Tuesday, June 28, 2011

An Enjoyable Night at Enjoy Cafe

Interframe: Although we do not meet often, me and my besties Amanda, Stephanie and Peter still bonded with each other during a night outing we have everytime we are back at Sibu. This night outing is like some sort of tradition for us to update each other and spend quality time together. Yo... I hope we can always keep in touch like this though we are far apart from each other, guys~!

Whenever my besties and I wanted to hang out, the golden question (soalan cepu emas) that popped from Steph's mouth would be "Where to eat?" cause she was the one driving. Lol. The rest of us would scratch our heads looking for inspirations and searching for suggestions to find a suitable dining place at Sibu. Thanks Steph for driving us during our every hanging out session. *wink2*

That night (which was just last night), because we were not very hungry, we wanted to look for a place where we could eat some light meal (eg: snacks). So Peter came up with a suggestion - Enjoy Cafe~!
Enjoy Cafe & Restaurant is located at the Rejang Medical Centre area, Pedada Road, where a lot of dining places are located too, such as Uncle Dom's, Sushie Tie, etc.
Enjoy Cafe & Restaurant looked kinda exclusive from the outside, I thought it is a cafe with a bar concept.
 When we entered, 

TA DAA~!

It looked somewhat like family restaurant too. 

The ambience inside this cafe gave us the feeling of privacy
- just what we needed.
The view of the bar from where I was seated.
My drink - iced lemon tea. The taste was just like the average lemon tea, not as special as the price though. :P

Steph's honey lemon green tea - forgot to ask her how it tasted but I guess just the average too.
Amanda's peppermint tea, its taste was nice, according to her. ;)

Peter's watermelon juice, is served in a very cute glass lol. 

Each one of us ordered a snack from the snack section inside the menu, and the four of us picked these lucky four chosen snacks. 
Salad calamari - ordered by Peter, it was crispy and tasty.
Fried tauhu (not the exact name in the menu though lol) ordered by Stephanie. It was nice. :) I guess Steph is tauhu fan... ;)
Salad cha kue ordered by Amanda. Again, not the exact name of the dish based on the menu. It was crispy, plus there's onion and pork inside. ;)


I forgot what was the name of this snack already..  (-_-") but there's pork inside. It was damn crispy too. :)

So far, so good. We were satisfied with the food, the portion and the price. And one thing for sure, this would not be our last visit here. Wait for our comeback, Enjoy Cafe~!
Us, after finishing our snacks. Our happy faces were the proof that we were satisfied with the servings.. ;)
 








Sunday, June 26, 2011

Blessing in Disguise?

Interframe: I got confused with English tenses a lot. Here's a page which might be useful. (Hey did i use/used the right tense for this sentence? Hmmm..)

 Although I left the university for about two months already, the sleep-late-wake-up-late lifestyle of a university student kinda stuck with me. Thanks to the online activity and late night shows on tv, I never fail to wake up later than 8.30 am every single day. Sometimes I went to the extent of waking up at 10 am if my sleep was interrupted earlier.

Besides waking up late, I never miss my afternoon nap.

That was why, yesterday, during my afternoon nap in the living room, I could hear my mother and grandma gossiping about me in Melanau. [I don't know why, but this is my parents' and grandmother's habit. They speak in Melanau among themselves but when they speak to us (the children), they switched to Hokkien.]

"How can she still feel sleepy when she woke up so late?" Mom wondered aloud. "I woke up a lot earlier, went to work, yet did not take a nap."

"She slept very late last night," Grandma responded. "Not just last night, every night. Don't know what she was doing so late at night."

Grandma's bedroom is located at downstairs, so she knew how late I stayed awake every night though she was asleep. Grandma had a habit to wake up in the middle of the night to visit the toilet, and everytime she wakes up, she would see me still wide awake at the living room, sitting in front of my laptop, busy online.(Ahem)

"Not a good habit at all," Mom and Grandma both agreed about my negative habit.

