Twittering blogger

There was once I was crazy over an online game called Maple Story and managed to get a few people around me to join the addiction. After that addiction died down, for a while later I was crazy over Facebook and pestered everybody around me to join Facebook. After I got bored with Facebook, I became fascinated with the wonderful world of Google, especially with Gmail and Google Reader. Then I became crazy over blogging, trying to convince others to start their own blog.

My latest fascination is Twitter. Twitter is the latest craze on the web, though it's not that popular here in Malaysia yet. Twitter is fun because you get to update it wherever you are using your handphone or the web. And it can send updates to your handphone whenever someone posts an update. It's almost like chatting with others, just not in real time. Micro-blogging is cool!~~

Also crazy over Firefox lately. It's so much better than Internet Explorer, especially when I access sites on the intranet at work. It's much more faster. And it has a lot of cool add-ons.

If you have Twitter and Firefox, you should download the add-on, TwitterBar on your Firefox. It allows you to enter your status updates in the address bar of any open browser which then directly updates your twitter. Or you can get TwitterFox which will display status updates of everybody at the corner of your browser.

Using Twitter, you get to jott down what you are currently doing or any random thought you have at that moment. A day usually flies pass by, and memories of that day are just lost. So sometimes it's nice just to capture a thought when it happens so that you can read about it days later. Though when I read back what I wrote, I realize that I'm constantly complaining that I'm hungry... hmmm...

Yesterday I was suddenly determined to find a way to send updates to my blog and twitter using my handphone. As you know, my handphone is old with no features to connect to the internet. But I was convinced that there had to be a way to do it through text messaging.

Finally found that I could do it by sending a MMS to my blog email which will publish the post to my blog immediately. Helps me feel more connected during those times when I'm out there feeling so stuck and disconnected.

It's gonna be a matter of time before my craze for blogging and twitter dies down and I'll move on to my next craze. But until then, go and start blogging and start twittering ya... I'll pester you the next time I see you.

PS - my dream job would definitely be working in a web-base company. Oh how I wish....

More bad news

Damn hungry right now. Drinking water to reduce the hunger pangs (something that Ian taught me to do now that he is in cost cutting mode hehehe).

Received bad news today. No salary increment for this year.

SOB!~~~~~~

Oh well, kinda expected it since all MNCs are not doing well. 2009 looks grim. Bad news everywhere. I'm just grateful I still have a job without any pay cut yet. And I'm grateful that I still get a free cup of Milo every morning. I think I'd be more upset if they decide to take away the beverage making machine. I'll cry. I need my daily cup of milo to function.

Baby making plans (if any) have been postponed until further notice. A baby is just to darn expensive. Initially was planning to have our honeymoon this year but scrapped that idea as well. Don't want to spend unnecessary.

Oh and apparently the world may be ending in year 2012. It's another one of those end of world predictions. Heard it on the radio this morning. Google December 21 2012 if you're curious. :P

Stopping for a moment to think

I'm in the office now and it's so freaking quiet. The only thing I can hear is the sound of me typing on my keyboard.

Yesterday I saw something that shocked and disturbed me. If I were a superstitious Chinese, this would be absolutely the worst thing to see on the second day of CNY. I'm going to stop complaining about how much I hate CNY. Someone else's CNY is way worst than mine. I have no right to complain.

When pissed about something, rant all you want, get it out of your system, then shut up and move on. Life is just to short to dwell on unimportant things.

If you knew that this hour would be your last, what would you do? Or if you knew that next week would be your last week? Or this month would be your last?

Would you tell your love ones that you love them? Would you hug them and never let go? Would only do the things that truly make yourself happy? Would you eat to your hearts content? Would you watch the last sunrise? Would you smile, stand still and just enjoy the moment while it last?

Or would you be working overtime on a job which gives no shit about you? Spending your last hours on something which you don't want to do but have to do? Worrying about how your investment portfolio would look like for the next few months? Remain pissed off about something unimportant? Whine that your butt looks too fat?

We always complain that we have no time. But it's ironic that if told that this hour would be the last hour in life, probably we would find the time to do all we really need to do.

Problem is that life always has it's sharp turns. And sometimes we move so fast in life and miss those turns.

And then it's too late.

