Stuff I Like

Everyday is a rainy day. Sometimes it can be gloomy but sometimes the weather minus the heat can be a good thing. I don't mind the rain actually. Well, except if I'm driving or planning to go for a jog. That can ruin my plans. But all in all, I should appreciate it before the hot season arrives.

This post is going to be short because I think I'm not feeling well. I 'think' because I'm not sure what the hell is this feeling. It's like nauseating and I felt a bit light-headed. I went to the cabinet to look for some Panadols only to find a packet of expired ones. Damn. Where is my acti-fast? Haven't had them since my last exam. I need a new packet.

Here's the simplest recipe of all time for Chocolate-Dipped Bananas. Why is it the simplest? Just dip them cut-up bananas in Nutella. Nuff said.


My friend got me this cute mug! I still don't know what to use them for yet. I mean, well obviously for drinking (duh!) but what sort of drinks I'll figure that out soon.


I love going to a Chinese restaurant early in the morning for dim sums. They're so damn good! I think I'm a dim sum addict. But unfortunately, the nearest dim sums restaurant that I like is one-hour drive from home.



Oh and I love the new Google Image layout. Just try typing your favorite food and you'll be looking at tons of mouth-watering images that fills the whole page!

And I really need to stop talking about food!

Circle Lens

My new lens. What do you think?



I've ordered another pair again and will get it by August. And I'm throwing out two old pairs cause they're expiring.

This and That

I celebrated my birthday with an amazingly tasty cheese cake that came with one candle. Nice. Blowing lots of candles can be tiring, you know.

I wanna thank my two cousins for the gifts - even though you knew you got the wrong sign :) That's what make the gift so special!

Thanks also Edwin and Vance for our little guitar session. Whoever greeted me in FB, twitter, chatbox, msn and text message - thanks! Also to a special person who went to all the trouble to actually make a video and you know who you are, you know how much I appreciate it!

That's my god daughter sitting on my lap :)


I haven't done this in a while but it's time for some totally random and unrelated shots!

My fish's only food - the ultimate Betta Food.


Beading in progress. I'm a busy woman.


You gotta have needles too.


The interior of a shuttle. I'm just freakin bored and figure I'd pop a shuttle on my lens.


I thought I missed out on the chance to grab this green bag but the next day this one popped up in my room! Apparently my grandma bought a few BTs for this!


I've been trying to figure out what to do with these old magazines. I wanted to throw them in the recycling bin but thought thats a waste because somebody somewhere might be interested in reading them. What should I do?

Life is a Highway

Title of the post is the song I'm listening to right now. Sorry about the random title. I'm just typing down what I'm singing now. Maybe there is a deeper meaning to that song.

I hate driving. I try to avoid it as much as I can. But once in a while, I still need to drive. Needless to say, I feel guilty sitting in the passenger seat of someone else's car too many times. If you ever drive me around, thank you. I really appreciate it. You know who you are ;)

Today I met up with some of my friends for lunch. That was nice guys. Thanks for meeting up!

Mijah, Li Wen, Mimi and I

Li Wen, didn't realize your eyes were closed when I took this hehe


Kid's burger...it looks so tiny!

My work is piling up these days. If you know me, you know what I'm talking about. I'll be busy I won't have time for my FB game anymore. I want to download loads of mp3 while I'm working so I'm hunting for good songs now.

How To Make Your Own Pick

So you play guitar. And you use picks. But you always seem to lose them. So you end up strumming bare hand. It's frustrating because the sound seems wrapped up on your thumb and is muffled.

So what do you do?

Make your own picks of course!

Okay, before I begin, let me make this clear that I do not lose my picks often because I'm that careful. I didn't even want extra home made picks which I find pretty ugly. But dad dropped these pieces of plastics on my desk and insisted that I make my own picks because he says it sounds better than the ones I got from the store. Hence my tutorial today.

Step One

Find some plastics that are not too hard that make them impossible to cut through. An ideal one would be some soft plastics like the one from your file. I have no idea where dad got this from so I'll leave the material hunt to you.

Step Two

Get a standard size pick and trace it on the plastic. Use ink pen since it is easier to draw on and easy to rub off without leaving a trace.



Step Three

Cut the plastic along the traced line. This is the difficult part so make sure you use a good pair of scissors.


Step Four

Admire your piece of work. And design it for God's sake because it's so damn ugly.

Still ugly...

Step Five

Test drive. Strum it on your guitar and feel its pressure on the strings. Sounds good? You're done!


The pick that I made sounds surprisingly good on my guitar. I guess dad's right. It is actually better than commercial picks. But just look at the edges. I think I can cut myself playing with that thing. But at least I won't be buying picks for a while.

Literally Singing Live

I'm about to post some stuff that is not my work so all photo credits to vancetan.com

2010 New Village Community Singing Competition

There was a singing competition in Seria recently and thanks to Vance, I was able to grab some photos of the event from him. According to my mum, there hasn't been a mandarin singing competition that uses live band instead of karaoke for a long time. I dare say that the last time this happened was when karaoke machines weren't available in the local market.

