Keat's Birthday/BBQ Dinner/Chickenwing Extravaganza... Saturday, September 06, 2008
Kwo Kuang was gracious enough to pick me and Sue Ann up, with David and Yomae following behind, before heading on to Keat's place, at Bukit Tunku. Now, due to our relative unfamiliarity with the place, it was a pretty tough chore locating his house, which involved a lot of twisting, turning, and travelling through spooky roads, but it was well worth it when we finally hit the spot...
...lo and behold, The Mansion.
The BBQ was already underway, and to my delight, I found my favourite party/conference/seminar tidbit - samosas*. After some time of feeling guilty, we decided to make ourselves useful, and began to tend the fires.
He can BBQ a good chicken wing.
Of course, the famous Chin Zhao Heng's patience started to wear thin after a while, and he moved on to chat up the ladies...
"...eh, are you girls feeling hot, or is it just me?"...
That didn't last too long either, and he skeddadled after several other half-baked attempts...
Keat, if you're reading this, thank you for being a gracious host, and may the coming year bring you much joy, happiness, and new cars. Happy Chinese Birthday.
Now, here's the thriller question....
Cloret's Amateur Pole Dancing Finals and Li-Lynn's 21st (Be-earlied) Birthday Dinner fell on the same night.
WHICH EVENT DID I GO FOR?????
Stay tuned, to find out...
*Random information: Being the kiamsiap I am, if I go for any workshop/seminar/conference, I always look for samosas, since they are the most common food item during these events.
Posted at 09:58 pm by IsaacCheah
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
It was a week of haphazard/mish-mashed series of events, so many that I can barely remember what exactly happened in some of them (I also blame the 2 hours of sleep I get each night for that). The chain started with seeing Jeannie off at the airport, where she left for Xiamen, China, for a year. Waking up at 5.45 a.m., my cousin Eric and I made our way to KLIA to join William and Jeannie's family in bidding her farewell.
Sisterly moment with Jamie. Goodbye, Jeannie!
Then, it was Zhao Heng's birthday at The Windmill, SS12. I was the first to arrive, and waited sheepishly at the table until Keat and Lauren joined me to wait sheepishly. After about an hour after the appointed 6.30p.m. meeting time, we started dinner.
The Menu. Ze Xin is like Keanu Reeves. If there was any doubt as to who actually pushed Zhao Heng's head, it can be dispelled here. The Compulsory Group Picture (Courtesy of Kwo Kuang)
After dinner, we adjourned to Asia Club, where we had a round of photo-snapping, and pool.
Lynn and Lauren, posing next to the pool table like models... ...which led us to take photos with them... ...in various manners, but none can beat... ...this one. =) Robin appeared at Asia Club.
And finally, a rather last-minute trip to Semenyih with Lauren and Suet Foong, which was preceded by lunch at Paddington House of Pancake (which, I hear, Robin loves) in Midvalley.
Vienna Pannekoek.  Simply marvelous. Buckleberry Pancake (or something like that)
I ordered tea, not coffee. Dilmah tea.
Suet Foong is Lauren's friend's sister, who is currently scouting around for her next phase of education. It was good fun pointing out the emo spots on campus to her. Check out her online boutique!
The ladies posing next to a signboard. The guard took the shot from an extremely far angle, so I had to crop it out into this. Suet Foong posing next to another signboard.
Whoa, another week has passed. Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysian citizens! Here's to more weeks of haphazard events to come.
Posted at 11:33 pm by IsaacCheah
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Of KTM Stations and Stampedes... Monday, August 25, 2008
On the front pages of The Star last Friday, our Prime Minister was reported to have unobtrusively and quietly boarded our local railway system, in order to better gauge the experience of travelling via public transport. After having gone from point A to B in the train, he discovered that, "I'm not happy with this because the people are not getting satisfaction from riding the trains. This we must fix.".
The Star/Bernama, 22nd August 2008
My first reaction to this article was;
"Finally! So long only realize! (to put it crudely)"
The problem of overcongested public transport systems have long plagued the people. As a frequent commuter, I've seen the worst that these stations can bring out in people. Our (most of the time, anyway) friendly citizens turn into something else altogether, the moment they see the train approach the station platform. I've almost fallen off a monorail platform during rush hour (which would have been the end of me), when the platform was so packed that a person falling down at the back cause a domino effect to ripple all the way to the front and send the people in the anterior flying off. I've seen old women and children being pushed down in the midst of people stampeding into the train - before the passengers had even alighted. I've seen people glaring at me whenever I try to hold on to some stationary part of the train (to prevent myself flying into the arms of the nearby makcik whenever the train suddenly brakes).
And thats just the tip of the iceberg. (Eelaine, if you're reading this, I think you might agree with me =)
Certainly, taking the public transport is no ride in the park. Still, we're forced to do it, since, despite the hassle, it IS still the cheaper and more convenient way to travel to certain spots. I agree that taking a car is a WHOLE lot more comfortable, nonetheless, when one takes into account the jam, and eternal search for a parking space in KL, one might still consider the public transport as a means of travelling.
Things seem to be a bit better now, though. I just came home on the 7.30p.m. train, and oddly enough, it wasn't another day in the sardine can. Sure, there were no empty seats, but miraculously, I actually had some breathing space. The station announcements are now prerecorded (in the voice of a pleasant-sounding lady), as opposed to the guttural utterings of the train driver, which no one can comprehend. And, yes, the train came on time.
Looks like things are looking up for the 'ol trundling train.
