340. BKT again

Woke up early again today for Bah Kut Teh. This time we went to Carnation Restaurant for proper BKT and not the clear soup wan. After that, it's off for a stroll by Gurney Drive.

The Carnation BKT Restaurant; The pork!


This old lamp post caught my attention


The ACA building; Ruyi reading her book

On the way back, we passed the Anti Corruption Agency's building. Makes me wonder, what do they do that they require such a huge & grand building. If it's space they want, half of KOMTAR is empty. Amanah, Tegas, Adil! Yeah, right! Sad, I decided to shift my camera to a more pleasant subject. Ruyi was an angel on the way back. Just minding her own business reading her book.

Got home and went back to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Woke up later in the afternoon at 3 for lunch. Then went back to sleep again. Yes yes, I'm a pig.

Woke up late in the evening and missed dinner. Wasn't hungry anyway. Started to do my work that's due tomorrow. Seng and Fen went to get supper and bought me economy noddle and "leng lui thong sui". Everybody ate together in Seng's room while watching the Man City Vs Sunderland match. Don't feel for either team, so the 2-1 score didn't move me.

It's gonna be a late nite as I still have a mountain of documents to clear.

*YAWN* it's abt 4am d. Finally managed to clear my work and email them out. Time to have a chat with the sandman. Zzzzzzzzzz

339. Where'd U Go?

Just watched Fort Minor's newest single, "Where'd u go" on MTV. Fort Minor is the solo project of Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. You can read the Bio on the website & you can also listen to some of his songs at the website. "Where'd u go" is the first song (at least it's so when I access it) that'll play when u load the website. You can control which tracks thru the media player interface on the top right corner of his website (See the highlighted oval in picture below)


His songs have a very Linkin Park flava to it still. No complains there, loved their music! Still remember the trip with my bros to KL to watch Linkin Park's live concert. Great times. Sweet memories.

Fort Minor - Where'd You Go

Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.

She said "Some days I feel like shit,
Some days I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit,"
I don't understand why you have to always be gone,
I get along but the trips always feel so long,
And, I find myself tryna stay by the phone,
'Cause your voice always helps me when I feel so alone,
But I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call,
But when I pick up I don't have much to say,
So, I want you to know it's a little f#@$!* up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...

You know the place where you used to live,
Used to barbeque up burgers and ribs,
Used to have a little party every Hallowe'en with candy by the pile,
But now, you only stop by every once in a while,
Shit, I find myself just fillin' my time,
Anything to keep the thought of you from my mind,
I'm doin' fine, I plan to keep it that way,
You can call me if you find you have somethin' to say,
And I'll tell you, I want you to know it's a little f#@$!* up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"

I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...

I want you to know it's a little f#@$!* up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', no longer debatin',
Tired of sittin' and hatin' and makin' these excuses,
For while you're not around, and feeling so useless,
It seems one thing has been true all along,
You don't really know what you got 'til it's gone,
I guess I've had it with you and your career,
When you come back I won't be here and you can sing it...

Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...

Finally my Hotmail email account has been upgraded to 250MB. This is after over a decade of having the account. Gosh and to think GMail gives out 1 Gb since day 1 and now I'm given 2.7Gb. Hotmail is definitely passe.

We had a training on telephone techniques and courtesies in our office today. The trainer charges RM2,600 for an 8 hr session. Man, she must be 1 rich woman.

Went to buy more presents as more people wanted to share. I'm on my way to getting a bulk purchase discount card d :D After looking around, decided to buy the play mat.

This be the play mat

Also went and bought a birthday cake for them b'day boys, Lai, Anthony, Jack & Adrian. Followed Jack & Ann over to Nicholas' house for his daughter's b'day party. I was a huge crowd. We arrived rather late, so there weren't too much food left. It was still alright.

The cake that Nicholas bought; The birthday girl

The cake that I bought; Lai, Adrian & Jack

Hiromi & Chong, Adrian after he buried his face in the cake

We stayed after everyone has left, to celebrate Lai, Jack and Adrian's b'day. Anthony is off-shore, so he can't join us. Chatted a while and then headed home to watch the Liverpool Vs Charlton match with my bros. Liverpool drew with Charlton nil-nil. The prediction was 3-0, what a dissapointment.

