Finding Purpose

Yes, it's been awhile.  It's not that I've neglected this blog or anything.  I guess Twitter and Instagram powers my updates these days.  Haha.  Anyways, this little blog still has a special place in my heart.

These days I find myself in some sort of soul searching mode.  Finding purpose to the rest of my life.  How quickly time flies by, people grow, people leave, some people remain stagnant and then sometimes you realize you're not on the same page as some people anymore.  No bad blood or anything but maybe sometimes you're just not on the same paths.

By end of next year I'll be reaching another milestone in my life.  I'll be 3 decades old.  It doesn't feel like 3 decades has passed.  Well, technically 29 years this year but close enough.  Single, unattached, technically self-employed in a business I barely fathom and encapsulated in the many facets of my 3 brothers' lives.  Where has the twists and turns of my life taken me?  What am I aiming to achieve?

Overall, I am grateful of the things that I have had and still have.  I mean, there's no reason to complain really. Sure, everyone hopes for more but the way I see it, more is a bonus.  *smiles*

My mind is bombarded with ideas upon ideas of any few things in an instance.  If only I was driven enough to learn how to implement those ideas or at least put them into gear.  That would definitely be progress, improvement.  Cue in the procrastinator in me.  Haha.  I need to work on that.

Enough of this somewhat somber mood I'm putting in this post.  Seriously, this is how I start writing on my blog again?  Haha.

Anyways, lately I've been obsessed with an online flash sale site called MySale which is Malaysian base.  Let's just say that it's pretty much a Malaysian version of the famous Hautelook site.  Basically it's a site that conducts sales on selected brands and items (clothes, accessories, gadgets, linens, toys, beauty, etc) for a limited time at varying discounts.  These include international brands, even those not available in Malaysia.  Items are sent 2-3 weeks after the sales closes via Pos Malaysia parcel service with a limited tracking feature (hopefully they upgrade to PosLaju at the very least).

Another site I've been loving is eBates.  If you do online shopping especially on US websites that accept international/Malaysian credit cards, try checking eBates to see if it's listed as a merchant.  What it does is give you a small percentage cash back on your purchase which can be paid out to your PayPal account or -- if I'm not mistaken -- by cheque.  They've also got coupon codes for current promotions and at times double cash back events.  Really, who doesn't enjoy cash backs?  Of course if you're in the US, you're really going to enjoy this site heaps.

Here's on last link love on here for this post.  I've been in love with this Facebook page.  Seriously.  It's the Different Solutions FB page!  Haha.  All that creativity is insane!!  You'll definitely have to check it out.

Alright then, til next time!

The Love Of A Mother

Hello everyone.  Happy Valentine's Day.  These days V-Day isn't just celebrated by couples in love but is made to be a celebration of love in general despite it's history.  I came across this photo less than a month ago and thought it was just super duper sweet and showcases the love of a mother towards her child.

9GAG Link

Although not all mothers are skilled seamstresses, this one was.  Imagine the effort and attention to detail this mother had to transform her child's drawings into actual dollies.  What a gem.

Toothpick Architecture

Remember back in school teachers had us bring toothpicks to school and asked us to make houses and buildings with them.  Equipped with a small cardboard as base, UHU glue and clumsy fingers, I attempted a tiny village hut which never saw the light of day.  Admittedly, I had patience issues.  Haha.

Here are a couple of huge toothpick sculptures I came across at 9GAG.com:

Click for more photos

The elaborate piece above is full of intricate designs made by one man with a 100,000 toothpicks over a span of 35 years.  The dedication of that man is beyond words.  This sculpture took longer to make than I have lived!

Click for more photos

Ode to Potter fans.  An obscene amount of toothpicks and glue later, voila, the masterpiece as seen above is born.  How the artist behind this grand piece figured out the layout of Hogwarts to fully replicate it with toothpicks no less is nothing short of amazing.

I Blingified My iPhone Case

One of the fun things to do with phones in general I think is to dress them up with different casings.  There are so many choices in the market these days -- from plain functional protective types to fashion accessories and are made from hard plastic, silicone and sometimes encrusted with rhinestones and crystals.

Elle & Blair Summer Glow Case for iPhone 4 (US$49.99)
Photo Source: Cellairis

Anyways, I saw a really pretty phone case on display recently while window shopping which had a gorgeous pink gradient of crystals on the back (they even had the matching iPad case version too!) quite similar to the one pictured above.  Apparently those were Swarovski crystals and costs a whooping RM300+!!  If you're wondering, the iPad version was RM700+.  Now that to me was way too expensive for a phone casing (at this time anyways).

So I couldn't find a cheaper version of said casing and could not bring myself to directly stick anything (except screen protector) on my phone.  This weekend I was hanging out with my baby brother at Centre Point and decided to blingify my phone myself.  All I needed was a plain case and those phone deco stickers and here's what came out of it:

OK, so it wasn't the gradient look I was originally after (mainly because the gradient stickers weren't what I had in mind) but I like how subtly blingy it is.  Haha.  I bought a case that had white plastic around it and a thin metal plate on the back (kinda brushed aluminium-esque feel) (RM19.90, marked down from RM39.90 at Speedy) and then a silver crystal-white pearl bead zebra patterned sticker (RM6.90, Palm Square kiosk) which I stuck on the back of it.  I'd only bought 1 sheet of the sticker which wasn't enough.  I had a little shy of 2cm left on the top part of the back bare so I picked up another sheet (RM5.90 at a little shop near Red City on the 2nd floor) and filled in the space.  The second part was a little bit more tricky than the first though.  I had to measure the piece, cut off the bigger crystals/pearls to fit the top and a hole for the camera and flash.  Then selecting smaller parts, I pushed around and filled in some spots to make the connected edge more seamless (I added a little more after taking the above photos and now looks like it's one whole piece).

