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...

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

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.

A Lie is a Lie, Even when it's White.

I say I'm ten, when I'm nine and a half,

my uncle tells a joke and I try to laugh,

in gym I fake a headache when I want to quit,

I say I love the sweater that my grandma knitted,

but that's a white lie (white lie),

it's the kind you want to tell,

a white lie (white lie),

so your mom won't have to yell,

a white lie (white lie),

everybody does it 'cause it's feel alright

and it's more polite,

but a lie is still lie, even when it's white.

I pretend I'm asleep when my dad walks in,

I said I ate my chicken but I just ate the skin,

your face can say you're lying when your mouth says you're not,

your pants are on fire but they're not too hot

when it's a white lie (white lie),

it's the kind you want to tell,

a white lie (white lie),

so your dad won't have to yell,

a white lie (white lie),

everybody does it 'cause it's feel alright

and it's more polite,

but a lie is still lie, even when it's white.

While it might be hard to say what's true,

would you want a white lie told to you?

Lovely! I hearts this a lot.

Who would have thought there's such a heart-warming scene in 'Lie to Me'. Hah! Then again, it's a songs about lies... so... *shrugs* And did I ever mention how I secretly adore Loker and his inability to lie. Poor dude. Gotta love/hate a guy that just had to tell you the truth.

"Do I look fat?"
"Umm.... "

Loker, white lie! White lie!

*grins*

Of Internet and Crows

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

ABOUT CROWS
by John Ciardi

The old crow is getting slow;
the young crow is not.
Of what the young crow does not know,
the old crow knows a lot.

At knowing things, the old crow is still
the young crow’s master.
What does the old crow not know?
How to go faster.

The young crow flies above, below, and rings
around the slow old crow.
What does the fast young crow not know?
WHERE TO GO.

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

Stumbled upon this while surfing for web 2.0 in the office. Loved it! *hearts* In fact, I hearts it so much that even the lazy me is determined to "pen" this down to remember it in the future.

Oh! And in case you're interested, I read this here:
Moving Towards Web 2.0 in K-12 Education

Though you got to read till way down to get to the good part. Then again, you can just skip and scroll. But I'll say that's knowledge goes to waste, such a shame. In other words, R-E-A-D!

A Japanese Summer: Chapter Two (i)

HOKKAIDO SAIKOU!

It couldn't get more Hokkaido-ish than the picture above. I can see at least three 北海道 (Hokkaido) all over one building. And the main board reads Hokkaido's Sapporo Beer. *points to the one with the biggy star* I know because I bought a can home for dad. *grins*

Now now. Remember last post we were still in Tokyo? *nods* Woke up before 5am to catch the train down to Hokkaido. Here's the scary news. It takes almost 10 hours to get to Sapporo, Hokkaido. Yup, it's a day worth of journey even with the bullet train.

Ekibens!

The return of Hiyalish Lesson 101: Budge Trip Advisor 01
Ekiben is derived from the word eki (meaning: station) and bento (meaning: lunch boxes). Thus, ekiben is lunch boxes sold in train station.

My First Ekiben in Japan!
On top of it is my Japan Rail Pass aka Super Pass and my ticket.

The wonders of the Japanese culture. Ekiben prepared in the wee morning at 2.12am and expires 13 hours later at 3.12pm. *nods*

QUIRKY JAPAN
♥

Lookie at what's inside. It suppose to contain 30 different types of ingredients that should provide me with all the nutrients I need. *points to the pink paper I stuffed under the box* That paper has the break-down of every single detail you need to know on what you're eating. *shrugs* Aiyo, I not Japanese I Malaysian. I makan sedap and kenyang sudahlah. XD

Train sampai! Double decker bullet train wei!!

CANGGIH JAPAN
♥

But but... itu bukan train kami lah.

We get second best train. LOL. No complains.

And off we go!

THE VIEW!



Don't believe still picture is it? Let me repeat again then.

THE VIEW!

Nyek nyek nyek... Cubbie filmed train conductor at work.

Hensem tak?

Hensem not your type?

No worries.

Cubbie also film train attendent at work.

Pretty tak?

After changing a few trains, get on a subway, walk walk a bit with a map in hand. Gua sampai sudah petang loh.

