To sum up 2017

It's the penultimate day of the year and a lot has happened in 2017, especially in the past two months. I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of aging, but time has been flying past really really fast lately. And every day in my last working week felt like a week in itself with insufficient time to complete what I had planned for the day.

Finally a Mixer!

I bought cream cheese and whipping cream. Gelatin and brown sugar. An oven, butter and Digestive biscuits. Then there was something missing - an electric mixer!

It's funny how I can spend RM100 plus on other things without thinking twice but buying an electric mixer took me many procrastinating trips to the electrical store. In the end, I bought mine online through Lazada!

My electric mixer arrived in 2 days! Electrolux Stand Mixer EHSM2000 

First Bake Test

Like many Malaysians, I too had a panic buying streak right before the implementation of GST on April Fool's Day. What did I buy? My long time iWant - a Panasonic 42L Inverter convection microwave oven (NN-CD997S). Yes very "aunty", I know.

But since our previous oven (the great great great grandmother model of my new oven) of over 20 years was ruined by the big flood, I'd been hankering for a replacement but there wasn't a strong enough justification to get one. Until now.

It was an annual bonus gift to myself, besides the GST part. *plop plop* - killed two birds with one stone. KPI achieved!

Although delivery was made in mid-April, I'd only got down to unboxing the oven in late April. And finally the first bake test was on Sunday. I made the only thing I was comfortable baking - chocolate chip cookies!

Chocolate chip cookies baked with Panasonic Inverter oven

Verdict: The oven is easy to use. My baking time needs tweaking - rebaked each tray a couple of times. Taste of the cookies - suits me! Salty yums! A friend had said it tasted like a certain famous cookie brand out there! ;)

My Toy has arrived: Brother GS2700

I can't really pinpoint what actually sparked my interest to rekindle my search obsession from back in 2013.

My new toy is not a toy?

Brick and Mortar

This week we finally saw and felt the 'concrete' evidence of what we had known only on paper for the past two years. My first thought was "so small?" but I've come to realise that it isn't so small when compared with other places.

I loved the wood panel flooring and the bathrooms and the square bedrooms. There was an infinity pool and a sandy beach  between the four blocks, with a tennis court tucked in a corner and other shared facilities. But the best was probably the view. How I wish I could keep it but we need to do what we set out to do.

View from the balcony

I hope one day, I'll be able to keep something like this. It's not too small, it's just right for little old me and probably one other person.

Let's hope.

Visit KL 3.0 - Royal Selangor Visitor Centre

The third installation of our annual self-enlightenment on our city Kuala Lumpur took place over the long weekend right before Hari Raya (yes, that was quite a while back). This year our numbers had increased from a two-men show to five! We had planned to visit 3 places, but in the end we managed to visit only one. Seems like the museums decided to close early for Raya, although their websites had stated otherwise. Silly me for not calling to re-confirm before going ahead with the plans.

Nonetheless, our itinerary numero uno was thoroughly satisfying for all of us - the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre. I was surprised that a Malaysian company (set up by a Chinese pewtersmith, Yong Koon) would invest a considerable amount of capital on creating a mini museum with complimentary guided tour, short workshops (for a fee) and a chic cafe within their factory premises. Of course, given that the objective is probably to preserve the company's heritage and also to associate this strong heritage with its branding.

Entrance to the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre

Being Thankful: Day 87

I'm thankful for:

1. my mum and the relationship we have. She is my best friend and the only person I can count on whenever, wherever, whatever.
2. having the resolve to say "no" nicely (indirectly). No, you may not take my work and pass it off as yours.
3. stepping back before answering.
4. finally getting my iWant and for a little lesser! Red Nexus 5!
5. syncing - made my life much easier. Now to audit the sync results and find a way to transfer my calendar entries!

Unboxing my red Nexus 5 D821!

Nexus Temptation

Looks like I've been hit by the tech cycle itch again and this time my craving is for the Google Nexus 5 android phone. There've been many wonderful phones in the market, like the Samsung S4, Note 3, Sony Xperia Z1, HTC One, Apple iPhone 5 etc... but they were either too popular (to the point that it has become generic), too angular, too plasticky, too expensive... and the list goes on.

Again I will admit that I may care more about the design than what's under the hood. However, it wouldn't hurt if the tech specs were great - that would  be another plus point!

