Eastern Europe!

Excited to go to Eastern Europe!!

Prague-Krakow-Budapest-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich

12D10N!!

Wheeeeee! :P

I’m back!

So the mini Eurotour is over and I’m back at work, and more stressed than ever! Thanks to my predecessor who did not complete alot of work and never even handed them over to me, even after asking so many times =_=”. And then add that my HOD who has been like a mentor to us for about 3 months has been transferred… but as long as my Immediate Manager is still around it should be ok…

Will be going for my graduation next Monday, which means that I have graduated from the 1-year program! Time flies eh…

The 2-week holiday was good, I explored a lot. Went to most of the places I wanted to go in my planned schedule. Took lots of pics :D Will post them up soon…haha…Miri pics also didn’t post up yet…hmmm…in any case they will be on fb before the blog la…

Today is a public holiday, so gonna eat breakfast and then continue with work, and need to plan for future work…gotta use lots of the little grey cells in my head!

From no work to do to too much work to do…life’s like that eh…

Mini Eurotour!

I am currently busy planning my mini Eurotour to London and Paris! :D

Will be going in mid-November for 2 weeks! :D Tentatively 9 days London and 5 days Paris…in winter! hehehe

There’s alot to plan as I’m not joining any tours, not even the day tours, but I’ll see how when I get there…

There are alot of free museums to go to so I will be going to ALL the free places and some of the paying places (considering Tower of London and London Zoo).

As usual, being of expensive taste, I had to go to the most expensive cities around! lol

So far only my AirAsiaX flight is confirmed, so I still have lots of things to do! Been reading up on things to do (for free) in London and Paris and wah my head is gonna explode! lol so much info, lots to see!

Oh ya I am going alone so there won’t be many pictures of me but hopefully lots of the buildings and sceneries :)

I haven’t booked the hostels and plan the places to visit. But I am planning to book the hostels that are under Hostelling International. They are quite cheap, but there are cheaper ones if you are on a super small budget. However, the cleanliness and service of these cheaper places are questionable, but good enough if you are not the fussy type (always read the reviews before booking). Currently have a rough idea on where I wanna go, just have to group them according to location :)

I seem to be a travel consultant these days (buy flight ticket for a friend, research on what to do in London and Italy) so if you need someone to do the reading for you, let me know ;)

Excitedddd!!! heheehe :D

 

p.s. I started sorting out pics from the Miri trip but then got distracted with other things which is why the post is still not up yet :P sorry!

iPhone4

The iPhone4 will be available at Maxis centers nationwide starting September 27. Based on the rates published on their website, and comparing with my current iPhone3GS 32GB 500MB data 24-month contract plan, the iPhone4 is cheaper by RM200! Wahlau! Competition with DiGi punya pasal? hehe

DiGi is going to update their info within the next few days, wonder how the plans are like. The plans for the 3GS look pretty good, at RM60 for 1GB internet (with no extra charge if quota exceeded, unless internet roaming is used)

Just in case you don’t know how cool the new iPhone4 is (minus the antenna issues, which are not a big deal actually-just don’t hold the phone like that! lol), check out Steve Jobs at the WWDC 2010 few months back:

 

I still have 16 months on my contract, and my iPhone3GS is working fine. And i prefer the look of the 3GS. After all, I can use the iOS 4 so why change? (The real reason is I don’t have a money-growing tree so cannot buy iPhone4 lol)

If you have the time watch the whole keynote as it is quite interesting (especially if you are a geek :P)

But on the whole, the iPhone has some odd limitations (normal phones can do some of the things the iPhone can’t do), so make sure you buy a phone because of its functions and not solely on it’s looks :)

Antique?

Last weekend, I asked my parents how much our recon Monington & Weston piano cost when they bought it, and it was RM4000 (including transport from Penang). And that’s in 1989. So it was pretty pricey back then and is still pricey now. And it’s definitely older than me because it already second hand in 1989 and the company ceased piano production in 1976! =O

And then looking thru the records (my dad keeps all the receipts of everything they buy neatly arranged in files) I confirmed that the Mitsubishi vacuum cleaner that I use so often to clean out our cars is older than me (bought in 1986)!! hahaha! I remember that we only have that one vacuum cleaner ever since I knew what a vacuum cleaner is!! But I have seen older vacuum cleaners – the piano tuner that has tuned our piano ever since we got it uses a Hoover vacuum! Now THAT is ANTIQUE! lol

Ooh and I found this website of a piano store in Ipoh that sells quite a variety of new and used pianos. They even have one made in 1896! =O They also have baby grand pianos…starting from RM52,000… and they transport them nationwide! not bad eh…

