My Farm Town - Update

He he..got some improvemet : )

Foresight

Specifically, foresight has been defined as:

"Degree of analyzing present contingencies and degree of moving the analysis of present contingencies across time, and degree of analyzing a desired future state or states a degree ahead in time with regard to contingencies under control, as well as degree of analyzing courses of action a degree ahead in time to arrive at the desired future state." by Wikipedia


My current trainers is at least 3 years old. Every other day I inspect it for wear and tear wondering when I can have a new one :p

I foresee that it will wear out soon. The sales are on. I had foresight that I will need a new pair of trainers sooner or later. So...better buy now while it's on sale.



Presenting..my new trainers -- the New Balance WX777-SP

Ta daa..

A lightweight fitness crosstrainer, suitable for workouts in the gym and treadmill running.

Original Price - RM279

Discounted Price - RM189

*******GRIN*********

Power Outage

As much as I wanted (or thought I needed) to sweat it out, someone up there seemed to know that my body has yet to recover from the weekend's non stop activities.

There was a power outage in parts of Desa Sri Hartamas where the gym is. When I got there around 745pm..the area was unusually quiet. Offices, businesses, showrooms, pubs were closed, hence, car park lots were easily available. The normally brightly lighted gym was unsually dark. Members and staff were hanging around outside the premise. I was told that they were without power since 5.30pm and there were no firm indication from Tenaga that power will resume any sooner. So..no point waiting.

Well..I shall not complain though I was quite disappointed.


People who always complain about what they DON'T HAVE, stay stuck.
Complainers attract more things to complain about!

The above is an excerpt from a very meaningful write up about finding Peace of Mind..basically, what it says is that we shouldn't dwell on negative thoughts. Instead focus on being grateful about good things that we have in Life.

Coincidentally, I wasn't in a good mood today. The above arrived into my mail box just at the right time. A good reminder indeed. Of course..it didn't magically cheer me up instantaneously...but it was a somewhat soothing read.

Things happen for good reasons. I am actually quite tired and some muscles are still sore. Good to rest oso lar. Good to to be able to take a leisure drive home. Take a good dinner. Even had time to go over to sis' place for soup. I had two and a half bowls..lol!

But then hor...a huge ugly cockroach greeted me when I entered the bathroom just now - yikes! How not to complain??

The Wedding of the Century

I know this is a bit too early. I wasn't thinking much about it since The Wedding (not mine) is only happening in late September (so long somemore...) but everyone seems to be planning for it already -- making room arrangements, deciding no. of days we are staying, what are we gonna wear, making flight & room reservations...


As usual, my contribution is zero :p I only have to nod my head and agree to the suggestions and block my calendar. I'd love to stay on in Redang for a couple of days more after the reception but everyone's not planning to stay :( Yupe..you read correctly..it's gonna be in Redang ~~~ wooo. What do we wear to the cocktail huh? Swimwear? Diving suits? Bikini?

Arghhh..I'm so not in the mood to work right now....

TEN MORE WEEKS from now.......

Wastage

Dang. Late again. Was having problem with the internet connection. Had to restart the modem soooo mannyyy times... bl**dy hell.

I forgot to unplug the Ridsect Liquid mosquito repellant this morning, hence, it was left on for 16 hours!!!! Total wastage. That thing costs 7 bucks++ and lasts for about 60 nights provided it's used normally at an average of 8 hours per night.

Now that I've abused usage big time, I shall self impose a punishment of not plugging it on for two consecutive nights to make up for the 16 hours wastage.

Does it work that way ah? Or am I being silly?

Hungry :(

Attitude or Enforcement?

This is supposedly an entrance to a recreational park but an additional pole has to be placed in the middle of the entrance to prevent motocycles from entering. Tell me..if this is a normal sight in other countries other than Malaysia?



Malaysians are stubborn beings though.
Weak enforcement is the main source of the problem I seriously believe.
As you can see from the nex pic, they still ENTER!

Something for Mother Earth

Yup. We did get something done :)


See previous post for more background.


