Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I’m trying to find all sort of ways not to study

 

I’m now alone in my room and my father is still blasting the TV with super high volume in the living room. Every 5 minutes I would jump up from my bed and check whether or not my workers are still healthy and if my restaurant is clean. Stupid Restaurant City…. Tonight will be my very last night to “play” because I’m going up BSB tomorrow!

Life in hostel = No internet connection in my room
Internet connection = Walk to hostel canteen / ICTC

Exam is starting on the 4th and I’m still very unmotivated!
Gosh, I need my study-bugs back!
I want to be a nerd once again!
Straight As…. please don’t leave me~


But, I’ve been trying hard to stay focus on my notes because I get distracted easily or simply because I love finding some mundane stuffs to do keeping me away from inches thick of notes…. such as texting the boyfriend.

sd


Humpphhhh! No reply from him till now!

Stupid boyfriend must have fallen asleep on the couch again…
Lucky him. Oh well… maybe not so, because I get to sleep till whatever time I want tomorrow and he has to wake up for work. HAHAHHAHHAHHHAHHA!

Bah, I better hit the sack too since I’m not even motivated to study.

Good night.

Monday, April 27, 2009

My inseparatable relationship with Telbru


Note: This post is made special for the Blog And Win contest organised by TelBru.

 

As I am typing this post while monitoring with my Restaurant City activities running in the background, I’m glad and proud to say that I’ve been connected to the internet via my trusted Espeed for as long as I remember and doubt that it’s going to change in the near future.

 
No matter what others had said about Espeed, the good and the bad, I’ve been loyal to this Brunei’s very first ISP. Despite of the “horror stories” (Yes! Life without internet is scarier than watching Shutter with a big plasma TV and home theatre system surrounding me!) I heard from my friends telling me about their internet connectivity and how they’re ignored and stuffs, whenever I had problems in the connection, I just picked the phone up and dialled the customer care 111 and my complains will be taken note of immediately and the technicians would arrived my door steps latest by “tomorrow morning”. I guess it is best to stay neutral about things until you get to face one yourself, meaning to say.. do not let anyone decide for you.

 

I remembered vividly that we used to have only 5 digits number to dial, then 6 digits – plus zero-something in front if you wish to make STD calls and now its 7 digits(!) with the area code stick permanently in front of the previous 6 digits number. Haih~ How time flies..

 

Image source from here

 

Back in those days having a telephone at home was somewhat cool and luxurious. You can hear the super loud “Ringgggggggggggggggggggggggggg Ringggggggggggggggggg Ringggggggggggg” from the rotary dialling telephone even from 10m away! And everyone would freaked out when the phone rang and rushed to the phone it was something really big and serious, like how 阿桃 reacted in the super hit series “The Little Nyonya” when the stupid Wong family called and said they’re coming back to Singapore. Oops.. I digress.


Anyway, back to the topic. Why did I say that my relationship with Telbru, previously known as JTB, is inseparable? Since young, I had been awarded by my mum a very special job, it’s called “The Phone Dialler”!!!

I have no idea how did my mum developed the strong sense of inferiority over telephone because she will avoid dialling the phone in any case! At age 3, she would bring me to JTB’s KB branch (because we used to live in KB) and gave the number to the operator, or any ladies sitting behind the counter and told them that she would like to make a phone call and walked to small cubicle and lifted the handset waiting for the third party to pick up the call. As for me, being so young and small (gosh.. how I miss the days when I weighted less than 20kg. Hahhaha), my mum would lifted me up and placed me on the table/board so that I wouldn’t run around/away and the height would kept me sit still.

Smart move mother!

 

sda


When we moved down to Seria and my mother had works to attend to not hence not able to make phone during the working hours with those Malay Kakaks to help her to to dial the phone, and I’m already old enough to understand how the whole “Calling System” works, she would bring me to Seria branch and waited for hours for our turn to use the public phone.

Oh by the way, my mum was calling back to her hometown in Sibu if you’re wondering why we used public phones. Remember those calling cards? Very stiff and had a marking on the card indicating how much you had used.. I think?

Haih… really waited for hours okay! And… back in the days there’s no sanitizer.. or I was too young to know what it is, the smell on the handset after 10+ people (Indians, Indonesians, Filipinos and so on… I’m not trying to be racist here okay. Bad breathe happens to anyone, any race!)…. haih, so kick that my mum had to wipe the handset with tissue for 10 seconds hoping that all germs/bacterias already mati. Very naive hor?

