Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2011 bring you every good thing under the sky. May each of you be blessed with excellent health, joy, peace and....wealth. Can't leave the last bit out, since I'm a Malaysian of Chinese descent and must stick to the traditional greetings.  :)

2010 has been a great year for me, but it's time to say goodbye. To celebrate, I'm planning a quiet new year eve dinner at home........no one is allowed to talk......first one to speak does the dishes. My cats are exempted from this ruling, of course. 

Buried (2010): A Movie Review

A movie aficionado, I thought I've seen it all. Well, not all the movies that were ever made, that would not have been possible, but all the different genres with the various scripts, plots and twists. Nothing really surprises me anymore, but when they do, I felt like I've struck gold.


And, Buried surprised me. I can't say I loved it - neither did I dislike it, I'm just ambivalent - but it was certainly out of the ordinary. There aren't that many movies I can count on one hand that has only one actor from the beginning to the end of the movie. ONE actor in ONE situation. How many film directors are bold enough to film a 1 hour 35 min movie with a single actor stuck inside a box for the whole duration, with no other supporting cast? 


Rodrigo Cortes is one such bold film director. The story is about an American truck driver in Iraq who woke up to find himself buried alive inside a coffin. He knew he had to get out of the coffin before he runs out of oxygen, and with only a lighter and a mobile phone belonging to his Iraqi captor, he raced to get help from the outside world.


For anyone who has not seen it, and has 95 mins to spare, it is worth a view. After all, it is not everyday a film director made a hugely successful movie with very minimal expense. It was in the Top Ten  box-office charts when it opened in September or October this year. Throughout the movie, I kept telling hubby that if he could bring me a big box and put it in our living room, I could lie down in it with a camcorder and make a film, too. Who knows, I might also hit pay-dirt!  :)

Merry Christmas!!

Turkey:   Oh no!! It's that time of the year! Eat beeeeefffff!!!

Me:   Merry Christmas and Happy Turkey Gobbling, everyone! 

Bunny, The Self-Appointed Guide Cat!

We've heard of dogs being trained to be guide-dogs for the blind. But who helps a blind dog? Dr Chan Kah Yein reveals in her blog how her 4-and-a-half-year-old cat, Bunny, appoints himself as the dog's guide-cat. The story is truly heart-warming. Read more about it in Dr Chan Kah Yein's blog, AnimalCare.

Bunny tries to take a nap, too, when Bobby is sleeping. 

Bunny strikes a chord within my heart, not only because of his big, caring heart for the dog but also because he is a special cat to me.....he is FIV+ve, and I am so reminded of the poor kitty whose owner abandoned her because she is FIV+ve.

Cruel, Heartless People

Cruelty does not necessarily have to be a conscious act of abuse. It could take the passive form of neglect, or even abandonment.


A friend is leaving tomorrow morning to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays with his family in UK, and I accompanied him to Villa Sri Kuching at Taman Melawati to board his pets for three weeks.


While I was there, I saw a rather poor condition cat in one of the boarding rooms. It is a very pretty cat with a sad face and poor coat condition. The poor condition the cat is in struck me, and I asked O.L., who helps run the boarding service with her mum and sister, about it. 


It was a sad tale. The poor kitty was abandoned by her owner when the vet diagnosed her as possibly Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) positive. It seems that the owner isn't interested to ask the vet to do a second test to confirm it (read note below). He just simply abandoned her without another thought. 


It was initially shy, but after spending some time with it, it got over its shyness and its sweet nature was revealed. But it still has the characteristics of a traumatised cat.....

The still-traumatised kitty

I am so angry and sad. I'm angry at the owner, and I'd happily throttle him if I see him or her. I feel so, so sorry for the kitty. Even if she is indeed FIV positive, it does not mean a death sentence. With proper diet and veterinary management, FIV cats can survive for many years. 


It is so heart-breaking to be thrown out just because you have an illness. It is so incredibly selfish and cruel to throw this kitty out to live its last few years feeling abandoned and unloved. There should be a law to punish this type of people.   :`(


Note: Cats that have been vaccinated for FIV will test positive for FIV even though they're not infected. You may read more about FIV in the articles below:
1) What is FIV?
2) FIV in Cats

Cats Play PattyCake?!

Time flies when you're busy. And I've been real busy. So busy that I haven't had time to read my friends' blogs or surf the net. But from tomorrow onwards, my schedule should be back to normal, and then....it's time to catch up!