We made our way to Ulu Yam at around 11am after having breakfast near Batu Caves. Well, our initial plan was to leave the house by 9am but being human...and Chinese..time is flexible :) Only left my house close to 10am. Took our own sweet time to have a yummy breakfast.



The a slow drive towards the target destination and had coffee at Ulu Yam town at the same time get some directions to the waterfall.



At about 11 plus we were driving leisurely towards one of the many waterfalls as directed by the coffee shop owner. Quite a narrow road but manageable.






Arrived at Hutan Lipur Sungai Sendat about 20 mins later.




The sign says.."Cleanliness of the forest recreational park is our responsibility"

Unfortunately...if one looks carefully..you will find sights like THIS:

and THIS :

and THESE:

No kidding..we actually did get down to business..collecting rubbish!

The task itself wasn't that difficult.,..but it is easy to give up feeling dejected when you see rubbish all over ..everywhere you turn your head to. We collected three bag full in about an hour and that's probaly only going to cure 0.001% of the potential damages. So..why the hard work??

A chinese woman remarked that "we are collecting rubbish to sell" . @#$

Another curious Malay man asked us what we are doing...I remarked bluntly..saying "NAK JUAL"

Having said that..we are happy and satisfied with our little do. Been talking for years about doing 'something' . We finally got down to do it together despite our busy schedule. Yay!

I dare not commit nor state if we will be doing it anything similar again.

For now..I'm just happy we gave a little something back to Mother Earth. Something money can't buy :)

Let's hope we will have trees and clean water for many many centuries more ....

BY THE WAY...we did have some good food.... hee heee...

LUNCH

Sneak Preview - Ulu Yam

So tired and sick at the document I hv been working diligently on since morning but I'm only on page 18 of...56!!! Kill me pa!


Need a break. It's closed to 5 anyway. Running out of steam.

Quite sometime ago...I had a thought and wrote about it in my old blog. I wrote:


Well, I first thought about it when I was at a small waterfall stream at Ulu Yam. As usual when u visit these places, u will see lot's of rubbish in the likes of platic bags, styrofoam boxes, mineral water bottles, etc etc. Our dear fellow human beings come to these places to enjoy the nature and at the end leave behind not only footsteps but non bio-degradable items which are harmful to the nature. Who and How do they expect these items to clear away?

I was thinking of doing some volunteer work...let's say go 'clean up one place a month'. Doesn't have to be a big area...what we can manage with whatever manpower we have.. Do I sound silly? At times I find IT silly too. At times..I think it's do-able. At times..I laughed at myself when I thougt of IT.

Ha ha....

PIC SOURCE : www.shahakim.com/tag/ulu-yam/

We will be heading to Ulu Yam tomorrow.

We didn't set much expectations. Will just aim to have fun and ..err...eat.

Look out for next update :) to see how well we did...play vs. eat vs. work :D

Flyday

It's now exactly 17 minutes into Friday. So fast..another Flyday. Last week on this same day I came across a quote that I like alot.

It says.. "TO FLY, WE HAVE TO HAVE RESISTANCE"

Not sure what the original meaning was. But I'd like to link it to our favourite day - FRIDAY a.k.a. FLYDAY.

I'd say... we tend to welcome and treasure the arrival of FLYDAY more after enduring the previous four days with some sort of resistance. If everyday is a stroll in the park...FLYDAY woudn't mean so meaningful. Agree?

How had your week been?

I can't remember :D Think I was a bit down somewhere in the mid week. Somethings just affect me more in one way or another.

Had quite a good meeting yesterday but that also means quite a bit of work to be done in the morning later today when I wake up :)

Guess what - I was stuck in a 2 hour jam after the meeting! All because of one wrong decision :( Anyways...no big deal. I was cool. Only my bladder wasn't - lol. Also missed the earlier BC class @ 6.45 that I was aiming to go to cos by the time I got out of the crazy traffic it was 8.30. So I went to the 9.20 class instead. That's how long I was stuck in the car with a full bladder!

