Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Schneider

Before I said anything, watch this video.

What do you think? I think it is BRILLIANT!!!! Thanks to my colleague who shared this video after a day of boring work. The moment I heard Sam Tsui's voice, I stunned for a minute. The first question I asked my colleague is "Do you have the full album?". Too bad Sam doesn't have an album.

Apparently Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo are two very young and talented individuals aka teenagers. They DIY the whole recording by themselves, not one but a lot of other beautiful covers as well as College Musical which are available at youtube. Check out Kurt's channel http://www.youtube.com/user/kurthugoschneider. How can they be so talented? I wondered what I was doing when I was at their age :/ Probably just being a couch potato and wondered what to eat next :x

Many of their fans suggested Sam should participate in American Idol, whereas I don't quite like the idea. Probably I'm disappointed with AI's winners all the while. Anyway, I believe both of them will go real far with their talents.

p.s. Kurt looks super cute in Bonnie Hunt Show <33333333

The Interview With God

Early in the morning a colleague of mine shared this wonderful link (http://theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html). I guess everyone is trying to find hope and a reason to stay put.

I dreamed I had an INTERVIEW WITH GOD

"So you would like to interview me?" GOD asked.

"If you have the time," I said.

GOD smiled.

"My time is eternity...

what questions do you have in mind for me?"

"What surprises you most about humankind?"

GOD answered,

"That they get bored with childhood,

they rush to grow up,

and then long to be children again."

"That they lose their health to make money...

and then lose their money to restore their health."

"That by thinking anxiously about the future,

they forget the present,

such that they live in neither the present nor the future."

"That they live as if they will never die,

as die as though they had never lived."

GOD's hand took mine

and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked,

"As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?"

"To learn they cannot make anyone love them.

All they can do is let themselves be loved."

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others."

"To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness."

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love,

and it can take many years to heal them."

"To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,

but is one who needs the least."

"To learn that there are people who love them dearly,

but simply do not yet know how to express or show their feelings."

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently."

"To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another,

but they must also forgive themselves."

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else you'd like your children to know?"

GOD smiled and said...

"Just know that I am here."

"Always."

Tak Tahan

I know it is a bit rude/ harsh to call the Morning Crew as Boring Crew, but I seriously feel so. I used to be a loyal fan of them when R was around. J and R is the most perfect match ever although some people claim that the earlier MC is even better? To me I find both of them are really funny (not in a lame way) and creative. They always come out with new ideas and bring 'em on air. One of them which I really like was the Merdeka idea. They brought in different 'Malaysia Icon' everyday and interviewed them, too funny for words :D Even by thinking of it makes me smile. Who will forget 'Yes No Erm Ah'? Everyone loves this game. People start practising at home in order to beat the 'unbeatable' J and R lol.

Ever since the new setup of MC, I don't listen to the same station like before anymore. Sometimes it bored me to death listening to their lame jokes I have to switch station. The games are not fun, their jokes are lame, dull and boring. Until now I still didn't get the idea what so funny by making fun of somebody's height? I mean so many guys out there who are short, what so funny about it? Maybe the first few times ya lah it's quite funny but everyday joking about the same thing.. durhhh???

This morning the topic is about the leaving of J, not literally leaving he is just taking a week off. And E is making a big fuss of it, isn't he a drama king? Ya lah it could be a gimic or whatever, but first it is not funny, second it doesn't make sense. What's the big deal of J going on leave? Hallo?? Somehow I just don't get it. I personally prefer last week show when M replaced E for a week. There are more sparks and chemistry between M and J (Michael Jackson comes into place pulak dah) instead of M and E. Not only me, even si Adam also found both of them funnier. When we were on leave we still on the radio and listened to them. Normally we only listen to the radio while driving to work.

There was once both the MC were on leave, so M and J (another announcer) replaced the MC. Suprisingly they are very good! I actually hope that they will be the new MC. All in all it is about how good the two announcers partner together, just like a couple. Perhaps they are good individually, but when they are put together it becomes dull and boring. I agree that both of them are good, but not being the MC.

No offense just voicing out my 'tak tahan-ness' after listening to drama king this morning.

