A Bad Idea to Procrastinate

Why?

Cause I waited until the very LAST day to file our Malaysian taxes.

Guessed there are thousands and thousands of procrastinators in our midst.... as the LDHN's site for e-filing was soooooooooooo slow. Everyone clamoring to file their tax on this LAST and FINAL day for the Borang-BE fellows.....

It actually took at least 15 minutes to load each page!

I tell you... took me more than 3 hours to file both H and my taxes... and ours summore are soooooo simple. All ZERO ZERO ZERO ones also so ma-fann. 

Don't!

Don't wait till LAST day next year lor!

Cancer Cures?

Recently, I received numerous forwarded emails regarding cancer cures...the most recent email was one which referred to the efficacy of using asparagus as a cure for a type of cancer. The same topic of using certain vegetables/herbs as a cancer cure came up during lunch with my fellow art students. One of the ladies actually suffered from leukemia during her youth, and she swore that she ingested "bitter gourd" religiously, and she was cured! I don't know if such cures actually exist or not, but I supposed there is no harm in trying them out. Unfortunately, I think cancers such as mesothelioma might be a little bit more complicated as it's caused by the inhalation of asbestos particles.

Which are you??

So. Which are you?

A shoe person or a handbag person?

I am definitely a shoe person..... meaning I much prefer to purchase a new pair of shoes than a new handbag. I've been a shoe person ever since I was a young girl. I used to sketch  women's shoes in my school books during class. Friends used to ask if I wanted to be a shoe designer. :-D

Well, a shoe designer I am not... but I certainly do like to buy and wear new shoes!

How to get down to pre-vacation weight??

It's been two weeks since we came back from Hong Kong... and I am still trying to lose the 2 kilograms that I put on while on vacation. Yup! I put on 2 kilograms in a week. 

What do you expect when all we did was EAT EAT EAT?
I've been going to the gym for my regular twice-weekly workout, played tennis and even swam in my very neglected pool. Yet... the weight does not seem to be shedding at all. What a bummer! I think I will have to resort to fast weight loss pills to get to my pre-vacation weight!

MIA??

No lah. 

I've not gone MISSING-IN-ACTION.

Have just been lazzzzeeeeeeeee....

Anyway, here are some updates....

Yr 4 Residential

My S2 was away at Lido Lakes for 3 days/2 nights with his year group as part of their curriculum from Wed, 22 April to Fri, 24 April. I didn't go to school to send him off (YES. Bad Mommy!)... put him on the school bus on Wed morning. But did pick him up from school on Friday. 

He was pretty excited to go on the trip. This is quite a contrast with last year's overnight Residential, whereby he was quite hesitant. 

He really enjoyed himself with all the activities.... plus being able to share a room with two of his good friends. I can imagine all the chattering after lights out.

First Time...

...in a mosque. 

What were you thinking?

My fortnightly Explorers' Group arranged for a talk on Islam in a mosque last Wed (that's why I couldn't send S2 off for his school trip. Yes. Yes. Excuses. Excuses. A Bad Mommy always comes up with excuses..). 

Though the talk created more questions than answers, at least I've seen the inside of a real, working mosque. 

Driver Mishap

Our driver lost his wallet on Friday....thus NO ID nor Driving License.

So how like that?

Had to let him go report and replace the lost items lah.

With no driver, the taxis were my friend...... lucky the taxis here are quite reliable and cheap.

Blabbermouth

Who else? But my S2.

Supposed to have a mini-grill dinner out on the terrace on Friday nite. With no driver, it was quite a hassle to do the grocery shopping. As our mind was quite set for a grill dinner, we went to one of the local hotels (we sorta got lost...as H drove) famed for it's BBQ buffet....and chanced upon some friends. So we had to sit and eat together. Towards dessert, H actually sent me a text to tell me that he doesn't want to wait for everyone to finish as he has a headache. Yes. He sent a text...so that it could be inconspicuous. BUT....my Mr. Blabbermouth came running to me and said "Dad said that he hopes that we don't have to wait for everyone to finish dinner. He wants to go home already... He said he has a headache"....within earshot of a few of the friends. Aduh! I had to shush him up. But at least he did say that his dad has a headache! 