The simple but beautiful Nexus 5 (white version). Image credit from Google search

Being Thankful: Day 4

I am thankful for:

1. Capturing the sunfairy and winning a RM20 shopping voucher and 6 festive ang pau packets (although I started catching at lunchtime (it is said that the sunfairies are 'released' at 10am).
2. Discovering that our local Sephora carries the Boscia detoxifying black cleanser, which I had read many good reviews online. However, the price was a little steep at RM92! I'll need to rethink and summon all my impulse buying strength to make the purchase (if any). Oh, and while there I just discovered so many interesting products! Weeeee!

Indescribably Inspirational

I'm no fashionista and more often would probably be classified as a fashion faux pas. But this recent interest in sewing has turned me into a picture-saving maniac of dresses I see online. Half the time I don't even know who the designer is. And the other half, I'm actually saving photos of replica dresses of the real stuffs! However, lately I've discovered that my OCD streak has a constant... Karen Millen dresses!

"Baju" for my Sensation

Polka dots, flowers, butterflies and the colours of the rainbow. A girly list for a not so girly girl. I can't help it, I just like them so much! And I can't sleep till I get hold of them. So I hunted down the cheapest bargains on eBay and bought them all at one go. The credit card bank actually immediately called me up to verify the purchases made!

Wanting the Chicken Before the Egg Hatches

It was the Friday before the Raya week. I had a little "itch" to check out my latest iWant - the HTC Sensation. So we went to our usual phone dealer and I got to touch my iWant for the very first time (after stalking it for many moons). Learning of the price from the seller, I put it down and went home to stalk it virtually.

I'll admit, I started bidding to make the other bidder pay more and not because I had intention to buy the phone. It's evil, I know. I had brainwashed myself enough into thinking that I would never get this phone, just like my previous enigma.

He Replied! "My heart skips a beat"

I have been diligently (but discretely) monitoring my inbox since April, specifically for one purpose. It seems I'm in a state of indecision again. I don't know why I keep putting myself into this situation, time and again. Excitement and disappointment, worry and ecstasy. Perhaps I'm still searching for my true calling. Or perhaps I don't trust myself that I could go far with the path I am/will be taking.

When Android, iPhone and Nokia 3310 Battles

It's really amusing how I manage to stumble upon funny things when I stalk my list of iWants. Currently the primary iWant is the HTC Sensation! I don't care whether it is lousier (feature-wise), thicker, heavier and more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy SII, I just love how it looks - the curves and lines.

Anyway, this is what I found on one of the lowyat forum pages and it really tickled me! I don't know where the person who posted it got the pictures from. (Disclaimer: I claim no copyrights for the pictures below as I do not know its origin. However I commend its owner/creator for creating at least one more smile {me} in the world with his/her good sense of humour) 

Ooh La La! Sensational...

There is this pattern that I gravitate towards. Every few months I'll get the itch to "plan to buy a phone" (but ultimately never get down to buying one). This month's "flavour of the month" is the HTC Sensation.

The HTC Sensation (photo credit: htc.com)

This will sound superficial: I like this phone primarily because it looks great! Aluminium not plastic. Simple lines without any awkward protrusions. Smooth contours, not sharp edges. And in a way, it has some aesthetic elements of the Google Nexus One (which I still like, but might be a little outdated by now).

Fabric Frenzy

Last month, I caved in to another fabric frenzy buying. And this time, I ventured into the territories of real e-commerce - US fabric vendors.

It started with Pink Chalk Fabrics. They had a sale and there were so many beautiful cotton designs (although by the time I clicked half of them, they'd been sold out!). This is what I bought, which included some laminated cotton. The package arrived about two weeks after my online purchase was made. I must say that I was satisfied with what I bought.

Designer cotton designs

Temptation(s)

I know this is the totally wrong time to be wanting things... but temptations always choose to come at the most trying of times.

I was minding my own business and being a good girl, paying all her bills and fees as they came due (especially this couple of months). My course fees and future travel plans really robbed me the last two months. I'm not exactly in the Red, but I wouldn't call it good financial planning to see your bank account horizontally zig-zagging like when we were trying to draw a mountain range in kindergarten.

On Friday, I accidentally saw the tech pullout of The Star lying on top of the pile of old newspapers in my office and while flipping through, I saw a product review on the Google phone Nexus One. From curiosity it led to research and then to "I want it now!" (Funny thing, this was how I wanted my current old-school cell phone and iPod nano 4th Gen. and eventually I got it! The former by winning a competition, the latter by one of my first few paychecks)

So feast your eyes on what I'm currently dreaming for:
(image is a URL from the official Google nexus one site)