Then when we finally have a house phone at home… like 10 years later.. okay, not exactly “our” house phone.. it’s my neighbours and they’re kind enough to lend it to us and we sort of sharing-is-caring, it was time when I reached puberty and started to hog the phone line for hours talking about mindless and random stuffs with my classmates..

Super silly stuffs like,

“OMG! I love Take That! (Go and naming their songs from A-Z) Who is your favourite among them ah? I liked Mark Owen at first one.. then hor, Robbie Williams also very nice lor. But Gary Barlow can sing well leh. Eh, don’t fight with me ah. Robbie William I like first one, you go and like others lah…

Eh. Ah Kai got call you ah? Wah lao eh… So long ah?! Eh.. He already go after you so long liao… you never consider him meh? Don’t like then don’t give hope lah you. So kerlian. He everyday call me and lor-liu (asking for information) about you leh.. He actually not bad also lah… ”


(I bet 48 is chuckling now if she reads this)

Hey! Don’t look at me like that. I was a teenager okay. Teenagers are excused to be all silly and foolish one. And later came “Halo Card”… a prepaid card which allowed me to make STD calls and talked non-stop until credit habis. Oh btw, “my” house phone cannot make STD calls one.. so the only way to call my then-boyfriend who lives in Bandar (Belait-ians refer BSB as Bandar, and not Bandar as in Bandar the Kianggeh area as how BSB-ians thought) is using Halo Card.

I would normally buy a $5 card and for this $5, I got 50 minutes of calling time. Yeap, cheap right? $0.10 for one minute~ regardless of the time you call. Cheap lah, because calling mobile phones also same price leh! You do the maths. Memorizing the 12 digits number was an easy job for me. Just that getting through the toll-free line, 1800 xxxx, especially at the peak hours.. 8pm – 12pm!

 

1
(And now.. check out the latest products and services available using public phone!)


Then came BruNet!!!!!!!!!


Brunet oh Brunet~ You brought me into the world of Internet. Hotmail, ICQ and mIRC. Making plenty of friends online… hahhaa… how cliché, we had a term for it CYBERFRIENDS! Excuse, I’m now telling you something that happened a decade ago okay! 10 years ago where got Google and Windows Live Messenger. Blog? What blog? My PC that time was Pentium III 500Mhz ah don’t play play! Already very tokong liao okay! 

HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
TOKONG! So ancient man that word!
TOKONG!!!! TOKONG!!!!! TOKONG !!!!!!!!!!

(Tokong – top, no.1, super high class, ganas, bestest!)


Espeed was non-existent that time and everyone was using dial-up. When we called a friend, engage tone, “Ah.. budak ani mesti online ni”. And the other case was, an adult picked up the handset and heard those robotic gibberish that sounded like Darth Vader, they would freaked out and screamed... “Oi! Telephone rosak liao!!!!!!”

Seriously, I can still mimicked the sound of modem dialling up to these days. And I could predict so well whether or not I could connect to the internet based on the tone. Oh, using dial-up also always line engage one… >.< And this ought to teach you that you got to appreciate Espeed more.

I was subscribed to the Personal Plan (dial-up) which is way expensive than what BruNet is offering now and my bills sometime could come up to $90 a month! And that was nothing compared to my other friends… $100+ !!!! Hey, we’re just college students that time and our lives were not as privileged as youngster today.

Speaking of which, it reminds me of PAGER!

Muahahahhahaha!!!

I saw someone using a pager last Thursday and it was for business purposes. That we all had a good laugh about it reminiscing the past. Like how we remembered all the codes and was super fast when pressing the buttons.

Below are some really cheesy numerical codes I remembered.

The Chinese type
520 / 143 – I love you
530 – I miss you
5201314 – I love you forever
074 – you go die
78 – Ci…. okay, I’m not suppose to say this in public

The Rotate-180-degrees-to-understand-the-codes type (Same as the Scientific calculator type)
07734 – hello
5513 – miss
1C155 – kiss

Arghh.. I can’t remember the rest. But I’m sure you all born 1985 and above get the hint lah.

Gosh, teenagers during my era were very jobless kan? Haahhahhahaa
There’s no such thing as Goth and emo. Aaron Kwok’s centre parting hair, which I normally called it as the McDonald’s hair was so popular and everyone has a laser beam or Tamagotchi hooked on their bags. Those were the in-things.


…. Okay, I drifted away from the topic again.



