A week's break!

Just a week. Some say that it's a lot. I would think that it's nothing comparable to a whole month some people are getting. Anyway, don't be jealous. I will be so packed with work when I get back in next week. So please don't kacau me with work now.

How do I plan my week long holiday? Nothing much actually. Getting some personal stuff done. Catch up with friends. Indulge in my long-left-aside novel. Swim. Blog. Blog. Blog. Making mid night calls. Haha! Kan biasa for me...And most importantly, getting loads and loads of sleep. Yeah. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

So, you'd be seeing more of me these days.

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Simple pleasures

I'm a very simple person. Little things in everyday life can give me great pleasures.

Last Sunday was spent at the Pyramid. Dia's birthday celebration. There were no other plans after that. And so, the few of us hung around the mall for 3 hours with no purpose in mind. True lepaking! Haha! Well, there was a purpose la. We were to buy Dia's gift. But most of the time we were memang lepaking.

Standing behind pillars. Gathering in front of the elevators. Gathering in front of the stores. Sitting by the side walks. Walking up and down without directions. Moving in and out of the stores, comparing prices and designs. We stood at one point, brainstormed for the next activity or for the ideal place to have dinner. Got no conclusion, walked a few stores down, stopped, and did the same thing. Still, no conclusion, strolled around the corner, stopped in front of another store and did the same thing again. I just love you guys la!

Too tired of walking and standing around? We headed to McD's for a drink and by then, dinner time was near and yet no decision has been made still. Hah! Eventually, we got the gift and found a place for dinner. Coincidentally, the gift was what she spotted few days ago. Is it really such a coincident? =P

They are really a cute bunch of people. It's good to have them around sometimes. No doubt.

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The biasness in everything

Life is unfair. No one ever said that it is not. In everything to be done, in every action to be taken, in every decision to be made, in every words to be said, there would be an element of biasness. No one is of the exception. Not your family, not your friends, not your colleagues, not your boss, definitely not a stranger and not even your own self.

No matter how often you lied to yourself by saying that you are treating everyone the same, the actions showed otherwise. It's perfectly human nature after all. People would of course look after themselves first. And then to those of their liking. But at that very same moment, they would expect or demand to be treated better than the rest. They portrayed biasness to others and yet wanted to be treated fairly. Things get ugly when people fail to get what they desired.

I guess it's relatively human nature too that people don't think by what I would like to call a "two-way matching". If you want others to do good on you, surely you'd have to do good on others in the first place. How can you expect others to willingly help you out when you pushed them away in times of neeed? The surprising thing is that you'd get all upset and begin to curse that particular person for not offerring their help. People are this funny at times. What can you say to make them change their minds? Nothing. They were born with it and they would continue to live with it. Unless, you are able to make them fall real bad in order to wake them up.

Sometimes, I would like to think that life is worth giving up with. It's okay if poeple at work hurt you. They don't really matter. Once the job is done, you'd never see them again. It would still be okay if your friends hurt you. You can switch friends anytime you like. They don't stick with you forever after all. It would be painfully okay if your CLOSE friends hurt you. People make mistakes. You would forgive them for who they are. But what if family hurts you? In times of need. In times when you needed some one to be there for some support. In times when you needed to hear some consoling words. And then biasness creep up. You begin to compare. You begin to feel unfair. What do you do when tears no longer heal? When the shattered could no longer be shattered? You would just give up.

Life is memang unfair. In everything. Prove me wrong!

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Friends with benefits

Ever heard about Friends with Benefits? I first heard about it through One Tree Hill. I forgot which episode was it in already. It was an album set up by Peyton and her biological mum Ellie for the cause of breast cancer. Supposedly to raise fund for it. Ellie died not long later bacause of the cancer. From what I presumed, 'friends with benefits' in this context would mean that there are people who will stand by your side in times of need. People that will never give up on you even when you feel like giving up yourself. Watch the series to get the full meaning of it.

