Thin walls

Weekends flew past too quickly! Last Saturday, I got wokened up at about 8.00am by Kiwi G just to prove to me that he wasn't hearing things a few weeks ago - he heard some wall or floor banging followed by "some bedroom noises* ahem ... you know what I mean. I doubted him as I thought it was quite impossible to hear such a thing behind brick walls. So I told him to wake me up if he hears it again next time, haha! True enough, last Saturday was an ear opener for me! I tell you, it was LOUD! First, I heard banging noises to our bedroom wall which wasn't the first time, I thought the neighbours were doing DIY works on their unit again. Then it was followed by ... *xxx* noises! I couldn't believe my ears! I could hear it through the walls! It was annoying because we also heard it at night while we were watching TV in our bedroom!! I wonder what kind of bricks this apartment block is made of! Someone told me that he finds Meriton apartments have thin walls and I think having lived in one for 2 years now, I can testify to that as I could sometimes hear the neighbours talk while I am in the study room, very annoying!! Sometimes in our ensuite, I could hear *shi shi* ("O-liu") sound as well! So, remember to enquire about the walls if you intend to buy an apartment built by Meriton, yeah?

A success story

Every now and then I would type in my ex-school mates' names in Google out of curiosity. Two days ago, I found an article from The Star dated Nov 2004 about one of my ex-school mate's new clothing line launch. Let me tell you a little bit about her.

She was known as "Sun Poh" (Godly Woman) in secondary school because she was a disciplined Christian girl. We all looked up to her as a role model. She used to write me notes of encouragement and handed them to me at school, of which I would reply with gratitude. She was also known to dress very modestly (well to be honest, at that time, we thought her dressing was a bit outdated and too old fashioned) and was the super "gwai lui" (good girl/mommy's girl) compared to the rest of us. After finishing secondary school, she worked at a bank while taking up some banking courses.

Somewhere down the road, she became interested in fashion and started selling women's clothing (mainly working attire and quality casuals) privately at friends' homes by word of mouth. Through her contacts in the fashion industry, she landed a supervisory job for a new local fashion line in Sungei Wang. In no time, she was promoted to a Manager. I didn't see her for a few years after that. So one day when I met her at church, man, was I surprised by her change in appearance and dressing - puts us all to shame, haha. From a humble, modest, old fashioned girl to the most up todate, sexy and beautiful model-like lady!

Things continued to get better for her. Last I heard, she was still attending church regularly, has 3 beautiful daughters and a loving husband. She is now the General Manager of the same fashion company which has expanded to 5 outlets in KL (Mid Valley Megamall, Sungei Wang Plaza, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Sunway Pyramid, Cheras Leisure Mall) and 1 in JB (City Square).

We all thought she would serve full time in the Christian ministry ... but little did we know how things took a surprising turn. Hard to believe she was once nicknamed "Sun Poh"!

Some people have all the luck you say? I think in her case, it was sheer hardwork and determination. Coming from a single parent family (wonderful mother she has) and being the eldest, she sacrificed higher education (she could have easily made it to uni) to ease her mom's burden of supporting the family. How many people would be willing to quit a 9-5 stable bank job to go sell clothes in private homes? She truly deserves every bit of success she has today.

My only hope if I get to meet her again someday, is that she remains her modest and sweet self on the inside ... and perhaps ask one VERY IMPORTANT question ... "Can gimme discount on your clothes or not ah?" hahaha.

There are of course other stories of ex-schoolmates who turned completely nasty and changed from Ms Sweet to Ms Witch but I don't think I will talk about them now.

Summary

Celebrated Kiwi G's b'day last week, I think I managed to give him a few surprises, sneaky me! Bought him a Chocolate Monkey, haha (piccy later).