Marks Inn Sapporo. Our Very First Hotel in Japan! My first online booking! Which reminds me I haven't wrote a review as requested. *sigh* Buat advertisment a bit dulu, booking done through here. *clickie*

The funniest thing is, Marks Inn Sapporo is the only place we stayed with the most English name to it. Come'on Marks Inn woh! Right? You would have expect a Mr Mark who knows English serving you at the reception. YET! It's the only hotel that has receptionist that don't speak English. DOT!

Our hotel is nicely located by the river. ^___^

After checking in, put our backpacks down, rest rest a bit we go out to hunt for dinner with one aim in mind:

SAPPORO RAMEN YOKOCHO

So we walk and walk till we reach Susukino, the town area. *cough* Susukino is also famous for one other thing.

See picture of girls on billboards? Yup. It's also sorta like a... red light district *mumbles* But Japan is very equal in this business. Because there's equal service for men and women in this manner. *grins* That's where Cubbie's super camera goes into action.

ROLL FILM!

See see the smart dressing men all over the place. See see men holding cards approaching guys and also gals. See see! How openly they do it. They mind their business, we mind ours. *nods*

So after loosing our way and our temper, we finally found the place.

It's really true you know, a hungry man is an angry man. It was really frustrating not being able to find the place we want even though we were already so hungry and yet even more frustrating to give up and eat at some other place. -.-;;

RAMEN YOKOCHO
a whole street of little ramen shops

We have no idea which to enter. This alert obachan noticed and came calling us. Pandainya buat business. The ramen was okay okay only. I'm really not a person that takes a big bowl of only one taste. *nods* I need variety to makan punya. So ramen don't work well for me. ^^;;

BUT WE WERE HUNGRY! So habis juga. XD

Hiyalish Lesson 101: Budge Trip Advisor 02
When a bottle of 500ml water cost at least 100yen (approximately RM3.20), try get FREE water whenever you can. i.e. you paid 1000yen for a bowl of ramen and water is free. Be smart and courteous and ask if you can fill you bottle with water. There, you just saved yourself from buying a 100yen worth of water. Therefore, your ramen secretly cost only 900yen. XD

Macamlah a bowl of ramen is enough to feel my stomach. Hee... That's me lining up for Takoyaki.

And that's them making my takoyaki.

It really really can't get more Hokkaido-ish than this! I hearts this song so much that I still humm it at home nowadays. See see, that goes another two guys approaching *cough cough* "business", if you know what I mean.

Ho-Ho-Hokkaido
♥

One last shot for the night.
Crescent moon. Susukino's Night View. =)

Back to the compact hotel room.

Remember what I said about tiny toilets? The hotel has the same compact toilet. LOL. I suspect its a few inches wider because I didn't knock my arms to the walls as often when I bathed in the hotel toilet. Never the less, tiny.

That's Cubbie getting all comfy.
The room had no closet. LOL. So you see our pants hanging up high on the wall. ^^;;

Repeat after me.

TINY.

Supper!

Supper includes dessert! *__*

Now, I still don't quite understand why Japanese love pudding so much but honestly, they're everywhere. Believe me, you. Pudding the staple dessert of Japan. *shrugs*

After makan, we lie in bed and watch some Japanese TV before calling it a night.

Next: Vin and Cub off to the farm!

Read Also:
A Japanese Summer: Prologue
A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (i) Arriving in Japan
A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (ii) A Day Out in Tokyo

Ai Sui Mai Mia... Eh Si Lang ah!

The difference between a girl trying to be pretty and that of a woman is the person paying for it. -__-;; And it has always been beyond me why we willingly pay to suffer. *does the Simon Cowell hands up move* Then again, what shocked me was I did the same thing to myself.

Ai Sui Mai Mia, Eh Si Lang ah!

(very literal translation: Want pretty don't want life, can die ah!)

Me = Murderer

And who did I kill this time to satisfy my "pretty" urge?

*sobs* the victim

My feet!

And behold my partner in crime!