"Makel angai tan," Mom added, which means 'very lazy' in Melanau.

Because I was too sleepy that time, I had no energy to be defensive or to justify my sleep late habit. So I just let it go.

That very night, which was last night, as usual, I carried on with my sleep late habit. I was still wide awake at 11 pm something. I never sleep earlier than 12 am, so 11 pm was kinda early for me, but for my parents and grandmother, it is considered late. Very late.

As usual, my Grandma woke up in the middle of her sleep, but instead of walking to the toilet, she walked towards me and asked me to read the name of the pills that she brought to me.

"What pills are these?" She asked me while showing me the pack of yellow coloured pills.

There were no indications on the pills' package so I told grandma I didn't know what type of pills they were. Then she walked back into her bedroom.

A few seconds later, I heard a LOUD CRASH, it sounded like the table fan was falling.

I quickly ran into her bedroom, saw her collapsed on the table, thus causing the table fan to fall off the table.

"Ah Ma, what happened?" I was so shocked, the question was almost a whisper. She was conscious, but then, she was very weak. She could not stand up.

I was so panic. 

While I put both my hands to support both her arms, suddenly she was kinda... unconscious.

"Ah Ma?" My panicmeter was rising.I shook her shoulders but she wasn't responding.

"AH MA! PAPA! MAMA!" I was shouting from downstairs but my efforts was in vain. So instead of calling my parents, I resorted to calling Ah Ma again and again.

After calling Ah Ma a few times, she was conscious again. PHEW~

"I'm having stomach ache. I think it must be because of the pineapple. I wanted to find the medicine, but couldn't find it. Very painful," she said weakly.  Although those were not comforting words, I was relieved because Ah Ma was finally conscious. I asked Ah Ma to rest on her bed while I ran off to my parents' bedroom, asking them for assistance to find the right medicine for Grandma.

Finally, Ah Ma ate her medicine, she was feeling better, and I slept with her that night.

This afternoon, I had my nap again, as usual, but  quite unusual, nobody gossip/scolded me anymore. Maybe, they realized, this sleep late lifestyle is not that negative after all. At least, I could function like a night security guard... Err.. Not that I want this thing to happen twice *touch wood*. Just a precaution.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Wake Up Call

Interframe: I should remind myself not to order teh chi during a night outing cause I will end up becoming a zombie who can't sleep. Arggh, scratch that, that teh chi was damn nice, it's worth to stay awake for teh chi that nice! XD

Last night, which was like 4 hours ago, I just came back from an outing with my three besties. We were catching up with each others' lives. Two of them, Amanda and Stephanie, were in their final semester and will graduate this December, the other one, Peter, will graduate next year. Me? I was the only graduate there, just without my scroll yet, since my convocation is only going to happen this coming September. But I was the one least worried and without a plan for my future yet though the future is NOW. I was still in the dreamland. I didn't go looking for a job with the excuse that I am still waiting for the reply from my master application. 

There were many reasons why I wanted to continue master. One reason was that, I still could not let go my university life. Secondly, it was due to the condition given by my mother, saying that if I wanted to stay in Penang, I should not stay because of work, but because of study. Thirdly, it was because I knew deep down inside me that with my achievement now, I am still far from getting my dream job unless I could have all the requirements needed for my dream job. So those were the options given to me, and I chose to continue.

To tell the truth, I had so many ambitions till I need to have 7 lifetimes if I wanted to fulfill them all. But ambitions without efforts are meaningless. And if I didn't earn anything, I would be further away from achieving any of my ambition. (-_-") Oh my, why is life so hard and complicated, though just thinking about it.

But when my bestie Steph told me her plan to work after graduate and also invest in silver, I was amazed and kinda think; maybe I should try to invest too. I mean, in the process of chasing your dreams, you need money to survive right? So maybe I can invest in something like gold? (Since my grandma knew so much about gold hmm) Maybe should use some of my saving to buy gold and wait for a few years then sell them back? Rather than having my money being saved in a bank and waiting for that small interest distribution each year. Even trust fund like ASN is not that promising.


