Boo!

A happy Halloween to my baby and all my friends in the States :) Hope you guys have a great fun time of fellowshipping and feasting! Trick or treat? :D

I'm minutes away from giving my talk to the nurses... the audiences are supposed to start arriving anytime now, but nobody in sight yet.

I thought of dressing up in a costume for my talk, but then again... I don't think the audiences here would accept it! LOL

According to The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2008 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the top Halloween costumes for children in the United States are:

1. Princess (generic)

2. Witch

3. Hannah Montana

4. Spider-Man

5. Pirate

6. Star Wars Character

7. Pumpkin / Jack-o'-lantern

8. Batman

9. Disney Princess

10. Ghost (tie)

10. Athlete / Sports figure (tie)

The top Halloween costumes for adults in the same year were:

1. Witch

2. Pirate

3. Vampire

4. Cat

5. Fairy (#5 tie)

5. Nurse (#5 tie)

6. Batman (#6 tie)

6. Political figure (#6 tie)

7. Ghost

8. Angel

9. Clown (#9 tie)

9. Wench/vixen (#9 tie)

10. Athlete (#10 tie)

10. French Maid (#10 tie)

10. Queen (#10 tie)

What are you dressing up as this year? I just can't wait for next year's Halloween! Weeeeeeeee!!!

Blogging from Alor Star, Kedah


Hi Friends, I am now actually hundreds of miles away from home sweet home, in the northern part of Malaysia. I was helping out at another Round Table Discussion (RTD) on lutein with a group of doctors, giving a talk to nurses here tomorrow, and then flying all the way down south to Johor Bahru for another RTD on Saturday. Will fly back to KL on Sunday morning, reaching the airport by 7:45am. Hopefully, I will be able to make it on time for the 1st church service at 9am.

Hey? Since when did they change the name of this town, Alor Setar to Alor Star? I just knew it, when I read the Wiki page of this town. Hmmm... strange. Did anyone remember when exactly, and why?

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the airport here is so much better than the ones in Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bharu (yes, it's my first time flying to Alor Star). The ones there do not have a docking bay, so you would have to walk down from the plane, and walk towards the airport under the open sky. And the facilities in the Alor Star airport is so much more advanced, more well built. And I'm pretty sure all Malaysians know why... Kedah is the ex-PM's birth state. And those three towns are led by the Opposition for many years. Want to learn about Federal spending? Just compare these airports :)

Oh, by the way, just something that caught my eye when reading the Wiki page of Alor Star... the total area of this city is 666 km². Sheesh... ok, ok... I'm not superstitious, but 666 is infamously known as the number of the devil, or the mark of the beast. Why can't they choose to make the area of this city to be something different like 667 or 665? But of course, having that for the area of this city does not make it the devil's city. Neither does reaching 666 km on your car mileage will cause your car to crash or be crashed by somebody else. And 6 o'clock on the 6th of June had come and gone every year without any significant happenings. And millions of children were born on the 6th of June in 2006 (probably at 6 o'clock too!). So why then are there still so many people so conscious and so fearful about these numbers? It's just numbers, right?

Depending on the version of the Bible, 666 appeared once in the NKJV Bible, in Revelation 13:17-18 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

But in the NIV Bible, 666 appeared 4 times!

1 Kings 10:13-15 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country. The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.

2 Chronicles 9:12-14 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country. The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders. Also all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.

Ezra 2:1-13 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah): The list of the men of the people of Israel:

the descendants of Parosh 2,172
of Shephatiah 372
of Arah 775
of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab) 2,812
of Elam 1,254
of Zattu 945
of Zaccai 760
of Bani 642
of Bebai 623
of Azgad 1,222
of Adonikam 666

And of course, Revelation 13:17-18 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.

So who says 666 is devilish? I definitely wouldn't mind receiving 666 talents of gold, and that, for your information, is equivalent to 4.5 tons of gold. Imagine receiving that yearly... phew!!! In today's value, that's US$35.8 million every year. And should I change my Facebook account just because my account ID is 713666841? There are so many highways bearing the Route 666, but with no unusually high number of accidents.