In other context, according to UrbanDictionary.com, they laid out another meaning to it. 'Friends with benefits' here means 'two friends who have sexual relationship without being emotionally involved. Typically two good friends who have casual sex without having a monogamous relationship or any kind of commitment.' I guess it's pretty much self-explanatory. No further eleborations needed, right?

But what I really wanted to talk about is neither of those stated above. It's more to the lay man term. Just read 'friends with benefits' and tell me what comes to your mind at the very first instance. I would say friends who allow you to gain some benefits out of them. More to like friends for your use at your own discretion. You must be wondering, "Why would there be such dumb people in the world?". Believe me, there is. Some might not know that they aleady fall into the category of being used. Some might be doing it willingly. Some might be doing it to gain something back in return. In short, being a friend is tough. Being a good friend is even more harder.

I never knew by being friends can be so complicated. At least, that's not how I got the definition of 'friends' from. Nor have I grew up with these kind of friends. Yeah, call me naive for not having stepping out in the real world yet. If people keeps using you, would you want to call them friends still? "Can you come pick me up from work today? I don't know how to drive alone and he's rather busy at the moment." "Can you call him for me please? I'm out of credit." "Can you pay for my drink first? I'm kinda tight on cash." "I'm busy today. Can you accompany her out for me please?" "I'm bored today. Can you come and take me out shopping?" "He's here now. I think I'll follow him back. Thanks for hanging out with me. You can leave now." All the "pleases" and "thank yous" don't seem to have any effects anymore. Cause they no longer sound sincere. Even if they do, they were not really meant to be. Did you ever stop to think what your friend might feel before you ask for those favours? Maybe you didn't. Then maybe I should turn that question around, to something like this : What would feel if your friend did those very same things to you?

The word 'friends' today poses alot of meanings. They no longer take 'friends' as just friends like the way they used to. How would you define a 'friend' today? More importantly, how would you define a 'close friend' today? You won't be a friend if you are of no benefits. Nothing is that simple anymore.

And are you a 'friend with benefits'?

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Contradictions

Some poeple have either no idea what they are saying or no idea what they are thinking. Or maybe their brains some how or rather doesn't connect to their mouths in a proper manner. Cause what they think and what they say are absolutely two different things. And they give total confusions to those who tried to interpret them. In the end, I'd say, just give up la.

Some one has warned me, time after time, to not to reveal too much of my personal stuffs to other poeple. Personal stuffs as in personal feelings, personal opinions, personal informations etc. Secrets of your life la in short. For fear that they might be used against you in the near future. Or for fear that others might come up with something and talk bad about you behind your back. So, it would be better to keep everything to yourself. And to not leak a single thing out.

But it is also this same person that keeps telling me that I've been very secretive about my life. Not wanting to share my feelings and my life stories with them. Keeping everything to myself is not a good thing, they say. We should sometimes let out in order to absorb some advices and some directions from those who went through the same paths as we are going through now. Then only we'd see the 'light'. Opened up our minds. But most importantly, we have to spill. It's suffocating to keep everything all bundled up inside.

Ritez. So whom should I listen to? The you who gave me the advice a few months back OR the you who's giving me the advice now? Are you confused yourself and trying to confuse me? Or did I get your message wrong and confusing myself with it?

To end all the confusions, I think I would like to listen to myself. Listen to my heart. I shall let out when ever I wanted to and I shall keep things inside when ever I wanted to too. I need to find the right person to talk to also rite? And not everyone is a suitable candidate. I'm sure that's the way with you as well.

I'm a little rebellious, by the way. Live with it!

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"Look Out Point"

Just finished some reading and I suddenly thought about the place where I went with my colleagues a few days back. Can't resist the urge to blog about it.

It is some where in Ulu Langat. Can't really remember the way to get there as it was at night and while I was busy chatting in the car, I sort of lost track of the directions there. Maklumlah, I wasn't the one behind the wheels then. All I know is that it is up on a hill, some where near "Little Genting" and Saga Hill. Well, that's what they call it. Let's say around 15 minutes from my place? Gosh, I lost track of time then too. And that place is memang called Look Out Point. And it is a tourist destination.