338. More shopping

After sorting out my work related stuff, on the way back to my office, decided to stop by the tire shop to get my tire fixed. I've been driving around using my spare tire for the past week. They actually cannot find the leak despite dunking the whole tire & rim in a tub of water. They concluded that it's too small a hole. Perhaps I should bring in back a few days later when it starts to deflate? Bottom line, replaced the spare back into my trunk and all at no cost since they couldn't find the leak. Fair enough ;)

It's Nicholas' daughter's 1st birthday tomorrow. So naturally had to go buy a present. Luckily I have practice with Chuwy's kids and my niece and nephew. So off I went to my favorite baby shop to look for the present. *shudder* Scary, I now have a favorite baby place. Who would've thought. Imagine, I actually went there so many times until the boss and bostress (female boss) can recognize me. While I was walking there, passed a handphone shop. Decided to try luck and see if they have a handphone pouch case that can fit my godzilla phone and also one for my camera. They actually do. Wow, I managed to do everything I set out to do today. :)

Tire repair = RM0.00
handphone pouch case = RM13.00
camera pouch case = RM13.00
Push car toy = RM50.00
Feeling of accomplishment = Priceless

:) heh heh heh, I think Mastercard did a splendid job with this ad campaign. You can't get it out of your head I tell u, and it's not because it's irritating. It's just memorable in a pleasant way.

My phone and camera cases; The push car toy

Wee took delivery of his new car today :) It's no BMW, but I tell you, it sure feels luxurious. It doesn't feel "floaty" like them continental cars and very comfy.

Wee's new car

After dinner at home and admiring the car, we took a drive to E-Gate where Seng & Fen is suppose to meet an insurance agent to buy insurance for Ruyi. Wee and Raine followed coz they wanted to hear the plan. As for me, I followed coz I kepo :) End up at Oasis. They normally have this girl that sings while playing the keyboard. Today, she's no where to be seen, in her place there's this guy and girl. My goodness. Just imagine, I prefered to listen to the insurance agent and his ranting rather than the pig slaughtering happening on stage. Gosh, out of tune is one thing, even their timing was out. We moved over next door to "3 Guys". They have Guiness Draft the same 2 + 1 promotion. Stayed there a bit chatting and surfing the net. They adjourned about 12:30ish.

Guess, my plan to sleep by midnite hasn't been very successful for the past week. I received a package in the mail for me. :) Haven't received packages for a long long time. It's a T-Shirt from Mag. She was recently in Kuching for a business trip and she bought me a souvenir. How sweet. It's in a color that I never had before.

______________________

My Random Thots:

I used to have child phobia because I was confronted with so many "malfunctioning" kids. For example, in church we have kids running all over the place wrecking havoc while the parents just smile and pretend they're not their children. Then there are my relative's monsters. In most of my encounters with babies and children, they left a negative impression.

But since Chuwy's 2 babies and Ruyi, I am beginning to change my view. Perhaps it becoz they're adorable, perhaps it's me getting old, who cares. Nett result, I'm beginning to find it fun to play with them kids. :)

337. Build up to St Patrick's Day

2 + 1 promotion of Guiness Drafts at Soho. This promotion is in conjunction with St Patrick's Day celebrations. Wee woke me up at about 10ish and ask me if I wanna go to Soho for a drink. He was really enthusiastic about it, so I gave in. On the way out, Seng got home. So he got "dragged" to Soho too.

It was just chatting, pool and while they get their fill of Guiness, I had fun with my camera. The main focus was the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion across from Soho. Thot the blue heritage building would be a good subject. Found out a couple of years back that they actually rent out thier rooms. Must find a time to stay over there :) Think it'll also make an interesting wedding scenario. Perhaps wedding dinner at E&O but stay at CFT Mansion, hmmmmmmm.

From inside Soho; from the balcony

Tele shot of the CFT mansion

______________________________

My Random Thots:

Getting used the the Ixus i-zoom camera. I think the shutter lag is horrible, the video and audio is crappy, but the color and the clarity of the pix in low light conditions outweights the bad. So overall, I think this camera is alright. But what I really want is the Canon EOS 30D. That would be yummy.

336. Early morning

We had to get to church this morning. We have to get there by 830am. Yawn! We reached church late. The service ended at 11ish. The group decided to meet up for Bah Kut Teh at SS2, it was really crowded, so we went to Kayu Nasi Kandar nearby.

