International Music Festival - - Sunburst KL 08

Are YOU ready for this??? Sunburst KL on March 15th 2008 at Polo Pavilion, Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club (I know, a mouth full). Supposedly Incubus and John Legend would be there too. If you are interested you can get your tickets at various venues.
Am I going? Maybe, maybe not. Coz I don't wanna have to pay RM200 to see only John Legend, Incognito and Incubus. What if they don't show up? I'm screwed then LOL. Yes pardon my ignorance, I don't know who Reza Salleh, Hujan, Gerhana Ska Cinta and etc etc etc is. Maybe you can tell me who they are. =)

So here is the poster

WHAT we can't spell?

Don't know if you noticed, there are some songs out there that teach us how to spell. I mean, one or two of em is cute but c'mon... I wanna listen to the song not learning how to spell banana! Just to name a few:

The infamous: M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

R-E-S-P-E-C-T (ol skool) Aretha Franklin

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB

*Don't ask me what TCB means.

L-O-V-E Nat King Cole
L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can
* This one not so bad

G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T Changing Faces

Finding numbers in your jeans
You're talking in your sleep
Faded letters remind me get O-U-T

*This song's name is playin with words. Ghetto+Out ^^ Get it? But they spelled OUT out. lol.

Hollaback Gwen Stefani

Let me hear you say this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
(This shit is bananas)

(B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S Fergie

So If you ain't got no money take yo' broke ass home

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T (lastest spelling bee song out) Webbie

I N D E P E N D E N T Do You Kno Wat That Mean Mane
I N D E P E N D E N T Do You Kno Wat That Mean

If you know any more songs like these, I'd like to know just for F-U-N. LOL.

The O Magazine

Sunday early morning, we sent my brother to KLIA for his flight at 930AM. After he checked in and got everything settled, my mother, sister and brother decided to have something small to eat. I, however, decided to pop into a book store for book browsing. But before I could get to the book section, I was drawn to the magazine aisle. I was looking without knowing what I'm looking for. The next thing I know, I spot someone on the magazine. And she is my beloved OPRAH. I love Oprah, I watch her show everyday when I was in the states, I buy her magazines, and I read the books that she recommended. Yup, I'm that crazy. Anywho, I was so happy to see her magazines on the rack, not only that, it is the current issue, March 2008. Amazing isn't it? Why am I so excited to find The O Mag? Coz I couldn't find it anywhere else. =)
The main point of me writing this is to share with you something really nice I read in this month's O Mag. The story came from an interview with Chandra Wilson, if you don't know who she is, she is Dr. Miranda Bailey in Grey's Anatomy. So this is some of what said told the interviewer:

If someone doesn't respond to me the way I want them to, I understand that it doesn't have anything to do with me.

When I need a real, arms-wrapped-around-me hug, I go to someone who does that. I stopped getting disappointed by my expectations from non-huggers.

There's too much anxiety and self-doubt in concentrating on what somebody didn't do. It's much healthier for me to just appreciate what the people in my life can offer. And that's something I can hold on to.

What she said here stuck me like a lighting bolt. I am the type of person who sometimes thinking what someone else should have done or shouldn't have... And it'll eventually leads to self-doubt. I should seriously stop doing that to myself.
Regarding the expecting hugs from a non-hugger issue, I guess that's me too. I couldn't understand why someone is so bad in returning hugs, but I just have to realize and accept the fact that they might not be a people-hugging type of person. Right?

If anyone out there knows where to buy the O Mag without having to take a trip to KLIA please let me know. =) I'll really appreciate that!

Cholesterol FREE peanut butter

Sounds good doesn't it? You might have seen this claim on your peanut butter jar. We've always heard fat and cholesterol is BAD for us, therefore consciously OR subconsciously when we purchase foods, snacks, drink, some of us tend to pick out the ones that are low in fat, low in cholesterol, fat free, and cholesterol free.

Food companies will try their best to advertise and to sell their products, to get your attention, to make you think you are making better choices. Let say you have two different peanut butter choices. One labeled/claimed to be cholesterol free and one didn't. Which one would you pick out from the shelf? Most of us will be drawn to the "cholesterol free" peanut butter, right? Without knowing, peanuts or any kinds of nuts has no cholesterol after all...