I love that it's glam but not too overly so.  Every once in awhile it's nice to have something that is uniquely you and (hopefully) no one else has an exact same one.  Haha.  OK, I'm done here.  Til the next post!

Life Talk... On YouTube

Among the things that I love about the internet is YouTube.  Hands down it is one of the best sources of information, knowledge and inspiration in my opinion.  YouTube gives everyone with a camera and computer with an internet connection the opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and knowledge with anyone interested to know more.

Although my main reasons to frequently hog my internet bandwidth watching YouTube videos are more beauty and entertainment related than anything else, every so often I'd stumble on some inspiring videos.  The kind of videos that reminds me to be thankful and embrace life, to learn not to take myself too seriously and challenge myself.

One of my favourite YouTube personalities is actually a popular beauty guru but has a second channel where she posts some snippets of her life and share more life related videos.

Click here to check out her channel for more videos

Craft & Sewing Furniture

My current obsession is to window shop online and I just thought these pieces of furniture would be perfect for a craft and sewing corner:

IKEA LIATORP White Desk

This would have to be one of my fave desks from IKEA.  If I had the space in my room, best believe I would've gotten this and ship it back here.  It just looks so elegant and if I had a home office, this is definitely a piece of furniture that would be part of it.  It would make the perfect sewing table too.  I could plop my sewing machine and serger on there and put all the supplies in the drawer and shelf storage space on either sides.  Funny though.  It's no longer listed on the Malaysian IKEA website.

Names Influence Who You Are?

A lot of people scour the web and baby books to find suitable and meaningful names for their newborns.  Does it really make a difference whether your child's name means beautiful, honest, wise, and so on and so forth?  Do names actually play a part to determine or rather influence who you are?  Your personality, the way you view the world?  Or is it a matter of nature vs nurture?

Personally, I have no idea.  But from observation, I have noticed some similar traits in people with the same names (which unfortunately examples elude me at the moment).

Many many years ago (when I was in secondary school), I was acquainted to a website introducing the Kabalarian Philosphy which studies first names since 1930 and for a fee, provides you with an analysis report of your name based on the research they've done.  I am not endorsing the accuracy of this website or this method or philosophy but it's always fun to explore.

So here's what they say about my first name:

• You have a great love of nature and the out-of-doors.
   
• All the finer things of life and beauties of nature are an inspiration to you and you are attracted to the mysteries of nature.
   
• Difficulty in expression results in your being too positive, blunt, and candid in speech and although you are easily offended by others, you do not show it.
   
• You crave affection and understanding, but rarely find it as others do not understand you and accuse you of being cool and aloof.
   
• The average person would never realize the true depth of your nature.
• Although first name creates an interest in the deeper aspects of life, we emphasize that it causes a blunt expression that alienates others.
   
• This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the lungs, heart, bronchial area, and tension or accidents to the head.

There is also a free standard name report service that provides evaluation of your first name, last name, the combination of both names and birth date analysis (purpose of life and inner potential).  But for that you will have to fill up another form and they will email the results to you.  I personally have never tried this service despite it being labelled as "free".  With all the marketing gimmicks implemented on the internet these days, even free means "it's free if..." and you start getting spam in your inboxes (no bueno).

Personally, I see some truth in their brief analysis of my first name above.  But I wouldn't be too sucked into the whole concept though.  It's interesting that there even is a study of names since a lot of names were given because they sounded nice/beautiful, from an ancestor, trendy, religious... and the reasons go on.  More often than not, the decision to name a child isn't scientific.

Have you tried the website to check your name?  How close were they to your personality?

For those who know me in person, how true do you find the above description to be of me?

For Fun: Shopping Tag

So I was browsing through Luuux.com and I stumbled upon this tag and thought it would be fun to post here since I haven't been very good with posting on my blog of late. Enjoy!

1. What is your favorite way to shop? Online or in the actual store?
I think that shopping in an actual store has it's benefits and if it's clothes, it's great to be able to try them out first and see yourself in it physically before you make a purchase and if it's cosmetics, you get to swatch the product and see how it looks on your skin and feel the texture before buying. Plus you get to bring home your purchase immediately. But I won't cancel out online shopping either cos for one thing it's quite convenient especially if that something that I want to buy isn't available locally or isn't readily available. But then again, it's nice (although sometimes frustrating) to come home to a newly arrived package. :)

2. What is your favorite store?
I love shopping in general I don't even have a fave store. But if you're talking about stores that I frequent then I'd have a list. I buy stuff from so many stores for specific items.

3. What store do you buy the most things from?
Haha. Watsons.

4. What is your favorite thing to shop for?
Make up and toiletries. And gadget but I'm trying to cut down on that cos it's super pricey.

5. Do you usually pay with cash, credit, check or debit?
Cash or credit. Only sometimes I'll use debit when the facility is available. I never shop with a check since I don't think there are any stores that accept check payment. Haha.

6. Are you addicted to shopping?
I definitely am and it does tend to escalate. I am trying to channel my addiction elsewhere though.

7. Are you in major debt because of shopping?
Fortunately no.

8. How often do you go to the mall?
Since I started working, not to often. I used to spend a whole lot of my time at the mall while I was studying. Malls give me such a calming feeling. I feel so at peace when I'm in a mall.

9. What is the last thing you bought?
Foundation I think. Wanted to try the Revlon Colorstay one.

10. What store was it from?
Guardian.

11. Who is your favorite person to shop for?
Besides myself, I love buying stuff for family and close friends. I usually don't plan on buying but it's more of whichever feels like it suits the person.

12. Would you ever buy clothes at walmart?
I prolly would if they had Walmart here. Although I think I'd prefer Target better if they had it here.

13. Do you own a pair of shoes that cost more than 200 dollars?
Nope. The most expensive ones that I bought costs below RM200.

14. Do you ever use coupons?
If available I do try to use vouchers but coupon clipping is extremely uncommon here.

15. Do you buy most of your clothes on clearance?
I wouldn't say most but usually I buy them at either discounted or bargain prices.

