13年 Goodbye

我以為我可以很瀟灑的轉身
還是忍不住紅了眼眶
畢竟這條路每天走
一走就走了13年

這條路有開心，有驚喜，有憤怒，有希望，有期待，有失望，有友情，有疲憊，有寬容，有壓力，有動力，有領悟....

不管如何它都曾经是我生命的一大部分。

今天告別13年的熟悉，心裡有點酸酸的

不捨的是這條路？

還是這家公司？

或是這崗位？

還是這13年來所建立的友情？

原來我在離別這條路還是不夠瀟灑

這條路、成了我的過去

這條路是我的故事

這條路成就了現在的我

我感恩在這條路上所遇到的每個人事物

我們再見～

#換個跑道#

旺年的歡樂~

農曆新年過了，大家回歸到原本的生活了嗎？

還是還在繼續大吃大喝？

還是後悔當時吃太多，現在連過年衣也有點緊了？

還是像我一樣，多買幾件鬆鬆垮垮的衣服，讓我自以為還是可以繼續大吃大喝？ *墮落*

過年前，答應朋友去參加他們獅子會的討論會。

他們說要給老人院安排一個旺旺年新年 party。哇，這是一定要的呀！

有人提議說，可以給每位老人家一個小小的紅包。因為有時麵包車來到，能走動的老公公老婆婆們開心的出去瞧瞧，但看著琳瑯滿目的食物卻沒錢買。其他的會員覺得是個好提議，但由於 budget 有限，決定不給紅包。

我和朋友聽到這個決定，心裡有點點心酸的。小時候，我也最喜歡麵包車，菜車，冰淇淋 uncle 嗶嗶的來到我們家。我媽媽會給我一兩毛錢，剛好可以買一樣東西。對的！很久以前，一兩毛錢比牛車輪還大，真的可以買到東西吃呢！現在一兩毛連停車費都不夠呀！ T__T 哎， 往事只能回味..... *我老了嗎？哈哈*

Anyway, 我們倆過後跟朋友說，紅包錢由我們來負責。因為我們覺得這是一種意義！讓老人家在這個新年裡，拿到一點點零用錢，買到的不是食物而是千金難買的回憶！

我們把這事情跟身邊的人分享，沒想到馬上就籌到了紅包錢。有些還來自國外呢！真的很感激善良的大家呀！

後來自己又覺得，如果由我們自己去派紅包，感覺好像怪怪的。好像大選前，有些人到處派紅包拉票的感覺，呵呵 （純粹個人感受，我不會因此要坐牢吧？>.<）

我在想，如果能找到一位財神爺來派紅包，應該會更好。老爺爺老奶奶從財神爺手中得到红包的話，他們會有一種被保佑祝福的感覺吧~ 但但但... 要去哪裡找財神爺呀？

這時就要靠神通廣大的朋友們啦~ 找了同事幫我打電話，結果還真的找到呢。只是問題是，他的收費有點高 >.<

雖說我也不能要求人家免費付出，或許他也是在為莫個善事在籌款, 但幾百塊對我來說真的有些吃力 :(

我跟他說，其實是用來娛樂老人院的老媽媽老爸爸們的，不知可否收少一點呢？或是允許我過後包個紅包回饋他。

他說他平時的收費就是這樣的了。

噢，明白了。

有些失落， 心裡一直祈願能找到收費在負擔以內的財神，因為真心希望老人家們有個特別的 party。

隔天，朋友來我家拜年，我提起了這件事，她說可以幫我問問一位朋友。第二天她跟我說，她朋友願意借出他們公司的可愛的卡通財神裝。而且還免收費！哇, 真的是菩薩心腸呀。

你知道嗎？當你真誠的希望別人好時，老天一定會派天使來幫忙的！深深體會！感謝大家拔刀相助！

當晚，由一位朋友的朋友 volunteer 當財神。財神一出場，老媽媽們開心的大呼叫呢！有些拍手，有些笑的好燦爛！

財神小心翼翼的把紅包及吉祥橘子交到每位老媽媽老爸爸的手裡，他們感激快樂的雙手握著財神爺的手。有幾位狀況比較嚴重躺在病床上的老人家當然也沒被忽略，可愛的財神把紅包橘子放在他們的床邊。

有位行動不便的阿姨堅持要站起來。我們大家只好扶著他。他緊緊握著財神的手，用客家話說“謝謝財神爺下凡來看我。請您保佑我，讓我順順。我的腳很痛，請您保佑我....." 看著這一幕，聽著他這麼許願，真的很感觸。原來財神不僅給老人家們帶來歡樂，同時也給了他們希望......

還有一位眼睛看不到的老伯伯邊摸財神邊開心的說，真的是財神啊。有鬍子的。呵呵，好可愛~

看著老伯伯老媽媽們開心的模樣，一切都值得了。其實你有沒有想過、一直以為自己在幫助人、事實是他們幫助了我們呢～ 

這是我第一次來到獅子會的老人院。說實在的，我和朋友們有些驚訝。因為我們沒想到原來這裡有這麼多狀況比較嚴重的老伯伯老婆婆！跟之前去的那家真的有不一樣。

印象深刻的是一位老伯伯。他拉拉我的手，叫我把他輪椅上的布剪開。我還真的差點去拿剪刀呢 後來我想，這塊布應該是護士綁的吧，以避免老伯伯擅自走動。我馬上跟老伯伯說我現在沒剪刀，等下才去找。老伯伯說，天快黑了，他要在天黑前去買山豬肉。他要烤豬肉。啊~原來老伯伯是失智的老人家。