Wonders of Photoshop

Update: Did a slight liquifying to make the eyes smaller.

There was once a contest to photoshop one of Xiaxue's photo and see who can come out with the best. Of course the queen herself also participated in the contest. I have to give a big applause to her because she has the courage to share her ugliest photo to everyone :clap clap clap:

The result of the contest was out and obviously none of the participants beat Xiaxue. I didn't participate because my photoshop skill isn't that good either. But today I give it a try and see what's the outcome.

Scroll down..... (Xiaxue's way lol)

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Jeng jeng jeng...

Ok I gotta admit that the face proportion and the makeup and all don't really fall into place lah. But that's the best I can do :(

Best Egg Tarts

Comes from my oven lol. The shape may be slightly out lah since this is my first attempt and I don't have the proper trays/cups. But the outlook didn't do its justice ok. I never expected it to be so good because I didn't follow the recipe completely. The original recipe cater for 20 tarts so I have to follow my instinct, reduce here and there, increase this and that in order to come with this. In short it taste unbelievable good I don't know how to describe lol.

Hoi Tong Steamboat

So I went to Hoi Tong again last Saturday, just the two of us -.- because it was raining and it's difficult to get people on a Saturday night. It was already full house when we reached there about 8pm. Have to take number and wait for table :s We waited for half an hour, standing there watching people eating. We were number 3 on the line. There were another 2 couples before us. The gf of the first couple was so angry already because of the wait. Her face was as black as arang and she kept jeling at the bf. Kesian the guy.

There are so so so many steamboats restaurants around but we still drive all the way to Serdang because this restaurant has both steamboat and bbq. Why not go to Talipon you ask? Talipon sucks lah. The one at Kelana Jaya already tutup kedai. So you can imagine how good is their food lah. Not only that, Hoi Tong also provides a wide varieties of food. I think is better than Yuan at Sunway Mentari.

A small portion of the usual steamboat items. Fu chuk, fish ball, pork ball, vege ball, quail egg, fish noodle, dumpling and many other balls.

Some seafood. They have crab, prawn, fish fillet, clams, green oyster (green shell one don't know what is it called), bamboo clam (chuk tan), scallop, lala and some other shell seafood.

Hand was shaking while taking this photo. Marinated meat like ikan pari, ikan bolos, ikan kembong, bawal, lamb, pork, beef, chicken wings, fish egg, balitong, chicken satay etc.

Besides all the above they have a whole lot more of other food such as fruits, the watermelon is super sweet we had 2 big plates, jelly, ice cream, fried rice, ginger duck, curry chicken, lots of vegetable selection, noodles I can't remember so much liao. They have 2 soups, tomyam and normal soup. Of course you can ask for both which we always did. Another reason why I like this restaurant so much is the soup base. Normally if you go to any steamboat restaurant their 'ching tong' is super plain like water. But this one they cook the soup with herbs so it taste really good. Same goes to the tomyam, they didn't just cook it with tomyam paste which you can buy at supermarket. They really put all the ingredients to make the soup base and the good thing is the tomyam is not spicy.

If you are planning to go there I suggest you to make a reservation first. Hoi Tong Phone Number: 03-89436580 and 019-2582509.

Direction:

From the Kuda roundabout before Palace of Golden Horses turn in to the highway and pay the toll. Mines Waterfront Business Park is on ur left. Keep to the left and go up to the flyover. Turn right and go all the way straight. South City Plaza is on your right. There is a Petronas in front (left), before Petronas turn right. Go straight until you saw a burger on your left or there is a road sign showing SK13, turn left. Go straight there will be rows of shops on your left, and some restaurant on your right like what Homemade restaurant lah, Hakka restaurant lah.. Hoi Tong is in front there only.

House Hunting Part 2 - 宝物沉归底

Since we missed out the last potential house, we sort of give up Kota Kemuning. I started to consider Puchong although I don't quite like it. An agent contacted us that he has a nice unit at Bukit Rimau. So we arranged a visit on a Sunday with high hope. The morning itself we were busy cleaning our room because I couldn't stand the amount of fur flying around anymore. I was so grumpy looking at our messy room. We have so many rubbish and no where to put. In short our room looks like a rubbish dump.

