The little chiwawas...my nieces and nephew

Don't we all love the long weekends eh?! It feels good, knowing that even though it is already Sunday, I don't have to worry about waking up early tomorrow. Heavenly awesome! Today, as I was organising my photo album folder, I spotted a few pictures I really like. Yup, pictures of my nephew and nieces. Their real life antics makes me laugh my lungs out all the time. They never fail to amuse me. They always have things to say or do. Hmm, I really wonder where they get the energy from. Really, with that kind of energy, it is as though they have the energizer battery hooked on to them 24 hours, 7 days a week. Hahah! However in the pictures below, all of them looked very well behaved or like we normally say "maintain vogue" :D

My nieces enjoying the weather .."the spice girls"

Surprisingly , very well behaved?? :) Is there a conspiracy going on here?? Hmm, they must be up to something..hehehe

must be tired...after the running and jumping..

Aaa-ahhh, they are planning to "buli" the bear ... I am sure the smallest one is the mastermind behind all the accomplished missions..haha!

When you least expect it...

Last couple of days have been rather hectic and mentally draining for the whole family. It all happened on Tuesday, when we were informed on my aunt’s severe heart attack. She is now in ICU and is receiving intensive care and treatment from the doctors and nurses. Ironically, the news has yet to sink into our thick skulls, it was rather a big shocking news for all of us. We really didn’t expect it, as she has never suffered any heart problems or ever been admitted in a hospital for medical treatment. Well, I guess when it happens, it happens! It normally hits you when you least expect it, right? :(

When we visited her in the ICU/CCU ward in SJMC, she looked very fragile and frail. She was hooked onto the oxygen tank with all other monitoring equipments attached to her. It was nerve wrecking to see someone you have known all your life to be strong and healthy…and now she is weak and helpless. The doctors are still monitoring her night and day. I hope and pray that she will pull herself through! The whole family still needs her for all family gatherings, kenduri’s and raya’s. Hopefully, after this misfortune, she will emerge to be stronger than ever, InsyaAllah.

Apart from the hospital visits, Hmm, it looks like my wish of having more French trainers became a dream come true yesterady….:D Ohh, someone has been answering my wishes :) I was asked again to attend a system training in the training centre in Bangi for three consecutive days. Yes, I was happy to discover there were two new French trainers. Believe me, they were Keanu Reeves” and “George Clooney” look alike..Yummy! And discovered something else too, the word determina , than-a, ceteria are definitely standard words for French people…..Haha! The last time I heard those words, I really thought it was just that particular trainer! Gosh, it's like a standard language for the French.

Love: a chance OR a choice

Got this attachment in an email from a friend early this morning. Since it hit me hard on the head, thought of sharing it with you all, so lets check it out:-

When we meet the right person to love, when we're at the right place at the right time, that's a chance.

When you meet someone you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's a chance.

Being caught up in a moment (and there are a lot of couples who get
together because of this) is not a choice. That's also a chance. The
difference is what happens afterwards.

When will you take that infatuation, that crush, that mind-blowing
attraction to the next level? That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down and contemplate whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling.

If you decide to love a person, even with his/her faults, that's not a chance. That's a choice.

When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's a choice.

Even if you know there are many people out there who are more attractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's a choice.

Infatuation, crushes, and attraction come to us by chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice, a choice that we make.

Soul mates do exist, that there is truly someone made for you. But it's still up to you to make the choice if you're going to do something about it or not.

We may meet our soul mates by chance, but loving and staying with our soul mate is still a choice we have to make.

We came to the world NOT by finding someone perfect to love, BUT to learn how to love an imperfect person perfectly.

" To love & to be loved is the greatest happiness in life "
"FATE determines who comes into our lives "
"Our HEART determines who stays "

Have you tried Takoyaki?

Takoyaki, in Japanese, IT means fried or baked octopus. I was first introduced to Takoyaki when I was in Japan early this year. My first impression of it was yummy and slimy. Well, it’s a craze in Japan. You can find it in almost all shopping malls and rest areas in Japan. It’s more like a fast food.

I was interested to know the ingredients and looked it up in Wikipedia. It is defined as a dumpling made of batter, green onion, octopus, tenkasu, pickled ginger, and konnyaku. Topped with some “mean” sauce - okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and katsuobushi (fish shavings). I like the thin shredded fish or fish flakes which taste more like salted fish or what we call “ikan peram”.