Then came E-Speed!!!!!!! which was something that I never thought I’ll owned it because I was so poor that time and asking my mum to fork out $300+ for the initial payment and a monthly subscription fee of $98 was near to impossible. Know what? When I got my very first pay from my teaching job, the first thing I bought was not baju, bag or mobile phone.. It’s ESpeed! That’s how important it is to me!

 2


And ESpeed and I live happily ever after~
The End.




Wait! Not yet! One more!
I left out WAVE CARD!

Yeap, even though I constantly complained about the connectivity of Wave card in my hostel… I’m still thankful that it exists. To be honest, the webpage loads so freaking slow when connecting using Wave but… the download speed is so damn fast! So… pros and cons lah.

Okay, the end.



Not really.

One last thing about TelBru I like. 

3

 

The Telephone Directory.
It’s like a bible/encyclopaedia to me. Everything I need/want to know is there!

4



Hehehhee. I become so dependent to the directory inquiries, 113, that I even called them up for directions and locations… when I was doing the RTB Media Survey. Hey, it’s a free service so why not make full use of it!

And the other thing I love about the telephone directory is… the Menu Pages!

5



No idea where to lunch, go take the thick phone book out and start choosing! Pictures of food, location and contact numbers all easily printed there.

6  



 

TelBru, let’s make our future better and brighter~
Muacks~

Quick post

 

Just a short update on… everything.

I didn’t win anything from the challenge because my Rose Sandwich is very forgettable. Hahhahaa. Well, comparing to all those goodies, can lah I kalah. Please Pablo, organize another one so I can try my other recipe to win!

n635142052_2509854_7140291

 

Miss the event?
Seriously… your lost!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I was very active last week because I was dead bored in Seria and I just messaged my classmates and friends so that I could fill my schedule. 

I love my very spontaneous and super sporting friends.

Went to Tasek Lama for some “road-climbing”.
Played golf for the very first time and had an aching back. Really lor… I never knew golf can be that difficult! My sifu and sifu’s-sifu comments on me was..
- You need more Umph!!!!
- You’re too sloppy
- You bend your (left) arm
- Nevermind, first time like that one..

And… my sifu’s sifu had a Freudian slip saying..
”Your arms are flabby”

Boohooohooohoooohoooo!

I know he meant, your arms are sloppy but.. he used the word “flabby” instead.
Damn hurt lah!
Must. Lose. Weight!
Humpppphhhhh!!!!

Anyway, I was happy that some commented that I look thinner yesterday.
Oh yes! hahhahaa
But still… I’m still overweight.

Bah… later peeps.
Still in the process of curi-ing photos from other’s FB then baru can blog about yesterday’s event.

Ta.  

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Mawar’s May Promotion

 

Last last Friday, yes, the very same day when I got to meet Bobby Chinn in person, Thanis invited DC and I for food testing in Brunei Hotel. Free fooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!

 

While waiting for the CookieLateMonzter. 2

I digress. Seriously. I have no idea what the world has come to.
Men making women wait for more than 10 minutes is a big sin okay!

 

Anyway, menu of the day~

1

 

 

Uttar Pradesh Spicy Chicken3

It’s an Indian dish and I love the caramelized coating. I don’t know for others, but if you ask me to describe this dish, I will say …. it tasted like buttermilk chicken minus the creamy milk part?

I’m not a food critic nor someone who can talk about food in detail like a weather report or something something. So pardon me for my very limited vocabulary when it comes to food.

 

Cashew Kung Po Chicken

4

Who doesn’t know Kung Po Chicken? But to be honest, I’ve never order this before because…. my intake of spiciness is very minimal. Seeing the chillies like that already freak me out liao. Hehehehee.

 

Black Pepper Buttermilk Chicken

5

My favourite!!!! Why they so smart one?! They mix two of my favourite flavours in to one leh. Geniussssss! Buttermilk + Black Pepper wor!

It was so crispy and creamy with sikit-sikit spicy because of the black pepper. Pepper-type of spiciness I can take la.

 

Milk Sweet Corn Chicken

6

I like toh! Hehheehehe. Yes, I’m all into creamy stuff.

I don’t know about you but… crispy fried food plus creamy sauce, haih~
*floating in cloud 9*

 

 

Clay Pot Lamb Curry

7

Curry… in a clay pot? My first time also.
:D

 

Sautéed Fish Fillet

8

Only ate a small bite of this so, cannot comment much about this.

 

Shanghai Chicken

9

Plum sauce and milk!!!! Plum sauce!
Plum sauceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
So smart!

Wait, I just realized Uttar Pradesh also got plum sauce. I guess I like Shanghai chicken for the kicap-ish outlook. Heh.

