Y.E.H

what does Y.E.H stand for, you may wonder. if Y.E.S stands for Year End Sale, Y.E.H stands for Year End Holidays. YEH YEH!! I am blogging from KLIA at 1015hrs, Saturday 12 December 2009. I am about to board my flight at 1045hrs to Heathrow, London and I'll be gallavanting all across Europe (Spain, Portugal, Nice, Monaco and maybe Scotland) until New Year. oh yeah. 3 weeks of total relaxation, holiday joy, winter bliss and christmas shopping. you may not be able to reach me via mobile as i did not activate my international roaming, no thanks to Maxis for making me pay a good RM300.

so sayonara. adios. goodbye~ until next year, chow!!

car problem

this morning started well. until i reached Shah Alam. before exiting at Pusat Bandar Shah Alam, i stopped by at Petronas to get a can of Nescafe. i went back to my car and started the engine but it failed. ok, i tried again. and again. but failed. i drank the Nescafe to cool myself down. tried some more but it still couldn't start. ok this is bad, i thought. it feels like the battery's out. panic time!!! it was 850am by the way. i went in and asked for help from one of the staffs at Kedai Mesra.

"bang, boleh tolong tengok tak, kereta tak boleh start lah."

luckily he wanted to help. he tried to start, but the car refused to start. i called my office and asked my staff to call the court and asked to stand down the matter. in the middle of the panic, i told my staff that it was a sessions court matter. i gave her the summons number and what not as a sessions court matter. a few minutes later, she called me back.

"aku dah call court. court cakap takpe, datang pukul 930 atau 10 pun ok."

i was slightly relieved there. but then she said the court interpreter didn't even bother to take the summons number. and the court interpreter didn't even give his name. tak boleh jadi ni. i called my friend Sara, whom i know always goes to Shah Alam courts. luckily she was there but her matter was about to be called. i told her to stand down my matter for me, when she is done with hers. she said ok. i was a bit relieved.

as luck has it, one guy came to Petronas and parked his car beside my car and asked what the problem was. the Petronas guy told him about it and he tried to start my car. still no sign of the engine to start. he then suggested to jumpstart the car using his car.

oh, they asked me, "bila last you tukar bateri?"

"erm....tukar bateri? tak ingat lah..." (time ni malu ok)

"ada cek tak air bateri? ada isi?"

"erm...air bateri? eh ni bukan zero-maintenance nye bateri ke? kena isi air jugak ke?"

"ni bukan. you tengok ni, kan ada tempat isi air ni. kalau yang tak payah isi air, macam kereta i ni," while showing me his car battery.

uh huh...yeah. like i know the difference. by the way, after he jump start my car, my red baby comes alive again. phew~ i was already sweating by then. after thanking them about a million times, i went off. i called Sara to tell her that i'm already on my way to court.

i went up to sessions court only to realize it was a magistrates court matter. panic again. i quickly went up the stairs and luckily they have yet to call my file.

phew~ what a way to kick start the day, huh? terus tak mengantuk for the rest of the day!

oh, wait until you hear my story about the invasion of the ants pulak. macam-macam hal my red baby lately...

the good Samaritan who helped me.

increase the rate

I want a high, if not very much higher metabolic rate. like seriously, i eat like nobody's business because i just love to eat and a certain someone has been treating me to really nice foods and took me to nice restaurants lately (how can i say no, right? hehe) but i'm too lazy to workout so i could really use a very high metabolic rate so that the calories can burn faster. but then again,

ok, azam tahun baru 2010, eat healthily and exercise religiously.

insyaallah.

*images from http://www.glitter-graphics.com/

weekend project part 20

on raya haji, i decided to make Apple Crumble.

green apples

cinnamon powder

butter

coarse sugar

flour

peel, cut and dice the apples.

put a chunk of butter into the pan and sautee the apples with cinnamon powder until it softens

mix cold butter and flour and rub until it forms a breadcrumb-like texture and add in sugar

once the apples have softened, put into a heatproof baking dish

pour the butter-flour-sugar mixture on top and spread evenly

bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until crumbs are golden brown.

serve warm.

preferably with vanilla ice cream or custard cream (i don't know how to make custard cream so i used vanilla ice cream).

serve and enjoy.

