My Milestone.

The year is coming to an end and there has always been a celebration for the past few years! It definitely wasn't as pretty as it is now as I was too busy studying and pushing the limits to ace in the final exams which usually takes place about now back in my college days.

This year, it's something really different because there were no more exams, no more having to read the notes and rushing for assignments. Sounds fun?

Entering the working world is definitely not as fun as it sounds. You deal with real problems, real people. There's no more saying "this is just an assignment. I just need a Pass in my exams" yadah-yadah. It's always a do or die situation. Most of the time, you need to come up with solutions almost immediately to the problems given by anyone. I am really thankful that I've dealt externally with other parties back in college. Otherwise, I'm probably pretty clueless until today.

Well, after all the shits thrown at me and being in the industry for almost a year, I'm so excited that I've been promoted a level higher! This is definitely one great achievement for myself which I'm really proud of! :D Another milestone for me and I look forward to more challenges in 2015!

Till the next challenge comes, I shall enjoy this year-end with celebrations and long holidays! :D

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Thought my daily routine would be just like the usual - wake up for meeting, work... work... and go home. Unfortunately, something unpleasant happened on the same day I watched the preview of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The incident made me felt crappy the whole day and I ended up talking to a few people to find out if the problem is as obvious as it sounded. In any case, I am glad that it's over now and it's definitely something for me to be more cautious of next time. Again, communications is such a bitch sometimes. 

Oh well, life goes on. 

After the crappy day at work, I'm glad that I'll be watching a comedy with him - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The 81-minute movie featuring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner was pretty good as the storyline gels together though a lot of unfortunate incidents happened to each of them. I liked how everything was linked so well that it almost feels like this can really happen in real life. 

A brief summary of this show, which is a good show for families with kids:- 

• Alexander (the main cast) have always had bad days and hopes that someone would understand how he felt. 
• His family members, on the other hand, will always have better days than himself.
• Alexander made a wish and hope his family members will go through more unfortunate events than himself. 
• The wish came true and unlucky moments kept pouring in to all of them. 

You may be thinking "Come on, who doesn't have bad days?" and find it rather 'mehh..' because the story revolves around how crappy their days were. Nonetheless, I really think it's the morale behind the story that everyone should learn:- 

Never let anything or anyone to bring your mood down because you won't be out of luck forever. 

In other words, stay positive lah!

Watching such movie on a bad day at work definitely made me feel better because I'd like to think that there is someone out there who's facing more shits than I've for the day. See? Positivity! (Justkiddingnonotreally!)

My awesome merchandise - A stress ball to the rescue!

Wonder how unlucky can one get? Do watch it to find out if your life would be better than theirs yeah!

I'd safely rate this movie at 6.5/10 as the ending is pretty predictable to me. Otherwise, it's pretty alright if you need some laughter within a short period of time. :) 

Dealing with Homo-sapiens.

Finally entering the last month of 2014 - which also marks my 10th month being in the working world. 

This may sound really random but I've to say this - it has been a real challenge, especially when it's not like you can tell someone to buzz off just because you don't like how everything's being done. It may not sound like how doctors save the lives of millions or police forces chasing after those who have committed crime. But yeah, my life is all about dealing with people.

Sounds easy because it doesn't involve as much technical skills as engineers? Oh no, it isn't at all! Every individual I've met carries themselves differently. Some are plainly nice; some are always with a hidden agenda; some wouldn't give two shits about what's going on until they get into trouble; some demand for more and the more you give, the more they think it's not enough.

My job requires me to be the middle person of both sides which requires me to liaise with people internally and externally (duh!). Every party has different expectations and I will need to manage them, to ensure all will be contented with the outcomes.

I really don't mind working my ass off since it's my passion but some just enjoys testing my patience. It would be fine if people are understanding enough to know that they are not the only one that you deal with, but some are just plain pushy. Thinking they own everything and wants more out of it yadah-yadah, which is really a selfish mindset. Well, I hope you get my point.

Then again, not sure if this is my destiny or a path that I've chosen from the start. In fact, no matter how much you dislike them, it's pretty impossible to walk away from them because it's part of the job scope. The only way for me to be able to deal with all these - it will take a lot of time, patience and a strong, logical personality to deny their ridiculous requests.

