Life of a Numbnut

The Malaysia Supermodel Search 2009

2009-08-26T00:58:00.003+08:00

I'm too lazy to type it blog style, so here you go...

Dear All

I wish to announce that I have foolishly participated in the Malaysia Supermodel Search (The Journey in finding Malaysia’s First Ford Supermodel hahaha -_-) which is ongoing now, and would need your votes which make up 50% of my total marks.

http://www.malaysiasupermodelsearch.com/ <---this is the website, although ironically, it is currently being upgraded.

So if you don't mind supporting a slightly chubby and not super tall participant, please SMS:

VOTE{space}MSS110 to 36300. Voting ends on 27 August 2009 midnight (RM1/vote)

Yes, yes, I know it's expensive but so was the registration fee!

Thank you!

Regards,
Stephanie

P/S: Don't need a picture la...you all know how I look like right?

Year of the Cow

2009-01-31T22:45:00.001+08:00

Moo moo from FGS Dong Zen. Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese Niu Year

2009-01-26T14:12:00.001+08:00

Giant roasted pigs at Kluang...

Shopping Craze

2008-11-08T20:24:00.018+08:00

First of all, I would like to inform you that...I'M STILL ALIVE!!! T____T OK?! I'm still around, just...busy with my new job. T_T I've been so busy I didn't even get to watch my anime or manga at home. I could only do that in the train on my baby, Asami (iPod Touch) and that is only if I could get a seat! WARGH!!!

Anyway, before I started at my new workplace, I did a bit of office attire shopping...shoes, clothes, etc. Well, just three weeks back? Uh, on the 22nd of October, I believe, Jusco had a one day J member sales. I took that opportunity to shop. Since it was a weekday, a Wednesday, I didn't expect it to be crowded, but I was shocked when I realized that the queue to the car park was SUPER LOOOOOOOONG!!!

And then..inside...

The crowd! ARGH! Some were there even before it started at 8 am. I saw my neighbour there and she told me that she was already there at 7 something in the morning!!!

Entrance to the department store.

Queues at the cashiers. Don't you need to work, people?!!

Ah, yes. I have almost forgotten. How could I? While I was queuing up, I was horrified when I felt a pair of boobs pressed AGAINST my back. It was an aunty in her forties (?) behind me. Lady, I don't see any logic in...plastering yourself to my back, it's not going to make the waiting any shorter. Wait, maybe it would have, if I had ran for my...my back's chastity. Anyway, that incident made it clear that I wasn't going to be a lesbian anytime soon -_-.

Comforters! People were just buying BAGS and BAGS of comforters! Some even had two to three carts of comforters/pillows/bolsters...

After queuing up for so long at the cashier, I wanted to grab these knives and go on a killing spree.

The madness at the supermarket.

Other independent stores decided to join the J Card member day madness.

View of the centre court from the 1st floor. Economic crisis? Recession? Hmm...

And then the NEXT day, I followed my friend to Metrojaya's warehouse sale at Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam.

I thought it wouldn't be as bad. I thought wrong.

On the way INTO the stadium.

We weren't allowed to bring a camera in. Technically, I didn't bring a camera in :D

The row of cashiers at one side of the stadium, obviously not enough to serve the huge crowd on that day. We left five minutes later, empty-handed.

I'm never going to try this stunt again T_T.

BAM!! Car Accident,,,

2008-10-14T19:53:00.007+08:00

And no, I wasn't the driver. It happened on a Sunday evening, after class. I was lying down behind, sleeping while listening to my SonyE when...BAM!!! I heard a loud crash, felt my toes being crunched and was almost thrown off the seat. When I opened my eyes, I saw the sky and trees revolving, and I wondered if my life was spinning away with the car. Just when I thought that the spinning wouldn't stop (it only spun once, but it sure felt longer than that), the car came to a halt. I got up, looked around wildly while asking, "What happened?! What happened?! Huh?! Huh?!" like a blur numbnut I am.
Well, obviously we got hit by another car (luckily not a truck). I noticed that we were facing the opposite direction! I actually saw the car, with the front bumper sticking out speeding away. Hit and run -_-.

Dad drove the car to the side. I could hear the wheel being dragged along. I noticed too that our car was lopsided. Not good. I tried getting down on the left side but when I pulled the handle, it got stuck! My jaw dropped as I looked around, hoping that Dad didn't see that. I exited at the other side of the car, throbbing toes and all, to see the extent of the damage.

No wonder I couldn't open the left back passenger door! Now I know why my toes got "crushed".

My feet were at the circled area. Imagined if my head was there. Then, my dear friends would have to line up and reintroduce yourselves to me.

On that day, the traffic lights at the cross junction were not working. A white car slowed down for my dad to cross. Another car must have sped past the white car and slammed into ours. Well, that was what we think happened. The impact was great enough to send our car spinning and damage the back wheel.

The wheel slanted inwards. Anyway, Dad was fine, and so am I. Only my toes were a little bruised and the skin got scraped. I did relive the experience in my sleep that night (the part where I almost got thrown off the seat), and jerked myself awake. Maybe because I was asleep when it happened, so that's all the "mental trauma" I got. The next day I woke up feeling like I've only slept half as much. My body started aching and I even misspelled simple words! "Trees" became "triss". However, mom said there's always something wrong with my brain anyway -_-|||

The sweetest part was Orange licking my bruised toes, trying to heal them. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's going to have the opposite effect instead.

Meow! I'm Orange...

Someone asked me before what I would like my last meal to be. I had trouble answering him at that time. Now I know. Joanne, Claudio, if you are reading this, my answer is Chicken Rendang Nasi Lemak! =D

Oh, don't ask me for my car number plate. I won't give you! That's because I'm buying 4D with it myself. Need some compensation from the above since the other party ran away. Cis!

The Answer to Wonders of Nature

2008-10-06T19:58:00.001+08:00

I got really interesting replies =D Good imagination you people have there. Here's the answer:

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bean-sprouts.jpg)

Beansprout la people...Hehe!

Wonders of Nature

2008-09-18T23:06:00.001+08:00

Dear readers...

What does this look like to you? What is it actually? =D

Happy Ramadan!!!

2008-09-02T19:25:00.010+08:00

It's the time of the year again! The time of the year to go Ramadan food hunting! Or so I say. I've only ever bought Ramadan food from one location and that's Section 14's Ramadan bazaar. So today, on the way home, I stopped by at Section 14's Ramadan bazaar. It was raining on the way back, but fortunately, the sky was still clear at Section 14. So, I walked around, hunting for my ayam percik (spicy chicken) and grilled fish. Placed my order for grilled sotong (cuttlefish) and grilled ikan pari (ray fish). Then I continued hunting for my ayam percik. I was surprised though that I didn't see the lemang (bamboo glutinous rice) stall at the usual spot. In fact, I didn't see any lemang stall at all. Perhaps I missed it?

The otak-otak (fish cake?) smelt nice, but due to last year's bad experience, I didn't feel like buying any. I finally found my ayam percik stalls, but I hesitated in buying from them as there was no one at their stalls! After a few minutes of walking up and down, I finally bought one ayam percik peha. Then I returned to the earlier stall to collect my pari and sotong.

However, halfway waiting, it started raining! On top of that the lady gave my order to a guy after me (we were given numbers), because really, I'm too unnoticeable and he ordered the same thing. While waiting for her to pack my order, the rain got heavier and heavier. Although I had an umbrella with me, I was too close to the stall and other people to open it up.

Grabbing my plastic bag of food and change, I hurriedly opened my umbrella and rushed back to the car where my mom was waiting for me. For a moment, my umbrella was rendered useless thanks to the strong wind. Due to the rain, I was wet and feeling cold in the car. I placed the plastic bag of food on my lap and exclaimed that it was hot. Mom advised me to place the newspapers on my lap to put the food on, but I declined. I welcome the warmth from the plastic bag of food. It was better than being chilled to the bones.

It was only when I got back that I realized that it wasn't a good idea. Because I was feeling cold, I couldn't gauge the heat of the plastic of food properly. This was what I discovered after I reached home:

AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe!!! Red patch on my thigh!
And then...and then...it became a pretty shape:

On top of that, because I grabbed my change and rushed of just like that, the notes got all crumpled up:

And this was after mom has flattened them out. Before this, she almost threw the notes away because she thought that the notes were rubbish >.>

And the food pics:

My ayam percik. RM5 for this portion. Not too bad, a bit on the sweetish side due to the sauce. Question: Was ayam percik sweet? I can't remember.

Sotong panggang and ikan pari panggang...This dish was a disappointment. It tasted rather bland, has no "panggang fragrance" at all. Even my mom commented that she couldn't taste much from this dish. *Sigh* After all those sacrifices made...

So, anyone has any recommendations? On where I can get good Ramadan food?

Anyway, selamat menyambut bulan Ramadan!

The Curse...

2008-08-27T21:29:00.005+08:00

It's already 27th of August and we have yet to hang up the National flag at my office. Suddenly remembering, I exclaimed loudly that we had to hang the flag up, startling my colleague who was working diligently on her laptop (no, I'm not being sarcastic, she really is too hardworking). We took the flag out, and I had the honour of pulling up the blinds behind my seat where the window is. See, the thing about the window blinds is that we were hardly successful in releasing it down after pulling it up in the past.

However, the blinds on the second REFUSED to stay up today, so I had to step on the string attached to the blinds in order to keep it up.after that, we managed to hang the flag without any problem. It was time to release the blinds. Lifting my foot up, I expected the second window's blinds to fall down since it wasn't "locked". Strangely enough, nothing happened. The blinds remained secured up the window. BAH. After a few tries, we managed to release the blinds.

Now the first window blinds however...the more we tried to release it, the higher up it went. Until...we were exposed to the world like a newborn baby -_- After much desperate struggling, the blinds came down. Good.

Then I turned back to my computer and found that the screen was blank. Strange. I didn't turn it off. That was when my colleague commented that she "smelt something burning". Panicking, I tried to turn my computer on a few times. Nothing happened. I crouched down and took a sniff at my CPU's air vents. The only thing that came to my mind was, "OMFG!!!"

My colleague however, made the situation funny...when it shouldn't be. She innocently (or jokingly?) asked whether the CPU "fried" due to the sunlight that came in from the "blind-less" window earlier. I laughed out loud and told her that that was impossible. Fortunately, my work was backed up so I could use another computer to do my work.

Hours later, after having a good lunch at Sugimoto (Japanese restaurant, duh)I walked back to office. I looked up to admire our handiwork (the flag, remember?). I frowned. I thought that something looked strange. Then my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I started giggling and as I rushed back to the office, I prayed that no one saw the handiwork that we were slightly "proud" of.

I burst into the office, again, startling my poor colleague, and exclaimed loudly, "OH MY GOD!" She jumped up, wondering what has happened.

"The flag, the flag!"

"Huh?"

"It's facing the wrong way!"

My colleague burst out laughing. We rushed to the window to amend our error and thereafter, the cycle began again with the window blinds...

Rock Hard

2008-08-20T15:23:00.005+08:00

Went to SS2 one weekend morning with my mother. I was surprised that my PARENTS noticed THIS first:

Like, weeks or months before I did.

Which is strange, really, considering that I'm the most corrupted of the family. I know that things look different from another point of view. Perhaps I haven't been looking at it from THIS point of view.

Sometimes, even an SM Queen like me may have overlooked things like that, because that thing is just too HUGE.

No, I don't go for small peckers. XP

Ramune

2008-08-01T12:01:00.001+08:00

Ever since I've watched anime, I have this fascination for the Ramune drink, especially in the old fashioned glass bottle. A few years ago, I got myself a bottle from 100 Yen Shop:

Shin Chan Ramune! But because it was so cute...

I couldn't bear to open it...

And it has expired more than a year ago. Now, even if I want to open it, I dare not open it (imagines all sorts of demons flying out if Steffi opens it).

So this time around, I bought myself a more...original looking bottle at Takashimaya, Singapore:

One bottle for SGD2++ There were plastic bottles too, but I wanted the good old glass bottle (and yes, I lugged it all the way back).

Simple instructions on how to drink. Haha, yes, HOW to drink, because, really, only hamsters and their relatives will know how to drink from this bottle.

The little glass ball lodged at the top due to the pressure from the CO2 inside the bottle.

The cap.

The inner cap, used to push the glass ball away from the mouth of the bottle.

It was a tough job, maybe because I've been carrying the bottle here and there, the pressure inside was REALLY great. It took me a good five minute to dislodge the ball, and look at what happened! The liquid came fizzling out. Luckily the bottle was on the floor and not on the table.

The glass ball at the neck of the bottle. The glass ball is supposed to prevent the liquid from flowing out of the bottle, and the drinker has to use his/her tongue to push it away while drinking, just like a hamster's water bottle. BUT IT DIDN"T WORK! IT DIDN"T WORK! The liquid came gushing into my mouth...almost choked T_T So sad. So it's for show only? T___T

After five minutes of struggling, there were even blood marks on my palm. So much hard work and it didn't work the way it was supposed to work? T___T

Disappointed, I went to the bathroom to wash the bottle, only to discover that...
IT WORKS! The water didn't flow out at all...well, after the initial 2 seconds, as long as you turn it upside down 90 degrees like a hamster's water bottle. Who the heck drinks like a bird la? -_-

Plotting revenge...

2008-07-30T09:21:00.003+08:00

When I came back from Singapore, I thought that I could catch up on my sleep. I was wrong. The entire of last night, I was kept awake by one bastard of a mosquito. It wasn't because it was biting me non stop. Oh no, that would have been too merciful. This mosquito...has PhD in psychology. It was driving me nuts with its endless buzzing in both my ears. It BUZZED me awake. At 4am, I finally got out of bed and turn on the lights, hoping to chase it away (or kill it). No such luck. So I went back to bed. Less than 5 minutes later, the buzzing came back.

At one point, I even wondered whether it was really a mosquito or my ears were having problems (it happens to the elderly). I reminded myself that I'm not even 30 years old. -_- Fed up, I covered myself with the comforter, from head to toe. For a while, it was quiet, BUT! I couldn't sleep! Why? I was actually afraid that if I fell asleep, the mosquito would wake me up. I'm starting to sound illogical here.

And THEN. The comforter wasn't soundproof enough for our energetic mosquito. I could hear it buzzing. Sounds crazy, but I could tell that it was mad. Angry that it has no access to me, because the buzzing suddenly got aggressive and loud. I can't believe I was beginning to understand mosquito talk. T_T

I couldn't hide under the comforter forever. It was suffocating. I actually thought, "Can you just hurry up, suck my blood and get lost?" I thought that that was better than buzzing around the entire night, and I could get some sleep. It DID suck my blood, from my index finger which was sticking out of the comforter. -_- Stupid mosquito. It, however, didn't leave after it's meal. How rude.

Finally, I decided that I shouldn't be so nice. I started to imagine what I would do with it once I caught it. Smacking it dead would be too merciful. Instead, I will capture it alive, and then pull out its legs one by one...and then the wings...let's see how it'll buzz after that! HAH!

Unfortunately, catching a mosquito alive is even more impossible than climbing Mt Kinabalu for me. So all I did was spray the entire room this morning and I HOPE and pray that I'll be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

It's a Fish Tale

2008-07-03T09:49:00.014+08:00

I own several sick guppies. Why sick? There was a time, one or two always turn up dead the next morning, even though I've mixed in the medicine and changed the water. Some kind of strange disease. Fed up, I just let them be. I even called it the "Swamp of Death". The baby guppies couldn't survive got the bigger ones love to attack them. I know I'm supposed to separate them, but...try catching babies from the Swamp of Death. The plant grew big and wild and the water got darker...

And I only had this many after a while...

Until one day..."MOM! There are baby guppies! LOTS of them!"

So I thought, they probably won't last long, as usual. However, after a week or two...they were still swimming around, and were slightly bigger, so it was easier to scoop them out and not miss them.

One fine, sunny Saturday morning, my mom and I cleaned all the fish...bowls? Pots? Anyway...I wasn't expecting THIS MANY BABIES!!! IT"S MADNESS!

Mom: They'd probably survived because it was too dark in there for the big ones to see them...

Me: You think so? It's stupid how when you work so hard to keep them alive, they don't. Then when you leave them alone, they breed like...guppies.

So anyway, we decided to separate the babes and adults while we were at it. These are their new homes:

Baby guppies new home

Big guppies new home. I think there are two preggy fishies in there...

I suddenly spotted a baby guppy who seems to be suffering from scoliosis! He's darker than the rest...

And my other lone ranger fish, Fei fei or Fatty, whichever you prefer, is a platy. Also known as the Murderer. Why? Initially I had 5 platys. Fei fei decided that he didn't like that and forced them to commit hara kiri.

Fei fei in a plastic container while I was cleaning his bowl.

Fei Fei in his new home, hiding at the bottom. Coward.

5 July 2008, Update:
This is ridiculous! I knew that at least two of the fishes were pregnant, and I was expecting more babies, but I didn't expect them to do this!

How did you guys get in there?! Ok, nevermind, maybe there's a tiny hole for you to go in, but...How am I going to get YOU out? How about when you are too big to squeeze out? Geez...I'll just have to flush you guys out when you are bigger...

Darabif, Desa Sri Hartamas

2008-07-02T13:05:00.000+08:00

I have always wondered about the lack of burger shops near our office. There's a Burger King down the road, but it's too far to walk to under the hot afternoon sun. :P Finally I received a flier from Darabif, a burger shop (same row as 7-11, just about 5-8 minutes away on foot) which has just opened recently. I dragged my colleague there of course. The interior's mostly white and green, quite "bright" too. As if the afternoon sun isn't bright enough.

I like the colours and design. Feels funky.

We sat at one of the cubicles. With the lamp situated at such a spot, sooner or later someone's going to smack his/her head against the lamp.

The burgers available. The burgers have really cute names:

Beef burgers: Maxi Moo, Mooo and Mini Mooo
Lamb burgers: Double Glam, Lamb Glam and Mini Glam
Chicken burgers: Hot Chick, Chik and Cute Chick (Eating CUTE CHICK? Hehehehe)
Fish: Salmon Surprise (Wah, a class higher)

Darabif patties in boxes? Does that mean I can find it in the supermarket?

Our meals. a Mooo, Chick and Corn chips with Mexico Mayo Salsa and Tomato Salsa Sauce.

