Another year passes without much notice

it is that time of the year again for my birthday post. i think i might have missed out on last year's, since my blog died a natural death at the time...

as usual, i'm pretty surprised that i'm another year older... but unfortunately not much wiser nor matured. sometimes i just feel like a kid (and most people do treat me like one too... a certain colleague keeps insisting i'm still in my growing age! that one must have totally failed his biology paper in high school!!! haha)

but jokes aside, upon internal retrospect, i think i have become more worldly (or perhaps a better word would be 'street-smart') since graduating from university. and the months before only prepared me for the crossover from studying to working world. i guess unconsciously, my mind had prepared me for change (that's why i felt i wasn't so serious about studying in my last semester in university). also, i feel that my parents have started to become more flexible with my goings in-and-out. as a result, i've been going places (only in malaysia) these past few months.

admittedly, i feel my job isn't one that literally "dumps" you into the working world... i'm pretty sure the environment in this company is like 'day to the night' when compared to the real rat-race working world. so i don't think at the end of the day that it really prepares me for what's out there - the worst of the worse!

ok, back to how i celebrated my 24th year of habitation on earth. since coincidentally, chinese new year falls on my birthday, i didn't really have a celebration per se. the only activity of the day that somewhat resembles a celebration is the drinks we had as a family in starbucks taipan. mum got me the starbucks cny keychain at the spur of the moment - it's now hanging on my bunch of office keys.

starbucks cny keychain

i read in the sun newspaper a week or so ago, that there was supposed to be a solar eclipes on my birthday - 26th january 2009. i had set my phone alarm for the time stated in the article, which was 4.30 pm. when 4.30 pm came, i was still at the flat in ampang... so i tried looking out the balcony as often as politely possible, but could only see a cloudy sky with a bright hot sun shining down. we were on our way back home around 6 pm and although we didn't see an actual eclipse, we did see the sky go unusually dark for a sunny day. it was dark and bright at the same time - if that's possible. this is what we saw... imagine a solar eclipse occurring behind the clouds!

imaginary solar eclipse

chinese new year was as usual - adults talking, kids eating cookies and some falling asleep in the process. there were alot of pork dishes on the menu this year! braised pork this and that... and on the first day, we went to the house at jalan traverse, had bak kut teh - ordered from klang.

my lunch plate for cny 2nd day... look! pork here pork there!

after that we went to uncle harry's house. and the journey there was literally a whole rounding of kl city! my eldest aunty was our guide. mum kept saying that the house was in wangsa maju, and so we travelled all the way there - passing the very jammed zoo negara, gombak and a couple more areas in the process. then turns out the house was in ampang! so we went the long way round to get to ampang...

it was the first time in a very very long time since i saw my aunty. i'd only seen her once after her stroke, and i was quite taken aback at the change in her demeanour. she used to be the chatty sort, but now she rarely spoke few words. but praise God, she has been saved. i remember hearing of her baptism a few months ago, but could not make it for the ceremony.

on the second day, we had dinner at the royal selangor club in kl. it's been years since i've been there, perhaps more than 3 years! and i can honestly say that nothing has changed! it's quite unbelieveable that they have not made any rebranding or face-lifts for their verandah cafe. walking into the place reminded me of places like H&H (in damansara utama) or coliseum (near kamdar kl)... like it's a time capsule where there is no time and space continuum. the service was well... ermm... let me give you a narrative of what happened (reader warning: massive dose of sarcasm ahead. continue reading at your own emotional risk. the author indemnifies herself of any hurt feelings that may arise)

2 persons ordered chicken chop at 8pm. at 10pm and after countless (at least 10) reminders to the waiters/waitresses to check on the order, the food hadn't arrived. by that time, the rest of us - about 15 people - had already finished our meal. those who came late and ordered last had finished their food and still there was not a whiff of chicken chop to be had! perhaps they had to force feed the chickens in order to speed up their growth and consequently be ready for the slaughter house so that their thighs could be chopped off, grilled and smothered with mushroom sauce and served with a side serving of boiled carrots and deep-fried potato chips! how i wish that was the reason, but no... it's because the cook reckons that he'd already cooked the 2 chicken chops. if so, then where were the 2 chicken chops? certainly not in the 2 hungry people's stomachs. somewhere along the way, someone must've mixed up the orders or served the chicken chops to some other customers. so who's to be blamed? the 2 hungry customers? what a swell way of treating your customers! kudos!!