The world is a weird place to live in...

Fortunately my bad day only lasted for a day. The rest of the days following that day were not fantastic but they were still good days.

Well, things are getting more and more neglected as we rush here and there and everywhere. Dividing time between my mum, my brothers, friends and work has been difficult still but essential.

Last weekend was my lil bro's birthday party. Funny that boy. He cleverly sent event invitations via Facebook which triggered us to organize an actual party quickly. Haha. But all went well an everyone was happy. I suppose that's what's important. :)

So anyways, today after a nice Dim Sum brunch at Hyatt, went to check out the JCI Flea-Tastic Bazaar at Bundusan with the lovely Ms Nyn and my lil brother. Obviously it wasn't as big as those done in KL but it's a start. Hehe. :) Considering to join the next time it's around. It would be interesting.

Mum's spent her 3rd week in SMC and we're hoping she'll be able to get home soon. Been spending everyday here when I'm not at work. Barely at home too these days. I miss my bed.

The Sabah Blogger's Gathering is coming up this coming weekend and I'm pretty much stumped on what to wear. It's gonna be a Halloween/Masquerade themed event but I'm not thinking of being too OTT. The hotel where the event is at is practically in a mall. I'm still a pretty low key person. Hehe. *wink*




So here I am with the now shrunken pimple on my face, sans makeup (ok... very little makeup) listening to my mum's friends visiting her in the ward room chit chatting and catching up. Sitting cross-legged by the electrical socket charging my beloved phone next to a walking frame typing away on this blog entry. Haha!

My stomach is beginning to send hunger signals to my brain. Ooo.

I had a bad day...

Have you ever had a day where just nothing went right? Or at least for the most part of the day that makes it almost impossible to feel good that day? I normally don't but a couple of days ago I met that day.

Got to work and work just won't leave me alone. Stressed out tending to work that wasn't particularly mine being asked questions about updates that i don't have cos i'd just gotten back from leave and had a bunch of things to clear before checking on updates. Haha.

Went to growarisan earlier that morning just to find that i had to come back a day or 2 later cos their system was down. TM internet prob. Crap!

Then i thought i'd take a break during lunch and get my lashes permed. No perm. I came out with my lashes looking just like when i'd come in. What a waste of time. Should've just told me the product was out of stock or something instead of me having to come back and redo it! *pissed*

Back to work. After work went to collect my bro's laptop from Karamunsing and at the same time add on my new additional 2GB RAM. Imagine my frustration when i found out they gave me a PC's RAM instead?!? Had to come back the next day!! Argh!!

Went home and my mum told me the help was going back this weekend. Bapa would be in KL for ATP the same weekend. So it meant i won't be able to go to my girl's raya open house (the only raya thing i'd be doing this year) and help her with her day the following morning. Devastated. My eyes were practically filled with tears the entire day.

Beat some stress and went back to the office to finish up more work that night cos will be in late the next day to take my mum to smc. Got to the office and guess what? My mouse wouldn't work. "USB device unrecognized". Almost threw the friggin mouse out the windows.

Went to watson's to soothe my soul and bought some stuff. Had a nice surprise when i found a lil freebie in the plastic bag when i got home. Yay! The only good thing that happened that day.

Best part, i came home and the power was out. Thank you SESB for making my day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday...

Wow. How time really flies. Spent the most part of my raya hols at home and in smc. Had a bunch of things i'd wanted to clear and sort through during the week long break i took but had to postpone it again due to unavoidable circumstances.

So here i still sit carrying out my shift at smc while mum rests before hving lunch. Speaking of lunch, what am i going to have for lunch? Haha!

Anyways, kinda bored at the moment. Spent the day yesterday watching a project runway marathon on discovery travel & living. Haha. An entire season in a day. Awesomeness. *smiles*

Thought about asking to bring my lappie ere but unfortunately there's no wifi in the hospital *duh!* and my wireless broadband reception is crap in this room. Haha. Fortunately i have my phone to entertain me and connect me to the world.

So many things going through my mind now to do. Need to allocate time for it cos i don't think time will be making space for me to get going with what i want to do. Haha.