I was comtemplating whether to proceed with the appointment since I'm not in a very good mood. Anyway we still make it and reached there earlier than the agent. We tried to look for the house first based on the address. Who knows that house actually at Kemuning Greenville! If you follow the previous house hunting post I did mention that Greenville is not what we are looking for. We called the agent why on earth did he tell us the house is at Bukit Rimau. He replied the place is called Bukit Rimau Greenville wtf. Lesson of the day, if you saw any Bukit Rimau advertisement especially on the internet, probably it is referring to Greenville. Double check with the agent first before heading over. Don't get me wrong we have nothing against Greenville. But it's really shocking to see so many cracked porch at that area.

We continue making rounds at the other part of Kemuning if there is any nice unit. Spent about 4 to 5 hours, visited an empty unit and made many many calls. We were about to give up until we saw a unit with a super big banner which has the agent's contact number, beside it there was a hand written sign board with the owner's number. We called up the owner to enquire about the house and found out that the price is way way out of our budget. The owner didn't say much about the condition of the house. He confidently asked us to see for ourselves whether it is worth. Maybe it is fated, supposingly we arranged the visit on another day since the owners will only be back after few hours. Instead of heading home, we waited for the owner.

The moment I stepped into the house, I knew this is it!!! This is my dream home! The house has almost everything that I'm looking for. What wow me the most is the superb condition, interior design, decorations and most importantly it has a walk-in wardrobe! OMG!! Which girl doesn't want to have a walk-in wardrobe you tell me. The owners are amazingly kind. We had a good chat talking about the house, till our hometowns and all.

I was so excited and straight away called mom to tell her the good news. I told mom I love the house very much and I want it to be mine. After the last experience we are kinda worried if this house again being taken by somebody else. But wouldn't it too fast to make the decision? Moreover the cost is not within our budget. Once we reached home, quickly I grabbed the calculator to do some rough calculations whether we can afford it. The good news is we can, the bad news is we will be pretty broke lol. Anyway we made another arrangement with the owner for a second visit. This time my parents will go along. If they are happy with the house confirm we are getting it! It is better to get more inputs from other people because we might be blinded by certain things.

I will just put everything into the same post since things have been progressing and I'm sorta backdating it now :s

Few days after, my parents and their friends (unexpected guests haha) came all the way from hometown to see the house. We reached there slightly earlier so we parked the car in front of the house and waited for the owners (owners were out for dinner or something). Si Adam almost wanted to press the door bell but I stopped him. Then I noticed the floor at the porch was a bit different from the other day. I asked Si Adam "Did you notice the floor the other day? I didn't know the floor got polka dots one." Even he didn't notice it maybe because that day the owner's car was parked at the porch. After awhile I suddenly macam feel tak betul aje.. something's wrong here. Alamak!!! We went to the wrong house!!!! Quickly all of us rushed into the car and speed off. My parents was like wtf like that also can :x

Finally we reached the house also lah lol. To cut things short, parents are very happy with the house. They went Ooohh.. Ahhh.. and Woowww.. especially my mom when she saw the walk-in wardrobe. Macam ibu macam anak hahaha. I will decribe more about the house in the next entry. As a conclusion, we sorta confirm the house. After all the ooh ahh ohh ahh there are tons of things need to be done. You think so easy can get a house ar..

Book Shopping

Was out of idea what to have for dinner last night when my parents suddenly cancelled the dinner plan. I was craving for Hoi Tong Steamboat since I had it last weekend, couldn't get enough of it. Thought of bringing them to try since it was a cold night after the rain. Steamboat would be good, what else if it comes along with bbq... furhh fantastic. Anyway plan tak jadi so we ended up at JM Briani House and bloated ourselves with nasi briani, chicken, beef and tauhu bakar. We were extremely full after the meal so I suggested we go to our happy place to have a walk. If you are not aware our happy place is referring to Carrefour -.- We are so unromantic.

At first I thought of checking out the price for some electrical stuff mainly washing machine, fridge and LCD TV (don't know lah is it called LCD or Plasma as long as it is flat). Need to do some budgetting on that if things go smoothly :wink: Later on we saw a lot of books for sale and I got super excited. I have something in books although I don't read much. It makes me super happy whenever I am surrounded by books and I can't stop buying them when I started.