And what better way to 'celebrate' my return to a routine life than to share this video which my friend Lupie shared in her Facebook and blog. 


If you love animals, you really must watch this. These cats know how to play that PattyCake, or as it's also called, Pat-a-cake, nursery rhyme game!! 


I can't help but chant along....
PattyCake, PattyCake, baker's man. 
Bake me a cake as fast as you can. 
Pat it, prick it and mark it with B, 
Put it in the oven for Baby and me. 


PattyCake, PattyCake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Roll it up, roll it up,
And throw it in a pan!
PattyCake, PattyCake, baker's man.

Blackie Turns Five

Time flies. It's been five years since I picked Blackie and the late Brownie, two newborn 3-day-old kittens, from the garden of my previous apartment on a wet afternoon. There were four in the litter, and he was the only black one. He was the tiniest of the litter, and the noisiest, squealing non-stop. It was his cries that led me to him.


Blackie has since grown from an all-black kitten into a tabby with greys and browns, and is a rather quiet cat. Quiet as in, he makes these soft little kitteny mews. Has anyone heard the late Michael Jackson speak? Well, Blackie reminds me of Michael Jackson, where the voice is not compatible with the total package.


From a tiny, skinny kitten, Blackie is one big, fat cat now. He has been the proud recipient of a couple of nicknames from hubby: "Fat Boy" and "Button Face". I like Button Face better. :)


So, happy birthday Blackie, my Button Face. I love you.

How Accurate Is The GPS?

Have you ever been asked "do you have a GPS?" whenever you asked for directions? Well, we have. It seems that almost everyone these days expect you to use the GPS to get you to your destination. 


But how accurate is the GPS? Can you totally rely on it to get you to where you want to go? Most of my friends who own one swear by it.


I have my doubts. I mean, well, the GPS would probably eventually take you where you want to go, but I believe there would be some inaccuracies. After all, it relies on the satellite signals, which I feel could be obstructed by tall buildings, huge trees or even the weather. Astro, our satellite TV, is a good example of how satellite signal is lost during a storm. Moreover, in KL, a junction where you could turn right might become illegal to turn the next day and the maps might not be updated right away.


So, hubby and I decided to conduct a little experiment over a period of two weeks. We decided to use the GPS on his mobile handphone to take us home from places we're totally familiar with. 


The result? If we had followed the instructions of the GPS, we would probably be going around in circles before we reached home.


The first test was from Bukit Bintang to Kepong. The instructions were correct only up to a point. At a junction, the GPS instructed us to turn right at a traffic light which does NOT allow any right turn. Due to the way the traffic lights were programmed, traffic has to move straight ahead and not turn right. Not unless we wish to crash into another vehicle, or have a vehicle smash into the left passenger side of our car. While we'd love to go to heaven, we don't want to die. So, we ignored the instruction.


As we followed the course of the road, the GPS started to 'recallibrate calculation'. And that was the message we were going to hear over and over again throughout the test as we ignored the GPS' instructions and headed in a different route. GPS, why should we turn off onto the NKVE highway to get to Kepong when we're already on Jalan Duta? No doubt we could get to Kepong via that route, but that would be driving off-course to the West to get to the North when we're already on the North. 


And in one of the tests from the "belly" of Pudu, the GPS misread our position and instead of directing us to turn right when we expected it to, it asked us to proceed straight for another few meters and then instructed us to turn right, smack into a building. Yes! It kept saying "Turn right now!". Well, no thank you, GPS, we have no desire to smash our brains against a wall. 


Undeterred, the GPS continued to try to direct this recalcitrant couple by instructing us to turn right when we came to a junction where there is a huge divider in the middle of the road. We have two options: either we smash into the divider, or we could drive against the traffic on our side of the road. No brains required to figure out which option we took. Neither.


So, what's wrong with the GPS? Initially, I thought that perhaps our maps aren't updated. But as the tests progressed, I realised that the GPS most likely had misread our position. It didn't know our precise location. Its signals were probably deflected or blocked by the tall buildings surrounding us for the times when the instructions were wrong, we were in a "belly" of buildings or underpasses.


To check if my hunch was correct, I googled and found that, indeed one of the disadvantages of the GPS is its inaccuracies. I found quite a few articles, but the article below sums it up.   http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_5912431_advantages-disadvantages-gps-systems.html

Shi Xin Hui @ Teen Fest 2010

Photo courtesy of Shi Xin Hui

First, a disclaimer. I was educated in a national school, which means I was taught in the Malay medium. There was only one English book, the English Language book. Since I'm not Chinese-literate, please excuse me if I make some mistakes here and there.