Currently, my brother is also a crazy fan of Takoyaki, ever since he came back from Japan, he has been searching high and low for it. Oh boy, was he thrilled to discover that they do have it at One Utama’s Jusco. So guess where he went to today…Yup, he got all of us Takoyaki…I like the Malaysian version, as the batter/texture was neither too slimy nor soft, but the octopus waspretty non existance..hahaha..wonder where it went to ;D

The Takoyaki we had this evening :) Ouch, counting the calories..

My long lasting crush...

My long term crush would be Billy Bob Thornton. He has a "killer" smile and I just love that natural "aura" he has...Such a hunk. Yes! Yes! Billy Bob Thornton!! Was surfing Yahoo! movies and couldn't resist to post this picture of him :)

Some info about him:-

Birthdate : August 4th, 1955

Place of birth: Alphine, Arkansas

Jobtitles : Actor, Screenwriter, Director, Drummer, Singer, Songwriter, Cater waiter, Factory worker, Pizza maker .

Movie credits: Dead Man (1996), Sling Blade (1996), Love actually (2003), Monster's Ball (2001), Bad Santa (2003), Friday Night Lights (2004), The Ice Harvest (2005), The Bad News Bear (2005), Chrystal (2005), School for Scoundrels (2006) and many more.

Hmm, was pretty surprised though that his marriage to the Tomb Raider beauty, Angelina Jolie didn't survive that long. They acted together in "Pushing Pin" in 1999, a year later, eloped in Las Vegas and divorced each other in year 2002.

Among all the movies he had acted in, my all time favourite is Monster's Ball. Up todate, I think I have watched the movie close to 5 times..;D

**Picture taken at the Hollywood premier of Universal Pictures' Friday Night Lights in 2004. (googled from Yahoo! movies)

Photo: Michael Caulfield, WireImage.com

Best Sellers...

Here are some facts that I managed to gather from the KOSMO! newspaper today. They had the list of best seller books up till 7th April 2006. I know this might interest those of you who can never get enough of books. It definitely got my attention :) So, here goes:-

Fictional
1. Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
2. Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Conneley
3. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
5. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
6. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
7. Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
8. Deception Point by Dan Brown
9. Honeymoon by James Patterson
10. Saturday by Ian McEwan

Non Fictional
1. Freakonomic
2. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
3. Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
4. World is Flat:The Globalized World in the Twenty-first century by Thomas Friedman
5. The Power of Charm:How To Win Anyone over in Any Situation by Brian Tracy/Ron Arden
6. Who Really Runs the World? The War between Globalization and Democracy (Conspiracy books S) by Ken Thomas
7. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fall or Succeed by Jared Diamond
8. The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
9. Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a doctor after Your Third Martini by Mark Leyner/Billy Goldberg M.D.
10. Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Delicious Slimming and Anti-ageing Secrets by Naomi Moriyama/Willaim Doyle

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

List was published in the KOSMO! newspaper dated 19/4/2006

Source: Kinokuniya Book Stores (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd

Down...

What a way to be enjoying my leave, when I am down with flu. Schmucks, my head is spinning and I can't seem to stop sneezing. I am blaming it on the bad weather and my sensitive nose due to sinusitis. Oh no, it feels as though my nose is gonna drop any second now with the massive sneezing.

Hopefully, I will be back to normal tomorrow...

Friendships...

I am sure one can have as many friends as they intend to, however to find that special one and true friend is never easy. Friends come and they go, only the true and sincere ones will stick by you through thick and thin.

I have never had problems making friends but I have always preferred to have one or two very close friends that I can count on, rather than having many friends at one go. I had one close friend since university, we got to know each other when we were classmates during A-levels, and later went to the same university abroad. We did a lot of travelling together and spent most of the time experiencing new things in a foreign land. We didn’t skip any lectures by the way. :-P

Even after graduation, we were still close, she was into media and I joined the banking sector. Two different industries all together but that did not stop us from hanging out together during weekends. Personally, I cherish her friendship as she was a very warm, soft-hearted, caring, honest, helpful and understanding friend.