Maybe I should think more seriously about my future... Cause the future is NOW. 

Invest in gold? Here's a link which might give you guys tips on how to invest in gold. 

What can I earn, and what can I give back to my family and the community? 

Better stop JUST THINKING about it but START TO THINK SERIOUSLY AND PLAN ABOUT IT.

Like they say, early birds catches the worm. So I better wake up now while I can still hear the call.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

SECRETS FOR SALE!

"They say, a picture tells a thousand words.

But have they ever wondered, in that 1000 words, how many of the thousand are true?"



Honestly, I am just a so-so fan of Singaporean drama. Only a few of Singaporean dramas could capture my attention, such as Little Nyonya, Holland Village and The Hotel. Why? Erm maybe because majority of the Singaporean drama usually revolve around money issue, family and all that cliche stuff. *Yawn*
So when my eldest sister recommended 'Secrets for Sale' drama series to me, I was skeptical to watch it. My sister told me it was very nice. I was like, "Ok, but I prefer watching movies over drama, cause I am kinda lazy to follow up the next episodes." I was hinting to her to take back those DVD that she offered to me - but she didn't get the hint (or maybe she did it on purpose :P). So I gave this drama series a chance and I started to watch them one night, and yeah, I am glad that I did. 

I finished the 13(?) episodes in just 2 and a half day. It was very addictive.

Just like the theme in this series which revolve around honesty, trust and prejudice, I shouldn't judge this drama merely based on my own prejudice ideas about Singaporean dramas. After I watched it, I think that I really like the dialogues and the characters in this drama, especially Ren Yi's character, which was the character played by Christopher Lee.

 
This is the theme song in this movie, which I began to like. :) Catch Christopher Lee, Jesseca Liu and the other famous Singaporean stars in this series. :D

A LITTLE synopsis about this drama. 

The story started with Jia Qi (played by Jesseca Liu) and her sister's family on vacation at Malacca. Jia Qi's brother in-law received a phone call, thus he went off while his wife, Jia Qi's sister followed silently behind, because she suspected her husband was having an affair with another woman, thus leaving Jia Qi with their two little boys. Out of the blue, someone took the two boys away, and all the family members disappeared except for Jia Qi. 

The story was fast forwarded three years later; depicting Jia Qi's occupation as a private investigator (PI). During one of her task, she dropped her DSLR camera (ouch!) on someone's car, and that someone happened to be Ren Yi (Christopher Lee). First meeting, and they had very bad first impression of each other.

Ren Yi and Jia Qi met for the first time in the first episode.  Not a very good first meeting though.
photo source: here

Due to Ren Yi's jobless state and his very good photography skill (he was an award winning photographer but due to an unfortunate circumstance, he was maligned and he couldn't work in any related fields due to his bad reputation), he was finally hired by Jia Qi to work for her PI firm. He was given a three months probation period, mainly because Jia Qi could not really trust him at first.

Despite the ongoing arguments between the two, they actually had chemistry, and subsequently they were impressed with each other once they knew each other better but both were very ego and could not accept the reality when they realized they had feelings for each other. But this story did not only revolve around these two and their romance but much, much more than that.



Jia Qi and Stanley in one of the later scenes. 


 Photo source: here



Plus, the appearance of Stanley (played by Thomas Ong) in the picture, as Jia Qi's long time sweetheart, made the storyline became more and more interesting.


Secrets for Sale - Pictures are not always the best evidence as one can frame others through an angle, for example, like the photo above. XD
Photo source: here
This story is one story which could play with my emotions where I was laughing like crazy at the beginning and cried silently towards the end of the series. If you think you can control your emotions very well, I challenge you to watch this.
One of the lessons that I inferred from this story is that sometimes evidence is not the only way to seek for the truth but it is your instinct which plays a greater role in identifying the truth. And another thing I learned from this series is that no matter how long you know a person, that person is not necessarily trustworthy. Sometimes, the person whom you never suspects could be the culprit causing all the troubles to you.

