Counting down to year 2010

I wondered if I should write this post depressingly or should I just be tremendously happy to welcome the year of 2010.

In a few more days to come, I'll turn 28. An age that I've never expected myself to be whom I am now! Just ridiculously WTF!

When I was a naive 18 yrs old girl, these was how I thought I will be in 10yrs time:

• Old and mature, with a career of course!
• Just got married, starting a new family, of course with the guy I was with. (Well, I did really plan to marry him. He's a BF + Husband material. Too bad, he's not mine anymore and he's already taken.)

Blah! Too much disclosure.

And I am just the total opposite of what I've been thinking of, while many are getting marry or have been already married. Some are with children too! Wow..this is the age where I should have been called an "AUNTY"! Gosh, keep me out of this!

Thinking of all the things that I've done for the year 2009, let me list down a few accomplishments (though there are some negative ones. sigh~) :

• I'm still attached to Sony. Still in the same department, working on embedded programming. Bravo to me! Ending this week, it'll mark 1yr 10mths.

• Gain some weight. That's about 3kg of weight. My last weight recorded a surprisingly 48kg. I remembered there was once I almost hit 50kg. Sigh. I shall make a new year resolution to lose the extra weight that I've gained. Needless to say, I shall skip all supper, oily food, and do more exercise!

• I run more than I've done all this while! Challenged the Standard Chartered 10km marathon, and I'd clocked about 1hr 42mins. For some time, I've been diligently slow jogging for at least 30mins, 3 times a week (It was 1 hr practice before the marathon). However, being hardworking makes no good for my thighs and calves. They are growing bigger.

Shookie's completion medal plus certificate. *Proud*

• Lost my handbag and phone. Karen was the unlucky one too! We kept our belongings in the car while touring around Titiwangsa Lake, and it was just the right time for our stuffs to be stolen! Our damages: 2 Coach wallets, 1 Nokia handphone, few hundreds MYR, and about 500 HKD! Curse on the thieves!!

• A few attacks of sprained wrist on the right hand. I was very worried that it will be the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), though the doctor said that it was not! However, Mum is the unlucky one. She'll be having the CTS surgery on the 6th of Jan 2010. Pray for the success of her surgery (though it's a minor surgery) and good health in 2010.

Heavily on bandaged. And I acted as if I'm ULTRAMAN.

• Submitted my Master application. Pray hard that I'll be selected! (Mali-mali-mali-hom..come to me!!)

• Keeping my hair short. Yeah, it's a year with hair shorter than my shoulder length.

• Biggest lost of the year - a relationship, a love that is not able to grow beyond 3 yrs. Not to worry about me, I'm healing.

• Lastly, Baby Cheng and I decided to start our blog. And this is the blog that you are reading right now!

I'm not a person who will make new year resolutions every year. NOT EXACTLY INTO IT. Because I'll never stick to it, and I bet most of the people don't too!

However, for the coming year, I'll make myself a motto:

LIVE LIFE ABUNDANTLY!

Life is short. So, live life as if there's no tomorrow. Be better tomorrow than today.

Happy New Year!

-Shookie-

Confession of X'mas!

Merry X'mas!!!!

I've been abandoning the blog for quiet some time. Gosh, I feel real bad. And since X'mas is just around the corner, this is the opportunity for me to redeem myself. *big grin*

** Baby Cheng is still busy, with study & exams. Poor her!

I'm superbly glad that I'll be having a long holiday, starting tomorrow, marking the date of 25th December 2009 till 4th of January 1010. It'll be a stay-at-home, relax time out from just anything. I've been crazily stressed at work over the past few months. It was just scary.