Just downloaded this blogging app from the app store. Testing it out. And so far it looks promising. At least i'd be able to blog on the go as well. Haha. I'm already tweeting and facebooking on the go. In fact i find tweeting on my phone to be so much more convenient (and easier) than on my computer. Of course you don't get to see the pretty backgrounds other tweeters put a lot if effort into. *wink*

For anyone interested, nestle is giving away free les mills bodyjam and bodycombat vcds with their fitnesse with fruit cereals. I went and got mine yesterday morning but haven't had a chance to check 'em out yet. Will have a looksee once i get home. Hehe. Looks like i really don't need a gym membership anymore *$$ savings!!*


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

selamat hari raya

just thought i'd give a quick shoutout to all the muslims out there. selamat hari raya aidilfitri!

aidilfitri (or idul fitr or eid il fitr) is a time of forgiveness and remembrance. it's the perfect bonding opportunity and starting anew with a clean slate. mending broken ties and relishing in amazing food.

although i must say, after 29 days of fasting, eating in the day kinda feels a bit foreign. add to that the fact that i'm terrified of gaining all (and more) the weight lost during that span of time. *cringe*

this raya is different than previous years. myself, my mum and eldest lil bro did no join the rest of the family to head back to our grandma's place but it's ok. it's been sooo long since i've celebrated or rather spent raya here. haha. technically we're not really celebrating. just spending time together at home. but it's a nice break. *smile*

so to everyone else, take this opportunity to truly appreciate the people around you and remember those who are no longer with you. embrace and renew friendships and relationships and throw away all those negativity out the window.

on a different note, i've added a link to my askCLEO.com.my beauty blog on the sidebar.

have a beautiful raya guys! *hugs*

finally a trip to somewhere...

ah yes, while my iphone syncs with my brand spanking freshly installed itunes 9 after an upgrade to os 3.1, i figured i should drop a note in my dear dear (almost) neglected blog. haha!

this year i've been pretty much grounded to dear ole kk city and cancelled my overseas travel *well, pretty much all travels* due to unforeseen circumstances. no matter. there'll always be other times to travel. but it really had a psychological and emotional impact on me. travelling to me was my way of unwinding *despite the hectic schedule that comes with travelling* and recharging myself.

although the destination wasn't anywhere quit that far nor does the travel require one to carry a passport, but it was nice to take a break *finally!* the circumstances of when i left was not what i'd consider desirable but one can only plan and does not control how to universe goes round.

our flight friday afternoon went on smoothly as scheduled and we arrived a wee bit earlier than expected. then off we went to break fast at seoul garden in ioi mall, puchong's new wing. i can't even remember the last time i was in ioi! haha.

yes.. you cook your own meal on the hot plate/soup bowl

my entree/appetizer

bits and pieces of food i picked up at the buffet spread

self-made abc.. you even scoop your own shaved ice!

haha.. an old childhood preference.. swirled mushed ice cream. yum!

well, basically the restaurant has a nice little buffet spread of mostly raw food *obviously since you're supposed to cook it at your table* and dessert. the food was nice but i wasn't too fond of the oil splattering that was going on with the hot plate. note to self: if ever there comes a time when i'd dine there in the future, remember to keep to fire as low as possible. haha!

after breaking fast, we wasted no time and went up to check out what was there. from the restaurant's entrance, looking up you are greeted with the oh-so-familiar signage for F.O.S. and although we were kinda on our way to check it out, I personally got sidetracked and almost ran into brands outlet instead which was right in front of the escalator. haha! was incredibly happy to say the least to find that they sold clothes that fit yours truly! *smiles* yay me! haha. first thing i grabbed was this simple long necklace with big red beads that costs a mere RM5 before proceeding to check out and try clothes. managed to find a pair of jeans, pants and a couple of work shirts that fit me just nice. ecstatic!

the following day we set out to midvalley. somehow everytime i'm in kl, i try to make my way there. i just love the place. it practically has everything! well, everything i need anyways. haha. *wishing we had jusco here.. sniff* kick started the shopping spree with looking for clothes for my lil bro and after about 10 pairs of jeans, we finally found the 3 that fit him best. *thank goodness* i was on the verge of giving up on the search at that point. got him a pair of nice black dress shoes and a good pair of slippers too. i made myself to the lower level to shop for more personal items and scout around looking for anything else that might catch my eye *and that i need*. was kinda rushing though. managed to get all the stuff in my list that i'd not listed as optional (including of course some optional items). i added more brushes to my makeup brush collection and bought snap hairclips *i'm hopeless. i only know where to find them in kl*.

we were supposed to head back in time for the bazaar ramadhan but the clothes hunt took too much time that we had to change our plans and break fast in midvalley. really wanted to get some nando's *yum* but was disappointed. never believe what you see. the place was pretty empty but apparently people could call in and make reservations. go figure. full house i tell ya! then we made our way to the chicken rice shop which looked equally deserted. again, the place was fully booked. no fair. needless to say all other eateries including the food court was packed and we ended up at pasta zanmai next to madam kwan's. interesting place. a japanese pasta restaurant. fusion much?!?

i had the unagi set.. unagi!!!

chicken teriyaki pizza.. how odd is the egg smacked in the middle of the dish?!?

