FRIENDS… we’re still FRIENDS… August 7, 2007

Hello… I am here to bring you pictures! Of food! Despite Ben’s bitchy response of, “Eh seriously la, your blog is like 90% food only wtf”, I airily brush him aside and will continue to post pictures of my eating exploits. Mu-wa-ha-ha-ha!

Last Saturday, two of the Echo Family gang were back in KL at the same time, namely Tieng (who just came back from a jaunt back to her Kucing hometown) and Ben (finally deigned to visit KL for a few days after holing up in Kuantan). Of course I was excited! The only way our Echo Family could be more complete was if Chiau Ling was back as well, but I think she’s too busy getting drunk in UK. ;P However, I didn’t realise that in the 3-4 years since graduation, these two people have become so different in tastes… so difficult to accomodate both of them!

Firstly, I was real lucky that I actually had a car to drive that weekend. My sister had to go for a company trip to Pahang, so she said I could drive her car over the weekend. Yay! Still, I wasn’t very familiar with her car, and was scared to drive it over long distances as her car has a long and happy history of breaking down by the roadside. -__- So when those two people started arranging for the meet-up and what not, I had to warn them not to suggest exotic, far-away places that I am unfamiliar with. Unfamiliar places + unfamiliar car = recipe for disaster. Still, they aren’t in Malaysia most of the time, so I also try to be flexible as to where they want to go…

Tieng as usual, wants to go to Petaling Street, but Posh Ben says that he’s not going there. Tieng’s idea of fun = scrounging for good deals + drinking tea at Purple Cane + looking for Tong Kee egg tarts. Ben’s idea of fun = lepaking at malls + watching a movie + “can eat anywhere, as long as it’s THE BEST” (WTF!!!!). After much debate between the 3 of us (actually Tieng trying to seduce me to go Petaling Street and Ben saying, “You met Tieng so many times ady! You haven’t seen me yet! I get to choose!”), finally I decided to bring Tieng to get the egg tarts in the morning, and then the rest of the day will follow Ben’s relaxation plan.

Despite Tieng insisting that there’s a food blog somewhere which details how to get Tong Kee egg tarts (map included) in JALAN RAJA CHULAN, I didn’t find it. I found a few food blogs detailing that it can be found in Petaling Street or in Jalan Pudu. So I thought, fine la, they are both kinda near each other … should be OK, as long as we go early. So I agreed to pick her up by 8:30am.

On Saturday morning, my sister woke me up at freaking 6am to ask me to send her off so that I can use her car. @_@ Somehow I managed to wake up and not get lost either, and luckily for her I didn’t drive into monsoon drain on the way back. Fell back to bed at 7am and therefore overslept and didn’t wake up at 8:30am to fetch Tieng. Only picked her up at 10am and by the time we reached KL, it was almost 11am. Although we found Jalan Pudu, didn’t find the damn Tong Kee place anywhere, despite going up and down the street a few times. Got so damn tired of the pointless task, and the traffic kept getting heavier and heavier. Tieng also directed me right into the jammiest jam in KL and ask me to stop for directions (HOW?). *sigh*sigh*sigh*

We ended up buying from a “fake egg tart” place, which was called Mon Kee, but at 11:45am, they just started making their egg tarts. So much for ‘going early so that it won’t be sold out’. T_T So ended up spending like RM15 of petrol on a very irritating task with no fruit. Thing is, now that I’ve read so much about this Tong Kee egg tart place, I’m quite interested in trying it out la, hehe.

So sorry Tieng, didn’t manage to help you get the 1 and only item you requested me for that day.

Picked up Ben at 12:30 from BSC, and then we went to Midvalley for the “relaxing day” out together. Haha, he got me a cute sheep figurine from Sardinia. And Tieng also got me a shirt when she was back in Kucing. I just find it cute that all our reunions usually end up like a Christmas exchange. We ate at Madam Kwans… come to think of it Midvalley doesn’t have a lot of nice places to eat, although Tieng says that their otak-otak is the best. I got the nasi bojari recommended by Ben (it is super filling) and Ben ordered the curry laksa which is inedible. And made Tieng and I try it so that we can tell everyone with our own words how inedible it is. Aiyah, it just doesn’t taste spicy la. The chinese in Ben made him eat the whole thing though.

My ‘nasi bojari’ (check out the size of the chicken in comparison to the rice!) and Tieng’s ‘otak-otak’.

Ben’s curry laksa (sorry for pic quality, too much flash) and Tieng’s banana fritters with ice-cream.