There are 3 restaurants up there. One high class Italian type of thing. One that resembles "Kaki Corner", minus the live bands. If you've been to Kaki Corner, you'd know what I mean. And one which didn't open the night we went, so I didn't pay any attention to what kind of food they serve.

The best thing about this place is that it overlooks the whole of KL city. Yeah, something like "Little Genting". But the view from here is much more better. Clearer without any blockages from anything. It's very breezy with an awesome view of the KLCC, the KL Tower and any other high rise building which you would like to see. The place could be very romantic if it wasn't for the crowd of youngsters celebrating some birthdays up there. Cool, dim, quiet, soft music and magnificent night view. Totally melted my heart. You know I've always love night sceneries. Haha!

Unfortunately (again!), we didn't think about snapping some pictures then. So what's left of that night are only in my memories now. Unless, I get someone to either bring me there again or show me how to get there. It's worth a second trip up. It's free anyway. Other than petrol costs. I mean you don't have to pay to get in. They have this sight-seeing tower at the top of the hill for your use too. Not bad I would say. I didn't even know such place existed after living here for so many years. =P

Okay, I feel like getting back to my novel now.

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"Heated" up!

You know what? Some people are either being plain childish or they are just being plain dumbos which I no longer want to entertain. I can be a very friendly person to joke around and to follow with the flow with what ever decision that has been made. But if you take advantage of that and think that I'm easy to mess with, boy you can be so damn wrong.

I don't know what's with all the fuss about me getting a few days off from work. People all around are either just being jealous or being plain sarcastic or just being funny. Either way, fun no more. The matter has got me hot in flames and I guess I blew it up at a few of them. What's the big deal anyway? You guys have never seen people taking leaves before? Then what is the use of all the annual leaves then? They allocate them to you for the fun of it?

I can't help it if you are feeling bitter about someone getting days off. Either you are too afraid to ask for your own break or you don't have enough days for your own use. That's not my fault right? So quit whinning and quit throwing sarcastic compliments that you thought no one knew. You guys just ruined my supposedly relaxing holiday by getting me into a real bad mood. But you didn't succeed yet. I won't and never will feel guilty about it. So stop all those stupid acts.

Get a life of your own people and quit interfering with others' business. Don't you have better things to do?

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Jogoya

HK came up with this idea of going for Japanese food for his birthday. Or maybe it wasn't him. Forgotten who actually suggested it but I was kind of reluctant to go with the flow initially. Maklumlah, this Jogoya thing costs about 100 bucks per person and I got like a few birthdays to celebrate this month. Futhermore, did a few shopping sprees and some unexpected expenses came up..hah...financially tight la in short.

But after some persuasions from him and the rest, and some unavoidable temptations, I gave in. So there we were, all lined up in front of the all famous Jogoya even before it opened for business last Monday evening. And I thought we were early, mana tau, there was already a whole long line of other people waiting in queue. "That nice meh?" was the first thing that ran through my mind. And, yes, indeed it was.

Thanks to HK and his booking a couple of days earlier, we managed to get in with minimal disruptions and got a table some where in the middle. A table for 11. Cool decos. Dim lights. And so our madness begun. We tried almost every variety that was laid out that night. CK took oysters after oysters the whole night. WY was all about king crabs. She sapu-ed every single type they have there. Pa went for soft shell crabs. The whole night you'd only hear him asking, "Where's my soft shell crab? Still not here yet?" Dia, on the other hand, went for another type of sea living animal. Fishes. Cod fishes. Bawals. One after the other. SK grabbed a few "gui ling gous" during dessert session. And HK, wow! He took almost everything edible there. Even when the rest of us were stuffed till we can't breathe, he was still feasting on the dishes that the waiter kept bringing to the table. Geng! I take my hat off to you man.

