3-Seconder

Plant Pals

2011-06-08T18:54:00.000+08:00

An adorable new project which I will be starting with my dear boy - JD. Instil some green fingers into him :)

Where did 2010 go ?

2010-12-06T18:19:00.000+08:00

I can't answer that question myself. Really. I feel time just swooshed past, or I have slept through the entire 11 months of 2010 and wake up suddenly in December to realise, SHIT IT'S DECEMBER ALREADY! Sorry for the slight vulgar shitty word, but really, it's exactly how I feel right now.

Where did the previous 11 months go ?!

I remember vaguely about having my birthday and V-day present from =HB - a pair of earrings, iPhone 3GS and Compaq Laptop. A friend of mine commented my husband and I exchanged VERY expensive presents in one year, to which I related to my husband and we came to a decision on spending LESSER on presents. *update: it's not really happening since he just bought me an iPad*

Anyway, then I remembered getting incredibly irritated at my skin conditions due to constant piling of makeup foundations and chemicals. As bizarre as how the acne surfaced, it disappeared without me understanding why on earth did it happen! Nevertheless, I'm back to a happy self after having a better complexion and radiance.

Then CNY 2010 I went Adelaide with my in-laws to visit my =HB's relatives. It's my first time, and JD's stepping onto Australia soils. We had a wonderful bonding time with relatives and JD to mingle around. One of the thing I still missed about Adelaide is the lifestyle people have there. The evening walks in the park. The breeze that greeted us when we were there. But the rest of the days were hotter than Malaysia to which we all stayed indoors. Still.... =HB and I promised each other of making our way back to Australia and more places when JD's older.

And my sudden desire to have short hair, and later on, even shorter hair. The endless battle I have with my hair - style & colour. I think this is my epitome of 2010. My entire year is filled with question of what colour to have on my head and what style to cut it to. I know, vain, but yeah it was the drive I had to keep me moving. So sad right?

Subsequently I started watching all those Taiwanese pop idol dramas and listening to Mandarin pop songs, and that spurred me into going for vocal classes. Not that I am aiming to become a singer but it's a hobby that I am trying to get indulged in, besides colouring hair.

With JD getting more mobile and not as needy, =HB and I have more time out as a family. We went to Singapore twice - once for a friend's wedding and another to meet my sis. The highlight of the year has to be meeting up my sis in Singapore. JD had the chance, finally, to play with his cousins - Natalie & Anya. And I could see how innocent the 3 kids are when they first met, which took a downward spiral to fists and fights. Quite entertaining, I would say.

2010 is labelled as my Gucci year since I bought a pair of sunnies and wallet from this brand. There's just this thing about Gucci that attracts me. And this thing is called, materialistic! I won't deny that it's purely about the brand that got me into this frenzy because I don't know anything about fashion or brands. But somehow, i just like Gucci, at least, for now.

But whatever it is on my hair colour / style, or my skin condition or even the purchases that I have made on my own or whatsoever, nothing beats the daily development of my own son that brings joy and happiness to my life. The cheeky grin I see plastered on his face. The opinions he has now, even though he's only 2.5yrs old, to the world. Like how he would justify why he wants me to carry him is because he is too short to reach out for things.

And how he will always say he loves someone else and then checks for my reaction to see if I am sad. And when he sees that I'm sad or pouting, he will give me a big hug and say, "mama I love you!" Even though it's all very staged and planned, but hearing it still brings joy :)

You know, as what they say, when a door closes, another opens up ahead? I am finally looking forward to 2011, to see how my baby grows up to be a little boy and attends nursery. To see how as a couple, my =HB and I are going to grow and meet each life obstacles are they come. To carefully plan for new excitements for upcoming 2011. It's not a 5-min enthusiastic, but I am really looking into training out for marathons.

I told =HB, give me one year to do all the things that I normally don't do before having a second kid! The 1st on the list will be marathon :) Let 2011 be the light of new hopes and dreams, and the strength to conquer new obstacles! :)

Gatsy Natural Bleach & Colour (Aqua Silver)

2010-11-10T20:36:00.000+08:00

Being tied down to a 10am-9pm job, 6 days a week and even working on certain public holidays, it can be a little (I am under exaggerating here) boring. Boring in the sense that my job revolves over the same typical frustrations and problems to solve. Boring, also, in the sense that my working hours isn't very much flexible for me to run away for some space breather.

And sometimes, all these boredom adds up and I get so idiotically irritated at myself for not being random and spontaneous. And yet, every time when I feel that I get so realistically guilty afterwards, because I have quite a 'noble' job and do have responsibilities to adhere to. (yeah right! like many people out there really appreciate retail pharmacists)

So, I try to strike a balance in my own way. Balance between work and play. Since I can't close the shop for a few days to go for a holiday to destress, I rely on the very superficial and vain manner of colouring my hair every 2-3 months.

This time around, I thought I would like to give those DIY hair colouring kit a try. Not that I have never tried before, but it always ended up not being the colour that I have wanted or I didn't colour it evenly. So before I went out buying the hair colour kits like what it is shown on the box, I Googled a little to understand hair colours and tones.

As mentioned in my earlier entry about Warm and Cool skin tone, it is vital for you to understand which category you belong so that you can pick the range of colours that would best complement your look. However, if lets say you are like me too, have very chemically treated hair, then it is best for you to understand the colour wheel before you decide what hair colour you want next.

Basically the colour wheel gives you the basic to hair colouring and leveling. Of course if you buy those DIY colour kits, chances are you don't need to deal with hair tones / levels. These will be important if you really want to use those professional colourants and developer's cream. Anyway, for my case, my current chemical hair colour is running down to a rusty orange. SO what I do is, I find the colour best suited with my current hair, in this case, Yellow-Orange. The colour sitting opposite yellow-orange is Blue-Violet, and this is the tone which will help neutralise the rustiness.

Like for now, I am still aiming for ash-brown, which is one very difficult colour to achieve and attain. Nevertheless, I went out to the hypermart in search of one DIY hair colouring kit which will give me a colour as CLOSE to ash brown as possible. And now knowing from the colour wheel, it's no point of me to be buying a DIY kit which promises to give me Ash Brown because it is quite impossible for my case.

Gatsby Natural Bleach & Colour Aqua Silver

Serendipity I might say, I saw this product. I have always joked about how corny Gatsby commercial and packaging and who knows I would end up buying their hair colouring kit. The reason of me to buy Aqua Silver because it has a tinge of purple in it, and it is exactly what I was looking for! (remember? purple / violet neutralises yellow / orange)

I love it how Gatsby actually places their hair colouring kits relevance to the colour wheel, letting dumb people like me understand which underlying colour tone it contains :)

Please take note that the 1st pic is the AFTER pic, whereas the 2nd pic is the BEFORE pic.
Sorry for the wrong sequence blunder :(

As you can see, the rusty orange streaks and tone is soften down to give a near ash look. Believe me, I was jumping for joy after I washed and blow dry my hair, to see how ashy it looks!!!

However, my happiness will be short lived as ash tone, which is artificially produced with green / purple, will washout and turn to... yellow-orange :*( Nevermind, till then, I can proudly brag to friends and relatives that I did the colouring myself from A-Z :)

Till the next round of DIY hair colouring, I will continue reading up more on hair tones and levels. Hopefully with enough knowledge and guts, I'll try those professional colourant and developer's creams, and REALLY, do it myself!

Then I'll pray I won't turn out to be an alien.

Cool or Warm ?

2010-11-04T21:39:00.001+08:00

Bored of that image which is reflected off from the mirror when you stand in front of it every day?
Frustrated at how tired and regular Jane that image portrays?
Desperate for a change, ANY change, which doesn't requires too much $ ?

Answer: HAIR COLOUR CHANGE! (Like, what's new right!?)

As with my normal routine, 3 months has passed and it's my time mark for a hair colour change. Difference with this round, instead of going to my hair salon, I've gathered up an enormous amount of guts (like as if we can quantify guts) to DIY ! It's relatively very simple, really, mix two bottles of agents, give it a good shake and spread it evenly out from roots to ends and wait for 15mins. Straight forward. And especially fabulous when all hair salons have closed for the day (i.e. night time) and you literally can't curb the desire to colour your hair.

Any time. Any where. Any place. At the mercy of your decision.

However before you rush out to buy any DIY hair colouring kit, please spare a few minutes to understand yourself better. Know what type of skin tone you belong to, and what are the colours that'll complement your look and what colours are your worst enemies.

Ultimately we want the hair colour change to bring about a radiance and glow to our physical appearance, or unless you are aiming to look more haggard and tired. Generally we're divided into two broad skin tones - Cool and Warm. Because there are colours which are able to bring out the best with the respective skin tones, and the reverse applies too. That'll help a lot in your decision making for whatever colour change.

I've extracted off from Google search on the characteristics of each skin tone, so you guys can save the trouble of doing so.

**********

Cool Tone people have one or more of these characteristic
Colours of your Eyes are-
Deep brown or black-brown

Gray blue or dark blue

Hazel with white, gray or blue flecks

Skin Tone-

Very dark brown

True olive (most Asians and Latinos)

Medium with no color in cheeks

Medium with faint pink cheeks

Medium with golden undertones

Pale with no color in cheeks

Pale with pink undertones

Brown or bronze when I tan

Natural Hair Color:

Blue black

Deepest coffee brown

Medium ash brown

Medium golden brown

Dishwater blonde

Salt and pepper

White

For COOL tone people, a few hair colour shades can look gorgeous on you are:-
-Shinny black hair
-Cool ash browns
-Cool blondes, shades ranging from mink to platinum / icy white
-Most neutral, ash / beige bases should work fab.

And hair colours a Cool skin tone person should AVOID are those gold, yellow, red and bronze tones. These tones are warm in nature and if you colour your entire hair with these offending tones, chances are, you'll look tired and haggard.

**********

Warm Tone people have one or more of these characteristics

Colours of your Eyes are-

Golden brown

Green, green blue or turquoise

Hazel with gold or brown flecks

Skin Tone:

Brown with pink undertone

Brown with golden undertone

Pale with peach or gold undertones

Freckled

Ruddy

Natural Hair Color:

Deep brown with gold or red highlights

Red

Strawberry blonde

Gray with a yellow cast

Natural golden blonde

Hair colours that will look best on Warm Tone are:-
Those dark warm rich browns, chestnuts, golden browns and auburn. Those warm gold and red highlights. Gold blond shades will look gorgeous with your skin tone too. Basically, any colour that carries a red-orange / gold base will be fabulous!

However, Warm Tone people should AVOID hair colours of those blue, violet, beige and ash.

**********

Now that you have understood the type of skin tone you belong, you have taken a step closer in finding the right suitable colour for your hair! :)

Next entry up will be my journey to obtain a hair colour tone as close to ash brown, using over-the-counter DIY colour kits.

STAY TUNE!

Basic Care for face (1) - Cleansing

2010-10-29T15:38:00.000+08:00

I am one of those blessed souls, formally, to have good genes when it comes to skin. Through puberty I wasn't bugged down with acne or any major skin problems. All through my growing up years, I have people complimenting how great my skin is, fair and rosy.

However I have to admit since I became an ardent fan of makeup and factoring AGEING, my facial skin has taken a downturn drastically. Months ago I was plagued with acute acne till which I have no idea what sparked it, maybe sensitivity to hair products / skin care products, or maybe just tough luck.

So months of trying to find out what happened lead to nothing. I thought I would just stick back to my normal routine, difference is that, I paid more attention when it comes to cleansing. Since I use a combination of mild liquid make up foundation and loose powder, my pores are subjected to clogging. For liquid foundation, the mineral oil content is higher so my advice to females who use liquid foundation to carefully and thoroughly remove your makeup.

Personally I use this.

Good for people who use waterproof mascara and liquid foundation since these makeup need oil-based remover procedures. After removing the makeup thoroughly, I'll start my double-cleanse facial cleansing, or sometimes triple cleanse but of course not daily.

Clinelle is what I have been using for years. My daily regime is: Morning - Caring milk cleanser since it doesn't stripe off my natural skin oil in the morning, so it doesn't leave my skin feeling tight or dehydrated. Night - after removing my make up, I'll use Deep Cleansing gel to remove off the dirt and make up remover gel from my face. Next I will use Skin smoothing scrub to cleanse off those dead skin and free up those clogged pores.

Of course, it is not advisable to scrub your face EVERYDAY because you still need time for the skin cells to differentiate and upregulate to the surface. Scrubbing too often will lead to a sensitive, red and dry skin. Hence, a word of caution to people who like to scrub their face daily with an exfoliant, no!

On nights whereby I don't intend to use scrub, I'll use Caring milk cleanser (again) and THEN only the cleansing gel. With the milk cleanser it is very ideal to do some slight massage to your skin. Not RUBBING, just soft circling movements in an upward manner.

With consistent tender loving care to your skin, I am sure the radiance will follow en suite. With all cleansing, you should pat dry the face and continue with Toning and Moisturizing.

But of course, I will leave it to the next entry.

For the time being, take the opportunity to learn about your skin, whether it's oily / dry / combination from your neighbouring pharmacy :)

Problems, not of mine

2010-10-28T18:25:00.000+08:00

Pardon for the increasingly lack of updates, will try to buck up as much as possible. Thing is, and truth to be told, it is much simpler to update via Facebook. I don't need to configure my thoughts or draft out the paragraphs like a blog entry. I don't need excellent command in English, or careful selection of words to match as much as how I feel / think.

But yet, many thoughts can't be put into full description with a mere few words. Hence, I'm seeking solace with my blog. To pen down some thoughts that I can't possibly fit into the status update bar in FB. Either that, or I simply can't mention certain things without letting some others knowing some facts of a certain person.

Anyway, earlier this month I went down south to Singapore to meet up with my sis's family. It was great, needless to say, family time is bliss since we don't tend to meet up often. The kids enjoyed the most, although each tod was down with a particular problem

Natalie - Mild flu

Anya - Fever

JD - Hyperactive

Amongst spending time with my family, I arranged dinner with an old friend seeing that I didn't have the opportunity to meet him during my previous trip to Singapore. =HB, JD and I went to Novena Square for a simple dinner with this friend who rushed over after work, beating all the Friday traffic. A gesture that I am very grateful of, knowing that he even bothered to get off work earlier when I told him that JD needed to get an earlier rest. Who knows, in the end we were the one being late.

Things went on well. JD was behaving relatively 'ok' despite him throwing food onto the floor and being picky at the food we had, and even wanted to eat my friend's dinner instead. I have to say, places around Singapore are so baby-friendly. Even the staff around all the FnB places are so fond of kids, or maybe they're trying to be nice while silently cursing me for letting JD run around the place / making a huge mess. But at least, on the front service line, I see polite and caring people :)

Since my dear boy has a short attention span of being still, =HB brought him around the mall to take a walk, while I can have some decent catching up times with my friend. Not that I have anything much to update to anyone, so most of the time I was basically trying to understand my friend's latest relationship status.

Call me a conservative nerd. Imagine my 'square' brains digesting a fact for one to fall in love with another married person, happening in real life (not that it doesn't happen in real life, but that it happens to people around me). For countless moments I sat there blank, speechless.

My standard square morals tell me that it isn't right.

But my heart tells me that I ought to support my friend because if this is one true love for him, what am I to justify and judge?

Honestly speaking, I am still being judgmental. Mostly because I am worried of my friend getting hurt and that the other person isn't serious and only looking for a 'no-strings attached' fling? Of course I know chances can be that this other person who's married IS serious to be with my friend and that a divorce is coming along the way. If so, at least I can see light between my friend and this person.

But there's just this nagging thought in my head.... that things might not be so simple.

Then I try telling myself that, maybe I am over thinking!!!

And then I ask myself, WHAT THE HECK AM I LOSING MY BRAIN CELLS OVER PEOPLE'S MATTERS?!

Ought to do some serious thinking of what colours I should dye my hair instead. It's currently a little too bright for my liking yet still too fast to be changing colours. What to do ?! Urgh!

Anyway, I sincerely wish the best of luck to my friend.
I pray that he finds the true love, of someone worthy of his love and loving him back with all her heart too.
I pray that I am indeed overthinking and being judgmental, so at least the love is true between them.
I pray that for everything that they need to go through in the future, their love and compassion is strong enough to get by every obstacles.
I pray that everything works out well for them, as hope.

Designer and Resigner

2010-09-27T18:43:00.000+08:00

Don't ask me why I am gaga over Gucci, to be honest, and brutally honest, I know nuts about fashion / designers trends. Yet somehow, everytime I see the word Gucci, my eyes twinkle / sparkle, depending on the items that I see from Gucci.

My first ever Gucci item was the above sunglasses I bought. Confession. I lost it.

Maybe that was what spurred me into the search for another Gucci.

I was initially looking at handbags / tote bags / sling bags etc. However with each bag that I come across, Gucci / Guess / LV / Coach, I kept comparing to my current black sling Stella McCartney bag 'snatched' off from my sis during my trip to Hong Kong last year.

Then I came across THIS randomly....

GUCCI LEATHER WALLET!

Hahaha! Seriously I don't think I need a wallet. Not to mention a Gucci wallet, but seeing that Reebonz is having the current 12 months credit card installment interest free option. Okay, all the reasoning with my brains just flew out of the window.

I succumbed to peer pressure easily. Seriously. I need to control myself.

Anyway, Reebonz is an online website with different daily 'offers' ongoing with different designers'. And there's a catch, you need to be a member to be able to access the site. Next, you need to fight with other members when purchasing for items because 1) items are normally limited in quantity 2) there is a time frame to the duration of sale ongoing 3) you need to constantly check back for more offers.

Immediately after I bought the Gucci wallet, I saw BALENCIAGA!!!! urgh!

Temptations.... self-restrain!!!!!

OKay. I have remind myself.

"SAVE UP MONEY FOR JD !"

That'll stop me (temporarily) from huge purchase *ummmmmmmmm*

Right. In case some of you are not members in Reebonz and you share similar passion like me in designers', don't say I am a selfish freak.

I am openly putting an invitation link here to invite you into the wonderous network of Reebonz.
Join the network babes!

Above is the screenshot of upcoming events going on sale in Reebonz.

Tod's Women handbags on 28/09/10
Chanel handbags & accessories on 29/09/10
Celine Women handbags on 29/09/10
Balenciaga Women handbags on 29/09/10

etc....etc... etc...

*sigh* I have to suffer through another phase of Balenciaga...... sobs.

Pimples

2010-09-03T18:52:00.000+08:00

Couple of weeks ago I was hit with the catastrophe of having acne problem. Reason being catastrophic is that, I have always pride my fair flawless skin since young and to see the mirror reflection of myself with acne, is really beyond my acceptance.

Till now I do not understand why the sudden flare: allergy to hair products ? allergy to skin care products? allergy to cosmetics? allergy to the unknown?!

Seeing that I did not have a major change of skin care / cosmetic products, I narrowed the culprit to a new hair wax thingy I bought recently. But even though I have stopped using foresaid culprit, my acne worsen. With the initial location being at my lower right jawline, it spread upwards to the right cheeks and then bits of tiny pimples started to pop out on the LEFT cheeks!

So I did what I was taught to treat pimples: topical antibiotics & retinoids. Lots of water and skipped all skincare aside from the basic cleansing toning and moisturising. And the situation did not improve! IN fact, a lot of the pimples started to grow bigger redder and due to the side effects of retinoids, my skin felt tender to touch!

I was devastated! This is NOT supposed to happen!! By right, the pimples should have reduced in size intensity and occurrence, so why is it NOT happening to me!?

Then I got despo. Instead of using once nightly applications of retinoids, I illegally (people don't follow my footsteps here) used retinoids up to THREE freaking times. (duh! hence the inflamed tender skin!)

Nevertheless, the situation is like shit, just that it didn't look like shit black, but it's shitty anyway.

I gave up!

