Happy Chinese New Year 2011!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Finally after one year I am back in Miri again. It has been a while since I last saw this town/city! hehe...

Met up with some secondary school friends just now, can't believe the last time I saw them was one year ago. Time flies indeed! and everyone has changed, some little changes, but some changed quite a lot. Hmm... :)

Quite a relaxing season, how I wish I can stay here longer and enjoy the atmosphere more. :)

The girl who played with fire Book Review

After nearly one month of obsessive reading, I have finally finished the second book of the Millenium Triology by Stieg Larsson-The girl who played with fire.

picture courtesy of here.

The story is the continuation of the 1st book - The girl with the dragon tattoo. Lisbeth Salander is still the main character and after her successful assignments with Michael Blomkvist in the first book, she stopped any kind of contact with Michael and went overseas to travel for a year. Well, she was rich enough to do that.

When she got back, after "catching up" with her "friends",especially Michael, by hacking into their computers, she slowly got herself into something big. She was accused as a cruel murderer to 3 victims in the end. Since then, she disappeared from the world and can only be contacted through the cyber world.

Michael together with others like Boxing King Paolo Roberto believed that Lisbeth was innocent and they tried to find out the truth about the murders. In the end, they discovered a great truth about the Sweden government and also the shocking background of Lisbeth. In the end, is Lisbeth guilty? That's for you to find out. :)

Food for thought

As I read the book, i was thinking, if I could have half of Lisbeth's intelligence and photographic memory, I would be able to do pretty well in things that I am doing now. :)

Nevertheless, as depicted in the story, the background and the upbringing of a person very much would decide the future of the person. How the parents introduce and impose the right values into the children would determine the future route of the children. Therefore, parenting is a crucial contribution to the direction of a society, whether to the downhill or to the glorious civilization. Whether you like it or not, parents play an important role in influencing the next generation. :)

All in all, the storyline of the book is rather fascinating, just that sometimes I find the elaborations are a bit lengthy and in a way draggy for the unfold of the whole storyline. But then, it is still a recommended book to read. So, go grab one today and it is not that expensive either! (Probably around RM30 per copy). Cheers!

"The Brotherhood" Book Review

"The Brotherhood" is a Christian novel written by Jerry B. Jenkins. If you are familiar with the author, he is the writer of "Left Behind" series and his work has really stricken and enlightened a lot of people, christians and non christians alike including myself. Many of his books have entered the New York Times Best Sellers, and yea, his productions are definitely worth a read.

This time around, "The Brotherhood" is a cop story that talks about a young and excelling policeman, Boone Drake, losing his family to a horrible fire while he was on the peak of his career. He was devastated and he was angry with God that he refused to talk to Him at first. Nevertheless he didn't go for the destructive side in his life but rather he created routine in his daily life to protect him from getting hurt again. God is always wonderful that in the end, through persisting brothers, friends and also chances in the department, he found his way back to God.

Food for thought

Personally, I find this book rather fascinating. The doubts and anger that Boone had were depicted so strikingly realistic in the book that they actually resonated with mine sometimes. I suppose there's no disagreement that we doubt and get mad at God at times in our lives, especially when things go wrong or things just don't go our ways. We resolved to numbness (like what Boone did), anger, outbursts, tears, and even rejection of care and love from people around us while allowing ourselves to be drown in sorrow.

But then, the author reminded us that God allows us to "have our temper" and He waits for us to come back to Him no matter how or when. He cares, that's all that matter. As long as we choose to seek Him, He accepts. I suppose the author also suggested one thing, that it's alright to be "human" with all the weaknesses. God didn't expect us to be perfect since the beginning right? He accepts our weaknesses and flaws all the time. So especially to the Christians, there's no need to put up the "holy and strong" mask, it's alright to receive cares and love from other brothers and sisters sometimes. :)

I received a complimentary copy (ARC) from Tyndale House Publishers.

Takehana Mont Kiara

It was a fine Saturday and a long lost (not that long though, just that she just came back from Europe. :P) friend called for lunch at one of the Japanese Restaurant in Plaza Mont Kiara.

So off we go together with her cousin sister. :P

the fried dumplings, one of the best I have tried. tasty and lots of filling(meat, vege etc).

Bento Set (with fried prawns)

interesting Japanese pickles, taste quite nice. two different taste. hehe...

my Bento Set, cost around RM20. not bad. :)

the brinjals. very nice! I like it.

one of my favourite dishes, the fried Mackerel fish, they called it Saba. :)

the red colour bottle is the Chili sauce, spicy stuff! :)

the sake...i am sure most of you will be interested? LOL. now they having 15% discount. :)

in front of the restaurant.

nice bamboo? :)

do visit someday!

