Birthdays

9 Dec : Erjie and God's Star turn more ancient today.... Happy birthday! Stay 'evergreen'

Another adventure

LL : Eh, KK, i tell u ah
KK : What what??!
LL : We found the airplane...so we no need the bread loaf car oredi lor...
KK : Where where??!!
LL : Look behind you ah...
KK : Waa...waa...
LL : Hehehehe...we dun need Crispy already...since she so fierce hor...
KK : Ya Ya!
~Join us for another KK n LL adventure as MIB III next time!~

Sun and Moon Signs

This is something I read up recently thanks to a book I borrowed from Bee Hua for leisure reading. According to history, early Babylonians are probably the first people to notice the connections between events on Earth and the movements of the stars.

The horoscope sign we normally look up for in the newspapers is our sun sign. This is where the sun was when we were born. For me, my sun sign is Gemini (the twins). Obviously not everyone from the same sun sign will be exactly alike. So, those geniuses take into account which constellation the moon was at the time of birth…Brilliant! The calculation in determining the moon position is awfully complicated but lucky for me there’s a simple guide where I found out my moon sign is Sagittarius (the centaur).

The description for those born under the same signs as me, moon in sagittarius and sun in Gemini is as follows:
You love to talk about your travels and would have made an excellent member of the great explorer’s club. You would make a good teacher (what a load of crap) because you are able to enthuse others with your love of foreign parts and all they have to show us.
You are verbally fluent and able to communicate easily. You can be impatient, and have been known to go off in a huff if kept waiting (this part is accurate) .
You tire easily, but given the amount you manage to pack into one day, it’s not surprising you become exhausted.
Family : Never at home long enough to have one
Relationships : Likes to have a lover or two in tow (yup, I have Michael Owen, Kimi Raikkonen, Jacques Villeneuve, Paolo Maldini, Roger Federer….)
Career : Never around long enough to achieve
Friends : Extremely gregarious and well liked

Letting Go

最后的疼爱是手放开

不想用言语拉扯所以选择不责怪

感情就像候车月台有人走有人来

我的心是一个站牌写着等待

David Slays Goliath!

Roger Federer defeated! Just the sentence alone can stun any tennis fan. In the last tournament of the season David Nalbandian pulled out a surprise win over the world no. 1. It was the first time Federer was defeated after 25 successive final wins that stretched back to Vienna in 2003.

Federer had underlined his dominance for 3 years by winning countless tournaments and Grand Slams. The last time anyone had dominated so convincingly was during the Pete Sampras era. Only time will time if Federer is able to surpass the records held currently by Sampras.

The Masters Cup yesterday was held for the first time in Shanghai. Previously it was held in either US or Europe. The year-end annual tournament pits the 8 best players in the world against each other. This year's tournament saw a string of withdrawal from key players. World no. 2, the flamboyant Rafael Nadal pulled out 2 weeks before, citing injury. The left-hander Spanish teenager had a successful year, winning the French open. Apart from Nadal, the closest Federer challengers Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin also withdrew. Lastly, sentimental favourite Andre Agassi opted out after losing his first match.

Federer won his 3rd successive Wimbledon and US open in a thrilling season. Just 2 weeks prior to the cup, he was hobbling and unable to walk from an ankle injury. That didn't stop him from winning all his group matches and he went into the final with a 81-3 record and a 6-0 6-0 win(his first double bagel) over Gaston Gaudio in the semis. One would not be mistaken to comment that Nalbandian would have an uphill struggle against Federer. However, he managed to pull out everything he had and managed to subdue Federer's lethal one-handed backhand.

The following season starts in January 2006. Tennis fans are certain that more success will come Federer's way. After all, he had always managed to come up with something special each time people started to write him off. As Andy Roddick once said of Federer's prowess , " I threw the kitchen sink at him but he went to the bathroom and threw the bathtub back at me".

Emotional Tussle

What a week... emotions ran high, morale dipped to a record low and ugly politics reared its head. How many of you out there has a lady boss? I count all my lucky stars that i do not have one after witnessing how far emotional grudges can cloud a woman's judgement. I'm not being stereotypical, i just believe in what i see and hear.

Sometimes you may find yourself working with someone you detest, but you smile and accept your fate. After all, you work for the same goals, why make matters complicated by involving your personal feelings. It is not only unfair, but unethical.

When he went home right on time at 4.45 pm, you blasted him for skiving and laziness. When he stayed back right up to 6 pm, you accused him of having ulterior motives. You disconnected his internet connection at work for the fear of him being distracted and the first thing you used to do every morning was to print recipes from the internet. You were not pleased about his office relationship with another chemist in the lab... what about yourself? You were seen leaving a hotel with another man (definitely not your husband). Bitch...

Even after he tendered his resignation, you would not allow him to leave in grace. You forced him to leave 2 weeks earlier than expected, and told him about 30 minutes before he was due to leave for the day. What choice did he have, had to pack everything from the locker into a box and leave like he was fired from the job.

These days, you are a changed woman. You are so nice to everybody, while we do enjoy it, we all believe that WHEN A MIRROR HAS CRACKED, NO AMOUNT OF FIXING WILL BE ABLE TO MEND THE CRACKS THAT ARE ALREADY THERE. We forgive but we will never forget.

Last friday, i had sushi with Carlos, Derrick, Lai Kwan, Daniel and Mildred. It was a fantastic outing. Mildred announced that she will be getting married next year after what we call an 'open secret affair'...haha... i feel so happy for you, remember to let me be your flower girl.

To Derrick, we will miss having such a brilliant lab technician with us. Though our position may seem to outrank you, the truth is, you taught most of us what we know today. We are indebted to you and thank you for your genorousity. Take care after you move to Auckland and do come back to visit us... *peace*

Teka-Teki

Need to brush-up your Malay ?

1. Kita jalan, dia jalan. Kita berhenti, dia jalan. Dia berhenti... kita yang jalan. Apa dia?

2. Apakah binatang yang bila malam dia hidup tapi bila siang dia mati?

3. Kalau semua orang jadi cikgu, cikgu akan jadi apa?

4. Binatang apa yang paling kedekut?

5. Apa benda yang hitam masa kecil dan putih bila besar?

Jawapan :

1. Jantung kita. Kalau berhenti berdegup..., kita yang jalan.

2. Ikan. Cuba SIANG ikan dan tengok mati ke tak.

3. Cikgu jadi ramai la.

4. Kuda sebab bila dia lari bunyi KEDEKUT... KEDEKUT... KEDEKUT...

5. Michael Jackson

November birthdays!

17 November : Happy birthday Lynn. How old are you ah?

21 November : Happy 25th birthday Andrea. U're the sweetest person i've ever known. Also, get well soon.

29 November : Happy 27th birthday Daniel. U bring a lot of cheer to my life with your optimism. Have fun!

Kuching Fun Facts...

1) Roads are extremely bumpy
2) The airport looks like a bus terminal
3) Land is vast
4) There is a fast food chain called Sugar Bun which seems to be quite popular judging by the number of branches they have
5) Some of the roundabouts are big enough to fit a shopping complex
6) The Malay language spoken has a slight Indonesian accent
7) People of Kuching love kuih lapis
8) Contrary to my preconceived impression, there aren't many stray cats around.
9) Kuching men wear square and huge framed glasses ( the sort you will associate with the 1970's)
10) The saleslady thinks that a 'baby T' is a shirt for babies.

This is not a racist post!

Samy Vellu was visiting India when he fell and broke his jaw. He was unable to speak. Being the great leader that he is, he continued his grand tour.On the last week of his visit, the RTM crew was present for his press conference. Although unable to speak, Samy insisted on sending a message home to his Cabinet colleagues. Samy caught a chicken and showed it to the camera. Next he took a goat, and showed it to the camera. Finally he took a bag and displayed it in front of the camera Dr. Ling was the first to see the video clip. He said, "Samy is telling us that India has insufficient food because he showed us a chicken and agoat, and he wants Malaysia to donate bags of rice. "Mahathir watched silently then said, "No lah....what Samy is trying to say is HE IS COMING BACK. The whole cabinet was puzzled and look to the old man foran explanation.Mahathir reasoned, "AYAM KAMBING BAG." ("I am coming back" in Indianaccent)

Food in Kuching!

Recently, my blog has transformed to a travelogue. The world is so vast and i still have so many places yet to explore... the sky's the limit! Just not long ago, i had the opportunity to visit Kuching, capital of Sarawak...hence the sudden surge in blog topics about the Cat City.
Kuching is surprisingly rich in food choices, especially those of FooChow and Hakka cuisine. The first photo posted here is a scrumptious meal i enjoyed in a small Chinese village Tondong located just 30 minutes away from the capital. This heavenly meal consisted of wild boar meat, a plate of deer meat and a vegetarian-flavoured vermicelli. My verdict is, the food wasn't too bad, but the flavours certainly were too strong. I washed down the meal with a glass of icy passion fruit juice.

The following 2 photos sure looks appetising. It was the first time i tasted two of the three fantastic offerings. The dark coloured soup base bowl is a common dish that can be found in Singapore, Kway Chap. Personally, i do not enjoy kway chap much being not a great fan of our fren porky pig's internal organs...haha... The red bowl is made up of mee sua cooked with chicken and wine... i believe it is of Foochow origin....i must say they do come up with unbelievable cooking creativity. Lastly, the most special is the meal that came in the white bowl. Just the name alone baffled me...Ding Bian Hu...literally meaning something like 'propping side starch'. Didn't make much sense to me then, but who cares what it's called as long as it's tasty :P And of course, breakfast must be accompanied by milk coffee....

Next up, a seafood dinner in Topspot, an open air food court located above a multi storey car park. With a seat on a dining table under the glittering stars, surely nothing could go wrong... I ate till the seams on my pants almost burst...
This meal requires a photo walkthrough:

We had 3 different kinds of fish dish, the one on the extreme left is the Teochew style steamed fish. A very vital point about eating steamed fish is that it must be really fresh. The fish i had really hit all the right spots as it was freshly caught by Alvin while he was out fishing. The next photo is what i call the Mango Fish. I think the name said it all. And the third one is Assam fish. What made it special was that the chef added a sour vegetable which was new to me. It tasted like tomato but the texture felt like honey dew melon. I was later told that this is the local eggplant.

Now for an interesting eye-opening dish, i present you with fried oyster. I grew up thinking that fried oyster comes with eggs, spring onion and is extremely greasy. Kuching style cannot be more different than that description. I think the only similarity they share is that both contain oyster. Kuching fried oyster feels like cracker with oyster. They then sprinkle fragrant leaves before serving. Also, i had fried paku midin. I believe this dish is also popular in certain areas in Perak, but for residents of other parts of peninsular malaysia and singapore, this is a total shock! Actually, it didn't taste much different from asparagus but it just looked so cute with all the curls.

There was one more dish but there are no photos to show. This dish is not for the faint-hearted. It is called bamboo shell but it is really slimy and wormlike. Tastewise, i love it, as it reminded me of 'la-la' but lookwise, it reminded me of Fear Factor ...hohoho....

Lastly, something more common . I had carrot cake and beansprout noodle for supper in Da-light. Similar to singapore, the carrot cake is sweetened. Kinda eccentric, if you ask me.

Next up, the 'famous' kuching chicken porridge with ice lemon tea. I love porridge! And to taste one so delicious...word failed me.... :)

Moving on, the one-of-a-kind Sarawak Laksa. This is a chance of a lifetime as you won't find this anywhere out of Sarawak. The unique taste made this a must-try whenever you're in Kuching. So, anyone who's interested to visit, make sure your food list includes this special treat!

A Challenge!

This is it! Due to her increasing interest in making beads accessory, I am now challenging dajie to come up with the beads design shown in this photo! Hahahaha....

By the way, this design is an accessory the Iban women dons during cultural performances.