Summing up December in 500 words

Warning: This would be one of the few posts that were written in one straight go, without the usual think-write-read-edit process. It’s a total pour of words without proper structure, proper sentencing, proper formatting, etc.

Here goes!

December was the down month of the year. Seriously, not the best way to end the year. Grandpa got admitted to hospital because of fever, which was suspected to be dengue, which later was proven not. “Chikungunya”, that’s what the doctor said. Anyhow he was weak all over. If that wasn’t bad enough, dad got a sudden lapse of heart pain while he was visiting grandpa. Thus, dad got admitted to hospital.

Talk about irony.

Then talk about being lucky it actually happened in a hospital where immediate attention was given.

Sigh.

So it turned out dad got a serious blood clot in one of his blood vessels and a minor operation, or like how the doctor put it “a procedure” was called for, to open, unclog and keep the blood vessel clear and good. Dad’s insurance did not provide coverage for this and 20k plus of money was spent. Of course, it wasn’t so much about the money. It’s dad’s well-being that we were worried most.

And dad is now on long-term meds which even though it’s not about the money, still very much takes up an extra sum every month from now on.

Again, like I said, what matters most is dad and everyone’s peace of mind.

No no. It did not end there however. Two days after dad got discharged from the hospital, our house was burglarized. By a totally silly burglar nonetheless who took away RM50 and a speaker. Still damage was done and again money was spent on fixing up the doors. We finally resolved to install an alarm system as well. Again money. Hah!

Really. It’s not about the money. It’s just a sad sad series of unfortunate incidents.

After barely a week out of the hospital, grandpa was not feeling well again. This time much worse than the last and everyone was fearful of his life. He couldn’t walk, couldn’t eat and I know it hurt dad most that he couldn’t do much or physically be there for grandpa because of his “house-arrest” after his own “procedure”.

Obviously 500 words are not enough to sum up the month because after all that pour of negativity, I got a call of good news.

I won my dad a Christmas gift from MPH. RM100 worth of vouchers, a really awesome mug plus a set of won’t-be-used postcards. I think I’m actually getting a kick out of writing slogans for contest. ;-) I guess it pays to write for a living, in more ways than one.

And that hopefully marks the end of the family’s dark period.

As we enter the new year, I really do hope we have more good things to look forward to. In all honestly, health is really and truly one’s greatest asset. No amount of money can make up for the health of a loved one or that of your own. So a great reminder to everyone out there, take good care of yourself, be conscious of your diet, live healthy, live happy because it’s not just about living your life as an individual but as a unit, as a family and even as a friend. Because even if it doesn’t matter to you, it matters a lot to others. Because if it hurts you, it also hurts others. And as corny as it may sound, you are not alone in this world and YOU MATTER in every way.

It’s an hour away to 2011.

May the new year brings forth awareness of the importance of good health to everyone.

The Oh Bummer Post

It's been a month of silence.
A month of ups and downs.
Almost more downs than ups.

:(

The year is coming to an end though.
Let's hope that also signifies the end of all negativities.
May the new year bring new light.

:|

And hopefully a chance for me to blog again asap.

:)

The Missing One Found and Revealed

Remember this 4 Sekawan + 1 Missing One post about two months back? We're now officially 5 Sekawan as officiated by Tinki.

:)

You're Welcome & Happy Happy Birthday Again!

Be Warned: Shitty Post Ahead!

*frowns*

That's really not a good way to start a post.

:(

You see, I've been in random "pain moments" since last Wednesday night. *counts* O-M-G. That's like 5 days. *dies* Should I go see a doctor? But it's not like it's very bad or anything. In fact, I thought I was getting better until today.

'Thought' being the keyword here.

*sighs*

Let's review the scenario together shall we?

Wednesday

I came home from work feeling a little pain and discomfort that night. Suspected the usual: stomach got too empty, dinner too late --> perut masuk angin ---> discomfort. Urgh!

Thursday

Stomach condition not at its best. Random times when it started to act up. Gotta stay full all the time. Don't give a chance to let the stomach to be too empty.

Friday

Feeling better. Frequent food intakes, even between meals.
Yay! I hope it's improving.

Saturday

Okay kua.

Sunday

Should be okay liao!

Monday

No problem! Until late afternoon. Sudden attack of stomach ache. Note: Not pain, just ache. Desperately needed a toilet. Believed to have unfinished business after one go at the office. To be settled at home! Took medicine powder. Came home. Attempted. NOTHING!

*pouts*

Apa ini? Was today's shitty break a standalone thing? Should I put one and one together? Should I stop worrying myself away and just go with the 'flow'?

How lah?

Who's Your Favourite Sesame Street Character?

Elmo: "Elmo wrote his own song!"

Big Bird: "Really? What's it called?"

Elmo: "Elmo's Song."

*cue Aww...*

Awwwww..... How much more adorable can he get?



"This is the song... la la la la... Elmo's song..."

♥

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

"If at 26 you still get stopped before entering a casino,
give yourself a pat on the back,
because you my friend, has successfully did what most fail to do,
you grew up without growing old."

