searching the extrodinary in something ordinary

Thursday, January 26, 2006

another 2 more or should i say one and a half more days and the holidays will be upon us. 1 entire week off for me. yippee. But...... sigh i feel as if i always have things to complain about. Is it me, or is the magazines just feeding me with too much of those, " is your friend a complain whore" thingy. But i feel i do complain a lot, but what can i do. I will have to return to work for at least another 2 more weeks. But to think about it, it ain't that long. Its just that i don't hope to spend 2 weeks paying RM 8 transport fees per day going to work so i can do nothing. So i hope that is not true.

Anyways, sometimes it is funny how things only hit me once i sit down to think about it. It just hit me that things will no longer follow "tradition" from this yr on for cny. What is tradition for me? First day of cny wake up laze around abit, refuse to follow dad to the famed tin hou kong temple in KL ( yes that is the tradition most years. He ask, i say lazy.) Those will prob still remain the same, but then after that when mom is done with praying, with a little help from me. Me and her will go over to my grandparent's place to "visit" and meet up with both my mom's brothers and their family. This year that little visit is eliminated from the day's agenda. Which in fact makes quite a big part of that day, because we stay to chat and play cards. Since both my grandparents are no longer around, my uncles won't be coming down so early if not at all. I guess they will be starting their own tradition from now on. So what will be my family's new tradition then. I honestly can't think of much. It is just wierd Maybe me and mom should embark in some hon tai making. i don't think most of you would know what are those, but its a sort of noodle that is made into a flatened sphere and steamed and then sliced and cooked either in soup or fried.

Anyways i guess this year its not just me that is going to have to deal with not doing what we do every year for cny. Rae! wonder when you will get ur connection to read this. Anyway hope you have found a way to make ur cny a little more bearable this yr. *hugs* . Throws mandrin oranges at you.

well either way i still can't wait for cny to come. At least i know one thing is for sure. reunion dinner will still be there. And new tradition has it that we do it steamboat style. I don't mind at all since i think it should be less fattening. ha haha. Like i really care. But i will still have my normal fare for the hoi nin fan.

anyays xing nian kuai le. gong xi fa chai

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

You know of the many ideas that i have, I have actually thought of opening a coffee shop that serves ice coffee buy freezing coffee into ice cube and then slowly melting it in milk so that you get a nice milky ice coffee minus the dilution and getting a range from more milky to more coffee in one sitting. But oh well looks like i am no genius after all because i read here that, that has already been thought of. Oh well i think i still have another idea up my sleeve. Hope that hasn't been thought of yet.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

call me crazy but it is 12:33 am right now and i just finished baking half a dozen of egg tarts.









didnt turn out too well though ;). i just pakai hentamed the recipe so ..... And actually i wouldn't have made it coz after being so hyped about making some i kinda got lazy when i got home. But someone said i better not be lazy coz he is expecting that for breakfast. Ah not someone special so don't let ur imaginations run wild yet. Just jin leong. So i retorted that he better eat it even if it sux. Well he better. What suddenly made me so hyped about baking? I spent almost the entire day reading about food blogs. I think i will spare u guys the trauma for the time being, coz i also lazy to find the link to the list. All those wonderful food. Even so called designer pastries from some french guy names pierre herme which own's high class pastry shops with the label PH a.k.a Pierre Herme. It does look very "designer" ;P. Sigh sigh. food... i want to eat all those glorious food. But no $$$$.

Anyway next experiment is either shephard's pie, again pakai hentam recipe or some potato gratin dish pakai hentam as usual. I dont really like to go by the recipe mainly because i hate looking for the recipe/ all the needed ingredients that are not readily available / measured requirements.

Ok besides food, since i have been spring cleaning i discovered a new use for a tall shot glass ? Ah the one that laine bought for us last time. Hmmmm come to think of it. Laine so tall the shot glass u really was trying to get us drunk once we decided to use it ah ;)
anyway's before it is use for its main purpose, it shall temporarily be my earring display unit/holder . Behold :




















the colors realy come together. Not all the earrings are up yet though.

