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.

Stickywordsstick

Because I was told that's how they appeared in some feeds. :(

They look fine in the blog though and I don't know why.

See the thing is, that was my very first post using the new Blogger workspace.

And I'm not liking the fact that my words are sticking together.

Who say change is good?

Hmmph!

So let's see how this one goes.

Because I have a long post coming up soon.

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...

An Itch You Can't Scratch...

IS ANNOYING!!

>__<

I fought the sore. I killed the fever. I’m preventing the cough but an itchy throat is just too annoying. *clears throat* More so during the night than day. And the phlegm is another unhelpful culprit . Maybe I should sleep upright tonight, since laying down seems to worsen things up. *clears throat* I just feel the need to keep getting up from bed to spit ‘nothing’. Nothing because nothing is coming out except saliva. Eeeeww… *clears throat* *pouts* *cough* Blergh.


It’s just sad that I’m not even looking forward to go to bed. :(

In Which Early to Bed, Early to Rise Does Not Actually Make You Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

You see, the thing is, my usual sleeping routine involves attempting to go to bed by 11.30pm, hoping to doze off and sleep by midnight or 12.30am latest. Approximately
6 hours later, have my first wake up call at about 6.15am in which I will then decide to snooze or not to snooze for another 5 minutes.

My internal alarm clock however has apparently being tuned to ring punctually
after 6 hours of sleep, regardless of the time.

Which is a REAL BUMMER!

Because yesterday night, I was feeling so worn out that I decided to went to bed at 10.30pm and probably entered dreamland by 11.00pm. So 'guai', so early, right?

*sigh*

You've probably guessed it.

I WOKE UP at 5 freaking AM this morning.

*pouts*

Not a smart move at all.

AM NOT FEELING ANY BIT WISER AT ALL.

Yeah, so I rolled in my bed, snoozed a little, dozed off a little and finally got out of bed at 6.15am feeling not "healthy", "wealthy" nor "wise" at all.

Girl, it’s Time to Man Up!

It’s going to rain. Sounds of thunder can be heard. It’s dark and cool. The perfect weather for an afternoon nap. And mind you, I don’t usually do afternoon naps. *stares at her bed* I want to snuggle in there so badly but I can’t. Not until I take a bath and wash my face since I just came back from my half-day 'temple excursion'. And I can’t take a bath. Not until I process the lunch I just ate. I know. I know. But that’s just how I roll. :P Girls are so weird sometimes most of the times. No wonder boys don’t understand us. Heck, I think we barely understand ourselves half of the time. LOL.

Seriously. I should just man up and go to bed.

Two Days In and Still Beatles Deprived

WHAT?!?

That's my reaction right now that made me open my blog page again to make a second blog post in a night.

*sigh*

It all started yesterday at work when I suddenly had this lyrics in my head.

"I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Wait. Before you start telling me that's the wrong lyrics, I admit I'm a bad Beatles fan. Forgive me. :( but it was this one line that gave me the 'itch' I couldn't get rid off. And since I did not have my entire personal song collection with me, I went on the hunt via the internet. No no no. No illegal downloads in the office okay. I went searching for radio stations and ended up at jango.com. Click next, next, next and couldn't get the song. *sad face* Not to mention, Cik Datang and Mr Iduntalkmuch were probably thinking why was I listening to *ahem* 'the old stuff' all of the sudden.

So I gave up.

But still the itch didn't go away. So I took my entire personal song collection to the office, only to find out that I had seven miserable Beatles song in there. Like I said, I fail as a Beatles fan. Determined to find my song, I turned on Beatlesarama.com instead. This time with my earphones plugged in, I had it on almost the entire day. Though I was not at my desk most of the time and once again, NADAA!

Now before you come on to comment that there's this thing call youtube. Well, let's say my computer is just not youtube friendly enough. *double sad face*

So I came home, took my bath and finally grab the album off the CD rack and check the playlist for the song and couldn't find it. So naturely I asked my dad.

"Pa... what's the title for the song
"I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah" ah?"

"It's "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" lah."

"Oh!"

So yeah. The song is in the album. Finally! I'm going to get to scratch that silly 'itch' away. I took the album upstairs and back to my room. I opened it...

... only to find an empty casing.

EMPTY!!!

EMPTY!!!

WHAT?!?

*sigh*

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.

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?

1 Down 3 to Go

What's with the sucky internet connection? My video uploads kept on failing. I finally just got one video up on youtube. Direct video upload via blogger is not happening for me. Why Blogger? Why?

It's gonna take awhile till you see my next long post, with videos.

I Slept The Day Through With A Headache

Round 1:
2.00am - 8.30am (6hrs 30mins)
Round 2:
9.00am - 11.00am (2hrs)
Round 3:
3.30pm - 4.30pm (1hr)
Round 4:
4.40pm - 5.30pm (50mins)

That brings a total of approximately
10 hours and 20 mins

I know it's not really a big number to boast about. But this doesn't really happen to me all that often, so it does kinda deserve to be placed into my personal book of record. Yet I'm still living the night through with a pain in the head. *frowns*

So is it time for bed yet?

Too Hot Too Function

HAHAHAHA.

That sound kinda dirty.
Not quite but kinda.

=P

Argh! And now that I'm home I kinda wish I was in KL.
It's so much coooooooler there.

"Us KL peeps are cool."

"Well, us Penangites are hot!"

@__@

Forgive me.
I think the weather is frying my brain.

Y-O-Y?!?

One and a half month later, I'm finally here to update.

And blogger has to choose now to be all weird and don't let me upload my photos properly.

WHY BLOGGY WHY?!

Hmmph!

