too hot it is addictive... ...

chinese new year 2012 - just at a glance.

2012-01-24T16:10:00.001+08:00

i think i am the least 'chinese' in celebrating chinese new year. surely there is nothing to be proud about. my chinese new year... from quiet to quieter each year. from a week long of celebration dwindled to just a day (almost just a 3/4 day) long. from a state apart to just a neighbourhood nearby. from the myriad of chinese new year outfit down to a surprisingly singular item. needless to say, how my angpow collection has got so much slimmer now it seems 'anorexic'.

it is uncool that i am alone at home on the second day of my chinese new year.

my parents and my younger sister have gone for an untimely vacation to taipei. and my elder siblings have their in laws. as for me, i have no friends and i cant wait to work tomorrow -.-, but contradictingly am also anticipating for another stretch holiday for awal muharram and thaipusam.

it is even uncool that i choose to stay home and not to enjoy the empty roads in the city centre. [scrorchingly hot outside and im on critical financial drought..]

the best thing about chinese new year is actually how terrific the traffic is outside!!!

i did enjoy few short happy moments with my family during that 3/4-day-long-of-celebration. for me, chinese new year is just like any other day, but also awesomely coupled with work- and traffic-free days as perks.

here is my relatively (damn short la ok) short account of chinese new year 2012...

1. food has always been the most essential element for any chinese celebration

... reunion dinner on the chinese new year eve at noble house, jalan imbi

yee sang.

lavish mix of raw salmon, abalone (apparently real), prawns, and crunchy thingy, gingers, and coriander leaves

lou sang...with chants and wishes of good health, better fortune (it has never been better), peace, and joy from within

my abalone chicken soup. i like it being distinguished from the usual starchy soup

the unjust treatment. that was my sister's bowl of sharkfin soup.

stacks of fins

please dont sue me for (accidentally) having that. i sincerely hoped the fin we have got were legally from a dead shark. and not those fin-less-poor-shark-thrown-to-the-sea.

it was no vomitus. it was a dish of splendour - lobster, birdnest, eggs...

and it was such a waste!!! argh! i would rather have lobster sashimi and then bird nest soup. simplicity at its best.

abalone and sea cucumber

stuffed chicken with glutinous rice - an inspiration from thanksgiving day im supposed

ashton's little friends stealing crunchy thingy from the yee sang

... ... homemade lunch for the chinese new year day 1

unflattering plates. but the dishes were mouth-watering. all done by my maid.

my favourite. esp the radish! slurp slurp

braised mushroom

i am having a bad feeling that my maid is leaving us soon.

(a) after serving us for 18 years, this was the first time she stepped out to lend a helping hand to make a chinese new year lunch from scratch all by herself

(b) she asked me to get married as soon as possible

i know the reasons did not really match with my feeling. let's just say it's my womanly in-born instinct which are very likely true, for once i hope it would not be anytime soon T.T

2. we did the traditional style of greeting the parents for 'cho 1'

ashton with his iron man red packet

the best picture!!!

the picture spoke a thousand of positive energy and emotion. i adore how my parents looked wonderfully over the moon! to my delight, that is my lovely niece, kaylee. how much she has grown out from her bald-y toddler phase. she has teeth.

i fervently wished my dad for great health and a flourishing business (and then early retirement)

health and beauty for mom... n less 'neurotic' as in not overly anxious for us. [note: not a diagnosed term but an expression]

3. the annual tradition - gamble

how my sister gambled with an aura of elegance. if you want to know, her cheongsam was from egete @ one utama.

tit bits. blackjack. and attempting to jinx the dealer.

and i have never won a single ringgit for consecutively 3-4 years

that are my cousins. we rarely spoke to one another on usual basis. we also never bothered to ask about each other lives on cny only because frankly speaking if one really cares, bonding session should not only be during the cny. i mean, once a while, we still do whatsapp and facebook-message each other.

i like them for their lack phoney-ness. and gambling brought us together very well.

while the young ones stood for three hours, despite our brittle knees and feet, gambling, and yelling and celebrating for burst cards for the dealer, the old ones were outside having men forum.

the [old] men's club

4. the family photo

... ... which you may find the link to my camwhor-ism.

ashton and hot mama

kakak dearest and ashton

hahahahaha. look at kaylee. lol!

chubby kaylee. cuteeeeeeeee-nesssssss overdose!

the 'old kind' of 'cute' - mom and her hamper + me.

we seem related now. despite the non-resemblance of our faces.

ashton squeezing my stress pill from university of strathclyde... and he is so handsome!

very unresponsive ashton

wati... who is part of my family too

she is the one who watches me grow from 8 till 25ish. she washed my hair when i was caught with head lice (stupid boy who had head lice and then put his infected head on my shoulder) till my scalp was about to leave my skull.

and yes, she was also the first to urge me to get married this year.

just because my 3rd sis is getting married soon. i have no more shield from the bombardment of that less welcoming "when to marry" question. ah!

im the most gigantic sibling. how great.

parents dearest

i like my psychedelic bedsheet.

victorian/oriental white dress from azorias (love it!)/ charles and keith pumps (adore 'em)/ fossil clutch (awesome grab from jpo)/ michael kors wristwatch/ h&m hairband (dirt cheap stuff)

vintage dress from greenpoppies @ haji lane, singapore/ pedro shoes/ accessories from diva and dorothy perkins.

my sister: dress from times square (apparently it is very much improvised)/ charles & keith (nude is the best colour...and it is in the season...damn broke each time walking out from c&k)

that's all. happy chinese new year to all. have a blessed and prosperous year ahead.

family is forever. i would not have just spent it with them on chinese new year solely but everyday. i cherish my family a lot. and im glad i have them. of all the people that come across my life, my family is the one of the few who are sensible enough to look past my past, to never judge me but to support me emotionally and mentally.

oh yea... dont be too disappointed at the yearly feng shui analysis for 12 zodiacs. God knows why the 'tiger' has never been good in terms of money every single year. i think we should just grasp our own fate and work things out.

something about marriage

2012-01-19T23:59:00.003+08:00

just a little bit of history, i used to be the founder of Andartu Care Club - it was a 'cool thing' to form alliance back then. and at that age, instead of being more 'oestrogeneous', i was more 'testosterone-ish', running more feministic campaigns in protecting the girls back then from heartaches.

as years drew by, the club did not make it far. last year, i decided to strike off my dear joanne from my andartu list. *no offence. we still love her of course. but it is not nice anymore to have her as 'andartu'*

just few days before 2012, another member of ours is about to get married next year!

the ring

the proposal

the shy bride-to-be

the interlocking lips.

7 years of love and more... ...

the ex members of Andartu care club

we shall not discriminate the relationship status. currently we are making it as the Botak Care Club.

female pattern baldness sucks!

pinny's sister-in-law + the balding females

i was genuinely delighted when kelv, the pinny's hubby, broke the news. my mouth and throat turned unexplanably itchy when i was forbidden to disclose the secret. i did as what i was ordered. but only for a couple of days before spilling to kelv's close buddy.

it has been a fabulous love journey i feel really honoured to witness how pinny was dreamily infatuated to kelv back in high school, and became close buddy for a couple of years before turning into lovebird for a total of 7 long years. i watched them grow and bud and i want to watch them multiply toooooo... (not the process, the product(s) will suffice. thankyouverymuch)

i also felt incredibly privileged to be one of the few masterminds in planning the surprise dinner at tanzini @ g tower, kuala lumpur.

my responsibility was just to cheat and lie for a week, as well as to ensure smooth operation of cheating and lying among the friends. the lie was simple: i had 8 f&b vouchers from tanzini with 40% discount... from my sister's year-end-perk.

pinny bought it. she was clouded immensely by the great discount. no suspicion at all. just pure excitement towards the awesome food discount.

so... then, that day she finally ended as mrs kan pinny.

lamb rack in tanzini. not as great as gianni's (johor bahru). but one of the best dishes of the night

*** **** *** ***

the (strange) trend nowadays is, the newly-weds are getting younger. people nowadays are getting married as early as our parents' era. my doubt is: is it the time already to be wedded/ to wed in mid 20's?

historically, due to the more conservative and traditional culture, the older generation was obliged to marry at least by 25. from previous experiences from most women who marry young (including my mother), marrying young seemed like a discouraging idea.

reasons could vary from:
1. unstable income and career
2. commitment at a young age can be an obligation that turns to reluctance and remorse by day
3. having kid(s) could be a little hindrance to things some women may want to achieve.. ie. failure to juggle work/ family balance
4. body shape run out of proportion quicker
5. older, saggy, more wrinkled

hence since young i was sort of programmed, that i vowed not to get married before 29. and i have prepared a long list of things to do before i have my own family. ie. travel, swim with sharks and mr besar, that kind of stuffs.

of course i have also seen so many success stories for those who marry young and are able to juggle between accomplishment and family duties.

a wise word came from someone who married young: "sooner or later we will be married, might as well now... finance stability and life achievement can never be fulfilled after all, because of our ever constantly increasing expectations on our lives... we will never be ready actually... even when you hit 30, you will still be unprepared, or so you THINK."

well... my say would be, a marriage is more than just an official union between a couple. realistically speaking, marriage, in a sad way, is greatly associated with money.

we need money to plan for a wedding banquet, wedding dress, wedding photography... there goes an exhaustive list. and that, is just the surface for a marriage.

the real issue only starts after the wedding dinner and the wedding pictures after liked by 573 facebook friends. and reality says hi with dwindling numbers in the bank account after the sweet (sweetest) honeymoon trip from maldives. (tips: pick the best honeymoon spot or else there might be none thereafter)

1. a house... ideally a home of your own minus the in-laws or own family.

screw the lives of our generation for having properties costing at least rm500k. our dear government did lend a so-called helping hand by lowering the ceiling price of some properties, but at places like putrajaya, wangsa maju, cyberjaya...and some god-knows-where-places.

speaking from my current experience of staying afar from everywhere else, i wish my home would be at the most strategic point of a city where at least our workplaces are in vicinity. traveling less miles could lengthen the time of stay at home to sleep or to make babies. either way, in a nutshell, the location of the new home has got to be strategic. and for that, there is a price to pay!

after forking out for downpayment which is roughly 10% of total cost, i am not sure what else we would have left. the 'we' i am speaking is due to the rising needs of having domestic partnership for a household. not forgetting, the monthly instalments and renovation and furnitures after.

we have heavenly-created loans. by how long more are we able to get out from the burden of paying off loans? just for a house. in conjuction with that, say, a car loan, study loan, insurance... how is it going to be possible to save up for our progeny!

it would be surely possible with the aid from the parents, or probably working for the NFC lah.

2. a baby pops into the family picture

nothing is more delightful than having a positive UPT, especially a post stable marriage. having kid(s) is not like an investment. because we do not hope for anything return. i would say when a home minus the in-laws and my family, having a kid is the greatest continuation adding on colours and purposes in one's marriage.

but babies are sooooooooooo costly.

thank God for the increasing awareness of breastfeeding. let's pray hard the baby is not allergic to the mother's milk, breastfeeding by going au naturel does cut a big portion of expenditures.

expenses for the baby are just going to be the 0.01% only. then, here we are having to consider about, baby's insurance, and asian parents' main concern - education! let's get real, if we were still in this country long enough, would we send them to the public school like how we have been through - dictator-ish education style with teachers who serve more dedicatedly as baby vending machines? if we could afford, we are beginning to consider private/international schooling, and then college in the oversea.

i am not motherly yet. but i would naturally try to give the best for the kid(s) and try to refrain them from what i have been through from my slightly more stereotypical chinese family upbringing. (my dad had issue of me going to study and then work in australia just because im a daughter and i would be married someday - hence imu. my dad also had issue of me wanting to pursue for chiropractic courses because chiropractic is uncommon and he sees chiropractor as a masseur -.- - hence pharmacy)

back on track, this is a realistic commitment upon starting a family. and rather unavoidable.

3. after all these hair-pulling financial commitment, like i said, what else do we have left?

we need a life. a purposeful one. an enriching one. we cant be just working to pay off the debts and for baby diapers. we still need time to be pampered for once.

i have caught on the travelling-addiction bugs. and i would love to lead a life being able to afford in travelling. i want to lie naked, despite stretch marks and cellulites, on the beach of croatia with my husband. i want to spend a month in bali. realistically, travel consumes a lot of money, but is also worth saving up for.

in conclusion, money is like the catalyst of a marriage. partnership/ compatibility is the substract; love is the enzyme; and the reaction is a happy marriage.

my question is: how do all these young newly weds cope financially from just two to three years of working?

yes, money is not everything. but it is surely something in a marriage!

ps. i hope i dont sound bitter in any way about young newly-weds. aiyoh... im so excited for jojo's wedding in feb. and for pinny's ... in near future!!!

pss. there is also a fine line between materialism and realism. and i am speaking about the latter.

the new girl

2012-01-15T19:23:00.003+08:00

i was late... on the first day of my job!

i reached the hospital at 8.28am sharp, and mustering my what-seemed-like-a-60-year-old-stamina, dashing anxiously like a lightning with all my might, to the human capital department to report duty.

i reported duty at 8.31am, supposedly 8.30am actually. not too bad- as in my stamina running on my heels.

and i had heavy breakfast, you see... bread with ham and traffic jam - a heavy one.

presenting to you - the shockingly best of kuala lumpur.

awesomeness.

it was so horrible it took me 1.5 hour to reach to my workplace, a supposedly 30 min-drive on an impossibly good morning. needless to say how my adrenaline gushing to my heart. i was totally energised by day, and then rather dead by night.

i collapsed at 9.30pm immediately.

that summed up my adrenaline-pumping day one to work!

thankfully the traffic got better, but only until friday evening...

not forgetting, my very first day, with a very ethical clothing to make the impressions right.

that bag was my birthday gift from mr besar (who mistakenly perceived i was in the 'long champ cult'...haih). i love it very dearly nonetheless because it was meant to be a gift for the beginning to embark on a new career road, in which mr besar has always been the first to witness how badly i want this to happen.=)

and it is happening nowwwwwwww... ...

proudly to say, i am now a legal (after approval by lembaga farmasi), full registered pharmacist in a private hospital, joining another existing 8 'rare breeds' in the pharmacy team. probably also the largest pool of pharmacists in a private hospital in the klang valley.

it did not feel like i have just started working since last monday. i would say, learning curve is going to be at least thrice steeper than before. at least i feel i am more driven to seize any opportunities to learn, and the need to be driven is rather mandatory.

i would not say that is stressful - more like - overwhelming.a good, motivating kind of stress.

from what i have observed, the differences, at this early stage, are striking!!!

1. organisation and management

i have to agree at times multitasking is good - but to a certain extent. if multitasking were for bureaucracy ie. drowning in paperwork just for a single process, it would nevertheless consume so much time and papers, eventually making the job turn dry and thoroughly meaningless.

as of my current workplace, everything is very much in place. responsibilities, duties, and job scope are clear cut and systematic. everyone has a specific and very focussed portfolio to go by.

2. teamwork and working relationship

there are stronger emphasis on teamwork. the teamwork is analogous to skeletons and joints of a human body. registered pharmacists here work extremely closely to the pharmacy technicians. pharmacy technicians, to my dismay, are similar to the pharmacist assistant a.k.a penolong pegawai farmasi.

the 'dismay' was meant to say, the technicians are so much well trained, they have taken up myriads of roles in the department - their presences are precious and valuable. conversely, i used to feel like a pharmacist, as well as an assistant to my own pharmacist assistants (particularly the younger, protected ones who are more 'calculative'), of which in the end i was after all rather pitifully alone back then - a 'little boss' who got 'bossed' reversely by my assistant.

furthermore there is also close inter-departmental working relationships with the (medication) nurses, administrators, procurement, risk management, and ict department. for once, pharmacy is finally less to likely be left out on any programmes or training or discussions. the different departments are just meant to complete each others.

3. the use of drugs

of course, when comes to the use of drugs and most are privately funded, the drugs here are usually in their newest generation. for confidentiality's sake i guess i should not spare in details. it is just rare to see the ever common ones like amoxicillin or cloxacillion or cephalexin, or ranitidine/ mmt...

its time to hit the books and get the latest updates on drugs. for once, medscape pharmacist is more relevant now.

4. my role and responsibilities

... ... all lie in the inpatient department - which i would call it - the heartbeat of the pharmacy department because it opens 24/7/365. which is a great start!!!

in summary, im more like an u48 with the technicians serving like the u41. i would involve a lot on staff management and trainings, overseeing the work flow in the team. as simple as it sounds, i always see it as the otherwise. people management is quite challenging. i am still in the midst of building some team rapport with the technicians. whether eventually i would gain their respect and cooperation, that would be another story to tell.

i guess i was hired because i had minor experience in stock management. even there is a slight difference in inventory management, considering it is very business-related now. i have to make sure the department is at least profitable in the end.

i also sit by the phone. and there are quite a number of drug queries like tdm, tpn, iv drug dilution questions to answer.

i would also deal with incident reportings from customer service, wards, outpatient clinics - everywhere related to pharmacy.

as for operational side, i would handle largely on checking and verification. no dispensing...no filling.... no labelling...

zzzzz

i know it sounds a little boring. i felt that way too, slightly belittling my own job scope initially.

however, unlike how simplified i made it sound, it could be daunting. it requires maturity, and firm decision making, in trouble shooting problems.everyday is going to be less monotonous and less routine now.=]

5. no more minum pagi, petang.... boohooo... n no more sleeping during lunch hour on fridayssss T.T

despite the job seems like ad hoc sort of work, it could be busy until i could forget about my lunch hour. i like it when the brain really functions non stop from 8.30am onwards. but i sort of miss that easy breezy fridays when thursday felt like the end of each work week.

6. no permanent lunch buddies...still.

because we all have different lunch hours. T.T

7. im the youngest...

among the pharmacists.... most are near or in their 30's already. i chatted with my colleague pertaining to baby diapers, breast feeding and motherhood.

anyhow, i am very blessed with the opportunities granted. i just like how it strikes the balance between getting in touch with my pharmacy knowledge and acquiring new skills ie taking up the leadership role. i am quite positive that it is going to be a healthy career development and growth for me this year.

amazing Graze

2012-01-08T23:17:00.000+08:00

after 25 years of living, i have finally found my favourite restaurant, that is closest to my heart, that i would die to have affair with - Graze.

Graze
4 Rochester Park

Singapore 139215

not only Graze surpasses any other restaurants in satisfying my palate, Graze should be counted twice on the list of my favourite restaurant.

Graze emphasises a lot on leisurely and homely dining. in fact it is made of a bungalow from the british preoccupation era, spiced up with a little modern touch of an outdoor, open-concept theatre playing movies by elizabeth taylor and charlie chaplin.

we always prefer the alfresco lounge. its cosy. quiet. romantic.

graze serves contemporary australian cuisine, in a very likeable, rustic manner. on how strikingly distinguisable australian cuisine to other western cuisines, i am not very good at gauging that. but on a more confident note, and of no offence at all, it is somewhat less 'pretentious'.

and with that, graze indeed hits the right note of its philosophy of food which is to deliver it in a relaxed, friendly manner.

sweet child

we frequented Graze twice and Graze has yet to fail us. coincidentally we were also seated at the exact same table at the alfresco lounge.

crispy eggplant stack +

greek yoghurt + pickled artichokes + semi dried tomato + dukka spice + pomegranate molasses

well, sounds 'daunting' for a salad? that's graze. there is only one plate of typical green salad tossed with house vinaigrette, which is often available in any other restaurant and in my kitchen too.

there are many other creatively made, less conventional salad like pumpkin with mustard dressing and mozarella, or blue cheese and fig.

wok seared calamari and chipolata +

lemon potato salad + black sesame + balsamic dressing

this entree was heavenly, lipsmacking good and godsent... its goodness was stunning and almost beyond description. no complaint at all. something i would order and order again.

i loved how black sesame seed was sprinkled joyously on the calamari.

chipolata, the thin italian sausage, was nevertheless a good match.

fret not about dirty lemon juice or wet lemony fingers thereafter

orange mustard crust wood roast king salmon

wilted spinach + shaved fennel + citrus oils

another sumptuous entree

crispy hand-rolled pork hock

bean shoot + apple salad + redcurrant chilli caramel

totally highly recommended.

there was a mysterious tinge of asian flavour for this dish. the pork hock was roasted to perfection. crispiness of the outer skin with the tender, succulent meat inside was one heck of good texturing. the flavour was effortlessly rich, with taste close to a chinese home. bean sprouts were liberally given as the refreshing element of this meaty dish. and yes the shiny chilli were all fake!!! they were just jellies!

i adore this dish. as well as the fake chillies!

signature roasted New Zealand lamb rack

chickpea puree + tabbouleh + chorizo + sumac chevre

one of the best lamb rack we have ever tasted! *sorry picture above does no justice. because it was so aromatic and looked irresistable. my hands became shaky due to 'hunger call'*

each bites of it were pleasurable, again, crispy on the outside and tender and well marinated on the inside.

after recollecting the dishes we have tried, Graze did not strike to me as a one-country-only-cuisine. in fact there were so many adoptations from many different flavours from different continents. it is so 'international'

like tabbouleh which is an arabian salad, topped with chorizo which is a pork sausage with paprika (so good!).

yummeh!

and this is the favouriteeeeeeeeeee fooooooooooooood of my lifeeeeeeeeeeeee

pink pepper crusted tuna loin

crushed potato + green bean aioli + pinot noir syrup

i should count tuna loin twice in the list of my favourite food. or thrice. or even more. because i am in serious infatuation with a fish!!! i am madly in love with TUNA LOIN. *and mr besar* hehe.

so in love i had to capture multiple shots of tuna loin... the last bite was always like a miserable farewell!

and...tell me where i could find a similar dish in my home. T.T

*gulping my saliva already*

the epitome of this awesomeness lied on the pink pepper. surely it served well as texture enhancer, adding crunchiness on the side, contrasting to the medium rarely-done tuna loin which were so good it literally melt in the mouth.

besides that, the pink pepper was fabulously fragrant. it was not spicy and tongue-burning type of pepper that drove tears crazily. the pepper was gentle to the palate. and for some who might not take the seemingly fishy taste of an almost rare fish, the pepper served its purpose well too. no matter how i cut the loin, the pepper would almost be there to accompany.

pinot noir syrup, unlike the expected wine sauce, was not disgustingly sweet. it paired well with the pepper and freshness of fish in fact.

i always loved savouring it by letting it melt in my mouth.

i used to repel raw-ish fish. and i guessss.... not anymore! "raw-ish" at its best.

i like how they respect women's bags too. this little chair is meant for our bags!!! no kidding.

our debut visit.

on a random note, not far from graze, there is one juice house down the road (i forgot the name), that serves really yummy avocado juice mixed with something and something. it was so thick, we had hard time sucking in. oh yea!

im wearing a comfortable jumpsuit (but not so convenient when you have pee urgency) from miss selfridge

mr besar has discrimination against jumpsuits! he should be sued for that.

colonial-style house

it is ok to order tap water instead of still/sparkling water as offered after we were seated. because the bottled still/sparkling water was so expensive, i would rather have my cocktails.

charlie chaplin was playing at the back... just to blend into the ambience.

we love graze.

moo-moo's verdict: needless to elaborate anymore. 5 star rating without any second thought!

ps. i cant wait to work tomorrow. for the first time of my life. (... hungry now)

jumpy o' me

2012-01-08T18:09:00.000+08:00

it is like going to school for the first time. but kids have better adaptation skills.

the total brand new working environment, of which i was longing for a very long time, is so surreal, a little bit overwhelmingly surreal. i am very 'dysfunctional' at the moment. i am so anticipated towards this new job.

i am going to be in charge of the entire inpatient department. and i am going to walk into it, without any prior experiences, except those of stale knowledges i collected two years and two months ago.

i am also going to have 8 other senior colleagues with me. a considerable high amount of people in a team, as compared to my previous clinic. i do hope they would ask me for lunch, too. or occasionally, be my convenient shopping buddies. or for a better purpose in life, an encouraging and inspiring gym companion, as well.

oh how much i want to pray for the peace and fearlessness to start my morning tomorrow. and a pretty good traffic to work, too.

imma do a face mask tonight and tuck into bed as early as 9.30pm.

you are what you do.

2012-01-07T18:30:00.002+08:00

sometimes, it still feels like a dream. it is as if not long ago i was lying on my bed in pajamas, sobbing from the middle of the night till the next morning, and attempting to drag myself to work literally, while most of the time no to avail.

the remaining days in the government sector finally and thankfully dwindled to possibly countable numbers. and i kid you not, the freedom on 16th December was tremendously liberating. a little of exaggeration you'd say, the liberating moment was the moment i was granted with the rights to choose. to decide. the pathway i have always wanted to shape for my career.

and, the best thing was, i did not have to bear nonsenses like, unavailability of posts and the short service (not a mature 1 year) i just served in my previous workplace, and end it with a smile by the end of phone calls i made every quarter of the year to check on my intra- and inter-state transfer status. i did attempt to pull political strings and cables and what's not, but it seemed to me an act of hypocrisy - and i stopped eventually. i tried persuading and begging, to one point it came to my mind that, why the hell i had to 'beg'. begging for the area/ faculty/ career pathway i wanted to explore and expand? that was really pathetic!

till date, i myself didnt know how hard it could be: while there was no urgent need of pharmacists anymore at my clinic and there were 10 openings at one of the two hospitals i asked for, i was still not allowed to be transferred out. the con job was like this: when i just started my second year of service, i was allowed to appeal at least after 6 months. the news about one hospital with that 10 openings was in the midst of my 10th month in my clinic.

i guess i did not have to elaborate further. it was frustrating, and had indeed knocked off my patience threshold. my job had, at that very point, come to nothingness and sheer despair.

so, that was the system imposed by the government. a system not to be understood. a system not meant to be understood either. the system i would never learn to tolerate.

and i want nothing to deal with it... .. at all.

many raved about the advantages of skim perkhidmatan awam baru (sbpa), ie pay raise and the new exit policy

like my case, during the briefing, it was said i could choose to serve the government as i wish if i am not happy with the private sector one day.

words that made your brain pound and burst

however, whatever that was presented orally was not translated into black and white.

that is the system lacking credibility. a system which may turn out to be another fickle decision. a system which is subject to change according to their whim and fancy.

i am not sour upon the pay rise just right after i left the government. i congratulate every single one of you sincerely especially to the pharmacists or doctors, those in the ministry of health, who deserve it slightly more than other ministries.

and i DISAGREED.

it was not a decision made out from anger. the dissatisfaction towards the system has long gone. i was thinking something to protect myself: when the black and white were so vague and ambiguous, despite approved by the CUEPACS and 'promises' that it would be reviewed thouroughly and frequently, i did not want my one signature of indifference and loss of confidence with the system, to mar my life after the compulsory service.

simply said, i just want nothing to do with the government sector anymore. not at all.

as much as i sound bitter lacking the reasons, and as much as i threw in more emotional aspect hindering in giving a more impartial statement, i have only one thing in my mind: the benefits.

the benefits of this spba might possibly give me a higher pay from 1st jan till 2nd jan. another would be a promise to allow me to gain entry on par with the position and number of working years i have achieved in my private sector, with a lucrative pension scheme.

im just skeptical with all these promises. the recent abrupt policy amendments just inclined me to distrust the system in government sector. let say, the exit policy is for real. previously it took me 2 months of my life to wait for a job interview with SPA (the job interview then was for formality sake - i was surely guaranteed with a job eventually). then another 2 months for the government to settle your transfer, (regardless) of the preferences of my workplace. and probably needing another 2 months for appeal, if im unhappy with the posting. the waiting time could be the same if i'd ever come back to the government. moreover, what makes them hire me again?

probably i have given thoughts about this too far ahead. probably i just signed and waited what other benefits i could gain. and probably that is true.

but, the probability of me turning back is going to be 0.000000001% or nil. i am not holding vengence. it is like, once you are a free bird, you wont want to go back living ur life in cage, fed with food and the rest of the live is well laid down by others. after all i have programmed in mind that, turning back is not going to happen. and i wont let it happen either.

even not so, when i have got to explore the wide arrays of areas a pharmacist could venture outside in the private sector. just like what i knew theoretically when i first aspired to be a pharmacist, the most beautiful part of this pharmacy profession, is that there are indeed myriad pathways we could embark on, with different pathway fitting different personality and interest.

while my decision fixed on imu-strathclyde when i was 18, could be pretty remorseful, hence only making me realise the choice of my profession as a pharmacist when i was only 16 is actually the right one now.

as i was the first few people who were headstrong enough to leave, i had very little people to turn to then on the different pathways in pharmacy. it was not like choosing schools. there are consequences and responsibilities to bear at the end of each decision. there were million of questions running through my head like whirlwind: job responsibility, career advancement, interest, job prospect, location, convenience on location, and yes... the salary! even initiating the first step on which pathway (industrial/ retail/ hospital/ academic) to choose was tedious.

im not sure this article come handy as a tip to those who may leave to private sector one day. but i do hope it would be a piece of article to make some passionate pharmacists out there, who are probably experiencing the similar predicament as i did, realise that they should not be in despair anymore. cornily said, the world out there is just so huge for us to venture and learn. after all, the best asset youth could possess are options and opportunities. it is just a matter of our heart to take up the challenge or not.

how to get the gear started...

1. write yourCV

it felt a little absurd that after two years of working, i had to admit i did not know how to write a proper CV. how concise is concise? so i turned google for help but the methods were mostly american. my first CV was 20-page long, of course with the attachment of my certificates with font size of 11 and paragraph 1.5 gap. *go ahead and laugh at me*

not until i consulted my friends who had experience in CV writing, i finally managed to cut the size of my initial thesis-like-CV to only a proud 3-page! with font size 8 and paragraph 1.0 gap instead.

the golden rules of a CV not to be rejected by the HR department are:

a) being concise means no more than 2 pages long..

b) only includes your brief personal details, your formal-looking picture (not the camwhore-type), working experiences in descending order, academic background, awards, co-curriculum activities and lastly skills and interest.

c) in the (more) real working world, any information lower than SPM, even lower than the university level, could actually be dismissed on the CV.

2. mass submission of CV

unless there is confidence on the type of pharmacy area you want to embark on, otherwise it should be perfectly fine for those, who are unsure, to mass submit their curriculum vitae (CV), and then pray hard that you would be called for interviews. like i did, i mass submitted my CV to 5 private hospitals, 5-7 pharmaceutical companies, 5-6 retail chainstores, because i didnt bother if there is a vacancy at that point of time.

non-selective mass submission of CV is actually not recommended to be frank. certain industries dislike that, or so, might potentially make a not so good impression out of you because you are wasting their time like that. so far, for our industry, as far as i noticed, most are pretty open minded and have accepted the fact we are scouting before jumping into a conclusive decision.

and... mass submission of CV does not equate to mass interviews attendance.

3. interviewssss.... *shudderrrr*

if they like you and of course if there is vacancy, within a week, sometimes just after one day, your phone might get busy. i had mine with the gap from public holiday (deepavali). the next few days i began to get caught up on interviews.

interviews make the decision making process way easier. they are often eye-opening and inspiring, and well, could be challenging and exciting simultaneously. interviews are not just about 'interrogation' by the interviewers. it was started off as the hardest question which is "tell me about yourself" (i hated it!)

so the exciting part comes when you get to play with the brain and decide how you want to describe about yourself and thereafter lead the interviewers to ask questions you are the most comfortable with. of course the descriptions are usually professionally relevant.

the challenging part was how you put yourself together with difficult questions/ scenario-related questions impromptu. i must say i have yet to grasp this skill. my not so professional advice is that: if you cant fake the smart, then you play with honesty (of course honesty to certain extent).

interviewer: what was the most challenging part of your previous job and how did you deal with it?

me: (seriously there was nothing immensely challenging about it and there was not nothing at all for me to deal with. i could not say facing the public 8-5 was a challenge because it was not challenging and there was not anything i could deal with, right? i could not say my ppf were the challenge, and i might screw the impression i seemed hard to work with?) ... ... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... the most challenging part of my previous job was having to bear the non-challenging routine for a year. thats y i quitted. and im here looking for a more challenging and driven working environment.

damn im good, aint it!

not sure how good i had made my way turning the topic away, but they laughed at me and i got the job. =]

... ... and make your personality shine! i dont know how to do it but most of all, just be natural!

i am not exactly brilliant with words. talking to the interviewers has to have certain level of politeness, integrity, professionalism, and amiableness.

i guess the end point is just be natural.

interviews are thought to be scariest part to go through. i had my first with a director of a company. just her alone. i was incredibly intimidated.

however, interview, as eye opening as it seems, depends on the questions you construct at the end of the 'interrogation' session. as for me, my utmost important criterias to understand my potential employer are the corporate culture, management, organisation, my job scope....benefits... and would only talk about money if there were a HR representative on the table or if the interviewers were aware of the pay scheme.

it was also the interviews that shaped my direction towards private hospital setting. like what i have chosen, it was a road less taken. i am 'queerly' still liking to work in a hospital. i have had not enough of it! if it werent the interviews which turned out enlightening most of the time, i would not have known the role of a pharmacist could be as important and wide in some private hospitals, despite the general impression that all a private hospital pharmacist does is purely on procurement and stock management.

in fact, i have got mine which has a complete set of outpatient, inpatient, research group, oncology and clinical pharmacy team as well.

that's why - pray hard for interviews to come. that's where the opportunities shine through.

4. scream 'hallelujah' when the HR calls to announce upon your success in the interview

yes... i loved these moments. just to give some of you hopes, job opportunities in the private sector are abundant! i have got all positive feedbacks from all the interviews i went to. i am not showing off. some were really in dire need of pharmacists!

that is the time when you ask the golden question,"how is the salary package like?"and negotiate if you dare and be ready with reasons why the need of salary negotiation. i do not know how to negotiate, nor how much i should negotiate. i have only managed to get rm100 extra and that was also after supported by a high ranking administrator. sighhh!

5. decision-making

this is the most tedious one. and that was when the pros and cons chart come unbelievably useful and helpful. at the same time, i laid out my priorities of my first job (out from the comfort zone). what i really really want from my first job.

i had mine in order, something that goes like this:

job interest

career advancement

job prospect

reputation of an organisation

salary <---- IT'S NOT EASY TO PLACE 'SALARY' HERE

convenience on location/ time spent on commuting

possibility of having work/social life balance

roughly like that... ...

as much as i wanted to earn significantly higher than my previous job, i (naively) chose job prospect and interest over money. from the day i deviated from the private retail line which offers very much better, i knew i have to make extra effort in resisting the lure of money and the peer pressure. in fact, not only i chose the road less taken which creates a lot of self doubts why i was not with the majority, i am going to earn fairly much less than ALL that have left from government for greener pasteur. though very much less, it is still reasonable and adequate. after all, money oh money, is something we would never get enough of. wealth is not determined by how much we earn but how well we manage. *ie shop less. -.-*

i even turned down a very good offer from one hospital just because of the inconvenience of location and job interest. i am sort of able to foresee i would be a withered soul, stuck in the traffic everyday or commuting 80km per day, working 6 days a week, although having 1k extra in my pocket.

i am not even sure what i have chosen is the right one. what i am more confident with my choice was the fact, since i am not financially burdened yet, i should put money aside not as the utmost priority, and strive for the main purpose why i left government which is to follow my passion and my interest. thereafter i will tell you if i could, if the road i am taking is something i would fancy in the end. moreover, i would only have 5-day work week. workplace is accessible. i could have more free time on my own. it would be less likely i would be burnt out and would lose interest quickly - i would then able to perform better and make my job less like a job and more like a career.

the road ahead might not be easy and comfortable. it could be as uncertain and as frightening, in a less petty way. but why bother being so comfortable at such a young age? anyway, i am not here to digress others to leave government for greener pasteur outside. i never intend to.

just that if the system were a little more considerate towards our capability and preferences, it would be a happy place to work at. and i might be still in it.

anyway, just count our blessings the fact that this new implementation is still brilliant way to go. at least we have options. and giving up on our passions is not going to be one of the options anymore!!!

quotes to share. quotes i live by.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005] - Steve Jobs (of course)

You are what you do. If you do boring, stupid, monotonous work, chances
are you'll end up boring, stupid, and monotonous. — Bob Black (whoever he was)

food that loves you back - blu kouzanis

2012-01-06T22:53:00.001+08:00

the best trip of my life would be greece.

not very graceful but we looked genuinely delirious.

nea kamena (greek volcano) -inspired. without the salmon, the lettuce flew. none of us would ever chance upon such generous portion of smoked salmon for a dish of salad, if not in fira, santorini.

how i missed this place immensely.

sigh....

another replacement spotted in singapore.

Blu Kouzina Pte Ltd
893 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 589615

it was opened by a Greek couple, flying the authentic greek flavours, spices, ingredients and the great Greek olive oil, all the way from greece to singapore. the restaurant is of two-storey high, located in a residential area. the interior of the restaurant spells the originality of the signature greek building, splashing with just main cozy colours of blue and white, i felt instantly - in greece/ santorini/ mykonos - once again.

complimentary bread

condiments like salt, paprika, olive oil for bread

salad with feta cheese

feta cheese is one of the must-have for greek food. the green salad was tossed liberally with their signature olive oil and topped with that visibly huge cube of feta cheese, so huge that it was adequate for each spoonful of salad till we licked the plate clean.

lentil soup

slow cooked to perfection. it was thick in consistency. and closely resembled to our asian green bean dessert.

grilled squids with lemon and extra virgin oil

divine. enough said

beef kalamaki

Mousaka - oven baked eggplant with potatoes, mincemeat and bechamel sauce on top

the combination, eaten while it was piping hot, was splendid

moo-moo's verdict: i will be back for just one thing - grilled squids. probably one more - mousaka. probably one more, sometihng new, greek macaroni.... i love this restaurant for another fact that they vowed not to serve pre-cooked food. their belief and promise in the freshly made food with ingredient fastidiously picked from greece have more or less guaranteed us the high quality greek food. it could get a little crowded for lunch. so reservation is very much needed.

food that loves you back - serenity spanish bar

2012-01-06T20:09:00.001+08:00

hola amigo... this time was for the authentic spanish flavour.

our gastronomic journey has been enriching and enchanting. you could see world wide map inside. well almost. we have yet to try african, afghanistan, mongolian, papua new guinean etc food though.

Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

No.1 Harbourfront Walk #01-98/99
VivoCity Singapore 098585

the official first real date

another alfresco dine-in

overlooking the bridge towards sentosa island, this place reminded me a place in melbourne - near casino or something, QV - ah i need to go there again to refresh my memory *hint hint*

just like any other place brought by mr besar, ambience was no short of charm and comfort. customer service was also at its tip top performance.

sangria

en salada de colores

just like any other salad, it was made up from lettuce, tomatoes, sliced onion, and the best thing was - sour cream sauceeee!!! the tangy sauce blending with the freshly cut lettuce sent refreshing sensation down the throat, and then got the acid secretion in the stomach going, making it a wonderfully appetising appetiser to begin with. not forgetting the crispy tortilla to match giving a nice crunchy texture.

as for tapas there were a great variety to pick from. i love tapas - because with that it was more justifiable to order multiple different tapas to try. they come in such small portion and regardless of the amount of them being ordered, they would very unlikely to make me seem like a glutton.

grilled tuna with caramelised onion

i am very fond of tuna. tuna loin. raw tuna. anything tuna is fantastic.

asparagus wrapped with bacon

grilled squids with olive oil

less is more on how squids were prepared. simply grilled with dash of olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flakes and lemon juice. it was perfectly cooked. not to overcooked and hard like rubber band. the simplicity of the dish was lipsmacking good

the spanish chao fan

xoxo, paella valenciana

of course, in terms of texture, our asian fried rice is dryer. it was because the spaniards used boomba a type of grain which acts better like a sponge, sucking all the essence of all the seafood and other ingredients. the seafood like tiger prawns, mussels were fresh and generously given.

churros with hot chocolate

it wasnt very special. just fried donut.

moo-moo's verdict: i dont see why we would not drop by the second time. there are abundant of tapas we would still love to try. the price was reasonable. there is also 3 piece spanish band to accompany your saturday night, while you take a sip of sangria, and enjoy the mesmerizing view of sentosa island. ok, as much as i am not usually convinced with how straightforward the name of the restaurant (ie delicious aint very delicious - they have the worst fish cake!), the restaurant owner at least is a honest one. the place is really serene.

food that loves you back - the cliff

2012-01-06T00:20:00.001+08:00

probably the grass is always greener on the other side, i never think there is any special, tongue-tickling, memorable food on the restaurant table in the heart of the city, anymore. my good perception long before towards kuala lumpur was having chic restaurants booming every corner of the town, probably could do good in compensating the anger-inducing traffic congestion around the clock for the city people.

again, not anymore.

the city is all about traffic congestion and worst of all, overrated restaurants which never bother to maintain their standards are the one booming around town like fungus. i can excuse the fact kl hawker/street food could never win those in penang nor ipoh. but what is not excusable, the few good things left to be hyped about in the city - the many different types of restaurants serving different genres of cuisines - is no longer worth talking about as well.

surprisingly many have lost to singapore or even to johor bahru. i dont mean to be fastidious but, come on, that's the price to pay when you (restaurants) put such a high price tag on everything.

hello mirror. best friend of self potrait.

we were at the cliff

The Cliff
at The Sentosa - A Beaufort Hotel
2 Bukit Manis Road, Sentosa, Singapore 099891

pink shrimp tartare

maki

tuna tartare with curry saffron

no idea

a study in kurobuta pork

(tenderloin with sour cream, bacon and onion, mustard popcorn, smoked belly, tamarind balsamic reduction)

barramundi

(crisp skin, olive mash, pickled fennel, prosciutto floss and broth)

smoked belly with tamarind balsamic reduction

on the house to celebrate our "anniversary' - we conned them that that was our first marriage anniversary just to get a romantic corner of the restaurant

ok. i didnt describe much on the food. honestly speaking, the hurtful truth was, neither of us could vividly remember what we had that night. that was the finest dinner mr besar brought me to.

it was one huge gastronomic experience i must say. at the cliff, it serves wide ranges of oysters which were rarely my preference. asides from that, there were arrays of different types meats: the eye-catching few were frog legs and rabbit.

tastewise, hmmm, *loss of words* i could not really comment much. i guess from the presentation, they were intimidating because every pieces of meat were so meticulously arranged on the plate. truthfully speaking, we have yet to fathom the appreciation of such cuisine.

as for ambience, it was nevertheless a fantastic one. sitting at the cliff, of course, it overlooked the south china sea. nightview was incredibly enchanting at the al fresco.

moo-moo's verdict: i would give it a ten for excellent customer service and beautiful, quiant ambience. foodwise, it was a little too polished to my liking. subject to my preference and taste, i would enjoy more in a more rustic dine-in, with a notch or two down in terms of sophistication.

my wicked new year

2012-01-05T23:10:00.001+08:00

happy new year!!!

the hair is short again.

back pain. sigh!

my resolutions for 2012... are simple.

1. learn to count blessings. thankful. grateful. contented. faithful.

2. fearless towards my new working environment. be constantly initiative towards self-improvement

3. work/life balance. exercise. exercise. exercise off the flabs.

4. involve actively in one social welfare/ charitable body

5. shop less. travel more. (try to) save more.

6. learn to love more. to give. to share. to care. to cherish.

7. lastly... ... and very importantly... TO VOTE FOR THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION!

8.... ..... oh i have missed this out: time to grow my hair! stop cutting my hair short.

i spent my new year's eve watching Wicked. it was fabulous. the scripts were funny. the singing and the songs were lovely and meaningful especially our favourite ,"Defying Gravity". the dashing, in-born green skin of elphaba made everyone around her repel her like a disease made me tear upon her misfortune. the whole play was so terrific it sent chills and tears of joy and just the two of us from our row stood in ovation at the finale. -.-

it was said, wicked or the wizard of oz is politically related. if applicable to malaysia, elphaba must be mr Ar. glinda being mr Mr. fiyero.. hahah mr Sl. and the wizard is none other than mr Nb. go figure.

dont get it. watch Wicked now!!!

in the marina theatre

i didnt intend to go for the 'less is more' look. but the only thing that kept me energetic and truly hyper the entire night was to ensure a sole less pain.

to be comfortable all day long, with expectedly lots of walking and standing, i just wore a pair of RM39 charles & keith sandals and bareback cotton maxi i have got it online. just one accesory for comfort's sake. and a bimba & lola is my must-have.

food that misses me a lot: brussels sprouts

2011-12-29T21:21:00.002+08:00

do u miss brussels?

like... ... mussels in brussels?

i do. miss. mussels. brussels. and my friends. the travel buddies. the widespread cam-philic-ness.

and now... im alone. most of the time. T.T

no fun.

working adulthood means hair loss, still very poor, more wrinkles, in need of more varieties of cosmetics, collagen loss, visible cellulites and decreased body metabolism

look at my hair T.T. ok it was not thick. but i dont think i could ever have that sleeky black long hair anymore.

so i think i shall get back to talking about food - oh my mussels!!!

and where can you spoil yourself with ample choices just on mussels and/or clams?

Brussels Sprouts

The Pier @ Robertson,

Singapore

oh yeaaa... clams and musselssss... yummmm!

on a casual saturday chill-out night, a stroll by the pier at robertson was indeed perfect for the evening, whereby before pampering ourselves with choices on mussels, there were many other restaurants and pubs lining, drawing our hungry souls each time we passed by.

i even saw les bouchons there. oh hello.

well... ... as cutely named after as the brussels sprouts, the name said it all. from anything belgian ie. duh duh duh belgian beer to mussels and some great porky dishes, and the free-flow of thick cut fries. oh nyummmm! yummeh!

menu was lovely. there were subdivided into small eat, big eat, side eat, sweet eat, kids' eat, and ohhh my my moules frites. fantastic! anyway, allow me to start with moules frites = mussels + fries. because im on this unexplanable mussel-ly mood now.

we were allowed to select clams or/ and mussels for the pot. slightly defeating the one in brussels was the different choices laid down on the menu: we have clear type (usually heavily flavoured with wine, beer etc), cream (butter or bisque for thicker consistency), gratinated (the baked ones) and the local ones (tom yum, nyonya, black peppered, chilli - more asian)

we chose two different pots: adventurously me chose nyonya, while he chose the clear ones (meridionale: saffron, tomato, garlic, herb de province, olive oil, butter, onion, parsley). so that we have light vs heavy flavour ones to match.

meridionale flavoured was lipsmacking good. unfortunately it was not the same for nyonya because it lacked the touch of asian spices. the taste was not authentically asian enough, which was a shame. they could have been more generous in putting cili padi (because this is singapore), lemongrass for heightening the aroma and more assam pls as well.

as for the level of freshness: well, just for comparison's sake, the one from brussels were larger; and the ones in brussels sprouts were smaller. some were fresh. but there were a few which were not chewy, and a little soggy. as for clams, perhaps sticking to mussels only was the better idea. clams were blander.

because seafood could be seasonal at times. a second visit was still worthwhile because there were so many other flavours i would want to try like the one immersed in leffe brune beer, cream, celery, parsley, and butter. heavenly combination.

steak tartare on toast

for the first time, i decided to be adventurous as always, trying steak tartare which was simply minced raw beef. it looked sort of unappealing to be honest. it resembled chunks of intestines from the frog i dissected during secondary school.

without remisniscing on frog's intestines, this toast could be well embraced while incorporating with the awesome pickle.

tempura of tiger prawns

not recommended.

these werent just button mushrooms - baked button mushrooms stuffed with ESCARGOTS and herb butter

the combination was heavenly to me to start with. i loved these tremendously. it was garlicky, richly flavoured, aromatic, fresh for escargots.

my sissy beer - lambic beer.

i liked distinctive, striking flvoured beer. first it was very sissy or womanly to have hints of fruit in the beer. secondly, it was smoother to drink.

other than lambic beers there were more we wanted to pick. i guess besides the quite delicious pot of mussels, the wide selections of beer there were to die for. not forgetting the casual and cozy dining place, overlooking the pier, and do some (impolite) people watching activities. there were a lot of younger-looking, well-dressed women and men (hottttttt.... drool with mussels).

this was not just a baked pear. it was a baked pear with blue cheese.

pear and cheese were like force marriage. but i guess there was spark post-marriage. the combination was quirky so i could accept that. the cheese was not too dominant.

that was the cheongsam short dress i bought for a relatively cheap price from hype.com.sg i raved about years ago. it was still 'standing' strong and fit.

moo-moo's verdict: we will definitely go again. just lambic beer, mussels, fries (free-flow with that awesome sour cream sauce oh nyum), and us and some hunkie passer bys. perhaps, do not put hopes too high on possibly spotting hunks or cute girls. the food and ambience could be the more consistent attraction.

food that loves you back - flutes at the fort

2011-12-29T18:39:00.001+08:00

it was of no lie at all, that it was unanimously claimed as the most romantic restaurant in singapore. surrounded by lush greenery, some said it was the frangipanni tree, the double storey restaurant has a top floor of an outdoor verandah - airy enough to feel gentle breeze seeping through the leaves of the trees, and high enough to see skyscrapers lighting up the skyline at night.

idyllically away from the hustle and bustle of the city, it could also effortlessly make a fabulous, unforgettable date night. it was quiet, peaceful - just the right ambience to profess lovely words to one another, with a little moody lighting to match for exchanges of gazes into the eyes.

so, include this into the list of your romantic date night:

Flutes at the Fort

21 Lewin Terrace

Fort Canning Park, Singapore 179872

the pathway to the restaurant

cosy-looking. felt like home.

complimentary starter as usual

probably lobster bisque

asparagus soup(?)

oh this was unforgettable. crystal king prawns from the californian sea.

it was so fresh.

pan fried foie gras

maybe it was a great foie gras. i did not really appreciate this delicacy. i would say they served very fat liver (which was a good stufffff). the texture was like something hard to catch because it could practically melt in your mouth (which also indicated it was heavenly good). i think i could accept it being a liver more than, the sauce actually. it was some vino cotto sauce as base.

vino cotto is supposedly to be sophisticatedly used for italian/ french fine dining, according to wikipedia. in layman term of mine, vino cotto was richly flavoured with tinge of flavour from berries. hence it is supposed to strike balance between savoury and sweet, and i could not handle the sweet taste, not even if it were at the hint of it.

i quite fancied this actually, without any overbearing sauce, honestly speaking - whether u think if i dont know how to appreciate fine cuisine or not.

his wild fire spiced victorian lamb rack with red wine sauce

im drooling even at the sight of it, already. i had no idea how bombastically it was prepared. it was an absolutely excellent rack of lamb. and for the third time i wished i had his dish, too.

instead i ate a guinea fowl!!!

and a guinea fowl looks like this... ...

photo credit

i only knew fowl is of the bird species. but as i was writing about this, i became curious how guinea fowl looks like. and holy moooooo, did i just gulp that thing few months back.

the colour of its head looked disturbing to me, disturbing that the fact it didnt look fantastically edible firstly. secondly it has tiny head hence i was jealously disturbed!

the outcome: roasted guinea fowl *gulp * with soft polenta, beetroot, asparagus

just like any other bird, guinea fowl just tasted like spring chicken, but tenderer in a delicious way i would say. apparently, guinea fowl is gaining popularity in restaurant due to its nutrional value of having substantially low calorie (lower than turkey *wooot*: by how much the caloric value exactly... that was not my practice to counting number on a dining table so i shall give it a shrug). guinea fowls feeds on insects btw. and they dont scratch dirts like dirty chicken.

cosy verandah i liked soooo much

dessert was not fanciful as it was so sweet it sent chill to the back of my tongue. too sweet. boooo!

one fullerton. where i love to chill out.

singapore is so tiny - in a night we could travel from fort canning to chjimes, which was one great heritage in singapore acknowledged by the unesco. it used to be a church, which has been strangely transformed into a drinking place with pubs and bars.

imagine. the nuns were there. before.

it was brilliant in a way they took effort in reserving such a heritage. creative.

it would be nice to put this wonderful architecture into a better use to restaurants, bistro, or even a theatre for musical and play... probably i wont include clubs into my list for chjimes like it was done.

egg benedict and prawn wrapped with bacon as 'breakfast' at Overeasy bar.

nachos and minced meat

scenic.

moo-moo's verdict: as for flutes, everything particularly the ambience, customer service and food presentation, was gorgeous. indeed, having the opportuinity to dine in flutes was something memorable between us. however, certain food might disappointedly not warrant the price. again, if you could afford living like an expat, by all means make it a casual dine-out. one thing about flutes, is the less pretentious customer service i adore. it could be a casual or a special one, as you like.

as for chjimes, it should be a great place to watch football. period.

lastly, for overeasy bar at one fullerton, it is comfortable chill-out place overlooking one of the most picturesque night view of singapore. oh yea, and less crowded =D

food that loves you back - halia singapore

2011-12-29T02:07:00.003+08:00

halia, nestling in the midst of lush greenery of Botanic Garden Singapore, celebrates the marriage between the european cuisine and tinge of asian touches. to impress me, i was gingerly seated by him at the quietest corner at al fresco with the dimmest light.

Halia

1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden
(enter via Tyersall Avenue)
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore 259569

foliage and food... ... do not think about the possibility of having attack by mosquitoes at dusk, the ambience should be quite romantic

shredded king crab with avocado

seafood was not meant to be shredded. perhaps i am not a totally fine diner, i wished to have enormous chunk of king crabs with cubes of avocados to match.

and you must order the roasted lamb rack in javanese spice

just because it was not the commonly prepared herb crusted ones. nevertheless the best meat should be juicy and tender. the alluring part was the marinade was able to penetrate into the meat and the lamb surely... did not die in vain. =D

chilean Seabass en Papillote

i was fish-deprived hence i ordered seabass but again, i still favoured his red meat instead.

i could not remember how it tasted.

i took pride in my photography skill sometimes - of being able to capture the more 'model-ly side of him

moo-moo's verdict: unless you have been well pampered with finer cuisine, otherwise i personally feel the money spent might be put into better use for channeling to dinner of a grade slightly lower for less rigidity's sake. however, it is absolutely appropriate for annual occasion especially with your special loved ones, if top notch customer service and ambience are priorities for your date night.

food that loves you back - les bouchons

2011-12-28T21:57:00.003+08:00

there are several things i am not very accustomed to my home - the comfort and luxury of having my chores to be magically done by maid; the 'less happening' city life; traffic congestion; messy MNG sales; perpetual crowd at malls; overpriced and overrated restaurants in town; and unbelievably tiny dinner portion every nights.

almost every night before i had to go to bed, rummaging and raiding the kitchen, which is closely known as the mother of all 'holy slimming sanctuaries', were one of the few night routines at home. walking back to my room with the same disappointment sweeping me over and over again, i then thought about blogging to distract my brain from the roaring tummy crying for food.

well done, meiwen.

but as i screened through the pictures i had, i was greatly inspired to probably rate my favourite eating place in singapore in my "wonderfully unconventional" opinion.

of course that made me hungrier. more famished more like it.

not in any chronological orders, i decided to write about a parisian bistro - Les Bouchons

Les Bouchons

7 Ann Siang Road

i prefer to call this area - the Club Street.

i like how all these aged-style looking buildings looked still trendy

it was historically named as Club Street because the street was lined with clubs of the olden days, ie. the Lee's Club etc.

singapore's version of malacca minus the crowds

it is so 'retro'

the china town

les bouchons was the first few 'getting-to-know-you' rendezvous for us.

it was a little awkward the entire night. i was tempted all the time to have his AND my photos taken along the quirky street. but i guessed i had said the dumbest thing, "i am only comfortable to have my pictures taken by a friend, close enough like a boyfriend", when mr besar saw hint of my camwhore-ism was about to unleash. he of course became clueless. and we just walked together, perhaps my short arm away, me taking pictures as above, and taking his candid shots.

and i was dumb because i was the reason why i didnt have any pictures that day.

anyway, before the great event, i had myself playing as a dressed-up barbie in my mind two nights before, or probably earlier, or as soon as mr besar planned to give me a ride to singapore - thinking hard about what the appropriate outfits would be for singapore, for a street named Club Street (it must be some chic place with utmost sophistication), and lastly for a good impression to a new friend.

that was why - there was a great meaning for us planted in les bouchons.

free flow salad.

something not to be belittled on. because it was the most helpful dish to neutralise the sort-of carnivourous meal.

the 5 condiments for the steak: mustard, horseradish, and ya da ya da i cant remember

mustard was my favourite.

i ordered the set dinner that night. because i was adventurous despite knowing les bouchons is very popular for its steak frites!

word of caution: that was a bad move. i regretted tremendously.

i had a funny dish of lamb in skewer, sausage and spring chicken/ pigeon. i could not remember. my palate could not handle cous cous. it was like eating sand.

the beef stewed soup.

tastewise, it was nothing much to shout about.

but after mr besar offered his steak, i felt tremendously regretful. or maybe, am feeling still remorseful, ok! i have not thought of the chance of going back to kl for the next two years and i was being very confident i would visit les bouchons again - remorsefully speaking, i never did after this one time T.T

my photography skill has made mr besar looking slightly flattering

that was the steak frites i was raving about

nevermind the sinful melting butter on the medium done steak. the steak was absolutely tender, succulent and perfectly seasoned. and my palate was splashed with surprises by the awesome combination of both meat and lovely condiment.

the fries were free-flow too, like the salad. these fries could seriously bring mcD fries to shame - ok, probably that underratting the fries. any fries could easily bring mcD fries to shame. well, fries were freshly sliced from potatoes.

i was screaming inside, "mr besar, i want your beeeeeeeeef! nomnooomnooom."

the only acceptable picture by mr besar - before him undergoing intensive photography lesson by me.

and... we ended our night 'romantically' at the roof top of a bar under a super full moon.

moo-moo's verdict: damn, i wish i were there eating the steak now!!! i am infatuated with the steak! the place is quaint and there are very limited seatings, so reservations are very much needed!

December 27th.

2011-12-28T03:46:00.002+08:00

the truth was ... ... it was not easy.

not easy to go home after hoarding a year of good junks

good junks.

on a serious note... ...

it has been a year or more since i last threw useless rants about work. because ranting about it brought nothing but evoked even more unnecessary self pity.

i could say, i have gone through quite a fair bit. for this one year. cornily speaking, time drew past in a twinkling of an eye, but fruitfully. i have come to accept that all the wrong timings for the entire one year since i left home have appeared to be somewhat right.

to clear your bewilderment, and if you are interested to know... ... the truth behind those silence i have kept for a long time, the truth behind those excitement, laughter... ... the truth i think it is about the time to share...

... ... i was threatened.

the past relationship was so horrible it ended up with suicide threats, threats to hurt me while i was in johor, threats to hurt my family while they were in kajang, and bombardation of all sorts of cow names. this... ... lasted for 2-3 months while i was literally alone in a foreign place. 2-3 months seemed short, but it felt like eternity in a fathomless abyss of despair, helplessness and overwhelming fear. i lived everyday with fear. actually i still do live everyday with slight fear and extra caution, and a little bit more of that paranoia could potentially lead to a diagnosed case of mild post traumatic stress disorder.

well, no matter how bad the misunderstanding between two broken couples, the last thing one should do is threatening - because the victim obviously doesnt deserve such a treatment, and the predator is just being a vindictive coward. of course, why bothered anyway when he had lost his mind and rationale altogether.

the solution was as a victim- be as cold and ignorant and calm as possible. this vindictive coward fed on your anger, your frustrations and most of all, your fear. i then pretended to be cold and irresponsive to his anger, not giving the reaction he was yearning for.

and the truth was, nobody knew i cried shitloads almost every nights before bed. not for homesick. but for the immense fear and anxiety on my family back home. i had had no mr besar yet. i even had phobia hearing my own message tones. i could not even share this to a friend nor my mother. i kept it to myself.

being said as a coward, he never actually came after all. but occassionally i still did get his 'funny' or nonsensical messages after a couple of months of his persistent threats. i laughed at them. i acted so 'fearless' in front of mr besar when i got them. the truth was, my legs trembled like jellies and my heart raced to 150 beats per minutes.

and why only when i have left to johor... i decided to call it off?

because i never could with the suicidal threats. and when he was around me.

literally only God knew how fearful i was everyday. only He knew how i was trapped in that sorrowful dark spots of my life. and the truth was, noone at home nor no close friends of mine, knew i was already threatened before i left to johor.

and then the wrong timing that seemed right actually... ... came to the rescue.

i was transferred to johor, further enough for him to hunt/haunt me. it seemed like a wrong timing as after a couple of weeks i was in johor, few of my friends got to kajang where i belong. thereafter i felt it was God's work to get me out from the trap. and the reason of His plan was even more apparent. i then slowly submit to His will and let Him navigate me. after all, i was lost just to start off with.

to recollect, what if i was persevered enough to wait for my appeal? what if i have never left to johor? what if i was still at home on 27th December 2011?

the story would be predictable. i would not be sitting here sharing with you, about the right wrong-timings. trap would be still a trap, going round in cyclical motion and i would be stuck in the maze, probably taking alprazolam at nights.

... ... i was "discriminated" at work

perhaps i need the third eye to judge that as discrimination was a sensitive issue to discuss. anyway something i would love to ask God too, why i had to face issues with the superiors all the time. i would be flattered if the answer were i could not be bossed hence i only could lead and order and be a boss in future. or am i the only with working attitute problems, by failing to be a hypocrite and to kiss ass?

the truth was everything about my workplace was everything i loathed. i had to go through everyday from 8am to 5pm with resent and dissatisfaction. i could not get along with any of my colleagues. not even a single soul. first of all, it was the language barrier in which despite being a national language, i could not get the wavelength and channels of their daily live topics. i could not get them at all for one year. i was so lonely and friend-less for one good year of spending my lunch hour at home either sleeping due to exhaustion from being frustrated from 8am to 1pm, or eating mcD due to my sorrowful mornings.

when the pharmacist assistants could gang up and backstab me in front of my boss, i reckon i didnt need to elaborate more. just because i was paid higher, i have a degree, i was a new frp, i should do the work MOH has set for me, without considering i was the only pharmacist, dispensing and talking to public from 8am to 5pm every single day, handling approximately up to 300 plus patients per day.

while i went to the washroom for more than 5 times a day, or more than 5 minutes, i have got complaint because i have left the dispensing counter for too long, maybe 10 minutes out from the 7 hours of my dispensing work. the boss backed up the assistants, probably because of colours or i was just to resentful to look at or flatter me if you must, i was relatively smarter and resourceful or efficient if i wanted to, hence the prejudice or jealousy.

even when a new colleague came after that 9-month-torment, there was quite an evident double standard treatment going on. while i must finished dispensing even it had past my lunch time, the said colleague was allowed to go off at 1pm sharp irregardless of number of waiting patients.

i really did not know what my boss wanted me to do after that. whatever i did just seemed wrong and faulty. i even TIMIDLY rebeled against her by taking 5-10 minutes extra from lunch hour which also bothered her even though there was usually no patient that period. everything was like a prick to her eyes practically, including me frequently on my iphone all the time, that eventually converted her from a htc user to an iphone user just because i had free micromedex from apple. because of that, she also deliberately cut off the existing wifi in the pharmacy so that i could focus at work. -.- but being a rebel and the best solution, again, not giving the reaction she wanted, i still relied on the GPRS and occasionally EDGE to online.... blekkkk!

to cut the story short, the truth was i became an EL or MC addict! i took MC for headache. i took MC for one episode of diarrhoea. i took MC for dysmenorrhea. i would wept, moaned, complained until i became dysfunctional. i would even shut mr besar off because i looked so ugly that made me even feel more dysfunctional. i hated my job. period. i nearly drove myself nuts because of my stress-free work.

so, another scenario of right wrong-timing, if i were to go to johor a few weeks earlier, i would be in johor bahru. i would be in a multiracial workplace at least. probably a big hospital where i could have at least a lunch buddy as well as, attempting to be a clinical pharmacist.

but what if i have ever got wherever i wanted in johor bahru, or even any hospital in johor, would i be that determined, driven and less fearless to strive for what i wanted for my career in which government and 'luck' could never get me there? simply said, i would hardly know what i aspire and what career pathway i want to embark on. i would not even bother about complacency and job satisfaction. because if i were to be provided at the 'right' timing i always thought God should have mercy on, i would not have gone through the worst and want the opposite of the worst. i might as well be the parasite of the job security a civil servant could gain - high paid for a less competitive job.

because my previous working condition was so meaningless, it was thoroughly easy to get myself out once the implementation of 1+1 compulsory service began. i finally could be spoilt with job choices in the private sector. and i value stimulating, challenging and performance-driven working environment dearly!

... ... i have got mr besar from johor.

and the truth was he has been the best souvenir from johor. i could not tell if we may last (i fervently hope that we do!!!) he was involved in every aspect of the turning point of my life. he was constantly there to teach and guide me. and that unexplainabe feeling just sort of told me he could be the earthly anchor of my life.

i am not sure how convinced i could be. however despite being one wordy post, i would say this by far the most meaningful one i have ever written. i may not be a seemingly church-goer, faithful Christian. but i have never stopped believing in Christ and God's plan. if God were to be a little bit more merciful, giving me less struggles, i would not truly experience the fact that "when God puts you there in a mess, He will get you out of it".

of course, my hopes were constantly dashed in times of predicaments. my faith, too, was proportionally scraped bit by bit till i had no idea what to believe anymore at one point. predicaments... is like war. family and friends are the soldiers. i am the warrior. and God is my ... ... armour. just like through testing times, i was put to the battle within my own soul, having myself to lean on my own again and again, and if not by the wisdom and grace given by Him i would have already lost in the battle. hopelessness is the closure to all faith.

the most rewarding part from the event starting from 27th December was that, i learnt to hear Him more clearly. i became a stronger believer to prayers. i was never forsaken really. lastly i am even more thankful beyond description the struggle i had to overcome.

thus, 27th december has been a healthy metamorphosis of my life. it could be have been worse if i have not gone through the very worst.

"He has made everything in its time" Ecclesiastes 3:11

you know, God is good. Amen. =)

do u like my ring?

unconventionally yours.

2011-11-26T15:55:00.001+08:00

you see, after the great emergence of Facebook, it then became the downfall of blogging.

I, too, became indolent in blogging. This was mainly and unanimously, due to the ease of getting comments (or attention) and sending message across the globe on how you are coping your life via Facebook in a quicker and substantially more efficient manner than blogging/ writing.

However I do believe blogging/ writing poses more fun and more substances.

because...

just pictures solely dont speak.

and one-liner statement doesnt make any of the pictures come alive either.

in that case, writing and blogging, complementing the pictures, make the entire process of retaining and reviving memories whole again.

frankly, facebooking to me, has done a little bad than good.

it was that one moment particularly when I was bored or had a fight with Mr Besar (hence the confinement at home to sob boohooo), i would tap on the facebook app on my iphone, conveniently updating myself with information, be it regarding politics, scandals or largely my friends' photos.

and guess what added on the salt on the wound of my pure boredom that moment? jealousy and envy, perhaps indistinguishly, came together and bred inside my lonely soul in the tiny cubicle-like room of mine. i could dwell hours and hours, patiently waiting for all photos to load (mind you i was only relying on the speed of gprs in kulai), and subconsciously forgot to be thankful with what i have got. true story.

and i do loathe that entire meaningless event of distraction from boredom, which in turn making me bored, feeling boring about myself and feeling horrible about my life.

of course, please do not feel offended if you were one of those active facebook-er. because i respect anyone's way of channeling their thoughts and (pictures).

and i have decided on mine - blogging and writing and photography.

throughout the year of 2011, i have had so much to say. i have had so much to share. i even have had the hope to inspire. because the truth is 2011 was a another tough year to trot, definitely worth remembering every single second out of it.

again, (should i blame it on facebook again?) the emergence of Facebooking has baflled me as well on which platform or modality i should utilise to speak my mind. hence, my pictures and my less substantial descriptions on them were just all over the place. things became more and more theme-less and disorganised.

you know what, (haha this time i really do hope it's going to be real), i am going to start writing. i want to write about my more unconventional travel and adventures, my unconventional love life, my unconventionally chosen new career pathway, my not-so-unconventional view of life and philosophy, my unconventional experience with God's grace, my perhaps-sort-of-unconventional wisdom on life, my most-of-the-time-unconventional fashion sense and all things not very conventional.

even beginning to resuscitate my blog again at the age of 25ish, writing about a life of a 25ish is already unconventional, because conventionally:
1) im just too old to attract readers

2) people conventionally have stopped blogging or stopped reading blogs

3) come on, am i the only one going to believe facebook is going to be closed down in march 2012, as it has also been announced to be shut down in march 2011?

not so much for attention's sake, i do truly hope someone would google about life or some hidden gem of the borneo island...etc, and may some of my articles bring some inspirations or some sort. i am quite experienced in 'life' now. so yeaaa...

and that provided, i really blog diligently.

if it were to be a sole fashion-themed blog, it would be something conventionally like this:

oh hi, here is the breakdown on what i am wearing:
top: vintage valentino size:XL
tie: mytie
pants: basketball pants from bangkok
bag: vintage doctor bag
sunglassess: gucci's aviator.

hope you like it. muaxxx.

"syiok sendiri" FAQ

2011-07-21T15:02:00.001+08:00

this is going to be another wordy post regarding a list of frequently asked questions, asked and answered, wholly by yours truly.

1. oh hi! you seem so busy lately. you even only update your blog once in a blue moon. what has got into you lately?

ans: hello there. to keep it short and simple, i have been pleasantly fine lately. in terms of social life, minus my working life, all have been great. when life gets exciting, time seems like a waste to be spent on blogging. there are so many things going on, with so many pictures trying to capture every moments, i have lost track on even how to begin. oh well...

another reason is surely due to my almost dysfunctional laptop which takes me 10 seconds of my life to just erase a word. i am dreading to even switch on my dysfunctional laptop now. what more about posting up pictures, with that, the waiting time could have drawn my patience totally.

to sum up, my hectic schedule and my dying laptop are the two main contributors to the downfall of my once-(self-proclaimedly)-glorious blog.

2. i heard kulai is a miserable town. what have you been engaging to?

ans: simply, working life is even more miserable than the mistakenly miserable town of kulai. so basically, on weekdays, i would engage myself on a more relaxing activities, such as cooking slowly, catching up on chinese drama on ntv7, facebooking (of course), and my alternate friday night activities which mainly comprise of washing the toilet, doing the laundry, cleaning my room and reluctantly ironing my washed clothes accumulated for a month and a half.

3. how is kulai like?

ans: i wish i could show to you as an evidence the beauty of kulai town. the pictures must be somewhere inside my dying hard disk. yes, besides my laptop, i have my external hard disk and a 8gb camera memory card are dying on me simultaneously.

without sidetracking, kulai is not a fantastic and vibrant town, neither totally boring and gloomy. it is small but convenient. it is rather heavily populated with old people but there is never once i have caught in the middle of traffic congestion here. i stay directly behind a supermarket, and a rows of restaurants. not far off, i have my wet market for my weekend grocery shopping. also of proximity, we recently scouted a place serving awesome and cheap (which adds on the awesomeness) bak kut teh; and another with crabs flew all the way from tawau, cooked with distinctly black peppery flavour.

4. you have grown rounder lately, especially on your face. water retention ke?

ans: oh how i wish it was my renin-angiotensin system which is screwed up. oh wait *choiiiii*, pls dont screw up at young age of mine. the diagnosis should be more likely as fat retention, unfortunately depositing at areas such as face, tummy and legs.

clearly, besides the aforementioned activites i usually engage in during my free time, i, too, allow and participate my boyfriend's obsession in stuffing myself crazy in with FOOD during his free time. often, mr besar (my boyfriend) would put all sorts of food onto my plate. his evil plan was, he would stop eating while he was talking. he would too, as i spoke. as for me, i still ate as i talked and as i listened, because generally i was better in multitasking. the consequence was inevitable: he has lost 10kg over the past 3 months; and despite the constant weight i usually have got on the weighing machine, my chubbiness is merely unconcealable already.

5. could you please tell me more about mr besar?

ans: he would be thrilled to be part of the blog. however, i am still very shy exposing mr besar publicly (aiyah, not like i have readers anymore, except for mr besar who is still anticipating his preview at my blog). mr besar is very nice. i like *love* him very much.

6. how did the spark ignite between you both?

ans: mr besar found me on our pharmacy student year book. mr besar also claimed to be acquainted by my good friend, yen nee, back then when i was a cheerleader (amateur one lah!) during imu cup 4 years ago. in spite of being only 3 classes away back in college, and briefly acquainted in the university, we finally had a the opportunity to meet properly when i was 'thrown' to johor to work. dodgily speaking, we literally knew each other via the cyber space first. he spotted me on few of the pictures on my friend's album through the marvellous pictures tagging system. and he, out of the blues, thought i needed a friend in johor, added me as his facebook friend. i, on the other hand, put his request on hold, before deciding to befriend with him, upon seeing the several numbers of mutual friends we have got, including yen nee. so he must be telling me the truth.

since then, we communicated via facebook message. how romantik!

and moving on to our first date, on the fateful day of awal muharram, we had our first meal together at tampoi bak kut teh. i have shocked him with my giant dslr in the bak kut teh stall, pretending to be tourist/ singaporean. the weather was scorchingly hot. just when his initial plan to send me back to kulai, considering the beads of sweat dotted my forehead and etc, he then suggested to bring me to a more cooling place with superb desserts, called niniq. apparently my hazel brown eyes with some assistance from the sunlight shining onto the right place, sent low voltage of electricity jocks to him.

we have come to the conclusion, there must have been some love cupids flying on the day of awal muharram, were a little reluctant at work during the public holiday, and simply shot love arrows as we(i) greedily gulping down pork. (note: i do not celebrate awal muharram. i celebrate the public holiday offered).

even on the first time meeting mr besar, we have ceaseless conversation about everything, including the more intellectual part such as politics, policy and work; as well as a more intimate one such as relationship. since our first date at tampoi, niniq and crown plaza, we have upgraded our communication medium to whatsapp. indeed, whatsapp is still the most worth paying apps. we began to send pictures of each other toes, pictures of me putting on mask, (unflattering) pictures of him attempting to camwhore...etc.

the duration of the getting-to-know-you stage was brief. hence, it seemsed somewhat 'dodgy' or precisely superficial to jump into a relationship so abruptly. i was then just recovered from a disastrously bad relationship. i was doubtful for ample ampunt of time about his past, as well as my judgement on the potential partner. i could vividly remember the uncertainties, the uptightness and the fear of even involving a new relationship.

after all, love is so much about emotion. and there is just no rational, clear-cut answer to my decision. i could not possibly wait for months when the heart was beating towards mr besar already (corny corny, foo mei wen, you are so corny).

several days after our profession in the changi beach, with aeroplanes flying above us in half-and-hourly-basis and kids running by beach and some random dudes doing late night fishing by the shores, i finally succumbed to his astoundingly delicious home made grilled chicken and said yes. ya da ya da ya daaa....on 16th of april.

till now... it has been growing steadily for 3 months already.

in conclusion, it was not purely because of the right time that he appeared. in other words, i didn't agree on it just because of the loneliness and the vulnerability i have gone through. it was largely due to the right person appearing to wipe off my tears and cleanse my scratches, accepting the whole package of me, restoring the laughters i have lost over the past so many years, and sharing so many memories and interests together and then growing up together.

therefore, i am delighted to be found by/ to find mr besar. here. :)

7. *teary* (oh my foo mei wen, super syiok sendiri) *sob sob* although that did sound like teenage love extracted from sweet valley high, i wish you both all the best together (syiok sendiri maximum). so, back to the more intellectual question, how is work?

ans: £"$£"^$&^%*%^£"$"%$&^&*)&*%^£"$£" and £$£^&*%&*$£%£"$" grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

8. wow that explained a lot. would you love to elaborate more on what you do as a living? we are still baffled at how it is like to be a pharmacist?

ans: i punch in at 8am, and sit on my 'office table' aka dispensing counter and begin to dispense from 8.30am to 10.30am. and then i would take my luxurious 30 min break to stock up my saliva and resume my work from 11am till 1pm. at 1pm sharp, i usually storm out my stiffling workplace and take a nap in my house. from 2pm to 5pm, i dispense and count down to the end of my monotonous, brainless routine simultaneously.

i am not socially active with my colleagues because of different wavelength.

besides being more like a dispenser, i am also a voluntary translator as i am the only chinese in my workplace.

to sum up, my working condition is very comfortable and it is almost for people who are planning to retire. i have to work with medical practitioners who prescribe steroids and NSAIDs together, who prescribes three different types of laxatives and who claimed that patient would not die of dry cough with ACEI, hence subtly asking me not to intervene, when i do have a lot of losartan (ARB) in stock.

when i thought i could gain experience in management skills in my primary clinic, i was getting all the wrong things - frustration, to begin with. the bureacracy is immensely crazy. paperwork was so environmentally unfriendly. and all the approval of tiny things take hell lots of time of my life.

my job, therefore, comprises, dispensing, translating, waiting and also waiting for the headquarter to get me out to a place where my brain gets to function again, and put me to experience the true blue necessary, motivating working stress.

cant help it but yes... it is very effing £$£"%£$^*&(£$"!. so never get me started to talk about my work that makes me stupid.

9. hold your horses, ma'am. let's talk about happy things like hmmm singapore. how is singapore? the shopping must be fantastic uh?

ans: yes i do hop onto singapore on almost weekly basis when mr besar is free. im too coward to drive there. we always go there for a breather, but coming back poorer than ever. their ecomony is steadfast and strong. the rate exchange is no longer 2.5 but 2.5xx T.T. i was 2.48 when i first converted my money here. therefore, shopping there is lacklustre, despite the singapore great grand sale. i have recently found this new place with stephanie, called the haji lane. it offers independent brands without compromosing the quality, hence again, still lacklustre because of the oppresing rate exchange. T.T ... so dont ask me about anything regarding shopping anymore. i do not know anything about the latest trend. and i do not have time to shop. the best i could get from johor bahru is only mng.

10. that's something interesting and very new about you. how about river island in ion orchard?

ans: oiiiiiii... i say no shopping talk. i still faithfully window shop at riverisland.co.uk and yea just looking. can we talk about jungle trekking, water rafting, snorkelling or food now?

xoxo,
very syiok sendiri.

written when i was on medical leave. XD

how have you been?

2011-06-20T22:57:00.002+08:00

to my long lost friend,

hi there. sorry, my friend, to forsake you in a way i should not have. as i move on with my life which seems to be more exciting and with more challenges budding proportionally to my age, i have no choice but to abandon you because i choose to commit myself in other more memorable events far more important than flashing myself to you.

i do have an option actually. perhaps, a more moderate flashing. perhaps, a more pretentious self-flashing. for fear how you might think of me in a long run. after all, you may not like my true self. because i, myself, do not like myself at all times. one of the reasons why i have to cast you away from my life, because at times, i truly wished that i have not had you at all.

for you, knowing me so much in depth, is disgusting. i am disgusted at you. i am disgusted at me. the old me.

hence, if i were to be amnesiac and were to be granted the honour to pick from the myriad of my memories, i would have picked you. i am sorry, it has to be you. you have known too much. you do have the ability to revive all my unwanted memories, my childishness, my regrets and my old self. you... also can disgrace me anytime easily.

i dont read you. your words are words written by a child. superficially written. filled with phoniness. genuinely speaking, over the past few years, i have not been utterly true to you. so, that sums up another striking reason why i should not continue seeing you.

anyway, i cannot totally let you go. you are amazing at documenting the finest memories, my most effortless smile, and the many blessings i have got for the entire 24 years and 8 months. you watched me grow after all, if i ever did or do. i hope you have delightful sight, too, to at least watch me grow, instead of a plateau or even worse, of otherwise.

many questions i did reflect on. like, have i grown up yet? or have i grown enough? am i very much emotionally affected that all i could view about life is merely about intermittent explosion of frustration and bouts of depression with a little help paritally from self denial and self implanted positivity?

have i been a cold hearted creature? have i been cold to you?

have i been hard on you all these times?

am i expecting too much from you?

i guess why you are still here... largely because... i cannot afford to lose the colourful and vibrant side of you. and yes, despite all the screw-ups, foul memories of yesterday, the bastard(s) that have lurked into my past (thankfully it was for the past), you... ... kind of... remind me to stop dwelling, stop staring at the them.

you have reminded me in an absolutely non-reprimanding way, that screw-ups are the pick-up points. and that, regardless how deep the abyss of screw-ups i have made and i have gone through, the fall made me crawl to escape, and in spite of how exhausting it could bring, i have seen myself having the capability to crawl out slowly and eventually.

again, as i am writing this to you, i am thinking more than twice, if i am in self denial again.

this time, i am serious. i am not.

what do you think?

yours truly,
the blog owner.

aka

me. the one who wrote/write/am writing you.

and me. who fervently thank God for whatever reason You put me the way You wanted, i believe in You and i get You.

一日五餐的日子 - the finale. tutup curtain

2011-03-20T17:53:00.000+08:00

i have realised how sluggish i am as a so-called blogger or as a blog owner. i have written about taipei since january, even before the chinese new year.

when i thought of abandoning writing on my pretty fantastic trip to taipei, it would such a shame not to share the more beautiful side of suburban of taipei... and it would definitely be a big missed-out if you were to stop reading this post.

because i have a super marvellous picture... bedstand-, magazine-, poster-worthy picture. in fact. please be keen, c'mon... be very enthusiastic of the arrival of that unbelievably unforgettable picture.

anyway... finally... after what seemed like 3 months, the account on my 4-day-trip in taipei has come to an end *pop champagne bottle, y'all*

random chinese restaurant

heu yee... very much in the people-i-missed-list. :(

wong sam.

some pork. so naturally it was good.

pork's colon. not fanciful

veggie and bacon... unconsciously it had turned into a piggi-li-cious lunch.

3 bei ji.. *i am too lazy to type in mandarin* and this was fabulously done. heavily tasteful.

hahahaha..

i was expecting the arrival of jay chou. from that van.

missing wong

no jay chou... hence we left with a broken heart, at least for me T.T

on a random note, and for a very unproud record, i have missed jay chou's concert since 17. please jay chou, either u come to singapore now! or please remember to have another tour next year or two... i would be so willing to stand at the vip zone to show jay chou my immense loyalty of patiently waiting for his arrival for almost a decade. long distance relationship is worthy like that *crazy fan mode* and please dont forsake me because despite vowing to the world that i am indeed his ardent fan, i do not possess a single original copy of his album.

haha..

mochi ah

breast implantation = putting in 'guo dong' (from my upsr level of mandarin i knew it as pudding) inside ur boobies.. = delicious.

for doraemon pan cake

of all i got coffee... i could not handle the mild tinge of coffee... nauseating max

this was an awesome porky place. but it was closed after 3pm.

we were at the second last mrt station. how informative could i be, foo mei wen.

i could remember because the last station was heading to shui bi tan, a romantic scenic port which serves cheap seafood. but obviously i did not get to go, because romantism could not be practised among us, it was 'non-halal'.

hot spring spa resort.

manyak syiok!

and this cute little thing (minus me inside) was at the entrance... indicating a love bird hang (make)-out place

we spotted middle aged couples checking in. to have a hot spring bath tub in their room.

and there went a stupid looking fat bird with my head.

haha... fascinated with this ball.

alien creature.

naked inside and be prepared for massage.

n the massage began

my experiences for any massages, be it foot reflexology or any kind of massage which meant to be therapeutic, were nothing but pain inflicting. i never liked it just as much as how i would not think about doing an annual medical check up or blood test no matter how i am so accessible to all this free service.

because my pressure points showed me how weak i could be, in health terms.

at the same time i was marvelled at how this accupoint could reveal as much as blood test.

it was revealed from my shriekingly high scream from some pressure point that i might have hyperuricaemia one day which then my bladder/ kidney problem may arise during old age. no prizes given to see how that may come... to all sea creatures i am just a monster, a forever famished monster who has insatiable appetite for them.

i have also pms problem. i need to have a check on my progesterone level, or so i was told. my irregularity wont be good if i were want to be a mother... T.T

saya nak jadi ibu. so she suggested me to hit on the pressure point on the calves during my free time, which to date, i have not been that diligent doing it. i must start 'hitting' it now.

after a full body (naked) massage and expose of my potential health problem from gynae, urinary, bone, shoulders, heart problem... *habislah aku*... we headed for the hot spring... for relaxation

a kinddddd and important reminder: u must remember to bring your own swim suit. because they sell world ugliest and unflattering swim suit.

unglamorous. unflattering.

what was brilliantly soothing was a soak in the pool of steamingly hot spring water under a dark sky with gentle breeze blowing. so it was like the head was feeling the coolness. but the body was immersed in hot water. every 10 minutes it was also important to get out from the hot spring water because it was literally breathtaking.

and we had women talk.

and there came a bunch of hot ah sou with swimsuits that looked even more flattering than mine. uncles taking videos using camcorder. which planet did these ah sou ah pek come from. out of breathlessness and intimidation from the ah sou's prettier swim suit, i decided i should leave the pool.

hot spring water dried my skin. but felt oh-so-relaxed... whether i would do it again. absolutely yes in my better bikini. pffffft.

haha my 'fun cheong' kawan

xi men ding ala our pavilion.

it didnt impress me at all... i was a strange woman. because i repelled shopping, even in taipei.

makan makan

something awesome.

haha... looked like puke

i found it mediocre... u give me greek food, i would find everything fabulous. chinese food is too similar to my taste buds

y our school uniform no like that.

no comment.

look at the massive square forehead of mine

our pillow talk... n blanket talk.

the finale. back to reality... my opd of htar... :(

wheeee

org ramai

my fren loves me. so much.

hi brown hair of mine.

what kind of people carried 90kg back from taipei to kl?

because novels in mandarin are dirt cheap in taipei.

dont ever eat there. it served palate-tormenting food!!! better rmb this name, and run afar for ur dear life. it was situated at the entrance of the food outlets in the airport.

my 3-meat-platter was edible.

this soup tasted like 100% ethanol inside. can disinfect your bowel flora habis!

this one smelled like longkang water.

this drink... tasted like something indescribable in words.

my hello kitty fren

how he went well with pink.

blending in the pinkness

saving the best for last

there... it is the so called poster worthy picture of myself. a picture that could make all men go abstinence for sex for at least 5 years if it was pasted on the ceiling or on the bed desk.

as much as i wanted to bring back this nenek swimsuit back to malaysia, due to all the bad and bitter memories of having to pay price comparable to roxy's bikini (bra n bottom), i decided to dump it in the hotel, wishing the cleaning auntie would like it and keep it.

end of my story in taipei doing most food scouting at every corner. taiwanese may not be flavourable to my fussy tongue. taipei may be a little organised as a city which is good as a citizen and nothing very special to me as a tourist. in a nutshell, it had been a fun- and laughter-filled trip i would not regret in taking time-off from the crazy opd i had to trap in last time.

the very best of taipei.

2011-03-06T19:20:00.001+08:00

... ... lies not in the heart of the city. period.

by the way, greetings to my faithful readers if you are still catching up on this blog. i know i blog like an irregular menses. now you see now you dont. sorta.

anyway, partly i am confused myself where i should post my pictures and talk about my trips. i have plenty on the blog. i do have plenty on facebook as well. it is just so disorganised. i like the convenience of uploading at facebook, and secretly the attention i might get. but contradictingly, i am rather digressed by the fact things could be over publicised.

i think the end point is, i prefer blogging. because i could write more. again, on a contrary, just like facebook, my uploaded picture quality would often be compromised it was saddening. i have yet to disallow people from right-clicking my pictures or yet to copyright my pictures. not like they are valuable pictures, because i do not want people to photoshop my head to a naked man body and sell it to a gaymen's magazine.

back to taipei.... i really didnt want to go on talking about taipei. travel blog can be so boring. but trust me this is an exception.

the very best of taipei is here... ...which i like i like i likeeeeeeeeeee immensely.

the definition of masculinity

a bagful of 4-step-facial-care.

the breakfast.

i dont remember how it tasted. traditional taiwanese breakfast.

some steamed bun

ah wong eat my you tiao

not fantastic. but healthy. it just explains partly the difference in terms of size and obesity rate between the population in taiwan n malaysia.

i believe, besides malaysia with its uniquely delicious food for usual breakfast and supper, there is no other asian countries whose calories from their local delicacies would be comparable to ours.

that is speaking from experience from a pharmacist who dispenses antihypertensive and oral hypoglycaemic agents like water.

first stop: yang meng san

it was a superb place... just like colder 'broga hill'... less grassy than broga hill...

however it was definitely the biggest shame because:

(a) it was drizzling

(b) suddenly the temperature dropped tremendously however that could be geographically explained.

(d) i overestimated the power of my fatty reserves, thinking they could give me heat i needed so i dressed a wee bit thinly.

(e) my platforms obviously were not for climbing rocky trails.

(f) my fastidious lens could not be moisturised.

hey bimbo on the hill

windy rainy wet... there went my perfectly blown hair in the morning.

it was like i was going shopping at the hill

my silly friend camwhoring... yucks hahah

that was the wind i was talking about...

bye yang meng san after 5 minutes spent...

the shortest time spent at the hill... after all it was still record breaking.

we could have chosen a longer route with more comfortable trails, instead of the challenging ones. but in the end we chose to rest in the taxi. bummer... but justifiable.

hair dryer.

the famous theresa teng's memorial park... who died from asthma

the typical gayness

miss mak minah?

hahaha i looked fatty cute. *not shy one*

our asian pride.

3rd stop: ye liu...another awesome place

it was such a luxury to be driven around. after all, to gain access to all these more wonderful places, the only option was by taking cab and make them your private tour guide. and our good luck brought us a wonderful uncle who used to work in klang for 10 years long ago.

a touch to the nature - is always the best.

old people acting cute...

the gushing sound of the wave hitting the rock... and with breeze kissing the neck... it was like making love with all natural elements. stimulating all senses from sight hearing and touch... magficiently in love with this.

pristine much!

but... this place was filled with ahpo, ahgong, ahsou, ahbak to the brim.

i guess this made ye liu a great hang-out for old folks

those ahpak, ahsou, ahma, ahsok were definitely not behind the era of great technology. the camera they used may be even more advanced than yours.

it looked peaceful, not until those ahpak ahsou ahma ahsok invaded and hogged on a place, yelling at each other in ever shriekingly high tone of voice the rock might be broken into million pieces.

y no people one? because we were younger and we managed to climb all the way in search for quieter area which would be less likely caught 'red-handed' by para orang tua.

they asked me to pose a pose of a statue which would be memorable for century.

memorable.

this too.

lonely fishing uncle.

canyon for another time. these rocks were totally incredible. nice to look at... nice to be touched.

choiiiiiiiii

this culd be a marvellous statue

the best one.

queen's head. dunno y the china people were so excitingly hogging the head like it was their mother's.

:)

that's the queen head. there even had a queue system with a guard by the side. just because those ahma ahsam super adored this head. pfffft.

lubang cantik

foo mei wen's poop.

when wong' laughter echoed inside the cave, and that was the reason.

haha so cute... japanese clog used in the toilet. but it was named as fairy's shoes.

stepping on my poo-poo

sleeping dude.

haha

at some market. yea taipei is more like eating at the market.

dien bien zuo... it was complicated named.

there. i have not learnt these 3 mandarin words during my primary school.

i must say this octopus is the best food... not perfectly made. but octopus is awesome on its own. giant tentacle... was yummy. i want moreeeeeeee.

bubble milk tea.

the octopus.

after walking along the market... shi fen for waterfall!

fresh air.

clean water

i sukaaaaaaa

i sukaaaaaaaaa x2.

but only the waterfall... was a bit boring.

and there was a place to throw coins to make a wish. i wondered who came out the idea of throwing coins to realise a wish... oh yea i did hit a jackpot out of two... hehehe. again, either love or money. obviously, i am still financially disappointing.

cmwhore queen... nothing new pun.

haha.

ever ready

hehe.

heu yee haha

and yang meng deng... for the Gods in the sky to read ur wishes.

it has to be chinese-written.

he bao man man.

probably we had asked for too much or i had the ugliest chinese handwriting, my purse is still empty.

wtf 'get married early and have kids soon'

fly up the sky...

going up and up

fly and read all our wishes

it was a nice feeling. i mean i dont buy it. i dont expect anything in return. and i dont even rmb what i have written except "say no to htar" which was the only wish come true.

faster get married.

niceee

qing tong train station... exuding much nostalgic and retro ambience

my emo friend 1

my emo friend 2...

yucks... super gerli... manja-ism sucks to the bones, u know!

44kg... lol

huang shi (yellow stones)

9 fen is another wonderful place to hang out.

unfortunately the weather was horrible terrible and totally destroyed our night in 9 fen. i was thinking to wear my retro dress to match with the retro-ism around 9 fen.

dunno what these were. but they were horrible

nah my only picture in the beautiful 9 fen. pfffft.

9 fen was really nice... the stairs...the architecture... they were tiny and not even close to ordinary. y must you rain wor!?

chicken feet.

chicken feet with toe nailssss... that was more disgusting than chicken feet!

hmmm so wrong. but we know that was an edible sausage...nom nom nom

goose...food in taipei was just like any other chinese food. i had no comment about it.

nevertheless a delicious dish.

these were FISH TESTES. we did not know the existence of it until we finished like half of the plate. *puke*

fish testes were beneficial in heightening males' libido and in women, of course like 'semen', nourishing your face with collagen and thou shall be young forever and ever eating fish testes!

night markettttt yawnnnn

a temple.

and i stoned in the temple. because i looked lost, a kind and friendly taiwanese man handed me a japanese guidebook about the temple.

wong did his fortune prediction. so far it was accurate. if u r interested, track this temple down because i have forgotten where it is located already. hint: (like the best one) near a mrt station haha

*oh it was long san temple*

一日五餐的日子(3)

2011-01-31T00:10:00.000+08:00

rise and shine to kick start our third day...

all 'punk-ed' up for the day just to eat...nom nom nom

1. breakkie below my hotel again.

special pau...煎包

nomnom nom

it was quite nice... with meat and boiled cabbage...

auntie was very friendly too

she thought we were couple... yikes :P

2. lunch at shine cafe opened by madame chiang (soong mei-ling)

chiang kai shek yo... better than putting a cap written 50 cents

act cute

emo-fied

helpless

the best emo model..

emo couple

mushroom soup... bleh

spaghetti blehhhhhhh

curried beef... ... bleh

pork chop...bleh... but the best among the rest...still bleh

the artwork by perverts...sigh

in short, shine cafe... despite opened in the name of the respectable madame chiang, it was just like any other cafe, located next to the souvenir store...a cafe opened just for tired tourists.

3. szechuan dinner at 永康街

boiled prawns... ordinary but i kinda liked it plain and sweet naturally. yummmm

stir fried pork and cabbage... not too bad

szechuan spicy tofu... so spicy it gave tingling sensation after eating

4. 永康夜市

strangely one of the main attractions in taiwan was the night market...

like seriously, i travelled by plane for pasar malam... i do not even go to the longest night market at connaught although i live not very far from it

dessert... because this dessert house was full of people

and the one i chose was the one with everything...

mango, strawberry, kiwi, watermelon etc...and icecream

mango was the epitome of the beauty of this dessert.

yummeh

5. 士林夜市

super crowded.

and i had a thing for crowd. i hate crowded place...it felt almost claustrophobic. and no, i did not favour this kind of place despite the abundant recommendation and excitement each time from someone coming back from taipei

taiwanese roti canai

the meat seemed delicious

roti canai in the making

nom nom nom

my boss failed booooo

and it was sort of delicious. could not really recollect the goodness of it. but it was good, not exactly ordinary just because any food sold in the night market was just our chinese food.

lime jelly drinks...

refreshing but no difference from our night market pun...bleh

black peppered meat stuffed in the bun.

the skin was crunchy. the meat was marinated well and brilliantly flavoured with black pepper...

i liked!

taiwanese sausage.

the bigger 'sausage' was some rice cake... and i definitely loved the taiwanese sausage...

6. shih lin market

walking distance from the night market.

and was searching high and low for the shihlin chicken chop...

to our much disappointment, like the hugest let-down from the entire trip, the shihlin chicken chop was definitely overrated. it was big. that was it. we were expecting it to be more succulent than our shihlin chicken chop. but the skin was not intact with the meat... blehh

and i had my honey bittergourd juice.

...which was refreshing and soothing. no sugar and water added, guaranteed. so the entire juice worth every penny spent.

that was the huge ass bittergourd i was in love with... yummm

noone dared to drink except me...

super delicious ok.

big but useless... sigh.

shi lin... another let down.

food at the night market... was just ordinary to my liking. on the 3rd day some began to crave for roti canai and something spicy...

tummy all filled up... woot!

一日五餐的日子(2)

2011-01-30T17:27:00.001+08:00

yay yay!! we were heading to the zoo... to see panda bear!

at the mrt station. my back got eyes. *peace*

queuing up like the taiwanese

while everyone else was reading throughout the journey, the malaysians, either did the staring job at someone head to toe, or maybe some minority, entertained themselves by taking picture at the tube like it was fascinating as a train.

camera sensitive. n boss was reading travel guide.

again.

they called it my home - taipei zoo...T.T

walk of fame.

more like their homes

ivan went perverted

after taking picture outside the zoo we decided to head to the next destination

because monday was an off day for the panda bears. pfft.

heu yee small feet..

i was used as a fake object because the focus was on the pretty taiwanese girl on my left. pfft.

pfft

paparazzi-ed

i-paparazzi

memorial museum of the late sun yat-sen

the father of revolution... from qing to democracy...

no manners.

his contribution was deeply appreciated. otherwise, our guy friends would still need to be bald for half of their head and with long braids. and us... probably marriage would still be arranged and be treated as baby vending machine...

taipei 101 like a bamboo shoot...nom nom nom

no manners la tu.

sun yat sen... salute.

inside the memorial museum, all aunties and uncles including my boss stamped the pictures of sun yat sen on their papers...

so funny...

there!

sun yat sen was good looking.

im actually more curious about the love life between sun yat sen and soong ching ling. the undying love for each other. however, not long after they both got married, sun yat sen then passed away leaving soong ching ling alone. awwwwwwww

we were at taipei yall

heu yee emo shot

the woman from 60's

yea that were the shoes i wore...

because all my boots from the uk literally rotted... super sad can.

temple

a pharmacy.

signboard was super wordy because it included the education background of the pharmacist working inside. wow! amazing

while waiting for boss to shop for books.

virus camwhorism... spread well. good job, dudes!

for rent.

drama queen. pfft.

my emo friend. lol

someone's car.

wu fen pu - the overrated shopping heaven.

when we were at wu fen pu, the guys were depressed like that.

so were we!

because that place was nothing but chaos. it was crowded with people. crowded with cars trying to pass through. totally a not conducive environment to shop.

we spotted lots of wholesalers from hong kong and taiwan...

there was zero magnetic power to draw me to shop at wu fen pu.

however of course i did buy something... what i called essential at critical moment.

spot the difference.

a pair of pumps at the price rm38. my kaki dah nak patah in my wedges.

toilet man

artistic. i looked artistic... like 'scream' the potrait.

taipei 101

up up up we went to the observatory tower.

my perverted friends. sigh

sigh

awwwwww

taipei city at night... gorgeous and obviously organised

cantik kan

ala tvb

wind damper and my pouting frens

wind damper

taipei 101 for exclusive shopping.

tata

一日六餐的恐怖事件

2011-01-30T16:25:00.001+08:00

吃到爆 was the ultimate purpose. we explored. we saw. we ate. nom nom nom.

1. breakfast at a shop below our hotel

vegetable bun

and xiao long bao

unsweetened soya bean

our traditional taiwanese breakfast

2. brunch at 度小月 at 忠孝敦华

since 1893... cheh wah

they still used woodfire to cook

must order noodles here

rice never tasted that good.

although it seemed like a dish of simplicity lacking wow factor, the rice was delicious. it was 粒粒分明. and the minced meat and sauce was definitely a compatible match to the rice

slurpi-li-cious noodles with minced meat.

no disgusting alkaline taste of a typical yellow noodles guaranteed

chicken soup to keep us energetic

and thisss.... wassssssssss some awesomeeeeeeeeeee gorgeoussssssssss duck

the best smoked duck i have ever tried. flavourful. hmmm could taste a tinge of tea leaves. and they were cold. but never disgusting.

forgot what that was.w

wong awesome camera.

my sharp chin *happy*

some jealous dude ... because could not camwhore

worth a visit...!

towards 东区

3. dessert at 东区粉团

made of yam... another was like cincao-like

a good dessert should not be sweet and most taiwanese desserts were never intending to give sweet tooth. not bad. but i could remember the salty duck more than the yam dessert.

4. teatime at 老黄's

recommended by astro.

forever hungry.

1st flavour and the must-try dish

spicy beef noodle soup... because beef was super tender. soup was spicy, salty, hence very very appetising. the noodles were very different... it was like eating spring. super good this one!

salivating upon ogling at the beef.... moooooooo

2nd flavour - the clear soup.

spot how awesome the spicy soup was...

the clear soup one was a bit bland.

my so-called shy friend.

satisfying... thumbs up!

heu yee's emo-ing

at some shopping mall.

without a restroom. after eating 4 meals in just 2 consecutive hours, my nature began to call and screamed 'hello'! in the end i had to release it at the mrt station. *too much information*

5. teatime round 2 at mr J's at 敦化

yours truly xoxo, mr J

couldnt remember

food wise, average! sigh.... mr jay oh mr jay

muaxxx mr jay... xoxo, no 1 'groupie'

but dearest mr j, u should first improve the food in your restaurant.

6. dinner finally...the last meal... at 桥头麻辣火锅 at 敦南road

the place...was almost like those gangster meet-up place.

spicy vs clear soup

qing dao beer to soothe the heatiness

beef

pork

beef? dunno la

pork ball

lamb...dunno la

dunno what the toot was that..

and the legendary exotic food in taipei... 猪红糕

super disgusting looking.

fear factor challenge

cheers, dude!

the texture was effing freaky.

that black thingy SUCKED

it was like, each bite reminded you of pig's blood. and it was like rice cake. probably it would be a good prank to your friends and just tell them it is just a piece of cake. because honestly it tasted nothing close to iron or blood. it was just the texture i disliked very much.

i felt like i was eating something unexplanable.

the consequences of over spiciness...

-the end- of our food stuffing day 2...

eh... random pic... suddenly appeared here... bahhhhhhh¬

一日五餐的日子(1)

2011-01-29T23:38:00.002+08:00

today is my most serenditary saturday of my entire life of 24 years and few months... ... this also marks the 1 month i am in kulai where... ... i am beginning to feel bored at the town. today is also a day when i am absolutely alone in johor, because the owner of the house as well as the rest of my friends here are not in town. T.T

adding to the list of things that can drive me crazy, it should be boredom... besides abundance of good food which has been crowned as the best thing in life that drive me crazy in a good way...

like that, hereby i am presenting to you... ... some heavenly goodnesses brought to you all the way from taipei.

of course, backdated way back when it was end of october, and also when i was so sick that i could almost puke at the sight and smell of opd of htar, i decided to visit taipei for the second time. honestly speaking, i was not keen to travel to another city resembling kl.

the purpose was to make taipei the perfect escapade from the stiffling working environment i used to trap in.

see! my happy face to fly away, thinking i didnt have to be a dispensing robot. wheeee...

bubur ayam to fill up the tummy before sleeping on the plane for 4 hours.

introducing, travel buddy no.1 - heu yee

travel buddy no.2 - wong... camera shy and claimed confidently he disliked being shot by the camera on day 1

will my super virus of camwhorism succeed in infecting wong?

travel buddy 3 - myself

tourguide wong's superbly organised travel itinary.

wong has a super awesome camera...

because it has a mirror next to the lens which we could camwhore outselves.

outcome: perfectly framed trio...

my mata sepet and heu yee

flying on the cheap plane... not cheap pun actually... pfft

air asia X... ... was super uncomfortable.

yes, speaking from a short person of 5 feet 3 1/2, i find the seat was narrow and the cushion was made of unbreakable rocks with hardness comparable to diamond.

paparazzied by wong who hogged my window seat, claiming he looked ugly while sleeping and should not sit by the aisle because that would give any air stewardess a fright... swt

and i could sleep cross legged. outcome: damn 'DVT'... my legs were stiff and i felt as if they had been amputated.

the view of taiwan from top

nice kan!

upon arrival...all of us dashed to the restroom and that word next to 女 fascinated me.

taiwan tao yuan international airport.

weather was brilliant as the best welcoming gift... as a traveller, nothing beats the importance of a good weather... it was breezy, chilly but not to the bone... of course the end of autumn of taipei reminded me of the summer of glasgow.

that is an awesome camera. spot me! spot me!

while waiting for the shuttle bus to central of taipei

fake map reader

my luggage to taipei was not small.

taipei central.

hustling and bustling of the city. people walking like ants on hot pan. and us...

with big ass luggage lugging around all small, narrow lanes towards our hotel... i bet there were curses and menacing stares striking us all the way. but not many, because taiwanese are mostly polite and kind.

the usual 5pm congestion

very wordy sign boards

our hotel was at this building. and like u, i also could not spot the signboard of our hotel. from the exterior appearance, our lodging was going to be very dodgy like those along chow kit road. the expectation was killed to almost negative.

signboards that got u confused.

and to our surprise, hope hotel, like what it meant, brought hope at the end of tunnel

dogdy on the outside, but super cute on the inside.

highly recommended.

service was swift and pleasant.

most importantly, rm50 per person per night was totally a bargain!

totally worth every penny for a clean room.

lovely bathroom with functioning, comfortable hot shower.

hair dryer was provided. but it blew at the speed of a child blowing into your ears...pfft.

and there were huge mirrors at every corner of the hotel, which was another plus plus plus point

including the elevator.

my blazer from new look, i hope it has shrunken, rather than i have expanded horizontally. it was tight like a corset.

the twilight

something to fill up the tummy at 7 eleven..

naturally, we walked out of the 7 eleven with our food towards the mrt. my instinct told me something foul was about to happen. i felt it was not right when we were chowing down with people dashing in and out from the mrt.

lok lok at 7 eleven

a kind passerby told us eating in the mrt station is prohibited. i mean to my moderate surprise that rule made sense, just that rule like this was never enforced, was never practised and was never bothered.

so of course, doing the malaysian style in taipei was all wrong. again, for the 2nd time (i think), of all people i was caught red handed and was reprimanded by the mrt guard (1st time, i was summoned by an italian guard in milan who scolded me in fluent italian, probably i looked super italian in italy pfft).

we apologised and before i threw my container into the bin, i secretly popped a pork ball into my mouth. and the superbly responsible guard was actually tagging us all the way to the bin, and reprimanded me for the third time in a cute taiwanese english slang, "you, no EATING" with finger pointing to the sign claiming we would have been fined for perhaps rm500.

so that was the first taiwanese talking to me.

the story behind this yellow line on the floor

and how could i see that with 394832 people stepping onto it. so unfair that i was the only one who got caught for eating in the mrt, just like my schooldays, i got caught for eating in class like 5 times a week, ok!

pfft... ...

taiwanese abide by all rules, including this.

we must queue up before entering the mrt

a culture would NEVER be instilled in our country because we are hopeless like that. just to begin with a government hospital where i am pharmacist (who was always mistakenly as doctor after putting on the white coat...whatever it was), i had been stuck in the lift for two rounds because the fat crowd entered (entered was a polite way, stuffing themselves in forcefully was a more precise term) the lift before letting me out, until i was rescued by a guard who caught me menacingly staring at one of the 'fat' rude crowd.

a very good culture to learn

they practise common sense which people from the train are given ways to go out first, and then they enter (the precise term here) the train in a line.

taipei like any other city... the attractions evolved around activities like shopping and eating. nonetheless upon stepping feet onto the land of taipei, we shopped instantly...

but... ...

at a BOOKSTORE.

政大书局 , situated at 公馆 area

because my 'boss' said so pffft..

i'd like to blend into the conducive environment for books. however, expectedly after what seemingly an eternity inside the stressful underground bookstore with over 1 million of books in 100% chinese, words began to flash lights at me and my head started to spin around, indicating how unwelcoming a bookstore to me.

i love reading, dont get me wrong, especially i could just spend my entire day in mph bookstore and read away my day with a book... free of charge after all like that.

but in mandarin... oh wow, how i repelled myself from it.

my boss, wong, immersed himself totally with the rest of the bookworms. the girls then gave him a time line. by 7pm he had to bounced out from the bookstore.

so while waiting, the best thing to do was either camwhoring or eating

i found this by the roadside, because i was absolutely craving for kebab. be it kebab from hanoi, or kebab from buchanan street, or even kebab from brussels. so to complete the circle, wherever i travel, to distinguish myself from other people who usually collect hardrock souvenirs, i then had a taste of kebab in taipei.

it was no good in taipei... bleh! meat was stingily stuffed into pita bread. bleh!

ard the gong guan 公馆town.

臭臭的

a church.

and food stop no. 1

1. 女巫屋 (witch house)

boooo

the decoration was adorable

the menu

you'd find it hilarious if u know mandarin

board games for sale

heu yee's bra

his underwear

oh my braa

at least a D cup. *proud*

food was disastrous!

my dunno what milk tea. disastrous. vanila + alcohol + tea

wong's eerie drink

ewwwwwwww

blood clotsss much! ewwwwww

too bad the interior was too good for the food served

rule of thumb: be braless!

lalala

dont go there if you're hungry.

national taiwan university

for cyclist

we trespassed as NTU student... and i am sexology major, y'all

cendekiawan, kot

queuing up

5th floor is a spa for gay men. woot!

signing off... actifed is a sleeping pill. yes im sick for the 2nd time in a month in kulai. fml.

her perfect wedding

2011-01-26T22:31:00.001+08:00

reading from here, i, hereby, shall unveil the biggest secret of my greatest desire in life. damn, i want to be married so badly, ok! now i got your attention.

i mean, don't most people want to have a family of their own... i do! i do wish to sit down with maybe two kids, one with my inherited dimples, one without but inherit my signature laugh (speaking of that i barely laugh that wholeheartedly anymore T.T)... hahahahaha...

and i would cordially invite you to my wedding. imma make it flamboyant.

and this... instead of 'flash-mobbing' in the train station, i will have my kind of flash mob in my wedding...

and i shall appear from the 'sky', where i was hung onto a swing, distributing petals of rose from above, appearing just like satin aka nicole kidman from moulin rouge... and my love shall await me at the stage

but since economy has never been better, with increasing epf rate which was supposed to beneficial for our future with that rm100 extra per month, saving got harder by days. just say, to have a proper wedding is become a gold digging event by wedding planners and hotel.

hence upon flexibility and adaptation in view of how the future holds, probably i should just throw world's simplest wedding night spent with my great loved ones by the best, most pristine beach... have our vows exchanged... a little champagne and seafood accompanying by breeze and bright full moon shining the dark sky bright... and lots of mosquitoes repellents... and we would wrap our gorgeous night up... while the rest of the savings shall be spent selfishly for our own leisure and luxury on vacation to venice (again... yes i want to go there again not backpacking but for luxury travelling)... a great honeymoon is always a good stimulation for the eggs to accept the sperm. teeee heee =)

it is not exactly a bad thing to fantasize a bit of this and that, besides fantasizing gets my expectations go higher and higher. we shall see after i have turned 30, to see if im still energetic enough for the flamboyant; or simple yet romantic one... cant wait to be 30, like that!

dont blame me being 25 for sounding desperate for getting married... blame renu! and joanne... and those who were already 'tied-down'.... boo¬ *just kidding, dude... just want to have a nicer introduction maaa*

renu and sentil, with love... awwwwwwww

how cute an indian wedding at the klang hokkien assembly hall

indian sweets yumzzz

and i must have oedematous eyes on the day where i could celebrate renu's wedding with very missed dear university mates. pfft!

us... after a year of slavery by the MOH.

the wedding was good as we got three tables by ourselves and they were all strategically adjacent to the food area... rendang mutton was expectedly delicious but my tongue went boom boom pow after that.

oh wait, no i did not exactly have the greatest time trying to catch up with my friends because there was a lady working on finance-investment-etc thingy, sitting (unfortunately) next to me... elaborating on investment at a super wrong timing when my eagerness was towards the wedding and the reunion, rather than adding onto her commission of 2010. pfft no.2.

anyway... reunion was awesomeness..

like, meeting my housemate room no.3 whom i fought with the most

ok not like we always cat fought in the house. just that (only) me and hung jen had verbally conflicted with each other over a pail with her shirt soaking for three days in the bathroom.... haha

i still love jenjen... and her marvellous apple crumble... and braised mushroom chicken.

jen jen and neighbour

housemate room no.2 - the hao poh

supposedly to tag laura, the other housemate room no.1... awww she could make awesome shepherd pie

the clashing of the indians and the hokkiens

karen + love = we are thirsty for her invitation to her wedding

the strike of the camwhorism

indeed... it was not very normal to hog a place like this for 15 minutes on group pictures snapped by 348573 cameras...

of course, the key of a successful camwhorism is, to mannequin-fy oneself in front of the camera. no tension of the lips. no tiredness from smiling. and no blinking of the eyes for 347532 seconds. 45 degress slanting of the face and body. the rest, you just have to master your own... teee heeeeee...

pioneers of camwhorism

snap... picture perfect and there came the kiddo... pfft no.3

that was a traditional ao dai i was wearing, not a pyjamas... thank kiu.

kk... the grandfather and nanny of p106. and may u be the next health minister, rmb to compensate our loss of freedom throughout these 4 years of 'white-collared' slavery in terms of cash (will be great)

my swollen face and nic and kk and 0.5 of gobi.

gobi is better looking and is seeking for physiotherapist as partner. massages are always good.

thian with her gorgeous sareee...

karen

next stop : tarbush @ sunway pyramid

'emo' jason and emo gobi

our mixed platters shared by 5... haha

when meat was concerned, it was terrific... yumzzz

stoner's corner

huey wuen

jen jen said take my piccies

someone's chocolate drink with a nice background

chow time and my enthusiasm

jenjen's chocolate drink

appointed photographer

camwhores united and photographers at the reflection... our group pictures were like that :P

souvenirs by jen jen. that was the legendary yum po who is still yum and got ken fatigue all the time.

karen and me, appearing out of nowhere.

conclusion: i super love attending weddings, love being a spectator of how two loves merge, love being bridesmaid to walk my best buddy down the aisle by the side... all in all, i love watching love

my tight schedule

2011-01-25T23:51:00.001+08:00

6.50 am - the phone alarm rang
6.52 am - snoozeeee¬ and it felt like the only most comfortable bedtime was this moment...
7.00 am - snooze number 2
7.09 am - snooze number 3
7.15 am - officially starts my day by goggily walking towards the toilet and was terrified by my typhoon-inspired hair

8 am - punch in
8.15am - loitering a bit before patients rush in
9 am - dispense
10am - dispense
11am - DISPENSE... effing dispense!!!
11.30am - dont care... makan...!
12pm - effing dispense
1pm - drive home and cook lunch
1.30pm - nap
2pm - drive back to work
3pm - still dispensing
4pm - what else... dispensing
4.30pm - hide inside my room and wait for 5pm
5pm - punch out and zoom back home
5.05 pm - cook dinner
6pm - tv tv or tv
7pm - MY FAVOURITE PINK LIPSTICK... korean drama teehee...
8pm - grocery shopping
9pm - done... and review my grocery shopping... food spent = est rm35/week... tee hee
10pm - mandi
11pm - human touch... find victims to vent my boredom
12am - bedtime...

same goes for tomorrow, minus the grocery shopping...

i would even blog about grocery shopping one day. and think about what to cook for tomorrow when i was trying to sleep.

the usual joke

2011-01-21T22:08:00.000+08:00

come peeps... let's baca surat khabar The Malaysian Insider.

apparently we are all high waged professionals. i dont know about you guys. earning rm3.4-3.5k per month is almost nothing. in ten years times i wont see myself even having an apartment nor a locally made car. period.

my shopping crave has dropped to near 50%. even so, that is not helping much.

and i am still an unhappy so-called "high-paid" professional... ... especially when YOU have thrown me out of my homeland, making my aim to save more money tougher to near impossibility. thank you very much. seriously.