Jade necklace & Going to Melbourne

I'm making trip down under again. Since we will be staying with some gracious hosts, mom arranged to have some gifts for our hosts. My aunt has been doing jade handicraft for some years now. Mom ordered 2 sets with my aunt. Here are the results.

Aren't they classy?

Will be going off on 27 Feb. Hope the Melbourne trip is good!

Oh my DELL!

My new desktop has arrived!

My good friend's wedding and 2nd roast chicken attempt

My old friend Thiru had his wedding at Cyberview Lodge on Boxing Day 2008. It was my first time there, and I have to admit that it was a very pretty place for a garden wedding. Pardon the pictures, they are taken with my Sony Ericsson W700 camera phone ^.^

Thiru, Theva, Govin in traditional Indian attire

The newlyweds together, Thiru & Evelyn

It was a very sunny day. Had a bit of cloudy weather, but thank God it held up nicely. Our mutual friend Donny Tan was playing guitar and singing during part of the ceremony. Donny and the music team had the full blast of the evening sun on them when they went on stage. Poor them! You can see they were sweating like nobody's business. Donny had to squint his eyes a lot too to avoid the glare.



Thiru and Evelyn exchanged their own vows on top of the normal one. Very sweet... The guests were given coloured rice to shower onto the newlyweds. However, most got over enthusiastic when the groom kissed the bride, and sort of pelted them when they were sharing an intimate moment. The bride's father got rained with the rice too... poor daddy ^.^

Rice anyone?

The wedding dinner was filled with performances from the friends and family. Definitely 2 highlights was Evelyn's dad's singing "Love is a many splendoured thing", and the final dance item from the newlyweds and the entourage. The song from Evelyn's dad was very well sung, and he was even backed by 2 violins and a piano. The final dance item was in true blue Bollywood style, with Indian music and playful choreography.

On a side note, the next day, I did another roast chicken. This time with patatoes in the tray. However, I only put the patatoes in after I removed the foil. The toaster oven really isn't very hot, so some pieces weren't cooked all the way through. Still quite successful I think. See my previous effort here. Ate this with some lightly steamed brocolli with melted margarine. Lovely lovely... washed down with some simple red wine.... bliss baby, bliss!

Making right on past wrongs

Heard a lot of good press regarding this book and movie, so I finally decided to rent it.

Kite Runner: Awarded a "Truly Moving Movie" honour

The story is set in America and Afghanistan, with 2 boys as the main characters. One is wealthy and of high status, Amir, the other is a servant's son, Hassan. Amir is intellectual, waited on hand and foot, spoilt. Hassan is courageous and overtly loyal to the point of self sacrificing. Despite this, they are close friends up to the point of Kabul's kite flying contest. Both boys worked together and managed to clinch the kite flying tournament. Later on, during a moment of incredible cowardice, Amir allowed Hassan to be beaten up for his sake. Amir even went so far as to get Hassan and his father evicted from his home, deeply wronging his companion and severing ties with each other. Then the Russian invasion of Afghanistan began, and Amir flees to America.


Amir leads a sheltered, safe life in America, whilst the Taliban takes over Afghanistan. Later on, news reaches Amir that Hassan has been murdered in Afghanistan, and that both these childhood friends are really brothers of the same father.


Trying to right a wrong with Hassan, Amir journeys into the heart of Kabul to pluck Hassan's young son, Sohrab away to America for a better life. On the way, we see examples of Taliban extreemism, violence, injustice. After mortal danger, Amir succeeds in locating and whisking Hassan's child, and rightfully his nephew back to America.


The film concludes with Amir teaching Sohrab kite running, and gives Hassan due praise for all his skill and nobility by sharing all of Hassan's goodness with young Sohrab. Sohrab, although initially treating Amir as a stranger, slowly accepts Amir, and the Amir's wrong is slowly being righted.


I thought this film would be highly preachy. There are some gruesome highlights, e.g. stoning of an adulterous couple. But other parts are handled with deftness, e.g. class and social standing, honour and shame, courage to stand up for belief and being loyal to those you care about.


One of my favourite scenes is how Hassan's bravery with the slingshot is again shown by Sohrab years later, and again it was done in defence of Amir.


Another part I love is the beauty of Kabul and the Afghan mountains. Instead of the images of war and violence, we often forget that the Afghan countryside are amongst the most scenic in the world. Kudos to the film makers for highlighting this.

That is postcard perfect, that is...

Righting a wrong done to an innocent party is not a new theme for movies. Kite Runner succeeds in using childhood friendship as the key element and ending it with a salute to this element again when Amir reaches out to Sohrab.

It was a good movie. It exceeds expectations. Is it exceptional in the tear jerking and heart moving department? Not for myself personally. But in a world where high tech gimmicks and unbelievably photogenic movie stars grace the screens, Kite Runner is a welcome breath of fresh Afghan mountain air. Here's hoping more such tales of human spirit continue to be written and made to films.

Sohrab-jan.... fly as your father flew.