MOOOOOOOOOO!!!

What got me sniggering, however, were the names of the drinks. Types of "Darajuices" available are "Detox", "Immune Booster", "De-Stress", "Gym Junkie", "Fat Buster" (I want this!), "Skin Rescue", "Cool Down" and last but not least, also my favourite, "Dragon Desire". The last one really takes the cake. Imagine you tell your guy friend this:

"Wanna drink darajuice? Then have the Dragon Desire Juice!"

My imagination just ran wild. Anyone would, especially if you know Fei Long from Viewfinder. Maybe Mikhail might want one...>=D

Jaya One

2008-06-12T00:56:00.005+08:00

PJ has been developing really fast, recently. One of the latest addition to PJ is Jaya One, a new commercial hub. I've been there to have my meals a few times before. One thing I like about that place, besides the variety of shops (not many at the moment), is the atmosphere and decor. So I went there again last night to have my dinner at Sun Wong, since we didn't have water supply at my housing area.

Colourful lights! It looks really pretty at night.

Haha, I just like this scenery although it's too dark to see anything.

The signboard to the lift. My sister thought that it was cute of them to include kids!

I supposed this is a potential night spot...Maybe we can go there to "yam cha" one day. :D

Postcards from Germany

2008-06-05T14:15:00.001+08:00

Dearest Sugi Wugi finally remembered to pass me the postcards (which I have also forgotten about) of Germany and Austria which she bought end last year for me.

Regensburg, Germany, where Sugi had her training at.

Salzburg, Austria - Location where Sound of Music was filmed.
While I was talking to her, I couldn't help looking at the postcards, thinking that something was not quite right...

Hours later, the image on the bottom right of the Germany postcard caught my attention. Then, I realized what was wrong, no, I mean, NOT quite right.

I'm not a very artistic person, and I don't know much about sculpture, but that looks painful. >.< I wonder if the designer was a male masochist?

MIA...

2008-06-01T13:11:00.009+08:00

I have not gone MIA. Unfortunately. I'd rather be abducted by aliens now. Nothing can be more terrifying than exams. Haih. Anyway, here's a proof that I have not been abducted.

I have been busy attending revision classes, though half the time my mind wasn't there >.<

Students can never resist vandalizing college properties, including the wall. Not me, okay! I'm a good girl.

"Cow flying outside". This was at my sitting place. I looked up.

Ah, I see. I could see outside. However, I didn't even see birds flying, not to mention cow...But I can understand the previous student's feeling. After hours of sitting there, I was hoping to see pigs flying outside.

Necessities for class:

Steaming cup of tea. It has three functions.
1. Warm up your insides, especially when you start to feel numb. Prevent hypothermia.
2. Give yourself a facial steam treatment. Really useful when your facial muscles are frozen.
3. Keep yourself awake.

Gloves. It beats sitting on your hands. Writing with it proves a bit difficult, although not impossible. You'll just take a longer time to decipher your own handwriting.

Lastly, jackets. Not one, but two. If you are lucky, you won't have to use them. If you aren't, even two might seem insufficient, depending on which classroom you are in.

Sometimes I'll go to KL Sentral to walk around/have lunch/relieve myself (bless their clean toilets). Sometimes, they have interesting things to see...

The Air Force had an exhibition there. At first, I wondered why there were so many bald-monk-like boys around. Then only I realized they were from the air force. >.<

After class:

Wait for transportation. It's like a lookout post on a pirate's ship, except that I don't get to see the sea. Well, this view isn't too bad.

Vietnam Kitchen

2008-05-21T19:54:00.013+08:00

Mom's been too busy to cook lately, so we've been eating out for dinner. On Sunday, after class, we went to One Utama to have our dinner at Vietnam Kitchen. I'm not fanatical about Vietnam food, but since the restaurant's always crowded everytime I pass by, I suggested that place.

I believe they had a branch at SS2, but I wasn't impressed that time (which was years ago).

Just the right texture, not too soft, not too hard.

Uh, seafood salad, vVetnamese style. Shredded sour mango, cucumber, prawn, cuttlefish, chilli, etc on spicy, er, prawn or fish cracker (keropol) I think. Yah, that weird looking orange thing is the keropok.

Pork in caramel sauce (I can't remember the exact name). Supposed to be famous. It was delicious, no regrets :D

Duck in mango sauce. Really tasty. The sauce was nice, not the cordial syrupy type.

Sour Seafood Soup. It's not like Tom Yam Soup. It's sour but not spicy, I quite like it. I've actually ordered their Vietnamese Fried Spring Roll, but as usual, my tummy was faster than my brain.

At the old wing of One Utama, Shiseido was promoting their Suncare products:
An almost life-sized yacht on real water! Expensive promotion! But then again, their products are expensive too, so I don't think it's a problem at all.

I wanted to take pics with it, but I'm pretty sure it's only for customers who bought their products:
See the cameraman and his equipments? Haih. Oi, I'm also your customer mah!

Fong Lye Tea House

2008-05-17T22:23:00.014+08:00

Today, my class ended an hour earlier than intended (we had shorter breaks!), so I took the KTM down to Midvalley Megamall to meet up with my parents for dinner. I suggested eating at Fong Lye Tea House, because whenever I pass by that "tea house" I always see a long queue outside. We didn't have to wait for a table as we were early.

The decor's really nice, I wish I was, er...brave enough to go around snapping their decors. Unfortunately, I'm a coward, the most I could do was take not-so-sneaky pictures of our dishes with Fei!

This is the only "decor" pic I took. Peony flower seems to be their main theme. Well, I THINK it was supposed to be peony.

Pretty teapot set, crysanthemum tea for two.

My apple milk juice.

Until now, I'm still not sure what this is supposed to be. I thought it was meatball something, but... Anyway, it's like a starchy pie with mushroom and meat filling.

Seafood and meat dish. This dish was really value for money at RM26++. There were two big prawns, a few shellfish (lala), fake crabmeat, REAL crabmeat (they gave us the claws) and assorted steamboat stuff. On the hotplate, it was mostly chicken meat, or was it pork? And taufu.

Mee suah (didn't take pic of it) and pork meat. Frankly, I didn't really like this dish very much.

Seafood noodles. Really like this dish. Our bill came up to about RM95.00.

Hmmm...looks like we didn't order much, but I was really full after dinner! As we left, the queue outside Fong Lye Tea House got longer and longer...

Alright, all about Fong Lye Tea House:

Lot T-208, Level 3, The Gardens, Midvalley
(just opposite Borders and Zanmai Sushi)
Tel: 03-2282 8699

Learning Chinese from TV Shows

2008-05-12T12:45:00.002+08:00

This was what happened at the washroom at The Gardens:

My sis and I were preening in front of the mirror when...

Mom: You both look like tong zhi men...
Steffi: Is it? Haha...(wonders why her mom suddenly said that)
Mom: People will think that you are tong zhi men from Japan or Korea
Steffi: Haha...
Steffi: Do I really look like my Elaine's boyfriend ah? I mean, girlfriend.
Mom: Huh?
Steffi: You said we look like tong zhi men...
Mom: I'm not talking about that tong zhi men! Your mind is so corrupted. Tong zhi men means fellow countrymen!
Steffi: How am I supposed to know?! Everytime I hear that word, they refer to "gay/lesbian"! Like how Jiro's character calls himself "tong zhi men" in the Taiwanese drama Hana Kimi when he thought that he fell in love with a boy! Entertainment news also always use that word!

When words have double/hidden meaning...*sigh*

Update: I was told that a more accurate meaning of "tong zhi men" is "comrade". Also, I have finally remembered that I didn't hear that word from Hana Kimi (they used the word "gay" instead), but possibly from another show called "Go Go G-boys - Movie" where there were a bunch of them, and that is probably why they used "tong zhi men" to indicated that they are "comrades". Forgive this banana *bows deeply*

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-10T23:43:00.001+08:00

First of all, Happy Mothers Day to all the mommies in the world! YAY! Don't forget to take this opportunity to squeeze out a few diamonds from your hubby!

My sis and I decided to celebrate Mother's day one day earlier to avoid the crowd on the actual day. We ate at Din Tai Fung, well known for its xiu long bao. The first time we ate at Din Tai Fung was at the Junction 8 branch, Singapore.

Appetizer. I think it's made out of tung fun, chilli, preserved vege, carrot and other unknowns (to me). Not bad.

We ordered Combo A which consisted of 6 normal pork meat xiu long bao + 6 crab meat and pork meat xiu long bao. The skin was just nice, didn't break when I picked it up. Juicy enough too. These are the small xiu long baos, the restaurant has bigger versions which are called Xiao Long Bao (er, isn't one in Cantonese and the other in Mandarin?)

Spicy Prawn La Mian. Ahaha, as usual, I tend to eat before I take the picture. What to do? My stomach thinks faster than my brain. Delicious. Quite spicy, but won't kill.

Braised Beef La Mian. This was the first dish I ate at Singapore's Din Tai Fung. Same chunky beef, quite chewy, a proof that no tenderizer was used.

Signature Tau Fu dish! I think the top part is seaweed, servedd with mushroom. Since there are four of us, we were given four pieces of taufu and four halves of mushroom. Ate it with rice, yum!

Shanghainese Smoked Fish. This is something different, quite interesting. They use dory fish to come up with this dish. It's like a fish version of Taiwan's beef jerky. Quite tasty and not too hard.

Another unique and excellent dish. Salted Egg Yolk Prawn. Prawn coated with salted egg yolk and then deep fried. Love this dish!

Had to take a walk after that...tummy was bursting!

Bridges here, bridges there, zig zagging, criss crossing...

In case you still don't know where Din Tai Fung is, it's at...

The Gardens Mall, Midvalley, Lot LG-207, Lower Ground Level. Tel: 03-2283 2292

We were given seats upon arrival because...

Guy Customer to girlfriend: Eh? Can book wan ah?

Caaaaaaaaaaaan...can reserve seats =D So if you don't wanna queue, just pick up the phone and give them a ring.

Peach Jam Milk

2008-05-09T23:27:00.006+08:00

Sometimes I wonder what's wrong with me...

St. Dalfour Golden Peach Jam

You would think that after the last experiment, I would have learnt my lesson...

Farmhouse Fresh Milk

But noooooooooooo, it looks like I didn't.

Voila! Peach Jam Milk!

I don't regret it though. My mom might...when she sees the bottle of jam tomorrow :D

Redoxon + Farmhouse Milk = ?

2008-05-07T23:59:00.010+08:00

I wanted to drink milk. I also wanted to take my Vitamin C (Redoxon). Being the lazy person I am, I came up with a harebrain idea of combining the two so that I didn't have to go to the kitchen twice.
The ingredients:
Redoxon and Farmhouse Milk (low in fat)

First, a cup of milk.

Then, plop the tablet in.

Then watch it froth...

and froth...like a mad cow...

still frothing...epilepsy?

Finally, after HALF an hour, it has fully dissolved.

Looks like baby's porridge, right? So I sipped a bit. These were what came to mind:

1) The salty orange concotion that the doctor gives you (in powder mix) when you have diarrhea
2)Yoghurt

The milk brought out the saltiness of the Redoxon to the maximum! It's like natto. It's not god awful but it's not nice either. I skimmed the top part (the porridge looking part) as I'm not a yoghurt fan in the first place. I drank half. The kitchen sink drank the other half.

Next time, Steffi won't be so lazy. She'll go twice to the kitchen -_-

From Fei, with love ^-^

2008-05-07T00:40:00.001+08:00

Here are some pictures taken by Fei Long.

Normal mode, daytime outside.

I was trying to take picture of the baby grasshopper on the window but it wasn't focusing on the baby.

This one was taken in the house, my study lamp was too bright. 2MP picture.

VERSUS

VGA mode. It's only in VGA mode that I can zoom...

And then, there's the special effects:
1) Black and White
2) Negative
3) Sepia

I was attempting to take picture of my abused keyboard at office...just to show how dangerous fingernails can be.

A normal close up image of the keyboard. As you can see, Fei's not made for close up shots. The key circled is the "A" key...Look hard and you'll be able to see the indentations and deep scratches, courtesy of my ring finger.

A "Negative" version. Might be easier to spot the result of more-than-a-year abuse.

And lastly, Sepia's similar to black and white except that it's in brown tones.

Oh, and regarding the post before this, ignore it. Or don't. whichever you prefer. I was testing mobile blogging, looks like I'll be able to blog from Fei Long now. ^o^v

Welcome...

2008-05-07T00:37:00.001+08:00

to Steffi the numbnut @ mobile blogging. Er...won't be posting much here cause i'm too poor!

Singapore 2008 - Inconsiderate Fellow Passenger, Clarke Quay

2008-05-03T00:07:00.007+08:00

As I've mentioned before, I took the bus to and from Singapore on my last trip. Before the highlight of the trip, I managed to get myself lost in Novena Square. I didn't know how that happened, but yes, I lost my family while walking to the bus. I couldn't call them and I could only sms them, which I mispelled Burger King due to the dictionary function and I was running out of battery. It was early in the morning so many shops weren't open yet. Finally they managed to contact me before my handphone died off and I found them. My mom thought that it was hilarious how Steffi the adventurer who goes exploring Singapore could get lost in a MALL.

And then, in the bus, I sat next to the window so the luggage rack was right above my head. I was daydreaming and didn't realized that we had reached the immigration dept of Singapore. I got up abruptly when my dad called out to me - and smack my head really hard against the luggage rack - and ended up keeling over on the chair while holding my head, sans anime style. That was the first time I saw stars. That day just wasn't my day.

And now, the highlight:

I have never met anyone as annoying as this lady who was sitting in front of my sister (who's on my left). It started off when we left Novena Square. I love watching the scenery outside the bus, but suddenly this lady (the snobbish tai tai type) approached me and requested that I pull the curtains as the sun was too bright. What are you? Vampire?! Ok, fine, I just looked at her and pull the curtains shut. After a while, I decided to nap, but nooooooooo, someone was being too noisy. If she wants to talk to her friend, she could do so quietly, but instead, she was complaining loudly. I don't know what she has to complain about, but she has A LOT of complaining to do to her friend. If it's not this, it's that.

I hate being disturbed when:
1) I want to sleep (I'm sure most of you too)
2) I'm watching anime
3) I'm reading manga/book
4) I'm daydreaming

She even went to the bus driver to complain/ask about stuff a few times, eg. "Why are we stopping at this rest stop and not that rest stop?" or "That rest stop has so many flies!" and God knows what else.

The last straw was when we alighted the bus after a rest stop, she actually came over to my sister's and my side and stared blatantly at our footspace without even acknowledging us. On top of that she looked as if she was checking whether we had foot disease which could possible spread to the front where she sits.

Steffi, when on tour/trip, normally lacks of sleep. Steffi who lacks of sleep also lacks patience and adopts a don't care attitude...Steffi is also irritable especially when confined in small spaces such as a bus. So Steffi decided to take her revenge. >=D

Steffi noticed that Annoying Lady is, besides annoying, also very vain (always smoothing down her short hair and applying cosmetics) and is afraid of cold (she shut off her air vents). So after lunch, at another rest stop when we alighted the bus, we (sister and I lah)noticed that she wasn't in the bus yet. >=D OPPORTUNITY TIME! I told my sister to sit at that Annoying Lady's place while I directed both our air-con blowers to her (it was pretty cold in the bus, so we didn't need them). At full blast of course :D I don't know if the other passengers saw, but they sure didn't say anything if they did.

Finally, the bus left the rest stop. And the fun begins. Annoying Lady does not know why her hair kept on swaying about like the lalang at our roadside, or Autumn in My Heart, which ever you prefer, but she kept on flattening down her hair. Every few minutes. :D With a smirk on my face, I settled down to sleep but this time I was disturbed by my sister. It was funny to see her laughing silently, shoulders shaking, face all red and fist stuffed to her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud everytime the Annoying Lady's hair swayed. Mom probably realized what I did but didn't say anything at first. Dad on the other hand, needed my sister to explain to him what was going on :D He, of course, didn't like that Annoying Lady too.

Mom: Ok lah, push the blower back to yourself, later she scold you.
Me(stubborn): Then I'll scold her back. Politely.
Mom: Haih.

I wasn't kidding when I said I'll scold her back. Remember, Steffi who lacks of sleep also lacks rational thinking. I mean, geez, if she was so fussy, why doesn't she hire a limousine or take the aeroplane? Sheesh.

OK, so here are some pictures of Clarke Quay, a reward for listening to my rants :D

All Hail Lord YS!

2008-05-02T22:53:00.015+08:00

Firstly, I should properly introduce you to my new beau. Ladies and gentleman, please meet Fei Long.

Before you start wondering, no, I never intended to name my mobile phone. I thought naming items should be left to people like Darke. Well, my desktop (Errol, after the owl in Harry Potter) and external hard disk (Shikamaru, after the character in Naruto anime) are the only two items I have given name to. However, I didn't realize that SOFTWARES encourage you to name your item too! I was caught by surprise when the Sony Ericsson (hereinafter known as SonyE) PC Suite asked for my mobile phone's name! Well, since SonyE asked for it, I shall have to come up with one.

I named Fei Long after a Hong Kong triad boss in the manga, Finder Series, by Yamane Ayano. It's not a manga to be read by the general public, so if you know what I mean, click at your own risk. =D I thought my Fei Long (yes, can't you see that he's wearing my chain?), although delicate, is dark and dangerous like Ms Yamane Ayano's Fei Long.

So naturally, Fei, being a triad boss, he needs protection. I got this for him:

It's to prevent his beautiful face from getting scratched.

Fei needs to be pampered too, you know, being a triad boss and all.

He even has a pet pig to sit on his lap. Btw, that belongs to my sister but I'll just borrow it meanwhile.

Fei Long: WHAT'S WITH THE SISSY ACCESSORIES?! I'm a triad boss, not a kindergarten kid!
Steffi: Yes, and your master is me. Well, if you want something more manly, take this!

(Rocking chair made by my aunt in Johor)
Steffi: A hard wooden rocking chair for a grouchy old man like you! BWAHAHAHA!!!
Fei Long: ...butt sore *pouts*
Steffi: *scratches head* Well, I suppose I could get you a cushion...

I wanted to get Fei Long a Stereo Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS970 but it took my all to stop my jaw from hitting the floor when the salesman quoted me the price. RM280! Fei dear, with that price, I could get you a henchman to be your bodyguard.