Story behind this post. Just a few days ago, my mother asked me if peanuts, almonds, nuts in general has cholesterol? I said no, food from plant sources do not have cholesterol. Remembered clearly one of my professors stresses this over and over again to us. She said if it's from animal YES, if it's from plant NO. But my mother said my grandpa's nutritionist advised him to cut down on nuts because nuts have cholesterol. I was like no no no, nuts came from plants, and therefore nuts are cholesterol free! Anyways, I began to doubt myself and so I decided to double check on this issue.

Lo and behold. Nuts are cholesterol free!!! Soybeans are cholesterol free. Seaweed is cholesterol free. Even coconut milk is cholesterol free. You can look em all up at the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory. Just type in the food that you want to look up, select the food group (or not) and click on submit. And then you can choose the amount of food. For example, coconut milk, you can look up the food composition in 100g of coconut milk OR a cup of coconut milk which is about 8 fl oz. Cool eh? You will find out all about coconut milk, how much fat, how much vitamin A, what's the break down on lipids and etc.

Here's something I think everyone should know. Cholesterol is actually not ALL bad, our body needs cholesterol to make steroid hormones like androgen and estrogen ; cholesterol is also a structural component of a cell membrane, amongst other functions. But too much cholesterol in the blood can cause some troubles. There are TWO sources of cholesterol. One, from dietary intake i.e. food. Two, our body makes it. Yes, our body makes cholesterol!

According to Harvard School of Public Health

While it is well known that high blood cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk for heart disease, scientific studies have shown that there is only a weak relationship between the amount of cholesterol a person consumes and their blood cholesterol levels or risk for heart disease. For some people with high cholesterol, reducing the amount of cholesterol in the diet has a small but helpful impact on blood cholesterol levels. For others, the amount of cholesterol eaten has little impact on the amount of cholesterol circulating in the blood.

In a study of over 80,000 female nurses, Harvard researchers actually found that increasing cholesterol intake by 200 mg for every 1000 calories in the diet (about an egg a day) did not appreciably increase the risk for heart disease.

Go ahead! Read more about Fats and Cholesterol from their website. However, I am NOT saying that we should all go out and have a cholesterol fueled feast. Do keep "moderation" in mind.

PS. Whatever you do please don't EVER try fat free ice cream!!! They tasted nasty. LOL.

Give me a break!!! NO MORE SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

How many more lives needed to be taken away before you realize MURDERING does not solve any of your anger, any of your unhappiness, and any of your dissatisfactions in life???

Found out about NIU shooting news moments ago when a friend of mine replied my message telling me why she's sad on Valentine's Day. This is what she had replied me with:
awh thanks yash, happy valentine's day! but i'm sad because today at my school a bunch of people got shot by a guy who decided to go into a lecture hall, get on the stage, and kill people....and i'm sick of school shootings.
I was so shocked, I couldn't believe my own eyes. I went onto abc7chicago.com and yahoo.com to find out for myself. I was thinking to myself... AGAIN??? It wasn't enough that we had Cho Seung-Hui who killed 32 INNOCENT people??? It wasn't enough that we had Charles Carl Roberts IV that left five little girls (age6-13) killed at an Amish school??? What is the world turning into? If you're unhappy, you can just murder someone? If you're psycho, you have an excuse to kill?? I don't think so.

On both Yahoo and Chicago news reported, an eyewitness, Edward Robinson said that the gunman appeared to target students in one part of the lecture hall. He also added "Almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot." This is utterly mind disturbing...
According to Yahoo news, this shooting is the FOURTH at a U.S. school within ONE week!!!

Going with this rate of four shootings a week.
I could picture few years down the road, parents are afraid to send their kids to school and college because school is no longer a safe place for learning...
I could picture few years down the road, everyone carries a gun for self-defense...
I could picture...

How many more lives were to be sacrificed until we realized gun control is essential and that current gun policy in the U.S. needs to be drastically improved. OR even better, no more guns on the streets! No more issuing gun licenses!

For Valentine's Day

Today is a very special day for all people, a day to celebrate love.

A guy proposing on a HUGE ad board, my co-worker getting married this Sunday (will be honeymoon-ing in Hawaii), my brother flew to Sibu, Sarawak just to celebrate this day with his girlfriend. Countless beautiful events. Since it is V-day, I have/want to be a cheese ball to throw a love movie at you-- THE NOTEBOOK starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling.