Pavarotti and Pangkor Laut

Back from work... quite tired, but thought i would type a little blog post of my Pangkor Laut trip. Heaven knows I enjoyed it lots. Only fair that I give it some blog space.

The opera tenor Pavarotti once visited this island more than 10 years ago. He declared it one of the most beautiful place on earth. He gave a very exclusive performance to a handful of VIPs during Tan Sri Francis Yeoh's official opening that time.

Cousin Vivian and young An-An boarding the plane.

Went via Berjaya Air to Pangkor Island first. It was a modest plane, but highly convenient because it left from Subang Airport instead of KLIA or LCCT. Then onto a ferry to the exclusive Pangkor Laut island. It is wholly owned by YTL Corporation and only has 1 hotel. One of the world's best spa resorts and small luxury hotels.

This is a special hotel indeed!

Comfy bed and room

I cannot do justice to the beauty of the place no matter how many photos I place on the blog. I just want to say, if you ever have the chance to honeymoon or just relax at this place, you will love it to bits. Incredibly well maintained, never overcrowded, excellent dining and recreation options... *sigh* just a fantastic place to stay and let your worries slip away.

my humble attempt to create a romantic photograph for my folks :)

A night shot from the island jetty of the hotel.

The beautiful infinity edged pool just beside the sandy beach.

Such a lovely setup at the spa village

I had a massage for the first time in my life. It was included in the package for this holiday. It was bliss. The spa "village" is away from the main hotel area. Quiet and peaceful, only spa guests may enter the village.

I was told to change into a sarong, and sarong only. I was quite self conscious of course due to my skinny physique hahaha! No cameras allowed, so no photos from me... sorry about that. A personal spa attendant will lead you all the way through your spa session. Mine was a young lady from Bali. Then had a brief foot massage first, before a spray of ice cold water on my body and a wading pool session. The pool was also cold water, then I was told by told to wade across the pool. Oh dear I thought, but I did it anyway. Then walked up to a small landing area with 4 steaming columns of aromatherapy steam. "Breath in each one slowly, and relax", she says. They smelt divine.

Then was a bath session. Old fashioned malay style, with a 'cedok' (small scoop), more aromatherapy toiletries and warm water. I forgot how refreshing this kind of bath was, and enjoyed it immensely. They had a very interesting banana shampoo too.

Then was a body scrub session. This was quite an eye opener to me too. I was covered in some exfoliating paste, rubbed down, then had warm water splashed on me till I was squeaky clean. Then came a short session for warm ginger tea. I was left to drink and relax for a few minutes.

Then the main event, my Balinese massage. I was lead to a massage room, with soft lighting and Enya music in the background. I chose one of three massage oils, and was rubbed down with "Medium" strength. I was ticklish in some parts, and tried my best to control myself. My attendant was so good. I really felt relieved and relaxed. The massage was almost 40 minutes, and she did my whole body. Oh my goodness... how I miss it!

every night, they give you a fresh aromatherapy candle in your room!

All around the place you can see how YTL cares for the establishment. Amongst the daily routine of the hotel staff:

• Fresh flower petals are laid near decorative jars around the hotel.
• The sand in all ash trays are pressed with a decorative motif
• All decor are gently dusted and cleaned... even the big pots that are used to stored umbrellas!
• All guest rooms are cleaned only during breakfast time when the guests are NOT IN THE ROOM so that you are not disturbed
• The beautiful bath tub in the room is provided with bath salts
• A fresh fruit is provided to your room everyday: mango, papaya, apples
• When you are out for dinner, the staff come to your room, turn on the dim lights, and set the air con to low, turn on the classical music radio station, so that when you return you arrive in a confortable, welcoming room for rest!
  

look at this gorgeous bathtub!

When I get hitched, I am going back to this place for sure!

Roasted Chicken and other updates

Ha! Another entry in my blog! Which I'm sure no one else reads because its only updated twice a year maybe and I never publicise it except when I feel like it.

So Saturday night, I had a themed dinner event with my colleagues. Theme was East and West. Emphasis on having both elements together in the dressing. Almost 90% came in a chinese top. Some were more adventerous, doing Thai, Japanese, hip hop street style. One of them even crossed dressed, as in a guy wearing a ladies' gown. Undoubtedly this one drew the most cat calling and photo oppurtunities. I myself went to Giant hypermarket to get a casual Indian top. The food was quite tasty, and mostly italian fare done in buffet style. The restaurant is Rick's Cafe Casblanca at One Bangsar. Our event occupied the entire upper floor. Quite happy to see that we had 90% turnout in numbers and all took some effort to match the evening's theme. There was free flow of wine, red and white. Of course, this lead to some extravagant toasting attempts, and many had to chill out after the dinner to allow the effects of alcohol to settle down.
Christmas is just round the corner.

