Yes, I'm here

It's been a while, I know. Busy busy with work, finishing up a sector report so hopefully all goes well and it gets published soon!

I managed to sneak away for my birthday - 4 days with my family and Rommel. We headed to Phuket for some sun, sea, spa and FOOD. Pictures to come if my internet connection at home allows me to upload them! I was so annoyed a few Fridays ago when I could only upload ONE picture onto Flickr that night. Talk about ANNOYING! So many pictures and foodie stuff to blog about.... Sigh...

Knitting-wise, I've been productive (stress at work plus crappy internet at home = more knitting!).

1) I've finished my drawstring raglan which is a tad bit too big for me. I might wear it tomorrow to work and get response from my colleagues about it though.

2) I've also finished a shawl for my mom - her birthday's coming up so this will be my gift to her since she's always complaining that I never make anything for her. Really lovely gold and dark brown mix yarn - would go well with her Louis Vuitton monogramme collection!

3) I've started on a Cherry Leaf shawl (from Victorian Lace Today), using The Plucky Knitter Cashmere lace in a lovely baby blue. Pretty simple pattern to follow... So far so good!

4) I've also started a camisole for myself using 3 balls of Rowan Cashmerino in a gorgeous plum colour that my sister bought for me a while back.

Okay ta!

(Hopefully I'll post some pictures soon...)

Totally disrespectful

Just wanted to note some rather upsetting things in the press:

A Muslim journalist from Al-Islam and a friend attended Mass at one of the Catholic churches in KL under the pretense of "investigating if allegations that young Muslims were being converted into Christianity". At Mass, they accepted Holy Communion, spat the host out and took pictures of it.

Now, we are always fine with non-Catholics/Christians coming to our churches. In fact, we more than welcome people into our church. But, they should not take Holy Communion as this is meant for Catholics only. On top of that, their treatment of the communion host is most unacceptable. Someone I know related it to the equivalence of bringing pork into a mosque. That is the gravity of disrespect that has been shown.

Source: Cathnews.com, The Nutgraph, Malaysia Today, The Sun

I usually refrain from such outbursts but it is most appalling that these 2 people could have been so ignorant and disrespectful of other people's religion. We shall pray that they see error in what they have done and apologise for their ignorance and thoughtlessness.

Stress led me to PattyBelle

Everyone reacts differently to stress. In my case, I've come to realise that while I rarely lose my cool during stressful times (as in I rarely act in a panic or rush through things).

But my body has taken a different turn on how it handles stress. In recent months, I've had spells of really bad headaches, weird rashes and eczema on my body, multiple mouth ulcers at a go and most recently, my cold sores have made a major comeback.

I've had cold sores since I was very young and used to get it at least once a year. Tried all sorts of products and home treatments but nothing was as effective as taking lysine supplements, as recommended by a pharmacist in Covent Garden in 2004. Elated, I'd thought I found the solution to my cold sore issues. Then I later found out that lysine is also the active ingredient in Appeton - i.e. it helps to build your appetite. Which is something I obviously dont need.

But anyway, I stopped taking lysine after finding this out but didn't have any cold sores for the past 5 years. Suddenly, after a stressful week, I felt that familiar tingling yet painful feeling at the corner of my lips. Over the past few days, it has now erupted into a full-scale cold sore, something I haven't had in maybe 10 years.

The sad thing is, I doubt my boss believes that all my issues are probably stress-related. Sure, I always seem to be in a jolly mood and am usually responsive to stuff but that doesn't mean that I'm not stressed. I just absolutely abhor it when people throw tantrums when they're stressed (which I've seen a lot of) and so I dont wish to do the same to others. There is no point having a go at someone else when it's not their problem.

Sorry to rant on but I just wanted to get it off my chest.

And since my horoscope this morning said I should treat myself with a small reward, I took heed and bought something.... here it is:

** Photo taken from PattyBelle.com

This is Violet Dreamy Duchess headband from PattyBelle.com. Cost me RM50 including shipping. I found this website while checking out Tongue in Chic, a local fashion blog that keeps the not-so-fashionable me up to date with the local fashion scene.

My justification for making this purchase:
1) I'm stressed
2) I really like all of Patty's headbands so this is my first purchase to assess the service and delivery time.
3) I want to do more in supporting local crafters, especially since I would like to try selling some of my own stuff in future. It's great to have a thriving market for these things.
4) I think the headband will go perfectly with my lilac bridesmaid dress for Sunny's wedding next weekend. The dress is super simple and so I hope the headband will dress it up.

Ah, feeling much better.

The Invasion of the Teddybears

Mom's been shopping again. And it's not all clothes and shoes and bags. At one of the wholesalers on Petaling Street that she usually sources her stuff from, here's the latest items to invade our home.... teddy bears...


There's more bears in much larger sizes too and even bears decked out in LV and Burberry and all bedazzled... all for a charity event that she's involved in. I can't say much cos I dont know how much I'm allowed to reveal but I will hopefully be able to post pictures of the end products. I've seen the prototypes and they are cute!