All in all, I guess we spent around 3 hours there. And it was definitely worth it. Tasty till the end. Nothing like any other Japanese food that I've tried. I think if I was not that stuffed, I would have continued further. After all, we qualified for the VIP dishes. Boy, do I really feel like a VIP man! I guess words can't really describe the food and the ambience surrounding it. Pictures might not really get you to imagine it either. So, the best way is to try it out for yourself. And believe me, that 100 bucks is definitely worth spending. Give it a try! And make sure you make bookings in advance. You'd be amaze to see how many people lining up to get in.

Alright, no more buffet for me for the next few months. Damn bloated now.

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Friends

You'd be miserable with or without them.

Yeap. And they have a wierd way of messing up your life.

On the days when you needed them so much, when you were feeling lonely, when you needed someone to be there or someone just to listen, they were no where to be found. Calls get unanswered. Messages unreplied. And outings get rejected. You end up being more depressed than ever and wondered what good does it bring by having so many friends.

Then on the days when you needed time to be on your own, just to rest or to do some personal stuffs, your phone never stops ringing. From friends every where. Some party some where. Some catch up later. Some yamcha after that. Then movie the next morning. Or shopping the next afternoon. Then dinner again. Then another party comes by. All from different group of friends. And when you are too busy entertaining this group that you somehow or rather left out the other group, they'll start to call and ask why haven't you been calling lately? Why have you changed? Why don't you want to hang out with the group any more?

Do you get what I mean now? Life sure is isn't simple.

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Another total madness

Went for another trip down to Malacca today. Yes. Another time. Shocked the hell out of my parents and a few of my colleagues. "What? You are going there again? You memang chill la, friend"...Hah. This was not a sudden decision. The trip has been planned a month ago I guess. Someone got to know about some free tickets to Dusun Paradise - an orchard full of all kinds of fruits. And we get to eat them as much as we want for free. Thanks to the free tickets.

So we went there today. Only that there were not many fruits around to eat. It was just not the fruiting season la. We saw the fruit trees, we saw the descriptions explaining them but not the fruits. There were not really alot of varieties anyway. We saw chempedaks all the way. Manggoes all the way. Passion fruits all the way. Bananas all the way. Papayas all the way. Okay la. There were other fruit trees also. Cherries. Durians. Pineapples. Starfruits. Jambus. Guavas. Langsats. Etc etc.

The only thing that made the trip fun was the aboriginal show from Sabah and Sarawak. It would be rather bored if it weren't for the traditinal dance that we joined in for fun. On stage. In front of all the audiences. But we couldn't follow in their steps, so we made up our own. Boy, it was tiring. Hahaha!

So after making rounds around the orchard in buggy cars, snapping pictures here and there, playing with little animals and plucking fruits, we left at 2 pm. Came back for a late lunch and realised that it was rather stupid to go all the way there for nothing.

Youngsters. That's what we do. Doing stupid things for nothing. And enjoying every moment of it. Hah!

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Taiping/Penang trip - Part III - The stuffs we captured

Here's what we did on the trip. For those who couldn't imagine what I wrote previously, maybe the pictures might help.

Have fun!

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Taiping/Penang trip - Part II - The 'games' we play

Yups. That's what trips are for. To have tonnes of fun. And we certainly did. Although with little bumps along the way.

So, we went in 3 cars. All 10 of us. I guess the whole department would have already known. No matter how hard we tried to keep it hushed. Cause all of a sudden a whole bunch of people took leaves on weekdays. Prompted their curiosities la. So, we headed to Taiping on the first day and stayed for the night at Legend Inn. What's there to do in Taiping, you ask? Well, not much. But since one of us is from there, so we went for it la. But basically, we bonded with nature while we were staying there.

We were taken to Burmese Pool. It's a waterfall la. With rocks and streams and everything. We packed some goreng stuffs and picnic-ed by the rocks. There was a point where I slipped and fell into the water. And someone managed to record it. Ish! Since I was wet, I continue to lay on the flowing water. Cool and refreshing. Accompanied by little fishes as well. Ahhh!

