.Des.t.I.nation.

In the Pursuit of Fireworks

2007-09-12T00:29:00.000+08:00

070902: It was such a 'go-as-you-speak' outing.

I was aware about this Malaysian Fireworks Competition which had been running for a couple of weeks. Despite having witnessed some impressive ones during my stay in Australia, I still thought this one in Putrajaya would pass some standards as there are other countries competing. But yet I didn't think it was worth the jam and hassle shoving for space with so many 'katak bawah tempurung's.

Anyway when I met Maguro and the gang during the Purple Icon Fair she offered her plan for a perfect outing. I doubt it so much but having wanna catch up with Sheryl (who came back from Italy for a study break) I tagged along this silly adventure.

Logistics: Of the seven of us, none is famliar with Putrajaya. Our odd number requires two cars, which seem like complicating it further. No one printed out the map. After meeting up in Bukit Jalil we headed to our 'lost' destination and there were already throngs of cars. The show only scheduled to start at 10pm, we were already there at 8pm with KFC, Pizzas, junk food, junk food, beers, beers, and beers. We were already lost trying to find the fireworks spot. Somehow, just somehow, Maguro managed to lead both of our cars to an ideal space along the lake. Cars were already starting to occupy along this stretch.

Our stomaches were already growling when out of a sudden, it drizzled! Goodness, we thought we had weathered every difficulty that came before that, and now it started to rain! Somehow, there were quite a number of huge umbrellas in both our cars.

There you see - hungry, cold and shivering souls holding pieces of KFC.

Maguro did the best preparation by setting up a mat, and er, a sitting pillow!

Well, rain started to ease a bit. Our mood was improving by the seconds. Oh, partly thanks to my Jazz songs played over my car's exposed 'backside'. To be frank, it was pretty romantic, despite eating KFC standing and beneath umbrellas!

Things got even better with the introduction of some nicely-chilled premium beers - Heineken! Haha.

Drinks in icebox served from my car butt!

After a few chats, the firework action started. Not bad for a half-hour show, but I have seen better. But having gone through such an adventure up to that point, everything else was a bonus!

But I must say both me and Maguro have organised some of the wonderful & successful events before. We somehow can hit it against all odds... take it as it comes along. Probably a little more spark than the fireworks, haha.

Bring it on, the next one!

Fun & Family Day with the Purple Icon

2007-09-07T01:39:00.000+08:00

070901: My fellow ex-purple colleagues organised a fun & family event at Ikano on the 1st Sept. It was really a pleasure not only meeting up with this happy bunch, but also seeing kids running all around so excited with the event. It surely brought smiles to everyone there.

The event was an unveiling of an Icon chosen by voters. This little giant supposed to look like a lion is fully-made of chocolates.

My fellow gym buddy Ad tagged along for some chocolatey joy.

Buddy Maguro looks good in the midst of the purple carnival.

More and more loving ex-colleagues

Beautiful kid enjoying every bit of it. Me too!

Live long my dear purple company....

Jazz Fest & Lagenda

2007-09-07T01:08:00.000+08:00

070826: This year's Jazz Festival in Mont Kiara is pretty interesting with our childhood idols as invited performers - Zainal Abidin and Sheila Majid.

It's such a pleasure to watch them perform again. And surprisingly, the followers are still everywhere. When Sheila came on stage, everyone swarmed the centerstage to snap photos of her - non-stop, throughout her show. She still commands such a powerful performance.

My Heineken sponsored this successful event. These were taken during the second week - with ShuhFen, Gary, Kiam, Cat and Ad.

When she encored and sang her finale song 'Lagenda', everyone melt with joy. She's truly a lagenda. Zainal too.

Raising It Higher with Baking Soda

2007-09-04T23:01:00.000+08:00

070804: 'Baking Soda??' Yeah... sounds odd. But not to a bunch of us who sent approximately 10 mails plus a day on this topic, prior to 4-Aug-07.

Soda here is actually the dance club in Hartamas. I love to coin funny terms to amuse. It got into the ever-innocent LiJune who asked, "where in Hartamas is this Baking Soda?"!!!

In previous post on Norman's big day, a few of us had a crazy good time at Soda. Despite the place being a little 'out' catering to typical group of consumers (yeah, that type), we thought that as long as we have fun in our own group, it can still be a blasting night. And we have proven it yet again. I couldn't believe it when 60c in his post review said there were actually more than 30pax who turned up! Gratitude in huge part to our innocent gal who got a football team in. She's ever-unpredictable.

Yeah, that's her on my right.

This Megatron (nick) is one hell of a machine - loaded with weapons and ammo. That makes her pretty lethal.

Fun people

More and more fun people

Everything seems to fall into the right place (or angle), haha. It was an awkward position, nevertheless the photo turned out cool.

The sexy & seductive-looking KC... ooh, dangerous too

I can't help but to post this. I don't recall taking many creative shots like this.

Note: Only part of the group

What's with this climax-looking expression?

Ohh... something steaming!

Too bad I skipped it and headed home to my satisfying sleep. Could have dreamt of having a baking course - rising to the next level.

Three Different Sessions for Norman's Big Day

2007-09-04T19:56:00.000+08:00

070722: I have to backtrack a bit... this happened couple of months back. Some photos were with others (in this case, Norman), hence I waited a while before publishing this yet another good outing - to celebrate our buddy Norman's big day!

The guys met for dinner at a Thai restaurant in PJ before coming over to Somo, Mont Kiara for beers. The session was still light and cold. Probably because of the quiet and romantic or rather posh kind of environment.

This is at Somo. Don't be mistaken, it wasn't my event, but as usual, I love to steal the limelight a bit.. mm.. er.. ok, a lot.

Aha, the fun only started in Soda. Norman is trying hard to fake a 'Godfather' look with that stick in his mouth, but knowing such a sweet person he is, I'd say he'd need to improve. Haha.

Who is this mysterious lady??

This is her - Elaine, a new kaki who can limbo well on the dance floor. Nothing hanky here, but love her biceps! Oh, it's quite an artistic shot too.

Our Brother getting hammered... check out the hand that appeared from nowhere!

Sweet ending for our sweet buddy. Happy Birthday, Norman! May you stay young and energetic always.

German Affair for Adeline

2007-08-19T09:53:00.000+08:00

070818: It was my gym buddy, Adeline's birthday. We had a really meaty session at Deutsches Haus, KL. The setup was pretty neat, with hints of German culture (there were German army posters all around), but mixed with English flair. It was a decent lunch, though a little pricey. But having not to travel to Munich to taste such authentic food, it was still worth the price.

Mixed sausage platter - the meat was solid and grilled to perfection. Eat them with a dip of English mustard and mayonnaise, you should be in ecstasy.

Roast pork knuckle. Very crispy skin, to go with the lightly sour but appetising sauerkraut.

Next on the table was grill pork shoulder. Very packed meat, good to chew and perfect with the light and dry Argentinian Malbec.

"Huh, another artistic shot??", said Ad.

A meal full of suspense...

... and joy

Sweet-lookin' carnivore

A perfect shot - yours truly

I don't have a sweet tooth, but this is the best cake by far - the Baileys-infused cake

Another perfect shot by yours truly, done with the timer set

Happy birthday Ad!!!

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

I Hope I Had Done Enough to Deserve All This Happiness

2007-08-05T02:55:00.000+08:00

My old handphone is still keeping about 30 plus SMSs from all the closest colleagues of mine. Nope, not entirely due to the mobile network companies' Save-on-SMS promotions, though they are pretty cheap nowadays - from your friends to colleagues, from this network to others, from your uncles to her aunties. It gets one to think that the world has indeed come closer, in one way or another.

