The Story Between You And Me

Keong Hee Huat Chai

2012-01-28T12:06:00.001+08:00

I never thought I would say this but I'm quite pleased that Chinese New Year this year actually came at the most fortunate time. The extra break was pretty much godsend. Everyone in the family seemingly excited about the wedding and I've kinda become accustomed to all these kind of attention. Believe me it really wasn't easy at first, to step outside the comfort zone is always the most difficult step in life. As relationship bond grew stronger everyday, I'm happy to take on a new role in life and even with greater determination to make the existing role even better.

The year of the dragon brings forth uncertainty (earth is rapidly deteriorating) and also abundance of happiness (marriage). To sums things up in a single sentence, If the world dies, we die. If the we die, the world lives. :)

Reunion dinner is probably one of the most eagerly awaited date on the calendar each year much like Christmas Eve. Family is always priority number 1.

Home is where the heart is, and Kenyalang Park will always be that place. Something about the trees there, the traffic garden, srk kenyalang, the walkway to kenyalang shopping mall and my aunt's house always draw me back here all the time. I could just sit at the bench or grass and forget about all the things I had to go through everyday at work.

My uncle paid them to come on the third day of new year. I only want to ask, Chinese Lion ... why you no shuffle ?

Differing View

2012-01-20T10:10:00.001+08:00

Blogger actually rolled out these dynamic view quite some time ago. The new dynamic are quite intuitive and the best part it is able to display as it should inside your mobile browser like opera, safari, etc. You can opt to switch over to these view or just shortcut view it without changing your existing template. In case you do really like these new dynamic view, you can set it permanently in the blogger dashboard.

http://yoursite.blogspot.com/view/mosaic

The mosaic view is probably the layout out of the lot. You can switch to other dynamic views from the menu alloted below.

Some clickable sample :

The Story Between You And Me

Chan Chong Watch Dealer

Fruity Life

Be Yourself

Protesting Against

2012-01-18T22:55:00.001+08:00

What is the SOPA Initiative ?

Ready

2012-01-15T23:33:00.001+08:00

to be handed to the respective receipients. After the printer problem which we found out was because the color ink was low but not the black ink. The initial setting printer black color text with a mixture of color and black. And I thought modern printer suppose to be intelligent. Guess not.

The raw to jpeg conversion above was pretty poor because I was using photoscape to convert rather than lightroom.

My Printer Doesn't Like Envelope

2012-01-14T09:59:00.000+08:00

Printed fine on a folded A4 paper but unable to get it properly align on the envelope itself. It prints fine on the envelope if the opener is at the left hand side but haywire if the opener is on the right hand side. Baffling at best. One spoiled, 149 to go. Was suppose to print out for distribution at the office today, but it didn't materialize. Monday perhaps ? Oh that cute flash drive holds all the wedding related materials from past photos to dinner song playlist. 1 more month to go.

In one day

2012-01-11T18:11:00.000+08:00

various moments was captured through the lens of olympus e-500.

During the factory visit

While waiting to check in

Inside the factory

While playing the mini games

Through the window of Kingwood Hotel new wing

Carpenter

2012-01-08T20:16:00.001+08:00

Breakfast with the family at Carpenter Street this morning but before that went to a clinic nearby to get some medication. We park just opposite Chan Chong Watch (New Branch) and walk to Kim Joo. The mee portion is a bit too much for our liking. The soup portion is also quite a lot. Not really for light eaters like us. The coffee cup is very nostalgic, but I didn't order any drink as we already have coffee at home. Just go back drink and save a bit of money.

You can come Carpenter Street many times and never get bored of the surrounding. There is always something different to see each time. Those subtle things anyway.

Went for a quick lunch at Toast Bar, which I think is pretty odd as it's one of the only eatary places outside that we frequent the most. It must be that Red Tea or something.

Oh we finally got the invitation card ready. So now it's time to allocate all the guest into their respective seating. Hope can done within 2 days ? I already have people screaming in my email ....which goes something like ... where is the red bom ?????

Shaky hands.