The Chinese who hates Chinese New Year

I have made it through the first two days of CNY. More "When are you going to have a baby?" questions and "You have put on weight" remarks. I hate CNY.

It's weird having to give out angpows instead of receiving them this year. A reminder that I'm getting older and turning into one of them "aunties".

I always thought that when I turned into an "auntie" I would automatically know how to act like one. I would know how tell children, "Say Gong Xi Fa Chai before I give you an angpow" or insist that they call me "Auntie Mindy". But I found myself quiet, clueless and out of place. I definitely do not feel like I'm one of the "aunties" yet.

It's not over yet. More CNY visiting and reunions this weekend, this time with my complicated side of the family. Time to start practicing the art of fake smiling and master the skill of avoiding awkward questions.

Why oh why must CNY be 15 days loooonnnnnggg? I wish I could dig a hole and hide in it until CNY is over.

Sigh... I hate CNY.

CNY? :(

Chinese New Year is not a good time for me. In fact it's the worst time of the year for me. Because of family problems, CNY for me involves having to put on a fake smile in front of everybody then having the day end with lots of fighting and crying at home.

Now as an adult, I no longer have to go through that anymore. But the childhood memories are still there.

My most ideal CNY would be taking a one week holiday far away where I don't have to do things I don't want to do. But being someones wife now, I cannot do that as I have an obligation to spend CNY with his family. Though I wish he could truly understand what CNY really means to me.

Yes, I am a Chinese who grew up without a Chinese identity. The Chinese who cannot relate to any Chinese traditions, the Chinese who doesn't speak Chinese... the "fake Chinese who doesn't celebrate CNY" as my friends like to say. I am a "banana", yellow outside white on the inside, so what?

And for the record, both of us are NOT NOT NOT planning to have a baby yet. Is it compulsory that once a couple is married, they must immediately jump into bed to work on making babies? People, we are still wearing protection, so I doubt anything is going to happen unless there's that o.o1% possibility.

I don't mind people asking me the baby question, but having it asked again and again in one day? Tiring!

"When are you planning to have one?"
"You have put on weight... is it because of any good news?"
"You should start trying this year so that you'll get one by next year"
"Everybody has kids now, when is it your turn?"

Okay, I'm done with my ranting. Tomorrow is CNY. Be brave and SMILE through more baby questions!~~

Oh, and CNY is not all bad. It's the only time in the year when Yin How is more obsessed than me in cleaning the house. I, of course, gleefully took this opportunity to get him to clean everything including the horribly messed up storeroom where you cannot enter but only throw things in. It's almost 10:30pm and he's busy mopping the floor... the 2nd time already. :)

Happy Chinese New Year everybody. May your CNY be less tiring than mine. :)

Last minute cancelation

Just 1 week before the trip, management decides to tell me that the trip has been canceled because of the current economic sitution. I'm not so pissed that the trip was canceled, but rather because they had to tell me 1 week before when everything has been arranged and confirmed.

It would have been really much nicer if they could have told me earlier instead of 1 week before the trip. Yesterday, the trip was still approved, today it has been canceled. Gee, did the economic situation change so dramatically from yesterday to today?

Yes, senior management has no control over the current economic situation, but they do have control over how they are going to manage it.

Will I be missed?

I’m so stuck at a software bug for a feature I wish they would just obsolete. Anyway, need to release some geram-ness by blogging about some stuff.

I will be going away next week for a 2 week business trip. When I first told Yin How, he said, “Go longer la”. I asked whether he would miss me, just answer yes or no, but he refused to reply. Yin How would never admit to such an “un-macho” thing. He had already started planning to

1. Go to Genting with his buddies
2. Celebrate his friends birthday
3. Have a steamboat for CNY at home and invite all his colleagues over
4. Go back to Butterworth to stay with his parents
5. Let Russell sleep beside him on the bed (which I do not allow)
6. Bla bla bla...

Of course, he can’t do most of the above because he can’t leave the dogs alone overnight. But still… he was excitedly planning all sorts of things to do while I’m away. I felt so unmissed, and I wasn’t even gone yet.

Then yesterday, when he was in the bedroom and I was in the toilet, he suddenly said in a very small voice, “What am I going to do for 2 weeks? What am I going to eat for 2 weeks?”