Wooo..can't wait till end of Flyday and it will be weekend again. That's my life. Get thru the week...have a happy weekend..and then start over again.

What a bore ...............

Now..shall I play badminton with the T family again or go get some retail therapy tomorrow???

~~zzzzzzzzzz~~

Smile

Planned to sleep early but the repeat of MJ's memorial held me up. Ya ya..can see KT rolling her eyes at me now. She's been nagging me about not getting enough sleep and then bore her in the daytime about being tired and sleepy all day.

Ok ok..I will go to sleep after this.

According to Brooke Shields who gave the most sincere and touching eulogy in the memorial, MJ's favourite song is this:


Smile Though Your Heart is Aching





Can be somewhat slow compared to all the cool MJ tunes but the lyrics are very meaningful. I can understand why he liked it.


(Music by Charles "Charlie" Chaplin -- Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons)

Smile tho' your heart is aching,
Smile even tho' it's breaking,
When there are clouds in the sky
You'll get by,
If you smile thro' your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You'll see the sun come shin-ing thro' for you
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide ev-'ry trace of sadness,
Al -'tho a tear may be ever so near,
That's the time,
You must keep on trying,
Smile, what's the use of crying,
You'll find that life is still worth-while,
If you just smile...


Keep Smiling :)

Saddened

One after another.
I thought I am already immuned.
I'm not after all.



Suffering and joy teach us,
(if we allow them), how to make the leap of empathy,
which transports us into the soul and heart of another person.
ln those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows,
and we care about their concerns as if they were our own...by Fritz Williams:

The dowager cat

Posted these in FB few days ago.,.in panaromic version..it became too small...not so nice.
So..here they are again : )

My Cash FLOW

Was looking at my one and only cash account a while ago...my findings as follows:

some 30% goes to credit card payment (that may include insurance premiums in certain months). Other wise it will just be utility bills, charity donations (which is minimal), any miscellaneous Expenses i.e. retail therapy & meals

some 20% plus - mortgage repayment

some 10% plus roughly goes to hire purchase repayment

a pathetic 10% or so goes to savings - for rainy days / insurance/ etc

about 10% oso goes to 'family tax'

the rest are probably ended up in the petty cash i.e. down the drain...unexplained expenses :D -- meals, toll, etc etc etc


What's left?? -- NOTHING!

Buns for sale @ Shell

PIC SOURCE : wikipedia

I used to boycott fuelling up at Shell. No valid reason...was just being unreasonable and stubborn. Now..years later..I must admit..Shell is still the best place to fuel up for very basic obvious reasons - clean, spacious, friendly staff to greet you, windscreen cleaner always available (& they are clean), water for windscreen cleaner always clean & available.

Simple offerings. Don't need a genius to provide these basic necessities. They use to have friendly staff offering to clean your windscreen too. Not anymore now..I wonder why. Instead now they are kept busy asking if you are interested to fill in a form to participate in the contest.

Today at a station in Taman Buki Maluri, Kepong - there was something new. They have staff walking around selling buns. Ermm..or were they free?

PIC SOURCE : www.artisanbread.net

Strange hor? Well..it's kind of a good idea cos everyone is hungry in the evening. But...selling buns in a petrol station?

P/S: Btw..do you prefer this bigger font?

Little but important gadgets

Bliss

One of those moments..where I ran out of things to blog.

PIC SOURCE:FLICKER

Let me just share a conversation with my friend's daughter (stephanie). I think she is 9 or 10 this year. She was being a sweet host..asking us what would we like to drink. It goes something like this:

stephanie : what would you lie to have?

us : what do you have?

stephanie : we have apple juice, aloe vera juice, kickapoo, pepsi, yoghurt drink

us : what yoghurt drink is that?

stephanie : Bliss.

BLISS.

Now that is what Branding is all about.

Funny ah?

Not so quiet Saturday

It was suppose to be a quiet & relaxing Saturday since I didn't (I thought) have much on.

