Tuesday, March 30, 2010

强力推荐!

感谢淑慈把这个部落格介绍给我。

一个很棒的部落格。简单的文字,没有卖弄文采,却让你细细咀嚼。照片的含义,由你来发挥。

心情不好时,还是遇到了挫折而气馁时,甚至是无聊没事干时,都来看看。这里。你会觉得,你的一点小挫折又算得上什么?世界那么大,还有很多你不曾见过的情景。

我不认识以量,只看过他的这个部落格。他的耐性及爱心是最令我钦佩的地方。

希望你也会喜欢。

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A joyride. A memorable evening.

Unvarying daily routine, everything is well-planned and what we have to do is just follow the plans. Such life is so tiring and perhaps speeds up the aging process. We need some spice in our life.

It was a hot and lazy Saturday afternoon. Szee grabbed his car key and said, "Let's go."

Sitting in his car, I asked, "Where are we going actually?"

"I don't know. We'll just tool down the highway, and exit when we see any signboard that seems interesting."

That's how we drove along DUKE highway, and arrived at Pandan Indah.

The place reminded us our visit to the 'fake Little Genting'. It wasn't a good experience. We almost argued for that. Yes, as a KL-ian I had never been to Look Out Point or so-called Little Genting. Not funny okayy? Well for this time I've printed out the map to get to the place. But since we didn't plan to go, so I didn't bring it. We explored the area, and accidentally entered a kampong where Malay, Chinese and Indian live in harmony. What a calm and peaceful place. Even the stray dogs looked more friendly than others, LOL.

After a turn at a traffic light, we saw a big signboard: "Waterfall & Look Out Point". Yay!! The joyfulness and the sense of accomplishment would not so if we were referring to a map and searching for the place. In fact we were tooling around and ended up at a place that I wanted to go since long time ago.

Sometimes we need to give zest to our regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative life. A joyride could be fun. With no particular goal and just for pleasure for it, maybe in return we will have clearer mind and clearer view of the real destination in our life.


A memorable evening. ;)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

担心担心

当身边的人在为某些事而担心时,我总是说:“担心是徒劳的。我们只能把我们能够做的事做好,其余的在我们控制之外,担心也无助于事。”

这回,我真的什么都做不了。自然而然,我能做的只是担心。
徒劳无功的担心。
无助于事的担心。

吃不饱肚、睡不安宁的担心。

还好只是几天。不然会崩溃吧?

我好像很夸张hoh?

期待着周末的到来。

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

新娘是她不是我~

大学时的好姐妹结婚。大学里认识的第一个朋友。


第一次当姐妹。


第一次到美里。还认识了许多美里的朋友。


你们要相信这段婚姻,我一定祝福你们。


老话一句,要幸福哦~



Thursday, March 18, 2010

The little things

This morning I was in bad mood due to some personal reasons. Arrived at office, I checked my email and I saw this email. Simple, but it made me think.

~The ' L I T T L E ' Things~

As you might remember, the head of a company survived 9/11
Because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was
His turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her
Alarm clock didn't go off in time.

One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike
Because of an auto accident.

One of them
Missed his bus.

One spilled food on her clothes and had to take
Time to change.

One's
Car wouldn't start.

One couldn't
Get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man
Who put on a new pair of shoes that morning,
Took the various means to get to work
But before he got there, he developed
A blister on his foot.
He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
That is why he is alive today..

Now when I am
Stuck in traffic,
Miss an elevator,
Turn back to answer a ringing telephone...

All the little things that annoy me.
I think to myself,
This is exactly where
God wants me to be
At this very moment..

Next time your morning seems to be
Going wrong,
The children are slow getting dressed,
You can't seem to find the car keys,
You hit every traffic light,
Don't get mad or frustrated;
It May be just that
God is at work watching over you.

May God continue to bless you
With all those annoying little things
And may you remember their possible purpose.


FYI, I am not a Christian. But the moral of the message is understandable. As I was reading the mail, I could feel that the anger in me faded away gradually.

Sometimes it's good to keep the forwarded emails in your mailbox. Open and read it when you have nothing else to do, or when you are not feeling well emotionally.

Hope this simple message will change the way you think and help you to have a nice day.

一杯斋啡

一杯无糖无奶的黑咖啡,换来清醒的脑袋。

踩油门去猛追那辆没脑的车有什么用?换来只是一时的快感,辛苦的却是自己的车。

拿了新车确实值得庆祝。但还要拖着刚放工累累的身子,塞车跟别人凑热闹,又是何必呢?这样的机会以后一定还有。其实简简单单手牵手散散步,何尝不是一种幸福呢?

