Read the fine print!!! who does!??

Do we really read the fine print in any document??? Do we take the time to read the rules and regulations on any printed matter, or even the the simple coupons that have a little aster ix like this * which follows with "terms and conditions apply" ???? They don't even have to be in very fine print, some of us just don't read any such boring stuff , UNLESS it involves some big amount of money , esp OUR own money !!!
I know i don't read those but sometimes it works out for us! Last week was Jaya Jusco's Privilege shopping day for members. They sent out a coupon to every member and we were suppose to pick ONE day to use that coupon! Of course i didn't read the print even tho it wasn't small! I wasn't even interested in that privileged shopping since it was only a 15% discount store wide. But we went shopping as stated in my last post in this blog. ( GO read!!) And i managed to get the same coupon from the service counter at JJ by just showing them my JJ card. So i had picked that one day to use it!

2 days later i went to JJ again, and i showed my member's card AGAIN , and i got the coupon AGAIN, shopped AGAIN, got the 15% discount AGAIN. The same thing happened on Sunday , so i had in actual fact used the coupons on 3 occasions , when they had said PICK ONE DAY! My sis was aghast !!! yes her eyes went like this @@ and her mouth like this O well put them together she looked quite shocked!!! Hahahaha! I told her it was no big deal , JJ knows everyone does that , i mean the plot is to let everyone shop like crazy. After all they will get the profits but then i found out that ALL her friends had been thinking like her. They had been saving their ONE coupon for that ONE special day , and then that was it! No more 15% discounts , no more coupons! So i told her that there are counters giving out those coupons everyday and all they need is your member's card. They don't care if u took one yesterday and used it . My sis said i didn't read the fine print!!!! OMG, i must have committed a crime then!!!! @@ i am aghast too!

Call the JJ police and have me arrested!!! Hahahahahaah!!! And while i am at it , my sis and her friends should get an award for being so honest! I think JJ should give them some recognition for their loyalty!

E-mbarrassed :O

A patriotic day of eating and shopping!

Thursday, 26th April was the day of the installation of our 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Like F said , we are a patriotic lot so S and F took a day off from work and we headed off to 1U to celebrate , wink wink! And boy , did we have a good time! We left at about 12.30pm and made it there by 1-ish. Our first stop was at Jaya Jusco where F bought a card. Then i started to get hungry so S recommended this place called Pandan Leaf. We went overboard and ordered more than we could handle! But the bubur cha-cha was really good , the assam laksa was just ok , the rest was good :)
We went and enquired about the karaoke rate at this new place called New way ( i can't really remember how its spelled!). The guy at the reception gave us a long briefing about the charges but we looked stunned cuz he spoke in some really deep Cantonese ~ we just gaped at him!!! S understood some of what he said and she translated that to us in simple layman terms! Even though the rates were good, we decided that shopping was a better option.
So we went back to shopping and F was on a shopping spree. S and I were just browsing along window shopping and helping F with her choices of goods. F got quite a lot of personal stuff as well like working shoes and a shirt, reading material and we ended up buying some cheese tartlets that were really goooooood! I went back to 1U on Sunday, looking for that same outlet but i couldn't find it. I even asked the info counter and they said its not even listed!!!! Weird!!!! :(
Our day out ended with a buffet dinner at Shogun. i am sure u know its Japanese :) the spread was really extensive and i have to admit that age is catching up on me :( i could not eat as much as i used to. All i could shove down my throat were 3 scallops, 3 escargots, one huge oyster, 6 sushi, 2 sashimi, an unagi roll, some grilled unagi, 2 tempura mushrooms, a few mouthfuls of teppanyaki, a piece of crab , .... and lots and lots of juices! I think that was why i couldn't really eat ~ i was too bloated from all that drinking!!! But it was a nice dinner and i would do it all again :)
Come this Tues and Wed, we will have more activities to fill our days ...HOLIDAYs!!!!!
E-ating :)

What goes around, comes around..

Ever wonder how news travel fast? Start a rumour and it spreads like wildfire. Best part is when it comes back to you, it's probably juicier than the original ! Take for example years ago, my colleague walked in telling us that Jackie Chan was in Port Klang - Maybank ,to be exact, doing a shoot for a film. The thing is, Jackie was really in Malaysia at that time so that piece of info seemed quite reliable. He heard it from people in the coffee shop where he was lepaking that morning. Seems that Jackie was with another kwailoh actor, can't remember who, and they were doing a scene about a bank heist.