Oh yeah, my house has been fitted with Astro now. That's Malaysia's sattelite TV service, and has channels like CNN, BBC, HBO, Hallmark etc. But my favourite channel is Discovery Travel and Living, and also the Asian Food Channel (AFC). Favourite program is cooking shows. Its just so relaxing to watch food being prepared. No Hell's Kitchen for me thank you. Gordon Ramsay is too theatrical and the show is far removed from any level of sanity. But I do know people who are fans... so to each his and her own.

I'm always amazed at how the western chefs do so much with their ovens. So I decided to try using our "oven" for a cooking attempt. Except... that I don't have a real oven. My home only has a toaster oven. So here is my first attempt using a toaster oven to try roasting a chicken.
Mom had bought a really nice and clean Nutriplus air dried chicken from Carrefour last Friday. Very clean bird, and the flesh just looked lovely. Saw a tip from a show by Kylie Kwong, to cook the chicken in the oven but wrapped in foil first. After an hour, remove the foil to start the roasting proper. Cooking in foil will ensure the chicken is steamed with lots of moisture first, thus keeping the juices.
So my recipe today was taken from some internet website and the cooking method from Kylie.

1 chicken, about 1.5kg, cavity cleaned

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 a large red onion

2 tbsp paprika powder

1 tsp dried rosemary leaves

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 lemon

Salt

Black pepper

Aluminium foil.
1. Make sure chicken is properly defrosted.

2. Rinse chircken cavity and season with salt and pepper.

3. Cut lemon in half. Stick one of the lemon halves into the chicken cavity.

4. Pound garlic and onion in a pestle and mortar. And some salt while pounding to increase abrasion.

5. Once onion and garlic are evenly mushed up, add paprika and rosemary. Pound again.

6. Add olive oil to pounded mixture, and stir with spoon. If you choose to pound it instead of spooning, you'll just make a mess I think ^.^

7. Rub chicken all over with mixture... i mean, rub mixture all over the chicken

8. With leftover lemon half, cut into 4 slices to obtain 4 circular pieces.

9. Oil a roasting tray.

10. Lay 4 pieces of lemon on the oven roasting tray.

11. Place chicken on lemon. The lemon pieces prevent the chicken skin/flesh from direct contact with the tray.

12. Cover roasting tray with aluminium foil. Wrap it well, keeping in mind to not allow any gaps, else moisture will escape.

13. Place into oven at 250 celsius for 1 hour.

14. After 1 hour, remove from oven and discard foil.

15. Place back into oven for 45 minutes.

Here is the result!

Tada! Chicken from toaster oven

Extremely juicy and tender. So juicy I had problems to cut it up because juice was spurting out everywhere. Maybe I should have rested the chicken on a drip tray or something. The flavour is very simple, but my mom quite likes it. So I feel validated enough ho ho ho. More paprika would've given the roast a deeper colour too. The original internet recipe called for onion and garlic powder too, not fresh onion and garlic. Maybe that made it too wet too.
I count this as a success!


Maybe I can roast something every other week. God knows my bottle of paprika powder still has lots of leftovers! I wonder what else can you use paprika for? I add rosemary to my fried eggs and tuna sandwich fillings. But paprika is a mystery still.


So I think I will do the same roast for Christmas. Will do my roasted mash patatoes too, and think of something for a cold salad.

Off to Pangkor!

Going off to Pangkor Laut tomorrow. The beautiful place that made Pavarotti cry because of its beauty.

Hope it turns out a good trip.

Must be disciplined to blog

*sigh* after many months of neglect, I will try once again to blog regularly.

I think my main problem is that I think too much before I write.

So even if it's just going to be one or two lines.... I am going to be regular! So I henceforth declare!

I'm sure I can do it... I'm sure

I'm sure... I think

MyVI's first weekend drive

So I have made a new purchase in my life. A new Perodua Myvi. Have purchased the 1.3 EZi Premium type that comes with ABS and airbags. Colour is silver, and had some tinting done for heat and safety, and finally changed to slightly wider Michellin tyres. Was thinking of getting a new car for sometime, and last year I was aiming for a 1.5L car, like the Toyota Vios or Honda City. But thinking about the cost of fuel and the car model (those babies are easily RM90K on the road), I settled for a more humble car instead. So here she is, my new silver Myvi...

Honk honk! Buy number, buy number!

Only collected the car on Saturday afternoon. 2 weeks lead time from booking payment, so it was pretty fast. Salesman was accomodating and friendly, loan was approved easily... It was quite a hassle free purchase. I forgot to ask for number plate sandbalsting, and so did the salesman. And it was at this fateful moment, that I did the unthinkable. I made my first scratch on my brand new car, by dropping the car keys on the driver side door handle.

Honk honk! I made an ouchie!

I spent about 15 seconds, spaced out at the idiocy of self inflicting the first scar on my new car. Then I proceeded on with my life ^.^

Today I went to Columbia Asia in Shah Alam to visit my grandmother. She has had some tough health problems, and it came to a point she needed round the clock care. So my family made a decision to have her taken care of by professionals. My uncle found this centre, and my grandmother has been here for some weeks now. So off I went in my newly scarred Myvi to Shah Alam.