I chuck all the antibiotics and retinoids aside. Went back to my routine facial care of cleansing toning moisturising and deep hydrating masks. I went back to my usual eating habits, instead of just downing myself with high fibre fruits / vegan diet.

2 days later, the pimples have significantly reduced in redness and my skin looks healthier instead of being so sensitive.

This is how it looks like now under normal light. Can still see the pimple scar, but at least it's not that annoying. So what I do now is, if I feel it's infected, I'll slab on antibiotics and retinoids. Other than that, I leave it be. And oh, yah, the most important pointer is, NO FOUNDATION LIQUID / POWDER / MAKEUP on the affected area.

:)

So even though my skin isn't flawless now, but at least I have reached a compromise of accepting that it is not AS bad as it was. ;)

再怎么美丽也只是曾经？

2010-07-27T12:02:00.000+08:00

往日的我坐在左边

友人说：“结婚生子前的你比较美丽！”

天呀！意思有点明显，现在的我难看透顶吗!?

不堪示弱，我积极地打扮及拍照。再加入一点电脑科技修饰。

现在的我！

呵呵！太棒了！

谁还有胆批评我难看!?

是不！~

Momentary thought

2010-07-14T16:41:00.000+08:00

Tax. Road Tax. Insurance. Bonds. Trusts Funds. Credit card bills.

Arghhhh!!!

\($_$)/

I wish money grows on trees! Or that I have a diamond mine somewhere,

or that I am suddenly claimed to be some descendant of some great fortune lah.

My Saturday Look

2010-06-26T16:55:00.000+08:00

My look today!

Change over time and 3 yrs into marriage

2010-06-24T19:33:00.000+08:00

It has been a relatively busy month for me (not to mention being ultimately broke), seeing that I have attended 3 weddings. The ultimate highlight wedding was definitely the union of my two ex-classmate from secondary school in Singapore. Since both of them do not patronise my humble blog here, I can safely share their fairy tale here, as a reminder to all single ladies out there who are still seeking for 'The One' :-)

Back in my secondary school days, my girl friend has always been the belle of the class. A huge majority of boys were secretly or openly having big puppy crush on her. Come valentine's or her birthday, I had to render a helping hand in either 1) passing presents to her or 2) holding her presents received from secret or not-so-secret admirers.

So anyway, the GROOM was one of the not-so-secret admirers of my friend belle back in our secondary school days. All through the four years in secondary days, this guy never formally confessed his love for belle.

It was only years later where their paths crossed again. Maybe it's fate / destiny. The Groom decided, this round of meeting with belle again, he HAS to woo her and not let her slipped by again. And we're all glad he did, for if not, I wouldn't be attending their wedding! But more importantly, I am truly happy for both of them, to have found each other in amidst of the crazy crowd of people that swift in and out of their paths, to have found love and understanding.

And with a journey that laid a million obstacles between them yet they managed to conquer it... this is what I call True Love :-)

It was great, certainly, meeting up with old friends. Besides seeing the union of two people whom I know (to some extend) and share the happiness of seeing them start a new chapter of their life together; I met up with a couple of my good ole' secondary school mates. When you put 3 girls together (regardless of age) who haven't met each other for years, what you are going to have is, definitely endless chatters. The bride even commented she has absolutely no worries of us being bored, seeing that we almost did not stop chatting. It is true to what the bride has predicted, 3 of us talked non-stop lah. To the extend that even after the wedding dinner, we bombarded the bridal hotel room to continue yakking, with the difference that the bride joined in too :)

Presenting to you, ex-2B classmates who were present for the wedding. Look at us! Omg! How much we have grown!

One of the best is going through Singapore, a place once so familiar yet strangely unfamiliar now. A lot has changed, be it the people whom I know or the infrastructure and city skyline of Singapore. As I was standing in the MRT, I realised the old pang of sadness and ache which I felt in my heart has long gone.

Tears used to roll down my cheeks during my past few visits to Singapore, but of course, those were the times where I have not met him yet. Now standing in the MRT with him, walking through and talking him through the youthful days which I had spent in Singapore, I feel touched and held his hand tighter.

For without the courageous decision of my family and myself in leaving Singapore after my 'O' levels, the missing puzzle would never have been complete in my life. I would never have met him.

For he has been one understanding, tolerant, loving and compassionate husband. This month, coincidentally with all the weddings, mark our 3 year anniversary. For many more years to come, I wish to say, sweetie, I love you and all our quirky chats. Be it my silly acts, or your silly jokes, I love it all. And I wish upon every stars that JD will grow up with our quirkiness and may our life journey be filled with laughter.

Of course, it is impossible. Yes, I do know it. When obstacles are due to come I wish we have the strength as a whole to conquer it all :-)

And I promise you that I will try to be a little more tidy :)

Rare solitude

2010-05-21T14:58:00.000+08:00

Ever since having a overzealous boy terrorizing the household every inch of space, ‘personal bubble’ or ‘solitude’ are rarely associated with me. In a bigger picture, this IS a good thing – seemingly that I am never lonely or alone. But if you were to scrutinize the situation with a magnifying glass, you will notice that, if a human is devoid of his own personal space and thoughts, problems will start to arise.

One will become more irritable and burnt out with his current life. And we certainly do not want to feel jaded or exhausted with life, seeing as we are still young and there should be more to life than a rat race and a battle for that particular piece of cheese.

Nonetheless, we need to remind ourselves that, whether in marriages or relationships, each of us need a personal space. A period of time for us to step back, retreat to the space bubble and reflect on what had happened, and thoughts of what could have happened and how well we could have dealt. It’s like a relay feedback mechanism.

After being deprived of such privilege due to the arrival of JD, we (hubby and I) have sacrificed a majority of our time to provide a sound and healthy environment for JD’s upbringing and welfare. Not that we are regretting the decision of having JD, as fore mentioned, Hubby and I are reaching a point whereby we wish to have a little more personal time, not just with each other, but also to reconnect with ourselves respectively.

Therefore in this year of 2010, with JD being a little more independent and extended family members being more at ease to take care of JD; Hubby embarked onto his cycling terrain! For that reason, he has turned more tanned (ahem!). He joined this cycling team near to our housing estate whereby weekly they’ll meet up to cycle. It isn’t an easy feat for him, seeing that he did not train up prior before the whole 30km cycling trail. But his determination to complete the entire trail with his team mates, and his passion to cycling, touched me.

So for the sake of my own health and future, I finally started exercising. Impressive, isn't it! It has always been on my mind to lead a healthier lifestyle; problem is that, I have an incredible good way of procrastinating. The day I told hubby that I wanted to go jogging, he must have thought I was pulling a joke as again. Even after I went for a second jog days later, he was at awed. To be honest, I am at awed at myself too.

Strangely I find night time jogging to be extremely calming and rewarding. Since we stay in a well guarded housing community, with security guards at the entrance and constant surveillances by the guards and that there is a designated exercise track whereby vehicles aren’t allowed to enter; it is extremely safe to be jogging around there, but of course I will remain vigilant still.

I love the entire feel of cool breeze brushing onto my skin, the moonlight shining down and reflecting my own sweat, the music I love blasting into my ears from my ipod, my own awareness of my heart thumping away for more oxygen, and the realization that with each step I am moving towards a healthier me.

In addition to all, I stumbled upon a fact that the jog gives me an opportunity to my own solitude. Something I haven’t been having for some time, and something that I have now learnt to treasure a lot. It might not be a big issue to some people, but this brings me back to sanity and injects an amount of peace to my soul.

With me being happier and healthier, my complexion became much better and it shows on my self-pic! By the way, I absolutely adore my new hair cut, but I detest the amount of time that goes into styling it! Argh! It takes me a freaking hour to volumise it. And that is not inclusive of the makeup time yet! Hence, nowadays I'm doing the simple basic makeup. Speaking of makeup, I will try to come up with a mini-tutorial on how to use Volume/Maxi-curling mascaras! Seriously, I got a shock to realise that all these while of using mascaras, I have used it WRONGLY!

Stay tuned okay! :)

Lastly, pick up an exercise that strikes ur chord well and stick to it. Believe me. It'll help you in every little ways :)

Who said there is no benefits in watching Taiwan pop idols dramas?

2010-05-12T09:49:00.000+08:00

Not sure whether I have mentioned earlier in my entries that I am currently getting re-acquainted with my mando-pop music. Reason being, I watched too much of those Taiwan pop idol dramas in which, a lot of their theme songs seemed too catchy for me NOT to listen. Especially after watching the dramas, listening to the various theme songs will spark up different particular scenes in the show; adding more impact in cinematography.

Came across this 2006 Taiwan pop idol drama entitled 'Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花样少年少女'. Storyline is adapted from a famous Japanese comic under the same title. The main cast included, Ella Chen from the pop female group S.H.E; Wu Chun and Jiro Wang both from the pop male group Fahrenheit.

Basically you can watch the full episodes of this show from Youtube as many of their fans have uploaded this famous drama which linked Ella Chen and Wu Chun together romantically. For strange reasons, I got pretty addicted in watching drama AND the gossips that entailed after.

And I was introduced to S.H.E and Fahrenheit. Not that I do not know of the existence of these two pop groups. What I can say now is, at least I know more than just the mere member's names :) I feel like those adolescents idolizing some celebrities. Seriously it's freaky, yet, heartwarming a little.

Not that I have never idolize celebrities before when I was younger, it is purely strange of me to be 'idolizing' celebrities at such an OLD age. Okay, nevermind me, don't get me started on who I idolize now. Anyway, as I was saying, because of this show, short Hana Kimi, I started listening to S.H.E's songs. For this year, 2010, they have a new album entitled 'SHERO'. Personally I like a couple of songs in this album.

To all single girls out there, if you happen to know chinese, please listen to the song 'SHERO'. In order for us to love others, we must first learn how to love ourselves. This is basically the take home message within the song. To love ourselves and be a happy person. I like the lyrics.

It's funny that it was while I was watching through those 'gossips' and or their past endeavors that made me realise how fortunate I am. To have met my hubby and have a relatively smooth sailing relationship. To have him knelt down on one knee to propose. To have me said yes and walked down the aisle. Most importantly, to have him constantly giving in to me and loving me unconditionally and a hundred percent.

Weird, isn't it?

I feel more compelled to make changes of myself, like, suddenly. The need to do more exercise so that I can live healthily for my family and myself. The need to love the society more ('tho I have to admit this I will have more difficulties in). The need to contribute to the society more. The mini pilot project I have in mind as to charitable works HAVE to start somewhere, and not just left in some corners of my brains unachieved. The need to love the people around me, and the people who love me. The need to love the fact that I am fortunate and not take things for granted.

So the first thing I did to commemorate such 'drastic' emotional changes within myself, is that I booked my cross trainer exercise equipment. Something I have procrastinated for years of getting, and I finally booked it! Fingers crossed, it should be arriving in 2 weeks time. AND, I went for my first jog after.... x number of years (lost track). Next up, is to tie up all the odds and ends of my brainstorming ideas and bringing them into factual life of materializing. Then I ended up with major body aches, so note to self and to those who lead a sedentary lifestyle and aim to exercise more; ALWAYS stretch for at least 15mins before engaging in any exercise!

Accept changes as life is never a constant!

Long mane no more

2010-05-04T13:39:00.000+08:00

Dear readers,

My not so shocking news, which many would have read / guessed, is that I finally cut my hair short! Or if you have not read / guessed it, never mind, I am telling you now that I have cut it short!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you think I am lying, this pic is here to evidence the length of hair which was chopped off. No joke okay! This is a salon which I tried for the first time and honestly, I salute myself for being so brave. Normally for drastic hair style changes, I would go back to the one that I trust most. Because it always takes a few tries with a particular hairstylist before both of us understand each other perfectly, to know what is best for me and what I can accept. It's a relationship that needs a lot of communication and compromise.

So for my brave endeavor of getting a new hair stylist, the result wasn't drastic, just that I need a lot of getting used to. Coz my hair has gone through many chemical treatments before, with the latest being hair colour and hair straightening. Hence in order to carry the short hair style, I need to really style it everyday with hair curler and wax.

Great. That just adds another 1 hour to my prep time for work.

By short in definition is my hair is slightly over my ear lobes. Very doll-liked. So I joked, if I were to walk out in baby-tee and shorts with JD, most likely people will think JD is my younger brother. :) Anyway, if I do not style my hair, basically I resembles a broomstick. I was talking to NJAPF that I look like an inverted broomstick, or that a HUGE block letter 'C' is inverted onto my head.

For time being I am still learning the ropes around in hair styling and self-curling, so won't be posting any pictures online. Tentatively, just remember how I used to look like in long hair. It is truly strange that long hair makes a girl FEEL sexy. Without the long mane, I am suddenly very aware on how odd I look and insecure I feel. :(

To end this post is a slutty picture of myself (as what a friend commented). To be honest, I don't even know if I should be happy that I can portray a slutty image or sad that I did portray a slutty image?

What do you think?

'lil tad too late

2010-04-22T11:33:00.000+08:00

I am seriously wondering if there are readers coming to this page, after all, I have left this page vacant for nearly a month. Hence I logged into my Nuffnang's account to realise, shockingly, that the main page layout has changed! Gosh, was I out for so long?

And I was pleasantly surprised that, THERE ARE STILL READERS (YES YOU!) OUT THERE COMING BACK HERE TO READ MY NONSENSICAL STUFF!

Thank you, thank you! Love you guys so much!

Anyway, I need to give an explanation on why the hiatus, right!

So yes, I was basically caught up with truck loads of work and parenting that I had lost track of time, and amazingly had no time to blog.

Yeah right, all shit weii. If you really believed in that, really, you have got to know me better.

Honestly, the reason being away so long, is that I have recently found sheer pleasure in Youtube. Not something new, I know, but the thing is, I have been watching all those Taiwan variety game/entertainment shows, and it is really, REALLY, entertaining.

So what I do every morning is that, I'll come into office. Start up my lappie, and load Youtube. Search for all the vids that I would want to watch, let it download. Then off to handle some PROPER workstuff, and by lunch time, I would be back in front of my lappie and my lunch (if i do get around in having lunch).

Then I will just park my humongous butt onto my office chair, and stone in front of my lappie watching those shows from youtube. It's highly addictive, mind I say, coz if I do have enough helper in my shop, I can stay in the office for the rest of the day until evening.

Anyway, besides Youtubing, if you are a close friend on my Facebook network, you might have read sometime along 2weeks back, that I have recently reacquainted with my Chinese songs. Hence I have been downloading shit loads of mp3 and storing them onto my ipod so that I can listen to them ANYTIME and ANYWHERE.

Speaking of ipod, seriously, those of you who have yet to own an Apple's product, really, invest in an iPhone lah. It's like, damn chio ok! You can play games. Add shit loads of apps. Play mp3. Vids. Surf the net. Youtubing. Emails. Facebook. Twitter. WHATEVER! Except play Facebook games and vids on Facebook are still not very compatible. (don't know about the new OS though, I haven't updated mine yet)

Anyone of you have solution in getting 'around' the jail-breaking that? I want to watch Facebook vids. can?

*Sigh*

So besides Youtubing, Facebooking and Iphoning, the rest of my time is dedicated to my shop.

Yeah right, another shit excuse. hahaha!

More accurately, the rest of my time is dedicated to makeup tutorials and practicals.

*tadahhhh!*

My new hair colour, which isn't so obvious from the previous in picture, and my change of hair style! :) Oohh, plus a different approach in putting eye makeup.

NJAPF: I didn't buy the Lash serum from L'oreal, in fact, I bought another brand. Have used it for, hmm, 5 days at least, yet to see improvements in the lashes. But of course I don't expect speedy results lah. Will update you again on the progress! :)

To the rest of my readers, thank you for coming back again to check if I am still alive. Gladly I am, so will try to update as much of my mundane life as often.

p/s: I am so tempted to get a short haircut!!!!! urgh!

2010-03-22T15:18:00.000+08:00

Startling, but my young boy has displayed the first evil sign of mankind - deception!

A day after his past-due vaccination, dear JD was complaining of the sore injection site to anyone he sees in sight. The routine of him pulling his shorts up a little to show the red little dot on his thigh, and subsequently saying, "痛痛!" (Pain in mandarin). Naturally he knew people will respond to this cute action and start 'awww-ing' and 'woo-ing' and topped up with a final loving stroke.

The ultimate 'deception' came when he was whining about it to Grandpa-Teh in the following morning. He bugged Grandpa-Teh to stroke with love and attention. Intention answered, Grandpa-Teh did exactly just that.

Minutes later, I had JD's favourite Elmo DVD playing, and during one of the dancing shows, JD stood up and danced along.

Pain? What pain?!

Apparently my dear boy has forgotten minutes earlier he was complaining about being in pain! Such cheeky notion. I asked JD, "Hey, I thought you told Mommy that your leg is in pain? Where?", and JD said, "Nooooooo!!!" accompanied with a show of his little palm waving side ways.

*sigh*

Sometimes, I think I have a problem with disciplining my son

Trivial & Random jokes

2010-03-15T15:04:00.000+08:00

Last night, =HB and I were preparing for bed. With JD fast asleep in his own crib, we thought it has been a long time since both of us last chatted in bed. So we talked about my pathetic culinary skills, my impulsive buy problem, my heighten awareness in having things to be branded.

And we talked about his unique purchase routine. When he sees an item he would like to buy, he doesn't buy it on the spot. He'll think over it, like 10thousand times. Look up the internet for other sources 100thousand times. Ask me for some opinion 1million times. Go to different places selling the same item just to make sure the price he gets can be the bottomest 2-3million times. And after what seems like months, he will decide to NOT buy.

Anyway, so it's a constant joke between the two of us. The time he spends on researching and thinking of whether he should buy it or not, I would have bought A LOT of things already.

Since recently my car went for some servicing, and I was let known that my car absorber's a little faulty hence needing to change, but they need to order it in lah. And =HB was asking when the absorber will be in so I can get my car fixed.

me: "Yeay. new absorber soon!"
Hubby: "U better drive carefully for the time being, until they change all four of your absorbers"
me: "FOUR? got so many ar? I thought only a car has one absorber!"
Hubby: "Noo. Four tyres, so four absorber lah!"
me: "Isnt' absorber the pipe thingy that runs at the centre bottom of a car?!"
Hubby: "What pipe thingy??? OMG... THAT IS THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER LEADING TO THE EXHAUST PIPE LAH!"
me: "Oooo, and all these while, i thought that pipe is absorber. no wonder lah, i kept thinking how that pipe is going to absorb all those impact?!"
Hubby: "How on earth did u first have the misconception that absorber is that pipe?!"
me: *silent*
Hubby: "okay... nevermind, so do u want me to explain what an absorber REALLY is, and where it is located to you now?"
me: "yes"

And both of us laughed so much that JD had to wake up and said, "Mama... @#$%!"

:P

Memory of a 7yr-old past

2010-03-15T12:14:00.000+08:00

Was tidying up my inbox and had a hellava revelation in one mail to a close friend of mine. For the sake of future remembrance, I've thought of sharing with you guys.

**********

Dear roomie (note: my housemate in UK during uni days),

u wouldn't believe what i'm going to tell u later! Goodness! do u remember our friend *David (note:name changed to protect the innocence) has a friend called *Joshua (note:name changed not to protect his innocence, but my friend *David's innocence) whom i sort of know thru icq? I think he's a darn playboy who goes around getting to know other girls till the extend that his gf is suspecting him. And I happened to be ONE of them i guess? She actually called me one nite asking if i have met him, how i know him, what's the relationship between me and him etc. HAIYO! i almost exploded! Thus, i sent her a sms blasting at her terrible attitude.

Later the night, this *Joshua called me saying his gf if picking up a big fuss and asked me not to mind. And the THIRD time they called me! this gf of *Joshua was telling me to beware of him... that he actually has a gf... ya da ya da... Errmm, somehow or another, i think she has the impression that i'm the third party or something!! HELP! i'm so innocent! Ishh, so i told *David about it, think he reprimanded them abit? Okay just thought of telling u about it... hehee, vent it out a lil' or else i'm gonna explode!

