Kuala Lumpur is 3rd - LEAST Courteous City

This might be old news to some of you but I thought I should post this anyway (Mrs. Pitt's suggestion). A survey was carried out by Reader Digest's (Global Courtesy Test), ranking the world's 36 cities to see how polite the world is. Here are the results.

Image from http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/07/polite.php

I'm not surprised at all to see where we stand. I am a laidback person, and the only thing that gets me annoyed is when I encountered "bad" service or rude Malaysians. As far as I'm concern, we need to change in this aspect. Readers, please do your part in making this city a better place. You don't have to be a politician to do so, just start by being courteous and helpful when you can (of course, not till you endanger your own well being). I'm tired of hearing "Malaysians la, what do you expect?" or "Malaysians mentality!" or "Typical Malaysians!" or the infamous "Malaysian Time". Read the full article here and learn what you can do to make Kuala Lumpur better.

Good manners can replace morals. It may be years before anyone knows if what you are doing is right. But if what you are doing is nice, it will be immediately evident. ~ P.J. O'Rourke

Visual Kei

The LG folks were having a special promotion (in Sg. Wang, where I had a great time catching up with some old friends) where they were giving out 2 free concert tickets to TVfXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki which means "Gods Rise In The East"- under Warner Music) concert with every purchase of their phone. TVfXQ is a Korean boyband, they will be performing in Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil on July 14 and this will be their 1st Asia tour. Pretty cool dance music (listen to the whole song, the first minute or two might be a bit noisy to some) and they can really dance too. Let's hope LG Mobile reads this blog somehow and gives me two free concert tickets of theirs for this free advertisment. Ha ha ha...

Anyway, at the LG booth, they handed out leaflets and though I had no idea who they were at that time, I was drawn to their promo pics as they were visually interesting. Telling Jo this, she told me to look up on Visual Kei. Visual Kei bands focus largely on their appearance rather than their music. Many of these bands will fashion traditional Japanese clothing, anime cosplay outfits, lolita clothes, or other imaginative costumes. The appearance of visual kei bands can often be intimidating to new J-music fans, but their music tends to be superb as well! (fr. jmignited.com). Visual Kei is characterised by bands using dramatic costumes and visual imagery to enhance the band's performance (fr. wikipedia).

Upon going through profiles of Visual Kei bands, TVfXQ looks rather normal (and a whole lot less scary!) in comparison. My fascination with Japan continues...Here are some Visual Kei bands that I find really visually different from the norm (scary or colourful but interesting nevertheless). I can't even tell the genders apart in some of the pics.

All Visual Kei band images from jmignited.com (unless stated otherwise)

The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person.
~ P.J. O'Rourke

Non-Halal

(NOTE : YIK KEE IS NOW ONLY OPERATING DAYTIME AT SUN YIN LOONG COFFEESHOP IN SUNWAY MAS, NO LONGER IN DAMANSARA KIM)

With advance notice to my Muslims reader, today's short post is non-halal. I am one who doesn't really like to eat pork unless I find it super yummylicious. There are three places where I would. One is the pork noodles in Tengkat Tong Shin (same coffeeshop with the famous Chua Brothers Fish Ball Noodles). The other is the Char Siew (BBQ Pork) from the shop few doors down in Tengkat Tong Shin too. And then there is the Siew Yoke (Roast Pork) from Restaurant Kin Wah (I think they have changed the name now, not sure what it is) in Damansara Kim. It's the corner coffeshop, same row as EuroDeli. The stall name is Yik Kee. The rest of the meat are good too but I only eat the siew yoke whenever I go there. Ha ha... if you click on the image for a larger view, you'll see the stall operator smiling behind that glass panel! The lady is his wife; both of them are friendly folks. I have tried another good siew yoke place in Pudu but the fella there has an attitude problem. We arrived at 12 noon and there was already a crowd. Guess what? We had to wait for him to strut out with the siew yoke at 12.30. The four of us had earlier placed an order for four strips of siew yoke but were only served two as we were told that there wasn't enough for us! Meanwhile we saw other people with heaps of siew yoke serving. He even had an arrogant look. That was more than a year ago, we never went back there again. Some people just don't deserve the business!

