Cakes

How lovely is this? Nope, not LV bag per se but a cake!! How cute! I received a forwarded mail from a lovely friend today sending me all these beautiful cute looking cakes. OH, how adorable!! But then again, it beats me (an after-effect of reading Karen Cheng's blogs) of how much food colouring is POURED into making one? Ooooo......... See, I was not THAT particular about food colouring until I read that certain food colouring is indeed 'poisonous' and 'cancerous' to a certain degree. I know the amount is so tiny everytime we consume, but then again, how many birthday cakes we eat a year? Maybe around 12 (or more if your kids started schooling..;P) ?

Maybe food just need to be simple and basic after all....

But still.........HOW CUTE!!

Worse Than Exam!!

I got a tag from Mott, whom I am sure is a fervent reader. And having posted so many funny blogs and STILL having her thinking that I am a bookworm or somebody who READS is something I thought - pretty amazing!! Hahaha! It is tough for a person like me to answer the questions and when I looked at her answer, I felt like digging a hole and jump right in to HIDE HIDE HIDE! Gosh, she really reads!! I felt that the questions are the toughest for me to answer so far! Worse than my part III exam and I am not exaggerating!....kekeke

Then I thought maybe this could be a good joke for most and hey, making someone laugh is a KIND thingy eh? So here comes the jokes of the day....ENJOY.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
To kill my time as a bored child at home during the holidays.

What are some books you read as a child?
I can't remember having any extra books other than my text books. I remembered the LADYBIRD series (red colour caught my eyes A LOT) of story books my cousins used to have and I will be like so amazed looking at Cinderella with her shoes and I remembered the Elves and the ShoeMaker (I can still remember the picture NOW! Not the text, I don't 'read' much of English until I am like Standard 3 or 4!); I also remember the colourful 'activity' magazines (the title is something like Hong Ping Guo - red apple, I think) my neighbour used to have and I would loved to go to her place to read those. Hehehehe Other than that, would be some classic story book where the Chinese proverbs derived.

What is your favourite genre?
Used to be suspense and science fiction, but now anything SHORT SHORT SHORT! NO HORROR, I'll freak out!

Do you have a favourite novel?
I read everything ONCE normally, so NOpe, tak ada. But I used to love reading the classic novels by 'Jin Yong'...hehehe

Where do you usually read?
Anywhere, mostly on bed last time (mid nite already ma). Now normally in the toilet cause Jien always would climb on me and there goes my book and privacy to read. :O !!!

When do you usually read?
Toilet mah....in the morning lor! (I hope u don't fell from your chair now!)

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Yeah, if one book is boring, I will chuck it one side and read something else. If that counts. ;P

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
Not really.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
Library? UU siao boh?? Here in Malaysia, we normally don't go to library and some libraries are closed on Sundays! Buy la - hubby buy. ;P

Do you keep most of the books you buy?
No place to keep, we chucked them at my in law's house. Let the rest read. HAHAHA!

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
Hello Peter hello Jane would be later la..I find the pictures not so attractive. We bought for him the hard cover story books (also the Ladybird series..) and he LOVES them; Jien has to learn Chinese too, and this is one of those books I read to him..

Ahh...will take Mott's advise on this and keep an eye on the books she had recommended. :)

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Tak ada. But I do sometimes look at the book review column to check it out.

What’s next?
Hmmmm...I really don't have any. But I do want to own a series of 'Building Details' for work sake. Damn, they are so expensive! I do have intention to read the The Romance of Three Kingdom and the 'Hong Lou Meng' for quite some time. But I got hold of the wrong version, so difficult to digest the language itself.....ghrrrr!

What books would you like to reread?
I don't RE-read. But I do frantically flip my design magazines again and again searching for ideas!!!

Who are your favourite authors?
For a person like me, I am really poor at remembering names. But for any authors that I had read more than ONE of their books are Jin Yong, Chang Xiao Sien, Liu Yong, Liu-Xuan, Gu-Long, Mitch-Abom(trust me, I actually went to check the books again to check the name!)...mainly Chinese books wuo?

So the conclusion is : blinka.li is NOT a reader!! As much as I want to read, with Jien and work now, it is rather impossible to find time to even finish reading the newspaper..but then again, Malaysia's newspaper are SO THICK! Hahaha! :) .........................Hope you all have a good laugh!

My sun-glasses

Jien always disturb me when I wear my sun glasses.

And he had chosen one for himself during his Bird Park trip. One which is blue (thank GOD!) and with a small Tigger sticker! He hardly put it on though and he quickly snapped it off everytime he puts them on. I had to be so EXTRA quick to capture this angelic yet cheeky looking face wearing his shades.