 

Chicken Patties with Avocados

10


Perfect for ladies who want to keep their waistline in a steady figure and wish to be a lean machine, or just pure small appetite.

 

 

The after-mess

11          

Did you notice? Rice not very laku hor.
Hahahhahaaa.


 

This special promotion will starts in May and it costs B$ 6.50 nett, one main dish with free soft drink (Coke/Sprite) from 11am – 11pm.

And the good thing about this promo is, the menu is really flexible! You can replace chicken with fish or beef for the above dishes and also for the clay pot lamb curry, you can opt for clay pot chicken curry too.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Canon G10 or Panasonic LX3?

I’m sure if you have me in your FB, MSN or keep track of my Plurkies, you should know that I’m now thinking whether to get a G10 or LX3.

Okay, the fact is.. I had already read enough reviews in the internet, and compared these two cameras side-by-side for N times. Yet I have not really made up my mind which to get.

Quite a number of friends voted for G10, and only very very few.. okay lah.. just one, Intan picked LX3.. because she has one herself. And since I’m home (in Seria) with 24/7 internet.. I’m going to do something really geeky, build a table and compare them myself, in my own way and not so much of technical terms.

p/s: Once you go Windows Live Writer, you can never go back to “html” format of blogging. WLW has really spoiled me.

Here goes, my super bimbotic comparison that will make all gadget geeks slap their forehead till oh-che (blue black).

Camera

Canon Powershot G10

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Announced in

17th September 2008

WIN
(Because it’s newer)

21st July 2008

Appearance
Looks so “tai-kau-soi” – big and clumsy and only available in just one colour.


Looks better and available in two colors! Like that already win liao lah! And some more, look what XX did to her LX3!


I know I won’t be as rajin as her to zhng the camera but at least, it can be beautified kan?

WIN

Dimensions

109 x 78 x 46 mm

109 x 60 x 27 mm

WIN
(cos its slimmer)

Weight

390 g (13.8 oz)

265 g (9.3 oz)

WIN
(cos lighter – I don’t need muscles in my biceps)

Storage type

SD/SDHC/MMC card

SD/MMC/SDHC card, Internal (50MB)

WIN
(because I always terlupa that my SD card is still inside my lappie. You have no idea how many times I brought out an “empty” camera with no SD card inside)

Effective pixels

14.7 million
WIN

10.1 million

ISO Rating

Auto, 80 ,100, 200, 400, 800, 1600

Auto, Hi Auto (1600-6400), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

WIN?smile_sarcastic
(Wah lao eh, damn kiasu this camera! But, I don’t think I will use up to that tinggi ISO eh)

Zoom wide (W)

28mm

WIN
(Both of them have wide lens but G10 more hebat. Ngam for kiasu people like me who wanna capture everything in one shot)

24mm

Zoom tele (T)

140 mm (5 x)

WIN
(No idea what does this do but, more mean more lihai right?)

60 mm (2.5 x)

Viewfinder

Optical (Tunnel)

WIN
(Okay, I used to think that I don’t really need a viewfinder but now I need it! Because my the display light of my FX8 always went off and I can’t even see what was I taking, having a VF is damn useful okay. Can save battery life also I guess?)

None

Self-timer

Yes, 2 or 10 sec or custom

WIN
(Because 2s is too short and 10s is too long. This one can customized one leh! Cool or not?)

Yes, 2 or 10 sec

Continuous Drive

Yes, 0.7 fps

(less frames per second, but unlimited… Hmmm)

Yes, 2.5 fps, max 8 images

(More frames per second, so can be more kiasu because can keep ci-cak, ci-cak.. but max 8 pictures only leh… )

WIN

(cos I think I won’t be that kiasu acting like a pro taking pictures non-stop)
Movie clips Yes, 640 x 480 @ 30 fps, 320 x 240 @ 30 fps, 160 x 120 @ 15 fps

(Lower resolution but more fps)


HOW?
Yes, 1280 x 720 @ 24 fps, 848 x 480, 640 x 480, 320 x 240 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 10fps

(Higher resolution but less fps)