The Church - DUMC; The Kayu Nasi Kandar

The girls want to go shopping after lunch at The Curve. Chuwy wanted to have Swensens before we leave and we still have to get back to Kit's place to pack our stuffs. Jo will be joining us on the trip back. So we'll have to pick her up on the way to the highway. We have to get all this done before 3pm bacause Chuwy wants to get home before sun down or he'll turn into a werewolf. He actually wants to get back home before his kids sleep so that he can give them their new presents. I wonder who'll be happier, him or them? Perhaps that's a perfect example mutual symbiosic relationship. Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Ok, now back to reality.

Swensen's, The earthquake! The reason we're here ;)

What we ordered and the aftermath!

It's still a blur, but somehow we managed to get all that out of the way :) and headed back home. On the way back, while it's Chuwy's turn to drive, I decided to read my magazines. As I grabbed my magazine, I realised there's an extra book in my shopping bag. I asked Chuwy how come his book is in my bag. He's confused. It seems that in the craziness of the Times Bookstore Sale, the packer must've put the book wrongly in my bag. The book, "Guide to getting the most out of your digital camera", the book is worth RM35. I haven't start reading it yet, so I'm not sure how helpful it'll be. I'm glad that it's a book that I can use instead of "1001 cross stitching techniques used by pros". Heh heh.

We stopped by Ipoh for a quick dinner and continued our journey. We finally reached Penang at about 8ish. Ruyi and Isaac were both still awake, so I decided to shower them with the soft toys. We have a turtle, a crab, a teddy bear, a rat, a bat and a tent! :) Ruyi loved the toys except the tent. Fen had to crawl into the tent to coax her to go in. It's nice to see everyone so happy. Isaac was still too young to play with any of the toys. Surprisingly, my mom, Fen and Raine all approve of the rat.

While playing with Ruyi and Isaac. Isaac smiled a couple of times and Raine tried to capture his smile, but to no avail. In steps the maestro and the risultato is the shot below. Raine will pay good money for this :) Isaac's first on-camera smile. Credit goes to the Sony T-7's lightning quick shutter speed.

All the stuff that I bought from KL (Yes, the alarm clock too!)

Ruyi playing with her turtle & rat; Ruyi being coaxed into the tent by Fen

Happy Ruyi; Isaac's first on-camera smile caught

After all the fun and games, unpacked my bags and got ready for bed.

Hey Ann, really sorry we couldn't meet up. Wish we could, esp Friday nite ;) Next time you must take me there ok.

335. Doris' wedding

So we actually managed to wake up early in the morning despite sleeping late last nite. Lena picked both Chuwy and I up from Kit's place at 9:30am. We wanted to have breakfast and since Doris' wedding is at 1:30pm, we have some time so Chuwy suggested we have breakfast at Ikea so that he can do his shopping too. So off we went to Ikea.

Turns out they had a crazy sale that weekend. Surprisingly there wasn't that many people there. I thot the store would've been packed by bargain hunters! But much to my surprise, the mob ain't no where to be seen. :) lovely.

While Chu Wai picks out stuff for Sophia and Sean, inspiration hits :P perhaps I should get something for my niece and nephew too. So I went crazy buying stuff. Got a bunch of soft toys and a tent :D heh heh. The thing that I really liked was the rat. Wasn't sure if Fen or Raine would allow their child to play with it though. Well, I figured if they didn't let them play with it, I'll gladly, errr, i mean I'll have no choice but to keep it for myself. ;)

Went for breakfast at the Ikea cafe. No surprises there, meatballs! :)

After shopping at Ikea, we had sometime left, so we headed over to The Curve because Lena wanted to get some clothes from G2000.

She was dissapointed that they didn't have what she wanted. Me on the other hand, decided to buy some work clothes since they have 50% off sale and the shirts cost only RM40 after discount. Then of course came the fashion police. Both Lena and Chuwy reckon I should try something different. Of course them "different" things aren't at the bargain bins :P In the end, bought 3 "kinky" shirts and a "safe" work shirt. I think the buy 2 free 1 deal is a pretty good deal.

The Rat & My Shirts

Leuk picked us up from The Curve and we headed to Doris's wedding ceremony in Sg Way Christian Center. The highlight of the whole wedding was when the pastor said you may kiss the bride. :) Doris being a tad shy, when Henry leaned over to kiss her, she actually stepped back a bit :D that was quite amusing. :) We took photographs later and we left after that.

The Shy Kiss

After the solemnisation

The ol Sunway College group

Me & the bride

When we reached Kit's house, we were suppose to take a nap and get ready for tonite's dinner. Chuwy will have none of that of course :) So we went over to The Attria for a stroll. I ended up buying some magazines at a Times Bookshop sales and the Cambridge Dictionary for Wee since I told him I'll get him one.

