300

for those whom are looking forward to a blog about 300 muscular men: sorry-lah. enough people have blogged about it. and besides, i don’t have no 6-packs to brag about; 6-layers maybe, but that’s another story for another day…

a dear friend asked me a very interesting question over afternoon tea. she asked “would you pay rm300 for a shirt to make you look good?”

seriously, would anyone pay 300 bucks for a shirt?

a world cup jersey is sold for up to usd139 per piece; that’s about rm450! and the poor boys and girls that makes the jerseys in their little factories are paid about usd1.39 per day to make those jersey.

now, what’s the real value of the jersey?

don’t get me wrong. i’m not against people making huge margins and a shitload money. in fact, i salute them for being able to do that.

i’m just venting out some anger for not being able to afford all those super expensive items, that’s all.

so if anyone wants to buy me something, but doesn’t know what to get me, i’ll just ask the gentle soul to get me a rm300 shirt.

getting to know u

the chapter on 2009 has just been closed. what an interesting year it has been. it was wonderful, nonetheless, but i would say it was kinda like a getting-to-know-me year.

this year promises to be a get-to-know-you year. i can’t wait to get to know you more!

a pleasant surprise

history: i’ve never been a fan of yogurt. never really liked the taste, even though i’m a big fan of milk; never really liked the texture, even though i’m a huge fan of ice cream. weird huh? it’s like, i like corn flakes and pop corn, but i don’t like corn…

present: i tried something special in jakarta - frozen yogurt. it’s heavenly! it tastes good, it feels good, but the best thing is, it has only 3 calories per 100g! furthermore, it’s loaded with vitamins, minerals and nutrients. didn’t know “health food” can taste so good!

future: i’ll be back in kl searching for the best frozen yogurt available. hope i’ll be able to find something nice back home… wish me luck!

remembering popo

the only way to hold on to someone, is by holding on to the memories…

a week ago today, popo left us. it seems like only yesterday, but a week has gone by since she moved on.

popo’s last advice to me just 3 months back when i last saw her was the simplest that she has ever given me, yet most meaningful. i will forever remember her last words to me - be happy.

a year ago today, popo shared her smiles with all of us in one of my happiest moments…

 

bye bye popo, we’ll all miss you, and your beautiful smile.

bye grandma

i woke up at around 9:30am today, only to find out that grandma has left us. she has gone to a better place.

i miss her already. i will forever miss her warm smile, her gentle touch, and her words of wisdom and encouragement.  she must be one of the kindest soul i’ve ever met.

to quote a few phrases from 1 corinthians “love is patient, love is kind. it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. love never fails.

grandma had so much love for all of us. i’m truly amazed that she has the time and energy to love all of us, so much. though we are not the kind of family that tells each other how much we love each other; but we, for sure, are able to feel the genuine, the unconditional love that grandma showered us with.

grandma left us at the age of 84. even until this day, she was perfectly healthy for her age, fit as a fiddle. she mends the garden, does house work, and she takes a half an hour walk to the market everyday in the morning.

today was no exception. she was at the market going about with her business. to her surprise, she bumped into a bunch of her old friends from lenggong (a place where grandma and grandpa ran their coffeeshop many years ago. and frankly, they made the best kaya puff that i’ve tasted, ever).

grandma was happy, she was ecstatic. she had a good laugh with them. and that was that, her last laugh. she collapsed. the doctor pronounced her dead at 9:30am.

i’m grateful that grandma left us in the manner that she did – laughing. she led a good and happy life. i thank god for the happiest ending that i can think of for our deserving grandma.

i hope that the family will be strong for the next couple of days. tears will be shed, cries will be heard; but i hope we will forever cherish all the good times that we had with grandma, our family and loved ones.

bye grandma, we’ll see you again sometime

 

 

 

early x’mas

i wonder if  global warming has anything to do with the changing of seasons, but christmas this year seems to have come earlier than normal. some indications of an early christmas:

1. witnessed the first day of snow in beijing this year on 1 nov, more than a month earlier the previous year, and i mean a lot of snow;

2. gifts and presents were given and received. well, at least i got a surprise gift;

3.  malls are being decorated with beautiful trees and lights. pavilion kl has got a very nice setup this year.  

4. and for whatever reason, people on the streets seems more jovial than normal. i wonder if this has got anything to do with the debut of maxis on bursa the day after tomorrow?