'Close' is the keyword I must assign to this bunch of colleagues. These are the people I've been seeing day and night for the last four years in this purple chocolate company. They are the people you do not see in those typical Chinese series which depict the cruel world of business and politics. Nope, you don't find any of them here. They are the best bunch to pick a fight or work it right. Anyhow, at the end of the day, everyone would have a chilling good time together.

But as they say, 'everything good must come to an end'. It looked like it was the end; at least in terms of interaction, proximity and common passion. This event would affect how we move forward, or rather, how I move forward.

Those are farewell SMSs in my old phone. SMSs that one would smile and 'grow younger' whenever they are read. Yes, I feel I would 'de-grow' whenever I reflect on the experiences I have gathered with them. The smiles somehow hide the wrinkles I have grown over this short four years, what a sweet camouflage. I would want to publish all the SMSs here, but I may really look like a 'cry baby'. Hmm... there were tears too, along the way, which makes the journey so much of a 'mixed happiness' - sometimes you are sad but happy in the midst of sadness... ?!? Yeah, I guess this is what I termed 'mixed happiness'.

Going into the juice of this long story... one should know by now that this post is all about FAREWELL.

This happened the week after my last trip with the company (Bali, posted earlier) - effectively my last week with the company. I was still busy in the midst of a major project with a key customer. Not only everyone was busy catching-up on work after a few days of holiday, it was also the week when so many of my colleagues took leave or gone on business trip.

I had the first farewell session with the bunch above, an easy-going seafood dinner at LalaChong.

070629: Then came the day - it's a Friday. TGIF, it's nice to dress down and get comfy with my last day. Nothing interesting in the morning, I was still working, goodness sake! Got some stuffs sorted out with my key customer in the morning and when I came back to office had lunch with this tiny group for lunch, at our much-frequented Kiwi Express.

I was still cleaning up my computer files at 5pm when a few 'bouncers' got me off my work and into the Conference Room. *sigh*... As usual, the cake, the speech, and a little snack - there goes all your life with the company.

What the heck, the 'committee' (made up of my closest colleague buddies) got me a surprise with this, er... seemingly 'red-carpet' treatment! "That's all we can do ok?? Big Boss is outside, we wouldn't want to mess up the whole office, hor?", was what Tomato said. It was still sweet, right up to the 't'. I couldn't stop giggling.

Oh, not to mention the butterflies in the stomach too. I've always been steady, but today still caught some wind.

Here comes the 'speech'. Ouch. I did think about it for a few days. It goes something like this:

"I've shared many many hugs or pats on the shoulder with everyone here - from guys to gals. I'm pretty glad no one has yet to lodge a sexual harrasment case! *there goes the laughter*... But on a serious note, I guess it shows that I'm someone who loves to share my care and friendship; 3+years should be sufficient to prove that *can see some serious nods*.
I'm glad there are so many 'humans' among you guys; don't think there are many out there - 'cause they say it's a jungle out there. I'll brave myself out there after today.
Anyway, to cut my long speech short, i'll leave by sayin', continue to share your happiness, it's the greatest tagline a company can have. Some of us won't be here forever, but happiness we've shared will stay forever...."

I think I've left a good impression, with this speech.

These people came for a real show.

After a couple of appreciative words from Pat and Dee, I opened up to a huge farewell card.

Messages from the happiness bunch! Sweet.

I just managed to find time to go through all these messages a minute ago. There are all sorts of messages - from jokes to wishes to history to future to nonsense to serious stuffs to praise to appreciation. These made up the colours of my life, really. Thanks.

Everyone contributed to another of my farewell gift - a Sony Ericsson K550i!!! Say, where on earth do you expect such luxury to leave a company?? I couldn't thank everyone enough!

A cake with my face on it, in icing?? I was getting more goosebumps all over, really. I think it was custom-made...??!! Haha, bakery wouldn't be able to sell a cake with my face on it. Yes, it's custom-made!

Then my dearest Jie compiled a video of interviews with most of the bunch who were there in the office. She also linked some of my crazy old videos (like when I drank a glass of Tabasco during my last year's birthday, and my chilli-burnt lips after that). It reminded me how crazy I was with them. Really would like to thank her for what she did, albeit so many things so many times in such subtle ways. She had to re-do and rush the video when it was first saved wrongly. I was speechless when I found out about this. It was so much effort, because the video is not short at all. I wonder if I would jam up YouTube if I upload it, haha.

Then came also my billboard 'Hall of Fame'!!! This was done by Maguro. She was one of the close ones who couldn't make it to the session, due to external work. But really appreciate her creativity and time to do eight slides, portraying me in very 'compromised' and lewd positions. Glad that no kids were in the room.

Huh... what else could I ask for more?? I really thank God for this beautiful bunch. I don't mind having farewells everyday.

The smiles say it all. You can actually see smiles 'in their eyes'! Or, are they happy that now I'm leaving??!! Urghh

The last photo before we moved on to second session - dinner!!!

Another another another round of seafood dinner. We must have eaten in this restaurant for the past few months! We like it because the surrounding is quiet and peaceful.

You would have thought this is a wrong posting or something. Nope, it's after dinner! Everyone rushed home to take a quick shower and here we were, 11pm, in KL's Velvet for a grueling session.

I got my recent JiMui to join this purple bunch.

Potato who left a month before me (and last time joined a month before me too) reunited in this session.

The rest of the photos need little explanation.

Oh, the one who made me the Billboard 'Hall of Fame'.

The one who bought me the phone!

This is how fire was first created on earth.

Video director, Ah Jie 'piggling' on me.

I could hardly recall how the night ended. There were of course piles of censored photos of drinking actions, and some explicit ones too which are inappropriate for general viewing. But the most explicit thing you can see here is... 'happiness'.

070630: Oh, I managed to wake up the next day and come back to office for my really final time, to clear off my desk. I had brief company of another of my dearest buddies - Ho and Oshin. Though brief, it was a sweet end. I had some good reflections working til 11pm. Took my final steps towards 'Dato', prayed and thanked for a wonderful and memorable four years. Be it ups and downs, I didn't frown; because these people were with me at every turns and corners.