Work --> Work --> Work. The never ending work. My brain is seldom at rest. And I just couldn't believe myself that I've been an evil working machine at work. Some of them are little achievements that I should be quite proud of. Haha~

Here's a list of my crazy happening events in office (or just anything related/caused by my office buddies):

• Staying overnight in office. Clock out only at 5am!
• Lots of supper. Thanks to late office leaving, most of the time, it's around 9-10pm.
• Crazily catch up on the Digital TV knowledge and C++. Just before I have time to learn what OOP is about, I'm already started coding. Thanks Muz for always chasing stuffs!
• Shouted at Casley Blast for irritating me. It was just an emotional breakdown. I felt guilty now. Sorry! (If you do happen to read this)
• Some WEIRD/CRAZY people keep reading my monitor. (or shall i say watching me from behind?)
• Being put on an outing that I do not have any idea.
• Knowing a fanatic people (SohBeng) that declare himself from an "awesome" planet.
• Scandals of me, rumouring around. Needless to say.
  

I think I just need a small space or just a short moment for me to burst out loud. So here it goes. Kinda stupid, I know.

Just a small post on the X'mas eve. Have fun everyone! I'll gonna have a blast, and hope everybody will have the same.

Lots of hugs and love you, office buddies! Tschus!

-Shookie-

An Unfruitful SS501 Autograph Session

3rd Sept 2009. I made a silly outing which I predict not many people at my age will do. It was extremely silly because there was nothing that Baby Cheng and me had benefited from it.

Gosh~

We went to the Korean Boy Band, SS501 Autograph Session!

At first, we thought that it was a "Meet The Fans" session, where they will be having a short performance plus the autograph session, hence we make our way there. To our disappointment, only autograph session was held. Sigh~

Arriving late, around 6.15pm, we do not hope for anything good. Baby Cheng was late, due to massive jam at MRR2, despite the fact that she tried to leave college around 3.30pm. I was driving like a mad fella, overtaking cars and speeding wherever I can.

On the way up to Jasmine/Orchid Ballroom in One World Hotel, we noticed this inside the elevator.

Guide to the venue.

And this was how the crowd looks like when we arrived.

The queue of fans until the car park area!

Unbelievably crowded. I could not believe it with my eyes! Never had it come to my mind that SS501 already has so many fans in Malaysia, what more when the announcement of the fans meeting session was only confirmed the day before!

We tried to make our ways to the queue, only to find out that the security was very tight.

Personnel guarded outside the ballroom, at all accessible areas.

Outside the glass door, we found out that SS501 members were inside the ballroom area. Fans were lead into the ballroom, in a small numbers. Once, the door were opened, all the fans were screaming! HAVOC! Total havoc, I mean! They were pushing among themselves too!

For us, we had no chance to meet SS501 at all! All the CDs were sold out. No performance. And they were seated inside the ballroom! No point queuing anymore. We were disappointed.

10 minutes later, some fans exiting the ballroom in a very calm, peaceful manner. Once outside, they started to scream happily! The joy of meeting SS501 and getting their signature!

Fans happily sharing their experiences.

Some are frustrated too! WHY? Due to the overwhelming response from the fans, they are only allowed to get one member's signature, to provide opportunities for all the fans to meet SS501. To make thing worse, they are not allowed to choose which member's they were like to have signature on their CDs. It was decided by the management so that SS501 will be able to catch their flight which was scheduled later at night.

We took some photos of the albums that SS501 had signed. Thanks to the fans for letting us to do so! You know who you are! Thanks!!

Kim Kyu Jong's autograph

Top: Heo Young Saeng's autograph
Bottom: Kim Hyun Joong's autograph

Our disappointed faces!! Baby Cheng even want to bang her head on the wall!! Lolz!

We left soon after, for our dinner. Having difficulty to decide our dinner, we bump into O'Briens in 1U. Healthy food, so why not?

O'Briens banner outside the shop.

A variety of ingredients for their sandwiches

Plenty of choices.

These are what we had ordered.

Top: Chicken, Chicken Crisp & Cheddar Hot Shambo
Bottom: Chicken Cranberry Wrappo. We had the wheat wrappo as healthier choice.

Baby Cheng is a happy person altogether! Of course with my favourite minestrone soup!

Pen off now. Disappointingly sienz.

-Shookie-

Unbeatable scores!

DAMM IT! Baby Cheng had frustrated me! A LOT! I really mean A LOT!! She had beaten my high scores for the Minesweeper "Expert" with 99 bombs!