After a year of working, she got married and started a new life. Even with our busy schedules, we still kept in touch. But things got bad for her, her marriage went for the downturn, she had to go through a divorce. I saw how painful it was for her to pick up all those bits and pieces of her life. Especially, when she had devoted all her life and energy towards her husband and marriage. It was not easy at first for her, but she became a determined person in life and stronger than ever mentally, physically and spiritually. I am so proud of her. The divorce did not break her instead it made her stronger. I have always believe that in life, things happen for a reason. Now she is having a wonderful career, loving every bit of it and enjoying life, like how she deserves to. But somehow after that painful experience, she is a very different person.

Whenever I speak to her, if I have the chance, she sounds different, pretty much tied up in her own world. Dunno why, she no longer shows that natural “warmness” she normally has in her. Probably, since she is starting life anew, many stuff that reminds her of the old days should be put aside. Most of the time, she will call me, fix a date for a meet up and somehow when they actual day comes, she will either cancel it or chooses to remain silent. I told myself not to be pushy, just leave it as it is.

She is no longer the friend I used to know. Well, I guess the things we go through in life moulds us into who we are today. Her priorities in life might have changed. I miss having her around though, hopefully it is still not too late to hope for things to be the same as before but as for now, I shall pray for her happiness always. Life goes on and we should move on……

Crazy week

It is only thursday and my body is aching all over. Probably, it is a signal from my mind that I am just dead tired. Seriously, I can’t wait for the weekend to relax and unwind. I have been assigned to assist in a few projects at the office and the past few days have been pretty crazy for me. All I could think of is figures, figures, figures and spreadsheets, even in my sleep. There are too many briefings or business reviews to attend to. Arrghhh and I don’t even know where to begin. I need to just sit quietly and clear my thoughts. Typical of me eh!
:-P

Hmmm, may be I need a short vacation, something to rejuvenate my energy and spirit! I should just take that short vacation I am dying of, to spend a quiet weekend in Singapore. Grab the opportunity to visit my relatives and indulge myself in a food fest…Gosh, I miss the soto ayam, sambal goreng, lontong, nasi rawan, bone "steak" (tulang cooked in tomato gravy), curry puffs (triangle shaped) that comes in those crispy pastries, ……yikes, I better stop or the list might have no ENDing..

I guess we have ONE more day to drill ourselves at work and weekend is just around the corner…yesssss! Well folks, here is to a SWELL WEEKEND.

Italian dinner for the family...

We had a family get together and dinner at restaurant Pizza Uno, opposite the Ampang Point Mall. Oh Boy, it was fantabulous food definitely. We had spaghetti seafood Marinara, Carbonara, Meatballs, Oven baked chicken, mushrooms, grilled salmon, steaks and for dessert, spanish pancakes, panna cotta, cream caramel and ice-cream..yummy! Could not resist taking snapshots of the food.......here goes:-

Spaghetti Carbonara.......... can never get enough of it.

Spaghetti Marinara, the prawns, mussels and squids were simply irresistible.....

Me and my "oven baked chicken".......waiting for the right time to start digging..... Chicken was a little bit dry but the gravy was just excellent.

Me with my cute nieces, Hanis (extreme left) & Hannah, and cool nephew, Ashraf. The girls with their sweet smiles and that "mean" look of Ashraf.....aargghhh, he surely loves watching those wrestling fights :-P

My two sisters , if there is "sisters look alike competition", dont think we will pass the screening session..haha!

Eligible Bachelors?...

I was reading Cleo's April issue yesterday and realised that they were having the usual annual special edition, "the cleo 50 most eligible bachelors 2006". I flipped through all the 50 eligible bachelors and was pretty dissappointed. They were mostly guys within the age rage of 21 to 26 and looked pretty "baby" themselves. Hmmm, my definition of eligible would be someone who is matured not only in terms of how they look but how matured they are in commitments and matters of the heart. At the age of 21, I am sure a guy would be ready for dates and love but not more than that, right? He should not be listed in the "most eligible" category. Well, I guess CLEO has a different way of defining " eligible bachelors"....Sigh!