... .... (other unrelated contents to the stuff above)

luv,
Roomie.

**********

Now that this particular email has successfully triggered up my memory, I reflected back to that particular ill-night. Okay, let me brief you on what happened between me and this *Joshua guy.

I met Joshua through my uni friend *David, via ICQ as stated in my email to my dear roomie. The thing is, back when I was young and bubbly, I was VERY friendly with guys. When Joshua saw my picture with David, he was commented to David that he wanted to know me as a friend. So David obliged and I agreed seeing nothing evil can come out from knowing more friends right?

Through chats over ICQ emails and later this Joshua asked for my number, and back then, I did give out my mobile number easily (hence the cause of many arguments with my then ex). Anyway, many would comment that, "hey! you have a bf and this Joshua has a gf, how can you just give your number to this guy knowing that he has an ulterior motive!?"

Yes, even if right now, I would comment the exact same thing when I hear similar story. But don't ask me why, back when I was young, I am sort of notorious for doing things against the norm and loved the cheap thrill of living life on the edge a little.

So Joshua would call me for a chat sometimes. I thought, a simple chat conversation between friends, don't considered as infidelity to my then bf right!

Joshua knew I was attached then, and I knew he had a gf. But we have never met before in reality. So it was some sort of a no-strings attached conversation. Someone whom I kinda enjoyed the company over the phone, but not in real life.

Anyway, that ill-fated night when Joshua's gf called me, I think I was overwhelmed with the drama. That she flipped through Joshua's phone call list and realised he called a number of girls and my phone number happened to be there.

I thought back and remembered she asking me, "Are you the Geo Min from Penang?", which I find now hilarious that there can be many other Geo Min-s from different parts of Malaysia not necessary be me! But anyway, I said, 'I am from Penang, yes?"

Subsequently she reprimanded me for talking to Joshua, a guy who's attached and implied I was being a third party. And that in reality, Joshua loved her only so whatever he claimed towards me was an act-up. And I think then I got bemused and ANGRY.

I sort of yelled back at her, saying, 'If you are so damn impressive or gorgeous, your said bf wouldn't be calling other girls besides even me, so get the hell out of my radar. He was the one who called, and honestly, our conversations was purely platonic on my end. If he had gotten the wrong idea, and thus you got the wrong idea, then I suggest you guys to brighten up and get a good close see at the situation here. I am not interested in Joshua and neither have the decision to meet him. Him coming to penang has nothing to do with me, and clearly may I say again, I am attached. So yes, I am not going to talk to him anymore, just so you guys will leave me alone!"

Or some sorts to that meaning lah.

After the phonecall, I rang up my friend *David and told him what had happened. It was the last straw, I would never entertain the possibility of being accused of being the third party. And now reflecting back, I realised, I have myself to blame.

Really. If I was so 'innocent', for one, I wouldn't have encouraged the phonecall from Joshua. Surely if I have sounded uninterested, he wouldn't be talking to me much. So, theoractically it takes two hands to clap, hence, no wonder my then bf was FURIOUS!

Wait, or am I getting the guys mixed up?

It's like...

2010-03-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

I am forcing a decision upon you sometimes. Like, it feels to me, that you don't earnestly want to, but due to the fact that I am such a pressing and stubborn person, so you had to oblige me.

And it's like, it feels to me that I am such a tyrant when such things happen.

So when you don't appear so enthu about the entire thing, and me bubbling with the excitement, it hits me that, maybe I am the only person who's overly enthu. And when hours passed and I don't hear plans being made together, or discussion between us together, I get frustrated.

Because, it further proves to me that afterall I am the only person who's getting worked up. And then it further proves to me that I AM a tyrant.

And that certainly doesn't feel good.

Yes, seriously, who will feel good?

So u geddit?

Happy Chinese Tigger Year! :)

2010-02-12T15:42:00.000+08:00

A lot of people seem to have problem with the coming year of the Tiger, seeing that this symbolic animal is associated with aggression and danger.

But, if you were to think about it, Tigger, in Winnie The Pooh, is so cute and bubbly. And Tigger is one of my son's favourite among his other bunch of toys.

Anyway, HAPPY CHINESE TIGGER YEAR to everyone! :)

This has to be a short entry, as I am rushing around getting everything we need to be packed for AUSTRALIA!!!!!! Hehehe!

JD and his mommy's ever first visit to the biggest island :P

Till then, happy holidays! :)

Etsu Collagen LA 120's

2010-01-29T13:35:00.000+08:00

Celebrate the year of Tiger with a beauty flare of your looks!

Etsu Collagen + LA has combined a marine source of collagen together with alpha-lipoic acid (a strong anti-oxidant), to help make wrinkles and pigmentation of your face less visible and firms up your skin elasticity.

As our age increases, our skin elasticity loses due to the constant loss of collagen fibres. As such, fine lines and wrinkles are more rampant at the face area, due to the fact that facial skin is quite thin in retro comparison to other parts.

Furthermore, due to our current busy and stress lifestyle, together with the common exposure to different pollutants and chemicals, the elasticity of our skin decreases more. As such, you start to experience more skin related problems like, sensitivity, allergy, eczema, pigmentation (due to increase UV damage), wrinkles and ultimately a loss of a natural glow.

Personally I have started taking Etsu Collagen a couple of months ago. The good thing about Etsu collagen is that, it has added alpha-lipoic acid (as mentioned earlier) which is a strong anti-oxidant. In layman terms, anti-oxidants are good in binding to the free radicals in our body. And free radicals are one of the culprits in reducing our immunology, increasing our risk to certain diseases like atherosclerosis, allergies etc.

So if you were to ask me, I rather prefer taking a collagen product, along side with other health benefits. And besides, I do suffer from pigmentation problems so having a dose of alpha-lipoic acid with my collagen will serve me even better :)

Of course, it'll be a little over stated if I say all my freckles have disappeared, because medically, you can't cure freckles forever (unless you go for those photo-laser therapy or something). Hence, besides my daily basic cleansing of my face and moisturizing, I will put on a minimum SPF 30 sunscreen for UVA and UVB protection.

Now, I can feel a vast difference to my face. Its not so dry as before, and certainly it's firmer and smoother. No amount of topical moisturizer can have the effect like Etsu Collagen + LA.

If you need to find out more about this product, simple go here.

And if you are interested in trying this product, at current Etsu is having a Chinese New Year promotion. For a standard bottle of Etsu Collagen + LA 120's retailed price at RM 149, customers are entitled for a RM 8 rebate on the spot, along side with the standard discount a retail shop will give.

And if you ARE interested in buying this product, you can email me.

Hurry up!

Don't let beauty sit on the side line for too long!

Why I like it longer

2010-01-27T15:40:00.000+08:00

*JD's Long winded entry*

So that I do not need to climb so high to reach for the new LG Chocolate BL40 handphone!

So that I can throw my mini bolster away and start hugging the new LG Chocolate BL40 phone with a 4-inch WVGA 345 x 800 pixels touchscreen !

So that my legs can reach out of the car seat and use my toes to touch the new LG Chocolate BL40 HD LCD Glass touchscreen without worrying of scratching it!

So that I can extend one hand to scratch my head, and the other hand to play with the new LG Chocolate BL40 phone simultaneously with LG's new DUAL UI which can allow two viewing screens without me to switch between windows!

So that I can drool at all the cinematic viewing pleasure from web pages browsing, games playing, emails replying and blogging with LG Chocolate BL40 21:9 HD panoramic display effect

So that I can dig my nose and get caught on LG Chocolate BL40 5-mega pixel camera!

So that I can slim down and not look like a pot of plants, but, like LG Chocolate BL40 new phone slim and sleek!

Now. You tell me why I should not like it longer?

The new LG Chocolate phone (BL40) has all the answers to your needs and wants! It is retailed at RM 2,199 but hooray, there is a chance of winning this phone for FREE!

How?

Okay, all you need to do, is write up a uber creative blog entry about LG Chocolate 'Why I Like It Longer' and send the link to whyilikeitlonger@nuffnang.com latest by 14th February 2010. Simple, isn't it?

But wait, only the top THREE (3) most creative entries will win! So jazzles up your entry, don't be like me okay, I relied on my Mummy to do up this entry for me *JD Shy*.

Now wait. Are you a nuffnang member yet?

Go join, quick!

Mummy, is this edible? Chocolate mar.... *slurps*

JD, is there any cockroaches?

2010-01-25T17:22:00.000+08:00

JD with his over zealous abundance of energy stored in his body as baby fats, has a problem when it comes to heat. He sweats a lot.

Many times his shirts are drenched in sweat and his body so sticky, that I joke we can throw him onto a glass of wall and there is a high chance that JD can adhere onto it, unless gravitational pull outweighs his weight.

Anyway, so many nights, even though JD has had his evening shower, but before his bedtime, I would normally give him a quick rinse (because he would be so smelly with sweat after all the running around the house). Seeing that most of the time we spend our time at my parents' place, and the biggest toilet in the entire house has got to be the master bedroom's toilet. So now, that toilet is officially used by JD.

It has a long bath, so makes showering JD easier. And JD can have more fun splashing all the water (on me). It's big too. So makes changing JD so much faster too, and the floor is clean and dry so makes it safer for JD to walk around in the toilet.

The only problem with this toilet is, sometimes there are other inhabitants - cockroaches!

My worst enemies / fear, cockroaches!!!! Not just ONE tiny little nymph, but sometimes, the ENTIRE family of them. Ewww.

So there was one incident, where I was holding JD's hands and upon the lights turned on, I screamed as there are 2 huge cockroaches and 1 medium ugly nymph by the basin. I'm not sure if my scream / the sight of cockroaches scared JD, coz he stood firmly at the entrance to the toilet, staring at those cockroaches.

Then I asked JD, "There are cockroaches in there, JD, Mommy's scared. Can we shower in another bathroom?"

And JD nodded.

After that, JD said, "Mama... pa-pa (scared in mandarin)" to which I replied, yes!

Subsequently, every time (especially night time) where we need to enter the master bedroom's toilet, I will ask JD, "JD, can you help mommy check to see if there are cockroaches?"

Then I will on the lights, and JD will pop his head into the toilet, searching for any sight of cockroaches, and then he'll retort, "boh! (No in hokkien)"

And then he'll scream suddenly, "Mama !!!! Kaaa (cockroach / insect in JD's language)" with a point of finger to something on the floor.

I'll jump out of the toilet in fear, to only realise, it was just a speck of dirt on the toilet floor.

Hmmm. I wonder if JD really thought that dirt was a cockroach? Or was he pulling my leg?

Unexpected display of affection

2010-01-19T22:50:00.000+08:00

The thing about JD is, he can be such a devil at one moment and then switch to an angel in the next second. I find the transition somewhat intriguing.

Like, what EXACTLY is going in his head as he decides to alternate between two persona? Sadly I doubt I can know the answer, and child experts can give me all the possible scenarios, but which exact mindset will JD have at that moment, nobody knows.

Couple of minutes ago I just smacked JD's hands as he repeatedly yanked my mobile charger from the electric socket. A danger zone that I have constantly told and reminded and reprimanded to not go near (and as you can see, constantly he refuses to listen).

He gave me the sad purple eyes look and a loud cry, forcing out a tiny weeny drop of tear with all his might. And I gave him the -_- look. Literally. Normally I do not encourage his display of acting especially when I am trying to discipline him. And normally I do take a deep long breathe and reason things with him.

But today, after an entire exhaustive day of work and manual housework, I really wasn't in the right mindset to begin with. Certainly, I wasn't in a happy mind frame to start off the evening as a result from all the rushing too. So I smacked his hands. Nothing new to him. And I walked off to keep some of his messy toys.

Know what he did later on?

Just as I was sitting next our drawers, sorting out the clothes and stuff, he opened the top drawer (note, deliberately) and whacked my head. Goodness!

Is it a mere coincidence?

Or Revenge?!

*deep sigh!!!*

If I am not mistaken, I had a tough time trying to debate with myself if I should let the issue slide, or be a dictative mother and begin a whole round of scolding and smacking. In the end, I let the issue slide, because just as I yelped in pain, JD walked up to me and said, "Mamaaaa" in the utmost manja way, and then gave me a big sloppy kiss.

*deeep deeeeepppp sighhhh!!*

Rewarded him with a treat to our downstairs Astro, with Bee Movie showing, and my dear boy was so fascinated that he demanded his very own little couch to be brought out to the living room. I sat on the regular couch next to him, and together mother and son enjoyed Bee Movie quietly for 10mins.

Can't really remember what happened (sorry, mind's a murky land nowadays) but we somehow switched seats: me in JD's little couch and JD on the regular couch. Just as I was engrossed in the movie itself, I felt a hug from behind.

I really do not know what brought JD to hug me from behind. He clasped his little hands around my neck, with his little head snuggled into the nook of my neck, and started humming some music. Was so reluctant to take my camera and record it, as I was too afraid that any sudden movement will break the magic. Yet now I cursed myself for NOT recording it, because I can't replay it back to see how he looks like when he hugged me, and how blissful I look like too.

So all I can do now is, replay the whole feeling of being hugged by my own son, without him being instructed to do so, and all so randomly that I earnestly think the whack from the drawer is so insignificant.

*deep deeeeeeeep deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp sighh*

I think my son has learned the ropes around in knowing how to melt his mommy's heart!

Something Trivial

2010-01-18T13:47:00.000+08:00

A snippet of conversation between a friend and me.

Friend: "Don't you not have a digital camera?"
Me: "I do. Canon Ixus 500"
Friend: "Then why do you want another camera?"
Me: "Because there are newer models in the market, capable of taking better pictures!"
Friend: "But I thought your hubby has a DSLR already!"
Me: "Yes, it's great. But size wise it's too bulky to go on travelling escapedes together!"
Friend: "Then just get another point-and-shoot camera lah! Compact enough!"
Me: "No! Once you have tasted the goods of DSLR, compact point-and-shoot cameras feels like a bimbo!"
Friend: "BIMBO????"
Me: "Yeah. Nice to look. Great to hold. But inwardly has no substance at all!"
Friend -_-||

Lusting over you

2010-01-17T18:42:00.000+08:00

And I just can't wait to lay my hands on you.

Vain Eye Make Up Tips!

2010-01-12T19:54:00.000+08:00

I keep saying I want to share with my fellow girl readers on my make up techniques, and certain tips piled together from my extensive research via Youtube & other subsequent blog reading, but foreverly procrastinating like mad.

So.. after many many failed entries I tried to write up on my makeup tips, I have to congratulate myself for going through the hassle of taking the pics, editing them (not with photoshop since I suck at that, btw) and cropping them, not forgetting arranging them on the entry with approriate descriptions.

For the sake of FemaleKind(tm) I think it is utterly necessary or compulsory for some extend of makeup required for women to look presentable.

Especially as our age increases in digit.

You know your flaws, don't need me to type out right.

Some guys ask. Why do girls like to put makeup? No makeup is the best!

"Natural beauty is the best beauty!" (quoted from an ex of mine)

Girls, never, EVER, believe such shit from a guy.

Put two women in a room.

One with decent makeup (note: decent, not exaggerated)

and another with zero makeup.

You tell me,

which girl will a guy look at first?

Answer: Girl with decent makeup!

Don't believe me?

I use my own picture as visual comparison.

Before picture: No makeup

After picture: With makeup (ok this one is abit exaggerated, but you get the point lah)

Tell me which version of me is more presentable?

Which version is prettier?

Which version is more captivating?

Right, I don't need answer for this, coz it's too obvious.

The thing about make up is, you do not have to do it like my after pic as above, so exaggerated.

Simple makeup to cover up our flaws and accentuates our plus points...

is the basis of what formulates Make Up.

Personally I have never been to a professional make up class,

so I can't confidently say that my make up tactics is right.

But it works for me, so I feel okay lah.

Feel free to leave comments on the mistakes I've made,

or suggestions on how I can do better.

Here we go!

Whatever you do, the FIRST step to the entire make up process...

1. Basic facial cleansing and moisture

Never put make up on your uncleansed face. You are increasing the risk of bacteria infections to your pores, dehydration to your skin, and most importantly, sensitized skin.

Makes sure you moisturise your skin okay!

(note: will write up another entry on the Basic 3-Step Facial Care another time)

2. Cover your flaws

Zits. Eye Bags. Dark Eye Rings.

Cover 'em well.

A rule of thumb #1 : Different flaws requires different methods of coverage.

Please head on to some cosmetic beauty counter to obtain an appropriate treatment.

For my case, I have an inborn genetic puffy eye bags.

I use BobbiBrown Eye Corrector Cream (Light Bisque) to neutralise the puffiness and dark eye rings.

In dabbing notion with my fourth finger, I even out the cream onto my eye bags.

Instantly the eye bags reduced its puffiness visually by 20%.

Rule of thumb #2: You don't aim to 'delete' the visual presence of your eye bags / flaws.

What you are want to achieve is, to REDUCE the visual impact it has onto your outlook. Ok?

I won't leave my house without using M.A.C Select Moisture Cover.

Put on my eyebags area, sides of nostrils and chin to even out the skin tone.

It's light and not too oily. Great for daily use!

3. Foundation

Generally it is recommended that oily skin females should use compact powder, and dehydrated skin females should use liquid foundation. Always stick to a shade lighter than your actual skin colour. If you are confused to the shade to use, ask those beauticians at the cosmetic counter.

I love M.A.C Sheer compact powder. Light and not too drying for my skin, even though I have super dry skin. This product is absolutely brilliant for day look, not too cakey, not too strong.

For night look, normally I'll opt back to my BobbiBrown liquid foundation to give a better coverage.

See how I hold my powder sponge?

By that technique of dabbing your compact powder onto your face, you can achieve an almost air-brushed skin effect. Very subtle. Very classy.

Try it someday! :)

4. Prime your eyes

Don't have the latest Chanel / BobbiBrown / YSL / M.A.C / Stila's / Shiesedo Eye shadow?

Don't fret. You just need to invest onto a GOOD eye cream colour base. For me, I chose M.A.C.

A eye cream colour base is different with Eye corrector cream (as introduced earlier).

This product has a tint of shimmery end tone, hence, highlights your eye area.

Also, it has an added advantage of letting your eye shadow powder adhese better to your eye lids.

See the dotted red lines around the eye I have drawn?

That's the area of where you should be applying the eye base to. Lightly. Dabbing motion again.

You wouldn't want to rub it into your eye lids.

Why?

Rubbing will bring about sagging of your skin, and you certainly wouldn't want that to happen.

SO yes, DAB. not rub!

5. Eye Shadow

Have loosely and oddly managed to draw out the estimate section of my eye.

Will try my best to explain the different colours and techniques of brush to use here.

Stay with me yeah.

As again, another M.A.C product.

In summary. You use a pearly based shimmer to highligh the entire eyelid (area under the grey dotted lines). For my case, I used No.1:Pink pearly shimmers.

Next if you want to appear to have bigger eyes, you have to create a 'shadowed' eye socket.

So you use the No.4:Dark Brown colour on the outer corner of your eye.

Blend in the dark brown exactly in this shape > . You can use a blending brush, it works better.

Blending evens out the rough edges, so your eye colours doesn't have a distinctive line between two colours. So it's always good to blend before you start on another eye colour.

Now your eyes looks bigger liao :)

Blend in some peachy colour on the top of the eye lids (area under the white dotted lines until the grey dotted lines)

(pant! we're getting there. a little while more)

And also, peachy colour at the middle section of the eye labelled 2).

First section labelled 1) is normally some bright colour tone.

6. Eye Liner

For day look, it is advisable that your eye liner should be drawn thinly.

As near to your lash line as possible.