The next morning,, we were still in Taiping. This time we were brought up to Maxwell Hill. Nah, no hiking up hill. City people like us would rather hire a jeep up. Around 30 minutes. Another refreshing and chilling moment. Early morning breeze. With a bird's eye view of Taiping town. We played swing there. Walked on a suspension bridge. Competed to run uphill. And definitely joked around. But the journey down was horrible. With everyone felling pening and a few vomitted. Real city kids la us.

Then, we continued our journey to Penang island. We booked this apartment at Sri Sayang Resort, Batu Ferringhi. The first day was spent hanging around Gurney Plaza and Gurney Drive. No nice view la this time. It was low tide and the breeze was not strong enough. Making our walk rather hot. We snapped pictures here and there. Got lost on the roads awhile. Quarreled abit about directions. And made it back to the apartment rather early. No night activities we planned for that night as we were all very tired.

The apartment was rather dodgy. With the flush not working, the air cond not strong enough and the shower abit cacat. Looked more like a run-downed place. No way I'm going back there again. 2 nights there was enough. So, the first night was spent by arranging rooms, taking turns to use the washrooms, watched horror movies and some even brought study materials to study for exams. Hah!

The whole of the next day was spent eating around Penang. The only place we hung out was yet another mall. Perangin Mall. Where we spent a total of 2 hours of window shopping. Then it's eat, eat and eat. And ya, I managed to try out their trishaw ride. Cheap. Only RM 2.50 for like 15 minutes around Penang. Syok! Then we went to the pasar malam at Batu Ferringhi to......buy DVDs! RM 4 per piece. Let it be CDs or DVDs. All kinds of musics. All kinds of movies. All kinds of series. If you can't find it in one stall., feel free to try your luck at the next stall. You will definitely get the one you want. Someone bought over 100 bucks worth of DVDs in just that one night. Take your own sweet time in finishing watching them man.

What's a trip without some booze? As expected. We finished the whole bottle this time. Unlike the Lumut trip. This time we played arm wrestlings instead of batmans and spidermans. Losers drink. Everyone turned red and dizzy by the end of it. And yet, we still had the strength to talk about love and relationships. Hah. Another heart-to-heart talk that night. Surprisingly, everyone was still sober enough to pour out their own opinions. Right on until 5 am where we really cannot tahan and crashed immediately. Leaving all the stuffs behind in the hall.

We slept till about noon before checking out and went for that must-have seafood at Bukit Tambun. Then it's goodbye and we went our separate ways home. Well, all is not over yet where we still had more stories to tell on the ride home. My car was filled with stories about various fishes and fishermans. From tengirris to dolphins to sharks to islands to sampans and cruises to different seas to baits and fish nets. Hahaha! Coded story. Shhhhh...

It was during this trip that all true colours emerged. Some of them can be really crappy. Some really can be naughty and play like no ones business. Some can be really serious. Some loses their patients very easily. Some egoistic people. Some really caring ones. People just aren't who they are at first sight la. But still, we call each other....friends.

We were still talking about the trip when we got back this week. Almost everyone was asking us about it. During lunch. During tea-breaks. In between work. And you can definitely see alot of Tambun biscuits on the tables. Each of us at least got 2 boxes back for our fellow bosses and team mates. Our car was really packed with nothing else but boxes after boxes of Tambun biscuits. But everything was gone within 2 days. Nice.

Unfortunately, pictures are not in yet. No time to upload them. Will post them up when they are all done.

One memorable trip. The first and the last one, perhaps?

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Taiping/Penang trip - Part I - Food

The trip worked out. Without much 'casualties'. And all participants showed up. 4 days 3 nights. 10 persons. 3 cars. It's too long to write in detail every single thing we did, so for the first part, I'll talk about the main purpose we went up north. FOOD of course. What else could Penang be famous for right?

So, here goes.

• Nam Heong coffee shop in Ipoh - I seriosuly have no idea what this place is famous for, but people from there says it's good. So, we went for it. And it is indeed good. Expecially the egg tarts and this chicken siew pao. Highly recommended. It's crunchy and it's fresh. A totally must go if you happen to be in Ipoh.
• Hokkien mee in Taiping - my friend lives there, so he knows where to bring us. There's no name for this place. Just a stall by the road side managed by an old couple. Another thumbs up. Taste nothing like any Hokkien mee in KL. We ordered plate after plate cause it tasted so damn good and there were 10 damn hungry kids to feed. And it was damn cheap. The aunty there sort of got confused with so many orders that she had to repeat them so many times.
• Duck rice, Taiping - This is one of the most expensive meal we had. Forgot which shop it is already. Basically it's by the main road. Ya. I know. Which main road rite? Sorry la, you know I'm bad at directions. I guess the expensive part is not the duck but the side orders we placed. The soups were suppose to be yummy so we ordered a few. We had 'tien kai', 'sang yu', 'chu tou' and some chicken essence one. And their orange juice is fabulous. Can't describe here la. You got to try them out yourself. Then, you'll know what I mean.
• Char kuey teow, Lorong Selamat, Penang - now this one has been on the papers. The aunty who made it famous is real snobbish and they have different pricing for locals and non-locals. Obviously people like us are considered non-locals and are therefore being charged at a higher price. It was nothing special anyway.
• Gurney Drive, Penang - locals don't find the food there nice. But there were plenty of varieties. That's their main attraction. So, lets see, we had : fried oysters, pasemburs, laksa, ikan bakar, fried chicken skin, otak-otak, fried tauhu etc. Yea. All unhealthy stuffs. But we loved it.
• Yam rice, Bukit Mertajam - another friend knew of this place. We went for it. It's situated in a corner coffee shop. Didn't get to know the name of the place. But it was something special. It's actually rice with yam on top plus meatballs and all kinds on pigs' intestines. We didn't have enough of it as well cause the portion of it is rather small. A few of them shouted hungry not long after that. No fret. There were other 'menus' planned out.
• Cendol, Jalan Penang, Penang - This is absolutely good. I had two bowls myself. People were actually queueing up for this. The cendol's sweet but not too sweet. Just right enough for our taste buds. Yumm.
• 'Pie-tee', Jalan Penang, Penang - Just situated at the cofee shop next to the cendol. Cute cup-cake sort of like delicacy filled with turnips and tomato sauce. One bite finishes it all. Just a small one la.
• New Lane, Penang - Something like Gurney. All kinds of stalls along this road. Mostly what you can see in Gurney is here la. But we tried stuffs other than those tried in Gurney. To name a few: porridge, satay, lobak, chee cheong fun, fried oysters (again), 'pat pou' drink etc
• Seafood, Bukit Tambun - This was our last place to eat. We went there for lunch on the last day. It's actually a fishing pond turned into a restaurant. So, we got this table by the pond with a nice view, with water under us and fishes swimming around and soft breezes blowing, as it was cloudy that day. All kinds of seafood were ordered and we took our own sweet time munching on soft shell crabs and just enjoying the moment and the company. For 8 dishes of seafood and 2 plates of soft shell crabs, we were charged for less than RM 200. Plus raw oysters as well. My friend ordered some kind of weird looking seafood which I forgot what it's called. Look yucky as well but tasted not bad. I will know how to tell you when I see one. All stomachs filled before the drive home.

Nah. No fancy restaurants on this trip. We got all our food in hawker stalls. By the road. By some tempat terpencil. All sweats and dirty but definitely worth all the long drives. At least, they were special stuffs that we don't get them often in KL. And they are really damn cheap man. We were laughing our heads off. Yummy and cheap. Hah! We had a few meals in one day. Real fulfilling.

I shall detail my activities there, other than food, in the next entry.

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