We got to chat a bit during lunchtime, but didn’t get to talk a lot anyway because the place was quite noisy. Sigh… after that, we decided to go shopping, but somehow all of us split up. Is that the way we have a reunion? Next time I will find a quiet place for all of us to eat together and relax together that is NOT Petaling Street. -__- It started with Ben going into Raoul to look for dress shirts, and he shoo-ed us away. I was dying to check out the Guess sales, so I trotted over there, and then Tieng said she’ll go and buy hairgrips. After that… hard to explain. We would be waiting for each other at x place, but before the person has arrived, we would move on to y place. Then by the time the person arrive at y place, we have moved on to z place. And so on. We just kept missing each other. Somehow I managed to bump into Ben, and then he had this mission to help his mom collect facial pamphlets, so there was something to do there la. Ooh, and I got myself a MAC Kohl eyeliner, yay. My first MAC makeup… *jakuns*

Tieng also met up with her friends Scott & Sam and we split up for real after that, because Ben had to go back for some kenduri doa maut (hahaha!) and we couldn’t have dinner together. Tieng would be going back on Monday (and then we won’t see her for another year or so) and the next day she would be spending whole day with family. So when Ben and I met up on Sunday, didn’t call her. Mana tahu in the end she was free to join us in the afternoon…

But we were well in the middle of our late lunch at Sugimoto. Last blogged about it here, and I had always been looking for an excuse to go back. When Ben said that “you belanja me authentic Japanese food, I belanja you Korean bbq”, I instantly thought of this place. Although when I was lost in KL, I saw a few “authentic Japanese” places that were in the bungalow-restaurant style along Jalan Changkat which MIGHT be more authentic than this. Oh well. This place is still really good. I just think that the Sri Hartamas area is full of good restaurants la.

This was what we had for our meal. And yeah, we got to spend a whole lot of time together on Sunday because “only this could happen to him” Ben lost his bus ticket and had to board a much later one home. Had mad fun while eating… so much to talk about, bitch about, discuss about. All the while punctuating our sentences with, “Oh my gawd, you have to try this!” or “More green tea please!” We were there for so long and kept ordering more & more stuff. Ben tried to justify it by saying that he didn’t eat any breakfast before meeting up with me. -___-”

Sashimi for Ben! I’m always slightly put off by sashimi because it looks DAMN intimidating. But Ben gave me a few THICK slices of the fresh fish cuts and they tasted AWESOME. Seriously, next time I’m coming here I’m ordering this!

My teppanyaki set that I’ve been coveting ever since I saw my sister have it last time.

Spider roll! Spider roll reminds me of Spider Pig which reminds me that I haven’t watched The Simpsons yet and I must do so THIS WEEKEND!

Alligator Roll. The description of avocado + salmon + cream cheese was a bit off putting, but this was surprisingly good. Might order it again next time.

Gyoza… this one I didn’t fancy so much but Ben liked it loads. It came with some light soya dipping.

Certificate of approval from Ben. This restaurant comes highly recommended! If you’re looking out for it, it’s the restaurant next to Jarrod & Rawlins in Sri Hartamas. On the 1st floor. Looks dodgier compared to the many other Japanese restaurants along the street, but as Ben found out, appearances can be misleading!

Horsing around, hahhaa!

Ben would also like to dispel all rumors that he likes to wear sissy shirts with butterflies on them by posing for this photo to show the design in all its awesome glory (and also because Tieng requested for a photo).
Tieng got the shirt from him from Threadless.

After Sugimoto, we decided to camwhore LOTS. Ben came up with the “7 Sins” camwhoring session. Please keep in mind that this was all done in my sister’s car, so there was very few props on hand. I think you have to give us some credit la… Ok wait. Before I go and “mencalar muka sendiri” aka destroy our image, Ben suggested we post GOOD photos of ourselves first to tell people, “Hey.. we don’t ACTUALLY look that bad.” So here you go:

Sorry ar Ben, I only have your phone photos with me at the moment. As for my pic, I use it to attach to resumes (which require photos). Good enough for employers, good enough for me.

Now back to the “7 Sins Camwhoring Session” (yesterday’s photo was ‘GREED’):
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HOLY SHIT BEN, WE REALLY LOOK DAMN BAD LAH!!!!!
Eh when I see you online we discuss whether we dare to post the pics or not. Meanwhile, here’s another tantalizing sample of ugliness + idiocy:

If you can guess which sin this is supposed to be, congratu-fcukin-lations la. You win at life. Cos I also have trouble deciphering our expressions. Hahhaha!

