Here's My Story

There was once in Singapore, we had lunch at a restaurant at the hotel were were staying at. At first, Ban wanted to try their honey ginger drink but changed his mind when he saw Coca-Cola on the menu. Me: Why order Coke at a hotel (in Singapore)? Can have it back home, way cheaper. Ban: Malaysia's Coke's sugar level is capped. Also, they added artificial sweetener (which is yucky). Me: Oh, good point. However, when served, Ban cursed because that can of Coke was made in Malaysia and yes, sugar content was capped :D I quickly suggested to him to ask to change it to the honey ginger drink since the can wasn't open yet. Perhaps because of this story, some friends bought Coke overseas and passed them to Ban to try. Awww, so sweet of them. Coke from Thailand. Yes, definitely sweeter and nicer than Malaysia's but boy, it burned my stomach a little after drinking like half a can. Had to take antacid. Even Ban thought it was acidic to him. Maybe we're too old for this :(  ...

Every year I visit my sister's family in Canberra, whenever possible. Usually, I take the shortest route with the least number of transits. For example, last year, Ban and I flew from KL to Melbourne and then took a domestic flight to Canberra and vice versa for our return leg. This year, however, is significantly different, for various reasons: (1) KL - Adelaide, MAS flight: To meet Ban's relatives. (2)  Overnight stay at Atura Hotel, next to Adelaide Airport. (3) Adelaide - Canberra, Qantas flight: Where my sister's family is. (4) Canberra - Melbourne, Jetstar flight: Follow my sister's family for about a week holiday in Melbourne. (5) 6 nights stay at Pegasus Apartment Hotel, Melbourne. (6) Melbourne - Canberra, Jetstar flight. (7) Canberra - Sydney, Qantas flight: The start of the return trip. Wants to try flying SIA. (8) Overnight stay at Holiday Inn Express, Sydney. I wanted to meet a friend there but he'll be back in Malaysia haha. (9) Sydney - Singapore, SIA...

(for some context, refer to this post on my ASUS Zenfone 8) Me: Actually there are smaller phone than this one (pointed at my ASUS Zenfone 8). Friend: Oh? Me: iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini are smaller. Friend: Yes, they are small. Me: But they are much more expensive. People said that for the same price, you can get Android phone with better specification. Oh, what phone are you using? Friend: iPhone. Me: Oh...well, then you should know lah 😅

I'm playing this pen&paper rpg game with a bunch of friends, run by a friend who's a long-time fan of the tv series. I quite like the game system and the way it's run. Also, with these bunch of friends, there's a lot of time spent simply catching up and jesting around, which may be a turn off for some people. I can't remember the last time I didn't laugh during a session :) Recently, here's what transpired in Discord channel while the session was ongoing: Me: So the party is split? Player A: Like a banana. Player B: Leave my banana alone, Player A. Player C: Get a protein shake later. Me: I chope the chocolate ice-cream. Player A: Yer banana is too ripe...it produces cheese. GM: Alright guys, is this a Dr Who session or a hentai session? All: 😂

Remember this obnoxious friend ? Here's a recent conversation with him: Friend: A is better than B Me: How so? Friend: Can you give me the statistics for me to make a detailed comparison? Me: ...... Ahhh yes, the classic 'state something as fact and thereafter look for data to back it up'.

"I’ve just been feeling frustrated because I feel like you’ve been questioning a lot of my statements." This friend's remark, during a sort-of-apology he made to me, puzzled me at first. Does he expect me to not disagree with his statements? Many of his statements are arrogant and sometimes delivered arrogantly too but that's besides the point. I sometimes question and/or disagree with his statements because of the content, not the mode of delivery. There were some clues to this puzzle in this recent exchange:  #1   Him: I have never heard of a cluster where almost 50% tested are positive. TG must be breaking SOP and completely neglecting their workers health. And now they’ve overloaded our healthcare system. We can’t deal with 2684 covid patients appearing at once?!? Me: Did our Health DG say that our healthcare system is overloaded? Him: Ah, fair, that’s just my assumption. Maybe they can actually cope with 2684 cases appearing at once. ... I seriously doubt it, but...

(The following conversation is inspired by a couple of conversations in real life.) Friend: I joined MMA competition few years back. Ban: Oh, how did you do? Friend: I didn't get to the next stage. Ban: So you lost, huh? Friend: No Us: ??? Friend: I beat my opponent in Round 1 but I withdrew from Round 2 because I ran out of stamina. So it's a draw. Us: ??????

