

1- string
2- old cds
3- scissors
4- ladder
5- tissue to wipe the sweat
6- a voice to scream when the bird makes its way into the room
7- co-operation
8- vacuum cleaner

and so i found a set of old dvds which belonged to someone i borrowed from. let me keep the name secret in case the owner wants the set of series back. sshhhhhh.....
it was a tvb series....translated english name is 'it aint easy being a woman'...something like that lah, staring sheren tang.

and so the mission started with my aunt's help. mom was busy peeling mushrooms dad brought home downstairs and refused to come up!

we started with my brother's room and had to take down cardboard pieces which we used to block the light from coming into the room......and to block the noises of the birds which just like to hang around every morning!
we just lifted the sash (i wonder if it is the right term to use) and then took out the cardboard pieces. now that was the easy part. the difficult part came next. OMG!!!

OMG indeed! bird nest!!!! i made sure all the birds have flown away by hitting the cardboard first. we saw a nest and aunt used a pair of glove to remove it and put it in a plastic bag.

then we vacuumed whatever bits were left by the birds. it was not back-breaking work. we just could not turn on the fan so it was really hot. we were sweating profusely. so there i was on the ladder and aunt was standing below me with the vacuum.

after doing the cleaning, i tied the dvds to the wooden panels. and voila...job done. put back the cardboard pieces, closed the sash, pulled the vacuum plug and moved to the next room.

BUUUUTTTT>>>>>>>>>>>>...........before we managed to set up our tools to start work on my bedroom's windows.........chirp chirp chirp chirp could be heard. WHERE??

i thought it was the birds outside communicating with each other that their resting place had been destroyed. then i listened more closely and strained my ears to the source of the chirpings.

OMG! it came from the plastic bag where we threw the dried bird nest earlier. there were live CHICKS. luckily aunt did not squeeze the nest when she threw it into the plastic bag. i nearly had a heart attack when i found them. and we did not rummage through the nest either. aunt just grabbed the nest and threw it straight into the bag. i put it onto the floor and that place was the source of noise.

MOM!!!!!!! yup, she is the person to call when you need to catch live animals in the house. hahaha....
so mom said to bring the plastic bag with the chicks to the playground opposite and put them onto a tree. let them be fed there and set free. good suggestion. she did it. wahahaha....i still have another bedroom to settle right?

so after that little commotion, off to work in the second bedroom. but it was not as easy as the first bedroom. i had to unscrew and take down the curtain rod bracket because it was put too high that i was unable to lift the sash.

once the curtain rod was taken down....another COMMOTION started. this time, an even bigger one. second heart attack.

so i lifted the sash, and before i managed to lift the cardboard piece, a black bird flew straight into the room and headed down under our bed. i screamed! and aunt followed my scream! and she asked me WHAT??!!! hahahaha....she screamed for no reason!

we igored the bird first because we had another thing to worry about then. when i lifted the cardboard, we found another bird nest and this one still had wet muddy straw. eeww....imagine how dirty our windows where. puke! that is the thing with old designs of windows. too many hiding rooms.

actually, the nest of live chicks was only discovered once aunt removed the nest. scary. so it was another plastic bag handed to mom whose mushroom peeling session was disturbed- twice.

so it was vacuuming, replacing the battered cardboard pieces and tying dvds. then putting back the rod and the brackets. sweat!

work done??? not quite. remember the live bird under the bed????

i suggested to sweep the bird into a dustpan. but mom was WAAAYY AHEAD. she had finished peeling her mushrooms then and after few screamings from me....she came. aahhh.....relief.

aunt moved the bed, mom just picked the bird up with her bare hand and brought it to the playground opposite again. saved!

that was one hour of dvd-tying, bird-shooing and window cleaning work. and the result???
i even tied dvds on the bathroom windows. those 6 pieces of dvds look like easy job to tie right? well, it was for the bathroom windows because there was no cover, no cardboard pieces and no bird nests.

