Shopping Weekend

Life is full of first-time's and this weekend, for the first time, I bought myself a sofa! It's a cheap Ikea 2-seater and I'm kinda another step towards 'Wawasan Rumah Daniel'.

I had to use my aunt's Avanza to help cart it home. It was quite a chore, and an intellectual puzzle, to get it to fit! Assembling it fortunately wasn't as difficult.

It's been a long while since I bought anything 'luxurious' for myself so it's really nice :)

Something I received in an email that really made me laugh

(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

Moo'ing the Year of the Earth Ox

It was a good CNY. My bro and I painted the house yellow and the family turned up in full force. It's a nice break though I wasn't quite enjoying it as much as I could have. The humid and warm weather made my eczema flared in full force. I really cannot wait for this to go away...

Hope everyone had a good CNY! :)

Pass the word!

If you have Primary school-going family members or friends, check this program out! :) Pass the word! It really rocks (though I'm biased)...

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's a week to the Year of the Ox and have got to say, am still waiting for the big rush of excitement. Maybe am just getting a little 'blah' about the whole event especially since it means leaving my house for a week with no one to feed my fish or water my plants.

Eczema is also still in full force. Itching is now second nature. GAH...

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! If in Melaka, come a knocking :)

Fireworks are fun!

KLCC fireworks 2009

View of the fireworks display at the KLCC Park for the 2009 New Year countdown!

Happy New Year 2009!

It's 2009! Can't say I'm overly excited given the dire predictions for those born in the Year of the Sheep (not too say I'm a believer but still...). 2008 was a decent year for me though, except of course for the eczema. I'm still badly covered in spots and doctor said it might take months more. Sigh and double sigh.

I ushered in 2009 with a difference though this time around. Instead of being at home watching tv or asleep, I was actually in KLCC enjoying the fireworks! Friends and I got a hotel room (Room Number 2009!) and we enjoyed the fireworks from the hotel itself. It was really nice and I would probably do it again to welcome 2010! Will post video of fireworks soon... it was an awesome 5 minutes of spectacular gunpowdery bombardment!

Anyways, to all my friends... wishing everyone the best of health and as corny as it sounds, may your 'realistic' dreams come true! We really should meet up more often than we do now. Maybe that could be my resolution!

Ice cream anyone?

A Working Weekend

I spent the last 5 days working in Penang, mainland though. It was a pretty good work trip all in all.

First of all, I drove. Company is in a 'go green' drive so no flights when driving can get you there. The last time I drove to Penang was a few years ago and I remember it being torturous. This time though it was actually quite pleasant. Am really happy with my car. Ride was smooth, quiet and comfortable.

One downside of this trip is that I couldn't get my preferred hotel, school holidays and all, so had to settle for a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I was a little stressed about finding my way there but my little GPS really came through. It got me there and to work with perfect way finding and even once, when I myself got lost (because I refused to follow the GPS instruction thinking that it was wrong when I was wrong), it quickly found another route and got me back. The GPS even guided me through this network of really small roads when a colleague needed to go to this one place. I'm sold. Everyone should get one.

My trip also coincided with my Penang's colleague wedding. It was really nice to attend the wedding and the food was awesome. Nasi minyak with ayam masak merah and acar is such a perfect lunch. Yums.

I got back just today and was a little lead footed on the highway and unfortunately was pulled over. Thankfully was let loose with a warning (perhaps because the officer is from Melaka too and kept referring to me as 'budak Melaka') but then again I wasn't that much over. Had some mango at Tapah then home to a really good nap.

If only this insane rash will go away...

Nummular eczema...

... is what I have. Oh joy. At least I have a name to this insanely itching rash. Those of you may remember my itching periods in MMU... well, after that episode it never really went away though it was never that bad again... until now! GAH!

The thing about this disease is that it needs a trigger to flare... and stress ranks high among them. My first experience with this disease started when we moved to Cyberjaya, which was very very stressful for me. It also took months for the rash to clear. This recent one started over some major work stress. Hopefully it won't take months too.

I'm not really sure how I'm going to avoid stress but I sure know that all those misdiagnoses in the past has been more damaging than good. One step I've done is to minimise driving stress. Some of you may know how I stress over driving to new places for fear of getting lost. This should solve my woes though:

Been testing my new GPS and it's working beautifully :) Yay! (itch itch)

Connect the dots...

on my body. I'm covered with them... again...