朋友說，大家有空可以多去看看老人家。他們很開心的。朋友們、還等什麼？走吧！

財神送祝福~

财神装真的很热！

小時候的命運

小時候我們有一位好朋友。她跟我們同年同月同日出生。她也有一個雙胞胎姐姐但貝比時她們倆就被分開了，分別被送到2個不同的家庭。我爸媽說，當時這樣的事情很普遍

我和jane也差點面對同樣的命運。我媽說，當時爸爸只是個小小的政府部門秘書，微薄的工資剛好夠用。現在多了2小，負擔很重了因為什麼都得買2份。

當時我媽媽有一位要好的馬來朋友。她一直想要一個女兒，來了我們家“看”了好幾次。聽我爸說，她可能私下求我媽媽讓出一個，我媽媽想到小孩可以在富裕的環境長大也很好，而且也可以減低家裡的開銷，所以就答應了。正當馬來朋友抱著其中一個時（也不知是哪個），爸爸突然出現，把我們其中一個從她手中搶了回來。然後告訴馬來朋友，小孩不能給她。

幸好我爸爸把我們搶回來，否則大家就沒機會認識這麼可愛的雙胞胎姐妹花了呵呵〜 

難怪有人說、小時候的命運爸媽是關鍵、長大後命運在自己的手裏～ 

不知哪个是哪个 哈哈

Forever in my memory

How have you been?

It has been a while since I last wrote.

I have a lot to share but I have no time to put them in words.

How wonderful if smart people out there could come out with apps that could read my thoughts and convert them to words. But, would this great invention replace typing like how it has replacedwriting with hand? Oh well, there are two sides to a coin, it depends on one makes use of it, right?

Every time I see ice cream, I always always always mentioned about having it in gu you bao (butter bun). My friends always ask me what's so special about it. They think it it is weird to eat like that. You will only understand it IF you try it. The savoury sweet butter filling goes is perfect with the ice cream.  

More importantly, it is my childhood snack. 

The ice cream man brought a lot of happiness to me and many others.

I still see him from time to time. He is still pushing his bicycle with ice box on it and an umbrella above to cover him from sun and rain. Nothing has changed much except he has grown old (AND NO MORE GU YOU BAO!!).  I've chased after him a few times to buy ice cream (read here and here).

When I saw how old he had become, my heartache. I dunno why. Probably because he has been part of my childhood, i have unconsciously regarded him as my family.  I am scared that one day I wouldn't see him anymore.  It would be like losing a part of my childhood. 

A few days ago, I saw his picture in the FB, declaring that he had died in the hospital due to critical illness on 31/8. And that the hospital was waiting for his family member to claim his body. Memories of him pushing his ice cream bicycle in dark blue pants, pale blue shirt and a cap under the hot sun, taking all sorts of ice cream out from his little ice box, cutting buns and inserting scooped ice cream etc flashed by.

I know death is inevitable and I do miss him. However, I'm also happy for him. He may have died alone in the hospital but his life was not empty because he had given so much happiness and great memories to many people out there. Just look at how many people have shared about him in the FB! After all these years, I finally know his name. Rest in peace, Mr. Kho Thu Haw. Thank you for all the great ice cream and memories. You will always be remembered. 

Cherish before it's gone....

We came home one day to find this....

All Flat! T__T

ALL gone.... Not even sparing my mum's secret farm...

Impermanence 

It reminds me to cherish while you still have it... You never know when you will lose it....

古晉老街的美

上週的煙霾真的很嚴重。雖然空氣不新鮮，視線也不清楚但還是不阻止我和朋友出外~　誰叫吃喝玩樂這麼重要？哈！

我很喜歡逛老街 (part 1, part 2)。有時我會找一個時間，把車子停的遠遠的，然後古晉老街趴趴走。看著前人留下的痕跡，似乎可以感受到他們為了在異鄉生活而做的努力～　他們努力的創造他們懷念自己家鄉的建築，手藝，文化等，如今我們的政府卻為了呈現華麗的城市而把這些可貴的建築屋剷平。雖然感謝政府為了提升人民的生活品質而建了很多新的設備，但真心希望他們可以以不傷害原本樣貌的方式去進行。歷史一定要被保留呀！我們古晉也是個有故事的城市～　古老的手藝也漸漸消失因沒人願意繼承這堅苦的工作。週末時間，大家都往 Shopping Mall 去，沒人願意在炎熱的天氣裡逛老街。如果大家繼續這麼不關心自己的'故事'，真擔心有天這些寶貴的建築，手藝，文化等會隨著時間消失了～　

最近發現朋友也跟我有同樣的想法。他說有天他跟同事聊起老街的回憶，而同事卻回他說他從不到老街，不懂他在說舍。朋友聽了很驚訝，年齡沒有很大的距離，怎麽會沒逛過老街？這就是可怕的地方～　

放假的那天，我們倆相約到老街喝咖啡去。不是因為我們老了，而是我們想要在他們還沒消失前好好珍惜也把他們記錄起來。

大家或許不知道，在這老街里，隱藏了一家保留傳統咖啡的咖啡店吧？你知不知道古晉有條街曾經被稱為“棺材街＂？　有天我和朋友們提起這名字。很妙的是，竟然沒人聽過！怎麼會這樣？ ！

