2009 December | slowcatchupkuan

Archive for December, 2009

In 2009…

2010 is drawing near. Gosh, today is already New Year’s eve! What are your plans tonight? Hmm… i doubt that i’ll be celebrating or counting down to new year since i really don’t do much of it in the past. Not that i’m not excited about the new start but i can’t stand the traffic jam and crowds of over-excited teenagers haha. So this year i’m staying at home yet again. Hey, who said i’m “happening” right? :P

I feel that i have not done anything significant this year yet i do feel that 2009 had been a very challenging year for me especially a bad year for my health. Nevertheless, it was definitely better than 2008 which like was the worst of my life.

I’m going to do a traditional short recap.

Jan 09 – Getting fit

Had a sudden realization that i’m really unhealthy. Started swimming again and jog every morning too. Broke my own record by maintaining the routine for a whole month. It was great while it lasted. Haha.

Feb 09 – Family trip to Bangkok

A trip to be remembered. It was our first ever trip with the family. I can’t believe how sporting mom and dad was. It was really fun bringing them around Bangkok sightseeing and especially shopping with mom at Chatuchak Market. We ended up bring 2 luggages full of goodies and 3 big pack of Thailand instant noodle (pork noodle)! Fun, fun fun!

The trip made me realized how attached i am to my family and my parents old age hit be hard. Dad suffered from gout on the last day of our trip and had to be on a wheel chair. But i think i’ve learnt how to organize a family trip and to be more responsible after that ordeal.

Mac 09 – Hiking in Chiang Mai

I had many first-time experience while in Chiang Mai. For a start, i had my first train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, i saw the exclusive Oriental Express for the first time, hike for 2 hours to a village for the first time, saw my first wild boar, slept in a hut with no electricity for the first time, witness a angmoh arm wrestling for the first time. The best of all is i also ride an elephant for the very first time. I tried weed too… ok i cheated. I witness bf do the weed. :P

Apr 09 – Moved to a new Domain, bought a New Laptop and cleared of Cyst

I’ve always wanted a my own new domain. So in additional to my travel and food blog which i bought the domain long before this, i bought my very own domain name for my personal blog. A mark in history hehe.

Ok i also changed my laptop. Nothing amazing but i had to mention it la.

After months of medication, i’m finally cleared of ovarian cyst! :))

May 09 – My Dogs very Violent

My dogs (Kobe and Pou Pou) mauled a cat to death and i had to carry the injured cat on my lap to the vet. It died on my lap before we reach the vet. I was traumatized. ‘Nuff said.

June 09 – Developed allergy to Dust

June was the worst because of the bad haze. The air was really polluted and even worst, i developed allergy symptoms. Eyes itchy, throat itchy, skin itchy, i could’t sleep for the whole months due to my blocked nose.

Aug 09 – Jazz Night, Food Poisoning and a New Watch

Boyfriend and i bought tickets to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band held at the MPO. We had great fun watching the band from New Orleans play. Definitely a good introduction to jazz music.

Got a fright and thought i had H1N1 since i’m so prone to sickness and H1N1 is spreading like wild fire then. Turned out i had a bad case of food poisoning. Thank god but no thanks.

Boyfriend gave me a new watch from Fossil i had been eyeing for a long time. Such a sweetie!

Sept 09 -> Nov 09

It was a very busy month and i was swamped with things to do. Had less and less time and not to mention mood to blog.

Dec 09 – Put a dog to sleep, Colored my hair and Mom is Not Well

I have mix feelings about December. First i found an old injured and abandoned dog at the park near my house. I had to let the vet put him to sleep because he was in too much pain. I’ve never in my life witness a dog being euthanised and believe me when i say nothing you read could prepare you for the very moment when the dog goes limp. It was really sad.

I decided to color my hair again because i just can’t stand having black hair. It makes me look messy and dirty. The salon did a rather alright job and i’m pretty happy about it except i want to cut it into a medium bob but my stylist refuse to do it. I’m getting it done no matter what. 2010 – short hair.