But on the other hand, that does not mean we take Revelation 13:18 lightly. We have to understand that one fine day, when that happens, when people start imposing the rule of having the mark 666 or else you can't buy or sell, we have to immediately recognize that it is of the devil and reject that and make a stand for God.

Oh my... what a long post! And I thought I was talking about Alor Star! LOL Good night, everyone! (Almost 2:00am here!)

For Ernestine :)




Hi Ernestine, I just want to start out by saying I have absolutely nothing against you and I am definitely not in support of infanticide.

But may I share with you my viewpoints? I know maybe you already knew it, and maybe it will not affect your strong disapproval of Obama, but just felt like maybe you should know :)

1. Obama has expressed support of bans on late-term abortions, provided they include exemptions for the life or health of a mother.

2. During the third presidential debate, Obama elaborated on his stance on abortion:

"...there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, 'We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby'. Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion. I think it's always a tragic situation. We should try to reduce these circumstances."

3. Obama voted for a $100 million education initiative to reduce teen pregnancy and provide contraceptives to young people. (McCain voted against this... as usual...)

I'm not sure if you see where he's coming from, but he's actually tackling the ROOT CAUSE, before it became a problem. We've got to agree that we are not doing a very good job of educating our teens on keeping sex sacred. Why then are there so many unintended pregnancies? Especially among our teens? Because they didn't know that they will get pregnant if they have sex? I don't think so. Did they know abortion is killing a living human being? I'm sure they do. Did they know that God do not approve abortion? I'm sure they also do.

Supporting LAWS on abortion will never solve the problem. Just as there are many laws in the Word of God, people are still breaking them, just as Paul said in Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse and in Romans 7:19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice and Jesus said in Matthew 26:41 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

What's going to happen to a pair of 16-year-olds who "made a stupid mistake" one night, the girl became pregnant, and they have barely got out of high school, but because of the law against abortion, they are now faced with parenthood, limited resources, and their future is ruined?

What options do they have? Make them learn their lessons through the hard way? I doubt that they will learn their lessons and not repeat the same mistake again. And they will hate the people who made them go through the hardships. They can't even take care of themselves properly yet, less to say take care of a baby?

Send the unwanted babies away to orphanages or offer for adoption? Hmmm... I wonder if that is possible, financially speaking... and also looking at the abortion rate at the moment... In no time, America will overtake India and Africa in the size of the population. And then what?

The problem is not abortion. The problem is having sex before marriage.

Somehow, at the moment, before we succeed in educating our teens to keep away from sex until marriage, abortion offers those who made those "stupid mistakes" a second chance, which kinds of looks like the grace of God.

We should be teaching our children to see God's amazing grace and His awesome beauty, and they will automatically be drawn away from even the smallest thought of committing sex before marriage. Of course, there will be people who knows the grace of God and abuses it, but ultimately, the number of people who do that is very small.

Just my two cents :P

Phew...


What a day... I completed the two assignments in record time, and the best thing is, I'm FEELING BETTER! Woohoo!!! Thank You Lord!

This is going to be a post of GRAPHS...


There are 3 more days to go in October and the number of blog visits and page views for my blog had already surpassed the previous records of 471 visits and 666 page views (sheesh... what a number...). As you can see from the graph below, there are already 542 visits and 869 page views!!! Wow!!! A big thank you to Traveling Chemist, Donna, Inge', Small Footprints, Searching Soul, Ernestine, Ali and all the other visitors to my blog for the past 28 days! I surely hoped that my blog had been interesting and educational and kept you all entertained :D

Up, up, and AWAY..........



Seems like there's no end to the climb... Do you think it will reach 4.00?



Inge' posted something about her friend thinking that global warming is a hoax, based on Genesis 8:22. Do you think so? I don't think so and agree with Inge'... people just don't "fake" global temperatures... and that verse did not mean that the world temperature will remain the same for ages... just as this graph shows...



And save the best for last... the graph that all Americans hate...