White eye liner is good for the inner eye corner (as depicted with red line) as it works with your white / pearl / bright eye shadow at the front, to further open up the eyes.

You can use an angled brow brush to dab in some dark / black eye shadow on the outer eye > part. Really it's up to you. I would advise to do so lah. Coz it creates a balance to your eyes that way.

7. Lashies

Even if you are one of those blessed souls with long thick eye lashes, it will do you good, if you curl them before using mascara.

For me (those not so blessed souls), I have very sparse and short eye lashes. So it's the answer to my prayers when I came across L'Oreal Volume Shocking (tm) mascara. I love this product, because it doesn't flakes onto my lower eye lids after 6 hours. A lot of other commercial mascaras have this problem.

There are two different brush lash mascara. One is the typical brushy type. Another is like a fine comb.

What I do is, after curling I will use the fine comb mascara

(note: I do not use the primer for day look. Too clumpy).

Give my lashes a good coat.

Let it dry a little.

And I will use the brushy one to give it a fuller look.

By the end of my 11 hours marathon working day, it totally doesn't flake down to my lower lids :)

8. False lashies (optional)

Got both of these from SaSa (my next best friend).

If you want a exaggerated look / dinner look / glam look / SUPER obvious make up look, go with falsies.

Your pictures will turn out brilliantly glam.

9. Rosy Cheeks

(no picture on my blusher)

A make up is never complete with blusher.

Seriously you wouldn't want to appear white face / mono-tone face right?

Blush up on the apple of your cheeks. Give a gentle no-teeth smile. Find your cheekbones.

Then using your blusher brush, dab onto the blusher, dab off some of the excess and stroke onto your cheeks.

If you want to create a high cheekbone, then stroke in 45degress downwards from your hairline towards your nose.

Or if you want to appear dolly face, blush directly onto the apple of your cheeks (the fleshy part) and outwards to the hairline.

Understand not?

9. Lippies

I normally use gloss only. So if you want to add colour to your sultry lips, it has to depend on ur outfit and your eye colour.

Normally if you have very strong eye makeup, it is best to retain a peachy-pink tone on the lips. Gives a natural look. And it lets people gaze falls onto your eyes still :)

10. Complete the Look!

Hair accessories. Earrings. Necklace. Bangles. Bracelets.

Matching to your outfit. Heels / Plumps / whatever you like that day.

Yup, you're done!

And I'm done too!

Notice I didn't add in brows right?

Hehe! I did Brownaissance, remember?

So, now, tell me.

Before pic at the first. Middle pic as normal day outlook. Last pic as exaggerated outlook.

Which one of me do you prefer?

Brushes I use and adore

Barney & JD

2010-01-12T12:05:00.000+08:00

To date, this is the most expensive Barney related merchanise I have gotten for JD.

This is a singing Barney, with the famous song from the show

"I love you, You love me, We are one big family and a Great Big Hug, and a kiss from me to you, Won't you say you love me too"

Yes, I know. A little cheesy, which is why I think kids like it so much.

Previously I have gotten a set of Barney bowl, fork and spoon.

And that is all asides from the different DVDs we have gotten.

*sigh*

I know, I know.

I should instil more Elmo to JD.

Well, he is learning to like Elmo more nowadays.

At least JD is willing to call Elmo with...

"Nee-Mohh"

I know, I know.

Wrong pronounciation.

But he's getting there

Monkey business

2010-01-11T16:55:00.000+08:00

Decided on a super uber exaggerated look.

Complete makeup with falsies and many many coats of mascara. Stuff like that.

If you would to ask me, I kinda like the look, but not for everyday lah.

Too time consuming, would rather save up the time to sleep :)

Went shopping yesterday and came home hundreds poorer (what's new, sigh!).

Unintended purchase = 1 pair of sunnies.

Intended purchase = 5 (Blusher, Falsies, 3 different books brainless romantic books)

Not that I need another pair of sunnies since less than 1 yr ago I just splurged onto an Oakleys. Was lured into the shop by the WINTER SALES UP TO 70% DISCOUNT notice.

Shit. I should have left my credit card at home! Note to self to do so next round.

Had to practise some restraining order when I oogled my eyes on Gucci (yes I almost died looking at the great discounts at Gucci counter), Burberry (I almost died looking at the price tag), Dior (also almost died), Oakley (deliberately miss that counter since I have one already), Emporio Armani and alot more which I had to refrain myself from oogling my eyes on.

So introducing my latest member to the sunnies collection *drumrolls*

Isn't she a beauty?

Will try to upload a picture of me wearing it soon. hehe!

The highlight of the shopping trip (besides getting a new pair of sunnies) is our virgin taste on J.Co Donuts. Ok ok, I know a majority of you have tried it more than once. Nothing new to you right, but to me it is! I like the fluffy soft texture of J.Co Donuts as compared to Big Apple Donuts.

But the prices are ridiculous.

=HB bought 24 mini donuts, prepacked ready, for RM17plus! Ok, I know, there are 24 mini donuts, but, as said, it's MINI ! Add in two drinks, and tax and the bill came up to be around RM40 plus. But JD loves them to bits. He wanted more and more bites of it, each subsequent bites becomes BIGGER somemore. Sigh! Sugar high lah.

The thing about JD is, he's constantly asking for food. And I know a lot of parents do not agree with this, but sometimes, I feel a kid should try as many things as possible. I mean, it's the exposure of the different taste, textures and feel that stimulates them, isn't it? Of course, I do not load JD with everything in abundance lah. We still limit the quantity of food that he eats. Sooo... it's fair lah :)

One thing I noticed about JD recently is that he loves wearing shoes. Maybe he's knows that wearing shoes is symbolic of going out and he's one active little fella. He loves the garden especially. Sometimes it amazes me how smart he is.

Like yesterday we were walking around, and him sitting in his old cranky stroller. We saw some children's crocs and other footwear.

The first thing JD did, was to take off his current sandals and shoved his leg to my face. It's like, he wants me to let him try on the shoes. So I did just that. And so every children shoes he sees, he'll take off his sandals and said, "Mama, mei-mei!" (Translate: Mama, beautiful!)

I have a vain boy :P

Christmas, New Year & Birthday

2010-01-07T13:36:00.003+08:00

While most people hit the clubs / pubs / BBQ pits / friends' place / whatever place you do countdowns for the Christmas and New Year countdowns, I was secretly wishing to be a part of the vibrant young society.

Constantly I have to remind myself that my once clubbing self is in the past and should remain in the past. I should not be so superficial in thinking that happiness and bliss is accounted for with drinks / loud music.

But then my damn superficial self will exude and all hell break loose.

"You're only like, what, 28! Not 48!"
"Even celebrities in their 48 are still clubbing and making an 'exotic' presence!"
"Life's about experiences!"
"Go out, come on, go have some drinks and a couple of booty shaking!"

*sighh*

I hate myself - both superficial one and the super practical one.

Urgh!

Anyway, after much difficulties and tiring conversation with my dual personalities, I managed to lock my superficial self in the dark dungeon (for the time being) and relied on my practical self to get me through the festive.

So what did I do?

Nothing.

JD's self pic obsession with his own feet

See... practical self = boring.

Christmas Day I was partially working but managed to coax my big boss to close shop earlier around 7pm. And then went to my parents' place for dinner. Since we aren't Christians and my dad is the typical China man, that if we're not christians, we do not celebrate it in the christian way, so similar sorts like that.

No christmas tree. No gifts exchanging. No turkey. No cranberry sauce. No mistletoe. Nothing christmasy.

But =HB and I beg to differ and break the norm. Since we can't celebrate anything at my parents' place, we thought, hey it's a public holiday, lets go for mid night movie!!!

Okay lah, not that it's a public holiday lah, just that I can happily chuck dear JD to my parents' wihle =HB and I sneaked out for a coupley movie date.

And so, I watched Sherlocks Hormes. Not bad. Although certain parts are rather draggy, but it's more like a comedy than a serious detective movie. And somehow, it reminds me of Moulin Rouge. You know, those type of movie which you would expect to be serious with the enormous meaning to its history, but rather, it turns out to be quite a comical front.

Nothing wrong with it. Just that, well, maybe I was expecting something serious like... hmm... Da Vinci Code? Never mind me, just rambling.

Okay, so we saw a lot of young kids dressed up to the gothic look. Black clothes. black heels. black make up. black black black..

And I thought, isn't it Christmas and not Halloween???? Sigh. Young kids nowadays. They think black is everything western.

That was my Christmas.

New year didn't differ much, exception that we didn't go for a movie. This time around, I chose to give myself a holiday and had a good rest at home. Or maybe I should do away with the word 'good', and just say, I stayed home. Certainly with a over zealous and energetic toddler on the go, I doubt any mother can have a good rest.

We spent some time with JD. Seeing how he screams at everything, either happy or angry. How he chuckles when something funny pops out. How he runs and fall because he tries to run too fast and his chubby stubby legs wouldn't and couldn't bend in time. How he loves imitating our adults' action, like how he imitates how my dad walks, with the hands at the back. And how I always say, "No! JD, NO!" with which he'll reprocicate, "NOooo!!" with a deliberate drag of the ooo-hh.

*sigh*

He's irrestibly too cute for words but yet sometimes he's so irritating and rebellious that, I'm sorry to admit, that I do smack him. Like how I said, "Do NOT play with switches!" to which he'll give you the childish evil grin and continued playing with the switches, more.

Ok so new year was spent in THAT way. Running up and down with my kid, with my hair loosely tied up to a pony tail; dressed in sleeveless and shorts, in conclusion, getting my wits all fried.

Then =HB suggested of celebrating my birthday earlier, to which we made a spontaneous reservation to a pretigious buffet in E&O Hotel Penang at Sarkies Corner. Believe me. If you have a great appetite... HEAD OVER THERE! I ate so much that I didn't even bother taking pictures. Salivating with the thought of the food there.

Basically, it's a all day buffet. Fusion style. You have sashimi (if you love raw fish). Poultries roasted in any sauces you desire. BBQ-styled sea food. Oriental asian food. Salad Bar. and the best of all is...

Deserts! OMFG.... I think my main meal constituted more of deserts. Hehe! Strawberries. Raspberries. Chocolates. Puddings. Kiwi gel. Cakes. Fondue. Marshmallow.

And that was my New Year 2010.

Next up was my birthday. No grand celebration since I am no longer 2o going on 21, which is the greatest turning point of one's life - legally and emotionally. Instead, my birthday was spent typically just like any other day. Woke up for work. Went to work. Played a lot of Cafe World on Facebook.

Difference is, I have a lot of birthday wishes flooding in from friends whom we have seldom kept in contact, and only hanging onto the only string of connection via Facebook; all wished me a Happy Birthday.

And THAT... as simple as it is, make my day and that's all it takes.

Simple :)

He's A Girl

2010-01-06T18:48:00.002+08:00

Seriously, does this little kid here looks like a girl???

Not that I am great at differentiating sexes in babies, but come on, at least I know how to 'guess' accurately by seeing the colour scheme of the clothes!

So many times we meet people and they'll say,
"Your daughter is so cute!"

Haihhh.... I do wish my future daughter will be cute, but for now, this kid you see here is a boy!!!! Urgh! How lah, like that? JD will grow up being so traumatised being called a GIRL! oh dearrrr~

Forsaken Land (I)

2010-01-05T10:47:00.003+08:00

Have you experienced the extreme awkwardness when you see a particular guy and you feel like, your entire body is exploding out of proportion from the repressed emotions. You feel faint. You feel your whole stomach is occupied with swirming butterflies.

You can't sit still. You can't stand still. You constantly worry about how you look, if there's any leftover vegetable fibre stuck in between your teeth. You worry if you smile right. You worry if you smile too much. You check out yourself at every available reflective surfaces just to make sure everything is alright.

Alright. He might not have noticed the unrudy hair that you have, or that maybe you didn't comb 10million times. He might not have noticed you use cosmetic or not. He might not have noticed if you wear skirt / jeans. He might not have noticed the awkward posture you stand / sit. He might not have noticed the constant jidgety notion of yours. He might not have noticed you were having butterflies in your stomach. He might not have noticed your yearning gaze upon him. He might have thought you look alright.

Alright. He might not have noticed you in THAT special way.

How often have you felt exactly like that?

Today* I saw him**. As per normal he didn't see me among the crowd of girls surrounding him. But it is okay, I thought to myself. I am contented to be having this silent admiration from afar. I am contented, or so I thought to myself.

But then I feel this aching desire in my heart. I feel my heart telling me that I definitely HAVE to get to know him.

Just at this moment, he walked towards me. Waving.

And I remembered, yes I do know him!!! I know him casually only as a friend.

Hi! he said. and Hi back I said, albeit a little spastically do.

Want to catch lunch together?

Surree... now?! as I replied in shock and I pinched myself secretly to check if I was dreaming.

Yeah, I actually need to ask you to finish up my Add.Maths for me. can?

Surree.... !

And I was dragged back to my sane reality. He doesn't see me, as yet. And I wonder if he ever will.

Tomorrow will be another day. Tomorrow will come and I will brace myself to live my insignificant part in his life. Up till the day that I become significant to him, or up till the day that he becomes insignificant to me.

Yes, tomorrow will come. Yes it will!

2009 as it was

2009-12-31T13:35:00.002+08:00

The customary tradition of recapping the past year has begun, and since I did not recap my 2008 when 2009 was approaching; 2009 recapping seems like a must now.

Soooo. where do I start? Or really, HOW do I start the recap when all my days and weeks and months seem to merge into a solid lump. As I flip back to my old blog entries, I wasn't greeted with an enormous 'data' entry that could help me retrieve old memories or activities that have craved an eternal remembrance.

Sadly the average entries I wrote for 2009 (excluding this entry) is merely 3.5 entries / month. And out of those entries, majority aren't REAL entries. Some were single lined. Some were frustrations arising from the usual work place. Some were pictures of JD plastered all over the blog just to remind fellow readers that my son JD is the most handsome kid ever (no questions asked).

And then I sat in front of my lappie. Trying my earnest very best to think back all the momento-s (if there are any plurals to begin with) and walk out from my delusional thoughts of '12-months seems like 1 month' mirage...

Thence here I present to you, humbly, my 2009. A little fuzzy. A little messy. Definitely not in the order of time occurance, but yes, it has been my 2009 and all that matters to me solely.

1) A grand fight between me and the rest of the world.

2) Chinese new year 2008 was the first ever highlight where JD met his cousins from Hong Kong for the first time. The 2nd highlight was when JD went holidaying with my in laws to a beach resort, and seeing how he salvaged every pureed food he could eat possibly. And lastly, learning that my dear boy JD has a bottomless pit when it comes to food.

3) The first time (ever) that I won some random contest that gave me the priviledge of 2 FREE tickets to Bali, and FREE accomodation and FREE food, and then FREE cash to be spent on the Balinese grounds. To which, in the end I disappointed my shopping maniac self that I returned with zero bags of purchase as wished.

4) Bought iPhone as a surprise prezzie for =HB and I thought that would be my ever major purchase of the year 2009.

5) Bought my ever first commercial property so that tipped iPhone off my 'Major Purchase List'.

6) Celebrated Two-Years-Anniversary with my =HB and he got me a watch as prezzie while I gave him a hug. teehee!

7) Went on a family trip to Hong Kong to visit my sis, BIL and my two beautiful nieces. JD had a fun time interacting with the cousins again. I had a great time oogling at all the branded. My =HB had a great time with the food. Most importantly we had decent extended family time together with my parents.

8) Bought my ever first Oakley. (hmm... suddenly everything revolves around my purchase)

9) Something other than buying this / that. Finally I managed to drag my lazy butt, JD's lazy butt and my =HB's lazy butt to KL early December to meet up with my uni friends and attended a college friend's grand wedding. Although having a slight reunion with my old friends was great, but I wouldnt' say so when JD was around. Basically it was a lesson learnt through the hard way that bringing young toddlers around to a new place isn't something to kid around (pun intended). Poor JD came home with a huge bump on his forehead and caught a bad flu and slimmed down so much that he lost michellin-liked hands.

10) Went through a serious makeover for my shop and tired myself out completely, but it was a fresh change and hopefully bringing about a fresh start altogether.

11) Emotionally, I think 2009 didn't allow me to be stable. I was constantly emo-ing about nothing. Maybe it's the stagnancy of my life plus in the peer pressure fact that I see my common peers attaining different aspects that I do not, and then I emo. Then I turn around and look at my life and wonders, what's wrong with it?

Of course, nothing's wrong with it. Just that, sometimes I just feel like, nothing's right either. Not that I am complaining about JD and my =HB. It's mainly the uncertain void in my heart that I find disturbing.

So I do hope in the year 2010, I can learn to understand what void is empty, and how do I fill up this void. Till then, I'll continue to emo lah. :P

I think that's about all that I would want to pen down. It wouldn't be a wonder that I might have left out some other events / memories, but the memory gets acquainted with me again....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Torn as again!

2009-12-30T12:24:00.002+08:00

Torn between iPhone 3GS and Blackerry Curve.

Haihhh!

FYI, I'm swaying more to BB. How?

Home Ideas

2009-12-28T15:01:00.008+08:00

There will come a point of time whereby you will enter into a particular chapter of your life, that involves buying your own home property. Whether it is a joint purchase with your partner or an investment purchase for yourself. Whether it is for rent later, or for your personal own use.

For whichever and whatever reason, there IS going to be such a chapter in your life!

As for me, I have not had the chance of getting into such a chapter, so what I can do now is plain dreaming.

Dreaming that money grows on tree, and that I can buy my dream house. Renovate it my dream ways. Build in all the ideas like my dreams, and yet the entire project to cost nothing.

What? Impossible ?! I know!

Hence I said, I am dreaming. Can't a girl dream?! :(

Many ask me, what kind of a house theme catches my attention, and what builds up to be my dream house. And whenever I say, "Simplicity and Functionality" and the response I get in return is some sort like this...

"Yeah right!? You sure like those extravagant English Victorian Theme lah. Or Romantic Theme lah. Or Lavish Theme!"

Seriously, do I appear to be the type of person who adores complexity? NO!

And if you have answered yes silently, then it goes to show how you do not know me! Cough!

Yet many do not understand my meaning of simplicity and functionality, so I have decided to show you some pictures of different home ideas that I like a lot to be incorporated into my future dream house.

Here goes...

Picture from housetohome

(Bedroom)

I like the concept of using drawers / shelves in a room, so that I can store more things (functionable) and yet it looks simple and uncomplicated. Honestly, when you have a kid (and possibly more to come), whatever the furniture in the house needs to be as simple as possible so as to reduce the number of corners i.e. less place for me to baby-proof.

Next thing I like about this design is the full length mirror you see near the left hand frame. A girl can NEVER do without a full length mirror. Period.

One of the downside that personally I will change about this outlook, is the mirror to the right hand frame. I think this concept will be great for places with 4 seasons, coz they need to channel as much light into the house as possbile. But for me who stay in Penang where sunshine is in abundance most time of the year around, I would actually put thick curtains just to shade off excessive rays. And especially, this is a bedroom where I would relax in after a stressful workday, light isn't very much welcomed lor.

And also, I will do away with the carpet rugs. No fans for carpets in bedroom. Collection of dust. No.

Okay, moving on to the bathroom.

Photo from housetohome

(Family-Friends Friendly Bathroom)

This is a GREAT concept and colour theme for bathroom, IMHO. I love the green. Green symbolises life and gives a sensation of life (green plants = oxygen = life). In fact, a lot of people are starting to accept green concept in bedrooms too! I mean, when I ask my dad (remember he's in his sixties) of painting a bedroom in green and you know what's the first thing he said?

"Crazy! Green green... then everyday wake up, the face also turns green!"

Sigh!

Never mind my dad, he's old, so wouldn't learn to appreciate contemporary art designs. Hmph!

