Lush Green Padi Field - my fav pic! 

I, at the Amoaras Spa 

Bar by the Beach !  

The Algarve - Summer '05

Portugal was one of the last few destination I went before leaving Europe. I've always meant to account for all the places that I have been during that summer but somehow I never got around to it. Feeling slightly nostalgic earlier on, I browsed through an archive of pictures and realised just how good that trip was and that you don't realise you had, had a good time till that particular time passes on.

From trying out Portugese Egg Tart (very delicious), drinking Sangria (yes, they have it too), swimming in the cove, basking in the sun with a good book and being friendly with the locals .... the Algarve is a place that I would love to back if given the chance.The food and drinks are dirt cheap and the boys are sexy ... what else could be more perfect!

This is what I get to view at work, everyday.

But somehow, none at work seems to

appreciate this as much as I do. More often

than not, you'll find me gazing out and taking

it all in.

ILLUSTRATED
Hooi Huang and I, just before the dinner-play. We get off work about
6pm and the dinner starts 715pm, which really does not leave that much

of time for us. We were in a bit of a hurry-scurry that we changed in the

ladies room! [Far right] Hooi Huang & I [Far left] Beng Meng & I.

She wasn't too keen to snap pic in the bathroom, but she was coerced!

By me, nontheless .......

edit: click on the thumbnail for an enlarged view of the pic

British Theatre Playhouse presents "Private Lives" ...

... recently I was given free tics to attend a British play - 'Private Lives'. I was much excited because:-

Firstly, I haven't seen a British play since 'Miss Saigon' showed at Bristol Hippodrome. Secondly, I was too broke. The tic without dinner cost RM80.00 = £11.50 and I could not even afford that. Thirdly, I miss British accent, weird as it may seems. Fourthly, the tic includes dinner!

The play was actually good and exceedingly hilarious. Though I didn't hear much laughter from the crowd. I suspect not many people understands that genre of humour. I was oblivious though and took a few pictures .... later only to be reminded by a friend that patrons are not supposed to be snappy-happy. I managed to get a few but a tad blur. The turnout was quite impressive despite being advertise only on Astro - our SKY tv. No other ads.

The story engages 4 married people. Divorcee. Re-marry again and later realises they were still in love. Met their respective former partner in the same hotel while on their honeymoon. Even more delicious - they're located at the very next room ... adjacent balcony! Decided to re-elope and left their remaining former-new-partner to deal with the situation. Synopsis is pretty much pedictable but things said and done were the highlight of the play.

Can't wait for another play.

pic: Beng Meng, Hooi Huang and I at the dinner.

Hey, it's a Saturday ...

... and I'd gotten so used to waking up early to the point that I don't quite know what to do when I got up at about 12 ... pm earlier on. That is quite odd isn't it ... since I had never been a morning kinda person. In fact, I had several errands to run today ... if I remembered correctly whilst driving home after a dinner appointment ... of what was supposed to be just a quick one but it turned out that we sat dining at the restaurant till it closes. And I ended up purchasing this really adorable looking piglet displayed at a shopping window. Thought I needed something quirky at my work table cause it's heavily loaded with files, files and more files. Perhaps I ought to put a picture of her, piglet I mean and that's not her real name either.

... Amongst the things I have to do:-

• get a tea mug, the Chinese type for one of my colleagues. He requested for it .. say sometime back in ..... maybe Feb ? Yea well, I only remembered yesterday and that too, was upon being reminded by him. He saw me using mine and wanted one. I was much too happy to oblige, only thing is I need to remember it.
• start studying for my Malay exam which is scheduled on 16th May, Tuesday and I am as unprepared as shite. You must be wondering why I had to sit for this ridicule exam ... it's one of the requirements that needs to adhere too - set by our nonetheless "Lembaga Kelayakan Undang-Undang". Translation - "Legal Qualification Board". I really don't see the point of it as we converse in English for court purposes except in Magistrates. And I have a feeling I'm not gonna do good. I haven't been fluent in Malay since I left school which is jurassic years. And being in England for a long period has totally evaded any memory I have left to converse in Malay. Now, how am I gonna pull that off .. I wonder.
• start thinking of what to do for Mothers' Day. We follow the American term and not the British where it's sometime in March ... I think. Can someone please confirm that? Thanks. (as if there's loads of readers out there)
• get a blardee haircut. It's disgustingly long right now, to the point that I cannot stand it. Cannot!
• head back to the gym. Haven't been for 3 months and it's starting to show. My tone of colour is getting gray and I am seriously deprived of sleep.
• get more nutrients and supplements kicking in.

