Here's My Story

During CNY, my sister's family spent time at her in-laws place in Penang island. They invited mum to join them and I was glad that mum decided to go. However, when she was there, she had an allergic reaction: rashes, redness and itches over her body. She suspected it was the bar of soap. Mum had a history of contact dermatitis, the most serious were her fingers turning nearly black. Sister brought her to a 24-hour clinic for treatment. Was given antihistamine and calomine lotion. The next morning, my sister was helping to apply the lotion on mum when she suddenly collapsed on her bed, with hands pointing up (elbows on bed) and shaking. Mum didn't respond to sister's calling until a minute later when this seizure-like moment was over. Scary. After some discussion, my sister brought her back to the clinic. They said although it's possible that this is a side effect of antihistamine, it's rare and even more so for the one they prescribed i.e. chlorphenamine. However, i...

After the trip to Peranakan Mansion , we didn't really want to dine at another peranakan restaurant the next day but  we were sort of clueless on what to have. Fortunately, later, I remember that Ban wanted pie ti and so we searched online for restaurants that served pie ti. After some discussion, we settled on Nancy's Kitchen.   Pie ti was beautifully plated. Visually attractive. It was delicious and crunchy. The unusual addition of a tiny bit of tomato puree enhanced its flavour. Highly recommended. I passed my commendation to the staff manning the cashier. Chap chai was good. Tasted similar Peranakan Mansion's but the latter was better plated. Chak Bek was quite nice. Salty sourish. We were surprised at its servicing size (there was only one size): it was about two third the size of the chap chai. Fyi the chap chai was of small serving too.   For one dinner outing, I wanted something that had substantial amount of vegetables. So, we asked for recommendation from the ho...

Huang Chang Chicken Rice Restaurant. Best chicken rice ball ever! Probably best chicken rice too. The ginger taste was a little more distinctive compared to normal chicken rice. Unfortunately, its chicken was a little dry but compensated somewhat with delicious sauce.  10 Kopitiam @ Melaka. Best chai tau kuay (fried radish/carrot cake) in decades. Slightly crispy on the outside. Dark coloured. Two big prawns and appropriate amount of beansprout and spring onion. Their pandan egg tart was pretty good too. When we were first there just before 7pm, it was already sold out. Upon enquiry, I was told that it's typically sold out by 5pm. We dropped by the next day, just before 12 noon and there were only 4 left!

Recently, Ban made a short trip to Melaka to attend a pre-CNY gathering organised by his ex-high schoolmates. I followed him mainly because I was a bit concerned about him driving by himself. I thought of where to have our meals and planned out accordingly a few spots. One of them was Peranakan Mansion. Chap chai was quite flavourful and the plating was pretty good. The ayam ponteh was quite disappointing: sauce was mild and the chicken meat didn't absorb any of it. The otak-otak was the best dish of the night: soft and deliciously flavourful. The bunga telang tea was quite light and refreshing. It had pandan and a slice of lime in it. Cendol was good but too much coconut milk for me. Food was pricey but appropriate if one considers the good service rendered by waiters and waitresses who were in elegant uniform, and the environment/decoration (some shown in the photos below). Definitely a worthwhile experience.  

For the past year, I received a few messages from GX Bank app to update my profile. I ignored it because I see no reason to give more than necessary. Certainly wouldn't want them to use it to spam me with marketing materials. Recently, however, I received this email:   I called GX Banka and obtained confirmation that this is a genuie email. Also, it is not compulsory to provide any information but I was advised to at least reply the email stating that I have nothing to update, so that they can stop asking me to do so. I'm not giving them anything. This list of information is intrusive. Also, how does this additional info help them to "maintain the security" of their platform? Sounds nonsensical. 