My original plan:



7.45 - Wake up to to do some housekeeping before going to the gym

11-12ish - light breakfast then visit the sinseh

1.00 - meet ML for lunch



and free for the rest of the afternoon till evening @ MK's house for Jeremy's birthday dinner.



That was the Original plan.

It turned out to be somethng like this:



7.45

- alarm came on but I couldn't even move. Similar to paralysis, physically & mentally. I blame the double dosage of hokkien mee at lunch AND dinner on Friday!

- Only manage to drag myself up around 10.30



10.30

- The phone from the fix line started to ring before I could even get myself to be able to walk straight. Hobbled three floors down but the it stopped ringing. Only family will cal the fix line.. I can't ignore these calls.



- My mobile had 4 missed calls! Great. 2 from cousin. 1 frm ML. 1 frm GHY.



- The fixed line started ringing again before I could decide which call I shud return first. I was still groggy. This happens when one sleeps too many hours! The call was from cousin in law. That time of the month again..I've requested invited to go for lunch at aunt's place. Eldest aunt..almost impssible to turn down.



- Called another aunt to make arrangement...basically to tell her I can't fetch her cos I just woke up. And I was still planning to meet ML then.



- Called ML..to check if we can meet later..but we decided to meet another time. Too tight.



11.30

- Had light breakfast. Did some hand wash laundry.

- Sis called while I was about to go into shower asking for lunch. Had a short discussion..she decided to join me to aunt's place.



12.30

- arrv at sinseh. but he was about to go for lunch. Had to come back later.

- went to get cash from bank and bought somethg for Jo before heading to aunt's place

- returned GHY's call while driving



1.30

-arrv at aunt's place. Finally can relax a bit. as usual..eat eat talk talk.



2.45

- managed to get my way out of visiting another uncle :p



3.15

- went to wash the car



3.45

- delivered 'chang' from aunt to bro house

- played with Danial and Angie



4.15

- home...!

- rested a bit

- did some car polishing to get rid of some stubborn dirt

- shower



5,30

- left for MK's place

- got very lost. been to her place many times..somehow I couldn't remember one bit..the way to her place in sri petaling. Almost ended up in KLIA. And then lost in salak south. Anthony had to come rescue me. Never been happier to see their little FitLine car!





6.30

- arrived safely at MK's place.

- Ate and chatted

- played gin rummy (have not played for 20 yrs at least)









- guess who lost!

- played with hamsters! (sorry for bad quality pic - had to use the phone, camera ran out of batt)

Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMY!

By the way..guess what went wrong with the cake?

Daylight Robbery @ Medan Selera PJ Old Town

Within minutes after I entered this medan selera (i.e. food square) to get lunch, a lady, sitting near the same entrance I just walked pass, enjoying a peaceful lunch with her hubby had her necklace snatched. Yes..just like that. Some stupid thief sneaked behind her, snatched her necklace right in front of her hubby's eyes and sped off.

This food square is a well known eating place in the neighbourhood. Office workers, businessmen, families, frequent this place regularly. We have choices of Malay, Indian and Chinese food all in one peaceful square.

Yes..peaceful. Not.

I freaked a little bit to be honest. Imagine..I coould have walked pass that silly thief and became his target.

Oh..what do we do. Don't wear any valuables. Don't carry handbags. Don't carry cash. Don't drive cars. Better still ..don't go out?

Over exaggerated a bit..hehe.

Sigh. I'm getting tired of saying and hearing the same same thing but then..it's reality.

BECAREFUL OUT THERE. STAY ALERT.

Friends now and then

People come and go in our lives. We make more and more "friends" as we move on with life. Some just clicked immediately and become best pals. Some are just hi and bye. Some used to be best pals and yet the friendship dwindle away with time..due to a various reasons. As we move on, most times we leave and forget about past friends, more often than not without realising it.