這傳統咖啡店就座落在棺材街。說實在的，我常經過這間咖啡店但卻第一次踏進它！相見恨晚！但遲到好過沒到，呵呵～　　咖啡店的座位不多，我們坐下來後，我細細看四周，哇！好古老！電視機，冰箱，時鐘，櫃子等都是老舊的。仿坲我坐了時空機回到了從前。

哇，還掛著國父孫中山的照片呢！

是不是很有古早味？ 

咖啡店的开放式厨房

古老的開關

老闆和老闆娘是安娣安哥（aunty uncle)。我們點了他們的傳統飲料”果比股油“　（福建話：　咖啡加牛油／奶油）。雖然古晉的咖啡豆原本就是咖啡豆跟牛油一起炒，泡出來的咖啡有一種香味，但在咖啡裡加牛油還真的是罕見。牛油在熱熱的咖啡中慢慢溶化，同時聞到咖啡香和牛油香，真的很想趕快喝！我平時不喝黑咖啡因為好像在喝苦茶但加了牛油的果比真的有點像加了奶的咖啡。好喝！我們邊喝邊吃在附近的老店買的蛋撻，真的是美妙的搭配！雖然卡路里爆表，但就先甜後苦吧～　待會兒去 gym　待久些就是了。人啊，要為自己的所作所為負責嘛～　

果比股油

我也跟朋友提起這條街的俗名，他也搖頭說不懂這名字。我們立刻問安娣安哥。他們說，對啊，大家以前都叫這裡棺材街因為有很多賣棺材的在這裡營業。看吧！哈哈，我突然覺得我好像是古人。怎麼大家都不曉得但我卻知道。突然覺得我沒去當歷史家好可惜，呵呵～　

老街的过去

我很喜歡這里古色古香的擺設。再加上一杯傳統果比股油，我好像回到了當時的世界。我想像當時大家忙碌了一整天后到這裡來飲咖啡和朋友聊天放鬆。對有些人來說或許到此喝一咖啡是一種奢侈。我下次還要來，而且還要带其他朋友們來老街逛和吃吃喝喝。希望大家一起努力保留我們的“故事”。

哪個是哪個？

那天我收拾房間，無意中發現了一張舊黃的照片。

哈哈，是我和Jane小時候的照片呢！好可愛！ (哈哈，真臭美，自己誇自己。但確實很可愛嘛~ ）

你認得出哪個是哪個嗎？

還是你還是分不出 Double J？呵呵 

粉可愛是不是？

不能過年的心情

最近常聽電台的‘幫到你’單元~

很佩服大家的勇氣因膽小的我，不敢讓全世界聽到我心裡的慾望或愛恨的表達。我...我...真的很保守低調！呵呵~

有次有位年輕人請DJ打電話給他主管，問他為何批准了其他同事的假期卻不讓他拿假。機票住宿行程都弄好的說~ 結果主管說這位員工手上的工作沒做完，做事態度不佳所以不能放假。哇，全國都聽到，這樣很拍謝吶~

過年前，他們有個新春版的"幫到你"~ 就是幫在國外不能回家過年的遊子打電話跟家人表達愛意。聽著遊子們在遠方訴說不能回家團圓的難過心情，我也想起了我自己以前在國外沒得過年的心情~

我記得那是14年以來第一次沒跟爸媽和弟弟一起過年。當時媽媽的好友很好意請我們3姐妹去吃團圓飯。看著2桌不認識的人家開心的團圓，我的心裡突然酸酸 的。好想念我的爸媽喔~ 年初一還得去上課，心裡也很不是滋味。為了彌補失落的心情，我們週末到唐人街去~ 雖然新年的裝飾不多，但看到同樣是黑頭髮黃皮膚的人們，有一種說不出的親切感！

有一年，我們的洋人數學老師還說，聽說今天是華人新年喔，祝亞洲的同學們新年快樂~ 既使只是聽到簡單的一句，我的心裡也是暖暖的。呵呵，原來快樂可以這麼簡單！

也因為有了這樣的'心酸經驗'讓我更珍惜跟家人好友一同團圓的時光~ 大家千萬不要等到失去了才懊惱， 也不要因為擁有而不珍惜。從現在開始一定要好好珍惜每個身邊的人事物喔~

你被控制了嗎？

最近看很多朋友們在FB上po 的低頭族的卡通〜嗯，只能說，時代不一樣了〜

現在每人手上一架多功能的手機，相機，iPad，電腦等。吃飯前大家不再是祈禱感恩而是拿起手機和相機拍下美食~吃飯時，大家不再交談而是看著銀幕跟其他人交談或“放空”（看FB，看電影等）〜食~吃飯時，大家不再交談而是看著銀幕跟其他人交談或“放空”（看FB，看電影等）〜

當然，科技的進步也帶來了很多方便〜我记得以前要出国都得找旅行社帮忙安排。电话打来打去的超多流程的。然后还得约时间到旅行社付钱。但现在，自己就像精通全世界的达人，机票住宿旅遊行程在自家就可以搞定！就连購物也能不需出外或出国就能买到想要的了！但也因为太方便，我常常‘不小心’买太多 T_____T

雖然科技帶來了很多方便但不懂得善用的人就會被科技控制〜我記得我有位前同事，我們明明就坐在她的四周但她卻用email來跟我們說事情。有時明明就在旁邊但卻沒聊天反而在聊天群講的沒完沒了〜不得不說，現在的人越來越不懂如何“人性”化的交流了〜不但大人受到科技的控制，就連小孩子也是一樣〜吃飯，去上學路途，就連洗澡都還在看電腦手機。我在想，他們長大後的童年回憶會是什麼呢？

那天我們在我二姐的家為小侄女慶生，切了蛋糕後小侄子和小侄女突然不見人影，後來才發現他們拿著蛋糕盒子變裝去了~哈哈〜很開心看見我姐姐還是堅持'古老'的教育〜

蒙面超人~

头套角色演变？呵呵

這才像小孩子嘛〜童年的創意，千金難買〜

11.11.2014

Today is a very special day! 