The gross national debt compared to GDP reached its lowest level since 1931 as Reagan took office in 1981. It skyrocketed for 12 years through Bush I. Clinton reversed it at a peak of 67%. Bush II crossed that line on Sept 22 and hit 69% on Sept 30. That's the highest it's been since 1955 (53 years ago).

Bush II did three things to skyrocket the debt from $5.7 trillion to $10 trillion:
1. He lowered taxes on the rich (by far the biggest item).
2. He invaded Iraq instead of winning in Afghan-Pakistan (another $600 B).
3. He loosened controls on Wall Street.

As it happens, McCain backed all three policies:
(1) He backed Bush's tax cuts for the rich and now wants to give them BIGGER tax cuts.
(2) He was gung-ho for the Iraq war from the start.
(3) When Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin to name one time McCain suggested regulating Wall Street, she couldn't - because he never did. He crowed in the Wall Street Journal how he was always against regulation.


Obama opposed the first two and said Wall St. needed regulating.

Still can't decide who to vote for?

Back!


Hi Friends! I'm back from the Melaka trip. No pictures to share, as I didn't bring my camera, and I have not gotten the photos from my in-laws' cameras.

It was really a fun and relaxing time with my future in-laws... the only unfortunate incident was towards the middle of the third and last day, somehow my entire muscular system shut down. Lost the energy, the appetite to eat, like somebody zapped all the ATPs out of me. And then, I felt sick, not just sick, but REALLY SICK. The thing is this, I seldom fall sick, and when I do, I get terribly sick. When I reached home sweet home around 8:45pm, I seriously felt like dying. No kidding. I cried out to the Lord like those lepers... "HEAL ME LORD!"

Not gonna blog much now but seriously need to complete two things by tomorrow... my performance appraisal, and documents for lutein registration in Brunei. Urgh... pray for me... most probably will need to take MC... urgh... help Lord...

Off to Melaka!


Hi Friends! I'm off to Melaka today with my future in-laws (whole family), except my baby. Was quite surprised when I got the call from my future father-in-law last Tuesday - the first time, and a family trip without my baby. But I'm looking forward to a great time of bonding and getting to know one another :)

Will not post anything until I'm back. Gotta go pack now. Have a great weekend!

What a Friday!





I woke up at around 5:30am, my heart pumping so fast like mad. I was wondering what's with the adrenaline rush? I think this is the first time ever I woke up like this. Could it be Jesus is back???



Anyways, for the past few days since Wednesday I had been trying to wake up at 4am, so that I could go run the 10 km, before going to work. And I succeeded this morning, as I was so super charged up for the run and couldn't fall back to sleep after waking up.



And the run was fantastic. I completed it in 66 minutes, my best ever, breaking the previous best of 69 minutes and almost 10 minutes faster than my previous run on June 30. Woohoo!



It started raining when I had about 3 km to go, and at one point, it was pouring like crazy. The sad thing was, my faithful handphone, which I was still using to time my runs, became malfunctioning... sigh...



So friends, you will not be able to reach me at this number temporarily (016-2350841). You will still be able to reach me at the other 012 number. I don't think I will attempt to get it fixed, as no one will want to fix such an obsolete model. Perhaps the cost of fixing it will be more than the cost of getting the cheapest model in the market currently.



Anyways, thanks to my baby who will be back in February, she will give me a free handphone from AT&T. Woohoo! How cool is that? Now should I choose the LG CU515, Samsung SGH A737 or the Sony Ericsson W580i? All these three received favourable reviews on CNET by both the editors and users. Probably not the W580i, as this does not have 3G. So the LG or Samsung? Of course, I would prefer a Nokia, the latest N85, but it is not offered by AT&T, so it's not FREE. Sigh... Let me review the two phones in my next next post.

NOTE:

For those of you who had been referred here by Traveling Chemist, this is the post (click here) for the advice on how to embed a link :D Happy trying!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Training Update


Wow, praise God! I had indeed come a long way... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me :D

Push ups

19 months ago = 18 in 2 mins

5 months ago = 30 times in 16 mins

Currently = 55 times in 25 mins

Target = 80 times in 2 mins (Long way to go!)



