Visit from Canada

My aunt and uncle from Canada visited us recently and it was really good to catch up with them. :) My uncle is amazing, he had contacts of his friends whom he hasn't met in over 40 years, all in a little notebook he carried around. So every day, he would meet up with one of his friends, schoolmates, ex-colleagues, neighbours and I even discovered I have a god-uncle!

See the guy in black and his wife beside him? He was my parents page boy when they got married. And that was the last time they saw him. In 1968. I kid you not. When my uncle contacted him, his wife was like, "I never knew you had a god-brother!".

His family were neighbours with my Mum and Uncle when they stayed in Melaka back then and he apparently used to stay over at their place quite frequently. So they are now in the Klang Valley and my parents finally have his contact. Wow!

Also managed to catch up quite a fair bit with my uncle. He came over to visit my new place and we chatted for an hour. He was passionately sharing about how proud he was of his kids, how well they are all doing, how proud he was to see the work of their hands. KS and I could feel it emanating from him. It was very touching. Kenny, Kelvin and Karen, I hope you guys know this. :)

It was really great to see them after so long.

Icing on the Cake

I've always wanted to try to make a chocolate cake, complete with chocolate icing. Several attempts failed until I read this blogger's recipe so I thought I'd give it a try.

At the baking goods shop, I spotted some cute sugary sprinkles in the shape of dinosaurs to give colour to my chocolate cake. So anyway, I toiled in the kitchen for a night and carefully spread the icing for a good hour (i hardly ice my cakes, so no practice) the day after. It so happened that night we went out to celebrate two friends' birthdays so I brought the experiment along.

Their comments were consistent and simple. "Cute dinosaurs!"

So my learning from this is, nobody really cares about the cake. It's the decorative icing that counts. :)

Never Say Never

I've often said I would never be eager to go visit China. Despite my parents and my in-laws going there on several trips and having shown us photos and seeing photos of breathtaking views, my interest remained lukewarm. Why would I want to go where you have to be wary of what you buy, what you eat and worse, carry an umbrella whenever you need to use a toilet, that is, if I'll be lucky to have a toilet rather than just a hole in the ground with a heaping load of crap beneath me?

With that, yes, I am now booked to go China in June. And yes, I am eager to go. Simply because it will be the largest gathering of my husband's family at their ancestral home. A couple of years ago, my in-laws went together with newfound relatives in Indonesia and donated some money to build some er... building in that area. Now that the structures are up, there will be a huge opening ceremony and of course, all the donors and members of the clan are invited. So all my Masjid Tanah relatives plus the ones from Indonesia whom I have yet to meet and relatives from goodness knows where will be there.

I have been very keen on tracing my family tree and have started up a family tree online. With the help of relatives who are connected, we have managed to extend the tree horizontally. It's so fascinating to see people from all over the world related to one another, people whom I will most likely never meet in person, but just to know we are all related fascinates me.

So, this trip is one where I can see the vertical genealogy of the family I married into. My name is apparently in the family book there in China. So excited!

Which also means, my trip to US/Canada... :P... ah... never say never.

Not Again!

I think I will always have this demon plaguing me. The "DSLR or No DSLR". So here I am, happily trudging along with life, often bringing my new G12 everywhere I go but I don't take any photos. So yeah, I don't take much photos these days. Uninspired. Plus my iPhone camera takes what is sufficient just to show proof that I was there hanging out with my group of friends.

Then yesterday at a wedding, even though I could have brought my G12, I didn't. Instead, at my table, my friend brought her Nikon D40 with these awesome lens. I took one shot. Just ONE shot. And I swear, I'm in love.

Focussed on the wrong prawn though...

I love the bokeh! But but but... would I spend thousands just so that I can get great bokeh shots? My G12, great as a point & shoot and as a prosumer, isn't able to give me this. Plus, it's not even 6 months since I got it and yet I hardly take photos with it.

Just bear with me as I battle this one out again. I usually am successful at stamping out any spark of desire by vehemently declaring, "Die! Die! DIE!!" but this time, even after chanting it for a full day and then seeing the photo again and again, my valiant efforts are starting to wear thin, my sane reasonings on why I don't need one are flying out the window. *Groan*

Groupsmore

I recently bought some coupons from Groupsmore.com (which was bought over by Groupon not too long ago). My first two redemptions were done last week. The first one was getting 6 Chicken and Mushroom pies and one huge apple pie from this place called Mr Pieman. I heard the owner over the radio a couple of months ago. He explained he was trying to bring the pie eating culture into Malaysia, just like when he was staying in NZ years ago. I resonated with him, remembering my pie eating days in NZ, how affordable and widely available they were.

So I was determined to try them out and when the Groupon opportunity came along, I grabbed it. After all, we host our cell group in our place so it would be a good excuse reason to feed everyone. 

Unfortunately, only one person turned up for that day. And I bought extra just in case 6 wasn't enough. So I had 8 pies and 1 large apple pie. Unfortunately too, it was SO salty, we could hardly finish up one pie each! I drank 6 glasses of water to wash away the salt but it lingered. I will try to find time to give this feedback to the company because seriously, no one would go back for seconds and I'm glad I didn't ruin the brand name had all my guests come.

My second Groupon was for a mani + pedi. I was the only one there the whole two hours and the two staff attended to me. I got sucked into adding more services (paraffin wax treatment) and ended up buying a package for 5 times of mani + pedi. Oh well... I reasoned I would be doing this more often now that I've discovered I like painted toe nails.

One more Groupon to utilize. Will blog about that once I use it up :P

Malaysian Comedy

So many things have been happening in the news. Really, if you want to laugh at something on a daily basis, just read about what is happening in Malaysia. From sending effeminate boys (and their definition is apparently quite amazing, it includes boys who help do house chores!) to boot camp to "toughen them up", to offering a "FREE" email account to every Malaysian aged 18 and above (but Garmen agencies sending out emails to us will be charged RM0.50 per email. Quick calculation, say 17mil Malaysians x RM0.50 = RM8.5mil for every email that is sent to us. And where would this money come from? Taxpayers!).

Then there's the PM who on one day thanks the Chinese for playing a vital part in Malaysia's economy, and the next day says to the Chinese, "If you don't vote MCA in the next election, you will no longer be represented", failing to understand that it matters not what skin colour but the heart and intentions beneath who we want to represent us.

Then there's our dear Deputy PM who is clearly trying to claim his stake and shaking the very mantra our PM is advocating. Not 1Malaysia but 1Melayu or 1Bumi, backing an extremist idiot who claims to be doing all this in the name of his religion.

Thunderstorm Destruction!

I don't know if this is true but I feel as though thunderstorms in PJ are really more severe than most parts of Malaysia. The last couple of days, we've seen terrifying thunderstorms in the evening. And it has brought much damage to my home.

Firstly, after the first time my modem was fried from a thunderstorm months ago, I purchased a surge protector to avoid another instance. The guy at the shop said, "This one guarantee wan... sure can tahan the lighting wan..." so I believed him. Every time there was a thunderstorm, I would smirk and feel that my modem is well protected. Alas, I was wrong. Not only my modem was fried, my house phone was also fried! Thank goodness my modem card on my computer was ok, unlike the last time.

Secondly, since Telekom changed my modem, my Airport Express wouldn't work and I had to re-connect it! After my initial drama of trying to fix it up in almost a month, I must say I'm glad I blogged about it so I just followed the steps again and *fingers crossed* my Airport Express is connected again! Yay!

Thirdly, my guaranteed lifetime warranty surge protector is kaput. So I'll need to go to the shop and lay my claim on it. Thing is, only the surge protector is guaranteed. If my entire computer had fried, I doubt if I would get any warranty for that!

Lastly, the extended part of my kitchen ceiling became flooded. There's a massive leak somewhere which drips into the guest room downstairs. We saw a puddle months ago and wondered where it came from. Today, not only did it leak but it also destroyed the paint and left water streaks all over my new kitchen ceiling. :( My contractor is coming tomorrow.

Emo

There's this old man in my neighbourhood who would take a walk twice a day with his old dog and they would walk companionably around the area. The man would pause as the dog sniffs out a corners, sits down to scratch himself while the dog never wanders far from his master. If the master would walk another direction, the dog simply catches up with him to walk ahead once more. Warms my heart whenever I see them.


I'm just being emo.

Bags of Happiness

Glitz and Glamour. For the last two nights, I was busy with work as we were the official bank for the Pavilion Pit Stop Fashion Shows featuring Raoul and Vertu, Canali and Tumi (brands under the Valiram Group). 

I only brought my camera for the first night after which I decided it was still too heavy for me to carry around since I was running around getting things organized. So here are just two photos of the first night with Raoul:

This is Syafinaz, a local singer with a powerful voice as the performer for the evening. Then there was the fashion show.

There was a totally eye-catching backdrop for this, which is made of water. Technology from Korea. Amazing, right? I was so mesmerized by it that the models became the background. 

Anyway, after working 3 nights in a row (first night was for rehearsals until past midnight), I am completely wiped out, feet throbbing and just longing to go home and put my feet up. But just to share with you 3 little bags of happiness:

Starting from the bottom:
Bag 1: I created the bag. Not that it's anything fantastic but quite a lot of people commented how nice it looked. :)
Bag 2: This was a little surprise gift right after tonight's event. Hehehehe... I'm still grinning.
Bag 3: I wanted to con shu eumura to do my make up tonight but the lady just did a very quick basic one for me as I wasn't willing to spend any more money for a full make up do. I bought some stuff from them anyway.  


Aaah... little bags of happiness that made all the effort worthwhile!

News Today

I can't help it but to blog about today's nation headlines. Too funny!

Firstly, there's this minister who recently said in Parliament:
“Some women drivers drive slowly and seem oblivious to traffic. When you honk at them, they get agitated with some even showing hand gestures to other drivers”

Obviously, this doesn't go down well and thereafter there were many criticisms on his statement. Today, he complains he is being "sexually harassed".

Mind you, this is the same polygamous guy who once told a female opposition who was questioning about a leaking roof of the Parliament building, "Mana ada bocor? Batu Gajah pun bocor tiap-tiap bulan juga (Where is the leak? The Batu Gajah MP leaks every month too.)”

Next, one of the trio behind the sensational media event held at Carcosa Seri Negara (where Queen Elizabeth once stayed) to show members of the media a sex tape of a man resembling Anwar Ibrahim and a prostitute. They had threatened Anwar and his wife to immediately resign from politics "otherwise, we will make the video public". Now, the trio are not exactly exemplary either, each with records (I can't remember what they are) but those cases were dropped. *what a surprise!*

So what does he do? He warns, "Back off, or I'll sue for defamation". Never mind your blackmail, sir. He further adds, “I would like to remind bloggers to not attack me or delve on my past,” he said. Riight... so this video was also taken in the past, shall we not delve in the past?

And finally, the ban of this poco-poco dance. The Mufti of Perak decreed it to be "haram" or illegal from religious views as it was a Christian dance. And why is it a Christian dance, by the way? Apparently it is something like a square dance and the dancers move in the shape of a cross.

Here's a video which I found on poco-poco. It looks like fun!


If we follow that reckoning of Cross = Christianity, we now have a dilemma. Why?

1. The letter "t" forms a cross *gasp*
2. We have many "crossroads" *double gasp*
3. Our phone numbers on our mobiles start with a "+" *faints*

Real hilarious news! My Dad teaches the senior citizens in my church some line dancing every week. He immediately said he was going to find out what this poco-poco dance was to teach them, since it's so Christian!