This Morning

2012-01-07T22:11:00.001+08:00

we went for an 1 hour of badminton at sentosa sports centre. Need to burnt off those fat accumulated from the recent sibu trip due to the tour de food. Brought along my nephew this time around since I heard he really wanted to play badminton with someone other than by himself. It was a pretty good game all around between the 3 of us and fun too. Sometimes when you take a competitive edge off a sports, the entire learning experience will be much easier. You won't be under constant scrutiny in everything you do. So my advice for Andy Carroll, forget about your price tag and get on, enjoy football the way it is meant to be played!

Went to Banana Greeting to collect our wedding card since they mentioned that it's already completed 2 days ago. Quite satisfied with it. Receive a call from my cousin about that same time. Since we were nearby the area close to her father's shoplot, we brought her along for the rest of the day doing things she always like. Which is shopping. And eating.

Drop by Sarawak Plaza to check out Lea Centre, specifically looking for a pair of shoes for use during the wedding. After testing a few, I settled on the most comfortable pair. One more thing crossed off the checklist. Afterwards we went to Tun Jugah and was surprised to see Popular Bookstore have taken over the entire floor of the shopping mall. Seems like Popular remains popular. No pun intended. Finally bought something from Shih Ling stall there, after being recommended countless times by Terence. A XXXL Crispy Chicken Breast i think, as requested by my cousin. Had lunch at Ipoh Town, and bought some fried chicken piece for my nephew from KFC all within the space of 20 minutes or so.

My mum wanted to buy painting of a 100 birds and we found a place selling it at One TJ of all places. Bargained hard but manage only to knock off RM 8 off the final selling price. hehe. Ended the day walking to Spring from Kenyalang Park and bought a few more CNY shirt for myself. Spring is pretty much undrivable during night time. Overall ? An excellent family day. I think kids, parent or any other person, sometimes its not what we buy for them that is important but the effort that we put in during the process is what really counts. Listen to their concerns whenever possible, give them the attention and respect that they deserve.

A2200

2012-01-06T17:50:00.001+08:00

Just a coincidence that my boss wanted a new camera and what better and economical model than the Canon Powershot A2200. The lack of IS definitely is a downpoint but rest assured it still not major enough to be a deal breaker. Compact body, 4 times the optical zoom, proprietary battery, 720p video recording and a sweet pricing of just under 400 makes this camera pretty much a bang for the buck.

No aperture, shutter or manual mode here. That's okay as more often than not, you just want a simple to use camera on the go. Who got time to fiddle with those setting all the time ? Only tested the camera on the way back to the office. Pretty decent image quality. Too bad didn't try it on a high ISO setting. On a small sensor like these, don't expect HS quality during night shot. Thinking to get one for my dear to ease her transition to photography world before jumping into the EOS world. :)

Working Trip

2012-01-05T17:55:00.000+08:00

Was on a working trip the other day at Sibu. Pretty rushing all day long but we did manage to get a good food tour de force by Ah Bing. What can I say about Ah Bing ? Probably the nicest guy you will ever meet in such a harsh harsh world.

Sibu Kampua is pretty much like Kuching Kolo Mee in the sense that only Kampua in Sibu taste like Kampua and only Kolo Mee in Kuching taste like a Kolo Mee. Get it ?

Went to Mitsu Shabu Shabu at Sibu and the food is pretty good. Never miss out on a plate of fried rice with cow eyed egg eveyrtime :)

They also serve very nice buns. We a similar bun like the last photo at Hong Fu Seafood two days before hand. Not sure what it is but boy it was delicious.

Sibu Snapshot

2012-01-03T23:43:00.001+08:00

Was here and still here for the company annual dinner which also happens to be their 40th annivesary. Been jalan jalan cari makan since day 1 but engine a bit slow down now. Tomorrow maybe try some porridge for breakfast and a mega lunch of pork leg rice at Hong Fu Seafood again ? Money a bit low because no advance allowance ler. All i wanna ask is, wei ... Ang Chuah Cho ? Hehe. Just kidding.

The view from the hotel room is pretty sweet. Too bad the larger window can't be open. Ah boh ??? Cha cha du a lot of panaroma shot liao.

I really like Sibu Dian Bian Hu. It taste very original. Inset are Preston, Willy, Eric and Jason. Preston brought us to quite a number of places to eat. Thanks man. He is like the human encyclopedia of nice food to eat in Sibu.

The only thing I wanna say about Star Megamall is, It look like Spring from outside but it feels like E-Mart inside. Probably will never come to that mall ever ...... again. The pasar malam was even more interesting to be honest. Selling a lot of heaty fried food which I didn't try.