The band for the night was "The Mints", a popular band in KB that has plentiful of experiences with live gigs. Unfortunately, many would agree that the microphone was problematic throughout the entire evening. Well, it was either the mic or the speakers. I wouldn't know better since I have zero clue on how these technical stuff operate.

Without further ado, I present you photos from that evening.

Group photo of the guest, organisers and contestants

Yes, this is the guy who represented Brunei for a singing competition a couple of months ago in China (hope I got my fact right)


I had to be selective with the photos because there are literally hundreds of them but this next one I won't miss ;P


These trophies on display, sometimes I wonder if I should join a competition just to get one of these. At least they look good on a shelf albeit coming last in the competition.



See Yung ko was in the competition and he gave a really solid performance.

Ah Hen ko was also there. It's the first time I see him in a singing competition so thumbs up for that.

And here are the top four contestants before the announcement of the winner. Ironically, they stood in the correct order; first to fourth place from left to right.


Some of the audience during the competition. Spot someone familiar? Front row center. Ehem.


Visit vancetan.com for more coverage.

Euphemism Works Better

Brace yourself for a super gigantic photo of what went through my digestive system last week...

Seria kolomee, of course

I don't know what's with me and extra large photos on my blog these days. I guess it is convenient this way for mobile phone users so they don't need to strain their eyes every time they want to take a good look at my pictures. Having been an avid phone user myself (nothing fancy, just an old Nokia), I know what they have to go through. If you are one of those that use a 24" monitor to view this blog, then I'm sorry.

Anyway, I don't really have an actual reason to update. In fact, there is nothing that's happened these days that are update-worthy. I'm pretty sure you are not here to listen to me blabber about how sexy Dr Gregory House is and how hilarious Charlie Sheen is in Two and a Half Men despite his rap sheet.

I'm wondering how everyone's doing now. You know, the people I've spent time with for the last four years. I hope they're doing great. I admit I do miss classes because I actually make use of my brain. Now it has gone idle. And lately, I think I've been having insomnia. The endless TV series doesn't help. I've been hopping from one series to another and so far there are no broken strings yet. No rest for me for at least a couple of months I guess.

Walk the Streets to the Beat

The price you pay for being jobless.

Last weekend I went with my sisters to watch Eclipse at the mall. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this movie because we wanted to watch a more adventurous Toy Story 3 but because of the schedule, we had to settle with this fantasy romance flick. I wouldn't give it a thumb up, maybe half a thumb if that's possible. I don't blame the production team, I blame the author because it's almost a carbon copy of the novel.



While waiting for the show we killed sometime hanging out at our favorite spot at the mall.


Somehow we always drop by Body Shop whenever we're there because I think Body Shop is North and Shely is South and they somehow attract. She hardly ever leave this store without purchasing something. She's actually in this picture below. No price for guessing which one.


World Cup fever going on downstairs. I never played Foosball before. I wonder if its any fun. Hmm. I think I like mahjong better.


The Championships

I don't want to elaborate a lot on this matter because it interest me not since my favorite player is out and my back-up favorites are out as well. I know it sounds stupid but at least I have something to look forward to each time a match is on. For example, if there's Tsonga vs Soderling, I'll pick the latter. One trumps the other for several factors. And that keeps watching tennis more exciting.

So anyway, this year's Wimbledon is full of action and interesting turn of events. Where do I even begin? First of all, the Queen visited after 33 years and then there was the epic first round match between the now-famed players: John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. Of course we saw a shocking exit of the Fed Express. We even saw shocking upsets in the men's double and women's single. And now the men's final is between a player who defeated both Federer and Djokovic en route to the final and the 'never say never' winner of the previous Grand Slam in France.

Tomas Berdych
vs

Rafael Nadal
(photos courtesy of ATP World Tour)

Who do you want to see holding this year's trophy? I'd like to see Berdych win for a change, you know. Nadal and Federer has been dominating the Grand Slams don't you think? With the exception of Del Potro and Djokovic, we haven't seen any other players holding a Slam trophy since. But then realistically, I think Nadal has this.

A Local Delicacy

Ambuyat. This is a local delicacy that is not something that suits every locals, or so I've heard. But nevertheless, it is still consider mouth-watering for most. I haven't had my fair share of ambuyat in my life. I can actually count the number of times I've had them. Contrary to popular belief, Chinese people DO eat ambuyat. It's just a matter of preference and the sauce that comes with it.


My dad prepares this meal sometimes when he's in the mood for something different. He makes his own sauce which is a mixture of some kind of sambal and lime and something else I think. I just leave the process to him and I am happy enough to just sit there and eat.

It's funny how I am trained to use chopsticks but I never knew how to hold a pair of candas properly. (Is it a pair? Or just one?) But of course it's quite an enjoyable experience because you have to eat together with your family to enjoy it unlike the usual dinner in front of the TV. So if you haven't try this, go on and try. Who knows this might be your kind of food!