When I got home, I asked my sis if she saw the filming in Maybank that morning. Our shop is after all, just across the street. She asked "what filming?" and I said "Jackie Chan was here with so and so making a movie, right?" She started laughing and asked me where I heard that from and I explained. She said that she must have started a rumour unintentionally. Jackie was NOT in Port Klang. She explained that for some reason, the bank was packed with people that morning. A customer walked into our shop and asked my sis "Apa hal Maybank ramai orang ah?" My sis made a joke and said " lu tak tahu ka, Jackie Chan ada sana ma.. buat movie".

That Malay guy must have told somebody and that somebody told another somebody and suddenly everybody was talking about it! Anyway, my sis said she only mentioned Jackie Chan, not the kwailoh, which meant that along the way, somebody added details.

Incidents like these can start innocently so beware what you say! We had a neighbour, an Indian Muslim who runs a coffee shop. He looks very much like our ex PM so we called him Mahathir among ourselves. A couple of years ago his wife passed away. Just before that, the ambulance came and took her to the hospital. The neighbours, being busybodies were hanging around outside the shop and ambulance until it drove off. Later, news reached us that she was declared DOA.

At about the same time, my sis got a call from Shinny, a close friend who used to spend a lot of time at our shop. My sis told her " eh, Mahathir's wife passed away-la " and before she could elaborate further, a customer walked into the shop and my sis said she would have to call her back. Imagine the damage already done by the time my sis called her! Shinny had to call everyone that she had relayed the 'news' to, to explain. I'm sure her friends had to call their friends too.

I'm sure you have all encountered such situations too. Care to tell us about it? F

family

helo... its me again.

Phew another new day........ Cant deny that age is catching up on us everyday and every year. I was at the dentist yesterday for an extraction. Wow.. thank god the dentist was very gentle and good at his work. I had my wisdom tooth taken out as the last filling came off and according to the dentist there aint any retaining wall to hold the filling, if need to be done. Anyway, the dentist advise was, to have the tooth taken out as it will be an endless trip to the dentist should i decide on the filling rather than extraction. More money spend unwisely... hehehe. So finally, i had one tooth extracted and the other luckily still can be retain with just the normal filling. Each tooth cost me RM40 each. Otherwise, I will be toothless hahahaha and cant chew on my food.
Next thing, i need to have dentures :-(

Mum is recovering quite well and she is able to use her right hand for light work. She is yet to have complete grip of her fingers. Slowly but surely. The doctor at the specialist centre in Shah Alam also commented that her shoulder joint are on the road to recovery but need time to heal completely. As usual being a workaholic, mum is NOT able to just sit quietly and do nothing. She gets very restless doing nothing. Now she has just started light cooking. She cooked "lala", (the smaller version of the lala family) last evening and wow.. we finish the whole plate of 1 kg !!! She also cooked herbal soup for dinner. The last couple of months, our dinner was cooked by mums friend that stayed behind mums place. Every evening, she will bring over our dinner and mum need only to cook the rice. My kids will help with the washing of rice and mum will oversee how much water to be use for cooking. Dad is also chipping in on the house work like sweeping and mopping the floor every day, twice a day, once in the morning and another time in the evening. Dad is a very simple man with not much need. He only need his sleep, TV and food...heheheh :-P Yeap, give him just this three and he is the most contented man in the world. He doesnt even smoke. Well he used to but he has stop. He is an occassional drinker so i also occassional buys him beer or some wine. He will only drink at night before his bed time. Like any old folks, he will rattle on about his hey days and mumbles his dislike if he seen some incident on TV or read on the newspaper or over the radio. Dad is a harmless man, man of less or little words. He is like a little mouse in the praire, contented with life.

It's hard to please everyone but isnt that part of our daily life ? There are times when you feel like screaming but have to refrain ourselves due to respect to the other person. It's hard to bottled up and not saying our mind. If we do, the other person might not like it or felt hurt by the remarks or just saying whats on our mind. Can we use a third party to relay the message or would it be better to just say to the person in the face ...???

S... signing off

things back to normal

Morning, morning.......

F char me last week for not contributing enough in our blog.... :-( Aiyah, not that i dont want but busy with work. Now with new business coming in, shipment of aggregate from Port Klang to Singapore, work is crazy. Practically, there is one shipment every day. Can you imagine from 26 March till yesterday, 23 April, there are 28 shipments done ??!! The reason for this insane traffic is because Indonesia have banned the exportation of sand and aggregate (like small stones) meant for construction sector due to some political reasons and now the Singaporeans have diverted to Malaysia for their supply. Being Singapore, without these the construction sector will not be able to do with this. The bosses, both mine and the exporter are laughing all the way to the bank. Imagine the price of RM30.00 / ton x 80,000 ton (exporter) and my boss (RM8.00 x 80,000 ton - handling fee). Now you understand....laughing all the way to the bank........ Only we the workers work like @#$%^*&^. Well, that's life.