- Hiyashibeeps, 15 November 2010

Let's Dance!

Everyone meet Cik Anai-anai! Also fondly known as Nana. :)

Now do the Smiley Back Dance!

Tuck it, push it, bend it, hold...and repeat!

*grins*

The Impromptu Holiday Series: In Which I Finally Met Bobby. Say Woot Woot!

Continuing from here and here, I was finally on my way to meet Bobby Chinn for dinner but alas, with a battery-less camera.

How sad.

Well, not really.

You see, I met a very kind food blogger by the name of Boo, who was invited for the dinner as well. She's the foodie expertie behind Masak-Masak. *click click to read her blog* She offered to take our pictures for us. See there's nice people in this world after all. Hee..

So not only did I get a very very nice picture taken *using a canggih-manggih camera* but OMG! I got featured in her blog as well. Masak-Masak wei! When Boo asked if it's okay to use the photo in her blog, I of course agreed because after all, I wouldn't have such a photo if it wasn't for her. However, all I was expecting was a little mention and a photo somewhere in the middle of the post. I wasn't expecting to find my face at the top of the entire post. O_O

*click on the picture to read her post*

Though, who cares about me, it's Bobby that everyone's looking at. Handsem kan? Ahahaha.. and there I was squeezed in between him and dear godma. *grins* Yes yes, the dinner invitation was for two and I so I asked if she could make it for dinner as well.

The dinner was at Al-Halabi Lounge at JW Marriott. It was my first time at a Middle Eastern restaurant and it was certainly an eye-opener for me. The deco and lighting were dark and intimate with the front part of the lounge filled with comfy sofa and lounge chairs. This is totally the 'hang-out' spot for Middle Eastern tourists where they can simply sit back, relax and enjoy a taste of home, or in this case, a puff of home with their shisha.

We were all sitted around a U-shaped table which in my opinion was not the best seating arrangement for such an event. It made the dinner a little impersonal. We ended up breaking into separate chat groups instead of interacting as a whole. Six of us on the left, which included food blogger, Kyspeaks and his fiance, Haze, were chatting among ourselves, while the other six at the other side of the U, were in their own little world. The other winner and his mom who were seated at the centre of the U were all shy and quiet throughout dinner.

Luckily Bobby's voice were loud enough to be heard by all when it came to 'story-telling' time. He shared with us his experience in the Middle East during his filming for World Cafe Asia, covering from Persian, Egyptian to Turkish and more.

Food was served after that. We got to tick our choice of starter and main course. Not bad for attentiveness I must say. Though I won't rate it in terms of taste since I have no prior knowledge regarding such cuisine. For that, you should head over to Masak-Masak or Kyspeaks. Not to mention all the food pictures they took with their canggih-manggih camera.

This post is sadly without enough pretty photos in it.

:(

After dinner, the PR team announced a mini autograph session. 'Mini' being there were only 10 of us in total excluding Bobby and the PR team themselves. Here's when it got interesting. You see, upon knowing I was heading down to meet Bobby, I tweeted...

In which he actually replied.

Say Woot Woot!!! x 1000000

Of course, it didn't end there.

And he replied again. *flail flail*

*flail somemore*

*ahem*

So... back to the dinner.

He was signing his cook book for me when the PR team mentioned that I came all the way from Penang to see him. He looked up, looked at me and said,

"Ah.. YOU!"

*blinks*

"Ah... Yes Me!"

Okay. I was silly and speechless there and then. Imagine that! A copywriter at a loss for words. How can wei?! Malu betul.

*sigh*

But who cares! I got a personalised message from Bobby!

"...all the way from one of my favourite cities for food."
- Best Wishes Always, Bobby Chinn, KL 20.10.10

*hearts hearts*

That's it! Must promo kau-kau now.

For those who love World Cafe Asia, make sure to catch Bobby's latest Middle East Special, every Monday, 10pm on TLC, Astro Channel 707. For those who have yet to catch the show at all, shame on you and please do! The show is now one hour long as oppose to the previous 30 minutes and the Middle East Special is a 4-episode special with tomorrow being the 3rd of the series. So make sure you switch on your television tomorrow and enjoy a Bobbylicious experience like me! :)

You Know You're Old...

...when you automatically type "colleagues"
when you actually meant to type "classmates"

:(

*hit the backspace button*

*sigh*

7.30am is Made of Awesome Possum!

Rolling out of bed at 7.30am on a weekday and more so, on a work day is kinda like the best thing ever.

Even though my internal alarm clock did went off at the usual 6.30am. Dang body had been programmed as such *boo* but imagine I get to snooze and slack for a whole hour before actually getting out of bed. Which in my opinion is such a morning luxury. *sigh*

I actually walk down the stairs and into the bathroom with my eyes open. Hahaha. Imagine that! Wait wait. Let's not forget I even get to switch on my computer replied to a blog comment before heading out the door. Awesome!

To whom I owe this honour to?

Papa! ya.

AHAHAHAHA.

Happy Birthday Papa!
We're going to gave a great day today and at least this year you don't have to send me a sms while I'm at work, saying "Read your blog and thank you!" 'cause I'm right here today. Weee!