Anyways thats all for now. Need to sleep wei. its late.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Read this today. I am just shaking my head now. What came into my mind after a while was, Iraq/ Saddam Hussien. Although perhaps their main aim isn't exactly similar. But one should wonder what kind of society are we living in which needs a spy committee to be formed to ensure others live like what is deemed proper. Is this the extent we need to go to to make sure everyone confirm to society's or rather in this case a particular religion's mold. Eventhough this issue does not effect me, it still makes me wonder if it doesn't seem a little extreme. And not only do i think this does not solve problems, I can see how more problems might arise from this. The act of spying, I believe harbours a lot of unhealthy psychological effects, for the person doing it as well as everyone else which have the potential of being spied on. First of all, i believe that any righteous person who have half a sane mind, will not believe in the notion of spying, for whatever cause. So those that volunteers for such a job would probably be some over zealous person who in one way or another have a extremist streak. So if that is the case, it might come to a point where false accusations might surface due to lack of "results" in their spying. And as for the general public that are being spied on, it creates an environtment of distrust and paranoia where you wonder which of the people you are with are actually spies.

So is this the kind of society that anyone wants to live in. In the end, what a person chooses to do with their life is only up to themselves. The one thing that i learn from life is that, the harder you try to control a person, the craftier they get at finding ways to do otherwise. No one can change another person without that person wanting to change themselves.

Monday, January 16, 2006

la la la. Monday in the office and i have nothing to do. How long is this gonna keep up. Anyways, got spent lunch today by..... hmmm i am not sure who. But should be One of the trainee which today is his last day punya supervisor. Since my supervisor and aaron's supervisor is also on friendly terms with him, we got called along too. The first spent lunch here, not that it is mandatory for them to do so. But apperently this trainee which is going away got spent TGIF when he first arrived. So lucky. But going out for lunch with a bunch of people that you barely know is a little stressful in a way that you don't really know how to act. It is even worst in a situation like chinese style meal where u scoop food off dishes in the middle of the table. I always hate eating with strangers this style. But oh well, today was a chinese style thing. So i stick to easy to eat stuffs and leave harder to reach stuffs alone. Nothing much interesting happened other than hearing snippets of interesting convo about this person or that. I am totally bored now.

p.s: you cannot imagine how cha doh i was when while my supervisor was explaining somthing to me and i was looking at my phone on the table, praying no smses will come and out of no where it just tinkled to announce incoming messages. Sigh..... such is the browns law. Well at least i have something to do today. Only problem being my supervisor will not be around for 3 days

edit: random thoughts, but it just hit me how long pregnancy is. 9 months sounds very extremely scary

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Yesterday was a girls night out again. Looks like the "sisters" have finally gotten back on track. I guess these are the kind of friends which you know, no matter what is here to stay. There are friends which will drift apart after not meeting up for a long time, and once they meet again just becomes awkward and stays awkward, while some do warm up again and there are those that no matter how long being apart will just pick up where they left. At the begining i actually thought everyone would have just drifted apart after hardly being able to find time to meet up, making me feel as if some are just being plain unaccomodating some times and not making the effort. But i guess it was really hard to find time before this. And now saturday nights are open for any organized meet up.

You know how you read in the magazine that u have different groups of friends to cater to your many different aspect of needs in life. The first time i read that, i was slightly indignant, feeling as if i have just been put into such a one dimensional role. But i guess the truth is, this is kinda true in some ways. But then again there are friends which do really fit in to most aspects of your lifes so i guess it all depends. But at the moment, i guess i have categoric friends, and i think it is actually good for the pocket, because i can't imagine having every group of friends which are into doing the same thing i.e. trying out different cuisine or clubbing etc, etc. Because it is pricey, and if every week one group decides to eat above average restaurants, i probably wont be able to keep up and along the way stop hanging out with either one group. Not to mention how boring my life will be.