Aiyah. Oredi know new shoes always kill the feet but still so stubborn want to wear to work. I totally don't feel sorry for myself, I so deserved it for being such a doink doink. *paiseh scale-o-meter goes up to 7* It didn't went up to 10 just because I think I was just getting in touch with my feminine side. No wrong in that right? Riiiight?? *hopeful*

So right, I abandon shoe lah after that. One whole week it stayed there next to my old comfy shoe. Looking all so tempting. *__* But come on lah, I not really that doink lah okay? So today I go google how to solve this problem. HAHAHA. My life totally rely on the internet way too much these days.

But I didn't get anything woh. Why ah?

Because I've been using the wrong words to search. "New shoe woes", "the pain of new shoes". HAHAHA... now you experts probably are laughing at me. There goes another 3 steps up to my paiseh scale-o-meter.

The right term here is...

How to Break In New Shoes

Really wei! Break In. Macam forcing an entry only. -.-;; But I guess its true in a way. So of course lah since I find, I share.

How to Break in New Shoes? <- Clickie

And since I'm at it, might as well...

How to break in high heel shoes?
What is a good way to treat blisters from new shoes?
How to make it through the day wearing shoes that hurt your feet?


See! A silver lining after all. Together we learn so many things today. HAHAHA... And just so I have you know... I'm not wearing the shoe tomorrow either. >__<

*****

On a side note: the Next> button on innit is working well now ^^;;

The Punishment For Being Lazy

I met Chisa-san last year through the net. She wanted to improve her English and me my Japanese. Mails come through very slowly for us because it takes time interpreting each other. We try our best to write in the language foreign to us and correct each other a lot since well, we both kinda suck at the language we're learning. HAHAHA. Then one day, the mailing stop. We didn't hear from each other for a few months.

Last week, I got a mail about an update from the site and was reminded of this Japanese friend. So, I took the "initiative" to say hello. I put quotes over the word "initiative" because I was lazy and wrote the entire mail in English.

Thought 100%. Effort 50%. My bad.

Why? Well, I got a reply a few days later.


TAADA!

A lengthy mail in full Japanese, minus that one line. -.-;; Now, it's hard enough to interpret a language that you only have survival knowledge about. It's even harded when Chisa-san resides in Osaka, Japan. It's not only Japanese, it's Japanese with a strong Osaka Ben, else known as a well-known dialect. Hahaha. Well, a friend gotta do what a friend gotta do. Luckily, the internet is very veeeery helpful these days.

With babelfish on and my dictionary all set, I'm equipped!

Now wish me luck!

ps: Dear Chisa, I might take awhile to reply. ^^;;

Do It Like Grandma

The following short messages are brought to you by hiyashibeeps.

Clickie for bigger picture.

Ran out of glue to stick the red paper around every single possible thing for Chinese New Year. Resolved in doing it the traditional way. Hmmph. Nothing stops me when I'm determined. *snickers*

And if your house ran out of gas. Here's the first option you should have used in the first place. Trust me. I just had my very very delicious dinner. And this is the reason behind it. *burpies*

This marks my first Chinese New Year post for 2008.

Yes. There will be more.

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Uncle Ben Quote

You know the famous quote from Uncle Ben?

The "WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY" quote.

Well. Scratch that.

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

I say responsibility has nothing to do with power. It's more of a conscience thing. Blah. A trishaw rider carries "responsibility" as much as a bus driver, or even a pilot. Sure the bus carries more passengers, the plane is a costlier way to travel. Does that mean it's alright for the trishaw rider to make a bad turn and tumble over with his/her passenger? Oh dear. NO! That's just as bad. Not in the sense of the seriousness of damage but IT IS STILL DAMAGE!

I say don't look down upon what you do or what others do. YOU MATTER. Don't be fooled by the word responsibility. People tend to associate it with bad bad things. But responsibility is just as big in the play of success. Take pride in being responsible. Good or Bad. You should be glad you play a part in this world.

Hiyashi says:
"With every bit comes responsibility, however big, however small."

What say you, Uncle Ben?

Procastinating is a bad bad thing

Do it when it needs to be done.

Else?

You'll get a broken nail.

There I was thinking I should cut my nails. Long already.
Long already.

But?

Lazy lah. Tomorrow lah.

Pandai-pandai tomorrow...
"Tomorrow" I got a broken nail. *pif*

*goes off to cut her nails now*

Remember. Procastinating is a bad bad thing!