EMG Family Day - Damai Laut, Perak

Welcome to my second family. My colleagues and I are so close, I consider them my second family. In fact, I spend most my time (working life) for the pass 1.5 years with them. We are all such a great team that I am greatly saddened by the current restructuring that will see most of us going to other groups/projects. So, this is also a farewell trip for our close-knitted group.

If you must know, we are bonded mostly by food. Well, who's not, if you're in Malaysia. Everyone is such a great cook; I envy them being able to juggle between taking care of 5 kids(!) and coming to work with breakfast prepared (<8.00am!) enough for everyone to savour. They always cook lebih-lebih. I come to work every morning with home-made breakfast for sure at the pantry. (And I will be latest to wake up every morning and come in office empty-handed for the pass year - the luxury of being single and having no kids, husband to cook for).

As anticipated, our department's family day was a food-filled time. The trip to Damai Laut was a breeze and plus, the weather was kind to us. I packed my parents, god-sister and swim suit (as I was designated swim teacher for family day) into the Alza, sped to resort, and soon found out we are all staying at this awesome huge bungalow. Well, to cut the story short - we swam, BBQ-ed at night, karaoke-d whole night, played pool, relaxed at the beach, acara sukaneka involving balloons (my phobia!) for adults and kids, bitten by hundreds of mozzies, and the highlight for me (personally!) was - sharing ghost stories in the night. I spooked myself out, but was too tired to not sleep.

More importantly, my dad and mum enjoyed themselves and no-doubt fitted quite well with my colleagues, bosses and their family members. My mum is the most sporting mum in the world, which put me at total ease 'cause I was worried they wouldn't fit in easily (esp. dad). They were really really happy with the trip. I was happy that they are too.

I love my current boss. She's the greatest. She will be retiring end of this year and I am really sad that I'm about to lose a great mentor, a great problem-solver, and the one who hired me into a great company! *mata duitan*

Some random pics of the Family day:

BBQ

Afternoon at the beach

Damai Laut Resort - overlooking the golf course.

Mum

Newly-wed Fellie and hubby; others ain't my colleagues :P

Mum, Dad, Ying2

Biblical 1111

Look what I stumbled upon that interests me @RickWarren: 

"A GODLY man loves the strength of a GODLY woman “IN THE LORD women & men are not independent of each other.”

1 Cor. 11:11

The verse and of course, the numbers interests me. 

Btw, Corinthians is the 7th book of the bible. How perfect :)
 

Previous posts on 1111: here, here, and here AND HERE!!!!

Tempias

kan...kan...kan! I dah cakap awal-awal: 

Singapore finds radioactivity in imported Japan vegetables

March 24, 2011

SINGAPORE, March 23 – Singapore said today its authorities had found low levels of radioactive contaminants in four samples of vegetables imported from Japan.

It said samples of wild parsley, rapeseed plant, mustard and perilla leaf were found to have elevated levels of radiation, although an adult would have to consume 3.5kg of these vegetables to receive a similar amount of radiation as one X-ray.

The contaminated samples were imported from the affected prefectures of Tochigi and Ibaraki, as well as Chiba and Ehime which are outside the affected areas.

Earlier today, Singapore suspended the import of milk, meat and produce from areas near Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant due to worries of radiation contamination. – Reuters

....Tempias nuclear ni dah nak sampai benua ni! Jagalah sikit, tuan-tuan & puan-puan. See my previous post here: http://cchivy.blogspot.com/2011/03/compounding-interest.html Malaysia, being Malaysia, will play down the seriousness of this radioactivity. Gomen takkan report punya...

Kalau lah you think it's low levels only and radioactivity is normal, then I have nothing to say. Kissaten lah, hari-hari. :-p But don't be paranoid, just be aware and careful. Awareness je...

Honestly, radioactive vege is worst as pesticide-laden Cameron Highland vege. At least you can wash off pesticide away very easily!

Dreaded Slope

The Dreaded Slope of Koi Kinrara, Puchong.

Almost every 2 days (if it ain't raining), I will drag myself up this slope:

....and down (which is more dangerous!) 

Doesn't portray that much here in the pics, but it's pretty steep.

I assumed it's about 30 degrees..

Compounding interest

 My current muse: The Looniness of a Long Distance Runner - Russell Taylor

RM5.00 only from the Big Bad Wolf Book fair. So worth it!

'Compounding interests':
I love this term. Makes you wanna cry every month :-P However, I am talking about the interest in running. My interest in running is compounded by reading several funny-ha-ha books such as the one above - "looniness of the long distance runner..." . I always ter-sleep when I read a book to bed, but not this book. I laugh hysterically every night reading this book (not good if you're my neighbour), and knowingly bearing the consequence of a mere 4 hour sleep nightly. You know how I hate British authors and style of writing since uni days: Dry! dry! dry! and leave you more confused at the end of your read. Once you've read American-authored books, you'll never lay hand on a Brit's shit ever. But this Brit (Russell Taylor) has been killing my sleep every night.....*smiles*

And I thought the first chapter that prints a huge title: "The History of Marathon" would be harshly mundane, wordy and only a greek kid would be compelled to follow it. This was different, surprisingly. I actually did enjoy this chapter the most. The modern history of marathon was the best-est part.

