Eight facts you don't need to know ...

1) My boss burned my hand with his cigarette butt. I hope it wasn't intentional or else he could be trying to tell me something. :p

2) There was one time, after doing my 'business' on the 'throne', I realised that I accidentally sat on a mosquito. Poor bugger was squashed. Never had a chance.

3) The second toe on my right leg simply turned 'black' a couple of days ago. Looks as if there's some sort of internal bleeding going on but there is no pain whatsoever.

4) Our company recently hired an office boy. He makes a really good cuppa and calls it 'hand made coffee'. The best part was before taking up our job offer, he was attached to the Chennai Indian Army as a batallion commander. He once fought in Kashmir. I seriously wonder what prompted his career change ...

5) Following up from No.4, we have dentists and accountants applying for the position of house-maid when an advert was placed in the local daily here. I guess the financial slump is really taking its toll.

6) Speaking with an air of confidence and adding a touch of arrogance will make the silly people around you listen ... even when there's really no substance to what you're saying.

7) Corona with lemon ... SUCKS. Corona with lime ... GOOOoooOOOd. Sometimes you just don't mess with the status quo.

8) I've got a colleague who's gonna get hitched on the same day as I. Must be a 'lucky' day I guess. Does this equal to a reduction in 'ang pow' collection??? :(

The one where the cat goes MMMEEEOOOWWW!!!

My mobile rang and shattered the eerie silence of the morning. I looked at it and didn't recognize the number being displayed on it. Anyhow, I answered it and on the other line was another man literally singing to me in Arabic. I let him go on for a while for it was rather amusing. Haha. After a bit, he stopped and started speaking ... in Arabic *duh*. Fun was over, so I just told him "Wrong number" and abruptly ended the call.

Since I was already awake, I washed up, laced my running shoes, stretched and went for a refreshing morning jog ... or at least that's the plan. :p But not before emptying the trash in my room. So taking the bag comprising of mostly crumpled papers and tissues, I walked towards the communal bin located just outside the villa and tossed the entire bag inside. Immediately I heard a loud screeching "MMMMMMMEEEEEOOOOWWWW" ... followed by a motion of a black blur. Well, a black stray cat was actually scavenging inside the metal bin and there was no way I could've seen it being in there. So when I threw my trash bag in there, it must've hit the stray (maybe on the head). Hahaha ... the stray probably had a heart attack of sorts and lost one of its nine lives while I ended up laughing so hard till my tummy ached ... literally yo. I was cackling so loudly till the shopkeeper from the shop opposite the road came out to see what was happening. No joke ... it was bloody hilarious ... to me lah.

Anyways, that incident killed my drive to jog and I ended up heading back home and had a fullfilling breakfast of fried vercimilli, sunny side ups and iced tea instead. Not a bad way to start the day huh. So how was your morning folks?

The one with family, work, Slumdog and a birthday ...

Just a short update of what has been going on lately. It's my colleague's b'day today, so to a certain Mr. N.C. Wong, Many Happy Returns. The bunch of us went out two days before to have an advanced celebration for the guy. We had Chinese at Beijing Restaurant, Madinat Zayed. Food was superb and we ordered loads. B'day boy settled the bill and everyone was happy. Haha.

The Malaysian Embassy here in Abu Dhabi held a belated CNY open house too. We were contemplating on going but ditched the idea at the last minute since 1) we were feeling really lazy 2) logistic issues (we had no transport) 3) I had loads of work to do and the bloody deadlines are inching closer by the bloody second.

My grandma suffered a fall sometime last week and was admitted to a private hospital. Somehow the fall caused her to suffer from lungs infection. Being monitored closely in the CCU helped her recover and she should be discharged sometime this week. My dad also underwent a minor surgery which required inserting a tube at the back of his neck to suck out some fluids which is interferring with his hearing. The surgery wasn't a complete success, so Dad will have to continue with some medication. His hearing have improved loads though ... so that's good.

Other than that, my time is fully occupied with work but I managed to squeeze in some for Slumdog Millionaire. So much hype bout it but I guess it deserved a certain extent of it. A good watch which led to solemn reflections after that. If what depicted in the movie is true, then we are indeed a lucky bunch to have what we have. God bless. Hmmm ... what else, of late, I've been digesting a couple of chapters from Cecelia Ahern's Where Rainbow Ends everynight before bed just to satisfy my craving for reading. It's a chick lit, so sue me. But then again, who says romance is priviledged only for the fairer sex no?

I'm missing her terribly ... I hope she knows that.

Work lo ...

