It was no April Fool's prank!! :((

April Fool's evening dealt a real `prank' on me. My handbag was snatched from the chair right next to me when I was having dinner!

We were eating at a open-air restaurant just down the road from my house. Earlier was thinking of going to another one but since we were quite hungry and I knew the food was pretty good, so we thought of just eating near by.

We sat outside, thinking that it was quieter and breezier.. were enjoying the meal, chit-chatting and we were almost finished eating...

Then, it happened so fast...! I heard my friend yelled and next thing I knew, a scrawny Indian guy was running away with my bag! My friend up and chased him but just 50 m away, that thief jumped on a motorbike and his friend rode off in high speed. That was it!!

I didn't scream.. think I was dazed.

What happened was the suspecting guy was walking near our table.. And walked behind me, which I didn't even know! He and his partner-in-crime must be eye-ing my bag already. They are pretty pro. The motorcycle light was off so we couldn't see the no. plate as well!

So, I lost my whole handbag - it wasn't expensive but one of my favourite.. :( Of course my wallet was inside.. containing my I.C., driving licence, ATM card, a number of credit cards and many many shopping rewards cards.. some vouchers.. and my dog's puppy photo! :(

BUT guess what? I had absolutely no money inside except some coins. Not even ONE ringgit! I used up the last few ringgit buying some light bulbs which were also in my bag..

That thief must be dumbfounded and frustrated! All his `effort' and not even one ringgit! Serve him right!!

For a second after that I panicked. Not for my lost wallet or anything in my bag.. but I thought my mobile phone was gone! And I have all my contacts in there! But thank God. I took it out earlier and have placed it on the dinner table..

However I lost my iPod Touch! A present mom gave me which is less than a year old.. That I feel very sad about.. I wouldn't have brought it out but since it was already in the bag I didn't bother to take it out.. Then there are other (less valuable) things like my lipstick case, card-holder (a present from sis which I really like too)..

Of course I curse the thieves!! But I also know that I have been too careless. I always have the habit of putting my handbag on the chair next to me. Like last night, I thought there were hardly anyone around or near and I was totally unsuspecting..

Sigh I've learned my lesson now. :(

So after that, I had to do the necessary. Went home to call the bank one by one.. FOUR in all (yes, i have quite a lot of cards..) And then we went to the nearest police station to lodge a report.. And I have to re-apply for my identity card and driving licence on Monday or Tuesday..

Guess I could look at it on the positive side.. At least I wasn't hurt at all.. Cases of snatch theft was just too prevalent.. I know of friends and acquaintances who fell victims to these cowardice criminals.

Right now, I'm still feeling heartache losing my iPod Touch (which, well, you can say is replaceable with money) but..... :((

So yes, I have learned my lesson -I'll from now on to be extremely careful with my belongings..

Arghh!! how I wished it's really just an April Fool's prank!!

Good Riddance to Facebook Games.

Half a month into the new year.. and I think I didn't do too badly for my ONE resolution.. Though I must confess I have not been doing the devotion everyday.. but I would catch up with it and tonite if I read for two days, I am already up to date.. And in a way I do feel spiritually closer to God.. :)

Then Yesterday (Thurs) I made a `drastic' decision - or you could count it as my 2nd resolution for the new year.

I was in the steam room for my detox treatment and since I had to be stuck in there for 1/2 hour, I used the time to pray and commune with the Lord. And I was committing my work to Him, and also confessing how bad I've been in term of wasting time playing on FB games.. and causing myself to sleep extremely late..

Then, the Lord spoke (ok, not literally but He instilled this idea into my head). It's plain and simple: I should just stop playing ALL the games with immediate effect.

It's not exactly very hard to do right, you would say.. Games are games.. but for someone like me who really enjoyed playing them, and yes, got addicted in the process, it is kinda a `drastic' decision. But I welcome it and I told God and myself that I WILL do it.

So it's set. When I got home in the evening, I went to Facebook as usual. First, I put up a status message to announce this decision - a self-tactic to make my decision more firm. Then I just took away all the bookmarks of the applications of the games.. I didn't go and delete the applications for various reasons.. First, it takes too long and I might soften.. and I have too many applications anyway. Secondly, I have kids friends who may want things from my games which I think I can give to them.. to think of it, for Pets Society especially, it's hard for me to just delete my whole account after I had invested so many months and built up a beautiful `home' with so many furniture and stuff in it. At least now even if I don't play at all, I know it's still somewhere in cyberspace..