The roasted meat was okay but the winner is definitely the Yam Char Seow. Damn Ho Chiak!

Been working a day after the annual dinner. Quite surprised that nobody arrange food for us at the office. Had to self drive in a foreign place. Lucky there is GPS and some bit of familiarity with the road. On the other hand, saw an outrageous promotion of Buy 1 Free 6. It does it's job of attracting attention but you know deep inside there is no free lunch in this world. So .. moving on ...

Let's recap on the places we've visited so far for this working trip. Ta Kiong, Star Megamall, Giant, Wisma Sanyan, Premier Shopping Mall and Medan Mall. Not really that much but I enjoyed the walk from the hotel to Sanyan and back. I particularly enjoyed window shopping at Premier Shopping Mall, basically looking at all the camera lens on display. As for the working part, it's hasn't been a walk in the park at all. Major headache coming soon so early in 2012.

Counting Sheep To The New Year

2011-12-31T22:10:00.001+08:00

Been a while but December is probably one of the most busiest month of the entire year. Feeling jaded and burned out mentally and physically but if there is a light at the end of the tunnel, you'd will know that when you see that light its going to be worth it. Countless cpu cycle have been loop through, the video that I'd make starting to show some fruitition. Still very much an unpolish work, hopefully will be able to complete in time for the big day.

Today the backyard have been further mini renovated with a small and short awning to help prevent rain water from dropping into the wet kitchen area. Wet from cooking is okay but not wet from raindrops :) The process took around 3 hours on 2 separate occasion.

Today also mark the day the wardrobe arrives. It was surprising that the installation went without a hitch. 2 hours to install it. Now just waiting for the bed to arrive in first or second week of January.

This year Christmas felt it pass us by without much celebration. Ditto with the New Year. I'm just hoping to catch up on my sleeping session as much as possible. Tiredness probably does usually come with the job description. And by job I meant getting hitched.

Happy New Year 2012.

Nice Lunch

2011-12-26T23:59:00.000+08:00

post Christmas ... actually we always had a nice home cook lunch, dinner everytime regardless of the occasion. Credit has to go to my mum for being such an amazing cook. Hopefully dear can learn a few thing or two from her, a great skill not to be missed.

Fruit has always been part of the any meal we had. :) Just have to remember to say Grace before each serving.

The grill guy came and installed the grill. Hopefully this will deter anymore Dynamo washing liquid thieving wannabes.

Just need to add some kind of netting to prevent cats or any other animal from coming inside.

And then there still this headache of a wall that keeps leaking rain water but we're unable to pinpoint where is the leakage source.

Christmas Shopping

2011-12-26T00:20:00.002+08:00

This week we went to made some arrangement for the flower for the arch, pedestal and also the centre piece at orchidwoods. Since our date is quite near to Valentine's day, rose is pretty much out of the question. Had to settle for a Gerbera Daisy instead. In the same week, we also went to check out the greeting cards at banana greetings. Since I visit Toyota service centre quite often, I'd always thougt Banana Greetings(being just opposite across the road) is some kind of eatery. For once we are quite happy with the packaged deal and we added an additional 25% of the card just in case since the hotel only provide 75% quota. One last time, in the same week, we also went to confirm the finalized wedding photo. After the initial review we're quite glad that we were able ask the designer to make the changes that we feel would make the album as close to our preferance as possible.

Got it at 50% each, nowadays we always buys things during sales season only.

30% off the original price, you can say it fit the bill. Wasn't really sure if our bed package actually got come with one but I wasn't about to take chances of coming back again.

Pink Belly

2011-12-22T08:58:00.001+08:00

dear's old phone went crazy by doing the I'll-off-myself-when-you-call routine, so some measure need to be taken to address that 'situation'. Been eyeing the TXT for quite some time since it was announce few months ago. What's unique about this phone is it's price point. It is dirt cheap and I'm seriously considering getting two more for both of my parents when their phone spoilt someday. And a qwerty keyboard.... physical type where you actually can feel when you type it. Not really a fan of touch screen, can't even type properly on a huge screen like ipad2.Clumsy me.

running on propiertary os, no need to update, jailbreak or pay for apps .. as there arent' any :)

not a typo on the word 'belly', in case your wondering :)

The Other Day

2011-12-20T18:30:00.000+08:00

Got a pleasant surprised by Hui Jan and family with a complimentary macaroni bolognese i think it was. We really enjoy it very much. Thanks :) Which made me think of the Chana Masala recipe that I would like to try out on some free (a bit difficult at this moment to find that free time) weekend.