Photo taken from here

And then today, after lunch, we went walking around a mall and happened to chance upon a watch shop. I went in, not looking for anything in particular and skeptical as to what the shop had to offer (it was the kind of "cina apek" watch shop), and Boom! I see something I like! All this time, I've seen nice watches but not nice enough to tempt me to actually research on them. This is the first time I've actually Google-ed for a particular watch and oh, the temptation is just killing me! Take a look and see whether it's worth paying more than RM600 (before discount)

This is the Fossil Philip S+arck Veilled watch for ladies (image URL from amazon.com). Beautiful. I think it's worth the RM600 (if only I had that much to spare). Help me!

p.s: I'm hoping that I'll get an unexpected raise or bonus soon... please boss, please! Probably not. :'(

Making A Resolution

I'm back to my little self promises that I make to myself. This time it is to read the Holy Bible (as much as possible, I dare not challenge myself to set a goal of completing it!). The 'soft start' began late last week after I obtained a pdf version of the Bible. I say 'soft start' because at that time, I hadn't thought of committing part of my day to the reading. I had only decided to seriously start reading regularly over the weekend, when I realised that I'll be missing church service for about 2 months.

Why am I recording this in my blog post? I'm taking this as a form of 'black & white' proof to hold myself accountable to this 'self promise' I'm making. Somehow a promise always carry more weight when it is recorded down and is witnessed by more than one person. I tend to value it and honour the promise made.

However, in true tradition of SM, before the hatchling can take off, I've already broken my promise! I did not bring back my laptop today, and so I'm missing a reading session supposedly scheduled for now. I hope I can make up for it tomorrow.

Oh, the reason I did not bring my laptop home was because I went to watch a free screening of Confessions of a Shopaholic! It was good! Can you imagine how outdated I am! Oh, and again, today I realised how sometimes things just work out the way it does... although you may percieve it as something negative at first... there's always a reason for things to turn out the way it does if you look hard enough! :)

My red candybar is here!

referring to one of my previous posts, this is a follow up to the saga.

my (product) red ipod nano 4th generation is finally here in malaysia and in my possession (since saturday, 6th december 2008). mum's friend ordered it on 8th november 2008 and since the hong kong price is HK$1150, when converted to RM using the current exchange rate, the ipod worked out to be cheaper by RM60. so i paid RM540 for it. here's a couple of shots, just to whet your appetite and tempt you to get one too!

see how thin it is! i can stop peeking at it and sniggering... i can't believe i've finally got an ipod nano! so happy...


whenever i hold my new ipod in my palm, i'm so afraid i'd accidentally drop it! it's so thin and slick... but the edges are rather sharp... i wouldn't be surprised if i ended up getting a cut from those edges...

but i love the accelerometer in it! unfortunately i can't buy ipod games from the malaysia iTunes store... looks like we're always on the losing end! if possible, i want to purchase spore (to see what's the hype about it)

now i need to figure out how to use iTunes...

I want Jack, not Zack!

photo from jack-russell-terrier-pictures.com

in one of those rare moments where i get to watch a movie on astro at home, i just finished "my dog skip" and it was really sweet! ... although i never really liked frankie muniz in any show/movie...

so anyway, skip is a jack russell terrier given to this loner little boy (frankie muniz), to the objection of his war-hero father (kevin bacon). the dog eventually wins the boy friends and brings him out of his shell... and so the story goes (go watch it to know the details)... the dog was a really good actor!!! his antics were exactly the same as zack's, just that zack is an ugly mutt...

haha, poor guy... he's the exact opposite of what me and my mum consider a desirable dog - white, fluffy, female, floppy ears. zack is black, short-haired, male, pointy ears (dobermann pinscher). so you see why we "pity" the fellow, but unsuspectingly he has niggled into our hearts and literally rubbed his influence on us - all of us - even if 'someone' is reluctant to admit the pooch is actually a positive addition to the family! hmm... i think i've not mentioned zack's treacherous acts... he embraces strangers who praises/adores him and a certain 'stranger' who refuses to talk to me! i shall not endeavour to blog about this person in the event of certain possibilities involving my impending future... (yeah, what ever that means! sheesh, i should actually practice what i read in that "what not to write" guidebook to good english)

anyway, back to the topic of the dog movie... i've always wanted a jack russell terrier ever since i played with one puppy of that breed in cleveland, ohio, US almost 10 years ago. they're just so delightful! although they're not exactly beautiful dogs (like afghan hounds and poodles), but they have this 'baldwin' quality which makes them endearing! and the name's just so matter-of-fact cute! the jack russell on frasier sealed the deal on my affinity to this particular breed of dogs! they just look so cheeky and unpretentious! ah, when can i get one? maybe i should learn knitting and knit zack a white and spotty brown coat so that he can look more like a jack russell!