so did the dvds work???
yes they do. the birds no longer fly to the windows and scratch at those cardboard every morning. instead, they have chosen to hang around the trees around our house instead. so i cannot really get rid of their chirpings, but at least their chirpings now are a distance away and will not irritate me. mom has even got me to tie the extra dvds to a flowering tree outside to chase away the birds too.
so if you see dvds/cds tied onto trees next time, you will know why. aunt has finally realised the reason.

but i have another problem....the birds also like to hang under the roof on those wooden panes which you can see in the picture above. can someone lend me an extra-tall ladder????

an 'exciting' shirt

oh, how different today was compared to yesterday.

yesterday i was still sick.
and today, i am better. not even a sneeze the whole day.
managed to go jogging at proton city too in the evening. mom and aunt tagged along. was so afraid the rain which came all of a sudden at 4.30p.m. would spoil the plan. luckily, it stopped at a quarter past 5. running up and down the slopes was tough. will go 2 days later.....the day i need to wash my hair. well, a little bit of water-saving is no harm right?

anyway.......the gist of the day is this:

image taken from hm.com

was screaming on fb for help. smsed all the way to england for yunli's help. all just for a tee-shirt.
alas, help came.......but not from the united kingdom. just like the h&m and lanvin's collaboration, my help also need to come from 2 countries: germany and malaysia. ;P

this collection is available on 23 nov (today) from 7a.m. gmt onwards. i tried to log in the website an hour before that.....and a maintenance notice came up. tried tried tried....until i could get into uk's site....and found that the tee shirt i wanted was sold out in my size (s). it was already 20 mins past 7a.m. then. so never mind....maybe i would go for an M. try to check out with that one tee, and found that, i needed to have the same billing address as the delivery address. so there was no way i could use my credit card to buy and send it to yun's. that was when i smsed her. was so afraid i would wake her up. when she replied saying that she would do it for me, the website was down again. this collection is really great!

so i quickly thought of another alternative- aunt.....who resides in germany but is right now in my house!!!! saviour!!! could not get into germany's website pulak!!!! another maintenance notice came up. wait.....................................................................................................................................................................................
one hour had passed since the collection was launched for sale online. would i still get the tee-shirt in my size??
made a u-turn and checked uk's website- sold out!!!!

so nervous and exited and agitated at the same time. got into germany's website. all in deutsche! hentam! guessed my way through. aunt left her credit card with me (billing and delivery address: same) as she had promised to bring grandma to visit her friend in town.

got my tee, my size! and many of the items were still available unlike in uk's website. germans are not as fashionable or fashion crazy as brits???
but....damn!! i don't understand the long instructions when it came to checkout page! what was i suppose to click? i only knew pay by visa. then i guessed they wanted my aunt's birthday to verify that she is 18 and above to use that card. after that, i was lost!!!!

sob sob sob! called my aunt!!! she was in town with grandma but unluckily (fortunately for me!!!), grandma's friend had already left for kl....so yippee!!! i offered my chauffeur service to ferry them home ASAP.

zoom zoom...in the rain somemore......and reached home. consulted aunt and we went through the transaction together. finally....................................................................................................................................................................................................
can breathe more slowly.....i got the tee shirt i wanted!! my size!!! 35Euro plus postage. hallelujah!

am still keeping my fingers crossed till that parcel arrives at aunt's house. don't think they are sending it out so soon. i think i will get it early december...1 week! oh the torture.
and when will i get it back in malaysia??? i wonder how much it is to send it back huh....hehehe.....

i hope i managed to do everything correctly on h&m's website and there is nothing wrong with the purchase. please please please......

does the tee-shirt look familiar??? ;P

ok, she above is not the main reason why i want the tee ok. ...... ....er....but maybe it is a pushing factor lah. but the tee is really nice right? i also got comme des garcons collection with h&m previously. got help from my cousin in germany at that time. hmmh....destined to get my stuff from germany.