Am really swarmed with work. Will resume proper blogging as soon as I can. Till then, try not to miss me k. :p

CNY 09 and such (Part 2) - The Photoshoot

Ok ... continuing from the previous entry, the next activity which transpired took SY and I another step closer towards our dream ... another step nearer towards beginning a new chapter in life through matrimony.

What am I rambling about ... :) ... our pre-wedding photoshoot. We previously signed up with Vogue Collection, one of the twenty bridal studios scattered around SS2, PJ. It was a three day process and Day 1 was dedicated solely towards choosing the attire. So in the morning, the both of us filled our bellies with some good ol' roti bakar at Old Town Kopitiam.

Anyways, we went over to Vogue and was greeted by Trista, the bridal sales consultant. SY went straight into action ... rummaging through the hundreds of wedding dresses available for the photoshoot. We had to settle with two wedding gowns (indoor and outdoor), two evening gowns (for the photoshoot) and another two evening gowns for the actual wedding day. Dun play play man, it was exhausting even for me just watching and giving my two cents worth of opinion if the ones she chose were pretty enough. Luckily Trista was patiently helping SY try on them dresses from beginning till end. And ending means five whopping hours worth of changing from one gown to another. We only took like a 30 minute break in between for a quick lunch at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng nearby. When she was done, I enquired bout myself and was told that there was no need for me to choose. O_O Apparently they'll just match me with whatever SY chose. Sighhh ...

SY then went to do her nails or a hand spa as they would like to call it nowadays while I settled for a haircut. Had a decent dinner before heading home for some much required rest.

The next day was the photoshoot itself. At 10:00am sharp, we arrived at the studio and May, the make-up artist went straight into work with SY. A note to would-be wedded couples, always negotiate with the bridal studio on the hidden cost!!! We forgot totally about the ampoul and had to fork out RM25 per bottle. We needed six bottles between the both of us. It took slightly more than an hour for May to complete her job while I dozed off on a very comfy sofa. ZZZzzz. :p

The first attire SY had on was a 'cheongsam' and I was given a mandarin collared coat to compliment her (as can be seen in Photo 2 above). Our photographer, Wing went snap snap snap before it was time for us to change into our second attire. SY had on a very regal maroon coloured gown with black sequins while I put on rather smart black dinner jacket. Snap snap snap. Next up, SY had on a gorgeous tube wedding gown with a very flarry and long tail. She looked absolutely beautiful in it and it's true when people say that a girl look most beautiful in her wedding gown. I had to purchase a V-wing collared shirt from Vogue to match her gown (another hidden cost to look out for). *grumble grumble*. What's next ... snap snap snap. Lunch was then served and we had McDs delivered. More make up and we changed into our final attire. SY slipped into an outdoor wedding gown this time (Photo 1) while I had on a pair of denims with a matching white shirt. This is for the outdoor shoot and we opted to go to Sepang Goldcoast since SY and I both loved the beach.

Wing clicked away on his Canon EOS 5D at a garden scene before we took a 1.5 hours drive to Sepang. Once there, Wing worked his magic while strangers stared. We walked, ran, jumped and splashed and by the time we were finally done, it was almost 7:30pm. We were nothing short of dead tired to say the least.

We headed on home to take a clean shower to wash away all the hair spray, make up etc before making our way to Yuen Steamboat restaurant for a well deserved satisfying dinner. We binged la after dieting for so long. Haha ... drool over the honey glazed fried chicken wings peeps. *slurpsss*

CNY 09 and such (Part 1)

HELLO HELLO!!! How’re you doing peeps? Had a good CNY? Any luck on the gambling table? I’m gonna summarize the activities that have been keeping me busy all along or rather during the past 3 weeks. Warning : long post ahead.

I got back from abu Dhabi just in time for the CNY reunion dinner with my family. Oh wait, had some time before that to go do some really last minute shopping with SY @ 1 Utama. Mom went through all the hassle in preparing a scrumptious steamboat dinner. Our dinner table was stacked with so many plates that some were literally on the verge of falling off the table. As expected, the food was awesome and it has been a while since the entire Lim family had last sit down together for a decent meal. Younger bro, Shaun, attached with BAT is now based in Penang. Leftovers were abundant but no matter, we were able to store them for future re-consumption. *wink*

On the first day of CNY, the Lims went to church and just like every other year, we were presented with oranges and red packets after the mass. Breakfast with other relatives was held at Di Kayu Restaurant @ Chow Yang. I satisfied my craving for some good ol’ nasi lemak there. Yea bebeh!!!

After that, I paid SY’s family a visit and presented them with some CNY goodies. It was a nice li’ll hamper wrapped up very pretty with Chinese delicacies and good fortune bearing ornaments. SY got the same thing for my family too. That way, all of us could savour the offerings. Yum Yum!!!

Brought SY to my grandma’s place soon after and we caught up with the rest of my extended relatives. Four generations were present in total, so you could imagine all the hoo haas going on. So much noise from so many people but I reckon there’s no better way to welcome the Lunar New Year. :) We chatted, laughed, played and ate till our hearts’ content.

Day 2 of the CNY saw my family heading down south to Malacca ... my kampung of sorts. The only difference was that this time around, SY came along since there was a special request by my relatives to bring my fiancée for them to meet for the first time. Traffic was a breeze and we had a simple lunch in a truly vintage kampung wooden house with its zinc attap roof and all. So many new ‘additions’ to the family this time around with cousins’ babies etc. By late afternoon, we were on our way back to KL only to be greeted with a massive traffic jam. Totally forgot that today marks the end of the CNY holiday and almost every other person were making their way home too. We finally reached home after 3 hours to join SY’s family for another ‘big’ dinner. By now you can imagine how much we were eating. Food were leaking out of our ears I tell ya.

The next day, we took it slow ... woke up late and had a relaxing day till dinner time where I brought SY to meet up with some of my uni mates whom she had not previously met. The gathering was held at Yong Woon’s place @ Old Klang Road and her family was just so welcoming. It was like a mini casino there with a number of tables set up for games such as Black Jack, ‘chor tai dee’ and a few others. I was also fun to watch YW with her fiancé, Rob acting as Black Jack dealers since Rob was learning to play the game the ‘Malaysian style’. Catching up with my buddies after so long was fun.

We spent some quality time alone on Day 4, hitting the gym, caught Bride Wars @ GSC Pavilion, browsed through bridal magazines and planning our up coming wedding. We’re both getting more excited about it as the date drew closer. Of course the planning process was stressful especially when you try to please everyone but I think we’re getting the hang of it and are managing rather well. Dinner was at Imperial Palace with the gang and the food was oh-so-delish. Had our first ‘lou sang’ of the year there too. The restaurant even had a ‘Choi San Yeh’ or God of Fortune greeting every table and handing out oranges as tokens of luck and prosperity. With our bellies filled to the brim, we adjourned to my friend’s place @ Glenmarie Court for some Blackjack action. SY and I ended up being RM11 richer. *woot*.

Day 5 started out lazily too or at least till evening time where I did a Body Combat class at Jaya 33. It felt so good to be on stage teaching again after being away from the action for so long. For dinner, SY and I took my family to Unique Seafood, SS3 and we had their famous salted egg crab there. Other dishes ordered were black peppered venison, stir fried asparagus with spicy shrimp paste, yam basket, another portion of ‘yee sang’, some veg and noodles. The night did not end there as we went over to grandma’s for a round of Black Jack.

Day 6 was a ‘big day’ for SY and I. At precisely 12:30pm, both our families were seated down at Imperial Palace (again) for lunch ... well, not just any ordinary lunch. Our families were discussing our wedding ... from the ‘kwo tai lai’ to the dowry etc. It was nerve wrecking for both SY and I but you know what, it was pointless since our families got along well and the conclusion by the end of the day was that as long as SY and I were happy, then that was all that mattered. Haha. Apparently the lunch set we ordered was pretty good but I guess my nervousness caused my tastebuds’ failure in registering anything. :p

Day 7 saw us heading to SY’s place for a home cooked meal by YJ and his gf, CT. We had ‘yee sang’ again ... completely made from scratch by CT and I must say that it was the best I ever had. SY and her family concurred too. :) Apart from the must-have ‘yee sang’, on the menu were various other dishes what sent my pallet into a tantalizing frenzy. So much good food of late contributed dangerously to our expanding waistline ... luckily we had gym to balance out the situation. Why the need to watch our diet ... well, you’ll soon find out. :p

I guess it’s enough this time around and I shall carry on from here in the next entry. To be continued ...

My heart beats for you ...

I’m sitting alone in front of my computer
Reminiscing our loveliest of times being together
Princess … it felt so good to be greeting mornings with you
Now apart … all I’m capable of, is feeling the heart wrenching blue

Remember our breakfasts, lunches, dinners and suppers?
We’ll embrace and kiss … so much joy and so much laughter
We showed the world our truest feelings so lovingly
Till our friends can’t take it anymore in jealous envy

It pains me deeply this coming Valentine
That we’re not together to wine and to dine
Baby, all we’re going through now is for our better ‘tomorrow’
So let’s allow our love to conquer this temporary sorrow

A promise from my heart to yours, I solemnly give
That this absence of mine by your side you forgive
For the next birthday, Valentine and anniversary
I’ll be holding you tightly in my arms, ever so adoringly

HAPPY VALENTINE’s Day b and for the many better ones to come ... hugzzz