I was so busy this past week until I had to catch up on my english drama on my phone. Still got few seasons of dexter to get through.

You can redeem this gift if you purchase certain amount of value in a single receipt at the Spring Shopping Mall. No idea what is it, a white koala bear or a polar bear ?

My mum brought these back from my aunt's house at Kenyalang Park. She mention to me that the flower look like the shape of a bird. I think it look like a bird or a frog.

Until next time, tra la la ~~~

Adorable Visit

2011-12-19T18:30:00.000+08:00

Was raining pretty heavily prior to our visit to One Jaya mall. Haven't been visiting Adorable Gift for quite some time now since we've been very busy with personal, work and more personal stuff for the last few months or so, again. Good to see adorable being as busy as the festive season.

Look! It's a Pororo~~

Like the precious moment figurines but wallet is already in an unhealthy state. So window shopping nia lo.

Danbo activate....

Essence of Time

2011-12-14T20:37:00.001+08:00

Hold your horses, that's not tortoises for breakfast. Just the legendary chinese pastry call Ang Ku Kueh. Okay maybe it's not really that Ang (red) in color. I remember I wanted to eat it but somehow I can manage to be busy with everything else until I totally forgot about it.

Occasionally I still got play it but been neglecting this for a few months now. At some point of time I might even consider selling it off to some second hand shop including the fat arse 27 inch crt tv that was specifically bought for the ps2. A once ardent gamer reduce to just a bystander. The commitment, work and things to do is a bit overwhelming at time. Sometime you just want to say, okay stop. If the ps2 have feelings, it probably want to break up the relationship with me long ago. :)

Finally got the cup holder for toothbrush replaced with a wall holder instead. It drops occasionally because the sucker behind the holder looks like poor plastic which explains why it is unable to handle the "mighty" weight of 2 toothbrush. The cup holder was replaced because it always get very dirty after a while. Seriously, its just like a dirt magnet!

Lastly, I wanted to replace the room door knob since February this year. And it's like fricking December now. Sometime I find it amusing how the hell I get so tied up in relation to time. It feels like I used to type at 50 words per minute 10 years ago and on present day at just 10 words per minute. Until I stop whatever I'm doing right now and give some solitary second for thoughts, I might never know what is eating up all my time. I have feeling it might because I'm starting to feel old or maybe I just need to kick start some mountain climbing activity once again.

Hectic Weekend #2

2011-12-11T23:25:00.001+08:00

Hectic weekend again. Got the body medical report this week and as expected bad cholesterol level a bit high and good cholesterol was way lower than reference guide. Dear pointed out that it was because of my refusal to eat more fish meat was the cause of lower HDL. As for the high LDL ? Exercise more lo and eat less or none after 8pm. Which means no food after badminton since it run until 9pm. Thinking of trying the Kenyalang Park court someday since it's nearby us.

The church arrangement is only awaiting the church form for formality. Still nervous when talking to both Reverand Lau and especially James Chin. Always froze in front of him. I hope he don't think I'm weird. lol. Started choosing some old photos for the wedding montage, still figuring out how to create it. And sincerely I hope it doesn't suck badly. haha.

We went to select the wedding photos again. Finally we settled with the album and should be able to see the finalized version on Dec 24. Which would also be a hectic week for the company. Juggling for free time just got even harder to deal with.

Completed a mini wet kitchen a few weeks ago. Still left the grill. Speaking of grill, my mum's dynamo washing liquid was stolen last week from our backyard. Still pretty new and she is kinda upset over it, since she got it pretty cheap from the Everise sales sometime ago. The bottle are still new and unused.

A top layer coating from the headlamp came off about a year ago and it got progressively worse. Manage to finally remedied it after seeking advice from Peter. Use Amway polish. The mess up headlamp looks a bit better now so I don't have to replaced it with a new one. I'm quite happy that a lot of my relative offered me their car for the wedding but somehow I quite fond of my own car. :) I just feel that using an expensive car just doesn't reflect me as person. I'm just a normal guy and I intend to stay that way.