So anyways for now this is the bunch i will call on when i feel like trying some exotic stuffs not that we dont go to mamak for the rest of the time la. That or they will be the one that suggest it. The last time was spanish. This time is something of switzerland origin which is fondue. You can read all aboutit here.I wanted to try that for a long time but never knew where. So when Alli suggested fondue, i was pretty much excited. This place was in hartamas located in one of the quiter corner near clun cassablanca i think away from the main busier area. If i am not wrong the shop name is The Fondue Place. The ambience was a little different than i had imagine, but it is a fun place for family meals as well. And in fact it is a very well recieved place as when we reached, the place was almost filled to the brim, only having a table in the smoking area available. But the shop wasn't really big but not small either so.... The crowd is pretty varied as there are families as well as younger crowds. Later on we managed to move in to the none smoking area as none of us smokes anyway. The menu is 90% fondue but they offer some western dishes as well. But i think ppl that go there and order something else are just idiots. The pricing is not too bad for a set for 3 - 4 ppl sharing, which comes down to about 10 ++ per person. But for the type of food offered i think it is just so so. They had stuffs like bread, biscuit, some vege, then prawns, chicken & fish fillets, crab stick and a basket of fries. But the main deal is of course the cheese. There is a number of cheese mixture which we could choose from. The one we took was bacon cheese. honestly i didnt think the seafood which was deep fried was quite suitable for fondue. It would have been just right if it was just chicken and vege plus bread. Plus the cheese wasn't reall sufficient for the amount of food they have.


















the cheese pot















what the entire set looks like

later, we decided to give th chocolate fondue a go as well. This comes with a choice as well, and we took the whickey chocolate fondue which comes with a shot of whiskey. We had a choice to add how much whiskey we like but what is the point of keeping some anyway, since we wont drink it. So in everything went. And we got the mixed platter with cakes and apples and mango and star fruit and the best were of course banana and strawberry but not to forget grapes. That one was also so so for the pricing but the chocolate was absolutely yummy. But pity that there was so much left over and nothing much can be done about it. What a waste of good chocolate not to mention whiskey. We took lots of pictures too ;). Anyways the whole meal with drinks came down to rm 23 ish per person.














the whiskey pouring process

since the group photo cannot make it. The role call of the night is as below














jenni + daphi + me














me + linlin+ alli

Friday, January 13, 2006

changed my layout. Or rather tweaked it. I wanted to write my own codes but somehow when i reviewed the codes they use in blogger it looked intimidating. I know it is basically almost the same with normal html tags and all. But mostly it is done programming style with all the { and }. I dunno how that works yet. So so far what i did was choose a template that suites what i want to achieve and then change some codes here and there to get what it is now. I took away the wrapper that keeps all the contents in the middle i guess. So everything seems less claustrophobic. Added the banner on top where the normal mono colored banner was. But the graphics was from somewhere else. So erm credits to the person that made it. Sorry i didnt manage to remember where i got it from. I was just googling for min woo. Anyways i will try to write with the normal code that i originally learned for a new layout and see if that works. before this i was wondering how you get the post to be posted on the page when u post on blogger. But i think now i know how that works. All those blogger special tags thingy. Ya the wonders of IT. There is so much i want to post about. But i guess we will see how that goes, coz i am wondering if i should go home early
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I am still here. Didn't take off earlier coz i can't find my supervisor to tell him i am leaving. Looks like he has tons more things to do then meets the eye. But most of the time nothing much which i can learn from. Or whatever the reason. Sigh, what a drag. I am here but there isnt much that i can learn. And it gets to a point where he actually got me to go with him so that he can "guide/ show" me how to do something in which is quickly finished and i need not do further work after he is gone. And on days when i do not have work. I am kinda expected to do personal research into what is being done. But honestly i don't feel the motivation since this isnt the field which i am really interested with. what with metallurgical studies and capacitors and what nots. Exactly why i am glad i didnt take E&E eventhough i originally contempelated to take it. That was also because i was more interested in the programming and telco side of it. Oh well. But it kinda makes me feel bad. As if i am this bumm that just isnt bothered and instead do unrelated stuffs. But i really rather be programming now. Anyways the third month is quickly ending. But it still seems so long more till i will be free. Chinese new year is only about 2 weeks away though. But doesnt seem like much. Everything just seems so mellow lately. Things are not the same anymore. And then class will be starting another 3 weeks after cny hols. Its long when u look at how long i still need to work but short when it comes to going back to class alr.