I dunno how they came up with the list. Seriously, what was the criteria that they look at eh? Most of them are already popular in the entertainment industries. One is a DJ, one is from the Malaysian Idol 2005, remember the guy called Ash, a few are currently recording artists, models, actors, tv presenters and radio announcers. Nonetheless, they do have a few from various professions i.e Event Manager, Dermatologist, Senior Account Executive.. etc. I think CLEO should just focus on normal guys from all walks of life who fits into the category well. Guys who we have not seen or heard on TV. We need new faces, not the already famous ones, we see them almost everyday.....They should widen their sample data! hehe! CLEO should work harder in future, unless there is insufficient population of eligible men out there! shucks!...

Asam boi ala French…

Gosh, these past few days have been rather hectic for me at the office. I couldn’t even attend the system course scheduled on Monday and Tuesday, as I had a dateline to meet. Anyway, with some time management, I managed to complete a few things yesterday. So today, I decided to sit in for the course in Bangi. Hoping to learn and ask the French trainer on certain system issues.

For a change, it was definitely relaxing to listen to some heavy French accent this morning. Finally something to enjoy! I don’t get this every day, you know. Normal mornings would usually involve discussions with my colleagues and boss.

However, was surprised to see the French trainer, wearing the same suit, tie and shirt (same colour??!) he wore on last Friday. Oh well, I guess he might be either one of those guys who prefers to travel light or own many same coloured shirts. Hmmm, very practical eh.

Today, he was more easy going and funny as compared to the last time I saw him. I blame it on to the hot weather and the terrible Malaysian way of talking. We had some problems communicating before, what do you expect, Malaysians just love to speak/talk with the word “la” at the end of every word... It really sounds awful.

It was so lovely to see him blending in well to the Malaysian culture, he even tried the “asam boi” all of us were having to prevent us from falling asleep. His reaction when eating the “asam boi” was unbearable. Haha! I am sure, all of us got used to his way of saying keteria (for criteria), detemina (for determine) and than-a (for than), and he understands our typical accent wit hthe word “la” everywhere…He must be wondering why does everything has to end with the word “la”. I was laughing when he said , ok people, time for asam when it was actually time for a break.

Sigh! There goes my last training session with the interesting French trainer..Olala! Hopefully, there will be more to come.

Beautiful cherry blossoms...

A few snapshots of the ever so famous "cherry blossoms" or here in Malaysia, we call it "bunga sakura". Taken today by my brother-in-law in Toyota Aichi, as it is already the spring season ...:)

Pic taken at the parking lot..look at the pink flowers at the bckground, those are the cherry blossoms

Wow, what a sight! Full of the cherry blossoms! Look at the Toyota cars...

Close up pics of the cherry blossoms

lovely eh?

French trainer...

Yesterday, was the first day of my 5 day system course at the organisation's training centre in Bangi. I have always dreaded going to the training centre, in Bangi as it is far and away. Going there, you need a car to move around as it is soo secluded, you can't even find taxis queueing for passangers. I am sure the management realises how difficult it is for the staff to move about, so to ease the burden, private buses are provided to and from the training centre.

I was all geared to attend the normal training, expecting trainers from either local or Singaporeans. However, much to my surprise, I saw a "mat salleh" guy in the training room with presentation slides, he was smartly dressed, probably in his Armani or Gucci suit. As soon as he spoke, his French accent sanked in, Oh cool, a French trainer for 5 days, not bad eh...:)

I still have 4 days to go, and although it is something I look forward to, as compared to the normal locals or in house trainers, hehehhe, but I am sure, me and my coursemates will have to work extra hard this time round, as we have to really strain our ears when he starts talking. We found not only the content of the course complicating but also the way he talks with his heavy French accent. Yesterady itself, we managed to put two and two together, for example, the word criteria sounded like "keteria", we were like what cafeteria?? and determine sounded like "detemina" and other unexplained words..hahaha!

Oh well, what the heck! I can't wait for Monday :-P

My dream cars...

I just couldn't get my eyes off those toyota cars which were exhibited at the Toyota Motor Headoffice in Toyota Aichi, Japan. Managed to get into those cars to check out the interior, phewww it was just classy. But then, test driving was not allowed. Sigh! Here are a few snapshots taken while touring the museum.

The sporty model "celica"

My personal favourite from the "lexus" range

The more family oriented car - the "majestic" or here the call it the 'crown"

Me infront of the Toyota Motor Headoffice, Toyota Aichi