Actually the one game that I was resisting last night was `Cafe World', cause I was in the midst of cooking a few dishes.. and then I have so many friends who are active playing this game, who without fail have been sending me gifts (dishes) daily. To show my resoluteness, I even deleted all the gifts that they sent so far since last night..

And then there was Sorority Life - a silly girlie game that actually promotes (if anything) vanity and accumulate material things!! But can you believe I have two characters there and even took the trouble to add many strangers just to be come `sisters' (and then deleted them from FB friends cos they're total strangers) And I reached level 109 or 110? in one.. that's A LOT of hours or days or even weeks of time.... sigh

So am I having withdrawal syndrome from FB games? maybe.. I don't know. I know myself too well. If I didn't take such a drastic measure to stop altogether, I could never have the discipline and self control to play just sparingly. Because I have an addictive streak, and from past experiences I have learned the lesson of how addicted I get with things like computer-related games..

A friend actually commented on my status message: `see how long it lasts'!! Hmm but I am really determined to make it last until I have no more interest whatsoever with these games anymore!!

So, good riddance to Sorority Life, Cafe World, Petville, Restaurant City, Pet Society, and Word Twist (though basically I have only one opponent but I can get carried away) All of you have given me fun and good time but at the same time got me wasted hundreds of hours .. so like what the song sings.. it's `Time to say Goodbye..'!

update 17-1-10:
I DID IT!! I just deleted all my FB games applications except Pet Society (for reasons above) and Word Twist (maybe once a while just to play it as it's non continual..).

ALL GONE!!!! :((

Can't believe I've wiped out all my old datas in my old Palm - and I have no back-up!!!

Yes, they're ALL GONE!! Addresses and phone numbers of old friends and contacts - especially those overseas.. old sermon notes.. and other (not so important) things and memories..

Gosh, I'm so upset and I feel I'm crying inside though I can't physically cry.. sigh..

I haven't been using my Palm for the longest time.. reason being the contacts I use often are already in my handphone (only phone nos) I'm not worried about those contacts - friends and work-related - locally. But what I have lost are the addresses and phone nos of friends living overseas - U.K., Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore.. etc..

Thankfully for some of them I am still able to get in touch with.. via Facebook and common friends. But I know there are some whom I have lost contacts altogether.. unless they get in touch with me first..

So you're probably wondering how I could just lose everything.. I think I've just been taking my good old Palm for granted all these years.. It was actually sold to me second hand by my brother-in-law. At that time, Palm was the thing and I was quite impressed by the colour screen..and the simple but functional features.. I have painstakingly input many contacts - including work and general ones.. I used it as a diary until I swapped over to my phone.. and I have input sermon notes and other important stuff and details in it.. There were to-do-notes, even my `feminine cycle' record and others.. Basically it served me well..

A few years back with the change of hard disk, I was unable to SYNC it anymore to the PC (even my technician could not help). I know I was taking a huge risk but somehow naively I still went ahead using the Palm, updating stuff. Then in the last couple of years, I have used it much much less, and almost only when I needed to look up friends contacts overseas (like when I go overseas..)

Since I am going to Singapore tomorrow and I have many friends there, and it seems we will have some spare time besides my cousin's wedding solemnisation and banquet, so I thought of contacting some friends. Even if I could not meet up at least just chat with them.. But when I tried to turn on my Palm (which has not been touched by many months) I could not at all, nothing came on, it was like totally dead..

So finally I did something I really regret now.. but I had done it before last time. Which was to RESET it. When I did this last time when it hanged, all my data was in tact.. But this time..... when it worked again, it was like a brand new Palm - with nothing in it.. :((

I guess maybe it was already dead for too long - I had not charged it for the longest time. The data was probably already gone!!

Sigh.. no use crying over spilt milk now I know. But I felt like screaming out loud..and I just had to let it out..

Yes, it feels so painful to have lost for good memories and contacts from the past that I have cherished all this while..

:((

Taking the `Mac' plunge and loving it!

On Monday night, I bid farewell to my PC of six years and spent a couple of hours tidying the quite messy contents in the hard disk.. ready for the `big change'!

The thing is, it was getting very slow, always hanged and worse of all,because of piracy reason (ahem, i didn't have an original Windows software as it was a clone), I couldn't even access some of the programs anymore!

And Since I `shifted' to my new SoHo, even dad has commented that perhaps it's time to upgrade my desktop computer.. The monitor looked quite dwarf on the large table.. but of course the main reason I decided to change was that I felt it has served its due.

