Breakfast at Tiong Bahru Market

Breakfast or rather brunch was at Tiong Bahru market

the most fantastic lor mee

porridge was smooth and finished in no time: guess what's that? chee yau char!!!! 

My daughter's stash

While springcleaning my big daughter's room, I looked into one of those lovely IKEA boxes...

and found her childhood stash...

of cutters.....diferent shapes and sizes..fish, love, heart, unicorn, flower,ribbon,scorpion...

she bought some from Yaohan, Kinokonuya, and some from Macy, Australia

the stuff she hoards in the box

that is the difference between boys and girls....a little girl will spend hours cutting, printing, painting..quietly, creatively, while a boy will jump. climb, stomp, shout, get hurt and get bored in no time.

Las Vegas Wedding

My nephew who is based in the US for quite a number of years decided to take the plunge before the tiger roars in. He chose Las Vegas The Little Chapel to get married in and his bride: Ingrid from Northern China.

This is my nephew who I remembered as a gregarious little boy who followed me everywhere because I had no children then. This is his sister (the Olympian that I featured earlier) and the both of them would always come into my room to chit chat and the first thing they did was to spritz Evian water on their faces. (my freebie that if they don't use, no one else uses!) I love the way they squeezed their eyes closed and crinkled their noses while Evian mountain water is sprayed on their chubby cheeks!!! Sooooo cute!

We witnessed the ceremony via cable...

There they are, making a grand entrance, I have not seen my nephew since he was on the threshold of  young adulthood.

Now he looks so serious and matured, no longer the little boy that I knew.

The kindly priest gave a lot of fatherly advice.

Congratulations, Nephew, take care of each other.

Elderly Friendly Bathroom

Have you heard of elderly-friendly bathrooms? Uncle Richard showed me his bathroom renovations designed by his daughter ,who is a pharmacist, for a person getting on in years, who may be wheel-chair bound one day.

This railing is what you will see in OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya or Diabled) bathrooms, Maybe I need one, I am always falling down the stairs

Note the contraption against the wall

It is actually a sturdy seat  for you to sit down and shower....you have to break down the tiles to install one to make sure it holds human weight up to 80 kg. (My husband had wanted to put a real chair in the bathroom for his father, but this is better: it saves space as it can be folded back.)

Uncle demonstrates how it's done

he is a medical personnel: he used to work as a hospital attendant.

the towels are within reach (IKEA!!)

Grooming must not be neglected even in golden years (IKEA too!!)

Even Pauline's bathroom is renovated...with ultra modern glass doors, by the contractor next door.

(Note: Uncle has passed on....he went to the Lord on 12 March 2012.)....by LMK, 23 Dec 2013

Kway Teow Ladna

Everytime I go to my apartment I never fail to patronise the Malay stalls near Esso in front of the schools. The dish I always call is Kway Teow Ladna the Malay version of Cantonese Fried or Kung Fu Chow:

So delicious! Piping hot! I slurp all the soup, crunch all the vegeables and then I do justice to the kway teow.  Very cheap too..only a few ringgit, 4, I think, always pay blindly...whatever they ask I pay. Together with a drink, usually teh tarik (never ever order kopi-o, kopi-o is only kopi-o at the chinese kopitiam) the whole meal costs under 5 ringgit!

The simple, typical Malay stalls that you find everywhere in KL.

Kway Teow Ladna was introduced to me by my old headmistress when we went on one of those trips to Trengganu. Pn N organised a LOT of free trips for us back then!

This is the roadside stalls , where I go to pick up my daughter from her school sometimes.  Round the corner is Uncle something or other, a busy Chinese food court of stalls.

Must always complain!

A conpany J was always sending me back my cheques on the slightest of excuse: no Sdn Bhd, no (M), wrong ringgit, no "sen" etc....until I got so fed up I wrote a nice letter to complain...if I, an educated woman cannot write a cheque properly, what about those who have only Chinese education (like my Dad, I always had to write for him when I was young). 

In reply, I got RM50 worth of J vouchers!

Then in December 2009 I bought a magazine from P Book Store, S.way, and it said :"collect gift from counter" and the girl gave me a sachet of a powdered drink.

Actually it should be a booklet of discount for Christmas goodies.  I saw it when I passed by other book stores. but by then it was late December, all the freebies were gone!

So I wrote a letter of complaint, and I receive a call from the supervisor apologising and asking me to stop by his office....and he gave me this:

2 ring notebooks, 2 plain white Be Popular jotters and a mug.

