Friday 29 April 2011

how to spend our AL?

I just checked and found out that I have a total of 20 days leaves. That is so cool, don't you think so? haha.. sorry if this sounds like bragging / showing off. I just want to SS (syeok sendiri) here in my blog because I really never in my whole working life have such many leaves. After working for 2 years and 10 months, I finally get to accumulate some leaves which enable me to plan a holiday or just a good break.

Last time I always envied my seniors and teammates who were having concerns on how to clear their leaves and now, I CAN CLEAR MY LEAVES TOO.. muahahaha

So, what should I do with these leaves? what you usually do to clear your leaves?
Oooooooo.. i'm spoilt for choice... ^^

It's a long weekend starting tomorrow. Have a good one, people..

Till I see you again,
Ying Ying Dai Tao Har







Tuesday 26 April 2011

a late celebration for his birthday

This evening we dined at Ingolf, the famous German bar and restaurant in Penang, and I was the one who foot the bill, for dear's belated birthday treat. His birthday falls on Easter Sunday, what a significant day to remember. :) pray that one day dear will come to understand this meaningful day, of Christ Resurrection.

The reservation was made on Monday afternoon. The table available for us was at smoking area, due to a party was held at non smoking area (upstairs), so it was fully booked for the party.

I have been there a couple of times. But was his first visit to Ingolf and he was kinda excited thoughout the journey there. =)

We ordered the popular set called "The Butcherplatter". It was really a big platter, filled with bacons, hams, pork belly, and huge German sausages. It also comes with two side dishes, gravy and mustard.


Below is a picture of the Butcherplatter that we ordered


Sauerkraut (on the left side of the pic) - i just did a quick search on  the internet about this side dish and it is known as sour cabbage. For me it taste like sourish "bang kuang char"


Criss cut fries (on the far left corner of the pic)


The platter - we couldn't manage to finish the platter as it was too much for both of us @.@ 




The Butcherplatter
Enjoying his cup of hot choc comes with a sandwich biscuit
A pic of us <3

At the end of the day, we did not finish the food. There were still some salad leaves and two jumbo sausages (half of each) on the plate. The Sauerkraut was also left on the plate, almost untouched (perhaps we do not know how to enjoy this German dish). also not forgetting to mention a few pieces of criss cut fries. We do not have a habit of wasting food but we already tried our best to finish the food. This set of dinner was too much for the two of us lar. But he boasted that he could finish them if his appetite for food was fully recovered (he was suffering from stomach upset and food poisoning for the past two weeks). Maybe we will come back for it another day. @.@ and we must bring a plastic bag to dapao in case we cant finish >.<


p/s: dear, hope you like my birthday present and find it useful :) 

Friday 22 April 2011

At the foot of the cross

Good Friday is a day where we remember Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and on the cross, He demonstrates His unconditional love to human kind, to everyone of us, to the believers, and to the unbelievers.
As today is the day of the death of Jesus on the cross, let us reflect on His sacrifice for us.

I want to share this song with you all on this special day - "At the foot of the cross"

At the foot of the Cross

At the foot of the cross
Where grace and suffering meet
You have shown me your love
Through the judgement you received
And you've won my heart
Yes you've won my heart
Now I can

Chorus:
Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross

At the foot of the cross
Where I am made complete
You have given me life
Through the death you bore for me
And you've won my heart
Yes you've won my heart
Now I can

Chorus:
Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross
*************************************************************
After the gym routine, I drove home without taking shower in the gym room cuz I forgot to bring my towel to office this morning. It was around 7.15pm and the traffic was less heavy but still need to queue especially at the cross junction towards the airport.
Long queue at the cross junction
I had this song in my mind out of a sudden and so I sang it to myself.
'Old rugged cross' - This is a very old but beautiful hymn and it is once sang by Elvis Presley a.k.a 猫 王
Let us cherish the old rugged cross and cling to it and exchange it someday for a crown!
Old rugged cross

1. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain:
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

2. O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary.
(Refrain)

3. To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.
(Refrain)

And... that's me, snapping a picture of myself while singing and queuing at the traffic light. :) (still in my gym t-shirt soaked with sweat :S)

Thursday 21 April 2011

I'm breathing in bloggersphere ^^

I'm totally into blogging nowadays, and I need to make this shoutout here in my blog.