After we were done with that, we went back to Kit's place. We waited for Kit to come back from his youth meeting in church.

We headed out to the Bukit Jalil Country Club for Doris' wedding dinner. It was nice to catch up with all the old collegemates. The wedding went well......until the video presentation. The title starts off Henry & Jane! Errrr, am I in the wrong wedding dinner????? Thank goodness the rest of the slides correctly says Henry & Doris. It's also Henry's b'day today, so their wedding cake doubles as his b'day cake.

Kit, Joyce, Henry, Doris, Me & Chuwy

The couple on stage and their wedding/his b'day cake

The Decor

Ran into Sook Yee at dinner. Gosh, haven't seen her in 6yrs or so. What a small world.

After the dinner, we adjourned to The Coffee Bean at Bangsar Shopping Complex for coffee & tea. Surprisingly the Coffee Bean in such a happenning place closes at 12midnite on a weekend. After coffee, Chuwy and I went for a drive around Bangsar and finally adjourned back to Kit's place.

I was still restless and decided to take it easy and read my book before going to sleep. Chuwy chose the more drastic route of playing a few rounds of "Metal Slug" on my notebook before he turns the lights out.

What a day!

334. KL, here I come

Will be headed to KL after work today with Chu Wai. The day went by pretty uneventfully until I reach Chuwy's office. While waiting for him, I decide to do a walk around my car. Good thing I did! My front driver's side tire is flat. So before the journey even begins, we already have our drama. I had to change the tire before leaving in case I come back on Monday to a flat & damaged tire.

After changing the tire under the hot sun, we finally left at 6ish. We initially wanted to stop by Ipoh for beansprout chicken, but because of time constraints, we stopped by for dinner at Bukit Merah and continued our journey.

We met up with Wing Kit and his lovely wife at their church. The topic was very interesting. It was a forum of sorts with 2 lawyers that specialise in dealing with Muslims who want to convert out of Islam. The conclusion is that there's no way one can do that (in Malaysia, at least). It seems that these cases are refered by Civil courts to Syariah courts because a precedent has been set. Syariah courts are suppose to uphold the 5 pillars of the Islamic faith and all the Muslim Theology.

After doing some reseach on this topic on Wikipedia, I found this article on Syariah laws. Under the sub topic of Muslim apostates, apostasy in Islam, in some (but not all) interpretations of an Islamic state, conversion by Muslims to other religions is forbidden and is termed apostasy. In Muslim theology, apostasy resembles the crime of treason, the betrayal of one's own country. Penalties may include ostracism or even execution if they live or have lived in an "Islamic State" and are deemed enemies of the state. By analogy, in the age of nation states, a person who commits treason (turning state's secrets to a foreign power, or spies for a foreign power, etc) is subject to severe penalty—historically, death.

so you go figure out why ultimately these conversion cases will not go through.

After coffee at Starbucks in Uptown, we sent his wife home and headed out to hunt for a cybercafe to fulfill their cravings for CounterStrike. After checking out 5, yes 5 different locations, we finally found one with vacant machines. Gosh! I didn't know gaming is such a big deal here. Gee!

333. Ixus i-zoom

I went over to Gurney Plaza to collect my Ixus 50, to my surprise, they gave me an Ixus i-zoom! Their excuse was that Canon replaces as they wish and this time it's the Ixus i-zoom. I'm really in no mood to argue. I had to rush to send some important emails to my customers. After making sure the i-zoom have the functions (especially the long shutter mode) that I was looking for, I left. I'll call up Canon and check on the claim myself.

Well, I think overall, the camera is a bit queer looking. But we'll see how it goes. Haven't really took any photos with it yet. So i'll play around with it a bit more. But the first complain I have is the slow shutter lag. I press the shutter button and after a year or two, it takes a picture. Gosh!

After that, went over to Segafredo in Belissa Row and hung out there for the rest of the evening. Had their steak for the first time. Never had a "proper" meal there before. Wasn't too impressed. It feels like I'm having a big piece of burger :D and instead of buns, they have muffins. Oh well.

The Steak

The more I spend time looking at the specs for the Ixus i-zoom, the more dissapointed I am with it. Sheesh. One thing's for sure, this is the last time I'm going to buy a camera from Lam Loong. Feel like kena con.

My gold color Ixus

332. DVD Shopping Spree

After work, headed to One Stop to get some stuff for the office and also some DVDs for myself. Was suppose to collect my camera from Gurney Plaza, but the boss haven't got it yet.