She was extremely excited with her result that she called me up at work, telling me of her achievement.

Arrggghhhh!!!

Minesweeper's High Scorers

I am sure that there are still many other better players that can beat this score, but wow..at least, this is something that we can be proud of, despite me always having my wrist twisted. Not bad huh?

-Shookie-

Crustacean Dinner at Restaurant Vong Fatt for Merdeka Day!

Crab-bies. Yeah! Sounded happy? Still, I am not the number one fans of the crab-bies. Baby Cheng is.

Baby Cheng is a food fanatic whom really love eating to the max! Me? Second. Lolz. She doesn't seem to be able to reject good food. Haha..

She wanted to have the crustacean on the Merdeka Day. Her day was rather unpleasant because she was spending her whole day being at home, on a very important project, i.e. studying for final. I wonder if she really did study well with full concentration since the whole family was on an outing to Mid Valley without her. Bet NOT!!

So, the story goes on with us having dinner at a seafood restaurant in Seri Kembangan. I've forgotten to get the name card, so no details this time. But..but..but..the restaurant is located very near to Chan Yew Kee (previously know as Starlight), in Pusat Perdagangan Seri Kembangan.

The restaurant that we went to is - Restoran Vong Fatt. It started its business since quite awhile ago, and was recommended by my dad's friend.

Restoran Vong Fatt located near to Chan Yew Kee

Inside the restaurant, we saw their menu was stick on the wall.

Plenty of choices to choose from!

And, some publishing about the restaurant. Perhaps it was recommended in the newspaper. And well, one in Japanese (I wondered if it was recommended in the Japanese newspaper? Internet maybe?).

Ads sticking on the side wall of the restaurant

Here are the dishes that we had ordered:

• Sweet and Sour Crab with fried Mantou
  
• Kangkung Belacan
• Sweet and Sour Pork a.k.a. "Gu Lou Yoke"
• Dragon And Tiger Reunion a.k.a. "Lung Fu Wui" (This is their special dish which I bet you will not be able to try that at any other places!)

Sweet and Sour Crab (with Mantou)

Top: Kangkung Belacan
Bottom: Sweet and Sour Pork

And here comes the main dish of the day!

Dragon And Tiger Reunion

I bet I do not need to say more about the other norm dishes, because, well, they do taste normal. Nothing spectacular, except that the Sweet and Sour Pork was a little soft (not crunchy at all). I will only give an average rating to those dishes.

So, for the Dragon and Tiger Reunion (this was directly translated from Cantonese "Lung Fu Wui", lolz..), I've to say that this dish is very special. It was spicy and moderately milky, with some seafood taste. I can find crab, prawns, squid, "Lala", "Tin Kai", and some Chinese herbs.

The whole pot was served on a portable burner, to heat up the pot and to keep warm.

The first few sips was a little strange though the taste was acceptable. Soon after, you will taste the sweetness of the seafood. I will definitely recommend this!

However, during our visit, we had an encounter with the not-so-fresh prawns. But the shop is kind enough to replace all our prawns with fresh fish slice. Not bad hor? And the service is quite good. They keep apologizing for the non-fresh prawns, which made us felt a little "pai seh" for the complaint. And a little drawback for this dish is that it is quite pricey, at RM48 per pot.

All the dishes were quite small in portion. Nevertheless, give it a try! It is worth to try something new.

Till the next post, tschus~

-Shookie-

A New Experiment with Ettusais

Ettusais, it shall be read/pronouns as "et-tu-seh". Ettusais is well known for their medicated acne skin care, target mainly on adult acne!

A little curious on the reason of this new exploration into a totally brand new skin care? Well, my skin is getting bad lately, as well as Baby Cheng. Hers is at a much more worsen condition than mine, probably due to stress from exams and lack of sleep.

The newly repacked balancing Artistry essentials were too oily for my preference. Oil control does not work very well on my skin. Pimples keep resurfacing even though I do apply plenty of Artistry Blemish Gel. I preferred the old balancing Artistry essentials, sadly, it's not in production anymore. Yet, I've to admit that some Artistry products are awesome! I'm into their Blemish Gel and Time Defiance Skin Refinishing Lotion.