well, h&m is going to open in singapore next year...so will find someone to help me then.

so i guess i have to thanks ppl who give me moral support in successfully ordering this shirt lah- sihan for supporting my choice ;P, yunli for generously lending me her address and volunteering to buy it for me when i could not get it right, shyan ching and peng peng for offering their help on fb, and finally aunt and her credit card.

you can go check out the collection on http://www.hm.com if you are interested. i think the germany website still has men's clothings on sale and some accessories :P

*cis...only thought of google translate just now. it would have reduced a lot of my anxieties earlier if i had thought of it.

sleep! where art thou *&%#@!!!!!

sleep sleep...where art thou??!!!

it is not the first time i am complaining of insomnia right???
i thought i was going to sleep better now that i have got home sweet home...but i was wrong.
i moved to my room, slept with my aunt and i made her turn the air-cond to the warmest possible for her (23/24C). i decided not to sleep with in bro's room with the fan because of the irritating birds near the window every morning.
but damn it!!! the birds were also outside the windows of my room!!! ooh....how i wish to kill them all!!! if anyone knows anyway to get rid of the birds.....do share with me. losing sleep can really make a person lose her mind!

my body is not functioning right too. i have a bad cold since yesterday and i was sneezing and window shopping simultaneously at mid valley yesterday. face is in a horrible state with breakouts.

HELP!!!

so why was i at midvalley since i was having a cold???
well...trust me ya.....the cold only starting coming when i got to midvalley. i was quite all right with nary a sneeze at home before i left. must be all the germs accumulated in the carpark level. hehe....kidding. aunt and i went and we circled the place for like 20 mins before we managed to find a parking lot. haiz.....

i thought i was going to find myself a good bargain at anya hindmarch inside isetan since they were having 50%+10% discount for some of their bags plus the rm200 cash voucher that i have. but puuuuiitt.......the things were horrible. well, maybe not that horrible but nothing caught my eye. phew! save some $$$.

instead, it was aunt who managed to buy a kipling bag which she is going to give away as a gift when she goes to australia. it is a good deal....50%+10% discount. she only paid rm200 for the bag. can't find the bag in her room...so no photo.

we only shopped for small small stuff ...mostly things for the house and oh, lots of things for beanie from the pet's world.....dog shampoo and food.

talking about beanie, the poor dog has been suffering lately. ants bit his eye and it was swollen and red. his paws were acting up again, all red and sensitive and yesterday he was limping. ooh...how my heart aches when i see that. does anyone know why dog's paws are so prone to injury? is there any solution? please share.

back to midvalley. the joy was eating i guess. trying out new outlets.

jonker street's dessert stall and popiah for tea. the dessert was not good. would love to try the dough fritter (yaw char keow) there as the queue was so long at that stall....u know the basement level connecting midvalley to the gardens?

dinner at a restaurant serving taiwan food. opposite sushi zanmai. yummy. squid ball, seafood fried noodles and hot and sour noodle. even the seafood noodles is hot and aunt could not take a lot. so i ended up clearing most of the food. burp!!!

a mousepad from isetan for buying more than rm100 in a single receipt.

i also bought lots of crisps and loackers. haha..my snacks for this holidays.

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back at home.....my aunt has been going on a baking craze since joining a few classes of baking held in a shop selling baking ingredients in town. everytime she comes back from one class, she will bake whatever she has learnt for few days.
so there is definitely no shortage of bread and cakes at home.

this cake above was inspired by the hello kitty cake i got few days ago. i have not tasted the sponge cake yet but i heard it is very spongy and light. that will be my breakfast tomorrow. there is still chocolate brownie in the fridge and i think i am the one eating most of it. it is really good....with lots of chocolate that i like.

have to start jogging session soon if i still want to keep the weight under control.

this above should be my 'sleeping pill' for tonight. don't worry, they are only pills for my cold and i am only to take one at night or in the day time. i specially request for one which will make me drowsy and send me to slumber land. i really need it.