So for the last week or two, I was scouting around and researching for a new desktop. To be honest, I had not thought of switching from Microsoft to Mac as I've been using MS Windows since the day I owned a PC - and although I had tried a Mac before it appeared a bit too `complicated' to me.. Though I must admit I think it's pretty cool.

Then early last week, I stepped foot into Machines - a store that carries only Apple products - and fell in love instantly with the iMac!

Yes, its appearance and design is simply genius and beautiful - like all Apple products. But after speaking to the staff there, I realised the advantages of using a Mac (no worries about virus, almost crash-proof..) basically a more superior technology than Windows. Well, I didn't just take his words for it and proceeded to read up on the Net from reputable tech sites. Reviews of similar all-in-one desktop all point to the fact that the best IS the iMac.

Still not convinced because I was just afraid of taking the `big plunge' switching over, I posted a question on my Facebook status and was a bit surprised by the response! EVERYONE - and there were quite a lot who replied (save one person) asked me to get the iMac. And many of them were happy `converts'.

So by end of last week, I made up my mind that yes, I am gonna get the iMac! To save my worry, Machine's technician agreed to help me transfer my datas from my old PC hard disk to my new Mac! I went to purchase on Monday and left my pc there for the transfer.

Yesterday afternoon, my brand new iMac 20 inch arrived on my doorstep!

I then unpacked the contents and placed the iMac and all the rest on my table.

As I started to use it, I immediately knew I definitely made the right choice! Of course I only know how to do the basics as there're so many applications/programs I've yet to learn.. but whatever I tried out, I found everything to be so cool, and better still,very user-friendly! For a Net freak like me, I was instantly able to be connected to the Net! :))

And of course, the images are so sharp and powerful and the interface is just so slick and I love even working on a document as I could view all the pages together!! (Errr..I don't think i need to elaborate as any Mac user would know and testify to it!)

Am so excited.. there are still much more to explore for it's only the 2nd day... :)

In short, I just HEART my new iMac - never before I was so in love with a `machine' hehe.. and then I was wondering to myself - why did I wait so long before using a Mac? (I guess I was mainly concern with it being the more `niche' with less compatible software.. but as far as I know, Mac has evolved with times and with new MS compatible softwares, that's not even a problem)

Oh well, better late than never.

The only problem now is.. gosh, I will become addicted to my new iMac!!

Short update: HK shopping spree!!

Am finally leaving Hong Kong back home tomorrow morning! It's been a week but feels longer than usual.. 

As I partly intended it to be - this has truly been a SHOPPING TRIP!  In my subconscious, in a way it was to reward myself after slimming down quite a bit - BUT I think I've gone a bit overboard!!

I don't even dare to total up the amount I've spent.. just say I really need to tighten up when I go home.

To think of it, I didn't go to that many places. Here're where I went roughly:  

 Sun: shop at the mall at my sis' condo; Mon: Stanley Market; Tue: Tai Ku Shing; Wed: Central & Causeway Bay; Thur: Central (again); Fri: Central (again! and Admiralty) 

So what have I bought? Of course the biggest investment (hopefully will become a gift from mom) is the iPod Touch.  As many places were on Sale, I ended up buying at least 20 or more pieces of apparels, a couple of shoes and bags, accessories and other nick-knacks..  My huge suitcase is packed to the brim.. :S

Since I'm using my sis' PC I can't really load any photos of my own..  Am glad to know the WiFi connection back home has been fixed!! :)

Till then.. tata from Fragrant Harbour!

I Heart my new SoHo!! (but no Internet yet..)

This post was written last night in my new SoHo - without Internet

I'm beginning a new lifestyle with my own new SoHo! :)

Yes, thanks to dad’s support and initiative, we’ve converted Ah Nei’s last room downstairs (she passed on in February) We have emptied the room and had and bought a set of desk and chairs – very economical too..

This morning the desk set arrived. And then I did something impulsive and drastic – I disconnected my own wireless Internet as I suddenly had the impulse to shift my whole desktop from my room to the new home-office ie. SoHo. I forgot I needed extra wiring which was done at my room desk.. but it’s too late, I have moved everything. So now, I have been Internet-less for the last seven hours.

I love this new study room.. It’s cosy and private – and the desk is HUGE and with extra storage place for just work-related stuff. And of course all computer-linked gadgets come down too, as well as some ornamental decorations.. looks pretty homey already! (Will upload a pix soon when Internet is up!) But it’s not completed as we intend to paint the wall.. And of course I need to call up Streamyx to install the wiring. Hopefully they can do it ASAP like tomorrow itself else I need to borrow’s Starbucks wireless to complete my work.

It’s amazing how addicted and dependent I’ve become to the Internet.