And then he went to his dad and said "Dad. I was faster than you sms to mom".

*sigh*....

Close Shop

Our regular tennis courts will cease operation tomorrow.... 

We'll have to search for a new location for our weekly Sunday game... Have to keep this up as we need the exercise, plus I do quite enjoy playing. S2 too. Think he's more like his dad.... Unlike me.... H says that my left hand is like somewhat retarded. hahahah

S1's not too keen. But have to force him to come and do some exercise...otherwise play computer games whole day only. 

Like Market...

Put a group of ladies together, and the whole place will sound like a market!

This was how my house was like this morning.

Hosted a coffee morning....with about 14 ladies.

Waliow! Louder than my sons!

More Space, Please....

More Space?
What Space?

I'm referring to space on my computer's hard drive, of course.
I am at a lost. I am no longer working.
NO large documents, nor spreadsheets nor presentations slides on my hard drive.
So what's taking up all the space???

Oh! Yah! I forgot. With more free time on my hands, I've been taking more photographs on my digital camera....and saving every single image. Yup! Even the blurry bad quality ones. 

At the rate that I'm going, I'll probably need a few more external hard drives before the year is out!

Insurance Plans

Do you have a health insurance plan?

If the answer is NO; I suggest that you start coverage immediately.

I don't mean to be a pessimist. But you'll never know what is in store for you. 

These days, a trip to the doctor's office could break the bank! 

Don't you agree?

I'm thankful that H's company has quite a comprehensive health plan for the whole family. 

It gives me real peace of mind.

So don't procrastinate. 

Check out the prices of the different health plans available from Blue Cross North Carolina.

Get a suitable health plan now.

The Culprit

Here is the Culprit that got me thrown out of The Peninsula...my Kenneth Cole sparkly slippers.

RUN RUN RUN...

Remember my last trip to Hong Kong during Easter 2008?
I was sick most of the time that we didn't do much... and certainly did not visit the cheapest tourist attraction in HK.
Which is that??
The Star Ferries, of course.

Not that I purposely went to take a ride on the Star Ferries, but this year, somehow seemed to be going over to Kowloon side more. And each time, having to run to catch them before they depart. It's really RUN RUN RUN. Certainly not used to running to catch my ride! Hee hee....

Why go over to Kowloon side? 

- to Wong Tai Sin temple...

- to Harbour City a couple of times...

- to my tea at The Peninsula that didn't happen...

A friend from KL, R was also in town. Actually, not a coincidence. H coaxed him to fly over so that the boys (as in BIG boys) can go to Macau to try their hand at the tables. R arrived on Thursday (9th April) morning; and that evening, the three BIG boys, H, R and Mr L (our host) went off on the hydrofoil to Macau. The three boys only came back just as we were waking up on Friday morning. I'm sure they had fun as all brought back some $$ winnings. :-)

After Friday's dimsum lunch at Chung's Cuisine @ Times Square, and marketing (for the home-cooked seafood dinner), R said that he wanted to go to Wong Tai Sin Temple...as he always does whenever he is in HK. So, I 'off-loaded' my boys with Mr L and wife, C and went off with R, together with H.

We got conned by an Apoh at the temple MTR station. She was selling some joss sticks, candles and prayer paper. Seeing that she is so "kesihan", we bought from her. But at the entrance of the temple, we were told that we had to dispose our candles and prayer papers.... Only the joss sticks were allowed. Oh well...

Look-see/window-shopped around Tsim Tsa Tsui and Harbour City, before sitting by the harbour for a drink. 