Not only is it a day many loving couples get married (due to its auspicious resemblance as 1111 means you are my forever one) , there is also a HUGE online sale (which i also participated @_@). Today is also a special day in China for the Singles called 光棍节, which means The Singles Day.. I don't know why there is such an event. May be it is to create something to celebrate hehe... Most importantly, it's the birthday of the adorable twins, Jane and Jennifer! hehe... Hooray!

This year is a bit more special because i found my long lost childhood friend at a bazaar whom we lost contact since high school. Guess what? We were born on the same day, same month and in the same year! And what's more special, she has an identical twin sister too! 

We weren't close to her sister because they were separated since birth.  10 years ago, i saw someone who looked exactly like her at a dinner event. I was so excited and ran to her, patted her back real hard because that was how we greeted each other when small. She turned around and looked a bit angry, shocked and puzzled... I felt a bit awkward and thought that she probably had forgotten who I'm since i might have looked different. It turned out that she wasn't my long lost childhood friend but the other twin sister which i had never met before! It was embarrassing! So I know totally understand how u guys feel when u mistook me/Jane for Jane/me! 

Celebrations started way before today... Today, I am flooded with birthday greetings and wishes from all over the world. They really brighten up my day. Thank you so much! I feel so blessed to have all of you in my life! I even received my name stickers today! What a day!

Just a few pictures to share~ 

My mum made me a hearty breakfast. It's so huge that I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner! haha...~ 

 Don't eat your monitor! haha

Happy birthday to Jane, my dearest sister and myself!  We fight but we still love each other :P Because of u, it makes 1111 more meaningful!

Saving the polkadots lady~

I was at my aunt's house for a lunch party the other day.

When I arrived with my mum, she was still in the midst of cooking. Since she has friends to help her, i decided to spend my time in her garden. haha, actually i just wanted some fresh air because the air in this house was too hot & spicy to bear. They sautéed chopped chilli and onions for chicken rendang.

Fortunately it wasn't too hot outside. It just rained that morning and her abandoned mini fountain was filled with clear water... There I saw something orange in colour floating in the water and was kinda moving! I looked closely, it was a lady-bird! Wow! I haven't seen a ladybird for ages! It reminded me of my childhood!

Ladybirdie on my hand

At our home where we stayed, there was a bush right next to it. Everyday after school, we would go to the bush and 'pick' ladybirds. There were red ones as well as orange ones. Sometimes there were baby ladybirds too! There were so tiny! We competed to see who collected the most. haha, we kids would do anything to amuse ourselves.  Well, what to do? We didn't have smart phones or tablets to play with at that time. I kinda miss the old-fashioned way of growing up though. Oh, back to the collected ladybirds, don't worry, no ladybirds were hurt at all during the competition. They were carefully picked, counted and released back to their homes after we announced the champion of the day.

I scooped the struggling ladybird from the water and placed her on the leave.  I couldn't tell from her expression if she is happy to be on a dry place. There is a possibility that she might be angry at me for she might be having a great swim in the water haha~ Can u tell?

Is she happy or angry?

回到小時候~

星期日，我早上7點就起床了。好早，但也很興奮因為今天我們要去小鎮新堯灣 (Siniawan) 老街玩耍！

小時候，爸媽常帶我們來這小鎮玩。媽媽也很愛因為那裡有新鮮的豬肉出售，價格比市區便宜。還有自家種的蔬菜水果，肉丸，客家菜粿等等~

小鎮真的很小，只有兩排木製的店屋而已~ 一目了然，真的超簡單的。小時候我會想，這裡的人幸福嗎？每天他們都做什麼呀？那裡沒有戲院又沒有商場，感覺還挺悶的~ 長大後反而很珍惜這小鎮老街。反而覺得簡單就是幸福。哈哈，怎麼會這樣？有句話說得真的沒錯~ '小時候幸福很簡單，長大後簡單是幸福'，真的耶！

言歸正題。星期天一早我開著車子帶著我媽和媽媽的好朋友們去小鎮老街~ 路上的風景好熟悉！小時候爸爸開車時我們會一路看風景。現在輪到我開著車子載著媽媽去玩耍。感覺我長大了但爸媽仍覺得我是小孩子~ 記得以前到處都是稻田和樹林。偶爾會有幾間小屋。現在很多樹林不見了，變成了房屋和工廠~ 可喜可忧~

小時候的路邊攤還在耶！停下來‘購物’，呵呵

傳统的"亚达屋"

好多蔬菜水果~ 

约45分鐘後，我們終於抵達新堯灣小鎮啦！這裡每逢星期五至日都有夜市，但媽媽們不喜歡人擠人，所以我們決定白天來玩耍~ 雖然冷清了些但我反而很喜歡這種悠閒的feel~ 這才是我熟悉的小鎮！

走在路中间也不怕被车撞倒！哈哈

小鎮還是一樣，仿佛搭了時光機回到以前。腦海裡的木製店屋還在但殘舊了許多。歲月在這裡留下了痕跡呀，但也因此增添了一種古色古香的味道。大概是新一代都已到市區工作的原因，有些店屋空著了。看著空著的老木店屋，心裡有一種其妙的feel~ 好像有些淒涼但好像又有些安寧~