When I left high school, I practically moved on or may be I didn't. Apparently I left an impression that I wasn't interested to keep up. Can't really recall what exactly happened..I kind of went separate ways. Alot of things happened anyway. My results weren't great so I felt a little left out (sob..) And then my mom felt sick..so I really didn't have time to have fun. And then..work was demanding..I so Loved my job then (*roll eyes*) And ..everyone was like dating and getting married..while I was ..erm..still very much single. And then..trasportation was a problem..didn't know how to drive yet. So...I guess those were a combination of reasons (or excuses)...why I didn't catch up much with old friends those days.

At the same time..I met new friends, mainly from work. Had my good share of fun with this bunch. Someone told me recently..she is much closer to her work friends then old school friends. Which I think it's quite normal for certain people. For me..it makes sense cos..after working 10-12 hours together daily and fighting fire together for years..you tend to know and tolerate each other much better. And most of my work friends those days were also still single (ha!)....so "birds of same feather flock together" :D

However...over the recent two years or so...I managed to catch up again with some old school friends. Some of which I knew since I was 8 or 9. Some I met in lower secondary...etc etc. It all started with me switching company..hence, not so busy, and thus, got linked up to a few on YH and MSN. Basically...I had been a bit of an idiot. I seldom call. I was told I didn't pick up calls too...lol! Those days..there were no Facebook and sms ma. I'm just not a verbal person, you see.

I've been thinking today....we actually kind of grown closer and knew each other more in the past a year or so. Not that I call or write more often now...I guess it's just easier with instant messaging and Facebook and this blog, not forgetting. I'd also think we are more mature now, going through mid life and all..I guess it helps to have peers around for support. Oh well, they claim they have given up asking or hoping that I will introduce my boyfriend one day. At the same time..I've also become quite good at ignoring those questions. So..that helps :)

Here's to FRIENDSHIP. . .

DELIcious' Death by Iced Chocolate

As usual, the fickle minded WSL had problems deciding what to eat, what to drink bla bla bla. Was at DELIcious in MV just now with GHY and MK. Had a somewhat sumptious dinner and then it was dessert time!



Both my dinner companion ordered coffee....how nice. I daren't take coffee at night as I will end up suffering from imsomnia..and so..I was staring at the menu. Needed something sweet and rich. Hmm..loved their Butterscoth Shake but..that's really really rich. Been eating too much in the last few days. I have to watch what I eat.



Then..something caught my eye. It says....

Death by Iced Chocolate

I was like..Ooohh...nice *blink*blink* but but....it's so richhhh.

MK who knows me too well..immediately told the waiter... "alright..she will have that!"

wth...

There you go..the DEATH BY ICED CHOCOLATE

I'm so dead....will probably need more hours at the gym to burn these. And yet..everyone is saying I might be over exercised?

Ok..I was a bit bitchy

Somehow someway a few innocent dudes kept getting into my way.

First there was this man ( a rather old one) came into the RPM studio and took a bike right next to me. Quite close somemore. Why oh why. I prefer to ride alone you know. (I don't mind a younger and better looking neighbour though).

Secondly..he smells. I don't know if it was my imagination..but I swear..I did smell all kinds of unpleasant aroma from the side he was on. Towards the end I was close to fainting when I smelled Saliva! Was he drooling or what??

TIP : Please take a breath freshener or whatever to freshen up before going into a meeting, gym class etc especially after you had a meal or you happen to be a smoker.

Thirdly..there was this other guy at BC class. (Don't remember his looks but not good looking one la) He kept getting into my way..either blocking my view or standing so close right beside me. Not suppose to stand so close la..espcially when there a side kicks to execute and he did that just when we were sid kicking. At one point I was so tempted to give hinm a kick and pretend it was an accident :p Ok..I admit..I am being bitchy. Shouldn't blame him..he seems quite new to the whole BC thing anyway. Not very familiar. After all, he hobbled further away after a while.