Uh, anyway, I also have another person to introduce to you. ALL HAIL LORD YS!!! My mobile phone guru! Thanks to him, Fei Long now can play my videos smoothly...

Oh, and I've finally managed to send a video MMS and make a video call to Singapore! Had to do that in Cyberjaya though. That was the only place I could get the 3G signal so far. -_- The video call only lasted for 2 minutes, naturally, since I only have RM2.00 credit left. Video calls to other countries are more expensive though, at RM5 per minute. Luckily my aunt is staying in Singapore =D

I have yet to master Maxis 3G's services fully. I tried getting into the Maxis Wap Portal but ended up surfing? the internet and got 50 cents deducted for about 5 minutes or less. I WANNA TRY OUT THE MAXIS TV!!! Er, but I guess I'll have to go to Cyberjaya for that. Or hunt for a place with 3G coverage. Pugs...your place supposedly has 3G coverage, so do not be surprised to see me camping outside your house :D

Stressed out by new mobile phone

2008-04-30T15:58:00.003+08:00

I just got myself a new mobile phone. For the first time. Yes, for the first time in my life. It was a sudden thing. Anyway, I got it because it could play animes :D (decisions are of course always made based on anime). Although sometimes the audio and video aren't in sync. Hmm...must figure that one out sooner or later.

ANYWAY.

Oh yeah. I've forgotten. This is my new mobile phone. Sony Ericsson W880i. Probably the second time I've owned a SonyE. The rest were Nokia phones. It...feels like dark chocolate. The urge to snap it and eat it...

BUT that aside...

If there's such a thing as computer illiterate, I wonder whether there's such a thing as "mobile phone illiterate". I am totally clueless about 3G. The only thing I know about 3G is that it can make video calls. Before this, mobile phones to me are for:

1) Make calls, such as "Mom, you can pick me up now..." or "Did you know that Jyrenze has a boyfriend now?"
2) SMS - "I'm bored."
3) Play games - until my thumbs got sore
4) Take pictures (previous one had a camera) which couldn't be uploaded onto the computer.

The new phone has 3G. I didn't even plan to activate it at all. So I didn't bother to really read up on it. However, I didn't realize...I didn't even have to do the activation myself. IT AUTO ACTIVATED! ARGH! So I have no choice but to check it out on Maxis' website.
...
...
...
I hate technology. I love it and yet at the same time I hate it.
WAP?! <---Greek
GPRS?! <---French
MaxisTV?! <--- English
...
Hey hey...Maxis...TV...:D
*koffkoff* I shall continue.

I tried video calling my aunt in Singapore. I don't know whether it's because I didn't activate the above, or she didn't activate her 3G or she turned off her hp, but it failed.

So I thought I should activate all of the above, and I did that. It's ok, my line is prepaid, so I won't get heart attack when I see the bill ('cause there isn't any).

It.
Still.
FAILED.

Is there anyone from Maxis, or 3G whizkid who can help this handicapped Numbnut? Before I really snap it and eat it...

Anime in class?

2008-04-23T11:27:00.003+08:00

先生は「今度のクラスいっしょにアニメを見ましょう」と言いました。あの時、私
はとても嬉しいん。先生といっしょに何のアニメを相談した。決めたのアニメは
「Bleach」。家に帰たあとで、「Bleach」をもう一回見ました。大変です！ルキ
アちゃんは「貴様！」をよく使っています！まあ。。。大丈夫ね。多分。

Translation (roughly):
Teacher said, "Let's watch anime in the next class." I was really happy. We discussed with teacher on what anime to watch. The anime we decided on was Bleach. After reaching home, I watched Bleach once again. This is terrible! Rukia-chan uses "You bastard" (or anything equivalent) a lot in the anime. Well, it should be ok. Probably.

なんでもない。。。

2008-04-22T14:54:00.001+08:00

昨日の晩Intermediate 3 が始めました。先生と友達に暫く会わないから嬉しかった
んです。皆は元気だからよっかた。昨日せんせいにあたらしい形容詞(？) をおし
えて貰いました。めいれい形と禁止形お勉強した。私は禁止形のほうがちょっと
難しと思った。昨日のクラスの宿題は少し難し、時々図が解らないからできない。
こうやって、何時ノベルを読めますか?なんか。。。無理みたいな。。。

Twins: Absolutely numbnutting

2008-04-15T23:14:00.000+08:00

This happened when I was travelling back to Kluang, Johor for my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration…

My dad was asking me about a pair of twin friends that I have. Let’s call them Tweedledee and Tweedledum

Dad: Who is the older one?
Steffi: Tweedledee.
Dad: So who came out first?
Steffi: *jaw hangs open*
Steffi: …Didn’t I just said that Tweedledee is the older one?!
Dad: Yeah, yeah, of course Tweedledee is the older one…
Dad: By how many minutes…
Steffi: Dunno, didn’t ask them…
Dad: …or days?
Steffi: *jaw drops again*
Steffi: …
Steffi: *cries into her pillow – yes, I brought my pillow, bolster and blanket along*
Dad: I mean, some of them can be born a few days later
Steffi: IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! (Even for non twins?!)
Mom: Dear, she has been calling them twins all along. Was there a time when she said they weren’t twins?

I’m beginning to wonder if I was used as a tool to just keep him awake while he was driving, therefore, he wasn’t concentrating at all on the conversation. Either that or he was just trying to be cute.
…
I think the former is more like it. *Sigh*

Spectacles CAN kill

2008-03-04T22:47:00.002+08:00

Or at least turn you blind. I know I've mentioned before that perfume kills, but I didn't realize spectacles could too. I've got my reasons to say so.

Incident #1
This happened a few years back, when I was still in primary school. I used to sit at the back in the car when my mom sent me to school. We got into an accident one day. I was going,"Aiyoh...so painful..." and my mom got rather worried, wondering if I had injured myself badly.

What happened was when the collision occured, my face slammed into the back of the driver's seat. It wouldn't have been so painful if I wasn't wearing specs. I already have a rather...flat nose before that accident, so that incident made me feel as though as I've turned into a Pekingese.

Oh, the driver's seat had butter stains too, as I was eating my breakfast.

Incident #2
I was in Form 1. Our sports house didn't have enough members for the Inter-House volleyball competition, so I got dragged into it (although I know nuts about volleyball at that time). I wasn't sure if it was because I was exhausted, or I felt too pressured, or some unknown form was occupying my body, but I spaced out half-way through the game. I stared at the ball, which was speeding at me, partly due to gravity, partly due to the force of the female gorilla who "spiked" (smash in volleyball term, I believe)the ball. I just stared. And stared. And the next thing I knew, I was staring at the sky. I saw stars too. Lying down on the ground during the match wasn't too bad. I was tired after all. It was nice to relax. Alas, the others don't think so as they quickly pulled me up. -_-

Oh, I was wearing specs. I touched my numb nose. Blood. The specs cut my nose, fortunately, just lightly. Instead of a Pekingese, I then felt like an airport runway. No, I'm NOT referring to my chest, ok?

Incident #3
HAPPENED today. Fortunately my nose wasn't involved. I don't think it can get any flatter -_-|||
I was at Megamall today, with my mom and dad. We were going down the escalator when I bent down to whisper into my mom's ear. Never thought that she'll suddenly turn around and our heads collided. THIS time, the one wearing specs is my mom. I now have a bluish spot next to my right eye. I can only be glad that she's not wearing those pointy specs that the late Lydia Sum is wearing. It wouldn't be a blue spot anymore...there'll be a hole instead -_-.

Gundam 00: Lesson Learnt

2008-02-27T10:56:00.003+08:00

I was griping to my friend about Gundam 00 at work, telling him how I expected them to shout, "And we are Power Rangers!" after reciting their tag lines.

And then I noticed that it affected my work:

I actually typed "POWER RANGERS SDN BHD (88888-D)" on my document.

It's like -__________-|||

Singapore 2008 - Toy Museum

2008-02-17T23:22:00.028+08:00

Firstly, I'll like to apologize if this blog doesn't make sense. That is because while I'm writing this, my brain has ceased functioning. So, on with the story. It was a Monday, when all my Singapore relatives were working. We (Dad, Mom, Sis and I) decided to go exploring ourselves on that day. After surfing the Internet, I found a website (can't remember the link)which had a listing of places to visit/see. I
thought this place sounded interesting. With only the address noted down, we went hunting for it. In Singapore, it should be easy to search for your destination. However...

We took the MRT to Raffles City. The description on the internet said that it was "opposite Raffles Hotel". Exiting Raffles City, I could see many hotels. Tall, tall hotels. However, none of them were Raffles Hotel. We asked someone nearby for direction and realized we were going the opposite direction -_-

Finally, we found Raffles Hotel:

-_-||| No wonder we couldn't find it. We looked too high up in the sky. Bengang.

So our destination was "opposite Raffles Hotel". After walking a while...

Steffi: WTH?! Just how big is Raffles Hotel?!!! ALL of these are opposite Raffles Hotel!

And then, we found a guiding light! A star of hope!

So we walked happily...until we reached the other end of the road with the same sign, pointing back to where we came from.

Steffi: ...
Sis: ...
Mom & Dad: ...
Steffi: This means...we have walked past it. Did you see that place just now?
The rest: Nope...
Steffi: I guess we'll have to open our eyes wider...
*walk walk walk*
Steffi: THERE! *points to a narrow modern looking shophouse*
Sis: ...HAR?!
Mom: That is the Toy Museum? Are you sure?
Steffi: And we were looking for something big and museum-ish like the Raffles Hotel -_- Ah, geez.
Dad: It's privately owned mah.

Yup, we went to the Mint Museum of Toys which showcases toys from a few countries and over 100 years. Admission charges are:

Adult: $10.00
Child 2-12 years old: $5.00
Child below 2: Free
Senior citizens 60 years and above: $5.00
Family promotion
-Minimum 4 persons, 2 adults & 2 children: $24.00
-Minimum 4 persons, 3 adults & 1 child: $28.00

The Museum is divided into 5 floors, each floor one category. So these are what we saw on the first floor:

Tinplate monkeys! Looks like Abu from Aladdin. Or was it the other way round? Abu looks like them. LOL!

Remote controlled peacock! It was used in a movie made in Australia a long time ago...I think. Got to look up on that. Can you imagine this? Movie productions were already so high tech back then.

The First Floor was filled with classics. Mom was happy to see toys she recognized and probably played with before. Toys last time were made out of tougher stuff! They can last longer compared to our new plasticly toys.

These cars and trains are probably tougher than our...which could break into two parts in an accident. Ahem. You know lah. If you don't know, then nevermind. :P

Daruma! It's the red one in the middle. I remember seeing this in the manga Doraemon! Ah, geez! I want one in spite of his grouchy face.

This group was famous during Beatles era, I don't know anything about them at all, so do visit here.

"Hey, Mom! Can you get me this car?"

Beatles. I don't think I need to say anything about them.

If there's Felix the Cat there's Bonzo the Dog! Ok, that's rather unfair. Bonzo came first. Bonzo was created in the 1920s whereas Felix, 1930s. I've watched Felix's cartoon before...but I can't remember much about Bonzo. In fact I'm not sure whether I've even seen anything "Bonzo". But somehow it feels like I have somehow seen before...ARGH.

Golliwogs! I knew of the existence of golliwogs through Enid Blyton's books. I've always hoped to see one, but I guess golliwogs aren't popular in Malaysia. My friend said he had one before but he was afraid of it, so he kept it hidden! So glad to see it here. However the story behind/issue with golliwog, like the teruterubozu isn't as nice eh?

China dolls! LOL! There were many similar dolls like this on this floor in various shapes, sizes and costumes. And they didn't look dolly. They looked real. Which...is not good. >.< Especially at night. Thank god the dolls were small.

Barbie, Ken and Midge. Wait. I didn't know there was a Midge! They weren't so pretty back then eh? But at least they didn't encourage kids to become anorexic and bulimic!

They had so many characters back then. I only know Ken and Barbie. I wonder if the old Barbie was as expensive as the Barbies now?

KYAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Mr Bear! Mr Brown Bear! I've seen him in Enid Blyton's book too! >.< I want!

Anyone wanna "ride" Popeye? *smirks* How about you, Darke? He's a rare one. One of the two in the world or something like that. In its hey days it was probably very popular with kids. Can see that the paint came off a bit at the seat part (his back).

You wouldn't believe this! an entire floor of tinplate robots and space related toys such as spaceships! It boggles the mind, really. You can actually purchase a "copy" from the ground floor. It's a pity they don't have an entire floor on Gundam though. WAIT! Maybe the Gundams were in his warehouse, not on display?! ARGH!

"Dan Dare" comics and merchandises. Created in the 1950s to a 1990s settings(with spaceship, aliens and all!), it is still...ALIVE!!! Amazing. I know nothing about Dan Dare -_- So, hop on over to here to check it out. I still like my Gundams and FMPs better.

So! In conclusion, although it's a rather small museum for the price paid, and the toys changes every now and then (rotation) I still had a fun time. I just wish I could see the owner's entire collection. Apparently, what I saw was only 10% of the owner's collection! He sure is a patient and adventurous person.

Note: There are more toys than shown in my post. My camera's battery was dying off so I only took those which I like.

Mint Museum of Toys is located at 26 Seah Street, Singapore 188382. It's opened from 9.30 am to 10.30 pm daily.
Tel: (65) 6339 0660

The Unfortunate Left Third Finger

2008-02-15T11:52:00.004+08:00

I don't make any crude signs with it, so why is my finger being punished? *sobs*

Just before Chinese New Year

I managed to super glue my said third finger to my shoe. Don't ask how.

Steffi: *Tried to pull finger away* Ow ow ow...it hurts
Steffi: Quick, bring hot water!
Mom: You'll burn you finger!
Steffi: Then how?!
Sis: Eh, use baby lotion lah.
Steffi: Har? Does that work for super glue?
Sis: Yeah
Steffi: How did you know?
Mom: You are asking someone who is always getting herself stuck to things. *runs to room to get baby lotion*
Steffi: ...
Sis: ...
Steffi: You...always super glue yourself to things?
Sis: ...
Sis: NOT ALWAYS! Just a few times.
Steffi: ...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Note: Finger is still stuck to the shoe)

So, baby lotion works like magic, but since I've already tried pulling my finger away earlier, a good chunk of skin is now stuck to the shoe.

Just before Chinese New Year Part 2

Nothing much. Just had paper cut on the same finger.

After Chinese New Year

Was shopping for a present for my friend. Went to this accessories shop by Giordano at Sunway Pyramid (really cool designs!). Saw this interesting ring and tried it on, yes, on my third finger. After discovering the price (RM300++) tried to remove it, but...

Steffi: It won't come out!
Mom: See! I told you not to try it!
Steffi: But it went in easily! *struggles to pull ring out*

After 5 minutes...

Steffi: It still won't come out! I think we'll have to pay for it and go home like that.
Mom: Don't be silly, now bend your finger when pulling it out!
Steffi: I can't! It's too big!
Mom: (to sales assistant)Don't you have water?
Steffi: Don't be silly, it'll spoil the ring, how about baby lotion
Salesgirl: I don't have either...(more like she's reluctant to spoil the ring, haha)

Another 5 minutes later...

Steffi: DAMMIT IT WON"T COME OUT!
Mom: I told you already not to bla bla bla...
Steffi: I told you already I didn't force it in!

And yet another 5 minutes later...

Steffi: *panicking* Shit...won't come out.
Mom: Don't pull your finger out..
Steffi: *studies ring carefully* It's because there are so many gaps that the flesh is trapped in between. See, if I do this, it'll move a bit.
Steffi: Ok, we do it this way. I'll pull my flesh back and you pull the ring out.
*Puts plan into action. Ring comes out*
Steffi: Huh! Finally! But you see, my finger is so red now. There's even a red indentation...*reaches out for her old ring*
Mom: Don't wear that now, let your finger rest a bit.
Steffi: Ok...

After Chinese New Year Part 2

Today. Received letter from someone's despatch. Our office bought a new "RECEIVED" stamp with the date and all. It's a huge new one. Chunky. And I stamped with all my might on the letter. However, the letter wasn't the only thing that got stamped. My third finger got a taste of the huge new chunky stamp. And I saw stars for more than five minutes. It's still sore now. I wonder if I'll become Steffi of Nine Fingers soon.

First Trip to Singapore for the Year 2008

2008-01-26T10:06:00.000+08:00

Yes...I know I haven't been updating. Busy. :P

Ok, so my first trip overseas for the year was supposed to be to Cambodia, but that plan was aborted :( Instead, I went to Singapore to celebrate my sister's 21st birthday with our Singapore relatives. Usually, I go to Singapore by train, but the travel time seems to be getting longer and longer :S

So this time, I went by bus - First Coach bus. On the way to Singapore, we only made one stop and that was at the Pagoh rest stop. It's huge, it's new and it's beautiful...plus the toilets were airy, spacious and most importantly, clean. Even the landscaping was nice!

We used the Second Link to get to Singapore, instead of the Causeway. There were hardly any motor vehicles using the Second Link! Our immigration/customs centre at the Second Link was super huge, but almost empty. I think it's alright to pay a bit more to use the Second Link than to get stuck in the jam and getting frustrated using the Causeway.

On the bridge to Singapore, I tried snapping pictures of the sea (just what is so fascinating, I don't know :P) and noticed something funny:
Unless you are suicidal, I don't think you'll go against that "No Entry" sign.

We (my dad and I) arrived there at approximately 12.30pm, after a 5 hours journey. It was a fast one. The bus stopped at Novena Square, where my mom and sister were waiting for us. We left our luggages at the First Coach office in Novena Square and then proceeded to Pepper Lunch for our lunch.

Dad's lunch. Beef and eggs with rice - price: can't remember.

My lunch. Beef and cheese rice - SGD10++

My sister's. Beef steak set - SGD14++

After that, we went to Orchard Road to do some shopping. We returned to Novena station and went over to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), which is just opposite Novena Square, because we were following our uncle back home (uncle's a senior pathologist there). I've always been fascinated by TTSH. It looks nothing like a hospital, more like a shopping centre actually.
They even have a grand (or is it a baby grand?) piano there. There's another antique piano in their mini museum.

I like the decor. Feels so fantasy like.

This ornament reminds me of the anime, Card Captor Sakura.

