0 Astro ...astro!

And so it was - our 7th anniversary. What else can I get the man...* to keep him home and on my lap*? ...Astro...brilliant!

With the best service one can only imagine. I filled in the subscription form online - in less than a minute my phone was ringing. "Nah", I thought to myself. It can't be, I just pressed the submit button. But it was!!

Before I could even get over my stunned state, they'd already arranged for the serviceman to visit my home the very next day. Another surprise - the guy was on time and it took him only 15 minutes to get things running!

I was well rewarded after that... ;)

0 Man..I'm going to miss her blardyness

Another mate was leaving us. She was an amazing woman who loved saying, "Blardy..."....sigh..blardy woman. Now, I don't have anyone to trade VCDs/DVDs with!!

It was also one of those moments where I was torn between being HR and just a friend. I was so tempted to fight for her to stay on but as a friend, I felt that there was so much more going for her out there. I just couldn't picture her stuck in an extremely quiet and dreary environment.

Wasn't that I wasn't working for a great company - I just believe that each of us were meant for something and she's just meant to burst out in song and colour. .. I bid adieu to her with a funny ..err..cut n paste picture of us..on some superhero picture I googled out..kaka ;p

1 Of Butts and Bowling

This was it - the moment we'd been waiting for. After saving months for a team activity, we finally decided on bowling, playing games at the amusement center and lunch.

I thought I was the only one ;) but lo and behold - I found out that we all had an obsession with butts. Hence, these were the only photos we took...kakaka ;p

Check out the pose by our pros..such pizzazz:

Now, check out the greenies...err..:

0 Supernatural Season 2

We did it!! We finally completed Season 2 of Supernatural..whoopee! And it's got an amazing website - you even have to key in codes and passwords to get into the Hunters' blog....err....I haven't figured that out yet ;)

0 Of hampers

Being one who loves celebrating many festivities, I'm always keen to decorate my home as befits the occassion and follow customs as best as I can.

BF and I got hampers for Deepavali and Chinese New Year this time around ;) The festive joy has always been with us (sometimes made sweeter by thoughtful people), in our bid not to forget what our ancestors passed on - from reunion dinners to traditinal recipes, from the lantern festival to winter solstice, from Deepavali to Christmas and so forth.

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0 Food Tray from Metrojaya - love it.

This is what Eugene and Cynthia (friends we met at a Christian fellowship) gave us last Christmas - a food tray.

When I first saw it, I couldn't figure out what it was for.


Now, it's always on my lap, with dinner on top, in front of the TV ;) I'll say it's pure genius on the designer's part to think of cushioning the bottom - makes it so easy for me to balance the food. The soft cushion just moulds onto my thighs.

0 A Trip to Royal Selangor

My aunt paid me a visit recently - I enjoy having guests but....after all the shopping complexes, where else could I take my aunt to in KL? ;)

I searched the net..and had my doubts but why not?....and so we headed to the Royal Selangor Visitor Center.

At the entrance, we were greeted with the largest pewter made tankard in the world. It was an amazing start to the tour...and the ever friendly Royal Selangor guide made the journey even more memorable with his excellent knowledge and helpfulness. I have to say, from the receptionist to the guides and every employee we met, I found all of them to be extremely courteous.

The journey began with a visit to the Pewter museum and the gallery. We saw many pewter made pieces such as tin money, a replica of KLCC, a life sized crocodile, etc.

This is a picture of the Royal Selangor craftsman's handprints - all having worked there for more than 5 years.

Tour guide on the right. My aunt observing how handles are made. It seems that a Royal Selangor employee can makes hundreds per day. ....phew!
My aunt trying to knock a design onto a pewter mug, without much success - a very steady hand is required.
We were also served drinks in cool pewter mugs before proceeding to the next point, which was the factory - look how neat it is!
Finally, we reached the Royal Selangor 'School of Hard Knocks' where we signed up to experience pewter making oursleves. You have to register in advance, which we did, and it costs RM50 per head. The experience was worth it for me.

Check out tools we had to use to knock our pewter into shape and to engrave our initials:

We were also provided with a cool looking apron to wear. At the end of the session, we graduated with a certificate:

And here's the finished product, which we got to bring home:

Things that didn't go quite right:

1) Knocking somebody else's initials onto your flat pewter plate ...muahahaha..my aunt did this! ;) She wasn't listening to the instructor.

2) Not having a steady hand, resulting in your initials being hammered in a crooked line.

3) Knocking the plate too hard to mould it into a bowl, resulting in more dents than necessary to the already unsightly work of art ;p

4) Washing the now almost complete bowl too hard with a rough sponge ...mmm..nice scratch marks...obviously didn't wash it nicely in circular motion as the marks were all over..*slap face*

My conclusion : It was a wonderful experience and I wouldn't hesitate recommending the tour to everyone else.