I just found out something..I won’t be able to be connected in my room anymore as the modem/router can only serve a certain area/distance. We have thick walls and my room is upstairs. I’ve tried before the other way round and there was no signal. Oh well, that means I have to make do with no Internet connection in my bedroom. Which will actually serve me better…

Right now (11:45pm Tues) I gave up doing my work – as I needed more inspiration and more importantly info which I have yet to obtain. And I’m dead tired as I hardly slept last night no thanks to the mossies and also many things in my mind. I am listening to music through ITune – and just chilling out..

I love being alone here at this time.. and I want to go back to bed not distracted with the Internet!

p.s. can't update travel post coz too busy and also no Internet.. later..

Jelly in a T-shirt! :)

Bought Jelly a new t-shirt today!!

I always thought she's too big for those cutie dog clothes but i actually found her size in Jusco supermarket. It was a tad bit expensive (RM31.90) but i think she looks good in this colour - and the style is simple too!! At the beginning after I put it on, she was twitching and rolling on the floor.. After all, she was not used to it as she only had two pieces of clothings - a santa suit when she was a pup, and a apron dress which she hardly wears and outgrows it already..
But after 5-10 mins or so, she got used to it.. After all, its such comfortable cotton fabric and it's a cool night.. So ya, she is now sound asleep wearing her new t-shirt. hehe..
Now I need to send her for grooming soon.. her fur is getting too long!

Jojo's new phobia!

Does this thing - a colourful little windmill - look scary? (actually it looks bigger in this pix but the diameter is about 24cm or so)

I just can't believe Jojo is such a scatty coward!! He totally freaked out when I showed him this when I got back tonight. He already looked scared - could he have phobia with bright colours too? - when it was still.. And when I made it turn, Jojo just ran away in fear!

Later I had the back door opened when I watched TV and he didn't even enter - he would not miss chances of coming into the house normally. Well, he knew that `scary thing' was inside the house. Then I went out to look for him and he was hiding at the far end of the garage - poor thing. Hmmm.. I can be quite a sadist when it comes to things like this with Jojo. So I took the windmill with me and sure enough he ran.. but I chased after him.. and then he ran inside the house and went all the way upstairs into my room.. to hide at his `safety zone' - which is the space underneath my sink!

Argh!! once he got there, it's really hard to make him budge! I cooed him and even pretended to take Jelly for a walk but to no effect. I had to ask dad to help and finally he came out a bit but he still didn't want to leave my room door until I had to fiercely shout at him. He then ran all the way down, out of the backdoor and hid somewhere in the garden..

Maybe I wanted to `punish' him for such behaviour, so I decided to`train' him not to be afraid of that thing - Jelly was oblivious to it although if I put it moving too near, she didn't really like it either. So this time I closed the backdoor and went looking for Jojo again and he dashed inside his own kennel. I'm such a sadist.. I put that windmill at the door of his house! So Jojo just sat inside stiffly staring at it.. Minutes later, I didn't think it would do anything for him so i actually used Jelly (sorry Jelly) to lure him out and see. I put on the leash pretending to take Jelly out for a walk.. and true enough, the urge to go out surpassed his fear of that windmill and he dashed out quickly!

Ya, I'm quite a sadist but it's just quite `funny'! Can someone tell me what's so scary to a dog (a large dog even) about this windmill? I could understand still if he's scared of umbrella - he still is. But this thing? it didn't even produce noise...

Jojo, you just amaze me again.. but sorry for scaring you on purpose.. I just hope you're a little more braver - just 1/3 of Jelly's bravity will do... sigh.

My first Junkyard Sale - it was fun but t-i-r-i-n-g!!

Ever since I interviewed the people behind those mobile bazaars/flea markets for my stories earlier in the year, I was very tempted to be a vendor myself because I simply have too much junks that I don't use but they're still in good quality! I can't really donate them as some are pretty impractical stuff for welfare homes.. also the events just seemed so fun :p

Then I procrastinated for a couple of months as I just couldn't find the time to sort out things and do it.. until I got an email regarding this once two months sale. It was a good timing - and only one day (most of them are two days in a row)
I was raring to go and do it all by myself. I signed up almost immediately and got a place. And two weeks ago, I met Cindy (I know her sister and her other friend very well) who happened to also want to do this but did not manage to get a place. So I asked her to join me - cos it would be more fun to do it together than all by myself!

The outside of Palate Palette when the sale was about to start. I arrived later than I wanted to and most vendors, including Cindy were already there.. So the next 40 minutes or so I was so busy setting up my stuff.. not time for photos!

