Its an endless pursuit.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Closure =D AND CHRISTMAS

Yes I know its a little too late to blog about Christmas, but what you gonna do huh? lol anyway Christmas in 09’ was pretty good, considering both my mom and Basil were off to Australia for 3 weeks XD

So on Christmas day it was the usual stuff, headed to church for Christmas service till about 1, then headed home to prepare for Brian’s Birthday/Christmas party. In case you’re wondering, yes my brother Brian was born on Christmas.

So let’s start off with the Christmas service in church It was your basic Christmas service, worship, sermon, and ooh, baptism. Congrats to Joshua on getting baptised.*yes its a little too late I know* Christmas in church was fun la, just the usual stuff. Only difference was there were new faces, old, familiar faces nowhere to be found, and some faces just plain gone. Gave me a little time to reflect on the holidays.The children church also had a performance. Cute. Guess who was behind the piano the whole time? =D

My very own youth cell, Christ Clan had a dance performance! Was supposed to be in it, but they started practicing mid-SPM. Plus I’m not capable of keeping up with them. Brendon Khoo don’t dance, people. Awesome no? This what you get when you don’t have a zoom lens ==

After the sermon and Bible readings were over, we were left with a little time to stone before the Christmas Lunch began, so I took a few pics here and there. Don’t ask. Joe just probably wanted a new dp. Uncle Jimmy on the other hand, doesn’t really mind what type of picture you take of him. lol

After taking part in Holy Communion, me and Lau snuck out to take pics of the food we were going to have for lunch. Say hello to: Siew Yoke. And Roast pork backside as you can see in the picture. There was plenty more food believe me, its just what I was too busy sneaking in a bite or two that I forgot to take photos. But for your benefit, there was a massive array of cupcakes, nasi lemak, yams, etc etc. Awesome as always.

Now we all now Santa doesn’t exist *lets face it, how could a guy of his weight and fashion style survive 5 minutes here?* but the cupcakes that are supposed to look like him sure tasted good.

So after church, shot straight home with dad and Basil to prep for the Christmas dinner we were having for Brian’s birthday. Joee came over early to help out, only to be attacked by my dog.Very the bored, so we took pics here and there. And then CHEN ARRIVED. We were stoning up until Keamsunn and Wei Lun came and we then had enough people to stone to our heart’s content.

Brian’s friends Cheri, Kent and Lai Kuan came over next and before you knew it, we were busy cutting, baking, frying, roasting etc etc etc etc. =D

Cheri. I know its a little late for credit, but if you ever read this, thanks again so much for all your help. Christmas would’ve been ruined had it not been for your quick thinking in the kitchen.

I’d put up a picture of my maid, Dalis, but she didn’t even let me get a proper shot. But lemme put it simple, no kakak, no Christmas.

While I was busy in the kitchen cooking and making sure the turkey was doing well, Chen and Joee stole my camera for a bit == They came up with pretty good pics. By they, I mean nice job Chen. XD

Come to think of it, if it wasn’t for Chen, I wouldn’t have had a proper pic of my family’s Christmas tree.

Checkit. This ornament’s been around a little longer than I have.

Yea, we don’t have stars to place on the top of the tree, so we opted for golden angels.

MASHED POTATOES. MASHED POTATOES. This had to be the only dish that was totally finished that night. RUFFLES!!!!! tell, does he look like he’d harm a fly? Okay lemme rephrase that. Does he look like he’s capable of harming a full-grown, adult male?

So while Joee continued to play with my camera and take photos of herself in the mirror, don’t worry Joee, I’m not posting them up, THE TURKEY WAS JUST ABOUT DONE. It may have taken 24 hours of defrosting, 2 hours for preparation for the oven, 3 hours of slow, tender cooking, but look at that bird and tell me its not beautiful.And guess what the stuffing was. BREACRUMBS MIXED WITH OXFORD SAUSAGE, CHINESE MUSHROOMS, SAUTEED ONIONS AND BACON. Oh yea. Thatswhatimtokingbout.

The second my dad made the first cut at the drumstick, natural juices started pouring out. Okay not literally la, but there was some awesome stuff there. HOMG this is like turkey porn wei. CV WHY DIDN’T YOU COME ASK KEAMSUNN HOW AWESOME THE FOOD WAS.

Okay there wasn’t just turkey, there were:French beans

Roast Beef

An assortment of other veggies. There was also Spaghetti Bolognese, but I forgot to take pics of that. Mainly because no one from my side could take a bite of that or the roast beef ==

Don’t be fooled, she just makes it look like she carved the turkey. My dad did all the carving. LOL Awesome friends, they are. Lol thanks again guys for helping out with preparations. AND FOR FINISHING THE FIRST AWESOME BATCH OF GRAVY.

Cheri, the Birthday Boy, and Kent. lol awesome people they are la. If you can’t tell what that is in the far left, its Darren, Brian’s chindian friend. lol he didn’t bother to get into the frame == Brian’s friends, Swee Wei(WUSHU GIRL)*don’t ask* and Audrey And not forgetting Darren. =D

So while I was busy still preparing other parts of the dinner, my camera was left with Chen, Joee, Keamsunn, and Wei Lun. I forgot to switch the lens to autofocus == But they camwhored nonetheless. And then I regained control of the camera just in time for the birthday cake. XD To this day, we both agree that the cakes should’ve been our classic favourite, pandan and yam jelly cake. Can only buy in ss2. Check out both the pictures. LOL

So after everybody had cake, we had this Secret Santa thing, where you bring a gift worth 10 bucks, wrapped up, then place it under the tree to be given randomly to anyone later. And that’s exactly what we did. It was sorta lucky draw style, with numbered presents.Everyone got a chance to take a number outta the Red Army hat my dad brought back from China. Be prepared to see an assortment of jakun, had-too-much-fun faces. So we gave the gifts out numerically.

