Here's My Story

I mentioned in the passing that Ban and I went to Butterworth. We stayed at my sister's place. More importantly, my parents were there too. Yes, it was the first time we stayed together with my parents after I came out to them I believed the 2-week stay went quite well, although Ban said it was quite "challenging" because of the new experience. My dad even took the trouble to remember what food Ban couldn't eat and what he didn't like to eat. My mum made the effort to converse with him. Ban himself made the effort to chit-chat with them. We both read bedtime story books to my nephew at night. My niece was so attached to Ban that on the day we left, she pleaded with him not to "go home" and then later cried wanting to go with us. Poor girl. My parents stayed a night at Ban's place (Ban and I stayed over at his brother's unit) and the next day had lunch with us as well as Ban's mum and brother. It went well...except that twice my dad pla...

Just before we departed for Butterworth, Ban realised that his car road tax hadn't been renewed. Since it was going to expire during our stay there, I suggested using MyEG. For past few years, I had been using MyEG to renew my road tax and they had always delivered it the next business day. While that was true for Klang Valley area, their website stated that it would take up to 3 business days to deliver elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia. Ban ordered his on Tuesday but due to some website/system/internet/goodness-knows-what errors, he ended paying four times. Had to call to get them initiate refund all but one (processed in 2 weeks...hopefully!). Yet by end of Friday it hadn't arrived. According to their website, they can be contacted "9am-7pm daily except for nationwide public holidays" but no one answered his call on Saturday despite trying for half and hour! On Monday, he managed to get them and they said that his road tax was printed on Thursday but they couldn...

The first petrol pump I did for my car cost a grand total of...RM0.49 :P When I wanted to use the latch on the pump's handle, I accidentally pushed the handle upward and thus causing the pump to stop but I didn't know that was what happened. So I just put the pump back in its place, took my credit card receipt and redid. The second time I did realise what happened earlier and so I was careful then. My mum and I had a good laugh looking at the first receipt hehe.

This is the first plate of maki I made, with Ban's help, in KL and the first I made in Malaysia in years. Ban and I were supposed to make these for William's potluck birthday celebration but in the end I couldn't make it. The only hiccup during the cooking process was the egg. I should have been more patient by fyring the egg in batches. The maki-making process went well and the end result looked pretty good. As you can see, the ingredient was a mix of egg, cucumber and crabstick. Ban didn't like the crabstick as it somehow had stronger fishy smell to him. Though I thought otherwise, guess I'll make do without it next time.

My first entry in this blog was on 3 Oct 2008 but I actually started blogging in late May 2008 in a shared blog called Queer Qloset. That shared blog is pretty much dead now. Gradually over the months it seems that only a few of us are actively blogging in it. Reason why I started on a shared blog was that I wasn't confident enough to blog and that I was also concerned that it may be just a passing phase. However, later I discovered that I do enjoy blogging. I like just blogging whatever I feel is interestng or merely jotting down my thoughts on certain issues. Not counting those I tested out for a few hours only, the current template is my third template. The first one was one of those in-built templates, where I inserted my own picture as the banner, which is cropped from this photo: Cute, right? I thought it fitted quite well with the theme I was trying to portray. Unfortunately, that template wasn't wide enough to fit medium size Flikr photos, which is the size I...

Ban was here from Thursday night till Sunday evening. He was here attending a seminar on Friday and Saturday. In between, we spent time with some friends here, played Citadel and getting to know each other better. He is good at playing Citadel hehe. Beat me 2 out of 3 games and the last game he lost by merely 1 point. I tried a few times to get a few friends to join in but the timing wasn't too good. Oh well, next time. We spent quite a good deal talking about our lives and sharing our thoughts, which is great. So far, so good :) See you soon honey!

Awhile ago, I said that the issue of save function not working resolved by itself . Well, it happened again. I wanted to insert a code and so open up a html/javascript gadget and to my dismay it looked like this: It definitely didn't look right and in fact, it looked exactly as it was a few days ago. Noticed how the "Save", "Cancel" and "Back" buttons are on the top right? The latter two were working just fine but the "Save" button was not. I've scoured the internet and did find some people with similar issues but unfortunately with no effective solutions. Use different browser - checked. Clear cache, cookies, temp files etc - checked. Shut down and restart - checked. Hmph! PS: Thanks Ban for "lending" me your laptop to do amend my blog :)

On Sunday, Derek, Nick, Lloyd and I made our maiden journey to a fish spa, specifically at Kenko Marina Square. Lloyd and I had vouchers that were just enough to get each of us 30 mins of fish spa. Unlike normal massage, one cannot book in advance and so we just turned up. Fortunately, there was plenty of space. At the entrance, we were asked to wash our legs after spraying some disinfectant on them and then to use their slippers. Our bags were kept in lockers. Inside, there was a rectangle pool in the middle and a drain-like kind of pool against the wall facing outside. We just automatically gravitated towars the middle pool, which later we learned has the smaller fish (but not much smaller actually). The feeling is truly unexpected. We couldn't stop giggling for the first 5 minutes or so. It was very ticklish! In fact, Derek kept wriggling about (so guys, we know how to "handle" Derek next time, ok? ;) ) for a while. Later, after getting used to it, it felt like t...