Went Yum Cha last Sunday (I wonder why it is called "yum cha" here and not "eat dim sum") at a restaurant called "Taxim" near our place. Reached there at 10.30am and waited till 12.00 noon for our favourites to appear ie "ham sui kok" and "lobak kou". In between we had the usual buns, siew mai, mango custard, etc just to kill time. Man, we were stuffed for the rest of the day! The prices starts from AU$4.00 per plate of anything. The two of us ate about AU$35-AU$40 worth - I know, pigs eh!

Watched Charlie & The Chocolate Factory too. I think watching the original on TV, two days prior might have spoiled it for me :P

Ewww

Beauty takes a deadly turn
September 14, 2005
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

London: A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation has discovered. Click here for link to full story


Gross.

Model Doggy

Photos of Lilo, my bro's Basset Hound doing the catwalk *LOL*some time last year at Mid Valley. We finally have a *model* in the family hahaha

Lilo (right) relaxing at home with fellow good buddy, Bobby (left) after a hard day's work.

Cute Puppies

I am so in love with cute puppies! Just looking at their photos makes me so happy. I particularly like small breeds such as:

Maltese (click to view photos from puppy.com.my forum)

Shih Tzu (click to view photos from puppy.com.my forum)

However, we will most likely get a Maltese x Shih Tzu cross breed some time next year. I want so many things next year, I can't wait, I feel so greedy.

I will show some photos of my brother's supermodel Basset Hound ie the "Hush Puppy" type dog back in KL doing the runway in Mid Valley megamall, some other day (have to dig through my DVDs).

Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung from Sept 1st. My favourite season, warmer temps and lovely flowers. The funny thing I learned about flowers is that they can be tricked into thinking it is spring season and blossoms even in the middle of winter when the temp is just right. When winter temp returns to normal on the next day, the flowers go back to playing half dead again, haha, too cute. I just can't wait to have my own garden.

Merdeka Day

Selamat Hari Kebangsaan
Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Flag image from: www.fg-a.com/flags18.shtml

Millionhair, not Millionaire

Mingling with millionaire relatives is very demoralising for me especially so when it's a whole group of them. It often sends my already low self esteem spiralling downhill. It made me feel that personal ambitions of mine are unattainable. I don't like the feeling. I prefer my "millionhair" friends, we've got more in common; it makes me feel comfortable with who I am and puts me back in reality.

Single guy + married woman

Someone told me that he met somebody special. He even showed me a photo of her, a very beautiful young Thai lady. I felt happy for him and congratulated him. Then he told me that she is a married woman! I tried not to act shocked but my mind was saying "Doh!!!??!?!??!" He saw my heartshaped pendant and asked where I bought it from because he wanted to buy one for the lady. He told the lady what if her husband asks where she got the pendant from? She replied that she'll just say she bought it herself. Doh!!???!?!?!? I was stumped.

Cajun Nuggets

I tried Macca's new Cajun Nuggets last Sunday and boy it's certainly got oommphhh ... spicy and tasty, I'm LOVIN it. As with any spicy promo including KFC's spicy chicken, it is only available for a short period of time. So, what to do eh? It simply means that Mr & Mrs Oink Oink here are getting some again tonight before it's GONE.

<---- Photo © 2005 McDonald's Corporation, Australia

The Rich Gets Richer

I don't know what to think of the rich who earn millions of $$ a year ... yet pockets welfare! Below is an excerpt from www.smh.com.au

I also want to thank all you who have given suggestions on the door locks :) - much appreciated.

-----------------------------------------
Source: Sydney Morning Herald <-- link to full story
Wealthy parents grab $65 handout
By David Humphries
August 12, 2005

MILLIONAIRE WELFARE

- Family Tax Benefit part B introduced in 2000 for sole parents and stay-home mums

- No means test for a maximum benefit of $65 a week.

- In 2003-04, 31 recipient families each earned more than $1 million.

.Last year, million-dollar families numbered 76; the benefit was paid to 38,500 families earning more than $100,000

The Government has promised to review its non-means-tested family payment after figures revealed that more top-income Australians, including millionaires, were lining up for the maximum benefit of $65 a week.