Okay, before I spoil the surprise, I better stop right now.

To know more about this series, check this page out. :)
 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

My Current Addiction

The last time I had this fanatic syndrome was during my high school years, when I was crazy about Blue. I almost forgot how it felt like to be a fanatic till I met watched them dance on Showdown 8tv!


Elecoldxhot (go to their Facebook fanpage at here. )
YES! THEM! 

The five of them who made up Elecoldxhot:
 1) Chriz Ooi (leader)
2) Dennis Yin (Tae Yang's lookalike lol)
3) Billy Yap
4)Joe Ang
5) Joe Lin

There are two Joe's and I hope I got their surnames right. ;P


For those who are watching Showdown on 8tv every Wednesday night (9.30 pm), you probably know who they are. For those who don't, let me tell you who they are. They are my current addiction (haha tidak menjawab soalan). And they are the reason why my cellphone Digi and Celcom credits are zero-ing even during this not-so-social period of my life. Okay, serious. For those who don't know Elecoldxhot, they are one of the best dance crews in Malaysia.

From what I've stalked observed, they had joined a lot of dance competitions before, including Astro Battleground. To know more about Elecoldxhot from the members itself, just go to their facebook fanpage here. ;)

 Let me tell you my own electric-moment love fanatic-at-first-sight story with them.

Every night when I am at home, I kept switching the TV channel from one to another channel. It was a Tuesday night. I guess that time I had just finished watching Keeping Up With Kardashians (which is another addiction of mine lol) and I turned to 8tv. That hour, 8tv was showing the repeat show of Showdown 2o11 and because I had nothing else to watch, I just watched it. At first, I was impressed with HMC Phlow's dance moves, and wanted to turn to another channel, but when the host (Hafiz) said that Borneo Crew is going to perform soon, I just waited for them to perform but before their turn it was Elecoldxhot's turn. And guess what, after I watched Elecoldxhot's performance, I was so impressed and without a doubt, I knew for sure that they were going to win the best performance of the night, and I was right. ;)

Elecoldxhot week 3 performance - the theme was replicate and represent.
It was the first time I set my eyes on Elecoldxhot when watching this performance from them,  I became a regular audience of this show from that moment onwards.


Honestly, I never been so fanatic or impressed with any local groups, stars or celebrities until I watched them on TV. Seriously, they are going to be the next big thing in Malaysia. ;)

So don't forget to vote for Elecoldxhot by typing SD ECX to 33399.

Elecoldxhot during week 6. Photo grabbed from here. 

I rather be broke than to be heartbroken if this deserving crew not winning this competition. So I will constantly vote for them. For Elecoldxhot fans out there, you know what you gotta do. ;)

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Art of Criticizing

How many of us like to be criticized?
How many of us like to criticize?

I bet the number of those saying 'yes' to the second question would be higher than the former.

Because, as human, it is easier to find fault in others than to admit to others that we are imperfect though we are aware of how imperfect we are.

I am one of those who constantly get criticisms from others, and don't get me wrong, I do appreciate criticism from people, but there are certain types of criticism that I despised.  I admit I like to criticize too, but now I only do it to give positive criticism (a criticism to motivate) and for the negative criticism, I only do it as "counter attack" (meaning, I only do it when people did it to me first *wink2* ).

For me, criticism has two effects on those being criticized, whether it:

a) make you aware of your own imperfection and motivate you to improve myself

or

b) discourage you to do something you like cause the critics make you felt as if you do not deserve to be where you are.

There was once, someone criticized my baking ability (for heaven's sake, I only tried baking once so how can you evaluate my baking skill based on my first try?), saying that I should stick to only cooking and not try baking. I was like OUCH. I mean, I know I am not good in baking but hello~ I made the horrible cupcakes without using the proper baking utensils and I didn't follow the real recipes. So I knew there should be room for improvement. Unless I was using all the utensils and followed the recipes properly, then your criticism might just be appropriate.

