As we were preparing for CNY, we received a bad news about our colleague, a pool driver on the eve of CNY. He got into an accident in the morning before CNY and has been in coma ever since. We went to visit him but didn’t get to see him as he was placed in ICU. It has been the 6th day he was unconscious. They did a few surgeries on him to reduce the swelling in his brain. Please, readers, help to pray for Mr Gobinathan so that he would wake up and heals smoothly.

We honored the first day of CNY by going vegetarian. It has been a family tradition. I don’t remember since when we started taking vegetarian on first day of CNY but I guess it’s good. We also observe vegetarian do on every nine emperor’s festival yearly for the whole 9 days. I hope we could continue doing this.

Mom is again the main cook for this year with cousin brother helping her out. Since my skin is rather allergic to all kinds of detergent, I couldn’t help out at the kitchen. The skin on my fingers suffered from itchiness and redness after making nin gou as I kept washing my hands with detergent when I was in a hurry.. shouldn’t have done that. So, the week was spent only doing light house chores and ensure that I use gloves when touching detergent.

Yesterday, our neighbour hired lion dance troupe to bring luck to their house. Other neighbours flocked along to check out the auspicious occasion. This is probably Ern Ern’s first lion dance. She too has a small lion we got from hampers and dancing it along to the beat of the drums. The best part was, I noticed there were many young children in the troupe, playing the drums and gongs! It’s motivating to see children participate in enriching and preserving cultures. And to our surprise, they were little Indian children! Haha. Talk about muhibbah! We don’t need our government to tell us how we should mingle. We have been having this harmonious relationship for so long and yet, some people need to use the racial card to divide us!

I hope your CNY has been great so far. I kinda loathe eating too much left overs. Luckily this year, we didn’t overcook. So everything was fine. We try to have as many simple meals as possible as I told my mom, it’s not necessary to go extravagant. Moderation is key.

Shangri-La stops serving shark fin

KUALA LUMPUR: Starting today, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will cease serving shark fin in all its restaurants.

The hotel group will also decline orders for shark fin on the menu for banquets.

Shangri-La KL area director of communications Rosemarie Wee said several of Shangri-La’s hotels had already taken shark fin off their menus since December 2010.

“Now, all 72 of our hotels have made this commitment to save the sharks,” Wee said.

“The process was gradual as we had to make sure the logistics were in place and we could reduce and eliminate stock. Sustainability has always been at the forefront of our corporate social responsibility efforts.

“Shark fin has been a traditional staple at dinners and weddings, but the younger generation is not keen on consuming it any more.

“In fact, there have been requests not to have shark fin on the menu. In the last few years, demand for shark fin has dropped,” she said.

However, Wee said banquet bookings that included shark fin made before today would be honoured.

Shangri-La will also phase out bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass in all its operated restaurants within this year. The hotel chain will introduce alternatives to shark fin, such as bamboo fungus, lily bulbs, American ginseng, snow fungus, sea whelks and shimeiji mushrooms.

Shangri-La’s Sustainable Seafood Policy is part of its “Sanctuary, Shangri-La’s Care for Nature” project, an initiative for consistency in biodiversity, conservation and habitat protection across all its resorts.

It includes the development of marine sanctuaries for the protection of reefs and marine life.

Studies have shown that the number of certain species of sharks has been reduced by 95% since the 1970s due to indiscriminate slaughter.

Finally.. there is hope! All hail to Mr Robert Kuok!

Wishing you people, Gong hei fatt choi! Happy Dragon Year 2012! May happiness, good health, abundant wealth and great love follow you wherever you go!

I quickly went inside my house to get the old folks. Somehow, nobody was home! This is very unlikely! All of them went out at the same time! There is usually people in my house!

I told the MCA people and thought they would just leave and come another time. Instead, they said, they will leave the cheques with me and asked me to sign on their behalf.  I was elated to find the cheques of Rm100 each in my parents and relatives’ names. The MCA lady explained to me that, my folks were registered with MCA, hence the special angpows. In the end, after all that, they asked for a photo to be taken. Shit! I was in my hideous polka dot uniform! I hope they don’t publish that hideous photo with me forcing a grin because I was too worried to be seen in my polka dot uniform in some country wide campaign! Shit!!! If you see a sotong smiling ear to ear, in polka dot uniform – that’s the idiotic me!