Fragile, life

This morning, Jien woke up with some cough. It is his very first cough!! I guess it must be our maid who pass the germs to him.

So I brought 2 of them to the clinic. At the clinic, the paediatrician told me it was just a minor infection at the throat for him (thank goodness) and she started to ask me about Dr.Jeremy. I said yes, I knew and am so sorry about his passed away.

She said recently we had lost so many doctors. She said at least 6 doctors (one of them, my nieces' paediatrician) left us and some are only in their 40s or 50s. She felt so sad. Yes, I could see tears in her eyes. She also told me that her gynae hubby had just done his by-pass. She said why is it so sudden?

Yeah, I supposed they are all friends to her. Losing 6 friends at one short frame of time is indeed hurtful.

Some of the doctors are in denial state with the fact that even in early stage, one may STILL have the chance to be associated with HEART problem;
Some overworked and failed to see that doctors are not GOD, we are all just human and human need ample of rest, what more a doctor - whose work requests no mistakes.

Life is - fragile.

Keeping in touch - with my lecturer

I am not a fervent, always sitting in the front row, asking lots of questions, going to seniors to chat, going to junior to preach - kind of students. Worst when I was in uni, I was practically a back bencher. Always late to submit projects, almost always late for class etc...

But somehow, I was the President for Architecture Club. And we held a series of activities and that was actually HOW my lecturers came to KNOW me better (or to know that actually this student exists??)

One of the lecturers, Mr.Architect A. was my 'fan'. In the class, he would want me to sit in front. He would make fun of me, tease me etc and many course mates would think he is a 'sweet talker'(but he actually got a very fierce look!!). Hahaha!! They all got it wrong. I had the chance of being 'alone' with him. He never pulled my leg when we were left 'alone'. We talked leisurely and sometimes seriously, about work, about his family, about how it is to be working as an architect in real life. He is like totally a transformed man. To him, he sees the mature side of me. He knows no matter how he teases me, I won't cry like a little girl or have ill feelings towards him. He actually pumped up my 'ego' to be an architect. Yes, to be one architect, you need to have a bit of 'ego' in you!! Hahaha!

Even after graduation, we kept in touch until I lost his number and he then lost mine for I had changed my number. The good Datum linked us back again. I met another lecturer during the conference and got hold of his contact again.

We chatted over the phone yesterday. Things have changed. He is now no longer a lecturer but rather a full time dad and architect. At least one thing did not change - we still talk like the old days and we also have one thing in common - we put our family as our TOP PRIORITY!

It is good to catch up with old friend. :)

Datum KL

2 weeks ago I attended Datum KL 2008, an architectural design conference.

This is the conference that you will see almost ALL the architects in Malaysia ( we need to fulfill a minimum of 10 points for attending the cpd [continuing professional development] so as to enable us to register our practice for the following year, this conference gives 10 CPD points!) gathered at one conference! This time around we had delegates from Australia, Singapore and Thailand. For the conference had been receiving a good feedback, many architectural schools also encouraged the students to attend - which is fantastic! Nothing like this when I was a student!

Well, to explain - this is a design conference. So normally we will have some prominent architects to speak on their latest work and the conceptual development of the schemes.

This year there are young speakers, in their 30s or perhaps early 40s. Their work is totally jaw-dropping and inspiring. Among my favourite architects are BIG Architects (Denmark), Kengo Kuma (Japan), Hailim Suh of Architecture Studio Himma (Korea). Overall, all the speakers were well prepared this time and are all equally interesting in their own way. (though, I can still see some participants snoring away..., haha!!)

One of the highlights of the event is of course, we got to meet old colleagues, college mates, friends etc and have a good chat over the breaks. We have 2 tea breaks and a buffet lunch. Hubby said at any conference if the food is not ok, most Malaysian will complain. Haha! To certain degree, I agreed.

Met my ex-boss and we were both at the consensus - we felt like scraping of our design work and doing it all over again! Hahahah! I just hope the spirit of design and purity of design works of these marvelous and gifted designers will keep me going for another year till we meet again next conference.

p/s : the architectural conference is always accompanied by ARCHIDEX - which is an architecture, ID and Building exhibition, all at one go! So if you are planning to build a house, do some extension work, change your wardrobe etc, go look for some good bargain there. In this case, next year of course!!

Colour Matters

It was end last year I think when I went to my usual salon to do up my hair. Ben the hairdresser, has quite a good memory as he still remember me!! Yes, when I say usual that is because I only go to him but I don't really 'frequent' the place but I only go to see him like 2 times a year maybe?