So, to start off, I google-d around for details. Some netizens said that Ettusais is a Japanese brand name under the name of Shiseido. It might be true. Reading from the packaging, it was written in Japanese.

Plenty of positive feedback from bloggers on Ettusais products. Hence, I decided to give it a try. By the way, this is the link to their website: http://www.ettusais.sg. They have a wide range of anti-acne products. Note that the price in S$ is higher (after conversion to RM).

Here are my damages:

• A 3-step skin care consists of Acne Gentle Wash, Skin Version Up Extra (serum with collagen), and Aqua Shooter Extra (toner). First, rub the soap until foamy, gather the foam and apply it to the face. Wash as usual (gently, of course!). 2nd step, immediately apply the Skin Version Up Extra. This will enhance the skin to absorp better. Lastly, apply the Aqua Shooter Extra. The combination of this 3 steps shall give a moist skin. If not, apply the moisturizer.

A 3-step skin care.

• Pore minimizer set. Zero Pore Coat for day use (can be used as a base), and Zero Pore Mask for night (A few drops on the face will do. No need to wash.).

Pore Minimizer Set

• Acne Nighttime Defense. Apply this at night as the last step. It helps to regulate the oil production hence the skin will be less oily.

As a token for purchasing these stuff, the kind product assistant gave me some samples. She was not stingy though. She gave me plenty of samples on the products that I did not purchase. Love it till the max!

Medicated Acne Gentle Make Off (make-up remover), and Medicated Acne Daytime Defense (powdery foundation)

Medicated Acne Real Fit Concealer (concealer), Medicated Acne Clear Spots Superior (acne gel),

Medicated Acne Whitening Essence (scars lightener) and Medicated Acne Whittening UV EX (oil block, can be used as pre make-up base)

My real damages:

Huge damages!

• Acne Gentle Wash - RM39
• Skin Version Up Extra - RM72
• Aqua Shooter Extra - RM88

Good news was that I managed to get these at a promotional price - RM139!

• Zero Pore Coat - RM57
• Zero Pore Mask - RM76

Another promotional package at - RM89!

However the Acne Nighttime Defense wasn't in the promotional item list. It is retailing at RM90. My total damage, RM319!

This time I really need to stay grounded. No money shall be spent anymore!

-Shookie-

Betty Crocker's Chocolate Brownies D.I.Y

Argh..it's been quite some time since I last bake. I was really lazy though. Me, on a peaceful Sunday, just wanted to laze around the house doing nothing. NOTHING AT ALL.

I was convinced by Mummy to bake since there will be no breakfast for Monday. She wanted carrot cake, but I find it too tedious. After all, I'm just lazy to shred the carrots.

Hence, I made brownies. To be exact, Betty Crocker's Chocolate Brownies. My ex-colleague, Erizna, introduced this to me. She is a wonderful cook. She can bake very well, really! I wondered if she still does bake in Australia.

Let's get the ingredients ready:

• Betty Crocker's Chocolate Brownies prepacked mix. (I only managed to find this in Cold Storage)
• As stated on the back of the box, prepared 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 3 tbsp of water, 2 or 3 eggs.
• Extra ingredients as you desired. I put in walnuts and extra chocolate chips.

The Main Ingredients


Walnuts and Chocolate Chips (ooppss..it's blurred)

Follow the steps below:

Step 1. Place the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them until fluffy.



Step 2. Add in Betty Crocker's Chocolate Brownies Mix.

Step 3. Add in oil and water.



Step 4. Lastly, add in your desired ingredients.



Step 5. Grease the pan. I used a 8x8" pan. Soon after, transfer the mixture into the pan.



Step 6. Put in to bake. Adjust the setting to be plus minus 160C, for about 30-50 minutes. These settings actually depends on your oven's condition. The best of all is to observe the baking condition from time to time and re-adjust your setting.



And tadaa..this is the final product!



Hope you've enjoy today's baking session. Lolz. I'm boosting myself and made myself cheeky. Haha..

