Speck of Sugar

2009-04-01T20:44:00.001-07:00

Home Finally

2009-03-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

Yeap, I am back at home for almost a month now. 1 month sounds like a long time to me but well, time just flies, week by week. Now, April has arrive and I have to start working again to get the cash flow flowing again!

A lot of things happened during this March, not the mention the adventure of going to Heathrow Airport for our flight back and the trip to the Malaysian custom for our excess baggage! That, was a real eye opener and a truly wondrous adventure that I hope I will not ever encounter again in the future.

Adapting to life in Malaysia seems a new thing to me when I just stepped down from the plane. The weather is hot and humid, the time zone is totally off, the people is different and the language you hear is totally different. Somehow it feels like everything around you is clashing and all mixed up. Nothing seems the same. I know, weird right? We both felt lost in this place where we call home for the last 22 years of our life. Funny.

Well, now everything is back to normal, thank goodness! I slept better now, got used to the people and the environment around me, just happy that I came back home safely. One thing that is out of place is I don't see Jin 24/7 anymore but in return, I got to see him almost every hour and every day of my life!

He is so cute even after the ugly haircut he had!! I miss him everyday!! So adorable!! XD I missed you too Jin!!

Countdown!

2009-02-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

There is still six days left before leaving Portsmouth! Can't wait to get back home, to taste the food there and my very own bed!! LOL!! Really missed my bed a lot, seriously, the comfort of my bed is making me anxious to get back home this instance! Not to mention, I will be meeting my family whom I have not seen for the last one and a half year! Also, the new additional family member whom I never meet before!! Can't wait to shake his paws and say "How do you do?" XD

But before that.... Ugh, really is a busy busy week ahead!! So many things to do and arrange before boarding the plane. So many things to worry about that it makes this 1 week seems so long!! Lastly, I am sick!!! 1 week before going back and I fell sick!! Thanks to Jin who kept spreading the germs around by making so many "wantons"!! Sigh... I just can't wait to go home! That's all in my mind for now!

Going to Cambridge and London next Monday. Hopefully can get some good memories from this trip! It will be a really short trip, trying to pack 2 destination in one day, not to mention the long hours we will be spending in the train! Well, hopefully will be worth the time!

The flat right now is in a mess! We just got our boxes last night, so, we will be busy packing the whole of tomorrow. Busy busy busy. Have to clean the flat after packing! So many chores to do!! No wonder I am sick! Sigh! I missed my home!

6 more days to go!!

Southampton

2009-02-15T05:37:00.001-08:00

Complaint!!

2009-02-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

For the whole while that I am in UK, I always patronize Tesco for my groceries shopping. I am always happy with their service as the cashiers always give you a wide smile and a happy hello.

But, today, their service was something that made my blood boiled!!!

As usual, we went to the local Tesco store for groceries after making a stop at the city council. After we finished selecting the products that we wanted, we went to the till to make our payment. The cashier is this young looking guy, around 16 - 20 years old, and when I saw how he serviced the customer before us, I knew this guy is not serious about his work. He looked new, maybe just a few days into this job, and his attitude is like he just woke up from bed, no smile, no hello, no nothing. Well, I couldn't care less if he stayed that way, it is his job to provide good service to customer, not mine and hopefully his supervisor will noticed it and remind him/take action against him.

So when it is my turn, he started to scan the items one by one until he reaches the eggs. This, is where the whole problem begins!!! Okay, before I get to the main point, the eggs that I wanted to buy is called "Willow Barn Eggs" and I checked the price(£1.32) first then the eggs condition(whether they are broken, different sizes, etc.) before taking it down from the shelf. He opened the box, checked one of the eggs, and I don't know why, he press the red button to get help from other staff. I don't know what the problem is, but while waiting for the staff the arrive, he left the eggs that I wanted on the till beside another brand of eggs called "Big and Large Eggs"(£1.55).