Now, imagine love, what pops into your mind? What would you think of? Well, I immediately thought of love between young couples. Young, full of hopes for the future and last but not least, they only have eyes for each other. Some of you mothers out there might thought of your never ending love for your children. Some of you pet lovers might thought of your pets. But, have any of us think about love between someone whose age is close to a century old? I had never think about or imagine someone my grandmother's age, what was her love life like? Does she have one? Did they love like we do? Well, we can find our answers in this movie.

Remembering the first time I saw this movie at Wards theater in Hawaii. When the movie was over and the lights began to light up, I so wished that they wouldn't because I don't want anyone sees me crying my hearts out. Scene that made me sob really hard was when older Noah got pushed away by Allie and was cryin out for her. Allie has senile dementia. She couldn't remember anyone or anything, even herself... Let alone a heart broken Noah whom read to her every single day in the hopes of awakening Allie from "sleep".

What does he read? A love story between young Allie and Noah. Hand written by Allie herself in a notebook. Wanna know more? How about spend some time watch it with the one you love. Single? No problem, gather up bunch of fluffy pillows, a hot cuppa cocoa and you'll be just fine. I watch it by myself numerous times. ^^

I found this on google:

An Excerpt from a letter from Noah to Allie: "The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I'd hoped to give you forever."

My favorite song from its soundtrack:

I'll be seeing you

Remember, I Love You.

Will you Kelly Tan E Li marry me?

I was told yesterday that there is a marriage proposal ad. up by the road that I drive to and fro work EVERYDAY. And the fact is, I was so focused on the road that I totally missed the ad. So here is a picture I took from this blog that I'm gonna show it here.

Isn't that the most romantic thing to do right before St. Valentines Day?

2/15/2008
Update on this hopelessly romantic marriage proposal.

Everything has to come to an end PART III

Totally forgot to mention previously that during the second day of Chinese New Year where all the married daughters came home with their own family. My dad decided to gather EVERYONE to take a family picture. Boy, it was some hard work. My dad came up with this idea due to my bro's semi-professionalism in photography and his nice a** Nikon or errr... Canon camera??? Sorry bro, I know you gonna have a cow with me not remembering it. lol. So anyways, we spent like over 30mins trying to figure out who stands/sits where and how. Finally, everyone got its own place and the picture session begins. What more, the moms and the dads had to get their kids to look at the camera or tell them to sit still OR have to somehow make them smile for the camera and not cry. GOOD JOB moms and pops. I don't have the group photo with me right now, I promise once I have it I will show it to you what a GIGANTIC family I have. AND not everyone is there for the photo session...

Sixty of us that day. Still it wasn't complete... Coz some left earlier that morning =)

Saturday (Feb 9th), after one great night of partying with Effa and Kimmy. You'd think we'll sleep til the cows come home. No, we didn't because we (as in Kimmy lol) still have shopping to do. HA. So I woke up at 8am after only three hours of sleep, had breakfast, got ready, and on our way to none other than my favorite mall Mid Valley. We were there on the right day, where there was Lion Dance performance. I love lion dance still at this age!!!! Also glad that Kimmy get to enjoy it! She told me she took a good amount of pictures too. =) We stood and waited for half hour for the show to start. It was all well worth. Basically, my sister and I walked everywhere, Kimmy shopped alone, mother and auntie checked out some Chinese tea, Chinese hand crafts, bro and cousin... eh whatever that they were doing. After five hours of shopping, we're tired and exhausted. Again, it was a very good day.

Sunday (Feb 10th), the day has finally come. Kimmy was scheduled to leave at night, flying back to where she calls home, Montana. Days before, I promised her that I'll bring her to Putrajaya (Malaysia's capital) for more photo sessions. But on this day, I just wanna lazy-ing around with my family. What a horrible friend eh? Well, we did go. I drove there not knowing as to where I'm going. I have not been there and only seen road signs of exit to Putrajaya. No worries, I made it there. Putrajaya is a beautiful place. Trees, bridges, buildings, mosque and supposedly there is an istana i.e. palace. Either I missed it OR I saw it without knowing what it was. Hahaha.

MAGNIFICO!!!


Just us two.


See that bridge back there?


Government offices back there, the brown buildings. Looks like a huge a** mall doesn't it?


Me and my strong men oh yea!