So by now you can conclude that we have old stuff at home! hahaha! But it’s because we know how to take care of things we use :)

I guess my parents won’t be getting a new vacuum cleaner anytime soon…we’ll see how many years it lasts! ;)

 

p.s. people keep asking me when I’m going to change my car. why la?? my car ok mah…i will keep using it until it doesn’t want to run anymore! lol. I don’t replace something unless it’s really broken and so, the 11-year old Citroen is here to stay! (but please don’t make me pay too much for repairs lol)

Wahhh…

So after excitedly checking out pianos online…and since I have exquisite taste, I excitedly looked at Steinway & Sons pianos, and later on got an email from the only local store selling Steinway pianos. I then i emailed back and asked for a price range for all their grand pianos and this is the reply I got:

(I had to key in my email to get the list of the local distributors)

=================================================================

Hi Phoebe

Would you like to purchase the grand piano for  yourself? How can I contact you at your mobile?

Kindly visit our showroom to try the pianos which is available at Bentley Music showroom, Mutiara Damansara.

The following are the price range of the grand pianos from Steinway & Sons:

STEINWAY piano

Grand Piano:

Price ranging from RM390,000 to RM800,000

BOSTON piano designed by Steinway & Sons

Grand Piano :

Price ranging from RM95,000 to RM190,000

ESSEX piano designed by Steinway & Sons

Grand Piano :

Price ranging from RM65,000 to RM150,000

Thanks and Regards,
Cathlyn Lee
Corporate Communications

BENTLEY MUSIC SDN BHD
HEAD OFFICE & SHOWROOM
Wisma Bentley Music
No.3. Jalan PJU 7/2
Mutiara Damansara
47810 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Phone: +603- 7727 3333 ext. 623 Fax: +603- 7726 3328

Location Map – Click to View.
Showroom
140 & 142, Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Phone: +603-2144 3333 Fax: +603- 2148 0129
Website: www.bentleymusic.com

 

==============================================================

 

Heart almost exploded ok!! I knew it was expensive…but THIS EXPENSIVE?? And then she wants to contact me on my mobile somemore…paiseh la…how to explain why I busybody asking for price list hahaha….Haih…gotta go get another job la like this….cry cry cry!!

2nd hand Yamaha baby grand around RM40,000…but I dunno y I don’t like the sound of Yamaha pianos…and 2nd hand upright piano approx RM7,000…

Don’t dare ask for a quote for Steinway upright pianos…

And then some people on TV like to drop pianos on cars (Top Gear) , burn/explode them (Mythbusters)…haih…sad sad…

If I don’t go shopping I can afford the cheapest new baby grand in 7 years? But by then probably will be more expensive??!!

I went to a music store here with my sis yesterday just to check out what they have (sis sent a church keyboard pedal for repair) and after showing the price list (Yamaha pianos) she suggested I find a rich husband =_=””” Hahaha that’s what they all say lah ceh hahaha! And then she asked me to tell her the next day whether I really want to buy a piano (second hand baby grand)…

But it’s not like I’m that good at the piano so probably just look for a 2nd hand upright for now…for our Sitiawan house! Yes we are househunting in Sitiawan. Managed to find a few so gotta go check them out and decide which location is better. Sis and I have already allocated one room to be the music+comp room. wahahaha! If the house only has 3 rooms visitors have to rough it out in the hall! wahahha :P

Can’t wait to get our own place! Can cook proper meals, can watch tv anytime, got more space (also means more junk :P) but best of all I can’t wait to decorate!!! Ooohhhh IKEA see you soon!! And maybe visit the Bentley Music store just to see the piano I will someday buy!!!

For now can only afford to buy a Steinway piano poster on eBay…… lol

I want!!!

Someday imma get me one!!

Steinway & Sons grand pianos

I wanna get a baby grand piano, but only because getting a full scale concert grand piano would be extreme :P

But first must look for a house that has space to accommodate one! hehe :D

Living in a small (or medium sized) town

So it’s confirmed. I officially have a job post now. What post? Wait ah I distribute business cards when I get them :P But no work yet because I still don’t have a work PC (5 days and no PC yet!). But at least got a table now, in our own room somemore! (I think the rest are slightly jealous cause they have cubicles and no window with a view :P) Had to look for tables and cabinets for my ‘office’, which is a room that used to be the resource center/library. It’s quite spacious and is shaped like a trapezium. (I think slightly bigger than GM’s office but 2 of us are sharing this room :P) So it’s my fifth day in this new department, and the boss and staff are super nice. People keep telling me I’m gonna  have lots to do, which is good news. And it’s because I’m in charge of the store and they’re planning a move sometime soon =O. Which is gonna be fun and exactly what people like me who like data and organizing and has OCD enjoy doing! Unless something goes wrong, which shouldn’t because I will be watching them!! muahahaha! eh…terpesong pulak haha… It would be nice to be busy after 9 months of hanging around being a busybody when I want to and sitting in the resource center surfing the network.