I know, I know, it's a bit too late to say this and telling everyone about this activity when blogging was such a hot topic since 4 or 5 years ago (paiseh paiseh), but I still want to say this now, that I enjoy doing this.

I have almost totally abandoned my facebook and I seldom check on the status of my friends in FB / the photos uploaded.
I had this embarrassing moment with a friend of mine when she posted out in her FB status some time ago that she's pregnant but I didn't know it until recently that I had an online chat with her. (dear friend, I'm very sorry for being unaware of this good news of yours. Forgive me please). I do hope that I'm not the last one to know it though :S

*I promise I'll try to be more active in FB and log in to FB more frequently.*

It's very comfortable to be able to write about your feelings, your thoughts, what you have been through in your daily lives here in blogspot, or even to share what God has been doing in our lives and to share our faith with people, isn't it? We have the freedom of expressing ourselves in blogging, as long as what we write is not offensive, and not violating the rules set here

I guess I'm someone who prefers knowing the story / events happen in the daily lives of people. ;) and I am encouraged when I read some good posts by others. It helps reminding me of the little things in life that we should keep doing to spread our love around.

Anyway, I'm still quite new to blogging. I have just started last month and I hope this is not something 'tahi-tahi ayam'. I want to maintain my blog well, and learn to express myself through words, instead of keeping everything to myself.

Have you updated your blog today? :)

Tuesday 19 April 2011

to the next level

I just realised that this 2nd round audition will be the final round before the actual finals which will be held during the company dinner in June. and I'm glad to be shortlisted during the 1st audition.

Before I went home yesterday, I found the song i planned to sing for the 2nd audition, which is "Teardrops on my guitar" by Taylor Swift. I found myself singing it well as the melody is catchy and easy, and I can reach those high notes in the chorus part. I felt relieved that I found a song suitable for me.


I went home to show my mom this song in youtube and I even got the karaoke version and sang it to her as well. To my disappointment, she didn't like it! :O
"This song doesn't really have a peak anywhere throughout the whole song and your voice is kinda dead as u were singing it just now. Don't choose this song lahhhhh."

"Then choose what song ar?" T.T

"Y not pick the song that u did during Engineering Night last year?"

Oh... Eternal Flame by The Bangles!!! I love it since when i was a little kid, this song is played on the cassette in my dad's Nissan Sunny. and I would be singing it aloud at the back of my seat, while enjoying the scenery outside when my dad drove us to "long kai kai".

oh.. ok. I think I'm going to do it again in this 2nd audition. Thanks to mum for her brilliant suggestion, cuz I never thought of it. haha.. and there is no need for me to take time to memorize the lyrics as I'm totally familiar with it :D

I have a youtube clip that my colleague posted up for me, with me playing the keyboard and singing the song. A bit cacat, though. :P



Of course I will not be doing the accompaniment part. (This is going to be a singing contest and not talent competition :P). Below is the original version of the song. I can only get the live version of The Bangles performing this song though... enjoy ^^

Friday 15 April 2011

It was not supposed to be this kind of Friday..

I was supposed to be enjoying myself.. after the 40 minutes of work out in gym, and after taking a nice bath with L'occitane's Essential Oils series..

Y should I care about what people say? Y should I feel hurt when people are joking about me? Y should I take them so seriously? I'm always the one who being laughed, and I really don't mind if I can make others happy. It's always good to cheer someone up, or to lighten the atmosphere. But y now I'm affected emotionally when they laughed about my weight? Am I being too sensitive? Am I being easily hurt?

Do you even care when I'm down? I think it's just a hug that I truly need.. that's all......
i'm easily hurt

Thursday 14 April 2011

Nervy Nervy :S

I'm going to sing in my first audition for "One Seagate Idol Singing Championship 2011" later this afternoon, and I'm the only one representing Engineering Department. =.=

 
I'm the only one from my department? sienz.