So about going back to class. Sort of sorted out my timetable which is extremely complicated due to all this syllabals change. Sigh sigh. And it can't be helped that i have to extend another extra semester to complete my course. So i better not fail anymore. But seriously i don't want to and don't plan to fail anymore. So becuase i can no longer opt to redo the subjects which i failed previously, i had to meet my course coordinator to help me work something out. But every time i meet him he is still hasn't manage to confirm his advice, even if he was the one that set the meeting date. Sigh. So finally hr passsed the baton to me to arrange the way i want to do my remaining subjects to me. Which i gladly took. Because honestly, i could have originally did that after he adviced me on the subjects i need to take for the replacement. So i did that and sent him the breakdown and he dully agreed that i could do it that way.

So now i have 5 subjects each for next 2 sem and for 2007 sem 1 i will be doing 2 subjects. My thesis could only be started in sem 2 this yr since by then i would have better had met the missing 4 credit points requirement from yr 3 to do it. Sometimes i wonder is it the way that i look at things which is kinda screwy, or is it life always has better plans for me. Because the way i look at is it that, this arrangement doesn't seem all that bad actually. But i guess it could be better to finish it with the rest of my batch so that we can graduate together as well as me earning my $$ moolah and starting my career earlier. But then again, there seems to be some pretty good points withstanding those and not to mention having to cough up quite a sum of $$. And he good points are, firstly i have an extra 3 months in the middle of the end yr break for me to research my thesis thouroughly, as Oon-Ee has most eagerly pointed out. Which i think a person like me could really use anyways. Then there is the part where I might be able to get a better choice for my thesis guidance lecturer as they would be less contender for the list of lecturer available in the 2nd sem batch. But that would have to depend on how the system work, and if the same lecturers are in the list for our batch.
Other than that, i guess about the moolah part, i will be earning my keep too when the time arrives, as i will only have to work on 2 subjects. One being entirely research based. The rest of the time which i think i will have at least enough of, would hopefully be used working as a lab assistant if possible. That is the ultimate job choice, since it is the best paying job i can afford to do. Then the money would be used to fund my extra sem there. Even if not, i will see what i can do with my part time job choices. That i guess i will have to work out some how or other. But most importantly i need to have enough time for my research as well. Wow, i already have my entire yr and a half planned out. Lets hope that the plot will not be lost, although exeprience tell me that i am not the best at keeping to the plot.

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On another note, I was watching a korean drama yesterday and something sort of struck me. There was a part where this guy asked the girl (it was in english btw, the guy was a mix korean fr USA) " Come on, tell me what's wrong" and she says "nothing". But even so the guy just went on to say " something IS wrong, coz everytime you are this bubbly and all giggly, the actual fact is something is really wrong".

OK i am not sure what was the exact word they used, but you get the gist of it. Then lately i have been kinda stressed out, and for the pass 2 days or so i have been acting quite kooky. And Oon-Ee was shaking his head at my incoherent sentences and just plain nuttyness. Not that you guys don't find this the norm. But really, does anyone wonder if anything was wrong. But i guess i have been that way for a while now.

So what was the source of stress, if not one of the many? I haven't manage to blog about this, but almost a week or more ago, the pipings under our house which supplies water to the entire house burst/crack. What happen really was one night my when my brother came back from work, he discovered a puddle of water at the foot of the stairway and asked why no one cleaned up after spilling something. The puddle was too huge to be spilt drinks though. Later we discovered it came from under the stairs. My first thought was. "dark water" :P. aduh. But that was quickly discounted since it came from below not on top. Not to mention how ridiculous i am sounding.

So somehow or other, it was realized that the next door neighbour did some piping/ drilling/ good knows what else in the day prior to the discovery at night. So speculation was spawned as to how they could have possibily cause the damage to out pipes. But that was discounted by the contractor the neighbours hired to do the job. A little fishy if u ask me. But there is no way really to prove that. So innocent until proven guilty it is. But my grandmother which has a tendency to think she is always right, insist till now it was the neighbours fault. What was thought to be a minor problem however, prove to be something else. It is originally thought that the damage wasn't that bad and water can actually flow to the respective pipes/ tanks albeit lower pressure. Even so, a contractor of our own has alr been contacted. But we waited and waited and waited, but he nv came. So we turned down the main pipe only turning it back on when we needed to bath/cook. But it was finally discovered after days of no show that the water wasnt reaching the upstairs tank at all because when i wanted to bath, no water came out of the pipe. But that is not why i am stress. So since water isnt reaching where it was suppose to it has to go somewhere during the time it is on, since my grandmother can still get water in the kitchen as it comes straight from the main pipe. It ended up flowing in the ground under our house.

