One Eyed Monster

A couple of weeks ago, our eight year old brandless 29" TV which we purchased from Makro decided that it has reached the end of it's quota of entertaining dear hubby. The colour changed so drastically (shades of green in the middle and red on all four sides), dear hubby had to change it to black and white so that the colours would not distract him.

We called our reliable plumber cum electrical man, Mr Ong, and he changed the coil and "washed" the TV. It was okay for only one night and then the same weird colour combination turned up again. We called Mr Ong and again, it lasted only one night.

When I went away on a short trip to Kuantan, dear hubby decided to change the TV. He called BK, our "family" TV specialist, and purchased one Samsung 32" LCD TV and a DVD player.

Suddenly, there was space to walk. I used to have to squeeze in between the TV and the bed to walk to the other side of the room because the old TV was so bulky.

When I asked dear hubby what was the difference between the old and the new, he gave me two answers :- This Samsung TV is too clear and now he could see both sides. (for the old TV, even when we first purchased it, there was a slight flaw - both the vision for the left and right side of the TV tend to be cut off)

Grateful

There are just so many things to be thankful to God for. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I do take God for granted. I've led a peaceful life (well, so far no one held a knife to my throat or gun to my head and threatened me) with good health, food and water to keep me alive and enough cash to keep me contended.

I thank God for friends and relatives who accept me the way I am and tolerate my idiosyncrasies, who are always there for me when I needed their help or company. Sometimes I know I don't take time to call a person up to say, "Hey! I appreciate what you're doing for me", or "You're doing a fine job. Keep it up" and I know how a little word of praise and encouragement goes a long way.

Having said all that, I would like to take time to appreciate my friends and relatives (individually) in the coming blog postings. So be sure to look out to see if you are included in my list or not. If however, you are not included, have no fear, this is a long term project and I guess sooner or later, you just might see your name in my blog :)

Also, I will not post in order of importance. I will do it randomly, as and when I see fit.

A Hug

I've seen so many kinds of salt and pepper containers but this is the first time I saw one set of a couple hugging. Both actually looked like Casper! Eerie!!! But unique :)

Honey, I Shrunk the Fries

I've always loved McD's french fries. Eat it with chilli sauce. Yummy!

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It's only good when you eat it there and then. I've ordered McD's fries via their delivery service and I don't understand why the fries always looked like this :-

I am NOT joking. I haven't started eating it yet and it looked so little. Either the fries shrunk or I got cheated! :(

A Different Kind of Laundry

A few weeks ago, we were having Cell Meeting when Charlene decided to hug one of my teddy bears. At different times of each year, Rajen would normally warn everyone how dusty our place is and that those who have problems with dust should not go near the pillows. I guess that goes the same for the soft toys on the sofa set. We live near the main road. Black dust tend to migrate to my house when vehicles, light and heavy, go past my house.

And so, after hugging Berry, she developed some rashes on her neck. Poor dear!

One week later, Esther suggested that I wash all my soft toys. She asked me to throw the toys into unwanted pillow cases and wash them.

A couple of days later, I went out to buy white cotton cloth and got Tusi to sew them into long sacks.

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And so, one evening, I chose 4 of them to bet washed : Berry, Fat Cat, Camel and Christopher. Yep! They've all got names :)

I soaked them into a pail of water (to get rid of the initial dust) before throwing them into the white sack and into the washing machine.

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I was actually feeling kinda worried about them being washed. Perhaps I read too much Enid Blyton books :)

Anyway, after two hours, I took them out and wow! they were so clean, smelt great too.

I hung them outside to dry. It was quite weird seeing them on the hangers. I even laughed at the sight!!

Now, only four of them are clean. I guess I gotta find another day to wash the rest of them.

Tamron f2.8

I've been dissatisfied with my Tamron 18mm-200mm lens lately and was playing around with DY's Nikon D90. All of a sudden (after much hu ha about changing from a Nikon D70s to the current Canon 400D), I thought of getting a Nikon DSLR. To be more specific, the D90 model (ha! Steve, if you're reading this, don't even think that I'd sell you my 400D). I told DY that I'm just waiting for a newer model ... like a D95 (if any) or something to be launched, and I'd buy that. DY was convinced that it was because of my lens. He suggested that I get the f2.8, 17-50mm lens.