禧说得对,之前的坚持和付出的努力,总算看到了一些成果。算是现在劳碌又压力的生活里的推动力吧。

我有口说人,却不看看自己。他要学习放慢脚步,而我也得学习鞭策自己。同样的道理:我们不是为其他人而生活,我们是为自己而活。不要为了无谓的人还是无谓的事情增加自己的负担,而伤害了自己及身边的人。

这个月储蓄零蛋。太多突发状况,买机票买穷了。下个月得省一点。

一杯香滑的斋啡,有人说咖啡店的Kopi O比较好喝。下次不准喝咖啡。

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I'm going to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair

After checking email this morning, without delay I marked my calendar on 17 April. Yes, I'm going to the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair!

It's the exciting fun fair games which attract me the most. For instance, Sumo Wrestling (in air bag suits!), gladiator battles and other amusing and addictive games. I have seen the Sumo Wrestling during St. Patrick's Festival at 1 Utama last year. But just too bad I did not give a try to that fun game. This time I'm going to grab the chance to be a Sumo at the street fair!

Besides games, another attractive activity would be lucky draws. Believe it or not, there will be various cool gadgets worth up to RM15, 000 for grabs! Maybe I will be the lucky one to win some Gatsby products for dear. Or maybe some other cool stuff?

Are you interested too? Let's go together and have fun! Here are details of the event:

Date: 17th April 2010 (Saturday)
Time: 10am till 5pm
Venue: Front Foyer, Ground Floor, Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur

By looking at their website itself, you could imagine how fun the street fair would be. Check this out, the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair website. You can kill some time by playing some mini games on the website. Bacteria Attack, Balloon Throwing, Rope Skipping, Spot the Deodorant, Basketball Shooting, Catch the Germs... From 8 March to 14 March weekly winners of these games will be given invitations to the street fair. Oppsss... Sorry to say today is 17 March, the due date is over....

So... anyone wants to go with me? ;)

Friday, March 12, 2010

回到十年前

星期日晚餐后回到家,禧替我收拾房里的一些的东西。突然叫我拿铁锤和螺丝起子。

*****************************************************************************************
我书桌的抽屉是能够上锁的。问题是锁匙早在当我还在念小学时就不见了。所以书桌的那三个抽屉,差不多被上锁了十年从来没被开过。

*****************************************************************************************

“砰!” “砰!” “砰!”
三下而已。禧就把抽屉打开了。

我当然不记得抽屉里收着什么东西。天啊~
看着里面的东西,眼泪快流出来了。

儿童笔盒、颜色笔、蜡笔、闹钟、UPSR模拟作文、小六数学课本、英文参考书、一大堆作业簿、练习簿... 还有......

积满灰尘的成绩册...

看着那些歪歪斜斜的字体,真的认不出是自己写的。作文的内容好好笑,是我写的吗?成绩都不错哦,真是小时了了,大未必佳。

不单是小叮噹的抽屉是时光隧道,我也有。打开抽屉,回到了十年前。

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Lala Chong Seafood @ Kayu Ara Damansara

Thanks to recommendation from Meng Hon, last Sunday we (my family + Szee) went to Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant after reviewing comments from food bloggers. Almost all comments on this restaurant are positive (very very positive indeed!). That added our curiosity towards this popular restaurant which was previously located in Subang and now shifted to Kayu Ara Damansara.

It’s not far away from the Atria Shopping Centre. You’ll pass by Damansara Village Steamboat Restaurant which is visible from the main road. Go straight along the kampung-looking road with workshops around you. You’ll come to a T-junction, turn left if you are going to Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, whereas turn right if you are heading to Pantai Seafood Restaurant. Both restaurants are equally well-known for their seafood and some other signature dishes.

The first thing I ordered was lala, of course, their famous shiong tong lala (lala in superior soup). Then followed by another signature dish, stir-fried pucuk paku with tuna, grilled fish in salt, taufu with gourd (胜瓜豆腐, my parents’ must-order in every Chinese restaurants they visited) and fried mantis prawns in Kong Po style.

The funny part was when I ordered, “猪手 (pork trotter)…” The waitress stunned for a few seconds, then she said “我们没卖猪肉 (We serve no pork here)… ” Ahhh~~ So embarrassing!!! I was confused after reading many blog posts, pork trotter is served in Pantai Seafood Restaurant but not Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, it’s a halal restaurant here! What a joke I had made.

We were one of the early customers, perhaps that’s why our food was served pretty fast.

Shiong tong lala (lala in superior soup)

Sad to say it's no longer RM10 like what other bloggers said. But RM15 for a big plate for fresh and juicy lala, still worth for it.


Stir-fried pucuk paku with tuna. I like it! This might be a weird combination but with good taste! Pucuk paku with sambal is too ordinary.