Columbia Asia's main entrance

I have been here once before, so I didn't get lost driving to the centre. Ain't Jack incredible? ^.^

Grandma is very alert. Body is getting thinner though. But she's much better than when we were trying to care for her ourselves. Nurses report that she eats normally, and she's able to sleep. Both things were a rarity when she was with any of our family. The good turn comes at a steep price though. Suffice to say that with my humble salary, I am not able to support the monthly fees required to have her in the centre, not even half of it. Cost of healthcare is at such a high rate here in Malaysia. Even if you'd like to lead a quiet and simple life, make no mistake, you need at least RM1M stored up to be safe. Depending on Malaysia's inflation rates, this could be a much higher number in the future. Grandma has done the prudent thing and made savings for herself. But with the need for care of this standard and attention, one wonders if long life is that great.

The centre itself is no Hollywood styled retreat. It is actually very simplistic, but it has a clean, bright and comfortable feeling. If you've been to some of those old folks or nursing homes housed in bungalows, you may understand what I'm getting at. Most are overcrowded, dimly lit and there is a sense of heaviness as soon as you step into the place. Columbia Asia is styled like hospital wards, with nursing stations on each floor. The staff are friendly, and they give you a sense of security that your loved one will be in responsible hands. The food is simple, the tables and chairs are still normal plastic/wood, and they only have normal non-Astro TV. Not that my grandma watches TV anymore. anyway. Yet this comes at a high price indeed.

I am really glad she's comfortable and is well looked after, don't doubt me on that. But as I stroke her head and hold her hand, I thank God that my own parents are still able bodied and sound of mind. Some day, when the unforunate time comes where I am unable to fend for my own needs, I hope that the resources built in my youth are sufficient to see me through.

Simple and sweet accomodations, but high in price

I drive home from Columbia Asia, with mixed feelings. May the road forward and the final destination at the finish be clear and smooth. Amen to that

Going to London and coming back to Malaysia

Just returned from a 4 week work stint in London, England. I had a really rough and frantic time preparing for the trip. After 4 years of doing this, I had hoped rushed arrangements like these would be a thing of the past ^.^ which just goes to show how much further there is to grow ho ho ho. Left Malaysia on Jan 21st

This is my first trip to this particular client's locale in London. My company had rented an apartment unit in Borough, which is 15 mins walk from London Bridge. There is a well equipped kitchen with 2 ovens, toaster, stove, cooker hood, rice cooker and a gigantic fridge. So this translates to lots of spaghetti cooking for myself. Fresh foodstuffs are quite cheap (with company allowance... don't convert! don't convert!). So it is not surprising to find myself at the Sainsbury's or grocery shop every other day of the week. There is also a TV with some cable channels. Mostly british programs though, with some american ones.

Spent CNY in London. The main festivities happen on the first saturday of CNY. So me and my colleague walked to the Strand to watch the CNY parade. It was quite lively, with a lot of costumes. There were some good music and dances. Some were just people dressed in chinese costumes that just walked past in ho-hum fashion. There were so many people coming down to watch the parade. Mostly whites. And here's where you a get the real feeling of just how populous London is. Everywhere as far as the eye can see, thousands and thousands of people.

The parade procession down The Strand. They had lion dancing too!

Happy CNY from Kung Fu Panda movie

Some locals dressed up their pets. Ain't this one adorable?

On the other weekends, I did manage to get around town. Looked up all the touristy places once more. St Paul's cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingha Palace, Oxford and Regent street, Westminster, London Eye, took a cruise down River Thames, visited some museums... All in all, took in a lot of sights. Went for Lion King theatre musical at Lyceum Theatre too. Thanks Liz for arranging this. Really enjoyed the creative show. Anyone who has a chance to catch it, make sure you do. You should not miss the oppurtunity no matter what!

St Jack at St Paul's. Just kidding :P




Big Ben and Skinny Jack

Even took a trip to Kent one weekend. This was to visit Leeds Castle. Took a train from London Victoria to Bearsted station, then took the shuttle. It was bitterly cold the day I did the trip, and I really felt it. Here, the castle's resident dragon attempts to warm me up with its fiery breath.

Oh mighty dragon, I'm not as tasty as you think

Met up with my old schoolmate Ruth one weekend. Had lunch together, and also went to Hillsong church together at Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court road. It is my first visit to Hillsong, and it was fantastic. They were going to do a DVD recording of the worship session the week after I went. Unfortunate that I missed my 2 seconds of fame moment. The worship was so lively and the message was very relevant to the youth audience.

Met my cousin Joseph, wife Maki and brother Andrew for dinner this week too. Had an amazing meal at Galvin, Baker Street which serves frech food. They told me of their Great Atlantic Race. adventures. They are greatly tanned and sport lots of facial hair now. But they seemed to have a great time, and I salute their achievement. It is quite an amazing feat if you think of it. Go see the site I linked above to understand the enormity of the race. Wish you guys best of luck for the next great adventure.