no rooms in the house are free of the chirping of birds. i want to cry when i think of this! even in the afternoon. i won't mind staying in an apartment in the middle of the city now. at least the noise of the traffic is more soothing than the chirping of birds!! twittering! ooh!!! help!

and today with the bad cold (sneezed till my lungs hurt and almost lose my voice), i couldn't even get a nap because it was soo hot! no electricity from 10a.m. till 7p.m. we got a notice on friday that it would be from 9 till 5p.m. guess this people just dunno how to start and end work on time!

sob sob...okok..i am going to sleep now. have to adjust my sleep time now i guess. early to bed and early to rise. only then will i be able to get enough sleeptime. good night.

good to better?

it is that time of the year again when school ends and goodbyes are inevitable.
everyone was looking forward to this holiday the only thing on their mind is- REST. that is all they want. it has been a hectic year and i also want my rest.

i feel rather lethargic and exhausted. there will be no specially planned trip this month nor in december. i will just sit at home and rest and recuperate and rejuvenate.

i got a special send-off this year in the form of this hello kitty cake below.
well, the cat's head looks more like a bear's but nonetheless, her effort and thoughts totally touched me. i did not expect this at all. it is this kind of gesture which tells me that what i have been doing all this while is worth it and i am on the right track.

the cake is also accompanied by a long letter. the card was given earlier this month. tears welled up in the eyes the first time i read that letter. this kind of thing is one of the reasons why i am still doing what i am doing now. but every year, i have got kids pushing me to leave and to charter another career path. one of the contents of this letter above also urged me to leave.

if they think i am doing a good job, why do they want me to leave? do i deserve much better than the good i am already getting now??

but the reality is of course- do i have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and start from the beginning with nothing in another field. i wish someone can just pluck me out and put me in whatever job they think i can do and i will start working. but of course, it will do nothing to improve my courage level and i will still stay the cowardly me. it takes fear to have courage and it takes trial and fall to earn the reward. and i....i don't have the courage to start all over. :_(

random

have been very busy in bidor this week, hence i am glad that i finally have sunday off. initially, i even had to go for a meeting on sunday. phew! thank goodness for fast completion of work.

so after a wedding dinner on saturday night in bidor, i only came back to tm this morning. will only drive back to work tomorrow in the morning before the sun is up.

coming back gives me some things to blog about. it will be sooo mundane in bidor.

this came via post few days ago. gosh....i am so so so so tempted to get something from ah. sale and rm200 voucher. who is not tempted? but the term is, the voucher can only be used when the purchase is more than rm800. well, if the bag has 50% discount and you add the rm200 discount, then it should be worth it i guess. aunt and i are planning to check out one of the stores......which one shall we go to?? klcc, midvalleys, pavilion or 1 utama??

beautiful buns....and very very delicious too. aunt joined a baking class this morning in a shop which sells all baking ingredients. she came back full of praises for the class and can't wait to attend the next one. all the buns look so nice right? more beautiful than those you see in some bakeries.

i have booked my tickets for harry potter movie this thursday. although i read some reviews that this episode is more like an appetiser for the real finale next year, i still am excited to watch it. i have never missed one. there will be that karaoke session after the movie i think. that is something to look forward to as well as it will be my first time in a k-box. lol

something sweet for bedtime

this is grandma's recommendation for a good sleep at night. someone told her to take a teaspoon of manuka honey at night and when she knew that i had insomnia, she quickly got this bottle for me as soon as i reached home from singapore. how sweet right???

i dunno who bought her this bottle of manuka, but i need to thank that person too. it is not cheap as all of you know.

so does it help??
well, i took it on sunday night and i slept like a log. but i was wondering whether it was my exhaustion from the singapore trip which made me sleep that way.

could it be psychology too? if you think it can make you sleep, then you take it and your mind is at rest as you are convinced that it can make you sleep.

anyway, i took one just now and i think i will have a good night's rest.