Last time this happened this badly was 1999... MMU, first year in Cyberjaya. Doctor said it's stress so I hope that's true. Am not eager to revisit another skin 'dilemma'. GAH...

Got myself a new ride!

Roller Coaster

I've been tired... a little overworked.

I've been happy... met someone new.

I've been sad... missed someone old.

I've been laughing... saw Mamma Mia!

I've been shocked... witnessed an accident.

I've been anticipating... a new something I bought.

I've been ill... liver is inflamed.

I've been rewarded... bonus came in.

I've been resting... Raya holidays.

I've been dressing up... in a baju Melayu.

I've been blogging... with 4 new non-personal blogs.

I've been wondering... what to do with Facebook.

I've been playing... Build-A-Lot 2.

I've been reading... Book 5 of the Wheel of Time.

I've been wishing... that office is nearer to home.

I've been saving... my 2008 taxes is 5-figured.

I've been thinking... about getting a dog.

I've been wanting... to cement my garden so I don't need to keep cutting grass.

I've been annoyed... with some people in my life.

But above it all...

I've been thankful... for the life I have.

Board Games

Toy'R'Us in Suria was having some clearance on selected board games and being a board game fan, I got my hands on some! Here's what I bought which we can all play the next makan-makan session comes along.


I'm a big superhero fan so this game is just so cool! It's also nice to have a simple two player game as most of my games are quite complicated or require 4+.

Discounted price: RM40


I guess you cannot go wrong with a classic game like Scrabble! All Scrabble products have 20% off till 8/10. The regular Scrabble which I bought is about RM56 after discount.

This is a weird quirky game. You put on the helmet, press the button and answer the questions by nodding or shaking your head! You have to do it fast to qualify through the rounds otherwise you get berated by the game-voice (which is very annoying). Fun but don't see everyone rushing to want to try this. Good to watch though!

Discounted price: RM25

I'm 29!

Trips, Flu and a Wedding

I am exhausted... The past few weeks have been have been a little crazy and it's taking a slight toll on me. Started out with work trips to Johor and Singapore which had me on 4 flights, 4 buses, and numerous cabs over 10 days. I really did enjoyed some parts of it but for the most, it was a brutal schedule that left me in bed by 10pm or earlier.

After that trip, I went to Ipoh with my family. It was a good short holiday but tiring too! We walked the breadth of Ipoh town, old and new, and savoured the many delicacies along the way. Needless to say, I was down with flu and exhaustion when I was back and was ill at home for 3 days flat.

Recovered slightly and went to HL and Meng's wedding celebration in Melaka which included two dinners and the 'let-the-groom-in' thingy. It was a really great weekend and I loved seeing them get together :) although they have been married for over a year now. Was also nice to catch up with old MMU friends.

For the rest of the month, my schedule is clear, my weekends are clear and I just look forward to settling back into my routine and gaining back my health. Looking forward to Raya too and all the ketupat and rendang. Drool...

August 8

First of all, thank you for the SMS'es about how great this date is. As far as I know, EVERY day is special and comes only once in your lifetime! It's quite crazy though the amount of flurry that went into that day :)

Had a coincidental event tho... on my way home on 8/8/08, my TnG balance at a toll was RM88.80 at exactly 08:08pm... freaky...

And btw, my little bird came back! Happiness...

Oh no...

The little bird didn't come back tonight... sigh... hope it's alright...

:(

My Nighttime Guest

Little bird oh little bird...
I see you every night,
You come and rest upon the leaf,
Exhausted from your flight.

Little bird oh little bird...
Where did you go today?
Did you meet your friends up in the sky,
In the clouds did you all play?

Little bird oh little bird...
I'm glad you chose my home,
As a place for you to sleep,
As a place to call your own.

More photos...

The dark winding road through hills that we need to drive to get to the locale... freaky...



Guess where I am?



Awesome local dessert... yums...

Surprising visit...

I had a work trip to Ipoh over the weekend and it was an interesting one. Company had a function in this really remote locale. Getting there was a mild adventure but the scenery is breathtaking.



Needless to say, because there's so much wildnerness... there are also many many creepy crawlies.






It was a good event with the children in the area. Very rewarding experience.



But I probably have had enough nature immersion to last me awhile. Happy and thankful to be home.