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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Meetings

It’s great to have friends giving positive response when you sms them to meet up when you go to their “territory”. It was very touching for me to have these friends coming all the way to meet me at Midvalley since I’m not so mobile nowadays… Firstly I’m very super not familiar with KL direction and traffic, secondly I don’t think I would want to go squeeze in the LRT or KTM train with little baby in my stomach. Thanks a lot for your flexibility and understanding.

Wednesday night we managed to meet up with Angie, Chin Yuan and Kok Wai who abandoned Cheong for me since they needed to choose between him (in One Utama) and me (at Midvalley). Sorry Cheong… We had much things to share and laugh about till we were the very last to leave Manhattan Fish Market when the workers are ready to go home. Well, I guess the highlight of the day was the Kisah Benar joke Angie shared regarding the snatch thieve who got a bag of gold on the way down from Genting Highlands…. Remind me to tell you the story if you are interested 

Thursday was fun too. Wen Dee and I met up at Ding Tai Fung. I passed by the same franchise at XinTianDi Shanghai last year but did not went in since the price was not reasonable. Surprisingly the price is attractive in KL. We had 3 XiaoLongPao + a bowl of LaMian + a bowl of black sesame TangYuen in blended red bean soup + water/tea at RM19.80 nett… Great deal? Tasted not bad too, with quite little ajinomoto if compared to other restaurant. It’s an honour to meet back with my UTM shepherdess, and my Malacca Wedding Dinner emcee (agreed though last minute appointed).

Thursday night we met up with Jan Er. Guess other SET mates were busy… Hope will have better timing to meet up with them other times. But am really happy each time I’m in KL, Jan Er always makes time to meet up. Really touched, buddy…

My first ‘real’ vacation since pregnant

This vacation is different. It was pre-approved by our gynae and Yong Sheng felt less stressed with it. In previous Kedah trip 10days ago, he was quite worried since the midwife said that people who is near the end of 1st trimester might experience abdomen pain or spotting if travel on road for too long, or if the journey is too bumpy.

This round’s destination is Kuala Lumpur for 3 days 2 nights, then Malacca for another 3 days 2 nights. We got to stay at Midvalley Gardens Hotel!! Wow wow, nice hotel indeed, though I still rank Radisson Pudong, Shanghai first in my heart.

Check out the hotel –
Cabinet near the room entrance:


Queen size bed and sofa for reading. You can see the swimming pool and dirty river through the window...


TV and study table


Wardrobe with mirror doors, right behind the sink, next to the bathroom and toilet.





Bathroom with bath tub



And Yong Sheng’s dream shower, it’s really cool



I was wondering how to switch the water and temperature control between the bath tub, handheld shower and ceiling shower. Obviously this shows you the standard control for bath tub.


What about the handheld and ceiling shower? Luckily I found this at the lower wall before I needed to call the frontdesk :p


Toilet - Don't ask me why did I need to take this photo, just felt that the "collection" will only be complete with the most visited place in the room.



Safety box – which amazes me since I can put my huge HP Compaq 8510p laptop in there and lay it flat in the box.



There were 2 pop quizzes at night before we go to bed. I covered Yong Sheng’s eyes and asked, “Is the mirror you see when you brush your teeth at the sink, square or rectangular in shape?”

He answered, “It’s round…”


Then he covered my eyes with his hands, and asked me back, is the bathroom mirror round or square?”

I answered, “ Rectangular…” Gee, you should have change the “pattern” of asking the question la. Even if I don’t know the answer, I might still manage to guess whatever logical answer not given as options in the question….. Anyway, was amazed he did noticed the rare big round mirror….



Just hope baby will not be confused with such kind questions in future if ever we are in the mood of being cheeky... haha... Good luck, babe... You have funny parents :)

My first trip since pregnant

It’s long weekend with Labour Day holiday falling on Friday…. Was supposed to go back Malacca for the weekend by last minute we were warned by various parties that it may not be safe YET to travel so long distance… Hoon actually specially took leave to wait for us to go back Malacca so that she can spend time with us (and the baby I think – I always wonder if you can hear the baby’s heartbeat from the stetoscope).

So ended up we decided not to take the risk. Since the midwife kept emphasizing us to relax while travelling, take frequent stops for some exercise and walking around, and most importantly don’t rush and treat it as a vacation… Ok… We followed all that, except we changed the destination. Instead of driving down south, we went up north, visiting Huey.

As I’ve always wanted to tried Nasi Lemak Ong, we’ve ask Huey to meet us at Alor Setar since she attended church at Alor Setar. It took us some big rounds before arriving at this little shop, but, it’s vacation, so no rush…. We arrived there around 2.15pm. Probably it’s a bit late since the operating hours are 12pm – 3pm. Most dishes were gone. Daniel wanted to have fried fish (which is highly recommended in Ah Xian’s website), which is obviously not on the tray, but was shown on a big poster with Ah Xian as the model (as advertisement also la). Surprisingly the shop owner actually pretended to catch the fish from the big poster and place it on Daniel’s plate… then we all laughed, haha… quite a humorous taukeh.

My dish (chicken and potatoes):


Yong Sheng’s dish (beef)


Daniel and Huey’s dish (fish, chicken and mutton)



Overall is good, especially the sauce and tender beef, we liked them. However, Yong Sheng managed to spot big rats in the shop not far from the dish counter during day time 2++pm!! We managed to see them too as they appear again for the second time. Well, that might give us second thoughts to come back to the shop again…

After that we brought Huey shopping for groceries at Tesco nearby, dropped by the Rice Museum and sent Huey back to Jitra. We were amazed to see that Tesco offering very attractive price for Anmum Materna, even cheaper than what we got at Jusco after considering the rebates… anyway, never mind la.

The trip was good, and safe. No spotting, no abdomen pain. Thank God.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Good friends are angels

I like this story. Do not be too quick to judge, and understand that God put you in every situation with a purpose.

=====================================================================================


One day, when I was a freshman in high school,

I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.

His name was Kyle.

It looked like he was carrying all of his books.

I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?

He must really be a nerd.'

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.

They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.

His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye..

As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. '

They really should get lives.

' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'

There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.

He said he ha d gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends

He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!'

He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.

When we were seniors we began to think about college.

Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.

I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation.

I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak

Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great.

He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.

He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.

Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.

' Thanks,' he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.

Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends.....

I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story.'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend..

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.

He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

'Thankfully, I was saved.My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life.

For better or for worse.

'Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.'

There is no beginning or end.. Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.