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I did some research and found that a new original Canon cost RM3.4K. Gulp!!

DY asked me to get a second hand unit but I decided to get a new Tamron (easier on my pockets) instead.

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I still haven't really tested it out yet and hope to do so this weekend. A few of us will be climbing a small hill near Kuantan to watch the sun rise. How romantic. Pity the hubby prefers sleeping in.

Butterfly Farm, Malacca

After the Bee Museum, we went to the Butterfly Farm. Errr... I am not exactly sure if "Farm" is the correct word to use cause in Malay it is Taman Rama-Rama, which means Butterfly Garden. Oh well, I've always refered to it as Butterfly Farm.

Anyway, when we got there, we were asked to pay RM3 for each camera. I didn't think there was much to take so I told them that we will only be using one camera, that is Eunice's.

Ice-cream greeted us and both En and Brian chose theirs. I made them pay for the ice-cream. I think the ice-cream lady was surprised that I didn't pay for them. In actual fact, before we left for Malacca, I had given them each RM3 to spend. I jokingly told En that I was giving her money so that she could spend me!! Upon hearing that, she asked her mum for more money!!! Ha!

Anyway, it was nice seeing the pay for their own ice-cream. Gotta teach them to pay for their own meals at some stage!

There was this huge cylindrical cage with lovebirds in it. Eunice took many pictures here but most of the time, the birds weren't that cooperative :)

We got En and Brian to take a picture with a huge iguana. I didn't know it was a live one and asked Brian to step closer to the creature. He knew it was alive and I saw the look of terror on his face when the lady petted the reptile. A live parrot was placed on En's left shoulder and the picture was taken!

After that, we looked around and saw some birds and a cage full of monkeys swinging from one end to another.

We then went into a souvenir shop and saw the sign saying welcome to Taman Rama-Rama. We went through that and came to a little garden. We saw very few butterflies. In fact, I think we only got to see FIVE butterflies in that little garden.

We followed the sign saying "Insect Cave". En was so afraid when she saw the sign. She expected to go into some dark cave full of insects (like the beetle, flies, ants, etc). We managed to persuade her to continue walking.

I expected to see more butterflies but instead, we saw other animals - crocodiles, leopards, peacock, snakes, tortise, otters, emu, etc. It was like a mini zoo.

I certainly wasn't expecting to see anything except butterflies. I guess we got more than we bargained for :)

We had to be "chased out" because the farm closes at 5.30pm. The tail end of the walk was rather hurried. We didn't really mind because all the walking plus the humidity made us feel weak and exhausted.

We were contemplating whether to bring them into Malacca town because that was what we planned earlier but I figured that it might be too late by the time we leave Malacca, so we headed for the Ayer Keroh toll instead.

We stopped at the overhead bridge rest area to have something light to eat. En wanted her KFC rice but was out voted by the rest of us who wanted A&W. We ordered 3 large rootbeer floats, 1 waffle, on set pancake, curly fries and french fries to be shared by 5 of us.

Both the waffle and pancakes turned out to be yucky. It tasted as though it was cooked ages ago and reheated when we placed the order. The pancake tasted bland. I told Tusi that she makes better pancakes.

After A&W, we packed En's KFC rice. I also wanted to try their pop corn chicken. We had to wait a long time at the queue because there were so many school children in front of us. We must've taken about 1/2 hour to get the food.

After that, we left. I managed to stay awake while driving back to Seremban, though I was feeling a little tired.

I hope both En and Brian enjoyed themselves cause I certainly did!!! :)

Bee Museum, Malacca

From Mini Malaysia and Mini Asean, we went to the Bee Museum, which was only about a minute's drive away.

The rain was slightly heavy when we got into the little building. We were immediately being attended to by a friendly chap, who took us around and explained the different types of bees and hornets.