Who would've thought the infamous Murakami runs....and writes abt it! I would have to recommend this book to anyone who has compounding interest in running. The read has motivated and taught me so much too.  This was because I could relate to him and his experience in both is struggles in running and triathlon (swimming). Yes, I can lend you this book, but for once, please return to me after reading. None of my books were returned to me after I lent them to so many. Darn

I can never leave coffee out in anything I do. Caffeine is another 'compounding interest' of mine.

Topping up my reads with a brew of Choco-Cappuccino (from Marks & Spencers - Xmas'10 present fr Callie).

 ____________________________________________

 With all the natural disasters and pending-wars in this world, I am optimistic that the world is going to end relatively(?) soon (eh, relative to what?).

I truly believe, either:

1. 2012 is for real, ppl. Buy a property/land in South Africa's Cape of Good Hope. :-P

2. Climate change is for real, ppl. It has always been anyway.

3. Earthquakes can be human-triggered ;-) Many do know about this already but if you're in the oil/gas company, you will know exactly how and the science behind it. Small, small tremors may be human triggered. Don't bother if you're not a scientific person.

Google in the lines of: 'Human-triggered earthquakes'; 'secondary oil recovery and seismic activity', 'reinjection of water into well', etc.

4. Radiation clouds will arrive in Malaysia soon. Ppl think this is an overstatement, but I think otherwise. When it comes to radiation and eventhough ppl say: it's still far away from here lah, trust the Japanese ppl lah; Japanese ppl are damn modern and can handle this nuclear situation lah, whatever shit wind doesn't reach Malaysia lah, all government will say that to keep calm. I am not paranoid abt this. I barely have extra toilet paper at home and only one Maggi mee left :-P It is just that I have a bad feeling that even if the radiation has arrived in Malaysia, and Malaysia being Malaysia, will have their meteorological station play down their data!! I don't like information to elude me. I sgt benci data-scandal!

This is the same thing as GMO lah. You dunno meh...you've been eating GMO soy bean products for the past 12 years? I got data mar. Our gov can't even be bothered to label those GMO food. Same: you may already kena radiation or emitting some, but betcha our gov can't be bothered or can't handle the situation. We should be smart enough to not to play down the nuclear situation in Japan.

http://www.slate.com/id/2288618/?from=rss

Sigh. I also believed Japanese gov ( just as any gov would have) is really really undermining and playing down the effects of radiation in this region cause they don't want panic, panic-buying and economic meltdown or stuffs like that. But hey, which government wouldn't, eh?

But wait!!! Dah cakap membebel-bebel banyak ni. Let me see...radiation or not, I don't have a gym. So, you'll still see me in Bkt Jalil running under the rain. Any forms of radiation won't stop my compounding interest in running :-P

My wishlish 2011

Tick tock... tick tock...tick tock...*boring giler*....

Half an hour feels like 'forever'. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...home. Work finishes at 5pm and ....hmpph...I have 'forever' to....hmmphh...maybe fill in a post or two anything:

Let's see. It's definitely way too late to put my NY's resolution, no? Okay, maybe a list of WANTS (TO-DO) this year 2011.


1. A good vacation somewhere faarr. Can't complain in this department. I've got HK in my bag already that automatically come with a half-marathon. But HK ain't too far. I've got a Scuba diving trip this September in Tulamben, Bali. Can I put another vacation in between now and Bali, say...Australia, Siem Reap, Anzac?


2. Bali. Yes, I need to get a good dive package for all 4 of us. Almost forgot.


3. KL Marathon 2011 (26 June 2011) - I am going to push myself beyond my physical comfort for this race. I am aiming for 2:15. If I can do 2:21 in darn cold weather in HK, I can do it in KL (with ample hydration, of course).


4. Set to run thrice a week....towards a full marathon in 2 years time. 


5. Slim down 1.5 kg. I am at my optimal weight now, which consequently means that it's a tat more difficult to reduce my weight even it's a little itsy weeny bit more. To do that, I need to reduce my greediness.


6. Spend more money on anything I want and whatever that makes me happy. Clothes, coffee, vacations, classy food, bak kut teh, make up, perfume, bag berjenama, on family, on shoes, conserving turtles, orchestra, theatres, on plays, on my boyfriend, on romantic dates, on comedy night, spend spend spend spend!!! 