The restaurant is quite clean and it has very peaceful environment, definitely a place to sit down with friends and family for a good meal. The food is good too, big portion as well. :)

It is located at D-OG-03A, Courtyard Level, Plaza Mont' Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. :)

Home Coming Movie (MANDARIN) Review

Since it's going to be chinese new year soon, one of my UTP friends suggested to watch a CNY movie in the cinema. I didn't have any objections to that and besides, it is a movie by the famous Jack Neo. I thought that would be interesting and the fact was, it was! :)

The movie is by Lee Thean Jeen, starring Mark Lee, Ah Niu, Jack Neo, Jacelyn Tay, Rebecca Lim, Huang Wenhong Koe Yeet and the rest.

The "Homecoming" show was about the journey of family members, Karen Neo (Jack Neo) and Ah Ming (Ah Niu), going back to hometown for the reunion dinner. And also a guy, Chef Daniel (Mark Lee), that is quite successful in his career as a famous chef that he neglected his time with his family during the new year eve.

The story was quite touching at some point, and of course some scenes super funny (acted by Jack Neo, who won't expect some humour?). For me it was a good touching comedy though, relaxing yet educational.

Food for thought

One thing that stroke me in the movie was the point when Karen Neo (Jack Neo) was willing to let go of S$8000 (RM19000) just for a flight ticket for a pitiful girl, Mindy, that he/she just met in less than 24 hours so that she would be able to go back to Singapore to have the reunion dinner with her dad, Chef Daniel.

I mean, it was kinda rare to find this kind of kindness among the society nowadays that people would give up RM19000 for someone you have just met? The naive trust and generosity were just not there anymore in our society and we should be thanking God if that genuine trust was found even among our own friends. :)

All in all, quite a nice movie. If you haven't watched it, make sure you find the time to watch it before CNY and go back on time for reunion dinner! :)

First time at work!

Few weeks ago, when I was told to be the "representative" to the client office, I was super nervous and didn't know what to do as it was my first time.

Even though I followed my manager few times to the client office before, there are (yes, even until today) still a lot of unknowns to me. Besides, I have to go to the office ALONE! That's the most nerve cracking thing that can happen right?

After few weeks of attending, everything was smooth and there weren't much things going on (actually nothing happened throughout the two weeks). So I was pretty relaxed and cool.

But things changed over the weekend! Some equipment failure happened and today was a super happening day in the client office and my own office! Plenty of emails and calls and yea, plenty of angry expressions as well! (from the client of course).

And WOW! What a day! There were so many things going on (for example making international calls and answering my cell phone at the same time? and also completing a report in a day!) and I suppose the same thing will go on for few days until the whole operation was over. Dear Lord, I need strength, but also thank God for the precious chance for me to learn.

Plenty of first times. How about you? How was your first responsibility at work like? :)

Gulliver's Travels Movie Review

Another movie in a week, it was a movie day (Wednesday) and the ticket only costed RM8, so decided to go for another show. hehe...

I watched "Gulliver's Travels" by Rob Letterman, starring Jack Black, Emily Blunt and Jason Segel. It was a very funny comedy (with Jack Black in the show, it is expected. ahha)

In the movie, Jack Black acted as Gulliver, the guy from the mail room. Although he liked to talk big and joke like he was the big boss, he was afraid of coming out of the mail room and pursue anything else bigger, such as the girl he liked (Darcy).

During one occasion, he took up a challenge from Darcy and explored Permuda Triangle Islands. And he ended up in Lilliput, the small size human beings island. Being a giant among the small beings made Gulliver feel proud of himself and all the funny adventures began.

Things turned sour and challenging when the rival country of Lilliput, Blesfuscu attacked and took over Lilliput after defeating Gulliver, the giant. From there, the real adventure for Gulliver began. :)

Food for Thought

Even though the story was funny and good for laughter, I think there was a meaning behind it.

Let me share another story that I heard from the bible study group. There was this king from a kingdom and he had a younger brother who was superbly fat and unhygienic. In several occasions this younger brother humiliated his brother, who was the king, in the banquet, meetings and so on.

So one day, the king built walls around his younger brother forming a special prison around the brother. The different things about this prison was there was a open door for the prison, but it was of the smaller size than the brother. So the king told the brother, "One day when you slim down and able to pass through the door, you are a freeman.". The brother never made it and he died in the prison. It was the attitude that caused the brother's death.

Same with the Gulliver's Travels, it was the attitude of a person that decided the path that the person could take. If you dream big and trust that you can do it, you can do it and vice versa. So, trust in yourself and God has made you for a great purpose! :)

The Tourist Movie Review

It has been a very long time ever since I last watched a movie in the cinema, and it's very torturing for me (in fact it was just for two weeks I didn't step into the cinema, LOL). So last weekend, finally I broke the "chasten". hehe....