So I remembered he complimented that my hair is still pretty much thick and best of all - no grey hair!! He said most people my age (I wonder how old he gauge MY age and of course - I don't want to ask!) would have quite a bit of grey hair!

Just about 2 months ago, I went to my sister in-law's salon for a quick hairdo (and for something else, which I am still pondering whether to share....) and I had the shock of my life when she flipped up my hair and show me just how much grey hair I had!! For that instance, the room did turned grey - pitch grey to me!!!

I have to say that I ignore my hair quite a bit. Usually I stand from a distance and spend less then a minute combing my hair ( most mothers do, I suppose ). So little that I notice under the yellow light that actually that shimmer on my hair is actually, in fact the silver SHINES of grey hair!

I think I just have to laugh at it (for now) then to worry because then, it will be growing in abundance! I just have to play more and work less..I just have to do more yoga and breath in more oxygen so as to get more of it reaching and protecting the precious black strands of my hair!!

Picture shown is an old archive - the good old days...hehehe

Weird Act

Lately my boy has a very strange act.

Everytime he could not get something that he wants or that he is very tired and sleepy but wanting to keep himself awake (see how playful he becomes?), he would knock his head on the floor or wall!! Sometimes it is not painful to him as he will be knocking on carpet but at times it went on so hard on the HARD FLOOR and he would cry later to catch our attention!!

Goodness! We wonder where he learned all these tricks and how could a child acted as such just to achieve what he wants. Tsk tsk tsk!

Should I bring him to see a psychologist or should I see one myself?! Good Lord!

In search of Star

Not really, star but star anise.

Just right before we went to KK, I was short of star anise in my kitchen. We went to Tesco, Giant, etc but just could not find one!! I wonder what happened..

Then as we were at Kundasang's morning market, nothing really fancies me and the sun was so 'near' to me. Oh! Not forgetting the flies, they were EVERYWHERE! When we walked pass the 'fragrant' stall - spices I mean, I found my stars!!!

Of all things that I could buy from Sabah - star anise!! Quite a joke, eh?

Mid Year Break-Away - Sabah

I had been longing to go to Sabah for a loooong long time and finally we got the chance after MAS introduced the 0-airfare promotion lately.

So we hopped on to the air plane and had our little family trip.

Kota Kinabalu is a lovely town. She has the beautiful view of the South China Sea and having the mountain range as back drop making her naturally attractive. We stayed at Kundasang (foothill of Mt.Kinabalu) our first night there and it was chilly and cool ( the journey is a bit - scary to me though - too foggy to drive as it was raining!!). Jien loved it cold! Haha!



Restless waiting for the plane....we left our house at 6+ in the morning!! Jien did not cry nor fuss. A good boy he is!







See what I meant by natural beauty??!! This is KK when the plane is touching down the airport. By the way, KKIA is only about like 15 mins drive from the city centre. How conveniece!






After a night long shower, the morning seemed extra clear and the view is simply breathtaking! We were staying at the chalet in Perkasa Hotel. Well, we were offered cheaper rate with breakfast and dinner inclusive. Hmmm, food wise....really they should buck up! If you asked me, I would say probably you should go elsewhere for dinner and steamboat would be a good choice!


We checked-in at Hyatt, KK. Nice room, nice service and best of all, they upgraded us to the members floor!! We are entitled to free breakfast, free internet access, free flow of finger food from 5-7pm everyday at the lounge!! The view at the lounge is so impressive. LOVELY!

BUT BUT BUT, if you are going there, make sure you tell them you are VERY sensitive to noise! There are pubs near the hotel that will blast till wee hour. Thank goodness they managed to switch us to a more quiet room and best of all, still at the same 'pampered' floor! Hahaha!



Us at the beach. Jien played with the sand for almost an hour if not more! He dozed off quickly in the car later !

Just how nice if we have beaches like this minutes drive away in KL??!!

Sunday market is a big thing in KK. It is like you are sure to bump into your friends there on Sunday morning!! There are so many people and they sell ...even pets like cats and puppies!

Jien is smelling the Chinese herb..

It was all in all a relaxing trip. Jien had us FULL TIME and he is such a nice boy to bring around.

Oh, as we reached home, we anticipated him to switch on his favourite Playhouse Disney Channel on TV BUT our son nicely picked up his drawing board and started drawing! And best of all, our home sick son refused to go out for a quick fix of proper lunch!! I can almost read his face saying ' NO MORE OUTSIDE FOOD! ' *kekeke*