Okay, back to my green toilet theme. I love it that every space available is fully utilised and most importantly, MAXIMISED. See the metal railing serving as a rack? I think it's brilliant. Instead of our traditionally hooks and hangers, this metal railing can hang your entire daily attire.

I would actually add a white cabinet beneath the wash basin, to store stuff and also to cover up the ugly pipes.

And also, instead of a long bath, I would just change it to an antique metal shower head. Then adding a fiberglass to close up the showering area, and minimise water from splashing to the entire toilet floor. Ooo. I have this pet peeve about toilet floor being wet. Even now, everytime after I shower, I'll scrap the floor clean and droplet of water free!

AND, it's ridiculously dangerous in Malaysia if we have such a big window in the toilet FREE for people to view in, so... yeah, either make the window higher hence smaller, or put a protective blind over it.

Moving on to another bedroom, but for this case, it might be more relevant to me than any singletons out there...

Picture from Design Home Interior

(Kids Bedroom)

Okay lah. For this theme, I didn't quite enjoy the placement of the furniture and the presense of computer in a kid's bedroom. I want my kid to sleep in his room. Not continue playing games! But I like the orange, very vibrant, and orange always remind me of JD. So yes, I might consider making JD's room into a soft orange theme. I like how mini all the furniture looks like. Hehe!

The bed itself didn't quite trigger off my fancy cells. In fact, I think it's kind of odd. Or maybe I am too conservative. I like those double-decker-liked bed for kids, whereby the bottom is where the kid sleeps, and then there's a mini staircase where they can walk up to store things. But that itself has an increase incidence of accidents happening, coz I can guarantee you that JD will be having fun walking up and down the mini stairs, slip and then fall.

Or instead of an vibrant orange theme, maybe I can opt for a typical blue ocean theme for JD. And if he grows up and doesn't quite like all the ocean pictures, I can still convert into some superhero cartoons theme. Whatever it is, just not Barney theme!

Now you believe I like simple and functionable theme right! :)

Penang Times Square

2009-12-21T12:00:00.005+08:00

It totally slipped my mind that there is a new shopping mall in Penang, until my dear hubby reminded me. It's atrociously unforgivable since Penang Times Square is the most talked about project that incorporates a commercial AND residential center.

I've never been to Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, sadly won't be able to give you any comparison to the two. Hence don't regard this entry to provide you much indepth details of either complex.

Stole photo from Google Image :)

This is the artistic impression on how the entire project will look like when completed. The high scraper will be the residential units serving as condo / service apartments (as what I was being told lah). Since HB and I were kind of bored with the food in Autocity Juru (FYI we have our meals twice weekly at least there) and he suggested heading over to Penang Times Square to jalan-jalan.

Naturally I was excited. Shopping mall wor! Need me to say more?! :P

So we packed our bags, or more accurately, we packed JD's bag and off we go!

Okay. Personally if you would ask me, I think Penang Times Square is like a white elephant. Seriously it wasn't even 50% occupied! Quite sad lor. You see such a majestic high end shopping building with such a nobel concept (of combining residential and commercial) to see it fall flat to negativity.

Since it was just a stone throw away from Komtar, Prangin Mall, I do not see any of those consumer brands there. No PDI. No Seeds. No Giordano. No Vincci. No Starbucks. No Coffeebean. No MCD. No stuff at all. Period!

I guess it's newly opened and we are facing a phase of economic downturn so not many business people are so aggressive to have two of their brands outlets so dangerously close to each other. Then again, maybe I am wrong, and there might be other reasons between the loosely occupied fact.

One of the worst thing that can happen to Penang Times Square is that, it MIGHT end up to be another Prangin Mall. Big project, but sad turnout of crowd, and then majority filled with foreign workers. Let's pray hard that it won't, ya!

Seeing there isn't much to shop around, HB JD and I walked around the exterior and was immediately greeted with a nice cool breeze! It was the most refreshing breeze I have ever experienced since... donkey years! There is this open urban stage where certain functions will be held as I see some of the people doing some rehearsals. Sorry lah, I was basically engrossed into enjoying the breeze, wasn't paying attention to the stage :P

And then I saw this...

FOUNTAINS! Not that there's any use to such fountains besides aesthetic purposes. But since JD's there and he LOVES to play with water, I thought of letting him experience it a little.

Wasn't going to risk having my dear boy to run around the water stream and then falling down. So I carried him into the fountain. He screamed when the stream of water shot up high and went, "oh?" when the water level reduces. And when the water shot up high again, he went "Yeay!". See how simple things like that make a toddler happy? Sometimes I think we (adults) should learn from babies too. Appreciate little things in life that we have now often taken for granted, don't you think?

Okay lah. Since no enticing outlets for shopping, the next thing to do is of course to eat! As I have mentioned earlier, there isn't much options for eatery either. Sad Sad Sad =_= ! Really =_= !

In the end HB and I sat in Roti Bakar. Not that it serves anything different from the norm or that it is cheap or whatsoever. Simply the weather was breezy and JD love the christmas tree, and it was open air concept, so we can brace the possibility of JD screaming away and it wouldn't be so embarrassing. tee-hee!

Didn't snap all the pictures of our food, because 1) Not all the food we ordered looks presentable / deliciously for me to snap a pic 2) we didn't order a lot to start with lah. Hee! But there is this picture of JD reaching out for the mantou. And I can have a speech bubble above JD that says, "If mommy and daddy don't bring food to me, it's okay, I'll reach out for them!!!"

And he loves the mantou. And he insisted of having the curry even though I said it's spicy. And he screamed coz I didn't give him the curry. So I gave him and he stuck out his tongue and I said, "Serves you right, JD, Mama said it's spicy! So this is how spicy tastes like, you still want?!"

And my dear boy shoke his head. Done. Lesson's learnt :)

All in all, even though Penang Times Square falls short to disappointment, I was glad that at least my dear boy enjoyed himself at the fountain area. So kudos for the fountain design!!! :) Other than that, I would love to see more shops filling up in the mall. Right now, it really looks sad and deserted. Like an outcast.

And thanks to my dear HB who thought of lugging around the DSLR this time. We managed to catch some wonderful moments of JD and it is priceless.

Not that I didn't try to snap similar picture of JD with HB... just that... I am really not an inborn genious photographer... Tee-hee!

A lil' something different

2009-12-18T14:50:00.002+08:00

I am desperate for some changes. Since I can't afford to take the time off to whisk myself off for some extravagant holiday or so, I relied solely on my hairstyles to make me sane.

As I sat in my neighbourhood hair salon and discussed through list of things I can do to my hair. Sadly the conclusion my hair stylist gave me was, "I don't recommend you to do any chemical thingy to your hair now lah."

And of course, I demanded a reason why!

"Less than 12 months ago you did digital perm."
"Less than 5 months ago you did hair rebonding."
"Less than 3 months ago you did hair colouring."
"Less than 2 months ago you just trimmed your hair."

*silence*

Okay. So I can't do any chemical stuff to my hair. What now? I am ready for changes (for my hair) and I really need something different so that I won't feel bored!

"How about cutting fringe if you are so despo for a hairstyle change?"

Hrmm... I pondered over for merely a few seconds and then I gave her the green light!

tadahh!!!!

I used to be so against china-doll short fringe on me, because 1) it'll make my face looks damn round 2) it'll make me look 10 yrs younger 3) it'll make me look like china-girl

With a few simple snips and I saw my previous long fringe falling to the ground, I knew there's no regrets later. I mean, come on lah, if I really do not like the outcome, I can pin the hair up again lor. And afterall, hair will still grow mar! Right!?

Honestly, I am still getting used to this new look. But it remains a fact that my face looks a little rounder than before. Nevertheless, I quite like the new 'do!

What do you think?!

My altered ego

2009-12-16T15:09:00.002+08:00

It has been well known to all my fellow readers that this blog, is what I am in real life. I talk like that. I do write like that. And I am as vain as that too.

:)

So sometimes, I have a problem when I try to slot in some 'commercialised' entries (unpaid adverts), which some people feel strongly that I shouldn't have done so. Because, 1) doesn't sound like me 2) adverts are confusing 3) adverts are irritating alongside with a personal journal.

Hence I have created another blogsite, some sort of a more commercialised and 'annonymous' type. If you feel like knowing more about beauty, makeup, health and general well being, head over to my new site below.

http://chilliredz.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you pen down some comments there!
See you soon!

I made JD fall

2009-12-15T12:42:00.002+08:00

During the first week of December, we brought JD to a 3D2N stay in Kuala Lumpur. It was a decision solely made by me and my dear hubby obliged with no questions asked. It was meant to be a pre-holiday break for us. I had planned it to spend time as a family, to go shopping or sight seeing, in addition to allowing my dear JD to meet up with my friends.

I mean, it would be fun, isn't it?

JD meeting up with my girlfriends, and everyone going goo-goo-gaa-gaa around him. It would be so much fun!

Or so I have thought.

No doubt my dear boy enjoyed himself to all the different stimulations and people, as evidenced by the picture of him beaming away. But the happiness and excitement in JD brought up the downside of such extreme. He was cranky!

Boy oh boy, he became so clingy, much worse than how he behaved at home. And he insisted me to carry at one point, until my arms hurt so much so that I couldn't straighten it. And then he had a dramatic fall in The Gardens Mid Valley, that the staff in Isetan had to whisk JD to medical help. It was really nice of them, although after waiting around for 5 mins, a lady came to inform that they do not have any medicated oil / whatsoever for bruises. Hehe!

So we had to brace walking around Isetan to find the 'exit' back to our parking lot and faced a tremendous streams of stares from other shoppers.

"Oh dear! This little boy just fell down lah! Look at the bump on his head!"

"Wah! Bump so big, where were the parents when the kid fell ar?"

"Goodness! So big bump!!!!"

Initially I was so embarassed to face those awkward stares. I mean, what kind of a mother would allow such things to happen to her kid? Omg....!!!!!! The bump was literally like a bun. I know it's hard to imagine how big a bump can arise from the forehead, but believe me, it WAS huge.

I guess as a mother, it hurts me an extra notch that JD fell right in front of me and I had allow it to happen somehow. IF... I didn't bring JD to KL... he wouldn't have gotten the chance to fall down. IF... I was more careful to him when he was roaming around the toys department. IF... I was more patient to play with him.

Maybe JD wouldn't have fallen and knocked against the corner of a wooden stool. I feel so bad!

*sigh*

And when we came home, JD fell sick and MORE cranky. It has been more than a week from our trip and finally I can say that he has gotten back to his routine and his old cutesy self.

Now... the next hurdle comes next month whereby we will be bringing JD to Kuala Lumpur for a 2-day trip AND shortly less than 2 weeks later we will be flying off to Adelaide for Chinese New Year.

Wish me luck!

KL, here i come!

2009-12-04T15:36:00.002+08:00

Yes. i am leaving for kl tomorrow.. yippee! my very much deserved and look forward break!

A basic rant

2009-11-23T13:41:00.002+08:00

Everytime when I come back from a spontaneous shopping trip, I get the disapproval look from my husband. And then I'll sink into my own pool of guilt that I have let him down once again. But every so often, I try to find reasons to justify why I needed those purchase.

Like, I badly needed a glamour pair of heels to go alongside with my dress. And it's not that I do not have other heels, it's just that, they aren't GLAMOUROUS enough. And it has been a long while since I last had the chance to doll myself up for a dinner. Since I have another important wedding dinner to attend in KL in December, I thought, this pair of heels will be worn solely for glamourous dinners!

Then I realised my old dress had been TOO v-cut that it is impossible for the presence of a decent bra. So I had to resort in nipple patch. And that's an addition purchase unplanned for.

And I thought, maybe flaux eye lashes can finish the glamour touch right. So I bought a pair of sophisticated glamourous flaux eye lashes.

Then I saw my husband's disapproval look when I showed him my purchase.

The funny thing is, the next day I went out for a casual hair treatment in my local neighbourhood and came back with a bag of new purchase :) Finally I managed to find a glamourous yet inexpensive dress for the KL dinner which I will attend. And also, matching ear rings!!! But I succumb to a spontaneous irrelevant purchase of ANOTHER pair of shoes, which is almost 2.5inch high, making it impossible to wear on a daily basis. And another black dress.

Then I came home and saw my husband's disapproval look.

The greatest thing later is that this morning (i.e. a day has passed from my 2nd spontaneous purchase), it was over internet but I could imagine my husband disapproval look. Especially when I told him that I wish we can stay in The Gardens Midvalley rather than Eastin Hotel when we are in KL.

And he said no.

SO now... I am back into looking at Eastin Hotel.

That practically sums up my rant for today. I know, it's very random.
just pardon me this time lah

Miss me?

2009-10-06T20:49:00.004+08:00

Realised it has been ages since I've last posted my big a** picture on my blog, so here it is!

*ta-dah!*

Disclaimer: Never drink and drive. Same as, never drive and camwhore :P (I was at a traffic stop, so yeah, I've got the excuse)

Anyway, this is how I try to achieve daily morning. Simple. Classy.

Am still trying to perfect my eye make up. The barely-there-yet-you-know-it's-there effect. Hehe! I heart... heart love adores the M.A.C makeup I recently splurged on. It's really to die for.

Ok lah, not exactly to really die, but seriously, if you can afford, please head over to M.A.C counter for tips on makeup which'll be catered exactly for you.

Talk about personalisation :)

I was let loose one day with no intention to splurge on makeup, when I stepped into a new paradise - M.A.C. The girl, of whom I seriously can't remember her name, guided me through the necessary steps to achieve a barely-there look. She recommended a few products, and knowing M.A.C prices, I was telling myself initially to NOT splurge.

Nope. I didn't listen to myself. Nor the little voice. Nor my hubby's protest.

Nope I'm not going to reveal the crazy amount of money I spent.

Instead, I want to say I love the products she recommended. Okay, maybe I'm biased, like since I've spent so much on something so of course I will have to say it's good right. NO ! It is DAMN great. Seriously!

Then again, I have never tried Stilla. The only branded makeup stuff I have bought prior to M.A.C was my BobbiBrown Eye Corrector Cream, which, I also have to say, is something to die having for! I compared the BobbiBrown Eye Corrector Cream to my new M.A.C Moisture Eye creme and I have to say, BB wins hands down.

So... on my face...
I have BobbiBrown Eye Corrector Cream....

then M.A.C Eye cream for the lids to open up...

then el-cheapo eye shadow...

then Mabelline / is it L'Oreal liquid eye liner...

then L'Oreal mascara...

then CyberColours blusher...

and my generic lip gloss i.e. petroleum jelly.

I feel like a cake now.

Rainy Sunday Morning

2009-10-04T09:16:00.002+08:00

Seeing my entries lately have been a cm shy from depressive and delusional, I thought, maybe it isn't right of me to continuously instil such unwanted notions into innocent happy minds.

Hence, I play on with a happier note.

Today is going to be my happy Sunday, or that's what I intend to make the best out of it to be happy. Having gone through the worst out of the worst category of customer yesterday, an hour shy from my closing time, they left me with a crazy migraine that lasted through the night.

Neither me nor my staff have seen them at any time of the four years. And maybe they earnestly wanted to get the infra-red thermometer. And maybe they earnestly had doubts on the accuracy of such digital gadgets. And maybe they earnestly think that because I look young so I am an easy target for social bully or relent to their concept of "we are customers, so we are right!".

Somehow I have a strong feeling that they think I am young and with a simple raise of voice of their part, so I will back down.

WRONG!

By far, last night was my ever first time
1) got extremely very angry
2) lost my control and raised my voice
3) showed all signs of temper to customers

It bewilders me each time people think that products purchased can be returnable / exchangeable for cash or other products. It shocks me to know that SUCH people have the nerves to suggest that I re-sell their rejected products.

Not that I need any analysing device, I do not need to be a genius to deduce SUCH people's aura and personality.

Best of all, they paid via credit card and demand cash return??? Haih... do you think I am innocently so stupid looking to obey your wishes, or are you pushing your luck too far?!

Damnit.

Shoot. It is supposed to be my happy Sunday.

HAPPY THOUGHTS PLEASE!

At this exact point, JD calls for attention.

My beautiful treasure who'll never cease to brighten up my life. He just woke up and demands his daily hugs. Now he's sitting on my lap, trying his best to reach out to my laptop and fails; turning back to look at my face with a crossed face as to why I keep pushing the laptop further from him :)

Yes, today is my happy Sunday. It is up to me to make it happy!

Today is going to be a beautiful Sunday!

And I wish for that every day for every one in this entire world!

I wish upon a Wishing Car

2009-09-18T16:22:00.003+08:00

Truth to be told, I have no idea why I like this car. Maybe under the influence of a virus called, TV-Virus coz ever since I have been in contact with this virus, I dream of nothing but a Wish.

I like it coz it is big, and it doesn't look like the typical MPV which I always tease to look like a loaf of bread. Or maybe it does but compared to a variety of different MPVs, I really like Wish.

Hubby is a car fanatic, as so, I have been influenced slightly to have a general lookout of cars on the road. From an initial idiot of car company and logo, at least, I can differentiate between Perodua and Proton. Ha ha ha! Such an accomplishment... (ironic voice)

Okay, so we were talking about how our normal 5-seater car might not have enough space when we have a second baby-Yong. For the fun of it lah, we have been window shopping (looking through the car window when we are on the road). And both of us finally came to a compromise of putting Wish as our next dream car.

Up to the point of me being preggers again, or another car that we can both agree upon... Wish... is my wish :)

He Never Gives Up

2009-09-16T15:36:00.004+08:00

《汪洋中的一条破船》

If you can read Chinese, please spare some effort in finding this book, and read it. This is an autobiography of a man who had polio since birth, and despite all odds, he lived through a life with a perseverance very much stronger than any normal people.

Although it is depressing that he didn't get to live a long life, having being diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 32, the story of his life lives on.

I wish to say, if you ever feel like you are alone and suffering from certain obstacles... never indulge in self-pity. We need to constantly remind ourselves that life is indeed much more than a Gucci bag (sorry lah, I'm always relating back to Gucci).

If we don't even understand life, then what kind of a life are we heading towards? or what kind of life do we have now?

Love comes and goes

2009-08-24T22:50:00.003+08:00

Like the love for Gucci.

I used to think that branded are for the riches, or the wannabe riches. When I was still studying and living the life of a peasant, it makes no sense to me, to give up all my available money and use it on a branded bag.

As time passes, even the love of having a branded bag was slowly extinguished, due to the constant reminder on how much that amount of money spent on a bag, can actually be the staple income allowance of others for months. And I feel shy to think that I ain't rich hence why spend on branded, like Gucci.

Okay, let me tell u a story about my relationship with Gucci.

I first knew about such a brand when I was in University. I know, albeit delayed knowledge since I did mention just now that I do live the life of a peasant, so how do you expect a peasant will know about the wonders of Gucci, right?

So I first lay my eyes on the label Gucci many years back. In order to owning such a exquisite label, I would need to part with a huge amount of my savings, and it seemed like millions impact then. Hence, even though I do like the design, I gave up.

There are many imitations around, right? SO why settle so much for a branded label, where even if I carry the REAL branded bag out to the mall and people will think that it's a fake. And if I do happen to spent thousands on a branded bag, certainly I can't enjoy the idea of having people thinking that it's a fake. Seriously, that'll kill me. Really.

Hence, I gave in to imitations, I know, damn cheap skate. But I was determined to have a lookalike-Gucci-Bag that i felt sure that even an imitation would suffice.

And then I realised, there are truck loads of differences. For one, quality is the main issue. Imitation doesn't give u the leathery smell of a new bag, with accompanying label key chains. And it certainly doesn't give u the thrill of knowing that you are capable to own such quality bag. More importantly, the connection you feel towards the REAL bag... seriously, it's almost heaven.

But will I still spend thousands, even if I can afford it now, on a real Gucci bag?