Taufu with gourd (with crabmeat)


Fried mantis prawns in Kong Po style. A bit too sweet. Taste like 咕咾肉. Hahaha.


Grilled fish in salt? I don't know what's its name. RM32. Quite a big one. Served with very nice dipping sauce. But this was my first time seeing 'salt baked fish' although salt baked chickens (盐焗鸡) are common.

The whole fish was grilled (baked?) together with its skin and scales. The skin was then peeled off before the fish was served. Stuffed with garlic, onion, ginger and chili padi to reduce the fishiness and enhance the flavour.


The total bill costs us about RM130, inclusive of tea, rice and wet towel for 5 persons, and 2 tit bits. Not very cheap huh after the price was increased. Thanks to dear for the dinner!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Sakura Cafe and Cuisine, Jalan Imbi

It was a Saturday. Evening. As we expected, Szee and I stuck in jam when we were heading to Times Square. The traffic was really slow in Jalan Imbi. So we turned into an empty parking at the roadside, for an impromptus dinner.

Tadaa~
Sakura Cafe and Cuisine

This restaurant exists since long time ago, before I was born. I was here when I was a kid, my parents brought me here for a few times. I could recall that their nasi lemak and assam fish head were their signature dishes, according to my parents. But I don't really remember how it taste. So now me as a KL-ian brought a SP-ian to this tranquil restaurant which was quite well known in KL during 80's.


Looking out through their glass fixed window, we felt glad to be here, warm and calm, rather than the heavy traffic out there.

Tit bits

Nasi Lemak RM14.80
Curry chicken. Two chicken thighs; soft, juicy and spicy.
Sambal ikan bilis. Lots of onions. Similar to chinese style nasi lemak (my own definition).

What makes it different from others: the sambal shrimp. Dried shrimp floss, ones who cannot tolerate hot food might find it fiery hot.

Achar
I prefer my grandma's version. This one is too garlicky for me.

French baked onion soup RM8.00
Served with bread and butter.
It tasted and looked like a dish that Szee cooked for me before. But of course I would prefer Szee's. Haha. This one? Nothing special, forgettable.

Calamansi RM6.00
Too sweet. Would taste better if lesser syrup was added.

Sakura serves a wide variety of food. Noodles, rice, porridge, abalone and shark's fin, Chinese dishes, Western grilled entrees and sandwiches. Note that they serve no pork and alcohol. Muslims can feel free to dine in here.

If I trap in traffic jam in Jalan Imbi again, I think I would try Sakura's Western grilled entrees for my next visit.

By the way, they provide delivery service too.

After the dinner, we left our car parked in front of Sakura, and we went to Times Square on foot. In the rain.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

一路上有你

这次的胃痛令我回忆起许多许多。

大学第三年得写的论文,忙了整整一年。
我在实验室里忙着,你送便当来。
我不懂得分析实验结果,你给我意见。
实验结果statistics的部分,你帮了个大忙。
我发脾气,你忍让。
我生病,你照顾我。
我赶时间,你载我东奔西跑。
更重要的是,你给精神上的支持。
感谢路上有你。

我的industrial training,你载着我到处去交信申请。
UMMC, Tawakal, Assunta, Tropicana, 连 IMR 都去了。
最后还是在马大里LI。
当中,我的怨言你又听了多少?数数起来,也许是每天都听吧。
但那两个月,确实很开心。谢谢你愿意混入那个小圈子,还让我炫耀我的午餐。
感谢路上有你,陪我走过很压力的那几个月。

现在的这条路,一定比之前的更难走。
如今你有自己的事业,也有自己的难题和压力,比以前更重更大的负担。
我要学会自立,也希望路上还会有你。

携手一起走出我们的路。

Monday, March 1, 2010

Gastritis? Heartburn? Indigestion?

Having gastric pain these few days. It becomes more severe after the steamboat last night. Gaviscon and Maalox plus failed to have any effects on the burning pain. I could barely sleep for the whole night. Now intensity of the pain is lower, but I can feel the weakness and fatigue of my stomach and the entire body.

I have gastric problems since my final year of Bachelor degree. It started when I was carrying out my final year project. I went to student clinic and was scolded by the doctor for not eating on time. In fact I had regular meals and my daily routine was just as usual. So she said that it might be due to stress. I thought it was nonsense.

With the medication that she prescribed I still had the same problem. 1 or 2 weeks later (I couldn't recall) I went to another clinic in Seapark. The doctor gave a same conclusion: STRESS. What?? I thought it was nonsense too.

Gaviscon, Maalox plus, Tagamet, Omeprazole, etc...
My medication collections grew bigger, not only for backache and menstrual pain, now added in those for gastritis and heartburn.