Anyway, hope you will try to make this one day. Add in more chocolate chips if you want it to be chocolaty.

Tschus~

-Shookie-

Wish Upon A Heart

Stumbled upon a lovely cup cake on one of the weekend's morning. I wasn't really paying attention to this as I just wanted to have something for breakfast, until Baby Cheng said "Jie, look at this. It's a love shape raisin."

Love Shape Cup Cake. It is my current wallpaper.

Wow..that really cute. Mommy bought cup cakes from Baker's Cottage as one of our snack-y bites. Never had we come across a lovely one.

Hmm. I wondered - It's the beginning of a wonderful day.

-Shookie-

An Outing With Riddick

An outing again. This time, Baby Cheng is diligently studying at home. Bro just came back from Vietnam on Friday (which means he is earning a lot of money to spend! ..hehehe..), so both of us went out for a movie and some shopping in KLCC.

Discussing about movie, do you think "G.I. Joe" is good? I did not receive really good comments about the movie. First, CatFish said he watched it for the action. Second, MengYee said the storyline is silly a.k.a. childish, nothing much by the way. She recommended "District 9" instead. Alien? Hmm..she sure has a certain taste in movie, and since the movie is new, so both of us decided to go for it.

District 9 Movie Poster

"District 9" was indeed quite different from my liking. Science fiction, thriller, action. A little bit bored in the beginning, but until the end, it is action packed. Quite interesting for me! Check out IMDB for the review and ratings.

Okay. It's confession time. I did some shopping today. However, the money was spent wisely, a good investment, i would say. BOOKS.

There is an advertisement on today's The Star newspaper about the Malaysia's Bookfest in KLCC Convention Centre. So I thought, it's a good time for me to get the rest of the Twilight Saga series, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Eventhough I've already completed reading them, I do think it's worthwhile to collect a complete series. Nonetheless, Stephenie Meyer is good.

Here's my complete Twilight Saga series.

Twilight Saga Series - Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn.

Besides getting those, we bought these as well. OF COURSE, at a discounted price.

From top left - The Innocent Man, The Six Sacred Stones for Riddick, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle for Shookie and cook books for Mommy.

I've yet to complete the two books which I had bought from Kinokuniya a few weeks back. Guess all these books are going to keep me occupied and grounded at home. No more shopping. It's time to stay at home and be a good girl.

-Shookie-

p/s: A co-incidence bump with Pierre Martin (and he was with his GF)

McD Ramadhan Feast!

Selamat Menyambut Bulan Ramadhan!

and

Selamat Berbuka Puasa!

McValue Lunch has extended to dinner! That's rite! My all time favourite fast food restaurant is having a promotion! That means, for the month of Ramadhan, we can enjoy a superbly cheap McValue meals day and night!

Check out the leaflet!

Great selection for McValue Buka Puasa

Guess you guys must be wondering that, for sure I'll patronize McD as frequent as I can in the month of Ramadhan. Ah hem..though it sounded tempting, but I have my determination too.

Don't worry about me. You guys have to take care of your calories too yeah! Keep healthy!

-Shookie-

Totally Shock!!

OH MY GOD! I did not believe my eyes when I see them!

After withdrawing money from Maybank's ATM, I quickly hold the newly withdraw money and my purse; not wasting any time, I walked across to a shoe shop where Mommy was in. I tried to fold the money so that I would be able to slot them into zipper compartment of my handbag.

WTF! The stack of money was so hard to fold. Feeling weird, and a little nervous too, I took a good look of the money. Gosh~ I do not know it for real. The RM50 notes look so much different!

The first question that came to my fickle mind was "ARE THEY FAKE? DAMN, I HAVE A WHOLE STACK! WTH!"

I tried to calm down myself or else Mommy will be more nervous than me. I tried hard to convince myself. Believing it, for God's sake, I think they are real. By the way, I've just withdraw them from a proper ATM machine. There's no reason anyone, anyhow was able to swap the fake money into the ATM machine. No conspiracy here. I told myself.