The thing is, how sure am I that I do like this Gucci bag? Or I could have been biased all these wihle thinking that it's the 'best' brand? What if I regrets it later?

*shock*

Then thousands of money will go in waste... SIGHhhh...

and same goes, almost a year of JD's milk powder.

So it's all down to a simple conclusion.

To break all unnecessary thoughts of spending.... have a child.
Seriously, it works!

2009-08-18T23:37:00.002+08:00

Just another emo day with emo thoughts resulting a very emo self. I can't help being emo. Really. Sometimes, or rather, many times I tell myself that I am all grown up. And grown ups are very capable of handling their emotions. Grown ups don't let their emotions govern how they behave that entire day. Grown ups don't say spiteful things when they are emo. Grown ups are very responsible for their actions and words even if they are emo. Grown ups hide the emo damn well.

But I failed. Damn fail.

My mind raced through time, to the past and back; to the future and back.

To how different things have been where I had left them. To how different people have became where I had left them. To how insignificant one life in the eyes of the population. To how significant one's life can be in the eyes of the special one.

Life still amazes me. But I still have to admit, practicality of life dampens my spirits. Really.

I hate to think that people have to grow old and die, meaning, my loved ones will leave me one day. I hate to know that as self-absorbed I have been with myself, that I can never change when it comes to certain personality. I hate to be told that things are meant to be, like, that's the only available reason to be told where things became unexplainable. I hate to understand the fact that help is beyond what I can provide. I hate to be caught in a situation whereby I feel myself yearning for something that I shouldn't. I hate it. Utterly hate it.

No doubt I had one of a blasting weekend on 15th Aug. Somehow aside the happy gatherings with old friends and catch up times, I came home with a slightly heavy heart (besides heavy stomach).

Much has changed. IN places and people.

Have I too?

The silence which were never there, hence never awkward, surfaced a couple of times too many times to feel comfortable. Is it really acceptable?

The realisation that I haven't done something so spontaneous ever since my past spontaneity got me more trouble than happiness. And miraculously I felt young, not that I am old in reality, but I feel young at heart again!

That's when I think... I need another break soon.

Damn. it's addictive

DIM !

2009-08-10T14:07:00.005+08:00

A heavy downpour. A cup of hot coffee. Two slices of bread with Nutella chocolate spread. Two hours later I still feel shitty.

I find my tolerance for caffeine creeping up. My daily twice dosing seems inadequate to keep me awake, yet I am refusing a third cup. Nowadays, coffee keeps me alert for a mere 3 hrs and shit, my total working hours is almost 10hrs so theoretically I need a basic 3 cups right? But, that's not really healthy, isn't it?

But really, we talk about healthy living and eating. We talk about exercising frequently. We talk about caring for others, to love and share and the world will be a better place. But has the world become a better place for any of us? No!

We have A(H1N1) flu bringing a daily new death toll record all over Malaysia, yet I still have customers coming in saying that this is simply an over-publicized effort to boost the sales of the medical industry.

Such irony.

Yes yes. I'm blabbering. True. But what decent topic do you expect me to write on a Monday? Goodness. I hate mondays, unless it's a public holiday, but even that I might still be working, so I still hate mondays!!!!

DIM" !!!!!!

Darn it's Monday!

Ish!

Helper to help me, HELP ME!

2009-07-30T16:47:00.002+08:00

I got a helper to help ease off my burden but it was backfired in the end. So instead of feeling that I could delegate off some work over, suddenly the tables turned and I am entrusted with more frustrations and worries.

And the contract's still new. So how?

I can't chase her out. I can't trust her now.
Tell me what can I do right now?!

*sigh*

On an irrelevant note, I am so contemplating of doing something to my hair so that it is not so VOLUMINOUS!!! jeez. I wake up every morning having a fight with my hair. JD's tiny fingers are always stuck among the mess of my crowning glory which I find no glory. I feel so.. aunty-fied.

Really.

Maybe I should visit my favourite all time hair stylist in Penang before I fly off to Hong Kong next month? Speaking of Hong Kong, yes, I am finally able to take a break!!!! Well, next month lah, not now, but still, it is better than nothing. At least I can look forward to having a nice family reunion there with my sis and her kids. And JD can look forward (okay it's more of me looking forward on his behalf since he's oblivious to anything besides food) to playing with Cousin Natalie and Cousin Anya. Yeay!

Sigh. I seriously think, we need to have some pause-point in life for us to continue living. If life is all about working hard, then what joy does it brings? But we can't say that we don't work in life, because what kind of life does it brings too?

As I have mentioned before, I think life is all about choices and balances. As vague as that can be, some time, I do agree it is rather tough to find a balance.

A Whole New World

2009-07-28T18:41:00.004+08:00

Hello world!

Sorry for being in a hiatus. Was busy with, not work, but Facebook. I know, this addiction is acquired dramatically delayed as compared to many. Many hours of my time have been devoted to FB. Games. Quizzzzz after quizzz. Seriously, it got to a point whereby I had to think for a minute or two, on when was the last time I had a decent couple conversation with Hubby.

And that's pretty bad.

Sooo. I had to go through a whole series of cold turkey withdrawal from FB. Out of a sudden, it seems like I have too much time on hand with nothing much to do (besides work). SOoo. I found the best way to curb time, and this activity is one of the most desirable past time of all women... SHOPPING!!

First. I spend RM 5800 on LasiK (too lazy to put in the trademark and explaination stuff et.al).

Honestly, I think this procedure is overpriced. Really. It's just one stupid machine with lasik beams and all. Computerised. The only manpower needed at certain intervals, was to off the switch or on to that matters. However I do advise people who are keen on going for Lasik in the future to do their market survey first.

Check out the available surgeons in your area providing the services. Which hospitals are they from? General charges? Warranty? Age of the surgeon who will be conducting the Lasik on your eyes? Get testimonials from those who went under the 'knife' of respective surgeons.

Actually, why age, you would ask. You get to determine the experience of that surgeon, OR, determine if his hands will be stable when laser beams are shooting through your eyes.

In general, mine went on okay. A little glitches of me not being cooperative (coz I accidentally blinked when I wasn't supposed to) but overall, the process took about 30mins on each eye. Literally an eye-opening experience :)

Next up, I bought a new bag. Was having this intense surge to buy a LV / Gucci / Prada / Coach bag. Then had a few people screaming down my neck at the price I was about to pay for a bag when I don't even need another bag. So I flung the whole temptation away.

Instead, I went ahead to buy another pair of sunglasses :)

Introducing my new member...
Oakley Behave Polarized!

Honestly speaking, the price I paid for this, I could have gotten myself with any one of the item below:-

1) Imitation Coach / LV / Prada / Gucci with some balance of ringgit left still.
2) A month of domestic help with some balance of ringgit left still.
3) 58 Venti cups of Vanilla Latte in Starbucks with some balance of ringgit left still.
4) 116 sets of Mcdonalds Lunch Value meal with some balance of ringgit left still.
5) Almost 4 months of JD's milk powder supply with some balance of ringgit left still (providing there is no further price increment)
6) 1 year payment for my insurance together with medical card and all.
7) Hire a shop assistant for one month.
8) 14 trips to the petrol station and exit with a car filled full with fuel.

Was it a purchase worthy of its price? Seriously now I don't really know. Was more of a spontaneous buy and I have to say, I like it a lot and not thinking of the price for a minute.

A minute's up... "shit, why did I spend so much on a pair of sunnies?!?!?!"

*sigh*

It has been two years!

2009-06-24T14:03:00.002+08:00

I used to think that anniversary is a big thing, which requires the man to craft out something utterly romantic for the wife and the whole ambiance of that night must be nothing short from romantic. But now 2 years into my domestic marriage *grins*, I have to say, my married life is nothing near to being romantic.

Everything in my life is so routine and reaching a point of mundane. Every morning starts off with JD calling for me to play with him. And then everything is a rush for time. Rush to shower and get ready. Rush to play with JD. Rush to babysitter's place. Rush to work. Rush around workplace. Rush for lunch / tea / dinner. Rush for errands to be done. Rush for datelines to be met. Rush for phone calls. Rush the suppliers. Rush the customers. Then night falls and then rush back to pick JD up from babysitter's. Rush JD home. Rush to get all the water, milk powder & bottles ready for JD. Rush to change JD to pjs. Rush to shower. Rush to have supper. Rush to attempt to put JD to sleep. Finally when JD sleeps, I rush to sleep.

Seriously this IS my life. Whether you like it or not, or you think it's exciting or not, this is how I live my life. I can't say my Hubby's better coz he has another similar set of routine life, which I shall not go detailed into.

Okay, look at me. I'm 27 which is supposed to be the age where most ladies are very well sought after. Where most ladies at my current age, even though single, but are very established in their career. Savings account is a million times larger than mine, which is narrowly near zero. Some fancy cars they are capable of buying. Some great looking bags which I can only yearn and dream of, but never come close to owning. Or they have become some high flyers, travelling or travelled to many countries and major cities.

What am I doing??? (note: Go back to the previous 2 paragraphs)

Am I happy now, after two years?

OKay, I shall be honest here. These two years weren't all roses around. We don't do the ultimate romantic gestures. We are simpletons with a simple life. We work hard to make ends meet. Sometimes, I fight with him. SOmetimes he gives me the cold shoulder shrug to brush confrontations away, simply becomes, sometimes, it is pretty tiring.

Admist all the tiredness, routine-ness, simpleness and bickerness, I still find this not so romantic marriage so romantic. It is a reality that nothing is perfect. What we see during courtship and what we get during marriage IS different. I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that everything ends with a fairy tale of happily ever after.

I once read, marriage is the beginning of life. The type of life you can never picture yourself having and sometimes, the type of life in which the decisions you will make then, you can never imagine yourself making when you are single.

Marriage is a very powerful link. It's the link between the ideals and reality. It is the link between your flaws and your strengths. It is the major link, for one to be a better person. We learn to compromise. We learn to love with a compassionate heart. We learn to make decisions involving both of us. We learn to think for each other. We learn to re-prioritise our life to make each other the no. 1. We learn to reach out for each other for support strength and growth.

We mature together.

And with this right person that I have chosen to spend my life with, I have to admit, I have learnt a lot more from him in regards of patience. Honestly I do not know if I have anything good to impart to him, yet he still chooses to love me with all his heart.

To the times where we fight and cry, I hope there weren't any scars left behind. I hope there weren't any statements burst out in the fit of an anger, in which I earnestly do not mean. But as humans, we err, and we lose control. To that I say, Sweetie, I am sorry for being such an ignorant naive and spoilt little brat.

With 2 years of our life together and more, I can only say I will always love you. And I look forward in us growing old together.

See, I don't need a romantic gesture. If we are loving to each other, EVERYDAY is romantic enough. If we always have thoughts for each other, EVERYDAY is precious.

Muaks!

Happy 2 years Anniversary!

Coming to Terms with the past

2009-06-21T02:49:00.003+08:00

It's funny that I woke up one day, with a mere stupid thought lingering in my head that I should come clean with my own past. Not that I need to move on for anything in particular, but it was a personal mission to have myself deal with certain issues that I have procrastinated of not dealing with, or have dealt with it in a wrong way.

SO I started reviewing my life like a drama, pausing at certain important milestones of the years. Who I have met? What happened? How did I deal with it? Did I handle it right?

Times I find my current self shaking her own head, looking back at home she used to handle things and people. Times and again, I find my current self, being slightly short of being ashamed of how she used to behave. Times and again, I find my current self asking, what on earth was she thinking in the past???

And then it struck me.

Times, now, when we think we are right in making certain decisions to certain people. Times, now, we think we are so dead right with no faults like taxes and that the decision we make is absolutely correct. Times like such, with time moving on and years passed, and when we look back it became a timeless piece of shitty revelation that some decisions weren't made correctly or anything near right.

Slightly losing my own mind here.

Anyway, the bliss of me coming to terms with my own past is that, I know now, that I am the only silly person lugging onto the past like a baggage, while a lot of people have already moved on. Then once in a while, I have a little surprise that I have managed to leave an impression on some people from the past, that they still remember fondly of me now.

Especially when both of us remember a particular silly statement involving 2 words- 'beautiful' and 'eyes', and having both of us burst into laughter at our past.

Now that is what I can friendships really last through time.

Huge sigh!

2009-06-10T17:51:00.003+08:00

Not that some drastic has happened to me, this is basically an emo me talking. It has been a while since I have the time to be ultra emo, let alone blog about it. So it sort of caught me by surprise, today, as I was reading through a whole truck loads of whole emails.

To start of why I was going through my old emails. I was initially competing with an old friend from secondary school, to see how many of our correspondent emails are still in our inbox. So the whole 'competition' began with me flipping through those old mails, digging out my friend's name and then showing it back.

Along the way I got distracted with a couple of other mails from different recipients. Majority of whom I still keep in contact with, but a percentage of whom I have stopped writing.

And times in the past I thought I knew better and understood the situation well turned out pretty much in contrast.

I thought the fault wasn't on me back then, but why is it that as I am reading through and re-analysing the mails, I figured that I indeed deserved to be reprimanded.

A whole series of complications and frustrations. Is it true, that decisions or thoughts I made now, will definitely be different in years to come?

If so, then how am I to know if the decision I make now is rightful in years to come too?

I wish upon a wishing star

2009-05-22T12:27:00.002+08:00

of heading for a relaxing holiday with my little one and his daddy.

But with every available holidays on the calendar, it is either spent with my family or in-laws. How to make time for us?

Money Not Enough

2009-05-04T12:34:00.003+08:00

I wish I have a 5-figure salary to support all my WANTS below.

Like, I want this particular house 2.5 storey semi-detached house in this particular rising residential area, that I can overlook the flaws of it not being closed community but that I simply love the house.

Like, I want to have a total of 4 kids - nicknamed Peanut (who's JD now btw), Doughnut, Cashew nut & Pistachio but it is frightening to know that even with one kid now the expenses are ceiling high, so I can't imagine if I do have four kids, what extra jobs I need to have to make ends meet.

Like, I want this brand new stroller for JD from Graco simply because it looks nicer and lighter, and more importantly I am a sucker for branded.

Like, how I want to have my future brand new house with interior designed themes simply because I am BAD at decorating a place and I wouldn't want to ruin my future new house.

Like, I want to have a luxurious weekend breakaway in some super uber 5-star hotel / resort with personalised maids waiting on me TV and JD / future kids.

Like, I want to have driver chauffeuring me to work so that I do not need to bother about the stress in traffic jams / errant drivers.

Like, I want to work only PART-time and the rest of my available time to rest / nurture JD / become some siew-lai-lai (rich man's wife).

Like, I want to have the crazy 6 and above figure savings in my bank, reserved plainly for my kids, and another set of 5-6 figure savings for myself.

Possible kah?

Bali - Celuk & Kintamani

2009-04-24T12:14:00.015+08:00

To us girls, when you mention Bali, you think of the fantastic shopping, where you can find goods so ridiculously cheap that you can't resist NOT to shop.

Before I embarked to my Bali trip with Hubby, I thought of doing some research by asking 5 girlfriends who had been to Bali for some tips and information. Out of the 5 girls, ALL said shopping is GREAT, important point is to bargain.

With their advice in mind, Hubby and I looked forward to the great 'adventure' in store for us in Bali. I knew I have been to Bali when I was young, sadly however, my poor memory bank could not retrieve out any memoirs of such. Anyway...

It was my first time in 4 years to use my almost brand new passport and also, my first time in taking Air Asia. I know I sound like I came from some ulu kampung but truth be told, I was so bubbly excited! From Penang, we took AirAsia to LCCT then our flight from KLIA to Bali. So within the span of 6 hours, Hubby and I took 2 airplanes. Honestly, it was pretty exhausting. No joke okay.

Since Hubby and I had four hours to burn in KLIA before enrouting to Bali, we walked around the duty free shop, bookshops and camwhored a little. That took about 1 hour and we still had another 3 hours, so I bought a book to read and Hubby flopped onto the waiting bench and napped.

The next 2.5hours I was engrossed in my book 'P.S. I Love You' by Cecelia Ahern (btw I love the storyline - brought tears to my eyes) and also avoiding constant weird stares from strangers because my dear Hubby was orchestrating slightly. *ahemm*

Anyway, it was time for us to check in and as I sat in the airplane, I thought to myself, "Geez when will be the next time that I will get to take a plane to somewhere?!" The flight from KL to Bali takes about 3.5hours roughly. One meal was served on the plane aside from beverage. After that, Hubby was back to sleep and I was back to my book.

I have concluded it is extremely calming to take a view from the airplane, and it is something that I would not always have the opportunity to do so. It isn't every so often that I get to fly okay. So you have to pardon me for being a kampung-girl awed at the view and busily snapping pictures. I think the front and back seat passengers must have thought that it was my first time on board. Oh well...

See, you can almost see the slight curvature of our mother Earth. Isn't she a beauty? Let's not suffocate her from all the toxic fumes, global warming, felling of tropical forests. Let's recyle, reuse and reduce. For the sake of our future, our kids' future, our grandkids future... let's do our part in saving Earth! *singing Captain Planet's theme song!*

Introducing the bird's eye view of the coastal line of Bali. Don't ask me which part of Bali as I am honestly very bad at geographical bearings. I would presume we were flying over plains of rice padi fields lah.

Albeit Bali being a very tourist-bustled and commercialised place, the scenery is still breathtaking. I love how blue the sea is, and just how green the mountains are. I can almost see the horizon from here.

Look! A Yacht!!! Okay lah, picture a bit too small, but still, IT'S A YACHT!!!!

Is it low tide? The waves looks so memerizingly soft, but later on I was convinced that the earlier impression was false as waves in Bali are strong enough for surfing. Nuff said.

Upon touching down in Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, it was close to 7pm and we were swiftly transported to Jimbaran Beach for a romantic BBQ dinner. Sadly we didn't bring the tripod and sun sets early in Bali, so couldn't get a super decent shot of the beach. :(

After dinner, we checked into the hotel, Hubby and I were so pooped that we showered, cuddled and flopped onto the bed and slept early. Haha!

Me! Me! Me!

After a ridiculous crazy early morning call at 6.30am and breakfast, we were transported out to visit the many many faces and places of Bali. Our first stop was to watch the traditional Barong & Keris Dance at this place called Sahadewa. Due to the slightly long bus ride and me being tired since I woke up at 6.30am, I knocked out in the bus. And Hubby caught me on camera!

Hubby: Of course tired lah. You woke up so early just to put make up, falsies and all those stuff!
Me: To look pretty mah! :(

But honestly lah, I was tired and felt stupid that I actually sacrificed my beauty sleep just so to put artificial beauty on my face. tsk tsk tsk.

Yeay! Finally arrived at the Sahadewa place! But I was thinking to myself, "Where is this Sahadew place in Bali?" No idea! I was asleep mar, remember?! How would I know right?

At the entrance to the hall, there was this Balinese lady dressed up traditionally in their Balinese costumes. So Hubby asked me to have a picture together with this lady and I thought, why not right! Then I noticed, WHY was there another cameraman (unknown) taking picture of Hubby and me. And I also noticed, this unknown cameraman took picture of E.V.E.R.Y tourists who wanted to take picture with this lady.

Why ar?

THENNNN... truth reveals... *drumrolls*. The unknown cameraman snapped all our pictures, and while we were all watching the traditional dance right, they were speedy enough to develop our pictures and GLUED it onto some souvenir plate. Smart right! So what happens is, some of those tourists who saw their pictures on the souvenir plates couldn't resist and bought it lah. Such great gimmick.

But I tugged Hubby and said we don't really need that lah. (save $ for shopping mah :P)

Okay, as I was saying, we were there to watch the traditional Barong & Keris Dance. Frankly speaking I did not understand the entire meaning of the dance. Reason being 1) The synopsis given to us earlier didn't make much sense 2) The rare conversations that were acted out were too soft to hear and even if audible enough I wouldn't understand since I'm not Balinese 3) There were no narrators giving insights of what was going on 4) There were not place-cards to say which 'Act-number' or what was going on.