And the result showed in causing the floors in the neighbours house to crack up due to errosion. That was when we found out how serious it was. Now they want us to pay for their repairs. Oon-Ee was wondering how is it that the ground tips towards our direction, but the neighbours house was affected instead of ours. I wonder too. And some commotion was caused between my grandmother and the neighbours when they came over to find my dad. She insist they were the ones that burst our pipes. But there really is no way of finding out anyways. But the floors i guess is inavitable, even if it isnt entirely our fault, which just pisses me off how there was nothing we could have done about it as the contractor kept breaking his promise to come. What a great way to start the yr. And with cny coming. it just sux. And you think things could never get worst.
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anyways there has been a song that i have been listening to lately, which i absolutely fell in love with. So here is the lyrics :
it often doesnt matter how its start
the best things can happen with a gentle touch
i'm not ashame to say
i would be more than ok
if by some chance you just asked me to stay

do i see a twinkle of hope thats in your eyes
when you smile it feels so right its no surprise
its only you and i under the stars of tonight
you need to take it to where its feels right

how do i see
whats right for me
do i deny whats inside

if i had wings i would fly
lifting my sould to the sky
if i had nine lifes to live
wish i had u to be with
if i can make wish come true
of all the thing i will do
i know tat i will be wishing for you

dont get me wrong i dont play the life of dreams
but sometimes its easier for me what does it feel so right
living it day and night
wishing that some day you might be with me

Friday, January 06, 2006

Ah first post of the new year. Wanted to write on new yr day its self but no motivation. I have to say that this yrs or rather last yr at this point, new years eve was a tad bit mellow as compared to running away from dogs and erm yam chaing and talking our heads off or erm .... what did we do last yr ah. Anyways, nevertheless there were still fireworks and friends i guess. So a new yr has arrived nothing much really special, but i finally went to the curve for the first time and ikea as well. Ya, i know that's sad. What to do, i nobody bring me go. No ah boy to bring me go date date makan makan ;). Ah well.

So quickly another yr passes. And every year i say its scary. I wonder what this year will bring. hmmm perhaps some sweet surprises. But i am afraid every year it is same old same old. I wonder when will life take on a new zest. Its alr 6 days into the new year, no zest in sight. What do i want to do more this new year? What makes the days in a new year different than the other? Well either way, what i want to see more of this yr? more confidence in every aspect definitely, more happiness.more money ? ha ha ha. more initiative in doing things that i say i want to do. more fun. more forgiveness. more maturity. more courage.

So have i changed in the past year? I think so. Not on the surface, but in the inside. Not very evident. My thoughts have slowly but surely evolved. I realized many things, made peace with myself on some stuffs as well and understood many things. But then again there are also areas which i unknowingly became less tolerant about and i am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. It is really interesting how when you reflect back on yourself at different time of your life, what you see is so different. And i can't help but laugh, sometime at all those "phases" that i have been through. So what do you all think.

Anyways about the last post. Interestingly enough, the person i was talking about has finally realized that her way of dieting isnt really the "way" to go. Now she realizes that her way of dieting makes her feel fatigued during the day. And the magazine she read, tells her she can loose 3 kg a week when i read somewhere that it is not healthy to loose more than 0.5kg a week. How irresponsible of this magazines to print such an unhealthy way to loose weight. But oh well, another one has succumbed to another recipe of dieting. No carbo just fruits. So cest la vie. que sera sera. Hmmm i shall not be judgemental.

Anyways, i am very curious who this paling rajin di antara semua is. If you are reading this, do tell. The phrase sound familiar and i have some one in mind. But i would like confirmation 1st.