2-mile run

19 months ago = 22:15

5 months ago = 19:42.64

Currently = 17:56.97

Target = 13:00.00



Sit ups

11 months ago = 37 times in 2 mins

5 months ago = 80 times in 12 mins

Currently = 80 times in 3 mins 26.33 seconds

Target = 80 times in 2 mins

Albert Einstein

It is without any doubt that Albert Einstein is the man of the century, Jew of the century (Jew of all-time is still Jesus, of course), for what he had contributed to the world and helped shaped the world into what it is today, especially in the field of physics (my baby's pet subject, and my least favorite). Einstein's many contributions to physics include his special theory of relativity, which reconciled mechanics with electromagnetism, and his general theory of relativity, which was intended to extend the principle of relativity to non-uniform motion and to provide a new theory of gravitation. His other contributions include relativistic cosmology, capillary action, critical opalescence, classical problems of statistical mechanics and their application to quantum theory, an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules, atomic transition probabilities, the quantum theory of a monatomic gas, thermal properties of light with low radiation density (which laid the foundation for the photon theory), a theory of radiation including stimulated emission, the conception of a unified field theory, and the geometrization of physics.

I had always been interested learn about his family tree, to know if he had any offsprings to carry on his genius genes, and who his ancestors were. After spending some time searching, I learnt that he had only one surviving grandchild - Bernhard Caesar Einstein, 78 this year. Of Einstein's three children, Bernard's father Hans was the only one to marry and have children. Lieserl Einstein is assumed to have died in infancy (although other theories suggest that she was given up for adoption within the first few weeks of her life and lived to around 58 years old before dying), and Eduard Einstein developed schizophrenia and had no children.

Bernard Caesar Einstein has five children; the eldest is Thomas Einstein, a medical doctor specializing in anesthesia and working at the

Clavin Center, a center for plastic and cosmetic surgery in Santa Monica, California. That makes Thomas Einstein the great grandchild of Albert Einstein. So, looks like the great grandson is continuing his great grandfather's legacy of shaping the world - by helping to shape people's faces and other body parts! (By the way, I am against plastic surgery for "beautification" purposes. God made us "perfect" in His sight. No adjustments required. But if it is for facial reconstruction after a terrible burn accident, then it's ok.) I wonder if Dr Thomas is married or have any kids?

What about the person who started the Einstein family? Let's see... ah! It is God, of course :)

Let's see how far back we can trace Albert Einstein's ancestors... the very first Einstein was Baruch Moyses Einstein, the great great great great great grandfather of Albert Einstein. And there were no other records before this man. Probably there was another Einstein before him, probably not too. No one knows, except God. Please remind me to ask God when I am in heaven ;)

It's really interesting how people in developed countries had managed to keep such a good record of their ancestry and genealogy. How I wish to keep records of my own family tree too. And to do a proper one would require me to go all the way back to China, and upgrade my Mandarin or my dialect - Chao Ann. Not many people seems to be interested in keeping track of who's who in this part of the world. Among my hundreds of friends, I doubt that even one had even thought of starting to keep records of their own family tree. Hmmmm...

What about you? Do you know who your great great great great great grandfather was?

Important Dates!


This is going to be a really short post but one of the most important of all posts I had ever put up :)

Dec 7 ~ Singapore Marathon (I'm running the half marathon)

Dec 25 ~ Jesus' birthday

Jan 5 ~ My sister's birthday

Jan 7 ~ My baby's birthday

Jan 12 ~ My birthday

End Jan ~ TOEFL Exam

Feb 11 ~ My baby's BACK! Wooooooohooooooo!

Feb 14 ~ Marriage registration (Legally married)

Feb 14-21 Wedding photo-shooting in Guangzhou, China

Mar 7 ~ Our 24th Anniversary of being together :)

May 1 ~ My brother's birthday

May 23 ~ My dad's birthday

July 21 ~ Wedding dinner in Kuching, Sarawak (my hometown)

July 25 ~ Church wedding cum Lunch reception cum Exclusive dinner (Officially married)

End July ~ GMAT Exam

Aug ~ Goodbye Malaysia!