Then, towards the evening, I went out with some colleagues and family for late dinner (actually it’s almost supper time!) when we saw a group of people holding PKR banners walking by. Our Selayang MP, William Leong was distributing Mandarin oranges to the public! Goodness! Haha! All happened within one day! So people, be prepared! I believe election is just round the corner!

I was looking at the trailer from a bird’s eye view. As the trailer was moving along, I saw more dead bodies but this time, I saw their hearts were all hanging out from their bodies. As if they knew I was curious and asking, “Why?”, a voice in my head said to me, “This is to make sure that they are dead!”.

A whiff of zinc pierced my nostrils, I knew for sure it was the smell of blood. There was a man mopping up the blood on the trailer’s floor with two more other people, seen cutting open the corpses’ chest to lay out the hearts, as if they were butchering some dead cattle. Then, they looked up, at me. Their stares sent chills to my spine. I felt suffocated and I woke up, breaking in hot, afternoon sweat.

Firstly, I don’t think I want to sprain my brain worrying which wet suit would fit me. Secondly, I think I will look like a beached whale in a wet suit. A friend who is quite fit lamented that, she needs to lose her tummy to fit into a wet suit, otherwise, she would look terrible in a wet suit. I stared at her and then shook my head. I need to lose HALF my body weight to even get into a wet suit. Hahaha! And, I feel very "geli" when it comes to fishes and things under the sea. I don’t even eat sea cucumber ok! Haha! So I jokingly told my friends, no.. I am good. I think I shall "dive" by switching on Nat Geo HD on Astro and wear goggles in my living room. Now my Astro got HD ok.. don’t play play! LOL!

Well, actually, I think I didn’t want to go diving mainly because I am such a klutz! Super clumsy! I remember going for an orientation on the first day of work, I almost knocked down a filing tray while extending my hand for a handshake! It was quite hysterical! Luckily, I managed to salvage the tray before it toppled over! The people there must be thinking my surname is Klutz!

I remember vividly when I was walking to the bus station after tuition with a friend, my knees suddenly went limp when getting down from a pavement and I actually fell on my face! It was a lucky thing that my friend was there to help me! I was so embarrassed that I decided to skip tuition for a week!

Once, I accidentally put in my credit card bills in my boss’ incoming documents folder. It was a lucky thing that he didn’t ask me.. and merely passing it out to me.. Hahahahaha! Maybe I was thinking, how nice it would be if he offered to pay my credit card bills. LOL! Dream on!

I could even banged my elbow on the glass partition when I was getting out from my boss office carrying a pile of documents. *Shake head in disbelief!*

I was lucky though when I went to Taman Negara. I was NOT the klutz.. but somehow, being labelled as one because of my size. Hahahaha! When we were all stalled from proceeding further in the cave – the participants behind us kept cursing me for holding them up, when there was actually a skinny girl in front of me, too afraid of the dark and was crying when negotiating the narrow paths with gaping dark ditches… If I were a klutz when going through Gua Telinga… I think that’s it lah.. I won’t be here writing this!

So, to save everyone from worrying about me, it’s better for me to sit this one out. Haha. Glad you guys got certified! Woo hoo!

Been wearing the same blouses to work every smart Friday and things got a little stale. I was wearing a blouse I rarely wear to office two weeks ago and a few colleagues actually commented that I looked nice and there was an improvement. Now they want to see me wear high heels, and not the boring mules everyday. I don’t know why they give a shit about what I wear to work when I myself don’t even give a damn! Haha. Somehow, their comments made me a little self conscious. People do look at you and how you present yourself.

When it comes to personal grooming, I think I would epic fail if there’s a test to it. I am just very casual.. sometimes to a certain degree of being a hobo! Perhaps I should get a better hair cut.

Anyway.. back to the shopping today. Since I am not your regular size person, I wear everything extra, extra, extra large, it’s never easy to find things that fit me. My requirements for a blouse is really, really simple. As long as there is a V neck or a lower neck line, 3/4 sleeve or long sleeve (no sleeveless or regular short sleeve because I would look like a wrestler!) and plain colors in the shades of grey, black or brown. Is that too much to ask? I was at Joan Allen when I saw the material that I really like, stretchable nylon + cotton but the prints are so glaring that people might mistaken me as a clown. I can never understand WHY plus sized people have to endure buying such ugly colors or cuts, unfriendly materials to bulges and dress 20 years older than we already are.