So... it was more of a view for pleasure thingy.

But I was informed later, that the Barong dance is actually a depiction of the fight between the good and evil. According to the Balinese myth, Barong is the King of good spirits. And apparently after I Googled about 'Barong', I've learned that there are in fact 5 traditional Barongs in Bali, each representative of a different animal - Boar, Tiger, Dragon & Lion.

And I understand now, why there was a Lion in the play. *hee*

We adjourned to Celuk, also well known as the capital of silver and gold handicrafts in Bali. For people who admire and love silver / gold handicrafts, you HAVE to go to Celuk. There you will meet the bestest of all the master pieces, handcrafted and polished to perfection. We were brought to Sari Dewi Art shop, which houses a variety of jewelries from gemstones to pearls to silver crafts.

The pieces are all so intricately detailed that I gasped at the time, concentration and skills needed to produce. Don't expect prices of such pieces to be 'dirt-cheap' because for one, you are paying for the workmanship; second the skills needed. The tour guide mentioned that in Celuk, the 'sifu-s' who specialize in making silver / gold artworks are normally trained from young, passed down generations to generations.

Outside Sari Dewi art shop, and by the way, the woman in the picture is not me.

While waiting for some of the tour passengers to finish their purchases and I had nothing to do, thence, oh well, camwhored. Btw, I love this floral sun dress I bought at 70% at a boutique shop before CNY. It's so pretty, and when I wear it, I feel super pretty too!

Balinese makes up the minority of Hindu in Indonesia. They practice Hindu as religion and adopts Hindu-Javanese culture and traditions. Due to such, most of their statues, sculptures, paintings, temples, offerings, door frames etc are very much influenced by the Hindu-Javanese.

I was introduced to this odd looking fruit called buah salak or also known as snake fruit. This is a fruit from one of the palm tree species native to Indonesia AND Malaysia !(!). But I was being told later that the buah salak in Malaysia doesn't not taste as great as those of their Indon relatives. Haha.

This fruit, as you can see, has a snake-like skin which 'pops' open when you pinch at the tip. The actual edible fruit is pastel-yellow in colour. Taste a little sour, feels a little crunchy but definitely not juicy.

Mount Kintamani Volcano

Next up, we travelled up North of Bali of about 1 hr bus ride, JUST to make it to an adjacent hill to see Mount Kintamani Volcano. The actual volcano is situated 1460metres above sea level, so weather up there is quite cool and refreshing but the sunrays is still glaring.

We had lunch at this restaurant that overlooks to Mt Kintamani, so the scenic view while eating was prefect. As I was eating, I was thinking to myself, if this is still an active volcano and has decided to erupt as I was having lunch, where else to run ar? *touchwood*

Street peddlers

More street peddlers (!)

Outside the restaurant was jam-packed with street peddlers. I think there's a common understanding that they (street preddlers) are not allowed to enter the restaurants in which tourists will be having their meals, nor up the tourist buses. I can see them all squeezing around the borders of the stairs, trying to promote and slashed prices of their goods.

A lot of them are very persistent, sometimes tagging after a particular tourist in the hope of that tourist relenting and then buying from them. If you are not interested in buying, be firm and tell them 'No thank you!', a few times if they bug you, and you either walk away or continue what you were doing initially. That particular street peddler will leave u alone.

But of course, this whole process needs to be repeated a few times, because there are dozens of DIFFERENT street peddlers. Due to the highly commercialised place already, most of the street peddlers can haggle prices in different languages, like English & Mandarin, or sometimes Japanese.

The rule of thumb in haggling price in Bali is,

1) Stoop down to 10% of the price they offer
For e.g. if the price of product is quoted being 10,000 rupiah,
you counter offer 10% = 100 rupiah

2) Vendor / peddler won't give in to your 10% price, so they will lower their initial quotation.

3) You counter offer about 15-20% of the initial price, or you can offer back to 10% of the 2nd quotation price.

4) A lot of repetitive bargaining...

5) In the end, the price you pay is reflective of how much you THINK you want to spend on that particular item.

6) After paying, if you want to know whether the price paid is dirt-cheap, watch whether the vendors use your rupiah to slap / beat over their products. Because it's rumoured that they do that so that their next customers won't be as powerful in bargaining as you.

:)

Okay, I'll take a break from here. Coming up next will be Tampak Siring Temple - a Holy Spring Water temple; Tanah Lot - rocky sea temple; Bali Beach!

Stay tuned!

inadequacy is the new me

2009-04-21T19:51:00.002+08:00

this entry will linger around the border of being cynical & sad. in the eyes of others, i am a person of bubbly personality with endless crazy laughter which can be stupidly contagious to those around me. or this crazy self can be seen as obnoxious in the eyes of those around me who don't really know me.

and every so often i have comments of such thrown at my face that my life has been so easy. that because my parents are 'rich' hence i get to live a rich life and obtain a lot of opportunities for instance, studied pharmacy in scotland instead of entering into the public universities.

and every so often they like to assume and presume that being a pharmacist working as our own little boss, means we earn big bucks equivalent that of Robert Kwok.

and every so often they like to say that since everyone needs to take medicine so business will definitely not be affected by any percentile in this current slump of economy.

and the best thing is, every so often they love to think that because this is an independent retail outlet so any rules and regulations / terms and conditions of sales and conduct need NOT be kept as we can 'bend' the rules.

so at times like these, i feel i'm not packaged enough in character to reason things out with them. or would it have made a difference then, i do not know. nevertheless, it is funny to see their point of view to be ridiculously shallow, yet unable to comment upon. nor argue upon.

as they say, customers are always right. but is that so? when customers start throwing abusive languages at you or your family members, is that rightful too? of course, we don't meet such people every so often but what if?

or are most humans so ill-mannered in general that it doesn't take a scientist to spot them out?

*sigh*

sadly those aren't the bottom of all frustrations in life, i haven't factored in family, friends & personal well-being.

sometimes i wish i can flop onto my bed, snuggle into my comforter and cuddle up to JD and Hubby, and being oblivious to what goes on around me. sometimes i wish i do not need to worry about finances. about education. about upbringing. about discipline. about cooking. about working. about making ends meet. about making promotions a success. about accounts. about taxes. about.....

oh yah... taxes!

that's an entirely whole frustration and stress itself.

*sigh*

Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table

2009-04-13T16:53:00.002+08:00

As an over-zealous mom, eager to get everything da best for her first son, she is drooling feasting her eyes at this wonderful furniture-toy-playmate.

But at the moment this eager mommy can't find any local stores selling this Laugh & Learn Fun With Friends Musical Table (M9972) and had to resort surfing over the Internet to look see the price.

And this eager mommy became a shocked mommy when the price shown is....

USD 45

Which converts to our Malaysia ringgit to,

RM 163 !!!!

Okay, the exclaimation marks are for JOY, as I was expecting it to be priced well over RM200. I wish pray hope that my local baby shop can order it in, but the boss said, sometimes our Malaysia's import source can't get in ALL the Fisher-Price products as viewed online :(

Please please pleaseeeee.... I want this cute little fella for my cute little baby!!!

Current 'do

2009-04-13T13:18:00.002+08:00

This is me, all dolled up for WORK, mind you, not out shopping. Haha. Now u can understand why I say my customers 'complained' about my frivolous looks right?

So I made some changes, tone some makeup down and professionalised my attire...

Presenting my new look!!! Zero make up. Square nerdy specs. Rowdy hair like hay.

yeay!

Finally I can accept my own reflections when I don't put makeup at all :)

Mind you, it's a GREAT STEP of achievements okay!

Of JD's little odds & ends

2009-04-10T12:59:00.000+08:00

Couple of nights ago, after making sure that JD was well covered in his fleece blanket, since he has inherited this habit of mine in kicking the blankets away, i sat down next to his bed simply admiring him.

Once again, I took a deep intake of air which gushed through my lungs and I sighed with the familiar ache near to my heart and knots in my stomach, knowing that the love I have for him is so much more than what he can ever comprehend. And knowing that the love I have for him, is so much MORE than what I can ever imagine having.

He tossed and turned, kicked a fair bit with his chubby feet and settled into a comfortable position with his rounded hands hugged around his little Winnie The Pooh bolster. The funny think about JD is, he needs to sleep with his bolster. And the exact position of his bolster HAS to be pressing upon his face / cheeks.

I stroked his fine hair and pecked him on his cheeks once, and then it doesn't seems enough for one hence I pecked him twice. But twice still seems insanely inadequate so I gave him a third long kiss and JD stirred.

He opened his eyes in disagreement, after all, I did disturb his sleep with all the involuntary kisses. Frowned, whined & mumbled some baby noises which I can be certain to be interpreted as, "Mommy, stop disturbing me and let me get some sleep! Shoo!"

With that, I let him be.

Dawn breaks, JD wakes up far earlier than any of us.

"Ma-ma... ma-ma... mum-mum"

I am certain not many people have this unique type of wake up call or alarm alert. But this is how most of my mornings starts. Either that or I will have a nice little slap on the face, courtesy of JD, who insists me to wake up to feed him / play with him. As I open my eyes one by one, I see his little eyes looking back to me with a sparkle and then a chuckle, to which I can't resist of giving him a big peck, as again on the cheeks.

The most heart warming demure that JD can show towards his adoring mother, is when she drops him off to the baby sitter's and he cries to see his mommy walking away without him.

And finally I understood why I am so reluctant to work nowadays.

iPhone & Maxis 3G

2009-04-09T15:41:00.000+08:00

Source: www.google.com

The only reason I bought iPhone is certainly not because I love it. It is because the person I love a great deal loves iPhone a great deal. And I have decided to give a HUGE surprise to this particular person whom I loves so much who loves iPhone so much and thus I had to part with the $ in my bank account which I loves SO MUCH just to make the person I love so much a much more happier person.

*phew* That was a long piece to cough out.

We all know, now, iPhone is legally under the belt of Maxis, coming together with their 3G packages. I checked out their packages and honestly think it is super confusing which I secretly think that is one of the motive of Maxis. To confuse and err from the consumers, and then smiles from the Maxis shareholders.

At the end of the day, I still need to thank Maxis for bringing iPhone in, so that I can now buy it and cracked it legally in Malaysia, and a waranty for one year. Problem is now, which value plan or contract should I sign on in order to get the iPhone?

********************

There are 3 duration of contracts under Maxis 3G for iPhone - 6months, 12months & 24months. Within each different contract duration, Maxis is kind enough to draw up THREE different packages to suit different people and their needs of 3G usage. Thence the start of my confusion.

Value Plus Plan 6-Month Contract

What it all means is, you have to pay on-hand RM 2540 (for 8GB) or RM 2960 (for 16GB) for the iPhone itself. Depending on which package deal you sign on, you are entitled to different call charges respectively. The benefit of this 6-month contract is, well, the fact that the contract is 6-months lah. Hahaha! I think this plan fits the bill for people who just wants the iPhone but haven't thought much about using Maxis 3G.

iValue Plan 12-month contract

This 12-month deal is targeted for users who DO use 3G on a daily basic. The cheapest iValue plan 1 is good for users who DON'T really use 3G but with iPhone now, one can enjoy free talk time and data usage!! But be aware of certain hidden clause, talktime charges and sms rates are higher as compared to a lot of the existing value call plans / family plus rates.

iValue Plan 24-months Contract

Did you see it? Under iValue 4 tab, you pay RM 375 basic for each month in that 24month period, the 8GB iPhone is actually FREE!!!!! Yooohooo!!!! The 16GB iPhone is only RM 260 !!! Okay, let's be honest here, shall we?

Unless, and I really have to emphasize this, UNLESS, you are a business person or have a career which requires constant minute-to-minute access to the Internet, please sign up with either the 12-month or 24-month contract.

Even that, before you sign up with any of the above contract plans, please do a detailed check on your personal phonecall and 3G usage charges. If you are only using about RM75-100 per month, then, seriously would you want to spend more than RM155 ???

I wouldn't.

Hence, I paid RM2960 for the 16GB iPhone, enjoy a FREE 500MB 3G data charges each month, 1 year waranty for the iPhone itself and most importantly, I am free from the contract after 6-months! :)

How about you? Have you decided on which plan to sign on?

First huge purchase

2009-04-04T11:32:00.002+08:00

Now that the recent economy has slide down to a slump, I have to admit that business is also affected. Of course, people still come in to top up their regular prescriptive medicines, however there is not much space and opportunity for one to consider purchasing more supplements.

Everyone is tightening their pockets. Everyone is controlling their expenses and stretching their ringgit.

And I did the ultimate reverse in purchasing my EVER most expensive and exclusive item.

IPHONE!!!!

Wait wait... it's actually not for me, but for my dear hubby.

Although parting with nearly RM 3K off from my bank account was a little hard, but seeing the surprise expression and the later BEAM from him was totally priceless.

Hence now, I force hubby to download a lot of games into iPhone. Just so I can play with it :)

Btw, I got it from Maxis 3G Broadband :)

But I didn't sign up the data package deal. Just took the 6months contract, with a free 500MB data charges per month for up to 6 months, and I'm a free person :)

No way B(l)ack!

2009-03-23T10:44:00.002+08:00

Years of having dark brown hair with natural streaks of highlights, and subsequently many years of having chemically treated hair to various degree of copper brown & red; I have finally succumbed to have my hair coloured (as again).

However this time the colour I chose is BLACK!

Alrighty, it isn't exactly 100% black lah. The colour stated on the DIY box is 'Auburn', but after the whole colouring process, my hair looks black if not under sunlight.

I kinda like this new black lookalike hair. Makes me look very fresh and young! And that's something all women crave for - youthful & beauty.

To be honest, this change to black didn't cause a stir with my mom. She has always been very against me colouring my hair to fancy colour, saying it's not professional lah. But when she saw my lookalike black hair, she just said, "Not bad!"

:)

I can now understand the saying, once you go black, you never go back.

p/s: Will update on my Bali trip next!

Enfalac = JD's staple food

2009-03-19T20:58:00.001+08:00

OoOoOoOoOoo.... JD's milk powder on Nuffnang's Ad!!!!!!!

:P

Let me reassure you that it DOES has the highest DHA content per 100g among most major milk powder companies.

Not because they claim but if you want, just check it out on the nutritional value table and compare with every brands!!

p/s: I did that when I was in a hypermarket :)

JD and Tigeer

2009-03-11T11:32:00.002+08:00

Somewhere along last week, I started using Tigeer (cartoon character from Winnie The Pooh) softoy to role play with JD. Obviously I have to be honest here that JD doesn't quite understand the words that we adults are saying. But sometimes, I swear it seems as if he do.

Just this morning as both JD and I were laying in bed, freshly awake from our slumber. And may I add that mornings are the time whereby JD behaves the best, and certainly the most interactive.

Anyway as I was saying, this morning I was trying to play peekaboo with JD. But I guess we have over-played the Peekaboo a little too much that JD is getting bored with it. (note: babies' attention span is pretty short) As uninterested as any chuck of wood can be, JD ignored me like I barely existed. Determined to have his attention on ME, I thought of the most incredible trick.

I picked Tigeer up, stroked Tigeer's head gently and chuddled Tigeer while saying, "Tigeer, Mommy sayang. Mommy loves Tigeer. Mommy kiss Tigeer." (tone of voice copied exactly as how I would talk to JD)

THAT caught JD's attention. He turned to look at me and Tigeer.

Confused.

I took it a step further.

"Mommy carry Tigeer to see Patches." (note: Patches is the name of my dog which JD loves) I carried Tigeer like how I would carry JD and walked slowwlly towards the door.

*wails* my dear JD started crying.

:P

I have to admit, it's kinda fun.

Okay, I'm a bad mommy!

CNY Revelations from JD's view

2009-02-23T20:22:00.011+08:00

That's all folks!

Music to my ears

2009-02-23T18:33:00.001+08:00

Not many people around me know that I can play the piano up to a certain level. In fact, piano and I have a love-hate relationship, which spanned back to the time when I was 8 years old.

~~~~ 8 years ago ~~~~

Seeing my elder siblings working magically on the piano board and the beautiful music that produced from piano, spurred me into begging my mother to send me to a music school. Back then, attending a music school like 'Yamaha' was a prestige. To be entirely honest with you, I do not know the charges that come along with each piano session, nevertheless, I was dead set onto learning how to play piano.

Maybe to me back then, playing piano like my elder siblings would place me a step nearer to them in terms of 'achievements'.

Or maybe it was really due to an intensive liking for piano that I had wanted to learn.

I could still remember the eagerness and excitement on my face when my mother brought me to enrol in Yamaha Music School. However the happiness was relatively short-lived when the teacher who was assigned to me then ,wasn't entirely that a friendly person.

Certainly it didn't help then that my command in English wasn't as 'powderful' enough to engage in simple conversations. And alas! My mother wanted her to speak to me in English only medium so as to force me to pick up the language faster.

Sooo, my love for piano started to change to a hate thingy when sometimes I totally did not understand what my teacher wanted me to do. Or worse still, I kept getting the tempo wrong! Hence another series of scolding and slowly, I started to not practise the pieces as commanded. And soon enough, the whole desire of mastering piano was knocked out of my system.

Hence, I managed to srimp past Grade 3 before telling my mother that I would rather die than continue learning piano. [note: okay, exaggeration lah. I didn't blackmail in that way]

Out of the few people who knew I know the basics of piano playing, a great percentage did not know I actually head back to re-take piano lessons when I was in Secondary school. Some where when I was in Sec 1 my love for piano was relinguished. Or maybe because it was peer pressure coz then, most of my close girl friends were all piano-literate and I was bordering being piano-illiterate.

Anyway, so I went back to the music school with the confidence of a peacock and demanded them to teach me (even though I was considered over-age to take on Grade 4).

Frankly speaking, I only lasted merely a year in the school before dropping out again. Hahaha!! Damn sad. Yes, I know. But the second dropout was due to exhaustion and inability to juggle travelling, school work, extra-curriculum activities (netball & librarian) and sleep on top of the extra piano lessons. SOOOOOooooooo... that marked the end of my quest of learning piano.

~~~~~ NOW ~~~~~

The piano has been sitting in my house for years gone from all its glory and I had successfully regarded it as a mere ornament of decoration until little JD stumbled to it.

Okay, stumbled is also an exaggeration since little JD can't even crawl, let alone walk / stumble lah.

One damn fine day, little JD was terrorizing the house in his baby walker when he knocked against the piano. Out of his baby curiosity, he started to run his fingers on the sides of the piano. Upon seeing such notion, I thought, "IT'S A SIGN!!! JD WANTS TO PLAY PIANO!!".

Swiftly I opened the piano cover and carried little JD to sit on my lap. It's almost an inert instinct as little JD started slamming boths hands onto the piano keys.

To my neighbours, whom I need to apologise, of having errant piano keys being slammed at awkward intervals and octa in the hours of their resting time. But to me, this is the music to my ears! My baby son CAN play piano.

And this kiasu-mommy started thinking,

"Is there any piano classes for babies?!"

*hee*

p/s: Don't laugh!!! There are in fact swimming classes for babies !!!

p p/s: Speaking of swimming, I have loads of pictures to upload on JD CNY VIRGIN SWIM! He loves it okay!!!!

p p p/s: Gosh, my little JD is a talented baby lah!!!

Okay okay, enough of all those postscripts. I need to work!

bliss heaven and joy

2009-02-19T13:57:00.003+08:00

Just last night as my dear hubby was orchestrating with his vocals, I sat in front of my laptop with the intention to finish up some work (however in vain). Not that we had an early night rest as compared to normal days. In fact, my in-laws came over and we brought little JD out for his ever FIRST dinner outing. To give little JD some credit, he behaved quite well to which I was secretly disappointed as that would mean he has matured up that little bit more to behave himself. And that ultimately equates to me that he won't be needing me so much physically already :(

Okay I'm exaggerating, as again.