Posted at 10:14 pm by IsaacCheah
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Of Duck, and Even More Duck... Thursday, August 21, 2008
Lauren and I had made a deal some time back to eat duck together, at Restoran Loong Foong, Taman Paramount, famous for its succulent, roasted duck. However, it was easier said than done, as a 1001 things kept cropping up, preventing us from meeting up to savour the delicous avian dish. Time and time again, we attempted to set aside time to just visit the place, and fulfil our obligatory meal of duck. It even came to the point where we had this following conversation;
Soon Seng: Sigh. Until I die also cannot eat duck with you.
Lauren: Eh, cannot! Cannot die until we eat duck.
Soon Seng: Oklar, I promise I eat duck only then I die.
Lauren: Ok.
...and, in a comment box;
Hmmm.
As fortune would have it, we finally managed to gather on a Saturday night, together with a special group of friends, to grasp the opportunity of eating duck. Now, you may be wondering, why all this fuss about duck? Isn't it just another bird?
Not when its served like this.
The succulent, savoury, meat was just too tempting to leave untouched. Before the rice was even served, I could almost taste the sinfully sweet juices dribbling from the duck, accompanied by the aroma of tender meat. I was pretty thankful that the rest of the group could only eat a limited amount of duck (leaving more for the glutton in me).
I polished off almost the whole plate.
Having expressed my extreme delight in the duck, here are the following people that actually came for the dinner. Our dear Lauren came with Jamie, to find Mun Mun and Michael patiently waiting with the duck already served in front of them. Kudos to the incredible self-restraint you guys showed, in the light of the fact that it was already dinnertime. After the initial introductions were made, Ronald and Kok Lim appeared, just in time to order the next round of dishes.
The Compulsory Group Photo The Ex-Nottingham People Taking Dangerous Photo by The Roadside
An extremely fun dinner! I had a great time laughing at Lauren's antics, eating duck, talking to Jamie, eating duck, meeting new friends in the form of Mun Mun and Michael, eating duck, catching up with Kok Lim and Ronald, and eating duck. Oh, and I enjoyed eating duck as well.
We (The Duck-Eaters) managed to eat duck! Cheers to us!
Ok, now I can go die.
Posted at 10:32 pm by IsaacCheah
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Even as a young child, I had always enjoyed listening to the Swedish group ABBA* belt out their evergreen classics, together with my parents in the car. It came to the point where we had the ABBA GOLD compilation CD spinning in our cd player for almost the whole day (which isn't all that good for the cd player).
*Did you know that ABBA is the acronym for the first letter of each of the group member's given name? (Wikipedia, 2008)
Yes, I loved ABBA, and now, the wonder group's songs are going to be playing throughout the hit upcoming movie, Mamma Mia!
Starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, the movie tells the tale of a bride-to-be's quest to discover her real father among 3 possible candidates (namely Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, and Colin Firth), and all this done to the music from ABBA! If I were the lady in question, however, I'd be rather disappointed to find out that Mr. 007 was my father, seeing as to how all possibilities of future, ahem, dalliances would immediately be ruled out. But thats just me, of course.
Even as I'm typing this entry, my Winamp is playing 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!' in the background. As is true with all truly good songs, ABBA's hits can never die, and this immortalization of the group's magic is clearly seen in the remake of this movie.
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (a chance to watch this movie) indeed!
Posted at 09:04 pm by IsaacCheah
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My WCG Experience in Midvalley... Tuesday, August 19, 2008
I arrived at the Midvalley Convention Centre after driving laps around the parking lot trying to locate a space to park. Upon arriving, my first thought was, "Where are all the Nuffnang-ers?"
Good thing for signboards.
The Grand Stage
Apparently, I had just missed the Nuffnang team who had made it to the finals for Counterstrike, but lost to the blogger team. Indeed, as I walked around, I couldn't find any sign of the blokes from Nuffnang, blogger or otherwise. I did see some other sights though...
Avid Counterstrike fans grimace as they walk around shooting people... Ash Nair of Malaysian Idol fame was axing away on Guitar Hero at the Samsung Booth... A (as yet) unidentified singer croons to the crowd on the stage*...
Finally, as I made my way to the Samsung booth, I was greeted by the sight of familiar faces. Robb gathered all the bloggers present at the time, and cajoled us into taking the souvenir bags from Samsung, just before the actual prize-giving took place.
Samsung Booth (as can be seen on the sign)
The people who actually duked it out with Ash on Guitar Hero... and walked away with Mp3 players. Surprisingly, there were quite a number of bloggers there. Robb has a glint in his eye...
Now, all of us who took part in the "My Favourite Computer Game of All Time" would have been eagerly waiting to see who would bag the 32" LCD Samsung TV, after the first few prizes were swept by Mr. Gin, Chooi Leang, and Rommel. When the MC and Ash started discussing with each other, however, with Robb grinning in the background, we knew that something was up. After several tense moments, the winner of the TV was announced as..
.......Timothy Tiah himself! Woohoo! This is what a surprised man looks like.
It was The Boss' post on Bubble Bobble that landed him the TV set. With many cheers, we witnessed the good man receive his prize...
...and give it away. In a noble act of chivalry (and also with some due consideration to political correctness), Tim decided that he ought not to keep the prize, and instead, opened another window of opportunity for those bloggers who were present on that day to win the TV.
After a nice meal (sponsored by the good people at Samsung) at Dlish, Boss Stewie called out the initial requirement for the bloggers to win the prize;
"Write about your WCG experience, and take a photo of those blue-haired Samsung girls.."
... which sent a herd of us running up again to pester the long-suffering ladies for a photo.
It was a fun time to be had by all, regardless of whether they won or lost the tournament. I believe the highlight of the day was the informal makan session in Dlish, where everyone finally could put a human face and voice to the Pseudonyms that we bloggers use when we're socializing in the digital world.
Of course, the spaghetti was nice as well. (Marcus had cauliflower, of all things)
Till the next event, cheers!
Posted at 01:54 am by IsaacCheah
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