16. Have you ever shopped till you dropped?
The stores usually close well before I dropped.

17. Do you ever try things on at the store?
I didn't use to when I was a much smaller size. Now I have to just to make sure the clothes fit me in terms of size and flow.

18. Who is your favorite person to go shopping with?
Haha. Myself. Usually when I bring friends to shop, they end up buying stuff and I always ended up not getting all the things I set out to buy. Haha.

19. Do you choose paper or plastic?
Honestly, plastic. Paper just wont hold up for me. Anyways, most plastic used in stores today are bio-degradable and disintegrate with heat. Of course now you could always bring along fabric totes. :)

20. Do you use a basket, cart, or nothing?
Depends on what I'm buying.

21. When you check out, is the total always more or less than you thought?
More. Haha. Sometimes it's less if I didn't know there's a discount.

22. Are you an impulse shopper?
Sometimes I can be but it's great that flea markets and bazaars are really coming up here. It helps. And I have younger brothers so some of the stuff goes to them.

23. Do you always buy the candy that they sell next to the registers?
No. I'd get mints but that's just cos I've finished the pack I always like to have in my purse.

24. If you had to pick one thing, shopping or chocolate, which one would you pick?
Shopping. Are you serious? There's no contest.

Feel free to copy and paste the questions above if you feel like doing this tag. *smiles*

La Fuente on a Sunday...

So honestly this isn't the first trip to La Fuente - Tapas Y Bebidas (literally The Source - Food & Drinks), 1Borneo.  Today was our second time there.

We had absolutely no intention of going to 1Borneo today but after remembering there was a small property fair there ending today (this was during a morning birthday party), we decided that it would be our next stop.  There were some interesting properties in the market (read: RM1+ million penthouse duplex with private rooftop garden at Puncak Luyang) including an amazing steal of a property in Menggatal (940 and/or 965 sq ft 3r+3b apartment units for under RM200k).

Anyways, after the fair, we decided it would be nice to catch a movie and off we hopped to the cinema and bought tickets to see Alpha & Omega's 3.50pm show.  Cute animated wolf story with some beautiful howling "music".  Storyline is pretty predictable but a nice light-hearted show nonetheless.

Ah yes, getting back to La Fuente (yes, it's obviously a Spanish restaurant), behold our meals:

Ceaser's Salad

- lettuce, croutons, chicken, mushroom

Cream Based Mushroom & Chicken Ham Penne

(The Spanish name was a tad too long for me to remember)

Beef Ribeye

- with sauteed vege, mashed potato & (blue?) cheese sauce

Roast Chicken

Chicken Tikka

My verdict?  I was delighted to find that the Ceaser's Salad was actually quite nice although I do enjoy my lettuce to be little more bite sized (no matter, I'll just tear them apart).  Croutons were definitely a nice touch to the salad (can you tell that I have absolutely no idea what goes into a regular Ceaser's salad?).  My first dining experience here I'd gotten the Salmon fillet dish and that was yummy (I might be biased because I love salmon).  This time around I decided to change it up and go for penne.  A lil odd considering I'm eating Italian in a Spanish restaurant.  No big surprise in taste here though.  My brothers all had different dishes: Beef Ribeye (which was ordered well done but came medium rare), Roast Chicken (with a sauce I haven't the slightest clue what it is) and Chicken Tikka (an Indian dish in a Spanish eatery?  And it had bones!!).

Just a quick post on today's endeavours.  Til next time!

Couldn't resist...

Better Late Than Never... Selamat Hari Raya

I am clearly behind on greeting everyone Selamat Hari Raya on my blog.  And the festive season is also coming to an end soon (say next weekend?).

The Raya (or Eid) celebrations were modest yet definitely a lot of fun this year.  It was weird though being our first Raya without my beloved mummy.  Her birthday had just past last weekend and we bought her 12 multicolored roses which apparently means Happy Birthday (the number of roses not the colors that is).

I'm excited to play with some electronic toys I've finally got around to get for myself.  I'll probably share them here soon or simply tweet a photo of them.  I've already tweeted about my latest toy *ahem - purchase*.  There are a few features that I still need to get used to but generally I'm pretty much settled in.  I love how huge it is too!

I'm currently having a pretty nice break and am definitely enjoying my extra time.  It is after all something that I've been wanting to have for awhile.  That said, I still do have a gazillion things to do which I'm crossing off my check list a little too slow for my liking.  As you can (or can't) tell, I'm a whole lot of night owl and that definitely doesn't help with waking up as early as I'd want.  Ggrr...

Anyways, I've kinda figured that I might just hold out for the next iPhone or at least not rush into getting the latest one just yet.  No, it has nothing to do with the antenna "issue" (i.e. antenna gate).  It's just that I've been on a "toy" spree the last few weeks that I feel I should save some cash for later.  I'm crazy tempted at the moment but sometimes you've just gotta let the rational mind take hold of the shopaholic in you (or maybe not.. haha).

So til more updates, thoughts and posts.  TTFN!

Implications Of The Written Word...

Twitter can be like texting.  Texts (SMS) are limited to 160 characters per message and Twitter is limited to 140 characters per tweet.  There's only so much you can type within those constraints to get your message across.  Of course there's the long message option which lets you type as much as you want and get it sent in several messages and TwitLonger which is the equivalent for Twitter (which unfortunately is not supported by Echofon and the Twitter website).

Anyways, the thing about the written word (like books and other printed publications) is what you say can easily be taken out of context.  Depending on how the reader phrases the sentences, what you type/write can be misconstrued and thought to have malicious intent even if those intentions were never there.

A few months back I was tweeting about how Carly (Hanh's bestfriend who'd just gotten started with YouTube videos at the time) had 8,000+ subscribers on her channel in a month.  I got a mention from a girl who was an aspiring vlogger and beauty enthusiast on YouTube stating her amazement at the numbers.  She seemed like a nice person so we both subbed each others channels and followed one another on Twitter.

