Posted on 30 March 2008 @ 10:33 in Food, Writing
Hoxe’s Cafe, one of my two favourite writing places, is under new management.
The cafe had been rather unpredictable recently when there would be days it wasn’t opened for business. So yesterday evening, after a good time out (visiting mother and attending a reading at Silverfishbooks in Bangsar), I headed on home, keeping my eyes on the cafe as I drove past to see if the lights were on. They were. Altho that was not guarantee it was opened; I once went by only to find it was opened, but closed for a private function.
Anyways, it was opened yesterday evening. Same menu, but in a laminated sheet rather than in a booklet. Same items. Unfamiliar person serving, tho. I ordered my usual, and settled back to read my purchases from Silverfishbooks.
There was a group of young women huddled over the computer. Soon they were screaming over what turned out to be a Japanese pop concert playing on the computer. Granted the cafe was not crowded for a Saturday night, but it was still unusual for customers to be behaving in such a manner.
I noticed one of the servers going up to another customer with a cupcake. From the look on the customer’s face, he’d not ordered the dessert. Later, after I’d finished my dinner, I was served with a slice of walnut carrot cake, “compliments of the chef”.
When I eventually left - I stayed to read and write a while - one of the women detached herself from the group and walked up to the cash register. “Is this place under new management?” I asked and received a yes in reply.
Oh, that’s why those young women were behaving like they owned the place. They do own the place, but continue to maintain the same menu and prices.
Good idea on the menu and prices. With it, they’ve maintained at least one regular customer. Me.
Yay, girl power!
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Posted on 21 March 2008 @ 14:45 in Stress Busters, Travels
Two years ago (2006), they were in a “competition” to be named. Now, they are in another “competition” to be selected for the Beijing Olympics.
As part of the Beijing Olympics attractions, eight panda cubs from Wolong will be chosen to go and stay at the Beijing Zoo. The public has been asked to vote for who they think should be included:
Wolong Cubs for Beijing
The 16 shown on the page include my Yoong Ping aka Feng Yi, Judy’s Qian Qian and also my picture buddy from last year, Lang Lang. Yoong Ping is currently at #2, Lang Lang at #8 and Qian Qian at #10.
They all have their own info pages:
Yoong Ping
Qian Qian
Lang Lang
It is so nice to see recent pictures of all three of them!
I’m revising my travel plans for this year to focus on getting to Wolong in August and also Beijing for a couple of days.
Meanwhile, I was supposed to fly to San Diego this weekend for a couple of Janis Ian shows next week, but something came up and I couldn’t. The Cerritos ticket has gone to a fellow Rudie, Azure.
Just as well, cuz now I may be Beijing bound, along with my Yoong Ping.
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Posted on 17 March 2008 @ 13:32 in Being Silly
Years ago, when my brother started living and working in Singapore, he rented a room with a family with two boys. He told me the younger boy said his favourite food was taufu, which he preferred to chicken “because no need to chew, can just swallow.”
In my case, my favourite lunch is a toasted cheese sandwich, because no need to use knife to spread on bread. But that’s just me …
I’m reminded of a fable my mother told me when I was a kid. There was this man who was so lazy to get his own food that when his wife went away, she tied a huge biscuit to his neck that he could eat easily. She came home to find him dead because he’d nibbled the biscuit to his limit and was too lazy to stretch further to eat more.
Sorry for this crazy post, which I’m writing as I eat my toasted cheese sandwich. And please don’t ask me what’s the moral in the fable my mother told me. I can’t remember.
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Posted on 15 March 2008 @ 11:03 in Fun Stuff
Having your own set of wheels is what a lot of youngsters look forward to as a sign of one’s independence. But I’m not a youngster anymore, and having driven my own car for the last 17 yaers (I didn’t get my licence till quite late in life), I’m beginning to welcome not driving. Especially into town.
A couple of times when I had to go into town, I’d parked my car near the Taman Jaya LRT station (the one I call AmCorp Mall LRT). But it cost RM3/- in an open-air car park. Which often meant I would return to a hot car left a few hours in the sun.