Some of the books that I've bought. I like any book that is based on true story. So you can tell which are mine and which are his lol. Somebody always live in fantasy hahaha.. Each only costs RM5 isn't it dirt cheap?? Plan to go back another time to grab more. Happy place never failed to make me happy :D

'Real' Estate - 接受現實吧

OMG I didn't realise that there are people commented on my previous posts and what makes me even happier is that I don't know them hahaha. That means other than me, Si Adam and pump pump there are others who read my blog (or they just so happen to bump into here lah). Anyway thanks for sharing the furniture links, too bad I am from Malaysia :(

Today let's talk about the 'reality' of house hunting. Let me clarify that I am not an expert or somebody who is pro in real estate or whatever okay. Just sharing my own experience but I welcome questions (chewahh.. bunyi macam expert pulak lol).

A few to begin with:

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  Real estate agents these days aren't that nice anymore. Some are very 'lansi' aka cocky they don't bother to do business.
  
  
  
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  Be prepared to call/sms tons of agents but none will get back to you.
  
  
  
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  Stay cool when you face agents who only serve richer buyers and leave you aside.
  
  
  
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  Some agents have their own websites but they never update it for ages.
  
  
  
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  You may realise some of the agents drive better car than you. In other words they may be richer than you so don't be surprise.
  
  
  
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  Be prepared to spend a lot of time driving around looking for available units which may end up with nothing.
  
  
  
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  Do not rely completely on properties websites, first the status of the house is not updated, second many owners do not advertise on the internet.
  
  
  

To be continue....

House Hunting Part 1 - 失敗為成功之母

Continue from last post whereby we went house hunting at subang and sunway. We came home with a list of available units and contact numbers. After making a few calls to check on the prices, we decided to slash out subang and sunway from our options. Looking at the condition of over 10 to 20 years houses in such a congested area, we definitely can get better than that.

We took a break and thought of maybe we shouldn't be rushing about it. In fact we should take as much time as we need to find the right house. So we were back to procastinating. Until a day we started browsing through iproperty again to try our luck. After a little research on the internet, I was thinking why don't we give Putra Heights a try. It is not too far from Puchong and Subang, which probably the best for both of us since our working places are like one at the north and one at the south. That is the reason why it is so difficult for us to locate a place.

We went and visited two units, both are at this seksyen 8. The first house we visited is tenanted. The house is very crampy and there is no living room upstairs. We knew it is not the one that we are looking for when we stepped in. Moreover the agents are so 'cannot make it'. Service is bad, no manners, bias to rich buyers and cocky. The agent brought us to another empty unit but it is not any better. Somemore we don't like the environment because it seems like the house is surrounded by bushes :s

Later on we found out that this seksyen 8 probably is the only place that cost below 300k. So no luck in Putra Heights. The week after we continue searching at Kota Kemuning, Si Adam's favourite :x Again we went and visited a few units. Initially we thought that Kota Kemuning might have some cheap houses since the area is out of town. But there aren't many units available except Greenville. Many people thought that Kota Kemuning is very far, near to industrial area hence the air quality is bad therefore the houses will be dirt cheap. Sorry to say that it is not. Whoever that has never been there before will not know how much the place has been developed. The place is so huge, with a few schools inside, rows of shops everywhere, petrol stations, police station, hospital and carrefour which are in development, this place definitely is not as 'ulu' as we thought of. It slowly emerged into a town.

We spent almost the whole day there and finally we found a house at Liparis. We are lucky that the agent stays nearby and immediately he came over to show us the unit. Tenanted house but the owner not staying there anymore, fully renovated and it comes with fittings, 3 units of airconds, water filters, wet and dry kitchen. Price at 300k, sounds reasonable to us. Although the build up looks small but we were still very interested. So before we leave the place we asked the agent to check on a few things with the owner. The agent was rushing us to pay the 3% deposit to secure the house but we didn't want to make an impulse decision based on the first visit. Who knows the very next day the agent sms-ed and said the house already sold. To my surprise I didn't feel disappointed at all although the house may be quite worthy. I told myself that there must be something better waiting for us :)