This time around, I watched "The Tourist" by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. If you know "Pirates of Carribean" and the female actor, I am sure you have already guessed this is going to be a good movie.

In fact, it is. At first the story started off with a girl(Elise) was "summoned" by her lover (Alexander Pearce) to meet him somewhere in Venice, Italy.

And unfortunately, Elise had been under surveillance by the police because Pearce was a wanted criminal by British government for eluding taxes up to 744 million pounds and also a gangsters' head, Shawn, for stealing 3 billion from him.

The whole meeting process was very complicated and confusing. Elise was told to pick a guy that looked like Pearce in the train to Venice in order to distract the police. She did and she chose Frank, a guy seemed innocent and naive who worked as a Mathematics teacher.

Then the whole exciting journey began. Frank acted so naively and foolishly that he was always in the way of the police's operations and also Elise's plans. In the end, when Shawn caught Elise and threatened to kill her if Pearce never show up with the money, Frank interfered.

Surprisingly, the story ended with an unexpected ending. I am not going to spoil the movie here but please do go and watch the movie. It's going to be exciting.

Food for thought

I was very impressed by Pearce understanding of Elise's taste and preference even in her likings of a guy. He understood very well what kind of guy she would pick up in the train and he had a lot of faith that she would pick the guy he had arranged to be in the train, thus the whole story unveiled. I wonder how many people we could find in this world that can understand us or how many people in this world we can understand fully just like how Pearce understood Elise's likings and choices?

It's going to be great huh? Imagine if you going out with a friend, and without you explaining, he/she would know what food you going to choose and what places you want to go? :) That would sound kind of cool. hehe...

Another thing as well, if we look from another side of the coin, that kind of understanding can be used for adverse effects. It is just like how Pearce used his understanding of Elise's trust, likings, and taste that he was able to carry out Frank the way Elise would like him and yet Elise didn't know Frank was actually Pearce (ooops, I leaked the spoiler!LOL). Kind of spooky in a way as well huh? But I think that kind of drama rarely happen in our daily lives? :)

Cheers people. Have a nice day. :) Remember to watch the movie in cinema!

Dessert Time

After the lunch the other day in Cheras, we proceed on with our desserts! guess where we went?

the mini tart in Prince Garden Neighborhood (Tai Zhi Yuan)

any idea how the egg tarts are made? It's made of flour and egg yolk.

the end result. RM0.60 each. not bad huh?

this is the original egg flavour

this is with coconut fillings

coconut fillings

and of course, cendol! RM2.50 each!

Ice Kacang, RM2.50 as well.

It's delicious, next time if you are going, look for this stall for the Ice Kacang and Cendol! :)

So much for just an afternoon huh? :)

Outing to Cheras, KL

Very sorry for the absence for the past few days, the office was quite happening this week and I had to finish up some work. Here's the new post. :)

Last week, some friends came from Johor to visit, and we decided to go out for a day outing around KL.

We dropped by this special restaurant for lunch. I ordered the set lunch and they gave me these.

soup of the day, with vege and chinese red dates. I quite like it, typical chinese hot soup. :)

Tomyam Fried rice with egg. really not bad.

jasmine tea.

The set lunch came with another scoup of Ice Cream (which tasted very good) as well, and total cost was just RM9.90. Isn't it cheap?

Quan Ice Cream and Coffee House, Desa Pandan, Cheras

If you are around in KL, should really go and try it out. :)

Ipoh Town

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak State in Malaysia. It's located towards the north of Kuala Lumpur city with bus ride of approximately 2.5 hours and train ride of 3 hours. A bus ride will cost around RM23, while train ride will cost from RM12 to RM22. :)

The city is full of many old yet nice buildings. During the last trip to Ipoh, I took some of the pics for you all to see. :) hehe...

the train station, quite a nice building right? :)

the Indian Town, full of Indian shops and restaurants.

one of the abandoned shop lots. quite old design.

old shop. beside it is the trademark tall flat, which you can find a lot of good restaurants beside it. Refer to the post here.

notice the staircase? it's different. hhehe..

behind the shops, along the dark streets. :)

the bridge that connects the old town and the new town.

owh, the Kinta river? :)

Next time shall take more pics of the Ipoh surroundings. hehe...

Happy New Year 2011!

First of all, Happy Belated Christmas and Happy New Year 2011! :)

Hope you all had great celebrations last year (2010), and have a great and blessed year ahead!

My celebrations were quite blessed. thank God for good friends and CG members that gave me so many presents. hehe...and also blessings from the Father Himself. :P

Happy New Year! huhu...nice presents.

yeap, all kind of wonderful presents. Thank God for them all. Don't worry, the camera is from myself. hahahhaa....just a simple gift to reward myself for the year? hehe...

God bless! Have a great year ahead!