So, I just continue packing the items into the bag until he finished scanning the final item. I was busy packing and did not see clearly which of the eggs he scanned and made payment. While I was waiting for the payment to go through, I noticed there was something different! That guy scanned in the "Big and Large Eggs", not the "Willow Barn Eggs"! When I got the receipt, it states Eggs: £1.55! I checked the box and inside there was one egg less!! He switched the items and gave me a different one with one egg less!!! If the item was in good and proper condition, I would just let it go and leave. Imediately, I questioned him. He gave me back the Willow Barn Eggs and pressed the red button again for help to refund the extra few p's to me.

We waited for 5 to 6 mins and no one came. The guy continued to serve other customers and left us there without a word or anything! Finally, after 10 mins later, a lady came and ask the guy about the situation. Without asking for my side of story, she looked at us and said in a not very kind voice, "Look Lady, this eggs(Willow Barn Eggs) cost £1.55 and it's not suppose to cost £1.32! Where did you get this eggs? Can you follow me to the shelf and point to me where it is."

I said fine, I will show her where it is and on the way there, she is so arrogant and did not look at me! I was like, excuse me, but that guy switched the eggs with a different one, I am not the one who is at fault here! She did not believe what I said until we reached the shelf where the eggs are. When she saw the price and realized that I was right about the price, she stood there laughing, took both kind of eggs and without any word just walked off to the till where the guy are. I followed her to the till, and she asked the guy again whether he switched the eggs or not. He was like " Uh, no, yeah, mayb... bla bla bla"!! He was trying to put the blame on me, saying I was the one who gave him the "Big and Large Eggs" and he did not switched it! Hello?!! Like I would take a box of eggs with one egg less and more expensive and pay for it without saying anything?! ARGH!! And worst enough, the lady just said "Whatever, I will take this to customer service." AND... she walked off again, I followed her again to customer service, where she happily told the person at the customer service that she don't know what is happening and to refund the money back to me. Without saying anything and did not even bother looking at me, she walked off!! No sorry for this misunderstanding, no nothing!!

I was angry that she as the supervisor did not handle this matter carefully! She did not hear my side of story and already judged that I was at fault! Even after my explanation, she still chose to believe that the guy is innocent! Maybe she was thinking that I do not know how to read letters or numbers! And what's with the attitude!! Arrogant and rude to your customer! AARRGGHHHH!!!

When I got back home, I wanted to complain this matter to Tesco. I searched through their website and only found out that Tesco doesn't have a complaint department!! Maybe they received too many complaints before, and decided to close down that department to stop future complaints going through their door!! So, here I am, complaining to anyone who is reading this post.

26th Feb

2009-02-08T07:29:00.001-08:00

Expire on 26th of February 2009!!!
Can't wait!
There is still 18 days to go!
Excited!!

Snow in Portsmouth

2009-02-04T08:21:00.001-08:00

On Sunday night, it was snowing heavily here in Portsmouth and all other places in UK. Well, for me, Portsmouth is not in the worst hit area by snow, as we only have 4 to 5 centimeters of snow. Not really thick, but enough for me and Jin to play with. I was really anticipating for the snow to arrive as you don't really get to see snow in Portsmouth. Last year, we did get to see snow here in Portsmouth, but it was just for awhile as the sun came out in the afternoon and melted all the fun away. Well, I was lucky to see snow again this year, and this time, I grabbed the chance to go out and have fun in the cold weather!!

Early Monday morning, around 12am, the snow is falling down rapidly. Really excited!

Around 1am, I was too excited to go to sleep, so I dragged Jin out from the bed and we went out to the corridor and have fun with the snow! Really really cold!! My hands were shivering from the cold and playing with snow thus the blurry photo!

Morning! It was around 10am and the snow still stayed around, although the road and the pathway have been cleared of snow, there is still plenty of snow lying around. Can see the footprints of people and car tyres!

Snow on our balcony!

My very own set of footprints!

Again, fun at the corridor!! We made snowballs and threw it down!!

The grass covered in snow.

Us having fun!

Playing with the Tabby cat! What a piercing eyes!