Oh! Bear in mind that there are two different operators for this stall in Damansara Kim, one for lunch and Yik Kee operates in the later part of the afternoon. If you want to taste nice siew yoke, this stall operator opens at around 4 pm plus. I'll choose this stall over the Pudu one anytime based on friendliness alone! Mrs Pitt, yes, this is another entry on food. I eat at least 2 meals (inevitable) a day and takes pictures sometimes. Don't worry about too much good food, I don't eat food like King Crab all the time! Mmm...the char siew and siew yoke in Chinatown, San Francisco are never as good as the ones here in Malaysia!

Yummylicious meat!

A bum came up to me saying "I haven't eaten in two days!" I said, "You should force yourself!" - Henny Youngman

My Century Post!

I just realised that this will be my 100th post! Can you say a century post??? Anyway, right or wrong, people usually make it a cause for celebration. Reflecting back to my 1st post, one of the reasons why I started was that I was inspired by Jen. I'm reminded of her strength and determination and will always miss her. I know she's happy where she is, having move on with her new life. God bless her family. I supposed when I'm no longer here, my blog will still be around and that itself will leave some part of me behind. So, apart from this being the 100th post, being alive and well (albeit with a recovering "eye") is a cause for celebration! Yes, I'm thankful. Thankful for what I have and for who I have in my life. I have indeed been truly blessed.

Here's some pointers from an article that I came across from Complete Woman Oct/Nov 2005 issue. I won't type in the summary but I believe the keywords are self explanatory.
25 Things To Do Before You Die - Live It Up!

1. Live in a completely different place for a year.
   
2. Take a road trip across the country.
3. Celebrate your inner child.
4. Do something crazy.
5. Save a life.
6. Parachute from a plane. Better yet, learn to fly one.
7. Record music.
8. Run a race
9. Fall in love.
10. Break a habit
11. Be a big sister to someone.
12. Adopt an animal.
13. Work in a soup kitchen
14. Look up an old friend.
15. Do nothing for one full day.
16. Take lessons.
17. Trace your roots.
18. Meet your hero.
19. Write poetry.
20. Plant a tree.
21. Share a fantasy.
22. Change your career.
23. Be a schoolteacher for a day.
24. Pass on a family heirloom.
25. Live half of each day as if it's the first in your life. Then live the next half as if it were your last.

I have actually done some of things in this list. Do you have your own list? I think we should all have one, one that we should act on - start living. Too difficult? Then maybe you can use the one above as your list of things to do. Have a great life!

I just love the colours of this pic I took in Turkey. That's how our lives should be, full of colours and spiced up for extra "oomph"!

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder

Censorship?

Today's post is rated NC16! I came across these when I was walking around. Actually, with all that censorship on TV and the movies, we actually have a lot of stuff around us that the authorities would find racy! Ha ha ha...I find them amusing.

A pub in Bangsar - where all the men gather at "this spot" cos they have no idea where the "other spot" is! LOL ...

Another leaflet targeted at men. Here's the answer to their prayers. Well, the Thais are known to be good at massages!

Mmm....apart from spam in the email, I've yet to come across signages or leaflets in Malaysia for the female gender. But for women to get the men's attention? That's just so easy. Hence, no leaflets! Ha ha ha....Well, if the guy has problems....that's another case. No, I don't think having a restaurant named "Spotted Dick" would bring in the female crowd, though it's a pretty nice dessert (what were you thinking of?). If there is such a restaurant, then please let me know so that I can take a photo of their signage! I must admit, it is quite a novelty to open such a restaurant with that name, any takers? And if you ever do come across a new restaurant of that name in future, remember, you read it hear first. ;0) Enough of puns, just don't throw me overboard!

Puns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. ~ Dave Barry, Why Humor Is Funny

King Crab

Will blog on my bro's treat for Father's Day dinner at King Crab. Reached there at about 7.30pm on Sunday and the place was already packed. Managed to find a car park nearby and made our way towards the brightly lit, big and yellow building (I really liked how the photo of the building turned out!). After waiting for about 10 minutes, we managed to get a table and our orders were promptly taken.