My comrades during FYP knew my problems. When I was planning/worrying about the flow of project, or when I got angry, I felt the instant burning sensation in the upper abdomen. Then only I realized both doctors that I seen were right. The pain was gone after the critical period of the project. However acid indigestion and bloating was quite often since then.

Angeline suspected that I had Helicobacter pylori infection, since my mother was infected by the bacteria few years back. So I did the test, but the result was negative.


The stomach upset makes me not in the mood for working. I am writing blog and searching for related information to distract myself from the pain. Here are some information that I found.

In people who have gastritis symptoms, pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen is the most common.

  • The pain is usually in the upper central portion of the abdomen (the "pit" of the stomach).
  • Gastritis pain occurs in the left upper portion of the abdomen and in the back. The pain seems to "go right straight through" a person as it travels from the belly to the back.
  • People often use the terms burning, aching, gnawing, or sore to describe the pain. Usually, a vague sense of discomfort is present, but the pain may be sharp, stabbing, or cutting.

If gastritis symptoms continue, antacids are sometimes recommended. Three main types of antacids are available. All 3 are about equal in effectiveness.

  • Magnesium-containing antacids may cause diarrhea. People with certain kidney problems should use these cautiously or not at all.
  • Aluminum-containing antacids can cause constipation.
  • Calcium-containing antacids have received a great deal of attention for their ability to control stomach acid and also supplement body calcium. Calcium supplementation is most important for postmenopausal women. Calcium-based antacids can also lead to constipation, however.
  • Antacids may also change your body's ability to absorb certain other medications.
  • If you require an antacid more than occasionally, let your health care provider decide which one is best for you. blockers have received a lot of attention for stomach problems.
Histamine (H2) blockers have received a lot of attention for stomach problems.
  • Some of these medications-cimetidine (Tagamet) and ranitidine (Zantac) are 2 examples-are available without a prescription.
  • Histamine blockers work by reducing acid secretion in the stomach.
  • This reduces gastritis pain and other symptoms.
  • If you need one of these medications regularly, you should consult your health care provider for a recommendation.

Stronger medications that protect the stomach's lining or lessen acid production in the stomach are available by prescription. Talk to your health care provider if the nonprescription medications do not work for you.

(from emedicinehealth.com)

What causes heartburn?
Heartburn is caused when stomach acid refluxes--backs up--into the esophagus. This can occur for a number of reasons:

  • When the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the valve that keeps stomach acid in the stomach, is weakened or relaxed and doesn't do its job properly. This is the most common symptom of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).

  • Certain foods, such as chocolate, fried and fatty foods, peppermint, coffee, alcohol, sugars, can weaken or relax the LES.

  • Eating large meals or shortly before bedtime.

  • A hiatal hernia.

  • Pressure on the stomach, including frequent bending over, tight clothes, lifting, obesity.

  • Certain medications.

  • Smoking.

  • Stress can increase acid production and slow down the emptying of the stomach.
Managing Your Heartburn
You can find relief from your heartburn with a few self-care remedies. This involves making a few lifestyle and diet changes.

Here are a few suggestions:

  • Eat frequent smaller meals instead of three larger ones.
    This will help prevent excessive production of stomach acid.

  • Eat slowly.
    One way to help you slow down while eating is to put your fork or spoon down between bites.

  • Don't go to bed with a full stomach.
    Stay up at least three hours after eating your last meal or large snack before going to bed. This gives acid levels a chance to decrease before your body is in a position where heartburn is more likely to occur.

  • Raise the head of your bed several inches.
    With your head elevated, it will help prevent reflux during the night.

  • Avoid your heartburn triggers.
    Examples of foods and beverages that can trigger heartburn are coffee (including decaf), alcohol, fatty foods, caffeine-containing beverages and foods, onions, peppermint, chocolate, citrus fruits or juices, tomatoes.

  • Stop smoking.
    Nicotine can weaken the lower esophageal sphincter, the muscle that controls the opening between the esophagus and stomach and prevents the acid-containing contents of the stomach from entering the esophagus.

  • Wear looser-fitting clothes.
    Tight clothing squeezes the midsection and tends to push stomach contents upward.

  • Lose weight.
    If you are overweight, losing weight can help relieve your symptoms.

  • Chew gum.
    Chewing gum can provide short-term heartburn relief by stimulating the production of saliva, which dilutes and flushes out stomach acid.

  • Drink warm liquids.
    Drinking a glass of lukewarm water or herbal tea after a meal can dilute and flush out stomach acid.
(from heartburn.about.com)

So, dear doctors, pharmacists, nurses here, and those who suffering from the same problem, any cure or remedies?