On my journey back to Malaysia on Feb 20, the worst of worst things happened. I got sick. Developed a fever on the plane. If that's not enough, I had the noisiest fellow passenger in the world. He was having a coughing fit, and he was so loud. He coughed every 5 minutes. I took 6 panadols during the flight to control my fever and chills.

When I thoughr my nightmare was over, things got spicier. The captain of Malaysia Airlnes flight MH001 on Feb 20 from London Heathrow to KLIA decided that for the last 10 minutes of the flight, he would do something really cheeky. He descended the aircraft and changed the cabin presure so fast that I had a migraine. Not a headache, but a migraine. The kind where you hurt so much, you puke and you can't stand up. I felt like I was going to have a stroke due to the pressure in my head. I needed a wheelchair when we landed. And 3 other passengers too needed wheelchair assistance.

So what's the first thing I did when I arrived? On my taxi ride back to my house, I puked.

Then after collapsing into my bed in my house, I developed my fever again. And the icing on the cake is I developed a cough too, which I'm certain was courtesy of my fellow flight mate in MH001.

Besides the very uncomfrotable return to Malaysia, I am glad to have had the chance to visit London again. Goodbye London, I had a great time. It would be great to see London in a season other than winter, which is the only season I've seen from all my visits so far!

London and CNY

Have a last minute trip to London, UK planned for next week. Will be going for 4 weeks, so that means CNY will be spent in UK. Got an uneasy feeling leaving all the responsibilities of my current project to others on such a short notice.

Sigh... I do wish this trip was managed in a more orderly fashion. But will soldier on anyway. Have to take a long hard look at where I'm at now with my colleages and workplace.

^.^ sounds like a review and appraisal process!

Secret and Glasses

“Secret”
“Follow the notes upon the journey
At first sight marks one's destiny
Once the voyage comes to an end
Return lies within hasty keys”

Mr Chou's movie directorial debut

Recently had the chance to watch this movie directed and acted by Jay Chou himself. I am very impressed with the story and the music. It is about two young pianists of different times, chancing upon each other via a very special piece of music, and of course, falling in love. I've always had a soft spot for movies about music (The Red Violin, The Legend of 1900 etc.). I really like the story and the heart tugging moments of the film. Chou's pronunciation sucks as always, but the acting is more belivable than in his other movies (e.g. Initial-D, Curse of the Golden Flower). Must be highly attributed to the fact this is a movie about pianists ho ho ho... The time travel arc has been done many times, but this one's take is fresh and some scenes like the liquid paper on the desk was just genius.

Mr Jay Chou, I applaud and salute your movie. This was highly romantic and enjoyable! I'm trying to learn the movie songs on my piano now.

On a side note, I picked up a new pair of glasses today. Had my eyes tested the week before, and I'm shocked that my astigmatism went up so much! I used to have just a little on my right eye, now I have it in both. I am also very shocked at how much a pair of new glasses cost these days. Heck even the frames can be in the excess of RM1000. Why is this possible? Is inflation to blame? Money, money, money.... it's a rich man's world. So for the poor man like me, I was only able to bring myself to fork out RM500 (including lenses). Sigh... hope this pair lasts me a good while! What do they look like, you ask? See below for a tiny picture. Why tiny? Because currently got a lot of pimples... so I'm shy to post a bigger one ho ho ho ^.^

Most people say I need rectangular frames, so I went with it

2008 and 2007

Well, well.... 2008 has come at last. 2007 ended just a few hours ago. How did I end the year?

Christmas time was nice and quiet, and had a homecooked dinner with family. I actually made the salad of pea sprouts and cherry tomatoes, dressed with olive oil, lemon zest and honey. Also made the mash potatoes. I left the patatoes boiling in water till the water dried up, so they started roasting instead! I caught it before it burnt though. Made the mash anyway, and it had a lovely roasted smell & taste, and it was a hit! Cooking is really all about experimentation I guess. Forgot camera, so no pics though... you have to take my word for it :)


Attended a good friend's wedding at Hilton Hotel, PJ on 30th Dec. Congratulations to Zijin and Eu Gin again! They gave some milk chocolates in cute tin containers as a token of remembrance.

Inside of me is chocolate

One of the dishes served was fried prawns in oats. I've heard of this dish being served in weddings sometimes, I think this is my first time tasting it. Oats help to flush cholesterol out from the body, and prawns are supposed to be high in cholesterol. Therefore the pairing is meant to make the dish healthier.

Prawns with Oats - Guilt Reduced

Got to meet up with old classmates Khee Ven and Chun Yian. Khee Ven, your weight loss is scary. But you must be cash loaded by now, so you can buy all the nice rich food anytime you wish I guess. Just remember to take care of your body. Still... I think I'm skinnier than you by far.

We adjourned for a drink at Starbucks. My friends were sweet enough to get me a cake slice and sing me happy birthday. Thanks guys... appreciate the gesture. I didn't do anything special on the birthday itself. There's a lot of stress at the workplace even now at the year end. I just took it easy at home and relaxed.

Chocolate cake from the gang

Spent New Year's eve at my project manager's house in Bukit Jelutong. Will blog about that next time.

I must say that my personal new year's resolution will only be 2 things:

• Excercise to put on weight. Thiru, you are my inspiration! But to do this, I first have to...
• Learn how to work smarter and less hours! I really have to sort this out this year. I'm not getting any younger, and my health profile just sucks. I guess since I'm not a superman in talent or looks, I probably have to take a pay cut, less responsibilities or make some other change in career and lifestyle to achive this goals.

To all in cyberspace... Happy and Healthy Year 2008 to all! World peace, world peace and less global warming I hope!

2007 Dinner and Dance

So year 2007 is drawing to a close. Only 7 more days till it's over! In December especially, my place of employment has been truly busy. With resource management to take care of, announcements to make, events to attend, employee appraisals to do, myself to be appraised -.-"

December was also a month of many firsts. E.g:

First annual dinner event that was organised by a committee.

Previous dinners was planned by my manager mainly. Had the do at this little hideout called Rahsia, near Jalan Tun Razak in KL.

First dinner event with a dress code

Besides the dinner event planning by a committee, another first was that there was a dress code for the night. Whites for gents, and ladies in red. They were even giving out some prizes for best dressed and best hairstyle.

First time Jack made any effort to dress up

I actually went around Sunway Pyramid one weekend to look for white pants. Settled on a pair of Lois jeans. Another weekend was spent looking for a shirt. Found a nice one in Key NG. The design was simple, but it had some cool details like seams sewn with multicolored threads. Also found a cheap (RM40+) but nice pair of Bata brown shoes.

I quite liked the color and simple design. Bargain price too!

Besides clothes, I also attempted to change my hair. Read somewhere that the spikey look is simple to do with a hair dryer. So I borrowed my mom's and experimented. Below is a sample of where I got to.

Experimenting, experimenting!

I thought it looked quite ok actually. Unfortunately I didn't understand that to maintain this spiky look with hair that is as long as mine, you need industrial strength hairspray or gel to fix it. After about 30 mins, the hair dried, and became frizzy. I couldn't be bothered to try and salvage it. I'm such a fashion disaster ^.^

Can you see my fluffy hair?

Anyway, I need not have bothered with dress or hair. I didn't win anything. Best dressed went to my friend below instead.

Spence (far right), I salute your fashion

Dinner was okay. Had higher expectations on the food though. Service was not as quick and food portions not of the size I was expecting. But we had a great time anyway. Alcohol makes pretty of many things, so they say.

To many more happy times ahead!

Some of the gang decided that the night was still young. So we dropped by at Aloha after the dinner event concluded. Group of 12 went to "attempt dancing", and drink more alcohol. I think I gotta really go learn some dance steps. Been to clubs few times already, and all I can do is bop my head around, and do the hand movements for YMCA. Ordered 2 small bottles of JW Black, and between 12 people, we finished 1 and a half bottles.

Quite abit of JW went to Shoon's stomach? :)

Around 2:30am, I had to get out of the club hall to get a breather. Haven't drank much whisky lately, so I was feeling the effects. Have to admit that age is catching up maybe? At 3am, we left Aloha to get something to eat at a nearby mamak, which served the worst fried kuay teow I have ever tried in my life. But I downed it anyway because I was so hungry. Witnessed one my junior colleagues puke at the mamak. I however commend him on doing it in such a calm and cool manner ho ho ho....

Reached home at 4am. Woke up at 8 am. Why? Because MPSJ decided that 8am that day was a good day to cut grass at the field in front of my home. So I awoke, whether I was ready to or not, to the sound of grass cutter machines in all their entusiastic glory. Felt poorly the whole day. At night, at 8pm, crawled back into bed, and slept all the way for 12 hours till the next morning.

Ahhh... 2007 company annual dinner was quite fun wasn't it?

Style Anxiety

Tonight is my company's Annual dinner. The event committee has dictated that guys dress in white.



I have so far only purchased some white jeans. Besides that I have no idea what to do for a shirt.



Panic Panic Panic



Part of the committee also highly encouraged guys to get accessories (ties, watches etc etc).



Stress Stress Stress



We are also encouraged to do something different with hair



Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety

Tennis in Malaysia, Pastures in Australia

Recently, one of my friends offered some free tickets to watch the semi final matches for the Malaysian Tennis Open Festival. Before you jump to conclusions, this is not the high profile Nadal-Gasquet and Sampras-Federer matches.

Malaysia Open, held at the National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL

Nevertheless, it was a good game to watch anyway. Thank you very much Sharon! I made it a family outing, bringing mom and dad along, and also my cousin Poh with her little boy An-An. We manage to catch a Croatia vs Australia men's singles, and a men's doubles between India and Australia.

The shiny and beautiful National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL.

Shiny empty seats hahaha!