Why do I support Obama?

Hi Ernestine,

Thanks for your comments. You have asked a very tough question :) and my reply is too long to be answered on that comment box... hahaha...

I am supporting Obama because of his political positions and future strategies are more sound than McCain's, e.g. investing in education, healthcare, alternative energy (not nuclear like McCain). His tax policies makes more sense to me than McCain's. Why give a tax break for those who could afford to do fine dining every day and not those who couldn't even afford to eat a proper (and nutritious) meal, given the current economic crisis? And most important of all, he promised to withdraw troops from Iraq, a place where American soldiers shouldn't even be sent there in the first place. Thousands of good men and women had died there for nothing (and are still dying!). And the threat of al-Qaeda keeps growing, unchecked.

And what the Bush administration had failed to do, and also partly responsible for the spiraling debts and current economic crisis, McCain supported Bush 90% of the time. What McCain failed to convince me is that he wouldn't reproduce the same rubbish like Bush did for the past 8 years.

Yes, I am a Christian, and that makes us brothers and sisters in Christ :) I definitely DO NOT support same-sex marriages and abortion, as you had pointed out correctly that these are things not biblical. But, looking at the overall, I think Obama is a better choice than McCain.

You might question, why compromise? Why give an inch to the devil, some might say? But we sometimes need to make a decision between two evils. And I think that not voting for either of the candidates is a greater "sin". I mean, why leave the future of your country to someone who's going to bring more misery and trouble to the people?

I believe that's what a lot of people I know and trust and respect are also making such a decision by voting for Obama, based on my explanation above. People like Warren Buffett, the richest man on earth, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, two of the greatest movie directors ever, Stephen King, one of the greatest horror writers ever, and a super long list of entertainers like Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Tom Hanks, etc...

Why am I not surprised that McCain's supporters are significantly less than Obama's? And no writers are supporting McCain? No academicians, Nobel Prize winners, laureates? No political leaders? No Democrats and Conservatives (Yes, there ARE Republicans supporting Obama!!!)?

Why do I get the feeling that Obama is DEFINITELY going to win?

The Wedding Planner

Since my wedding is about 9 months away, I seriously need to plan every aspect of the wedding properly starting from NOW.

#1 ~ Should I watch The Wedding Planner first?

#2 ~ Or read this book?

#3 ~ Ask God for revelations?

#4 ~ Or maybe I should google it?

#5 ~ Maybe Professor Elmo knows?

No end in sight...

Is he ignorant or just plain stupid? Maybe both... tsk tsk tsk...

News: KLCI extends losses on fresh downgrades

I am not an expert on economics or financial analysis, but I do know that with our main trading partners' currencies on the rise, it does not have a good bearing on the overall economy. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am seriously doubting where Malaysia will be heading to with such a lame person in charge of the finance of the country.

Great time to visit Malaysia :)

Hi Friends! Thank God it's FRIDAY! Woohoo! Really looking forward to the weekend. Apart from a talk I need to conduct on Saturday afternoon, and a simple assignment I need to complete by Monday, I AM FREE! This has got to be the most relaxed period in time in recent weeks. Sigh... time to catch up on my lost sleep... :)

Anyways, for my friends in the United States, this is a great time to visit Malaysia! The dollar is continuing its meteoric rise against the ringgit, in spite of the terrible crisis. It's amazing that our newly crowned Finance Minister thinks that there's nothing wrong with Malaysia's economy... LOL what a joke...

News: Malaysian Ringgit Slides To 21-month Low Against Dollar

Yesterday, the dollar peak at 3.52 against the ringgit. Woohoo!



So it's really a great time to travel to Malaysia. Alternatively, you may want to change your dollars to ringgit, and wait for the ringgit to rise. Is that how they make money on foreign currency exchange? Of course, there will be some lost in the process of conversion, but the loss is minimal compared to the PROFIT...