Sometimes I don’t know how the purchasing departments do their jobs in selecting clothes for plus sized people. Perhaps in their minds, plus sized people would not look nice in anything they wear, so screw it. And they go for cheapest materials. Things that made plus sized people look even bigger and older than they already are! Intense aquamarine? Shocking pink? Neon green?? Geez! And horizontal stripes?? COME ON! Blouses that are too long that might pass as pajamas instead of working blouses. Come on lah!

I think, plus sized people should design their own clothes in Malaysia and not let the skinny bitches/himbos who don’t understand what we want! Haha! Not too sure though, who designs for plus sized ladies though – so designers, please design with consideration.

Sent from phone. Forgive the typo. ♥ Gina

PS. Why can’t we have selections such as these here in KL???

I gave up lecturing them in order to avoid further conflict among neighbours. We already have enough psychotic neighbours to make our lives miserable – neighbours who don’t know how to reverse their cars so they asked you to move your car so they can go forward! Neighbours who let air out from your car tyres, etc.

Ok.. back to the original story.

Sometime ago, I managed to get Scooby out. Scooby is now with the new family, a family that loves him to bits. I am really glad things turned out okay for him.

Now, this dog is also Scooby’s friend. At first, the neighbour decided to give both the dogs up since they never walk the dogs, feed them with leftovers and they let the dogs shit, eat, sleep and bathe in the cage. Obi was not that lucky. After Scooby was gone, she was left alone to suffer on her own. Obi kinda got used to her confined life. That didn’t stop her from barking at strangers at the door to alert her owners. Such.. is the life of a loyal dog.

Today is good day for Obi. Our neighbour decided to give her up because they are getting a new car and there’s no space to keep her cage. Can you beat that? *Roll eyes till eyes fell out from sockets!* Anyway, I thank God that this happened – and why can’t they get a new car sooner???

Obi was adopted just now at 6.30 pm. Here are the photos on how we transported her to the new place – which is just 5 minutes away. She was secured using rafia strings because the previous owner didn’t want to part with the cage.. I hope they don’t use it to keep another poor dog or small animals! Apparently, they already given away their pet parakeets and parrot as well. All to make way for a brand new car.. Jesus.

The new owner already showed his compassionate side by giving Obi a bread to eat!

Now Obi is adopted by a dog lover, Angie’s dad who owns a factory in Kepong and she will be roaming free at the factory compound, no cage and no leash! There’s an old dog, named Toki there. I think most of you remember Toki – he is the brave dog that saved his master from being robbed – an old dog with partial vision because he was half blind from old age. So now, Toki has a new friend to play with! Yes… Obi will be taken care of by Toki’s owner, Angie’s dad!

I am glad things are looking up for Obi. I received sms from my cousin sis that Obi is now very happy – been jumping up and down all evening when they brought her to the new home. The new owner said will send her to the vet and grooming tomorrow before transferring her to the factory premise. They walked her just now for the first time.. probably first time in 2 years being held captive in the cage.

I guess they will rename her. Just now, she responded to any names being called simply because she was simply too happy to be free again! and she’s been playing chase with the new owner’s children and also jumping up and down. they said, she is behaving more like a monkey than a dog.. jumping non stop. HAHAHAH!!

Another news.. since the family loves Obi, they decided to keep her at home instead of the factory. Angie’s dad will build her a new home. But Obi will have to stay with Toki at the factory till the new house is ready. Tonight, Obi will be sleeping in a nice warm basket with old towels.. free from the cage and dry from the rain.

Let’s pray for more compassionate gestures and kindness to the world.

PS. I think they are renaming the dog, Mini.

Colleague #1: My maid ah… you cannot stop supervising her one.. once you stop, she will cin cai cin cai do things!

Colleague #2: Oh… I am lucky. My maid has been with us many years.. basically since my secondary school days.. so, she’s like our family liao. She made me fruit juice every morning.. because I am so damn lazy to do it myself!

Colleague #3: Mine is still new, so not sure yet lah.. how is her performance lor…

Then the three of them looked at me, because I was rather quiet and was eating throughout the “maid” talk.

Colleague #1: So Gina, do you have a maid at home?

In between eating my claypot chicken rice, I nodded my head and said.

Me: Yes.. I have maids. I have 4 maids at home.

Colleagues: Woah!!! Why so many one? Your house damn big ah? Why ned so many maids? Wah Gina, you must be damn rich!! Why you need so many maids for ah?