有些屋主改建了，把老店變著了美麗的咖啡廳，客棧，美食屋讓來這裡的都市人放鬆。舊舊的老街加上了一點點摩登的元素好像也不會太突兀耶~ 

妈妈们又开始‘血拼’咯~ 

這里風涼涼的。有山有水。有新鮮的肉菜。四周的人都講客家話讓我覺得很有親切感。這裡還有一家很好吃的麵包店。老闆曾在新加坡做了20年的麵包師傅，現在決定回來自己家鄉創業。他家的麵包種類很多，價格也不貴。重點是老闆說他早上3點起來做的，聽了真的很感動！ 3點我還在作夢呢！最開心的是，我在這裡喝到很好喝的奶茶，還有很好吃的菜湯~ 和家人朋友邊看著山邊享用早餐真的一級棒！

优静的小镇

我還蠻喜歡這裡。不曉得是因為這小鎮有我小時候的回憶，還是風景優美讓人放鬆，還是因為老街保留的很好（因古晉的老街已經慢慢變商業化了），還是因為這裡的人比較純樸（我們不用擔心在這裡會遇到壞人！）。不管是什麼原因，希望這樣的小鎮老街可以一直保存下去！也希望小鎮老街的人們不要失去自己的特色！

吃吃喝喝~

以前我的字典沒有肥胖, 減肥這两個字~

中學時，身邊的朋友們為了減肥，每天才吃一顆萍果。我卻每天豐富的三明治，料多到爆開的壽司條等! 然後還反問他們為何要減肥~

記得以前我一次能吃3包印冬面（快熟面- Indon Mee)。最愛吃Milo巧克力粉。有時我在杯裡放半杯的Milo粉+2匙的紅字牛奶，然後加入半杯的冷開水後用湯匙攪。粘粘稠稠，甜到爆炸的美祿牛奶飲料（其實根本不是飲料！哈哈~）是我常吃的。有次我還買了一包奶精粉 Coffeemate，打開後坐在電視機前，一口一口的送入嘴巴~ 還有個冬天晚上，我們姐弟3人叫了3大 pizza 外送到家裡。一個晚上我們3人各吃了一大個披薩！哈哈~ 真的是大胃王！以前我吃月餅，也是一整顆一整顆這麼吃的。我以為大家的吃法都是這樣，直到有次同事看到尖叫後，我才知道原來除了我家之外，大家都是切小塊分多人吃的，哈哈~ 

直到身材往橫的發展後，我才知道什麼是肥胖（會不會太晚了呀！衣服早就穿不下了！@_@）也慢慢意識到健康的重要性。我才明白禍從口入，you are what you eat 的意思！真是后知后覺~ 後來我幾乎不吃快熟面了，也只喝無糖的Milo巧克力飲料（加很多水喔~ ），戒了奶精粉，披薩一次也只吃 2，3片~ 雖然如此，我還是沒變瘦 :( 因為我家有個超級無敵霹靂厲害煮東西的大廚師（我媽啦~ 哈哈）。每天面對這麼多好吃（重點是份量也很大！）的食物，我還真的無法抗拒！哎~

現在我唯一保留的童年小吃就是...... 舒打餅+紅字牛奶'湯'！超好吃的！我一次可以吃上10片舒打餅！哈哈~ 沒吃過~ 可試試看喔~

Biscuits in Condensed Milk

其實我偶爾還是會蠻懷念豪無禁忌的大吃大喝的生活呢~

哎，歲月不留人啊~ 往事只能回味~ 呵呵

Crazy Time with my Sis

My sister came back for a short stay 2 months ago (yeah, this post is very long overdue hehe). We went grocery shopping. She bought a lot of local dried noodles to bring back. Mum even cooked noodles with dumplings for us to eat just to show my sis one of the ways to eat them.

u can't see the noodles but i assured

u that they are underneath the mountains 

of dumplings 

It's always fun to have sibling coming home for a visit. Although it can be tiring because we have little time together and so many things to do~ So we try to squeeze many activities in one day.. hmm.. i think this is where i learn my time management skill where we have to first attend to important and urgent item first and leave the not urgent & not important last.. the problem is, everything seems important and urgent! haha...

I took her to the new shopping mall the other night to get nail polish remover. We walked past the game centre and she  suddenly stopped and said "let's go play that". Then we went to buy tokens and started our journey to make our very own stickers! The machine will talk to us and we start to pose differently. 

At first we didn't know where to look, when we finally got the hang of it, it's the end of the session :S Then we moved to the other booth to decorate our pictures. There were sOOoooOooo many frames, messages, accessories, wordings, decorative items etc to choose from and we had to complete it in 2 minutes! My sister was really lost and stood there trying to figure out what to do. Good thing that I play with a lot of photo editing applications on iPhone and had a bit of idea how this thing works and started with photo decorating. As we have many photos to decorate so I told her to hurry up as we are running out of time. So she started doing it while screaming excitedly at the same time. I bet the people standing outside the booth must be wondering what is happening inside. haha..

After that, we moved to the last booth to collect for our stickers. While waiting, we played 'matching the same card game' on the screen like the kind we used to play with REAL cards when we were young. Even with this, my sister can scream with excitement~ haha, it was hilarious~  

Producing our very own stickers

Here is our special sticker. Half for me to keep, half for my sister. She instantly stick it on the back of her mobile phone. I must say, her mobile phone instantly looks stylish :P

Our final product!