The various cafes, shops, eateries, bakeries, etc...

Outdoor garden. there are beautiful wooden chairs (you know, those kind with plants growing over and around it) nearby for you to sit.

So after walking around, my uncle took us to his office to have a look. As I entered...

Steffi: Kow foo, this isn't an office. This is a greenhouse!

This reminds me of the "Mugen Arc" in Sailormoon where the building was taken over by...plants. Something like that.

The "nursery" -_-|||

TBC...

One of those days...

2007-12-19T12:22:00.000+08:00

The following is a snippet of my chat with Jyrenze ABOUT my conversation with my dispatch boy and colleague:

Steffi:
Just now my dispatch boy said, "bye bye, selamat hari raya haji"

Steffi says:
Me: huh?

Steffi says:
Dispatch boy: Haji ma

Steffi says:
Me: ha? (isn't it xmas?)

Steffi says:
Colleague: tomorrow...

Steffi says:
Me: tomorrow?

Steffi says:
me: OH YA HOR TOMORROW NO WORK

J¥®ëñzë ´`·…->★☆ says:
EH

J¥®ëñzë ´`·…->★☆ says:
YA HOR

J¥®ëñzë ´`·…->★☆ says:
I FORGOT

Steffi says:
.............................

And then...during lunch:

Steffi says:
i almost ate my earphone

J¥®ëñzë ´`·…->★☆ says:
...

Steffi says:
i was eating my fishcake

Steffi says:
then the phone rang

Steffi says:
so i put it down

Steffi says:
removed my earphone

Steffi says:
and answered the call

Steffi says:
and then after that...

Steffi says:
i took up my earphone

Steffi says:
and almost ate it

And, not long after that...

Steffi says:
...

Steffi says:
i attempted to drink water from the bottle with the cap still on

J¥®ëñzë ´`·…->★☆ says:
...

It's just one of those numbnutting days...

Bonus:

I went to Low Yatt Plaza yesterday, and on the way there, I saw many foot massage/body massage/facial/what-not workers standing out at the five foot way trying to "hijack" customers.

Steffi: *reading signboard* Foot massage and body massage...
Steffi: Hmmm...
Steffi: Foot massage? Yeah, yeah, in reality, it might actually be third leg massage...
Dad: HOI! Can you not be so dirty minded!
Mom: HAHAHA!

Update (1.35pm) MSN chat with my sis:

Steffi says:
...my table is vibrating
elaine says:
oh
elaine says:
vibrating
elaine says:
notty girl
elaine says:
...
Steffi says:
...
Steffi says:
you...

Confirmed...it runs in the family.

Comic Fiesta 2007

2007-12-16T22:45:00.000+08:00

Presenting to you...

COMIC FIESTA 2007!

The last anime convention /comic fiesta /however you want to call it that I went to was about 4 years ago I think...So anyway, my sister told me to go as a lolita this year...however, when I went to the lolita shop which I have tried on the clothes before, it had vanished! Another shop only allowed members in, on top of that members aren't allowed to try the clothes! Ridiculous, considering that the prices of the clothes are more than RM300.

So what does a poor Lolita wannabe do? Improvise of course.

I got myself a while frilly lacy top and added black laces to it. Then I added white laces and ribbons to my long black skirt, and voila!

My mom even got for me an "English lady/Queen E" brooch to pin at my collar.
Needless to say, when we first arrived, I almost died of embarrassment, used my friend as a shield (didn't work) and sneaked in through the side entrance to get to the 6th floor.

There were LOTS of people there. It was held in two shop lots. The entrance fee was RM10.

The cosplayers were really nice people, very obliging, they allowed us to take pictures with them without any fuss. The first two cosplayers we took picture with were two characters from D.Grayman, Allen Walker and Linali...

There was also a Bongun from Ragnarok Online, a very well known MMORPG. I confess, I was once an avid Ragnaroker...

He was really good! He was really into character from the start until the end. He even "died" and had to be resurrected!

Oh, there were many items on sale, and on display too.

Figurines from various animes.

Oh, one of the most popular character was none other than HANI SEnPAI FROM OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB! WOOHOO!

Hani senpai was really shy, LOL! He found his pink rabbit to be really useful...This Hani senpai can also play the violin!

Other Ouran Host Club members trying to coax Hani senpai to show his face...

Hani senpai finally shows his face!

Hani senpai playing with paper roses...

I was told that Hani senpai cried later because the crowd around him was getting too big for his liking! Poor boy!

Of course, there were Bleach characters too...

Zaraki Kenpachi, the 11th squad captain! His "hair" is amazing...it even smacked my head when he bent down to put his bags on the floor.

And the prob the most famous character at the fiesta...

KON...pachi. Eh?! KONPACHI? Why Konpachi? Because it's Kon wearing Zaraki Kenpachi's uniform! Or maybe it's Zaraki Kenpachi wearing a Kon headgear...Hmmm...

Konpachi on stage posing...

RARR!!! KONPACHI RULES!

I left early so I didn't get to take picture with Konpachi T_T

Oh, there's also White Ichigo/Inner Hollow Ichigo and Kira!

Freaky like the anime one, eh?

Ok, so other characters...

Characters from Air Gear

Characters from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu.

Characters from xXx-Holic

Sousui Seki from Rozen Maiden.

Characters from Legend of Zelda, they were too tired to stand! I would be too...if I were them.

Echizen Ryoma from Prince of Tennis.

There were also non-anime/TV characters such as...

Mr TV Man! I was really amused when I saw him and couldn't resist taking pictures with him!

SWAT member...Probably from Counter Strike

This sexy chick is actually a guy!

Neko-chan! He was so cute on stage when he was performing a famous dance from Suzumiya Haruhi.

And last but not least...

...NANI KORE?!POCKY!!! But...uh...why Pocky?

Group photo. Yes, that is Ten Ten from Naruto there...

Preliminary cosplayers on stage. It's gonna collapse!

The MC was a really funny guy too...We even had requests for our pictures to be taken! Not by the MC lah, by other photographers. Hahaha, soaking up on public attention for the first time. :P Overall it was good, although I missed half of it because I had to go somewhere else.

I'm free...NOT

2007-12-07T09:11:00.000+08:00

I thought I'll be free after exams. I had to think again.

One day after exams...
Mom: So now that your exams are over, you have to start exercising otherwise you won't be able to fit into your cheongsam for the function end of this month,
Steffi: Ok...Oh, by the way, I want to go to One Utama tomorrow to meet up with Jyrenze.
Mom: Huh? Don't you have your Japanese homework to catch up with? Better do all your homework otherwise your teacher will kill you.
Steffi: ...yahor. Anway, Elaine said that this weekend we'll be going out to Sungai Wang to look for lolita clothes and accessories.
Mom: Don't go out so often. Only one day per weekend, you have to pack your things. Your books and notes are all over the place.
Steffi: ...yeah, but, but...I promise to meet up with Annette and Steven...he just got back from NZ

And yesterday...
Jap Sensei: Shiken owarimashita? (Exam over?)
Steffi: Hai, owarimashita. Yokatta... Ima, hima desu. (Yes, it's over. Thank god...I'm free now)
Jap Sensei: Ii desu. Ima, takusan shukudai o shimasu, ne? (That's good, now there's lots of homework to do...)
Steffi: ...Hai...(...Yes...)

Towards the end of class...
Jap Sensei: Kyo no shukudai...(Today's homework)
Steffi: *jaw drops. Arranges accumulated homework* So...so much...T_T I'll be busy this weekend...

*Sigh* Free, eh? ZEN ZEN HIMA JA NAI!!!! (ABSOLUTELY NOT FREE!!!)

Fourth of December, 2007.

2007-12-05T14:43:00.000+08:00

Doom's Day.

First bad omen:
Woke up in the morning. Saw one guppy floating with its belly up...Does this mean...?

Second bad omen:
As I looked into the mirror, preparing to go for my exam paper, I noticed...BLOOD ON MY TEETH! SHOCKED! On closer inspection...ceh...my upper lip cracked. But...wait a minute! Does this mean...??

Third bad omen:
It's time. It's now. It's time to write my name on the stupid exam paper before they distribute the question sheet. My hand shook. Eh? What is this? I can't even write my own name down! Does...does this mean...???

Exam proceedings censored.

Fourth bad omen:
It's over. It's FINALLY over. Move. Get up. GO get my bag. But...WHY ARE MY LEGS SHAKING THIS TIME?! DOES THIS MEAN...????

FIFTH bad omen:
Walked out of the exam centre (Unity College). Saw a classmate sitting down at the stairs, look dead and depressed, being consoled by her friend. Probably crying too. I'm not too sure, better have a closer look and...WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?! SO KPC(busybody)?! Just go already! But...WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

But..it doesn't matter...not now...not yet...because, it is...

SHOPPING TIME!
On the way to Megamall.
Mom: What do you want to eat for dinner?
Dad: How about teppanyaki:
Steffi: Wait, wait, let me think...
Steffi: ...
Steffi: ...
Steffi: ...
Steffi: I...I can't think. Everytime I try to, my mind goes blank!
Mom: HAHAHA!

After dinner at Megamall:
Walked around. Looked down at the Christmas decoration at the Centre Court.
...
...
...
I COULDN'T THINK OF WHAT TO DO AT MEGAMALL! My mind was blank. Empty. What do I normally do there?

So, knowing that I will be like this after exams, I actually prepared a list of "Things to do after exams" BEFORE my exams. Now, I have to figure out which one I want/have to do first.

-_-

The Last Desperate Attempt

2007-12-02T02:42:00.000+08:00

This is how it looks like when I'm trying to at least PASS my upcoming paper.

The white board is for my dad (and me to release stress on). And yes, it's attached to the ladder.
Er...ignore the Sudoku book, ok?
Geez, I wish I can just eat all the notes and books up, even then, there's no guarantee I can pass. -_-

It really sucks to have flu while you are on study leave. I spent lots of time sleeping instead of studying during the first few days of study leave.

Feast your eyes on this rare photo...

Sick + Exam Stress = Crazy Steffi

My sis found it amusing, so she started snapping photos of me while I tried to study. Actually, I just didn't want my hair to get in the way. Really.

Lost of Innocence

2007-11-28T15:03:00.001+08:00

Just a short one on my short trip to Singapore (17-18 Nov 2007).

1. I got French kissed. It was a wet and sloppy one. Here's the lucky guy who kissed my virgin lips:

2. I touched a male's balls. T_T I'm so ashamed.

On closer(or further? haha) inspection...

They are just empty shrunken sacs, so Kiki's an eunuch, not a true male. :D

However, this does not change the fact that I have sexually harassed him T_T
Forgive me Dear Lord, for I have sinned...

Perfume kills

2007-11-21T09:19:00.000+08:00

That is if you don't know how much to put on yourself, like me. All along, I've been using Body Shop's Amorito Eau de Toilette which smells like dark chocolate. Normally I'll spray twice on my neck and once on each hand. So this morning, I decided to try the Chanel's sample perfume, which my lady boss left behind with me more than a year ago, "Chance" or was it "Allure"? Anyway, I never knew that there's a difference between cologne/body spray and perfume. So I sprayed twice. On my neck. The first thing that came to my mind was, "OH MY GOD". Second? "I CAN"T BREATHE!!!" I staggered down the stairs..."Mom...(gasp for air), help me...I can't breathe."

My mom wondered what the drama was all about. When she found out what I did, instead of leaving for office immediately as planned, she made me eat my breakfast at home. She refused to drive me to office with the smell so strong. Oh, I sat under the fan too, hoping that the smell would be blown away. BUT IT KEPT ON FOLLOWING ME (duh). It's like how the smell won't go away after a skunk attacks a person with his butt spray. It's especially bad when I turn my head to the right. I learn today that with perfume, tiny amount is more than enough to last me the entire day.

The moment I reached office, I ran out with the excuse that I need to bank in cheques. At the moment? I think my eyes are starting to tear...

I kow tow to this artist...

2007-10-03T10:55:00.000+08:00

Darke Shard forwarded this link to me this morning. This is simply amazing...
amazing artwork

It's perverted and yet...not perverted. >.< I don't know how to explain. You'll have to see it for yourself.

And this...cat uh...massage... was forwarded by Jyrenze.

I burst out laughing!

Hospitals, clinics and acupuncture

2007-09-29T22:39:00.000+08:00

Just recently, my aunt and my possible life-partner (if she agrees to marry in San Francisco :P) both got hospitalized around the same time (they both underwent operation). Just after one night of staying at the hospital, they both said the same thing; "I wanna go back home...". I sms-ed my "dearest" back: Don't be a big baby and let the nurses pamper you...

So I started talking with my mom about hospitalization. 21 years ago, I suffered from bronchitis and had to be hospitalized at Assunta. From what my mom told me, I think the nurses and doctors dreaded to see me, and vice versa as well. I screamed and cried at the sight of any nurses or doctors. The mission to extract the big bad ass phlegm from my lungs always failed. It wasn't easy when the kid was crying away.

I remembered asking my dad if I could leave the hospital..."Just go out for dinner only, after that come back here..." I pleaded. Mom laughed and Dad snorted. "What, you think this is a hotel? You can't go out and come back as you please." Darn.

We (present Mom and I) came up with a few theories as to why I kicked up a big fuss back then:-

1) I was still drinking from the milk bottle and had to hide to do so. Didn't want the nurses/doctors to see. Embarassed to be doing so at that age.

2) I couldn't sleep without my pacifier. Again, I was embarassed.

3) I couldn't sleep without my bolster...er, not too embarassed about this one. I'm still having this problem.

4) I think they took my body temperature by sticking the thermometer up my butt (I can't really remember) or was it the boy next door? I think it was the boy next door that was tortured that way. Anyway, that probably made me dislike the nurses.

Back to the past. One day, while my mom was in the washroom, a young nurse popped her head into my room. I looked at her silently...

Nurse: *In a hushed voice* Where's Mommy?
Lil Steffi: *looks at washroom door, then back at the nurse*
Nurse: Toilet?
Lil Steffi: *Nods*
Nurse: *waves her hand* Come, let's go for your treatment.
Lil Steffi: But mommy...
Nurse: It's ok, I'll tell her later.
Lil Steffi: *thinks*
Lil Steffi: *grins* Ok...*takes nurse's hand and sneaked off with her -_-|||*

The thought of sneaking off must have been thrilling back then.

In the treatment room with oxygen tanks, Lil Steffi was sitting down quietly. I remembered (vaguely)another nurse coming in, took one look at me and looked at the other nurse in surprise. Probably surprised that the little devil isn't screaming her lungs out. Of course the nurse proudly told her how I just followed quietly. She placed the mask on my face (it's to suck out the phlegm).

Nurse: Not scared, ya?
Lil Steffi: *shakes head*
Nurse: If anything comes out, call me, okay?
Lil Steffi: *Nods*
Lil Steffi: *Sits down quietly while swinging her legs to entertain herself*

5 minutes later (approximately la)

Lil Steffi: *Tugs on nurse's uniform*
Nurse: Hm?
Lil Steffi: *Points to mask*
Nurse: Eh? Got phlegm ah?
Lil Steffi: *Nods*
Nurse: Wait ah, wait ah...*searches around excitedly*
Nurse: Spit here...*produces the kidney shaped urinal plate* -_-|||
Lil Steffi: *Spits*
Nurse: Good girl!

I think they were really happy that the mission had been accomplished, because after that, she treated me to a cup of drink. I think it was a cup of hot Milo from the vending machine.

Present time:
Mom: You know what the nurses told me?
Steffi: What?
Mom: "Oh, when the mother isn't around, she won't cry...very good girl some more..."
Steffi: *grins* I just wanted to make a big fuss, eh? I was excited at the thought of disappearing from your sight. Wondered what your expression would be like when you come out to find your daughter missing.
Mom: Aiya, they came and told me where you were.

And then...we reached our destination. Chinese doctor's clinic at Ampang.

Mom: So it's better for her to do acupuncture, right?
Doctor: Yes, yes it would be good.
Steffi: NO!!! NO NEED!!!
Mom: MUST DO! Otherwise it won't heal!
Steffi: NO! It wouldn't work! It's a torn ligament!
Mom: It'll still help!

On the bed (don't think dirty, can or not?)
Steffi: *moaning and groaning* Aiyooooo...I don't wanna do...Ahhhhhhh~~~ You always talk crap...said not painful but I remembered the pain from my first acupuncture experience, IT HURT!
Mom: Aiya, they weren't good ma...
Steffi: Aiyoooo...I don't want to do...

5 minutes later, on another bed with curtains around Steffi

Mom: You have to pull your pants down.
Steffi: I hurt my ankle, why must he poke my butt too?!!
Mom: It's all connected! Aiya, You didn't pull down enough *tugs at Steffi's pants hard*
RIIIIIPPP!!!!
Mom: Whoops...looks like I tore your pants.
Steffi: What lar you...Aiyoh, why must I do th...EHHHHHHHHHHH?!!! YOU RIPPED MY PANTS! How am I going to go back home afterwards?! You violent woman!!! Trying to rape me ah?! T_T
Mom: Aiyoh, I'll ask them for a safety pin, ok?

Nothing changed after 21 years.

After that the doctor came to begin the torture session. The patient next to me must have been wondering who was the noisy brat next to him. Making such a big fuss over 4 needles. I can assure you that I felt excruciating pain while he was treating me. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

Mom: Ahahaha, that girl ah, so scared of pain.
Doctor: Eh, she's not! She's considered really brave already. Many grown, big sized men freaked out, couldn't stand the pain like her.

Actually Mom and I figured this one out. Why many old folks don't react much to acupuncture.

Steffi: That's because their nerves are dead!

The guy next to me was paralyzed, he can move a bit now after frequent acupuncture treatments. I'm not paralyzed (thank god). My nerves aren't dead. Instead, my injured ankle was already aching. Sticking needles right at the center of the "pain" and twisting it...It's enough to make me wanna crush something with my hands. I told my mom to sacrifice her arm, but she quickly moved further away, how cowardly of her!

Anyway, one of the medical personnel there gave me her safety pin which she used to pin the front of her shirt.

MP: It's ok, I'll just be sexy for one day...
Steffi: Hahaha! Thanks a lot!

I tried getting up after she kindly pinned my pants for me.