HOW?
Pros
  1. At base ISO and in high contrast conditions, this is the highest resolving compact we have ever tested
  2. Capable of very good results at lower ISO settings (Below ISO 400), and very usable for standard sized prints (noise and NR effects are visible on screen however)
  3. Very little vignetting and good edge-to-edge sharpness across the zoom range
  4. Very low lens distortion (none at the long end)
  5. RAW mode (and RAW+JPEG option) surprisingly fast - and useful
  6. Classic 'rangefinder' styling looks great, fit & finish superb
  7. Improved handling (much better grip) - one of the best handling compacts currently available
  8. Improved grip makes one handed operation quite comfortable (and secure), and generally fun-to-play-with gadget that encourages the user to take pictures
  9. Huge feature set
  10. Real, usable photographic control
  11. ISO and EV dial on body and external access to all important controls
  12. My Menu for quick access to most used menu options
  13. Higher resolution, sharper screen that works pretty well in bright light
  14. Higher capacity battery
  15. Rugged, solid construction and excellent build quality
  16. 28-140mm focal length range is all you need in most everyday situations
  17. Effective image stabilization with 3-4 stop advantage
  18. Fast and responsive overall performance (slightly slower than G9 due to larger files)
  19. Optional teleconverter
  20. Well designed optional underwater housing
  21. Software bundle now includes a full (powerful) version of Digital Photo Professional
  22. Flash hot shoe for dedicated flash units
  23. Built-in flash performs well
  24. Two custom modes and customizable shortcut button
  25. Wide range of image color and sharpness parameters
  26. 1cm macro mode
  27. Excellent movie quality

WIN

  1. Good image quality at low ISO settings
  2. Exceptionally bright F2.0-2.8 lens
  3. 24mm wide angle
  4. Decent high ISO performance (up to ISO 1600)
  5. Unique choice of aspect ratios at a consistent angle-of-view
  6. Comprehensive photographic control
  7. High quality construction with attractive design
  8. Automatic correction of chromatic aberration
  9. Feels fast and responsive
  10. High resolution screen
  11. Generally reliable exposure and focus
  12. Effective image stabilization
  13. Generally good user interface
  14. Raw mode & fully-featured RAW conversion software included
  15. Plenty of in-camera control over image parameters
  16. Good battery life
  17. Well priced (compared to its peers)
  18. Easy to use
Cons
  1. Rather slow lens (in terms of aperture) by traditional G series standards
  2. No articulated LCD (another traditional G series feature)
  3. Price is very high considering other cameras in its class and low end DSLRs
  4. Some noise visible even at ISO 80, Noise Reduction effects start to creep in and smear detail from about ISO 200
  5. ISO 800 and 1600, though improved from the G9, are still so noisy (and soft) they're almost pointless, ISO 3200 very low resolution and complete waste of time
  6. Focus sometimes hunts in low light at longer focal lengths and in macro mode
  7. Continuous mode slightly slower than the G9
  8. Highlight clipping and metering issues in bright conditions (though to some degree fixable in RAW)
  9. Some chromatic aberration visible at wide end of zoom in all shots
  10. Focus speeds and shutter lag (when using LCD) could be better
  1. 60mm telephoto will be restricting for some
  2. Noise reduction can impact on low-contrast detail
  3. Underpowered flash
  4. Auto flash keen on using 1/30th second shutter speed (but keeps ISO down)
  5. Disappointing white balance performance (though has a fine-tune option)
  6. Occasional dynamic range problems in very contrasty scenes
  7. Controls awkward for those with large fingers

WIN

Rating Out of 10
From Dpreview - 8.6
From CNet – 7.6
From Digitalcamera HQ – 8.6

Average – 8.27
Out of 10
From Dpreview - 8.5
From CNet – 8
From Digitalcamera HQ – 9.1

Average – 8.53

WIN

Price SGD 789.00
Free: 8GB

(price from AlanPhoto)
SGD 679.00
Free: 8GB + Case + Card reader + LCD Protector + Mini Pod

(price from AlanPhoto)

WIN

No. of WINs

7

9

WIN!
Okay, 9 + 1 = 10 wins!

So what do you think?


Just leave comments here or vote for it at my sidebar...
Ignore the D60, not planning to get that after talking to Sas.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Not your average BROWNIES!

 

It was like a mini-bloggers gathering last Friday in DST HQ for Bobby Chinn’s Press conference + Cooking demo. Syaz was there too and we talked a little. Her brownies damn laku okay. And I was lucky that she had free slot and terus made my booking!

 

Lunching with the D.I.E-ers2

 

I told Syaz that I’ll be picking it up at 1.30pm but we finished lunch early and to be honest, I couldn’t wait to pick up those yummy desserts already. And so, I appeared at her doorsteps at 1.15pm.


My box of delicacies!
1


*drool*3


I know it may look sweet to you, but I tell you.. it’s not as sweet as I imagined it would be. I only get to eat 2 pieces because my classmates (especially Dewi) loved it so much that they nearly finished everything.

Lucky I got to save some for Bobby… wah lao eh.


4   


I’d tried brownies from many bakeries in Brunei and most of the time… they’re just too spongy, having textures like chocolate cake. But Syaz’s brownies… YUMM! It was so muddy and rich!

I’m so going to order again and this time, I have to prepare another tub of vanilla ice cream topping on it. Okay, bad bad idea.. I wanna look good for our (as in Bobby and I) 5th anniversary celebration so… sigh… no yummy brownies till end of May.

:(

 

Here’s the link of the article that BT had written.
See, its really that good!


It’s $15 for a box of brownies (like the size you saw above) and it’s worth every penny! Reach her at +673 8 950000 or place your order either by visiting her blog at www.sasmonroe.net because habis stock! Regret till you die later I tell you.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The other “Bobby” – the celebrity chef

 

First of all, I’ll like to say shout a huge “THANK YOU” to Simpur, especially Marul, for organising and inviting me… or rather us bloggers to the press conference and the cooking demo.

I know, how lucky right?

 

When we saw the amount of people categorized under the word “Press”, we kind of freaked out and turned around asking,
“Eh… you got anything to ask or not?”

Okay, I wasn’t smart or witty enough to come up with funny / productive / brilliant question, so all that I did during the press conference was… laughed.

Bobby Chinn was so funny and cute! And I couldn’t believe that he actually shared with us the process and his feelings when undergoing colonic irrigation. Wow.



01



I learned that he dislikes durian… and his definition of durian that day was…

”A sweet raw garlic with an essence of garbage”

 

 

smile_teeth HAHHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHHAA!!!! How very true! Sorry durian-lovers, I have no passion for durian and I have no idea why people go crazy over it.

 

02


And I was lucky enough to taste Bobby’s cooking. Goodness! The beef was so tender and juicy. Yum to the max!

Oh btw, saw the t-shirt above. Bev got it and Tina helped so that I could take a picture of it. So funny lah the 10 Stages of Drunkenness! Especially No.7. HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA.

chinn_fans

After the cooking demo, he proceeded to the book signing.

Bobby… okay, I gotta specify now, Bobby Lim my Mr. Punctual is a fan of Bobby Chinn and so I bought the book for him and requested Bobby to deliver a special message.

3270_98352935750_726290750_2905059_4626361_n   

P1220075


Yup,

“DEMAND LESS
&
COOK MORE”

Friday, April 17, 2009

Be jealous

 

bobbyi

 

Yes, be VERYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY jealous.
Hahahahhahaa.


Waiting for others to blog about it so that I can “curi” photos from their blogs.

Later~

Mandarin Lesson 101

 

Out of nowhere, Bobby requested that I should speak Mandarin to him and strictly Mandarin only. Oh well, maybe I always complain him… “Eeyer, very sien lah you. We paktoh so many years liao your Mandarin still like “poop”!”

Oh yes, you should listen to him when he tried to speak Mandarin to my mum then my mum answered him back in broken Hokkien… Haih, if you see that scene ah, you’ll probably think it’s a Vietnamese drama with no subtitles.

And, he sibeh suka placed his order in Mandarin in Chinese restaurant when the waitresses there have no idea what the heck was he trying to say.

Hmm… maybe that’s why that Orang-Pisang always kolomee lah. smile_sarcastic

“Siaw-jie, kolomee yi ge.”

Tell you, my Mr. Punctual the Orang Pisang (Gosh! I’m really good in giving him new nicks!) knows nothing about “Penjodoh Bilangan”. Whatever thing also he uses “ge” – which is “sebuah” in Chinese.



I’m teaching him Mandarin vocabulary now.

The basic one like numerals he okay lah, but not when it exceeds 5 digits. And lately, he’s more keen in knowing the vocabs for anatomy like eyes, mouth, nose, ears.. you know, the super kindy stuffs.

And last 2 days, he asked me what is fingers in Mandarin.

Me: Shou Zhi

Him: Soul Zeeee

Me: Shou Zhi

Him: Sou Ji

Me: Shou. Zhi. Zhi – like how you pronounce Z-H-I

Him: But I pronounce Z-H-I as Zeeeeee.

Me: *slaps head* See, that’s why I think I should teach you Han Yu Pin Yin first. The phonics in Mandarin is different from English bah. You can pronounce it as if you’re speaking English leh.

Him: …..

Me: Shou-Zhi

Him: *struggling* shoou… zi

Me: Bah, can liao. Finger nail is Zhi-Jia.

Him: Zee-Siak?

Me: Zhi-JIAK (Yes, my Seria slang came out.. Hahhaa. I call it Zhi-Jiak instead of Zhi-jia in real life one)

Him: Zhi… Jak.

Me: (Malas layan already….)





Then yesterday I tested him again.

Me: Bah, what is finger in Chinese?

Him: Soou Shi ? ….. Souu Ji ? Shoou……Zeeeee

Me: Shou Zhi. You just pronounce is as the sleeping Zzzzzzzzz with the buzzing sound lah. Shou-Zzzzzz

Him: Ok. Sou-Zzzzz

Me: Finger nail leh?

Him: Sou Ja, Sou Jak…. Zeee … I forgot!

Me: Zhi Jiak! Just remember, fingernail is use to gorek sai. Eat sh*t, Jiak Sai! So.. it’s Zhi-Jiak.

(Yes, I know my method of teaching damn tidak lulus one. But teaching Bobby this kind of person must use special sikit punya method)

And it helps!

Me: What’s finger?

Him: Sou..Zzzzz?

Me: Then what’s fingernail?

Him: Sou…. Sai, Jiak-Sai… Sou-Jiak. No, Zzzz-Jiak!


Not bad huh?




And yesterday when we’re shopping for my water bottle.. because I clumsily dropped mine and now I have to buy a new one. I’m looking for water bottle with the capacity of 2L though.

We walked around Utama Grand looking at price tags and it was like a outdoor activity with me asking him to read those prices in Mandarin.

$2.50 – Liang kuai pan

$3.90 – San kuai…………………………………….. jiu?

(He took longer time for reading numbers like eight and nine because he had to mentally recall starting from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…)

$16.55?

Se liu kuai…………. Impossible Pan Pan?


I tell you, I was laughing so loudly when I heard the “Pan Pan”.






And now, I’m trying to teach him the difference between Buy and Sell.

Buy - Mai3 and Sell – Mai4


Dear friends and colleagues of Bobby,
Feeling bored and sien with your work? Why don’t you go to him now and ask him what is Finger, Fingernail, Buy and Sell in Mandarin?

Have fun~

 

 


(Bi, I know you’re cursing me Kanasai in your heart now, right?)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Monopoly Night

 

Brought some board games to BSB this week.

1

 

Played this last night.2

 

Mine!
3

 

Mine again~
4

 

F4 Cheenas
5

 

F4 Cheenas take two – cos WeiKee didn’t get fit in the frame in time.6

 

We’re so noisy last night and I certainly hope we didn’t annoyed any tenants there. Couldn’t help it when there’s a long stretch of road with hotels and the jackpot had accumulated up to $1k+ to win (by arriving at the free parking, one of the customised rules)!!!

After all, I only have another 3 more weeks to enjoy my hostel life with the girls. And I just learned that we’re assigned to the blocks according to the our year. See what I mean about me being ignorant~ The freshies will be allocated to F5 and 6, F1 and 4 for year 2, and the F2 and 3 (the nearest to the entrance) for the final years.. I think so? Correct me if I’m wrong.


My super cute nightie~

7


Okay, that’s all.
Bobby is picking me up for dinner soon.

Ciao bella~

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My adaptor

 

To avoid anything unlucky events to happen, like… what Sabrina (my colleague) did last week… i.e. off the power of my adapter thinking its the printer’s adapter and plugged it out, when I was typing out my assignment and had not saved it, we thought that labelling it will help.

P1210928

 

I think it is pretty obvious which one is mine.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Why is Coffee Bean in Belait not open for everyone?

 

Being the ignorant Seria-n who only spend one day in a week in my hometown, if it’s not for Liza’s blog.. I didn’t even know that we now have Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Belait.

BSP Head Office, Panaga.



Even though I’m not a coffee junkie… okay okay, I don’t drink coffee AT ALL! But still.. I wanna kaypo and can still try something else bah, kan? Lagi, its CHEAP.-ER!

By the way, coffee doesn’t make me feel awake, it makes me pening only and all I wanna do is lie down and sleep. So, tabalik one lah.



And so I asked Sheepy this morning, “Hey.. where’s the new Coffee Bean ah?”

She answered with a sour face, “BUYUK BAH! Only those with e-kawal card can go in…”

”So, you mean not open for outsider lah?”

”Ya.. Biar durang makin gemuk!”


HAHAHHAHHAAHHAHAHA!!!