P/S: If you're wondering why I'm so free to be blogging in the afternoon, it's because I'm home sick today. The multiple-sneezing got really bad yesterday so I'd gone home to rest but I had to come back to office to listen in on a results conference call and sort some things out. This morning I woke up with a killer sore throat and killer headache to match. I've done the whole take VitC-drink lots of water-gargle with salt water-drown my misery by watching E! nonsense so I'm feeling better now. Except the headache threatens to make a comeback every few hours... ugh... this is so annoying. And I look like Rudolph on a bad day. Now let me go wallow in my misery.

Busy week, stressed out

It's been a busy week for me and my brain's totally dead right now. My report's due and so I have to rush rush rush to get it out. Plus with the global market in such a situation, I really wonder if I should be initiating on a stock right now. And there will be questions on why am I initiating at this point in time. And share prices have been collapsing so that's not helping. Markets everywhere seem to be in free fall.

So this week was filled with 14 hours a day in the office, get home, have dinner, shower and work again until midnight before collapsing in bed. The alarm rings at 5.45am and the whole process starts again.

Add to that 2 dinners with Pa's clients (there was an exhibition in KL so he had guests from England, Indonesia and Singapore).

Then pile on crappy weather - super heavy thunder storms that leading horrendous traffic jams in the city that even at 8pm, most cars are barely moving on the roads. One of the dinners we had was at Max and it took Pa 2.5 hours to get from home to Impiana Hotel to pick the guests up and then turn to pick me up (I walked in the rain to the Weld to meet them) and then finally arrive at Max. We were 2 hours late for dinner.

So you can imagine how I'm looking forward to this weekend. We're off to Cameron Highlands as it's the long Deepavali weekend. Time to breathe in some clean highland air and chomp on strawberries and have steamboat feasts! Of course some time during our relaxing weekend, I will have to turn on my office laptop and do some work but hopefully when I get a bit more sleep and relax a bit more, my brain can function slightly better and I can write my report.

And now..... I'm off to bed for some much-needed rest. G'night.

Binge eating is bad for you

And how do I know? Because that's what I've been doing for the past few days.

Wednesday:
Client lunch at El Cerdo, Tengkat Tung Shin
Client buka puasa dinner at Latest Recipe, Le Meridien KL (rather disappointing)

Thursday:
Mihun goreng for breakfast
Client lunch at Pantai Seafood, Kg Sg Kayu Ara
Client buka puasa dinner at Lemon Garden Cafe, Shangrila KL (was there last week for our company buka puasa, one of the more reliable buffets in KL)

Today (Friday):
Kari Mee at the stalls behind Menara Boustead for breakfast
Client lunch at Mizu, TTDI Plaza

Saturday:
Mom's birthday dinner at Max, Tengkat Tung Shin

Sunday:
Concord friend's wedding dinner (can't remember where though)

Now can someone tell me, how on earth am I supposed to lose weight!?!?!?

Kitty-mania = headache

Shen,

No this is NOT about the white kitty whom I happily took photos of yesterday.

It's about the cats outside.

2 stray cats decided to have a fight in our garden early this morning. The two dum-dums woke me up at ~6.30am. ON A SUNDAY!

I looked out my window to see where they were (It sounded like they were just below my room really), but couldnt find them. I went downstairs, looked out all the windows on the front. Then I couldnt take it, I went outside to "hunt" for them. Ma and Pa had already left (some RCIA thing at IJ Convent Cheras today) so I also looked out from their window and Shen's window. After about 10 mins of hunting, I gave up cos I couldnt find them.

Later, while on the way for Mass, Evelyn said they'd actually started earlier in the morning but were at the back of the house (which would explain why I didnt hear it initially). She tried to shoo them away by throwing slippers at them. Ma and Pa tried shoo-ing them but it didn't work as well (and you know how cats know that Ma hates them and so they run away).

Sigh... at times like these I wish we had dogs. But then the neighbours dogs were all going mental as well cos they kept hearing the cats wail. At one point, it sounded like a baby was crying. Or someone mourning.... a long sad wail.

Whatever. I'm off to Gardens to catch a movie. Want to watch The Other Boleyn Girl.. And if it's boring, we're watching in Gold Class so that it's nice and comfy so I can sleep. Ta..

P/S: Shen if you want Sushi okay you can have it..... Want more hats too? Really easy to knit and done in just a few hours!

An adventure in Phuket

Happy Merdeka!

I'm assuming you read my previous post on missing my flight to Phuket because of the protests and airport closure.

Since the parents, Fatteh and Rommel were already there, they went around shopping, getting massages and taking photos with baby tigers and elephants. (Shen I'll try and post a pic of the one where Pot is carrying the baby tiger. So cute - the tiger I mean.) Ma made 12 silk shirts while Fatteh and Pa made 6-7 cotton ones each.

And Fatteh tried out some guns at the shooting range. Rommel said that it was much pricier than in Ho Chi Minh City and the guns kinda sounded more like paintball guns than proper guns (as in it wasn't as loud as the ones we tried at HCMC).