December is also a month that i feel i got closer to mom and i found out more about her. I had no idea she really had phobia of doctors and clinic up till i force her for a visit. Mom had been sick for quite a while now but yet she refuse to go to the clinic. When finally i managed to coax her to the clinic she was trembling in the waiting room. Like really shivering and trembling.

Well after that visit and another visit to the hospital we still don’t have the result. Let’s hope 2010 will bring good news.

2009 Checklist

2 more days and it’s 2010… if you ask me, time is moving way to quickly, in a blink of an eye a whole year is almost over.

Here’s a checklist of what i’ve done in 2009.

In 2009 I…

( ) stayed single for the whole year
( ) made out in/on a car
( ) kissed in the snow
( ) celebrated Halloween
( ) kissed in the rain
( ) had your heart broken
( ) broke someone else’s heart
(x) had a stalker
(x) went over the minutes on your cell phone
(x) had a good relationship with someone
( ) someone questioned your sexual orientation
( ) gotten pregnant
( ) had an abortion
(x) have a relationship with someone you’ll never forget
(x) done something you’ve regretted
( ) lost faith in love
( ) kissed under a mistletoe

OTHER
( ) painted a picture
( ) wrote a poem
(x) ran a mile
( ) shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
(x) posted a blog
(x) listened to music you couldn’t stand
(x) went to a sleepover
( ) went camping
( ) threw a surprise party
(x) laughed till you cried
( ) laughed till you peed in your pants
(x) visited a foreign country
(x) cut in a line of waiting people
(x) told someone you were busy when you weren’t
( ) partied to celebrate the new year
(x) cooked a disastrous meal
( ) lost something/someone important to you

(x) broke a promise
(x) lied
(x) went behind your parents back
( ) cried over a broken heart
(x) disappointed someone close
(x) hid a secret
(x) pretended to be happy
(x) slept under the stars
( ) kept your new years resolution
(x) forgot your new years resolution
(x) met someone who changed your life
( ) met one of your idols
(x) changed your outlook on life
(x) sat home all day doing nothing
( ) pretended to be sick
( ) left the country
( ) almost died
( ) given up something important to you
(x) lost something expensive
(x) learned something new about yourself
(x) tried something you normally wouldn’t try and liked it
(x) made a change in your life
(x) found out who your true friends were
(x) met great people
(x) stayed up til sunrise
(x) cried over the silliest thing
( ) was never home on weekends
( ) got into a car accident
(x) had friends who were drifting away from you
( ) had someone close to you die
( ) had a high cell phone bill
(x) spent most of your money on food
( ) had a fist fight
( ) went to the beach with your best friend
(x) saw a celebrity
(x) gotten sick
( ) liked more than 5 people at the same time
(x) became closer with a lot of people

Tomorrow i’m accompanying mom to the hospital for a hysteroscopy. I’m super worried and she’s super nervous. Cross my fingers and hope it’ll be good news and a good end to 2009.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Hey hey! I’m late as usual.

But i would like to wish everyone a belated Christmas… well technically Christmas is not over right? So Merry Christmas everyone!!

I colored my hair finally. Initially i thought it’s too bright (it looks brighter here under the sun) but it’s growing on me. I rebonded my hair too so that i it’s not too messy.

Few more weeks when the rebonding is not so limp and flat, i’m going to chop in short.

Happy new year!

Making “tong yuen” for Winter Solstice

This is obviously very embarrassing – not just for the one of me. Of our entire lives and my entire 27 years of life we’ve never made “tong yuen” before. It’s not really surprising because sis and i am pracitcally useless in the kitchen but imagine my surprise when i found out mom never made it before either.

All the while i thought my parents’ generation knows the way with all sorts of stuff like “tong yuen” and things like “bachang”…

Mom being helpless in this makes me guiltily satisfied *evil grin*

Me kneading hard

So anyways, sis and i were suddenly in the mood to make “tong yuen”. Probably because we saw the instant “tong yuen” for sale in the frozen food section a few days back in Jusco .

So i was fantasizing and day dreaming about me making the best, shiny glutinous rice balls and everyone giving me a standing ovation and rushing up to pat my back; secretly orders for next year’as Winter Solstice. Oh the fame and the glory!

Peanut grind

Mom bought us the ingredients and the ready made dough from some ah sam at the pasar… ermmm it wasn’t my idea to get the ready made dough ok. I really wanted to make it from flour and everything but since mom bought it i couldn’t just bin it right?

Can see my Ferero or not?

Actually i want to sue the ah sam who sold us that dough lor. I think she didn’t used the correct type of flour so the dough was super dry and cracked easily. We tried kneading it but the more we knead the worst it gets. When all fails we tried adding a little water before kneading but it cracks too.

Mom’s huge creation

Making “tong yuen” with fillings isn’t as easy as it sounds too. Mom prepared the peanuts grind with sugar and we tried to put the stuffing then roll it into a ball but ermm… it the dough keep on cracking LOL.

Mom made the first “tong yuen” but the whole thing fell apart so she simply roll the mess up into a ball which turned out to be the largest one i’ve seen (almost the size of an eyeball) .

It was then that i asked her whether she had never made “tong yuen” before to which she answered me with a cheeky “Yeah, i never made before but so what??”.

Square tong yuen

Sis was making really tiny ones but in the end she got fed up and the “tong yuen” got bigger and bigger.

“Make bigger faster done ma!”

She even made square shaped ones just to entertain herself.

I got fed up because i can’t get the dough to wrap the peanuts grind properly so i just made the balls and drop in to the bowl of peanuts. I call my creation the “tong yuen” ala Ferero Rocher.

The end result wasn’t as bad as expected. The rice balls was a little soft and not as chewy but it was edible lor.

I’m so proud of myself. Next time i’m going to make a pot-full of rainbow colored “tong yuen” and the boyfriend have to finished the whole pot or else. Blek!

Time for a New Cut

New year is coming and i’m in need of a new hair cut.

I’ve been changing my hairstyle every few years – i’ve had it in its natural state which is wavy and short, then long, i had it rebonded while it’s almost waist long, i chopped it really short after that, after a while i’ve tried the short Victoria Beckham bob though i regret it didn’t looked a bit like it, now it’s almost shoulder length and super messy since i’ve grown out the rebonding a while ago. I’ve colored my hair twice in my lifetime, each ended up a disaster. They always pick really ugly bright colors for me.

My current hairdresser refuse to cut my hair short. He suggested i rebond and color it and leave it long… the thing is i really can’t stand having long hair anymore. The weather is too warm in Malaysia and i don’t look good with rebonded long hair which makes my hair really limp.

So… i’ve decided to rebond the lower half of my hair and get this cut.

kate

A little shorter, like maybe one inche shorter and minus the blond hair of course. Instead, i’ll have this color.

kate-beckinsale_edited-1

What do you think?

Shopping with Mom

Sis is on a 2 weeks leave from work so yippiee. This means we could take a break for shopping. It’s the festive season after all and the clothes they have on display during CNY is really hideous so it’ll be smart to shop early.

Unfortunately mom had it all planned out. Woke us up so early in the morning, i half knocked myself out on the bedroom door. She insisted that we help her get YTL vouchers from the annual shareholder meeting again. So well alright, we were free and the vouchers are worth losing our few minutes of extra sleep.

After elbowing all the old people in the hotel ballroom we got out with 1k worth of dining vouchers. Nice work, pat our back.

Mom said i look good in the Forever 21 hat, so i insisted she tried it on and we took a pic :)

We head on to Pavilion after that.

It’s been a while since we went shopping with mom. I can’t remember the last time i went shopping with her. I think it was before i got into college when i start buying my own clothes and hang out with my friends then after that i started to work meaning even less shopping time with mom.

I kind of miss picking out clothes with mom… even though she disagree with half of my selections. LOL.

That’s me hugging my mom :))

I find it rather amusing that my sis and mom kept disagreeing on the skirt or top in the shop. Sis was really frustrated and fuming. Kind of reminds me of me when i was young.

Someday sis will understand. Mom is just opinionated and “kan cheong”. It comes with age. So be patient.

Sis with mom in front of the Xmas decor