Frankly, I registered for this audition because of much coaxing and persuasion from colleagues, and it's always my weakness to find it hard to reject someone's offer or to turn down someone's request.

I chose an oldies for my 1st audition. Hope I can sing it well. and not 'mensiasuikan' The Carpenters. ;P
Anyway, I coudn't decide at first which one to sing, Yesterday once more or Close to you. But dad said I sang better and can perform better in Close to you. So I chose it. =)

There are actually a lot of minus one tracks on YouTube actually, from Taylor Swift to The Carpenters. (Hint: just type "karaoke" behind any song title you are looking for and you will get it)

I inserted two clips of this song here in my post. One is the original song, another one is the minus one track.
Enjoy your karaoke session! =)




Title: Close To You by The Carpenters
Lyrics :
Why do birds
Suddenly appear?
Everytime you are near
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you
Why do stars
Fall down from the sky?
Everytime you walk by
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

(*) on the day that you were born
The angels got together and decided
To create a dream come true

So they sprinkled moondust in your hair
Of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

(**) that is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

Repeat (*)
Repeat (**)

Just like me
They long to be
Close to you

Woo... close to you...

Sunday 10 April 2011

fuiyoh, Malaysian Escargots

It was a successful suck of the night!

I just get to try on Malaysian Escargot! woo hoo.. finally I was brave enough to try it ...

Haha. What a nice name.. but it's actually known by the locals as Balitong / "siput sedut" lah, the sea snail that can be found in the muddy coastal river mouth of Malaysia.

All the way I have been seeing my friends enjoying it, watching them sucking and making those "chut chut" funny sound, all happened right in front of my eyes but I just did not have the guts to try it myself.. @.@

I had the opportunity to try it out during a dinner trip with colleagues to Raja Uda at Butterworth. Well, at first I was quite reluctant to try on it.. But all the five of them were sucking on those littles creatures and enjoying the dish and the smell of the chilly paste with dried shrimps and belacan were so good that I couldn't resist anymore, I picked up a rather bigger snail (they said the bigger the easier to suck wor), and tried on it!

It was not that easy for a first timer to get to the meat of snail. You need to suck at one end, and then a few times at another end before you can get to the meat.. Fuhh... tough task man! and before you put the meat inside your mouth, you need to remove a thin membrane-like tiny shell because it is inedible (not sure why leh) I actually got both my hands dirty before I managed to eat one. =.= Anyway, I think it's faster and easier to eat with bare hands as you need to suck here suck there, and dig out the inedible part and separate it from the edible part before you can put the whole edible bit into your mouth. But my colleague Brian did it all by using chopsticks. =.= next time should seek some guides from him..

Attempt of using chopsticks and spoon failed. Only used them for the 1st Balitong ^^ 

The experience with Balitong was great. I didn't regret for trying it.. hehe..

Conclusion: never try never know. This can be applied in the new things in life, you will never know what comes out of them. And sometimes, you have nothing to lose, why not give it a try? Who knows after you try, the taste will be like honey in the rock? =)

Wednesday 6 April 2011

E.B. - cute but is that what Easter all about?

Just came back from cinema watching HOP. Wow, the E.B was cool, and the chicks were super cute too .. It is a family movie and kinda entertaining too with a talking bunny rocking da house by playing drums. But hey, what Easter is all about? Chocolates n Candies with bunny figures? Colourful Easter eggs with nicely painted shell?

I bet the children love the character E.B hopping around in the movie, but I feel sad because we know only Bunnies and candies through this movie, but care less about the true meaning of Easter. We may not aware of a savior who chose to die for us, and resurrected again that we may have life again

Here is a song by Nicole Nordeman that I would like to share in my blog. It tells about how Jesus walked the road of persecution, and to the cross of salvation.
Jesus is what Easter all about! Because on this Easter Day, He is rosed from the dead, He is alive and we have a living Savior today :)

Why by Nicole Nordeman

We rode into town the other day
Just me and my daddy
He said I'd finally reached that age
And I could ride next to him on a horse 
That of course was not quite as wide

We heard a crowd of people shouting
And so we stopped to find out why
And there was that man that my dad said he loved
But today there was fear in his eyes

So I said daddy why are they screaming
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is he dressed in that bright purple robe?
I'll bet that crown hurts him more then he shows
Daddy please can't you do something?
He looks as though he's gonna cry
You said he was stronger then all of those guys
Daddy please tell me why?
Why does everyone want him to die?