The captain recommended the special lobster dish that is served sashimi style (complete with wasabi). One can also cook the lobster meat in the pot of superior broth to eat if eating raw stuff isn't one's cup of tea! The lobster head would then be cooked with noodles. We ordered the usual kangkung (morning glory) belachan. We also ordered the special salted egg yoke tofu, fried chicken with fish paste and butter crabs. The first dish took a reasonable time to come, about 20 minutes or so (considering the crowd that was there) but we had to help ourselves when it came to filling up the tea pot and getting more chillies as they just couldn't cope with the crowd. Oh, there was this sauce that was minty and possibly made from green chillies. It made the cooked lobster meat so much more delicious! The meat was fresh and the broth was good too. We drank all of it, good till the very last drop. Ha ha ...
I loved the tofu! The mixture of salted egg yoke, mushroom, garlic and broccoli together with the tofu was wonderful. The fried chicken with fish paste turned out to be quite normal. You know what I mean by normal, just like how the kangkung belachan tasted like, normal. Then the crabs came, it was okay, the crab was really fresh. It didn't come with a lot of sauce (which turned out to be a blessing as the two deep fried mantou (steamed rolls) failed to show up even after telling the staff 3 times. We decided to forget about it. We were pacified by the earlier wonderful lobster dish, the great tasting tofu and kept busy by the butter crabs.
We then realised that the lobster head noodles was taking a very long time to be served. After we had the lobster sashimi (which was the first thing they brought out), they had taken the lobster shell back. About 40 minutes later, there was still no sign of the noodles. My bro went inside to remind them, 15 minutes later, still no sign. We then got hold of the captain to check and she came back to apologise that they had made a mistake with the order and said that it was on the way. By that time, our patience were wearing thin. The noodles finally came about 10 minutes later (my bro was taking 40 winks in between! I kid you not) and thankfully, the lobster noodles were yummylicious!!! At least it made our wait more worthwhile! Ha ha ha...
We finally left close to 9.40pm. The waiters were already clearing up and keeping the tables that were set along the corridor while the seating area inside the restaurant was still full. Well, I would say the food is good but dinner was marred by the long wait for the noodles. We could overlook the rest of the nitty gritty stuff though it was trying. Click on the image on the left for a larger view and directions to King Crab Restaurant. If you are planning to dine at this place, be prepared to wait and waste your time. Don't bother eating here if you don't have two hours to spare! Or you could just be kiasu and go early before the crowd and end up crowding the restaurant with the rest of the people who went there early to avoid the crowd! LOL ...

Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst. ~Willaim Penn

Happy Father's Day!

I'm so full now. Came back after dinner, celebrating Father's Day. My bro, the father, decided to buy us all dinner. He said this is in celebration of life and to show us that he value all of us as family members. Awwww.....so sweet. You see something happened last night. The whole family (I wasn't there, was filled in on the details later) were on their way out for dinner when they passed the corner neighbour house and heard screams. Apparently two men were trying to carjack the neighbour's Mercedes Benz, trying to drag the lady driver out of the car. Her two boys who were in the back, opened the car door and jumped out. All these happened in the driveway of the house. Seems that they rushed in when the autogate opened while the neighbour was trying to reverse out. So, that's when my bro and family passed by and saw the commotion.

My bro actually got down and his family told him to get back in as the men had knives. He then got back into the car and drove to try to block their getaway path. His car got rammed in the process and the carjackers made a swift turn and got away. Anyway, all this while, the family were in the car (even when it was rammed!) and they were as shaken as the neighbour who got carjacked. The police came later and by that time, the neighbourhood starting to crowd around to find out what had happened. The policemen stumbled upon a handphone left at the crimescene. Apparently, they just put it into a used plastic bag (not special or new ones). Guess we are a far cry from CSI. Ha ha ha...Talk about contaminating the evidence! So, that's why my bro appreciates life even more and the fact that he's still alive and nothing bad happened to him or to anyone else. Dinner was good, and that I will blog about another day.

Will end by posting the lyrics of a parody song I wrote for Mama Cindy. She had contacted me last year while I was holidaying in Perth to come up with a song (touching or humourous) for her church youth to perform as part of Father's Day celebration. So, here's to all the Father's out there, Happy Father's Day... and to my dear ol' Dad, I do wish you all the good things even as you are up there watching over me. I will always be your little girl (no matter how big or old I am!) Love you!

Hee hee...Pulling that stunt with your big eyes again!

(Sung to the tune of Rasa Sayang) - written by wmw

Chorus:-

Happy Father's Day,

Yours in June and Mom's in May

We wish you all the best things

A very Happy Father's Day....

Verse 1

We've come together on this special day

To wish all the Fathers in this special way

We wish you good health and also good wealth

So that you will buy us whatever we say.