0 Melted Candy

And this was what I wanted to give each of the girls in my office, whom I hold dear in my heart:

Unfortunately, the candy melted before I even left Penang. Bah!..So I got them some made in Penang 'Pneah' instead.

0 My very own radio station

Sick and tired of radio channels not playing my favourite songs ...yeap...that's me. Always changing channels, hoping to find a song I'd like to hear.

My partner has nagged me countless times about my itchy fingers, which never leaves the radio in peace. Hey, I don't see why I have to put up with daily traffic updates for many areas which does not concern me - one station providing this service is fine but any more than that really gets on my nerves. They even announce it almost at the same time..gahh!

Then, there's more blah blah with the radio ads and DJs. I don't mind news from Fly FM. It's funky and different. What I do mind are DJs who go in unprepared and long radio ads.

And so this site is a god-send - it's also free ;) http://www.jango.com/

I get uninterrupted play of my favourite songs without any blah blah...whoopee!

0 Penang Bridge

This is the view of the Penang Bridge, as we were leaving for KL early Sunday morning, the 4th day of Chinese New Year.

The bridge wasn't what I used to remember. My last trip down was probably 10 years ago but I recall being able to view the vast expense of the sea and land. It was amazing..

The view is now blocked, with higher walls and road dividers built....pity...and there's some construction going on.

But this view that we took was simply breathtaking..

0 Candy blown into shape!

Penang - That's where I spent my Chinese New Year this year, all 9 days of it.

And it was this time that I chanced upon a Chinese artist in Gurney Plaza..not just any artist, but a candy blowing artist. He blows sticky gooey candy into any shape you want.

How? He rolls it into a circle, starts blowing into it, shaping one part into a tube. And then begins the tranformation with his deft hands, blowing again into the tube when necessary to keep the candy puffed up.

I thought that this would be the perfect gift for each of my colleagues and so, I set my mind into getting a few before I headed back to KL. In the meantime, I bought one for myself - an Ox carrying a Pig. Ox, being me and Pig, my partner.

But guess what happened? Thanks to a heat wave, it all melted in just 2 days...sigh...I didn't even get a chance to lick it.

Watch the video here:

0 Ignorance is bliss...

The thing is....I never knew I had poor vision until I got a pair of glasses.

Now, it's like..gosh.. I could read toilet signs from this distance? God...I always thought our TV channels were blur because someone couldn't fix the antenna right...and oh, I can recognise friends in shopping complexes!

I'm seeing amazing things ever since and it's becoming harder and harder to go without glasses, not when I now know that things just look darn good through them.

0 Buying a gift for someone special?

I love gifts. I love the challenge of figuring out how to fit in whatever I have received, into my home somehow. And it's really great to see what's under the wrapper - it gives me a perception of how the giver views me ;)

My birthday is just two weeks after Christmas. So yeah, it's been a couple of exciting weeks. Time to take a breather to talk about my bf - who's just so sweet.

"Wow, he must have gotten you something really nice and romantic" ...ahh..so you think. But year in and year out, it's just amusing to see him panic as the Birthday date draws near. Sometimes he just fails miserably and it's going to be something belated or nothing at all.

Note that I'm not fussy about not getting anything at all - he just insisted that it was a must-thing for him to do. Who am I to stop this gallant notion?

This year, I decided to give him a break...or so I thought....

I gave him a subtle hint....mm..ok, maybe not so subtle but still he fell for it and thought he was the genius.

I had the plan in motion a couple of months before - whenever we pass a shop with this cute doll, I would point out to him how I'd love to have it but would always delay buying it, saying that I didn't have the time yet. I did this until December ;) Wuhahaha..it worked! ..Well..not exactly...

I didn't expect it to come in for Christmas...kakaka ;p and so, when my Birthday arrived - it was the same old story...he panicked, picked me up late from work, full of apologies and those pity puppy eyes. Now, who could resist not forgiving someone who does that?

Well....at least I got what I wanted..mm...now, to convince him that I need another one, but with a different design ;)

0 Dizzying encounter with Cloverfield

For the first time in our lives, my partner and I walked out of a movie before it ended.

It wasn't because the show was lousy..we just couldn't hold our stomachs. .weak..weak..weak!

A monster story seen through a handheld camera, held by an unsteady hand (what with all the commotion)...there was this quesy feeling in my stomach after 45 minutes and my partner looked like he was going to barf anytime. It sure felt like motion sickness.

Anyway, I liked the plot..I'm just mad that the moviemakers had to do it this way...they could have made 2 versions..one for people who don't barf easily and one for those who do.

Now I'll never know the ending..sigh... goodbye Cloverfield..I will never watch it again.