"Silly mistake"

Just now I was at Popular to buy two books, costing RM84 and RM66 respectively. I had 2 RM10 gift vouchers and Wife had the Popular member card which allows 10% discount. Went to pay at the counter, but was told that if I use the voucher, I'm not entitled for the 10% discount. Oh-uh. The bookstore was freezing cold and we didn't have lunch yet. The queue was also building up behind us. Dizzy and tired from reading and walking, I thought "Hmm..ok, the voucher expires this year, so lets use that."

As I was walking back to the car, there was just a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. I sat there, calming myself down. What was wrong? Have you figured it out? :D

If I had used the voucher on the cheaper book, and used the member card discount on the RM84 book, I would have been able to utilize BOTH the card and voucher. And I would've saved RM8.40. OMG... What a silly mistake........

Lesson learnt: NEVER make decisions in a hurry or when you are too tired to think :(

"Gomenasai!"

Sorry for abandoning the blog! Last weekend we went back to Melaka to attend TSG's wedding. Came back on Sunday and the rest of the week had been very hectic to say the least! TSG asked me to be the secondary cameraman, which was nice, because I wouldn't want to be the primary one: too pressure! As the secondary one, I get to snap behind-the-scenes pics, especially of our gang :D

Took more than 800++ pics, and selected around 130+ to be uploaded in Facebook. Which brought me to think: are blogs still relevant? Using Facebook for sharing pictures allow our friends to view them immediately and place comments. Blogs however (for myself at least) takes a tremendous amount of effort to write up and publish. So, end up most of the time, the entry gets posted a long time after the event occurred!

Anyway, the next few weeks will be even more hectic as I plan for my trip to Beijing... on Free and Easy. OMG, I can't believe we opted not to follow any tour! This will be crazy for sure~~

"This is a Happy Moment"

I was very fortunate to have been able to attend a Dharma talk by Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk whom I know from reading his simple and effective manual on meditation, "The Miracle of Mindfulness'. The event was held at Phor Tay Secondary School (conveniently outside my house) on 21 Sep. One of my friend was a freelance photographer for the event and he shared with me a few pics. Thanks, pal!

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. The most amazing thing I recall is the ease of which he was able to expound the Dharma to a wide range of audience. The message was simple: "This, here and now, is a happy moment".

His students from his school in Plum Village, France.


Some souveniors on sale.


Meditating... or sleeping?? :P

The event was very successful and a full house too. We were there early to beat the crowd but almost couldn't get in because we didn't have tickets. The problem was that the banner promoting this talk said "Admission is Free". But what they meant was "Admission is free, but entry by tickets only". Turns out the tickets could be obtained from several Buddhist societies. But since I wasn't a member of any, I didn't know about this. Thankfully, a lady in the donation counter came to our rescue and issued us tickets on the spot! :)

"Sunset"

It lasted only a few seconds, but what a nice sunset :)

"Promotion Lunch @ Dragon-i"

1) Relieved to be *finally* promoted



2) Happy to have frens to celebrate it with me



3) SA, CF, SF, Doris, Leo, SH, BL, AL



4) I like this background more... but why Doris stand so far la...

5) Err.. guys, you should've told me my hair was messy...! :P

"Macross Frontier: Bandai's DX Chogokin VB-6 Konig Monster!"

Here comes the VB-6 Konig Monster from Macross Frontier!

Shuttle mode:

This is the S.P. version, which comes with the Sheryl nose art! The normal version instead comes with a Ranka nose art which you have to stick yourself.

Gerwalk:

Because the Monster is a heavy artillery unit, it has a dozer blade to stop it from sliding away due to the momentum of the turret cannons~~ wicked!!

Really fearsome!! :D

Destroid:

Least seen is the Destroid mode, which is this model's weakest mode. The legs cannot actually move forward or backwards, so you can't really pose it in aggressive stances. But it's ok.. I'll leave it in the more familiar and menacing Gerwalk mode...

Box:

The S.P. version comes with a plastic transparent slip cover which has Sheryl Nome art in the front and back...

I love the back cover more... ^_^


This is the main box art


and back...


And this is the "extras" box, which contains the items specific to the S.P. version...


... which are:

1) Sheryl nose art painted on
2) The blue stand which recreates the scene where the Monster lands on Frontier's dome
3) More Sheryl stickers
4) Sheryl Nome's Island Premium credit card!


complete with her signature :P

5) The transparent cover slip which holds these two boxes together

Phew! That's a lot of stuff compared to the regular version. The retail price is RM800 for this monster. I wasn't planning to get it so soon, but then Shopkeeper threw 10% + no charge on credit card... apa tunggu lagi.. swipe la! :P

"ATR Teambuilding @ Pisces, Behind the Scenes"

I don't have anything new to share yet, so posting these "behind-the-scenes" pics which I found from the loads of pics shared by other photographers!