She'd tweeted before that she wished that she could buy MAC products and recently she did at her local CCO and put up a haul video sharing her finds.  It's always nice to see people being able to buy things they've been wanting to get and that's among the reasons I love watching haul videos despite the bad rep they get sometimes.  Anyways, while watching the video, I kept getting distracted with her head movements and I felt annoyed that I was distracted by it.

Let me clarify.  I've always been comfortable with calling myself weird because I have odd quirks that my friends so lovingly joke about.  I have mild OCD (although not clinically proven) but there are things that completely annoys me and to most, they might not even be anything at all.  I used to arrange my books a certain way in my hostel room while I was still studying and get irritated when my things aren't put back where it should be.  For me, everything has a place and I live off organization products (organizers, multiple shelves, containers, boxes, plastic drawers, dividers, etc) and I love having my things in it's own space and compartment.  I like my clothes hung with the hangers facing the same way and preferably with the same type and coloured hangers, shirts according to colour and sleeve length and type and same goes for dresses too.  If you've read my previous post, you can probably tell how excited I was to install the 2 boxed shelves in my wardrobe cupboard to segregate my polo t-shirts, skirts, shorts, home pants, home t-shirts, sports pants and leggings. I was also excited to have my makeup brushes and long chain necklaces organized. I enjoy filing and can get a little too meticulous doing it and can go through several different designs/fonts for the labels before being fully satisfied.  I can't stand repetitive gestures (but am more tolerable if I know it's related to a disorder like spasms and other gestures/movements - i.e. blinking, nose scrunching, face twitching, muscle spasms).

Come one, I even use a mug holder to hold sticky tapes (various sizes) on my desk in the office. My colleague at work always make light hearted jokes about the way I eat, saying it's too systematic.  When I eat, I make a general assessment of the amount of food on my plate before I begin so I know how much I should have on my spoon when I eat.  If I'm eating meat, I'll spend the first few minutes slowly and carefully removing all (and I do mean ALL) the meat from the bones, separating any skin, fat, tendons and other non-meat parts as well as chilli flakes, parsley (I can't eat parsley, it overwhelms my tastebuds and I can't taste the rest of the food), chilli seeds, etc before I start eating.  The eating part on its own is a pretty quick process.  I always try to scoop a balance amount of veggies and meat and rice/noodles/potatoes with every bite as well.

OK, so now that you're acquinted with my quirky weird side (which is far more obvious when I'm eating. Haha), let's get back to the post.

After the Twitter comment, I proceeded to watch another video of hers prior to the haul video where she explains her eye condition.  I thought it was great that she was bringing to light and creating awareness on Congenital Nystagmus and talking about how she lives with it.  She also prides herself in being able to overcome her disabilities to come out as a straight "A" student and accomplish all that she has accomplished so far as should anyone her condition should.  It's always an inspiration to hear stories like hers, unfortunately even in her video/vlog talking about the subject, she stated that she wasn't comfortable discussing the subject and seemed rather insecure about it (which I suppose explains her high sensitivity to the matter).  After finding out about her condition and sensing her insecurities on the matter, I quickly switched to my Echofon and deleted my comment on her 'head bobbling' being a bit distracting before she could read it.  Now, turns out in my thread it was deleted but somehow she still got the comment.  Her response (read from the bottom up):

I was caught by surprise and tried clearing things up with her.  I also apologized for the misunderstanding.  If you know me, you would know that I had never meant it to be rude and that I never judge anyone.  In fact, I always remind my siblings to not judge people because you never know what they're going through.  My comment was simply honest feedback which I thought she would have appreciated to improve her videos.  Again I'd like to reiterate, I wasn't aware of her condition prior to the tweet.  Here are a few more comments we exchanged on her YouTube video:

I didn't have a problem with her eyes moving, I merely suggested that since I noticed her head moved far less when she looks at the camera than when she has her head down.  I also noticed that her head movement is fine when she turns to the side.  It's only when her head is down.  Looks like my suggestion was again misintepreted as offensive.  I'd even commended her on enjoying doing YouTube videos which I believe to be a good thing.  She claims that I judge her when she contradicts herself by judging me and attacking me when my comments were based on my own OCD condition.  Like I said, guess everyone gets misunderstood.  She tweets on her page that I didn't get that she's not taking rude comments from anyone and that apparently I wasn't getting it.  Ironically she also tweets that it was just the wrong topic and the wrong day (she doesn't like Mondays?) and I suppose that coupled with her fear of being ridiculed spurred some sort of retaliation on an innocent and harmless suggestion and honest feedback.

Here's her nice little summary about me (read from the bottom up):

With reference to the middle tweet, this is what I had tweeted prior:

I know it might not have been necessary to have even composed this post on this particular subject but I felt compelled to illustrate the impacts of the written word.  It's like poetry.  The poet creates his/her poem based on his/her emotion at the time and does it with words.  The same poem read by someone else going through a different set of emotions can see different meaning in those same words.  Although I may not have a lot of readers on this blog and I do it because of my love for writing, I thought that it would also be good to spread the awareness on her condition since it is not something one would come by often.  I have no hard feelings towards her even though she thinks I'm a jerk and blocked me on both YouTube and Twitter and propagated my "jerk-ness" to her followers.  I got misunderstood and my words misintepreted, c'est la vie.

Another Weekend?

I've just realized that I've been doing a lot of weekend summary posts of late.  Probably cos I've been super busy on weekdays with work and other mundane home stuff that there's really nothing much to blog about.

Anyways, yesterday was my mum's 100 days day-versary kenduri and we had a little get together.  Kids running around the house and the kitchen busy since the night before.  Haha.  Honestly, I'm not a kitchen person so instead, I busied myself with clearing up the area as much I could considering most of the junk was my stuff.  Haha.  And I totally slept in last night which was pretty weird considering I hadn't slept in (til 2pm!) in awhile.  Don't want to make that a habit.