But… unfair lor. Cheaper lagi…
>.<

Nehmind, curse you all who get to drink it become more and more pui!
Hahahahhahaaa!

With all the SOUR-&-BITTER POWERS combine!


FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Elevator

 

Elevator scares me….
Particularly those that looks like this…

P1210903

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Age, Marriage and Child

 

Having tons of friends who got married last year only lead to a brand new season of drama to follow up, and this time, the title is “Pregnancy”.

Some of them were just married 3, 4 months ago and they’d been bombarded with questions like … “Belum berisi?”

Honestly, I don’t quite understand why some people loves rushing others into the “next stage” when it’s not quite…. you know… their business.

So what if your so-and-so is so damn fertile and gets pregnant few months after their wedding. Does it really matter?

In my opinion, what matters most is the upbringing of the child. No?

So what if I get married when I’m just 23, then become a mother at the age of 24, and later my child turns out to be a hooligan / unemployed parasite who always ask money from me when I’m 60 years old? Is that what you still label it as an “achievement”?

My mum got married at the age of 28 and gave birth to me when she’s 30.. which is considered pretty old in the 70s. I remember when I was young, some annoying aunties actually teased her and showed-off that their kids were already in the secondary when I was still in primary.

…… what the heck.

And look what happens now.
The so-called “achievements” of those aunties turned out to be.. less worthy to brag now.

You see what I mean?

Really kasian you know when I heard my friends telling me how her “relatives” pressured and made sarcastic remarks on her still-flat-no-bump-tummy. Haiyah, all that these kaypo (busybody) people want is to have another topic/story to gossip only.

Kasian lah the victims. Bo-tai-bo-chi kana said.

Thank God so far *touchwood* none of our parents are rushing us to get married. Honestly, if possible.. a big IF lah, I would like to have a baby first. Hehehehe. But of course, this is totally unacceptable in this conservative place and it’s super wrong and sinful to most people. I mean, if I wanna get married now, one big reason behind it is because.. I wanna be a mummy before 30, while my “engine” still boleh pakai. 

And when I told my mum my crazy idea, she went all hysterical claiming, “YOU WANT THE WHOLE KB / BRUNEI TO TALK ABOUT YOU IS IT?! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT YOU FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MOUTH OKAY! HAIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Okay okay, I get it mum.




For now, I’m 25… coming 26… and happily enjoying my single-life.
Wedding and baby, can still wait lah… I think? 
Say want then got meh? You think make kuih ah?
This kind of thing cannot rush one mah.

Don’t “Emperor not in a hurry, eunuch panic”.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Mr. Punctual

 

1
7th April 2009.

 

 

Most girls receive flowers on special occasions (like birthday, anniversaries and Valentine’s day) but here in my case, things are a little… different.

When fat guy buys me flower… that can only mean one thing.

I’m mad.
I’m mad at him.

Punctuality means a lot to me and even being late for 5 minutes IS A BIG DEAL to me if it’s without prior notice. I really hate to wait and I will feel very guilty if someone has to wait for me.


I know I know. Being late is the special privilege granted to all females in the world but I’ve never enjoy it before. Instead, Bobby is the one who always make me wait.

Pfffffftttttt!!!!!

What the heck right!

Tabalik one.
Very salah lah!

I should be the one wasting time, walk gracefully in heels and spend like hours to get ready (shower + pick the outfit for the day + make up) for the date and make my boyfriend wait till langsat also ripe. 

Sigh..

And just yesterday, the history repeated.

I was bloody pissed at him. He was late for 20 minutes and because of that, I didn’t get to go to the library on time borrowing books I need for my work and yadda yadda yadda. He could have told tell me earlier right? Kanasai one.

Sekali, he had the cheek to talk back when I was complaining!

smile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angrysmile_angry

We had a really quiet dinner because I didn’t want to talk to him and it was during that time baru he realized his mistakes and apologized.

That explains the flowers you saw in this post.
No vase in my hostel room and I’m now using my mug to hold the lilies.


2

I don’t normally complain him in my blog because, he’s actually a very nice person/boyfriend despite the fact that he has a problem with punctuality, and.. I know his friends and colleagues read this humble blog of mine. So, paiseh lah. Must give him some face mah.

But, hehehehheheee, this time I’d decided to blog it out for the whole world to know, so everyone will help me in “reminding” him to be punctual.

Calling him Ah Pui had really made his waistline getting bigger and bigger so this time, I’m giving him a new positive nickname,

Mr. Punctual!



(I guess this post have just reminded you not to date someone who owns a blog cos he/she will use it against you. LOL)