the salad that came with the set was sick! totally in love with it.. the peanut infused dressing was awesome.. do try

after dinner we dropped by the lil japanese supermarket next door to munch on some japanese wafer ice creams

ah yes. then came sunday. our flight was to be at 6.20pm which was later retimed to 7.10pm. which meant we had an extra hour to roam the city that day. the only thing i could think of was actually to head back to midvalley and finish my clothes shopping. fortunately i refrained myself and we went to get an lcd monitor for my bro's refurbished pc after a short stop at amcorp mall. it's been ages since i've been to low yat and it has changed a bit. looks nicer with gorgeous outlets and a much more cheerie outlook. nice. my bro went for the lg w1953t monitor which boasts a 2ms response time and 50,000:1 contrast ratio despite it's 18.5" size. woohoo.


fortunately, we'd done all our packing and all we really needed to do after the lil shopping expedition was get our stuff in the car and off we go. hehe. stupid airport posted the check in counter for our flight to be at r51 and that turned out to be a different flight altogether. would you believe they sqeezed checking in 3 different flights into 2 counters concurrently?!?! insane much?!?! anyways, we managed to get through the whole check in process albeit the grumbling ground staff lady who when looking at you plastered an incredibly fake empty smile. some people are just beyond me. ignore.


*sniff* didn't even have time to get some snacks to buffer our tummies from breaking fast to the time they actually served food en flight. oh well. i was annoyed to say the least when they announced that the flight was delayed for another half hour (read: 30mins delay + 30mins boarding + 15mins take off + 15mins getting food to those who purchased online + 10-15mins for the cart to get to our seats = a very long time). we bought a couple bottles of drinking water from the store in the departure lounge and had a donut each from dunkin' donuts. i would've snapped at anyone who rubbed me the wrong way. lol!!!


all that said, i'm impressed with airasia's efforts in introducing new food in their menus. the chicken lasagna was pretty decent for airplane food. they no longer serve 1901 hotdogs but have replaced those with their own brand of hotdogs. haha. i managed to sleep through pretty much the entire flight back home while the 2 brothers were busy endulging in the psp game they were playing together with 1 psp. haha! needless to say by the time i got back home, i was drained. completely exhausted. plus it's still fasting month so had to wake up again at 3.30am to eat. hehe.

happy fasting everyone...

time to fast again everyone. haha.

now i know fasting is something done for religion. but it can also be a chance to help in the weight loss department. of course as always, every time ramadhan comes round, there'll be the ramadhan bazaars held in many parts of the nation or more specifically in town. tempting as it is especially when you're hungry and can't wait to eat, my best tip if you enjoy buying food at these bazaars, buy something different every time you go instead of hauling the entire place each visit. hehe. there's a massive variety of food there, so spread the choices over the 4 weeks. a lot of people say they gain weight during fasting month despite only eating breakfast and dinner. but how can there be a calorie deficit if there's a binging sesh during break fast. :) key thing to keep in mind is, everything in moderation.

moving on to more geeky stuff. i can't wait to upgrade my laptop's RAM and optic drive. it's just way outdated. haha. and yes, i still have to finish recovering my data from my "lost" partition. dang.

parkson 1borneo has finally opened. and i must say i love it. haha. or maybe it's just the atmosphere. i've bought the elle laptop bag at 70% off (NP: RM239), jeans, pants and a nice casual shirt. can't wait to head back there and get me some accessories too. very affordable and simply gorgeous!! and yes, i'm still in love with sasa. i don't know why but i just can't get enough of it. my fave item from sasa? definitely the fiber wig mascara and refining herbal tissue mask!! if you didn't know, they're having a clearance sale on tigi cosmetics at the mo. 50% off. the eye shadow pallettes are intense!

recently i've been hooked on makeup. reviving my collection of makeup items and brushes. i have youtube to thank for fueling my new found love for makeup. haha. and yes, i've fallen in love with youtube too. there's just a lot of things you can learn on youtube. :) i used to go on youtube just to check out new songs or music vids. but now there's a whole different world there. haha. baking, cooking, diy, beauty, style, computers... the list is endless!

and last but not least, the sabah bloggers gathering is on again this year. if you're in sabah, and you blog, block your calendars for oct 31!

addicted to the iphone 3g & twitter...

it's been some time since my last post. i've been pre-occupied with work and home much. i know i've mentioned before that i'd be adding more stuff to trove and i apologize to everyone for not having done it yet. photos of items has been taken, just haven't been able to upload them yet. will get to that soonest.

i'm actually supposed to be sleeping at the moment cos i have an early morning tomorrow what with sending my little bros to school and all. honestly, i'm definitely not a morning person. never have been really. i think i do my best work at night, the wee hours of the morning. LOL!

anyone out there gotten the iphone 3g (or 3gs) yet? if you have, you'll understand how addictive it can be especially with the thousands of *free* apps in the app store and those web apps too. since i can't sleep, i thought i'd blog a little on it and well, share my must have apps here with everyone.