A few days back, I had to go into town - lunch with a favourite cousin, followed by meeting with my (one and only) client, both at Suria KLCC. I knew I wouldn’t be driving in, and started thinking of an alternative to the Taman Jaya LRT station.
Now, I live near the IKANO Power Centre which offers a free shuttle service to and fro the Kelana Jaya LRT Station, and is across the road from the Tesco hypermarket where I can park my car indoors and for free, too, if I went in and bought something.
So this was what I decided to do - park at Tesco and take the free shuttle to Kelana Jaya LRT station. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The shuttle service ran on a schedule, so I had to make sure, especially for the return journey, not to miss the bus. If I did, I would’ve had to get a taxi, which I didn’t want to (just call me “cheapskate”). Instead, I went online to check if there was a feeder bus service between Kelana Jaya LRT station and IKANO Power Centre. There is. I took note of the bus number; this would be my back-up plan in case I missed the free shuttle service.
The day of my little “adventure” came. I did as planned, parking my car at Tesco and going to IKEA for breakfast (yes, this was not only a part of the plan, but a “given”).
I’d decided to take the 11:00 a.m. shuttle, so there was plenty of time. At that hour of morning, there weren’t too many people waiting for it. It was an enjoyable ride, I had an elevated view of the surroundings and saw things I would never have seen if I’d been driving and concentrating on the road and the other cars.
It was a 15-minute ride to the LRT station, and maybe another 40 minutes to Suria KLCC. By car, it would’ve probably been more, what with the various traffic lights and traffic jams, too.
For the return journey, I decided I would aim for the 5:30 p.m. shuttle back to IKANO, and to leave Suria KLCC around 4:30 p.m. The timing was good; my client had to leave before then, so we wrapped up our meeting in time. When he heard I’d taken the LRT, he was anxious that I got the train back before the rush hour began. I have a considerate client.
“Maybe another 40 minutes” turned out to be less, as I arrived back at the Kelana Jaya LRT station around 5:00 p.m., in plenty of time for the 5:30 p.m. IKANO shuttle. I didn’t have to use the back-up plan after all.
Back at Tesco, I made a quick trip in and grabbed something off the shelves to qualify for free parking (yes, “cheapskate”).
That evening, I recounted my little adventure to my sister, adding that it would be easy to have a day out in town from now on. She laughed at me.
The IKANO free shuttle bus schedule and route map:
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Posted on 9 March 2008 @ 11:33 in Food, Memories, News
Last night, amidst the quiet celebration as I stayed up waiting for the results (thanks to the Malaysiakini site), I heard rumours of riots in Klang. My first reaction was curfew? And then … oh no, I have no food in the house! I was online with a friend, and told him we didn’t have a problem with food during the May 13 curfew because our shop (we lived upstairs) was between two sundry shops (as they were called in those days) and got supplies from them. That was one of the better memories from that time.
Speaking of Malaysiakini, I’d called my sister to tell her the good news each time I saw them on Malaysiakini, and her reaction was “are you sure or not?” She had a point. The results on Malaysiakini were mostly unofficial. But it took the longest time for the TV stations to post the official results. And it seemed to me they were only posting BN victories.
If it weren’t for Malaysiakini, we would’ve been kept waiting for the results much longer. Thank goodness for alternative news sources.
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Posted on 8 March 2008 @ 22:30 in Personal
That’s what we are voting for, and from the results so far, have voted for.
Am I making sense? I’m dizzy with excitement tinged with some worry, too.
Elections results coverage:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/index.php
Both Parliament and State seats for my area have been won by the Opposition. I was a part of that vote. 
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Posted on 8 March 2008 @ 22:14 in Personal, Women
With all the excitement going on today - Malaysians voting for a better Malaysia and a better tomorrow - it slipped my mind that today is International Women’s Day. I only remembered when I went to Marina Mahathir’s blog. Does that make me a bad girl? 
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Posted on 8 March 2008 @ 00:24 in Writing
Malaysian Writers on the Net, my website to provide an online presence for Malaysian writers, as well as other aspects of the Malaysian publishing industry, has finally gone “live”.