After putting little JD to sleep (like finally), hubby and I both sat down with our respective laptops working away. Hubby always has a higher workload as compared to me, so it's normal for me to see him working at night. But for ME to work through the night. Now, that IS a rare sight and I could see hubby's confused face almost asking, "Why do you need to work through the night with the things that you could have easily accomplished during the day?"

Of course, after knowing me for 'so-long', Hubby has learned to be smart that not all questions posted to me will have a decent reply or treatment, especially if asked at the wrong time *hee*

Man, I sound like a tyrant. Or wait, maybe I am? Hmmm...

Anyway, halfway through working, my mind started drifting away... far into the time before hubby and I started. Not that it is really far in reality lah, considering the fact that Hubby and I dated for 1 year before getting married. But the time line is fascinating.

2006 - We met and started dated couple of months later (like all lovey dovey couples)
2007 - We got married (not quite like all couples who would choose to get married slightly later into their courtship)
2008 -I got pregnant (DEFINITELY unlike most married couples who would want romantic couple married life for 1-2yrs)
2009 - Birth of Baby JD

Wait. I have to clarify. A LOT of people thought the reason of us getting married is that I was pregnant then. REALLY. It isn't that!!! Come on, I do know of the different methods of contraception, okay!

For a timeline of merely 3 years, it certainly feels like we have been through a lot, yet sometimes it feels like we haven't been through a lot. Life can be so contradictingly confusing.

Either it is my biological clock ticking to a more matured self or the whole experience of parenting actually has done me well into maturity in character. Somehow, I feel my life thus far has been a little swaying on the wasteland. It's like, I haven't really accomplished something big in my life yet. It's like, I am not really living life fully as what I thought I have.

Feels like, I am still an immature person.

And that is scary.

Do you have thinkings like that too? I just need to know my 'worries' are actually normal worries. If not, it will be soon I need to book myself in for a pyschiatric checkup.

Okay lah, i'm exaggerating again with the pyschiatric part.

But seriously, do you get similar worries as what I have mentioned?

Falsie EyeLashes

2009-02-17T11:14:00.003+08:00

My first amateur attempt in putting falsie eye lashes. Still not perfect and it is quite obvious that it is fake lah. Nevertheless, I like the look I see from the mirror. Bigger peepers. More alert peepers.

A few downsides of having falsie eye lashes bug me still. Like, I can't rub my eyes the normal way and with long wearing contacts, my eyes sometimes get dry and irritated and itchy. So some times of the day I have the habit of rubbing my eyes just to relieve the itch. With falsies, eye rubbing is basically a big NO-NO as the friction can detach falsie from my eyelids (and I am much too lazy to re-attach it so many times).

Second downside is, I have to put quite a heavy makeup especially around the eye area, just so to go along with the falsie eye lashes look. I mean, imagine I have super eye lashes but no make up. Don't you feel it'll look super weird?

Third downside is, I have to wake up slightly EARLIER so that JD will still be sleeping, and I have enough time to shower and get ready, and THEN begin the makeup process. Problem is, JD wakes up at irregular times, some as early as 7am, hence I can't really gauge what time to wake up too :(

Fourth downside is, I can see the shadows of the falsie eye lashes and believe me, it is super irritating! I mean, previously when I have barely-there original eyelashes, I don't really get to see my own mar. And now, when the length of the falsie is super increased to double / triple, suddenly I get to see the shadows. *sigh*

Fifth downside is that this whole vain thing is COSTLY!!! For a freaking five pairs of falsies that are apparently made from natural human hair (don't ask me the source of the human hair as I am trying to block out the possibility of having dead human eye lashes as falsie), the price is RM59.90!! I wonder how long I will continue to 'invest' into this?! *ponders*

Sixth downside is the comments my customers give when they see me having such heavy makeup and falsies. Apparently as what they had implied, it is very seldom to see a pharmacist who pays SOOOOOOOO much details to her physical look i.e. I am a very vain pharmacist with a little too much makeup on the face.

But I do have particular requests from my customers to help them PUT falsies next time. Hrmm... maybe I should charge a service price? :D

Tip of an ice berg

2009-02-09T10:56:00.003+08:00

I felt compelled to write about something serious for a long time. The reasons that are holding me back are that 1) I am not a serious blogger / writer 2) I do not have enough knowledge or information to put through what I want to write 3) I am plain lazy.

As we entered into the second month of 2009 and JD enters into his 7th month of age, I think the time is about right that I should take a more serious self in regards of my life - health, career, finances, investments & family.

It is neither an alien nor shocking to know that our world's economy is slumping to a low level that even the ah-pek ah-sum in kopitiams are talking about it. In 2008, our economy had inflation that caught a lot of commoners by surprise. Petrol price increase. Basic food items price increase. Transportation price increase. Medical price increase. Almost every thing down to sand and earth suffer from a price increment to some sort.

Just as our regular commoners thought the worst is coming, it seems like international barrel crude oil decrease in price. Brilliant isn't it? Most commoners went around clapping celebratory hands when domestic petrol price started to slide down from the peak.

Little did commoners like me know that the slide of domestic petrol price is reflectory to how bad the international economy is slumping too.

Little did commoners like me know that there are more important factors, besides price per barrel of crude oil, affecting the world's economy.

Little did commoners like me understand the implication of economy (especially in US) onto commoners like us in Asia or Malaysia.

Humans are all greedy, and many times it is our own greed that brings a fall / stump to ourselves. As a greedy child last time, I remember I used to love eating fresh oranges. Every time my mom cut out fresh oranges slices to my family, I was the first to dash and snatch as many slices my hands and mouth could contain. 'The more the merrier'.

This simple analogy I had put forth is actually the basis of a lot of greed in humans. Ask any one person if he thinks he earns enough / has enough money. Chances of him replying, "Yes, I do have enough!" might be as slim as 0.1%. In fact, you might be shocked to hear a multi-trillionaire explaimed that he does NOT have enough money.

Because monetary is never an end-point when most people adopt 'the more the merrier' concept.

And it is exactly THIS greed of wanting MORE that cause us so much pain when recession slumps.

Economic recession is man-made disaster of simply having too much supply and too little demands chain.

I do not know about countries overseas, but looking at a place very near to us, home - Malaysia. How many shopping complexes are there in KL ? And how many more STILL budding to come? How many empty shoplots are there around in Malaysia, and how many more are the government STILL allowing to construct? How many hypermarkets are there in a particular town, and how many more are STILL allowing to 'penetrate' ? How many residential areas have been created and sales left sub-optimised, and how many are there STILL laying different foundations of work?

I also do not know about statistics, but I do see that the structural supply in Malaysia is definitely much higher than purchase power. So much so, it is a general clause of having more things built just so to create more jobs and inject more flow in the economy. Which so, I guess is applicable in the short run.

But what happens when people do not have enough money to buy?

Companies slash prices of goods sold.

Which some consumers (with some extra cash) will be clapping hands again because they have picked up some good bargains. BUT, to the economy, this isn't good.

Imagine if your selling price of something is almost near to your cost price, that is, your profit is undeniably little. So which means, your tax also becomes lower. Which means, the government also earn lesser.

Anyway, I am getting a little far stretched. But what exactly happened in US that started the 'ball rolling' downwards of recession?

From my humble pea-sized knowledge, in US , the previous years of economy had been riding high and many companies and citizens had quite a comfortable stash of money; that a lot of housing developers started constructing a lot of properties. More houses were built and advertised, and more people were tempted to buy.

Thence that spurred more people heading to the bank applying for housing loans, aside all the different other credit loans i.e. personal loans / credit cards / etc.

And then through the midst of spending too much, more people started to realise after looking at their bank accounts statement balances and seeing the prices of goods hiked; there aren't a lot of money left. Then news started flooding in about the expected drop of economy, and so these lot of people decided that they might not be so interested to continue investing in any particular property.

At around the same time, banks realised that overall, they let out too huge credit amount to the general public. Thence the burst of the credit bubble in central banks, and finally the burst of our big nation US's economy.

So what happen now, as all is gloomy in this recession? How do we earn more money?

There are a few options like,
1) Get a promotion or ask for a raise in salary (no use since most corporates are withholding salary increments till further notice)
2) Change job (I doubt another corporate will be offering better monetary aspects as your current job)
3) Take up a second job (feasible if you have a lot of time in hand, and also, some networks to land you a second job income)
4) Invest (this topic I can't comment much as I am STILL figuring out too, but I know if you do not have enough cash already, DO NOT INVEST INTO STOCK MARKET with no expertise)
5) REDUCE EXPENSES!

Personally I think reduce expenses seem to be the most viable and practical methods of increasing significant cash. Try drafting out an expenses portfolio in spreadsheet or something, you WILL be amazed to see, just how much UNNECESSARY expenditure you make in a daily basis.

Lastly, it is true that money do not grow on trees or drop down from the sky. It is true that most analysts are predicting a difficult 2009 in terms of general economy and sluggish markets, but perservere long enough (that is, making sure you keep more cash in hand) and observe intently; you will see the SILVER lining soon :)

Brought to you, courtesy of the ranting of 3-Seconder!

Similarity

2009-01-20T16:18:00.005+08:00

Hrmmm... do all babies look similarly or can I jump into the conclusion that JD looks like me when I was a baby?

*grins*

Wound and Scar

2009-01-09T19:06:00.003+08:00

I wish to say, with the mere single addition to the number of years I have lived, I have transformed into a matured and wise person. Sadly maturation and being wise do not equate with direct increment of age.

You can be an old hag but still be stupidly innocent.

Or you can be a young chap but having the mentality and character of an old man.

I wish to say, sometimes, I have lived long enough (in those 27 years) to understand how most humans behave.

And I certainly wish to say, that sometimes, there are goods within the soul of every being.

Forgive and Forget.

Is it really that simple? When a wound has been inflicted so deep leaving a scar so strong, that no matter how long it is, how much people have moved on with their life and how sprouts have grown to be trees; the scar remains there.

It might not be as visible as it was. But it is STILL there.

The only thing being changed is, people assume that it is NOT there, but in fact, it is STILL there. Although buried deep within the tissues, but underneath it all, the old scar remains still. So when someone took a gravel and started digging into it, the scar reveals.

Ugly scar reminding you of the ugly memories.

Reminding you of the pain you have gone through. Reminding you of the object that had inflicted all those pain. Reminding you of what you did foolishly to obtain that scar.

Why a scar?

Because there was never a chance for a gentle healing. There was never a chance of recovery. Hence the formation of a scar.

Why never a chance for a complete healing and recovery?

Because there was NEVER a chance of corrective treatment. Never a chance of peace.

Why never a chance of peace?

Because the wound was never given a heal before the next wound kills in.

That's why.

Post Bday revelation

2009-01-08T13:30:00.003+08:00

And so a new start!

All about JD

2009-01-06T16:28:00.004+08:00

Oh Hi! Iz me again! Thiz iz dee 1zt time me eating oat cerealz. Not very tazty but better than milk la. Haz been 2 weekz oledi & me have tried apple, potato & carrot. Pureed. Yummy. Me like apple da bezt!

Then thiz iz me watching me Baby Einstein dvd. A little boring lor. Nowadayz me watch from the BIGGGGGGGGG flat screen in the living room. Clearer! then the showz more action. Baby Einstein a bit slow :( But mommy insistz me to watch :(

Finally thiz iz me scolding mommy!!!

*nyek nyek nyek*

Happy 2009 from JD !

2009-01-02T19:44:00.004+08:00

Hi buddy! Iz me, JD, the little prince in my mommy & daddy eyez.

let me give a quick update before mommy off the computer.

ME FINALLY MET MOMMY'S FRIEND!!! :)
But Aunty-Jaclyn, me apologise for the bad behaviour i had. me was very sleepy :(

then then then...

ME FINALLY HAD MY SEMI-SOLID FOOD!!!

then then then...

MOMMY MADE ME APPLE PUREE & IT IS SUPER DUPER DELICIOUS THAT I GOBBLED EVERYTHING UP!!

*yum*

p/s: mommy making up a food plan for me too. me going to have a lot of delicious foooooooddd!

2008 when I am 26

2008-12-26T13:08:00.011+08:00

Now that Christmas is over, symbolising a new year is about to start soon and more importantly, my age is sadly going to increase by another number. I thought, why not track back to the things that I have done / happened in the year 2008 when I am still 26. Sort of a reflection and reminiscence before a new year steps in.

I didn't make any new year resolution starting 2007 because what's the point of me making them when (honestly) I do not stay on track to fulfill them?

Hence instead of having new year resolutions, I thought to myself, the next best thing to look forward to a new year is to embrace what had happened in the past. Be it good or bad, we need to come to terms with our past before we can start anew.

Don't you agree?

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

1) One of the most hilarious thing that had happened to me in 2008 is the time whereby I was mistaken as a waitress in a hotel cafe. I was pregnant and having buffet in a hotel whereby a man (whom I deduce is a tourist) ordered food from me. Immediately I felt offended and snapped back at him. You can read my entire description here.

2) Didn't manage to blog or take any picture, but I won a RM100 dinner voucher to dine in TGIF Penang (Queensbay Mall) due to a collaborating contest between TGIF and Nuffnang. I wrote an entry about TGIF and surprisingly won myself RM100. That was the FIRST time ever that I won something online.

[ Actually in the year 2008, through the help of Nuffnang and the power of blogging, one of other entries I put into for an online contest was shortlisted to the TOP 10, and another won me a consolation prize. *smiles* ]

3) Beginning of the year I blogged about the various Happy Moments I had. Although I didn't win anything from that contest, mainly because I did not broadcast over my blog nor inform friends all over the world to vote for my entry online. I wrote that entry, simply because I truly wanted to write about it. Even if there weren't any contest going on, I would have written a similar entry with a similar topic line too. But my entry was shortlisted to the Top 10.

4) My third atempt to Nuffnang online contest writing was on Malaysian Dreamgirl (MDG).

In fact, my entry was very simple. But good enough to get me a weekly consolation prize. There are a lot of things I do not agree with the whole competition. The rules weren't clear cut at all. Nevertheless, I was given an Ambank NexG prepaid card which till now I have not used!

The NexG card marked the end of my blogging for money era because subsequently I was way too absorbed with my pregnancy to actually write about others.

Note: By the way, the second season of MDG is currently auditioning for fresh faces for their next online competition. If interested, please go to HERE to find out the various dates and places where you can walk in to apply and model away!

5) On the 8th March 2008, I finally exercised my rights as a Malaysian. It is the first time I voted in my home country. Results of the nation election, still, remain a shock to the government but not so for the citizens. The world is changing, and that is one key point every country has to foresee and swiftly change their tradition old attitude of managing the country; if they still want to obtain high regards and respect from the people.

6) From an initial litter of 4 puppies and 2 dogs, it was downsized to 1 puppy. Collie, my beloved dog, was given away. Cosmic (Collie's son from first marriage) was also given away. Collie's second marriage children - Patches, Oddball, Tailess & Brownie - weren't spared. We only managed to keep Patches, the rest of the litter was given away.

Drove down to Ipoh to attend a close college friend's wedding luncheon. It feels strange yet somewhat heart warming to see an old friend, whom I have known since she and I were young adolescents to now a successful doctor and wife to a great man.

8) Due to my pregnancy and a slight worry of having gestational diabetes, my doctor sent me to do a Glucose Tolerance Test when I was 31week into my pregnancy. My first ever and the whole process was tedious, time consuming & the drink was an absolute horror. Glad the results turned out perfectly normal.

First attempt to dine in a concept restaurant in Queensbay Mall - T-Bowl. The whole deco is toilet themed. Toilet bowls as your seats and your food is being contained in a toilet bowl style. Shower heads. Shower curtains. You get the point.

10) For a second time, Natalie and Anya came back Malaysia for a short break. It is totally heart melting to hear Natalie calling me 'Yi-Yi'. Normally I do not get to see her often hence making each opportunity of seeing her a cherished one. Sadly I have to admit that I do not feel as closely attached to Anya as compared to Natalie. I guess the first child syndrome also happens to the extended family.

11) Coming to the last month of my pregnancy, with my huge belly and jello-like legs; hubby and I decided to lay low on our First Anniversary Celebration. Nothing fancy. Just a little surprise from his end. Hmm... I can't even remember if I gave him anything in return? Aiks!

12)

The birth of my son. A day I will always remember till I die. I opt for natural delivery. Some people asked why, afterall, the advances in medical technologies have made Caesarean section a very much popular and safe options these days. My thought is that, if the mother is physically able to give birth naturally, why not? Although the whole process is painful, but it is one experience that no words are enough to describe. The moment after all those hours of painful contractions and to feel your own flesh and blood greeting the world. The moment you hold him close to you, seeing him up close face to face, looking at whether he has all perfect limbs fingers eyes ears mouth & nose, hearing him cry from all the alien tubes forcing down his throat & finally calling to him and seeing him quiet down at the sound of your voice.

Nothing in the entire world beats just that.

13) After years of whinning of having sparse unnoticeable eyebrows, I finally did Brownaissance. So now I wake up every morning without having the hassle to draw my own eyebrows, and still have perfectly arched and coloured brows, it's bliss lah!

14) And I permed my hair again.

With what they called Digital Perm. Sounds as if it's some computerised monitored based perming but the whole process isn't so lah. But who cares what they do so long as my curls turned out to be nice wavy. Not too fake but the flip side is, I need to use those hair cream to maintain the curls i.e. earlier wake up time in the morning.

15) Finally I got my dream phone Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905, courtesy of Hubby who planned on giving the phone as a surprise but ended up having to break the surprise bubble for fear of me buying the phone on my own. Teehee!

16) Got around in changing my shop's layout. A slight change brings a fresh burst of appearance.

17)
And I bought my first ever fridge!!! Sharp Hybrid. Okay, besides knowing that it has a deodirizer inbuilt to keep food fresh and odourless plus eco-saving... I bought it just for the brand to replace an old fridge in my parents' place. My dad has been complaining on and on about how the old fridge is not working well lah, not cold enough lah and that the compressor is very noisy lah and might be the reason why the electricity bill is so high lah... so I thought, I have never really bought anything for the family yet hence a contribution from my end lah. At least to show them that I do care for them.

18)
Got my first Starbucks journal. Why? Simply because I like Starbucks and will like to obtain as many of their merchandise as possible. Why? Because I'm just a plain brand conscious materialistic girl who refuses to have any other brands of high end coffee besides Starbucks!

19) Managed to get coaxed into joining a direct selling company (of which name I will not disclose) and 3 months after that, I stopped purchasing the foresaid company's products. Reasons being: a) Product over claiming b) Product over costing c) Up-line being over-zealous to pay me a visit every so often with the presumption that I am going to make the direct selling a main career instead.

20) A revelation that the 'discussions' that I have with my hubby has increased tremendously ever since JD is born. If there is not right / wrong in a relationship, can anyone kindly advise me why sometimes one can feel so wronged in situations that the other feel so right? In situations like that, what to do and what not to say? *sigh*

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

There you go. My life in 2008 all down to a mere 20 events.

How was yours?

Heart ache

2008-12-25T13:38:00.002+08:00

What hurts most?

1) Stepping onto a nail.
2) Falling from a ladder.
3) Get punched on the eye.
4) Hit at the crotch.
5) Fingers get slammed by the door.
6) Betrayed by a friend.
7) Colour run from your favourite top / dress / shirt.
8) Experiencing the death of your pet.
9) Going through a breakup.
10) Lost a precious item.
11) Seeing your little one sick.
12) The precious time you thought you are going to have with your little one and his father suddenly got 'robbed' off when his father decided to make a change of plans; leaving you feeling confused as to what had happened with your initial statement of spending time together and being forced to think that sometimes, your position is just not as important.

T.H.E. E.N.D