Zoe caught me snapping my 2 other models.. feels weird to see it.. :P

Photographers usually don't have many pics of themselves, so this one is a rare taken by SA

This one was taken by Shaun.. looks like I was so focused on viewing the pics!

A close up shot by CL... his pics all seem to be close-up/portraits -- which is not good for guys... girls ok la... can showcase smooth skin :P

Pic by Zoe... early morning action! Sometimes quite pressure also; have to find the right setting, and have to compose the picture in an attractive way.. and make sure people don't spend too long waiting for u... but it's all fun (I guess)!

Ah, I can't wait for the next opportunity to play with the camera-- starting with our fren TSG's long awaited wedding next Saturday!

"Restoran First Famous Federal @ Lorong Susu"

Ok, moving back to town (that's where all the action is!), we're going to Restoran First Famous Federal, located in the strangely named Lorong Susu off Jalan Macallister. They sell only one thing as well: Siu laap (mix platter of meat served with rice).

Chilli



Rice. Pretty normal...



...until you put their magic sauces!



They give free Chai Buay soup. Nice

And here comes the platter: a mix of roasted chicken, chinese sausage (lap cheong), roasted pork (siu yuk) and char siew. We arrived there early around 11.40 AM and had to wait more than 1/2 hour for the food to arrive, because the char siew wasn't ready yet. The roasted chicken is average, but the lap cheong is awesome, siu yuk is just heavenly... you'll bite through the crispy outer layer, then into some fat which just melts and finally into the juicy meat. Superb. And the best of all is the char siew. Words fail me :P

The place is pretty hard to find, but man, what a gem it is! Be sure to go early as it's always crowded. Oh ya, and the whole meal costs RM18, which gave us a bit of a shock :P Definitely not cheap, but still highly recommended.

Ok, I've finished posting all the new discovery food articles. There's a new list of places to try out, will go hunting soon :D

"Leng Nia Seafood Rice Stall @ Lip Sin Garden"

Ok, moving away from food in town, here's a stall much nearer to home. Leng Nia is basically a "choo-char" place, serving a variety of dishes. Recently we go there once a week and here are some favourite dishes:

Claypot taufu. Stuffed with ingredients, in particular fresh prawns, this is *the* most favourite dish here. The sauce is uniquely tasty (RM8)

Hot plate tofu. Comes with salted fish. Their home made tofu is really nice, and this is another style which we alternate (RM8)

Sweet and sour pork. Portion is just nice for two of us. (RM8)



"Yau-mak". Stir-fried with garlic. Generous serving too! (RM6)

Leng Nia will probably not win any rave reviews, but then again, rave reviews have disappointed us before! :P Whereas other places are increasing their prices indiscriminately, at least here we can get decent food at decent prices. Leng Nia is located just beside Sunshine Lip Sin and can get quite crowded (slow) at weekends.

"Chee Meng Cafe @ Jln Dato Koyah"

Noticed the trend in the last few posts? We are now a firm believer in the motto that "You don't have to spend a fortune to get good food"! Haha.. this is another place to introduce:

Tucked along the very short Jalan Dato Koyah at Penang Road is Chee Meng cafe, which only sells one thing: Wantan mee. I've always been critical of wantan mee in Penang, but this particular shop made me eat my words!

Deceptively simple.. but one bite and you can feel how much effort was spent making this one plate of wantan mee! There is a nice light crunchy/chewy texture to the mee... the owner inspects every plate that he makes carefully. The black sauce is no ordinary sauce too; there's a hint of roast pork in it... very old-school type of wantan mee. (Medium, RM2.80)

Wife ordered the flat type, which is the first to be sold out! Go early if this is your type of noodles~~



Sambal also tastes unique.. not the mass-production type.



And order sui-kow too, if they have it... it's superb! (60 cents each)



And a plate of vege to go with everything. (RM1 small, RM2 big)

As you can see, the price is really affordable, considering it's popularity. Chee Meng cafe is also clean but bear in mind, the waiting time can be rather long! If it's full house, sometimes have to wait for at least 30 minutes to get your orders served. But you'll forget all that once you start chewing on the mee :P

They used to operate one street away, at Jalan Argyll. The owner is friendly and his wife is very chatty too. And best of all, you know that they really want you to enjoy the food! My favourite routine lately is to have breakfast here at 10AM , then walk across to Toh Soon Cafe at Campbell Street for a dose of coffee.. perfect! :)