Chagee Tie Guan Yin cold brew tea. It was expensive and so I only decided to try it when I was given a voucher with hefty discount. Ummm it was wasted on me :D Maybe a tea  connoisseur might appreciate it.   Coconut ice-cream as a birthday gift by An Viet. Pretty good, especially with the crushed peanutes. Miles better than the previous one (something to do with jackfruit). Tiramisu souffle pancake at  Soufflé Dessert Cafe. Their yuzu lime version is better, maybe because the tartness of the yuzu lime complements the sweetness of the pancake better than tiramisu does.   When I blogged about Yamesushi , I forgot to mention a rather unique offering from them: Cute Cute Meal. I believed they have the normal version but they also regularly offer limited time ones like the above. I wonder how many children asked for it :)

I completedly this exapansion recently. The additional talents and specialisation are much welcomed but there were not enough of them to put all points in and so the enjoyment on that front vanished during late game. Also, I felt that the enemies were not scaled up properly to provide sufficient challenges. The last fight wasn't particularly difficult: it was just tedious. These issues could have been fixed by lowering the starting level of all characters.  I ended the game with the following specialisations: Me (mage): Spirit Healer, Battlemage and Blood Mage. The last one was chosen just for stat boost. Justice (warrior): Spirit Warrior, Champion and Templar. Weapon and Shield tank. Sigrun (rogue): Legionaire Scout, Assassin and Duelist. Dual-weapon mele rogue.  Nathaniel (rogue): Bard, Ranger and Assassin. Archer. Justice was the last companion I recruited. Before him, Oghren was my two-handed warrior tank, with specialisation in Berserker, Champion and Spirit Warrior. Alth...

Recently, Ban and I dined at Go Noodle House at Paradigm Mall after being absent for more than 3 months. They discontinued their loyalty programme in Nov 2025. I was curious whether this was due to a change in management and hence whether this had effect on the menu, quality of food etc. One notable change was there was a bottle of wine on each table, clearly for customers to add to their noodle soup if they wish. I initially thought it was vinegar and so I asked and got the answer from the waiter. I was a little puzzled because for their noodle soup, you need to pay RM 2.50 for extra wine (upgrade Superior Soup to Premium Superior Soup) and yet there was free wine on the table. Me: What's the difference between this (the bottle of wine on the table) and that (the saucer of extra wine)? Waiter: That (the extra wine) is high quality wine. Me: So this (the table wine) is low quality, is it? Waiter, Ban and Me: *laughed* Waiter: No, no, no. Ban: Don't disturb him lah. Me: Just jok...

This was a review by a certain Edward Lee, of the restaurant Go Noodle at Paradigm Mall: Edit: I reported it for "Discrimination or hate speech". Later, Google responded: "Thank you for your report. Our systems checked the reported content, and didn't find any issues at this time." WTH.

  Currently, this is my favourite lozenges. I was introduced to it by a doctor when I consulted them about my sorethroat and cough. I noticed that, unlike other lozenges, this has specific instruction of not refrigerating it. Why?

I finished my second playthrough recent. I ended with the following specialisations: Me: Spirit Healer & Shapeshifter. Took the latter just for the boost to defensive stats i.e. didn't unlock any talent. Alistair: Templar & Champion. Oghre: Berserker & Champion. Leliana: Bard & Ranger. Leliana's archer build is a late-bloomer and equipment dependent. Belatedly, I realised how great Scattershot is. Once they were fully built i.e. unlocked all key talents, the game was pretty easy except for a few fights towards the end. Definitely needed to depend on the armies I gathered.  Just started playing its expansion, Awakening. Meanwhile, here are some more gameplays:  

 

Besides reading news and interacting with people directly or via WhatsApp, I do the following daily to exercise my brain: (1) Wordle This game was the rage (many?) years ago. Aim of the game is to guess correctly the 5-letter word of the day. You have 6 tries. Correct letter in the correct position is highlighted in green while correct letter in the wrong position is highlighted in yellow. (2) Nerdle Aim of the game is to guess correctly the mathematical formula composed of 8 numbers and mathematical symbols (+, -, *, /, =). You have 6 tries. Correct number/symbol in the correct position is highlighted in green while correct number/symbol in the wrong position is highlighted in maroon. (3) Nerdle decoy There are two puzzles here: (a) Numbers version: aim is to form a mathematical formula with all given numbers and symbols except one which is the decoy. (b) Word version: aim is to form a word with all letters except for one. Two clues will be given, one at a time, after a certain t...

I played and finished one playthrough back in 2014. I then continued by playing Awakening, its expansion but never finished it. Can't remember why. Probably intended to just take a break and yet here we are, 12 years later :D So, late last year, I was looking for a game to play, among my Steam library, while waiting for price to drop for some games. I remember quite fondly the detailed auto combat tactics of DAO, which seems to be absent in other games. I checked and was surprised that I had DAO Ultimate Edition, which includes all DLCs. Unfortunately, as Ban and other players online said, some mods are needed to make the game work. Seems like bugs were not fixed? Oddly, I don't remember this during the first playthrough but then again that was more than a decade ago. Searching for the appropriate mod, downloading and installing them took quite a while. Incidentally, here's a shoutout to all the modders who make it possible to play this game bug-free and also with QOL adjus...

My sister's family (sans one son), my mum, Ban and I dined once at Ramen O in Canberra during the recent trip. My sister gathered the orders from the table and then went to the counter to place our order. While waiting... Me: Did I just hear my sister say, "Ramen oh my god." *laughed* Ban: Same here but surely we misheard? Me: Oh, wait, I think I know why. *laughed*  

Unlike the leg to Australia , the leg back had us experienced worse wheelchair assistance. In fact, the worst one was happened unexpectedly at a renown airport. Before I go on, I should stress that although these assitance requests were made with the airlines, I noticed that the staff who provided the asistance were from different companies. This is confirmed by the staff at KLIA but he did say that certain airlines had their staff to do it too. Canberra to Sydney Interestingly, the Qantas staff at Canberra Airport didn't ask whether we wanted to a staff to wheel my mum. She somehow assumed that we wanted to do it ourselves, which was fine with us. At Sydney airport, mum was made to walk quite a distance, including the slightly inclined aerobridge, right into the airpot and we were made to wait (with seats available, thank goodness) for the staff to bring a wheelchair for her. Then, unlike previous experience, he just left us right before the exit to the common area. Didn't bot...

(Emphasis is mine, to show the mistakes) 1. The Rakyat Post article: " Public University Professor Claims Romans Learned Shipbuilding From Malays ". Sentence: " She identifies Southeast Asia as the fifth civilisation after Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China, while emphasising the region’s maritime wealth and economic prosperity due to resources such as gold and tin. " She named only 3 civilisation thereafter.   2. The Sun article: " “Thanks for wasting everyone’s time” says HR after M’sian declines job offer politely ". Sentence: " He also explained that he was posting about the issue not the speak ill of the company but candidates are allowed to review the offer letter and decide on whether to accept or reject it. "  A few more words needed to fix the second hightlight.     3. The Star article: " FIFA show proof of forged player papers, Asian Cup result under threat ". Sentence: " FIFA’s report also cited a statement from...

 

" Here's the thing: your success isn't measured against the market or your neighbour's portfolio. It's measured against your own goals. " - Chin Hui Leong Co-Founder, The Smart Investor Applies to life in general. That's how I found inner peace. 

Here are the books that I read, podcasts that I listened to and shows that I watched in 2025: Books: Shadow Slave Chapter 2046 - 2700 - Guiltythree Red Rising - Pierce Brown Red Rising: Golden Son - Pierce Brown Red Rising: Morning Star - Pierce Brown Red Rising: Iron Gold - Pierce Brown The Author's POV Chapter 1-28 - Entrail_JI Murder on the Links - Agatha Christie Percy Jackson: The Lightning thief - Rick Riordan Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan Percy Jackson: The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan Percy Jackson: The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan Aura Farming in Baldur's Gate is difficult when you're a halfling Chapter 1-31 - mrbunnyban Shows: The Good Place Season 2 Ep 8-12 The Good Place Season 3 & 4 The Good Doctor Season 4 Ep 9-20 The Good Doctor Season 5 Ep 1-8 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Transformers One Bao Zheng The Wild Robot Shangri-La Frontier Bad Buddy The Crown Wheel of Tim...