Last night, Teen Fest, a Chinese magazine, held a concert to celebrate something. I'm not sure what, due to my not understanding Chinese. The concert was a chance for local artistes to give back to their fans. There were quite a number of performers, most of them unknown to me and hubby, but not to the Malaysian public.


The only reason I knew about the concert and was there was because Shi Xin Hui was one of the artistes performing. She was born and raised in Malaysia, but became a celebrity in Singapore (another talent taken away from Malaysia.) Click on the link above to read more about her if you don't already know. Or, visit her Facebook page.


Despite the disappointing amateurish stage setup, Xin Hui gave an amazing medley performance from her top hits 'From Taipei to Beijing' and 'Queen', and the theme song from the NTV7 series 'Forever Friends' where she also had a starring role. She really is a star. She has that unmistakable celebrity aura the minute she steps onto the stage, the X Factor, as what Simon Cowell would say.

Being interviewed..... sorry, I didn't understand the dialogue, only that the host asked if Xin Hui is a Malaysian.  ;)

A chance for fans to take a group photo of their idols.

Politics, Folitics, Fodlitics, Foodlitics

I'm in a dilemma. What title should I give this post? The subject matter has something to do with food and politics. Wait a minute. What has food and politics in common? Well, nothing really, except perhaps a politician needs to eat?

Or, how about a cafe bearing the logo of a political party?

We've passed by this cafe numerous times but have never actually stepped inside until Deepavali last Friday. I mean, a political party cafe? Are they serious about the food or are they more focused on political propaganda?

And we would still not have stepped inside had we not been searching for Restaurant Ho Fun, a cafe selling Ipoh kuey teow in both soup and dry version. Despite walking up and down the five-foot pavement a couple of times, we could no longer find this cafe. The address is No. 18, Jalan SS2/63, and we knew it is a few doors away from the KTZ Cafe. At last, we decided to check the actual no.18 unit by counting the shoplots. 

In Malaysia, most of the shops don't display their address, not to mention the unit number anywhere on their premises, so you'll have to look for two lots with a number and start counting down, or up, as in our case.

When we finally reached no. 18, we found ourselves at the DAP Rocket cafe. Looks like Restaurant Ho Fun is no longer around. We're stuck, because at 2:45pm, all the other restaurants nearby have closed their kitchen and no longer takes any orders. Our only other option is McDonalds, which we would rather pass. 

The cafe is a no-frills place, and the party's memorabilia are available for sale at the premises. It is not owned by DAP, but its party supporters and members. Check out the news here >>> http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/20/nation/5147095&sec=nation

I must say it's somewhat disconcerting to be sitting and eating under the armpit of Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang. Throughout my meal, my imagination ran wild and I kept thinking I could smell his armpit. I could certainly see his armpit hair, that's for sure, and I thanked my lucky stars that there's no ingredient resembling hair in my bowl of laksa. 

Can you see his armpit hair?

I ordered the Penang Assam Laksa and the soup base is just right, not too sour. I did not add the lime that was served with it. Although the price is a little steep for assam laksa in a cafe, at RM7.90 it is still a reasonable price considering the very generous amount of mackerel fish in it.

I only remembered to take a picture after having eaten like, two mouthfuls.  :)

Hubby ordered the Fried Prawn Noodle. It came with a combination of yellow noodles (the ones used in mee goreng) and laksa noodles. The taste was right up hubby's alley, with lots of egg-ish texture, which wasn't particularly my cup of tea.

The cafe is registered under the name of Just Change Sdn Bhd. 

How To Drive Customers Away From Your Shop

This post is dedicated to all the shops and sales people that have mastered the art of chasing away potential customers.


I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I walked into a boutique (or any shop for that matter) and before I had a chance to swivel my head left and right to see what the store has to offer, a sales assistant stepped up to me. "What are you looking for?", "You want to buy clothes?" are just some of the varied questions that assaulted me. It's a boutique, so what did they think I was looking for? Salted fish?? Coffin??


And the one that would surely win an award if I'm in a mind to give one is this: "Found anything?" This is asked before I had even had a chance to see what merchandise the store has!! How could I find anything if I haven't even had a look??!! Excuse me, I had just stepped into your store right this moment and you saw it.