The site will feature Malaysian writers who have published, as well as provide information about editors and publishers. Please read the “About” section for more information. There will also be news about new book releases, book readings, and other book related events.
The first article is a combined list of bestsellers from three local bookstores - Kinokuniya, MPH and Times - taken from their respective websites.
In addition to content updates, you can expect to see occasional changes in the design template. Malaysian Writers on the Net is an on-going work-in-progress! Please email all queries and comments to mywriters[AT]gmail.com.
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Posted on 3 March 2008 @ 13:21 in General
This has been a constant question to everyone I meet, and when they hesitate with their reply, I then ask “Are you registered to vote?”
Some of them reply that they missed the last voter registration in November 2007, and there is a note of regret in the reply.
I remember registering to vote as soon as I was able to. I was in the first batch of post-Merdeka voters, and was even interviewed by The New Straits Times; it was a big deal in those days. I remember being asked who I would vote for, and my reply - the Opposition. Why? Cuz every government, however strong and fair, needs an Opposition to keep it in check.
As it turned out, I didn’t get to vote in every election, as I was out of the country during the 1990 and 1995 elections. For the latter, I was travelling to Zimbabwe for a work-related trade exhibition, and when we arrived, our hosts turned on the news where we saw that Barisan Nasional had once again won the elections.
During the last elections in 2004, I drove to the old neighbourhood with my father to cast our votes. By that time, mother was living in the nursing home and too frail to come along with us to exercise her duty as a Malaysian. Even though we had moved out of the neighbourhood, we continued to vote in this constituency as it was an Opposition stronghold.
Now that my father has left us, and mother remains in the nursing home, I will be on my own this Saturday. Late last year, I decided to update my voter registration details to my current address. For a few weeks after I made the change, I kept visiting the Elections Commission website to check if the details had been updated, but it wasn’t until 20 February that the info was finally updated; I am now listed as a voter for the Subang constituency (Subang for Parliament and Bukit Lanjan for State).
Yesterday, I went on a drive to look for my polling station, the SK Bukit Lanjan, which is apparently located in my neighbourhood. I couldn’t find it on my side of the humongous flyover system just past IKEA and Tesco, and while I did find Bukit Lanjan, located on the other side, I didn’t find any school in it, just lots of little shops and front yard motor repair workshops. No matter. I’m sure this Saturday, I will see lots of signs leading to the polling station.
Happy voting to all Malaysians registered to vote. Please vote. As Kam Raslan said in this week’s issue of Talking Edge, it’s our right.
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Posted on 1 March 2008 @ 22:12 in Family
He was a rescued 8-week-old puppy fostered by my sister’s tailor that my sister had decided to adopt. It was a surprise that she would do such a thing as she’s not much of an animal person. But when you see a picture of him taken the evening he joined the household, you’ll understand her decision:
He’s CUTE! Compared to the other two four-legged members of the family - a rottweiler called Lok (Chinese variation of Rott, but also meaning “happy”) and a doberman called Morpheus - he looks more approachable, too. As the smallest of the three, he has been nicknamed SmallDog, although over the months, he has grown quite a bit, so that now, we must remember to call him by his real name, Prince.
Over the months since he joined the household, two other things have happened to Prince. His pair of ears have become mismatched - the right ear is upright while the left ear remains droopy, and his tail has flowered into quite a magnificent brush. Here he is at 11 months old.
Another view of his tail.
That’s his “house” behind him, a section of the corridor leading from the garden into the wash area. He remains on a chain even when home because he’s still able to squeeze between the grille bars, as in the picture above. Initially, we thought he’d grown too big to squeeze through, but one evening, the maid had found him seated at the door watching her at work. To prevent any doggy encounters with my sister, it was decided to return him to his chain.
One thing we’ve still not been able to determine is his breed. Sure, he’s a mixed, but of what breeds in particular? One vet thinks he’s a Spitz - Cavalier King Charles mix, while another vet thinks he also has Collie blood in him, too. Looking at the three pictures here, any suggestions what he might be?
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