And guess who was first. JOEEEEE YOUR GIFT WAS HUGE Audrey with her huge Christmas crackerDarren, big guy, small gift. Yours truly with who knew what. Lai Kuan WITH KEAMSUNN’S PRESENT. Swee Wei with another small presentlol Wei Lun really had fun Kent apparently got something useful. LOLCheri with my present LOL Brian receiving Wei Lun’s present from IanChen with her present. Not what you think people. Keamsunn was the last. TOOBAD

And here’s what everyone looked like when they opened their presents: LOL KEAMSUNN NEVER FORGET.

But Brian’s present took about 10 minutes of unwrapping to open. For a glass box. LOL WEI LUN EPIC. We all laughed our asses off

Lol ks, I’ve been meaning to ask you how that bubble gun’s doing.

That’s about it for Christmas, could’ve been more epic in my opinion, but I guess we’ll just have to try harder this year eh? Everyone had a good time and after my gang left cos they had to get home, me and the rest of Brian’s friends stayed on to play Extreme Monopoly. Fun actually. Very fun. Like lawyer fun. Will update on other things soon. Hope you enjoyed the pics readers! I know its too late di*who am I kidding, ITS VERY LATE* but

MERRY CHRISTMAS

till the next post,

au revoir

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Old? Maybe. Still loved? Definitely.

Got a surprise when I got home from work yesterday. His who knows how old Canon 24-85mm lens I sent for repair some time before Christmas (which reminds me, I have to update on that too!) Apparently it had fungal growth and the had to change some parts here and there.

This is what it looked like, BEFORE it was sent for repair and cleaning: Check out the fungal growth…..that’s what happens when its been in storage for over 9 years.

And this is what it looks like now: HOMG IS THAT THE SAME LENS??? YES IT IS! I KNOW RIGHT???

lol sorry, its the first lens I have other than my stock lens. SAVING UP FOR 50mm AND ZOOM LENS.

Have yet to test it out. Maybe I’ll bring it to work today and go on a shooting spree during break! By the way, in case any of you’ve been wondering, I started work at Tokyo G (formerly known as Sushigroove) recently. Its been okay so far, actually quite fun working there, meeting new people, serving new types of food, oh, and I learn how to make a mocktail or two.

Anyway, just thought I’d give a quick update before I go to work. Hope all you readers are doing fine wherever you are. And Fara, if you’re reading this, WHY HAVEN’T YOU VISITED MY RESTAURANT YET

that is all. =D

Saturday, January 9, 2010

And so the prodigal son returned.

Alright, there’s plenty to update on, so I’ll go about it in chronologically. Damn, I miss blogging. Anyway, around the month of December, after SPM ended, freedom didn’t taste as sweet as I thought it would. That day, on the 4th of December, there was no rejoicing by screaming the halls and corridors of my school, the was no burning of school uniforms and 5-hour long visits to the local cyber-cafes. None of that.

I guess sometimes things just don’t end the way you think they would.

After school ended, it was pretty much boring most of the while, drifting from day to day, trying as much as I could to enjoy the holidays while I still could. It was kind of a weird feeling, it still is – the fact that I’m not going to go to school anymore. Well, I waited till after my other friends’ papers ended then me, Cv, Sherwin and Ashley made a trip to OU for Dave’s Deli before Sherwin had to go off to Dubai. lol Sherwin I still don’t get the Limp Bizkit look.We were too busy enjoying our food, I forgot to take photos. But they gave me the least mash potatoes. The Dave’s Deli people have something against me ==

Around that time, Afiq K. met up with us and we went walking around the mall. By chance, we bumped into a few 5 Merantians. Don’t know why I just called them that. Classic Sherwin. lol You just gotta love candids. =D

We kept bumping into people that day

We weren’t the only ones bumping into friends

Lol Amir stole my camera and took a pic or two lol thanks for going out with us Ashley, and meeting all the random friends of mine. You have pretty random friends too, you know

I’m going to miss the Christmas decor.

We watched A Christmas Carol that day, it wasn’t all it turned out to be, but I’m guess it ruined the whole idea of Christmas for Afiq. The movie actually scared him. ==

After the movie we hung around the place for a while till Sherwin and Cv had to leave, so it was just me, Ashley, and Afiq. We hung around even longer until Afiq had to go, and then it was just me and Ashley left. Since her dad was coming to pick us up, we had to hang around the mall even longer. Much longer.We stopped by Sticky for a while. Looked kinda interesting When her dad came, they had to pick up some Bak Kut Teh from a store where Pet’s Wonderland used to be. It was pretty empty actually. In my opinion, and according to history, Bak Kut Teh stores rarely survive in malls. They belong in shops in Klang. I think that’s why it tastes so good in Klang. Its all about location, location, location. LOL