As you can see, the Malaysia crowd support was sparse. The stadium itself was very comfortable, and it was roofed. It was kinda fun to watch all the outrageous 200kmph serves from the skinny players, almost all of which were aces. I do miss the older playing style though... where players relied more on strategy and did rallies that tested skills other than returning a serve. Also, these semis used a different scoring system, only needing each side to win 2 sets instead of the usual 3. Each game ended in about 40mins.

Had a catch up with old pals Sharon and David. Once again, we spoke of their affirmative to migrate to Oz. Also found out that an Australian Matriculation education does not exempt you from needing an English proficiency test like IELTS. Again, a good example of red tape without logic. Seems like Malaysia is not the only one. Did you also hear about New Zealand's example of red tape? If you are too obese, you can't apply to be a permanent resident, else you will put the country's medical care system under undue stress. I'm sure that there is a better logical explanation for the refusal of entry for the poor, overweight soul, but NZ felt it better to go with this one instead.

More pals of mine are seeking greener pastures outside of Malaysia. Some going as far as doing a complete career and training turnaround to pick up 'hot market skills'. E.g. nursing, .NET to Java because Java is hotter in Oz. I do applaud the confidence and self belief my pals have in making a drastic change. Heck, it is actually such risk takers that come out far ahead in life anyway. I do admit I am tempted to get away from Malaysia myself, and Oz does look very tempting he he he! Hate the drought though. There are some distant family members in Oz too, and of course some good friends in Melb, Perth, Sydney. Ahhh... let's do some research for shicks and giggles.

A Day of Nothing

Today is Deepavali (or Divali) Day in Malaysia, a major festival for the Indian community. The victory of light over darkness, and is usually symbolised with lighted lamps (if I recall, they are known as diyas or kandis). At the stroke of midnight today, I heard all the firecracker and firework noises from around my neighbourhood.

Work has been tiresome and unpleasant quite a number of times these few weeks. All the life and light I had from my holiday in Oz seems so far away now. I have finally opened my bottle of Johnnie Walker Black this week to get some alcohol into my system. More and more, it seems that I am put in situations to become a lone ranger at work. While sipping the whisky I asked myself "where are you now?" (just like James Blunt's 'Wisemen' song exclaims).

Good ol' Johnnie Walker

Today all I wanted to do was laze around, enjoy the cool and light rainy weather, each chocolate, play some music, call up my Indian friends to wish them well and catch up with them... and that's exactly what I did. Sometimes you just need some space and time to do... nothing. Just do nothing at all. No personal errands, no DIY project, no games. And doing nothing in itself can be incredibly satisfying.

There'll be another challenging day tomorrow. There will be another set of standards to hit, deliverables to package, problems to tackle, people to appease etc etc.

All I want to say is Happy Deepavali everyone, and remember that in this hectic world and maddening pace, it pays to take time to do nothing!

Back from Australia

Got back from Oz a week and a half ago. Went to Sydney & Canberra during the Hari Raya break. Had a tonne of work to do before I left, and it was in a sorry state of organisation when I departed from the office.



Anyhow, I had planned this holiday and gave up front notice 2 months in advance. Yet somehow, I am still roped into help with a new, fast paced project on the eve of my holiday. Work in my organisation is sapping my strength and spirits at time. Did not even get into a holiday mindset when I left. Although you have all the well-meaning "don't think too much about work" talk from the colleagues, you know in your heart it will not be possible.



Well, instead of dwelling on spilt milk... Oz was a good trip. Sydney is a truly beautiful city full of activity. Darling Harbour, Sydney Tower, the many parks, the Sydney Fish Market are all great places to visit. Canberra is akin to Malaysia's Putrajaya, which means its really dead in the evening. But the new and old buildings are well maintained, signage is obvious and informative, parks are well managed. This is the season of spring, and the weather is sunny with cool breezes.



The food portions, are well, not all it is cracked up to be. Maybe holidaying increases your appetite, but I managed to finish all the regular Aussie portions of food with no sweat. Think that inflation plays a role. The Aussie dollar in Oz is stronger than US Dollar when I was there. But the greens are so fresh and tasty, and the meats are juicy. The cooking only lightly flavours the food, which is very healthy and I love this style of cooking. Malaysian food tastes great, but to be honest, it is not healthy at all. Coconut cream, ghee, lard.... you guys know what I mean *wink wink*. Also love the many gelato stalls all around. My favourite flavours are still Rum Raisin and Macadamia Caramel.



Locals are a little unfriendly at times, except when you are doing business with them. Case in point... I asked a waitress of a cafe for directions, and she looked at me like she was reading a quantum physics textbook. My question seemed to cause her a headache, because her eyes narrowed, the brow furrowed and other signs of discomfort showed. The truly warm people are the ones in the tourist attractions or in hospitality service.



I really love the smaller towns too... I passed by Dickson and also Wollongoong and Katoomba. The lifestyle is slower than the bigger towns, but the places are so beautiful. They are all by the blue blue sea, and being there just makes you feel so refreshed. Passing by all the quaint and curious shops, watching kids play in the park, oggling and surfer chicks heheheh. What I wouldn't give to have a place in one of these towns.