Another of my buddies, Bee, who couldn't make it for neither sessions was sweet enough to get me a dragon-looking pendant. I love it very much, a taste of full character. I have been shopping around for such accessory when I was in Bali trip, but couldn't find any single one that I really like. This is like a gift from heaven. She is heavenly anyway. Thanks!

~~~*~~~

070720: Three weeks after I left them. They had a major conference in P.D. I had by then joined my new company. On the last day of their Conference, they asked me to join their finale. I hesitated, was busy with a dinner function on that Friday in some outskirt place, it was raining heavily, flooded in certain places, and jam all over the city. But somehow, miraculous as it sounds, I departed the city at 9:30pm and managed to zoom all the way to P.D. to reach at 11:30pm!!! When I reached, they were at this beachside pub. I ran towards them, and jumped right onto everyone's arms, it was hysteria all over! It's so much like in a movie. There were like tight hugs which lasted a few long seconds with each of them. Oww... it was so sweet and warm. There goes the drinks and the party got heavier and heavier until everyone dropped dead. I had a comfortable sleep with the guys and a good breakfast and catch-ups. This was the only time I wasn't prepared with my camera, but one can always imagine the type of photos we take.

It doesn't feel like we have done farewell. Because it'll never be the last you see your lasting buddies.... I hope I had done enough. Thank you all....

Farewell to my Sweet Lil Korean Buddy

2007-07-24T01:53:00.001+08:00

070724: Times fly. Birds fly. Even people fly! I have to get used to yet another Buddy who is flying on to the next phase of life, in another place, reachable, only by birds, er.. or by plane. Thank goodness, it’s still reachable. In fact, it’s just across the South China Sea, separated by a 5-hour flight. But the fact that each has different phase to work on makes it distant by miles, limited by thoughts.

I somehow got a hand on assisting her to get through the interview. That day itself was somehow memorable not only in terms of what I thought was a well-performed interview, but also a day of achievements – we managed to go the distance to finally get a good Father’s Day gift, and managed to climb 39 floors to taste glory in the forms of a cup of coffee. Irony as it seems, I am like sending my best buddy away to work in another planet. But I always think the most caring thought would stay with someone, be it here or there. This thought would at least pull the distance a little.

“Buddies like you is hard to find, hard to lose, and
impossible to forget”

Nope, surprisingly, the quote is not from me. Haha, I always tease her about her jumbled language and expression. But this quote in the card tonight really caught my mind, it’s never this simple expressing something so compound. Suddenly everything comes into one piece, and it feels like we’ve been in a short Korean series. You know how the story-line always go from some tough drama to a beautiful life and yet, in the end, farewell looms. Haha, I can’t stop smiling each time reflecting on this.

It’s not so much of a sad farewell actually… probably because I know she’ll be safe in good hands. And more so too because I know I’ll still be hovering around like a Guardian Angel, even from far, like what she has experienced in this couple of years. And I’m glad she acknowledged this in the card too.

I’d love her to know that the ‘slaps’ are still available when both need a quick wake-up, especially from some slumps that we both acknowledge. It’s definitely better to be slapped by a Buddy than a stranger! What more a Korean-looking one! Hahaha….
.
Happiness always, my dear Budz! Here’s something I don’t always do… for U, special lah!... for all the kimchi good times... kamsahamnida... saranghaeyOoO
.

Painting Beautiful Bali with My Purple Friends

2007-07-22T10:18:00.000+08:00

070622: It’s more than one month ago that I went on this trip to Bali. In between, time was like vacuumed! I hardly had enough time to even sleep. It was a transition to my new job that suffocated my life a little bit. But it was hell one of a ‘happening’ and exciting period. Every function, event, be it farewell, or welcoming party, birthday, catch-up outing seem to zip past - fast and furious.
.
Wanted to blog so many memorable moments for the past month, but couldn’t find any time to do so, until now. Like I commented earlier, had time to live it, but no time to reflect and appreciate.

Back to this beautiful trip. It was my last trip with my fellow purple friends, with the purple company. Though it’s nowhere like a trip to Hawaii or Maldives, I still enjoy every bit of the time spent with this beautiful bunch, anywhere on earth, anytime!

Here goes the photos in chronological order….

First up you may be surprised by this Japanese fair. In Bali?? Nope. Somehow our kind company allowed us to claim lunch up to RM100/pax for the lunch before our flight. We thought there was a catch or something, but what the heck, we had the most colourful lunch of our lives! This happened at my favourite Jap restaurant, Zen.

Four of my most favourite foods here: Uni (Sea Urchin), Sword Fish, Silver Cod, and Salmon Mix of sake, belly, and roe. I melt everytime these melt in my mouth. Sake (rice wine) will be the best complement to these heavenly foods.

Happiness group; half of them. The other half in another flight.

Two buddies, proud even if they are fake tatoos, haha.

It's not Hawaii, but the treatment is a little similar. This looks classic.

Once landed, we are taken to this restaurant famous for its fish dishes. Not bad too.

Hotel check-in at 10pm after such long day travelling. You can see we look worn-out.

But after bath everyone was rejuvenated! Dee and my room was converted into a playing room. We are always into all these guessing games (Chai Mui). You can see Batman, Superman, Ultraman, and... Wonderwoman in this photo!!! It should be the noisiest room in the hotel (we do this in all our trips).

The laughters were so loud and long!!! One needs to be there to experience such crazy atmosphere. Like here, Maguro was penalised with Apple Vodka (in the glass) for doing a hybrid of Ultraman and Taichi Master.

There is no thin fine line between Superman and Muhammad Ali, as illustrated by Ivy. She was one of the highest consumer for all our drinks. Maguro being the perpetrator!

Though it was the first long day and night, we didn't waste too much time in our own rooms. After the game we walked down the beach and napped there instead! Such a mild warm comfortable breeze.

Good bright second day. Now we can see our hotel properly. I must say I never expected Bali to have such beautiful, clean beach and ideal weather. The sky is amazing, its 'blue' is somehow similar to those I experience in Perth. But never in Malaysia please.

Postcard perfect, even when taken by this amateur 3.2MP Exilim compact camera.

Really amazed with Bali's culture and art. They are of the highest skill!

Waiting for my dream Princess... Nope. Waiting for our buses to take us to a couple of tourist attractions. Chilling outside our hotel entrance. Though it looks sunny, there were cooling breeze all the time. Love it!

One of the best views as seen from my creative eyes.

A place named Tanah Lot, where an ancient temple resides by the beautiful sea.

Another view as seen through my eyes.

This is interesting. At the flea market, there was this huge bat displayed at the shop front. What a 'bat' encounter! Haha...

After shopping around the market it was time to catch sunset by the cliff.

We moved on to another place by the beach called Jimbaran for grilled seafood dinner. There were these cute little dancers who entertained our group.

After dinner, back to the hotel to refresh, and soon-after we brought out all our duty-free liquors and had a spooky good time drinking by the beach. We just can't drink enough, huh. After our drinking session by the beach ended at 2am, we went back to the room and slept. Interestingly enough, we had some 'strange' encounters. We ended up sleeping together in a room.

A few of us did not want to waste the little time left for this trip. So we forced ourselves to wake up at 5am to catch sunrise! An experience with no regret, even though our eyes were barely hanging there.

Yes, the mixed hue of orange, violet, pink, yellow sky was real.

Yet another of my artistic shot

Yet, yet another of my artistic shot.

Third and the last day. Morning bright and colourful sight.