Here's an early greeting to the rest,

"Happy Deepavali & Have a Great Weekend Ahead!"

The Impromptu Holiday Series: The Misadventures of a Food-filled Holiday

These days, the thought of riding a long-distance-bus to anywhere would almost certainly gives you goosebumps. The accident toll is simply too high and loud to be ignored. Yet, it is still one of the more time and cost efficient ways to travel.

By plane?
Too expensive, especially when it's a last minute thingy.

By train?
Waaay too slow, unless you're departing from Ipoh which now has a relatively fast train to KL.

By bus?
Moderate in price. Moderate in travelling time.

So the least you could do is choose a better bus company I guess. In this case, we chose Aeroline. 'We' being me and my family. Yes, it is pricer than other bus companies but it arrives straight to the area (shopping centre) or your choice, 1Utama, Sunway Pyramid or Corus hotel for those heading to town. Sis is studying in Sunway College, so arriving at Sunway Pyramid is really a convenient thing for her especially with our aunt living in Subang Jaya as well.

So off I go on my way down to meet Bobby.

Except there were only six passengers in the bus, plus an attendant and the bus captain. *psst* When you pay RM60 for a trip down to KL by bus, you don't call him 'driver', you call him 'captain'. Ada stail, ada kelas, ada uniform, okay? :)

And you see what I discovered?!

A POWER POINT!

Which means I can have my laptop on throughout the bus ride, Yes?

NO!

Nonono. It's not that the power is not working. It's just that I was tooo dizzy to function myself, let it be my computer. One, because there's way too little passengers on board on a weekday, the entire bus was shaky with the empty seats swaying left and right with no weights on them. Two, obviously I haven't ride on a coach bus for a loooong long time. Probably since my university days. O_O

To be honest, I kinda freaked out a little because there was a time when I used to boast my high 'bus tolerance'. While my friends were all commenting on how uncomfortable and tiresome a bus ride can get, I gave the comment a shrug and said it was nothing. 5 years later, I'm getting 'bus sick'?!? Wait! It's been 5 years already!

*dies*

Maybe 4.

Okay, 4 plus.

*sigh*

The RM60 bus ride is inclusive of a meal-on-board and a cup of hot drink (though I'm pretty sure you can ask for more if your kiasu-self wanna make the most out of your money :P). They also provide you with a headphone set that you can plug in to the side controller to either listen to music (about 4 different genres) or watch the movie airing on screen.

Not bad eh?

Except I totally made a dork out of myself by attempting my "smell-before-drink" ritual whenever I am having a cup of coffee. One bump and one shake later, and my drink was all over me. Luckily I was seated so far away from the other five passengers that not one noticed, or at least I hope no one did.

*Wipes frantically*

Now, if dizziness and stained top are not misfortunes enough. Guess what? My camera battery ran low! Like WOOT?! I charged it overnight just to find out that it didn't actually 'charged' at all? I'm supposed to take awesome pictures tonight man.

*sad face*

Not exactly a good start to a holiday.

So when I finally arrived at Sunway Pyramid, I took the liberty to cheer myself up while I was waiting for my godmom to pick me up. With a handbag over my right shoulder and a computer-bag-turned-laggage-bag on my left, plus two boxes of tambun biscuits in my hands, I stepped into Fullhouse@Sunway Pyramid and had myself some Creme Brulee.

At a whooping cost of RM12.00 after tax.

-.-;;

Perk-me-ups certainly don't come cheap in KL. Oh and just before I left, the nice Mr Waiter-in-Charge actually pointed at the boxes of tambun biscuits and asked me where did I get them?

"Are they bought from outside?"

"Umm... no. They're from Penang."

"Oh."

Hahaha... and so I smiled, carried my laggage bag which was nicely tucked into a corner beside my seat earlier (hiding the fact that I'm from outstation) and walked off.

*phew*

I know. I know. What about the dinner, right?
We're getting there. :)

The Impromptu Holiday Series: In Which Size Does Not Matter...

... and relevance prevails!

There's a huge LED screen in front of me and yet I chose to stare at this smaller one for almost the entire day.

What does that say about me?

A. Big and huge do not impress me. *cough*

B. I see technology as a trend that comes today, gone tomorrow.

C. I paiseh use other people's stuff and prefer to stick to my own.

D. All of the above.

.

.

.

Answer: E. None of the above.

Because, obviously I need to enrol myself into an Internet addiction programme.

*sigh*

The Impromptu Holiday Series: Dinner with Bobby Chinn (Also Known as the Woot? Woot? Special)

Two Sundays ago, I came across an article on Bobby Chinn's upcoming World Cafe Asia series featuring the Middle East. At the end of the article was a simple contest which requires me to answer 2 questions and complete a slogan. Easy peasy right? And all you have to do is email your entry over. Ergo, no cost!

The Prize?
A free dinner for two with Bobby Chinn at JW Marriott.

The Catch?
Middle Eastern cuisine.

Duh. Not that I mind, I'm for one is up for anything when it comes to food. I mean, my colleagues don't call me "tamchiak girl" for nothing. That, and of course, the fact that I go hungry very fast.