Steffi: AHHHHHHHH!!! I can't move my right leg! My butt hurts! *sigh*

So...I went back home while dragging my right leg, with a safety pin securing my pants. Oh, and the way I was limping and moving? If I were a guy, people would have thought that I was a gay "bottom" who was kept busy the entire night before. When I saw my youngest aunt online that night, I couldn't help telling her...

"I had a needle up my arse." :D

(A/N: Jyrenze pointed out my many mistakes, so I have edited this post. Gomen nasai! I must pay more attention when typing next time.)

MERDEKA!

2007-08-31T21:25:00.000+08:00

HAPPY MERDEKA!!! Anyway, for once, I was one of the mad people who joined the crazy crowd in celebrating Merdeka on Merdeka's eve at Cyberjaya. I was there with my family to view the spectacular fireworks display by the Japan team who took part in the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition. Anyway, here are the pictures taken from Perdana Lakeside in Cyberjaya! Camera used: Olympus FE-190 Fireworks mode unless stated otherwise.

Before the show..."Night mode"

Rare bluish fireworks.

One of my best...

Finale preview?

And the grand finale. I know the photo's a little blur, but that was because I moved the tripod while taking it. I didn't expect the last one to be so high up in the sky.

And so, we left before the mad, mad, mad traffic jam started. Phew!

Capoiera

2007-08-11T23:35:00.000+08:00

"They Look like monkeys dancing," I told my mom on the phone. A lady nearby snickered. Whoops...I guess I spoke too loudly. Fortunately the participants in the studio couldn't hear what I've said. All their attention was on the Capoiera instructor who was on the mini stage. This Brazilian martial art fascinates me. It looked lethal, powerful, yet graceful - the participants were fighting and dancing at the same time. I resolved to join the class the next time I go to the gym.

A week later, I entered the studio, feeling all eyes on me. This is one of the reasons why I dislike entering a new class alone. Contrary to the belief, I am not a very sociable person.

We started off with the basic steps called "ginga"(Wikipedia: literally: rocking back and forth; to swing). Even the basic steps require one to have good timing and rhythm. Capoiera challenges a person's hands and legs coordination. We moved on to more complicated steps which included kicking. However, I couldn't give my all because if I were to do so, the person in front of me would curse me for life. The class was unusually packed that night.

Then my heart stopped beating for a moment when he mentioned the next activity to be done. CARTWHEELS!!! It had been years since I last did cartwheels! It wasn't funny at all... Images of myself landing on my head popped up in my mind...I'm aware of how clumsy I am. I inched my way to the back of the studio while a few brave fools volunteered to go first.

"Come on, I mean you can't tell people that you've never done a single cartwheel in your life, right?" asked the instructor. I wanted to retort,"I have so I don't have to do now, right?!" but I held my tongue. I didn't want to invite more trouble. He even taught us a "simpler" version - place both hands on the ground to your side and hop over to the other side. Pathetic.

Then the inevitable happened. I was one of the last two (we went two by two), the other one was a guy in his late twenties (or early thirties?). All eyes were on us. That was bad. I ended up attracting more unwanted attention instead...The little instructor (he's really chibi! But he's kawaii...)was really persistent. Even offered to "do together: with us. I didn't think it'll make any difference, but a company is always welcomed.

I mustered up my courage and did a simple version. PATHETIC. There was no sense of self satisfaction at all. I felt like a fool. Ashamed of myself. I mean, I used to compete with my friends at the school field during breaks...cartwheeling non-stop, see who could last the longest. That was more than ten years ago though. Now I'm heavier. Taller. And obviously, lacking the courage and "daredevilishness" that most kids possess. Children do not know fear (er, I think most of them lah).

It seems silly that does who have not done it before actually had the courage to attempt cartwheels, whereas I, who have done it before was chickening out. I finally realized, that maybe it's because I HAVE experience, I know how I might fall, I can even envision it happening and I know the possible consequences of falling. That, created fear...

I frowned. This would not do. I resolved to do a proper cartwheel next. I'm not sure if the instructor was surprised, I couldn't see his face. But...the feeling was wonderful. Exhilarating. Suddenly, it seemed as though as I was my 10 years old self (of course, the cartwheel was not as good as it used to be. After my turn, I found that I wanted to cartwheel again! But of course, being the same (right) and dignified (yeah, right) adult I am, I ignore my inner little self.

"You were very stable" whispered a lady to me.

"Well, yeah, thanks. I used to do cartwheels when I was small," I replied. Come to think of it, she looked very much like the woman who overheard my "monkeys dancing" comment. Hmmm...

Then he made us to the bridge (lie on your back and the prop yourself up with your hands and legs). I used to be good at this. USED to be. This time I tried my best. I found it weird that I couldn't even budge at first. Are my arms that weak? Then I realized again...it was probably subconscious fear. I took a deep breath, cleared my mind and just concentrated on pushing up...and it worked! The instructor was surprised.

"Wow, you can do it, eh?" I smirked. I think, in spite of the muscles aches that I had the next day, it was a good idea to attend the "monkeys dancing" class.

Bon Odori

2007-07-26T21:34:00.000+08:00

I've been so busy these past few days I'm trying hard not to ignore my blog...hahaha! Ah well, here's a short report on Bon Odori held on the 14th of July at erm, the ex-Matsushta stadium (it has a new name now). First of all, there were MANY MANY MANY people. Oh, there were also many many MANY WEIRD people - I'm referring to the way they dressed. I could see lolitas, goth lolitas, punk, kawaii chicks but no kakkoii blokes unfortunately, and well you have those who dressed with the motto "anything goes".

The crowd walking towards the stadium. We (Jyrenze, YSLim and I) parked quite far away, so we had quite a distance to walk.

The stage before the events started.

I saw many kawaii kids in tradional garbs! They looked so cute, running around the field.
Another cute chibi...Picture's from Jyrenze's camera.

Drummers beating the drums, signaling the start of the festival.

Mix and match! Tudung worn with yukata...Oh, they were all dancing. This IS the Bon Odori festival. We danced too...

There were performances by the locals and Japanese as well.

I also met a replica of Shin Chan at the festival. Those who read Crayon Shin Chan, or Dik Cerdas as it is known in Malay, would know that Shin Chan is a 5 years old pervert. While I was watching the performances, I felt tiny fingers crawling up my thigh...and I whipped my head around to glare at the pervert...just to find myself staring at a small boy! So I thought he probably accidentally touched me and continued watching the ongoing performance. However, a few seconds later, I felt those fingers again! When I turned around to look at my "molester" I saw the same boy again, only this time, his maid wrapped her arms around him, clutching his hands tightly! I found out from Jyrenze later that the same boy kept on leaning his head on her...Just what is wrong with kids nowadays?!

Anyway, there were many food stalls there, selling Japanese and local food, which were quite pricey (RM6-RM10)Here are some of the food pictures (from Jyrenze's camera - mine ran out of battery).

Korokke (croquette)
...I can't recognize this. Oh, wait! I think this is the okonomiyaki...
Unagi don

Sakura Mochi
Ice cream - RM10.00 from this stall:

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure we ate more than this, but ah well. It doesn't matter.

I actually went to the festival, hoping to see a few cosplayers, but I guess since STEFFI wants to see, they decided to hide. All I saw were these two Bleach cosplayers.

Looks like I'll have to attend an animecon to see more cosplayers!

End of report.

Steffi the Numbnut #007: I Don't See It There

2007-07-23T00:51:00.000+08:00

Teru teru bozu

2007-07-21T11:00:00.000+08:00

Back in November 2006, I wrote a post on my Teru teru bozu which got beheaded, er, by me. I continued using that handphone chain with just the head alone, but I guess, beheading him isn't enough. Enma-Daioh (ruler of the spirit world in Japanese) is not satisfied with just his body. He wants his HEAD as well.
The head

The body

The string

All parts detached.

I think it's time to replace it...

AGAIN!

2007-07-19T09:43:00.000+08:00

Late last night...about 9.00 p.m. after coming back from gym...

Steffi: Haih...
Mom: *eyes glued to the TV*
Steffi: So painful...
Mom: *eyes still glued to the TV*
Steffi: *limps past mom*
Mom: *eyes STILL glued to the TV*
Steffi: *muttering* stupid Korean drama...
Steffi: OI!
Mom: HA?
Steffi: ...
Steffi: MY ANKLE IS PAINFUL
Mom: WHY?!
Steffi: I FELL DOWN LA *mutters under breath again* stupid Korean drama...
Mom: How?!
Steffi: I knew I don't do well with steps...
Mom: Huh...you choose to attend that class wan wat.
Steffi: Ceh...I thought that if I was a bit careful, I can avoid tripping or falling...
Mom: So lousy, ex-ballet dancer lah, used to dance latin lah...and then like that also can fall...
Steffi: HYPERLAXITY! Prone to accidents! *points to ankle* Not my fault, ok...

Sounds familiar? Only this time, I did not pull anyone's skirt down. I have successfully injured the same problematic ankle AGAIN, by falling down during one of the classes held at the gym. It's called "Steps" whereby you do series of exercises with this long flat stool, stepping up and down and going around it. Needless to say, my ego also suffered from that fall. -_-

I give up...someone up there wants this ankle to be permanently damaged. Excuse me while I go bandage it up.

I've been transformed...

2007-07-18T09:03:00.000+08:00

I've been ignoring my blog. Blame Transformers for this.

I think I don't need to say this. Transformers movie is superb. I still remember, when I was small, I used to like watching Transformers cartoon. However, if you ASK me about what series I've watched, or the sequence of the series...I can't answer. All I knew back then was, the robots could transform into vehicles among other things and that was way cool.

After watching the movie TWICE (and I'm waiting eagerly for the DVD to be out), I think I'm going nuts. Now, whenever I see a nice truck or car which has er...a more "humanlike face" (lights that resemble eyes, etc), I always expect the vehicle to just transform into a robot and start running. Whenever I hear loud sounds, I thought it was Optimus Prime walking outside...

At least I didn't imagine my NOKIA phone transforming into a little twerp shooting at all directions. -_-||| I wonder if that would happen if I watch the movie for the third time (which would not happen until I get the DVD).

Now, I can only pray that the same producers come up with a Full Metal Panic movie or Gundam Seed series movie. Then maybe I can imagine myself piloting one of those giant babes...

Transformers productions photos

P.S.: I hope I get to see Special Forces Army Ranger Sgt. Lennox (Josh Duhamel) in the sequel too >.<

Steffi the Numbnut #006: Practice Makes Perfect

2007-07-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

Marriage customs

2007-07-09T15:58:00.000+08:00

070707 seems to be a popular date for weddings. I've just gotten back from Malacca, after attending my cousin's wedding on this popular date. I think 080808 would be...even more popular. Better book those wedding halls/restaurants/hotels now.

I've discovered many interesting customs which were unknown to me at my cousin's wedding (she's the bride).

1. When entering the groom's house, she had to walk over, er, this small pot of fire. I swear I saw the bottom of her gown almost catching fire. It turned slightly black because of the ashes, but after patting it, it was alright. Oh, I believe this was done to chase away demons/devils or er, anything unwanted...Correct me if I'm wrong.

2. Girls/ladies should not sit on the bridal bed. This is so that they will be bestowed with man sons and not daughters in the future.

3. Kids jumping on bed. To be specific, little boys. This is so that they will have many sons in the future. I think this was what led to China's current "wife shortage" situation. Probably every single family there practiced No. 2 and No. 3
The little boy was so cute...he probably thought that he heard wrongly when his mom told him to JUMP ON THE BED, since normally parents would yell, "STOP JUMPING ON THE BED NOW!!!" Well, in the end, they just got him to roll over on the bed.

4. Boy pissing into red potty wrapped with red crepe paper. Er, I don't know what is the purpose for doing this, maybe it's also related to "more sons in the future" thing. However, all the little boy did was punch through the crepe paper and fish out the red ang pow inside. Dang. I so thought that they were going to go, "Come on boy...shee shee now..." >=D

5. A red lamp must be lighted until the next morning. No idea what's the purpose of this red lamp.

I guess there were many more, but these were the ones which caught my attention. :D

I have also made many decisions after attending her wedding ceremony.

1. Marry a foreigner with different culture, or better still, someone from a less traditional family. This is so that I can always go back to my side for Chinese New Year :D No need to argue with him. I also really don't feel like "belonging" to the guy's side, as such is the case with traditional Chinese family.

2. I get to experience two different cultures, celebrate many festivals...

At most weddings, the brides will cry when they start talking to/about their mom. I decided that mine HAS TO BE A HAPPY ONE. So I've even prepared a speech, if there's a need for one.

"Hie mom. So you've finally gotten me out of the house...but don't celebrate yet! WE'LL come around to bug you, very often, in fact...Aha, you see? You have ONE more person to deal with..." *imagines herself with Shirota Yuu as the groom*

Ahem. I wonder if that would ever happen...>=D

Tagged - 8 random facts about myself

2007-07-09T15:27:00.000+08:00

ARGH! Got tagged again...by Misha's Mom
I find this tag a little hard to do because this requires me to THINK. I'm too lazy to think. Oh, rules first:

And the rules are :

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

And here are the facts:

1. I am single. And available.
2. I am a female (those who disagree can jump down from the top of KL tower).
3. I like pretty boys. Shirota Yuu is an example.
4. I'm 165 cm tall but I won't tell you my weight, so don't ask.
5. I like travelling.
6. I love good food.
7. I am a manga fan.
8. I am an anime fan.

Ok...done...:D

Oh, I'm supposed to tag someone? Sugi, Darke and Jyrenze, I choose you! (I won't bother doing rule no. 5)

China Part 10: Hangzhou's Speciality

2007-07-02T22:46:00.000+08:00

Just a short post on China trip...

Hangzhou is famous for it's tea leaves, Loong Jing (Dragon Well). Apparently, the tea leaves have been given to V.I.P.'s such as Queen Elizabeth as a gift, so naturally, a trip to the tea plantation is a must. Hangzhou people, according to my tour guide are "lazy" people (she's from Hangzhou herself!). They are quite laid back. As long as they can live comfortably, they are satisfied with that. I think they are quite lucky too, because even their tea trees require very little care. They can be left alone and yet still grow well. Apparently, this is due to the soil and air at Hangzhou. As they don't grow very tall, the owners don't even have to trim them regularly. Most of the workers (actually, from what I can see, ALL)are women. These women have REALLY red cheeks due to the wind chill factor. They'll be hired to pluck the tea leaves while I see men sitting at the many tea houses along the road to the main research centre drinking tea. They can do this the entire day, according to my guide. I wish I could do that and earn money at the same time too. Good quality Loong Jing tea leaves are VERY pricey, and yet, there are many people buying it. My mom is a living proof :P

It is said that Loong Jing tea leaves have many health benefits although I think it is not scientifically proven yet. One good thing (or not?) about Loong Jing is that it has no caffeine, so you can drink it right before going to bed and still sleep like a baby.

I can't remember the name of the research centre, it's right at the end of the road on top of a hill. Here's the plaque with the name on it:

And the tea plantation and the many tourist buses:

Loong Jing tea leaves are very special...so special that it must be roasted with HANDS. This is so that the person roasting it can feel the temperature...it shouldn't be too hot. Those "roasters" surely must have iron hands after doing that for a long time...

Here's the "wok":

Loong Jing tea leaves are also used to cook with freshwater prawns, a supposedly famous dish in Hangzhou. We didn't get to eat any, so I assumed that the reason was the price of the dish. Loong Jing tea leaves can be bought here too, but for the same grade, the price here is MUCH more expensive than what we paid for in China.

Ok, time for a mug of Loong Jing...Tata!

Steffi the Numbnut #005: Friends

2007-06-30T23:23:00.000+08:00

New Toy

2007-06-26T21:14:00.000+08:00

I got myself a new toy on Sunday at Digital Mall's PC Fair...
A Canon Pixma MP160, one of the coolest scanners I've used so far...er, not that I've been using many...Well, I paid about erm, RM280? RM290? for it. Oh, it also functions as a printer and copier. At least I don't have to rush to the stationery shop to do last minute photostating. It's easy to use too.

So, here's the first item I scanned with it:-

A sketch of Steffi the Numbnut! I attempted drawing my own manga years ago but gave up because it took me ONE hour just to draw one tiny frame. Er, I don't think I have improved so far. But anyway...Hopefully I'll be able to scan better sketches than this in the future!

The Flu Bug

2007-06-22T10:14:00.000+08:00

The flu bug is around. I know this because I was COMPLETELY defeated by the bug. I was down and out for a few days...after stubbornly going to Bukit Tinggi even though I wasn't feeling well. This resulted in me taking MC for a day. I also sound funny now, even my client was laughing at the way I sound when I speak. Croaking like a toad, says mom. This led to a rather hilarious situation at work:-

I had to go downstairs to pass some documents to our company's client waiting in her car. When I got back to the office, I was rummaging my handbag for the office keys when my colleague opened the door for me.

Steffi: Eh? How did you know I was back? Wah...all prepared to open the door for me some more...
Colleague: Eh? You called to tell me that you were coming mah...
Steffi: *confused* No...I didn't call...I didn't bring my handphone today, remember?
Colleague: *face turning pale* BUT! BUT...someone called just now and said *in a low drawl* "I'm coming now..." WHO WAS THAT?!
Steffi: *thinks for a while*
Steffi: I think it's my mother...

Steffi calls mom.

Steffi: Hello?
Mom: Hello?
Steffi: Did you call just now?
Mom: Yes, I spoke to you just now wat...
Steffi: No you didn't.
Mom: I did! I told you that I'm coming now and you replied "Ok!"
Steffi: What lar you...Your own daugther's voice also you cannot recognize...that was my colleague!
Mom: Ha?! Really ah?!

See? This is what happens when you assume. What amazes me is they can both SPEAK to each other thinking that each other was ME. Oh, and as I said, the flu bug is around, so even my colleague is having flu...Maybe she DID sound like a toad croaking on the phone too.

*Sigh* I ran out of medicine and I'm still blowing my nose...

Steffi the Numbnut #004: Just In Case

2007-06-21T00:22:00.000+08:00

I am back...

2007-06-14T09:56:00.000+08:00

from Langkawi.

I flew as high as the eagles,

Swam as deep as the groupers,

I climbed together with the monkeys,

And now I'm as dead as the corals in the sea.

I'm actually feeling SEASICK at work...I think I need a holiday from my holiday.

China Part 9: Shopping at Hangzhou City

2007-06-09T00:10:00.000+08:00

Eastern Chinese shop here:

Malaysians shop here:

Eastern Chinese, especially Shanghainese, love branded items. And I mean REALLY branded items. They probably wouldn't mind starving as long as they can get their hands on a Gucci Handbag or Chanel shoes (Chanel sell shoes ah? :P I'm sorry for being so...ignorant) or uh...*peers at picture* Louis Vuitton watch. There's an entire block full of shops selling all these top market branded goods. Apparently, the price of these goods are three times of Malaysian's price. No point buying branded goods in China. Cheaper to buy here in Malaysia.
Most of the above mentioned shops were located at Hangzhou Tower. I went in there and almost suffocated. It's so stuffy!

So what did mom and I do? We people watched. Uh, city watched. Well, we just walked around outside and enjoyed the cool air. Took pictures from an overhead bridge while mom bargained with the tangerine seller. Ate tangerines. Watched a small girl kite-flying with her grandpa. Took pictures of all the beautiful flowers. Sat down at the bus stop, watched motor vehicles passing by. Not to forget, saw a lady carrying an armchair walking by. I wonder if that is how they normally transport their furnitures around.

Hangzhou city. These pictures were taken during non-peak hours. Come rush hour, we had problem crossing the motored bicycle lane. I was clutching my mom's arm tightly, waiting for a chance to dash across the lane.

Mom: Ok, once there's a slight pause in the heavy traffic, we must run across.
Steffi: Ok.
Steffi: ...
Steffi: (after five minutes)...
Steffi: You know...we could stand here all day...
Mom: Ah, good, good! The locals are crossing! We follow them!
Steffi: Alright!

And so, Steffi and her mommy crossed the road using the locals as protection.

Steffi: AAAAAaah! FASTER! FASTER!
Mom: Aiyeeee!!
Steffi: QUICK, QUICK!

*reaches the other side*

Steffi & Mom: Phew!

It was JUST A MOTORED BICYCLE LANE! Good lord, that was stressful...

Hangzhou flowers. These were the more cheerful looking ones. I'm afraid China's still lacking behind in landscaping their cities, but I saw them making more effort in beautifying their country (at least the places I went to), which is good. It's a pity that with the Malaysian weather, we get more greens than colours.

We didn't buy anything. Well, except for the tangerines. The street peddlers there were fierce. They slap each other around for business. Don't know why some of my tour group members actually bought from them. We were already warned not to buy from them because:

1) The change you get might be fake money
2) They might run off with your change should the police suddenly appeared
3) Their products are of low quality anyway...

True enough, one of our tour group members had fake money with him/her after that. How do you identify fake money in China? Put it close to your ear and uh...flap it about. If it makes a "knocking" sound, that means it's not fake. If it doesn't make any sound...Congratulations. You've hit the jackpot.

Steffi the Numbnut #003: Exam Battle

2007-06-08T12:00:00.000+08:00

China Part 8: The Butterfly Lovers

2007-06-07T18:32:00.000+08:00

If you want to be famous, along with your darling/boy-boy/bloke/man/what-not, it's very easy. Just take a look at Romeo & Juliet and Titanic and apply it to yourselves. Practice the "you jump I jump" or "you die I also die" concept lor. Eh? You don't like to copy the Westerners? No problem...then use Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai as an example lah. Easy...(eh, joking only ah...please don't say "Steffi said so").

"The tragic lovers, Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai can also be thought of as Romeo and Juliet of the East," said the tour guide. Hmmm...yeah, that's true. Both men were from poor family background and the girls, from rich families. Both couples' romances weren't approved by the girls' families. The difference is that Romeo and Juliet's death was more complicated and it was a plot gone all wrong. Aiyoh, the names are so long. Liang Shan Bo shall be known as "LSB" and Zhu Ying Tai as "ZYT" from hereon.

Based on the movie of "The Lovers" starring Nicky Wu (LSB) and Charlie Yeung (ZYT), in LSB and ZYT's case, the guy died because he fell sick and was heartbroken, since ZYT was going to marry another rich bloke. Oh, and according to Wikipedia, LSB died a county magistrate, so at he had a title to his name, compared to Romeo Kesian(pity) his mother. After he died, Zhu Ying Tai's marriage procession was going to pass by his grave. Suddenly, things got more dramatic and surreal here. No matter how they tried to continue their journey after that, Mother Nature won't allow. The whirlwind just wouldn't let them move forward. So what happened next? Mother Nature then send her lightning to hit LSB's grave and it cracked opened like how Ali Baba's cave did when he shouted,"OPEN SESAME!".

Since ZYT's boy-boy was inviting her in to sleep with him eternally, how could she resist? She jumped in also lah. Then the the grave closed and two butterflies flew out...Uh, of course, we assume the butterflies to be them. Bad choice actually. Butterflies have very short life-span. Should have chosen to be turtles instead. :D

How did they meet each other? By going to the same school. Actually, in my opinion, this story/legend is like the Taiwanese hit drama, a manga-adaptation, Hana Kimi ancient China style. Fortunately, Hana Kimi(manga storyline) has a happy ending. In the olden days, girls were not allowed to go to school, so if they want to go to school, they have to disguise themselves as boys. That was what ZYT did. Heck, just like the main couple in Hana Kimi, they, LSB and ZYT even slept together (SLEPT ONLY) at school (remember that I'm referring to the Hong Kong movie). But unlike Hana Kimi, LSB is one big blur-case. He never found out that she was a girl until after graduation.

OK! For more info, refer to here and here.

Oooh, so everyone is playing tug-of-war over the origin of legend, eh? Well, I went to the school where they supposedly studied at *puts on smug expression*. It's called WanSong Academy Park and it's located at Hangzhou. Even Emperor Qian Long visited this academy! Pity I didn't take picture of horizontal inscription board written by Emperor Qian Long for the academy.

The arch, again, I can't read, but I'm assuming that whatever that is written there is the academy's name.

This was where I met my first bunch of Chinese soldiers. There were truckloads full of them (no kidding!) taking pictures there!
One gang of them...Don't know where are the rest.

So of course, Steffi JUST couldn't resist...asking them (with her mom's help of course) to take picture with her because she's a sucker for military/police HK dramas, especially those featuring the formidable China soldiers/police.

The first one we asked was rather reluctant. In fact I wondered whether we made a mistake asking them. Then, the second one was quite enthusiastic and I believe, was the poser of the group. He was quite happy to fulfill my request and urge his other friends to take too. Many thanks to him & his friends!

Matrix mom with "LSB" and "ZYT".

I started going cam-crazy with flowers here...

The academy grounds.

I love this spot. Want to know why? Not only is it picturesque, this is also where another female tourist from another tour group fell into the pond.>:D Poor lady...and it was a cold, cold day too.

China tour guide (CTG) to mom...

CTG: *while giggling* Did you know, just now, another tourist from another group fell into the pond while taking picture!
Mom: *shocked* HA?! Really ah? Aiyoh, it's so cold!
CTG: I know I shouldn't be laughing, it's not good to laugh.
Mom: Haha, yeah...
CTG: ...
CTG: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Mom: -_-|||

Don't you just love her? >:D

I find this flower very unique. The flowers were growing out from the main stem!

Mom with the young crown prince being taught how to write by the teacher. I hope that's not the stick he uses to punish the young prince...

Then, on the way back, I spotted a sign - "somebody-famous-but-I-don't-know-who tomb". We shall call him Scholar X. So, I told my mom,"Let's go there." When she saw the looooooooong stairway leading to Scholar X's tomb which we couldn't see from where we stood, she, of course said no. She pointed to this little stone garden ornament on the ground a few steps away and said,"I think it's that one lah..." I told her,"I don't think so, he's supposed to be this great person, don't tell me his tomb is, uh...that small?" Remember the legend of the Condor Heroes, the BIG tomb in the story? I think it should be something like that, right?"

So I went up the stairs. Up and up and up until I reached this landing. Looked to the left...hmmm, nothing. Look to the right...and Steffi froze. IT WAS HUGE! Like the one in the Condor Heroes! And, and, there were many flower wreaths and hell money around! Steffi...HAULED BUTT. Couldn't have run down faster than that time. She related her experience to her mom and the M'sian tour guide (MTG).

MTG: Oh, because it was Cheng Beng* festival a few days ago...so those things are still there...

"For those of you who don't know, Cheng Beng festival is:
One major event in the Chinese calendar, observed by Chinese communities all over the world is All Souls Day, also known as Cheng Beng or Qing Ming, which falls on April 5 every year except on leap years when it falls on April 4.

During this period, the Chinese community will visit graves of deceased family members and ancestors to pay their respects. It can be done 10 days before and after the actual date of Cheng Beng. Graves are weeded and cleaned, joss-paper is burnt, and offerings are made." Ref: http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/page.cfm?name=ft02b

See...it's always good to listen to momma...

TOILET BREAK! Alright, so how's the condition of the loo there? I simply have no idea how it looks like. That was because I could smell it before even seeing the entrance and being young (and foolish) I decided not to go. I can hold my bladder, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiight...I dashed to the toilet at the next stop the moment the bus halted.

Study Break: Steffi the Numbnut #002: Exam Preparation

2007-06-06T17:15:00.000+08:00

Study Break: Steffi the Numbnut #001

2007-06-06T00:11:00.000+08:00

It's ironic that my exam paper on Thursday is the reason I started doing this...

Not professional at all, but I'm not one so that's excusable.

Fat Issue...

2007-06-02T23:51:00.000+08:00

I like to eat.
I don't like to be fat.

I like to eat but I don't like to be fat.

I love eating.
I love looking good.

I love eating but I love looking good too.

If I have to choose between food and looks, which one would I pick? In order to look good, it means that I have to watch what I eat and exercise regularly, which means a healthy lifestyle.

Being healthy = good

Therefore:

working hard to look good = maintaining healthy lifestyle = first priority

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... Who am I kidding? >=D

My first priority should be...

Because with money, I can travel. And when I can travel, I can see many great places. I can also try out different various food.

...

.....

.......

.........

Which brings us back to point one.

I like to eat.
I don't like to be fat.

I like to eat but I don't like to be fat.

I love eating.
I love looking good.

I love eating but I love looking good too...

OK! I'm disappearing for good now, because

Passing exams = higher qualification = job advancement

Job advancement = more money = first priority

Therefore:

Passing exams = first priority

and in order to pass exams - studying is required

In conclusion:

Highest priority = Studying.

Goodnight!

Commercial Break: Going on Hiatus

2007-06-01T23:37:00.000+08:00

Greetings earthlings! It was a beautiful day since it was my day off :P I shouldn't be too happy though. I'm on study leave from today onwards and this can only mean one thing. EXAM'S JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!! ARGH! But anyway...

Breakfast on my day off when mom's not around. My usual Sun Sol's Muesli with Low Fat milk...

Loong Jing Tea (Dragon Well Tea) from China and...

No, that's not orange juice, that's my Vitamin C.
Redoxon, soluble vitamin C. Nice to drink.

I also have to drink 1 litre of this everyday...
My "Face Medicine". To get rid of the stupid stubborn pimples/boils on my face which appeared after my China trip. As you can see, I was so full after breakfast! Full of liquid, of course.

Mom and sister came back today from Singapore. So of course, before picking them up from the travel bus company, I have to tidy the house! Can't have them coming back home to a pig sty, otherwise I wouldn't hear the end of it. Our initial plan was to come back home first, unload then only go out for lunch, but since the bus was delayed, we went straight for lunch. I suggested that we go to Marmalade Cafe at Mont Kiara for lunch, since we were at Bangsar. I've read about that cafe before and it seemed to be a pretty decent and well-liked place.

Of course, being a Numbnut, Steffi thought that the cafe was INSIDE Plaza Mont' Kiara and not outside. She stupidly thought that Kiosk was inside Plaza Mont' Kiara and therefore Marmalade must have been inside too (the directions she found was "same row as Kiosk). Actually, it was Travelmart that she saw last time and not kiosk. Suddenly remembering that Marmalade was also located in the same row as Baskin Robins and that Baskin Robins was just further up across the road, Steffi went there to investigate and there it was!

Of course, being in Mont' Kiara, there were many foreigners having their lunch there too. Quite health concious I must say...I saw quite a few customers eating just salad for lunch. Er...as compared to us...

We decided to order three different types of dishes so that we can have a bit of each.

Smoked Salmon Spaghetti. I cannot resist smoke salmon. This dish was the best out of the three main meals we ordered.

Turkey Ham and Mushroom Quiche. Second best. It was better than the Salmon Quiche that I have eaten at another hotel about two years back. Didn't give me that "jelat" feeling.

Wholesome Pie - Beef. This was a disappointment. I had wanted a pie something like Dave's Deli's Steak and Mushroom pie which I used to eat last time. Instead this pie was packed with mince beef. However, it wasn't the style or content that was a let-down. I'm not sure whether the pies baked on other days were like this one, but, it was too salty! We didn't finish this pie. Each main meal was closed to about RM20.00.

When the carrot cake arrived, our eyes almost popped out. IT WAS SO HUGE! It didn't have enough carrots, in OUR opinion and my sister said it tasted more like fruit/raisins cake than carrot cake. I like the topping/icing though and the marmalade on top was delicious. It was also not too sweet as most carrot cake's topping/icing tend to be overly sweet. This cake was priced at RM9.00. Our totaly bill came up to RM69.00. Very pricey, in my opinion.

Todays snack from the supermart:

"Cappuccino - Iced Coffee Gels" from Taiwan.

Three in one for RM9.90

Um...ehehehe, the only thing I could understand was that this snack is a coffee jelly :P I assume that the cute little white tub is the creamer.

Oops! Due to my eagerness to eat the coffee jelly, I have forgotten to take a nice picture of the jelly before eating it...Verdict? Not bad...can actually taste the coffee and it goes well with the creamer supplied. My sister's verdict? "Okaaaaaaaay, lah." Out of the three snacks bought from Lotte supermarket, I think the Bourbon Buranchuuru is the best.

As for dinner, since it was a little too late to cook dinner at home, we decided to go out to eat. Back to the good ol' coffee shops...One of our favourite shops is Mee Yoke Lim (is it still called that?) at Chow Yang, SS2.

So, what's good?
Mom's favourite dishes. Hokkien mee and uh, "watan hor"?

One of the best popiahs around PJ area.

And this is my dinner:

Chicken Chop with Brown Sauce - RM7.00. I like eating the grilled fish here too, but due to my current skin condition, I had to give that a miss this round.

What's not:
I don't know..I haven't tried anything that isn't good so far :P

A/N: Steffi will be going on a hiatus for...say, 7 days? Well, at least until after her paper this Thursday and would probably be back with her "China Part 8: The Butterfly Lovers" post. Until then, ja!

Commercial Break: I'm officially a Bonjuker now

2007-05-31T14:16:00.000+08:00

I need more energy today...I slept a little later than planned last night. So, what's my solution?

2-in-1 Old Town White Coffee :D As my sister said, after drinking it, she felt like jumping around, dancing and singing. Just what I needed for my last day of work before going on study leave. Luckily I drank that. I had to carry boxes of bottles of water today to the office(short distance only, I used the trolley to push those heavy boxes).

I still think that the instant coffee that I make is not as nice as the one sold at their outlets. There's something missing...I must pay Old Town Kopitiam a visit soon (this is probably the reason why the coffee made from their instant coffee powder that they sell at the supermarkets isn't as good as the one they make at their outlets).

But anyway, I'm now officially a Bonjuker! Uh, no, there's no such thing as Bonjuker, I made that up myself. I had my lunch at Bonjuk today. Yay! Actually, there's 15% discount for Yoga Zone and True Fitness members, but I'm too impatient to wait for my True Fitness membership card. Only God knows when the branch at Section 14 would open its doors to their members.

I had wanted to try the Seafood Combination Porridge but since I was going to boil Prawn & Squid soup for dinner, I opted for Mushroom and Oyster Porridge, M size.

Three side dishes and a small bowl of soup. I guess the empty small bowl is for you to scoop the porridge into, in case you want to share food with your friends. Since I went alone, I set that bowl aside. Side dish from the right, I THINK it was kimchi. I'm actually quite clueless when it comes to Korean food/dining Korean style. To the left of kimchi...I have no idea what that was. It was meat, most probably chicken. Err...I might be wrong. Ok, the last one tasted like chilli pounded with other stuff. It wasn't as spicy as the kimchi though.

And then, to my dismay...I saw the super slim chopsticks!!! Oh my god...my most avoided type of chopsticks. Since I do not know how to hold the chopsticks the right way, I have problem holding chopsticks that have weird and fanciful designs/shapes. I can only use the normal ones at the coffee shop or those I have at home. Oh, and I have a personalised pair of chopsticks too!

This pair is a gift from Australia from Darke and Micchy, but I digress.

I was disappointed at first because it didn't look as if it had the same texture as the congee I ate during my China tour. I really missed that. However, it doesn't mean that Bonjuk's porridge wasn't delicious. It was good. I had three big, succulent oysters in my bowl of porridge. As I was chewing the oyster slowly, savouring the taste, I smiled...hey STEFFI! Stop smiling to yourself before others think that you are nuts! :D I thought that I wouldn't have touched the three side dishes, but I wiped the food off those tiny little dishes too...I just took a few sips of the sour soup though.

Lunch was satisfying albeit a bit embarassing as I made "clinking" noises due to my clumsiness with the chopstick and spoon (not used to using spoon with the left hand).

Bonjuk's brochure:

and the menu:

Dinner time! Decided to make something simple. Prawn & Squid Soup using dried anchovies as the base.
I poured a bit too much water this time though. Unlike sauces, I like my soup to be quite concentrated.

And the unplanned dish for tonight:
It's called, Strange Egg Mixture. Initially I called it Strange Omelette, but I don't think it's one. Hmmm...But anyway, it tasted quite good! Surprisingly...afterall, I have forgotten the salt, AGAIN and I just threw in whatever I could think of into the pan...There's swiss white mushrooms, 4 eggs, milk, bread and cheese sausage. Pan fry with butter.

The bread I used was:

Gardenia Breakthru!

Add McCormick's Mixed Herbs and Black Pepper...
Voila! My dinner.

And the best part of the day...
On the English label, it said "Bourbon Blanchul". Japanese label was Buranchuuru. Same thing...in a way.

Hmmm...cookies only right? No biggie...

Must check where the product was manufactured at. Nowadays, there are many products with Japanese names and labels, but aren't from Japan itself.

Packed in individual tiny packets too...

REALLY TINY!

Heheheheh, it's in English this time...

Small...

and thin. So delicate.

Steffi takes a bite...
...
.....
......
STEFFI SWOONS! As Steffi told Jyrenze...she has just eaten heaven! Good things really come in small packages. The white filling? Since it was written "Howaito choko & Rangudoshakunkii (<---dunno what the heck this means)" it has to be white chocolate. :D

Can...biscuits/cookies actually taste this good? Oh maaaaaaaaan, I'm in love...

Bourbon Buranchuuru - RM9.60, 12 individual packets in a box.

Commercial Break: Breaking the sugar limit...

2007-05-30T13:36:00.000+08:00

"Don't spend so much time in the kitchen," says mom. Alrighty! So I had a simple breakfast today.

Sun Sol's Apple & Berry Low Fat Natural Muesli and Farmhouse's Low Fat Milk. Actually, the Muesli reminds me of hamster food.

The pink stuff is supposed to be berry I think. The apple's yellow. Don't worry, there's more than one in that bowl, it's all at the bottom of the bowl.

I also didn't cook for lunch today. So I went to Backofen after taking up the entire morning wondering whether I should go to Bonjuk or Backofen (website not up yet). After surfing the internet to find out whether they have pie (which they didn't) I decided to go for their Rosmarin Chicken as the main dish and Sacher Torte for dessert.

Normally, whenever I go there, I usually take their set lunch, or occasionally the goulash or salmon spaghetti (can't remember their fancy names). I especially love their potato soup, and guess what? It's potato soup today T_T But I RESISTED and ordered what I have planned to order. Must try something different, right?

My Rosmarin Chicken (RM12.00). The thing about Backofen is, they tend to be rather heavy with their sauces. I guess that's fine if you aren't on a less-salt diet. I'm pretty sure the weighing scale would be jeering at me tomorrow. The chicken was tender and not dry...the sauce was nice too. I prefer less sauce though. Now, the potatos...what's with Backofen and potatos?! The way they cooked the potatos...superb! I used to dislike potatoes when I was small, but when it was time for me the shed the pounds, I started liking potatoes, especially baked/mashed potatoes. How ironic!

This was my dessert. Sacher Torte (RM4.50). I stupidly pronounced it as Seh-Cher Torte. The waiter called it Sa-Sha. Ah well, at least I managed to eat it. It was sweet. Not too sweet, but still on the sweeter side lah. The taste, not bad, overall I rate it 7/10. So far, the only two cakes/brownies that got me high was One Utama's Secret Recipe's Walnut Brownie and Bakerzin's Strawberry Shortcake. Totally orgasmic!

What I like about Backofen is their cosy ambience. Oh, and their magazines too. Though they take some time to serve customers, there are lots of magazines to read. But beware of what you choose to read...those ang moh's magazine ah...not suitable for viewing while eating because...you might get this:

Taken from Cosmopolitan's 2003 magazine, can't remember the month.

Then you'll either drool or spit your food out. Or you might come across an article on how to maximize your orgasm. *Rolls eyes*

Overall, I paid RM17++ for my lunch. Oh, I had a glass of skyjuice...the meal's already too rich for my usual diet (A/N: diet here means what I normally eat, not those weight losing diet plan).

Dinner time! Unexpectedly, my colleague gave me popiah from her favourite popiah shop...

Thanks a lot! It was delicious! Therefore, when my dad asked if I was going to eat at home, I told him, "No, no, you have to come back home to eat today. Too much food for me to finish."

So, I decided to make pork ribs soup. My PLANNED ingredients were:
1. Dried oyster
2. Dried strands of cuttlefish
3. Pork ribs of course
4. Groundnuts
5. Light soy sauce & thick soy sauce
6. Salt. I MUST remember to put salt this time.

So I soaked the dried oyster and dried strands of cuttlefish this morning. When I came back home, I took out the two bowls of soaked items. Dried oyster and dried strans of cuttlefish, check. Hey, the strands of cuttlefish have expanded. *Turns back to fridge to take the pork ribs out* WAIT JUST A SECOND! Cuttlefish shouldn't expand until like that! *Checks the bowl again* Oh my goddddddd!!! Banana flower! Once a numbnut, always a numbnut.

No, no, I wasn't half asleep this morning. Dried banana flower looks a lot like dried strands of cuttlefish. Wait...dried banana flower? Hmmm...ah well. They call that Kam Cham in cantonese, right? Ah, who cares. Must hunt for the cuttlefish now. After taking out another packet of "cuttlefish" and looking closely and sniffing it...ARGH, IT"S THE SAME THING. Hey mom, why so many packets of those ah...

I opened the fridge again. Spotted the packet of dried shrimps. Hmmm...OK! SUBSTITUTE! Although...it's kind of weird...does anyone else boils soup using dried shrimps?

Anyway, the "modified ingredients":

Clockwise from top left:
1. Groundnuts
2. "Banana flower"
3. Dried Shrimps/ Har Mai (must remember to wash)
4. Dried Oyster (don't throw away the water)
and

5. Thick Soy Sauce and Light Soy Sauce

Pour about 3 big bowls of water into the pot (MOM! What happened to the clay pot?!) and boil it. After that, add groundnuts, dried shrimp, dried oyster (together with the water) and salt into the pot and simmer for 45 minutes. Add pork ribs, "banana flower" and thick/light soy sauce to it. Simmer for another 45 minutes.
Voila!

While I was boiling the soup...
Dad: Eee, what are you cooking?! Why so smelly wan!
Steffi: *Peeved. GO...just go out and eat then. Hmph* You'll know afterwards. I'm going to bathe. DON"T ADD WATER AH!
Dad: Eh, is it ok to leave it alone like that?
Steffi: Don't worry, I've set my timer.

Finished cooking...
Dad: *Peering into the pot* What's that?
Steffi: Banana flower
Dad: Who taught you how to make this?
Steffi: Actually...it was an accident. I thought it was dried strands of cuttlefish.
Dad: You sure it goes well with the pork ah?
Steffi: Should be ok. *all smelly things go together, right?*

After he took a sip...
Dad: *mumbles*
Steffi: Huh? What?
Dad: Nice...
Steffi:...
Steffi: *Nose up in the air* Of course. Should be nice...
Dad: Eh, got groundnuts also...
Steffi: Mmm, yeah...

After 5 minutes...
Dad: By the way, girl, this is kam cham, not banana flower
Steffi:...
Steffi: Really ah?
Steffi:...
Steffi: Yeah, I thought it could have been kam cham too (A/N: actually ah, Steffi thought that kam cham = banana flower, so, she's not all that wrong, right? Hehe...)

After finishing meal.
Steffi: Hmm...I should finish up the leftovers
*Turns around and sees pot in the sink*
Steffi: AIKS?! Finish already? That's surprising...

SO! It's NOT banana flower. It's kam cham (don't know what you call that in English) and kam cham is NOT banana flower.

The soup, is therefore named Accidental Pork Ribs Soup.

Tonight's snack:

I can't read Korean, so I don't know what it says. The only thing I could read was MSG, so I supposed it says no MSG. Seems to be quite a popular label on food nowadays. Cute packaging though.

I supposed it means "tear here".

Eeee, it smells like Mamee!!! Not a good sign, Mamee has MSG.
It really has MSG! I supposed the label's warning the consumer that there IS MSG. So it shall be called Korean MSG Snack from now onwards.

Commercial Break: Charlteok Pie and others

2007-05-29T22:42:00.000+08:00

After reading Micchy's blog on Korean snacks , I couldn't resist paying a visit to the Korean Supermarket, Lotte, near my office. I got myself a box of Charlteok Pie:

7 packets altogether in a box, for RM8.90.

One pie in one packet, which is just nice. Stops you from gasaking the entire box at one go.

Chocolate filling. Mine, unlike Micchy's, isn't too sweet. It's just nice. Oh, it has a slightly salty taste too. I don't mean the ikan masin kind of salty lah.

Would I buy this again? YOU BET! I'm so hooked onto it now T_T...
Where did I buy it from? Lotte supermarket at Desa Sri Hartamas, same row as Warong Uncle Don and Fotozoom.

Mommy's in Singapore. Sister too. EATING GOOD FOOD, I must say. How about ME?

Ginseng Herbal Promfret.

This is called, "make do with what you have in your kitchen". Spotted mom's herbal packet for boiling soup and decided to use those for the fish. Dump in the following:

1. Gou Qi Zi/Kei Chi/ Wolfberries
2. Huai Shan/ Wai San/ Chinese Burdock
3. Dang Shen/ Tong Sam (I think)/ Codnopsis pilosula
4. Red dates
5. Yu Zhu/ Yuk Chuk/ Solomon Seal Rhizome
6. Ginseng

into a large pan/pot and boil for an hour. I only boiled for half an hour (after discovering that the fire wasn't on although the gas was! ABUNAI! When I started the fire again, it came out with a WHOOSH!!) and well, the Yu Zhu wasn't as soft as I wanted it to be. Oh, and remember to rub salt onto the promfret. I had forgotten to do that. I only added the salt later. Can add soy sauce also, but I didn't do that (so called healthy eating habits).

After that, put the fish in and REDUCE the fire immediately. Let it simmer, not bubble like a witch's cauldron, otherwise the fish would look ugly like mine...hahaha. Boil until cook lah. Just cucuk (poke) the fish to check whether it's cooked or not.

How was the taste? Not bad, but the ginseng taste was really strong. Why? because that satchet of ginseng was meant to be for one large POT of soup.

Then last night's dinner? Today's lunch? I ate the same thing.

Marina's Beef Balls

Can boil, steam, pan-fry, deep-fry and grill. I boiled it (healthy eating again lah).
Would I buy it again? Probably not.
"No preservatives, colouring & artificial flavouring" was printed on the box. Then, why so cheap? 20 beef balls for RM5++ as compared to Ikea's beef balls, which was, I think RM18++ to RM25, can't remember, for roughly the same amount.

Would I buy it again? Probably not. It made the weighing scale be unkind to me the next morning. So that means there's lots of salt/preservatives - causes retention of water.

And also another thing. Those people with BO problem would probably suffer the next day too. Oh my god, all forms of "discharge" from your body, be it gas or liquid, stinks of beef!(A/N: Jyrenze said the way I put it is obscene. Ok, so shall I replace it with "your pee and fart will stink"?) Funny though, I don't remember tasting such strong beef taste when I ate them. Maybe next time I'll pay more and get Ikea's one.

Suddenly craving for meat pie...

China Part 7: The West Lake

2007-05-26T22:06:00.000+08:00

Presenting, the West Lake, known to be the most beautiful and romantic lake in China. Well, at least the eastern part of China lah.

Sunset at the West Lake or Xihu

Olden style pavillion.

Soldiers at the West Lake, you see them quite often here and there.

At the West Lake, there are tram rides which will take you around the lake. Now this place, Hangzhou is famous for the legend of the "Butterfly Lovers" - a tragic romance tale of Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai. Apparently, this is where they lived. So, whenever the trams honk, those at the lake would hear the theme song for the Butterfly Lovers midi-style instead of your normal "HONK HONK". At first it seemed cute. AT FIRST. After a while, it got rather irritating. I found that it's the same with other places. All the trams will have the place's "famous song (?)" as their horn sound. Really irritating.

Willow trees along the bank. The willow trees here release this feather/cottony like seeds (never encountered that at the park here) that irritates the nose...

This was supposed to be a maple tree, I mean it still is, but due to the different climatic condition and environment, it kinda morphed. Well, it mutated actually (that's what the tour guide said).

The parks at China are really beautiful...Or maybe it's because it's spring? Those are peach blossom and willow trees by the side of the lake. The website said that the lake's famous for it's plum blossom but I was told that it's Tao Hua, which means peach blossom, right?

Close-up of the Peach/Plum Blossom

We sat on a "cruise" similar to this...

This is one image I regret not taking. Su Xiao Xiao's tomb.

Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Su_Xiaoxiao_Tomb.JPG I actually sat on her tomb at the other side. ARGH!!!

Steffi: *sitting on tomb* Heh, what's this thing ah...not a dustbin also, but the middle part is so cute, like an egg yolk
Mom: No lah, definitely not a dustbin.
Steffi: Say, the shape kinda reminds me of the tomb I saw yesterday at the Academy.
Mom: Maybe?
Steffi: Cannot be lah, tomb in this kind of area? (looks at tomb carefully)
Steffi:...
Steffi: Say...that...looks like a plaque...
Steffi: *walks to the other side*
Steffi: OH MY GOD! IT"S REALLY A TOMB!!! OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, I"M SO SORRY!

-_-||| For more information on Su Xiao Xiao, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Xiao_Xiao

View of Leifeng Pagoda from the "cruise" I was on. Hazy dazy...

Actually there are LOTS of information on the West Lake. Here are some of the links where u can find information on the West Lake and its many legends/stories/history.
http://www.imperialtours.net/west_lake.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lake

Two of the three pagodas in the lake.

Colourful flowers, indicating spring. BUT...

Can also pretend that it's autumn.

There were also lots of Cha Hua (Tea Flower/Camellia) at the park. The late Queen Mom's favourite flower. I can see why...

Really love the sceneries here.

Mudan Hua or Peony. Apparently the peony here is not as beautiful as those at Luoyang due to the climatic condition and soil.

The White Peacock

And the Golden Water Buffalo. Hehe!

Siu Chiu Hua, no Sin Chin Hua...argh, this is what happens when I don't write properly. Anyway, in Cantonese it's called Kheng Fa and it's associated to marriage or something like that. That's what my mom said lah.

A model of the West Lake at the West Lake Museum (free entrance).

More flowers :P As you can see, I just love them.

Ancient China

and Modern China, side by side.

Huh...long post. Can't blame me...The West Lake's huge. We went there twice in fact, once in the evening, once the next morning, two different spots of course.

Commercial Break: On a different wavelength...

2007-05-16T16:23:00.000+08:00

15/5/2007
For some odd reason, my company's callers seemed to be on a different wavelength...

Situation 1:
*Phone rings*
Caller A: Hello, may I speak to Mr X please?
Steffi: May I know who's on the line, please?
Caller A: Er...May I speak to Mr X...
Steffi: Yes, may I know who IS.ON.THE.LINE. please?
Caller A: Uh...Mr X
Steffi: *tries a different approach* May I know whom am I speaking to? *in my mind: WHO ARE YOU?!*
Caller A: Uh, I want to speak to Mr X

Steffi: OH, HEAVEN FORBIDS!

(Of course I didn't say that out loud)

Steffi: ...please hold on

Steffi: BOSS!! This girl ah, wants to speak to Mr X (who's wasn't around), but no matter how I asked her who she is also she won't tell... >.<#

Boss picks up phone.

After a few lines of conversation, he switched to Malay.

Steffi: Alriiiiiiiiiight,so she's a chinese who can't speak English then.

See...this is where the problem lies. In our office, my boss and I are both bananas (I think I'm better slightly better in Mandarin. He can speak Cantonese though), so we end up speaking Malay to non-English speaking Chinese. Really odd, eh?

Situation 2:

I was on the phone with a client's clerk.

Steffi: I need you to do something for me. It's about the new company that your boss wanted to buy.
Caller B: Eh? So far we've only bought one new Proton Waja (car)...
Steffi:...
Steffi: T_T
Steffi: Uh, it has got nothing to do with the Proton Waja...(somebody, just shoot me...)

Situation 3:

This happened yesterday. This caller has been trying to reach Mr Y the entire day (since we didn't know what time he'll come in, we just ask her to call back later to check).

Caller C: Hello, may I speak to Mr Y please?
Steffi: I'm sorry, but he didn't come in today (it's already 4.00pm. Quite sure that he won't be coming in)
Caller C: What? Tsk...*puts down phone*
Steffi: ...*sigh* You are welcome...

I know you are frustrated. That's not my problem. That's between you and him. You think I like listening to your voice, ah? Be more polite next time otherwise I won't even pick up your calls. >.<###

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen.

Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people.

You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find!

People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Commercial Break: Quizzes!

2007-05-09T16:13:00.000+08:00

You Are a Henna Gaijin!

You're not Japanese, but you wish you were!
You can use chopsticks with your eyes closed, and you've memorized hundreds of Kanji.
You even answer your phone "moshi moshi."
While the number of anime videos you've seen is way higher than the number of dates you've been on, there's hope.
Play the sexy, mysterous gaijin, and you'll have plenty of Japanese meat.

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

Hehehehe...come, come...more meat...*SLURPS*

You Are Japanese Food

Strange yet delicious.
Contrary to popular belief, you're not always eaten raw.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Darke? Shaddap. OK?

Your Inner Gender is Male

You are rational, matter of fact, and quite dominant.
You like to get things done, without any emotional messiness.
You truly don't understand most women. And you definitely feel more comfortable around men.
No doubt about it. You're a guy - at least on the inside.

What's Your Inner Gender?

Ah...
I......
See.........

China Part 6: Food!

2007-05-07T11:07:00.000+08:00

Alright, food in China is generally salty and oily. By the end of the tour, I was all bloated up (retention of water) due to salt overdose (and MSG I supposed). I did eat/did not eat some intersting stuff though. Since most of our meals are ten course meals, I didn't really take picture of what we ate.

A typical buffet breakfast consists of congee and all the side dishes to mix with the congee, finger food, western breakfast, noodles, soy sauce eggs, yu tiao/yau char kuey (my cousin calls it dogbone), dumplings, bao (meat and vege filling), sweet black glutinous rice shaped like a cupcake (my favourite!), other types of pastries and fruits. One thing odd. I don't see "mihun/maifun/rice noodles?" around at all. They serve orange juice (some even serve WARM cordial orange juice), water and tea but no coffee. They aren't very fond of drinking coffee, I think. At least my tour guide isn't. They are mostly tea drinkers. We were told to bring our own coffee there if we can't live without coffee (if you DO want to drink coffee, I think it's quite expensive).