我的城市里的森林~

那天我跟Jane兩人在後院摘木瓜。突然有位阿姨跟我們倆打招呼。原來是朋友的媽媽~ 她說他們把我們家後面的空地買了下來，計劃蓋房子~

我聽了，頓時心裡酸酸的~

後面的空地以前是個修車房。木屋裡住著一位小女生。我們小時候常在後院爬樹，煮菜。小女生總是站在窗口的看著我們~ 她大概也很想跟我們玩在一起吧~ 因為是修車房，每天我們都聽到敲敲打打的聲音，有時真的覺得很吵。小時候的我們很頑皮，我們拿著媽媽廚房的鐵鍋和洗衣桶，也在後院敲敲打打以示抗議~ 哈哈，真的很無聊，但小孩的心聲是應該被聽到的！ ：P

有一陣子，我們在夜深人靜的晚上會聽到木屋裡播放老音樂~ 感觉屋裡的人好有情調，我想像他們邊喝紅酒邊沉醉在60年代的世界裡~ 後來修車房收掉了，住在木屋裡的一家人也搬離了~ 之後我媽說女主人生病往生了，我才知道原來老音樂是播放給當時生病的她聽的~

自從他們搬離後雜音和老音樂沒了但也不見新鄰居搬入。應該不會是聽說這附近住了野孩子吧？哈哈哈~ 因為沒人住，晚上我們家四周變得好安靜好安靜，也很黑暗~ 雜草樹木開始蓋過原先的修車房和木屋~ 空地上長了一顆很壯很綠的大樹。每次看到它，我就會幻想是否裡頭住了只可愛的龍貓Totoro~ 有時我晚上站在烏漆麻黑的後院看著大樹~ 因為大樹是瑩火蟲的遊樂園。在黑暗中，大樹有如家裡掛了X'mas lights 的聖誕樹一樣，一閃一閃的，美極了！有時我還會在我家看到松鼠奔奔跳跳呢！當然也有蛇和蝎子的問題但牠們也有生存的權利，所以我們盡量'井水不犯河水'。只是有一次我媽在菜園裡種菜時被蝎子咬了一口，讓她痛了好幾天~

小松鼠在我家的電線桿上奔跑！

想到空地将會被開發，我心酸酸的。因為我將失去這些自然環境~ 心裡有些不捨~ 畢竟在21世紀仍能在城市裡的家看到大樹，瑩火蟲，松鼠真的很難~ 但不變的是改變，我也只好接受~ 現在的我要​​盡情的享受和珍惜現在所擁有的~

今早我還聽到窗外的鳥兒在唱歌喔~ 能常被動物們圍繞著，我好幸福喔~ 感覺我好像白雪公主耶，呵呵~

la la la la.....

Out of the comfort zone

Change can be scary. Sometimes we choose to stay where we are because we fear that a slight change means we have to do a bit more to live with the change. Who needs new challenges when we already have enough to deal with at the moment?

I was once a coward too. I hated making decisions because making decisions means having to bear the consequences, which also means, if the results did not turn out as I had hoped for, I would have a miserable life ;(

But to remain unchanged while the rest of the world keeps changing, I would have a miserable life too. So i learn to make changes for the better. I learn to accept consequences, be it good or bad. I learn to have an ordinary mind by not expecting any rewards (平常心).

So, what have i learned so far? I have learned that it's OK when i take a turn and fall into the drain. I just need to stand up, heal myself, think of better ways to not fall down again. The journey may not be a pleasant one but the fruits are definitely sweet.....

I had a boyish hairstyle during my school years. My mum kept telling not to have such short hair because i looked like a boy from behind as I am tall and slim (ahem, am slim no more T__T). Being stubborn, I didn't listen to her and continued to keep my hair short. One day, while i was on a study trip in Taipei, I was bag-bargaining at a store at a night market. As i turned around to leave, I noticed a small kid standing behind me with his mum. He told him mum that he thought i was a boy! His mum was a bit embarrassed and told him to say no more. Sad to say, kids are always honest and from then onward,  i stopped having short hair. Yup, i was that hurt... and trusted the kid's taste haha...

Even when i have long hair, I went thru many struggles too. Before the hair straightening era, i went through life with messy & unmanageable hair for i have natural curls. Then someone invented hair straightening (praise the inventor!) and i was too scared to try because I heard that it would burn your hair and make u botak (bold). After many thoughts (struggles), i did it anyway and had straightened long hair for many years. 

Then my family and friends started to get bored of it  and 'complained' that i should make a hairstyle change (hey! easy for them to judge me!). Then i struggled again. Should i curl my hair? What if i look like an aunty? After many thoughts (struggles), I did it anyway and had curly hair for many years. Although sometimes the results were not as expected but I lived with them anyway.

Then I got so used to long hair that I'm sick of it :P and thought may be i should do some change. So a few weeks ago, I went to visit my hairdresser. For the first time, i actually did not think and struggle at all like i used to! The feeling is great! No headache, No hesitation. The results?

I am instantly 18 again and lost 5kg!  hehe... 

Do you like my new look?

Change is part and parcel of life. The worst thing is being 'used to' it. I just realised that all of us stop progressing when we decide to stick to our comfort zone @_@ Sometimes it's a breath of fresh hair when we walk out from our little squares. It's so much easier if we have less "principles" or "rules" of our own! la la la  *singing & dancing*

Gosh, I really like my new hairstyle! I feel lighter, both mentally and physically hehe...

Let's embrace change! yayeee....

My "treasure" box

I was talking stars and galaxy the other day.. i think it's the word 银河社 (Yinhoo) which sent Jane down memory lane, then both of us and lj started to discuss about it haha....

When we were in primary school, we loved to read the catalogues from yinhoo. Haha, i just realised that we started our 'virtual' shopping experience at such a young age! I remember the catalogue contains a lot of stuff, from decorative to stationery, accessories to items which i have no idea what they are for. Honestly speaking, Jane and I bought a lot of cute and useless stuff from the catalogue. 

At that time, it wasn't so easy to purchase from catalogue. First, we had to wait for the catalogues to be sent to us, then filled in the order form after which we had to go to post office to buy money order and finally sending everything off via airmail. After the long processes, the waiting game started! We had to wait very patiently (it could take weeks!) for the items to reach us. 

We bought customized name cards which we didn't really give out, earrings which we never wore, bookmarks just because we liked the wordings or pictures, photos of idols which we didn't even look very often. We bought stickers because they were too cute not to buy. We bought things simply because they were too cute. I kept these in my treasure box which I still kept til now... :P

I dug out my treasure box last night. I used to have more items but when i moved around the world, I lost a few things, like the diary i wrote when i was in primary 4! :( Anyway, am still happy that i have this small treasure box with me. It holds my childhood memories... which reminded me where i had spent my hard-saved money on :P When i was small, my pocket money was 50c. Everyday, i would do a cash flow and decide how much i should save and how much i could spend. oooo looks like am destined to be a bean counter since primary school @_@

some of the treasures i've collected

These are just a small part of my treasures. Hey, the sundae and Lollipop stickers are very unique. A few scratches on their surfaces and u can smell strawberry and lollies! 

The customised name cards are at the bottom left of the picture. My friends gave me theirs in exchange for mine.

Fido dido? hahaha... We were quite crazy over this 7-up character...

My cute pencils are still "new"

Bookmarks which never got to serve their purpose :P

My tin box which can be opened both sides

got lots of stickers inside! haha...

Playing cards with popular idol, bookmarks, pencils etc

With today's technology, it's so easy to spend unnecessarily on the internet. We don't have to go through the complicated manual processes like before. With just one click on the mouse (and also typing here and there la), the vendors received our order & money. Depends on locations, we sometimes received our items the next day!  And we can look at nice pictures of the products anytime anywhere and can do shopping 24-7! That kinda explains why Jane and I (*ahem* and some of my friends too) are addicted to online shopping. Looks like some old habits are hard to quit! :P

Although there are many much nicer e-catalogues to look at, somehow i still miss Yinhoo's catalogue. So when Jane and LJ mentioned about it, the child living inside me came to live. I was so excited when LJ said her sister still buys from Yinhoo and that she will go ask for the copy to lend us! I wonder if we still have to go through the manual processes since internet is so powerful nowadays...

As i was wondering, i suddenly thought, hey, maybe i should google just to find out. guess what? i found yinhoo on internet! They even have facebook account! WOW! am so excited and immediately check the site! 

Guess what? There are still a lot of cute stuff and stuff i don't know what to do with :P love to look at the catalogues. it really brings back a lot of childhood memory!

From yinhoo's website

 I feel like buying again :P

I love my stars....

I have a thing for stars since young. When I was small, I would sit outside and try to count the number of stars in the dark sky. They twinkled like Christmas lights and it felt serene and made me happy inside. 

Sometimes I imagined myself floating in the galaxy accompanied by stars. Then I collected them into my little pouch and my pouch glowed brighter and brighter as I collected more and more. I heard that the real stars are not star-shaped like, is that true? Awww.. what we've imagined is more beautiful than reality! That's why it is important to have good imagination! :P

I missed my family and friends when I lived overseas. I remember looking up in the sky and thought to myself that I maybe far from my homeland and away from my loved ones, but the sky keeps us close together because everyday we "share" the same sky, the same sun, the same moon and the same stars. Then I would feel less homesick. Haha, the power of own thoughts!

The other night i went to Kch Food Fair with my friend. There were hundreds of food stalls in one area but strangely I didn't find anything interesting to eat @_@ Everyone seemed to have something in their hands. Even my friend had already swallowed one pork burger, a beef pie and a can of green tea and i was still empty-handed and stomached! How could this be?!  Just when I was about to give in and just grabbed anything to eat, I got attracted by these...

Assorted cakes in porcelain cups!

Aren't they cute?

They looked so cute! And there were so many different sizes, shapes, flavours, designs, colours....!

I stood there for a while coz i was carefully examining each and every cakes. There were chocolate mousse, cheesecake, choc fudge, Japanese cake, butter cake..... Then I saw IT and immediately bought it. It was love at first sight! hehe...

It was a chocolate mousse in the cup with lots of colourful stars on top! It is Galaxy (银河) in a cup, just many times smaller :P

What do stars taste like?

One spoonful of galaxy and stars!

Wow, I didn't know that Galaxy actually tastes like chocolate! hehe...

Haha, am a sucker for stars. The stall owner made 6 bucks from me just because she sprinkled some stars on top. hahaha, that's easy money from me! haha... The choc mousse didn't taste so bad. And best of all, i got to keep the cup too which I sometimes use to drink coffee and tea :P

Coffee & tea

So I guess u can say, value for money? haha...

星期天早上

昨天發生了一個笑話。但你要懂一點丁客家話才會覺得好笑喔～　

昨天早上，我起得很早。哎，最近的天氣真的很熱！一大早太陽就高高掛了~ 也因為太亮（加上太熱），所以我很早就醒來了~

媽媽在看早報，看見我就叫我趕快準備，我們一起去吃早餐~ 哇！我最愛一大清早和家人一起吃早餐！我如一陣風般，很快就準備好了。

我問媽媽她想到哪裡吃早餐。她說 "我們去吃雲吞。在浮羅岸的 miào 那邊。" 

我鄒了眉頭一下，心想“浮羅岸有廟嗎？” 腦海裡出現浮羅岸的畫面，我從街頭scan 到街尾，噢，街尾好像真的有一座廟喔，但那裡沒有茶餐廳呀。

我問媽媽，她說的廟在浮羅岸街的哪裡。她回我說浮羅岸那裡不是有miào嗎？呵呵，我媽媽就是這麼可愛。回答了好像跟之前說的沒差～  我常常得用不同方式再追問她才會有答案。　

我頭腦又再不停的轉動。那裡只有一座廟啊，到底是哪个呢？我问妈妈哪里是不是有新的廟？媽媽說，“那個賣豬肉的店的附近不是有大大的miào嗎？

我立刻電燈泡亮起來，噢，我懂了啦！媽媽說的miào不是指‘廟’。是那隻在街頭迎接大家的貓貓像啦！都怪我平常把貓發音為 miāo，所以才會貓和廟傻傻分不清楚 ～　我媽說著一口流利的正宗客家話，不知為何她的孩子們說的客家話就是有點'走音'。不但被人家誤認為外國人，還跟自己的媽媽鬧出笑話，真的太搞笑了！呵呵～ 現在回想，明明廟的客家發音是miǎo 嘛,怎麽會搞错了呢？應該是我太早起床了，身體醒了但頭腦還处在睡觉的状态，才会這麽烏龍的~ :P

就是它！妈妈指的‘廟’！哈哈~

話說回來，我們到貓貓附近的茶餐廳吃早餐。我雖常帶媽媽去他們鄰居那裡買肉，在那裡吃早餐是第一次呢。

‘舊舊’的外观

這茶餐廳真的很復古！感覺自己好像走到了阿牛的'初戀紅豆冰'電影的茶餐廳耶！充滿了古時唐人街的味道！其實我也不懂那是什麼"味道"，只覺得這裡的擺設都很古老這樣子，呵呵～　一大早大家很憂閒的在吃著早餐，我還蠻喜歡這種假日懶懶的感覺～ 我們的座位旁邊擺了很多糕點，媽媽忍不住買了一包餅。幸好我們的雲吞很快就上桌，要不然我媽會買更多！　

　古色古香呢！

懷舊吧~

我在其它地方吃的雲吞湯通常都只放炸紅蔥和一點點的青蔥，雲吞的餡少到我以為只有云吞皮 T___T 可這裡的雲吞大顆而且湯裡有很多青菜！好難得喔！再喝上一杯奶茶，喔哈哈，好幸福！

青菜躲在雲吞下喔~

每次看美食節目時，都會聽到主持人形容"吃起來有'古早味'"。這３個字也變成了很多美食點的招牌之一。到底古早味是什麼味道呀？對我來說，食物只有好吃和不好吃，而且味道也只有酸甜苦辣。古早味是哪一味呢？是應該說作法是以古早的方式做出來才對吧？有誰可以解我的愚問嗎？

原来我是对的~

When I was small, I love to take cold stuff. On hot days, I would take an ice cube from the freezer and pop it into my mouth. And sometimes, I froze the milo drink my mum made for me in the morning and when i got back from school, i would dig the frozen milo with a spoon. I also liked to make Milo Godzilla. My version is to put a few scoops of condensed milk in a mug, then filled it with half a cup of milo powder. Then I poured iced water and quickly stirred it until it's sticky and gooey... it is nice and sweet to eat like that! When I was small, the word FAT did not exist...... 

When we were studying in Aust, we sometimes cycled to the deli near to our home and each of us bought a cup of frozen coke. We had a little competition where we drank the frozen coke with a straw and the first person to get brain freeze lost.... haha, the good old days where kids like us would do anything to entertain ourselves haha...

As i grow up, I realise that it's best we avoid taking cold stuff. Yup, i finally grow some wisdom! hahaha... I figured that since our body temperature is 37 degree celsius, if we consume cold food and beverages, our temperature will drop... Just imagine the amount of work our body has to go through to increase our body temperature to 37 again! *sweat*

After knowing the side effects, i try not to take cold stuff unless necessarily. I have weak will power when it comes to food but very persistent when it comes to taking cold stuff. Even on super duber hot days, I insist on taking hot drink or soup. Once, there was a black out in our office. All of us decided to have a drink at the cafe in front of our office to cool ourselves. All of my colleagues ordered something with iced cubes while i ordered hot milo. They were amazed and asked me if i didn't feel hot.... 

Weird to say, I didn't. In fact, i felt cool. I may look mad to have hot drink on hot days, but u know what, today i found that the Chinese Physician actually agreed that hot drinks should be taken during hot days! 

我有古人的智慧！呵呵~

This week, I sort of broke my own rules a few times. well, because my friends wanted to share iced kacang with me.... Well, I sacrifice myself just for my friends~~~~ 

Red Bean with ice

It's HUGE! bigger than my head!

I feel a bit unhealthy so to make myself feel less guilty, i decided to take ... ginger drink!

Instant ginger drink!

I'm so clever! 我是有智慧的人！其实是自欺欺人.....哈哈