Random Notes

Rules of this Country

There is a new segment in the MIX.fm morning show called “Trumours”. I caught the repeats during drive home when some officer from Pizza Hut called in to clarify the use of race solely for survey purposes to check market response. When asked by Serena C about charging accordingly to race, the guy refuted the claims and said, “We follow the rules of this country.” Pray tell – since when Malaysia has rules on racism?

Clean towels

The tea lady in office did it again. Despite telling her to replace hand towels on daily basis in the pantry and also the washrooms, she didn’t. It has been a week that the same towels remained where they were. Sometimes, if we are lucky, she would change two towels a week. I thought of using my own handkerchief to wipe my hands or tissue paper and not to report this to HR but, I couldn’t help it anymore. For someone who expresses disgust when people use the wash basin to spit, she didn’t find it disgusting that 40+ people use the same towel to wipe their hands for a week. I am not going to touch the towels ever again.

President Obama

There has been speculation that President Obama is born in Kenya and hence, he’s not eligible to be the president of United States. If you ask me, I would like to quote Deng Xiaoping’s very insightful statement, “It does not matter whether they are black cats or white cats; so long as they catch mice, they are good cats.” Seriously. Democracy is at work in USA so, let’s get over with it! Focus on more pressing things hitting the country and globally! I felt utterly frustrated and disappointed when I look at who is manning our own country. Haiz. President Obama is most welcomed anytime here!

All the more reason for English language to be taken seriously

The “communication” department wrote the following e-mail yesterday:-

Dear All,

Hope everyone had enjoyed our Family Day last weekend… for more your memoir (baca terlalu banyak Memoir of the Geisha kot) and safekeeping, do visit the below*. We have safe (selamatkan? Bahaya nya!) the photos captured by our Professional photographer (err? Professional? You gotta be kidding me!). You may copy and download. (copy is never enough, kena download jugak)

Happy viewing !!

*and the link provided by the Chumak is not even working.

I foresee future correspondences using more garbage grammar than this. The best part is, of all people in the office, they sent me for basic writing class (English).

Good Eating

Well, I have been meeting up with friends to catch up for the past two weeks, it was hectic. Food then, was inevitable. So, here’s a summary of the good eating I had for the past two weeks, most of which are my favorites.

Hawaian Teriyaki Beef Burger, New York New York Café, One Utama

I love this burger! The beef is tender and succulent with juices oozing with each bite. The slice of pineapple adds zest to the beef patty. Fries portion is a little big for me, so I didn’t finish it. Apart from this burger, the beef eater sandwich also comes highly recommended – you can have it with plain white, whole meal or foccacia bread.

Beef Glass Noodles, Fong Lye, the Gardens

I always avoid this restaurant because it is always crowded till one day, a friend finally persuaded me to try. We were given a number and then, within 10 minutes, we were ushered to our seats. And I finally know why it is always packed!

I like this dish because of the little side snacks that came with it. Sometimes, you will get shredded jelly fishes or baby octopus. This time, I had the main bowl of beefy goodness with stir fried waxed meat, fishball with sausage and lotus root.

Butter Cake Anglaise, Cristang, PJ Avenue 8

The gang celebrated Datin’s birthday with this butter cake Anglaise at Cristang. We also had the famous pork burger, tandoori burger, nasi lemak goreng (two thumbs up!), pork vindaloo, pork rib ambilla, 4 season stir fried vege, honey chilli chicken. As if all these were not enough, we went on to Jalan Tengah, PJ for a round of lor ngap!

Lor Ngap, Jalan Tengah, PJ

Even though we were quite full, we still had some space to stomach this lor ngap. We also ordered other side dishes – ham choy, lor egg, mushroom and porridge.

Mushroom, ham choy, lor egg, Jalan Tengah, PJ

I think this group is the epitome of all gluttons! One old lady couldn’t resist giggling at us upon seeing our giddiness over the lor ngap.

Lor Mai Kai with chicken floss and char siew, Mandarin Oriental

Mango Pudding with tangy mango sauce, Mandarin Oriental

Durian pancake, Mandarin Oriental

I used to go to Mandarin Oriental for dim sum when I was working somewhere around KL. The dim sum used to be good. This time round, I find the dim sum a bit of a let down. However, the egg tarts still taste great. Since a friend has RM100 vouchers to dine at any restaurant in Mandarin Oriental, she asked me and other girlfriends along. We chose Lai Poh Heen Chinese restaurant. I quite like the lor mai kai. The mango pudding is still as good as old times and this is the first time I tried the durian pancake. Not earth shattering, but it’s worth a try. It was rich with durian flesh wrapped with a thin slice of pastry and generous dollup of whipped cream. Yes, utterly sinful!

There you have it.. it was seriously a gluttonous two weeks of my life.

P/S And I wonder why I am still coughing.

One Lost Star

2009 is indeed not a celebrity-friendly year! After Michael Jackson’s and Farrah Fawcett’s passing, I thought the worst is over. This is far worse. The world has lost another star today. Yasmin Ahmad.