Me: Oh.. maid #1 cooks and do the houseworks like washing dishes, sweeping floor and mopping. Maid #2 does laundry, ironing, sometimes do a bit of repair work at home.. Maid #3 made my breakfast sometimes in the morning, and will peel fruits for me. I don’t like to eat fruits you see… so she had to peel them and lay them nicely for me. Maid #4 is our gardener and act as security guard as well.

Colleagues: Wah lao.. Gina… you very terra ah! SO many maids!!

Me: Ya.. Chinese some more!

Colleagues: UNBELIEVABLE!!! How can your family afford them ah?

Me: It’s ok one.. they come free of charge.

Colleagues: ?????????????????

Me: Maid #1 is my mom, Maid #2 is my aunt, Maid #3 is my sister and Maid #4 is my dad! LOLLLLL!!!!!

Colleagues: HAHAHAHHAHAHA!! You bloody idiot!! Hahahha!

Me: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!

Of course not.. since my parents are much older now, and since I work near home, I’ve taken up numerous house chores to ease the burden of the elderly. I was just joking when I told them to lighten the afternoon lunch mood.

By JOSEPH SIPALAN and JOSEPH KAOS Jr
newsdesk

PETALING JAYA: If you are working at the Defence Ministry, be sure not to wear “clothes that poke eye”.

This was one of the many colourful
descriptions of “Ethical Clothing” (etika berpakaian) that is acceptable within the ministry’s standards.

Netizens on social networking sites were literally ROFL, which is cyberspeak for “rolling on the floor laughing”, as they shared the link to the ministry’s amusing English translation of the staff dress code on its official website.

“Clothes that poke eye” is a literal translation of pakaian yang menjolok mata, which is supposed to mean revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia. Other finds included: “collared shirts and tight Malay civet berbutang three”, which, in Malay, is berkolar baju Melayu cekak musang berbutang tiga.

Baju batik lengan panjang berkolar / cekak musang buatan Malaysia, meanwhile is translated as “long-sleeve batik shirt with collar / mongoose fight made in Malaysia”.

There was also “shine closed”, which was translated from kasut bertutup, or closed-toe shoes.

Another was the brief summary of the ministry’s history on the website, which read: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat.”

The actual summary in Bahasa Malaysia read: Selepas pengunduran tentera British, Kerajaan Malaysia mengambil langkah drastik untuk meningkatkan tahap keselamatan negara dari sebarang ancaman.

The ministry took down the English translated version several hours after it went widespread on Twitter and Facebook.

A ministry spokesperson said a clarification has since been posted on the website, adding that page hits shot up remarkably yesterdayThe clarification on the website said corrective action was being taken on the related software to ensure translations were accurate.

Only in Malaysia….

Singapore was super, duper hot during my visit the past 3 days. I felt as if water has been sucked out from my body and the only thing walking around is just some mindless form of myself, treading the path along Clarke Quay and Chinatown. Haha! Seriously! It was super, duper hot! I really hate the weather!

I am not going to write about where to go in Singapore – in fact, throughout my several visits to the land down under, I never came up with a plan. I just go with the flow. Heh! I just would like to document all the funny/weird/agonizing things that happened throughout the trip as keepsakes of this journey called my life.

1. Since we kiasi that the Custom might be jammed up during the weekend long holiday, we started journey at 4.30 am. It’s crazy really.

2. Got the shock of our lives when we passed by Seremban stopover and saw about 200 Mat Rempits hogging two petrol stations. We were glad that we pumped petrol while we were still in Subang before embarking on our journey to Singapore. I was wondering which poor sod who is unlucky enough to run out of petrol at such ungodly hour and had to stop at these two petrol stations. Moral of the story – please people, make sure your gas tank is full before you go on a long journey.

3. A Mat Rempit was tail-gating us briefly before Jasmine managed to shake him off – without our knowledge. She was worried I might freak out.

4. These so called “dare devils” did some stunts and this is probably my second time seeing such things live – I considered myself lucky – not because I saw them, it’s because I rarely go back home that late to witness such shit! I wonder when Malaysia would come up with more action packed movies, probably could try to hire these people to do some deadly stunts to keep the unemployment rates low.

