radio gaga

When I am in the office, I would listen to the radio via the web. Even though I need to think and read, I just can’t stand the silence. I don’t know about you but I just have to have a little bit of music in the background. The stations that I normally tune in to are Lite.fm and Mix.fm, with the occasional Fly.fm, Era or Suria.fm. I seldom tune in to Hitz.fm simply because the songs are not the kind of songs that you can listen to when you need to ease your mind. The last thing I want to listen to are some noise and head-banging tunes.

However, what I notice is that, the stations keep on playing the same songs over and over again. And this goes on for days. For the past few days, I have been listening to Mix.fm and I notice that the songs are the same. In one day, I get to hear these songs, among others, numerous times.

1. Stay- Ronan Keating
2. Say Hey- Michael Franti
3. Avalanche- Marie Digby
4. Straight Through My Heart- The Backstreet Boys
5. Gone- Kelly Clarkson
6. Fireflies- Owl City
7. I Look To You- Whitney Houston
8. Sweet Dreams- Beyonce
   

These songs are nice. I love listening to them. But when it comes on air 5-10 times a day, I kinda got sick of it. It’s annoying.

And don’t get me started with the ads on radio.

put to use

I bought this in Cardiff.

It was really cheap. I was lucky to have small feet as, guess what, these are size 4.5, for children. In Malaysia, my shoe size is 5, which I think is normal because most shoes on display are of size 5, so I’m lucky and it’s relatively easy to buy shoes my size. Except during sale because most size 5 shoes are already out of stock.

Anyway, when I bought the shoes, my family mocked me and made fun of me.

“Bila je nak jogging nya?”
“Macam la pakai pun kasut tu. Beli je lebih.”
“Tu nanti beli, simpan je la dalam almari kasut.”

And the list of mockeries go on.

But I went ahead and bought it anyway because it’s pink, it’s cute and it’s cheap. Really. That was about a month ago. I came back here on 2 January, about 22 days ago. And I only wore it last Saturday. The shoes have started to collect dust in the cupboard.What motivated me to finally put it to use?

These are the reasons:

Dinner on Friday at this stall in SS2 PJ was awesome.

Kailan Ikan Masin and Sup Lala.

Butter prawn and udang lipan masak cili kering.

If that is not enough, we then headed here.

Tak kenyang lagi ke dah makan nasi dengan seafood segala??

The durians may look small and pale in colour but they are really good. Soft, creamy, sweet. Perfect.

High makan durian....

The next day, guilty started to creep in. My burp and my pee smells of durians haha. So we went here.
But before that, we had these.

Cendol mamak in Jalan Gurney.

Then we burned the calories off by doing these.

But at night, I had more durians with pulut.

*burp*

picture not so perfect

I have been wanting to blog about this but I was not really in the mood to blog now and I don’t really have the time to blog anyway (don’t I?).

During my recent holiday, hundreds, if not more than a thousand pictures were taken during the course of the 3-week holiday. Too many, you say? I think so too but to justify it, we have not one but 3 cameras (two digital cameras and one of those high-tech high resolution bulky dslr camera), excluding our handphone cameras. Plus, the holiday was for 3 freakin’ weeks, and we went to so many places and there were 7 of us. Most of the time, we would take a family picture at a landmark or a tourist spot. And then each of us wanted to take pictures alone with the landmark in the background. So you do the math.

Anyway, what irks me is that, in certain places, they don’t allow us to take pictures. For instance, we were at McD’s in Lisbon. Guess what’s on the menu? Bacon, ham and pork burger. Yup, at McD’s. We have not much choice so we ordered the Fillete de Pescado (Fillet of Fish). I thought that I just have to take the picture of the menu so I took out my handphone and just when I was about to take the picture, one of the cashiers saw me and said something in their language which means “no taking pictures” complete with hand gestures and what not. Embarrassing? Yes. But do I care? Not really. I don’t even understand what she said and pretended to look innocent and went to sit down.

Another incident was when we were at Madrid de Barajas Airport, Spain. There was an information counter and the name of the airport was clearly written so I took a picture of my mum near the counter. I mean, it’s normal right when you go to a foreign country, you would want to take pictures near the name of the place or if you see something unique or unusual which can only be found there. Like, duhhhh. After I snapped the picture, the woman behind the counter stood up and called me, in her language of course. I was like, huh? She mumbled something and when I couldn’t understand her, she said in English, “You take picture? Show me the picture.” She looked pissed. WTF? So I showed her the picture and then she said, “You delete now.” Huhhh?? In protest, I showed her the picture right in front of her face and deleted the picture and said, “Nak sangat delete? Hah delete!! Puas hati??” Of course she didn’t understand me but I was just expressing my dissatisfaction. I also pressed the delete button extra hard and I did it right under her nose. Seriously, WTF? Shouldn’t she be proud that a tourist is in her country and took a picture there? All I want is the name of the airport. What’s the harm in that? What a great first impression, huh?

There was another time when sis and bil was fooling around in a souvenir shop in London, trying on the hats, the funky glasses and what not and got a sarcastic remark by the owner (who is probably a migrate). He said something like “Take photos only? No buying?” (yes, the English was broken). Somehow I think it is justified because they are not buying those stuffs but then we were not told off when we did so in a souvenir shop in Barcelona.

You see, I like taking pictures and I like my pictures being taken and I’m lucky to have a bf who likes to take pictures as well. Everytime we go out, especially to eat (which is probably the only thing we do anyway), he would be taking pictures with his camera phone. And he loves to take pictures of the foods and restaurants that we go to. So one day, we went to this restaurant in Desa Pandan and he started taking pictures when the waitress said “Excuse me, no photos please.” We were like, huh? And here I thought it only happens in overseas. If I were the restaurant owner, I would be more than happy to have customers taking pictures of my restaurant, my foods so that they can promote it in their blog, facebook etc. It is free advertisement, free promotion, no? I guess some people just don’t see it that way.

And no, I am not gonna tell you the name of the restaurant even though they serve nice foods, ala Cozy House in Great Eastern Mall and Cozy Corner in Ampang Park. Why should I?

1st in 2010

this is my first post for the year 2010. exactly one month ago, i blogged from KLIA before flying off to London. damn how fast time flies, huh? i have yet to blog (if at all) about my holiday but some pictures have been uploaded in Facebook. but of course you have to be in my list of friends to be able to view it.

anyway today i turn 27 (already??). *gasp*hyperventilate* i expect and i aim to achieve more this year as i get a year older. i've few things that i want to do and achieve, which i shall not mention here so as not to jinx it.

i just hope this year will be a much better year than 2009. happy birthday to me! and to those who shared the same birthday as i am, happy birthday to you too.


glitter-graphics.com

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.