Back home, I google-d for the new RM50 notes. Huh~. Truly, they are the new notes. *smile*

Take a glance of the new RM50 notes!

What a insensitive citizen am I! I did not know anything about the new RM50 notes. Lolz. Baby Cheng had already known about it a few weeks back. Shame on me!

For those who have yet to own the new RM50 notes, go to your nearest ATM machine!

*big grin*

-Shookie-

He's a CUTIE sometimes!

August, 6th. I was about to leave for work and I'd found a cutie laying down at the car porch. Guess who?

...

...

...

...

...

...

Tadaaa~

The forever strong and mascular, JOHNSON!

Gosh..he looked so much like a puppy despite the fact that he's about 60kg, with his head bigger than mine and is able to stand tall reaching my height.

Bare in mind that even with his childish character to be gentle and playful, his is able to make strong attacks on human. No one in my family had escape his playfulness, with the impact of scratches and bruises.

And yet, yesterday he was such a CUTIE! I can't resist to just walk away and ignore his cute laying position. So here it goes, a blog for the cutie!

-Shookie-

The Devilline Weekend

Ouch..ouch..my wrist is still aching, even after taking ponstan, applied counter-pain and now, I had my wrist bandaged!

WeLoveOutings kaki(s) had a great weekend. Our hang-out to shop for Hui Ping's new phone and her birthday celebration at Shangri-la Hotel was marvellous! We named it "The Devilline Weekend".

Haha..sounds secretive yeah? Devilline is actually Hui Ping's nickname, or more of a webname; I would say. Her English name is Angeline, and somehow she transformed her name to a cuter, kinky ones, Devilline.

Saturday. We went to IKANO to get her phone. GOSH! Her dad is splurging her with a new phone which she had been nagging about wanting one since 2 years back. (And followed by a lunch buffet at Shangri-la Hotel on Sunday!) What a splurge!

Oops..no photos of us getting the phone as the shop (Sony Center) was extremely busy. Anyway, she got a SE W508i.

We then head to Ikea's Cafe for lunch, or erm..tea will be more appropriate. LOLz.

From Left - Phototaking on the escalator (haha..); Us with the yummy meatballs!

These were what we had for tea. Ikea's famous meatballs, and The Daim's Cake.

Checking out on Hui Ping's new phone, and self-vain photos.

Shopping at The Curve's Flea Market in the evening till night. Found a cute ribbon-type hair clip for Baby Cheng.

Chapter 2 - Sunday. Hui Ping's birthday celebration at The Lemon Garden Cafe, Shangri-la Hotel, KL. Two thumbs up for this restaurant! The food was fresh and tasty.

From Top - The grill section; Local noodles section.

Shookie's favourite: PRAWNS!! They serve baby lobsters too! And of course, oysters for the aphrodisiac fanatics!

From Left - Sushi & sashimi; A variety of mix vegetables & fruits salad.

From Top - Salad bar; Italian kitchen, where we found pastas, bruchetta, pizzas and some "the unknown to me" Italian food.

The bread, ham, cheese bar.

From Top - Chocolate Fondue(s)! [ Notice on the (s)? They have white chocolate fondue! >_< ]; Fruits section.

Desserts - CAKES & Ice Cream! Their fruit tarts are amazingly tasty - crunchy dough with a generous amount of fruit toppings.

Finally, after a tour around the restaurant, here's the introduction of the food! Erm..sorry for uploading only a picture of the food that we've taken. We enjoyed the food, but we've forgotten to take pictures. Big sorry! *blush*

These are the only photos of food that we've taken - Mushroom soup, scrumptious salad and the cute, little fruit tarts.

Snapping photos after our meal. Hmm..we were extremely full!

Here are the pictures of the birthday girl:

Hui Ping with her family.

Hui Ping with her mom, all the uncles, and grandma.

Hui Ping with Aunt Michelle and Baby Cheng.

Lastly, our self vain photos.



We've eaten too full. We had even skipped dinner that Sunday. Gosh, my stomach is still bulging out. I've been eating too much lately and I've put on some weight. Any slimming techniques to intro?

-Shookie-