She cook spagetthi again this weekend. Taste much better than the one we made few weeks ago.

Cheers people. Pray hard, work hard and rest well.

Hectic Weekend

2011-12-05T12:16:00.001+08:00

Wah December already. Time is moving way too fast for us to savor it. You'd wonder could the earth just spin a little slower a bit ? Like say one day have 30 hours. :P Went for a body checkup at pathlab at Song Thian Chiok there. Irks us a lot that the customer service seem like too eager to push their expensive package at your face. All they took was just the blood and urine.

Once done, we went to Kenyalang Park for breakfast. Met with Monica and her husband at a coffee shop. How long has it been ? Very long indeed. All that memory of striding through Portrade came rushing back, but I turn my attention to Kolo Mee in just 5 second. Hungry bah ... yesterday no eat since 8pm. After that we spend the entire afternoon browsing and choosing through the wedding photo. From 400++ photos cut until 23. I think I might add another 2 later this saturday. Hard to choose when a lot are quite okay.

Sunday morning, I went with my parent to a newly opened kopitiam near the 4 1/2 mile, 7th Mile and Batu Kawah junction. I think it was opened for the 4th day if not mistaken. Parking is a bit sparse to say the least. Since the place is rather new, that's where the crowd usually gather. Got new toilet to try.

Quite a lot of choice of food. The usual suspect of Kolo Mee, Porridge, Fried Cook, Kam Pua and Eco Rice are present. Didn't see Laksa or Kueh Chap or Bak Kut Teh, but I'm sure it's somewhere around there. Didn't really go walk around the place.

There is fried vegetarian. Somewhat a rare sighting for me. Seldom go out eat so a bit suan pah lau on food. The kampua guy is my father friend. Because of that we ordered 3 bowl of kam pua that day. Taste okay but I think A1B2 there still much better than most.

Kam Pua Mee. Still lose deep deep to Kuching Kolo Mee and West Msia's Wantan Mee. Just my preferance. :D

On sunday night we went to the Kuching Association of Churches hall to checkout the Nan Yen Folk Orchestra performance. Dear uncle and friend were few of the performers and since I've never actually seen a chinese orchestra before, why not give it a go. The food are provided by Li Garden and it was just average.

The guy with the jean sitting on the left hand side is her uncle lo. Soon to my uncle too.

There is the chinese choir which was nice.

Cha cha dancing. Husband and wife team.

I'm not sure what dancing style is this but it was good entertainment.

The guy in the middle is the conductor who hails from KL but originated from Miri. He was a bit angry with the crowd for making way too much noise instead of enjoying the musical performance at one stage.

That's not a trophy he was holding btw. A weird kind of multilevel flute saxaphone hybrid. Uncle is standing with the group doing the singing. I think the voice of the group didn't really came out because of the wrong placement of the microphone. Overall the entire performance was good. I really enjoyed the folk musical by the Nan Yen Folk Orchestra. It actually also feel like a rehearsal for our wedding dinner in 2 months time. finger cross people. :)

Chicken Tuna Spaghetti

2011-11-28T18:30:00.000+08:00

You'd probably won't find this recipe anywhere as we just simply created it on the fly just few minutes before going to Sunday Service. Ended up didn't attend because it wouldn't be possible to cook it in time for lunch. Instead we wen't to choice daily to pick up some ingredients such as a tuna can in olive oil and a vegetable for dressing.

Spaghetti provided by dear. Chicken meat from my fridge. The other 2 are bought from choice daily.

A perfect looking vegetable is a good indicator that it might be laced with by product pesticide. Make sure it is washed thoroughly before consumption.

Actually we tried many times to get this shot. If the vege had a mind, it would probably be dizzy by now.

Dice it ?

Add salt to give it some flavor.

Should be done by 10-15 minutes time.

Cook with water. Something about this vege that doesn't taste as good as those local vegetables. Not to mention that it is also quite pricey.

Chicken meat done.

Tuna just take out from the can and ready to serve.

Just checking to make sure the Spaghetti is really done. Something about the spaghetti, its a bit rubbery. Maybe because we didn't put in olive oil ? Cooking a self created recipe can both risky and fun at the same time.