Wait! Where was I?

Oh yes. So I joined the contest. Come on lah, it's dinner with Bobby Chinn! There's only one other person I might give a pass on Bobby to dine with, Anthony Bourdain. Hahaha.. but Bourdain's American charm doesn't strike my mom's fancy. So if there's really such a decision to be made, Bobby gets my mom's support, plus he kinda do hit closer to home.

Now, remember The Catch I mentioned earlier that it being Middle East cuisine? While, that's not half as bad since I appreciate food no matter how essentric they may get. The Problem however, was that the closing date for the competition was on the 15th, that's a Friday. The dinner is on the 20th. Minus the weekend and all that's left is a 3-day lead time for whatever plans you need should you win the prize.

And let's not forget the fact that I'm from Penang.

So I got a call on Monday saying that I won the competition. Freaked out a little, panicked a little and then decided "I want to going!" So I went in and see the boss.

Me: "Umm... boss, do you know who Bobby Chinn is?"

Boss: "No."

-__-

Well, that was expected. If I were to ask "Do you know there's a TLC channel on Astro?" I'll probably get a "No." as well. Totally salah channel lah.
Luckily Mrs Boss was around.

Mrs Boss: "Oh, he's that chef host is it?"

Me: "Yaya. Well, I sorta won a dinner with him this Wednesday... it's pretty last minute."

Mrs Boss: "Oh then you must go!"

Yay! Got support!

So after making sure my work schedule permits me to go MIA, I was let off for the rest of the week. And so it began. My Impromptu Holiday!

An Internet Connection That I Would Die For

or an Internet Connection That I Would Kill For?

Either way works.

Day 2 of impromptu 'holiday' and things are certainly picking up.

Lame pun is lame.

:P

The Late Birthday Post

Statement:
My younger sister attended BM High during her high school years.

Question:
How is that relevant to this post?

Well, there are only a few things I know about her high school. (1) We call it a military school because of its rule-abiding-ways, (2) It's Sekolah Tinggi Bukit Mertajam with Tinggi and Bukit being the keywords as you kinda really need to climb up a hill to get to school every morning, and (3) the school's motto goes something along the lines of "Accomplish or never begin!".

Item (3) being the answer to the Question.

You see, my posts might be fashionably late but at least I make the point
to finish them. *grins*

Can you believe I'm actually making procastinating sound like a good thing?
LOL. Even I can't believe myself.

Anyway, continuing from where I left off here. It's time to give credit to the lady who till this day, has never ever miss a single birthday of mine. The sassy lady I call 'kai-ma'. Wait wait! But this year the package came so much more special with 'kai-pa' and godbrother, each throwing a gift into the happiness bag, with a complimentary card from little sis as well.

Lookie at all the stuff in the package. Lipstick from godbrother, lipstick purse from godma, two seperate birthday cards. Okay you can't see the cards but they're there. :P



And a book on Baba Poetry from godpa, a book which was written by Uncle Johnny. The book came with an attached CD with all the traditional poems and sayings in audio. The entire family had a good laugh listening to it as it was full of quirky and interesting sayings that not only rhymes but have some clever advices in there as well.



Next up! Gifts from my colleagues. A box of Excel Tea?

Most Certainly Not!



The gift was nicely stuffed into the box.



It turned out to be a bag!
The Gifter? Cik Anai, Thank You!!



This one came totally as a surprise. One, I didn't expect to receive a gift from her and two, I didn't expect the gift to be what it is.

"For your trip to London next year!" she said.
Awww... Thank You Mrs Boss of Torch!

OMG! I missed out some photos. Two more gifts!
Shiatz! I guess this is not the last birthday post YET! :P

Here Comes The Outtakes!

Just like every other photoshoot, recording or even filming, there's always that few takes that didn't quite make the cut. No, they're not rejects. They're equally good stuff except they just didn't go with the "main storyline".

So I present to you...

4 Sekawan + 1 Missing One (The Outtakes!)

Outtake 1: Pretty Pink's crush caught on camera!

Outtake 2: Looks like Mr IdunTalkMuch has more than one secret admirer.

HAHAHA.

Who's gonna win his heart?

.

.

.

Outtake 3: And we have a winner!

LOL.

This is good stuff, I tell ya. Good stuff.

4 Sekawan + 1 Missing One

So the studio got a box of new paper samples on Wednesday
and guess what were inside?

Now don't you dare go "Paper samples, duh!"

Of course I know there's paper samples inside. I may be sick the entire week and my brain a bit wonky but I'm pretty sane at this moment when I'm writing this post.

So Yes. Paper Samples.

Paper samples that came in the form of cute masks. And when you have cute masks, it's only right to put them on and be silly, right?

RIGHT!

Cik Datang as Cutie Cloud and me, Pretty Pink.

Our silliness in front of the webcam caught the attention of another.
Gadget Boy as Brownie Bear.

But wait! In came... in came... Yikes. I haven't given a name to this guy yet. Umm... meet the new Art Director, Mr IdunTalkMuch? Well, until I find a better name, let's call him that for now. Mr IdunTalkMuch somehow stole Brownie Bear from Gadget Boy, so the latter had to settle with Silly Star instead.

*click*

There you have it. Silly Star, Brownie Bear, Cutie Cloud and Pretty Pink.

Memorable shot there of the studio gang, minus one.

Yeah. There's a 'missing one' in this picture. Ms Mysterious which has yet to be revealed here, was not around for the day, so that means... we need a regroup! She could probably be Little Lines. Hmm...

Till then!

And The Birthday Post Continues!

First and foremost, a shout-out to my bestie, Cubbie.
"Happy Birthday!!"

I wish you all the prettiest paperboard mailers, all the coolest black tees, all the freshest, yummiest salmon sushi in the world to you! You're a good goooood friend whom I know will always go the extra mile for me and I for you. Maybe it's because our birthdays are so close to each other, that's why we are so different yet so similar in so many ways. You know me so well...

Well enough that even the gift box you picked reflects that. I see the "Arglye" code right there. I see it! *winks*

And the presents you picked reflects how up-to-date you are on everything that's happening in my life... *smiles*

... and things that are going to happen in my life. *grins*


And I still can't believe you bought me clothes! Clothes! I mean, neither one of us are the typical girly girl. Yet, here you were buying me pretty clothes.



Really pretty clothes.
Though I think I need to loose some pounds before I'm going out in that. LOL. But it's really really pretty and it makes me feel *cough cough* sexy. Hahahaha. I still can't believe you bought me a dress. *grins*

Thank yoooooouuuuu!

I know words like these are usually heard between lovers but I don't care. It applies to lifetime friends as well. I wanna be there when you fall in love. I wanna be there when you achieve great things in life and more importantly I want us to grow old together. Because for selfish reasons, I want you to be there too when I fall in love, when I achieve great things in life and when I'm old. I want to wish you happy birthday till you're 70, 80, 90, 100, infinity.

Omg. So cheeeeesy yet so true.

Okay, I'm going to go laugh myself silly now... with all good intentions of course. Hahahahahahahhahaha....

The Birthday Quote of the Day

"An awesome gift is not judged by how much money
you spent on it but how you can gift the best gift
with the least amount of money.
It doesn't have to cost a lot, well, just maybe your heart. :P"

- Hiyashibeeps, 11 September 2010

And The Birthday Post Begins!

Awesome friends give you awesome birthday presents. Not because they buy you expensive gifts. Naturally, that's pretty awesome too. It'll make you go all "Aww... you shouldn't have." yet you know you'll all giddy on the inside. XD And then there's also gifts money can't buy. Those that simply just makes you go, "Awwwwww."

Gifts like this! *hearts*

Cutest Yummies arrived via post on Tuesday.
Sorry about the wrapping. I got totally excited and ripped the entire thing off before remembering taking pictures. Heh.


This was seriously the last thing that I was expecting to be in the box. I mean who sends a jar of homemade cookies via post? Cheah-san, that's who!



They look trapped inside there. LOL.
I look at their cute little faces and they're like screaming,
"Free Me! Free Me!"

Oh my gosh! So cute. How to eat lah?

Cheah-san later texted me saying she hoped it's not too early to send a gift. Hahaha... no dear. No one beats Cubbie at being no.1 when it comes to early gifting. That gal gave me my present back in July! JULY! Which reminds me I should blog about the awesome gifts she gave. Yes. GiftS! That gal got me some really unexpected gifts. You gals are so good at surprises man! Oh and dearest godmom gave me my present last month too, so Cheah-san, you are so totally not early. Hahaha. But you're a very awesome baker though and I love them to bits!

More birthday posts ahead. Be warned. Hehe.

The Chopstick Theory

So here's the thing. I rarely leave a comment on Facebook, I hardly update my status and I almost never upload a photo. Out of the 185 photos I have on Facebook only 3 were uploaded by me. THREE!

And out of those three, two were uploaded this year. That's quite a progress I must say. Imagine I had a cake as my Profile Picture for over 2 and a half years. My colleagues kept commenting "Your cake sudah rotten lah. Change lah!"

Wait! All that being said and done, my point was...

"I rarely leave a comment on Facebook."
but when I do, I like to think I leave an impression. *shameless*

You see just the other day a friend posted a status that reads "the chopsticks theory..." which led to a bunch of comments trying to 'decipher' the theory as shown in the screencap below. Yada yada... it's not hard to figure out that the idea was 'needing a pair to function' right?

RIGHT!

Except it wasn't me who answered that all wise and correct.

Instead, I had to be all Ms Smart Pants
and replied that comment with this:

"but but... I only need one to eat 'yu dan' during dim sum.. :P"

Yamah! Tak salah pun. Even Mr-Have-Been-Blurred-Out agreed with me as shown above. Plus I got a '1 person Like this' vote. *grins* So I think I might have successfully shot down "the chopstick theory".

At least that's what I thought a few days ago before I was here writing this post.

You see. As much as I love eating 'yu dan' aka Cantonese for fish balls, I don't want to go through life eating just 'yu dan'. I mean there's so much more to enjoy. Sui Mai, Har Kao and a whole bunch of stuff. And I can't enjoy all that with just a single chopstick...

if you know what I mean.

So to whoever's out there holding the other single chopstick, could you please show yourself soon? I believe life's best dim sum feast is waiting for us. :)

Don't Waste the Pretty

So I've been 'pretty' much hooked to this song lately. I thought I'll share it. This is not one of those I-heart-singing-words posts since there's no specific phrases in the song that appeal to me strong enough to make into that category. Instead the song works 'pretty' much as a whole. I guess it's more of the vibe of the song and the overall message of the song, and not so much... oh forget it! I just love the song. There's no written rule that I need a reason to justify that. :P

Oh and this is the recorded single but if I were you, I'll go hunt for the acoustic version of the song. Because as awesome as Orianthi's guitar skills may be (no this is not an Orianthi song), I always have a soft spot for good old stripped down acoustic music. I didn't manage to find a youtube video that justifies the awesomeness of the acoustic version though so you're getting the recorded version, which is just as awesome! Okay, I 'pretty' much successfully abused the use of the words 'pretty' and 'awesome' in this one post. Pretty awesome don't you think? HAHAHA! *in a small voice* Btw, if you can't get your hands on the acoustic version, I'll be glad to help... in the most righteous way of course. XD

So here goes! Lyrics right after the video. Enjoy!

Don't Waste The Pretty
Sung by: Allison Iraheta ft Orianthi

Dust it off, break it down
Get to what we're talking about
Do what we're talking about
Don't try and hide it now
Why keep on working it out?
You can't keep working it out.

'Cause I see how he's putting you down
I just can't be around
What you doing this for?
'Cause the light in you starting to fade
Don't let it get away
Girl, you're worth so much more

[Chorus]
Don't waste the pretty on him
Don't waste the pretty on pain
When it gets too much to take, don't give it away
Don't waste the pretty on life
Soon it's gonna fly on by
Whatever way you gotta see it
Don't waste the pretty, yeah

Sit back and breathe it in
Look at how lucky we are
Look at how lucky we are
This life we're living in
You've gotta follow your heart
You know I'm never too far

Away from the pain in your eyes
I can see your disguise
But it's not too late
'Cause I know you can turn this around
Don't be scared, work it out
Listen when I say

[Chorus]
Don't waste the pretty on him
Don't waste the pretty on pain
When it gets too much to take, don't give it away
Don't waste the pretty on life
Soon it's gonna fly on by
Whatever way you gotta see it
Don't waste the pretty, yeah

Now just in case you need reminding
Well, you're beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
And there ain't no use in you hiding
'Cause you're beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, yeah

[Chorus]
Don't waste the pretty on him
Don't waste the pretty on pain
When it gets too much to take, don't give it away
Don't waste the pretty on life
Soon it's gonna fly on by
Whatever way you gotta see it
Don't waste the pretty, yeah

[Background singers]
Don't waste the pretty,
don't waste the pretty, don't,
don't waste the pretty,
Don't waste the pretty,
don't waste the pretty, don't,
don't waste the pretty.

[Allison, over background singers]
Don't waste the pretty hey,
Well you're beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Miserable Part II

"To eat and not enjoy is a pity."

:(

then again...

"To eat and not appreciate is a sin."
- Hiyashibeeps, 16 August 2010

*sigh*

Miserable Part I

"A little wisdom in the mouth hurts a long way."

- Hiyashibeeps, 13 August 2010

A Bad Sign Turned Good

Woke up at 6.15am this morning feeling a little warm as the AC had auto shut-off at 5am. I usually sleep through the remaining hour and a half with whatever coolness left in the room. It was hot though this morning so I got up with my eyes closed and went to switch on the fan. Went back to bed for my precious 15 more minutes of sleep.

Sure enough the alarm went off at 6.30am.

Woke up and my first thought was
[Why am I still feeling that hot?]

The fan wasn't on! Second thought
[Wait! Did I not got up to switch the fan on?]

Hey at 6.30am in the morning, you gotta doubt yourself whether you actually dreamt the whole thing up. So I stood up and went back to the switch. Sure enough it was on!

WAIT! Third thought of the morning.
Gosh, too much going on in such an hour!

[WHAT?! No electricity!!!]

Yes that thought came with three exclaimation marks because that means bathing in the dark and OMG! Bathing with cold cold water! *shivers* So I groaned and crashed back onto the bed. Not the way to start a Monday, man! 6.35am and my alarm rang again. This time I lay awake on my bed, mourning over the bad start to the week. *sigh*

Fourth thought of the morning:

[THIS IS NOT A GOOD SIGN!]

A minute passed. My 6.40am deadline ticks.
And then the AC made a noise. The fan answers it.

O__O

Fifth thought:
[It's BACK!]

6.40am and the alarm goes off one last time. Finally I got up feeling all smugged.

The first thought of the week as I stepped out of my room?

[IT'S GONNA BE A GOOD WEEK AFTER ALL]

Olivin & Cubger: The Mini Series (i)

*Click on the image to enlarge*

:)

Note: When we first did this, it was not intended to be converted to a 'comic strip'. Thus I'm just improvising with whatever silly and random shots that we took that day. So... honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen next. HAHAHA!

Oh Happy Pill

Happy Pill, where are you?
I've been missing you lately.
Did you left for a holiday without me?
Or did evil Debbie Downer get to you?

Happy Pill, get yourself together.
We are depending on you.
Remember Muse?
She's been lonely without you.
Poor thing.

Happy Pill, you're not gone
and we're not sad.
It's just the sky had been a little grey lately.
No, no. Rain did not fall.
No, no. Lightning did not strike.
But I ain't seeing no rainbow either.

Happy Pill, come home soon will ya?
Before Sad Soda really do come knocking on the door.

Oh Happy Pill.

So What Exactly Happened Two Thursdays Ago?

.

.

.

.

.

AHAHAHA! Woot!? Woot?!!

Playing Dress-Up!

Am so excited. *grins*

Horror in the Studio: A KR Production

Question: What happens when you have four crazy creative souls in a room, a leakage on the roof, a horrible stain on the ceiling and a sucky camera phone in hand?

Answer: You get an amateur director, a wannabe moviestar, a lame storyline and two unhelpful crew members.

YES! We actually had two takes for this. HAHAHA... imagine that! Now it makes you wonder what Take One was like. *grins* Mind you this is raw uncut, unedited footage because yeah, like I said earlier, unhelpful crew members. :P

The Walking Talking Typo Detector

So apparently as a copywriter I'm not just responsible for the things I write but am also a walking talking typo detector to everyone in the office.

Situation 1: In the studio discussing about cameras.
Cik Anai was fussing about getting a waterproof camera that allows her to take good shots underwater and the discussion went on behind my back, literally, while I was minding my own business. Then suddenly...

Cik Anai: I heard Olympia is good, too.

Paprik Lover: Yea yea. Olympia is not bad.

*conversation continues*

Me: Huh?

*detecting something is not quite right*

*spins around*

Me: Olympia? Olympus wei! Olympia is College lah.

Cik Anai & Paprik Lover: Oh ya! HAHAHAHA....

Situation 2: On the way to lunch. (the same day)

While in the car, we saw a young Malay girl riding behind her mom on a motorcycle with her tudung flying over her head. As she was attempting to pull her tudung back down...

Ms Easter: See... tak pakai topi keledek.

Me: *again in another huh? moment*
Me: Isn't it topi keledar? Keledek is ubi keledek! POTATOES!

Ms Easter: Oh ya woh. HAHAHAHA...

And mind you such conversations take place on a daily basis. Such as the case of the pirated father. I will never live that down. HAHAHA.

Till next time!

Hello Weekend!

Yes, I'm still sleeping when this post goes up. At least I hope it does. This is me, testing the concept of a scheduled post. Haven't tried it before. Well there's always a first for everything.

See you in another few hours!

Lookie At What I Did This Afternoon!

I steamed a cake.

Yes, you read it right.

STEAMED!

I can't believe how easy peasy it was. I admit I myself was a little doubtful of the "3 ingredients, 3 steps" too-good-to-be-true recipe that I read off the internet. Oh which reminds me...

"Thank you dear Chingy for the link!!"

But it worked! And now I have a new thing to play with. I could take this simple recipe further. Yum! Think about the possibilities.
Hey, now I can even have myself some real desserts the next time I woop up a meal. Oh my. Hehehe...

Oh oh.. Credits! One must never forget to be thankful.

苏联妈妈的清蒸鸡蛋糕

Thank you for sharing the recipe.

WooHoo!

*flails flails flails*

Today is my First Official Leave Day for 2010.

Say Woot? Yes, I know it's already June.

Just be thankful that I have finally found a reason to take a day's off from work. Yet I'm all awake and bathed at 8.43am.

What's wrong with me?!?

Anyway, got to go.
Gotta make the day's off worthwhile.

Tata!

ps: Read the tribute post down under.

Goodbye Mr Clean Hands :(

A shout-out to Mr Clean Hands who bids us farewell tomorrow. But since I won't be in the office tomorrow, here's a little tribute post to you, dear sir, for all the silliness and memories you have brought to the company.

For your excessive need to wash your hands and an even more excessive need to wipe them dry with layer and layers of tissues enough to kill a little tree. *sigh*

For your nickpicky need to pick your teeth everytime after a meal.

For your OCD need to fold both sides of your sleeves in total symetry.

For your attentiveness to all these unnecessary meticulous details and yet owns a table with the thickest layer of dust in the office.

This post goes out to you, Mr Clean Hands...

...the *cough* Prince *cough* of our... umm.. tin foil.

On a more serious note, you have made quite an appearance here in Hiyashibeeps. Your first beep screen appearance was as the My-Hands-Must-Be-Clean AE. The name was a mouthful and wasn't well received by the audience. Mua therefore decided to revamp the cast and you were Mr Clean Hands in the sequel. But I must say, you finally shined when you showed the world your moves. *grins*

What the beep screen people didn't know was that I got some precious behind-the-scene footage that no one has seen. And in honour of your great graduation from the academy of communication today, I present you.... the epic video! *snickers and runs*

Not sure if I'm gonna get killed for this but at least
I won't be in the office tomorrow.