Office day 1: only chairs

Day 2: added one table

Day 3: added another table and stationery

I have stationery! But forgot to take post-it… 

 

Day 4: added steel cabinets

Day 5: Waiting for PC, so enjoy the view first :P

Must be the longest time taken to set up an office ever! hahaha!

 

So I’ll be in this town for at least a few years. It’s a nice town, I grew up here so I’m familiar with the area. However I don’t go out much because ‘no gang’. haha wat to do, everyone moved away d or studying/working in KL. Anyway good la save money (altho at the moment there seems to be quite a bit of expenditure, especially when I go to KL once a month :P). In the process of looking for a house here so that me and sis don’t have to squeeze in the room we now share, and maybe get Nintendo Wii so that we can play in the hall when she’s free =D I’ll still go back to Ipoh every weekend I guess, unless when I’m on standby. Which means I really gotta find friends…hmmm… but there’s not much to do here anyway except go to the beach, go grocery shopping, watch a movie in the cinema, go to Pangkor Island, hangout in Lumut… what do people do in big towns anyway? hmmm…

The one thing that makes me not want to make new friends is the fact that people think I’m Malay. Doesn’t help when here at work 99% are Malays. And I don’t like to explain to people when they ask me where I’m from etc because the answers are not simple!! Even the normal simple questions. Sigh… How to make new friends like this?? T.T

Anyway I guess it’s time to look for a husband =O Should look for my sister first muahahaha!

Till next post!

Toodles!

Subsidy cuts

Notice that they don’t call it a price hike but subsidy cuts or subsidy rationalization. It seems that they had a press conference with the media to tell them not to use words like price hike. That’s what my colleague told me. Hmmm…. But there is a increase in price because subsidy has been cut so its not lying, just a better choice of words…

RON95 increased by 5 sen, sugar 25 sen per kg, RON97 increased by 5 sen (so far, price is not fixed) and more.

Why is sugar subsidized in the first place? It’s not a basic necessity. Personally I can live without sugar. So I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more for sugar. Besides, It’s not like it cost Rm100 per kg, and you only use a little at a time. What’s the big deal?

Hopefully there will be less diabetics in this country.

For now 5 sen increase in petrol is not much. It will cost me maybe RM10 more per month. Not too bad. At least its done gradually so that we don’t get shocked. Hmmm…

Someday I’m gonna cycle to work, like how I used to cycle to school. My colleagues will think im insane. But its ok, I’ll be saving the environment a little and also get some exercise hehe ;) Or maybe get a place to stay which is nearer to the workplace :P

Still there?

Hi faithful readers (those of you who are still here :P)

Sorry for the lack of updates..as usual, so much to say, so lazy to type :P

A friend asked for help to book a one way flight ticket from KL to Russia (No direct flights but transit at DEL, Dubai or Abu Dhabi are a few available). As usual, we always want the cheapest ticket available! So I had to ask my good friend Google for some suggestions. ;) Some of the usual cheap flight ticket websites don’t permit credit cards outside US or Canada to be used so I had to be creative. So I checked the cheap flight ticket websites and got the flight carriers and times as well as their transit airports, and checked out their websites, checking their prices and flight times. They don’t have MAS or Air Asia on the list and I thought: why not try our local airline websites and see if I can get a suitable flight time for KUL to DEL/BKK/HAN (transit). So after checking em all out and deciding that DEL-SVO was the cheapest flight (Aeroflot – Russian airline), I checked out the price for KUL-DEL thru MAS and Air Asia. Managed to get Air Asia ticket for half the MAS price. (Always check both because sometimes you can get a cheaper MAS ticket :)) And by doing this, I managed to save approx RM650 =D

All this done by just sitting in front of the computer. I love it! =D

I actually had fun doing all this researching. Weird? Maybe. But now I know more about each airline company I checked. Hehe. I had so much fun during my short trip to Miri to visit a friend, and I can’t wait to go on another holiday! Even if I have to go alone! hahaha desperate! :P Oh and the short trip to JB and Singapore was also so much fun! I wanna go again! Still have some cash from the last trip hehe :)

Near future destination ideas: Vietnam, Sydney

Future destination ideas: Paris, Italy, London (Let’s see if i can save enough money :P)

 

Oh and a note to myself to blog about these topics:

1) Work & back to life in a small town (Nov onwards)

2) OBM for 2 weeks! (Jan)

3) Trip to JB & Singapore (End of February)

3) Trip to Miri (End of April)

 

It feels like a productive day so far, and i’m feeling good! :)

Italian Meatballs

It was a long weekend so I decided to do some cooking. I was home alone because my parents went to Penang. On my list of things to cook were meatballs, chocolate cake (from Nigella Lawson’s cookbook) and raisin scones.