international roaming

i have upgraded my prepaid number to postpaid some time ago. i thought that using postpaid numbers have more benefits and is very much convenient than prepaid, although both have its pros and cons. recently i went to Maxis Center and checked whether the international roaming have been activated. i was told that my number is a new account therefore i have yet to activate it. in order to activate it, i will have to pay RM300 deposit. why is it that to activate Maxis international roaming for postpaid users, one will have to pay RM300 deposit? what the heck for? on top of that, i have to bring my passport for whatever reason. why can't they activate it automatically, like prepaid numbers? i might as well get a prepaid number for travelling purposes then. why should i pay RM300 for them to activate the service? i think it's simply ridiculous. in this situation, it looks like prepaid users have more benefits. obviously the RM300 is refundable but that RM300 is better used for shopping, right?

i'm going abroad soon so the question is, should i pay the RM300 deposit or should i get a prepaid number?

amoi

I was at Petronas along Federal Highway, just before the Pusat Bandar Shah Alam exit on Tuesday morning. I bought a newspaper (to keep myself occupied-knowing how the tracking system at court works) and a can of coffee to perk myself up. That was the first time I ever stopped by that particular Petronas. I asked the cashier "Tandas kat mana?" and he answered jokingly, "Akak keluar, pusing kanan, ada traffic light, pusing kiri. Aaa tandas kat situ lah." I was like, seriously, I am in no mood to joke/fool/flirt around at that time. It was in the morning and I went through a massive traffic jam in Federal Highway and the last thing I felt was entertained. But then again, he may just be one bored fella and I believe he's just doing his job and be people friendly to the customers but sorry dude, I was not in the mood. I might have 'accidentally' rolled my eyes and raised my eyebrow and I think he noticed so he asked me, "Akak ni Cina ke Melayu?" Seriously, this boy is getting on my nerve. I asked him, "Huh? Kenapa? Macam Cina ke?" He answered, "Entahla, nak kata Melayu, tak macam Melayu. Nak kata Cina pun tak jugak. Tapi cakap macam Cina." I asked again, "Saya cakap bunyi macam Cina ke?" He said yes. At that point I couldn't help but laugh. That was the first time someone said I sounded like a Chinese. Then I said to him, "Melayu lah."

As if that is not enough, later in the evening, as I was about to leave the Court Complex and was busy digging into my handbag for my car keys, one of the security guards approached me and asked, "Cik ada order teksi ke?" I said, "Order teksi? Takdelah. Boleh order-order teksi eh?" He said, "Boleh. Kalau teksi tu cakap ada orang order teksi, kita bagi la dia masuk. Dia kata ada perempuan Cina order teksi. Tu saya tanya Cik tu." Again. So I said, "Takde. Saya takde order. Saya bukan Cinalah." He then said, "Oh bukan ye? Ingat Cina tadi. Sebab tu saya tanya."

I got back and looked into the mirror and wondered, which part of me looks like a Cina again? hahaha. No, it did not bother me at all, don't get me wrong. It's just that I find it funny and what a coincidence that it happened on the same day.

burn the past

i wonder if anyone nowadays still keep a 'traditional' diary. i used to have one many years ago but i stopped writing diaries either because i was plain lazy or because i don't wanna be reminded of certain happenings. on one rainy Sunday, i opened my drawer and found my old diary, dated 2002. that was seven years ago! i read through it and it brought back memories, both good and bad. however i stopped writing in May 2002. that just goes to show that i just couldn't be bothered to keep a diary. what i wrote are of course personal and the ups and downs i went through. it occurred to me that i could be a drama queen at times and i am not proud of it. but then again, i was 19 then.

anyway, what do people normally do with their old diaries? do they keep them? how safe is it to keep a diary anyway? it could easily fall into the wrong hands and it could easily be used against you. of course there are names in it and God knows what'll happen if someone reads it. *touchwood* but then who knows one day i might be famous and people would pay to read my diary. yeah, dream on. since i know the chance of that to happen is slim to none, and i wouldn't wanna take the risk of it falling into the wrong hands, i thought i should burn it. after all, it is in the past. let bygones be bygones. so, i burnt my diary on one fateful rainy Sunday evening.