Lastly..this BMW 7 series got into my way pulak..as I was making my way out of Desa Hartamas, he or she came out from the parking area and inched so close to me without signaling. 7 series so big meh..ok I gv way to your 7 series. The road was congested anyway because alot of goons double parked! But then..when we hit the main empty road..the BMW turned into a tortoise. Hogging the road at 30km/h. Stupid driver. Alot of cars were speeding towards us from behind...and there he/ she was...cruising at his/her leisure. So dangerous when we had to carefully swerve out to overtake him/her. 7 series..my foot.

And..there were a few more cars driving in the same manner..as I was making my way home. Was it..two or three...lost count.

There you go. My 1st entry for July 2009!

Riding on...RPM

Monday is usually a day to recover from the weekend's activities. My muscles still ache from Friday's 'tennis' badminton style with AT and the usual weekend gym stuff but I just went for RPM instead of tai ci. I shoudn't, I know but I was somewhat blue and sad and irritated (triggered by combination of various matters), I just needed to sweat it out. RPM was the best solution. I read in a blog recently that RPM is good when you wanna be alone sweating it out and putting away your thoughts (at least for the 50 mins in class). He is quite right. Although the room may have 20 other members and an instructor giving out instructions and motivational cue..most of the time I am in my own world, well err..gasping for air and no chance to think about other matters...to be exact.
Sigh..I wonder if we will ever get use to sicknesses and eventually losses. Just as we were about to move on..another news hit us like a bullet train. Mid-life crisis it is.
I am saddened.

It's Monday Again

It's back to Monday. Groan.



Last week had been tough..may be I shall put it as eventful. Fire fighting, getting burnt, MJ's passing, more fire fighting, left with nothing to firefight..and hooray..let it burn to death :D



This shall be a better week!



Yea..I'm rambling again. Monday ma. So bored. After all..it's been some time since I last Rambled.



How was your weekend?



Mine was ok. Joined SY n AT for badminton on Friday. Had fun "playing tennis" badminton style with AT. Lol...don't bother trying to understand. It's just pointless fun. Dinner was at Pappa Rich, Kota Damansara.



Saturday was normal RPM routine and then met up with Fel and WK..at Kota Damansara (again!). We had Chilli Pan Mee and then Coffee at Pappa Rich (again!) Check this out :



..About 1 hour at Chilli Pan Mee from 12ish to 1ish

..Pappa Rich from 1ish to 2ish

..then went opposite shop (Sun Yin Loong) to have Ipoh white coffee before leaving the area around 3

..spent another 2 hours plus at The Curve before calling it a day



Ha-ha...we don't do this often by the way. Will be sick of each other if so. Just that we needed to

kill time..or rather Fel needed to kill time. That's what friends are for lor.



Net net..I ate alot la. Sunday also pretty much the same. Taici-Breakie alone-Bruch with Dad-Giant with Dad-Home-Snack-Snack-Gym-Dinner.



Now I feel like eating Wan Tan Mee for lunch. There's a nice wan tan mee in SS2.. Chow Yang area..same row as Kayu but the other end of the shop row.


I think I can take coffee already. Yeah!! However..didn't manage to buy from my favourite kopi shop this morning. Went round and round three times but couldn't find a parking spot :( Had to settle with 3in1 in the office instead. What a bummer. But then..I shall not let it spoil my day :) Lunch time soon..I will have my kopi then! See..pushing my luck..as usual.



--End--

Green Obsession

I just realised that I've been subconsciously obsessed with Green stuff.

Here all the greenies that I bought over the last six months..

Sisley and Nichii..bought sometime around CNY:

Think this was bought around March or April in a local boutique in D'sara Uptown:

Simple but extremely comfortable and cheap T bought in Plaza Damas back in May

and Adidas top from Adidas Warehouse Sale in recently.

These were most recent..from BBMaxx factory outlet in The Curve : an unbranded short pant and a North Face top

~~All Green~~

P/S: I've also been slowly revamping the wardrobe. Alot are somewhat over sized lar..*grin*

Most recent selection to be send to the the Jumble Station :

Meanwhile..these other stack categorised as slightly oversized to wear but too new to give away.