Anyway, i am looking forward to having my temporary freedom for the next 10 - 12 days as my other half is back from his overseas stint. So, atleast, i have some breather and also chance to release tension and streeessssss.... E, your clubbing is for ladies night or any other days ?? I have also not been doing that for a long,long time. We need to go out occassionally to get the "feel" and some "happenings". Otherwise, we aged faster..hahahaha....

Well, have to sign off liao... as its time to work.

From : S

Law of Inertia

I am not that good when it comes to Physics but i know that the law of inertia works for me! And this week it really did prove that :) But first, for all of u who are not that good with Newton's law of motion , let me enlighten u before i move on.
Newton's first law of motion is often stated as : -
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This is also called the Law of Inertia.
When i was in Form 4 back in Convent Ipoh, i had a Physics teacher we called UFO! (ugly fat object! we were only 16 then and very cruel with our words , tsk tsk! ) She was not the best of teachers , she made Physics so boring , i never did score well in any tests!!!! But there was one thing i remembered the most about one of her lessons and it was the law of inertia and how she portrayed it. It stuck with me thru all these years and i guess now that i think back upon it , she was ok lah!!!
One of her examples for the law of inertia was the TV! Back then in 1978 we didn't have the remote control yet, or at least not in my home. So Mrs Ng ( that's the UFO) said that when u are watching a movie or a show and it ends , and the next program comes on the TV, it may not be the most interesting of shows, u may not have any urge to watch it but u have got into the most comfortable position on the sofa so u just sit there and go along with the "motion" or staring at the box.... that's the law of inertia.... until your mum comes along and tells u that its time for a meal or homework . That's the unbalanced force ,.... the parent!!! hahahahah! Somehow that stuck with me till now!
The law of Inertia struck again drastically last Friday night. I had been contented with nights of line dancing, chiapkoot, snacking at mamak stalls, and sometimes sitting home watching TV or on the net. But last Friday i got invited to a club on a hill ( SA lah) and its been so long since i dressed up and went for a night out with the ladies.... live band, good music, hard liquor , and laughter! I had fun and now my feet and lips are itching for more of that. Its been ages since i had my fave vodka lime, and feasted my eyes and ears on a live band with good dancers. The guest artiste was a local Shakira who really danced to wow! She is a good entertainer and being the professional she is , she came over to talk to us and even offered free private belly dance lessons. That was all just talk , and good PR. She gave me her number but it was all NATO ( no action , talk only!) I sent her an SMS and a phone call 3 days later to confirm that it was all lip service. And its confirmed. Still i had fun on Friday night and the law of inertia has me yearning for more Friday nights out !!!! I may need an outside unbalanced force to stop this urge!!! HELPPPP..., my chiap koot FEMS, come to my rescue!!!! Thur ` a public holiday for the govt sector( u patriotic people taking leave , right???) , let's paint the town red!!
Cheers,
E-nertia
PS: In case u wonder .... i did well in Physics for my SPM/MCE . Thanks to my tutor mr Vincent Lee ( Mr Potato head) heheheheheh, 16 and cruel , remember??? ;)

Another working Saturday

It has been a relatively quiet week. Not many entries in our blog. Our most travelled member, M, is on another of her globe trotting quest to China. Seems like she's gonna conquer the whole world. Hmm.. for her next birthday I suggest we buy her a big globe, the kind that can turn on its axis. We can also supply her with pins so she can stick those pins into places she has ever visited! Maybe they can be coloured pins, each colour representing the number of times she had been there ?? Wa wa... good idea!

The rest must be busy. The past week, we, in the private sectors have been busy snooping around to see which companies are given off on April 26th. It's our new King's Coronation Day. It has been declared a public holiday for civil servants & schools. Banks have also declared it a holiday but the people-in-charge of our country merely said that "private sectors are encouraged to follow suit". But all the kiasus towkays in the private sectors are not being very patriotic. Only a few companies are given off. Celaka, they don't love their King & country but I do ! As a last resort to prove our patriotism, S & I have decided to take leave. We will ajak E & M to celebrate the event with a feast and if cukup kaki, a session before that.