7. ....and with the little extra money I've got, derma them to Japan (via a legal route). You guys need to tell me how to donate, and if my money reaches (or not!). How to know ar? 


and


8.  Drink a whole pint of Guinness draft this year. And why not this Saturday with the girls?! It's St. Patricks Day this whole week anyway!





Now, that's not too bad for a restless half hour. Just about the right time to fong kong or pang kang!!

Death of this blog imminent

Blek, celebrating the impending death of this blog....

I have not been updating as frequently as previous years due to work (part time teaching swimming and full time work) and a series of events that led to me to abandon my blog this year. Not on purpose. Cause, mind you, I love blogging and writing. And I love this blog. It's been My Space (pun intended) since 2005.

1.  The domain: Blogspot has limited the number of pictures (which is linked to Picasa) that I can post on my current blog. Max photos in Picasa is 1GB, which I surpassed long ago because I had uploaded pictures to Picasa since 2005. Well, unless I delete my old photos which is big no-no. I am altogether pissed with, not my blog, but with Picasa. I am definitely not paying for extending my 1GB space of my current Picasa account. What I did was to set up another Picasa account: cchivy81@gmail.com where I get yet again another brand new lousy 1GB. Whatever it is, this factor alone has compelled me to wanna quit blogging for real. 

2. Indeed, the word 'microblogging' rather than blogging per se have taken over me. I've been twittering more, and concurrently updating my life in Linked-in, FB, Buzz via TweetDeck. While I still will upload photos to my new Picasa account (sure boh?), I am definitely looking forward to my FB account in terms of uploading new photo albums as FB is not limiting my album space (sure boh!?). Will they limit in the future? Well, let's just hope not for the time being. Microblogging is the way to go, but where little bits and parts of my mind goes bewildered and lost in some 'book' that I have a hard time recovering back. That's what I don't like abt microblogging and where microblogging is lacking.

3. Setting a new blog, probably: cchivy81.blogspot.com. Will this work? No eye-deer. I am contemplating on doing this though I am pretty sure it is repeating the cycle/wheel with blogspot again; I foresee the same damn problem cropping up in the future. And soon, I will copy-paste from this rant again for y'all :P 

I don't need readers for this blog is not for ppl to see (though I do appreciate comments), just that I would love to have a so-called online diary...you get what I mean? I enjoy writing and looking back at the past posts and smile at my sillyness (and smartness also lah).

4. Set up my own website/domain such as: ilovecchivy.com.my :P No?

5. Apa dia Tumblr ni? Put water punya bekas? Accelerated death of blog due to microblogging: http://www.goreng.my/spark/article/tumblring-up

Any suggestions in solving my issue above? I am a clueless person on the web. I know very well, but I have little idea how to exploit the vast opportunities that exist in the internet. Please, please, a big part of me don't want to quit blogging altogether.

*Apologies if I did not get my facts right on those issues above. Errata appreciated.

December 2010

Wow, what a month. Filled with activities and many joyous occasions. Never a month so happening. Of course, most of the time, esp. when you're in Malaysia, it involves this thing call food.


First of all, congratulations to my bestie Pink for getting married. Indeed it was a fairy tale wedding. Pls pray for me it will someday be my turn......as wonderful as yours (I'm optimistic, but it could be a long wait..hahaha). I am already missing you as my cool housemate and clubbing kaki. 

OPS's wedding was the week before. Was a simple but joyous occasion nonetheless. The so ever tall friend of mine got a wife as tall has he ;-) (She is tall!). I have to mention this: the jazz band that they hired that night was damn good. Best I've ever experienced in a wedding dinner. Though consist of only a keyboardist and a female soloist, they were absolutely brilliant. All the latest songs (think: Bruno Mars) and the male keyboardist had this really mellow voice. Was glad that I made a few new friends from HK that was at the table. I've never spoke soo much Cantonese in one night! One of them will be joining the Stand Chart Hong Kong Marathon this February as well.

SIF-Alumni: Lum, Me, Ee Yee at OPS's wedding dinner

Oh yah, my car arrived early Dec. Sold my junk away for a very very safe buy - a Vios. And just 2 days after I got my car, someone purportedly farted (times 5) in it. I am pissed 'til today(!) and therefore want this 'disastrous incident' to be mentioned in this post and written in my history books ... for forever. LOL

The Malakoff 12km run at Mont. Kiara/Damansara Heights was quite relaxing. My gang arrived to a huge crowd of runners; probably 12 km is very much achievable for many. Plus, the weather was just right for the run. Finally met Farah (yay!) at the starting line after our countless unsuccessful meet-ups at previous races. 

This is how we 'carbo-load'. No, it's more like 'protein-load'. HUGE, BEST-GRADE MACADEMIA NUTS from SYDNEY 

Aunt's kindergarden always become the party spot.