So my response to the 'someone' who criticized me was

"The more you are trying to ask me not to do it, the more I want to do it."

And I dislike a criticism which asked me to stop trying something because that just might lead me to have a negative thought on you:
" Are you insecure that if I am motivated and trying to improve myself and finally succeeded,  then you would feel like you're left behind cause you're not a good baker (ahem that hurts right)? Hmm.. *wonder* "

So guys and girls, when you are criticizing, please criticize to improve instead of discourage. If someone did a mistake that they REALIZED, there is no need for you to remind them and make them feel bad about it, or the worst part of it is to ask them stop doing something that they like just because they are not good at it. 
Unless they did not realize it, then your intervention is much appreciated.


It's okay to criticize,
but remember..... do it in a nice way. 
Thank you.






Thursday, June 2, 2011

Of Honesty and Hypocrisy


When you say 'I don't care what happens'
People will say 'you're selfish and ignorant.'
 "When you say 'no comment',
People will say 'you are scared to take a stand.'
When you say 'No, this so wrong. He/she should not do this, I disagree with this,'
People will say 'You're damn judgmental.'
When you say 'Chill, relax, let him/her do what she wants. It's his/her life,'
People will say 'You're damn open-minded, you are an apostate, you're strayed, just like this damn person.'

 Don't you notice that no matter which stand you take, people will make negative assumption about it?

(Words of lamehood, 2011)


Well, the social issue that I was referring to was the confession made by Adindaevans who confessed in her blog that she is no longer a virgin. This issue was talked about because Adindaevans is just fourteen.

The reaction of Malaysians regarding this issue was of course - typical, there are so many people who bashed her, made fun of her, etc. Some backed her up, some made excuses for her.

I was surprised that people were acting like this thing was new and unbelievable when in reality this free sex issues happened among teenagers waaayyy longer before this girl made that confession.  
Back when I was in high school, I heard a lot of cases like these happening to my schoolmates, some to the extend of getting pregnant, but only now you guys started to make a fuss about it? 
What? Did Malaysians not know that things like this happened among teenagers for so long already? It was as if this issue was less important before because of the minimal attention than it is now.


On second thought, maybe the blessing in disguise for the fuss about this issue is that the education system and the family institution will take a more serious action in tackling and handling this issue when people start looking and watching.


Some Malaysians said that they are ashamed of her and at the same time judging her. Okay, so you are ashamed that the Malaysian teenagers are acting this way, but then, you are not ashamed to judge, to take the place of God, which do not belong to you?

Don't you have any humility in you?

At first, I could not care less about this issue, but to see the way people judge her, I felt so angry at these 'holier than thou' people. People like these exist everywhere. In fact, these people are the cause that social issues are getting worst. They are the person who made the youths felt that they are not worthy to turn over a new leaf. For you people who like to judge but do not have any eligibility (because obviously you did not graduate from law school to become a judge), guess what, your action of judging only lead to more harm than good. Do you think people will turn over a new leaf when you tell them

"You are not good. You are bringing shame to the country, etc, etc. Tak tau malu, etc."

Your act of judging will only make them more defensive and rebellious. 


And here's another question.

When people asked this girl to keep to herself about losing her virginity,

I wonder,

Does it make someone more virtuous by keeping quiet when losing virginity than the person who lose virginity but confess about it? 


Losing virginity is still the same, and keeping quiet about it doesn't make you any better than this girl we are talking about. 


And nope, don't get me wrong, I am not justifying her action, nor am I condemning her, but I am questioning those people who bashed and slammed her. My focus here is on the people who wanted to become the jury, or the judge, when in fact, they are not in the place or position to be so.


For those who like to judge - Start investigating your own sister, brother, kids. Just because they didn't confess or blog about it doesn't mean that they are still virgins.
You better think about it. #sarcasm#