Till next time Mr Clean Hands!
All the best and yes, you still owe me Chocos!

A Japanese Summer: Chapter Ten

Homestretch baby!

*grins*

Yes. This is the final post for the long and running, soon to be bored to death "A Japanese Summer" series.

Or is it?

Alrighties. From the mountains to the sea. We saw them all. No tour group could have let us see what we saw, go where we went, stay where we stayed, experience what we experienced, all around Japan, within two weeks. Oh, and on the budget we're on. Heh.

So here we were on our very last day in Japan. Our flight was scheduled for the evening which meant we still have half a day worth of sightseeing. Yes. Precious time must not be wasted. We packed our luggage the night before and took them all with us weee early in the morning and stuffed them in gigantic lockers at the train station and we took off to the beach!

We headed to Kanagawa prefecture, or personally to me, the land of Slam Dunk. If you know me, you'll know how much of a Slam Dunk fan I was back in high school. I dare not claim to be an avid anime/manga fan because I know I am not qualified to be one but there's no denying how invested I was in Slam Dunk when I was all teenage boppery boo.

Cubbie being more of a manga/anime/cosplay fan than I am, was even more eagered to head to where we were headed. To the 40th anniversary celebration grounds of Shonen Jump. Yes, that's the manga magazine that made it all happened. Sorta like the Kreko, Starz or whatsoever local manga magazine we have here in Malaysia, except like bigger, massively influential and probably one of the pioneers in the industry.

Oh my! Long intro. Sorry.

Behold the station that's gonna take us to our destination. You know you're on the right track (lame pun) because the entire train station was decorated with all things manga.



Hanging banners.



Panel boards.



Rounded posters? :P



And even gigantic sample pages of the actual manga!





Meet Mr Trainmaster at work.


Cik Datang commented that it's amazing how my shots tend to be tourists- and crowds-free. It's almost like I get them to make way for my photos. Well, would you believe me if I told you I'm standing right next to Mr Trainmaster then?

Watch Mr Trainmaster nagivate through the backlanes of houses. Yes. There's literally no walking space between the houses and the tracks. Imagine opening the window at the back of your house and have a train zooming across just like that. o_O






And from backlanes to the middle of the road.





Video!





And finally, we saw the beach! With itsy bitsy surfers. Took this shot specifically for Mr Skimmer Dude. Dude was impressed alright.







Video again for some real life action. *grins*






Eh?! Hawaii?


*grins*

The entire atmosphere of the area had a very "beach bummer" feel to it. Well-tanned dudes running along the beach. *blushes* Hahaha... bikini-clad ladies? Maybe. Wasn't paying too much attention. Forgive me, I was very much distracted okay?




Even the little cafe we entered was all aloha-ish.



I don't get this SPAM and GUM SYRUP.
Like woot?!? Gum Syrup? o_O



Naturally, food was not Japanese at all. Ice coffee and hotdog. Dude!

Double Dude!

"By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...."
Excuse my ugly looking pouch.

And then, here's us being all dorky. :P

The Venue. Somewhere along the beach.

Hello Mr Dragonball. The entire setting was pretty small actually. It was a little disappointing as we were expecting something more grand for such an affair.

Anyhow, we still squeeze every good bit of it. Tried my luck and attempted a kaa-cha-pon here. Got myself an Ichigo. HAHAHA. Not bad I say. Of all the characters in there, I got myself the silly lead. Not bad at all. The perfect gift for my sister, an avid Bleach fan.

Another shot of the beach before we head back to Tokyo. *sobs*
Which meant it's almost time to go home.

My last meal in Japan. A treat from Yenyin! We met up with her again at the train station to say our goodbyes. Lots of hugs and farewell gifts. Yenyin got us each a pen and a flower. Aww... yes, that's the flower you see on the blog header right on top. Pretty and I might be bias about this but even flower from Japan seemed to last longer. ^^;; It totally stood fresh and pretty for over a week even after I got home.

That's me all sadface to go home. Hahaha... we took a shot of each other posing like that right in the middle of the airport. Memang sad to leave mah. We then got the idea of sending postcards! Totally random but that's just who we are. So we headed over to the airport post office, bought us some stamps and scribbled away on our postcards. Sent one to godmom and shared another with Cubbie to send our thanks back to Yenyin. *grins* I had previously sent one home while I was in Hokkaido.

Time for Departure.

And then we arrived at Changi Airport, Singapore in the middle of the night, about one in the morning. Our connecting flight back to Penang was at 8am. So we had the entire crowdless airport to ourselves for over 5 hours. Wondering around aimlessly, visiting the media / entertainment lounge and finally catch our fourty winks on the sofa while watching Everybody Loves Raymond. XD

Breakfast on board!

And we touch down homeland. *sobs* With that, I guess "A Japanese Summer" has finally come to an end. Remember what I've said about "No holiday plans till I had a proper closure for this"?
Well. It's about time. *winks*