Ship sailing in the sky

A beautiful shot by some of them. We split into two tiny groups. They went for spa and massage.

Me followed the rest of the girls to more shopping. More of like window-shopping.

After walking for about an hour or so, we came across so many Mat Sallehs walking the street shirtless. I for once took the liberty to join them. It was such a liberating experience. Imagine when can we go around in the public half-naked without anyone staring at you like a weirdo? I felt so much freedom when the cooling breeze slams my chest, haha. We walked to this Hard Rock Cafe by the beach before heading back to hotel to catch out flight home.

Final glimpse of our hotel before departing home.

I must say this short trip really opened up my view to this colourful place. And to have done so with a bunch of colourful friends made it, just beautiful altogether. I am glad I had the luxury to sign off my time at this purple company with such a beautiful experience. It's a good finale.

There were tonnes and tonnes of more photos which I could not possibly post, not only this trip but so many others. Even a tiny event would produce so huge collection of photos. All of us are actually running out of storage space. But this shows only one thing - that every moment here is as colourful and memorable to all of us.

Farewell, my Beloved Purple-Colored Buddies

2007-06-27T01:48:00.000+08:00

Tonight is my last fourth day in purple company. We just came back from our yet-another-fun but last (for me) trip to Bali over the weekend (which I’ll definitely gonna write something on after gathering the 2GB photos from every camera owner and filtering to the bare minimum). It’s hardly drought and my ‘well’ has been filling up these couple of days after all the fun we’ve had. Despite the over-flowing joy throughout the trip I still did find some private time to reflect and gear myself up for the looming farewell end of this week.

But I certainly didn’t expect anything dramatic to happen today as I was still busy working on a couple of projects going on for my key accounts – whole day that is. Right up to dinner time, then I started looking for chocolates to munch although I usually don’t crave for it. ‘I won’t be able to have the luxury to get a sweet tongue free-of-charge come next week’, was what I thought. There I was, searching every corner for chocolate samples, right up to Maguro’s place, and begging for samples which she needs for her work. Dug my dear subordinate Gary's new place in the Aquarium, to no avail. Finally managed to steal a couple of soon-to-be-launched ‘dynamites’ from Nic’s place, which tasted exceptionally good in times of desperation (it’s a helluva good innovation anyway – one of my favourites so far, by our brightest and smartest dear marketer, my ‘Ah Jie’ Vickz).

Offered a bar to the ever-hardworking Bee (my favorite dinner cum gym cum movie buddy). She’s my savior during my OT hours during the busy times of the season. Having her around as company in a cubicle 6 meters away would soothe my restlessness and offer a focus point for me to strive for more. Usually we’d pledge to finish up work by certain time and go for a peaceful dinner either sipping herbal soups or light congee (called 'teng jai juk'; should mean little boat congee - with preserved egg, stew peanuts and deep-fried vermicelli). It's located in this peaceful hawker street beneath an LRT station in PJ. The sound of LRT breezes through at night sounds urbane yet somehow peaceful, hmm.... love it a lot!

Back to the office, this moment at 9pm reminds me of so many other wonderful buddies I have as well. In their own uniqueness they are Woei, Junee, Pyein, Maguro, Tomato, Potato. My life in this purple company tastes sweet enough with all the things I enjoy doing. These buddies splashed more salt to this sweetness, which gave me a TOTAL and complete flavors of a great working life.

Woei was the reason I’m having so much joy with this laptop, living my life in this cyberworld, like I should have so many light years ago. I’m so glad she accompanied me to get my first personal laptop during the PC fair. She’s also a good buddy for a 7-hours karaoke session (but keep it to less than 4 singers please).

Junee is… er, somehow, I couldn’t describe vividly what we enjoyed doing. But somehow, we’ve done quite a bit. This ‘bit’ is made up of tiny bits. She’s one hell of a slap-your-face-now-kiss-your-ear-later buddy, hmm (I’m gonna get slap for this I’m sure, just like many other times, haha). But somehow, she’s there when I least expected it.

Pyein is a ‘balanced’ buddy whom I somehow enjoyed shopping for grocery in Tesco or Giant, usually sharing a large pack of vege to cook. She’s also someone I highly-recommended to take up a vacancy in my Department, which she did and enjoyed, as she seems now, as I’ve expected. She’s now turned into a ‘wild thing’ with the beautiful perm hair and dressing styles (certain degree of influence from me, I suspect).

Maguro is always someone I should’ve known 12 years ago, when both our schools were so near and brought-up so alike (Jiau Lai). We speak the same language all the time and inspire for the same vision (though not visible yet). We don’t usually need to speak too much to understand what’s going on.

Tomato is someone who’d jump on top of me (physically) without notice. It’s really nice to have her cuddles when times are low. Her passion for art and beauty enables us to share so much. Her taste in things also brings alignment to what we look forward to in life.

Potato is my dear student whom I’ve guided and taught, in different corner of work or relationship matters. After she graduated, I was in turn, guided and taught. We share quite a bit on life philosophy and the ‘path to enlightenment’, as both is as innocent as the lotus flower (really?).

Despite the uniqueness of each buddy here, they are truly ANGELS in their own form.

After having a final farewell chat with my kind ex-Boss, MrsTan (she would be on leave starting tomorrow, so would miss my last day), I went off with a heavy heart. Somehow worried that Bee would starve in the midst of the prolonged night (she would be traveling tomorrow, would miss my last day too), I went to get her a packet of Maggi goreng. The process seemed sad, and gave me endless goosebumps while I reminisced, while waiting for the mamak to goreng. I went back and gave my final pack of dinner to her in purple company and reluctantly asked her not to speak much, afraid that I’d burst.

After paying my last respect to ‘Dato Goong’, whom I believe has guided my working life here, I drove off with the ‘well’ over-flowing with tears - it's flooding everywhere! Afterall, I’m just a human being. Together with the above mentioned Buddies, I messaged other Close Ones the following sms:

“it’s premature, but I’m sobbin after walkin out from offce a min ago, quietly n peacefuly. Wana let u guys knw I’m gona cherish all of u n d moment we’v had. Dun reply, dun do anything, 4get bout tis 2moro when u c me. jus wanna mark tis moment in time.. luv yah..”

I received sweet replies nevertheless.

On another personal message, MrsTan replied a:

“I count my blessings Des you will be happier that way. Take care Des call me anytime if you need an ear”

I do cherish every single ONE of them, including those who have moved on to different paths earlier… at last, *sigh*... I'm following suit... and changing colors....

The Courage Not to Have Principles

2007-06-22T00:33:00.000+08:00

I randomly came across this beautiful quote which coincidentally strikes a cord with what I had just read in this stranger’s blog. Let’s name this stranger as…, say, ‘Cow’ for simplicity sake. In this Cow’s blog today, the recent topic depicts a life with a long list of:

- I must
- I want
- I will
- I won’t

It’s a long set of principles. For me, it’s scary. It’s confining life to your own definition and limit. Not a bad thing to do if your life is so uncontrollable (er, say example, if you are Paris Hilton). But for a non-celebrity person like us, living in a considerably ‘normal’ or common life, I do not think the above principles should be set to the minuscule actions of how many grains of rice to eat; or in the case of Cow, how many leaves of grass.

So much of principles, let’s go to the beautiful quote:

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it
takes to sit down and listen”

- Winston Churchill

Let’s muse. A Principled person would reflect the quote’s first part. And more often than not, the second part is seldom seen. Maybe by listening to others, it compromises one’s principle… or, does it?