Well, I'm still adjusting myself to the corporate world and having my every move and work being scrutinized.  I find it suffocating and really disturbing really.  Personally, I just tend to not perform at my best and my brain shuts down to work when I get put under a microscope.  Imagine how germs feel.  I admit with all the workload and constant "urgent" things to tend to I've lost a lot of my efficiency making my performance less to be desired for which really stresses me out because I'm a demi-perfectionist and something like this is just unacceptable.  I've been thrown a whole lotta "urgent" and "must do right now" matters the past few months that I've come to neglect my filing and actual job.  Having to follow up on 1001 things every single day does take a toll on someone.  Although I do have a great supervisor who is always open for discussion, somehow I feel that using all this to justify my performance (or rather lack thereof) to be meer excuses so I refrained.  Even when I was busy taking care of my mum and having to deal with all the emotional roller coaster last year, I refused to make it as my excuse or justification.  As much as it may not "look good" to send emails in the wee hours of the morning (12am-4am), it is pretty much the best time for me to finish my tasks and get my work done.  I am and have always been a night owl, never a morning person, and am the most productive in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately, I can't even do that apparently.  Plus I realized that I feel less productive in my current office than the previous one and therefore I'm moving back there *YAY!!!!!!* soon.  Maybe I'll drop by the office later and get my office stuff.

OK so enough rambling about work.  I'm getting my office laptop replaced on tomorrow *hurray!!* to a faster Core 2 Duo unit with more RAM and hopefully HDD space.  Using a Pentium with a 512K RAM for work to me is just insulting since I love techie stuff.  I don't understand how a technology-related company can settle for such subpar devices.  My personal laptop is more powerful than that.  Insulting.  Another one of the things that I've been looking forward to since last year considering my laptop had been so super glitchy for way too long.  I need computers that work faster than me to optimize my resources.  *haha*  Finally had it reformatted earlier this year and it has been working somewhat better 1 in 50 chance of freezing up compared to 1 in 4 previously.

Anyways, I do have trouble sleeping at night and I find 3am or 4am a sutiable time to sleep which doesn't work well with working hours.  So needless to say I hardly get enough sleep.  And I work til late (sometimes I continue work at home) apart from all the other non-work related matters I have to look into - home, family, friends, personal time - and I'm still struggling with personal emotional issues and balancing everything out.  Then there's the ever demanding need and stress of losing weight.  Stressing definitely doesn't help with it.  The more I think about it, the more I get hungry and require food consumption.  There must be a different way to go about this.  And better yet a better way for me to fit in time to exercise and make it part of my routine.  Maybe I can workout during lunch hours.  Hurm...

Well, lunch is served so I think it best to go join the family now.  Wee!!!!

Beautiful dreams...

Wow. Just realized that I was starting a post before I got cut off. Only managed to insert the title. LOL! Was wondering why one of the items under 'Edit Post' didn't have an option to view. Hehe.


Fortunately when I saw the post title I still remembered what the post was supposed to be about. I had a beautiful dream a couple nights back. I wish I could have a dream similar to that every night. My mummy was in my dream. It was so nice. I'm pretty 'conscious' when I'm in a dream and I have no need to pinch myself to check if I'm in a dream or in the real world. It was so nice to be with my mummy. To hear her voice, hear her laugh and talk to me, hold her hand and see her smile. At one point in the dream I'd even wanted to record her voice, our conversations so I can hear her voice anytime I wanted. Not that I could export those recordings - if made - out of my dreams. *haha*


It really was nice to be able to see her, and chat with her like we used to. Dreams, my brief moments of happiness.

Image from Jargogled Impressions

Disclaimers and Other Notes...

Recently YouTube has implemented FTC (US Federal Trade Commission) Disclaimers to be included in all their member's videos to indicate whether items were purchased or gifted and if there are any monetary compensation given to fellow YouTubers to feature certain products and services on their channel. Disclaimers are no stranger to the internet or any other information disseminating mediums out there. It also works well with the copyright law I think.

So anyways, if you've noticed, I have begun putting disclaimers at the end of certain posts and of course whenever I use images that are not owned or created by me, I will credit the sources as well as put a link to them. I suppose it is only fair that all these items be declared in the post to avoid any future implications (a.k.a. just in case). *hehe*

This here is post #70 and I never imagined actually coming through with blogging. I love to write (or for this matter type) but I never thought that I'd be able to talk about all the things that has led up to my 70th post here in Blogger when I first started some 2 years back. I can't believe it's been (almost) 2 years since my first post! Anyways, I spent some time looking back at some older posts and oddly enough I actually can't believe I wrote all this stuff. My favourite post to date I'd say is my Valentine's Day entry.

On a different note, I'm beginning to wonder what is wrong with the international postal system. Seriously. I don't understand how a parcel/package can get "lost". Is there a Bermuda Triangle of posted items? I've been waiting for my last Sigma brush set (Nice In Pink Travel Kit) which was said to be posted on April 1 and some make up I bought at All Cosmetics Wholesale posted on April 15. Normally even by First Class International Mail, I get my items within 2 weeks. In fact, the sewing machine presser feet I bought online and was posted to me on April 15 (US April 14) via First Class International Mail (i.e. no tracking) already arrived safely last week. A friend of mine too got her brush purchased from Sigma within a week without hitches. Just my luck? Makes me wonder if it's Pos Malaysia that FAILED.

Last night was pretty weird, I was fine and later in the night I began getting stomach cramps for no apparent reason (at least none that I can pinpoint). Lasted through the night (thank goodness I managed to sleep through it) and til today. Forced myself to work in the afternoon still. I hate taking MCs simply because I don't like having to go to the clinic, get meds and have to down antibiotics. Ugh! Plus, I only look sick enough for an MC when I can't even move to go to the clinic. Haha. So the doctor will always look at me like I'm trying to squeeze a fake MC out of him. Ah well. The thing about not being well even momentarily is, the additional work to do and catch up on. C'est la vie.