I followed the advice of this book: (how to be nice when compalining)

this is a very good book, and it is very old, I read about it in Reader's Digest when I was very young, but I only got to buy this book recently at Xin Phou Moon charity store.  If I had read it earlier, it would have helped me deal with a lot of situations and people (especially when I was an afternoon supervisor at my previous school). I also followed the niceties in whining, and I got a free stay at the east coast.(from a now defunct  magazine)

This is the lovely discount booklet that they removed, I only knew about it when someone else blogged about the goodies that she got from it. (actually it is a blessing in disguise, I did not utilise the booklet at all so my room has less clutter of cosmetics and beauty products and some stuff that I never even open, let alone use!)

I upload pics at 3 am, he downloads pics at 4 am.

After the pleasant Christmas Day buffet with Uncle, I went home tired, surfed the net and checked my mails.  Then I chatted with my sisters on line and stalked some friends' Christmas photos.  Finally at 3 am I remembered to post the Buffet pictures because I know Uncle will be waiting for them.

At 3 a.m. I hastily selected some picture and uploaded them on Facebook, then I hit the sack.

The next night, I went to Uncle's house for his daughter's graduation celebration.  I was busy photographing the food and Pauline while he waited patiently for me....

Here he is :Sir Richard waiting with an envelope of stuff in his hand to pass it  to me (what's inside?)

His daughter says he got up at 4 a.m., saw my piccies on FB and downloaded them to make these!!!

So that he could pass them to me when I came for the dinner!

She herself has not seen them!

He reprinted all the pictures and compiled it into a booklet

then he blew up the group picture and laminated it

(His toys are the pc, the laminating machine, the printer, binding machine etc.etc!!)

then he dug up an old black n white of his favourite sister, my mum, and he enlarged and laminated that too

I am the undesized and undergrown girl in the centre (my big sis,me and small bro are all one year apart but they outgrow me, even youngest sister in Mum's arms looks like my size!)

If my mum was his favourite sister, that makes me his favourite niece right? he he  he ..btw I am so short you cannot see me in this cropped picture!

Isn't what Uncle has done such a touching gesture? He got up at 4 to download the pictures I nearly forgot to post!!!

My Achievements for 2009

Everyone has done a review/recap of the past year....me, I would like to count my blessings: in this case, my achievements for the year 2009.

1. My APC (Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang).
2. Promotion of Grade from DG48 to DG52.
3. Promotion : from Head of Social Science to Guru Academic
    Tingkatan Enam. (Form 6 Academic  Teacher)
4. Passing my PTK (Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan) Assessment  
    Examination by obtaining the highest mark: 4 for all sections.  
    (Most people will get a 3 but I got all 4...great huh?).
5. Obtaining a 4 puts me on a higher wage scale (P2) with more
    housing and entertainment allowance.
6. Being the first teacher in MBS to get the coveted "4" for DG48
    teachers, ahead of Mrs. Lim and Pn NurMunirah.
7. Winning the Teacher's Day Award for Writing third time in a
     row.
8. After so many years of bringing boys for debates and public
    speaking, my student finally won first at state level!
9. Being on the school website.
10. (what? no no. 10?)

Third Win, but first time able to attend award ceremony!

Due to credit crunch, this year's venue was modest, the celebration bare minimum and the food? lunch boxes lol!

The APC that all teachers hanker for.

No trophies or watches like in previous years, only a cert and the styrofoam takeaway lunch boxes again!

My Slide outside the School Office

The  headmaster set up two "monitors" (I don't know what to call them) outside the school office and it plays stills of teachers who have contributed in one way or another to the glory of the school.  Wonder of wonders, my picture is one of them!!! I waited patiently till my 2 minute of fame came up and used my hand phone to capture the image......

this graph shows the excellent results of the school

ha ha ha! this shows me receiving an award on Teacher's Day for writing!!!

Incidentally this picture is also in the school website, posted by the HM.

Uncle Richard and Pauline in STAR Metro

Cousin Pauline and Uncle Richard appeared in STAR today under the headlines: "No Plastic Day" in Metro, STAR, 11 th January, 2010.

Most shoppers happy with plastic bag ruling

THERE were mixed reactions to the “No Plastic Bag Day” ruling in Selangor that came into effect last Saturday.


Stories by JADE CHAN

Photos by LOW LAY PHON

Consumers’ reaction

Dr Pauline Lai was out shopping with her father Richard Lai, and came prepared with some 20 reusable bags to pack their groceries.

“I always keep these bags in my car for such a purpose and have been using my own bags for grocery shopping for the past year,” said Pauline, who attributed her preparedness to environmental awareness and overseas education.

The 40-year-old pharmacist also separates her garbage at home and feels that the “No Plastic Bag” concept should be implemented nationwide.