Taught Ben how to use Bluetooth, so then we were sending mp3s and photos to each other. Ben’s playlist on his handphone is filled with the most depressing stuff. I really don’t know how he can wake up to Chris Holmes whispering away. I have some real noisy anthems as my wake-up ringtone and I still can’t get up some mornings. Anyway, that feller has Buttons (PCD) on his handphone, and he taught me how to use this as my “entrance theme” ala WWF wrestlers. Wahlau, he had dance moves to go with the song and all. I think he has been choreographing all of it in his head all along, simply push to me to use. =\

Am so looking forward to end of August, because Ben will come down again for 10 days! Hope that we can have our Korean BBQ then (can’t believe you never ate Korean bbq before, wtF!)! Have to pass you the The Undercover Economist also since you’ve also read my Freakonomics and Blink + Tipping Point.

Meanwhile in the office, the plans for the Penang trip are underway. Hahha.. life is good at the moment. ^_^ And I’ve decided to engulf Jen’s philosophy of ‘just spending’ after accidents. Ya, why should I save up all my money and just spend it on CAR REPAIRS. I’m going to splurge on :
$$$ new haircut + straightening + color
$$$ new Lumix camera which has 12.2 megapixels in TECHNO SILVER
$$$ new iPod alarm clock + charger from Edifier
$$$ new make-up from Everyday Minerals, MAC and Stila.
$$$ new office jacket
$$$ new wardrobe!!!

I’m going to go nuts!

Ooh… got tagged by The Pink One. Who… now I know is my junior in high school but she never told me that…. wahhhhh…. I am damn curious now!! Whooooooo areeeee youuuuuuuu…. ~~~ anyway, thanks for the taggie. I hereby tag the rockin’ blogger award to:
Fadh (she should be your senior too right! Hahahhaa…)
Dull (also should be your senior, haha!)
Jen (cos I read your entries everydayyyyyy)
Kim (sorry cannot post your URL up here.. but Kim you know I think you rock. Thanks for everything!!)
Michelle – good luck and have fun in Langkawi!

Whoa… that’s all for today. Planning to help Pauline this weekend + Penang trip + steamboat outing + Seremban & Melaka outing again + SHOP TIL DROP. *faints*

When’s my Kleppie coming back!?

For Tieng September 24, 2006

::Originally posted on Completely Random::

Yay, I’m feeling much, much better nowadays and have been going back to the gym. =) I had been running around doing lots of random chores so I hadn’t gone, aside from my illness. Didn’t go to the karaoke & drinking thing because it got changed to steamboat & beers instead. O_o” Oh, and guess who I bumped into recently? This one is for TIENG YEE, I’m sure you miss this guy :

Yup – none other than Abhilash. So nice, he still recognised me as I was bumbling around Subang Parade the other day. =D Hmm, been bumping into a lot of juniors recently, although they aren’t really juniors anymore, because they are all so grown-up and working and all that. Well, not Abhilash cos he’s still studying in UK. =p Wonder what happened to Dong Hao, and of course, Lip Shien. Ben, you still got contact with them?

Miss You! April 18, 2006

::Originally posted on Completely Random::

Was talking to Kim and halfway through was talking about some good times with Edy (hope you can come to KL!! *going to make you feel guilty until you agree*). So ended up scouring through all my folders for old pics with my friends, omg, this all really brings tears to my eyes.

Just yesterday I remembered how Tieng Yee, Ben and I bought a cake for Chiau Ling’s birthday, and we made her celebrate her birthday in the publication room. And when she walked into the room, the only MP3 I could find to play was Kenny Loggin’s For the First Time. It was such a jiwang song, Chiau Ling walking into the room was like a bride walking up the aisle. *dies laughing* I still remember Ben asking me, “That’s the only mp3 you can find ah!?!? OMG! For the first time?!!”

Okay, without further ado…. I miss you guys very, very much! The next time I see you all and you say, “Aiyah, we really must go yum cha“, I will really track you all down to fulfil your promise! Even if you’re in Adelaid (*koff*Dull*koff), US (*koff*Tieng*koff*) or UK (*koff*Ben&CL*koff*). I’m so nostalgic now that I am even putting up all these crappy photos of me up just because you people are in it. TSK TSK!