S has also given us a bit of good news. The captain, who used to bring in seafood for us may be plying his old route again. He was taken off this route for about a year now and during that time prawns were hard to come by. We were all reluctant to spend RM30.00 or more per kg on prawns when we were used to paying only RM6.00 whenever captain brought them in! So this is really great news !! Thank you, S. Hopefully captain will call Port Klang just before E's girls come home for their holidays so we can have another seafood BBQ !!

Well, another week has flown by...... Next week will be payday again . Yeh yeh ! guess that's what all wage-earners look forward to. You all have a lovely weekend and see you all next week. Together we shall sing "Negara ku" before we start out for our makan, okay?

An Impromptu F(S)unday

Sunday morning I woke up with my palms itching and as the saying goes, an itchy palm represents money coming in. haahaha... and came in it did. Not that I mean to gloat but I was the sole winner in our session yesterday. Of course, having Storm as my lucky mascot was an added bonus. He was sticky to me because I was the only one kind enough to feed him crumbs off my cake! Each time he appeared at my feet, so did the jokers in my cards.

Once I was sufficiently awake, I started counting, 'on, off, on off ' ... trying to figure out if E's husband was working because we wouldn't want to intrude if the doctor was in. hmmm... I decided it was easier to ask E so I sms-ed her to see if she could make it for lunch and thereafter, a short session. I mentioned that if she was available I would call S & M. I waited and waited but she did not reply so I thought I might as well go feed the stray and from there proceed to my villa to collect clothes left there for drying. (I did 4 rounds of laundry there on sat.)

I detoured to S's house before going to my villa to check on her agenda for the day after her chores. S was free for both lunch and session so we called E & M and you know the rest. We had ducky rice for lunch and cakes for dessert ... FYI, Frutti's having a promotion, buy 4 (cakes) free 1. We bought Apple Strudels and S brought yam cakes etc... So really, yesterday wasn't just a gambling session, we were on an eating binge as well.

Well, it really was a fun day and I'm not saying that because I won, okay! Thank God for my itchy palms which brought about the urge to gamble! Anyway, S's husband will be home for a couple of weeks and there are some public holidays coming up so I forsee more sessions coming up soon.

Leashing kids!

If u had been reading the papers lately, the story of Yin would not have missed your eyes. He wandered off in a mall while the dad was shopping. The media went full swing ( to my utmost surprise ~ cuz usually they aren't that efficient or helpful!!) and after 2 weeks Yin was handed back to the parents by a Myanmar couple. I am sure they did not intend to return the boy until they saw the reward money. Why on earth would they shave the boy's head and keep him for 2 weeks?? And the reason they gave was that he had chicken pox but the medical report came out today that it wasn't true at all ~ no sign of any pox!!!
Anyway, the suggestion of leashing kids came out in the papers today. So here is my personal experience! I have 3 kids ( well all grown now!) No.1 was an alert kid who could wander off but she always kept an eye to make sure we were still within her safety zone. No.3 was the panicky nervous kid who always stuck to mum like glue. U can never let go of her hand or she will panic Hahahaha! So when it came to shopping it was not easy rummaging thru sales item with one hand! My solution was to have her hold on to my jeans pocket , that way i have 2 hands free and she was always happy to hold on to any part of Mummy! Now No.2 is the culprit. She is known to wander off without a care in the world. She gets so easily distracted by comic books and toys, pets and music , that she just goes along her own sweet way , oblivious that we have moved on in the opposite direction! Every single trip to the mall , or the zoo, or any exhibition, she will find herself lost within the first 30 min!! Sometimes she screams for MUMMEEEEEEEEE! Sometimes she panics and runs around in circles. She had been rescued by security guards at malls, sales girls on duty , and even kind shoppers.
So lets go back to leashing , i did try that but she hated it even though i gave her the freedom of a long leash. She would tug at it and grumble , just like a puppy that hates the contraption! And at that time when leashing was not a very Asian thing it was pretty embarrassing cuz passers-by would look at me and think i was the most cruel mum on earth to treat my kid like a dog! But u don't know my Jo!!!! I am just glad i have not lost her at all thru those growing up years, PHEW!!
So , parents , leash your kids if u have to. Stop shopping if u have to. But keep them within sight when u are out with them! better still , lock them in the house Hahahahaah! Just kidding lah!
E-mum

Sunday with the FEMS :)

Sunday was a real day with the FEMS all getting together and enjoying 5 solid hours of yaks and laughter. With every one's busy schedule, its kind of hard to round everyone up for a mini session. But yesterday was an impromptu one that really worked.
I woke up at 9.30am on Sunday morning and made my way downstairs to read the Sunday papers and had a simple breakfast of "bak kua" bun :) The Amazing race was on TV and i watched that. It was an episode filmed in KL so i was doubly excited. In the middle of that show my maid came running towards me with some beep beep tones ~ Apparently the F of the FEMS had sent me an SMS and when i didn't read nor reply to that , she called to ask if i was free for the day! So we made plans and surprisingly even M was free for the day :)
So at 12noon M and F showed up at my house and we went for yummy duck rice at that Bayu place called I-po ( do i get any credit for advertising for them??) S joined us with her twin a short while later. The place was packed and we had to wait to be seated ~ no it was not some high class place where u wait in line to be seated :) u just stand behind the eating customers who look like they are about to finish eating . U breathe down their necks to make them eat faster , but there are some people who could not give a S*** at the amount of carbon dioxide u fume over them Hahahahaha. So they don't stand up or ask for the bill, they just go on yakking and sipping their tea :P grumble grumble grumble. So we moved on to the next table and it was a family of 6 who didn't seem to eager to leave either even tho one of the kids was already a bit restless and sleepy. Sigh, some people are just weird!!!
We finally got a table and sat down to eat , yummy yummy duck ( oops and i wasn't suppose to let Diane know!!! ) Diane dear, we really wanted to pack one duck rice for u but they were all out of roast duck by the time we wanted to order :( sorry, baby!!!
After lunch , S drove the twins to church and FEM came back to my house. oh , lets not forget that greedy us made a stop at the cake shop Fruity to buy some cakes ( buy 4 free 1) droolicious cakes!!! By the time we made it back to the house S was already there, The session started with lots of food ~ the icing cake i bought from Ipoh , the yam cake S brought, the lychee in a can , the marble cheese cake, the choc cake, the blue berry cake ... wah , M got so bloated she said she couldn't concentrate!!! I was getting a bit drowsy too. So F was the sole winner ,.... WAHHHHHHHH! Lapan puluh RM ~ congrats F!!!
All in , it was nice to get all the FEMS together again.... When is the next???? ;)
E

missing those times

Hi ya allll.... Actually to be exact, F & E. M has not even log into our blog, the old blog and now this latest one. Anyway, I was suppose to go back home just now but went i reach downstairs, the rain was rather heavy, so i ended up working back to my work place and switch on my PC. I thot maybe F or E would be on line to chat but both have already sign off. Then i remembered about our blog, so I quickly click on my fav topics which read femstuff and while waiting for the download to complete, i was reading thru the comments on the left side. Well, the important thing is our hearts must be young !! No matter how old we are today or tomorrow or 5 years donw the road or even 10 (gosh.. did i mention 10... ???) wonder if we will still be around boh ?

Then I started reading F blog about missing our weekly session to destress... well i too do miss those times. As mentioned by F, it is not how much we make or lose but its the fellowship and the time well spent as friends, the silly jokes we shared or make, or events that happened during the week be it happy, silly or down right "stupid". It's the laughing silly session at each other till our tears flow down from our eyes or the @#$%^ about someone or somebody that makes one of us mad or step on our toes / tails (tigeress do have beautiful long tails, right ??) or the food that we had or heard someone mentioning somewhere on how good the food taste and all four of us will go ga.. ga... Yeap, we all go ga ga over food... wonderous food.... delicious food......Not matter how far or near, we are quite an adventurous lot to make a point to go there and tried out ourselves. Boy, I can still remember my mums expression on one of our Ipoh outings... it was like less than 20 mins we had breakfast and we are eating again...... Mum must be wondering, either we all are crazy or do we really have pitless stomach... :-P (Well, Mum sorry to dissappoint u but honestly, we dont have pitless stomach but we enjoy food...) call us guillable or down right silly or whatever, we just cant resist food, no matter how full we are.

We should allocate a day in the week to meet up for our session. My ohmmm class is on friday, e is only free on mon n wed (correct boh, E). As for M is forever busy, either travelling or dinners or seminar (M is the mostest busy among us) As for F, well forever free, so no problem. Me, well, i am a little "tied up" at the moment cos i have to babysit my kids, my parents, my work and also myself (hahaahha..). Perhaps on the weekend, saturday (twice a month or once). During the day time. We could work out something... and i would really look forward to that..............

Well, the rain has just stop and have to go back to fetch kids to their tuition class... Cheerioooooo.. fem.... till we see each other (real sooooooon)......

S signing off

A time for us ...

It's been ages since our last session. Sigh... We used to have a de-stressing session every Fri. but since S started her ohhmm classes which, unfortunately, was fixed for Fridays, our sessions are no longer a weekly affair. Now we learn to survive week after week without a session in sight. Doubly sigh....