Let's say there's no loss in the conversion:



At yesterday's exchange rate, USD 10,000 = RM 35,200.



At April 23, 2008's exchange rate (3.13), USD 10,000 = RM 31,300.



A difference of RM 3,900 or USD 1,107.95, just like that. Like I said, there will be some loss, but the loss is minimal, as compared to the PROFIT. And the example above only involve USD 10K. What if it is 100K? A profit of RM 39,000 or USD 11,079.55, in just 6 months. That's almost the same as my 1 year basic salary! Crazy huh?



Of course, the exchange rates will not always turn out like the instance above. But those who are smart will be able to make tonnes of profit from the volatilability of the exchange rates.



Hmmm..... easy money? Probably...

Are you sure you are choosing this joker to be the next President of the United States?

I had viewed all three presidential debates and are now even more convinced that Obama should be picked to be the next President.



McCain voted in support of Bush 90% of the time over the past 8 years. Are you sure you are voting for someone who had consistently supported a FAILED administration to lead a country that is currently suffering from the worst economy crisis in history?

Enough is enough.

McCain: Urrgghh... Are you sure you wanna do this honey? Where's Sarah when I need her?

God works in mysterious ways :)


Yesterday, something terrible and funny happened! What could be terrible AND funny? Well, I had no idea what led to that happening, seriously...

So what happened? Well, yesterday, around 4:45pm, I was doing my big business in the toilet, and after completing the deal, I was getting ready to leave. So I picked up my car keys, which I normally remove from my pants, in case it drops into the toilet bowl. And guess what? It just kinda slipped out of my hands, and before I know it, it went happily down the toilet pipe together with the flushed manure! I didn't even have time to react! I just stood there, stoned, looking at my keys waving goodbye to me... :'(

Then panic struck! How am I going to get home? What about my appointment with the plumber at 6pm and Pastor Sally at 8pm? How am I going to get into my house, since my house keys are in my car?

So I prayed super earnestly, hoping that God will miraculously lift up the car keys from the pile of feces right at the bottom of my office building. I was seriously expecting my car keys do a levitation, slowly rising, just like the Star Trek movies... "Beam me up, Scotty"... Hahahaha....!

After 10 minutes, nothing happened... so I manually tried to retrieve the car keys. What do I mean by manually? Well, with my hands, of course... but alas! I couldn't reach it. I thought maybe it could still be stuck at the edge, before going all the way down, but nope, it was gone.

I then frantically went to my car, hoping to break into it and retrieve my house keys, and then hitch a ride back with a colleague or Luke.

THEN... wisdom struck me. How could I forget? My cousin from Kuching just moved into my house a few days ago! Talk about PERFECT timing huh? I mean, she is working just around the corner from my office, she drives, she has a set of my house keys, and the best thing was, she just finished work, so... PROBLEM SOLVED! Just like that. I have a spare set of car keys at home, so thanks to Luke, since he works at the building opposite mine, he dropped me off at work this morning.

Isn't it funny, that when we go through problems, we always tried to use so many different ways to solve 'em, our own ways most of the time, when all is needed is for us to just relax, and God will provide the solution. A much better solution, that is... Hahahaha...

Thank You Lord!

Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting :)


I'd like to say a special thank you to Traveling Chemist. Indirectly, he had helped direct a few of his blog readers to my blog. Thanks and really appreciate it!

And I'd like to welcome those of you who had visited my blog:

Donna (thanks for your positive comment and encouragement)

Inge' (thanks for adding me to your list of blogs that you follow)

Small Footprints (thanks for your well wishes)

Thanks for commenting and visiting my blog. I'm glad that my blog had been helpful and entertaining. Aren't we all actors and actresses on this gigantic stage called the Earth?

Just to let you know that I will be adding your blogs to the list of blogs I read daily, and will visit them, when I have more time, probably this coming weekend.

As for now, it's back to work, work, work. Have a nice day, everyone!

Thanks, friends, for all your well wishes :)

Hi Friends, thanks so much for your comforting words and well wishes. I truly appreciate them. I'm ok. No worries.