This is the picture that got the nostalgia rolling. L-R : Ben, me, Chiau Ling, Siew Ling and Tieng Yee. Btw, I’m sorry that my site keeps turning up whenever people Google-stalk you all. Hahahhaa! =) This pic looked so blurry because it’s a photo of a photo taken with a disposable camera. The quality is amazing, as you can tell. ~_~”
Wonderful Redang trip – Alex (aka Norton… lol!), Anton Boss, Peng, Aphia (getting married liow, congrats), Onn Chai, Jacky (*stalk*), me, Edy and Kim. Thank you for making this trip such a beautiful and memorable one! =)

Funny picture of Cheryl & Ben. Miss her! She keeps saying she’ll snail mail me, like ask me for my address 100x but is too damn lazy to mail me. Tsk! X)

Edwin, Mr I-Don’t-Know-My-Own-Strength / Mr I-Love-Japanese-Girls-They-Are-Sooooo-Cute / Mr I-Joined-Wrestling-Club-Back-In-NZ-Note-My-Cute-Accent. Miss you! Thanks for the teddy bear you randomly gave me during Ah Huar’s birthday celebration. =)

Jian Huar and Chiau Ling!

This was also the day after Chiau Ling got her camera, so she was experimenting with sepia tones and such. ~_~” But it gives a nice effect to this picture of Tieng Yee, Siew Ling and Edy.

Editorial Board 2003. I’m the one with the mouth gaping as wide as a horse’s.

Tieng Yee & me in the publication room.

Throwing popcorn at Edwin during the free screening of “Seabiscuit”. OMG, Ben and I kept making stupid comments throughout the whole movie. I just remembered it the other day when I saw the Seabiscuit novel at Pay Less Books. *dies*

Fazlynn and I during Steph’s birthday gathering. Seems like whenever there’s even a miniscule-ly formal event, people will *have* to camwhore in the toilet.

Nice B&W of Fazlynn, me and Lina.

Group photo! Steph (the birthday girl) is standing behind. Seated L-R is May Yee, Faz, me and Lina. OMG, this reminds me that Fazlynn totally stole my denim jacket during that entire evening!

Me cheekily taking a picture of Kim when we were by the Redang beachside. I love the color of the sky in the picture.

Celebrating Edy’s birthday at Starbucks. L-r: Edy, me & Kim.

Elaine and Kim. Another one who has left for US. The two of you look so pretty & angelic here. *sniff*

Probably the only picture ever of me and Jian Huar together? Even though my head is chopped off. =p

The 3 wannabe gangsters of Kuantan. Tieng Yee, Ben and Chiau Ling. This was when we went for a trip to Kuantan to celebrate Ben’s 18th birthday. Stayed over at Chiau Ling and Ben’s house, and did a lot of random things, like going to the pasar malam there, to Teluk Cempedak (“Where everybody goes!”) and cycling while mocking Ben for not being able to wake up to go cycling with us.

Tieng Yee and I in Santa hats eating at Ben’s house. TY, Chiau Ling and I wore those hats the entire night. How embarassing.


The woMAN Chiau Ling is damn aggressive. Here, we were having a pillow fight in her room. Damn evil, no respect for seniors. Lol!!

And here, the woMAN Chiau Ling is strangling Tieng Yee in an attempt to wake her up for tea. OMG, Chiau Ling’s mom is a fantastic cook who kept feeding us like, 10 meals a day. Such a health farm, staying in Chiau Ling’s house.

Chee Kin and Fazlynn. Hahahha, what a cute picture.


And of course, I cannot miss out beloved Dull. Don’t whine when you see this, you look beautiful in this picture. =) Ah, I miss all our crappy Stoopid Gang days!

The only picture of Ben with him showing off his super powers (ball of lightning).


At the AXN Anime Fest in Midvalley. Omg! We were so excited over the event, even though there was not much cosplaying. L-R: Ben, Chiau Ling, Siew Ling, Tieng Yee (the main person to get me addicted to anime, although Chiau Ling was the one who intro’ed me to Naruto), me and Suresh.

Tieng Yee, Siew Ling, myself and Jared, a random guy we met at the AXN Anime Fest. Cool guy, with great drawings!

Me & Colleagues at the annual dinner. Can you tell it’s Egyptian themed? Hope to participate in the theme awards again this year!

Part of the cast for “The Arcadian Circle”. It was fun, although not everyone thought so. L-R: Charlize, me, Sarah, Yean Li, Abhilash, Shem, John


w00t w00t! The best play for Writer’s Bloc! Holla! I miss Hosanna so much! I should’ve spent more time with you in Johor!

The full cast along with some of the NST journalists who we based our characters on.


Fazlynn and I at Zouk.

Ben, me and Fazlynn at Zouk. This was during that random Asia-themed fashion show thingy. We waited sooooooo long, alcohol was our only salvation. Haha, and this pic was also taken shortly after Ben and I went for our free highlights.

After prefects reunion : Chee Kin, Sze Ee, myself, Deborah and Raymond (standing). My my Deb, what a seductive pose you have! Nyahahaha! =)

Max & I! He of sporadic contact!