*had a really tiring day at work being bossy and running the show for the graduation ceremony full rehearsal. i just couldn't stand the flaws everywhere. even stayed back in the afternoon for the second run. damn it, some ppl just don't understand what is meant by FULL rehearsal. then they will start blaming others for all the mistakes that crop up during the real thing. they just do not realised that it is them who do not make things easier and smoother.

MI-ssion accomplished in singapore

ok...enough of marking. time to take a break now to update my singapore trip. better do it fast when it is still fresh and i still feel a bit excitement upon seeing all the nice photos taken.

left for singapore on 5th- deepavali day. did not even realise it was the festival of light.
took the komuter train from tm to sentral then boarded the klia express. waah....it was rm35 via the klia express ah....and it is the same price with klia transit too. it took me less than 30 mins to get to the airport. anyway, i found another waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy cheaper alternative from sentral already. they do have bus plying the klia route, rm10. take note next time!!!!

reached the airport early and had to wait for chinching. we took jetstar to changi.

no bags to check-in. so one backpack and one bulky handbag. was praying hard that it won't rain because watermark will stay on the leather.

what an irony. the book is supposed to put the reader off fast food but they are just the kind of food one will find at the airport. my lunch- chocolate milkshake and 6-piece nugget.

so the jetstar flight was just slightly late. in fact, i was wishing it could even be delayed longer hahaha.
it was a new plane and everything was still luminous and shiny on the surface. i think the cushion of the seat is thicker than airasia's. anyway, it was just a 45 mins flight and we arrived in changi terminal 1 before 4p.m.

and so the wait began.........................................................................

oh, we were joined by mz. 3 crazy fans on a quest for their idol- sammi cheng.

we needed some energy to go star-chasing. so it was early dinner at starbucks in the terminal and some caffeine booster!

and soooo.....................friday's MI-ssion was indeed a success.
her flight arrived at 1810 and we were at the gate when she came out....but that was after we saw a group of fans from taiwan coming out from the same flight as her. the heart felt a heavy thud.
hanjin- a singaporean artist was with her, her guest artist at the love mi more concert.

so our only aim was to take a photo with her.....and we got one, albeit not individually and not in a brighter lighted place. 3 of us, plus mi and hanjin. after some editing, the photo turns out quite nice and sweet. lol.

not putting up the photo here though. it is for our secret viewing.

she also autographed for us and wrote our names. then it was just walking all the way till the curstom check. did not even get to chat with her since she had so many ppl around her. i talked more with hanjin. he was impressed by our 'dedication' to wait for her there. hahaha.
so this was taken at the baggage claim area. they were waiting for their luggage and that was when all the fans swarmed around her to ask for photos and autographs. although her assistant told them not to, they still glued themselves next to sammi and got their photos taken. i could have done the same too at that time and got an individual photo with her. how stupid hor??? but i was very polite and ooko...kokok...cowardly also la. even the airport staff got her to sign and take photo with them. she obliged out of courtesy i guess.

and so...everyone walked out of the terminal when she walked out and the commotion outside was 100 times worse than what was inside. i also could not wait to escape. all those screams and cameras clicking away. really a big star had arrived.

i went into a friend's car and we headed to our next destination- the stadium. haha....we really chased.

she had a short rehearsal at the stadium and when she left....we also left and followed all the way to mandarin oriental, her lodging for the weekend. did not get to see her at the hotel as she was wwwwaaaaaaayyyy faster. i mean the driver was really good.

our group went for some supper after that at newton food court. it was nice catching up with all my singaporean Mi friends. we get to know each other because of Mi but we have kept in touch all this while too. cool friends definitely.

and so i checked in at york hotel at around 10.30p.m.
was quite disappointed because whatever amenities in the room were the most basic....they did not even have a toothbrush! i had to call housekeeping for one. yes, opppss....i forgot my toothbrush. it is a 4-star hotel and i expected better. give lah some body lotion. since we travelled light, we did not bring more liquid than we were allowed on the flight.