Got 5 DVDs and guess will spend some time watching it. I bought Perhaps Love, SPL, Memoirs of a Geisha, Lord of War & Jarhead (PS: The website says,"Own the DVD 7th Mar 2006 - Pre order now!", it's 23rd Feb 06 and I already have a copy of the DVD, don't you just love Malaysia?). After that, went over to my mechanic's workshop to see how the brake work on my car is coming along. It's coming along very nicely indeed :D

Had dinner beside the workshop and went back home.

My customer is coming over to my office for a visit tomorrow morning. Hope everything goes well.

Wonder if my camera will arrive tomorrow. :)

331. Nite nite

Whoa! It's almost midnite d. Time to sleep.

330. A Day of Meeting

I had a full day of Meeting/Training. It's a group of company executives having monthly meetings to discuss work related problems. I'd expect it to be a serious professional meeting. What I found is that it's more like a support group. It's more personal than professional. Of course they have a proper agenda and proper topics to discuss. What took me by surprise is their openess to each other about personal matters. The last time I was in such a setting was probably in church and I was playing the role of mediator or facilitator.

This made me realised that I have 2 personalities. A split personality if you will. One can be strong and offer support to people, and the other on the opposite polar of that and both these characters live in one shell. Hmmmmm, I guess to some extent, everyone is vulnerable. But the problem with me is I think the "real" me is not the strong supportive one. Now the question is, what will I do about this........stay tuned ;)

OK, back to the meeting, they actually discuss very personal topics. After a full day of meeting of such nature, I can only say that I realised that my problems are really petty compared to others. I like the honesty available in this group. Guess I'll be back for more. :)

Got home after the meeting and logged on. Spent the rest of the evening catching up on the missed work for today.

Had curry the whole day. Started with Nasi Lemak for breakfast, then Kayu Nasi Kandar for lunch and to my horror, when I got home, mom cooked a pot of fish curry! My stomach paid the price, 5 visits to the toilet :P what a day.

For "fun", I'll try to go to sleep by 12 Midnite everyday. I felt more refreshed today. Don't know if it's because of my sleep or the topics discussed. Well, we'll see. I think this is one goal that i'll fail miserably. No harm trying though :D

_______________________________

My Random Thots:

My mind wandered while working. I was drawn to the topic of, "if I can relive my life, would there be things I'd do differently."

I used to answer that without hesitation that I WON'T. But on second thought, I reckon I would. There are things in my life that I felt I handled way, way, way, below par. Those, I'd like to correct if opportunities present itself :P but we all know that Marty McFly, Doc Brown & their 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 are just fiction. So my only alternative is to learn from such mistakes and be a better person. :)


1981 DeLorean DMC-12

329. Beautiful Sunday

It's my mom's b'day today! :) The itinerary for today will be, my mom's fav clear soup "Bah Kut Teh" for breakfast and Japanese cuisine for dinner at Jurin. For now, I'll take a nap and prepare myself for dinner. Gee, that's a good excuse for taking a nap :D

Woke up at about 2pm for lunch. Went with Seng, Fen & Wee for Balik Pulau laksa. Also took the opportunity to go for haircut and also buy mom's b'day cake. My trips to the barber are full of surprises :) I never know how my hair will turn out. This is part of the "fun" in going for RM8 haircuts :D This time it's no better. But I keep going back coz I keep telling myself the "problem" will last only for 2 weeks before it grows back. Lying to myself? comforting myself? Who cares! Ahhhh, My old friend, Apathy :)

Anyway, Wee's haircut turned out great. Everyone loved it.

I call this composition "NURTURE"


A view of Gurney Drive on a serene sunday


All the ladies of my family; A very happy RuYi


My family having breakfast at Song River; The food

Dinner was awesome. We left for Jurin in Crystal Point at about 645pm. It was the usual Japanese cuisine except for Kobe beef! :D Finally! I get to try the infamous Kobe Beef. Actually, we'll have to take their word for it. The beef was really really nice. It's very fragrant and melts in your mouth. It's the tastiest beef I've ever had. After the meal, it's time for the cake. My mom looks really happy. :)

Jurin, Crystal Point


My first taste of Kobe Beef


My mom :)

It was a very long yet fulfilling day today. I'm really glad I have my parents and bros and both my sis in laws and of course my niece and nephew. What more could a guy ask for ey? ;)