BatteryStatus by iPhone Wizards
After testing out a few other free battery status app (don't really understand why we needed to download a separate app to check battery levels in the first place), I find that this has the best interface. It not only let's you know the current battery level (5% sensitivity) but also estimated remaining time for several main activities of the iPhone.

Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus by Dictionary.com
Having been a frequent user of Dictionary.com, this was definitely a must have app for me. Both dictionary and thesaurus functions can be really helpful. It also comes with audio for word pronounciation guide.

AppMiner (Save $$) by Bitrino, Inc
Wonderful app! Helps you get updated on the newest apps on the block as well as apps on sale. Conveniently categorized and you can filter to see paid apps or free apps only. No more browsing manually through the App Store for the apps you're looking for. Also tells you Top Rated apps and allows to Watch apps you like (in case there's a sale!). Other options are PandoraBox and Store-Extender. Actually I've got both AppMiner and Store-Extender on my iPhone but somehow I can't view Most Recent apps on Store-Extender. AppMiner works perfect except it isn't store sensitive (i.e. checks US store so some apps can't be downloaded from the Malaysian store). The thing I didn't quite like with PandoraBox is it lacks the categorization feature. But it's a good app nonetheless.

now let's move on to my fave apps. mind you, i only download free apps (or at least they were free when i downloaded them *grins*). LOL!!!

TwitterFon by naan studio, Inc.
Despite it's lack in URL shortening capabilities (available in the Pro version), I love this app for it's simple, straight forward functionalities. The app allows you to do all the basic Twitter functions like posting a tweet, replying to tweets, upload photos to TwitPic, send your location, retweeting, viewing user timelines and manage your follower lists. I've tried Twitterrific but I didn't quite meshed with it (despite it having URL shortening). I always seem to get errors updating tweets and checking out links and stuff.

Facebook by Facebook
The app let's you do a lot of the basic functions you normally use in the web version but there are some bugs in it still. I have no problems reading my inbox for messages sent by individuals but when it comes to messages from groups, I get shown a blank screen with the reply bubble. Also when I tap on notifications of responses to my wall post/status, I'm taken to the respondent's profile instead of the wall post/status page. Having said that, it's still a must have app on my iPhone. :) Having this app is so much easier than having to load FB from Safari (i.e. browser).

Wikipanion by Robert Chin
By far the best free wikipedia app for the iPhone. Being a fan of wikipedia for it's up-to-date information and open source nature, downloading this app was a no brainer. Only problem was when searching for a keyword that isn't in the database, it gives a blank page instead of page suggestions like the online version has.

iQuran & iPray by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
I love the fact that not only does this app have the entire Quran surahs and verses, it also has the translation of the verses as well as downloadable audio for all of the surahs. However, the free version only allows 3 bookmarks.
As for iPray, it is a great guide to prayer times which you can set to whichever timezone and area you are. It also uses the GPS in-built on the iPhone to determine the qiblat location wherever you are.

Tap Tap Revenge 2.6 by Tapulous
The best game in the App Store by far. If you're a fan of O2 Jam, Guitar Hero, DDR and the likes, this is a must download game. I love the fact that there are tons of free tracks available to download and new tracks almost every week.

Frozen Lexicon (Free) by Amplified Games, Inc.
For someone who loves word games, this app is such a treat! The game play is similar to Text Twist but with a slight difference (i.e. Avalanche Challenge).

well, basically those are my top apps at the moment. i know. i spend way too much time messing around with my phone. what can i say? new apps are uploaded to the app store everyday. not to mention apps that go on sale for brief periods of time. haha.

believe it or not i've been bitten by the twitterbug. *and so has my youngest bro* what's so fun about twitter? for me, it's following celebs and other news tweets (staronline, eonline, peoplemag, etc). most of the time celebs don't respond to fan tweets but i imagine it's cos they're pretty much bombarded with tweets. *haha* i think twitter is perfect for me cos sometimes i don't really want to say much just random stuff and the 140 character allocation per tweet is perfect for that! lol!! plus it's super quick!

hurm. lately i've been experiencing some problems with my itunes. i can't seem to close it. i mean, i can shut the application but a few seconds later it re-emerges. no one seems to have an answer to that. i wonder...

there's just so many things i want to do but i feel like i'm already doing too many things (my stuff and other people's stuff inclusive) at the moment. i need a break. i need to slow down and take a breather i think. hopefully the whole H1N1 pandemic simmers down next year so i can go and take a much needed vacation. i feel so deprived. *haha* thank goodness for the internet or i'd be bored silly. i just love the internet (and gadgets and computers). *smile*