Enough with the rants now, I just hope I can remain my sanity till the end of it. After all, it's a new day all over again. :)

So Horrible, Very Hilarious, Much Bosses!

Before you start going GrammarNazi on my title, go ahead and scroll down to find out why the title makes no (or very little) sense.

***

A million thanks to Nuffnang Malaysia and Warner Bros Pictures, I've won the first pair of movie tickets in 23 years of my life! Yes, you may go ahead and laugh it all out now. At least, I still get to watch the movie first! 

Don't be jealous of my free exclusive passes. :p

Of course must share the happiness with him!

Collected the exclusive movie passes to Horrible Bosses 2 at 8ish in TGV One Utama (also my first time there!) and lingered around. It was rather packed but I managed to take a quick glance around TGV. The design was pretty classy and I particularly liked their concepts of having different areas all at one place. They even have a foosball table in one of the dining places! So cool please!

My first times! *grins*

*Takes deep breathe to calm down as this is also my first time reviewing a movie* 

Okay, back to the 2-hour long comedy directed by Sean Anders, I practically laughed my butt off the whole time cause it was so hilarious! I can assure you I'm not the only one because the whole hall was roaring with laughter together!

A brief summary of this show, which is clearly not suitable for the kids:- 

• The three stooges - Nick, Kurt and Dale, who were so sick of their ex bosses in Part 1, came up with a brilliant idea which allowed them to start a company of their own. 
• Bert Hanson, a filthy rich owner of a huge company, tricked them to mass produce their product and bailed on them later on. 
• Nick, Kurt and Dale tries to save their business and thought of an "ultimate" idea - kidnap the son of the company's owner, Rex Hanson (Chris Pine *drools*).
• Rex found out about their plans and wanted to be a part of the kidnap. 
• Kidnap was staged, Bert dies and Rex was arrested. 
• Nick, Kurt and Dale ended up working for Nick's vulgar ex-boss again. 

Personally, I loved how every character is unique on its own. For instance, Dale and Kurt may be a little dumb but they are creative once in a while. I would say Nick is the most sensible one amongst the three of them but then again, he does all the crazy stuff with them just to ensure they don't screw up anything, which unfortunately they still do.  Rex was the key to twisting the whole plot with his surprising acts and the extend he would go to make something happen.

If there's any lesson to learn from this movie at all, it'd be:

1. Real friends do crazy things, shout at each other's stupidity and still stick together through thick and thin. 
2. Be brave enough to be creative, you never know where it will take you. 
3. Never trust anyone easily.

Of course I can't disclose how everything happened, otherwise, there will be no surprise right? Do bear in mind though, this movie isn't exactly about how horrible their bosses were, but more to how horrible they are at being a boss themselves.

Nonetheless, I would still rate this movie with an 8/10 with all the nonsensical hilarious jokes that really cracked me up! Thus, please head down to your nearest cinemas, get the tickets and watch this show, especially when you need to really de-stress! 

2nd Anniversary Celebration @ Fuego, Troika.

So, I wasn't supposed to know where we were going for our 2nd anniversary dinner and was only given a choice between:- 

1. good food
2. romantic ambience / great scenery

As a food lover, I choose the first one of course! So off we went for a dinner and arrived slightly earlier before 6pm. To my surprise, the restaurant that he intended bringing me to was Sky Dining @ Troika in KL (my first time there after hearing about that place for quite some time!).

FYI, there were four different eatery areas within the same floor namely Claret, Strato, Fuego and Cantaloupe.

As it was quite early and the table at Fuego wasn't ready, we were guided to a comfortable area with sofa at Claret and greeted by a friendly waiter there. The boyfriend ordered a Dry Martini and minutes after ordering, the other waiter told us that the table is ready. -_-Well, good thing was that the drink from Claret can be served at our table at Fuego.

The bar area at Fuego.

Our drinks (L-R): Dry Martini (RM 40) Infused Water with Cucumber and Thyme (RM 8 per bottle).

Ordered a few types of dishes and the first one was finally served after... less than 10 minutes. :D

Salmon Roe Guacamole served with crispy tapioca, lotus roots and yam (RM 25). 