Verse 2

We sing to you with our hearts and soul

And hope that everyone here will know

We love you from the bottom of our hearts

You can live with us when you're old!

Chorus

Verse 3

We practiced hard to sing you this song

A thousand times, not to get it wrong

We have no money to buy things for you

So this song will just have to do

Verse 4

Everyone here now please sing along

Join in with us, this song won't be long

It's coming to an end for all really soon

Doesn't matter if you sing out of tune

Chorus

Verse 5

We hope you like what we've done for you

We thank you Fathers...and Mothers too

Thank you for bringing us into the world

Now tomorrow, "Can I skip school??????"
Chorus

80's Music

Pic from http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=342167

I am so happy. While searching for music video codes for my blog, I stumbled upon www.duranduran.no It's a Duran Duran website done by Klaus Olsens. I'm a fan of Duran Duran but what made me even happier that his website carries video and audio files of 80's music! It's simply fantastic, click on "Extra" and you will have a list of choices including "Visualize the 80's" and "Audible 80's". I sent Klaus an email thanking him for putting up a great website to which he promptly gave a warm reply. I grew up in the 80's and I still remember that I usually can't wait to go the the vendor every week for my copy of No.1 (pop mag from UK, probably one of the best UK pop mag in the 80s, now no longer available). I also had the wall in my bedroom, all plastered with posters of Wham, George Michael, Go West, Spandau Ballet and my fave member of Duran Duran, John Taylor. My cassettes (yes, no CDs for me back then!) were all over the place. I also remembered Mrs Pitt being the neat person that she is, nearly freaking out when she saw the room. LOL...I enjoyed having music in my life. As a matter of fact, the first thing I bought with my substantial savings when I turned 18 was a Hi Fi set, albeit it was second hand. I later got my own set a few years later, and my Rega Kyte speakers still work till today!
I've put up two links from Klaus on my sidebar under websites I can't do without! Hope 80's music fan out there will enjoy them as much as I do. If you do decide to drop Klaus a line or two, let him know wmw from Malaysia told you! Thank goodness there are audible files apart from the videos as I can't really look at the monitor for long (still recovering from the eye op). Those files are keeping me entertained at home and help me ease the boredom. I'm really happy, just like when I had fresh scones and English Tea for teatime break a couple of days ago at Lily Cenario Cafe. Forgot to take the pic before I attacked it! LOL...Food and music, doesn't take much to keep me happy! Have a great and happy weekend everyone.

Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Broadway Beng!

I got invited again by Kimmy (of Gardner and Wife Theater) to lim teh (drink tea) on Tuesday at Montes. This time round it was for the media do for Broadway Beng. I only came across the email late Monday night and since my command of Hokkien wasn't that good, I got Lyn to go with me. Lyn, thanks for driving and accompanying me though I kinda asked you at the eleventh hour. When I reached the venue, I saw some elderly ladies around. Lyn and I joked that it was okay if I didn't understand, if the elderly folks laughed, that would be my cue to laugh too. I didn't want to be stonefaced while people around me are laughing there heads off!

I had braced myself for a clueless time and hoped that Lyn will be able to translate for me. After an intro by director, Selena Tan (yes, the lady behind "Wanton Me"), Ah Beng (who is actually Sebastian Tan) came on and launched into the famous showtune "There's No Business Like Show Business". He then rattled off some Hokkien (or Fu*kien as he says). Luckily, he translated it to English and I was not clueless anymore! Yay! He did the translation even for a Hokkien song he sang. I remembered two lines of it..."30% up to God, 70% you must work a lot. You must work hard if you want to winnnnnnn....". LOL! Well, you have to be there to hear him sing the translated English Fu*kien song. It was funny. So, even if one doesn't really understand Fu*kien, you will still be laughing at Broadway Ah Beng. Like Ah Beng says "Who Say Broadway Music Is Only For Ang Mohs?"

He will be joined by 3 cha bohs (girls) on stage

Broadway Ah Beng is a madcap stand-up comedy musical in true blue Ah Beng "Fu*kien-Engrish"! According to the press release, it's karaoke without the sleaze...Wait! Or...maybe with! Ha ha ha...After the short showcase, and before making his exit, Ah Beng told us "Bring your mudder, fudder, brudder, Ah Gong, Ah Mah to my show!". That we intend to do, as a matter of fact, Lyn and I got ourselves 6 tickets.

Sebastian Tan, comes with credible credentials, having performed in Miss Saigon (UK tour run) and after I heard him sing, it's verified. He'll be belting out showtunes along the way. He has been on TV and musical variety shows too. As a matter of fact, Selena mentioned that we will be getting a good deal as there will be a 8 minute medley of songs from Miss Saigon, basically summarizing the whole story! How's that for getting your money's worth? Ha ha... He looks different in this head shot pose of his. See what some blond highlights and donning a blinding blue suit can do to a person? LOL...

Oh, and that's Gardner in the background (in white). Did you catch Gardner in the Astro football ad as a football commentator?

By the way, the photos without my blog address are courtesy of Gardner&Wife Theater, from the press kit. Well, Ah Beng, this not quite so Ah Lian and friends will be seeing you soon! But I'm not sure about my mudder and brudder. Sorry, my fudder, Ah Gong and Ah Mah definitely won't be able to make it, they are busy "living it up there". ;o)

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. ~ Arnold Glasow

Taman Cheras

Oh, I've been meaning to write about my trip to Cheras, was there the week before my vision went kaput. Taman Cheras had their weekly pasar malam (night market) but it was raining. When I reached there, it was just a slight drizzle. At about 9 plus, quite a number of stalls had packed up due to the heavy downpour earlier. I was shown around by FA and made our first stop at the popiah stall.

We then continued walking till a Taiwanese sausage stall caught my eye. The lady told us that she was selling 3 sticks for RM4.00 (50 cents discount) as she wanted to close earlier for the night. FA bought 3 and on seeing that she had a bit more left, I decided to get another 3 sticks from her to help her out. She gladly let me take a pic of her as you can see from her smile. Ha ha....Blogging has definitely made me speak even more to strangers! I need to especially if I start taking pics of people/things I see. I mean, I have no problems striking up a conversation with a stranger but holding a camera makes it a lot easier and I'm surprised that the folks usually oblige. Of course, I usually tell them that I'm taking photos for my blog and ask whether I can post it on the internet.
Anyway, we then move on to my favourite Chee Cheong Fun stall, located near the 7-Eleven store. My 2nd favourite CCF stall is Ah Keong's, located in Damansara Uptown Hawker Center (I will blog on that later). Anyway, this is my favourite CCF stall.

There are a few reasons why. You see the stainless steel plate? There is just something about it, makes the CCF taste a whole lot better as compared to those served up in plastic plates. Secondly, the sweet sauce combined with the chilly sauce is really good, topped with lots of sesame seeds! Thirdly, they serve my favourite Ham meatball. Not just ordinary pork meatballs, but ham!!! The ham meatballs are the ones in the darker shade of brownish red in the bottom centre (looks more reddish on my plate). Fourthly, everything is nicely compartmentalise and neat. I sure you can see what I mean by compartmentalise from the pic. It's almost like playing tic-tac-toe! LOL...Furthermore, eating alfresco simply brings out the best for such food category. As my favourite line goes - "What's not to love about life?"

The view from the shops' walkway where I sat eating - the stalls and more tables lined the roadside (sorry, shaky hands)

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~ Voltaire

Friends & Future

My friends have been very kind to me during this recovery period. I've been well looked after by my mom, making sure that I eat the right stuff. My bro and sis-in-law, had to put up with me being in the house and walking around like a mummy with an eye patch taped across my face. My nephews had to put up with my interruptions when I need to check my emails and disrupt their sacred time with the PC. Thanks to also folks who dropped by at the hospital and my bro's place to visit me and those who called or text me to find out how I am. Of course, added thanks to those who bought me my favourite food and to those who brought me out for meals and to run errands since I can't drive.

I was the youngest in the ward and I realise that apart from Ah Bee, my ward room mate, most of the older folks outside didn't have visitors at all during my 3 days there. I realise that friends and family are truly to be cherished. Family is always there, as they have no choice even if they don't want to! Ha ha ha....As for friends, this is a choice. Keeping in touch with friends is important, I guess, most folks kinda lose touch with their friends from younger days as they grow older. People come in and out of our lives at different points. Hang on to those friendships, accumulate instead of practicing FIFO (First In, First Out) method like most people do. We should have OIFI (Once In, Forever In) method. But of course, along the way, we do have friends whom we realise weren't friends and these are forgotten. That's call the pruning process. I told myself that I wouldn't want to be all alone in a hospital should I be warded again in future. That would be so sad. So, accumulate!