Isn't Wollongong beautiful?

As I sigh a wantful sigh, here I am back in the thick of work. Till the next holiday!

Korea Barbecue and IT apathy

THad a first try of the now infamous Korean Barbecue recently with an old friend. We patranoised a joint at SS2 Petaling Jaya called Korea House. I am not much of a food blogger, and therefore forgot to take many pics of the outing. Shame on me, shame on me ^.^


The decor and ambience is ok. Yellow lights, dark wooden furniture. On the night we came, we were served by a senior and junior staff. I don't think they were Korean. Their English wasn't so good, and was heavily accented. When asking for recommendation, the senior rattled off for 2 minutes on 2 items off every page of the menu. I guess the food must be really good then hur hur hur... We settled on pork and beef meat, one kimchi soup and an egg dish.

Sizzle sizzle... BBQ pork with the many condiments surrounding the hot plate

The meat was quite tender and juicy with 4 different dipping sauces. It was quite tasty on its own. The barbecuing was done by the restaurant staff. First, some hot coals are placed under the iron dish. Once it's hot, the meat is cooked. Once the beef is done, they changed the plate for cooking the pork. Guess this keeps the meat flavour pure? There are many accompanying side dishes of vegetables, achovies, patatoes etc. Something out of norm is that we were served cold tea with our food. To cool down from the fires of BBQ maybe?

Kimchi soup, green leaf vege, BBQ Pork, Egg, BBQ Beef

After polishing off the beef... the senior staff came over to explain which dipping sauce goes with what. A little bit sooner would have been better leh big bro! The my friend suddenly recalled that the fresh green leaf vege (the name eludes me at this moment), is supposed to be used as a wrap for the meat and fresh garlic. The kimchi soup was quite delicious. The egg dish was really plain.

All in all, the bill came up to RM100 for 2 pax. The food is decent. We were overstuffed. Could've gone without the extra egg dish.

Over dinner, we moaned about work, clients and all the usual stuff. We did discuss why Malaysia was not an IT frontrunner in the world. We realised that while it is normal to develop pretty looking applications that meet business requirements, Malaysians don't think ahead about making something the best or something that is innovative. Now can work, means good already lor. I wonder what technology R & D departments do in Malaysia. Do they aim to come up with good methodology to solve problems for present and future needs? Or are they doing 'needle in haystack' kind of work, where finding the elusive solution ends the research part of R & D? When the business of IT holds absolute power on time and resourcing, and passion for ideas and risk-taking relegated to lower priority, we can't help it if we are stuck in this rut. We have lots of brilliant and fast thinking young minds, born and bred in our country's soil, that are snatched away, often willingly, to more attractive lures from foreign bodies. I too am increasingly satisfied to 'finish my tasks' and escape from my desk as soon as possible. Are we apathetic about such things?

Such apathy doesn't work well in the food business. If your food ain't tasty, and if you are not on your toes regarding changing trends, you will definitely run into business problems.

Maybe bored and apathetic IT guys should try their hands at the food business for a real challenge in life? Hyuk hyuk hyuk...

Chocolate and Vanilla

Had the oppurtunity to see the movie 'Hairspray' with a friend of mine last Sunday. Highly, marvellously entertaining show. Hats off to Nikki Blonsky with her believable and lovable portrayal of Tracy Turnblad.

Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) ensuring that the hair spray industry never need worry about hitting next quarter's sales targets

Towards the ending, the music sounded too similar. But it has quite a few catchy tunes. The opening one of 'Good Morning Baltimore', and 'I can hear the bells' I can't get out of my head. John Travolta was okay... I don't know why they couldn't get a real female actress for the part though. You tend to laugh much more at his character simply because you know it is a guy. Michelle Pfeiffer was quite a letdown. There was just no punch or sizzle to her portrayal of the villain.

The show does highlight issues of negro and white segregation. The terms 'chocolate' and 'vanilla' are used extensively throughout the show to describe negros and whites. Whites are partrayed as less than angelic, negros as underdogs. A plus sized body being a disadvantageous is also discussed, albeit in a thoroughly slapstick fashion. Because it is parodied so much, this particular message is kind of lost.

Of course everyone wants freedom to do and be what they wish, and still gain acceptance from family, peers and society in doing so. And it is entirely understandable to be suspicious, even antoagonistic towards the new and unfamiliar. And it would be great to have foresight as to whether a change is for the better, and also, pehaps just as important, whether it'll be accepted well enough.

I think about my own country of different skin colours, the varied tongues and cultures. We school together, eat together, salute the same national anthem together. Camraderie like Tracy and company is still an exception rather than the norm. Our differences are too old and familiar to be called as such anymore. I ponder at my own relationships and those that I've witnessed. Why are we not more integrated in inter-race relationships? It is a beautiful thing that Tracy and company have. We could do with more beauty in this oft bleak world.

Maybe I will come to a better answer after more bowls of cereal...

Does Koko Krunch Duo (choc and white choc) has the answer I seek?