Tuesday, May 19, 2009

This disease called the swine flu

It's odd how 90 people get the swine flu and everybody wants to wear a mask. 30-40 million people have AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom...




From The Putnam Pig

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day special

Just wanna share the slides that I did for my church Mother's Day celebration...






















Sunday, May 3, 2009

Up Broga Hill... almost.

Excitedly I looked forward to the trip up Broga Hill, making sure I get enough sleep the day before, packed my insect repellant, an extra shirt, cap, towel, torchlight, water and of course, my camera.


My friends reached my place right on time, at 5.45am. We went to pick up another friend at Saujana Impian, before making our way to Broga. It was quite a dark and bumpy ride, and listening to my friend's stories of the haunted kind makes the journey more 'scenic'.


We reached the place around 6.30am. Being all first-timers to the place, we just followed the group in front.


Not once, not twice... I think we made at least three u-turns! And by the time, we found the right path to go to the vantage point (the one we always see in photos) - I was almost dead.


Ha! Guess what? My dear old friend, Mr Migraine decided it's time to keep me company. With my pounding head, I slowed down my pace. Told my friends to go on ahead and I'd follow through. I did not intend to keep them back, and definitely did not want them to miss the sunrise view Broga Hill is famous for.


As I slowly inched my way up, I started to feel dizzy. It's not a good feeling, believe me. I know I don't exercise regularly enough, but the trail wasn't that challenging, just a bit steep and narrow in certain parts.


Having conquered Mount Jasar (1,670m), Mount Beremban (1,812m) and Mentigi Hill (1,535m)before - Broga Hill should not be that tough. I don't know why I was finding it hard to even stand steadily at that moment. In my head, thoughts of fainting and rolling down the ravine made their apperances - but in my heart, I knew myself better than to just give up like that.


Probably a snail was faster than me at that point of time - but again, I took more steps forward. I started to gag! Can you imagine that? Usually, I will start to vomit when I get a really terrible fight with Mr Migraine.


So, at that point of time - I felt that I had no choice but to give up. I just felt disappointed and heart-broken.


My friends called me from the hilltop (oh, Maxis' lines work at that place!) and I just assured them I am alright. I tried to hide my disappointment with jokes.


I slowly started my solo trek down. Along the way, I took some photos... still feeling sad I missed the view on top.




It was such an easy trek, I could manage it without any struggle as I strolled downhill. I couldn't help but think that I shouldn't have given up. I almost turned back, to try to scale up again; but I did not.


This morning, as I was driving to church - I was still kinda down about the whole incident yesterday. I was still angry with myself for giving up, chastening myself and making my own life difficult.


Then it occurred to me - There are things in life that we could always get a second chance for. I could go up Broga Hill again next week, or next month perhaps. Meanwhile, there are other things that I could only have one chance to execute. These are the things that matter. One life, one chance.


After that moment of 'enlightenment' - I felt lighter, no more heavy heart. I began to mesmerize the food expedition post-Broga: we went to Seremban for nasi lemak with minced pork and special fishball noodle with lard; and to Senawang for curry laksa and iced coffee. If I had not been unwell - we would have gone on south to Malacca for cendol, satay celup, chicken rice...


...and in between, we even dropped by Tesco Semenyih and a church!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Labouring on Labours' Day

Woke up early today. After filling up my tummy and getting my laundry done - I headed to:




Yes, the Nike warehouse sale.

I was there early. It was supposed to start at 10am... but I got a special invite. The special invite supposedly allows me to go in half an hour earlier, at 9.30am. I reached there on the dot... but realised that with or without the invite, people are being let in.

Still, it was not too crowded... but it was extremely, makes-me-cursing-under-my-breath HOT!!! After about 15 minutes or so, I decided to pay for my stuffs coz I was sweating profusely, and I wasn't wearing a Nike Dri-fit! As I was queueing up, I looked back at the 'shopping' area - the crowd had started to trickle in. And by the time I left, the place was packed.

My purchases:


A pair of low rise pants





A pair Nike Zoom Victory+


Yup, that's all - just 2 items. Had to control myself not to over-spend, though I was tempted to. Need to be thrifty, I have been spending way too much lately.


And that was how I laboured on this Labours' Day :)