Last night, I was out with The Mahs for dinner. They took me out and we ended up at Ikea and I had my chilli dog! Yay! The Mahs are church friends whom live nearby and I have gotten to know the whole family quite well, helping them with their struggles in life at one time. However, the Mah kids have grown up and started working and things are looking better. So, at a time like this, they have kindly extended back their help in taking bored old me out! Ha Ha ...Oh, went to the new Cineleisure to check it out, pretty nice. It's still pretty empty but the cinema is in operation. Watching movies nowadays are so different from the simple cinemas in the past. Cinemas like Pavilion, Cathay, Rex, Federal - tickets used to cost RM1.50-RM4.50! And it was a big deal back then when we sat on the balcony as it was the most expensive scale. I still remember, if a blockbuster was on, the queue for the ticktes would snake all the from the ticket counter till the roadside!!! Those were the days. I took some pics of Cineleisure (I try to bring my camera along with me wherever I go nowadays). The top pic is the floor above the main hall which houses the cinema halls and the one at the bottom is the main hall where you get the tickets and screen the trailers.

The brightly lit building, view from The Curve.

Anyway, it was a nice outing and I went home less bored, for now! Hee Hee ... Sister Mah now has only one worry left, her twin daughters (so, that's two worries actually) , that is to see them grow up well! I have envisioned them to be models when they are older. They seem to have this look. But that will probably make Sister Mah worried sick about their lifestyles! (Sister Mah will have many many more exclamation marks to that sentence! LOL!). Well, we'll see what the future holds when the time comes. We'll see, for them and for all of us....Good night!

The future is always beginning now. ~ Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving

Packaging

Sitting around the place with nothing much to do, I finally opened the box of rice crackers I got from Japan on my recent trip. They are just to cute to be eaten.
So, it's actually a peanut and a rice cracker in a printed wrapper. The hair, face and costumes are actually prints on the wrapper. How cute can the Japanese be, coming up with such things?! Still don't get what I mean? Okay, here's another pic of one that I opened (with a heavy heart!)
See the simplicity of this cute packaging now? I guess I'll just open the box and take a look at these cuties once in awhile and will only start eating them when it's near its expiry date. I gave a few packs of them away to some friends and my nephews. None of them have the heart to touch these cuties! I ate the one that I opened, the peanut (the head) was rather bland and the rice cracker (the body) was quite tasty. When the Japanese food lack in taste, they make up for it in its packaging. Mmm....come to think of it, some humans do that too! ;o)

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~ Dr. Seuss

Seremban Beef Noodles

Sweet picked me up this morning for breakfast and we ended up in Yong Len,TTDI. She had the mee yoke (prawn mee) and I had chee cheong fun. Though it was a short outing, it was fun nevertheless. Sweet drove, shall I say, in a way where she doesn't really know where she's going but she just drives! LOL....She told me to blog about this, and that I the "blind" one actually gave her the directions and lead her to the place! Thanks Sweet, for taking me out and helping me to get my car from the service center too. Yes, and thanks for somehow teaching your little Rebecca that my name is Captain Jackie Sparrow (wah! changing Jack to Jackie was cute!!!!!) Captain Jack Sparrow's not a one eyed pirate (why do they associate pirates as to being one-eyed?). I maybe one eyed for now but am definitely not a Keith Richards look alike! Ha Ha Ha.... But I am waiting anxiously to watch the sequel, check out the trailer! Johnny Depp is marvelous!

Anyway, I had an interesting lunch. My bro and family actually decided to drive all the way to Seremban to eat beef noodles. Never one to turn down food, I followed them. This reminded me of the time when KA and I went all the way to Ipoh to eat curry laksa noodles. "Have food, will travel!". So, I wasn't gonna pass up on a trip like this. The journey took about an hour. I fell asleep along the way and woke up when we arrived at the Seremban Market. Talk about great timing! We made out way along the busy market and found a table near to the stall (the one in the middle, stall no. 742). The stall looks like it's been around a long time. So that means it must be good (or dirty to the more hygienic ones!).

While waiting for the beef noodles, a crazy woman (literally!) came up to bro and asked him to buy some lottery tickets. Bro told her no and then she threw the lottery tickets on the table and bro pushed it back towards her, she then pushed it back to bro and bro back to her! This went on for a few more times and I told him to stop touching the tickets. Bro then stood up to order his food (he arrived later as he had to look for a place to park the car) and she promptly grabbed the tickets and shoved it to his stomach! Bro just walked off. To the horror of O, my nephew, she then turned her attention to him and shoved the ticket to his face (since he was seating down)! He avoided her hand and thankfully, the lady finally walked away. I think O must have been traumatized by this incident as he lost his appetite!

Well the noodles arrived...and I absolutely loved it. I like the the texture of the noodles and the mixture of the gravy with the sesame seeds, peanuts, chopped pickled vegetables (char choy). The beef ball was good, home made and the soup was also delicious! Bro and E had second orders along with the additional orders for an extra bowl of tripe and a bowl of beef balls. After all, we drove all the way to Seremban, I suppose we should make the most of out this trip.

So, 30 minutes and 17 bowls later (bowls from noodles, soup, tripe and beef balls), the 6 of us made our way back to Petaling Jaya. Such bliss! LOL...

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four; unless there are three other people. - Orson Welles

Back Home

I'm back in my own pad and slowly going back to the life I once had! LOL....Anyway, just a short entry to update that the doc said that my eye is healing well and looks excellent. I can drive for short distances during the daytime for now. Night time is still a no no as the lights from the oncoming vehicle is too glaring for me right now.

The view from my window in the early hours of the morning.

A friend asked me how does it feel to be back home. I answered, "Feels really good though alone". I was surrounded by people the past one week in my bro's place and yet still somehow feel alone. But at my own home, I feel alive though I'm alone....you know what I mean?

Till later!

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. ~ Jane Austen

The Day After

Had a peaceful sleep through Monday night and was woken up by the nurse about 5am who came in to take my blood pressure reading. It was at that time, I realised the other room mate of mine, Ah Bee just came out from having her shower. Ah Bee is probably in her early 60s (never got round to asking her) and was probably the only one who really kept me from going insane in the hospital. She's friendly and we both chatted like we knew each other for ages, ha ha. Our room was filled with constant visitors, with her family and mine and my friends, coming in around the same time. Hers was the first op on Tuesday morning 8am and before they wheeled her off, she told me that everything will be okay and that she will wake me up when I come back from my op. It was so nice of her to say that to me, words of comfort.

While she was being operated on, I was called for a round of checkup by the eye surgeon. I was then informed of the procedure and was told that apart from patching up the tear on my retina, they would pump gas into my eye. This would temporarily affect my vision more. Eh, yeah, I won't be able to fly for any trips for about a month or so as the pressure would cause the gas to expand and my eyeball would explode. Yes, that's was good to know. LOL!

Waiting back in my room with Ah Bee still not back yet, the doc came in at around 10.30 and told me that I should be prepared for my op within the next 30 minutes. I wasn't feeling scared or anything but more like "Am I in a dream? A very long dream???". I was the youngest patient there as the rest were in mostly for cataract op and I think the nurses weren't use to dealing with younger patients like me. Before they wheel me out, they had a checklist of questions to ask.

1) Gone to the toilet?
2) Removed underwear and bra?
and the one that made me laugh
3) Removed your dentures???

I replied laughing that I had no dentures and with that I was off on my magical journey. Seriously, I never had the experience of laying on a bed and being wheeled around. It was a funny feeling. They parked me in this area and was told to change again into a green gown (you know, the ones you just slip on and your front is covered but your whole back and posterior is exposed!) There I was, almost to go in for my first operation but I was fussing more about the fact of the "exposure". Ha Ha... They then wheeled me into the operating theater with the doc explaining to me about general anesthesia. I told him "I feel like a buffet spread being served on a tray" and we both laughed. After being man and woman handled for awhile, he told me if I feel like sleeping, go ahead. The next thing I know, I heard a lady's voice telling me "It's time to go back to the ward". The op was over. Do you know what was the first thing I did? With my eyes closed, I touched my chest area to see if I was naked or not!!! LOL! The good news was that I wasn't naked, the bad news was that they had already changed my clothes again and even put on the hospital pants for me! Not even feeling the pain and in my groggy state, I was thinking "My goodness, they got to see me in all my glory and dressed me though I was a piece of meat (a very big piece!)." Sigh....