Apple Love, OS 4.0, MacBook Pro...

So I was innocently browsing the Apple website recently to check out if there was more info on the upcoming OS 4.0 for the iPhone and iPod Touch and was delighted to find a whole video on the keynote delivered to app developers available on the OS 4.0 info page. *yay!*

Image courtesy of apple.com

I love watching Apple keynote videos. They're just so interesting and captivating. I love how the speakers/presenters (in this case Steve and Scott) have this cool and calm humour attached to their fluid presentations. Now how do I learn to present like that?!?!?!

Icons courtesy of apple.com

So OS 4.0 will be coming our way this summer (circa June-July-August) and I, for one, can't wait! The new OS comes with 100+ new features including the exciting 7 tentpoles presented during the keynote. I'm really excited about a couple features really and those are Multitasking & Folders.

I like the idea of multitasking simply because every time I read my tweets and someone calls, after ending the call, the page goes right back to the top and I have to scroll down to find where I left off. Incredibly annoying to the point that I wish people won't call me. *haha* So with multitasking, the app gets saved into the background and once my call ends I assume it means that I can pick up exactly where I left of on my Echofon. Same goes for when I'm watching YouTube videos on my phone, I have to quit the app to answer a call or if I suddenly have to attend to a text message. So that's something I'm looking forward to. Plus, you can continue to stream music even when you exit an app cos it's running in the background. How cool is that. No more being stuck in an app just to listen to a song. Woohoo!

Another cool new feature *IMO* is the ability to create folders. I love how easy it is to create folders (drag & drop!!!) on the screens and being an organizing freak, this feature is a dream! I use to categorize my apps on different pages for each different categories (i.e. Games, Camera/Photo apps, Fitness & Health apps, etc). The new interface for folders looks awesome as well.

They are also enhancing the mail feature with unified mailboxes, the ability to have 2 MS Exchange accounts and (love!) message threading. Message threading will absolutely make it easier to follow the entire thread of events leading to the latest e-mail. It's kinda like GMail in a sense. Which means that it would work so much better with GMail since that feature to me is one of the reasons I love using GMail in the first place.

They're also implementing iBookstore (from iPad) in the upcoming release. This is excellent for all the readers out there. Directly purchase e-books (or iBooks) from the store and read it instantaneously. I might not even need to go buy physical books anymore to satisfy my reading urges. And it syncs with the iPad version if you own both gadgets.

Honestly, even the iAd idea looks super cool. (And they were only using mock ads for the demo!) Apple designs are simply genius!! I don't care if they're super secretive or egoistic, the devices are top of the line excellent. Plus, the new OS allows users to change the home screen background too!

To my excitement, the new MacBook Pros are out as well! *floating*

Image courtesy of apple.com

I've been meaning to get my hands on the 13" model for a while now ever since getting my iPhone. Apple is so addictive. Especially for someone who appreciates awesome gadgets and devices like me. I love computers and gadgets. *Can you tell?* The gorgeous aluminium unibody enclosure, simple keyboard and sleek yet elegant design, I'm in love.

The new 13" has an estimated battery life of 10 hours (eat your heart out Timeline) with adaptive charging technologies and should have a life span of about 5 years. Mac computers have always been well known for their graphic quality and with the latest NVIDIA graphic drivers (320M on 13" and 330M on 15" & 17") the display output for photos and videos is incredible! Of course the LED backlit displays works wonders complemented by the driver. Isn't the illuminated keyboard just genius? I know it's a bad habit, but I like using my laptops in the dark. Fortunately I'm pretty good with typing without looking at the keyboard (been using computers since the DOS era or was it Mackintosh) so despite dim lighting (or no lights) I can still type decently. Haha. And of course the no button multi-touch trackpad (introduce in last year's model).

My only disappointment with the 2010 model is it still runs on Intel Core 2 Duo instead of the i3 (or i5 I don't mind *wink*) where as the 15" & 17" both now runs on i5 & i7 respectively. But then again, 2.66GHz on 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD (can be upgraded to SSDs from RM900+ onwards) is pretty decent. So I'm likely to not wait for them to get it up to i3 before buying it. And it supports up to WiFi 802.11n which means I won't be fighting for the WiFi at home since everyone else is using the 802.11g protocol. Woohoo!! Anyways, I won't be doing any heavy video rendering with Final Cut Pro or crazy photo editing with Aperture (just watched some vids on the Apple website and I sooo want this software) or anything like that. I'm not even an avid gamer (plus there's the Wii & XBox for that). The 13" is so perfect for me.

Image from apple.com

So why do I want a MacBook Pro so bad? Besides the simple yet powerful interface which is in line with my personality oddly enough, I am dying to use the iLife suite that comes pre-installed. I can make my own tracks with GarageBand, edit videos with iMovie (OMG this piece of software is AMAZING!) and play around with iWeb (though not compatible with Blogger. :( ) which answers my many questions on how a lot of sites seem to look so chic effortlessly. The clear difference between WMM (Windows Movie Maker) and iMovie is how easy it is to just take parts of a video recording and drop it in the timeline. So easy. Putting picture in picture (or video in video) - not available in WMM - , titles and subtitles are nice and adding music is simple. In WMM, I have to keep splitting the video to edit out all the parts that needed to be omitted from the final product and the titles and subtitles can be a chore.

Image from apple.com

Now do I want to opt in and buy iWork too? MS Office is RM500+ while the iWork suite is about half that. I'd download OpenOffice but I just don't like their interface somehow. Haha.

Question of the day: To iWork or not to iWork. LOL!

DISCLAIMER:
All images used for this post are from the Apple website. I do not own these images and do not claim to own them.  I am not affiliated/associated with Apple nor am I receiving any form of compensation for using the images and discussing Apple products in this post. All comments are of my own thoughts and opinions. Images are used for display and illustration purposes only.