I love the time spent with Kimmy. She brought a little America to me. *sob sob* Not only that she also brought me Yummy OceanSpray Cranberry (that I've missed so much) and Montana-made granola, a deck of card that was used in actual dealing from one the Vegas casinos, Montana Huckleberry tea and Huckleberry hot cocoa. Thank you so much darling!
It is sad that I can't afford to visit her and her family in the states anytime soon coz we always have so much fun together!!!

Lastly, let me end this "trilogy" with this picture of my sister. =) Have a laugh! Live life!!!

Waiting at the airport to fly home. Sippin on some Ice Milo. Isn't she cute!!!

Everything has to come to an end PART II

Sunday night Kimmy and I chat our hearts out til about 2 in the morning. Coz we just love to talk. LOL.
Monday (Feb 4th), I woke up at 830am thinking the Super Bowl starts at 915am Malaysian time and we were supposed to go over to Mitch's house to watch the game together. BUT, when I turned on my TV at 9am, the game was already half way done. Boy was I mad because I was missed informed by the Astro guide, Mitch called me up during half time to see if I still wanna go over. So we went.
*Mitch, my primary school classmate, is someone that I last saw TEN/ELEVEN years ago.
The game was really good. GIANTS totally kicked PATRIOTS asses!!!!! YEAY!!!! And they say PATRIOTS were un-defeatable. Right... It was a good day that day.

Tuesday (Feb 5th), Kimmy and I woke up extra early just to go to the market near my house. I want her to see how us local people shop for daily necessities like breakfast, poultry, meat, fish, veg, eggs, pajamas, clothes, newspaper, fruits and etc. After our stroll in the market, we went home for breakfast, followed by trip to the park in Bukit Jalil. Kimmy took tons of pictures there. Will post them up when I can get my hands on em. Later that day, I drove Kimmy to Sunway Pyramid to do some shopping and then we did dinner @ Tony Roma's with my primary school classmates to celebrate Mitch's homecoming. LOL. We left around 11 something and managed to get home before twelve. Packed up my things and were ready to go to Alor Setar.

Just part of our breakfast on the lazy Susan.


Them peeps and Kimmy and Mitch facing away from the camera, how smart.


Ah here is a good look at Mitch. Yea and that salad you're looking at was mine. And the on side you see a glass of something, that was my Mojito. What do I think about it? Too little mint, Too little sugar, Too little Bicardi Rum.

Wednesday (Feb 6th), our entire family got up around 5am to get ready for the flight at 745am to Alor Setar, Kedah where my father is from. So we were sitting around waiting on our cabs. They were suppose to show up at 6am but only one did. My dad was furious and more angry coz he couldn't yell at the cab company coz he lost his voice the previous night. LOL. My dad ended up driving my mother and sister to the airport while Kimmy, brother and I took the cab. I seriously thought we ain't gonna make it. But thanks to our speedy driver, we got there on time to check in and everything. Couple of hours later, we landed on the Rice Bowl of Malaysia. Didn't surprised me, the weather is stinkin' HOT, as if there were TEN suns shining down on us. We checked into our crappy, moldy smelling hotel and headed off to my grandma's house.
On the side note, in lunar calender Feb 6th was the last day of the year. Traditionally, you're suppose to clean out your house, throw away old things, pretty much like Spring cleaning. =) Off with the old stuffs and welcome new things into the new year. And dinner time, everyone is suppose to sit down together for dinner. We call it "tuan-yuan fan" literally means reunion rice. Hahaha. Nah it means everyone getting together for the last day of the year. Since we weren't home this year, we can't do the cleaning but was able to have "tuan yuan fan". More on that, if you're married you will go to your in-laws house to have dinner. If you're not married like me, you will just stay put. LOL.

Mother, grandma, father and sister. Bro was off somewhere taking pics and I was the camera man.

Thursday (Feb 7th), first day of the Chinese New Year. We dressed in our new clothes, new shoes too preferably, put on our best smiles (behavior) and went over to my grandma's. On this day whoever you come across you're suppose to wish them Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year) and Gong Xi Fa Cai (Wishing you wealth and prosperity). If you're married, you will give out ang pau to kids and singles who are younger in age. If you're not married again like me, you will stick your hands out to collect them. =) Worst than Christmas eh? You can pick and choose who you want to give gifts too. But Chinese New Year, you MUST give ang pau whether you like it or not.