For about 8 years or so, I have been investing in unit trust funds. Made some mistakes along the way but due to my prudent nature, they were not fatal but, instead, provided valuable lessons to me. During the last few days of July, I made my first foray into investment in shares. At this point, I'm not looking to trade shares but I'm buying shares as long term investment (naturally with regular review to ascertain my view of the companies have not changed). I'll be splitting my future investment between unit trust funds and shares. As a start, I search for shares that provide consistently good dividends, especially from companies that are dominant in their respective industry. I was fortunate that 2 ex-colleagues pointed me to Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) as they fit into my search criteria. As a result, I now own shares in 8 REITs, Comfort Delgro and SBS Transit. Please help by taking SBS buses, Comfort/Citycab taxis, shop at Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction, T...

IMG_6508 , originally uploaded by williamnyk . I had always wanted to try foot massage but two things stopped me: price and fear of embarrassing myself by screaming my lungs out ;-) Well, due to a sudden elevated stress at work, I decided to try Kenko's foot reflexology and foot bath, after having shoulder & neck massage (which includes arms, fingers and head). I (wisely) chose the shortest duration i.e. 45 mins, which consist of 15 mins of bath and 30 mins of massage. First 10 mins of the bath was just my feet in a machine, filled with quite hot water. It's like a jacuzzi for my feet (although I've never tried a jacuzzi before but it sure looks like one). It was relaxing for my feet although it appeared to be streaming on one side more than the other. Meanwhile, I slowly sipped on the flower tea. Then for the next 5 mins was, the masseur scrubbed my feet. Again, a first for me. I was amazed at how smooth my feet felt after. Like baby's feet! Hehe. The foot...

...I ever bought in my life. Cost more than some of my shirts! Bought specifically to match the shirts I bought recently which are of the colour lavender (match with tie at the top), rose red (match with tie in the middle), strong blue (match with tie at the bottom) and black (match with tie at the top and in the middle).

Tried assessing my blog and this was what I got: G o o g l e   Error We're sorry... ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now. We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software. If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center. If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center . We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google. What'...

I came out to my childhood good friend, Paul, back in May 2007. In his usual style, he blogged about it in an amusing way. I enjoyed reading it very much and laughed at it. Of all my good friends back when I was studying in Melaka, I've only kept in touch with Paul. In fact, I regularly visit him and his family every CNY, so much so that my sister commented that as though he was my boyfriend (the irony lol). Our parents are friendly to each other. However, inevitably, over the years, since I left Malaysia when I was 16 years old, we both have less and less in common. I don't know the people he hangs out with and vice versa and lately I've been left alone chatting with his dad while he does some mysterious stuff on his laptop (probably blogging or reading blogs). Nevertheless, most importantly, I know that he is one of very few friends I definitely can count on if I'm in trouble (Paul, you're sweating now? ;-)) Anyway, not surprisingly, I've always encourage...

There is this Italian restaurant near my office of which I quite like its food, which is reasonably priced too. I remember the first time patronising it when it was still relatively new. Spoke with the boss, who was the chef (not too sure whether he still does that currently), that day and few months later too. The first thing that really struck my mind was the discount they were giving. As usual, my colleagues and I would ask whether there was any credit card discount. Boss said no but there was discount for using cash. That was novel. However, as expected from a growing business, even that was gone later. Then sometime in latter half of last year, out of the blue, one of the waiters spoke briefly with me. A youngster in his 20s (was guessing at that time). I believed it was in response to my usual question on whether there was discount using credit card/cash or not. Instead of the usual "No, we don't have", he added that if I go there for dinner, he would be able to...

(1) ... a slight change in environment may yield different results than previously. (2) ... even adults have to say "please" if want things done faster/correctly. (3) ... it is better to push the boundaries gradually rather than suddenly. (4) ... clear and consistent words with actions work better than otherwise. (5) ... actions have consequences. (6) ... sometimes we just need hugs.

I'm guessing that most people would have wanted to rest after travelling from Singapore at 8pm and reaching Canberra the next morning at 9am with only half an hour of sleep. I didn't. Firstly, I wasn't exhausted. Secondly, I figured it's best to try to adjust to local time as soon as possible, which means sleeping only at night. I supposed taking nap in the afternoon is ok but definitely not in the morning. However, we (my sis, her hubby and the twins) went back to my sis's place mainly to dump my stuff and also to let the twins have some healthy snacks. They are so adorable lah! Although they are well trained by my sis and her hubby (with no physical punishment involved), they of course still exhibit typical behaviour of toddlers around the age fo 2 e.g. saying "no" regularly and trying to exert independence by not holding hands at times (but after awhile, they'll want to hold hands again). As I'm keen to get hold scout around and get hold of ...

For past readers, you would have noticed (as otherwise it may be time to pay a visit to your doctor) that I have changed the layout of the blog. The main motivation is to enable me to blog larger Flikr picture (in previous layout, this contraint resulted in this tiny picture ), to embed comfortably Youtube videos (in previous layout, this video was touching the margin) and to insert larger version of my own Flikr photos, if I wish. I spent hours browsing the web for something suitable and finally settled on this. It seems that this has a few drawbacks too but nothing noticeable to readers and not significant enough to bother me. I would dearly love to hear your opinion. Unfortunately, on hindsight, I should have taken a screenshot of the old layout so that more readers can comment and hence only those who have seen the old layout would be able to comment. Please let me know which looks/feels better. Thanks!

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Hmmm... Woah! Look at the time. I really have to get dressed for company's Dinner & Dance. It is supposed to start at 6.30pm but I understand that it functions more like a wedding dinner: starts after 8pm. Bah, in fact wedding dinners I've attended recently starts before that. Since I would be hungry way before 8pm, I had a small packet of instant noodle. I know it's unhealthy but it's filling and no MSG! Just a few cents more expensive than those with MSG. Koka's the name. Ok, I better get dressed.