Well, when I got back to the ward (around 1.30pm), mom and bro was there. KA (she took this pic of me) and SK were there too and I had two flower bouquets and get well soon balloons from my sis-in-law). I tried to speak but I think I sounded incomprehensible. I decided to use hand signals indeed. My throat was dry as the Sahara desert and finally had my first sip of water at about 4 since fasting from 12 midnight. Ah Bee was already up and about and came over to my bed to talk to me. Only mom and bro was still around and they left at 5pm, promising me delicious chicken porridge for dinner when they come back again later. OML dropped by shortly after to keep me company and by that time, my head had cleared and I was in pain. I asked for some pain killers and they gave me Panadol. Feeling better by dinner time, WoW2 visited me and my mom and bro dropped by with porridge which I finished. Chicken porridge never tasted so good!

With visiting hours over, it was back to me and Ah Bee in the ward. Slept early that night and early Wednesday morning, I had a checkup and the doc told me that I can go home! Yay!!!! Took down Ah Bee's contact number from her daughter and say that we'll keep in touch. We both checked out of the hospital on Wednesday and will have to go back this Wednesday for a follow-up. I've been at my bro's place since last Wednesday, with my mom pampering me. But you know me, I'm so use to going out here and there, I'm so bored now. Utterly bored out of my mind. I can't watch TV for long, can't read, I can only listen to music and sleep. I took a pic of myself with my phone cos I had nothing to do. Help ...

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my eye is recovering. The bad news is that I'm dying of boredom. - wmw

The Night Before

Don't worry folks, I'm typing this with my eyes closed, thanks to my touch typing skills!!! So, here's the story. I had partial blurred vision in my lower right eye since Friday. I gave myself another day for it to clear as I was wondering whether it was due to fatigue. Saturday came and my vision was still blurred. I didn't really want to alarm Mom and told myself that I'll see the doc on Monday and if need be, then I'll let her know.

So there I was at UH at 7.30am, waiting for my turn to see the GP first. At 9, I was called in and he went through the usual test to ascertain my blurred vision wasn't due to some nerve problem. After passing every test with flying colours (except not being able to have full vision on my right eye), he sent me to the ophthalmologist who finally saw me at 11am. After explaining to him, he put some eye drops to dilate my eyes before he could examine it any further. I was told to sit outside for a good 15 minutes and was called in again.

Doc: Ok, let's take a look at it again. Mmmm....
Doc: Mmmm....Yup, it's a case of retina detachment
Me : Huh???
Doc : People with high myopia like you usually have a high risk of their retina tearing. Yours did and fluid started to seep in and eventually weighed it down, detaching it from the inner wall.
Me : Huh???
Doc : You can't go home now. You have to be warded and have to have an emergency operation. We will monitor you for the rest of today and the operation will be soonest tomorrow once the surgeon take a look at your eye.
Me : Okay...(In a state of shock!)

I was then sent to take a chest X-ray, ECG and they even took three tubes of my blood! Well, at least now I know that I'm healthy, it's just the eye! Ha Ha Ha....In my entire 38 years (almost 38) of life, I have never once be admitted into a hospital, you know, just have the occasional fever, cold, cough kinda thingy. The first time I walk into a hospital for a check up, I ended up being warded! Yes, I was in a state of shock alright. I had felt no pain in my eye. Apparently, when I had an increase of "floaters" (those funny "microscopic" things that seems to be floating in front of your eyes), it was a tell tale sign that my retina tore. Guess I was just unaware, the optometrist definitely never drew my attention to such matters. Optometrists should warn people like me, those who have high shortsightedness to be aware of such things so that we could seek treatment immediately. Seems that if I had gone earlier before the retina detached, all they do is just to fix up my eye with a laser to patch it back and I could walk out of the hospital on the same day itself. So, there I was, for the first time in my life in the hospital, sitting, sleeping and waiting for the morning to come, facing another long night. Family and friends (KA took this pic) came to visit and eventually left. I wasn't worried but I just wanted this whole ordeal to end as soon as possible.

To be continued ....

I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you. ~ Bill Walton

All's Well

Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm "temporary out of order". Ha Ha ...

Pic by KA

Was warded on Monday and had to have an emergency operation on my right eye on Tuesday. It was a case of "retina detachment". Now I'm back home and it's time for me to rest, will blog more later. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers!