New joy in Fruit's life : His name is July

Meet July! Our new furkid at home.
My mom fell in love with him the moment she set eyes on him at the vet. He was up for adoption and my mom fell into the trap of those "take me home" eyes.

He's real tiny ( only 2 months old ) and his paws are the cutest!
He's not as pah-pai as Winston cause he's a cross breed... But my mom adores him.

If this story was from gulliver's travel, Winston is the big men. Uncle Winston is trying to adapt to July. He's been sulking and strutting off everytime July bounces towards us. Too bad for uncle Winston... unlike little Bessy ( er, i think not so little anymore ), July is here to stay!

I think my mom's feeling the empty nest syndrome - probably trying to replace my brother and me with Winston and July!

The Fruit learns about Manuals

I bought a new webcam and very excitedly started to fix it up onto my new laptop ( yeah, i got the Compaq+Streamyx deal ). I quickly unbundled the wires, stuck the usb port into whatever space that's rectangular, put in the plugs at the right places and popped in the CD and clicked "Yes" to install the software.

Sat back and waited for the installation to complete. Whilst waiting, i picked up the webcam's manual. The first line read :

" Do not plug in USB port before installation of software ".

What went through my mind :

"oh shit!!"

Frantic scrambling around trying to unplug the webcam. Needless to say the programme got a little screwed up ( okay a lot screwed up, because i'm still trying to figure out why some of the things ain't working ). I spent half and hour rewinding the processes that i did ( not to mention, I'm not too tech savvy ).

This incident reminded me that almost all the time I am too impatient with the way my life is unfolding. Just like how i deal with new gadgets, very often i jump right into unbundling the gadgets and piecing them together ( because - how difficult can it be? got hole plug in lah! what's so difficult?). And then instead of looking at a masterpiece - i have to spend time asking myself - why isn't this stupid thing working ? Actually I am the one that is stupid.

Just as in life, there is a manual and instruction book for me and intended for me. But i'm so busy thinking " I know! How difficult can it be?" I am not bothered about reading the manual.

In many situations and thorough life's journey, i jump straight into things and then get really angry because "eh - why don't work ah?".

So now, i have to remind myself, to not be in a hurry and rush through things.
To go back to my Heavenly Father ( the maker ) and read my life manual ( His word - the bible ) so that i understand the purpose of my being ( step by step of plans unfolding ) and learn how to troubleshoot instead of frantically trying to reverse processes ( because some parts would have already gone haywire - like my webcam).

So next time, if you ever catch me jumping straight in to fix things without first reading the manual, here is my permission for you to whack me on the head with the manual- as a reminder!

A painful dent

Ever been trapped in a situation where there's a painful thud, a naggy feeling of lost and hopeful wish that you can blink your eyes, open and it's just a nightmare in a dream.

I crashed my car early Saturday morning. It was raining, i drove towards Eastin, didn't see accident no.1 ( they were trying to move accident case car No.1 out of the way ) and i had to ramp into them. I didn't manage to break in time.
To top that, i couldn't find my handphone ( yea my lovely sexy SE K610 ). It was stolen - not sure when i was at Somo or during the accident.

The car's damage's pretty bad - the bonnets crumpled, lights are gone and i think the radiator busted too.

Everything flashed passed pretty quickly. There were a lot of people, i think i was quite confused at the commotion. What's more painful is, I felt that - oh no, i've gotten myself into trouble again. And that my parents needed to bail me out of this mess... again.
And I'm 28!

The car's under my mom's name. The insurance documents are with my dad. And this is the 2nd accident in less than a year (the first was when the bus ramped into me ). Yea, so whilst i try to think of this incident of :
- everything happens for a reason, it's God's way of telling me something
- preparation for bigger financial lost in life
- i should count my blessings that i'm alive and unhurt
- my friends think i am very blessed that the toll truck guys didn't drive me off somewhere , when i decided to thumb a ride home....i was alone, the car can't move, it was rainning without a phone, couldn't remember any phone numbers besides a dear friend's with a bunch of men
- and KB managed to wake up after realising that his phone had been ringing continously 4 times in a row, and shane who kept calling the toll truck guys to make sure i was driven off to some oil palm estate...
- it was an accident waiting to happen and this has to happen to get bigger harm out of the way?
( 2 friends drove past me without realising it was my car, 2 friends tailed me but lost me - usually i'll take the toll but i drove into Eastin's road that day, the phone went missing so i had no one to call - except home which i chose not to)

How am I? I'm still floating in this "nightmare" and still in a surreal feeling. There's a sad feeling inside, i don't know why.

But through it all, i am learning to comprehend that God was with me through it all. In life, bad and horrible things will happen, sad and incomprehensible feelings will overwhelm me... as for me, I have to learn that HE is my security, if He is for me, no harm can come on me.

erm, am i conflicting myself?

