.....times of refreshing.....

It's been raining non-stop over the weekend which is not common during the Chinese New Year season. I was kinda concerned with the heavy downpour after I woke up this morning and I knew it's gonna be a day of rain and a tough 'balik kampung' journey later.

It's indeed a difficult journey as the rain never stops on my trip from JB to Seremban. It kept pouring and pouring and the only consolation is when the rain gets lighter at some locations but it returned back with a vengeance soon after. It can stressful to know that you will have to drive hours in heavy rain. I gotta drive slow, around 70-80Km/h and sometimes goes up to 90km/h occasionally. In fact, one of my wipers decided to call it a day when I'm reaching my destination and I have to slow down the speed of the wipers and go very slow at 50km/h while reaching Seremban.


 However, during the journey, postive thinking helps to makes me feel better as I try to overcome the bad feelings. I beginning to try to enjoy the drive in the rain while listening to CNY songs. Later, the positiveness seems to bring rewards as I feel great catching glimpses of the view of the mountains covered in thick mist. This is the part of the journey between Yong Peng and Pagoh. The sight is heavenly.


I am relaxing at my in-law's place now and feel so good after a good meal and shower. The weather is cool too! I prayed for good weather on my next journey back to Ipoh. :)

To folks who are getting ready for the 'balik kampung' journey, do feel good and think positive while driving, despite the conditions.

Finally....the wait is over! It's the 'balik kampung' time! I will be travelling back to Ipoh to celebrate CNY from JB and it will gonna be a long drive. I prayed for good weather these few days and may everyone drive carefully and stayed alert on the roads. It's always a great feeling driving home for a festive season like CNY.

Simple things to note (or reminders)  if you are the driver :-

- Have a good night sleep
- Keep a good mood and refrain from taking calls on work as it may spoilt your mood
- Drive within the speed limit
- Take occasional breaks every 1-2 hours during driving
- Do not hesitate to ask your partner to take over, if he/she can drive so that you can rest
- Plan your journey, if you are visiting some towns for lunch, make sure you have sufficient time
- Send your car for servicing before the journey. Ensure your spare tyre is fill up.
- Pump sufficient petrol, as there are journeys which are difficult to find petrol kiosks.
- Play some CNY songs in the car, if you like it. This will give you some sense of holiday mood.
- Be patience if there's a traffic jam.
- If possible, plan your journey earlier and avoid the balik kampung rush......

Stay well, enjoy the journey as well as have a good journey!

There was an old friend of mine for 20 years who suddenly pissed off  when I cannot chat or chat for long with him during office hours. I was surprise with his reaction and thought maybe he wanted to tell me something that might be disturbing him. Family or work problems perhaps? Well, he's all alone in KL while his wife and kids are in Melaka. I guess it could be boredom.All along, he tried to msn me or message me on facebook during office hours and most of the time I was busy while my network has blocked facebook chatting.


Well, I don't think it's my fault of my long friend's frustration but this taught me something. When you are busy, off your msn or disable chat in facebook or just logout from both. This is especially so when you are on those mobile chat applications where you may not 'heard' when someone message you. I still  remember yesterday I am receiving messages from a friend on my phone even though I set my MSN to 'busy' while walking.

On the other hand, some folks have to be 'educated' that not everyone may respond to their IM and do not get offended if there are no responses.  Sometimes it could be due to network problems, messaging blocked by the service provider(like those in companies), the recipient is 'physically' away but forgot to change the status or just busy with other thing while forgot to change their IM status to away or busy.


Have a good mid-week and enjoy the days leading up to CNY!

Sutera Mall's decorations during festive seasons are always one of the best in JB and also, very extravagant. There were lanterns everywhere in the big compound of the mall and at night, once the lanterns are lit up, it looks like a park. In fact, there was a mini park nearby too which was full of lanterns and objects which were lit up. Above is the entrance to the Sutera Mall where loads of cute rabbits greeted you.
 Here's another decor which greeted you at the outside of the entrance, the 'fook look sau'. Chinese New Year is a only a week more now and this is one of the best time of the festivity. The shopping will grow more intense now as more and more folks rushing to get their stuffs. Enjoy the days leading up to CNY!

This is a great place to have chicken rice in JB. I was feeling very hungry at 3pm then, last Saturday while my son craved for chicken rice. Since we are at Taman Sentosa and been awhile never visited this eatery, we thought it's a good idea to go back there. The chicken rice here is really nice!

Jb's City Square is one of the most popular shopping attractions in the city and a favourite haunt for Singaporeans, as it is linked to the new JB CIQ. The place is always crowded on weekends! I was quite impressed with their decor this year as they go back to the 50s or 60s era. The decor looks refreshing and different from other shopping malls. You can also heard songs from the old era being played.