Last year, 76 single-income families who earned at least $1 million a year received Family Tax Benefit part B, introduced in 2000 by the Howard Government to assist sole parents and stay-at-home mums. A year earlier, only 31 recipients earned at least $1 million.

The benefit, paid to the stay-home parent regardless of the working spouse's income, also went to 352 families who earned more than $500,000 last year.

The welfare lobby said the annual distribution of up to $130 million among 38,500 families earning more than $100,000 a year "could be much better spent on low-income families".

The director of the Institute for Private Enterprise, Des Moore, a former senior Treasury official, sees it as part of politics-inspired "welfare creep".

"Contrary to the idea that social security is supposed to be for people in greatest need," Dr Moore said, "it has been expanded under this Government to the point where social security as a percentage of GDP has grown by 3 percentage points since Whitlam."

The distribution of Family Tax Benefit B payments was revealed by the Family and Community Services Department in answers this week to Opposition questions.

Labor's welfare spokesman, Chris Evans, said yesterday that battling families faced "savage cuts to their incomes under the Howard Government's so-called welfare-to-work policies" while millionaires' row was "sucking even harder on the welfare teat".

Need to keep fit :(

I need to get fit again like in these stone age photos :(

Kingsford (previous apartment), Sydney 2001

Coronet Peak, Queenstown, New Zealand 2002

Where are my current photos? Alamak, too embarassed to show! I hope I get a little incentive to keep fit by reminding myself I used to weigh less, doh! For the record, I have put on 10kg since the above photos were taken ... *sob sob* No one's to blame, I had been overeating and lazy. So if I could pull myself together again and keep fit ... maybe I could fit into all my spring/summer dresses once more, hahaha, wishful thinking again ... great dreamer I am!!

Still busy, won't write much.

Door Locks & Bed

DOOR LOCKS

I notice that houses in gwai loh countries generally do not have door locks installed to the bedrooms. I can understand the logic but having been brought up in a country where door locks is a necessity to any home, I don't feel safe sleeping at night without being able to lock the bedroom door.

Since it is not standard practice to install door locks to bedroom doors here, our new home will not come installed with them. I am considering paying extra to have at least our master bedroom door fixed with the door lock. Will it be a good idea to install door locks to the rest of the bedrooms? Suggestions are most welcome, thank you very much.

BED

Thank you Papi & MrsT for your opinions, King size bed it shall be! As for the bed, maybe I should just settle for a more typical bed such as this ... a little bit of country style ...

or should I get an ensemble instead? Doh ... decisions, decisions ... too many choices = headaches.


I am taking a time out from blogging for now ... busy with some artwork. However, I'll be popping by my favourite blogs now and then.

TRACTOR PIC

I almost forgot, this is for MrsT ... me on the tractor ... New Zealand 2001.

4 Poster Bed

Been rather busy the past few days running to the bank and solicitors for our land settlement. Also went to see my Accountant for my tax return. All done!

We went window shopping for household furniture yesterday. I don't know what got into me but I fell in love with a four poster bed that was on display at the mall. It looked something like the photo to the left.

The posts are detachable and may be replaced with a nice knob if preferred. It's not that expensive, much to my surprise. It costs about AU$350-AU$450 excluding the mattress and curtains (is that what it's called?).

But I am undecided. I know I am a fickle minded person. So we'll have to see how I feel once our home is completed. Kiwi G is such a good sport, he doesn't mind me having a four poster bed.

We're also thinking of getting a King size bed but is that a norm?

By the way, Council has approved our house plans but we have to finalize some changes to the facade with the builder before we approve commencement of construction.

More boring stuff

HTML SPECIAL CHARACTERS

See the tiny green hearts next to my post titles? They're merely symbols, not images.
Here are two sites with tables of special html symbols: here and here
It comes in handy when you wish to type characters such as
¢  £  ©   ¿   °   ½   ¼   ¾   ♣  ♥  ♠


WEBHOSTING & DOMAIN NAME

Web hosting - I have been using www.tera-byte.com web hosting service since year 2002 until now. Their technical support is first class! Support emails are usually replied within half an hour or sooner. These guys are located in Alberta, Canada.