At the end of the building were some square aluminium containers where the honey bees were busy making honey. These bees, according to our friendly guide, do not sting people. Both En and Brian were afraid to go near these containers. For En, I think it was because she was once stung by a bumble bee and had to be taken to the hospital for a jab. For Brian, maybe he has seen too many shows (or cartoons) on how dangerous bees are.

The mini tour ended very quickly and we were each given a tiny plastic cup to sample the different types of honey. There was the royal honey, manuka honey, honey with procolis, honey with vinegar, etc. I ended up buying one bottle of honey with procolis, what the man claimed was good for people who are coughing.

Thankfully, the rain stopped just as we were about to leave the place. :)

To be continued (Part Four : Butterfly Farm)

Mini Asean, Malacca

Continuing from where I left off .......
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We went to Mini Asean which is also part of the Mini Malaysia site.


The first thing we noticed was the suspension bridge. That was new!! The last time I was here, there was no suspension bridge at all. Brian and En were excited and walked across. There was a group of high school students who were behind En and Brian. They jumped on the bridge, making the whole walk more exciting.

I thought that with the suspension bridge, they must've upgraded the Asean houses. I remember the last time I were here, the houses were so badly maintained, I was so embarrassed because I was playing tour guide to a foreigner.
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Right after that bridge, we came to a pool with a man made beach at the end. This reminded me of the huge man made beach right in the heart of Brisbane city area. Of course, this was a much smaller version of it. The pool looked clean and well maintained. Perhaps, I thought to myself, the management did maintain the Asean houses.


We came to the first house. A huge mansion. The Singapore house. Sad to say, it was not maintained at all and we couldn't even go in. The whole house looked spooky and there were puddles of water all over the floor, plus we saw some rotten dining chairs right outside the house. Gosh! It was a sight for sore eyes!

We walked on .... and found that most of the houses were as bad as the Singapore mansion, if not worse. So we just walked around the place, looking at the facade of each house. The children were by then feeling very tired and restless. They wanted excitement, not just a long walk back to the entrance.

En kept saying that the place stank. We saw people burning leaves nearby. Gosh!! Polluting the air right in the middle of a tourist site. This is certainly not good at all!!!

Needless to say, the Mini Asean was a great disappointment and embarrassment. I would prefer if they quadrant off this whole section and concentrate only on Mini Malaysia until they upgrade the whole area.

Well, I guess they did do something to it ... by adding the suspension bridge, the pool and some other challenging stuff for the youth to do but I do wish that the would do something about the houses. Those houses actually looked haunted.

Right before we left Mini Asean, we were at the suspension bridge again and Brian & En jumped on to it, walked to the other side and back again.

It was drizzling slightly and we hurried off to go look for ice cream at the entrance.

There were ice cream for sale there but we didn't buy any because the selection was not great.

............to be continued (Part Three : The Bee Museum)

Mini Malaysia, Malacca

About a month ago, I was asked to take a one day leave during school holidays. I chose Thursday because that was En's free day (as in free from tuition, kumon, piano practice and all her extra activities).

About 10 days ago, I was informed that En had Chinese tuition and choir practice and plans to go to the PetraSains Centre disappeared instantly. We needed one whole day if we were to go visit the Science Centre. En will only be free after 12.30pm. I calculated the time for her to get back, change and have lunch .... and by the time we leave Seremban, it would be at least 1.15pm. There's NO way we could go to the jam packed city so we headed south instead.

We brought Tusi along, just so that she could see other parts of Malaysia. She was a little reluctant at first, partly because VF made her feel guilty for leaving the house to have some fun with us. (I didn't know about this until after we came back from out little outing)

We were still not sure where we wanted to take them, even when we got onto the highway. We asked En and she decided on Butterfly Farm. I, on the other hand was thinking of Mini Malaysia.

We went past the Ayer Keroh Toll and missed the Butterfly Farm turning cause it was almost right after the toll.

We ended up in Mini Malaysia.

It was not my first time visiting this place. The last time had been about 2-3 years back, when we played hostess to a friend's friend from the US.

Mini Malaysia consists of 13 different "kampung-like" houses from different States of Malaysia. Each house had its own unique-ness even though they all looked almost the same on the exterior.