Every year at this time, I will get ready for the long journey back to Ipoh which I usually go back once or twice a year. As usual, I will take long leaves and travel early before CNY and come back late after CNY, in order to avoid the jam. It's a great feeling driving all  the way back home after been away for so long while looking forward to the most exciting festival for us. And, of course, drive safely. Opps....btw, it's still two weeks plus before I travel.


I thought about what are the plans when I'm back in Ipoh and thought of this list. Let me share it here :-

1. Check out the new eateries in Ipoh - this will need some bloggers help like reanaclaire, kenwooi , jen, wenn, lena and etc. I really lost touch unless those are the old places like lou wong taugeh chicken and foo san restaurant.

2. Wake the lazy reanaclaire and her princes and princess up early for a hike to kledang hill. LOL

3. Meet old friends

4. Meet my Pastor friend who transferred back to Ipoh for tea.

5. Drive around Ipoh town for sight seeing and take pictures.

OK, still working out the list,....what else ah...... can give me some other ideas? :)

A nice big rabbit ushering folks in Permas Jaya Jusco for the coming Lunar New year. It's time to bask in  the mood of CNY. Let's shop for new clothes, bak kwa, decors, drinks & goodies, mandarins, shoes and etc. Do sleep well and don't get sick, at least after the CNY. I will try to post more images of CNY around JB.

How true! Most of the times, we craved to do a project or something that we like but we always ended up without it. For example, when I first came out to work, I yearned to maintain and develop IT systems which adopt the latest technologies like web (then) but ended up working on a 'dinosaur' - the ever reliable mainframe systems. The organisation always asked you to be patience and finally, it ended up I look for another job. And, I didn't find job satisfaction again for whatever reasons in that new job- people, admin, HR...etc.

I still remembered some long time ago my ex-boss motivated me by always told me to develop interest in whatever work I am doing. It does really makes sense as you can only performs well in that job when you have an interest in it. It also makes life easier and transformed all those grumbles into challenges. Enjoy learning new things, manage the stress and keep yourself cool and compose at all times! Go for short breaks to recharge.

I believe job satisfaction can only be derived by giving our best to any jobs entrusted to us and do it nicely with precision. It's also living life to the fullest by engaging ourselves fully to our tasks and be satisfied with it, be it our job, household chores, church duties, volunteer work and etc.

Enjoy your weekend and look forward to Monday!

I'm delighted to share that sometimes money and age isn't everything especially when it comes to friendships. There is this 16 year old chap who was one of the trainees like me, in my weekly badminton training sessions. After training, he always joined me for dinner. Well, you may thought that's nothing to shout about but I'm sure teens at this age would rather go home than having a 40 year old uncle as dinner companion. hahha....

I usually love to have a slightly more expensive Japanese dinner to wind down after a tough training session and he joined me too, though he asked how much is the food over there.As a working adult, initially I offered to buy him dinner. Though this young chap decline and pay me back, I managed to foot the bill for the once or twice initially. However, I can't go on buying him expensive dinner weekly  but then, both of us shared some common interests besides badminton, which is the delicious ramen and chawanmushi at that restaurant. So, I felt no shame in going dutch with my 16 year old friend, while having a good dinner companion. I do buy try to him some meals at times especially if he's short of cash.


What I like to share here, money isn't everything and if I felt 'paisey' (shameful) of accepting his share of dinner from a high school chap, I will definitely ignore him for dinner after the session and ate alone and lost a friend, though a very young one. Btw, I can be childish and young at heart too and he finds me not easy to beat in badminton. LOL...

Have a good weekend!

Over the weekend of the brand new year, I got myself some health supplements in a pharmacy. Well, I do believe in vitamins or herbs as I find that it really helps to improve my health. I was having bouts of flu on and off during the last few months of 2010 and after taking a high dosage vitamin C, it seems controlled (*touch wood*). LOL
 
I have been taking health supplements since my teen years but lately, I think I really took a lot. These are what I consumed daily :-

- Multivitamins (it's the most basic and it's a must)
- Omega 3 & 6 fish oil
- Essentiale Forte (to improve my liver functioning - due to taking cholesterol medication)
- Q10 ( to improve stamina as well as replenish it due to cholesterol medication)
- Hypocol (for cholesterol)
- Vit C

I guess most importantly, it's to take a multi-vitamin then followed by your needs. For example, you can see that I have high cholesterol, thus, I took supplements to reduce it,  besides taking the main medication. Health supplements are not cheap and I will definitely reduce some once my condition improves. Anyway, for now, I guess I'm taking the most supplements in my life so far...hahaha....
Of course, just don't relied on supplements but do also control your diet and exercise a lot, reduce stress and have sufficient sleep. Adopt a holistic approach towards health and healing.

What about you? Do you believe in supplements?