Now I'm stucked with a pictureless post waiting to be published.

Hmmph Hmmph!

And thanks to that, my first post of 2010 is a rant!

Hmmph Hmmph Hmmph!

ETA 5 mins later:
Sorry bloggy, not your fault. Silly me been uploading an unedited gigantic photo, no wonder it never budged. Silly silly me. I think I've been away from blogging way too long. Arrgh!! So paiseh.

Ti.red.I.am

Scratch the thought of work and play at the same time. Heck, a weekend of travelling and mall-hopping is way more tiresome than working. Longer hours and more physically-drained. Oh, and I'm not even getting paid for all the hard work. That's a weekend of buy buy money. Eeeeek! I mean bye bye money. -.-;; Oh, and my absence from work could only spell "More Work Tomorrow".

Yippee.
Gee, isn't it missing some exclamation marks.

Why am I being sarcastic to myself? *frowns*

Happy thoughts, Vin!
Think happy thoughts!

Hmm... now now, it's not all that bad. This was also my first "trip away from home" with my younger sister. Together exploring new grounds for her next study destination. I don't get why mom's that worried when I was practically threw myself to an unknown land more than 7 years ago and survived just fine. WAIT! That was 7 years ago? Now I'm feeling old. This post is just depressing. I should stop. Go to bed. Brace myself for tomorrow. Good night.

Yeah right. As if I'm ready and done for bed.
Much to do. Much to do.

I miss bed.

I have the sudden urge to express that thought, but am too lazy to make an effort to find a place to slot it into this post appropriately.

This has to be one of the most disorientated post ever.

Cute.

Yeah right.

I just can't help myself.

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?

Rarely Am I So Annoyed!

RARELY.

But come on lah! No matter how positive one can be, after 1 hour and 40 minutes later and you're still stuck on the island, how can you not be the least annoyed about it? More than 2 hours to get home from work. I can reach Ipoh with that same amount of time lah. This is just so depressing.

Positive thinking? Well at least usually I only made it to "Taiping". *roll eyes*

ps: And it ain't a help to have a ranting PSP-san sitting next to you.

My Day "E" Motion

SQUEEEE..

*big goofy grin*

Too bad the squeeeing came so late in the day.

HERE'S A SUMMARY OF MY DAY "E" MOTION

6.30am
Zzzz... then again who wouldn't be at this hour.

9.15am
Determined. Yosh!

12.00pm
Unnecessary stress. Blah.

3.00pm
Furasssuuu!!!!! Annoyance level 100%

6.00pm
Finally got time to recollected myself.

8.00pm
Hungry. Tired. Not entirely chirpy.

9.00pm
Happy. Weeeee!!

*******

That's a big leap from 3.00pm. I hated 3.00pm.
Gah, writing 3.00pm is ruining my Squeee moment.

Enough of writing.

MORE SQUEEEING!!

Sniffing My Way Through The Day...

...is dem annoying!!

And having tears coming down naturally from your sickly eyes is even more the killer. Boo hoo hoo!

"Jo, why are you crying?"
"I'm not!"
*all tearing and oh so not convincing*

Yesterday, I came home thinking to whine about not feeling well but instead I was greeted with an unwell dad and an even more sickly mama. -.-;; And the fan wasn't even switched on! I even have to wash the dishes after dinner. That explains a lot.

And I'm stubborn. It's approximately 10 days to my Two Years MC-Free Record. Yes I take this little achievement seriously. Just like when I didn't skip school for the whole three years since Form 1.
I boast around about it. Though people just think I'm silly that way. My dad gives me the nods. *Dad Approved!* Right dad? *Note: Dad reads bloggie* The record kinda shattered after I entered Form 4 though. But hey they don't call it honeymoon year for nothing. Heh. Excuse. =P

I don't know what else to say. Though I think being sick takes me away from all my usual stuff and thus, miraculously more time for blogging. *blinks* STILL! I don't want to be sick lah. *sniff sniff* *sob
sobs* HAA-CHOOO! Wow, that feels good. *blushes*

Ain't feeling good today

Hiyashi ain't feeling good today. Woke up to a headache that keeps on banging my head. T__T My throat's sore again. My mom's worried and I'm refusing to see a doctor about a buldging symptom. Yes. I avoiding. But gosh there's so many things else to worry about these days. Like tomorrow.

Another battle awaits. When will the war be over?

Vitamin M vs Vitamin C

There are many different I WANTs in life.

What do you crave for at the moment? What is it that you willing to part away with your money to get it? Or what is it that you want but am that bit reluctant to say “bye bye money” for? Worst still, what is it that even with sufficient Vitamin M, you still find yourself in need of a whole long list of other vitamins?

The answer? There are many different I WANTs in life.

There are the little things that you just crave for. Like a more comfy pillow to sleep on every night. Nothing really you can’t do without but yet all the more delighted to have it as your own.

Then there are the bigger things in life. By bigger I mean cost-wise kind of bigger. Like taking up that Japanese class you have always wanted. Buying the queen size bed that allows you to sleep with your hands and legs spread out. Simply unnecessary yet simply tempting to think about. Or finally getting yourself a new tech-savvy phone that lets you snap better quality photos, listens to music, and oh gosh, maybe even update your blog.

Should I get what I want? Should I spend that extra few hundreds? Or should I save it for a much bigger I want?

And it's such a BIG I WANT, that it’ll probably take up the cost of all the I WANTs earlier. And you decide alright, dream big. Go for it. I can do away with the minor stuffs. Give me B-I-G.

Then you realize… Vitamin M was not the main supplement you need.

Originally written on 4 May 2008.

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

Obstacle 02: Vitamin C Solved!