Dragon "We"

Seldom do we get to eat out as an extended family, so what better than to eat gather up for dinner at Dragon I? The word 'I' sounds individualistic; perhaps Dragon 'We' would sound better. Either way, forgive my pun. Let's move on!

While we couldn't be seated knights around a round table, a long stretch of them served just as well. Half the table opted for the conventional rice meal; we took ala carte.

My bowl of ramen was the last one out, so as I waited, my itchy hands started fiddling with the camera to rid the hunger pang.


"It's not late. It's special..." Convincing oneself is not simple.

Yet as the waitress opened the cover of the bowl, eyes widened with amazement.


Oh! The juice! A single bite spurts aromatic soup into the mouths chamber, igniting your senses with such tingling warmth! Then every droplet caresses the walls before slithering down the smooth slope of the throat, welling up at the stomach to fulfil its gastronomic desire.

Now I'm getting carried away, and salivating.

With that, it only makes sense if I couldn't help but gulp down the whole bowl.

Ah... The moment the dessert called out for us, we were roped in! Call it the unparalelled dish of any day!
This is a hand gesture is generally accepted as my baby cousin's adorable signature pose. *winks* Peace!

PS Some don't want to see their photo here, which explains why I could not upload several. Privacy respected!

Happy 牛 Year! ~09~ (updated)

Finally back from such a packed and mere 4 days, I guess it's time I fulfilled my promise. So all the way we went back to our hometown, where Chinese New Year is taken as the bast celebration of the year and its traditions are taken seriously. Best of all, everyone's back!

DAY BEFORE:

Doing last minute decorations.

And keeping the stock high. By the way, my cousin handmade the awesome decoration above. Glad you're back from Australia!

Then eyeing the scrumptious meal as of tradition. SLURP! (Especially the EXTRA huge prawns brought all the way from Penang. Can you spot them?)

But as far as tradition goes, the main table can only hold that much as the family expands so we, the bunch of cousins, get the little side table.

We celebrated our Uncle's birthday as well. What luck when it always falls on Chinese New Year!

DAY ONE:

All ready to conquer the world... again.

Then comes the long awaited event : our barbeque dinner, as if a reenactment of the old days. Can't you just salivate at the sight of the food? (Yes, see the gigantic prawns!) Under the newspapers hide sushi rolls, sandwiches, salads and jellies! *all of us beaming with pride*

Burning hot!

YUM!

Then wash it all down with authentic roasted marshmallows. Instructions from experience: Bear the heat till slightly golden, quickly dip in melted chocolate, and let the crust of the marshmallow cruble within your mouth and allow the warmth to consume your throat like a lava flow.

DAY TWO:

Tradition does not escape the other side of the family! There will be numerous visits...

Though the main event is ganging up with our cousins!!

...and this year we watched 'Daisy', a movie which proves my theory : Movies with flowery names are usually horror. Or at least able to chill you to the bone.

Then we get to our highlight (which I stress is only done once a year!)

My winnings over blackjack gave me my bus fare for next week.

Apart from the cheer over good meals, there's the annual photo session.

Getting into place...

This year's photo is great! Even the little ones are beaming straight into the camera! This I should frame up somewhere.

I wonder when we can meet up again. Maybe at the wedding (suspence arousing?)...but that will be another day.

That's about it for me. Maybe I'll get other photos up next time, but for now, I've got to go.

Quote of the
day:

"Is it the year of the
prawn?"

~Christopher as we slurped the
living daylights out of the
poor prawns

Before I leave...

Hey guys! I can't wait to go back to my hometown! And yes, I'm supposed to be getting ready to leave really soon, but I have to wish Happy New Year!

Besides, the sushi and cake are ready, bursting with aroma and sending shivers down to the bottom of my tummy.

Promise I'll update as soon as I return!

Wonders of Nightlife!

Call me a novice all you like. I've been introduced to the wonders of nightlife! Well, at least, at the Curve. Everything came to life when Night took the shift.

The most enchanting of lights struck us with reverence, with music and the sound of excited crowds(most of them in their yesterday's Friday/Happy Hour mood) invigorating the atmosphere.


What better than to spend it with an outing with friends? Mei Yee, Sue Hui and I decided to celebrate the starting of our holiday over dinner.

Both of them have been working lately. Mei Yee's a promoter (and what a uniform!) while Sue Hui's loving her job as a kindergarten teacher (Her kindergarten seems so high class!)

1/4 chicken for us each as we caught up with each other.

At the centre of the mall lies an artificial lotus garden for the coming of a new year, but we spent more time rampaging the outdoors. Only to realise that time passes so fast, it was time for us to take the last shuttle bus back.

How beautiful and tempting night is! Friday Night Out, Girls Night Out, whichever you consider it to be! I just felt sorry the other guys couldn't make it to our rendezvous.

I can't wait for another day! No, make it a night out!

"很像我们以前从补习回家的时候."

(Just like those times we were going home
from tuition)

~ Mei Yee, as we were on our way home in her mom's car~

Wearing RED

Someone suggested we wear RED today as a tribute to the coming big event of the year. Most of us laughed at such a thought. And yet we did so today! While the bunch of us could not make up the majority, it was rather amusing to watch a group of people adorned by shirts, jackets, bags, shoes, earrings or even socks with hues of crimson, scarlet and more.