My Weekend in a Nutshell...

The weekend came and went quickly as always. So I came home Friday after work and immediately cozied up in my bed to get some much needed rest (not that I had a choice, I was exhausted from not getting enough sleep, running around and work in the office). Got up that night, had some dinner and drove myself and my (*cough* minion *cough*) brother to 1Borneo to pick up some stuff at Giant. So I got a couple of shelves for my room because I seriously needed a place to organize my stuff (nothing new here).

Project #1: 4-tiered Shelf

So my first project which I started that night was the 4-tiered Shelf (RM49.99) which is about 4 feet high which I'll be using to store my stock for Aurora. I haven't quite gotten to putting the stocks in place yet so as you can obviously see from the photo, it's all a bunch of junk stuffed in there. Haha. Anyways, if anyone is wondering, those gorgeous window drawer inserts are by Neo Geo and I bought them in Jusco (Midvalley, KL) for I think below RM20 each. These were originally bought for a different shelf but I got the measurements a bit mixed up (OK so I didn't measure the shelf before hand) and used it for this. Now I'm thinking I should get a couple more just to fill up the rest of the shelves. I bought some for another (older) shelf unit (3-tiered) and those were a different pattern and without the window. They are sold in Metrojaya outlets as well but the one in KK seems to be out of stock (since forever!!).

Project #2: 4 Compartment Filing Shelf

The other shelf I bought that night was this 4 compartment filing shelf (RM46.99). I have an identical unit (bought much earlier) on the left side of this wardrobe cupboard. I took out the shelf that came with the cupboard and replace it with this one because it's more sectionalized if that makes any sense. I was going to get a different type of shelf for the right side because this is actually half a centimetre higher than the wardrobe drawers. Anyhow, after much thought and deliberation, I opted for another unit of this type of shelf to fit in here. The assembly for Project #1 was much easier than this one. Haha. Basically for this I had to fix the whole shelf up minus the base and then put the top in under the drawers first and then slid the base in. Both parts are connected with those wooden cylinders (no screws for the base). Speed bump? The back piece kept sliding down when I was getting the top part to connect with the base. Wee! More (and proper) storage for my clothes. Originally, I had this hanging organizer but it was crap and took up much space (not to mention hideous as well). I love how the colours just blend in with the actual wardrobe. *smiles*

Then Saturday rolled in and it started with driver duties and then the post office then home. I can't quite remember what I did in the day time yesterday. Odd. Ah yes, business stuff. Anyways, had dinner at 1Borneo and then dropped by Parkson to see if there was anything useful to help me with my room spring cleaning quest. Was so excited that the search was not in vain.

Project #3: Necklace Hanger

So I have a ton of long necklaces (OK some short ones too) and I used to store them in individual resealable plastic packets which didn't quite cut it for me since these long pendant necklaces (from Forever21.com, Vincci Accessories, Brands Outlet & PARK avenue accessories) tend to get tangled up easily and it's such a waste of time (and nuisance) to get them all in perfect form again. So that afternoon I googled for inspiration and Google sure didn't disappoint. I got the accordian rack pictured above at Parkson for RM4.99 and those stick on metal hooks (didn't want to do any drilling) for RM4.90/pack of 5. And voila! Set it up next to my dressing table and it's all nice and organized and accessible. I still have a bunch of long necklaces stashed in my dresser drawer but those are beaded ones and didn't really mesh with the theme on this hanger. Haha.

Sunday (today) morning I had breakfast with my bestie and her cousins at Wan Wan (yay for Kon Lau Mein with Fish Slices). Didn't get to join them on their outing at Suria Sabah and 1Borneo though. Had other matters to attend to. After my business was done for the day, I went hunting for a computer table for the house. The current one is in such dire state although I like the design. It's just the right design for this space. It's just annoying that every computer table in stores are at least 3 feet wide and the space allocated for the table is just a few inches more than 2 feet. Ugh. The ones that fit wasn't tiered. Where am I supposed to put the printer and modem then? Where are you perfect computer table? Another search that is still on is for clip on lamps. Well, I only need one more since my mum bought one some time ago and I'm using that on one side of my table (I need another one to balance the lighting plus clip ons don't take up a lot of space). The one sold at Parkson was pretty pricey at RM59.90. I think mum bought the one we have for less than RM20 at a discount store. I should've gotten one at the time too *bangs head against virtual wall*.

After a tiring fruitless search, I went home and sorted out some stationeries. Being lazy so I just printed the label and price stickers for Aurora to stick on the back of my clothes tag. So much prettier and quick than me writing it down manually. Gotta be ready for future flea markets and bazaars. Don't have time to rush on these things and get it down at the 11th hour all the time. *winks*

Ah yes, my Sigma Makeup brushes arrived!! Sooo super duper excited!! *beams*

Aren't the brush rolls gorgeous?

The Complete Kit + Brush Roll + SS188 + 2 Travel Size SS217

The Premium Kit

I just couldn't stop touching my brushes and sweeping the bristles on my face and eye area. Haha. I've been wanting to get these for a long time and waited for the Premium Kit to come out before placing an order. Was gonna get this as a birthday present for myself last year but postponed. The prices are pretty steep for the average brush user but it's still a lot cheaper than getting MAC brushes. Nothing against MAC brushes but they're just out of my budget at the moment. *fingers crossed my travel kit doesn't get lost in the mail again* I'll probably do a review on these or something on Blissful Belle. Oh yea. Went to MAC with hopes of getting the Color Forecast Blush Ombre in Peach/Pink but they were sold out. Just not my luck I guess. Maybe they'll be on ACW?

On a different note, I revised the prices for selected items on Aurora (reduced prices!) so if you had your eye on something there, go check out if it's one of the lucky items.