Back to Cow's story... it has this very strong principle in everything it does. From sticking to a routined schedule to selecting what grass to eat. So much so that it's not in the pinkest state of health - the limited and selective grass makes her weak and sick. But it wants to, because ‘The Principle’ says so. Now it publishes a revised ‘The Principle Part 2’ (practised by Cat, Dog, Goat, and Mouse), to overcome the problem from ‘The Principle’. But after going through all these troubles, wouldn’t it be nice if it were to just listen to Others and not clinging on ‘The Principle’ in the first place?

Well, I hope this serves some points. But if you are not a Cow, you may be confused. If you are the Cow, and try not to be the 'cow', then you'd be able to swallow this post with ease... just add a bit of nice green grass.

What Fragrance R U in 2?

2007-06-16T02:59:00.000+08:00

070530: May event. ‘CK in 2 U’ fragrance launch in Zouk. Zouk again?? Over the years I have only been there for a couple of times. But somehow these couple of weeks alone I made it twice. This time it was Tomato who got me to join her good friend who’s in charge of CK’s branding (first time met her, looks like a cool & hip lady). It was a well-organised event with good flow of programs and interaction with the audience. Met my dear cousins who have grown up quite a bit. Overall it was a pleasant weekday outing, despite my favourite fragrance being... er... Davidoff!! :-)
.

Hot Body Eligible Bachelor

2007-06-16T02:51:00.000+08:00

070525: May event. Lately we have been pretty close to our gym instructors and gym fans. It has to, because we’ve been very obedient students - full attendance in their classes, mainly BodyPump and RPM.

So when one of them, Greg was voted in for Cleo’s annual 50 Most Eligible Bachelors, he gave us free passes to this finale at Zouk. The event was poorly-organised, with boring games and anti-climax announcement. Nevertheless it was a good time hanging out with the other gym friends for the first time. Greg didn’t win the main title but got a ‘Hot Body’ title. All the ladies still had a good time going ‘gugu gaga’ over him.

Cleo's Eligible Hot Body Bachelor

Modern Art

Days of Sweat and Sweets

2007-06-15T16:35:00.000+08:00

070525: May event. Our purple company started this seem-like an annual event last year. It is a day when all management employees go out on the trade, sweat it out while giving away samples of sweets to retailers. There were certain target of quantity to be handed out. This year I am paired with Emilia aka Tomato. Being very ‘experienced’ ‘snake-charmers’, we finished pretty early and spent our extra time doing marketing work -checking out all the very important ads by our company in the theaters (yeak yeak).

Looks tough har? Looks real!

ah... Second session

Comparing to last year, I worked with Bee-Bee for one of her days. It was more of a decent affair :-)

Birthday Wine & Seafood for Gary & 60c

2007-06-15T16:17:00.000+08:00

070518: May event. Celebration for Gary’s on 17th and 60c’s on 11th – same day as mine. Since young 60c and I have not had the chance to celebrate together. Not even this year, he was in HK for business trip on the day I had mine. But as for Gary, we had a couple of joint celebrations. One I can remember vividly was in 1993, our 17th birthday. It was held in his house. You know how it used to be, Mom cooked fried mee hoon, chicken wings, jelly and stuffs. We got our high school buddies together, drank orange juice (instead of beers), played some party games and acted innocent. Haha… it got me smiling thinking of those good ol’ days.

Anyway, move forward many many light years ahead, we had seafood at Pantai Restaurant in Kayu Ara Damansara. Don’t know where it is? No worries, I drew a map! Here you go:

Looks good? I just love to draw!

The food on this day wasn’t that great, probably because we started late. The chef may have lost some form catching up with the busy orders. Anyway couple of dishes still made it to my ‘Recommended List’.

After dinner we had wines at our favourite place, Clear Mont Kiara. It was a decent session with barrels of wine consumed - as usual.

Happy birthday to Gary and 60c, wishing both of them prosperity and wealth, which are critical for old-enough people like us.

Heaven Is Pretty Close to Earth

2007-06-13T00:16:00.000+08:00

070504: May was such an active month full of events; and this Bukit Tabur climb was part of that month’s activities. I only have time to blog it now. But better be late than not capturing it.

We had been planning this for a couple of weeks but the weather was not accommodating. At first attempt, one of our kakis who stayed the furthest (LJune), woke up at 5am disappointed by the rain. The night before Bel claimed that she was so excited she packed such a complete kit she would look like a professional climber. Few days prior to this KW even bought himself a new pair of tracking shoes. Phew… and the list goes on and on with every climber psyched themselves up nicely for this day. Damn, it had to be postponed.

Then, came the second attempt. The night before, I was so paranoid I went into the Government’s weather forecast site. And guess what? It showed ‘Rain’ again in the coming wee morning. ‘Damn’, I thought. I couldn’t take my heart to relay this sad news to the rest. Quietly, I went to sleep with all my ten fingers (and toes) crossed X_X, hoping that the Government keeps to its general trend of contradicting itself.

At 5am I woke up without any alarm, and to my surprise, it was all CLEAR! All preparation work was neat and complete. Most of us had to gather at my house as mine is the most strategic one. I even drew a map. The only tiny hiccup was LJune took a wrong turn, not because she’s like all-the-ladies-who-can’t-read-map (ouch, I’m gonna get spanked for this), but because she didn’t print the full page of my map!! Ouch, this is classic.

Oh, another tiny incident. Trista came last. As we were so excited, different people directed her to different cars. As it was also still dark (in the morning), the 2 cars zoomed away without getting her onboard! Luckily I realized, ‘huh… did Trista climb into that car??’. What another classic!

Anyway at slightly more than 6am we managed to gather and began our climb with all exciting juice over-flowing…

Beautiful KL skyline at dawn
The other side of the hill
Breaking of the day
Shiny lake backdrop
It doesn't look real, does it??

Group spirit

Half-way through was already heavenly

Buddies shining along the bright light

It is real climb! Not a walk in the park. And bare hands too!

The most dangerous part.

You can't imagine the lower part of this photo. It's an empty space all the way down.

Giving support so that they don't swing to the right, like in previous photo

Most dangerous ledge. Left and right is empty all the way down again!

Sigh of relief

It does look like a world of fantasy

Three fighters

Down to earth

Flexing muscle

Flexing joy

At 11am, we were a bunch of hungry wolves. What a beautiful brunch at nearby Batu Caves. You can't ask for more at that time. *Gulping*

Despite the tough work, we never really complained. In fact, for some of us, this is the second time climbing. For Norman, he has scaled it numerous times. The view and the air were more than enough to persuade us to wake up at 5am. Heaven is indeed close, if we work hard enough.

When Is World Environment Day huh??

2007-06-12T01:20:00.000+08:00

One of the days in last week was World Environment Day. And I’m getting very much disturbed with the fact that of all the nice and earthly citizens who are putting in so much effort to conserve and preserve, none of the World leaders are actually giving any shit towards this.

Looking at the natural disasters which hit us so frequently in the past recent years, and looking at last night’s simple flash flood hit a common city like KL without any warnings, it’s so sad that some of these leaders are actually wearing a sympathetic mask announcing their dismay, but refusing to work towards effort like the Kyoto’s Treaty. We don’t even know whether treaty like this would help significantly, but for goodness sake, if we shut off effort like this altogether, we are likely to live short enough to see enough destruction and suffering on this planet. Does it take their own family to go through a typhoon in order to realize what comes out from their tiny mouths means a great deal to many people?? I just wonder why the lives of so many people are at the mercy of these few leaders. Are they trying to prove that their short-term economic benefits would prevail over preservation of mankind? I just hope soon enough that the World Environment Day does not fall on a single day, it should be abolished. As a citizen of this Earth, we should treat it as a habit to preserve, instead of ‘a day of reminder’.

