Merry Christmas 2010

The niece ...sitting in front of the tree and admiring her pressies BEFORE mass.( Christmas Eve 2010)

IPAD fever

The 4 year old niece...with her ipad

I'm not happy

Picture of the original restaurant. Note the warm colours

Why do restaurants expand? Why to keep up with the growing number of customers. Easy. This is the problem. The last lucky cosy find of a restaurant has now moved venue and expanded. The issue I have with this new place is just about everything about it. We'll start with the lighting. Clinical fluorescent lights greet you. The floor is tiled and the walls white wash. the seating arrangement is like any other Japanese fast food joints with a carousel playing the main part of the place. To the sides, there were rooms but sadly lacking in warmth. The lady at the front recognised us and showed us to our seats. The waitress was obviously spanking new. She mistook coca cola for ocha. When the bento sets arrived they looked ( and tasted) different. So NO, this supposed move for better business has THIS customer very unhappy. In stark contrast to the previous place which had lovely cosy booths and a definite cosy feel to it. I shall have to think twice about visit 2.

Additional reading material this christmas break...

Nice cover...now let's hope it doesn't disappoint.

I'm not sure about this book. It's a selection of short stories and I've read the first 3 in one seating whilst having dinner two evenings back. I think the build-up of the stories is good but there's something not quite right with some of the endings which leaves you feeling like you've yet to hear the punch line of a joke. Archer's last book " Paths of glory" was brilliant. Enjoyed it so much I reread some bits directlt after I finished the book. I'm pretty sure this won't happen with this latest novel. More to come...in the meantime...I shall immerse self in the antics of Mrs Ames and Mrs Evans.


This is the last working day for 2010 for me:) 

Interesting things to share

Found!!!! At Borders  the Gardens.

A delightfully intricate fridge magnet

The first picture is of a book. ( pretty obvious I know) For the uninitiated Bloomsbury publishes old books. I first saw this a few months back on another book blog and thought "oh this will be nice to read". And promptly forgot all about it. As I walked into Borders last Sunday and gravitated to the chic lit shelf out of sheer habit, I certainly didn't expect to find this book waiting for me. Last copy mind you. So that made my day. That and my new handbag which is 1/4 the size of my old bag. Happy days!

Oh, I forgot to describe ( and explain ) the second picture. No reason. It's just a lovely fridge magnet and I didn't want this post to be only about BOOKs.

patience is a virture

Picture taken of the office. Just after handing in the logbook

Nothing is official as yet, but I will say that I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it looks pretty much like there will be no obligatory exit viva in the offing. Official news ....to come. In the meantime, allow me ( lest you think I'm one of those ghastly ungrateful bastards you abhore) to say that I am both grateful and humbled by this.

The moment

a close-up of the testimonial SEALED so I have no idea what's written

Perhaps because it's been on my to-do-list for months ( March to be exact) I feel a great big load off my shoulders this evening seeing as I shall finally send the relevant documents to the NSR. No fanfare, just a huge huge sigh of relief and a special thanks to those of you who helped me along the way one way or the other.

Crosswords

Crosswords, originally uploaded by Jessica Whittle Photography.

It prevents you from getting Alzheimer's Disease:)

Boys over Flowers

Kissing Star, originally uploaded by ★.stellar.★.

So this is what I've learnt from the net. BOF is based on the japanese comic manga written by Yoko Kamio. " Hana Yori Dango"is taken from a famous Japanese expression "dumplings over flowers" which refers to people who attend Hanami, who head for the vendor booths selling food rather than enjoy the beauty of the flowers. So that explains the rather bizarre title and dare I say bad grammar. It bugged me quite a bit. So I'm glad I got that sorted out in my head.

The Korean version was aired from March 2009 to May 2009 with a total of 25 episodes. ( Includes an extra one ) I got my DVD set three weeks back.( So now you know how outdated my korean drama selections are)

Because the original line is targeted to high school girls we shouldn't cringe at the cheesy story line. You may wonder what the picture is about: It's a token of love from Gu Jun Pyo to Geum Jan Di called the " Kissing Star".

Scales

Little violin., originally uploaded by dohreme.

I love my violin. It's a handmade full size violin which when played lovingly responds tenfold. Lately, it's been misbehaving and I suspect ( and the teacher agrees) that its due to the nasty metallic "E" string. So songs which feature the E is painful to listen to and I sound bad. So things to do this weekend would be 1. change violin strings 2. Buy a new metronome ( the present one has died from a great fall a few months back) To add on the wishlist together with Jeffrey Archer's latest novel, the IPAD....would be the complete songbook of "boys over flower".

The KL motor show 2010

Vespa on show

The folks I had to wade thru to get to the other side

Yes yes, the MAIN attraction wasn't just the cars

Day 2 of the motor show. As you can see from the pictures above, the crowd did not dent the unwavering "support" of men in appreciating the various chassis on show. *ahem*. I got terribly tired after we completed the survey of the first hall. Apart from the Vespas on show, I saw little else of interest. The remaining minutes were not pleasant. There are those who enjoy motor shows, and there are those dragged to them shows for one reason or another. Motor shows should be a pleasant experience. This was not. I left in a temper.

Scarf obsession

Hot Desert Flower Scarf, originally uploaded by KnittingGuru.

What a pity we live in the tropics. You can't walk about wearing a woolly scarf. The two main reasons being 1. you'ld develop one of those nasty heat-induced itch with 2 .5 minutes. 2. You'dl get stares and silent sniggers if you walk long enough with this contraption. Otherwise this beauty would be around my neck this afternoon. I've chosen instead more sensible fashionable light-weight scarfs.

Yikes....

Even dogs love the iPad, originally uploaded by EliasJordan.

I need to get one before this happens:)

Stress

Taming Your Stress, originally uploaded by michaeljosh.

Possible cure for stress...edina's style
1. Buy some korean fashion clothes, the weirder the better and wear them for tea with friends. ( warn them first before meeting)
2. Do a pedicure and a manicure and pick the ugliest colour ..just for the heck of it.
3. Get yourself frozen yoghurt from Coffee Bean. It's YUM!
4. Buy an ipad before breakfast not because you need it but because it's the new fangled crazed and you NEED to have it.

"iPaid too much"

"iPaid too much", originally uploaded by modenadude.

Absolutely hilarious picture I found on flickr by typing "ipad" and hitting the search button. Cute:) Obviously someone thought they parted with too much money. Just because this picture is up doesn't mean I won't be buying one. Maybe Saturday morning before breakfast:)

Logbook

Logbook, originally uploaded by silentbobh88.

I have just completed my logbook. ( My version of completion anyway) I spent a good part of Wednesday doing it. Mostly frustrated with the excel which refused to convert adequately when I opened it on the pc. And then I got into this very bizarre ( mostly likely possessed by temporary insanity ) to copy excel to microsoft word. Therein started the jolly time of getting the margins in-line. I ended up printing out a shoddy version of my work which was depressing. Anyway, problem rectified. Yes I BROUGHT it back home to be sorted. *yawn* Logbooks are painful to complete and I derive no satisfaction from it at ALL.

What I'm reading this month

An old version of the book

Am at page ONE of this book. Reading material for this month.( I suspect I'll finish it by the week..must learn to ration ) Just finished Henrietta sees it through which was brilliant. I shall have to re-read that soon just to enjoy the story a bit more. I wish Jeffrey Archer's latest book was cheaper. Priced at a horrendous price of over 90 ringgit and in hardcover I shall have to think hard. Hate hard cover books because it doesn't fit the shelf very well. Plus it's rather heavy when you rest it on your tummy to read.