Just us having dinner the evening of Chu Yi (First day of Chinese New Year).

Friday (Feb 8th), second day of Chinese New Year is when all those married daughters come back to spend time with their own family. So,guess what then, four of my five aunties came back to visit bringing along their children and grand children. The house instantly turned into a mad house where kids are playing running crying. We flew back to KL that night itself. Honestly, I cannot take anymore of the burning hot weather. We touched down around 10 at KLIA got home at 11pm. Effa came to pick Kimmy and I up for a night out. Yup, we're crazy like that. We planned on going to Savahn but there was maybe like two people in the club so we decided to walk down the street to some other clubs. Basically we were club shopping. Finally, we found this place (I forgot its name), music seemed decent (Hip Hop mixed in a lil techno), well at least there was a crowd. We danced our booties off that night. Great fun!!!

In da club

Everything has to come to an end PART I

This week is finally over. Kimmy's visit is over, Chinese New Year celebration is over. Now everything has gone back to normal, well, at least in my house. It is bitter sweet. Bitter because Kimmy had left last night after one whole week of catching up and revisiting old times. Sweet because it is very nice visiting grandma despite some really brutal hot weather up north.

Sissy and Kimmy at the back of my grandma's house.
Okay let me rewind a little. My brother is home for 2-3 weeks now. He had recently picked up this new hobby of playing with his pro camera, I call him my semipro-photographer. LOL.

That's my semipro-photog
Back to the story, so he came home, he brought along Baileys, yummy Macadamia nuts, a pair of shade for my papa, a pair of running shoes for mama, a little Roxy purse for sissy, a deep conditioning conditioner from Aveda for me (thanks for remembering that I love Aveda) AND some movies that I had asked for YEAY!!! It was like Christmas all over again hahaha! Oh and we get to meet his gorgeous gf, Joyce, for the first time too!!! =) Thank you so much bro it was really nice having you home again.

Oh yea, Baileys with coffee flavored ice cream is heavenly.
The following Wednesday, didi (my brother) and I went into town to KLCC to meet up with Kimmy. She was in town as a part of her tour from Thailand, Malaysia and S'pore. We met up, we gave each other a great bear hug, we chat for a bit, we took pictures of KLCC and we headed to her "hotel" on Petaling Street (Malaysia's Chinatown) to pick up her luggage. Lemme tell you something, Petaling Street is not a place for everyone. It is FILTHY, it is STINKY, it is HOT, it is full of people that you don't wanna associate yourself with. I now know why my mother never brought us there and never wanted us to "shop" there. =) So, we grabbed her bag full of souvenirs and be well on our way to leave that icky place. The reason why she wants to tumpang the bag at our house is coz she doesn't wanna drag it all the way to Singapore and haul it back to KL again. It was great seeing her. We talked about Hawaii and what we did there as if we had never left paradise.

Photo taken under ground at KLCC LRT station.

On that Sunday (Feb 3rd), Effa picked me up in the evening to do some catching up before picking Kimmy up at KL Sentral. We went to a really nice restaurant in Bangsar named Delicious! I ordered a spinach and pine nut quiche and it was outta this world. Very creamy, very nutty, and a little vege on the side to make you feel better bout yourself LOL.

Yummy Quiche!!!! They topped the quiche with pine nuts and then baked it. Oh my!!!
After dinner, we picked up Kimmy and decided to head back to Bangsar coz Kimmy is hungry and she wants real food. Effa brought us to Madam Kwan's, food a bit pricey but worthy. For instance, my BIG o' bowl of cendol. It will costs me RM5.50 to get a cup of Milo ice and RM5.80 for a thing of cendol. Of course I picked cendol duh!! Kimmy ordered Fried Kuey Teow and Effa got herself Frutty Nutty 3 scoops of chocolate ice cream. WOW.

When I say big I mean it. This bowl of cendol has cendol of course (that's the green looking thing at the bottom), shaved ice doused with coconut milk, sweetened red bean and melted gula Melaka on the side for you to pour it all over your cendol. Kimmy's Fried Kuey Teow and she loved it.


Effa's dessert right there. Raisins, peanuts, whipped cream on top of her ice cream.

Too much food talk is making me hungry, I must leave now for some sustenance.
TO BE CONTINUED.