I brought with me two suitcases of clothes, two boxes of bags and many little boxes of accessories! Cindy has quite a lot too and even some shoes.. She was the supplier of racks and accessories stands and boxes.. and all those stuff helped to beautify our stall a lot! In fact someone commented ours is the nicest looking stall :p Glad to find her as my partner!

Partner-vendors raring to go - Cindy and me posing at our stall!

An early shopper checking out our stall.

This is a shot when the traffic gets quite crowded. We used up both chairs given so we were standing for almost 5 hours before we can't `tahan' anymore and rearrange the stall a little to sit on the chair..both of us shared!

Our accessories were also a hit - the nice necklace stand and trinket box courtesy of Cindy

Janet the singer/ flea market queen was here and she also ended up buying a couple of accessories at our stall.. must say she has great taste ;)

Clothing wise, it's quite competitive as many of the vendors are pricing their apparels at very cheap prices. Some of them are new too. Being not really up to date with the fashion world, I just found that then that retro is really IN, especially for the young people. Yup, this Junkyard Sale attracts mostly teens and those in early-mid 20s. No wonder my apparels were not `laku'..

Some of my stuff in suitcase and box - hardly sold any!

Out of the many friends in KL that I emailed.. only Alex dropped by out of `curiosity' and finally bought a pair of earrings from me :p

Look at the happy shoppers checking out the clothes at our stall. Cindy managed to sell more than a dozen of her apparels - hers are definitely more `in' and hip as mine were too old-fashion and large - while I sold just a couple of t-shirt and a black leather vest at an extremely low price. Because he was my first customer and he was like pleading for lower prices.. Gosh, I could never be a real vendor.. too soft-hearted!

The above two pix showed how the stalls upstairs looked like. Somehow this sale is almost 100 per cent fashion and focus was on apparels. We were probably the stall with the most diverse products - we have bags and accessories and shoes too!

Here's a view of our stall and a bit of our neighbours' from the stairway.

Time flew by actually.. and sale slowed down a bit closer to evening.. as it also rained a bit. But in the last half an hour or so, I made a few more sales. Including my biggest sale of the day..

The most popular item at our stall must be this leather bag of mine - which is unused. Many shoppers showed interest in it but most did not have the budget. Finally, I sold it to this young man who really really seemed to like it - lower than what i wanted to sell. From RM120, I sold to him at RM80. I think it's really good deal as it's leather and totally brand new! While I'm a bit sad to part with it - it's actually a gift from China from my parents but as I don't go to office anymore, and also have a laptop case that can hold documents, this poor nice bag was sitting in the wardrobe for more than a year.. so now it's found a new happy owner!

We were one of the latest - if not the latest stall - to pack up. Packing up was much easier than setting up of course.. the irony was I came with one empty suit case but now I used it as well! Clothes were hardly sold!

For all the effort... guess what's the `earning' for me for this 6-hour sale? RM318 in total - and if I deducted the RM25 rental (RM50 shared by two of us) plus a drink and something to eat.. that's like much less than what I get paid for one story. I hardly sold even 5 per cent of my `goods'!

While I wished more things would be snapped up, I'm not entirely disappointed. It's the experience of being a vendor - which was quite fun! Seriously, it's not all about money. I feel quite happy to `passing on' my things to new owners who appreciate them - even at a price that is much lower than market value.. Like Cindy, most of her clothes are quite expensive but she parted with them at such low prices - because like me, we both were (are?) shopaholics and had way too many clothes and accessories... so rather than waste it, why not find ppl who want it?

Also, Junkyard Sale is more for the young.. so it explained why my sale was not good. Tiring I was but this won't be my last sale! In fact, I have already signed up to be a vendor at The Attic's second-hand sale called `Junk in the Trunk'. Happening next Thurs (Oct 23) night!

A forgetful tale of two bags..

My memory is really failing me these days.. Sigh, I can't imagine how bad it will be when I'm 60!

This morning I was looking for a appropriate bag to take to Krabi. Since I'll be there for 5D-4N, I had in mind that it should be of a certain size - and come with trolley wheels too. I was pretty sure I have something like that but I needed to search for it. And so I did with the help of my maid..

But after searching at three different places where our luggages are usually kept, I could only find my really huge or small suit case, and a couple of old carrier bags that are not suitable. The one that's most suitable was my dad's trolley suitcase. And I was thinking of borrowing it.. but at the back of my mind, I hoped to get one for myself.

I went to BV2 for a while in the afternoon and next to Starbucks was a luggage shop - on sale! So I went in and have a look and found one that's really quite nice and just the right size for a five-day trip. It's a Delsey, and apparently on promotion - RM329 (original price I was told was RM600+) The quality was good and comes with two-year warranty. I thought it was a worthwhile investment..

However, somehow at the back of my mind I remembered I should have a similar type of bag at home albeit I couldn't locate it this morning.. so I was hesitant of buying it. After hearing my `predicament', the sale lady said she could hold it for me till tomorrow - as it's the last piece. But being the `impulsive buyer' that I am, I decided to call home to ask mom about it. Cos she would be the one who keeps all things! Mom said she would search for it and then not long later, she called me back and said she couldn't find anything else. And if I wanna buy, just buy it!

And so I did - and was pretty happy and excited with this new bag. Even dad who normally doesn't approve of me buying expensive things, also thought the bag was nice. Then just before dinner, I was going through some of my pouches and bags and came across a pouch that made me yell out loud...

Argh!! That pouch was a free gift that came with a luggage bag I bought last year - they have the same motif. It was a trolley-bag of that size I was thinking of. That was why I had this vague idea that I had such a bag, yet I could not even remember I really had one or what it was like!!

Minutes later after I told dad and mom that I of this bag, mom said she found it! I couldn't believe the bag was a `lone ranger' in the cabinet on top of a book shelf! And I remembered I actually bought the bag after I quit my job before my Bali trip last year! So it was still quite new..

I blamed mom for not having located it when I called her, but I know I should blame myself more cos it's my bag and I wasn't even aware I had it!!

I compared them.. they are pretty similar - some more both also reddish, only that my new one is slightly larger.. so how? I don't really need two of such bags though I kinda liked the new one more (and it's also more expensive!) Then dad thought of an idea - to return the new one and exchange it with a suitcase for mom..

But I was a bit reluctant to give up the new one.. yet I know I should.. So over dinner, we were figuring out what exactly we should do.. finally I had to agree, just that tomorrow we're all quite busy it's a hassle to go all the way back to BV2. Mom, who has been quiet, suddenly said she actually likes the new bag very much. She doesn't mind at all having it instead of a suitcase.

Oh well, guess that was settled.. that new bag now belongs to mom. And I just settle with my existing one that I forgot.. Mom also kept on saying how the new bag suits her better (cos, it's simple and classic) while my old one suits me (as it's more sporty looking!) Whatever.. ;p


My `old' bag that I forgotten existed.. :(


My new bag that became mom's...

Mom is pretty possessive of her new bag straight away and did not allow me to borrow me to Krabi! Well, if I really want to, she laid down three conditions -

1. must use TWO PLASTIC BAGS to separate each pair of shoes
   
2. must use PLASTIC BAGS to properly separate dirty clothings
3. must use PLASTIC BAGS to properly separate all toiletries - shampoo bottles etc..
   

Gosh, how un-green!! And since she's so petty etc.. decided to NOT borrow her bag and use my old one though I am a bit worried it might be a tad small. But so far, I think things should fit since I'm not shopping there..



I brought the two bags into my room and photographed them side-by-side. Minutes later, mom came in and quickly took her new bag away and `hid' it!! Well, that's what she said.. in a joking manner of course.

I'm actually quite relieved and glad how it turned out. Mom seems to really like that bag. So although my failed memory cos me to `waste' money on another similar bag.. but the bag is not wasted after all!

The things we eat - well, I did!

I went for a Christian Cantonese musical on Saturday night with Evonne. It was a full-house affair and since my car was stuck at the carpark as every vehicles were trying to get out through one small exit, I decided that instead of waiting and wasting time in the car, why not we go for supper at this place which is famed for its Hokkien Mee. It's just a stone throw away from PGRM building where the show was held.

Well, it was dad who introduced the place, curiously called `mou jiu pai' (No Name/Label) to me and I have been there a few times, always supper with dad and mom. We usually had to wait for a long time before our food arrives because only one person is frying with one wok at a time! I remember once we waited more than 30 mins.

But this time since both of us were quite hungry, I decided to take a chance and just eat there. Sure enough, the place was packed (half of the patrons were audience of the show) and about 90 per cent of them were waiting for their food! At least we got a table so we just sat down and order. I pre-warned Evonne that we have to wait at least half an hour for the food to come.

But guess how long we waited? It was ridiculous and I was really losing my patience already! We were sitting at the rundown hawker in a side lane for 50 minutes before we could have our supper! It was also sweltering hot and I was wearing long sleeves. Plus I was not really feeling that well.. To be honest, when the food came, I wasn't really in the mood already. But still we finished it la - cos we were hungry and we waited so long! And it took us less than 20 minutes to consume our food..

Tell me, would you wait 50 minutes for these two dishes? (for the uninitiated, the top dish is the famed Hokkien mee (plus a few strand of mee hoon) and the bottom one is `loh mee'.

Well, I told myself I would never go there and eat again unless the place is empty. But that is quite unlikely. It just goes to show how Malaysians will go out of the way for the food they like!

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Looks like I'm jinxed by this `Black Week'! On Thursday, I suffered a whole day of headache and then on Friday I was having such heavy head and stuffy nose that I felt I was coming down with a flu.

Mom heard of my complain and was so sweet to get some Chinese medicine for me from the shop down the road. It came in the form of medicine power. Actually I have taken the same thing in the past and it did work to a certain extent.

So that's what I've been taking in the last two days.



Looks quite yucky right? In case you're curious what it taste like.. to me it smells and tastes very much like `yun nan bai yau' (a type of Chinese powder medicine which you apply for wounds and cuts) It also resembles some `tit tar' medicine smell.. bitter and `kam' at the same time.

For someone who's used to Chinese herbs and medicine since young, it's quite bearable actually. But I find it so amusing when I let my Indon maid have a smell, she reacted in such a repugnant manner that as if I was eating cockroach droppings or something!!

Oh well, the two-day course is completed and I'm not fully recovered. So now I'm back to Western medicine and LOADS of vitamins!!

`Rescued' by a Good Samaritan!

I finally found a micro-cassette recorder and could savage my work! And I want to say a BIG thank you to Lydia!

I woke up yesterday morning and spoke to my editor, who said she used to have one of those recorders but needed to search for it and could only let me know by today. In the mean time, she asked me to ask around as well.

Then over lunch as I was ranting over this incident, my uncle said out of the blue that he has one lying at home! One that he bought `just for fun' and hardly used.. But I could only collect it later at night when he is home.

Suddenly in the afternoon, I received an email from Lydia who read about my `recorder crisis' in my previous post. She offered to lend me hers, and gave me her number so that I could contact her. It was a little of a surprise and I thought it was so nice of her.. but I thought I didn't need to bother her as my uncle has one already.

After choir practice and a meeting with friends, I went to uncles' home close to midnight. The recorder looked pretty new and my uncle was so sure it was working, so I thought the problem was solved..

How unlucky I was again! On the way home as I tried it out I discovered the recorder was faulty! The `play' function did not work although I could forward and rewind the tape. I tried it so many times and I had to give up. In desperation, I shot Lydia an SMS at midnight.

The sweet lady replied in the morning and said I could pick the recorder up from her in PJ as she would be there. She even took the trouble to walk a distance to pass it to me so that I didn't have to park my car.

I was still a little worried as I wasn't sure whether my tape can be heard on hers.. so imagine how happy and relief I was when it played loud and clear!!

And I spent a good part of the afternoon transcribing the interview...

So, I didn't manage to get help from any of the people I know but instead was `saved' by one good Samaritan.. and indirectly my blog :p

a micro-cassette recorder crisis!

For about 40 minutes, I was like a mad woman pacing around Mid Valley Megamall in search for a micro cassette recorder!

I was feeling more mad, frustrated and exasperated when one store after another that I went to did not stock any of those recorders anymore! What's worse was, I was misguided all the way.. ARGH!!

Ok, to tell the story briefly. What happened was I accidentally dropped (but very severely) my micro tape recorder just before I came out from home today.


my poor recorder which is now dead!!

I know, most people have already upgraded to using digital recorder these days. In fact I also own a digital recorder but I use it mainly for my vocal lessons. I still find it easier to track and maneavor with a cassette recorder so I still carry on to use it since my newspapers days..

I happened to have a lengthly interview with a personality last Saturday and yet to transcribe it when I `killed' my recorder!! Yep, the injury was too much and it wasn't working anymore!! :(

So the first thing I thought was, sigh, I just had to replace it and waste a couple of hundred or so.. Anyway, the new one can still be of use so it's not really a waste.

(But at that time I didn't know that these micro cassette recorders are almost obsolete!)

After I parked at the Gardens (since I planned to go to work at Starbucks), first I went to a couple of camera shops (I actually got mine from one camera shop last time) . But they didn't have it. One of them asked me to try Jusco or HSL (which was all the way at the other end of the mall), and said their prices are cheaper! Well, Jusco's service was quite appalling, but they did have two of those recorders - though not of the same brand as the one I had. And they looked even more old fashion than the one I had. So I decided to walk all the way to HSL, lugging my heavy laptop with me.

When I reached the other end of the world, the staff at HSL told me they don't sell those recorders anymore! But one guy said that Best does. They seemed so assured of it that I believe them and made my trip three floors down to Best. To my horror and dismay, they too did not have any!

By that time I was so exasperated that I actually told them off for not stocking the recorder! But no, I wasn't scolding them but more like grumbling.. And then I even tried one or two more electronic shops near by. And of course I was disappointed.

So I went back to Jusco - and chose the cheaper among the two units though they both look kinda old. There was no more stock besides the display unit, but I was so desperate that I was willing to take it, even though there was scratches on the cover and no discount. Then I tested it, put my own batteries and the cassette inside. I couldn't believe it!! Whatever I have recorded was hardly audible! It was so soft, muffled and even not at the same speed.. So what's the point of buying it?!

I was so furious and desperate. Suddenly I thought of calling up the people at the magazine for help.. I just hope someone, just someone would have a similar recorder to mine and I can just borrow for a couple of hours.. The editorial coordinator told me she would help me to ask around..

Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed. If no, my only other solution is to try out some of my ex-colleagues one by one. Never mind that I hardly keep in touch with them!

I was so stressed out with the whole thing that I think I have killed many cells in just one afternoon. I went to treat myself to a double-scoop of ice-cream. And finally calmed down a bit at Starbucks with a coffee and yes.. blogging about the incident does help to get it off my chest!!

Now to think of it..it was one of those days.. and I really can't blame anyone but myself for being so careless and ruin my own recorder, thereby putting myselt through all these hassles!!

SMS Spam!

Is this a current thing or is it just me?

Lately I've been receiving too many spam-SMSes! I get an average of about two-three a day at least, and they range from services and promotions of all kinds to invitations to events I never heard of. And then there have been some which quite obviously are scams - saying I've won certain contests which I never took part in! And the latest I just received on Friday - offering easy money from a `licensed money lender'! (read: Ah Long!)

When I say spam, I have already excluded those which I know I've given out my mobile no. to - like some boutiques or my banks. But it really beats me when I receive sms-es from totally unknown sources.. some of them in Malay - and you know how good my Malay is. It's getting really annoying.. and on the other hand, I am wondering have I been too `promiscuous' in giving out my no.?

Besides SMSes, I have also been getting quite a lot of calls from tele-marketers! This I think has become a competitive `industry' and I'm sure others probably have the same complain as me.. well, I try always to be polite but firm and it has worked so far.

But back to those spam SMSes. It gets me thinking. Like e-mails (that's ANOTHER story altogether - yes, I get TONNES of junk mails in all my email accounts) which I know people do sell and buy contact lists, is there a chance that somebody - maybe even our mobile service provider - selling our numbers out to interested parties??

Hmm.. and if this is not possible, then do you think these `mysterious senders' just SMS out to numbers randomly - not knowing who the recipients are? Cos, honestly, some of the SMSes I receive make no sense at all.. they are totally irrelevant to me.

Just curious, I wonder anyone else having this problem too?

Handbags Maniac!

I knew I have a lot of handbags.. but I didn't know I have this many!

The wardrobe compartment for my bags was so sardine packed that I had difficulty finding a particular bag. It was just maybe a couple of months ago that I tidied my bags but sigh..I just had to do it again.

And this time when I took them out, I was amazed as I have even forgotten I own some of the bags, and I should have used them.

Then I started counting...

Gasp! I have over 50 of them! And remember also I have some working bags and larger ones which I seldom use in another room!

Okay, I must admit it's not something I'm terribly proud of. In fact, I felt quite guilty because I really DON'T need so many bags! And these days I've only been using say about a dozen of them or so.. There were even some I bought but have not used at all! Or just once! :(

I then sorted them out according to colours and themes.. and decided to do a `bag-camwhore'
I start with all the casual handbags of various shapes and sizes..and colours, and prints..

And then there are some evening bags..

And I almost forgotten, as they are placed in another compartment.. My`Js' bags' featuring Jojo and Jelly (but the former is already in quite bad condition) :(

I had a bit of a headache putting back the bags into the wardrobe.. But after some deliberation, I decided to do away with some. So I put aside10 bags which I don't think I would use anymore but are still in real good condition.. I plan to sell them at a flea market together with my other knick-knacks!

I also told myself sternly: no more buying bags this year! In fact, this month alone, I have just acquired two Guess bags! So that's definitely more than enough!