Well, that was a lot of fun yet freezing at the same time! Although the snow brought plenty of fun to some, but for others, it did a lot of damage as well. For me, it was fun while it last. On Tuesday afternoon, there was a sleet shower and sunshine, and there goes the snow! All melted away! Hmn, I wonder when will the snow come again...

Paths

2009-01-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

Reminiscing

2009-01-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

There was this one day when me and Jin sat down and talked about our childhood memories about cartoons! The cartoons that we watched when we were kids. We looked back at plenty of cartoon shows and reminiscing the days when we were young. I think we have different taste in the sort of cartoons that we watched.

The earliest cartoon that I could remember watching was Road Runner, Bugs Bunny and lots more characters from Looney Tunes. I especially love the skunk character(forgot the name!!), really funny when he always mistaken the cat as a female skunk.

Speedy Gonzalez, the fastest mouse in all Mexico!

Woody Woodpecker! Always with that funny laugh and knocking down bad guys. I can still remember sitting down in front of my grandfather's very old tv and mesmerized by it! I was like. five or six that time, couldn't remember how old!

Kimba the White Lion, original name is Jungle Emperor. Didn't know that it was made in Japan by Osamu Tezuka when I was young. Only knew that it was just another cartoon shown on TV2. Always watched this after I came back from evening school. I was seven years old at that time!

Sesame Street. I love the classic sesame street where there were lots of colourful 2D animation. Really nice, and with those funny and playful songs to listen to.

Barney, the purple dinosaur. It was when I was around age 10 or 11, when all my classmates will talk and sing the songs which were in the show. I wasn't a great fan of Barney but I still watched them. It still is entertainment, so its a ok show for me. After awhile, the popularity died down for me.

Pinky and The Brain!
Pinky: "Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"
The Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world."

Captain Planet!! A lot of environmental stuff to learn and enjoyable at the same time.

I think this will be guys absolute favorite cartoon! Heman and the Masters of the Universe. I am not a great fan but my brother loves it, so, I joined in too!

Voltron!! Guys' favorite as well! Love it when all five joined together to form Voltron!

Super Sentai

Power Rangers

Super Sentai is famous in Japan and produced there in 1986. Power Rangers is adapted from Super Sentai. I was introduced to Power Rangers(produced in the US) rather than Super Sentai. Me and my brother's favorite series when we were young.

Another favorite for me and my brother! Kamen Rider Black and his Grasshopper motorbike. The classic Kamen Rider looks much better than the modern ones!

Last but not least, Ultraman! Classic!!

I think there are plenty more cartoons that I have watched when I was young. Even now, I still love them! Will try to list down more when I have more time! That's all for now! :D

I spotted a Bird

2009-01-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

Freezing winter nights these days!! Brrr...... Well, literally spotted a bird outside my window. I'm not an expert on bird species, so don't intend to find out what kind of bird is that. If anyone knows, feel free to let me know! ;D

It has its back facing me, and I started snapping some photos, and it just turns around and stare at me like saying "What are you doing secretly taking my photos?!" in an angry tone! Kind of cute expression.

Recently, my days were not going very well... Things were not running smoothly and I've got a fine from the bank!!! Argh!! Really really great!!! Can't believe I got a fine!! Coughing out that amount of money is really making me and my pocket crying!! Sigh... Hopefully everything will be alright in the new year and may all the good lucks come flying at me!!

Chrysanthemums

2008-11-20T01:26:00.000-08:00

Beautiful morning, lovely sunshine.

Uncertainty

2008-11-20T01:03:00.000-08:00

"In economics, Knightian uncertainty is risk that is immeasurable, not possible to calculate." (taken from Wikipedia)

There are always uncertainty in life, for good or for the worst. No one can really predict or make a perfect assumption about what will happen tomorrow let alone few hours later. Uncertainties make me tremble. I am facing some uncertainties in life right now and the thought of putting my foot forward on an uncertain path is really terrible. Problems and situations that I wish I know how to solve and overcome. At times like this, I always imagine myself standing not at a fork road, but multiple fork roads, each holding different possibilities.