Followed by Smoked Snails in the Jar served with garlic crisps (RM 30).

The first two dishes were really impressive and had higher expectations after for the main course. The food didn't serve immediately though as I believe they took ample time to serve us the next awesome dish. 

While waiting, chatted away and took a few shots before the night falls.

Before the city lights brighten the area.

My date for the night... and every other day and night. :p

At about 7ish, voilà, main course is served! 

Rare French Beef Flank (approx. 500 gm) served with Yuzu & Black Pepper Sauce (RM 125).

Pressed Potato topped with Black Olive  (RM 20).

The main dishes definitely met our expectations, especially the meat which was so juicy! In fact, I ate it without the sauce most of the time as it was really well-marinated. *slurps*

Wanted to try their desserts as well but was too full at that point of time, hence, took our time to digest what we've eaten and enjoyed the view for a while more.

City Lights of KL at 8ish.

With such great scenery, of course must have us inside right!

Ordered one dessert to share and thank goodness we didn't ordered another as it was huge. After some contemplation, we chose the Berries Pavlova. 

Berries Pavlova with berries (duh!) and Flambé Brandy (RM 35). 

I reserved my thoughts on Pavlova as the one I first had in Alexis was quite a let down, since I never fancied anything with lots of cream. However, this Pavlova was totally different from Alexis' as the texture itself was really unique. It was crunchy on the outside and cold on the inside with some kinda cream that tasted very much like yogurt. Complemented by a hint of sourness from the berries, this was definitely one of the most awesome desserts I've ever had!

It was really a great night out with him at such an awesome place with great atmosphere to match the event. I had the best of both worlds - awesome food and ambience, and most of all, with the boyfriend!

I can't thank you enough for what you've done for us, but I promise you that I will do just as much to keep moving forward towards the same future. Thank you darl. <3

Short Getaway to Grand Lexis PD!

What would you do to release stress after more than 2 months of preparation for a huge (fruitful) event? For me, this was definitely one of the many things I looked forward to - a short getaway with the girls during last weekend! The last time we had such bonding session was after SPM and oh my, that's almost 5 years ago. Time flies, for sure! 

After some not-so-detailed planning and a whole load of cars on the road jamming, we arrived at Lukut for lunch at Lucky Seafood Restaurant to indulge into the mouthwatering...

Famous Giant Curry Chicken Bun... (to be honest, I'm not even sure if it's THAT famous but the taste is pretty decent) 

... and Salted Egg Mantis Prawns (this was really quite good as each was crunchy and flavourful!)

As Grand Lexis and the restaurant were only about 15 minutes away, we took our own sweet time dining in and going around the area to search for cheaper alcohol. Ended up buying some soft drinks because one of our alcoholic friends brought some beer and vodka. :D Check-in time was at about 4pm and only managed to get the room by 5 pm as it was rather jam-packed with humans too. -_-

Well, doesn't matter cause the rooms were so huge and comfy that you will forget about any stress you have for that moment! In fact, it was pretty worth the money as we managed to book Grand Lexis' Grand Pool Villa for only RM 680 per night, thanks to MATTA Fair's rate!

The living area/ flat screen TV/ make-up area.

The king-sized beds that fit 6 people comfortably! 

The dry kitchen area which is fully equipped with cutleries, plates, cups and a microwave. 

First part of the bathroom..

... and second part of the bathroom.

And of course, the highlight of this room...

A freaking outdoor pool! By the way, outdoor pools are available for upper units while the lower ones have indoor pools. 

Okay, to be honest, the pool is not for swimming cause it's too small and there were 6 of us. Good for camwhoring though! :p 

By the time we're done with swimming and bathing, it's already almost 9 pm and we headed out to PD Waterfront to hunt for dinner at some Taiwanese restaurant, which was near Pak Hailam Kopitiam. The prices were quite affordable and portions were huge, but please don't put too high expectations on the taste. 

Went back to the room by 10-ish to proceed with our bonding session accompanied by some drinks and lots of laughter.

Well, the trip didn't stop there because we headed to Malacca on the following day after checking out of the hotel! Some of the food that were in our must-have list included Klebang's Coconut Shake (sadly no photo of it) and some others such as:-

Jonker 88's Baba Cendol @ RM 4.