I smiled to myself. I know he will miss me. :)

Don't underestimate me

I still survived the dance aerobics session despite missing it for 3 weeks. Woot!~ I'm fitter than you think ok (to the two guys who were betting I wouldn't last). Though how much ache I'll feel tomorrow will be another story. :P

Let's see how I'll do after missing the session for the coming 4 weeks. :)

Please forgive my handphone

I was shopping with Mun Yi and Shu-Yin for something for Yin How and I wasn't sure whether he would like it. They asked me take a photo of it but I didn't bring a camera. Both of them turned and looked at me like I was dumb and replied at the same time, "Use your camera phone la!" like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Excuse me but my handphone is old la... no bluetooth, no mp3 player, no 3g. Though it does have a very blur tiny camera. They insisted that I took a photo with it and laughed when they saw how pathetic and unrecognizable the photo looked.

I refuse to buy a new handphone yet. Why? Because

1. I feel no pain when the handphone drops
2. I don't even notice when there are new scratches in my handphone, they just blend in with all the existing scratches and teeth marks signed personally by my dogs
3. I don't worry when I accidentally leave my handphone overnight in the office... nobody would want it
4. I don't feel sakit hati when I see a newer better more recent handphone model on sale - almost every phone now is better then mine
5. And when people cannot reach me I can just say, "It's my handphone's fault"

But course, if I can get hold onto an iPhone, forget what I said above. I'll throw my handphone away in a second.

I know that some of you find calling me on my handphone extremely frustrating. It's either dead, or I don't pick up the handphone. And usually if you send me a sms, I might not reply until a day later. Sometimes I don't realize my handphone has been dead for days because it was burried and forgotten in my handbag and when I turn it on, I get a flood of sms coming in,

"Mindy, you wanna have dinner this Sunday?" Oppss.. read it on Monday.
"Mindy, please bring a camera to work tmrw". Opsss, tomorrow is today already.
"Mindy, wanna meet up at coffee bean at 9.30pm?". Opsss, read it at 9.20pm.
"Mindy, why you always don't pick up your phone wan" Ok... sensing frustration, better call back immediately.

SORRY SORRY SORRY... my old handphone is dying so please be patient ya. :( You can always call Yin How in case of emergency right?. :)

Why I love Yin How

1. Because he rubs my tummy when i have a tummy ache (after I force him to do so)
2. Because he makes a cup of Milo when I'm hungry (after I force him to do so)
3. Because he cooks for me if I come home late from work
4. Because he does the laundry every weekend (else he’ll have no clothes to wear the following week) and helps me with the housework (after a little nagging) and he irons his own clothes
5. Because he buys and cuts fruits for me when I'm constipated
6. Because he says the most ridiculous things which makes me laugh
7. Because he is kind to animals and would buy a bun for a hungry stray dog he sees one at kopitiam
8. Because he respects his elders, and teaches me to do the same
9. Because he loves and looks after the dogs so I know he'll make a good father
10. Because he loves me too

Happy 27th Birthday!~ Can't believe you are so old already.

Done fixing all the Ikea stuff

Finished fixing all the stuff we bought from Ikea. Yin How was drilling holes in the wall the whole day while I sat there admiring his little muscles popping out from his skinny body.

Actually it's not much considering how much we spent. Ikea's stuff are expensive. They make you think it's cheap by pricing everything individually. But when you buy the whole set, it's actually quite expensive.

Yin How has now got his little bar corner to hang his wine bottles and glasses. And he likes to pretend to go over to that little corner and ask me in his macho voice, "Do you want a drink?" which cracks me up because Yin How can't drink and he doesn't drink. He just likes to imagine he can.

Next time meet up at my place ya. :)

Hmmm... Sparkle is getting too fat

How leh?

Sick

I'm sick... shopped too much, travelled back to Penang, had to clean the whole apartment because of the huge mess the dogs made, slept late because too excited on planning where to hang all the Ikea stuff... managed to hang one photo frame, then finally fell sick... :(

But at least I'm doing better than the poor unfortunate plant I gave to Looi during Chirstmas. It died during the long holidays and has no chance of revival... so sad... yet it was so funny when I saw it... The plant looks like it was so depressed it just gave up on life.

Next time, I'll get him a fake plant. :)

Mash Potato recipe

I've got a recipe request from WY.


Hi Mindy
I am thinking of trying out mashed potato this weekend. And that reminds me of your mashed potato… I love yours very very much, do you mind sharing the recipe with me…? *evil grin*
Or, you can share it in your blog as well
wying


Hehe, first time somebody has requested me to share a recipe. Below is roughly the one I used. I actually didn't refer to the recipe, my sister taught me how to make it so I just followed her instructions.

I didn't add in the beef stock granules and mustard into my gravy. And when you make the gravy, it will look very pale so a trick is to add a few drops of thick black soy sause just to give it the color.

If you want the mash pototos to be really creamy, be generous when adding the butter and milk to it. Because I didn't rely on the recipe, I kept tasting the mash potato and the gravy as I made it to check whether I needed to add more milk, butter, or chicken stock.

Just talking about mash pototoes makes me wanna eat it... I think I'll make myself some this weekend as well. :)


http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=2229

Ingredients
800g potatoes, unpeeled
40g butter
100ml hot milk
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of salt and dash of pepper to taste

Gravy for the mashed potatoes
30g butter
30g plain flour
300–320ml fresh chicken stock
1 tbsp beef stock granules
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp prepared mustard

Method
Put potatoes in a large pan. Add enough water to cover and add in 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 25–30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and leave aside to cool.

Peel the potatoes then put them into a pan. Add butter and heat over a low fire. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes until smooth in texture.

Gradually pour in the hot milk and beat until mixture turns creamy without any lumps. Add in a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper to taste.

To prepare the gravy, heat butter in a non-stick pan. Stir in the flour and allow the roux to brown gradually over a very low heat. Stir constantly to prevent the roux from burning. (It will become like a doughy texture, so be careful not to let it burn. Just keep adding a little butter, then flour, then stir, then butter, then flour, then stir...)

Blend in the stock and allow to boil. (To make the stock, just add 1 tablespoon of the liquid chicken stock into one cup of water. I added the stock bit by bit into the doughy texture, stirring it first until it thickens, the adding more stock. Once you add in the stock, don't try to add it more flour to thicken it, else it will turn lumpy. Just let it boil and it will thicken eventually. Make sure you use a very low heat).

Add salt and pepper to taste and beef stock granules and mustard. Cook until the mixture turns thick and smooth.Serve the gravy with the mashed potato.

I love Ikea

I don't dare to go online to check my credit card bill statement. I know it's gonna be a lot. Because I went shopping in KL. Honestly, I don't know how KL people can save money. There's just so many things to buy.

This is the first time Yin How and I went down to KL together since we moved into Bayswater. So the very first place we went to was Ikea. And we went again before we left. Ate the RM2 hotdog twice. Should have ate more :P

We were throwing stuff into the basket like it didn't cost anything. Keeping telling myself, it's not like I can go to Ikea when I'm back in Penang so better to buy it now. My little Kelisa was stuffed with so many things until I had to squeeze into the passenger seat in a very uncomfortable position.

When I reached home and looked at the stuff I bought, I was thinking, "crap.. i shouldn't have bought this...", "oh no, i can't use that...". Ikea has turned me into an irrational spending monster. Despite that, after looking through the catalog again, there were a lot of, "Oh no, I should have bought that... darn why didn't I see that..." Almost felt like going down to KL to go to Ikea again.

Though I always wish there is an Ikea in Penang, I think it's better that it doesn't come here. Else I'm going to be so darn broke every month. Though, I would have a very wonderful home with lots of wonderful stuff. Sigh....

Pigging out

Ahh... there's nothing like pigging out at home the whole day and still wearing my pink pajamas at 3pm in the afternoon. And it's especially enjoyable when I know everybody else is working. >:) Sigh... days like this are so few and so rare.

The holidays have made me so lazy that I prefer to stay at home, surf the net and become a couch potato. I'm even too lazy to get myself lunch, so I ate 2 bananas, 2 butter biscuits, a bag of chips and the candy that Looi gave me for Christmas for lunch- anything which I managed to dig out at home to eat.

I'm so gonna miss the holidays when I'm back at work next week. But I guess going back to work is good for me, else I'll eat junk food everyday for lunch.

Can't wait to go to Ikea tomorrow. Yay yay!~