 

taxi

my ambition… is to be a taxi driver.

when we were young ones, a common question that teachers would ask us would be - what’s our ambition. there are people who would like to be teachers, policemen, firemen, doctors, nurses, etc. i wanted to be a taxi driver.

notice all the more common ambitions are perceivably more “noble” professions? so, does this mean that i’m not so noble? judging from some of the reactions that i’m getting, even right now, i guess not!

i’ve never really given up on this ambition. if anyone were to ask me now what do i really want to do for a career, i would say that i wanna be a professional taxi driver!

but i wonder how a professional taxi driver would be like?

and i wonder how a taxi driver’s resume would look like?

 

setapak kopi

i remember a time (many, many moons ago) when i heard this “don’t go out with this guy, he’s just a kopi seller. sure got no future one…”. i can’t blame this overly protective auntie - there wasn’t any setapak kopi back then.

believe it or not, setapak kopi is one of the largest coffee franchises in the world. no joke, it’s the envy of all coffee shop owners around the world. everyone wants to own a setapak kopi shop.

to give perspective (mine only, of course) to how successful  class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”successful “>setapak kopi is, let’s do this simple case study:

customers pay an arm and a leg for a pencil-neck-fat-ass-made-of-steel coffee mug, and at the same time, advertise their coffees for them. cool eh?

lesson learnt? customer loyalty (branding) - customer power!

anyways, going back to the mug…

so, does the steel serve a function? yes, so you won’t be able to break it for being hyper from an overdose of caffeine. does the design serve a function? yes again, so that you can also “cook” the coffee over a stove (in case you don’t have electricity, or if the coffee maker breaks down). does the word “starbucks” printed on the mug-like thingy serves a function? of course it does. that’s where the 1000% premium on the selling price of the mug comes from!

and, how do you properly wash this mug, when you have a big fat hand like mine? i  duuno!

Starbucks mug

note 1: setapak kopi is pronounced “star-bucks cof-fee” in some places. it really depends on what slang that you’re more comfortable with… 

note 2: thank you setapak kopi for the free wi-fi, and the over-price coffees… (hmm… wonder if they’re looking for any coffee brand ambassadors?)

bling

we are connoisseurs in our own rights, in the things that we like, of course. for example:

1. ask any ferrari fan about f1 cars. observe how they describe the cars and its functions - look out for the sparkle in their eyes, the pumping of the fist and the proud smile on their faces. this connoisseur of fast cars is probably a person who’s driving a pretty nice car, and is most probably thinking of buying another nice(r) car.

2. ask a fan of branded handbags (or any lady, for that matter), and she’ll be able to tell you everything about a bag, from its variouis sizes, difference in materials, functions (i always thought the primary function of a handbag was to store money, how very wrong i was… dead wrong…), etc.

a connoisseur of branded bags is probably a person who owns a few branded handbags (??), and is probably thinking of buying more handbags (???!!!) to fill a purpose-built-handbag-storage/display-cabinet in her walk-in wardrobe.

3. ask a fan of cigarettes (please note that i’m not promoting smoking - just take a good look at the nice pictures on the cigarette boxes) and don’t be surprised at how a simple stick of nicotine can be described to be! tempting…

a nice young lady asked me this interesting question over a beer just a while ago: “you mean you’ve never smoked a cigarette? not even one puff?” well, yeah. never… so? but it’s tempting, though.

i could see the connoisseur in her, describing the choice of cigarette that she smokes (capri – not available in kl), the “stock” that she has (anything more than 2 cartons in storage is described as stock), and the lighter that she uses (bling-bling zippo!) - (note: this is again, not a paid ad). 

lighters are an integral part of the whole smoking experience. the cigarette says to the lighter “you, complete me”. this is something only true cigarette connoisseurs would appreciate…

check out the bling-bling:

Bling-bling Zippo

cool night

“lets go have fish” is one of my favourite one-liner. what it means is, we’re going to genting highlands!

genting has always been my favourite hang out (or in this case , “hang up”) place. it’s 6,000m up in the sky with cool crisp air – a perfect getaway from the hot and stressful life down on mother earth… and it’s a place of many fond memories and happy moments.

the night was exceptionally cold and clear tonight after a downpour. looking down from the mountain, the city was beautifully lit up with street lamps and building lights; and looking up at the skies, the pitch black background was filled with countless blinking stars.

given that it was the first day of hari raya, there was a fireworks display to celebrate the event. i was surprised (unexpected in my case) and excited to have witnessed a 5 minute display of a 2,000 year old technology dancing away in the sky along with the “boom-boom-boom”. as a kid, i’ve always admired beautiful fireworks, and of course, how-it-works.

but…

what started out as a night to have nice steamed “soon hock” fish ended up at a mamak stall having nasi lemak and teh tarik. no prizes for guessing what happened…