Quentin Boy

How to not love kids when they look like that!

Quentin is my nephew. He is the cutest darling ever and will make any normal childbearing aged woman suddenly feel broody. Looking at him, it does make motherhood suddenly seem appealing! Yes, yes, I actually love kids... His dad, Gaspar, is Spanish and over 6ft while mom is under 5ft - they get along tremendously well. Gas has mastered the art of using lah in his sentences and speaks not too bad Hokkien. A really fun couple to be around.

I first saw Quentin when he was only a few months old and came back to Penang for Chinese New Year. Even then, he had the nicest disposition I've ever seen in a baby. He would have his afternoon naps, and when we woke him up prematurely, he never cried, merely gave us a sleepy look and then smiled. His smile really melts the hardest of hearts, and gosh, his dimple - such a show stopper. I don't think I held him enough the whole time I was there.

I remember his first halloween, my aunty (his grandma) sewed him a ladybug outfit complete with the "antenna". Dad carried him around house-to-house on his stomach like he was flying. Am sure everyone donated a ton of sweets to the cutie. On his 2nd outing, he was a master chef, complete with the chef's hat, apron and striped pants! They also tied together their egg beater, spatula and ladle around his waist! OMG - you can't imagine how cute he looked!

Q-boy, wish I could see more of you and wish I could see you growing up. Just know that your aunty over here loves you to bits and misses you a lot.

Just please don't call me aunty when you see me. Anna is kewl.

Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Deepavali

To all my muslim friends out there, Selamat Hari Raya and to the Hindus, Happy Deepavali.

I can't wait to feast on all the yumminess of the festive season. I am so looking forward to my friend, Bella's open house. She and her family make the bestest food ever, her meehoon is to die for, its called the "marry mee meehoon" and the pickled chillies that go with it....mmm....Her mom's beef rendang is a must have and Q makes very good cookies. I could eat the whole jar of Makmur by myself!

OH GOSH! This sounds like its gonna be a weight gaining exercise, have to hit the gym next month or somehow hike Gasing to work this all off.

Will be around KL this holiday just chillin and looking forward to a traffic-free road :)

The Aryani - Boutique Resort

I do recommend The Aryani for those who just wanna have a quiet getaway on resort grounds without leaving the place (warning : website doesn't do justice to the place). Aryani is a boutique resort in Kuala Terengganu sitting on land owned by the royal family of the state. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from the airport, cabs are easily flagged down from outside the airport or most of their packages come with free pick-up.

The elevated lobby is right next to the Seria Restaurant and they greet you with a refreshing lemongrass drink and freshly fried keropok lekor while you register. From here, you get a good view of the pool (image above) - which is the central highlight of the resort.

Rooms are all villas and there are only 20 of them in total. All rooms have an outdoor bath and the first time I was there, the upgraded superior room also had a sunken bath! It is a very romantic place but can be a bit quiet at night, so if you're not planning to have babies or hot sex, bring a board game, a book or have music available to fill your time.

They only have one restaurant to cater to your dining needs, their 3D/2N package comes with breakfast and dinner, ala carte items are around RM40-50 if you're not on the package. The local breakfast is delicious! The nasi dagang is really good. Dining options outside are not many and you have to take a taxi out to town or nearby eateries (no restaurants, only local huts). They also provide tea time snacks and coffee and tea making facilities.

Nothing much to do in town either, but go to the local market (pasar) in the heart of town and you can get batik material and sarongs, the ride there is about RM15-20, they don't do meters so don't bother, its all standard.

With a view like that from your room, just stay in and leave only to go to the airport. Best thing to do while in Aryani is to hang out by the pool or go for a spa treatment. I recommend the lulur and milk bath. The jacuzzi overlooks the sea and the setting take you back to good ol kampung atmosphere. Staff is respectful and polite.


Go there to totally relax and unwind.

10-S

Tennis is my favoritest game of all. It is the one game that I still play regularly today since schooling days. I kinda got into it by chance. I beleive I was about 12 years old then. My primary school was looking for volunteers to play and I somehow volunteered myself. The teacher gave me a letter, instructions and details of the tournament & location and that was it! Thinking back, I really don't know what crossed my mind when I volunteered myself as I don't recall watching much tennis on tv, and neither of my parents are into tennis or any sporting games for that matter. It was fated!

Anyhow, I went back and told my parents that I was going to represent my school in tennis and both of them panicked. They had good reason:

1. I have never played tennis in my life nor showed any interest in playing tennis
2. There were no tennis rackets lying about the house
3. WHAT IS TENNIS?

My Virgo Librarian dad did the fatherly thingy, took charge and pulled out the encyclopaedia! lol! We read from the entry "tennis" - duh! If I recall, it provided information about the court size, the equipment used (racket), and how the scoring is done. Boy, was that confusing; 15, 30, 40 and then came deuce scenarios and tie-breakers. While dad was taking a theorhetical approach, mom called up my cousin Vincent who played tennis and asked if I could borrow a racket from him. He gave me one, it was a WOODEN Dunlop! Gosh, its amazing, writing this I actually recall playing with a wooden racket when I started out.

Days before the tournament, dad made me eat beef satay. Why beef and why satay you ask? Well, it is a standard staple for me before tournaments and exams. He claims that beef provides energy and mental strength and I had it in satay form probably because there weren't many steakhouses back then and we were after all a middle income family.

The day of the tournament approached. I vaguely recalled attempting to do the overhead serve and I'm sure I double faulted more often than I can remember. Tournament was over two days, and a funny thing happened. I won and became the under-12 Selangor champion! How sad IS the state of our sports program?

Anyway, my interest for tennis grew since that day and when I went to secondary school, I finally got a real tennis coach in Toi (he's the brother of Zang Toi, the Malaysian designer). Tennis coaches then were quite rare and players coached under them usually have a similar style of play. I was more of a singles player but somehow got recruited by Selangor to play doubles. I used to actively play in the circuit and joined several other open tournaments, but today I am primarily a doubles recreational player.

My wish is that I will still be able to play tennis when I am past my 60s! 10S forever...

Chicken Little is SUCH a cutie!

OMG! This little thing is SO cute! When CL first came to the big screen, I shrieked in delight. I watched the movie, bought the plush toy, bought Heinz double packaged special ketchup just to get the coin jar, ate the McDonald's kid's meal for the CL toy...the obsession was further fuelled by my friends who then started buying me more CL merchandise.

The cutest expression on this boy is when he looked up to see the "falling sky" and had this totally petrified look on his face with hands in jaw-dropped mouth. He also looked kinda cute in his little y-fronts hehe. By the way, I played the Chicken Little game on the X-Box and it was horrible. I have no perception of 3-D angles and kept jumping into nothingness or holes! Sigh...

Anyhow, I decided to watch the movie again with some friends and somehow this time around, it didn't seem as funny or cute - talk about potong stim. Either way, still think CL is a cutie!

MIA itinerary

I'm back in action after months of silence. Just so many things been happening in my life. In a nutshell and in vague chronological order, it runs as follows; decided to leave the mobile apps business, managed to capture 2 key accounts for Rezonanze, took up Chinese Tea appreciation again, fell out of love, pulled in by investors to start a mobile apps business, found the love of my life, had 5 new furkids, went to Bangkok with mom, signed on a new media rep contract with a major portal site, left the mobile apps business, took up yoga again and now just fully focused on Rezonanze. Phew!

After all the drama this year, it comes back to Rezonanze, it is me, its meant to be....this is where I'll stay. Project NFV will hopefully go full gear by January. Timing seems right and all has fallen into place - will see where this ride takes me.

Pi, wanna dedicate this posting to you. Forever & ever...