... you have no idea how much work can take over your life. Long time ago, before I started working officially, I was adamant not to fall into that trap. But I'm doing the total opposite. Someone should send me a constant reminder.

My momory is failing me....

... an example. I prepared an opinion regarding a dispute on Sale of Goods, yes we have that here and I was nicely surprised but it's scarcely practised over here. Locals seems oblivious to silent consumer rights. Anyway. My boss was not gonna be in the office after lunch hour and I was supposed to e-mail the opinion to him when I'm all done with it for him to edit and send over to client. Which I duly complied with. Only problem was, I sent it without the Letterhead. shite. And it was a Friday. double shite. And I did not even realise till I was driving home on that Friday night. Which was a good 9 hours later. Office is shut tightly and tomorrow is a Sat. tripple shite. I thought to myself "Oh well". Thing is, I woke up early the next day with only one word in my mind Opinion. I could not relax, for Christ sake! and so I rang a colleague who has a habit of working alone on Sat and asked if I could drop by. "Sure thing, before 12", says he. So I actually went into office on a good Sat and resend that email and this time with Letterhead. I sent a notification text to my boss, just to inform him. Turned out that he has already sent the one without Letterhead and had requested a print opinion. *sigh* Sometimes, I ought to take things in a slow pace.

... Penang feels nice when it rains. Only.

... and I wanna rare fishes. But they will probably die at the rate I am going.

HALT

It's been more than a month since I'd last written and I don't quite know where to start. I figured I might as well commingle it all in and take it from there. Had a girly trip down to the capital, Kuala Lumpur [KL] purely for pleasure. I and my gfs were in need of it, especially with our respective workload increased immensely of late. It was a good trip, one where we managed to achieved all that we intended to do .. from catching up with old friends, hunting for that pair of comfortable working shoes, all that shopping .... and having a cuppa with nothing to do but people-watching and taking it easy. I really misses those lazy days. At the rate I am currently at, I'll be surprised if I can even squeeze in a haircut. KL was meant to be a trip for chill out time and interestingly, we ended up hitting the Tiesto rave held to commemorate the F1 Grand Prix. It was fun though, I had to admit, all that old glamour of being able to sway and hop accordingly has failed to appealed to me like it once did. It was also horrendously packed! The opening was quite impressive or shall I say ... very cultured. It had an indian dance, chinese dragon dance ... orchestral singing. An eye-opener for I haven't been to a rave with such creativity. Oh and I didn't have my trainers on me. My feet felt numb towards the end of the night. Nevertheless, it was still a good night out.

MOVIES UPDATE:

Didn't catch V for Vendetta. Heard it was adequate to watch it on DVD.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - Loved it! Sid is funny as ever ... though Diego was a bit boring. Prefered him verocious and feisty. Don't think much of the storyline but all in all, it was entertaining and I do appreciate the fact that the audiences get to see more of Scrat as compared to Ice Age [1].

Caught another animation the night before, 'The Wild' and it was hilarious! My favourite character has to be Larry, blurcase snake I have ever come across. I have to say though, most of the animation film seems to focuses on the same storyline. It was quite identical to Finding Nemo.

Anime - Howl's Moving Castle. Been waiting for this in anticipation. It was created by Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the most famous anime ever - Spirited Away. 2 words - Watch it!

The Sentinel - espionage cultured. Quick and slow pace, at the same time. M.Douglas still looks good, even for a 60 year old. Worth watching if you're politically inclined.

WHAT NOT!

Did I mentioned before that I was letting off 'Kong' ? This was ages ago but thought you'd like to know that I did see it. And it was good! Adrian Broody rocks. Not quite sure if that's how it's spelt. I caught 'Pink Panther' the night before and it was foolishly hilarious. I have to admit that I did have a good laugh, though Steve Martin is still not any of my favourites. Waiting for V for Vendetta, Ultraviolet, Underworld: Evolution + Ice Age 2, The Meltdown. Had a peep of Ice Age 2 and I'm all excited about it already, Scrat is so ultra adorable. If only I can get my hands on him.

Seen Memoirs of a Geisha too. I thought young Sayuri was brilliant~! If I didn't know any better, her performace outshines Zhang ZiYi on a minor scale and the world is raving about her. I thought Michelle Yeoh delivered an outstanding performance too. Didn't like Gong Li at all and can't stand her hairdo in that film. I enjoyed the film, well narrated and it gives an insight scope of the book, even if not all of it.

Now let's see, what else is there .... ahh yes, workload's increasing. Went on a date the night before and it was nothing to scream about.

Headed to the beach a few weeks back and I didn't enjoyed it much. The sun was hiding behind the clouds.

And I still have no idea what I wanna do come this August.