Jonker 88's Nyonya Laksa @ RM 7 (reall huge portion!)

Bunga Raya's Popiah @ RM 4 per roll. 

Aunty Lee's Nyonya Restaurant @ Jalan Ujong Pasir, Taman Sinn, 75050 Melaka. Total bill came to about RM 120 for the dishes! Super worth it!

This pretty much sums up everything but before I end this post, I sincerely thank every one of them who made it for the trip despite the different schedules that we have these days. This made me realise further that we don't need to see each other often but the bond remains tight, no matter how long we've not met or spoken to one another. This is what best friends are all about. :) 

 Wouldn't trade them for some other people in the world.

Check Your Telco Phone Bills!

Yes, please check your Telco phone bills every month, including the itemised bill. I don't usually go through it thoroughly until I did for this month's as my bill was rather high, considering the fact that I hardly made any calls out.

Well, surprise, surprise! I saw "value-added services" in my bill and was curious about it. Decided to check my previous bills after and I got the shock of my life when I'm getting charge on a monthly basis! What's worse was I have been charged since last November 2013 for at least RM 20 monthly. I know some may think RM 20 is not much but heck, I was charged for almost a year for nothing so no way I'm paying for that!

Just a sample to show you how I'm getting billed for value-added services eh? -_-

Being puzzled at what the services are all about, I made a call to DiGi for some clarification and explanation. The person who's spoken to me was really kind to explain what the value-added services are. APPARENTLY, this is a third party company named HyperQB that's charging me and DiGi can only give me the company's contact details to claim the money back. Reason being is that the company is actually licensed to charge telco users as such and DiGi can do nothing to stop it.

Just a heads up, this may happen either:-

1. You've subscribed something long time ago when you received some weird SMS-es e.g. "Send ON to 33xxx to subscribe to HOT Videos" (the content message is made up and if it's any similar to anyone's sms, it's purely coincidental). 
2. You did not subscribe for anything and they will still charge you (depends if you're lucky or unlucky). 

So after finding out more about the so-called value-added services, I was advised to send two messages out to the specific numbers that were charging me, which are OFF and STOP ALL to the every number that's charged me.

Next step? Contact the relevant parties to inform them I've not subscribed anything from their company and I was getting charged on a monthly basis! I've emailed them and they were really responsive and agreed to credit the money back into my phone number (THANK GOODNESS!).

So yeah, voila! I've gotten back RM 140 from them and these were only based on the bills that I managed to retrieve. In fact, I was lucky enough to get so much refund from them as according to the person from DiGi, some who have been paying RM 300 for this nonsense only managed to obtain a small amount or up to 50% refund.

This is definitely a lesson learnt - always, ALWAYS, check your bills for every detail as you may never know that you might be paying extras someday.

(PART 2) A Short Getaway to Cameron Highlands, Pahang.

Following from the previous post, we continued our journey to the Boh Tea Centre at Sungai Palas! Took almost an hour just to reach that place due to the slow traffic but totally worth it.

 

Breathtaking scenery on the way to the tea centre.

Wanted to take the tea tour, unfortunately, there are no tours during public holidays. :( Nonetheless, managed to literally yum cha at such a great place! 

Strawberry cheesecake, chocolate cake and scone (somewhere behind there! The pastries tasted quite good.

 

Tea set. The cups were rather unpleasant looking as there were cracks here and there. However, the tea was quite good too, just like the pastries!

Managed to grab a table at the corner and of course... must take selfies lah! Heh, don't wanna bore you guys with my face so I shall just post the best one here. :p

Us with the beautiful background. :)

As it was getting pretty late because we overslept after our early breakfast and checked out of the hotel in the afternoon, we decided to go back to KL using the newer highway which will pass by Ipoh. On the way down, managed to visit one last attraction - Lavender Garden. Entrance fee was RM 5 per person, and as expected, not worth it. They have tons of flowers there, but not the lavenders that I wanted to see. :(

Apparently, they do sell Lavender-flavoured ice-cream so of course, must buy lor.

RM 5 for this ice-cream.

Don't be fooled by the flowers in purple. They are NOT lavenders. But I still think the flowers are really pretty. 