View of HK Island from Harbour City

100-Year Old ?? Star Ferry

A Cruise Ship @ The Harbour 

I had a glass of Prosecco by the harbour...It was rather refreshing and I could have had a couple more if it weren't for the fact that we had to rush back to the apartment for the Seafood meal that Mr L was preparing..... so.....

Quick! Get through the Turnstiles!!!

Approaching Central Pier

And we had a lovely dinner of Singapore-style Mud Crabs, Steamed Flower Crab, Steamed Giant Shellfish, Stir-Fried Clams etc....prepared by Mr L.

We were supposed to go to Lan Kwai Fong to have after-dinner drinks.... R, C and myself were pretty keen to go. You know lah...from the TVB series, they always say "ngo tei huei Lan Kwai Fong yamm yia loh!". Heee heee BUT both H and Mr L was sooooo Ah Pek, and didn't want to leave the house. So we had to make-do with drinks in the apartment. We lit some candles, and then opened a couple of bottles of wine. I have to say that we had a FUN time...talking about old times, old friends, ghostly experiences, ex-girlfriends, ex-boyfriends etc etc... We even prank call a friend in KL. Hahahaha.... Yah. Like kids! Went to bed pretty late. R went to sleep with the two older kids. 

Yah. That night, there were 11 people sleeping in the apartment.

- Mr L, C and their 3 boys

- Me, H and our 2 boys

- R

- the maid

But then they had recently moved to a bigger apartment... a 2,700 sq ft unit in the same development.... Gigantic for HK standards. So not too bad lah. 

R left the next morning.....to go back to KL. He only stayed in HK for two nights, or more correctly, one night in Macau and one night in HK. :-)

After sending R off on the Airport Express, we all headed out to Cheung Chau Island. 

More about our experience in the old pirate hide-out later....

BTW...Term 3 Starts Today

Boys returned to school today.... 

After two weeks of holidays, I'm surprised there were no problems waking them up for school this morning.

:-)

Back to our usual routine....with me going for my Oil Painting class, and then to the gym when boys go for their Mandarin class. 

What did we do in HK????

Did we go to Disneyland?

Did we go to Ocean Park?

Did we go Shopping?

The answer is NO. NO. NO.

Hahhahahaha... So. What did we do?

EAT. EAT. EAT. What else??

Hahhahaha.. So, now have to go to the gym and kam-sik to get rid of the extra kilos!

What did I eat??

Mmm...Let me try to recall.....

- Roast Goose, Roast Pork plus others on the first night

- Fried Lala, Steam Scallops and Thong-Sui @ Causeway Bay for first night's supper

- McDonald's @ The Peak (what to do? Have to please boys)

- Cakes and Coffee @ The Peak Lookout

- Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice

- Dim Sum @ Chung's Cuisine, Times Square

- Lovely bubbly by the harbour @ Harbour City

- Fresh Singapore Crabs, Stir-fried clams, Steamed Giant Scallops, Steamed Flower Crab... cooked by our gracious host, Mr. L

- Some funny kuih and Lunch @ Cheung Chau Island

- Starter Platter, Mixed Grill, Seafood etc @ Top Deck

- Dessert Buffet @ The Aberdeen Marina Club

- Noodles, Xiao Long Pao, Drunken Chicken and donno-what @ Flower Trump

- Vietnamese Beef Noodles and Spring Rolls @ Rice-Paper, Harbour City

- Afternoon Tea @ Cafe Landmark (got thrown out of The Peninsula!!!)

- Homemade Sukiyaki

- Noodle Soup @ The Airport (S1 had this MEGA-EXPENSIVE Hainanese Chicken Rice. Had a shock when I found out the price. It was HKD 138/!!! GILA!!!!)

I'm sure you all wanna know why I got thrown out of The Peninsula. Heee Hee...

All because of my sparkly slippers... The hoity-toity people at The Peninsula have a rule against slippers, flip-flops etc wor. My friend, C kept on saying "I see Nine West over there, why don't you go and buy a pair of shoes?". Aduh. I am certainly not going to spend money on a pair of shoes just to give The Peninsula my business lah. 