din get a good sleep because the pillow was hard. no more york hotel next time. founded by the malayan banking group owner lagi.

so saturday....one whole day in singapore. have to be touristy a bit since i was already there. can't just go star-chasing and waste my time right???
walked along orchard and weaved in an out of malls. this pic above is ion orchard, one of the latest malls to hit that stretch. not as big as expected. no sale. so can just see see lah. anyway, the things inside are all super branded ones.
we had brunch at the food court inside ion and i had singapore hokkien prawn noodle. the specialty here on this island. totally different from our prawn noodles and it was good. the secret lies in the broth used i think. yummy. too bad they were quite stingy with seafood and egg cracked into the noodle.

we walked walked walked and walked walked walked. went into uniqlo, j+ range of coats were really nice but kinda expensive. the prices in singapore are lower than those in malaysia, even after the exchange rate. they have both prices printed on the tags, so i could make the comparison. the exchange rate on the tag was S$1=rm2.50.

anyway.........i shopped lah. bought something jugak. was looking for a pair of shorts when i found this:
the only one in the 50% discount bin and my size. got it. mom asked, "why do you need another windbreaker?" beats me. it is in tangerine and not the pink in this photo. the lights made it look pink. i paid S$69.50 for it.

it was 3 plus after i paid of that jacket and we were contemplating whether to go to the hotel to see our STAR out on her way to the stadium. we half-heartedly decided to go and boarded the mrt, but fate brought us to the wrong stop. hahahaha

we thought since mandarin oriental was at marina bay, the stop would be called marina bay.
but it turned out that we were across the river and we were actually closer to marina bay sands.
so it was fated lah....anyway, we heard fans were shooed out from the hotel. so we did not miss much action anyway.

it was quite foggy at the bay but of course the 3 towers of the sands still stood out.

we went up the skypark, S$20 to get the view of the whole island. as the name suggests, it is a park right on top of all the 3 towers of the hotel.
view from skypark.

the jacuzzi spots and hotel pool at the sky park. what a view from the pool. i wonder how comfortable those hotel guests feel swimming there being watched by all the skypark visitors.

a transparent chute outside shoppes at sands. ppl were throwing coins aiming at that small hole in the middle. can grant any special wish??

the shoppes inside sands. and there is that canal ala river with 'sampan' ride too for a price- S$5.

we did not go into the casino and walked walked walked every floor at the shoppes.....just to kill the time. we were waiting for the buffet spread at rise to start!!!! had to treat our stomach to something good.

so we walked till 6p.m. $68++ per person for the buffet at rise.
luckily we were there sharp at 6p.m. the queue was horrible and the diners were so impatient at 7p.m. everything served here was good!!! yummy!!! top quality. even their mini baguette tasted good when my stomach was already full. i thought i would have to force that piece of dough down my throat since i could not resist putting it on my plate on my 3rd trip to the counters. boy, i was wrong. i was savouring every bite actually. salivating now.

definitely worth the money paid. i want that marshmallow dipped in dark chocolate fondue!!!!

ok, stomach full, it was time for the concert. love mi more singapore.

i had very good seat. yup. brilliant! 5th row so near!! very good photo ops too as it was towards the middle.

most of the photos turned out very clear....i mean for my lousy camera lah. don't compare mind to those dslrs ok.
here are some according to the sequence in the concert:




wearing a lanvin collaboration with h&m. it is not even released yet in the shop. she also carried lanvin's bb bag. hmmh...to get sponsored items.



i want that tee!!! also lanvin with h&m. keeping my fingers crossed now. hope i can get it online and sent to the uk.

so she did a double encore. came down to shake hands with the fans...which was totally unexpected. but her voice in this concert was rather bad due to her mild cold she caught. well, the fans did not notice as they were screaming non-stop as soon as she came on stage. but it was really nice of her to do the second encore.

and once the concert was over at around 10.45p.m. (it started at 8.30p.m.), it was back to star-chasing mode!!!