Playing “Life” back in F2. If only I won in real “life” like how I’m winning in that picture. Steph was pissed off at me and my kiasu ways. Dull is just placidly counting money. Lol!

Dull, Fuzz, me, Steph and Deb – a random reunion!

Dull, Fuzz and I in the chemistry lab. OMG, why did we ever take this picture in the chem lab?? It’s like sooooo not the place to be. O_O


Me and Eugene. Yes, I concede you were too nice to me. =\ Miss you and your cocker-ing ways though! Thanks for the petrol hike tip-off, next time I’ll trust you, ok? =p

Mark & I… thanks for being the Penang guide. Lol! Sorry I stopped contacting with you. It’s because you were too sarcastic about someone I cared about.

Envy January 25, 2005

::Originally posted on Completely Random::

Babiben made me burst a capillary because he didn’t want to go for the hair makeover with me. Said he didn’t know what color to dye his hair, blablabla. GRR! Color it anything you want! He kept asking me for suggestions, but he never takes my suggestions (like how Edy ask me to help him buy something for his gf, but then won’t buy the bikini tops / skanky tops I pick out). Aiyoyo, Babiben, Babiben. It’s cruel to say you want to go and then say you don’t want because I don’t like arranging for stuff and then having my plans not go my way. This is why I’m a control freak. I thought you knew that by now? In other words, I’m sorry that I freaked out, and I’m happy that you decided to go in the end anyways. I was already imagining having to send out a bulletin board message on Friendster saying, “Any guy want to get a free hair makeover? Come join me this Friday at BSC because I’m desperate and have no other male friends to invite, hence I’m making this an open invitation. Yeah, any one can reply. Please, just SOMEONE reply. I might even pay for your lunch and drive you there. Hell yes, I’m desperate” and then having people I hate who are somehow on my Friendster list replying and then me having no choice but to waste the hair makeover on someone I hate. It always makes me wonder why I add people I dislike onto my Friendster list. It’s not like I hate them, more like they annoy me and I’m cool if we speak a grand total of once a year. Hohoho.

Talking about Friendster, I just loved that one line on Taxi where the policeman tells Queen Latifah, “Omg, you HAVE to Friendster me!” Hahaha!

Was reading Jolene’s blog and I so envy her. She has all these blissful memories of high school societies. Actually, I was part of the Interact club, like her. Only I was about 589 times less active, and I had about a billion times less fun then her. First of all, I had a whole lot of trouble with getting the Interact club uniform (don’t ask), and I remember that I had no idea why there was a need to attend all kinds of functions in other schools where basically us small potatoes were ignored while the BOD mingled with each other and exchanged cutely printed namecards with each other. I was also kinda torn between attending Saturday gardening functions for the Interactors, or for the prefects (usually end up going for the prefects one, because the discipline teacher was scarier). Also felt like a dumbarse whenever there was brainstorming sessions because I couldn’t really contribute anything. I mean, what is there to contribute when you don’t know what the heck is going on in the first place, right? There was also this weird incident whereby they made me the secretary for a particular event, but I had no idea why there was a need to prepare minutes for this small potatoes project. I asked the senior what the reports were used for and she kinda bulled up some explanation for me. Gorgeous, I tell ya.

What I hated the most was the part where we have to get signatures of the senior BOD members during the orientation. I remember there was this guy who I asked a signature from (CLUE: I DON’T WANT TO MENTION NAMES BUT HE’S JOLENE’S SUPER SENIOR. DOH) and he was just bloody rude. I asked him nicely for the signature, and what he did was grab the paper and pen from me and said, “Shut up!” and signed. Like wtf? I rather you don’t sign than ask me to shut up over NOTHING and make me feel like crap. Boy do I despise that particular senior.

I’m not saying that there’s anything bad with the club, just that I was one of those lost members who didn’t know what was going on and what the big picture was. I do envy those who are really dedicated to the club and plan stuff and all that. And they have great memories of high school and so and so forth. I do understand the feeling of camaderie they have. I envy it. I wish that I was more outgoing back in high school.

I do wish that ECHO could remain as strong. I really thought we were very united, especially year 2003. I still keep in touch with the current editor, but I think after this year, that will be that. There will be no more ECHO family. There will be no more kinky shadowplay Adobe Pagemaker classes. There will be no more ECHO room as the “belacan-y” smell room for everyone to crowd around in. There will be no more sleepovers in the room and sneaking into the hostel to shower in. Well actually I’m aware that I haven’t been experiencing all that since 2003, but I feel sad that there won’t be any juniors who will be experiencing that after us.