If I was in a good mood, I'd say yes, and hurried down the aisle, taking only a cursory glance so I could get out quickly as politely as I could. If I happened to be in a grumpy mood, I'd say "No, I'm looking for salted fish" and walked out.


I really wish those sales assistants would leave me alone. Perhaps I'll then buy from them. To those who stood at a discreet distance and offered useful information when I asked, kudos to you. You are what a good sales person should be, discreet and informative. 

We Incite, Not Invite, Tourists To Malaysia

According to the brochures distributed at the Malaysia Pavillion at the Shanghai World Expo, Malaysia has a 130-million-year-old Taman Nerara. 


And we "incite visitous to our nulticultural, decelopment locationgs in our cuntry." How could this go to print?!
source: http://www.mmail.com.my/content/53622-mistakes-international-brochure-put-country-shame-says-mp


Someone commented that luckily they didn't spell it as Taman Neraka (Hades Park in Malay). 


Imagine....we incite you to our 130-million-year-old Taman Neraka, a great place to visit at Halloween..... 

Cats Take To The Streets In Protest

Last night, an unprecedented incident in the history of mankind took place at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Cats came out in droves on the streets, wearing hats and carrying placards in protest of the 100-storey mega tower that would be built at the site near Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara.

"That's a sign that the End of the World is coming. Our cats normally reside in Kuching, a special city zoned for cats in Sarawak, a state in East Malaysia," a witness said. 


Seen running after her cats, trying to catch them and put them back into their carriers is FurLin, who told CNN (Cats News Network) that she doesn't know what came over her cats. She was having dinner at Healy Mac's, an Irish Restaurant in Bukit Bintang when her cats broke free from their carriers, donned their hats and ran off to join other cats that were similarly attired. 


"They just went nuts," she said, pointing to her cats in the pink straw hat and red cowboy hat. "Before they dashed off, they meowed that the RM5 billion ringgit would be better used to build a  Cat Village to house all the poor and homeless," chirped her husband, FurNut.


When approached, the cat in a pink straw hat said, "Look, the money could be used to help the poor and improve public hospitals and clinics". 


"Humans should improve their education system so that they are at least half as smart as we felines. The money could be used to improve the public transport system, and thus ease the massive traffic jams in the city. Instead, they are using the money to create even more traffic jam. This just proves what we knew all along --- humans are not fit to lead a country," the cat in a red cowboy hat added.


The protest is against the government's planned Warisan Merdeka project announced in the recent Budget 2011.


If you agree that RM5 billion could be better spent elsewhere, be it on education, hospitals and clinics, public transport, or to help out the poor, please join the protest in http://www.facebook.com/NoMegaTower. And please drop a line and say "hi" to the cats if you sympathise with them.  :P

Will The Real Simon Cowell Please Step Up

An hour after I posted 'Adam Lambert Live in Malaysia', I noticed visitors flocking in from URLs like twitter.com and adamtopia.proforums.org. And in less than twelve hours, there were more than 170 visits, and they're still coming in.


Curious, I looked up the two sites to see what brought them to the said blog post. While I've had a tweeter account created some time back, I've never logged in to tweet. I already have a Facebook account and I would need more than 24 hours in a day if I want to get any real work done or have a real life should I want to be 'active' in all those social networking channels. The only reason I created a tweeter account was to see what the hoo-hah was about.


Anyway, I couldn't find the cause for visitors from tweeter to visit. But I did find one thing. There are many 'real' Simon Cowells out there. There are quite a few users claiming to be the real Simon Cowell. But when you read their tweets, it's obvious they're not Simon Cowell. Goodness! I was so tempted to tweet for the first time, asking the real Simon Cowell to please step up.  And of course, there are just as many Adam Lamberts, too. Fortunately, I'm following Adam Lambert on Facebook, so I know which tweet account is really his, haha!


Then, I checked adamtopia.proforums. org. And there, I discovered what sent members flocking to the blog post. Someone by the username of 4evermumof4 had posted a link to the said post. Hmmm....I know there are a number of lurkers in my blog, but I didn't realise some of those lurkers are Adam Lambert fans. 


So, to the lurkers who are Adam Lambert fans, here's a big HELLO from one Adam Lambert fan to another!  :)

Adam Lambert Live in Malaysia

Last night hubby sai, "So, your dream came true". He was referring to my dream and wish that Adam Lambert would come to Malaysia and perform. Ever since Adam Lambert auditioned for the American Idol Season 8 competition with a rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody", I had hoped he would one day go on a world concert tour. (Simon Cowell, I have more foresight than you, LOL!!) He has such an amazing vocal range and is so energetic that all other contestants fell short. Very, very short.