Even though Atlas Reactor is gone , I still keep in touch with some of my online friends I met in the game. TheJoker is one of them. At various points of time, even while Atlas Reactor was around, we played other games together for a while e.g. Paladin, Battlerite, Overwatch and Minion Masters. Recently, due to the possibility that our newly found 4th player (a real life friends of ours) may not make it for Ban's D&D 5e campaign (he's always on call, as a specialist), Ban wanted a 5th player. We were waiting for confirmation from a friend that his friend or nephew migh want to join. So with this caveat, I decided to ask TheJoker, after getting permission from Ban, since now that we're playing remotely a third party web-based software He was interested but have never played at tabletop RPG. Joker: So i have no idea how to even start dnd. I'll just be a bearded human male specialising in the art of beard magic and the beard gives me max charisma. Me: Hmmm sha...

The first time Ban and I ate at An Viet was at Gurney Plaza in Penang. We met my old-time friend and his boyfriend there. Years later, An Viet appeared at Paradigm Mall, coincidentally taking over the shoplot that used to be occupied by another Vietnamese restaurant. A unique feature of An Viet is this: there is no extra charge for ordering more noodle/rice and so they usually advise customers to take the smaller size if they are undecided on which one to choose (there are 3 sizes). Also, they'll make a 10 cents donation to a food programme for each table where all food has been consumed i.e. no leftover. Their soup is delicate and clear. Definitely not for fans of Seremban Beef Noodle. Admittedly, I prefer heavier flavour but it's nice to have this once a while. Unlike all other Vietnamese restaurants I've been to in Malaysia, you can have as much add-on vegetables and herbs as you want. Other restaurants always give paltry amount of beansprout and so I'm...

Highly intelligent but also overweight and this friend knows these.  He's been on his self-styled diet plan for at least the past decade.  There's either no change or he has gained weight during this lost period.  In fact, ironically, he gaine weight after getting teeth bracers 😲.  On top of that, he has high cholesterol and sleep apnea. Hence, it's important for him to lose weight. Whenever we talk about his diet, Ban sometimes says, "His diet plan is eat-whatever-I-want plan."  I half believed it...until recently: Me: Are you really on a diet? Friend: ? Me: 3 days ago, you had teh ais. 2 days ago, you had a large fried chicken drumstick Friend: What's wrong with friend chicken? Me: *Eyes widened in disbelief* Is it healthy? Friend: ......... it's only one piece Me: But you had unhealthy food and drinks for 3 consecutive days. Yesterday, you had curry chicken and your rice was drowned in curry sauce. Friend: What's wrong with rice with cur...

During the last trip to Singapore with Ban, a friend recommended this to me. Once there, I noticed that it was already prepacked and refrigerated. I usually don't like cold taufufa but boy, this one was great. It just burst and melted in my mouth the moment I munched it. Highly recommended!

Possibly the laziest person I know to-date: (1) Previously,  when Ban and I would call him for lunch, we usually ended waiting for him for 10-15mins despite him stating that he was coming down now (he lived in the next block). Fed up, Ban told him to call us once he was truly ready but he refused and instead assured us he would really be down at the lobby. Voila, that worked. Why? He was too lazy to made that call. Yup. (2) He sometimes take oat, the quick-to-cook version (I used instant one), and now contemplating to eat it raw because...yup, too lazy to spend a few minutes to cook....using microwave oven. (3) Overweight, sleep apnea, high cholesterol. Exercise? See doctor re high cholesterol? Take cholesterol medicine. Nope. Too lazy. (4) He wanted to see doctor but usually clinic's close past 12pm on a Saturday. As we were driving to the lunch venue, I noticed that the clinic was open and offered to drop him close to the clinic for him to merely ask the doctor the closin...

Since our plan to move to Singapore was scuttled , I had been waiting for an official notification from Singapore informing me of the revocation of my PR due to the expiry of my REP . Yet, throughout much of 2017, there was no such notification. However, later on, other entities made a move (goodness how they know):  Income terminated my Dependent Protection Scheme My SingPass was cancelled In both cases, their CSOs said (indirectly by the latter) that I was no longer a PR.  Yet, I still have nothing official. Actually, this matters only when I close my CPF account in the future: I will need to show CPF Board a letter from ICA stating that I'm no longer a PR. However, I felt uneasy that my residency status with insurance companies and banks was still Singapore PR and hence I proceeded to make things 'right'. I also needed to change my address with CPF Board. A good opportunity came up when Ban wanted to attend a short workshop in Singapore and I wasn'...

After many twists and turns, Ban and I finally managed to meet William over lunch at Skyhaus Coffee for some vegetarian food. I love the carbonara pasta but don't think it's worth the price because of its portion and that it's vegetarian. Their gelato and sorbet, however, are worth at least a try: (the patterns were crafted upon order)

A friend is clearly overweight. Sure, he skips rice during meal but piles on plenty of food (sometimes too much, even in his own admission) that is often fried or filled generous amount of gravy. Ban sometimes quipped that he needed to maintain his current shape. As for exercise, what's that? We tried to involve him in our outing to gym but there's always excuse of not going. Spent lots of his free time gaming. One day, Ban and I invited him to play Battlerite with us. Not for the first time, he said he did not wish to play more games because Fantasy War Tactics itself already took too much of his time. Him: I want to stop playing FWT and do something more productive. Me: Oh, like what? Him: Hmmm...exercise...(etc etc) Me: Oh good. So when are you stopping? Him: When FWT shuts down. Me: They are shutting down? When? Him: No, they're not. Me: ......soooo whether you stop playing or not is entirely up to the developer, huh? Okkkkkk Him: *silent and chan...

Oh yes, the saga continues. My friend and his partner helped me to get replacement sim card from a Starhub centre in Singapore. According to a Starhub officer there, my line was active and I just needed to change my phone (as suspected). They kindly waived the replacement fee because my friend came all the way from Malaysia. Yay! In the meantime, I researched and got myself a 4G smartphone (more on this in another post) and it can accommodate 2 sim cards (yay!). I called using the new Starhub sim card and ... it was the same issue! "Your outgoing calls have been barred" or "Your outgoing calls have been temporarily deactivated". I can still receive calls though. Spoke with 3 different Starhub customer service officers and tried (1) Switching on and off the phone (2) Taking out the sim card for a few minutes and reinserting it back (3) Cancelling call barring (4) <I forgot what this is hahaha> The last officer jotted down details and said she would l...

Simonlover: It's actually better to eat 5 meals a day but in smaller portion. People usually have normal meals 3 times a day. Ban: Huh? 3 meals? *started counting on his fingers* Lunch, dinner and ... ? Derek: Breakfast lah! You wake up late, that's why you don't have it. Everyone laughed hahaha.

Recently I cleared my room back at my parents' place (since they'll be relocating soon) and came across long forgotten photo albums. Photos before the advent of digital camera and camera phone. My initial thought was to throw them away because I hadn't looked through them for years (about 7 years) and so why make space for something you don't even make use of? William suggested digitising them. At first I thought this was a good idea but now less so because I don't even look at the digital photos I have on my laptop. A few more people, mostly my family, asked me to keep it for memory...for them, I supposed, since, like I've said, I don't look at the photos. Honestly, I'm a little surprised at myself since the fact that I kept them in the first place (and some of them I brought all the way from Singapore) meant that I valued them in the past. I guess I'm for living in the present and plan for the future. I supposed that things I remember matter ...

I almost forgot I had these photos and so by no I remember very little details about the food @@. William and Derek arranged to meet Ban, Simonlover and I for dinner at Kimi-Ya chiefly because they couldn't make it for my birthday dinner. It was quite an expensive Japanese restaurant but the food was good. Sorry, forgot what I had haha. Then we went next door to have ice-cream. Apparently it's established by an actuary! Unfortunately they didn't have any sort of coffee ice-cream. I ended choosing 2 scoops of 2 different flavour, recommended by a staff there. I like them but would have preferred coffee ice-cream hehehe.

One of the food dishes that Seremban is famous for is beef noodle and as expected there are several places that you could go. The one that my grandfather, his children and grandchildren had/have frequented the most is Fatt Kee (stall no. 742) at the main market in town. I usually order their gravy version. Over the years, they had reduced the amount of ingredient and increased its price. Obviously not a popular move with customers. For a much cleaner and comfortable place, I would recommend Quinn Seremban Beef Noodle at Kemayan Square. It's in a proper shop lot and air-conditioned, and so more expensive. To be honest, I don't find much difference between this and Fatt Kee's. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the owners are related. One other shop, highly recommended by relatives, is King's Beef Noodle at Jalan Dr Krishnan. I understand that the owner is the patriach to the other two operators above. I've yet to try because, apparently, he operate on ...