I’ve been doing my part (since young), not to waste food in my own plate. I would be very sick to see innocent food thrown away while so many unfortunate beings beg for a single grain. Not only do I finish mine, I would even help others to finish theirs. It's a habit cultivated through Mom. It may not be enough still, but I’m putting in more - writing this blog is another one.
...

Purple Cadbury celebrates Green Day too

Excerpt from our Management's recent memo which I think worths every thought to be updated in this post:

"Our planet faces potentially devastating social and economic consequences. If no action is taken by governments or business there is more than a 75% chance of global temperatures rising between 2-3C over the next 50 years, with water shortage likely to be one of the first and most tangible consequences. Extreme weather is forecast to reduce global GDP by 1%, global economic output by up to 10%, and global consumption per head by up to 20% by 2050"

What’s for Breakfast?

2007-06-04T00:29:00.000+08:00

7:00 am:: wake up, wash up, poo poo
7:30 am:: iron my shirt (urgh), dress up
8:00 am:: jam, jam, jam (urrrrgh), jam, jam, jam
8:20 am:: petrol mart – newspaper, coffee / juice / soyamilk & ‘breakfast’
8:50 am:: late to work

With such hectic morning beating jam, crazy motorists, and stupid road systems, I just wonder what do people eat for breakfast. For me, an ideal one is a bowl of hot soup noodles for easy digestion. But of course this won’t be possible with such timing. Most of the time I would end up at the nearby petrol mart, contemplating between the healthy but boring sandwich, or the tempting but oily peanut butter & jam donut. Yeah, I have great cravings for anything with peanut butter.

Recently I found the perfect solution in Tiger biscuit’s version of peanut butter, plus a little chocolate cream for the extra oomph! It’s pretty crispy and fresh, and not oily like most of the similar biscuits in the market. Just like eating Oreo’s, I love separating the joint biscuits and taste one side at a time, hmm… still keeping in touch with the child side in me. That’s for breakfast, until there is something interesting.

Counting My Blessings at 31st

2007-05-31T21:44:00.000+08:00

Stepping into the 30s is not something many of us would love to look forward to. Last year’s burden lifted, comes a heavier one this year. We seem to be trapped in this never-ending quest to succeed. Just when would success be accepted as the ultimate one? Just when would we stop; beside the ‘obvious’?

It reminds me of this beautiful song frequently played during the ‘warming-down’ session of BodyPump (at gym) – ‘Chasing Cars’, by Snow Patrol [for the benefit of those who do not know what is BodyPump, it is simply a trademark workout session where participants in this class train each major part of the body by lifting weights, following the rhythm of some very cool songs].

Back to the song, the lyrics says a bit of my life now. I am like chasing cars all the time. When would I really lie down (but not fall asleep) and forget about the world? We, the gym buddies love this session so much. Right after a tiring workout, we’d be catching our breath, the light would dim, and we’d lay there imagining stars on the ceiling, and stop chasing cars for a minute.

I’m lying down now… I’m stopping the world for a bit longer, and start counting my blessings. What do I feel? I feel that…

… I’m blessed with so many good buddies that I
love from top to down, front to back, side to side, & inside out!
But I still can’t possibly cover all the important ‘parts’ they play, in my life.

This post is definitely dedicated to them, who have spent very meaningful time with me, especially during these few birthday sessions. Turning 31st is easier to swallow with them around....

Pt #1: 070504 - Spicy Szechuan Steamboat w Goodie Choco Buddies

Very hot & spicy steamboat

Pt #2: 070510 - Exotic Korean w Healthy Gym Buddies

Korean Spread

Why the anxious look??
Juicy silkworm stew!!! ###
Had a few mouthfuls!!
ThanXxX for the gift!!!

Pt #3: 070511 - Dim Sum Lunch & Office Bunch

My sexy present - lucky me!
Giving her a blow-job
Free tatoo, courtesy of 2 pretty artists

Pt #4: 070511 - Happy Hour @ Q-Bar w Choco 'Check-it-check-it' Buddies

quiet n peaceful at 8pm
artist

1 of the cocktails - Illusion is the best!

Pt #5: 070511 - 2nd Happening Session @ Passion w Outdoor Gang
second session at midnight

the glasses that filled our drinks
Pt #6: 070512 - Jungle Dinner & Temple Visit w Skool Buddies & Outdoor Gang
Kampung & back-to-nature feel
karaoke?!!
Tigers in the jungle
beautiful temple in Broga
the dragon babies

into the Tiger
Thanks to all Buddies for these few sessions... really appreciate it... there's nothing more I can ask for. Many happy returns to each & everyone here. You guys make the earth a warmer place (but not giving it a greenhouse effect :-). I am blessed!

Breathe and Thou Shalt Taste the Goodness in Life

2007-05-23T00:16:00.000+08:00
070522: My Buddy asked, “Hey… long time no blog??”, and I thought ‘oh yeah, it has been 3 weeks already since my last post’. The fact is, these couple of weeks had been hectic day-to-day. I only had time to live those days, but not much time to take a breather and reflect. You know how some of those days go; when you wish it’d be just a ‘seasonal’ trend. Otherwise what meaning has life got?

In these short couple of weeks I had megabytes and megabytes of photos from events here and there, which I wish I could find my prudent strength to filter and blog them.

But this simple post deserves to be dedicated to this Buddy who somehow reminded me to breathe during our short chat at 5:51pm. And from this simple concept, we somehow ended up at her place, dressed in comfy home clothes, with the following items on the table:

1) a bottle of Chilean Carmenere
2) a tiny tub of blue cheese
3) a bag of assorted breads – mixture of wholemeal, sunflower seeds, hard, soft, etc etc
4) many packs of single-served Irish butter
5) a bunch of celery
6) a bottle of Dijonnaise
7) a pot of home-cooked organic, vegetarian, light tom yam pan mee

All the breads tasted good and fluffy, and went well with the beautiful Irish butter. Buddy indulged quite a bit of those. Celery is no doubt best paired with my favourite rare Dijonnaise sauce. We didn’t have time for the Carmenere, but did spread some foul-smelling blue cheese on our tongues – ‘yucks’ to ‘yummMM’.

But of course the highlight was Item 7). I have not tasted home-cooked food (other than my Mom’s) for a long time. She was not too happy with how her pan mee turned soggy-looking after I was, er, (opps, now that I count) 45 minutes late!! Ouchh… But frankly, it tasted GOOD! It was a light tom yam soup with some vege, tau foo pok and eggs – well-balanced and easy on the tummy. I think I could take 2 pots without feeling bloated. This review should take her to a beautiful sleep (without any unnecessary dreams, haha).

You just wonder how a little breather can let you taste all the goodness in life…. *ThanX Buddy & Thank GOD for all the fine foods on earth*

Opening My World Up - Through Food

2007-04-28T15:24:00.000+08:00
When I was much much younger I used to hate vegetable, especially those which are pale green in colour. It also explains why I was so round and chubby as a young kid, haha. No one tells me to hate them but somehow I just got this restriction programmed in my system. Topping my fear list was celery!!! My ‘processor’ registered it as ‘so-VERY-raw’. My Mom and sisters used to cook and eat trees and trees and trees of celery! Later, somehow during my first visit to American Chillies’, I got to try their celery dipped with honey mustard. My eyes were lighted up with a different perception. I wasn’t sure I love it, but after a few more encounters, my hate has turned into love and now, C-R-A-Z-E! Not that because it sounds like salary (which I do love to have in abundance), I just grow to like it so much that other greens would pose a no-challenge anymore. Why??