Will be getting back to sewing again soon. Need to do the curtains and my table cover (long overdue) plus several other projects. Gotta piece together my outfit design for a few events coming up in the last quarter of the year. Pretty much got at least one outfit completely designed. Something different for me this time. The other 2 or 3 needs some tweaking still. C'mon brain, think. Maybe I'll cut out the pattern first before getting the fabric.

My tummy's upset. Hopefully it'll go away in the morning. Back to work.

A Whiff of Roses...

I have succumbed to the Blogger in Draft Template Designer feature and converted my then WordPress inspired White Page template (mildly modified to my liking) from btemplates.com to a similar version via the Template Designer. Essentially the look and feel of the blog is the same, it's just slightly different yet personally me. If that makes any sense. *furrows eyebrows & presses lips together*

This way, I pretty much know that the template will mesh well with Blogger and flow with the changes Blogger implements (if any). At least I hope it will. Externally obtained templates usually refer to Blogger tags and such and when certain attributes are changed, it affects the overall template as a whole and can be a pain to search pinpoint what went wrong where.

Ah yes, Giant officially opened in Megalong Mall in Donggongon Town. I passed by hoping to drop in if I found a spot to park but of course, with Giant opening it's doors today, it was impossible to find parking. Oh well. So I ended up going to Giant in City Mall instead. Unfortunately, the shelves that I'd wanted to get weren't in stock so that was clearly a waste of time (and petrol). Maybe I'll drop by 1Borneo tomorrow to see if the outlet there has the shelves that I want. I find that they're much cheaper in Giant than a regular furniture store. Now if they had Jusco or Carrefour here or something, I'd have more choices of places to check out. In fact, those stores' outlets in MidValley had a wide array of items. *sigh* But that's in KL. Metrojaya? They don't even sell those sort of things. Too high end and snotty I guess.

In the midst of my rambling in the above paragraph, I stumbled on this little bit of news:

Article from The Borneo Post (October 5th, 2009)

Seriously? Does that mean in the next couple of years we'll see a Jusco outlet here in KK? (or MaxValu?.. Nooo... Please be Jusco). That'll be nice to see. More choices! Yay! Ah yes... Cheap sushi!

Anyways, tonight as I was walking out and entering my car in the porch to head for City Mall, I caught a whiff of roses in the air. After starting the engine I realized that I'd forgotten to take the measurements needed to help me choose the right shelves dimensions *silly me* and stepped back in the house. Oddly enough, the smell of fresh roses were no more. Puzzled still, I looked around and couldn't identify any possible source for the scent to linger or even float around where I was standing. Our rose bush hadn't bloomed yet (no flowers at all... Or maybe it died, not too sure) and our neighbours don't have roses. So I continued to head for my room, take the necessary measurements, jot them down and walked out to my car a second time. Again, the scent was gone.

Sitting in the car while starting up the engine and waiting for the gates to completely open, it got me thinking, since it was after all Malam Jumaat tonight and my mum loved roses and we'd just placed roses at her resting place last Saturday, could it be her spirit had come to visit? Needless to say just the thought of it made my eyes go into dam mode and well up. I don't know for sure of course but I'd like to think so. At least it makes me feel that she comes around and checks on us every once in awhile.

Red Rose photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I miss her dearly...

Befalls one soul, be lost one heart...

Once whole has now been halved
Once full is now left famished
Once beats with glee
Now thumps with sorrow

Only one will know
And only one will forever stay silent
For the only soul is weeping
And no one can know or hear her cry

If only there were a glimmer
Of things that had past
A spark of hope and comfort
From the one who is no more

Alas that road has ended
The path yet to be treaded
Vast and wide the possibilities
To anywhere and nowhere

All choices have no certainty
All pieces yet to be found
Stumbling, fear and helplessness
Yet only one will ever know

No light at the end of the tunnel
No clouds with silver lining
No waves in the ocean
No more means to be

Image from IN.com

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weird discovery...

Just the other day (yesterday actually) the family spent some time at 1Borneo. Somehow we just love dropping by bookstores, so we spent a considerable amount of time at Harris.

Anyways, while checking out the shelves, my brother picked up a book called "Weird Animals" I believe. And this animal was on the cover:




Initially we thought it was just some random photoshopped photo representing the weirdness of the fauna world. Apparently we were wrong anf the photo was of a legit animal called a 'blobfish'. Imagine that.

Looking closely, the blobfish looks like a disgrutled grumpy old man lazing around with a huge frown (and nose) on his face. According to the book, scientists don't know much about this particular species and the animal is said to eat just about anything that floats by that fits in its mouth.

Reactions from the younger brothers:

Brother #2: "Why does he look like that?" in a tone I'd describe as a mix of surprised, amazed and slightly confused.


Brother #3: "Eeewwww"

Brother #1 was just excited with the find he had to share it with the 2 younger ones. Lol!!!

So there you have it. A random post.

Oh yea. I was on the same flight as the talented Ning Baizura today and she was incredibly cordial and pleasantly nice (yes, yes I'm being redundant). Managed to take a photo with her at the airport before departing. :)

Follow Ning on Twitter @NingDalton

As you can see, I'm on my phone now and the photo is on my camera. Haha. Anyways, she's real nice (I can't say that enough). My fave song from her is still "Gelora Kita" which was from her debut album way back when. A beautiful duet with Johari Teh. :) I absolutely love that song. Also, heads up, her new album is underway and should be hitting music stores soon.

Now silly me, brought a teeny tiny bag (overnight bag) on my overnight trip. Went into the shops and had to text my dad to lend me another bag. Haha. I usually bring a bigger bag (it expands too) on my trips regardless how short they are. Served me right to leave it behind. Anyways, problem solved. Bought some stuff and I've already done packing. Wee!

Oh no. Just remembered my mascara is still on. Off to clean up and sleep. Long day at work tomorrow. Files, here I come. *insert lack lustered enthusiasm*

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone