without fullstop

Being pregnant can be such a blessing, not that I will ever be pregnant nor seen with a belly vastly that size. My friend Julie, someone who has often brought up the issue of getting married, having children, being a mother and full-time housewife, has finally getting closer to what she wants. I was once astonished to hear such simple desire from her. For those who known her, you will agree with me. She’s not entirely a bamboo stick model type of girl, probably more towards the tall and curvaceous kind, somewhat like Angelina Jolie, mind you she has an exact portion of that luscious thick lips (and it’s no artificial too). Why on earth would someone like that want to get ballooned! Even Angie ditched the pregnancy and opted for the adoption. To say the least, I have not been quite supportive in her decision. Anyhow, hearing she’s doing just fine with being a housewife and soon-to-be mother, I’m equally happy for her.

No doubt it will be tough to get this novel in Shanghai, but surely she will love it. Katherine Steward has written it just like Julie’s favorite drama series “Sex and the City”, except with five pregnant women in the big Apple. Their friendship develops through their weekly prenatal yoga sessions. Although the story may have to be pretty predictable, with the usual girl talk and shopping feast, the way it was written with sarcastic tone and humor makes it an interesting read. I search for this and maybe mail it to her. It’ll probably keeps her company and refreshes her knowledge of English. Being in China for a long period can limit a person usage of English, even so if one is a home body.

And with another of my friend quickly counting the days to her due date, she came up with month of April next year, could be another Aries like me and her. This friend has been praying ever since for Julie to be pregnant. It was so obvious that in every one of her emails, she would asked, “Are you trying hard to make baby?” It’s funny how single people do have craving for those little rascals, I do too at times.

Her doctor has explained to her that she should not be doing too much of microwaving her food, chatting in front of the computer, or slumping at the TV, it’s somehow not very healthy for the baby. Maybe she should take up yoga, well, just a suggestion. =P Hence I doubt she’ll be reading my blog or replying my email for the next few days. I’ll post her pregnancy discovery when I have it sorted out. It’s hilarious how she came about it.

Anywhow, this post is truly dedicated to soon-will-be-even-more-curvaceous mother and her hubby.

It would be an understatement if I say I had a miserable dining experience few days back. I should say the interior is well-designed, except a few little pointers (being so fondly into interior myself, I need to have my say). CoDo is lit with ambience too dark for the good soul. Anyone can feel the gloominess in the stale air. Deadneningly, I was expecting soft music of the Vietnamese tunes like sway of paddy, serenity and traditional rhythm like T’rung. My friend was highly complimenting their decor and the golden menu, while I was already dread every second I have to spend in there. Somehow I’m amazed that my continuous negative ranting didn’t pushed Ken to throw me out from the second floor. Maybe he was equally glad that he doesn’t have to endure such tormenting moment by himself.

Since I’m too critical about the restaurant, I decided to let him do the honor of selecting dishes which are not that awful to swallow. First came were out drinks, mine - Vietnamese jasmine tea, tasted like any other jasmine tea. Food came soon after that. Here’s my two hoots about each dish:

Lotus cake - As badly as it looked, too greasy as it tasted in my mouth, it was not much different than those sold in Pasar Malam (night market).

Rice paper wrapped chicken - Basically somewhat similar to “chee cheong fun”, with chicken fillings instead of the usual prawn or “chao siew”, sided with bean sprout. Another casual dish yet to be forgotten over time.

Deep-fried mushroom - Originally blant. Dressing could be better with more mustard to give it a kick to the taste bud.

Beef noodle - Salty soup with overcooked lumpy noodles. If I was given a choice to choose between this and a bowl of beef noodle from Chinatown, I know I’ll opt for the latter.

Garlic fried rice - Too personal to comment since I’m no fan of this aromatic ingredient.

Once I was told, if you dreamt that you are seeing or eating garlic, means your practicality and sensibility in matters of the heart; you look for security over love. And if you saw a garlic patch in your dream, foretells of your rise to wealth and prominence in your business.

Lastly, we were served with three soup spoons of rice with shredded vegetables topped with a tiny piece of “rock” hard chicken. Do I need to say more?

Alright, everything is hideous to post in my blog. I’ll just have the menu here (courtesy of Ken). On our way out, we noticed a couple heading up the stairs. Oh well, at least they’ll have two more victims for the time being. I’ll be “counting down the days” of when they will close their business. And just so happened that Natalie Imbruglia is saying the same with me.

Posting will resume after the cool air is back in my office. If I wasn’t wearing anything (not trying to be kinky at work), people might believe that I’m a roast pig. With the music playing Nelly’s “Hot”, I seriously want to strip off my cloth and jump into a pool.

I was on road trip with two friends to explore places suitable for picnic at Selayang area. We drove an hour or so to reach there. Along the road, we lost our route. It was not tough to spot someone and ask for direction since there were plenty of food stall around the area. I was tempted by a piles of steaming peaNUTS. I seriously love these NUTS, but it’s not common to find them in the city. People just don’t appreciate hot NUTS anymore. NUTS which can be found nowadays are in restaurant, serving cold or roasted (but still cold), no longer the delicious warm NUTS I enjoyed in childhood. Anyway, that’s my little piece on NUTS and my preference. =)

We finally found a place with interesting seating area, and I savored my NUTS. My stomach was hungry from the smelling of cooking around, thus I got myself a beef special burger.

Some of the great view of outdoor and skyline.

Little cat wanted to play.

Staircase down the water fall.

Thick forrest surrounding.

Canopy walk across a shaky bridge.

Close up of an insect. Also featured in Flickr (click on pic).

Clear sun ray shone through the opening.

Poor maintenance of the place. Although this area is greatly observed and taken care by the Forestation of Malaysia, it does not reflect good impression. I wonder what they are doing all day, other than not keeping the area clean. It’s disgustingly filthy. I had on a pair of swim trunk, eager to jump into the chill water, but after seeing the amount of trash around, I rather stayed dry.

Scenery of nature (part that is still undestroyed).

Bamboo of Malaysia.

Ulu Yam is quite a nice place to visit. It’s a pity that the place is poorly maintained.

Sunday is a day to rest, nothing-to-do agenda, and stress-free moment to reflect the week before and ponder over the week ahead. I was in my lazy mood, snuggled up in bed, thinking of everything in life. Anyway, instead of spending the whole morning in bed, I dragged myself out of bed. I was hungry, yet not for breakfast. I was craving junk food. Don’t ask me why, I’ve been having such appetite for unhealthy food. Thinking back, I had more fastfood and snacks in the past week compare to months ago. I usually not the culprit in buying junks, I seems to have friends who provide me with endless of those. I found something a friend gave me few days back. It looks non exquisite. A Japanese packaging of sotong balls made in Malaysia. I was putting one after another into my mouth, and I couldn’t stop what I was doing. Next thing I know, I’ve finished a pack, and was tempted to open another one.

Then my day went pretty junky with no solid food in my stomach. I went out for lunch at Imbi with a friend to discuss something, and ended up eating at a snack shop. Alright more unhealthy snacks for lunch. Later in the afternoon I had to attend an event organized by YMCA. It’s a Deaf Day Event.

A change of identity. Once I stepped into the hall of the event, immediately I felt like I am the odd one out, instead the other way round. Hands movement or Sign Language (SL) was the only mode of communication. To the least, I only attended three classes so far, and had no clue at all about a single gesture.

We started off with a game of “Guess the Sign”. It was a still picture of a person trying to indicate a SL. Each group of six would tried to take a guess. Then a video capture was projected to show what the person trying to express.

Later we were grouped into 15 people a group to work on a treasure hunt map with matching pictures.

It was wild and challenging. I didn’t much spot any of the pictures, yet I did enjoyed.

By the way, our team won the treasure hunt challenge. I believe we did cos we have a good team leader and members.

Later we were in a group of five and played a little of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. Most questions were tough, and many I have totally no clue of. Although my team should be either second or third place, we were disqualified in end cos one of our team members stored every bits of information in his handphone and was browsing for an answer.

Girls getting each other numbers as to keep in touch through sms.

The day ended with some gifts to take away. Surprisingly my number was picked as lucky draw. Usually I am very much the unlucky person, or should I say unlucky to get any lucky draw prizes. I remembered once at a dinner function, I was gladly holding onto 9 tickets on my table, since none of the people at the same table bothered about their numbers. And my cousin who refused to let me hold his ticket won something in end. It’s practically a winning ratio of 9:1, but damn, he won a prize and I got nothing out of the 9 bloody tickets. That just proves how unlucky I am. However, I think this year has got to be my lucky year. Things been going well my way, and I’m already feeling like I am a winner everyday.

That ended my weekend.

Yesterday was at MidValley by myself. Little Vietnam has reopened and at a larger lot. I’m not a fan of LV (inclusive Luis Vuitton), but seeing them back to business is quite surprising. I never like the food there, not really all that authentic and traditional of what Vietnam crusines are all about. Besides, I was more excited to see CoDo, a restaurant I have not tried and with that iche of a name, I am curious. Of cos, I didn’t go eat there for my dinner, it’s pitiful enough that I had to be in a big shopping mall all by myself, what more to eat in a fancy restaurant alone.

Watched movie - Flight Plan. I have to give a two thumbs up for Jodie Foster. Her performance was flawless. She gives a good fight and handles a good flight.

While window shopping at Metrojaya, I couldn’t resist a new pair of shoes. So I bought one. Here’s the photo, it’s very much leathery…

Hmm… My wallet is getting slimmer by end of every shopping mall trip. I think I have to start avoiding those places for the time being, well maybe until end of this month.

Alright, getting done with any frustration for the day, yesterday evening was in fact a great day. A friend called out of the blue, asking whether I’m free for dinner, without even waiting for her to finish the sentence, i replied yes. When it comes to food, nothing else is more important. I was told many a time that I am the right person to take out for meal, most times I would comment on the food or the surrounding, well-constructive ones of cos. Yet occasionally I would keep quiet and not say much, usally happened in three of these senarios:

1) Friends’ cooking - If they are close buds, then for sure my flickering thoughts won’t stay long in me, probably will be the only left over at the table. But if with friends who I’ve not known in and out, then I’ll skip my talented critics, in order not to offend anyone. Somehow I think it’s only wise to balance out criticism and compliment. Moreover, how will the other person improve if without feedback.

2) Eat out - Not that eating out will stop me from saying anything about the food I eat. However, I usually reserve my comment when dining out with a group of friends. I had once or twice thinking out loud about the chosen diners or selected/recommended dishes, if it’s good one then no one will make a fuss, but since it’s bad enough for me to think out loud, hence the food must be horrible.

3) Homecook food - Alright, I know everytime I open my mouth to say something about any homemade dishes, the person who prepare them feel less appreciated. In fact, I did felt bad sometimes. However, whenever my mom is in the kitchen, she somehow prefer me to give her comment on the food she made, for once she knows that I will say whatever is on my mind, unlike my brother, the only word out of his mouth after tasting the food is “OK”. Yeah, it’s so neutral. However certain cooking in my house I known better not to say anything, especially my grandpa cooking. If I am to say something, then the next day will even terrible. Very often he was too busy arguing with my grandma (whom used to be the head chef in my home, until she had stroke and wasn’t able to stand too long, so cooking was automatically transfer to my grandpa’s hands, yet she still has the role of advisor, hehe) that he forgot certain spices or too much of them. Like fish burnt on one side (or both), dishes too salty, or my favorite - vegetables cook with too much water (what we like to call it “vege swimming”). Anyhow, even with his neglected concentration or lack of passion in cooking, I did appreciate his effort to prepare food for a household of more than 15 people daily, for lboth lunch and dinner. Yeah, he’s a great man.

Alright, back to yesterday dinner. After placing our order, we started on a game of UNO Stacko.

Setting up the equipment for preparing the tea.

With plenty of explanation from the waiter, we finally had our tea.

Food came quickly while we were having our second round of UNO Stacko.

Thai’s Chicken Rice

My all-time favorite - Sichuan Noodle

Later on we also indulged in other childhood board game.

Me trying to clean the pot for new refill of tea leaves and making a mess out of it.

Nonetheless I got everything under control and had tea ready in few minutes.

Before we left I took this art hanging on the wall. My photographing skill is bad, but the art is really something.

Vessel Tea House (Petaling Street, near UDA Ocean)- Reasonable pricing, sufficient selections, and satisfied outcome.

Why does it have to happen again? I woke up this morning realizing that I forgot to set the alarm, nevertheless I was within my timeframe for a quick jog around my area. What dreaded most is that I walked into my office to discover the a/c is not functioning. The heat was bearable as more than once I’ve experienced this, with a centralized a/c which I have no control over, like so many other things in live. Additional to that, the drilling and knocking down the wall to build a new elavator has created an rugged atmosphere, somewhat like I’m sweat my ass off in a construction site, rather than in a hospital.

To make things complicated, one of our department staff has deceased and is having her funeral today. Many doctors, nurses, and staffs attended that. I was planning to go too, since she has been nothing but nice and helpful. It was a shock to know that she was suffering from terminal cancer, and I always thought she looked healthy and fit whenever I saw her at work. I didn’t know her that well compare to many others, but it’s truly something that someone knows me by my name even though I’m only a “kecimayu” person in the department (“kecimayu” = small and indistinctive). I admire her strength in dedicating to her work. Although I was unable to attend, I sincerely hope she is in better hands, and God bless this wonderful lady.

Alright, to top the sad news, something good has happened too. Our unit will be getting a new doctor from Australia. He’s going to be with us for a year (or longer, if possible). Also his wife will be here as well. At the moment, our unit doesn’t have extra offices, thus they’ll be sharing with me. My office is big enough to handle three persons, yet sadly at the moment it’s only me, me, and me. Yeah, I know, it gets so sickening sometimes, being alone all the time. Probably that’s the reason pushes me to be in anti-social mood lately. It’s time to reinvent myself then. Anyway, it’s truly bad hospitality on our part to have them working in an oven, hopefully the a/c will be good when they are here. What else can I do? I’m merely a “kecimayu” person.

My dopey eyes and sleepy head couldn’t have been awaken by anything else, not even a cold shower. I was ever so ready to jump back into the bed and snooze on. Anyhow, I had to drag myself to work. Something hilariously happened in the bus to work, and it certainly cleared whatever bad hair day I was having. It started off with a car (Proton Wira) blocking the road in front because it was on the wrong lane and was trying to cut into the right. Every single one of the vehicles was honking noisily. I’m quite surprised that the driver didn’t felt embarrass, and instead continued to block the whole damn street. The male bus driver made an off-hand remark, “Ini mesti perempuan, tak tau undang-undang ke.” (This must be a female, have no knowledge of road rules) The female bus conductor was pissed mad, and here’s the conversation.

F: Jantan juga dua kali lima lah, bukan saja perempuan. (Male also the same, not only female)

M: Alah, kebanyakan tu perempuan lah. (Mostly are female)

F: Kepala benggang! Biasa tu jantan yang pandu macam orang gila. (Usually is male who drive like a madman)

M: Saya taruh pemandu emang perempuan. (I bet the driver must be female)

F: Taruh apa? Teh tarik. I cakap jantan. (What’s the bet? Tea. I say male)

M: *laughing* Emang nak kalah ke? (Really want to lose?)

F: Tengok dulu ya. (We’ll see first)

The bus inched forward until it was side by side with the Proton Wira. True as it is, MALE! Both the bus driver and conductor laughed out loud.

F: Tea tarik satu! (One tea coming up!)

The whole bus filled with laughters when she proclaimed that she had won the bet and made a stand for female.

M: Emang memalukan lah. Pagi-pagi jantan dah kalah sama perempuan. (Really embarrassing. Early morning male already lost to female)

F: Eh, baru kau tau perempuan karang dah pandai bawa kereta tau. (Now you know female driver can drive better)

It would be funny if you can really understand Bahasa, and even funnier if you were in the bus. Somehow my bad day has started out good, with some humor even!

As the morning shines, a view of a house, being messed either from yesterday or weeks back. A man was ready for his work, getting clean up. Someone else in the house was picking up the mess. Could be a housekeeper, or his wife, or girlfriend, or even ridiculous his mother! (a butler only applies for Bruce Wayne of Batman) When he was on his way out of the house with a coffee in his hand, he turned and kissed his partner (unexpected, eh?). Encouraging that the advertisement proves many points. It’s greatly surprising to see a gay tolerance ads by a macho industry of Guinness Beer.