Actually, as soon as I entered the hotel lobby, I was a little surprised to see tables on either side of the entrance. People having tea RIGHT at the lobby.... dining on normal tables and chairs. You see. I had expected something quite different. Something like Tea @ The Oriental in Bangkok... Or maybe in more secluded area with comfortable plush sofas. So this was quite potong-steam lah. And then I saw the queue. Lagi potong-steam. Then I asked C if we should queue or just go somewhere else. C said that we should just queue since I've been looking forward to Afternoon Tea @ The Peninsula. As we were queuing, some guy came over and informed me that my slippers were a NO-NO. So we left lah. No big deal (I guessed I would be disappointed if the place was as per what I have imagined....But I guessed my glass of bubbly during lunch helped too!!! Hahhaha). Went to Cafe Landmark and have Afternoon Tea instead....Yes. I had a comfy soft booth-seat!

Some photos...

Check-Out these Giant Scallops

Stall Vendor Shucking the Giant Scallops

Giant Scallops ready to be Steamed

Molten Chocolate Cake @ The Peak LookOut

The Peak LookOut

Walking Up to A Bus Stop from The Peak Tram Station

More about our trip later...

Just Got Back from HK

Actually, got back last night (Wed). Flight arrived at about 7.30 pm. H came with the driver to pick us up.....which was nice. The first thing that greeted us when we walked out of the terminal building was a horrible waft of odorous garbage! YUCKS! What a welcome!! 

Anyway, was supposed to stay a couple of days in Singapore for S2's appointment with the oral/dental surgeon. But as our SIA tickets were discounted, changes weren't allowed. And as our insurance would not pay for air tickets nor accommodation in Singapore, I've decided to just sort out S2's dental problem in Malaysia when we go back during the Summer holidays.

Will update on our trip tomorrow....

Quick One...

A real quick and short one... as I still have some packing to do.

Boys' 2 weeks of Easter holidays started on the 4th of April. 

Catching the 9.20 am flight out to Hong Kong, via Singapore tomorrow morning. 

Actually, we could have flew direct to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Same price as Singapore Airlines.....but H said that he wants to collect Krisflyer miles wor... I can't collect any as I'm on the group fare with the kids. H will be coming back first; boys and I staying 2 extra days.

Happy Easter!

List? What List?

From my last post; H did finally agree to take me to the buddha-bar on Friday night. I have been pestering him for awhile because I want to go there before they have to change the name. Think the request has been sent to the owners in France. Quite a lot of protests from local Buddhists with regards to the name. One of the protesters said "if you enter a bar, and you see Jesus on the crucifix; would you not protest?". I supposed that's quite true.....

For the longest of time, H was rather hesitant because the buddha-bar is quite a distance from our house, and he was afraid that we might not be able to get in. Told him that we may NEED to be on THE LIST if we were at the Paris or London venues. 

But here? 

NO List one lah.

Anyway, here are some photos... Not good quality because I am only using a point-and-shoot only  and it can't take terrer-menerrer photos in the dark.

Entrance to the buddha-bar

One of the Statues guarding the Entrance

The Bar downstairs...

(there is a very nice outdoor seating area. Didn't take any photos though...)

The large Buddha Statue synonymous with the buddha-bar

(Upstairs in the Restaurant Section)

Side-View of the Large Buddha Statue

(Photo taken from my seat...)

The Sushi Bar - Upstairs

Adorned Wall in the Restaurant

The Restaurant's Lighting

Table Setting @ The buddha-bar

I donno whether we were too early or what. But when we arrived; we were the only one at the bar downstairs.... At least upstairs in the restaurant, there were more people. Not so sad lah.

As for the food, it's so-so only lah. I guessed people don't go there to EAT.... but more to be seen. But then has to be at a more decent clubbing time? Not Auntie/Uncle dinner time like the time we were there... We were out of the door by 8.30 pm, and home in pyjamas by 9.00 pm. When I commented this to H.... He said "Great, huh? This is what I like. In my comfy clothes in front of the TV..."