Conclusion? It was good to leave the city for a while and spend time together. If you've not been to Cameron Highlands, please visit it and I think the best part of the trip is still the market and steamboat sessions. :p 

(PART 1) A Short Getaway to Cameron Highlands, Pahang.

After a few months of hectic work life, I think we both deserve the getaway. So, off we went to Cameron Highlands, which is my first time in 23 years! Even better was Strawberry Park Resort had Groupon deals at that time so we went there during the long weekend leading to Malaysia Day.

As usual, holidays = traffic jams at hot spots! Worse was when you have to go uphill with only one road and it was raining.

Anyway, checked in at Strawberry Park Resort by 4ish on the first day and chilled for a while in the room while waiting for the rain to stop.

*Just a heads up, Strawberry Park Resort is quite secluded and off-route but it's still a great place to stay in. 

Pardon the messiness but check this out man, the super-spacious Studio Room which was rated at RM 640.00 for two nights WITH breakfast a la buffet style!  

The spacious bathroom in the room. 

Fortunately, the rain stopped when we were about to head out to the famous night market at Brinchang (which was still open in the morning and afternoon when we passed by there on the 2nd and 3rd day... makes me wonder if it's open all day long now). Having to drive out for 5 km just for the night market, totally worth it!

Just a random shot of the market. 

I've no idea it's THAT affordable compared to KL. Each box of deep-fried squids costs only RM 10! Me being myself, of course sapu-lah!  

Aside from the squids, we've bought strawberry-flavoured guava (2 packets for RM 15), strawberries (2 boxes for RM 10), deep fried abalone mushroom and deep-fried enoki mushroom (2 for RM 5), deep fried cempedak (about 8 pieces for RM 5) and fresh vegetables (choose 4 types of vege for RM 5). Oh my gosh, so cheap okay!

Heh... for fresh vege, of course must consume them while they are fresh right? Accompanied by some other ingredients, definitely awesome to warm our tummies in such cold weather with our mini hot-pot session.*I hope the resort's management team will never see this.. ever.*  

Slept early and woke up the following day at 7 am because we <s>are Malaysians</s> want to be at the breakfast area early!

Oh nothing much, just some bacons, pancakes and a whole load of other stuff for breakfast.

After breakfast, went back to the room to sleep again WTFIHAVENOIDEAWHYWEARELIKETHAT but yeah, went back to sleep a while more.

Finally woke up for real and went to Big Red Strawberry Farm, which was free entrance.

Now I know why it's called Big Red Strawberry Farm. That's the biggest I saw.

Trays and trays of strawberries, anyone? 

Unplucked strawberries.

Forgive my sampat-ness but I really thought there will be ONLY strawberries. I was wrong, so wrong.

Me and vege. FRESH vege! 

Flowers.. 

... and cactuses at the Strawberry Farm. 

Next station was to Time Tunnel Museum (RM 5 per entry and re-entry is allowed!). This museum was really unique cause it was situated somewhere in between shops along the road. Looked shabby but woah, everything there was so vintage. I even saw things that I used to play with when I was much younger -- and I'm really not THAT old. Oh, memories!

Because I can pose like this with a vintage background.

And I can pretend to own a shop! 

Him pretending to just finished getting his hair cut in a vintage-looking hair salon.

MILO WAS FREAKING 45 CENTS AND NOW IT'S AT LEAST RM 2 I REALLY CANNOT ACCEPT THIS LOR!

Of course there were so much more to look at but it'd be no fun if you did not experience it yourself so please go there if you want to see some old displays and relive your past. :) 

Our final stop on the second day was for English tea session at The SmokeHouse Hotel.

Exterior of the hotel (I wish it's my house ha-ha!)

I really loved the environment there as it was so relaxing and well, tea was just awesome despite the price being a little too high. Paid about RM 70 for two person for the below. 

Scones, sandwiches and teas. What more can you ask for? 

It was great quality time spent together just talking and laughing at silly things for almost 2 hours at that place alone. Went back to the hotel later on and chill a bit more before our second hot pot session.

Who can say no to hot pot in such chilly weather? 

Well, this long-winded post pretty much sums up my 1st and 2nd day there. Will update on the final day soon!