Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Melawat Melaka Bandaraya Bersejarah!

Cuti-cuti Raya Haji, kami tak mampu nak balik ke Sarawak. Kerana keadaan kewangan yang goyang2 membuatkan kami terperangkap di Semenanjung Malaysia sahaja. Jauh dari keluarga terchenta. Huhu.

Therefore, kami cuti2 Malaysia di Melaka untuk mengambil bro ipar a.k.a. adik Suami Terchenta dan mencari baju yang sesuai untuk Away Day department saya yang bertemakan Zaman Kesultanan Melayu Melaka! *wink*

Dengan penuh semangat bercuti, kami mengerahkan Sang Kancil kami berlari-lari ke Melaka pada awal pagi semalam. Suami Terchenta tak berapa sihat, jadi terpaksalah saya menjadi pemandu pelancong semalam!

Secara sinopsis nya, percutian ke Melaka kami amatlah tidak memberangsangkan. Beberapa tempat menarik sangat tidak terjaga dan lebih sesuai dijadikan lokasi penggambaran filem hantu daripada tarikan pelancong! Siyes sungguh menakutkan! Silap2 bercuti bertiga, tapi balik berempat! *Ayat apakah ini?*

Ceritera #1: Melaka Bandaraya Bersejarah Traffic Light!

Haruslah saya memasukkan elemen traffic light di dalam entri ini memandangkan di Melaka, tak sampai 5 minit akan jumpa traffic light! Baru si CLK nak berlari2 dengan gumbira, dah terpaksa berhenti lagi bagi memberikan laluan kepada orang lain:

Traffic light lagi! Yeaah!

Memandangkan traffic light di mana2 saja di Melaka, kereta2 terpaksa beratur panjang. Lalu datang pulak beberapa kereta bernombor plat bermula dengan 'Mxx...' dengan senang hatinya memotong barisan sesuka hati mereka. Maklumlah, This is My Territory! Kami sebagai pelancong memberikan jalan dengan hati yang tidak berapa gumbira.

Ceritera #2: Taman Mini Malaysia / Asean a.k.a. Taman Semuanya Tak Boleh!

Boleh bayar tapi tak boleh naik! (Siap manggakan pintu tak kasi naik)

Perhentian pertama kami ialah di Taman Mini Malaysia / Asean. Lepas menjamu selera, kami dengan terujanya masuk ke Taman ni dengan bayaran RM12 sekepala. Malangnya, tak semua rumah boleh dinaiki:

Tak boleh naik 1: Penggambaran sedang dijalankan di Rumah Sarawak

Tak boleh naik 2: Tapi Suami Terchenta & adik naik jugak! (Melawan arahan pihak berkuasa!)

Tak boleh naik 3: Kalau berani, naiklah! Kompem ada makhluk lain yang akan ikut balik ke KL!

Bayar RM12 untuk tengok sahaja, ya!

Ceritera #3: Melaka Bandar Sesak-raya!

Semalam jugak, saya berpeluang buat senaman kaki. Kaki kiri, tekan klac. Kaki kanan, tekan minyak, tekan brek (ulang selama beberapa jam). Masalahnya, bukan memandu di KL atau di highway, tapi dalam bandar Melaka sahaja! Cuaca hujan menyebabkan kami terpaksa melancong di dalam CLK sahaja:

Mula2, set kan halatuju...

Tuan2 & puan2, di sebelah kiri anda ialah Muzium Belia Malaysia... Khas untuk belia2 sahaja, ya.

Di sebelah kiri anda, ialah Stadhuys.

Langkah2 mengelakkan banjir: bina kincir air di tengah-tengah bandar.

Kalau banjir jugak, kita naik kapal!

... atau boleh pergi ke tempat2 yang tinggi seperti Eye on Malaysia atau Menara Taming Sari!

... Tak pun, naik sahaja ke Fort A'Famosa.

Ini pun tutup jugak semalam, pada hari cuti umum di mana semua pelancong dari seluruh pelusuk ~~dunia~~ tanahair berebut2 nak ke Melaka.

Akhirnya, kami cuma berjalan2 di dalam shopping mall di Dataran Pahlawan untuk mencari baju yang sesuai. Nasib baik saya jumpa baju ittew, kalau tidak... bertambah lagi la list ketidak-seronok-an berjalan2 di Melaka.

Jalan2 di Heritage Gallery...

Mungkin saya terlalu tegas menilai Melaka, tapi memandangkan saya ialah seorang warganegara Malaysia yang prihatin maka saya menilai Melaka menggunakan standard antarabangsa, bukan standard kaki lima saja. Melaka perlu upgrade perkhidmatan pelancongan mereka sebagai salah satu tarikan pelancong paling popular di Malaysia.

... Tak pun, jadikan Taman Mini Malaysia macam Universal Studio untuk tarik pengarah2 filem seram di Asia buat penggambaran di sana!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha!

This year is our third time celebrating Hari Raya Aidiladha together :) If last year we had the privilege to host an open house, this year we decided to have a low-key celebration.

In the past, during Aidiladha, I used to bake my specialty cake - Kek Batik. The cake was so popular among friends that it'll be finished within only hours! This year, I decided to bake Kek Batik again, with the help of Suami Terchenta :

Using mixer which is our wedding gift from my darling sister, we whipped sugar, butter, eggs, flour and cocoa powder together.

This is an important ingredient to making Kek Batik - Marie Biscuits

The art of baking cake - aren't they pretty? -_-

Pour the batter into a saucepan and stir it all the time over slow fire

When it thickens, add in the biscuits. Lastly, when it's ready put it in a container and put a layer of clean plastic on top before pressing the cake until it is really compressed!

Tadah! The compressed cake! When it's cool, put them in the fridge :)

This is how it looks like after. Yummy!

For our Raya meal, we cooked chicken curry & chicken kurma and also bought some lemang to have them with:

Curry, kurma & lemang

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha, everyone!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Purple Mania! Beli Dompet Baru

2 bulan lepas, dompet saya terkoyak sampai mendedahkan span kat dalam kulitnya. Tapi saya tak de duit mah, nak ganti baru. Sebab. Saya kena renew insurance & road tax CLK. Sampaikan kawan-kawan tegur - 'Dompet tu mesti Suami Terchenta yang hadiahkan, sebab tu you sayang nak gantikan, kan?' Dalam erti kata lain, kawan-kawan saya pon perasan dompet saya sudah buruk lagi sangat kesian.

Lepas balik dari orientation, saya tak bertangguh2. Terus serbu Sogo, macam dah berbulan2 tak jejak kaki di shopping mall (padahal ofis saya kat KLCC!). Jadi, bulan ni saya pun shopping dompet baru. Yabeda bedoo!

Akhirnya, inilah dompet yang telah berjaya jatuh ke tangan saya:

Dompet warna purple! I loike!

Haruslah saya jatuh chenta dengan dompet bercorak quilt patchwork ni. Huhu...!

Dompet baru saya beraksi dengan penuh anggun lagi...

P.S. Dompet lama saya dah berusia 3 tahun. Hopefully, dompet baru ni akan bertahan lebih lama sebab harganya 4 kali ganda lebih mahal dari dompet lama! Huhu...!

I smelled of mouldy socks and drain water

Perhaps some of you might be wondering - how did the orientation program go so far? I have one particular experience to share with you. One of the programs scheduled for our orientation is called the 'Mega Challenge'.

Ah... somebody raised a hand to ask why is it called as such? Good question. It was meant to be the most challenging task we have to complete during this orientation and it involved ~~lack of~~ no sleep, no food and no decent weather either. It was totally wicked.

At 2pm, we were forced to run helter-skelter to the gym to assemble or ELSE (kena hukum la, apa lagi). Then, we marched to a field, where we had to complete 2 obstacles - which are actually the less torturous compared to the all-nighter assignment we had.

The weather was not cooperative either - it rained cats & dogs soon after we finished the 2nd obstacles back we went to the gym to assemble & pray. Then back to another field, in our poncho, dripping wet.

That sounds bad already? Nooo... of course the worst had yet to materialize.

At 6pm, our heavy bags and rolled up sleeping bags were stored in our tents (two for the girls, and two for the boys). Food ration was then distributed to appointed persons-in-charge and we were told to guard at all costs because the 'natives might attack and steal our food'. So we had to hide them and ration out to everybody. Dinner comprised of a boiled egg and a piece of bread. Awesome.

The engineers had assembled to complete the grand task - building 5 platforms which had to withstand 10kgs of burden. The material? Two boxes of PVC pipes, a few roll of tapes and ropes to tie the pipes together.

Rain continued to pour, albeit not-so-heavily. Security team was formed, password given around to avoid natives creeping up to us unbeknownst. The design team continued to discuss and sketch, and we had to move our working area (tent and all) to another area which was less muddy. The whole experience was horrendous. I was wet, shivering cold, and hungry the whole night.

The construction began, everybody sat building basic structure and assembling them together to form the platforms. Throughout the night we worked, we slept in turns but most did not. At 10pm, a drill took place and we had to abandon the camp and run to assemble or risked our food ration being confiscated. From then onwards, we had another 5 more drills and those who was just about to take their nap had to run without their shoes, treading on muddy puddle. I repeat - the whole experience was horrendous.

I had my half an hour rest and even though I was still clad in my raincoat, I lay down without bothering to take them off because I was so tired. It didn't matter anymore the wetness, the cold and the shivering - all I cared for was sleep.

At 6am, we barely survived and couldn't even gather the strength to eat our breakfast - comprising an orange, a piece of bread with sardine gravy (uncooked), and a piece of cracker. One girl had fainted at 3am, and had to be brought to a nearby hospital. Two more suffered gastrics because of the lack of sleep and food. The rest were just grouchy, tired and extremely sleepy. The weather continued drizzling, and our teeth chattered every time the wind blew in our direction. My feet were all wrinkly from the wetness.

Our engineers were worried because the platforms were wobbly and looked like they were about to collapse. Our materials were not enough - as a result, the 'natives' demanded two of our tents in exchange for a roll of tape and low quality rope. The team decided that it was not enough to build 5 sturdy platforms - but there was no other options. It was 5, or fail.

At 8am, an officer came to inspect the platform and found that none was strong enough to carry a 10kg-lead. We then ~~marched~~ ran for two more obstacles. If you had watched a military practise before, you would have an idea of the kind of tasks we had to complete.

The torture ended at 12pm - I did not have the strength to go for lunch and headed back to my room because I stinked and badly needed a hot shower, clean & dry clothes and hours of sleep on the soft, warm bed.

I had one lesson firmly lodged in my brain out of this exercise - uncooked sardine rocks. The fishy taste of it after a long, cold & tiring night on a piece of bread sent us to heaven and back. No matter what the chain email claimed - sardine, you are our saviour and life's hope during that extreme challenge.

Cheers to tinned sardine.

Update from A Cheap Hotel Room...

It's been almost a week since I started orientation week and thank God, except for a little, nondescript creature, the rest has been pretty okay. After work on Monday, Hubby sent me straight to Bangi and then I checked in the training centre and was told that I had to share hotel room with 3 other girls.

Initially I was quite upset because I preferred twin-sharing, but after meeting my roommates, I thanked God that I got a quad-sharing room. They are a really pleasant, chirpy bunch of people and we got along well.

We spent the whole week learning about the organization, the value, culture, etc. which I had already learnt by myself for the past 5 months I started work there. But it is quite interesting to learn the story behind each significant milestones, furthermore our facilitator is a good story-teller.

Last night, we didn't have any program to do so I took the commuter back to KL to (yeaay!) meet Hubby. And tonight, he checked in a small, cheap hotel in Bangi so we could spend a few hours together again. Sungguh la sweet Suami Terchenta ku ini.

I think that's now for today, tomorrow will be another early day for me until early next month. G'nite, folks!

Sob... Sob...! Why do I have to go thru stupid induction program??

Saya sepatutnya hapdet cerita tentang outing all-gurlz last week tapi saya terlalu sebok. Kenapa saya terlalu sebok? Sebab saya kena siapkan banyak keja weekend ni. Kenapa? Sebab saya takde kat ofis next week. Kenapa saya takde kat ofis next week?

Sebab saya kena pegi kursus induction selama 2 minggu :(

SAYA SANGAT SEDEY OK! Sepatutnya induction program ni untuk budak-budak baru lepas belajar, bukan orang yang dah kawen macam saya. Saya akan outstation selama 2 minggu (paling lama!) dan meninggalkan Suami Terchenta sorang2 kat rumah *guling2 sambil nangis kuat2* Owh, I don't like it!

Hopefully, masa cepat berlalu dan saya boleh balik ke pangkuan Suami Terchenta.

Walaupun belum bertolak lagi, saya dah rindu kat Suami Terchenta. Akan peluk dia kuat2 malam ni & besok sebelum saya disappear 2 minggu.

p/s: Dah nak dekat anniversary kawen, tiba2 kena jadi bujang lagi. Sadisnya :(

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fab3 Re-United!

You know how I used to fondly babble about my favourite group of friends in the whole wide world, the Fab5?

There were Ferocious Dilla, Frivolous Ainie, Fun-tastic Jen, Follow-je Chairman & Formidable me in that group.

Last Saturday, Fab 5 minus 2 met up after (???) years of not seeing all of us together. We made schemes & plans & promises with a bit of ugutan to Jen if she dared to bring her hubby-to-be to our all-girls outing. After rounds of emails, jests, sms-es and calls, we finally settled to meet at Italiannies at The Garden.

OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOU GIRLS & I WISHED WE COULD TALK & TALK UNTIL THE NEXT DAY, IT WAS SO GOOD TO FINALLY HANG OUT TOGETHER AGAIN LIKE WE USED TO DO!

Will blog more about our memorable outing later this week!

Anniversary Coming Up Next Month... How Now?

This month, I spent so much on health food, supplements & gym membership. So semangat want to ~~lose weight~~ lead healthy lifestyle. Haven't seen any results yet. *garu kepala* Except my love for physical exertions is now awakened - especially after a very frustrating, tiring day at work. It's a great feeling to sweat it out and steam off the bad feelings while doing the stairs and like-want-to-dieeee abs blitz class (seriously, I feel faint after only 1 class).

Also, this month a big chunk of my salary's gone to renew our car road tax. So enough said - I certainly could not save up for the one big important event next month - our 2ND ANNIVERSARY!

Haiyooh! How now?

Anyone can recommend where we can go for a romantic anniversary celebration / what we should do???

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Graphic Design Part 6

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Shelf, by Ikea

If someone read the title again, it sounds like a perfume. A brand new perfume - fresh, intoxicating, alluring. Sniff it, and the only smell you can smell is the pages off new books.

And they are my new books which I bought from MPH Warehouse Sale last week (Omigod! I MUST visit the sale next year, because even well-known titles are incredibly cheap!):

From fiction, to lifestyle, to brain food - pick your choice.

Can't believe meh?

I'm a die-hard of Tintin and I collect almost if not all of Tintin series. At normal price, the comic sells at RM40-ish. During MPH Warehouse Sale, I got it at RM16. Plus, none of the books above are priced more than RM30. Altogether, I only spent RM120+ for those 5 books (they are also tax-deductible!)

Now that I have grown my books collection, the bookshelves at home are practically overflowed with books. There are books stacked on the computer table, strewn by the bedside (my side of the bed, to be precise), and on the side table beside the sofa in the living room.

It became too much that my hubby decided that we definitely have to add a bookself pulak. One day, he just woke up and told me, 'I'm thinking of going to IKEA.' And I had to straddle him and demand identification to know whether he's an impostor. It's just not his nature to initiate the plan to raid IKEA (usually, I'll be the one dragging him to that part of Damansara!).

He had a budget of RM100 to buy a decent-looking shelf but then we returned home with a shelf that saves us RM45. That's why I love IKEA! For letting me have a bookshelf which is both gorgeous and cheap:

The bookshelf, RM55. From Ikea.

At first glance, I'd mistaken this shelf as a ladder, used to retrieve books from one of those 10-ft build-in bookshelves. It is made of light metal, but very much sturdy and stable. Its narrow frame allows us to be parked in a small space. It certainly adds character to my living room now as it doesn't resemble a traditional bookshelf too much. If we decided to get a bigger bookshelf later, we can put this shelf in the kitchen to stack all those ketchup bottles, containers, etc.

Another plus note: It complements our TV rack most wonderfully, they are practically old chums by now. Tonight after we go to bed, they might even plan to go to mamak stall and watch football together.

The Truth, Truthfully, & Nothing But The Truth.

Tonight is a hot night.

Phew! Not only because we did something hot, but because it is really hot, literally. That is why I have to get up and guzzle more water, another process I have to endure under my food change regime. While I'm struggling to down 2 litres of water at one sitting, I might as well update my blog.

Remember my posting about how I am diagnosed with PCOS?

The good news is, now I can stop blaming myself for weight gain over the past years! *pumps fist in the air!

It is all because of this PCOS, bad PCOS! It sorts of messed up with my hormones and somehow, my body can't seem to handle stress as well as other normal persons which then led to lower metabolic rate, resistance to insulin, increase in appetite, yada2x...

The not so good news is, PCOS sufferers also have more male hormones in their body! Like, hmm.... (garu chin as if I had beard) excess hair growth, acne problems, etc.? (Although I assure you, that I have yet the need to shave my legs)

Why can't I have more of the good male hormones, like their metabolism and stamina?

Is that why I am so ambitious, so competitive and aggressive when it comes to delivering my objectives, like a sportsman on steroid?

Anyway, PCOS alone is my number 1 reason to combat weight problem. Although, the whole thing is actually chicken-and-egg issue... which comes first? The weight, or the symptoms? Somehow, the blame game has to stop and mind has to take control over body.

Gambate!