Disturbia

I haven't been listening to many english songs nowadays. Most of the time when I am driving, the radio station that I got on was MyFM which is a chinese station. So I am not very "IN" with the latest english songs.

However there is one that I heard before and liked it very much. It's by Rihanna and the song is titled "Disturbia". Very catchy and I like the "Bum Bum Bi Dum Bum Bum Bi Dum Bum" part of the song.



Anyone of you know what "Disturbia" means? I searched through the online dictonaries but couldn't find this word. Could it mean "a state of being disturbed"??

Well if this is the meaning, then I had a "Disturbia" when I went to Karaoke with my sisters, nephew and nieces last Friday.

Why?

Because my nephew and niece were actually singing to this song! Gone were those days when they were still singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Sigh... I am officially old and had to embrace my "uncle" title. Disturbing right?

Mouse Loves Rice

I was going through my phone and discovered this video I took of my niece 3 years ago. I must have copied it over from my old phone. She was 2 years old then. In it, she gave a very short rendition of the song "老鼠爱大米" which direct translated means "Mouse Loves Rice".



This song was HUGE in the chinese music scene during that time, with many versions sung by many different artistes. Actually I don't know who the original singer is, but if I am not mistaken it's a guy, right? Anyhow, I preferred a female voice for this song.

Room rental in Singapore

It is a very well known fact that rental in Singapore is very expensive especially when you intend to stay somewhere near to the city.

My bro-in-law has just recently started working in Singapore and has rented a room in Jalan Besar.

His place is on the upper level of a shoplot, partitioned into a few rooms which are rented out mainly to male foreigners. We need to climb about 3 flight of stairs to get there. I told my bro-in-law that this would be a good exercise opportunity for him.

At the entrance, there are metal lockers for the residents to keep their shoes.

After entering the main door, I could see rooms that were partitioned for rental. I think there was at least 9 rooms on that floor. There was this cute and friendly shih-tzu tied to one of the doors there and I couldn't help but to interact with it for a while.

The room is quite small. With the basic furniture that came with it, there is still some space to move around.

Every room comes with a fan and aircond. The bed is placed on top of the table and the wardrobe; and it reminded me so much of the same thing that I had when staying in a hostel during my uni years.

I actually didn't think it was thaaaatt bad as I have stayed in much worse condition when I first started working in KL.

Note: The picture above was taken by Gan when he first helped my bro-in-law to move in. It is no longer so neat now, hehehehe.

All the residents share the bathrooms (3 of them), a fridge, a washing machine and a microwave. There are also other basic needs such as hot water kettle, iron and ironing board.

The whole place looked more like a hostel to me. It does have all the necessary needs of a normal person but it will never feel homely in such environment. By the way, my bro-in-law is paying SG$700/month for this... which in Malaysia's standard is too damn expensive!

Well I guess when we go pursue better opportunities overseas, there are bound to be things that we need to sacrifice. Hope in a long run, all these will be worth it.

So, hang on there bro!

CRV Stolen!

My 2nd sister's new Honda CRV was stolen from her gated porch early yesterday morning. The thieves opened her automated gate, took the SUV out and closed the gate back.

My sister woke up in the morning and as usual did her chores around the house. Then she looked at the porch and discovered that her SUV was not there. Initially she thought my brother in law could have taken it out; only to discover that he was still in bed.

When they made the police report, they found out that there were already many cases where new Honda CRVs were stolen from their owners. Guess it must be one of the hottest cars around.

My poor sister. She has been running into some unpleasant situations since buying this car. First was that the new car got banged from behind not long after she got it. Then her handphone got snatched in the pasar malam... and now this.

Anyhow, thank goodness she's not hurt in any of these incidents. One's well being is always of the utmost importance as money can be earned back, and handphone and car can be bought back.

Baby's Daily Activities

I am not a parent, well..at least not to a human baby. So I may miss out a lot of things in this post. Please do enlighten me...

My take on a baby's daily activities:

1) Cry when hungry, scared, uncomfortable, frustrated or for no apparent reason.

2) Get fed. Other uninvolved people may not be around to distract from feeding time. Else, cry and refuse to drink.

3) Get burped and if not done properly, throw up milk. Take own sweet time for milk to slowly go down.

4) Be cute, salivate but only allow selected people to come near. If those unselected ones come near, do the crybaby face...

5) Get sleepy anytime, anywhere. Cry if condition is not ideal for sleeping. If not entertained, sleep anyway.

6) Pee pee and poo poo. New technology diapers will handle the job very well. If not, cry...
*Pic not included due to kind consideration for readers*

Model: My niece

Blood Ties

In between juggling my work tasks for 2 projects, I managed to catch up via MSN with a dear friend of mine whose dad was recently admitted to the hospital. Her dad fainted at home due to low sodium level and was hospitalised. He is doing fine and slowly recuperating now. She shared with me the sequence of events (also written in her blog) and how she felt when she received the call about her dad...the kind of panic, worry and fear that she had to go through.

I could totally relate to how she felt... the kind of panic, worry and fear.... as my family faced the same thing 2 years ago. My dad fainted while having a karaoke session (yes...don't laugh!) with his friends. He had a minor stroke. I could still remember the mixed emotions I felt when driving back to my hometown which was 1.5 hours away. Anyway my dad got through that and although still weak, he is fine. Click here to read the whole ordeal that I posted in my old blog.

You see, that's the thing. Family will always be family.

No matter you are near or far from your family members, when unfortunate event befalls them, you will feel it.
No matter you spend a lot or little time with them, when bad things happen to them, you will feel it.
No matter you are in good terms or in bad terms with them, when unlucky things happen to them, you will feel it.

Guess that's why it's called "Blood Ties".

Family's House

As of today, my parents are officially "migrated" to Klang Valley from my hometown, Raub. Raub is a small town in Pahang and is about 1.5 hours away from KL. It is famous for its peanuts, gold mines (long time ago...and no, my family wasn't involved in anyway) and durian orchards.

My parents have sold off the house which we have stayed in since 1990. The decision for my parents to relocate came about when we felt that it would be better for everyone if they were nearer to us. In any case of emergency, it would be faster for us to reach them. After all, my parents are already in their 60s and my dad is still weak after suffering a minor stroke 2 years ago. So after some considerations, they decided to sell off the house back in Raub and get an apartment unit nearby my 2nd sister and her family.

The paperworks were at last finalised and the buyer will be taking over the house next week. So this morning, I went back with my 2nd sister and my nephew to pick up my parents and to do the final packing.

Although I seldom went back to my hometown since working here except for festive seasons, there was this strange feeling being back today. Perhaps cause I know that today would be the last day that house served as our home. I guess my mom felt a lot too as it was given to her by my grandfather. There were just so much memories...

Here are the last looks of our home in Raub. The next time we see it, it would already be different.

Mini Botak Head

It's a traditional custom to shave off the baby's hair when the baby is about a month old. Here are some pictures of my niece with her botak head. She turned a month old a few weeks ago.

You like my new look??

Don't I look like a japanese doll (minus the hair) with my mata sepet??

Haha...stop flattering me.. I know I'm cute

Family Reunion

We just had our family reunion dinner a few hours ago. This was the first time all of us (13 to be exact) present on the same table since Chinese New Year in February. This time around there is an additional headcount, my new niece, making the total to 14.

We went to this chinese restaurant, Hei Loi Ton in Seri Kembangan for dinner. Like other chinese restaurants in Malaysia, there were many varieties of live seafood to pick from.

Lobsters

"Soon Hork"

"Crabs"

To make things easier for their customers, the restaurant prepared different sets of dishes. We chose the one that cost RM398++. Some of the dishes were as below:

Four Hot & Cold Combination

Steamed Promfret Superior Soy Sauce

Stir Fried HK Vegetables

Pan Fried Prawn "Mongolian" Style

The dishes were quite good I think... cos my mom told me a few times on how good they tasted. I was never the fussy one when it comes to food.... it's either good or really bad for me. So I am a very bad judge in this sense. The rest of my family members seemed to be satisfied.

My 1 month old niece had her share of dinner too....

"Nen Nen"

Angel

My niece. Isn't she an angel?

The Stork has arrived

Congratulations to my younger sister and her husband. Their baby girl is safely delivered about an hour ago. Mommy and baby are doing fine...

Patter of Tiny Feet

Recently been hearing the patter of many many tiny feet.

Started with my colleague delivering her 2nd child about 2 months ago. Then 2 days ago, my god sister in Singapore delivered her 2nd child. Congratulations LP!!!!

Then there is my younger sister who will be delivering her first child in about 2 weeks time. She is now back in SP with her in-laws waiting for the baby to come. She foresees that she will be very bored there. I told her with internet, you won't be bored anywhere!

Anyway old people have this belief that if you see a lot of cute baby pictures during pregnancy, your baby will come out looking cute too. Although I am far from being old, ehem ehem.... old people's advice are often good to follow. So to my sister, here are some cute baby pictures that I managed to "steal" from the internet.




By the way, what do you say to those people who are going to deliver their babies? Happy Delivering????