A year later, my dream came true. I was one of the "over 10,000 fans that turned up at Bukit Jalil Indoor Stadium to be entertained by Adam, despite protests by PAS". *Source: The Star*


At eight-ish, a local artiste, with a name that sounds like Eggo, performed the first opening act. It was a rather dismal performance, as everyone had a certain expectation from the opening act with a main star like Adam Lambert. Hubby and I commented that the show organizer would have done a better job if they had invited Sin Huey to open the act, especially since she was there at the concert.

Fortunately, the second act was much better. Daniel Lee, the Malaysian Idol 2005 winner  did Bon Jovi reasonable justice with his rendition of "It's My Life". Mind you, that is not an easy song to sing, and most Asian singers don't have a powerhouse voice. That is why they mostly stick to melodies. So, what Daniel Lee was able to do is considered decent enough. 

After Daniel's performance, there was a long wait before Adam showed up on stage, in spite of screams and shouts from excited fans. I think he's a little hard of hearing, if he could fail to hear  the ruckus we fans stirred up, shouting his name again and again.  ;)

To give us something to do before we screamed ourselves hoarse, the Yellow Man / Yellow Duck released some balloons for the crowd to bat at. Yes, it's DIGI. 

At 9.20pm, the lights dimmed and the show finally began. And one thing became very clear throughout the 90 minutes. Adam Lambert is in the league of legends like Michael Jackson and Queen. Even though he's a beginner, his showmanship, his energy and most of all, his vocals, showed clearly that he is one big powerhouse. You see, the acid test is always the concert. 

A singer may sound good on TV, music videos or CDs but only a truly good singer can sound good in a live concert. In a live concert, you don't get the benefit of a sound engineer doing some sound editing to cover up your weakness!

Take for example, Inxs. JD Fortune sounded really good in the RockStar competition on TV, music videos and CDs, but when he sang in a live concert at Stadium Negara in 2006, he wasn't able to project a commanding presence. His voice lacked the range, or should I say the power that Adam Lambert has. Don't get me wrong. I love JD Fortune, too, but I have to be honest.

The last song (well, not counting the encore) was If I Had You. After introducing his dancers in the middle of the extended version, Adam got the crowd into a frenzy by getting them to sing along.

I am so glad that Adam decided to bring his show to Malaysia, and I hope he will come again in the not too distant future! He will be working on a new album in winter, after his tour is completed, and I can't wait for it!

Trying To Perfect My Screaming............

10 more days to go!!! Adam Lambert is going to be at Bukit Jalil stadium and I can't wait!!! In the meantime, I'm practising my screaming. I'll know I have achieved perfection when my mum, hubby and neighbours come out screaming at me to stop.

The seating plan and price - if you are a Digi customer, purchase 3 Adam Lambert caller tunes for RM6 to get a 25% discount off the ticket price. Send AL to 2016.

Cat Hygiene Taken To A Totally New Level - Part 3

N.B. Continued from Cat Hygiene 101 - Part 2 and Difference Between Cat Cleanliness and Cat Hygiene
---------------------------------------
Thanks to thefluffies I now have an idea what level of hygiene I should take my cats to --- they'll have to learn to eat with fork, chopsticks and spoon. And training Yin to wash her paws only at meal times, not each time after she buries her waste! 

Cat Hygiene 101 - Part 2

N.B. Continued from Difference Between Cat Cleanliness and Cat Hygiene
---------------------------


A cat is clean, but not exactly hygienic. That said, a cat can be forgiven for being less than hygienic. After all, we humans didn't start to concern ourselves with hygiene until the 19th century. And today, two centuries later, there are still a number of elderly folks who might think hygiene is over-rated.


Now, back to cats and hygiene, or the lack of it. In my earlier post I forgot to mention that Yin not only washes her paws after she buries her waste, but likes to dip her paws into the water bowls and splash the water around, producing a fountain effect. The result is a damp wall and wet floor. On some level I think she knows that is naughty as she always stops the minute I catch her in the act. 


To top it off, she also has a rather unusual way of drinking water --- she'd scoop up the water with her paw and drink from it. A friend said I should have given her a straw while another suggested that I give her a spoon.