Memory Lane

2008-11-13T05:06:00.000-08:00

I dream a lot, almost every day and I remember all my dreams in details although after awhile, it will seems a little vague. Today I had a dream which takes me down to memory lane. In the dream, I was around 12 years old(??), probably, as one of my cousin sis is still a child.Well, I was going shopping with them and my aunt in some shopping mall. We were shopping for something which in reality is what I wanted as well ^^, shoes! We were looking for shoes that we like and I don't know why, for some reason, the shopkeeper is giving us free shoes! Such good luck!!

I was happy to stumble upon such bargain and so began to search for something I would like! But, I could never find anything that I like or even if I like that specific design, there is no longer my size in stock!! So sad. Woke up feeling a bit disappointed. Anyway, it does seems like a good dream as I somehow get to relived that moment when all of us were children and hanging out together. Can't wait to go back home to see everyone!!

The Graveyard Book

2008-11-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Oooh, can't wait to get my hands on this book!! I have ordered it through Amazon, can't wait for it to get through my mailbox! I love Neil Gaiman's books. He is really terrific, with all his ideas and so far, I have always enjoyed all of his books. He wrote brilliant stories. For the world book day, he wrote a story called "Odd and The Frost Giants". Although it is quite short, with only 96 pages, it was a good story and kept me reading until I've finished it all and still couldn't get enough of it. Really interesting, with an unlikely hero and using an unlikely way to save the day. So now, I'm really really looking forward to "The Graveyard Book". One of my friend have already finished reading it and said that it was Neil's greatest work ever. I will blog about the story once I have finish the book. Right now, all I can do is just wait on the sofa for the postman to deliver the book to me. Please, come quick!

Save The Planet

2008-10-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through the internet and saw an article about Aardman Studio creating a series of short films for Animal Planet featuring their own characters saving the planet. It was quite interesting series, each short featuring different characters and ways to save energy or to help the planet. I also like the way they execute the ideas and making it hilarious. I especially loves Norman the Hippo.... so cute and chubby, feel like pinching that big chunk of clay! ^^

Well, after watching this series, I asked myself.... did I help to save the planet??

For a start, I did use my own shopping bags when I went shopping for groceries. I got those reusable bags from Tesco, really good ones but not those cotton type though. Stores like M&S charge 5 pence for a plastic bag and some of the stalls in the open market stopped handing out plastic bags now. You will need to carry your own bags if you need to shop for groceries.

Secondly, I use electricity and gas reasonably. No waste of electricity and gas! Have to save if not you will cry when you receive your utility bills! I feel electricity and gas here is still way too expensive. Winter is coming, sigh, my pocket will be thinner than usual.

Thirdly, I do not simply waste water. I have never like to waste water since young, and I couldn't stand it when people waste water by not turning the tap off when they are washing their hands with soap.

Fourthly, recycling, yeah, I do recycle, especially papers, cardboards, cans and bottles. The usual...

Finally, I don't drive nowadays. Been walking all the time.

Well, it seems I did try, willingly or not, to help to save the planet a bit! ^^
Oh ya, here is the link to the series of short animation. I hope you will like it, enjoying the meticulous artwork from Aardman and to think whether you have played a part in helping to save the planet or not.

Locked Out

2008-10-23T13:37:00.001-07:00

Today is a gloomy and moody day for me. The sun was always hiding behind the clouds, the weather is cold and, yeah, I also got locked out of my flat. Terrific day. I was rushing, running late and I promised to meet Jin at his office at one in the afternoon. I made mental notes on what to take, my phone, receipt(I am going to exchange an item at the city center), garbage bag, handbag, and oh ya, my house keys.

It is already 1.00pm, I was late, I quickly wear my shoes, took the garbage bag and my handbag, grabbed the keys, open the door, stepped out of the house with everything with me and, "WHAM", the door closes. I looked back, and noticed the key was not in my hands and only realized that the key was still in the lock inside the flat! After a few seconds when reality starts to kick into my head, I was really angry at with myself. I could not get the door open and even tried to reach the keys through the mailbox but to no avail.

Well, no choice but to call Jin for help. He always fixed things and will definitely make this right. Called him, and the poor guy ran back all the way from office. Well, even with another key with us, the door could not be unlock as the other key was stuck opposite the other side.... Anyone could imagine that the situation was tense, we were locked out, tried knocking on neighbours' doors, but no one answer, tried calling our landlord and again, no replies. Really great!!

Again, I tried to reach the keys through the mailbox and even used my name tag to loop around the key to pull it out. Gave up after few tries then we try using the keys to push the other key out of the lock. Finally running out of ideas, I gave up and thought at the hallway of any ways which we can get a locksmith's number when Jin called me back in. The door stood open, and he was grinning happily at me saying "Look, I just opened the door!". Well, I was so so so happy that our problem is solved and I don't know how the door opened and how we managed to open it, I don't care, just as long everything turns out fine.

Like before, problem fixed when Jin is there. Really glad that things turn out fine without even resorting to calling a locksmith to open the door. Whew.... Well, terrific day as I said and the sun shined brightly after an embarrassing and tense moment.

Lesson learnt:

1. Do not rush yourself when it comes to opening the door. Always check that the keys are with you before closing the door shut.

2. Keep a local locksmith number in your phonebook at all times.

3. Call neighbours for help. (ours were not at home, lucky for us.)

Early presents!

2008-10-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

It was bright and sunny as we stepped out of our flat and I was feeling a little excited as well as nervousness in my system. Well, it all began when Jin said that he will get me a new camera for my birthday and so I began to research on all types of camera that is in the market right now. It was a wrong move as the search makes me more agitated to have the camera even before my birthday arrive. After a few persuasions from me, Jin finally promised to get me an early birthday present! Yippee!!

Lucky for me, Curry's Digital store had just renovated and sporting a new look to its store featuring a lot of hands on on their goods, for example, cameras, mobile phones, laptops and so on. The first thing I tried on was the Canon G9, a digital compact camera, which after intensely researching through the web, was a camera which fits into all my criteria. But being the indecisive person that I am, I was also looking at Sony's Alpha-200, a digital SLR, which was the same price as Canon G9. Stuck between the two cameras, I went to and fro from one camera to another until I gave up, and drag Jin along(he is looking at XBox 360 at the moment) to help me with my decision.

With Jin beside me, the decision went fairly quick. After a few question from him, I decided to purchase Canon G9. Period. So, we had the salesperson to help us with the purchase and during lunchtime, we were back in the flat with my new camera! While I was playing with my new toy, Jin was researching on Xbox 360. I knew he is keen on getting the Xbox for some time now as there are plenty of games around for the console which Jin loves to play but because he just got me my present early, he decided not to get the Xbox yet.

So, after lunch, I told him I am getting him an early birthday present as well, a Xbox 360. He did not agree at first as his reason was that he would like to wait till christmas and it is not his birthday yet. Well, I was not easily convince by the reasons and so at around 2.30pm, I decided to go to get the Xbox myself. Before I even open the door, Jin stopped me and asked me to wait for him as he wants to come along as well! LOL

We went back to Curry's but they ran out of stock, so we looked at Games and HMV, and decided to purchase it at HMV. During the evening, we were both happily playing with our new birthday presents and our pockets running low on cash! Spending away!! Hahaha.... but somehow worth it! Each got their birthday presents early!

Spider on the Window

2008-10-22T10:48:00.001-07:00

Spider on the window, originally uploaded by xin28.

As I was walking back after finishing some errands, I saw this spider on the window beside the staircase. What caught my attention was the size of it and decided to take a photo of it. Took a few snapshots and while I was busy snapping away, it was just staying still not moving an inch! After completely satisfy with the photos, I noticed around the spider that there is plenty of web other than the one it is on. I thought to myself that this spider is really a hardworking spider, spinning one web after another, even if not much prey is being caught in its webs. Maybe I should learn, to be like a spider, staying tough even while time is hard to get by.