5. Custom was surprisingly easy breezy. We got worried for nothing.

6. Went to visit Dempsey Hill, where the old police barrack was. It has been turned into upscale cafés. There were more foreigners than locals here. See… it’s a wonder, a small country like Singapore (considerably less land area) is able to preserve heritage places into commercial lots without having to tear them down into pieces and develop another soul-less buildings like how KL is going about it. Pudu Jail into a hotel? Oh please! The only thing that will be staying there would be some lost souls. Perhaps, they should turn it into a tourist spot. Double dare people staying there, those who couldn’t last would lose their deposit. If they do last a week, they would be awarded RM100,000. Good plan eh?

7. Check in Rucksack Inn at Hong Kong Street. It’s a really clean hostel, with friendly owners. Err, if you are afraid of coldness, then perhaps you might want to b ring your own blanket because the one provided is just a thin cloth. But then, Singapore was really hot, so it’s no issue for us. And also, the lazy me really loathe climbing stairs.. it was a good thing that we were only on second floor, so the climbing wasn’t too bad… bathrooms are really clean because they mop it twice a day.. However, the people staying here ought to be considerate by remembering to collect their underwear after they used the bathroom lah!

8. The only thing I don’t like about staying in hostel is having to share common bathroom with people – lack of privacy. Our friend, Ms Kanasai was applying deodorant on her armpits at the common wash basin area when suddenly, a guy appeared and greeted her good morning. She didn’t know what to do, so she quickly ran back to our room – I think it was super hilarious! Well, I should pay more and not stay in hostel if I am so particular, right?! Not the hostel’s fault! LOL!

9. Always travel with people who could sleep throughout the night even if you tend to snore like a Harley Davison’s bike. Well, I am glad that this time, I wasn’t the loudest one. LOL!

10. One thing cool staying at Rucksack Inn, when you were checking out, they gave you a marker pen to leave a mark that you stayed with them before… never ever give the marker pen to people whose life depends on 9gag.

Yuin selfishly replaced his name with such a huge “ultraman”

11. Well, we didn’t end up doing a countdown at Esplanade. We were there at 6 pm and there were already people hogging the riverside with mats, picnic baskets, tripods, etc. speaking of kiasu-ness! I do notice however, there were many, many foreigners as well! There was a carnival like atmosphere. Unfortunately, the heat took over us, somehow, we simply couldn’t last another 3 hours before midnight, so we decided to leave for Chinatown and had late dinner instead. Went back to the hostel right on time to countdown with the rest of the world on tv.

12. Wicked the musical was great! I couldn’t help but wonder, if Adam Lambert didn’t join the American Idol, we would perhaps get to see him here on stage in Singapore! As Fiyero!

13. We tried the much talked about chilli crabs. The one that we had on our last day there was superb. It’s at Roland’s Restaurant near Marina Drive. A bit pricey though, S$58 per kg. Datin said, try to go for 1.3kg to 1.5kg crab. Anything heavier than that, the meat of the crab would be too hard or the claws would be too hard to break!

14. Singaporeans simply LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE to stand in the line. We went to Maxwell Food Center nearby Chinatown for Tian Tian Chicken rice and also Zhen Zhen’s porridge and yee sang.. Tian Tian’s queue wasn’t too bad but Zhen Zhen’s queue was utterly crazy. They love the yee sang and congee. Well, it’s nice nevertheless but I don’t think I have such patience to stand in the line with 32 people ahead of me just to buy a bowl of porridge and yee sang?!? But since we have all the time to kill, we did. Actually, Yuin and Ms Kanasai did, while the other two of us watched Junior Masterchef on Jasmine’s ipad. LOL!

15. Couldn’t help noticing.. but it seems Singaporeans are considerate lot. I mean most of them. In our short stay, we were being offered unused parking tickets! Not once, but twice! They have this coupon system as parking (yeah, super old school!) so if you have used it and haven’t fully utilize the available time, you can pass on your ticket to others. Cool!

16. Visited Johor Premium Outlet in Senai on our way back to KL. Well, most of the things are quite alright if you are willing to fork out more than RM800 for a handbag.. I looked at the discounted prices also, I am not willing to pay that much for a handbag or a shirt! Anyway, Clarks is rather cheap! So is Fossil.

So I guess that’s about it, on our short trip to Singapore. I guess it doesn’t matter what we do, where we go, what we eat, what we fuss about.. most important of all, having to spend time with some really good people enrich one’s lives. I am glad, my really good people are awesome!