Moving on, let's get back to where we left off. Ah... yesterday... Sunday...

It was a loooooooooooong day... basically, I started the day at 6:00am. (WHAT??? On a Sunday???) Woke up to get ready to drive 213km to the northern part of Malaysia - Ipoh. Gave a talk on lutein to nurses at 9:40am. Finished about an hour later, exceeding my allocated time of 45 minutes... ooppss :P and immediately after I finished, I drove another 213km back to the Taman Jaya LRT to take the LRT to the Kampung Baru Station to go to Dato' Seri Anwar's Hari Raya Open House.

When I reached the station, it was only 2:40pm.

There you go... me standing in front of the sign of Kg. Baru Station with my new Batik shirt.

So I thought that the station would be full of people, making their way to the sports club, but guess what? The entire station looked like it's been quarantined due to viral outbreak. Absolutely empty. Huh? Seems like nobody took LRT... And then when I went out to the front of the station, there were no Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa nearby. The station looks like it's situated in the middle of Timbaktu, surrounded by overgrowth and bushes. There were only one road in front of the station that goes to the left or right. In front, was a small hill.

Since I conveniently forgot to bring the map, I decided to do some adventuring. Besides, it was only like what, 250 metres away??? Piece of cake. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

After walking like what seems to be 2500 metres, with a lot of asking for directions in between, I finally agreed with myself that I was lost... LOL

It was a left, and then a right, and then a right again, then another person down the road pointed me in the direction of where I just came from! LOL... I was lost in the middle of Kuala Lumpur City, in the sub-urban housing area, predominantly consisting of Malay dwellers.

FINALLY, after God knows how much distance I had covered, I found someone who REALLY KNEW where the sports club was! He was enjoying durian with his mom, I presumed, and he gave me the directions, which sounded like my destination was quite a distance away. Before I shot off in the directions he just gave to me, he managed to ask me if I was driving. I said no, walking. You should see this funny expression on his face while he said, OH, that place is just there, take that small alley, go a short distance, and you'll see the place. WHAT??? So simple and I walked like almost the whole of KL??? Dang!

So like around 3:15pm, I finally found the place. Woohoo! More than 30 minutes of brisk walking, dressed up in a nice Malaysian cultural costume, with long pants and black leather shoes.

I managed to arrive just in time to see Dato' Seri Anwar, the host, entering the media area. Ok, sorry for the poor quality camera, but can you see him? He's wearing a light green baju melayu, standing facing us, in between the two plants with their leaves pointing upwards, at the top of the stairs. See him? Ok, I know this is not a good shot at all. But that's the closest I could get to him!

Check out the crowd... easily a few thousand. People from all races... Chinese, Malay, Indian were still streaming in from the sidewalks, to the sports club's football field, while some were leaving, since the event (and the food) started at two. The number of visitors for the whole session (2-5pm) could be around 5,000?

Here's another shot of the media area, where at least 20 cameras were busy snapping away at Dato' Seri Anwar and his beautiful daughter, Nurul Izzah. She looks so different in real person. Hmmm... I shall not comment on whether it was positively different or the opposite... Go and see for yourself :P

And here I was, standing in the queue for the FOOD. Yum yum... Raya food...

And then, WHAT'S THIS? ROTI CANAI??? WHAT THE? I was expecting the usual stuffs like lemang, ketupat, kuih Raya... but ROTI CANAI??? And there were a few more irrelevant food, like Char Kueh Tiau, Penang Tom Yam, Adrian Yong Tau Foo... T_________T What is this? No lemang or ketupat?

Anyways, the "jostling" that Jamie predicted was pretty minimal. I managed to get a huge serving of Yong Tau FOOOOOOO!!! Yeah babe...

Anyways, besides the food, there were presentations, Malay musical instrument performances, and YASIN!

There were barbequed chicken as well! Heh heh heh...

Here's me waiting for more food... Eh, wait? Why am I waiting for food?

Ah... here are my two new found friends... Aunty Jamilah and Aunty Rosnah. Both of them were so nice to me. They just knew how to get the food within a short period of time, in spite of the queue! And Aunt Jamilah and me had quite a nice chat too, while waiting for Aunt Rosnah going about getting all the difficult to reach delicacies. We talked about the event, about Anwar, and about the day before where they had another Raya Open House at a Chinese doctor's house, Dr Loo, or something like that.

Anyways, I reached back home sweet home at close to 6pm, a day well spent.

Thanks Dato' Seri Anwar for the Open House!

Selamat Hari Raya!

Bye Gung Gung


I have so much to blog about, but a few hours ago, just got to know that my maternal grandpa had just passed away after a pain-filled, 5-year struggle with cancer.

I was hoping to be his first grandchild to get married (July next year) but seems that that dream didn't come to pass... sigh...

Not going to say much now but to sing this song from my heart to him and all those who just lost somebody... Take care, all...

Hi Mr Traveling Chemist :)


Ok, this post is dedicated to the traveling chemist, and I'm really honoured and thrilled to have someone that I added from Blogs of Note actually commenting on my blog. This is the first time, seriously.

I prefer to explain things with the help of some graphics, just makes things easier for the person I am explaining things to. So I will attempt to answer his question here.

TC,

Your question was "how you manage to include an embedded link to my blog's WEB address. When I copy a link, it simply pastes in as the complete address: http://travelingchemist.blogspot.com/ and not as the name "Traveling Chemist" as you have done in your posting."

1. To do this, just type the name of the link, whatever you want it to be e.g. Traveling Chemist

2. Next, copy the link that you want e.g. http://travelingchemist.blogspot.com/

3. Next, use your mouse to highlight whatever you had typed in Step #1

4. Then click once on the button shown in the picture below:



5. A window like this will pop up:



6. Just paste the link you have copied, click "Ok" and you're done!

Optional Steps - If you want to make it easier for the blog reader to continue on reading your blog, and not leave your blog when they click on an external link on your posting, you may want to take these extra 4 steps. It can become quite troublesome if you have a lot of links on one post, and the reader would have to click "Back" after going to every link.

7. Now, click on the "Edit Html" tab (it's next to the "Compose" tab)

8. Look for the link that you have pasted that is together with the text you wanted to name it:



9. Next to the second " (closing quotation mark), type in a space (blank), followed by this (indicated in GREEN):

emist.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Traveling Chemist

10. Just click back the "Compose" tab, and you're done!


Let me know if you need further explanation. Happy experimenting!

NEED SLEEP

Had a crazy week, averaging 3 hours of sleep per day... So I ain't gonna blog much but just to say good night, have a great weekend!

Welcome to the anonymous (and traveling) chemist!


Ok guys, so much for the stress yesterday... it's behind me now... I CHOOSE to react positively and not become bitter or negative... :)

Anyways, I'd like to welcome a new blogger to my list of bloggers... Traveling Chemist. Congrats on getting the Blogs of Note!

Since I am a nutritionist, and travels quite often, although not so much global-wise as the anonymous chemist, I find the blog very interesting and I could identify with the experiences and sharings of this blogger. Check out the blog yourself.

I had not fully read the entire blog, so I still could not determine if the blogger was a lady or a guy... LOL, less to say the name of the blogger (hmmm... pretty mysterious, or shy...). But the only thing I could say is that he/she is really blessed to have the opportunity to travel around the globe. Check out the beautiful pictures. No kidding. The traveling chemist is also an avid photographer.

Anyways, I had decided to add one new Blogs of Note Winner every month, to grow my blogosphere. It's pretty interesting to read about the life and experiences of others, how they look at life. I might or might not agree at times with what they say or do, but still, it's really enriching to look at life via another Earth dweller.

Ok, time to get back to work! Have a nice day!

*DAMN FRUSTRATED*

Why do some people get to go back at 5:15pm and I only get to go back at 10:30pm?

Why do I have to do things that others can do? And no one can do things that I have to do?

Why do they get more pay than I do, when I do much more work than they?

Why do they get numerous promotions and recognition awards while I never had a single one in 5 years?

Why am I still around?

SHIT