Difference Between Cat Cleanliness And Cat Hygiene

Cats are notoriously finicky when it comes to cleanliness. They are obsessively clean. And if they're not, then it's time to take them to a 5vet, for that is one sure sign that something is not right, health-wise.

Yin Yin is no exception. In fact, she takes cleanliness to another level. After she buries her waste, she would proceed to the nearest water bowl and wash her two front paws, one at a time.

That's great, right? Well, not really. First, she doesn't agree with my view that she should dry her paws on the rug I place beneath the water bowl. She prefers to lick-dry.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, I haven't been able to train her to separate the drinking bowl from the paw-washing bowl. She does not discriminate and would wash her paws in whichever bowl she fancies at that point in time. 

And finally, her chief eunuch Blackie would come and empty her washing bowl for her, or at least, try to, by drinking it up!!!!!!!!!  He understands the word "dirty", I've taught him a few simple vocabulary from young, but he doesn't understand why "dirty" is not applied to the same water bowl all the time.

For now, I've drafted a simple "Cat Hygiene 101" lesson for both of them, with illustrations and examples. Hopefully, they'd be able to understand it! Any contribution (in the form of ideas) to the lesson would be greatly appreciated.  :)

Night by Elie Wiesel

Books. Some are hard to put down. Some make you laugh. Some make you cry. And then there are some that make you think very deeply. Night by Elie Wiesel falls into this last category.


Although the first edition of this book was published in September 1960, and Oprah Winfrey selected the book for her book club in January 2006, hubby and I only came to know of this book a week ago by chance.


We were in our room at Resorts World Hotel at Genting, watching Vision Four, an in-house video channel, and it was showing an old documentary of Elie Wiesel giving an acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize for this book.


The book is about the author's experience in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschtwitz and Buchenwald at the height of Holocaust and toward the end of the Second World War. He was sixteen years old when the US Army finally liberated Buchenwald.


What got me thinking deeply was that in the book, every human value, every moral was destroyed. Would anyone dream of abandoning their parent, whom they had clung to tenaciously  for the past one or three years to avoid being separated suddenly wished that the parent would die so that they would be free to have a better chance at survival? Or would a loving child jump on the father and beat him to death so as to grab that piece of bread crumb from him? Would a child who would retaliate against anyone who so much as laid a finger on his father lie quietly in a bunk above the same father and listened to him being beaten to death by the soldiers for fear of attracting the blows upon himself?


These are not the unfilial, rebellious children. But circumstances, or to be more exact, the horrors of the concentration camps have changed them. The human survival instinct kicked in. It became a "each man for himself, there is no fathers, no brothers here".


I kept asking myself, would I become like one of them, too, if I am in that situation? I don't know, since I haven't been through any suffering. I really hope I can rise above that selfish human instinct to survive, but I sure hope I don't live to experience it to get the answer.


The book was written in an easy-to-read narrative, and if I have a Book Club like Oprah Winfrey, I too would select it for my club and encourage everyone to read it. If nothing else, at least the reader will learn something: When there's a conflict, we must take sides. To remain silent is not being neutral. Being silent is condoning the actions of the oppressor and further victimising the oppressed. The world was silent, and in being silent, a monster (Hitler) came into being.

Introducing Maneki Neko

I came by this photo through honest means, but am 'stealing' it by posting it here. It's just too cute not to be shared. This is Maneki Neko....aint she cute?  ;)

Pantai Morib

Last Sunday hubby and I decided to take a 90 minutes' drive to Pantai Morib. There are two routes to Pantai Morib, although there may be others that I'm not aware of. One is via Klang while the other is via Banting. We took the latter as Klang is a more-travelled route for us, and would not have offered as much 'adventure'.

A seaside town in the Kuala Langat district, Pantai Morib's shoreline spans about 3km

Seagulls and their eggs nest....

In the early afternoon, at low tide, the water edge of the sea is about 500 or 600 meters away from the shore. Many visitors walked out to the water edge. Some came back with live snails and baby crabs in their palms while others collected seashells.

A visitor paying homage to Hitler? No, hail Hitler it is not. It's just hubby flying a kite. The kite is right behind and above his head!! LOL.


You see, Pantai Morib is windy enough to fly kites and many kite vendors sat under the casuarina trees selling kites. Hubby got one for RM3. He managed not to get it entangled in the tall trees, unlike some, and brought the kite home proudly as a souvenir. He plans to fly it from our balcony one day! *gasp*

The water ripples reflected under the setting sun as the tide returned to shore, at around 5:45pm.

People were seen rushing back to shore, while some were still caught in what had become the middle of the sea. 


We left at about 6:30pm, and had a lovely dinner at Banting.

Ikea Let Loose 100 Cats In A Store In England

I love all those cats in Ikea! Story source: http://gizmodo.com/5634257/ikea-let-loose-a-herd-of-100-cats-into-store-to-see-what-happens

Cats Cat-together (Cats Get Together)

Look what I found when I walked into my room just now.....a little cat-together. 

Are they having a conference? A debate? Or some private time? Whatever it is, it must be important for them to remove themselves from my presence to sneak into the bedroom to be by themselves. Should I feel hurt that I wasn't invited to join the party?

Sayang's Second Week @ His Home

It has been almost two weeks since Sayang moved to his new home with the Chongs. And he sure looks like he has put on some weight. His coat also appears to be thicker. (Thanks for the photo, Mrs Chong!)

Sayang very tired and sleepy after spending the whole afternoon with 10 teenagers yesterday

His favourite spot outside of his room, the dining chair.

Mrs Chong tells me that he has developed some cute little habits. When he wants some attention and affection from his family, he'd go up to them and drop on his side (yes, drop, not lie down) for them to stroke him. He'll be rather vocal until they stroke him.


He was shedding a lot while in Jimmy's & Angela's shop, and they have been giving him the evening primrose softgel pill. They showed Mrs Chong how to give this pill to Sayang. But what the Chongs discovered by chance is that they don't even have to 'force' open his mouth to drop in the pill. They discovered that if they just put the pill on the floor he'll eat it up! And he loves his hot baths! How I wish my two cats will co-operate like this! It'll make feeding them their pills & bathing them so much easier.


Also, another discovery is, Sayang's favourite food is not fish, but chicken fillet. Looks like I've been buying him the wrong food when he was a stray at Selayang, LOL.


He's definitely much happier, his family is very happy with him, and I'm happy, too.  :))


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related post: http://blackie007.blogspot.com/2010/08/sayang-in-his-new-home.html

Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri

Wishing all my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri and have a safe trip if you are going to balik kampung. 

Is This Our 1Malaysia??!!

I was horrified to read the news that two Malaysian men of Chinese ethnic were attacked when they went to watch the Merdeka eve fireworks for simply having Chinese ethnicity. What is happening to our nation? The perpetrators are teenagers, why are they harbouring so much hatred for their fellow-countrymen? 


The news report : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/news/general/9834-two-beaten-up-in-merdeka-eve-racist-attack

The personal account of the victim in Facebook :  http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=432073840741&id=586500176

Bukit Merah A Must For Animal Lovers

Over the weekend we took a 3 days/2 nights trip to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, an eco-tourism destination that fronts a 7000 acres of fresh water lake and houses the only conservational Orang Utan Island in Peninsula Malaysia. It also has an Eco Park with a platform enclosure where you can walk around and interact with the animals there.

Our room @ Laketown Hotel

Waterfront Chalet

Traffic was light on the highway, and we arrived at three-ish on Saturday. We had set out late, and compounded to that we had to make several stops along the way, caused by an iced coffee taken at an earlier rest stop not agreeing with my tummy.


After we checked-in, we had a late lunch at Cafe Le Lac. Hubby ordered a beef sandwich while I had Mee Goreng. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the food is rather good, especially since our complimentary breakfast for the next two mornings would be at the cafe. And the chef didn't fail to deliver for the next two days. You see, it has been my experience that aside from KL, Penang and JB, chefs at resorts or hotels in other parts of Malaysia do not possess too much culinary skills.  

(I forgot to take photos of the buffet breakfast)

That said, despite the culinary skills of the chef, a couple of guests chose to eat nothing but nasi lemak for each and every meal. They must have bought the resort's promotional package.


At the Orang Utan Island, we discovered hubby's long-lost cousins, Uncle Mike, Adam, Sonia and a baby in the Infant Care Unit. Do you see the family resemblance?  :D

Uncle Mike (Adam and Sonia were up in the trees)

Baby orang utan in a diaper and hugging a bolster in the Infant Care Unit

The Eco Park is probably one of the most enjoyable part of our visit. While exploring the reptile park, I bumped into an iguana on the loose. Needless to say, I was both horrified and delighted at the sight of such a beautifully ugly creature, which took into its head to advance on me even as I backed away.... 

I also learnt something else.....parrots are intelligent, great in sports like football, basketball, bowling and cycling while otters make excellent trash collectors. Below are a couple of my favourite parrot tricks.

You might want to check out the links below:
For a fictitious promotional package  >>> Tongue-in-cheek promotion
For room rates and other info >>> http://www.bukitmerahresort.com.my/

Nasi Lemak Fest @ Bukit Merah Laketown Resort

Calling all Nasi Lemak fans. To cater to some Malaysians who want to eat the same thing, namely Nasi Lemak, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the hotel is now introducing a special Nasi Lemak Promotion Package.


For only RM480 nett for 3D/2N, you get the ubiquitous nasi lemak for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And if you'd like nasi lemak for tea too, just add another RM18 per pax. Still haven't had enough of nasi lemak? Don't worry, there's always supper......more nasi lemak....


Money back guarantee - we guarantee every meal will be identical.....


Disclaimer: This is a purely tongue-in-cheek, satiric post resulting from my observation of  a couple of guests who only ate nasi lemak throughout the three days I was at the resort. It has  nothing to do with Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, and is not a post from the hotel. To view the rates or promotion of the resort, please visit >>> http://www.bukitmerahresort.com.my/

Message From Najib......

Najib's message to Malaysians for this Merdeka:  "Just in case you forgot what I look like."  :D

@ Bukit Bintang Plaza

HAPPY MERDEKA, EVERYBODY!!  :)

Sayang In His New Home

After having recuperated nicely from his castration, Sayang was welcomed into his new home yesterday. He took to it like a duck to water. He has been busy rubbing his scent on everything to mark them as his. And his new family was not excluded in this little branding act! This is one territorial little boy who knows what he wants.....he didn't wait for a week or two to get used to his surroundings, but claimed the home and the humans in it as belonging to him right on the first day!  :D  


In short, he's adjusting very well. He's very manja and friendly with his new family, loves to sit on their laps and even trusts them to let them touch his tummy.


Mrs Chong made him a really comfy cat bed and scratch post (see photos below).......from scratch! As my hubby said when I showed him the photos, Sayang is "hoe miah" now (he has a good life now). 

Sayang loves the new bed Mrs Chong made for him. He looks really happy here. ♥

I am so happy for Sayang, and am very thankful to the Chong family for opening their heart and home to him. He used to look so sad, but now, he has a happier expression. He knows it's a different world for him now. 

Thank you so much, Mrs Chong and family. May God bless you for your kindness and generosity. 

P/s: Thanks for letting me have the photos.  :)

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related post: http://blackie007.blogspot.com/2010/09/sayangs-second-week-his-home.html

Yeah...Leave My Food Alone!!

Yeah.....we don't like to share our food..... :D


This video is specially dedicated to my cousin, who was born in the year of the dog, and who is a cat-allergic dog person..... :D

Warning: Malicious software hidden in celebrity pages

Friends, this is important. Please read:


Creators of malicious software use celebrities as lures, baiting fans and followers to click on and download seemingly innocuous content containing programs designed to steal passwords and other private information for profit, said Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Labs.


Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/showbiz/article/study-ranks-cameron-diaz-most-dangerous-web-celeb/

Inspiring Armless Pianist

The motto of my secondary school is "Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam" which means  "If there's a will, there's a way" and this tag line on our school badge has never been more on the forefront of my mind than today.


I was moved by the video below..........Liu Wei is a talented, and inspiring young man, who didn't let his disabilities drag him down (he lost his arms when he was 10).

Updated: WE ARE MALAYSIANS!!!!!

A school principal's responsibility is to instil  good values and she sets that by example. This school principal has chosen to instil hatred of other races in her school.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/17/nation/6869117&sec=nation


Updated: Her actual words were: "Chinese students are not needed here and can return to China or Foon Yew schools. For the Indian students, the prayer string tied around their neck and wrist makes them look like dogs because only dogs are tied like that."  


~ source: http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/special-reports/33842-school-head-under-probe-over-racist-remarks
Her photo is down in the comments section.


Those who are racists should consider this:


1) We are Malaysian citizens.


2) We are NOT Chinese citizens to be asked to return to China.


3) China is NOT our country, and is NOT a place we love or born in.


4) Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were born in Malaysia.


WE ARE MALAYSIANS!!!! It's Malaysia we will protect if there's a war!!!