And then, the odd part is, they even serve stir-fried vegetables early in the morning. Bleah! (I still ate some though :D) And...we seem to be eating the same vegetable over and over again. For breakfast and lunch it's normally, and almost always, cabbage. For dinner, it's cucumber. Fortunately, their cucumber ain't bitter like ours here, so I ate a lot :D I kinda miss their cucumber...(PLEASE, do NOT imagine something else). Dessert is usually, and almost always(again), watermelon. I got so sick of watermelon.

Jyrenze was telling me that the prawns they serve in China looks really pathetic compared to ours. I didn't believe her at first. Now I do. They look absolutely miserable. I DID eat one or two, which looked fresh and slightly larger than what they normally serve. Otherwise...I just ignored the prawns. Ain't worth the rashes I'd be getting the next day. Now, the FISH they serve. They serve freshwater fish. It's really...hen nan chi (so difficult to eat!).SO MANY TINY BONES! I gave up eating fish at China. Fish are friends. At least in China. However, at Lake Tai (Taihu), they have this boneless fish which is qutie popular. Can't remember the name though.

Most of our meals also had two types of soup, but we were only given one small bowl and one small plate...

China Tour Guide @ Xiao Chen (XC): I can't help noticing something strange...
Tour Member (TM): Yeah?
XC: Why do you scoop the rice onto the small plate instead of the bowl? I see quite a lot of you doing that...
TM1: Oh...hahaha, ah well, we are used to scooping rice onto plates at home.
XC: Oh, but...you eat rice on a plate with chopsticks?
TM2: Oh, no, no! We normally eat with spoon and fork (Steffi: something that can't be found easily at the restaurants I ate at. Actually, I didn't even try asking)
XC: Then...
TM3: Ah, you see, the bowl is for the soup, if we use the bowl for rice, then we can't scoop the soup into the bowl...
XC: Oh, ok, ok.

She must be thinking that M'sians are weird, or retarded. HAHA! But anyway, I'm not too happy with most of the restaurants' services there. Getting the waitresses to do something for you is like pulling out their tooth. Can vomit blood ah! The waiters were alright, though.

So anyway, here are the pictures...

Black waxed duck (I think). This was taken at one of the restaurants where we had our dinner at Hangzhou. Didn't eat that.

Lunch at Shi Le Restaurant, Green Town, Dragon Plaza, Hangzhou. Very nice and posh looking restaurant.

Other dishes served at the above restaurant.

Phoenix over Dragon, yeah! That's the way it should be...

So THIS...

is where I went, to buy...

this, grilled beef on stick (there's cuttlefish, lamb and chicken too. I really got hooked onto these), AND...

THIS! ARGH! SMELLY TAU FOO! HAHA! I must say that it's quite an experience eating it. I got fooled by it. When my mom passed it to me before running off (I was buying the grilled beed), I was thinking, "Eh, not smelly also..." So I placed it under my nose and SNIFFED it.

I GAGGED IMMEDIATELY! A nearby local saw and couldn't help laughing while calling out to me to put chilli sauce on it. I looked around helplessly while pinching my nose. I really couldn't decide which was worse, the toilet which I passed by (REFUSED to go in) earlier during the day or the smelly tau foo. My mom, who was standing a few foot away, was yelling out at me not to go near her. How nice. So, while pinching my nose, I ran back to the stall to put chilli sauce on it, but therein lies the problem. I'm no octopus. I have one hand holding the smelly tau foo and another pinching my nose. How am I going to pour the chilli sauce?! I asked the same local which one to put. It's odd...upon discovering that I'm a foreigner (due to my atrocious Chinese), she was less...friendly. Ah, well.

I took a deep breath (through my mouth) and quickly rubbed (yes, with a BRUSH) the chilli sauce onto it, before taking off. I stood at the side of the lampost, staring mournfully at the smelly tau foo while building up the courage to eat it. Finally, after licking it a little, I took a bite...and...actually, it really wasn't as bad as it smelled. Somehow after eating it, the smell just...diminished. It won't be something I'll crave for, but I certainly wouldn't mind eating it again.

Since I was tired of standing around, I sat down at the side of the building while my mom walked off to buy a bottle of water (the coward still refused to come near me). I realized I was getting weird stares. Then I knew why...I looked like a homeless wanderer, wearing a beige trenchcoat, sitting down a the side of the building eating hot food out in the cold with my mom's new luggage next to me...the only thing missing was a fisherman's hat. Great.

ALRIGHT! Next dish...

Nanjing's Salted Duck. Apparently, in Nanjing, guys love to eat the duck's butt (yucks). This is all because of their weird tradition. To make it short, if his girlfriend's parents accept him, they will give him the duck's butt for him to eat. If there's no duck's butt, it means he can forget about marrying his girlfriend. Simply...weird. So the guys in my tour group were warned (jokingly) not to eat any duck's butt given to them, otherwise they won't be coming back to M'sia!

And finally, dinner at Wuxi:

I love this dish! I'm not sure what it's made of, maybe sweet potato with something else(haha). The white part is defintiely whip cream mixed with a bit of lemon juice (I think) It's not too sweet and tastes awesome! Fortunately, the other table didn't like that so we had two of this! So full...

And as a side note:


	Your travel type: Travel Yup The Travel Yup likes exotic and adventurous travel, but prefers big cities with fast paced life. He has a keen interest in other cultures and always brings home a few souvenirs. Shopping in Bangkok, getting a tailor made suite in Kuala Lumpur, that's the kind of thing the Travel Yup is into. Even though he likes to get away, he prefers his travels to be comfortable.
	top destinations: Alice Springs Tahiti Amsterdam	stay away from: Tokyo Cairo Darien Gap

get your own travel profile
NOT TRUE AT ALL! What do you mean by I should avoid going to Tokyo...That's the first place I wanna go to! Bah...

China Part 5: Wonderful Hotels

2007-04-29T12:21:00.000+08:00

With the price that I've paid for this trip, one would think that the hotels that I'd stayed at would be similar to our budget hotels here (all in, I paid around RM2k). Surprisingly, the hotels we stayed at were beautiful and clean, similar to a three-star/four-star hotel here.

The first two nights, we stayed at Guangtian Hotel at Hangzhou. This hotel uses antique-like furnitures and decoration.

Hard beds. In China, they believe in sleeping on hard beds for good posture. I believe them. I don't see many hunching while walking. I was REALLY glad I didn't run and jump onto the bed when I first entered. It would have been really, really painful.

Chairs. Don't even remember sitting on them.

Dressing table. Those are all the lights we had. No ceiling lamps. In certain parts of China, they are required to save electricity. I'm really not fond of going around in semi-darkness.

BIIIIIIIIIIG mirror =D for the vain me...

Toilet fetish strikes again!

Alright, so the details of this hotel:
Guangtian Hotel
Add: No. 501, Dengyun Road, Hangzhou,. China
Tel: 86-571-28939999
Fax: 86-571-28025090
Website: http://www.gt-hotel.com.cn (I tried visiting it, but can't access)
E-mail: gt-hotel@163.com

On the third night, we stayed at Yijia Kaiyuan Hotel(a four-star hote)at Suzhou. This hotel is the opposite of the first one (in terms of decoration). Has a very modern look.

I love the shower!

You can open the cupboard from INSIDE the bathroom. It's really not safe bathing in this room, the bathroom door has no lock, the cupboard door has no lock either, anyone can go in and out as they like.

I like the way they decorate this place. The cafe's down there...It's a pity I only got to stay there for one night.
The have a nice website too: http://www.yjkyhotel.com/en/index.asp

Ok, next one at Nanjing: Nianfa 168 Hotel (hehehe, nice number)
Erm...I can't believe it. I didn't take pictures of the last three hotels. Ah well, there are always the websites.
Nianfa 168 Hotel's located at a very convenient place. Many shops around the hotel for guests to check out at night. There's a hair salon nearby which, according to my group member, charges "VERY CHEAP!". They added hair extensions to her already funky hairstyle (think of Mel B from Spice Girls) and finished only at 1.00a.m. Anything for money, I guess. I'm not too sure if the other shops were open until that late (they don't have our mamaks there) because I was safely and comfortably buried under the comforters.

Details, details:
Nianfa 168 Hotel
Website: http://www.hotel168.com.cn
E-mail: nianfamc@nianfa.com.cn

Check out for more details on their website, if you can read Chinese, that is.

At Wuxi, we stayed at Donglin Grand Hotel. It's located at one of the busier areas at Wuxi (IMO). For the first night ever, I ventured out of the hotel and enjoyed the cold air outside. There were roadside stalls selling chow kuey teow (er, I don't think it's exactly the same as ours) and other food (some looked like lok lok). Finally bought fruits (BANANAS! HAHA!)- it's really difficult to search for fruits at China at this time. Most of the time, they serve watermelon during meals (got sick of it).

I wanted to go to the mini market nearby, but it was closed when we reached it. So we went to the 24-hours convenience shop which is known as Ke Di (可的) there. Only in Nanjing, their 24-hours convenience shop was called something else, which is Hao Di (好的) and bought their cup-of-noodles, except that it's in a rather large bowl, instead of a cup. It's not that great, and has lots of MSG, but I guess it's sufficient enough for a late night snack.

Address: No. 33 East Renmin Road, Wuxi. (at Donglin Square)
Tel: 86-510-82256777
Website: http://www.donglinhotel.com/

Finally at our first and last stop, Shanghai, we stayed at Jinhui Hotel. For our twin-bed room, it costs RMB580.00 per night. I guess it's alright, considering that it's located at Shanghai.

Jinhui Hotel
Address: 8 Wuzhong Road, Shanghai (Xu Hui District)
Tel: (86)21-64282222
Fax: (86)21-64641774
Website: I don't think they have their own website, but details can be found here http://www.chinahotel.com.cn/hotelinfo.php?hotelid=168

So if you want to go to Shanghai-Jiangnan area, I recommend these hotels to you. :D (no, I'm not paid to do this). I didn't encounter anything strange of have strangers knocking on my room doors at night (even if they did, I'd probably be too deeply asleep to hear).

China Part 4: Banana in China

2007-04-22T21:17:00.000+08:00

Yes. That is me. However, that doesn't mean I can't understand a single word :D Sometimes it's good to be a banana. Especially when you have those pesky salesmen pushing their items into your face.

Sometimes, it's frustrating because they (the China Chinese people) have problems understanding what I want. Sometimes...it can be quite funny...

I was at the West Lake when another tour group consisting of China folks from other areas approach the place where I was waiting for other group members of mine (they were using the washroom), when their tour guide said loudly, "Ni men qu chang ke zai ze pian (han yu pin yin may not be accurate. Literal translation: You guys go and sing there)". I stared. Do local tour groups normally sing loudly at the park? I panicked. I won't have to do that right? We are from Malaysia after all, we won't have to sing right?!

My mom laughed out loud. Apparently, "chang ke (sing)" simply means "to do your toilet business". -_-||| I had forgotten. It happened again in the bus and I seriously thought that we were going to the karaoke to sing...

I also noticed that as a banana, you get stared at a lot. They aren't subtle about it at all. They'll stare at you for a long time, then start whispering to their friends. Anyway, I don't think it's something good so it's better not to know :P

However, being thought of as a "gaijin" (foreigner in Japanese language) in Nanjing is no joke. Their hatred towards the Japanese people has not waned at all even after many years, until a Japanese in a previous group from Singapore refused to alight his bus at Nanjing as he feared for his life. This is due to the Nanjing Massacre,however, I won't go into details about it as I don't like depressing stuff.

We were at a shopping area called "Fu Shi Miao" (I THINK lah) at Nanjing when this old man came up to my mom to persuade her to buy his items in Mandarin (another pesky salesman, they are all over the place!). After giving up on my mom, he came over to me and started speaking gibberish! It was obviously not Mandarin.

Mom: DIE LAH! He thinks that you are a Japanese!
Steffi: Is that so?
Mom: SEE!!! It's because of your cap and hand gloves! Remove them now!
Steffi: Don't be silly. Don't wanna remove, it's cold.
Mom: Later we'll have people chasing us down the street...
Steffi: How do you know that he thought that I'm a Japanese? Maybe he thinks that I'm a Korean or Vietnamese?
Mom: Hmph. I don't know. Just better pray that we don't get chased.
Steffi: Haha -_-

And then there were times when I WISHED that I could speak Mandarin well, and in their slang, because English and sign language just didn't work very well.

At McDonalds, Nanjing. These two aunties and I were at McD's and I asked them what was the name of the pie with purple filling. They didn't know either. So it was my turn to order. Note that the conversation/words are spoken in Mandarin if they are in italics.

Waiter: (don't know what he's saying, but I presume that he's asking me what I want)
Steffi: Wo yao...na ge! (points to the board up on the wall like a retard)
Waiter: *looks at the board then looks at Steffi like she's a retard*
Waiter: (again, I don't know what he's saying. I think he named some food)
Aunty 1: She wants to know what is that food with the purple colour filling.
Aunty 2: Yes yes, the purple one.
Waiter: Yada yada pot pet
Aunty 1: pili pala pot pet
Waiter: pot pet pot pet bla bla
Aunty 1: I think he's saying that it's fish.
Steffi: No! It can't be...how can a pie which looks like the apple pie have fish filling?
Aunty 2: Yeah, definitely not fish.
Waiter: yada yada pie
Steffi: *GRRRRR...I KNOW it's a pie* It's ok lah, don't care what it is, I'll just order one.
Aunty 1: pot pet sot set
Waiter: Bla bla
Aunty 1: yada yada (it seems that even ordering is a problem although BOTH are speaking Mandarin. Must be because of the different accent)
Waiter: *packs the pie and hands over to me* Yada yada? (I'm assuming he's asking whether I want to take away or have it there)
Steffi: *stares at waiter* Plastic bag, please?
Waiter: *looked confuse*
Steffi: Uh...bao bao! (it means bag)
Aunty 1: *quickly intervenes* yada yada pot pet
Waiter: *hands over a paper bag to Steffi*
Steffi: Xie xie *takes it and walks off

I'm sure he must have thought that I'm the most troublesome customer he has ever met. He also probably thinks that I'm a retarded Chinese...The best part was, when we could READ the label on the pie box, the aunties still have no idea what it was. THat is because it was labeled "TARO Pie". Of course, being an anime otaku, I knew what it was. "Yam pie", I told them. Hey...I thought they hated the Japanese...Ah, well. At least the pie tasted nice, though I wondered if it was worth all the hassle.

So when I went to Yoshinoya at Nanjing Lu in Shanghai, I decided not to speak at all. Just use sign language. I pointed to the chawan mushi and showed him two fingers. Then my mom wanted to order a bottle of mineral water. There was one bottle on the cash machine, but I wasn't too sure if it was water.

Steffi: Are you sure or not, that is water?
Mom: Yes ler..
Lady staff standing beside cashier: Yes, yes water.
Steffi: (relieved) Ok, I'll have one (shows one finger) please.

And then at the bookstore. HUGE ONE. We both looked around like lost lambs.

Mom: Where's the postcard?
Steffi: Definitely not on this floor.
Staff standing nearby: (in clear English) The postcard is located at the next floor over there. (points upstairs, to the left)
Steffi: Ah, thank you.
Steffi to mom: See, I guess people who work at the bookstore can speak better English.

Another well mannered lady. Much appreciated. :D Then we wanted to look for KEYCHAINS.

Mom to another staff: Do you have keychains here?
Staff: *looks confused* Ha?
Mom tried again, without much success.

Steffi: Wait, I've got an idea. (takes out her keychain and dangles it in front of lady)
Steffi: Zhe ge. Key chain. (makes a circle motion around the keychain) Ni you zhe ge ma?
Lady: (After much frowning, she finally got our message). Oh, mei you.
Steffi: Ah, ok. Xie xie.
Steffi to mom: Uh, looks like not all of them can speak as well as the first one.

Another incident was at the first hotel I stayed at in Hangzhou. I left a bag behind in the hotel's restaurant and only realized it while walking out of the hotel. So I dashed back in without my mother and was immediately dismayed when I realized that I would most likely have problems communicating with the waiters/waitresses there. Nevertheless, I cheered myself on as I approached the waitress and attempt to speak to her.

Steffi: Qing wen, ni you kan dao wo de...paper bag ma? Zai ze pian (points to empty spot on the floor)*Excuse me, did you see my paper bag? Over there*
Waitress: (has problem understanding the word "paper bag". started talking to another waiter)pili pala sok sek
Waiter: pili pala pot pet
Waitress: yada yada bla bla (trying to explain to Steffi. This doesn't look good)
Steffi: uh...paper bag wor...(tries to use sign language)
Waitress: yada yada bla bla
Steffi: uh, ok, xie xie.

All I knew was that someone has taken it. So I grabbed a tour member of mine who was outside the restaurant, and got her to be the interpreter. Finally, I was told that a lady wearing black took it already. Well, everything ended well, we managed to find the "lady in black" who belonged to another tour group before they left. PHEW!

And at another hotel...this sweet room cleaner knocked on my door to ask me a question. I confessed. I have NO idea what she was saying, but I know that we were supposed to be out of the room by then, as all our group members have checked out.

Sweet lady: yada yada bla bla?
Steffi: uh...um...wo men...teng yi xiar, ha...
Steffi to toilet door: (mom's inside) MOM! How do you tell her that we are going already?
Mom: Wo men jiu yao zou le!
Steffi: (turns back to look at lady) Wo men jiu yao zou le! (she probably heard my mom already...haha)
Sweet lady: ah, hao, hao...(walks off)

Bless that sweet lady...she's one of the rare ones who's smiley who didn't look impatient and didn't look at me as if I'm retarded.

Of course, wherever I go in China, I carried around my little chinese book with me. At Cheng Huang Miao in Shanghai, I was looking for this "wired name" shop so that I can get Jyrenze her souvenir.

Steffi: Let's ask the guard (they have guards EVERYWHERE. Even the parks)
Mom: You know what to ask meh?
Steffi: (flips throught booklet) Let's see...Qing wen, ni zher dao na ge...uh...something dian zai nar? (Excuse me, do you know where' the uh...shop is located at?)
Mom: Ahahaha, how do you say, wire name shop?
Steffi: aiyah, just tell him "yong uh, wire zuo ming de..." (use uh, wire to form the name...)
Steffi: ...somehow, we have to find out how to say "wire" in Chinese.
Mom: I also don't know. Er, but even if he tells us the directions, would we understand him?
Steffi: (blinks) HAIH.

So, that was the part of the reason we failed to obtain it, Jyrenze...gomen nasai!