A sense of curiosity was how I got to know about Yasmin Ahmad’s work. After a big hoo hah over censorship and such, I decided to watch the most controversial Malaysian made movie, “Sepet“. There was no turning back ever since. I watched almost every movie that Kak Yasmin directed and never fail to fall in love again and again with the characters and also, the stories portrayed. Her work was always simplistic and yet, carried such deep and profound messages within.

I enjoyed listening to a friend in Melbourne talked about the conversations he had with Kak Yasmin whenever the latter was visiting Melbourne. I did not have the chance to meet her personally but I believe that she had touched many people in her life with her work, her life story and above all, her kind and pure heart.

You will be greatly (and sadly) missed, Kak Yasmin. Al-fatihah.

Random Notes

Back up, back up, back up

A friend in IT told me, there are three simple steps for better IT management. Back up, back up and back up. Well, I did it finally before all my CDs with my photos got corrupted, I got myself 1TB of Maxtor Basics for RM349 from Digital Mall. It could be cheaper in the coming PC fair this July 30th, but the thought of walking body to body, risks being pick pocketed, the crazy parking on weekends, I simply dread crowds, so I got it earlier.

New Handphone

I haven’t gotten myself a new handphone even when the current Sony Ericsson is killing me with its sticky key pads. My dear sis bought a China made iphone for me to try. It sure looks like a mini iphone but somehow I just don’t have the time to learn how to operate the damn thing. My colleague said I resist changes. Yes, I admit. I am quite a gadget unfriendly person. I am not so much into gadgets like ipod, iphone, or whatever that has “i” in front. So, it was given away to my cousin sister who is going to pursue her studies in local uni up north.

Cough remedy

I think I had tried everything on the shelf for my cough. It came and went, and then it came again. It’s really annoying. I think with all the different kinds of concoction and medicine I have been taking the past three weeks, you can even process the super medicine for cough using my urine.

Funniest status on MSN I read this week

Status: Wtf I went into 7 Eleven to buy some bread and they thought I wanted to rob them

For the record, he’s a body builder and planning to join Mr Asia next year. So, look out for a body builder with penyamun looks. LOL!

Little Nyonya

I have been following this series since the first episode. It’s really a good Singaporean tv series. Yes, I admit I am an aunty now for chasing after such shows but this series made us understand more about peranakan lives and also, the hardship the common people went through during Japanese occupation in Malaya/Singapore. I really hate the evil first wife. Wah, feel like slapping her around, push her to the floor and step on her face repetitively! Eeee!!!

Sarcasm

My mom today asked my sis to buy more cans of Gulong stew pork. My sis was surprised that the two cans she bought just last week had finished so fast, so she got annoyed and asked where did the two cans go?

Then my mom got irritated and said, “No, we didn’t eat them. I use them as display in our house museum.”

Sarcasm runs deep in the family.

Yasmin Ahmad

ThatJames: Yasmin Ahmad heart attack
ThatJames: did u hear?
Gina: serious ah?
ThatJames: then someone on twitter said she died
Gina: ah? fuck!
ThatJames: passed away
Gina: serious???
ThatJames: but apparently no
ThatJames: “passed out”
Gina: ok
Gina: passed out lah
ThatJames: now ICU
Gina: not passed on lah
Gina: wah lao eh
Gina: if she dies
Gina: then 2009 is not a celebrity friendly year
ThatJames: hahah
ThatJames: that’s one way of looking at it

Let us pray that she will recover speedily. God bless.

A Cough That Mend A Friendship

A fellow reader asked why am I becoming so tardy in updating my blog… well, I was a little under the weather for the past few weeks. The nagging cough couldn’t seem to cease this time even though it almost did last week after taking “Cough King”, thanks to Jasmine! I said “almost” because it almost disappear till I couldn’t resist the really nice chicken dish whipped out by my cousin brother over the weekend.

Never ever in my life, a cough linger that long! For 3 weeks! Normally, within a week, I would be alright, usually after a series of voicelessness, then coarseness in the throat, followed by flu, I would recover.

Must be the damn haze. This morning, I woke up to burnt smell, no thanks to the hot spots in Sumatera. I got a little suffocated, probably old childhood asthma is acting up, I felt queasy the past few days. This morning, thank God it finally rain, but not as heavy as I hope it would be to totally wipe out the haze.

Last week too, an old friend showed up at my door with a thermos of brewed apple and ginger. She brewed me this remedy for cough as soon as she read my status on Facebook that I was coughing my lungs out and could taste blood in my throat. It was so sweet of her.

It was a surprise indeed. This friend and I had a fall out a few years back due to some problems. We haven’t spoken since for over two years apart from exchanging pleasantries whenever we do bump into each other at the mall. I am really humbled by her compassion and consideration. She is indeed mature to disregard all the petty silliness and came back into my life path in a good way. She made me feel that she cherished our friendship all along and not to let small matters to get in the way. I am ashamed of myself for not giving her a chance earlier. I think this is a turning point of my life to believe that, there are actually really good people out there, even though sometimes life gives you a series of unbelievably bad friends to realize how sincere and good some people really are.

If you ask me, what good came out of this nagging long cough, it probably taught me the value of friendship.