Busy Bee

Day 47

I am so busy today.

Thank God it's Friday!


For that One of a Kind experiments

Do I know you?

Day 46

I had a field day last weekend when I saw a couple of familiar faces from my past life.
~ At the baggage area waiting to collect my luggage
~ At San Francisco Coffee
~ In the bookstore
~ On the plane

The terrible thing was I remembered the faces but forgot the names! Now, I remember all their names.

I contemplated to say "Hey, I know you!" at the baggage collection area, but Mr.Z was with a woman who was not his wife. So, I was hesitated whether he was who I think he was.

At the bookstore, Ms. R from my old workplace is now a Mrs., with a kid in tow. Gosh!

Another Ms. R from school, was doing the same thing as I was on the plane. Looking through the magazine shelf. I think it's her. During the flight, I was trying to remember what her name was. Ironically, this was how I remembered her name...

Tan Siew Hua (sister's name... no idea why, I remember this first)
then, Tan Siew Lian (her chinese name)
and then, Rebecca Tan (what we used to call her)

Is this how my archives are being read these days?

She used to be very plump in school. She has slimmed down considerably. I wonder whether it was her . I hesitated.

Today, I am grateful for friends...the few close ones that I can still remember their names and faces.

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It's a jungle out there...

Day 45

I am busy again for the third day in a row.
I am working.
This is rather unusual.

Perhaps, two mugs of coffee to get through the day?




Today, I am grateful for the happy mood and the happy call last night.

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Never too little...

Day 44

I am extremely busy at work today. No time to even go to the loo!
Even during such busy times, someone managed to slip a compliment to me.

You look good in my new glasses. You should dump your old pair.

Someone else complimented that I was wearing a nice t-shirt yesterday.

Today, I am grateful for compliments. It makes your day!

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Sleepless in Shanghai

Day 43

As usual, I was on the midnight plane to work on Monday. Spent the whole morning catching up with last week's emails.

I brought 4 kinds of coffees with me to keep me awake for the next 3 weeks:
Illy's Cafe Machiatto
Starbuck's Verona
Vietnamese Special Arabia (from last year's vacation)
Instant White Coffee


The lifesaver

I have been thinking that I should cut my coffee intake. But, for today, I am grateful for Starbucks for keeping me awake for the 8 working hours.

For that One of a Kind experiments

P.S. Personally, Starbucks coffee isn't the best there is. It's never consistently made to have the same great taste everywhere you go. I read of this guy who is currently trying out every Starbucks branch in America. I think he tastes the coffee about 5-10 new branches a day. He said he had done it so often now that Starbucks coffee tastes awful. I can imagine...

Shopping till you drop

Day 42

The sales are on again!




Today, I am grateful some gems in my favourite shops after several days window-shopping.

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How to be a Domestic Goddess

Day 41

Put the golden raisins and rum (or water) into a saucepan and bring to boil, then remove from heat, letting the raisins plump up aromatically.

I knew following this recipe would be a challenge for me....right from the very first step.

The recipe is from the Goddess herself.

Nigella Lawson introduced a whole new generation to the art of baking with her bestseller titled, How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the art of comfort cooking. In 1992, Nigella married fellow journalist and broadcaster John Diamond. John was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997 and died in 2001. Nigella is currently married to advertising guru, Charles Saatchi. They live in London with her two children from her first marriage, Cosima and Bruno. She even has her own tv show. Talk about a goddess's lifestyle!


Apple and Walnut cake. For recipe, click on Beeworks's Directory.

My cake turned out looking rather stunted. This is because I used too large of a cake tin for the batter made. Today, I am grateful that my cake rose against all odds.

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Like Fish in the Sea

Day 40 and a half

I am down with acute salt poisoning now.

I was experimenting on another childhood favourite that went out of style with the onset of Oliver's Super Sandwich and other delis.

I made a sambal sandwich filling to bring with me during my travels. The sambal contains dried prawns. As you may know, dried prawns are salted. It requires some soaking before use. Now, before you jump the gun.....I did soak it.

It's just that I soaked it in cold water (instead of hot as instructed). I don't think it was long enough too. Perhaps, it was all the pinching of the food as I was cooking it.

Anyway, I feel funny now. Dizzy. Slight headache. I don't feel thirsty tho....but I am drinking more water. My hair seems to be dropping at an alarming level.

