Necessities and Luxurious Stuff

TGIF! It was just another Friday evening and I will be having pizza for dinner, yay. After a quick bath, I rushed to set the table for my pizza dinner when mum called for me from her room. She said that a big parcel was sent to my name and asked me to check what it is.

I was reluctant at first because I was really keen to eat my pizza. After hesitating a little, I go ahead with opening the parcel because I suspect it might be a gift from either dad or mum.

As I unwrap the parcel and open the box, I found a smaller box, an anti-virus, a laptop bag and a dongle.

Once I opened the small box, the word Acer pop up and I knew my mother bought me a new laptop.



It's official. I own my first personal laptop at the age of 25.

My family expected me to be very happy with this gift. I was and still am very happy to own a laptop. I do not wish to have one but owning one now is considered a blessing. Honestly, when I received it, I had mixed feeling. I am sure all of you why go, "What? Are you nuts? Your mum bought you a laptop and you are suppose to be happy because you don't have to fork out money for it. What's with the mixed feeling? Are you sick or what?"

That's the problem with me. I have lived without laptop and my days still pass by happily. I survive on sharing the desktop with my family members and when someone else is using the deskop, I will spend my time reading or watching the television. I do not need a laptop to do assignments or research or for work purposes. Therefore, laptop is solely a luxury item and not a necessity for me. I have never thought and never plan to get myself a laptop in the near future because I don't really need it.

Secondly, why did mum suddenly spend such a large amount of money on me? I feel guilty for 'wasting' her money. Well, yes I did not request for it but still, she could put the money to better use like pampering herself etc (that's the greatness of a mother).

I am posting this entry from my new laptop and I am trying to use it as often as possible to show my appreciation. Just in case you are reading this mummy, I really like this gift but in the future, it should be the other way round.....I should be the one getting you luxurious stuff.

Happy Mother's Day

Today is the day all mothers anticipate. No matter how much they claim that this day is over-rated and merely a commercial gimmick, deep down in their heart, they wish their children will do something special for them on this day.

I did not wish my mother 'Happy Mother's Day' verbally nor non-verbally (which is through text messaging or social networking sites). To me, this three words carry no meaning because everyday should be mother's day. She deserves to be happy everyday and not only on mother's day.

Personally, my mother nearly died giving birth to me. She did not tell me this herself, my dad did. Maybe she did not want me to feel guilty or something. The cooking, the laundries, the sweeping, the mopping, the cleaning, the ironing, the chauffeuring and the list never ends. Mother does all this without complaining.

When I did badly at school, she never scold but encourages. When I hurt her, she just wept silently. When I crave and wish for something, no matter how big (handphone) or little (ice-cream) it is, she will get it for me. Eventhough she is a working mother, she is able to juggle both house chores and career well.

When I got my first meagre paycheck, she was happy for me and never once has she ever asked me to re-pay her in any way for whatever sacrifices that she has done for me. She will only remember the good in her children and erases all the bad.

The question here is how can we ever re-pay mum for all that she has done for us? Spas, expensive meals, gifts etc cannot measure to all the things that she has done. To me, the best way to make her happy is to lead a meaningful life and not forget my roots and the family I grew up in.

Mummy, everyday should be mother's day. I love you.



PS : Just in case you are curious, I pampered mum with a spa treatment today and she love it. Only mummy will understand my above toddler-like drawing.

Dim Sum

The best way to break the ice or to make a comeback after a long hiatus is to talk about food. The long hiatus is due to nothing-special-happens-to-my-oh-so-routine-life. No, actually I was just too lazy to blog, preferring to waste my time playing some time-management games, ironic huh?

Anyway, we will be indulging in the world of Dim sum. Dim sum is cantonese for small individual portion of food. The Chinese usually eat it as breakfast and dim sum is highly associated with 'yum cha' which means drinking chinese tea. Dim sum mainly consist of steamed dumplings made of pork, prawns etc. Traditionally, people will wake up at dawn to savour this breakfast while reading the daily newspaper and listening to birds chirping. Nowadays, dim sum are served for dinner and even supper too.

To enjoy authentic and tasty dim sum, you don't need to travel all the way to China. Malaysia restaurants do serve yummy dim sum too. I had dinner at one :-

Chinese tea. Dim sum without it is like pizza without cheese.
Siu mai. Pork dumpling. One of the top favourites.
Harr gau. Shrimp dumpling.
Cheng yu tann.Steamed fishballs. Simple but nice.
Chee choi mai.Seaweed crabstick dumpling. I believe this dish is not available in China because it is not a traditional dim sum dish.
Siew loong pau. Named little dumpling but I find the size similar to other dumplings.
The fillings of little dumpling. No idea why is it green but am very sure it's made of pork.
Char siew pau. Buns filled with barbequed pork. My personal favourite.
Tai pau. Big buns filled with chicken meat and eggs.
Lor mai kai. Lotus leave glutinous rice with chicken and chinese mushroom. The glutinous rice is very filling and excessive intake may cause indigestion.
Food for five.
Some of the desserts and fried dishes on sale.
Tan tart. Egg tarts, a typical favourite.

There goes the ice-breaking entry. I am all in the mood to post more entries now....

Nothing Yet Happy ?!

It's officially the second quarter of year 2011. Seriously, how time flies! If at this very moment, someone were to ask me how I feel, I will answer, "I feel nothing and yet happy." By nothing, I do not mean I feel empty, I just feel....well, nothing. I have been working on auto-pilot mode and getting okay money for doing that. Mind you, I did not choose to work like that, it's just that the nature of my job does not require me to push my brain to the limits. Therefore it makes me feel nothing because I use my brain lesser nowadays and since I practically give up on my studies, I am not putting my brain to good use again. I stop studying because usually only school drop-outs can be millionaires at a very young age and I am trying to follow suit. Before all you parents and teachers out there start screaming, well nope, I am only joking. I have given this course of study so many years and yet, I still can't complete it. I blame it all on passion and since I have already wasted enough time and money on it, enough is enough!

The above leads me to feeling happy, which is the only emotion I feel nowadays. Why? Well, I choose to be happy, it's as simple as that....really! Don't believe? Lets get a bit deeper into my life :

1. I have a stress-free job that pays okay money and I do not have to clock in extra hours at work. Did I also mention that all meals are provided by the company?

2. I do not have a very high tertiary education but I am grateful to land a job that pays okay. Besides that, I feel rich in knowledge of mannerism and humanity.

3. I have great family members. I still have both parents alive, not to mention both my grandmothers too, and also my brother. As for the extended family members, we are not very closely-knitted but we are all on good terms and when we do get together, it's always a joyous affair.

4. I have small eyes, flat nose and lots of baby fats despite my age. At this point, many of you will go, "What?? You are happy with that?" Well, yes and no! I used to not like my features because doe-eyed girls with small pointy nose usually get more attention, and don't even get me started on those flabby flesh. But then again, I have also seen many girls with my features that are pretty and even manage to land hot caucasian husband. As for those extra pounds, lots of exercise and healthy living is the way to get rid of them. At least, every part of my body is original (I despise plastic surgery for beauty), so what's the reason to be unhappy about?

5. I manage to stay out of gossips or participate in any form of gossips. Honestly, human revolve around gossip and to be able to stay out of this orbit is a really difficult task though not impossible.

6. I have friends and colleagues who love me for who I am.

7. I have a comfortable home to live in, sufficient money to spend on leisure activities and for donation, am living in a country where although the political grounds are a bit messy, at least it's a natural disaster-free area and I have my dog whom I really love.

Aren't all this sufficient? Well, I still desire to own a house, to have a better-paying job and to land a good husband. But I believe all this things will happen eventually. I should live in the present moment and enjoy it, tomorrow is after all a mystery.

Georgetown CNY Celebration 2011

If I don't do this tonight, I think I will never do it. As usual, it's an outdated event! So I will just fill this entry with all the photographs and let them do the narration. This year's state level chinese new year celebration was not as fun as the previous year. This might be because the first time experience is always the best, filled with excitement and new discoveries. Or maybe the drizzle successfully dampen our spirit. But I personally think the crowd at a junction at Armenian Street killed the fun. It was extremely sardine-packed at the bottle-neck and I nearly pass-out due to human suffocation (imagine sweaty bodies plus rain-soaked clothing).




This cards were obtained from free hugs and we can use them as token to play games along the street.








This street features the lifestyle and things used by our fore-fathers in the olden days.

















There were actors and actresses along the street playing the roles of traders selling cakes, biscuits and sugar canes. A group of young men acting as labourers were the 'stars' of the street. We can actually purchase the food on sale but we have to change our money to the olden days currency for our purchases.
















The following pictures are my personal favourite. These bunch of young people were assigned to dress in 1960s outfit and every single one of them obliged to be photographed. They made the whole event so much more interesting.









Penang is one of the first state in Malaysia that is actively supporting the reduce, reuse and recycle campaign. Therefore, there was a mini reminder to encourage its people to practice the three R.




As we proceed to the next few streets, there were more stuff to check out:-























Bananas anyone?





Remember I mentioned about the huge crowd earlier? Check it out yourself. Some girls were assigned to 'give out' red packets with non-monetary contents from a balcony and the crowd went wild and crazy because of this. Kiasu-ism perhaps??





Any highlight of the night was the street of marriage. It features the holy matrimony of different races and cultures.





















That's it! I have to seriously sign off this very moment because it's already 3am and I have a 9 to 5 job to attend to tomorrow...