Jalan - Jalan Cari Makan: Melaka,19th May 2007

Sharita's been in DDBI ( an exchange programme for 3 months from DDB Brainstorm,Jakarta ) for the last 2 months, and the furthest she's been anywhere is KL. All work and no play makes mummy Sharita a dull girl.

Saw Gin had a brilliant idea to bring us all down to Melaka to jalan-jalan cari makan. So off we went in Rocky ( Gin's suave Suzuki Swift ) and headed down south. 4 girls, with absolutely no clue how to get around Melaka town.


Starting the trip with Breakfast. It was meant to be a toilet stop, but we couldn't resist the hot steaming nasi lemak at the Nilai rest area. They were calling out to us!

I've always knew Melaka as a quaint historical town, but have never realised that she is so rich in culture, heritage and arty farty places, people & interesting cosy cafes. And, I've discovered that these places are opened by ex-advertising people!




Our first stop in Melaka, the orang utan man's shop_Charles cham. Sharita got her "i love chicken rice t-shirt" from this place. Then to Gee's clogs. Very nice handmade-handpainted clogs here. For some reason, Melakans love Bruce Lee. Mr Bruce's picture is everywhere.The paper cutting shop is just opposite Gees (looks like a scene from a beijing hutong eh?)

A tour around the Baba & Nyonya house, i learnt that the early settlers are really smart. They have security features and peep holes that even the alarm system at home now pales in comparison. They even have an icecream machine that looks like the ice kacang hand grinder. How cool is that! And, i just discovered that they use their fingers to eat ( okay i admit i suaku ).


The front of the Baba & Nyonya house. We're not allowed to take pictures inside. Sharita thought she felt a dark feeling inside one of the room. While she was sharing the story, I felt a little tug on my pants while we were chilling out at the cafe ( goose bumps?).



Fooling around at the cafe next door whilst waiting for the tour to start. Like my "tai -tai" pose??

FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!

Melaka must have no 1 : Chicken rice balls, nice lotus peanut soup and assam fish.. yummy!Drown it with cool leong char.. burp! Anyone knows why it's in BALLS? Sharita's favourite Malaysian food is Chicken rice!


Melaka must have no 2 : Durian Cendol at Bibik House. You can get nice pineapple tarts here, freshly baked.

A full tummy, and aching legs, the ultimate pampering would be... a foot reflexology. And it's just across the street. I can't remember the name, but it has a Giant Foot as a sign board opposite Bibik House. The reflexologist were a bunch of ladies from China.

The reflexology session was really good. The moment the lady held my feet i was already in dream land. This pair of feet belongs to Wan Hoon.. all ready to be pampered.

Limau - Limau cafe was our next stop. Julie and Jo were raving about it when they came to Melaka last year.We decided to pop in. Very very pretty place. Beautiful art pieces and nice huge chandeliers. And fresh fruit juices of all sorts - cool & refreshing on a hot afternoon.




My Grape juice, Saw Gin's Nangka juice, Wan Hoon's Kiwi juice and Sharita's Lychee juice.

Wan Hoon and me High on juice!

At 6pm, we realised that we've brought Sharita all the way to Melaka but she's not seen the landmarks of Melaka and briefed on the history al tour! All we did was shop and eat. So under the light drizzle we hurried ourselves to the Dutch Square and the Fort. I'm still a little unclear about the history.




I was too busy looking at 2 kwai lou leng jai backpackers i stepped on my own slipper and it gave up on me.Boo hoo! Luckily we were already walking back to the car to head towards satay celup. I learnt that "lucu" is a slang for cute in Bahasa Indonesia.

Wan Hoon's ingenious idea of tying my slipper with her rubber band. The funky design is by mummy Sharita's skillful hands. With this new funky designer slipper, i was able to walk around with my rubber-band - funky slipper until i reached KL.

Last stop.. The trip won't be complete without going for the famous Satay Celup! About 70 sticks in total. It was See Hup Galore...

Melaka must have no 3 : Satay Celup. We went to the one behind HSBC bank. 3 rounds of getting lost and going in circles, if you plan to get there take the immediate turn after the Shell station, before HSBC.

Luckily i was dressed in my flowy shirt. At the end of the night, i felt 3 months preggars. My tummy was round and nice!

Places we missed, but will return for :
1. The Geographer, i would like to just sit down, people watch and indulge in afternoon beers. Hic!
2. Seafood at the Portuguese settlement. Someone needs to take me there, because I don't know the directions to that place.
3. There's a funky budget hotel, i think it's call hotel 21 on Jonker Street.

Next stop, we're planning to do Batu Caves and then Kuala Selangor Seafood! I've not been there, so it's going to be pretty exciting ( except for the long climbs... :P)