Domain Name - I have one with Network Solutions (USA) which used to be a bit pricey (when I first bought my domain name from them 5 years ago, it was about US$37/year but the price has gone down so much since);

I also bought several domain names with Name Cheap (USA) at US$8.88 each per year. There are cheaper ones around but since Name Cheap accepts payment via Paypal which makes it very much easier for me, I decided to go for it. They also threw in one year free WhoisGuard for every new subscription or transfer.

One can easily look up the owner of the domain and his/her address (I use my PO Box address for confidentiality purpose but all my domains with Name Cheap have WhoisGuard, therefore none of my information, not even my name will show up).

A small note about domain names: I always place a registrar lock on my domains. This will lock my domain records at the registry level and prevent them from being transferred, modified, deleted by a third party or prevent against unauthorized transfers and hijacking.

Since a 'registrar lock' can also make it more difficult to transfer away from a registrar, it might be a good idea to look for a registrar that allows the ability to automatically unlock your domain names at any time without having to call or email them.

But alas, these days, some webhosting companies even throw in a free domain registration for you when you sign up with any of their webhosting packages.

*Yawn* I am feeling sleepy and bored with all this talk already ... zzzZZZZZ *snore snore*

Mailwasher

I usually don't talk about tech stuff in real life nor online simply because I lack the knowledge. However, from now on, I'll just write a little about some cool links that might be useful to others.

I receive many emails a day, junk mail, blank emails, junk fwd exe file attachments, hate mails, virus attachments, you name it, I got it! I used to dread downloading my emails until I found Mailwasher. It allows me to preview all emails; blacklist or delete spams, virus & junk exe file attachments, without having to actually download them first onto my Microsoft Outlook email programme.

Unfortunately the free version has less features but works just as good and may be downloaded at PCWorld.com - Mailwasher

Meet the neighbours

Met the neighbours to our soon to exist new house yesterday. This is a photo of the back of their house, located behind our house, not directly but to the left.

We were looking into their kitchen and admiring the finishings except for the floorings which have yet to be done, when they happened to drop by.

We had a small chat, introduced ourselves as their future neighbours and the lady invited us in to have a tour of their new home. We were in awe of the size of the home of course *salivating*

They're a lovely couple from India, migrated here 17 years ago, have three children, aged 27, 25 and prolly 10 respectively. Lucky children!

They told us that their front doors were dismantled & stolen and the glass sliding door at the kitchen, damaged by thieves! No wonder they are moving in this Friday to guard the house despite the floorings not being done yet.

It's nice to have befriended one neighbour already.
Hopefully the rest of the neighbours are friendly too, we'll see.

Born from a rock?

Had been sick the past few days but am a 100% now. When I was a little girl, I often asked my parents and older siblings how I came into existence. The answer would always be the same (they must have made a pact to give me a standard answer) ie "I was a result of a rock explosion". Nice! And I actually believed them. For years I tried very hard to imagine myself coming out of that rock. I can't remember at what age did I realize it was all a joke (prolly 10 onwards? slow, I know *LOL*). Perhaps the picture below holds some truth to the rock explosion myth .. hmmmm now I have to rethink the theory ...

1998: Moreaki Boulders, South Island, New Zealand

Many gigantic round boulders lying along the shore, gave me a feeling of being in an alien inhibited place

Msian Food

Almost every other Malaysian blog I stumbled upon, has alluring salivating photos of Malaysian FOOOOOD! Thank you people, it reminds me of what I left behind. But honestly, thank you because I enjoyed looking and wishing upon those photos *LOL* Nothing can beat the atmosphere of eating at hawker stalls, kopitiam and best of all, mamak or "mak mak stall" (Kiwi G's vocab), haha. Please kidnap me out of Sydney!