Updated: In case anyone is wondering... the buddha-bars around the globe are as follows...

• Buddha-Bar Paris
• Buddha-Bar Dubai
• Buddha-Bar Beirut
• Buddha-Bar Cairo
• Buddha-Bar London
• Buddha-Bar Kiev
• Buddha-Bar Jakarta
• Buddha-Bar Sao Paolo
• Buddha-Bar Dublin
• Buddha-Bar Prague

TAG - 100 Truths

Wen tagged me on this... So here I am getting to work on this very loooooooong tag.

001. Name → Nomadic Mom
002. Nickname(s)→ Girl (heheheh... I know u all sure think "Ah? So old! Still called Girl?")
004. Zodiac sign → Libra
005. Male or female → Female
006. Elementary → SRK. Jl. Selangor, PJ
007. Middle School → Assunta PJ
008. High School → Assunta, PJ
009. College School → Princess Helena College, Hertforshire; & Swansea College, Wales
009b. University → Imperial College, University of London
010. Hair color → Black, with lots of grey. But just dyed it about 2 hours ago. :-D
011. Long or short → Long
012. Loud or Quiet → Loud...can you imagine me being QUIET? Sure something is wrong liow!!
013. Jumpers or Jeans → Jeans
014. Phone or Camera → Both
015. Health freak → Not at all...but have to start to be one.
016. Drink or Smoke? → An occasional drink... 
017. Do you have a crush on someone? → Now? No time...
018. Eat or Drink → Both can?
019. Piercings → Ears 
020. Tattoos → A cute butterfly on my .?!??!?

FIRSTS:
023. First piercing → 7 years old (Those days, use ginger, needle and donno what. D@mn painful!)
024. First best friend → Cannot remember leh. I know terrible. Terrible.
025. First award → Mmmm....donno lah.
026. First crush → This one also cannot remember...maybe 10?? 
027. First pet → If I'm not mistaken, ...a monkey
028. First big vacation → Australia/New Zealand when I was 10
030. First big birthday → Probably when I was ONE. 

CURRENTLY:
049. Eating → You mean NOW?? Not eating anything
050. Drinking → Just Water... 
051. I’m about to → Lounge on my sofa 
053. Listening to → Silence
054. Plans for today → Dinner out with H...hoping that he won't be too lazy to take me to the Buddha Bar
055. Waiting for → kids to come home from school

YOUR FUTURE:
058. Want kids? → Already have two not-so-little monstrous boys
059. Want to get married? → "Siong sei ah"?? If not married, have 2 boys...
060. Careers in mind → Life as a nomad is too challenging to think about long-term careers

WHICH IS BETTER IN THE BOY/GIRL YOU LIKE?
068. Lips or eyes → Lips
070. Shorter or taller - Taller
072. Romantic or spontaneous → Romantic
073. Nice stomach or nice arms → Nice stomach
074. Sensitive or loud→ Sensitive
075. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship
076. Trouble maker or hesitant → Neither

HAVE YOU EVER:
080. Lost glasses/contacts → Of course lah! Search high and low like Siow-Char-Boh!
081. Ran away from home → So comfortable at home. What for want to do this?
082. Held a gun/knife for self defense → No lah.
083. Killed somebody → Of course NO lah.
084. Broke someone’s heart → Mmmm... don't think so.
085. Been arrested → So good girl. Of course NOT!
087. Cried when someone died → Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
089. Yourself → Yes
090. Miracles → Yes
091. Love at first sight → Yes
092. Heaven → Yes
093. Santa Claus → No
094. Tooth Fairy → No
095. Kiss on the first date → No

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now → No
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life → I supposed so...
099. Do you believe in God → Yes
100. Post as 100 truths and tag 20 people → Everybody on my blog roll???