Stuck Again?!?

Here's a new introduction to Hiyashibeeps... 

*drumrolls*

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The Blog that's Stuck in Time.

Honestly, I thought I'll end up skipping the entire month of May but fret not! 

I am here to save myself and my dear blog. 

Now to catch up with life. Let's see. 

Office Moving Day happened. 

And yes, I blogged about packing, I blogged about more packing and then stop! Hahaha. So what happened? We moved and OMG! has been working in the new office for... more than a month now?! Wow! We just passed our one month anniversary on Wednesday. 

So how does the new office freaking looking like anyway?

Sadly, I don't have the interest to do a lengthy post on that now that the excitement has died down but here's a little peek. I'm not that heartless to leave people hanging just like that. 

Yeah right.

Behold! This is the view from my 'window'. 

Why yes, I see a bushy little hill across me every day. Well at least for most of the time, whenever the little hill is sitting tall enough or is not away to somewhere else. Ironically since little bushy hill might not always be there. Mr IdunTalkMuch dengan senyap-senyapnya offered another view of nature for all to share.

A little ball of green that calls itself 'Marimo'.

Apparently, it actually grows which in my opinion is just a tad freaky. 

God knows what it's up to at night while we are away. *shivers*

Well, that's about it for the new office. As for the L.E.P.A.K series, I have a feeling I'm in denial that the series is coming to an end and am delaying my posting on purpose. At least that's what I suspect. I also have a feeling that the next time I will be seeing you here is in June. Hahaha. 

Then again, I'm 'full' of surprises. =P

Meet My Oldest Friend

I knew him since day one.

He was right beside me even when I was still in my stroller with 

my pacifier in my mouth. I bet I even offered my pacifier to him but obviously 

he's so not interested... in the pacifier of course.

Because I was pretty sure he was very much interested in me.

Since he kept telling me to hug him.

Though obviously I was clueless since I had no ideas what are words back then.

I mean, I barely managed "papa" at that age.

And nope, I'm not talking about my dad here.

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I'm talking about my Hug-Your-Bear.

A bear as old as me and probably the only bear that has no given name.

(I called the one on the right "Patches". He's also the youngest bear I own.)

Well, I had Hug-Your-Bear when I was still a baby. 

I'm pretty sure I was not knowledgeable enough back then to give him a name.

All mom did was kept telling me to "Hug you bear, Jo! Hug you bear." 

*hugs*

27 years later and he's still here with me.

And honestly, I probably love him more today 

then I was when I was a baby, kid, teenager, etc.

It's pretty awesome don't you think?

To still have your very first bear with you.

*hearts*

I think it's awesome.

Out With The Old And In With The New!

That's exactly what one should do to greet the new year.

And that's exactly what we did at home.

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Our old, worn and humble sofa that has served us not that well for many years.

If you think this is just a sad sight to behold, you will be glad to know that I have decided against posting the three-seater one. Hahaha. After editing the photo, I feel a tad bit embarrassed over it. So nope, not posting that up. 

So the story begun months ago when mom finally urged dad to 

"For god sake, buy a new sofa set!". 

It was decided then that a new sofa we shall get except all of us kind of procrastinated 

till the max. So there was no sight of a new sofa set for another few months until... 

OMG! It's December! Hahaha. And finally, dad gave himself a deadline to get a new sofa set before the new year. 

Three weeks ago, we finally stop sitting on the job and instead sat on what was going to be our new sofa set. It was told that a newly manufactured one will be delivered to us in two weeks time. So we waited. And waited. And then we called. "Where on earth is our sofa?" 

And then we complained. And then to cut the story short. 

It finally came yesterday night. 

Delivered at 8.30pm at night yo! 

Hooray! New sofa in sight.

New sofa trying to make its way through the doors.

New sofa landed safely into the living room.

New sofa gets an unofficial opening ceremony.

TADAAAA!!

Brand new pretty, comfy, 'luxurious' sofa. :)

Good bye poor old stuffy sofa. :(

And now I can finally show you our three-seater sofa. 

Pretty right? Hahaha. Maybe a tad too pretty for everything else in our living room.

*shrugs* 

Oh well. It's a beautiful start.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

When life throws you germs though,
don’t even look back, just run and run far far away! 

 To those who wondered what on earth happened to my ‘simple’ mission, well, the mission is fine but I’m not. I ended up falling sick right towards the last day of my mission and lived through the week with slower brain functionality. Felt totally terrible on Monday. Got a wee bit better on Tuesday. Functioned better on Wednesday. Stuck with a stuffy nose on Thursday. And finally thought that was the end of the whole ordeal on Friday. 

Except I kind of feel worst today than I was yesterday.

What the *toot*?!?!

It almost seemed like I’m back at the starting point again with that stupid little sore in my throat that refuses to go away along with a little strand of phlegm caught in between the nasal. So tiny that I just couldn’t “craaaccc…eerrk… pui!” it out. :(

Am so very not amused.

So yeah. The result of my ‘simple’ mission is still in my camera. Hanako-bachan, I know you’re eager to know but you just got to wait a bit more ya. Gomenasai.

Rainforest Bakery: Rich Bread, Poor Manners (Part I)

As some of you might or might not know, I managed to get myself caught on the online coupon craze not too long ago. Bought myself one coupon after another and finally decided to stop at coupon number four, because all that coupons have not materialise to tangible or even edible items just yet. So I said to myself, "Hey hey! Slow down girl. Wait till you at least try to redeem one of them and see how it goes."

So I did!

I finally used my very first Groupon on my own!
(Note the keywords "on my own". My first was with my fellow colleagues

and I just tagged along for a pre-paid lunch.)

Head over to Rainforest Bakery at Chulia Street after dinner with the family and bought myself RM20 worth of b.r.e.a.d. I know. I know. Omg right? Hahaha. Before you go all out thinking this young lady must be crazy, let me justify that the deal was I got RM20 worth of bread for only RM10. Yup. A good deal especially since Rainforest Bakery is known for its really good but slightly pricey bread.

So I came home loaded. I even paid an extra RM3.60
for ummm.. 'overspending'. :P

Need a better look?


Here you go! So what did I get?

Two thick slices of Yogurt Limonata Cake for RM4.20 EACH. Told ya. A loaf of Mixed Grain Bread for RM5.40. A Foccasia for RM3.90 and a gigantic loaf of Poppy Seed Bloomer for RM5.20. Yup, you read it right. Poddy seeds.

These were not my initial choices but unfortunately I went late after dinner and all the other good stuff were already sold out. *sad face* Now here's where the story begins.

Obviously the bread is good. There's no denying about that. In fact, we had a wonderful lunch yesterday from all that. More details later okay? But first back to bread shopping shall we? Well, there was obviously a lack of choices when we were there and mom went on to ask if these were all there is and the below conservation took place.

Conversation 1:

Mom: Is this it? But there are so many choices on the flyer.
Guy: You came late. That's all there is. You want you come in the morning.

Gee. Felt like I just got slapped by the truth.
I admit what the guy said is true but it wouldn't hurt to be nice about it, no? Say maybe...
"Sorry 'mam. That's all there is since it's late already. We have more in the morning."

*shrugs*


*******


Conversation 2:
Mom spotted some stuff behind the counter near the baking area.

Mom: What are those? Are there more buns inside?
Guy: No no. That's not... *mumbles something.. I wasn't paying much attention at first till I heard...* Why would we want to keep anything. Of course we want to sell everything.

Alright. True. I accept that.


*******


Conversation 3:
Mom spotted a basket of little pre-packed strawberry jam
like those in hotels and restaurants served together with bread.

Mom: Is this free ah? *excuse the Manglish*
Guy: *gives mom a are-you-being-ridiculous-stare*
No no no. You have to pay. Everything here you have to pay.

Hear that?

Everything here you have to pay.

As much as I felt embarrassed about mom's typical aunty-like antics, I was also very not pleased with the man's poor social skills as a salesperson. Hello. Know the words 'Please, Sorry & Thank You'? Guess not. Since mom was being an aunty, the man was being a jerk,
I might as well be the bigger person. So I paid for my extra RM3.60, smiled and say my "thank you" and enjoyed seeing confusion swept through the man's face for an instant in not knowing how to react to some proper etiquette and finally muster out a little "thank you" in return.


Sigh. Took a young to teach the old. Not cool.


Now as for the bread, well...

Dory Couldn't Have Said It Better

Swim
Songwriters: Mcmahon, Andrew Ross

You've gotta swim, swim for your life

Swim for the music that saves you
When you're not so sure you'll survive

You gotta swim and swim when it hurts
The whole world is watching

You haven't come this far to fall off the earth

The currents will pull you away from your love
Just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets, they fired at me from a gun
Crack in the armor, yeah

I swim for brighter days despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I'm not giving in, I swim

You gotta swim through nights that won't end
Swim for your family, your lovers, your sisters
And brothers, and friends

Yeah, you gotta swim through wars without cause
Swim for the lost politicians
Who don't see their greed as a flaw

The currents will pull us away from our love
Just keep your head above

I found a tidal wave begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets, they fired at me from a gun
A crack in the armor, yeah

I swim for brighter days despite of the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I'm not giving in, well, I'm not giving in, I swim

You gotta swim, swim in the dark
There's no shame in drifting
Feel the tide shifting and wait for the spark

Yeah, you gotta swim, don't let yourself sink
Just find the horizon
I promise you, it's not as far as you think

The currents will drag us away from our love
Just keep your head above
Just keep your head above, swim
Just keep your head above, swim, swim
Just keep your head above, swim

I know it's not a new song but I just discovered it recently and I've been having it on repeat since. Then I youtube it for the video and love it even more. I guess I just found another pick-me-up, be strong and fight when the world gets you down song.

Yosh! Fighto!

Or like how Dory from Finding Nemo would say it,
“JUST KEEP SWIMMING!"

The Simple Truth

"Good, fast, cheap. Pick Two."

And it's not just for the advertising industry, I believe it's sort of the universal mantra of how things work. Try it yourself. Pick two and I'm sure the third one will not fit the equation.

Hmm... if only we let clients pick their 'two' before we actually start work.

Now that's a wishful thought. :P

:(

I don't know what to say. I don't know how to start.
For he has left us and I don't know how to react.
Because sometimes it's not about what you show on the outside,
but what you feel on the inside.
And nobody needs to know that except you.

WHUAHH!!!

That's WHUAHH!!! with two Hs and three !!!

That's how BIG of a deal this story is about...

and that could very be the shortest title post for Hiyashibeeps.

Could be.

Not sure.

Bad memory.

Very good footing though.

Wait. What's this about anyway?

Oh yes. Here's the story...

*clears throat*

OH MY GOD! You would never believe it! Umm... so... was in a long brainstorming + briefing session till 6.30pm. Oh wait! Did I mention I only had Loh Mee for lunch? Did I know Loh Mee will not last me till dinner? Yes I did. Did I buy extra Indian curry puff as a snack? Yes I did. Did I foresee the meeting to end at 6.30pm? No I did not.

By then I realised perut sudah masuk angin. *sad face* Plus it was the first day of that bloody monthly ritual. So honestly I dunno the awful cramps were coming from gastric pain or menstrual pain. Probably both. Urgh. And after a long absence from your work desk, you'll have people waiting for your return, ready to fire you with all kinds of questions, needs and wants! When all I wanted to do is bend down and hope the pain goes away.

Wait wait! We haven't reached the WHUAHH!!! part yet.
Building the climax here.

So I finally left the office about an hour later and got home another 30 - 45 minutes later. PSP-san aka Gadget Boy dropped me off at the usual spot at the outer road of my house. I stepped out, said bye-bye and lifted my feet up to cross the drain.

AND SUDDENLY...

Stomach cramped!
WHUAH.

I knew I'm not going to make it across.
WHUAH!

I knew I'm not going to make it back either.
WHUAHH!!

And I landed one feet in the longkang on my black heels nonetheless.
WHUAHH!!!

PSP-san hit the breaks five meters away from me. Oh boy! I climbed back up. Stared at the back of his car. Took a breather, crossed the drain and walk towards the house.

All that and my instant thought was
"I should take up Kungfu. I got talent."

o_O

I'm weird that way.

But seriously. Like WHUAHH!!!

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.

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

You Know You're Old...

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

:(

*hit the backspace button*

*sigh*

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]

The Clock is Ticking! The Clock is Ticking!

So I may or may not have dozed off for a total 3 minutes in front of the computer with the music blasting right at my face.

So I may or may not have forced crawl myself into bed
even before the clock strike 11.

So I may or may not have progressed further into the entire "biological clock is tickin" thingy magingy.

Yeah. So I may or may not be getting old.

But I'm definitely getting there.

*frowns*

Gone Today. Come Tomorrow!

A gush of good wind passes by and here we are again, looking back at a year of ups and downs, looking ahead to another year of... well more ups and downs. *shrugs* Life. It is what it is.

So what is 2009 for Hiyashibeeps? As the clock ticks closer to midnight, I'm here going through my 69 modest posts of the year. That itself is a tiny miny achievement of mine - to blog a tiny bit more every year. I guess that means I have to beat 70 next year. Hah! So here we go.

*********

January 2009
It was the month of Gong Xi Fa Cai. Whuah! That was early. Nothing interesting seemed to happen at the beginning of the year though. Hmm...

February 2009
I actually made the effort to take up a meme on Facebook and shared with the world 25 most random things about myself. It still amuses me now that I read it. What was I thinking?!

March 2009
11 posts in a month! Highest record ever. *bows* I got Happiness in a Bag. Hiyashibeeps got a new look. And omg! There's also my 'first time'. *giggles* I nominate March as my best month of the year. Who's with me? Me!

April 2009
Oh! Old friends. Seeing this post just reminded me that we need to do this again, like as soon as we possible can loh. My social life needs to revolves more than just my colleagues loh. Like seriously loh. LOH!!

May 2009
Oh my, this is a day to remember! Me working on Labour Day? Where's the justice!! Oh, wait. *grins*

June 2009
Hmm... mid year, mid excitement. Hard to pick one thing significant to be the highlight of the month. And therefore, we get everything! XD

July 2009
Another meet-up with another bunch of friends. Hahaha... 3 out of the 4 posts of the month are about these guys. Gosh, if any of you peeps are reading this, let's go somewhere again!

August 2009
This is an interesting month. First I learned that I have an 'addiction' problem, then I realised I have psychic power! Then again, I have always known about the latter but let's keep that between you and me. Hush hush.

September 2009
It's all about thank you, Thank You and more THANK YOUs! *smiles*

October 2009
This is the month where I officially declared myself the bad bad blogger. *ashamed*

November 2009
What's there to say? There was only one miserable post for this month! ONE! I guess I was trying to live up to the bad blogger declaration I made in October. *sigh*

December 2009
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It's a month of total Kris Allen fangurling. *blushes* I actually put aside all my Japan cray cray for the American Idol. Say woot? Hahaha. Not!

*********

And that wraps up 2009. That was a nice trip down memory lane. Just this afternoon, I was sitting here wonderful what have I exactly achieved this year. I remembered nothing in specific which was kind of a downer but then I realised it's not really about achievements. It's the memories! And that I have many.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Goodbye August. Hello September.

I'm glad it's over. August was just not my month to say the least. It was just "cloudy" and I'm not talking about the weather here, though it pretty much fit to describe that as well.

What a bumpy ride it was to get from July to September. August was just filled with potholes, bumps and annoying red traffic lights one after the other. You get the idea. I was just not at my tip-top self and it was just frustrating. It's like the downtime of the year. I do hope it'll start picking up now that we're a week into September which also means I'm about to officially get older. Again! It's starting to get scary.

21 was liberating. 22 was the end of one good thing and the beginning of another. 23 was a number I kinda like for no apparent reason *grins* and 24 was definitely "My Year" for more reasons that one. Then came *cough* 25 in which all I could think of is getting old. Ugh.

I think it's time to reflect and plan... for an awesome 26. Who's with me?

I NEED A SIGN!!

I can't believe it! My eagerness was my downfall this time. T__T I'm in such a depressing mode right now you'll probably see dark clouds floating above me. *sigh* I made a wrong move to go with PosLaju. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a rant on PosLaju service. In fact, I'm very much satisfied with their service so far, though I believe many would think otherwise.

I should have gone with just Pos Ekspres.
*smacks her own head*

Heck, probably normal post was even a wiser choice.
*bricked*

But nooooo... I thought I had it right with PosLaju.
*dies*

The problem is, there is no one at the other end to sign and receive my application. Someone explain to me why is there no one there? Even when I tried calling, no one is answering the phone either. T___T And it's a RULE to have it signed! Even though I called up and requested to have the letter just place into the box but noooo.... it's a procedure to sign. SIGN!!

I need a SIGN.

There goes an opportunity.
There goes my day.

x___x

No Work Today, It's SA-TUR-DAY!

Yup. No work today. No work on Saturdays.
No more 3 hours of travelling for 4 hours of working. <- That maths never did add up correctly, no matter how hard I try to rationalise it.

Then again.
No more Saturday breakfast get-togethers.
No more Saturday lunch adventures.
No more Saturday shoppings or window shoppings for that matter.
Saturdays are now declared FREE... and probably a little lonely.

Vitamin C vs Vitamin P²

Hah. And I thought all I needed was Vitamin C. Boy was I wrong.

Getting Vitamin M, then find a Vitamin C? Life was, is and never will be that simple. No Siree. Found your Vitamin C? You got to make sure Vitamin C got enough Vitamin M within itself and more importantly the essential Vitamin P² that is greatly dear to us.

That’s right. In this metaphoric world I have just created since this last post, we are all Vitamic Cs to one another. It’s sad if you’re not a Vitamin C to someone and equally heartbreaking to not have any Vitamin C to call your own.

And every Vitamin C came from a set of Vitamin Ps. Vitamin Ps are where Vitamin P² comes from. In other words, the source! And without it, Vitamin C can’t react to form a chemical reaction strong enough to make a difference. Without Vitamin P², at this very moment Vitamin C is pretty much rendered useless.

--------------------------------------------

Obstacle 02: Vitamin P² Solved!

When Me Hands Get Itchy

Was actually editing my very limited Cameron Highland photos. Yup. Went to the highlands. Yup. Should update a post on that. Yup. I'm getting dang good at procastinating. >__<

Well. I saved a bug while I was up there. Poor little thing got itself terbalik at our apartment's balcony. Attempt to take a picture but cause I scared scared a bit, hand shake shake a bit, so picture blur blur a bit. So instead, I did this...

Remember to clickie on piccie to enlargie