quick quick quick...run into the car and shoot to the hotel!!!!

we were indeed faster than her van this time around and reached at the same time as the van.

and my group of 4.....just walked into the hotel without bothering the bellboys standing outside. nothing to make them suspect that we were fans...no banner, no poster, no fan shirt. just poised and confident slow walk into the hotel lobby. hahahahaha....

i did not even realise sammi was already inside the lobby because there was no commotion at all since there were only 4 of us. i only realised when i turned to my right and there she was walking right next to me. what a shock!!! but of course i kept my poise and complimented the tee she was wearing. it was really nice! truly! and she smiled and said that, 'yes ah, my shirt is nice'. duh! i did not shake hands with her although the others did. just did not cross my mind. her assistant had the worried look looking at us. better spare her the paranoid.

aaah....that silly exchange with sammi made our night!!! we were on cloud nine.
and we even had a little celebratory toast! hahahaha......cheers!!!
only sodas and juice. no champagne. my MI-ssion is not accomplished yet. that encounter at the hotel was not a planned one, so it was the extra cherry on the cake.

yawn! our night ended just slightly before midnight. what a tiring day filled with lots of walk.

ok....now to sunday...the last day!

crazy star-chasers checked out of the hotel at 6.15a.m. and headed to the airport hoping to catch the last glimpse of their idol.

already other fans were waiting and one even waited the whole night. so compared to her, i am not that nut right?

ching and i got our airasia boarding pass verified and started our wait. she was rumoured to be on 810 flight. my flight was 1210. ok...now you can call me crazy.

nope, she did not turn up. there was another flight at 1010 and nope...not that one.

chinching and i were already agitated and hungry and groggy due to lack of rest, so we went into the terminal and waited there instead. we said our goodbyes to our friends outside and they promised to keep us updated with the progress outside. bless their souls.

we got all the updates while having breakfast at coffeebean. this was my brunch set. only enjoyed the toast. did not like the egg and i did not have that big appetite too. the wait was torturing!!!

she finally came into the terminal at around 10.20a.m. for her 11.25 flight. phew! and at that time i just got out of the toilet. haha...chinching was standing there waiting for me with anxious look holding our all bags. i did not even get to finish my coffee!!!

there were a few fans getting cleared at the custom but sammi and her group used the premier entrance, so they were waaay faster. and we did not even noticed they were already inside the terminal as we were only looking at the general custom check point.

so follow follow follow......only ching and i. haha...those taiwanese were also there on the same flight back to hk..but they did not get close to her. they would have all their chances in hk anyway.

so these are my autographs. the one on the left was signed on friday while the second one was on sunday. love the first one for obvious reason.

we wanted individual photo with Mi but her assistant said group photo. ok loh.
her assistant even told us to say 'cheese'. lol she was not that cruel to let us wait in vain.
and oh, i hate my face so much in this photo!!!! it is not a very clear photo actually but it is definitely brighter than the one we took on friday.

ok i hate my face because i was soo soo soo soo super bloated!! water retention! those cheeks! those puffs under the eyes. OMG!!! why??! why that morning??!!! and the hair looks ugly!!!! so loose and shapeless. urgghh!!!

oh Mi was holding a red bottega venetta purse which i also have in brown. luscious. feel like using mine too but part of me dun want to abandon the wallet i am using now.

anyway, they left for the lounge after taking a photo with us and we waited at her gate. said goodbye to her at 11a.m. and then it was MI-ssion accomplished!!!
phew!

flight was not delayed. reached lcct and took a bus to sentral. then from sentral it was komuter back to tm. only reached home at 5p.m. on a cloudy and drizzly evening.

so, what do you think of my MI-ssion??? not one you will imagine a 33-year-old to take hor???

mom and aunt scolded and said, "if she can't even remember you, why do you even bother to chase and waste your time?" ouch!

you think she remembers me? well, i will just forget about this in a few days time and live my life as usual again.