We went from one house to the other and I played the tour guide, explaining to the kids the different wall textures and the layout of each house. Of course I half the time I didn't know if my explanation was right or not (haha!) I know for certain that the Malacca house focuses on the broad coloured stairway leading up to the house while the Negeri Sembilan one has the Minangkabau roof structure. The building material used for the Sabah and Sarawak house is made out of bamboos.

At first Brian and En were happily going into EACH house until it came to a point when they realised that there was nothing much to see inside the houses, except for a few pieces of furniture. Moreover, some of them didn't have lights inside the building, making it very spooky and scary. There was one house which was leaking so badly, they had to quadrant off two rooms with some red and white tape.

After about the 6th house, they started getting hot and restless and was moving on very quickly. But when they came to the Sabah & Sarawak house, they were fascinated with the bamboo wall and flooring. Both En and Brian loved the narrow stairs made of one huge tree trunk. Personally, I thought En would not dare go up one of these. But to my amazement, she was the first to experiment these stairs. What a brave girl.

Brian followed suit, after seeing En bravely climbed up the stairs.

And soon, all of us went up to see what was there in the attic. Nothing was there, of course. But it was a fun, open space for kids to play around.

It started to drizzle a little when we got to the last house but the children were optimistic that it would stop soon because they prayed to God for good weather.

It was getting rather humid and En wanted ice cream but there was none in sight. I think she was a little disappointed but I told her that we could get ice cream on the way out.

.............. to be continued (Part Two - Mini Asean)

Cracked

I was walking out of my office when my mobile rang. I didn't recognise the number and asked the person for his name. He started asking me why I don't have his number in my contact list and insisted that I get it done. Sigh! I was kinda irritated by his suggestion.... well, the WAY he insisted on it.

Anyway, I was carrying stuff in my hands, and wanting to open the car door when I felt the phone slip from me. Gulp!!! I picked it up, hoping that nothing would be wrong with it but to my horror, the screen cracked! My heart sank.

Feeling sad about it, I continued the conversation with this person, who by then, was asking about whether I had a digi number, and what my digi number was and etc, etc, etc. I told him that the number he called me at was fine and I didn't see any reason why he should want to call me at my digi number. Finally, after arguing with him to a point where I got so fed up and still not knowing why he called me in the first place, I told him that I didn't want to talk to him anymore and that I dropped my phone while having that irritating conversation with him and that the screen cracked. And his reply? "Well, your phone is still ok. You can still talk to me, right?" Gosh! Of all the insufferable @#@#@@ .... yeah, I wanted to curse but hehe! I didn't.

I think it was the firm tone in my voice that made him realise that I was very angry with him and he quickly (and finally) told me why he called. He wanted my husband's phone number.

During the ride into town, I was feeling so stressed and troubled over the condition of the phone.

I finally had the nerve to call dear hubby to tell him about it. He patiently listen to me ranting about it before saying, "Don't worry about it. I'll buy you another one". Wow!!! So nice of him to say that. I told him that it's too expensive to get another one. And he answered that he doesn't mind paying for it.

At the back of my mind I was thinking, "Gosh!!! That $$ can buy me a D90!!!!" but all I told him was "I'll try to see if there's someone who could fix the screen".

I also did tell him that I was so angry with everything (especially that person who called me though I know that it's NOT his fault but I remember feeling so irritated even before I dropped the phone) that I really felt like crying.

And dear hubby asked me to cry so that I would feel better!!! :)

Well, tears were welling up in my eyes but I was determined NOT to cry. After all, I was standing right outside a bank and there were many people around me.

After "consoling" me, dear hubby told me that he wasn't feeling well and that he needed to rest. Gosh! I felt so horrible for thinking only about myself while he was sick and was still listening patiently to me.

I went back and quickly went online to see if there was such a service for screen replacement. There was one which I called and he was in KL. He said that I need to leave the phone with him for at least 24 hours (which meant overnight) and that it would cost me RM650. Earlier on, I read in one of the MAC forums that it might cost USD250 to get the screen replaced. So even thought RM650 is NOT cheap, it was still a better option than buying another phone. But somehow, I was a little skeptical and was going to look for other options. I had this mental vision that he would tear apart my phone and replace not only the screen but the whole phone!!! Sigh! I know, I don't have a very high opinion of the people here in Malaysia. Blame it on all the stories I read from the forwarded emails.

Anyway, that night we had cell meeting and YM, who was on holiday from Singapore, told me that he would be going to Singapore next week for a few days and if I like, I could pass him my phone so that he could take it to Applecare in Singapore to get it fixed. He too, felt that the phone would be safer hands in Singapore than in Malaysia.

I haven't really made up my mind yet. All I can feel is relief that it could be fixed. What I am worried about is that the touch screen might not be as sensitive as the original one. Whatever it is, I always have to remind myself, it's only a phone.

The ironic thing is .... this happened on the day Malaysia launched the iphone!

A Rare Sight

We have two 29" TVs at home. One in the bedroom and the other, in the living room. The former gets used every night while the latter was practically a white elephant, taking up precious space in our small house.

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I don't think we have switched on the living room TV for more than 5 years. It's not that it's not a good TV. (It's a Sony!!) We just didn't have enough people clamouring for the one-eyed monster. The TV and I do not get along well. I'd get restless, sitting down in one position for too long.

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We have been wanting to give it away to my mother in law for a year now but somehow, we didn't make time for it.

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About a week ago, my mother in law's old 21" TV called it quits and decided to retire for good. It was definitely a good time to MAKE TIME to give the TV to her. And so we did! And along with it, we lent her our TV cabinet.

We took out lots of stuff in the cabinet and discovered these video tapes that have never seen the light of day for years and years. These tapes, I believe, are facing extinction, with the introduction of CDs and DVDs in the past few years.

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Truly, these video tapes are a rare sight. Perhaps, in 50 years time, I could even make money selling these rare items. :)

On the Verge of Extinction

When we were much younger, going to to beach always seemed like the ultimate fun thing to do. We ALWAYS looked forward to spending part of our holidays swimming in the open sea, playing with sand and making sand castles with a moat surrounding it. Sometimes we even bury people under the sand.

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Last Sunday, plans to go for the MPH warehouse sale were cancelled and Eunice quickly cooked up another plan. "Want to go to PD ah?", she asked me after church. Gosh! Such a short notice. I didn't mind, as long as the weather played its part.

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I asked A. Chris if Brian could go. She was so happy that someone is taking her grandson out but when I turned to look at Brian, he didn't seem happy. In fact, I could see the wheels turning in his head - to go or to play PS at home? Finally, after seeing my almost crestfallen, unbelievable face, he agreed. I had to assure him that it would be fun.

Later, I called En and asked her. She took a long time to decide. She asked questions like, "What time are we going?", "How long will we be there?" , "Who else would be there?" We literally had to coax her to go and she didn't sound too thrilled when she gave us an affirmative answer.

Gosh! I was thinking ... why are children these days so boring!

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Eunice called Minchee to bring Wayne along.

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Soon, from 4 people, the whole trip involved 10 people. Matthew brought his mum. She was kind enough to allow us to use her name in the club so that we could wash up after the swim.

For the past few weeks, it has been raining a lot in the evening and because of that, we got En to pray for a safe journey and great weather. And that was exactly what we got. :)

When we arrived at about 5pm, the sun was shining so brightly. We rubbed on some sun screen before heading to the sea, which was sooo far away, as it was low tide.

I expected both En and Brian to dash into the sea and start dipping themselves into the water. But they were quite hesitant. Earlier on, Esther told them not to go deeper than hip level but they only went until the water were up to their thighs and they stopped there. They didn't know what to do after that. Imagine that!!

The sea water kept getting into Brian's eyes and it was very painful. As for En, she splashed a little, but her hair was still dry.

Finally, we got them out of the water and told them to play with the sand. Brian, who is always gamed for everything, allowed us to bury him. En was scared of being asked to be the next to be buried so after a while, she played on her own.

It was such a hot day and the ice cream man who must've gone past us for the umpteenth time finally had business from me - I bought ice cream for everyone.

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After that, we asked them to go play in the sea (I remember last time we were in the water ALL THE TIME!!!! We didn't want to get out of the water ... and here we are, asking the kids to go play in the sea!). Eunice taught them a water game - collecting water in both palms and shooting it out.

Both Esther and I were at our picnic area, taking care of the bags and towels.

After a while we saw Eunice carrying a crying Brian. He stepped on something sharp but when we checked his foot, there was no blood nor was there any signs of a scratch mark. We assured him that the pain would be gone in a while but he was so afraid of stepping on something sharp again, he actually wore his slippers all the time, even when we went walking along the shoreline later.

Can you imagine that??? We really didn't know how to help them have fun, we had to walk along the shoreline and let the waves and sand massage our feet. We took a long walk.

After the long walk to the other end, Eunice decided to teach En and Brian to float. Brian managed to relax a little but En was so tensed. She was so worried that she would sink. Eunice kept telling her that her ears need to be in the water but En got scared. After a while, Eunice gave up and we started walking back.

Along the way, Brian saw a moat and decided to dig one the moment we arrived back at our picnic area. Both Tusi and I helped him with his project. Tusi jokingly said that we are digging a grave.

After digging a hole big enough, we filled it up with water. Everyone was asked to take a pail, run to the sea, collect water and fill this hole up. It was like a mini telematch. Everyone was racing against each other. Even little Wayne took part. Of course, Matthew was the one holding the pail. It was great fun. This was where I first saw them letting their hair down and having real fun.

Soon there was enough water. Brian and En went in while Wayne tried to put more sand into it.

Eunice, still not satisfied, demanded that En should try to float in the sea. So the both of them went off while Brian sat in the moat.

We came back to find that water in the moat disappeared into the sand. Brian had a brilliant idea. He began digging a channel that would go all the way to the sea. What a clever boy! Once again, we helped him. Soon, the tide came in and as we dug further out, the waves pushed the waters into the little channel.

But alas, it was getting late and the dark skies loomed above us. We told the very disappointed kids that we had to leave soon and that they had to wash up in the sea before going into the club house for a proper bath. It was just too bad they stay until the waters washed into the moat.

They went out to the sea, washed themselves and plonked onto the sand, making sand angels (as opposed to snow angels). It was such a funny sight. I guess they are at last getting the hang of playing in the sand and sea.

It took a while before they got up, washed themselves again and went into the clubhouse for a proper bath.

We left PD at 7.30pm. Everyone was tired AND hungry!!! The drive back to my parents' place took about 1/2 hour and the moment we arrived there, everyone ate dinner as though they had never eaten for days.

I was so exhausted, I went to bed at 10.50pm that night. Believe me, I slept like a log!!! :)

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I wonder if we will be doing this again anytime soon. Outings to the beach are almost on the verge of extinction. Parents normally bring their children to the nice, clean and very blue chlorine-filled pool. It's fun but nothing compared to the open sea. :)

I Found Baby Jesus

Whenever there was a Magi scene when we were doing any Musical Dramas, both mum and I would crack our heads trying to figure out how to make a bigger baby. Yes, we know that at that time, baby Jesus would've had been at the age of two but it was always difficult to get a 2 year old to come for all our practices. Hence the need for a bigger "fake" baby.

We thought of buying a huge doll from Toys"r"us but didn't want to spend unnecesarily. We got Tusi to help out by sewing the pillow into shape.

Last week, mum walked past me, passed me a plastic bag and said, "I found baby Jesus". Not knowing exactly what she was talking about, I took a peek into the plastic bag.

I found a 2 foot tall doll staring up at me.

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Perfect for next year's drama. :)

iphone Text Message from Maxis

A few days ago, I received a message from Maxis :-

Believe me, it's feels weird, receiving a message on my iphone saying "Be one of the first to own an iphone ....."

Minchee did email me their different rates and I think it's pretty expensive. Still, many would purchase it simply because it's the "in thing".