On Sunday the rest of the family had to get a car from Phuket all the way to the border (7 hours, no joke!!), then cross the border on foot (imagine Ma dragging her LV luggage across like an immigrant!), then hail another taxi to take them to the Alor Star airport (half an hour away). They then flew back to KL from Alor Star and arrived just an hour earlier than they would have if they took the scheduled flight from Phuket.

In the mean time, I stayed at home, slept the Saturday afternoon away and was just too lazy to go out that night. Evelyn cooked up a simple meal for the 2 of us and we just watched loads of TV.

Sunday morning, I was woken up at 9am by the sound of fighter jets in the air. It doesn't help that we live near the Sg Besi airforce base so that's where all the jets take off from for the Merdeka celebrations. Couldn't sleep, so headed to Midvalley.

At MV, I headed straight for Bottles and Bottles to get some beer (20 bottles of Weihenstephan - a mix of the 3 types) and 6 bottles of Little Creatures Pale Ale (I just had to try it!). Chong, the owner of B&B was really nice and helped me take the stuff to my car.

In the afternoon, I made 2 types of tiramisu - one with Kahlua and one without alcohol. Also baked a cheesecake (first time trying!) and am really glad it had good feedback from everyone who tried it last night. Just needs a bit of refinement so will keep trying and the colleagues have volunteered to be my guinea pigs.

Yesterday was a busy day. Fatteh wanted to go karting so we picked Godbro Ian up from his place and headed for the Mofaz track in USJ. After a couple of rounds, we all got hungry and headed for the char siew place in Shah Alam which is a sister restaurant to the famous one in Tengkat Tung Shin. Got there just in time to order the last few pieces of char siew. Yumm...

Next we headed to the go-karting track at the Shah Alam stadium so that they could go on the 100cc karts. Apparently the Mofaz track had too many turns and not many straights so it wasn't worth taking the 100ccs on it. I didn't kart though, was not in the mood cos it was so hot. So I just sat around and started on a new project - a crocheted baby blanket.

Evening time: the party! We only invited family members and some close friends so it was a small do. Mom didn't tell anyone it was my birthday so that they didn't have to feel obliged to buy me a present. But of course the family knew and so I still got some presents!

So there, our weekend summarised.

P/S: Hi Chris, yes I should have just made a visit to Daddy's cellar and raided it. Then if he calls, I can go "*hic*... Hi Pa... *hic*... I'm not sure which bottle I had but it said something "Harlan" on it." Hehe... And I know where all the good wines are kept. ;)

Petrina + Phuket = Bad luck

I was supposed to be on a flight to Phuket to join my family who went yesterday. Long story on why they planned to go on Friday and back on Sunday when Monday's the public holiday. But I was really upset with my dad because it's his office trip and the office staff planned it. He's already gotten an earful from me for this. I mean, talk about really dumb travel planning.

So anyway, I was supposed to take the 7.25am AirAsia flight this morning to join them. Then the protests in Bangkok and Southern Thailand close the Phuket, Krabi and Hadyai airports last night.

Initial reports said that they'll reopen this morning so I could still catch my flight. Then around midnight last night, we heard that it might be closed for Saturday and Sunday. So my plans were all cancelled. I was to stay at home.

Around 10am this morning, my mom calls up saying that the airport has apparently reopen so I may be able to catch the 12.45pm flight. A frantic dash to the airport to see if I can make it, only to find that the 12.45pm flight was still cancelled and the next one is at 8pm, which is really a waste of my time since the flight back is tomorrow.

And where is the travel agent all this time? We'd book it through my mom's usual agent but he didnt go this time. Instead, some stupid woman named Lynette was the guide and she wasn't the least bothered to help. She didn't inform Goon (our usual guy) about the whole thing.

So when I called him this morning, he didn't even know that the airport was closed. But at least he rushed to the LCCT to meet and help me check. We both had tried calling AirAsia's hotlines but couldn't get through.

Mom's apparently really upset with the Lynette woman as well over other parts of the tour arrangements that she screwed up. I have yet to meet her but from now on, I'm either never using Goon's agency again or I'll request that I never have her as my guide.

So anyway, enough of whining. There is nothing I can do now (except maybe demand that they take the first flight back tomorrow).

This is not my first failed attempt at going to Phuket. 4 years ago, we were supposed to go there. My parents had been there for some conference and both said it was very nice. Wanted to take us all there but waited until my Christmas holidays.

Somehow, we changed our minds almost at the last minute and went to Japan instead (of which we have absolutely no regrets cos that turned out to be one of the BEST holidays we've had).

We were really lucky because, if we didnt switch to Japan, we would have been among the crowds on Patong Beach when the tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004.

So there. I think Phuket and I are just not meant to be. I dont intend to ever make any plans to visit there again. What's the point, it's not like it has the best beaches? I'm happy heading to Bali or Krabi or even locally - Redang, Tioman, Langkawi.

Rommel's trying to appease me by suggesting a Bali holiday during the Deepavali break. We'll see..

And so for my birthday weekend, I shall be out partying with Tracy and Kharlene. It's been a while since I've done an all-girl night about town. Right now, I'm going to catch up on something I've been lacking for the past year = SLEEP. Good night.