Another classic example was salmon sashimi. I remember during my first ever trip to Hong Kong with my Dad and two of my fellow buddies, TC & KW. Dinner on the first night was exciting, as we explored this market of fresh seafood before getting them cooked in the restaurant nearby. There we were sitting in front of this thick piece of orange-looking fish. Being not exposed to such luxury at young age, we were with the thought, ‘what on earth can fish be in orange??!’ There we were, closing our doors to such quirk of fate. Remember my first bite almost ended up with me throwing up, but to my Dad’s stern warning (“it’s very expensive, u better not!!”), I gulped it up with flows of water. Another ‘what-on-earth-can-fish-tastes-so… creamy?!!’ thought ran through my mind. My buddies had similar tough time keeping up with nature. Subsequently, I went over to Australia to pursue my study. It happened that my housemates and uni friends were extreme sushi freak. I was ‘forced’ to join them in this weekly affair. Somehow I was also curious how second encounter with salmon sashimi would end up (or throw-up – yes, a type of challenge). “What?? You don’t eat this??” lamented everyone. Being forced to conform, I had to agree with them. But after a few times, ironic as it may be, I have grown to love it so much I would save hard-earned money to enjoy it. Now, not only do I love salmon sashimi, I love every other fishes or ‘things’ that come raw. Sorry, I should re-phrase – I would love every kind of food. No, I should re-re-phrase – I would love every kind of food, drinks, music, hobbies, interests, yada yada yada. Yes, I do. Why??

I am no philosopher, but such coincidences and irony got me to think that:
‘Everything on earth is there for a reason; as long as you are not closed to accept how things are, you can see, hear, touch, taste, feel a lot more, and learn to love
more’
Or laymen-ly to explain, if MINORITY of people out there enjoy something so much, it doesn’t make them fools or weirdos, which the majority would brand. For me, it only explains how narrow one wants their thoughts to be.

Don’t you think so too? Most of the times, we are so stubborn that we comfortably reject things without offering a second glance. I used to too… but now I’m glad I can write this down and pledge that I will never would.

Nothing now ever surprises me. Not durian’s ‘stinking aroma’, nor bittergourd’s ‘biting taste’, which certain people would claim. I was that ‘certain people’ too. But now, I belong to those who say durian is ‘fragrant’. It’s ‘fragrant’ – if that’s what you want it to be…. Throw me a dinosour egg, I'll happily swallow it.

Corona Tastes Like Summer Scent

2007-04-22T23:34:00.000+08:00
"Crisp yet light, floral summer sight,
Northern stars shine bright;
Escaping reality, exploring fantasy,
beneath the plethora of galaxy;
Living a bliss, dead by a kiss,
the moment was a gust of breeze;
Clasp our hands, back to dreamland,
Beers and summer scent...."

[Disclaimer: Nope, Corona does not taste like summer scent. So as many other things, to many people. Except for two crazy buddies... cheerS! :-D]

Games at Emerald

2007-04-22T13:08:00.000+08:00
070323: A group of colleagues recently had a cute time celebrating Vicki’s birthday at her boy-boy’s condo at Emerald. It’s such a cool place. Two words to describe it – urbane & contemporary. Not to mention the artistic interior of Dylan’s shack, by far my top favourite. We utilized the multi-purpose hall to play games we’ve not played for so long – Twister & Pictionary.

My Limbs

2007-04-19T18:51:00.000+08:00

070416; 2133:

Six years ago I received my 2nd job’s offer. I was head over heels and hands over mouth. Almost immediately I broke the news to her. She was then my head, heels, hands and mouth. We were virtually inseparable.

Today I received my 4th job’s offer. I still feel that I’m head over heels and hands over mouth. But she’s no longer all those parts of me; maybe only the mouth, which is used for keeping in touch.

Throughout the years, the body parts have faced injuries and undergone surgeries. We have had good times limping together. We have had testing times reconstructing those limbs, on our own exercise – hoping that one day, those flaws may disappear.

It wasn’t easy after 5 years of attachment. But I have had the bliss of new parts growing around me. They have appeared to serve a certain purpose, but may never be as a whole.

Today she asked to be relieved of her exercise. My heart was heavy, but it begged to differ. If we can’t live with what we have, we have to let others to live it. Whatever it turns out to be, life’s a blessing; that no one should take for granted – be it your head, heels, hands or simply, just your mouth.
...

Up to Down, Down to Up?

2007-04-15T23:45:00.000+08:00
We've been sensing this call all along, after all that has happened. We shall go up again, but looks like we have to do it individually....

Chocolate Indulgence to Beer Ecstasy – It’s Getting ‘High’ & ‘Higher’

2007-04-14T15:12:00.000+08:00

070413: This is not the usual Friday the 13th one would expect. It has probably been more spooky before this date. Anxiety can be scary. But anxious no more, I am finally on my path to another career of great indulgence.
...
Having an ambition of being a true Connoisseur one day (ssshhh…), this career change shall add considerable amount of experience and opportunities to widen the breadth I have under my wings….
But I must pay tribute to all my fellow buddies who have supported and put up with me during this period of prolonged labour
– Alex, Junee, Bee, Woei-Woei, Tomato, Maguro, Potato.
Thanks for giving me the push!

Red Devil’s Red Massacre

2007-04-12T22:55:00.000+08:00
070410: The alarm went off at 0330. Half of my mind was half-conscious, another half was still in dreamland. The part which was half-conscious, had a hunch that something good was to happen. It kicked the other half to live.

I switched on the TV. To my shock it was 4-0 at the break! When first-half highlights were replayed, I knew from the moves the form was there. It was such a joy looking at those free-flowing styles, flicks and dummies which were deprived of in modern football. Who wants ‘joga bonito’ (play beautiful) when winning is all that it matters? And which were sorely missed ever since the team of treble-winning ’99.

When the second-half resumed, a sweet MU fanatic aka SaxyCookie messaged me about the good news. Earlier I had a long chat with her till close to midnight. After a tiring day, I thought I wouldn’t find the oomph to even switch on half of my mind. She thought I would not too.

But somehow I was so glad to be part of the history-making moment. Throughout more than a decade of following this team, I have not witnessed such brutal score, not in such an important stage of a major tournament anyway. Not against such a high quality team anyway. Not against an opponent skipper who was so confident that commented ‘after this game, Alex is gonna remember me’.

But I’m glad that SaxyCookie do remember me despite such a long time since we left college. Having an MU lady fanatic brings extra zest to the whole excitement. Two red devils make it a bloodier massacre! Ouch….

(hope she doesn't mind me putting up this cute caricature of her - I can't resist, it's such a work of art)

The Weekly Affair for Grape Juice

2007-04-08T22:51:00.000+08:00

070404: We are in danger of setting this as a habit. For the third or fourth consecutive week we’ve been exploring a few nice places in Damansara. But I must admit that sipping on those grape juice is pretty addictive… especially when you have good food to go along. If only they are as cheap as grape juice!
______________
My new love – blue cheese dip

My newer love – bratwurst dipped in mashed potato

The ambassadors

Threesome lovers - for wines, that is

Irish Fun & Cheers

2007-04-07T17:38:00.000+08:00

070317: An event full of fun, cheers, shamrocks, greens, games, and foamy tops. It’s a wonderful atmosphere in Hartamas where people of all ages and backgrounds came together and learned the rich, friendly Irish culture. I still can’t understand why there are still wars out there instead of simple fun and cheers like this.

There must be something funny going on

What’s creamy at the top?

It’s a 'World' Up There

2007-04-01T23:38:00.000+08:00

070316: 070316: Tonight, at full moon, we broke the ultimate rules of the Sacred Scroll (guarded by the immortal elves, hidden beneath the Valley of Three Wishes). We traveled 22 miles on rocky road to the epicenter of the heartland. We looked up and began our climb 33 levels up a steep mountain path until we reached the point of zenith. A point where every creatures seemed small and tall trees looked dwarf. With shadows of light wading along the lake and new-age sound strumming through the thin winter air, we sipped crisp, light fruity wine with hints of citrus and melon. For a moment, our minds were vacuumed from the hustle bustle below. Everything came to a halt.

Then... slowly… humans appeared. Glasses were formed. The mountain gradually transformed into a structure – a building! We then realized the wine had kicked in and we were back to civilization…?! It was so real… until we returned to our fantasy land again… after we were sound asleep that night.

‘Move On’ by Rain sounds like the new-age sound strumming through the winter air. It’s playing in my head as I captured this moment.

Wines Al Fresco

2007-04-01T23:02:00.000+08:00
070210: It has been some time since the bunch came out. So it was a good light session to celebrate Jef’s birthday at this Mont Kiara’s Deli.

In the ((loop))

My gym buddies joined in the fun too

Alien Encounter!

2007-04-01T22:41:00.000+08:00

070202: We had an encounter of the weird kind during our lunch at KimGary. We’ve had many times of idako, but this one looks really interesting! Thanks to Ms ‘Tomato’, we had the honour of capturing it vividly through the lens of her new SLR. What an eye-opener.

It attempted to escape... but sigh, it ended sadly

Your friendly UFO researchers

Beers as Fresh as You Can Get

2007-04-01T22:14:00.000+08:00
070119: This is everyone’s favourite pub in town. Beers here can’t get any fresher (production is just next door). Privileged visitors tend to get warm and friendly pretty quickly. All thanks to our beer buddies. It is also a day ‘chocolates reunite with beers’.

A Toast of Good Beer to Good ol’ Buddy

2007-04-01T21:28:00.000+08:00

070106: A bunch of good ole’ buddies celebrated a quiet (yes, giving the usual magnitude of celebration we have, this is deemed pretty mild) for our buddy Alex. Time flies, can’t recall how many mugs of beers we have shared and drown in. Anyway, let the good times roll.

Our primary school buddies

I'm so into Sanctuary, haha

Espreski: Cadbury-fused

2007-04-01T21:07:00.000+08:00

070105: I just launched a line of drinks with Dome – Cadbury-fused. It’s a trial to gauge Malaysian’s acceptance of this range. Different types of chocolates are ice-blended with espresso. I don’t particularly have a sweet tooth but it did ‘sex up’ my taste bud a bit. When you are indulging a cup, try playing Kylie Minogue’s ‘Chocolate’ from your MP3 player… check if your feet are still on the ground.

My sweet buddy colleagues helped in soaking their sweet tongue in it.

New Year Blast

2007-04-01T17:13:00.000+08:00
070101: Why do the Chinese miss setting off long, red-hot firecrackers during the first day of Chinese New Year celebration? It is wished that it would blast the new year off with high spirit and prosperity. A huge group of our friends thought so too. But instead of firecrackers, we had a hot cracking time in a rented suite at the Royal Bintang Curve. It was actually initiated by my buddy Emi (a.k.a. Maguro). She booked the place couple of months ahead at a reasonable rate and I was roped in as her partner-in-crime. Then there were all the preparation of sending out invites (putting a gun on their heads to join), ensuring throngs of pretties and hunkies, planning a fool-proof program, stocking up on drinks, and wiring up the suite with a laptop plus bass booster (it was such a cost-saving yet effective idea!).

Result:
If the drinks didn’t give me ‘double-vision’, I remember there were approximately 40pax in that hardly 500sq ft room. We switched between dancing action downstairs at Sanctuary and our suite upstairs.
A few eye-openers:
- some danced like there was no tomorrow even though normally they don’t
- some ‘risked’ their lives and joined us despite ‘commitment’ (haha, we salute to that)
- some were awake until dawn, physically dead but soul was still wandering
- some sent us appreciation email, thanking us for the ‘sexciting’ experience
We also thought viewing the 10mins BandarUtama fireworks from our balcony was great. There were so many exciting photos taken in the midst of actions that didn’t pass our Censor Board, hence we’d do with what’s decent.
Now this is what we call a blast despite the ban of home fireworks.

Language in Blogs??

2007-03-31T23:03:00.000+08:00
a gOOd swEEt buDDy Woei-Woei 2day knocked me harD on d HeaD *oUcH* n commenteD dat my language in tis blog (previous earLier postS) iz like 'sellin my voCab over d head'.. oucHHiezz! reaLLy?? aiKzz.. but but.. er.. shud i blog like d waY i chaT?? craZzie n swaY like tiZ?? can't deNy dat it's certainly mO easY-goin wif tis kindA languAge.. hMM.. on 1 hand, i shud b mo relaXXX n churnin out wordS as theY ooZie ouT fr d edGe of my sticKy brain 011100010 10100010001 000100000.. non-stoPP dat iS.. on d other hand, i waS thinkin i shud blog wif 'proper' UNIVERSAL language... is there 1 actually?? haha.. not in d last thousands of yearS as far as i remember... as time goes, d mo we talk, d mo others got confused!!!#_#.. anyway, paradoXx as it is, i was wif d thoughT dat properly-wordEd english shuD stand d TesT of time.. {cos i predicteD d cyberworLd is here to staY! ouch, sucha rocket sCienCe, *dun slaP me pls* hehe}.. but opeN-hearteDly i eValuated her 'pieCe of mind' n came 2 d ConClusion dat i DO shuD sumtimes 'gO wif da flOw' >> like tiZzZzZzZzZ.. shaLL let d mOOd dictateS oKie?.. now tis comment fr Woei-Woei iS certainLy gonna leaVe a smeLL in my future bLoG postS.. but i do hoPe it's a smeLL dat many can relate tO *sniFF sniFF* - 'hopefully like properly-worded English'

Real-time Blog??

2007-03-31T23:00:00.000+08:00
I can't blog real-time!! I have some catch-ups to do if I want to capture a few more events or happenings in the first quarter of this year. And I want to do that just to have a full-year account of what happens for the year - and how it matches against my resolutions, what I set out my life would be for 2007. So there will be a few postings tracking back events which I deem meaningful or interesting enough to reside in this cyberworld.

It's already coming to April, I regret that I started out so late. But at the same time I'm grateful that I did kicked this blogging off. All thanks to my buddy Junee. I've known her for some time but never did I know she blogs too! That's just so not-buddy. But do understand that certain people blog not for 'mass public viewing', so there is no point of 'commercialising' it. I do believe some bloggers' intention is to communicate with aliens instead of human beings. At least their thoughts are 'new' to other beings and advocate a different perception. Could it be that civilized humans are too boring as blog-readers? They think the same thing and react the same way.

'Society seems to be too obsessed with speed that life moves on faster than the experience'. So I'm blogging to slow things to a meaningful level.

Real-time? (( S l o w e r. . . . m a y b e ))

Inspiration: Determination & Excellence - Aligned!

2007-03-31T22:51:00.000+08:00
070328; 22:30: You knew it when something strikes right on the spots. Ideas are everywhere, all over the place. But when you have two 'naked' souls picking up the bits and pieces and form a solid base, then you knew life has got a bright spot to reach for.

This happened over a take-away meal of fried rice, Fuchou beancurd, red wine and a little cut pieces of Edam cheese. Coupled with a few net exploration, a project on-hand, and a long-kept idea, a plan flourished. Key points such as 'Mommy's love', 'happy kids', 'momento', 'Grandpa spoils it', 'props', 'reflections' were churned out. Excitement were heated, the light was shone towards one direction - 6 months from now. There shall be a structure we can stand on.

As long as there are Determination and Excellence, the bright spot is just hovering above the head...

**Nope, it's not a family shot.. just a coincidental shot that depicts pretty closely to what was inspired - just so deceiving! haha

The Virgin Post

2007-03-31T22:47:00.000+08:00

The weather does a lot to trigger one's poetic juice. This happened in one of the lazy afternoons when life was not crazily fast-paced (as the previous weeks) and time gets to rest in a slower but steady 'tick-toks'. The new year seems so near (didn't it just happen??), yet the celebration in actual fact has died down quite some time ago. Guess a lot of thinking, 'reviews' and reflections happen during this time of the year....

Sky's gloomy, yellow burning hue of silhouette
Rain drizzles, gentle drops of loneliness
Soft thunder echos liberty
Cool yet warm breeze resides
Afternoon dreams, seek for lost time...
and eternity