Our Literature lecturer, for one, could not help but notice one of the students.

"Why on earth, dear, are you dressed entirely in red?"

That was before she realised that most of us had, at least, tinges of red on us.

Yes! I shall never forget Chinese New Year! Every inch of my soul yearns for it! The distressing part only being that two days is not enough. Of course, I don't expect the whole family to be back, but it's definitely going to be different than previous years! *Secret for now*

Wish us luck in our preparations! We're going to need loads of it if we want a blast!

Of Sardines and Mary Poppins

Red. Come on. Red. Come on. Red....GREEN!! Yes!

No No No No No No No... What does it feel like to be a sardine? My goodness, you wouldn't want to know. Besides, at least I didn't miss the bus. Again. I'm not, however, happy to know that the bus came half an hour late.

Bus rides aren't too bad, mind you, provided you have a seat. And of course, it isn't packed with people hoping to return home from work. Which becomes the problem from 6pm to 7pm.

Everyone could hardly move. Any single motion set off a chain reaction. My arm hurt from trying to balance myself. Inertia worked against us. The traffic was horrible.

My imaginations ran wild in there. I've the power to make things go my way, they whispered. Squinting at the traffic light, I tried to make it go green.

Red. Come on. Red. Come on. Red....GREEN!! Yes!

The cars could hardly crawl out of this mess. About 20 seconds later, we were back in the line, and I continued my psychic attempts, while sighs can be heard from the back of the bus. Perhaps, I thought, if I had some form of sorcery to make the cars in front of us fade into nothingness. PLEASE go green!!

Red. Come on. Red. Come on. Red....GREEN!! Yes!

And we made it out!! Only to face another jam ahead.

So I realise it doesn't matter what time I leave Moral lessons, I'll still end up in this sticky situation. I pity those poor people at other stops who were turned away because of the full house. At least I won't beat my record of being out at 7am and only able to reach PJ at 8pm.

Well...

I did reach PJ earlier than that dreaded day. Won't want to beat that record anytime. Only that my mum was caught in the jam as well. I had but to wait under that bus stop while the rain pitter-plattered on the roof, teasing me with wind strong enough to make Mary Poppins fly 1000 miles.



Then again, at least...just at least...(keeping myself optimistic)



I reached home at 7.55pm.

To those who missed out on dreams

Dear people-who-missed-out-on-oppurtunities-they-call-dreams,

Sometimes life doesn't go your way.
Slipped from the edges of your fingers
Or a little too far to reach

The only torment being that
Regret seizes you because
You didn't bend down to pick it up again
Or stretch just a little farther.

Sentimental, you call me, naive if you must.
But the saying "When a door closes, another opens"
Sheds a ray of truth.

Just so : for all we know
it is natures' way of leading you to a better route
Even though you know your chance of the past
would have gotten you far.

Sometimes life doesn't go your way,
Or maybe, and yet, it is.

One can escape a tunnel
Without a torchlight
Let your tears wash it but
never let it drown the sea.

Try the door at the corner
And who knows?

It still gets you your way.

To you-know-who-you-are,
Supernovas don't always lead to blackholes, if you know what I mean.

Back!

Mei Yee's moved back! It seemed like so long since she left, but it has only been a few weeks. That's three weeks worth of news to catch up on, and mind you, that's a lot.

Who's working?

Who's at college?

What are they doing?

Three weeks felt like the passing of three months.

Then we thought we'd have dinner with a bunch of us one day. Oh! May the day spring forward!

Happy 100th post!

Given that this is the 100th post of my post, I shall give this post an edge to it. So guys, anyone interested in watching this special series of 'LOST' --- "land of the rising sun"? Haha, I assure you, it is a season not to miss!

Malaysians lost in Japan! Is the land as serene as it seems? Could there be a sinister, haunting side to the single kimono hanging in the abandoned house?

Don't miss the heart pounding action as the survivors struggle to unravel the mystery behind the history of the past, at the same time, struggle to save themselves from a blood thirsty creature that slithers out from the shadows as the sun sets...

Now I'm getting carried away.

If this is 'LOST', then we're Hollywood stars of tomorrow. This is a 'LOST' pose* taken at Bukit Tinggi by accident.

*Definition: a pose where everyone seems disoriented and standing so unevenly, yet able to turn their heads and strike that cool stare.

Anyway, Happy 100th post!

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

It started raining gumballs!

It's all about revisiting the beauty of yesterday when out with them. So much to be amazed about, so much to look forward to. Watching 'Bedtime Stories' entered our list of things we did together. By the time we left the cinema, reality smacked us in the face. Aha, childhood cannot come back! Childhood where fantasies cushion the harshness of today's hardship.

"Your fun is only limited by your imagination"

We left in hopes of seeing gumballs fall from the sky. But we settled for 'doughnuts' at Action City instead.


By the way, this shop sells such interesting trinkets and every day items. We were all the time awed by the creative juices enhancing each of them. Who can imagine such things?

We ate at Carl's Junior, where the hamburgers cost a great deal but are twice the size of a classic burger. They were huge. GIGANTIC. And...delicious.

What's next? We're anticipating 'Inkheart' so that we can get another dose of that storybook fantasy so addictive.

Thank you sooo much for the fond memories!

Quote:

" We should go for Thai massage when we grow up..." ~ Mei Shan~