Everything else taste great except for the vegetable being the odd ingredient out. Should have use a tomato instead i think. According to dear, the vege would taste nicer if we mixed it thoroughly with the tuna and the olive oil that accompanies it. It was a good try though. We finish all in 2 servings each.

My dear. There is a running joke that I'd always play on her. Calling her my new Human Auto Gate System. Last time always have to open the house gate myself, soon I will have an human automated one. :) Just kidding. Was thinking of trying to cook, Chana Masala with chickpies, potatoes and rice next weekend.

Lazy Afternoon

2011-11-28T12:20:00.001+08:00

Last 2 day have been very hot. Sweating even when sitting down reading a newspaper with the fan blowing across the face. Did the earth just spun too close to the sun again ?

A lazy afternoon would not be complete without a lazy cat taking a cat nap on an umbrella. That "don't disturb me" face is priceless.

I cannot emphasize how sharp this Tokina really is. Worth every cent paid.

BCCK Sarawak ICT

2011-11-27T19:11:00.001+08:00

Went here looking for a thumb drive. Specifically a cheap thumb drive. I would never have drove here for the ICT Expo unless dear ever been to BCCK before which she didn't.Me finding a cheap thumb drive and she visiting BCCK for the first time basically a killed 2 bird with 1 stone scenario.

Brought the Tokina this time around.

The place look fantastic and worthy enough to hold any event or wedding I might add. A very posh wedding that is.

Didn't seem to have enough parking space, we actually parked in a roundabout of all places.

Not the type of crowd I was expecting from an ICT expo. Kuching will never have the same volume of visitor as IT Fair at PWTC. Shoulder rubbing shoulder ? No thanks. Ample walking space ? Yes please.

The lighting above the ceiling the quite eye catching.

Netbook are small enough for portablily but the computing power is quite lacking.

Got canon booth but I didn't check it out. Would have been nicer, If there is a L lens test booth.

A lot of antivirus product on sale, Avira, Avast (with a newly redesign logo) was on display.

Bought a thumb drive from this booth, I must mentioned that the promoter girl here was quite the looker.

Aside from the hardware, software booth. There are also those selling hp, credit card and even service provider. Mostly GLC company such as Sains. Spend around 35 minute here before we went back for dinner at home. A worthwhile visit is the verdict.

Sunday Rest

2011-11-27T09:04:00.001+08:00

Just looking forward to a good sunday rest. So many things to do, so little time. Even with proper time management it is still not enough. Waiting for the ND8 filter to come so I can try slow shutter in daylight.

The backyard have undergone a mini renovation to built a mini wet kitchen. Since cooking inside will oil up the whole dining room, cooking outside would be the only viable option. The electric chimney was a thought up option but judging by the way chinese cooking is, it wouldn't be as effective in reducing the oil splash. Right now the current cooking place had oily tiled walls and tiled floors. Needing to clean after each cooking is certainly not a workable solution.

Sorry Ice Cream ... @Hielo

2011-11-24T09:53:00.002+08:00

but I'm in love with Hielo ....

The logo design is very attractive, simple, clean and not so clutter. And the slogan itself ? a very bold statement... considering how I am not a fan of yogurt but my dear swore to it like singing hymn of praise on a Sunday morning. :P

The owner himself. Hardworking and good looking at the same time, modern day entrepreneur. Incidentally he is dressed up just like my character in Sim Social minus the hat. Just a coincidence perhaps or finally I get the whole dressing up trend ?. If so how come I still dress like an uncle from the 1990s ?

Ah.. this fellow. Look rather familiar. The source of my affection, crowning glory in a diadem and some say Lord Voldermort's wet dream with the Elder Wand. Okay scratch the last part. In short my better half.

Okay, I was confused with the menu for the first 3 minute I was in there. Until we saw the instruction menu on the right most side of the wall. Basically you choose from 2 different base, the size and the toppings/dressing.

Okay ... since it was the first time, I think we forgot to add in the waffle flower shape thing in our order. So it might look a bit aesthetically off but I can assure you, look doesn't make a food delicious. Back to the product, I can say I do enjoy the yogurt very much. It taste much better than those FMCG that they put on the market. As for dear, I think she enjoyed it the most as she had the larger helping than mine (this doesn't happen very often when it comes to food). So the question is, will we go back again ? Yeah sure, maybe with some friends in tow.

Sorry Ice Cream ...but I'm in love with Hielo ....