The Diary

bye bye past.

burn baby burn.

i know it's bad for the environment to do an open burning but i'd rather not take any chances and slip the pages in between newspapers to recycle.

chaotic court

The KL Lower Courts have implemented the Tracking System, akin to the Tracking System of the High Courts, which commenced on 2 November 2009. Since it was the first day of the implementation of the new system, the situation was a total madness. The place became hot, stuffy, crowded, and noisy. Everyone was restless, agitated, irritated and annoyed. There was a notice board outside the Registry whereby we were supposed to check the case list and mata became juling looking for the summons numbers. Lawyers were made to queue for more than an hour at the Registry at Level B1. After queuing for more than an hour (the queue barely moved), we were told to proceed to the cubicles, where we had to queue again. The place was small and stuffy and the worst part is there is no reception at Level B1. I only had 2 files on Monday and my file was only called at almost 5pm. At one point, I sat on the floor because my feet were aching from standing for so long. A friend told me that his matters was only finished at 530pm and at that time, there were about 20 lawyers left. And yesterday, a friend said that his matters only finished at 645pm. What the heck?

Note to self: wear comfy shoes to court. maybe i should get a comfy ballerina flats.

check the receipt

When you go to a petrol station, do you just go to refuel or do you go in and buy stuffs from the mart, say drinks, gums, chocolates etc? As for me, most of the time I would go in and buy drinks and/or snacks. Sometimes I stopped by just to buy drinks or stuffs. Anyway, if you use Shell petrol, you would probably notice that Shell would always come up with promotion e.g. buy two packs of Yeo's drinks at RM 1.80 or buy one 100 Plus at RM 1.50 and you can buy Seasons soya bean drink at RM 1.10. I'm a sucker for these kinds of promotions (heheh) so yesterday while I was on my way back to the office, I stopped by Shell at Jalan Tun Razak (beside Pusrawi) to refuel and to buy some drinks when I noticed the said promotions, among others. I bought a can of 100 Plus and a can of Seasons soya bean drink. I forgot to check how much they charged me until I reached the office when I remembered about it. Luckily I kept the receipt. When I checked, it turned out that they charged me RM 1.80 for the 100 Plus and RM 1.60 for the soya bean drink. So today, I stopped by the petrol station to buy some drinks when I casually asked the cashier about the promotion. He went about explaining to me and promoted to me the other promotions as well. then I said to him, "Semalam saya beli 100 Plus dengan soya bean ni tapi cas harga biasa lah." He then said, "Oh ye ke?" Then i said, "Iye. Saya ada resit. Nak tengok?" I showed him the receipt and then he calculated and apologized. He then returned to me RM 0.80.

Moral of the story:

1. Always check what you paid for.

2. Always ask for the receipt and keep it.

3. Always check the receipt there and then.

4. Do not fall for these kind of promotions.

weekend project part 19

This is an overdue post. this project was done on the weekend that i went to Akon's concert, which was 2 weeks back. i had a friend over at my house so i decided to bake a cake. i have had the recipe for quite some time but i never got around to trying it. the recipe is simple, but a bit of a hassle because i had to whip two separate batters. the cake turned out ok, soft & moist, just nice but the cheese was not distinct. it is called "Chocolate Marble Cheesecake" by the way. i'm not keen on baking it again in the future, though. it is not so chocolatey and not so cheesy. maybe i should find another recipe.

kindly ignore the long beans. takde kena mengena dengan recipe.

cream cheese batter

chocolate cake batter

pour one part of chocolate batter into the baking tin.

pour the cream cheese batter on top.

pour the remaining chocolate batter.

bake bake bake. the recipe says that it can be steamed as well.

turn the cake upside down when it is cooled.

cut when the cake is completely cooled. as you can see, that's the marble effect.

event 3

Akon's Freedom Beach Party was awesome! the queue was really long but the excitement was beyond words. it drizzled for a while but that didn't stop the concert-goers to party. Hunny Madu and Nadya of Flyfm were the emcees for the night. the opening acts were Nikki and Caprice. unfortunately some people (foreigners mostly) were not being sporting that night that they booed Nikki and Caprice and they chanted Akon instead. i mean, come on, give them a breaklah. there were so many foreigners and not to mention, Akon wannabes hahaha.

Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach

I got the RM188 tickets!!

The Pitt

Akon came up at about 9ish

He performed a stage-jump!

But i was not close enough to touch him.

The tickets were courtesy of Flyfm.

I was there!!

After-party passes that enables me to enter Ministry of Sound for free.

Overall, the concert was awesome! Hoever, Akon didn't sing the song 'Be With You', which is a current hit at the moment and some songs, he only sang snippets of it. Rumors has it that he mimed at the concert. i think so too but what the heck!

the anticipation

i went here.

got into the building, went up the elevator and came to this.

some fancy machines along the corridor.

this leads me to the office. nobody was around.

this is how their office looks like.

these are what i came for.