Later that day the sky grew cloudy
And daddy said I should go inside
Somehow he knew things would get stormy
Boy was he right
But I could not keep from wondering 
If there was something he had to hide
So after he left I had to find out
I was not afraid of getting lost
So I followed the crowds
To a hill where I knew men had been killed
And I heard a voice come from the cross

And it said father why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for my clothes?
This crown of thorns hurts me more then it shows
Father please can't you do something?
I know that you must hear my cry's
I thought I could handle a cross of this size
Father remind me why?
Why does everyone want me to die?
When will I understand why?

My precious son
I hear them screaming
I'm watching the face of the enemy beaming
But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own
Jesus this hurts me much more then you know
But this dark hour
I must do nothing
Though I've heard your unbearable cries
The power in your blood
Destroys all of the lies
Soon you'll see past their unmerciful lies
Look there below 
See the child
Trembling by her father's side
Now I can tell you why
She is why you must die 

Monday 4 April 2011

A Cheki to brighten up my days

Here is a glimpse of my baby Choco a.k.a Cheki

my cute Choco

A clearer pic of my Choco
Recently I just finished using my 1st pack of films.
I have a story to tell on how I realised the films have been used up. hahah..
***************************************************************************
It was that night when we went for a dinner at Kim Gary. We wanted to get a group photo in front of the retaurant after the dinner. Due to it's restriction for us to take multiple shots like what we always do with our compact camera or DSLR (you can but the films are bloody expensive!), we actually tried to get our pose ready (in order to fit into the picture), and it took some time to get everyone positioned nicely for a shot using my Cheki. Thanks to a leng chai stranger, who walked up to us and volunteered to help us to take a picture without the need for us asking around

So I gave him a quick guide on how to press the shutter button. (it was actually situated on the front of the body) "One, two and three!". He pressed the shutter button and done. The buzzing sound could be heard and everyone was anticipating on the film feeding out from the camera.. hmm.. hey.. a few seconds gone but nothing came up yet.. the buzzing sound continued but nothing came out of the camera.

We tried a few shots, but still did not see film coming out from the camera eventhough the buzzing sound was heard. Strangely, the film counter did change (it decreased each time we pressed the shutter when it is supposed to increase to 10 max.). In the end we took our group photo with Jason's D90  =.=

It did give me a sense of disappointment when I thought something was wrong with my Choco which I just bought a month ago. The 7 of us decided to go together to a Lomo shop nearby to have my Choco check. When the sales assistant opened up the case, we realised that the films were used up. Alamak.. no wonder no films coming out lar.. !

Not to disappoint everyone, I decided to buy a pack of films from the shop. Manatau the normal films are out of stock due to shipment problem from Japan. So I got the one with disney cartoons frame instead. One pack costs 10 bucks more expensive than the normal ones - RM 35 leh.... (not i pay though :P)

We took two pix for the night - 7 bucks gone =.=


two shots of the night ^^
sweet smiles


Friday 1 April 2011

once a lunchmate, forever a lunchmate

Dated back in 2009, 3rd of Dec
Here are some pics of us, some who are still with us, some no longer do.
remarks: i realise that our faces didn't change much ;)
on our way to Seng Tuck's farewell dinner

Group shot with Seng Tuck



Here is a recent photos of us, taking a dinner together at Kim Gary, 1st Avenue.

Get to take dinner with Belle for the first time ;)
 
 Here is another photo of us, @ McD, Sunshine Square.

Enjoying our chills before going back to work!

Dear all,
you might not be in the photos, but as long as there was a lunch that we had the chance to enjoy with you previously during those hectic and tiring and boring and stressful weekdays, you will always leave memories with us.. 

Cheers to all my lunchmates ^^