Is it my imagination?


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Slaving in the Kitchen

Day 40

Kitchen work is tough.

I have been standing in the kitchen the whole morning doing one thing or other. At this rate, how can I ever become a kitchen goddess and look calm and serene in front of the stove??

Mum is away for vacation...so, I am taking over. For lunch, I decided to practise on my otak-otak again. It was raining the whole morning. One thing about being the eldest in the house, I have assumed ultimate authority. I sent my sister out in the rain to pick the leaves (banana, kadok and kaffir) in our garden for the dish.

The otak-otak was much, much better this time. I remembered the salt this time!

Today, I am grateful that it's such a cool Friday.

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Testing My Patience

Day 39

I hate waiting - queues, traffic jams, Government offices! This morning, I spent my time waiting in line to make my new identity card.

Another thing I hate - queue-jumpers! One came out from nowhere and decided to stand in front of Mum. I asked her where did he come from? I am no Miss Goody-two-shoes. So, I asked him to go queue up at the back in English and Malay until he got the picture that I am serious.

My Number 345. Current number 141. Just great....

Patience....patience....

Giggly kids running about the room...
Is that cute? NO WAY!!!

breathe in...breathe out....in...out....

My parents had the luxury of getting on the senior citizen's queue. They were done after an hour's wait. So, we went to have breakfast nearby. When I came back, the number was 282. Another hour's wait and I was done.

I am so glad this is over and done with!!

Today, I am grateful to learn how to count to 345 and I look so young and cute in my ID!

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Brain Matter

Day 38

Someone has an interview. It's also Dad's birthday.
So, I am cooking a Nyonya lunch.

Mains
Otak-otak (click for the recipe!)
Stir-fried sengkuang (yambean) with lettuce wraps
Spicy fish soup

Dessert
Sweet potatoes in ginger syrup

Otak-otak, when translated means brain-brain. Today's a good time for some brain booster. So, I am grateful for the discovery of otak-otak.

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Love and Friendship

Day 37 and a half...

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly tree
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?
The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He still may leave thy garland green

~ A poem by Emily Bronte ~

For info on the rose, check out Beeworks Directory.

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Big Birthday Breakfast

Day 37


Look what Uncle Ronnie gave me!

Today, I am grateful to be one year wiser. I don't necessarily need to be a year older anymore.

To see what I normally do at Uncle Ronnie's...

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After the Squeeze, the Pampering Starts

Day 36
 
There comes a time when you realise that you are fighting a losing battle with Mother Nature and other things for that matter. You might want to think that perhaps, the energy can be better used elsewhere. Life is too short to be sad about the inevitable.

Went for a girlie outing to watch Menapause, The Musical over the weekend. My face has been starving for some attention for some weeks now. So today, I had got it some well-deserved facial attention. 
  
Today, I am grateful for the pampering and laughter.
 
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For those who have facial experience would know what the title means.

Death in the Family

Day 33

Before anyone panics, no one died...at least in reality.

I was thinking of using this title for the past week because it felt like some thing died inside me. Fridays are always morbid. Maybe, because it's Crime Night day. So, today, the title becomes appropriate.

I had a awful dream last night. Someone actually died in my dream. It was such an ordeal because it happened so suddenly and it was someone close.

Death is a reality of Life. Why do we only start to appreciate once we've lost?

Today, I am grateful that it was only a dream. I have to learn from it, though...

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A Matter of Respect

Day 32

Dalai Lama said to follow the 3 R's...

Respect for self
Respect for others
Responsibility for all your actions

Today, I am grateful for knowing what is worth it and what is not worth my time of day. Now, I can restore my good karma.

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When the river runs dry

Day 31

Perhaps, I tried too hard.
Perhaps, I didn't give it my best.
Perhaps, no more can be done.
Perhaps, no more can be said and explained.
Perhaps, no more can be understood and misunderstood.
Perhaps, it is just time to...
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

The night was long and I thought it would never end.

Today, I am grateful the morning came.

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The Seven Deadly Sins

Day 30

Time flies.

One thing I learnt in the last 30 days is that love cannot be bought, sold nor exchanged. But, love can certainly be stolen from you and sometimes, begged from and borrowed. The other thing I learnt is "What matters to me are the intangibles, not the tangibles". And that...

What is the use of having all the material possessions and money in the world when you have no one by your side?

Some lessons should be learnt...

Less pride, more humility
Less greed, more generosity
Less envy, more love
Less anger, more kindness
Less lust, more self control
Less gluttony, more faith and temperance
Less sloth, more zeal.

Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive.

Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more.

"Love is patient, love is kind" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.

Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.

Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.

Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.

Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.

Today, I am grateful for knowing the truth.

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Black Monday

Day 29

Why is it when it rain, it pours?
Why things are not always what it seems?
Why doesn't happiness last?
Why does sadness seem last forever?

Those are my questions of the day. Solitude in full operation.

Today, I am grateful that even in times of sorrow, there is still one person that I can rely on. Myself.


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Coffee Break...

Day 26 and 3/4

I took an I.Q. test during my coffee break.

The results...

Your IQ score is 120. This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the True IQ Test relative to others. Your Intellectual Type is Precision Processor. This means you're exceptionally good at discovering quick solutions to problems, especially ones that involve math or logic. You're also resourceful and able to think on your feet. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.

Yes, I am momentarily bored. It's Friday....and let me say, I didn't like the math questions!

Precision Processor? You must be joking.

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The Perfect Murder

Day 26

How do I kill thee? Let me count the ways.

Brings new meaning to the original poem.

You will find me glued to the Discovery Channel on Cable TV on Friday and Saturday nights. For the longest time, I have been intrigued by murder.

How does it feel to take another life? Why do people kill? How was the murder carried out? Can one get away with the perfect crime?

Yes, I know it's such a morbid thought but, it's rather interesting one for me. In the past episodes, they did a whole segment on women murderers. Apparently, most women kill their victims by slow poisoning. It is not normal for women to resort to bloody methods using knives and guns.

I found out that it is quite easy to get poisons. Like...

Ricin - from Castor (jumping) beans
In a real case, the unhappy wife bought some castor bean from the local garden store. These beans are normally used for planting but she decided to pop a couple into the dinner and fed it to the husband.

Cyanide for apple seeds
Imagine if I start collecting apple seeds and ground them up into fine powder...

There is a "kernel" of truth, however, to the adage that apple seeds are poisonous. Perhaps you have heard of cyanide, a poisonous substance that can cause dangerously elevated acid levels in the body, seizures, coma, and death. Under certain unusual circumstances, cyanide poisoning can follow the ingestion of seeds or pits of several common fruits that are members of the Prunus species, including, apricots, cherries, almonds, and peaches, as well as apples. This harmless chemical lies inside the seed, but when the seed is moistened and crushed, it can be converted by bacteria in the intestinal tract or by an enzyme within the seed into cyanide. Because the amount of amygdalin in an apple seed is quite small, it is highly unlikely that you would become ill from swallowing one or two seeds, especially if they were not chewed. In fact, many other foods, including lima beans, also contain amygdalin in tiny amounts considered harmless.

Other household products like rat poisons, cleaning fluids and cooling liquids. The list goes on... and I am making some mental notes. As they say, you wouldn't want to leave a trail of evidence behind.

Today, I am grateful for Agatha Christie novels, FBI Files, Crime Night and The New Detective.

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Survival of the Fattest

Day 25

My daily meals have taken a monotonous turn.

From the breakfast room...
stir-fried noodles
vegetables
2 sausages
a glass of orange juice.

Brunch at the desk...
a custard bun

From the lunch basket...
cheese sandwich or
rice and soup

Coffee break...
a danish pastry and coffee

Dinner on the kitchen table
rice, vegetables and chicken
cake and coffee or tea

At this point, even some Maggi Mee assam laksa (instant noodles) would seem like a welcome change! I think I have to do some serious grocery shopping this weekend.

One good thing out of all this is that I am grateful to lose some weight without exercising.

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The Opposite of White is not Black, it's Grey

Day 24

A conversation this morning got me thinking about I quote I once heard.

The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.

INDIFFERENCE - having no opinion, sitting on the fence, not black or white ......

I think the world in general and closer to home..."in my own backyard" can do with ...
A little more love and a whole less of hate and indifference
A little less complaining and a little more grateful
A little less talking and wishing, a little more action.

Today, I am grateful for still having a clear mind despite the mild discomforts from the cold. I got some cold tablets last night. Thank goodness for the relief!

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Chicken Soup for the Traveller

Day 23

I hate being sick when I am away from home.

It must have been the rain on last Saturday. So far, it appears to be a mild case of sore throat and slight temperature. I hope it doesn't turn to a full-blown cold!

Every precautionary self-medicating effort has been mobilised. Last night, a search warrant went out for my parecetamol pills. I rummaged through my luggage and found 2 paracetamols, a couple of charcoal and ACTAL pills. I usually bring along my rather complete "pill kit" with me...but this time, NOT! In conforming with my "travel light" policy, I had to choose between my packets of Mamee BBQ flavour (junk food) or my pill supplies. I chose the Mamee. Luckily, I have my vitamins.

Today, I am grateful for the vitamin C boosters and homemade chicken soup. Hope it works!

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The Mindulle-Drenched Look

Day 22

Trust me not to check the weather forecast before going out.

It was raining incessantly the whole of Saturday morning. By noon, the rain stopped.... I was becoming restless in my apartment. So, thinking that Mother Nature had no more rain in her, I went out shopping.

The afternoon was cloudy and cool. Perfect weather to be outdoors. All was well until late afternoon. It started to rain again. So, I decided to make a dash for home.

As I got out of the subway station, there was a huge crowd at the entrance. One group, contemplating whether to weather the storm and the other group making the best out of the situation - selling umbrellas for CNY10 (RM5).

It looked like a harmless light drizzle. So, I decided to brave the weather and walk home since there were no taxis in sight. Mid-way, the winds blew harder and harder. My umbrella upturned awkwardly 3 to 4 times. Normally, it would be an embarassing situation but everyone was facing the same predicament... so, it did not matter.

Having reached the point of no return, there was no where to go but forth. So, I persisted on.... with the umbrella upturning a few more times until I had enough of it. Folded the umbrella and walked home in the rain!

Who would have thought that I was caught in the middle of the typhoon. I hadn't been following the weather news for days. I thought the typhoon was still in The Philippines!

Excerpts for the local news:

Strong Tropical Storm Mindulle Hits Shanghai

East China's metropolis of Shanghai is being hit by No. 7 tropical storm this year, Mindulle, which landed in Zhejiang Province Saturday morning. Torrential rains and strong wind began sweeping the city at around 8 a.m., stopping people from going out for weekend traveling and shopping. An advertising board fell in the storm and hurt one person.

According to the local meteorological station, Mindulle (dandelion in Korean) landed in Zhejiang at about 9:30 AM. Till 3 PM, Shanghai's downtown districts had been struck by the wind at a gale force of 7 to 9 and parts of the city had received rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters.

The local flood control department monitored the water level in the Suzhou section of the Huangpu River had reached 4.35 meters and would probably exceed the 4.55-meter alert line to rise to 4.75 meters Saturday night.

The whole city has been on high flood alert and the local TV station has been live broadcasting the tropical storm. It would continue approaching Shanghai and bring torrential rains till Saturday midnight and begin fading away Sunday morning, according to the weather forecast.

I am grateful that I wasn't wearing a summer dress that windy day. I wouldn't want to reenact Marilyn Monroe's famous "blowing skirt" scene!


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What they didn't teach you in School

Day 19

I was reading Jikon's blog earlier in the week. Today, I was asked the same question....

What does it take to sustain a relationship?
Is it passion, because surely it is sexual chemistry that distinguishes a relationship from a friendship?

Well, I think it takes more than chemistry to make a relationship work. At the very least, it takes:

Languages...
to communicate and to understand,
Geography...
to know that "out of sight does not mean out of mind",
History...
to understand where we coming from during arguments and to know that what is in the past means exactly that...THE PAST,
Biology...
to know the difference between a touch, a kiss, love and that babies are not delivered by storks!
Physics...
to understand that every action has an equal and opposite reaction,
Math...
to know whether you can afford a relationship or not!

Today, I am all so grateful that the week's over. Thank God it's Friday!!!

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Nightly Rituals

Day 18

Oh...how I love desserts!

It has become a ritual while I am away from home to have a coffee and dessert treat every night after my violin practice. Then, it's onwards to Chinese homework, a little drawing, some thinking and reading before turning to bed. I have started my music appreciation session again (will talk about it soon).

This is how I enjoy my quiet time.




Click on Beeworks Directory for details.

Today, I am grateful for the carrot cake in the fridge.

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