Baby Jasmine: German mix Indian-Chinese

My Christmas was celebrated on Sunday. Went to regular church service with dad and then went up to Klang to pick up my mum from my aunt's place. Somewhat an annual event, we celebrated Boxing Day at Aunt Nancy's and Chris kindergarten. I always always attend their dinner parties cause it never fails to impress me - the food is extensive and delicious, the party-goers are in a class of their own, the drinks are ample from Holland beer to a 21-year-Chivas to ice kacang. And my cousin just got a new little 6 week-old baby call Jasmine. Adorable to the max & fearless of parties and noise!    

My beer from Holland. Smoooooth....

Their free-flow of any type of booze or ice kacang or cendol u desire.

Of course, Malaysia won the Suzuki Cup. Never heard of this Cup, til....last week. Whatever it is, I had a bunch of replacement holidays to be wasted off due to this win. I'm in Ipoh and it's still December 2010. I'm still expecting a bunch of yum chas, food and booze before the year ends.


Other worth mentioning and I-had-so-much-fun events in Dec:

Callie's German Xmas party. "Frohe Weihnachten"!! 

Colleagues at 'Penang Village' celebrating our boss' Birthday

Beloved Uncle Max at L's Xmas dinner party

I'm absolutely optimistic about 2011. Dream more, may your dreams come true.  

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one" 

John Lennon, taken from "Meet the Schmucks"

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 EVERYONE!

Christmas 2010 at Pavillion.

Ohhhh my parents are here (again!). Not that I'm complaining apart from being the driver and tour guide for them for the whole of KL/PJ. Like cabby. Ah-mad, but without the gaji. 

I always have a good time with my parents! My mum is really fun to hang out with and entertainingly funny (not the slapstick kind). She always, always make my day. She disturbs me and poke silly jokes at me, and I always ask her to repeat her jokes to me. It's stupid, I know.

This time, it's Pavillion's Christmas decoration that they wanna check out. Honestly it's the best Christmas decor in town. We set at the centre court to the sounds of carols and a cup of cappucinno, just allow time to pass us by, wasting away. That's the "Merry'' part of Christmas.

Here are some of the photos:

Like father, Like daughter, we cannot live without our daily dose of caffeine.

12 things I want for Xmas

In response to KYspeak's post on his 12-wants on Christmas, and since I am in a Christmas mood, here's mine:

1. A new pair of goggles. 
My old pair that cost me HK$50 is missing. As a swimming teacher, it's a very essentialbarang.

 

2. A smartphone WITH dataplan.

I currently own a very old BB without a data plan whatsoever. I just use it to phone and text. When BB was first released in US my brother bought one. He gave it to me after he betrayed BB for an android phone, but it brought me no justice either - I had to 'break'/unlock the phone at Low Yat for RM50. You can tell fr far its a very very old BB Curve.

3. For once, one full pint of Guinness with my Guinness-addict girl friends!

I don't fancy Guinness. Honest. I drank a whole pint before, but nope, never liked it. No wonder my drink only-Guinness-only friends are already dissing me :P Can't I stick to my Heneiken?!

4. A coffee brewing machine.

The presser I bought was nonsensical. Because it does nothing for me. Something is very wrong. Maybe the water is not hot enough. The presser is now on the kitchen shelf collecting dust.

5. Starbucks diary/organizer 2011

My company this year provided each staff with the most 'creative' piece of organizer-cum-diary 2011. It's rubbish. Plain rubbish. It's more like a notebook than an organizer. Where's the calendar??!?! I saw this year's Starbucks' diary and was awed with the design. See how sassy it looks!

6. Drive-thru' that Starbucks @ Setia Alam

FP reminded me that there's a drivethru Starbucks near her new home. Must go!

7. Aunty Gemuk FAM Char Kuay Teow

My no. 2 favourite Malaysian dish is CKT (after Nasi Lemak). Yes, I have weird cravings near festive season. So, another must go!

8. Victoria's Station's Christmas Dinner set

I've never given myself a chance to savour a real Christmas dinner, oh yah except for the year 2002, when I was in England. There, I experienced an authentic (I dunno how authentic it can be) English-style Xmas dinner. Since then, it's your regular roti canai in the morning and laksa on a Christmas night!

9. The whole Nutcraker Suite by Tchaikovsky.

Last year, I attended the christmas orchestra by MPYO at KLCC. It was soo enjoyable and I got myself the balcony seat. The main composition being played that night was the Nutcracker Suite and I fell in love with the whole composition. I hope to get the original CD by Christmas.

10. What I don't want for Christmas!
Year-end-WORKLOAD! It's neverending....

11. More increment!

If not, how to buy the coffee-brewing machine!? - Achieved June 21, 2011



Christmas tree at my pad.



12. ....but actually, all I want for Christmas is YOU!

...but dunno quite know WHO that is yet. All I know is that I want to share this year's Christmas with some(any)one special. I'll find one :-)



Blessed Christmas Everyone!