By now you may have figured out that when we say 'session', we mean a gambling session - chiapkoot, to be exact. Before you start jumping to conclusions, let me clarify that it's not the thrill of making extra income that leads us to enjoy these sessions. Basically I feel that we are all evenly matched in our skill of the game so you may be the biggest winner for one session but could end up an even bigger loser in the next.

I think I speak for the 4 of us when I say that we really enjoy these times of fellowship; a gathering of 4 like-minded friends who laugh at the same jokes, like the same kind of people (which goes without saying, dislike the same kind of people) speak the same lingo etc.. They give us a chance to catch up on gossips, an opportunity to share with each other the going-ons in our lives; our ups and downs and more. Each of us are so different and yet we managed to clique and these sessions have helped brought us closer and enhanced an already beautiful friendship. Our past sessions saw us offering clucks of sympathy when things didn't go well for one, cheered and offered encouragement when the need aroused, held discussions & debates on topics like movies and food etc..

To borrow a term and I hope I am using it in the right context! FUYOH! I can honestly say how much more empty my life is without these sessions.... Could we set aside a day please...

F

Orbs.....good or bad???

This should be quite different .... i was back in my hometown this last weekend and met up with a cousin who is a Buddhist. i think she is quite a devoted Buddhist and knows quite a bit about the religion. She showed us some discs on the pilgrimage to India ~ we saw some spots where Buddha was laid to rest . It was quite educational and reminded me of my History lessons back in Convent. We did learn that back then.... not the boring Sejarah Melayu that the current youth have to suffer thru!!!
Anyway , she said she really had something very interesting to show us. And it was not a new thing to me though she explained about them in a different way. She showed us images of little orbs, except she called them something else. I have heard of orbs , but i always thought of them as eerie stuff like souls, spirits and ghosts! Woooooooooooooooo :P
i started "googling" about them 3 years ago cuz when my No2 came home from NS with eerie stories , we got even more scared when we took pics on Christmas eve and saw she had orbs around her !!! ( Actually only 2 lah!!) When i googled for them , some said they were just digital disturbances , meaning just some dust particles on the lens or just some light reflections. The weird thing about the pics was the orbs were just around her !!! Don't worry , JO! Today i was looking for that same pics again and guess what .... i saw some of my own pics and i have orbs too, around me!!! i even saw a pic of Sue with a big orb on her! So we are orb-ful people hahahahah!
But now that i heard my cousin's explanations, i am not that spooked out! The Buddhists (as i have read online last night) seem to think they are good signs of angelic status, like some guardian angels. They found a lot of those orbs around the burial grounds of Buddha!! But the Whites seem to think of the orbs as spirits floating around cuz they are found appearing in abundance at graveyards. So its really quite ambiguous... some say its good , some say its ghosts!!! Scientifically i think it could be just specks of dust or moisture in the air that causes these orbs. Hmm i wonder what the Christians say about them.
in case u wonder what they are ... look at the pic below.


E of Fems!!

Qing Ming

Yesterday was family day… the whole clan minus our dad, gathered together to clean up the graves of our grandparents, elder brother & our mum. Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Day is an event that no one in our immediate family, including the married sisters, is exempt from.

Early in the morning, everyone gathered at our shop, where the family altar is placed. Prayers had to be offered to our ancestors at home before proceeding to the grave sites. This also served to notify the departed souls that we are on our way to visit them.

Our grandparents were buried at the cemetery on the way to Banting. They passed away long ago, even before my parents were married so their graves are just mounds of earth with a headstone each. Previously, during Qing Ming, you could find Indian boys with spades and bags of soil all over the place and you could get them to clean up the surroundings as well as pile up the mounds with more soil/earth. The cemetery has since been privatized, so you don’t find them around anymore, hence, grandma and grandpa’s graves are almost flat! Next year we will bring soil to raise the mounds.

Years ago, when my mum was alive, a medium told her that our brother who had died at childbirth (I think) requested that we put up a plaque in memory of him. A corner was reserved for him on the family altar and a stone tablet, placed beside my grandparents’ tombs, represented his final resting place.

After all the necessary rituals were done here, we headed towards Fairy Park where mum is buried. Fairy Park is very well kept so you can just start laying out the offerings as soon as you arrive. While the rest was busy with their prayers, I was reading the inscription on my mother’s tomb and it suddenly struck me. Mum passed away on 27-01-1996. My car no is 2796!! If that isn’t a hint from her to buy 4-ekor, I don’t know what is. It goes without saying that I bought that number along with the number given to us while my siblings were praying to her. We Chinese, ever so money-faced, never fail to get our ancestors to provide us with 4 digits.

Unfortunately, as the evening drew to a close, nobody called to inform us that we had struck it big. Sigh…. But there is a saying that we need to buy a number 3 times before it strikes… so there is hope yet! Will keep you updated if we do strike !
F

Saturday at work ...

For no apparent reason I woke up with a headache... fact is I'm still having one. I'm not one for taking breakfast, so guess I can't take a panadol,right? Not on an empty stomach. People say it causes gastric. Worse is I have to work today. Mercifully, Saturdays are quite relaxed so I'm sitting at my cubicle,one hand on my head, the other, typing. To sidetrack, you know I can type pretty well with one hand, 3 fingers to be exact? The left hand, 1 finger, is used for the caps lock key only!!

Really I got no topic today so thought I'd just ding-dong ding dong to fill up the page. I'm also chatting with S on MSN, yakking nonsense. My lady boss just walked in. Yikes!!Is that a wig or a new hairdo?? She looks like Cleopatra, omigosh!! Personally me thinks she looks better with her old hairdo... the one that makes her look like Farrah Fawcette in Charlie's Angels but don't tell her... she's one vain ai-swee monkey!! (Really she's a monkey like I'm a tiger in the Chinese Horoscope.Why you think I called her monkey-lah.Apala lu!)

Looking at me, my colleagues would think I am solving some work-related problems. Yes,I look kinda engrossed and I am sure they see an imaginary "Do not disturb!" (or you'll kena kow-kow) sign over my head. Hopefully no one will bother me and I can go home at 1.00pm sharp. Incidentally, the clock in my office is faster by about 10 mins. We have a company policy ie. when coming to work & back from lunches, we follow the time on our own watches, so technically,we are never late. For lunch breaks & when we get off work, we follow the office clock. Smart leh? Don't look at me, I didn't start this policy!!

Waawee.. ding-dong ding it's 12.45pm (Office time) liow. Guess I shall just sign off here and get ready to go home. Need to heat up the food for the stray dog... His name is Ah Toun, by the way. Happy weekend & a Blessed Easter.
F

Crossroads ....

At various points in our lives, we arrive at certain crossroads where decisions have to be made. When we were younger, we made choices pertaining to our studies, the courses we should pursue etc. (unless our parents had already decided for us.) As we got older,we had decisions to make on our career, the type of car to buy, whether we can afford certain houses/properties, whether our current partners are truly the right ones for us, when to tie the knot, or not to, and the list goes on.

Certain choices are easy to make. With a snap of the finger we are able to decide on what to do but more often than not, along with decision making, comes many sleepless nights as we spend hours biting our nails in nervous indecision & anticipation. Age alone doesn’t guarantee wisdom in making the right choices – there’s no truth in the saying that the older we get the less mistakes we make.

Very often, we are tempted to think that had we taken a different route, or made a different choice, things would have been better; we would have been happier, more successful etc. No one can actually predict the outcome of how our lives would end up had we chosen differently. We only imagine what we want to see. All the 'what-ifs' fairy-tale endings only exist in our minds. It would therefore be wise for us to convince ourselves never to regret. The choices we made has brought us to where we are today. Do yourself a favour, search your heart & ask yourself honestly, "Is your life really that bad?"

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding;. In all your ways acknowledge him,. And he will make your paths straight. Prov 3:5-6
F

helllooo... helllooooo. :D

It's me again, S. Trying to contribute to our blog. M is missing again. Yeap, i also send her the email from E that contains the blog address, but M seems lost or no time to blog or maybe she dont have much to say or talk about like the three of us.. hahahahahaha..

Nevertheless, each of us will try to contribute atleast one aday lah. Thanks Energetic n Forever free. Kudos, to both of you.

F is talking about going to Bali last couple of months and viola..... she's back oledi.. How time flies.... So where is your next destination ?? Phuket or Koh Samui ??

Eh, i was in KLM's website the other day and noticed that at times they do have special packages that includes airtix and accomodation to Jakarta and also Bandung. Not too bad for RM1100 - 3 N 4 D includes local tour.

Anyway, I was honestly looking forward to our night out which was supposely tonight but unfortunately, this has to wait until after 21 April.... Arrrghhhhhhh...... Sorry frens....

Thank you all for being my frens.

Signing off.... S :-)

ARE WE HAPPY?????

HAPPINESS~ a state of mind.... being content and .... well, just satisfied and full of smiles :) What brings me to this topic today? i saw an article this morning and it lists 10 sure ways to be happy. i looked thru all 10 and i can safely say ... I guess i am happy! :)
Let's go thru all the 10 and see if u are happy too!
1. Lighten up about $$$ ~ i don't have all that much money but i don't worry too much about it. extra cash would be great but i don't sit and think that much over it! i hear of everyday people who have millions ( honest!!) but i know i won't achieve that. So let's move on la! :)
2. Talk yourself happy ~ in other words, discard all negative thoughts ..... think & talk happy :) we are what we think! so yeah , no point mulling over the GRRRRR stuff
3. Act happy ~ almost the same as no.3 , except u just don't think happy thoughts, u have to act happy too. i guess that might mean u have to walk around with a perpetual smile on your face and look pretty loony! i can do that :) starting NOW! :)
4. Don't get nostalgic ~ i do get into that sometimes and realise that it does no good for the ego. if u think of past happier times , it makes u want them back. if u think of the bad ones, it makes u
:( It says in the survey that if u make comparisons with people who are worse off than u , then u will feel better about yourself. In other words, count your blessings :)
5.Regular exercise ~ that's the ONE for me! I have been called the fitness freak but honestly it really does wonders for me! i can vouch for it ~ when i feel :( or moody , a good workout cures that :) I love exercise and look forward to that everyday! Call me weird!
6. Get organised ~ we are suppose to prioritise but not get into a control freak regime that follows schedules right to the T! i don't know where i stand in this one...i am not a very ogranised person, in fact i am the biggest procrastinator ever!! but , hey 9 out of 10 isn't bad! I have not reached the end yet tho! ;)
7. Do things you really enjoy ~ oh yeah, i have more than enough time to do all that !!! I enjoy my PC time, i love my workouts, i look forward to my dance classes.... i go crazy over food .... enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :D
8. Stay close to your friends ~ oh yes yes yes , how much closer can we get ... MSN is just a click away..even tho they are miles away in another end of the planet! And my friends include my family too ... my kiddies ( who are no longer kiddies actually!) my mum ( the PC savviest grandma around!) and brother ( the PC expert) Everyone is just a click away!
9. Make the most of your job~ My mini part time one is sheer pleasure for me too! It is not about the money ~ it only gives me peanuts but i love it! hey i am not sounding too perky in here am i???? Sorry la!
10. Believe in something ~ and they don't just mean religion. Hopefully we all believe in God. i know i do !!! I turn to Him every night and pray :) and sometimes fall asleep in the middle of a longer prayer ( Come on, admit it , we all do that!) But besides religion , i think u have to believe in yourself and that u are worth a lot more than anyone else thinks!!!
So there! i can deduce from this little article i read that I AM HAPPY :)
What about u??? Hey even 8 out of 10 isn't bad!
Be Happy !!!
E-happy ..... heheheheheh!

Home again

Hello .. I back from Bali liow... The hotel was clean, comfortable and the food, good too. I would definitely recommend Febri's to those intending to go Bali! Well, we didn't get a chance to go to the beach at all. This group was there to shop and for once I hold the record for doing the least shopping! They bought classy stuffs like clothing from Ralph Lauren etc ...while I bought DVDs!! They cost about RM4.00 each and you get to test them before buying hee.. hee..

Overall it was a good trip 'cept I constipated, so I makan sikit saja... First day we had late lunch at Jimbaran - Antah Restaurant. The BBQ seafood here tasted much better than the one we went to the last time I was in Bali. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant but that place was expensive and food wasn't good. Sorry, can't remember the name of that shop. Ah... eat your heart out, we went for babi guling! Quite tasty especially the skin, yummy yummy .. Just don't take too much, jelak nanti. Our guide took us to a couple of other places for makan. Other meals were taken at Dulang, just a few door away from Matahari or at our hotel's cafe.

Basically this trip was all about eating and shopping. We manage to avoid visits to temples, didn't participate in any water sports, not even a walk on the beach. But not many people got to do what we did while in Bali. We visited a Balinese home a little distance away from the classy Nusa Dua area. Komang, our guide took us there. It was his friend's home and, for sale @ RM120,000. I suppose we looked like prospective buyers, not me of course, ahem... For about RM 300,000, you can get a nice single storey balinese looking villa in Seminyak area, with land somemore. Seminyak has a lots of spas around and we were thinking that we could run a spa with dog grooming facilities...Now we are trying very hard to persuade our friend to buy a piece of property there so all of us can visit Bali on a yearly basis.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end so our holiday ended and it's back to work... This ending is a bit abrupt but I really need to get back to work.. aiyo aiyo .. manyak kerja oh !

F