Here’s the recipe I used. Made Italian bread crumbs from scratch because I don’t think we have ready made ones here and anyway its not that hard to make, as long as you have the ingredients.

Basically I think you can put anything you want in the meatballs (some recipes had Parmesan cheese) so this is the best part about making your own food – you make it according to your own taste! :)

Italian Meatballs – So easy I don’t think its much of an achievement :P Anyone can make these! :D

Italian Bread Crumbs – I didn’t have parsley, and used fresh garlic and onion instead of the powder version.

How to make Bread Crumbs – I used gardenia wholemeal bread and toasted it in the bread toaster instead of baking it into the oven. worked just as good :)

I got 10 decent-sized meatballs from using 280g of minced beef. The size is totally up to you, but if you wanna be fair to all the meatballs its better to use an ice-cream scoop as suggested ;)

Bread crumbs

Italian meatballs before baking

Ta-daa! :D

Spaghetti and Italian Meatballs! :D :D

So yummy!! And tastes better since I know what’s inside :)

Next step is to make Swedish meatballs. The only thing stopping me from making those are the lack of ingredients needed to make them. If only I had a pantry with rows and rows of herbs and spices neatly arranged in glass jars…hmmm…wanna get one of those like what the chefs on Asian Food Channel have :D

Spot the difference

My spectacles lens cracked after I dropped it for the ????th time, and I guess it was time to get a new pair anyway as the last time I checked my eyes was almost 4 years ago! I seldom wear contact lenses to work because the environment is a dusty when I go on site, so its not so good when dust gets stuck between the lens and my eyeball! hehe..

Went to the shop, got my eyes checked and my power increased!! But by a little only hehe :) So all the staring at the laptop hasn’t done my eyes much damage :P

Anyway when it was time to pick a frame I asked them to help me pick one that’s similar to my old one. Boring right? But I don’t like specs that are too obvious, I like the simple ones that make me look smart, not dorky :P I find it odd that people actually want to wear spectacles…although some people do look better with spectacles…hehe..or maybe wear specs = look smart = look good?

 

Old specs with V-shaped crack

New specs

New specs cost me RM220 (plastic photogrey lenses) which I think is not bad, considering my old pair cost much more if im not mistaken..must be because I didn’t know the owner and that shop was recommended by a friend. Took me a few days to get adjusted to the new power but its ok now :D

Pink Martini

Pink Martini finally came to Malaysia to perform!! I was so happy when I saw DFP KL in their list of concert performances! (I subscribe to their email updates, and this email was in early January).

I was so happy I think I jumped around my room for a while before calming down and checking MPO’s website :P I was super excited as I haven’t been to a concert of my fave band! :D

 

You could tell which songs are the crowd’s favourite as the crowd cheered after the song title they were gonna perform was announced! They got especially loud cheers for Sympathique (my fave) and Amado Mio (also my fave!). The songs are in many different languanges, mainly English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Autograph session (only half of the band):    With Thomas Lauderdale, band leader and awesome pianist! 

One thing that really makes me mad is that DFP is quite strict when it comes to picture taking. I understand that we are restricted to take pics in the hall, but outside also?? Sigh…we were told no pictures during the autograph session, only afterwards we can take pics with them. But when they’re autographing also we can’t take their pics? Why?? At least they didn’t ask us to delete the pictures that we already took :)

Autographed albums :D

  Autographed program booklet :D

Couldn’t find any of their albums in stores, so I bought all 3 of the ones they sold that night (they didn’t sell Hey Eugene!).. RM157 in total! Wahhh!! Their latest album, Splendor in the Grass cost RM67 and the rest RM45.

Some of the band members were really glad to see us and kept thanking us for coming and supporting. Like China Forbes (lead vocals) said before the concert started, they didn’t know they had so many fans in Malaysia! :)

They have another album coming out soon. Looking forward to that :D Hope they come again!

p.s. Datuk Paduka (?) Marina Mahathir was there also, wonder if she’s a fan or someone invited her to go :) She was sitting in the row in front of us :)

Showstoppers!

 

As usual, when the new MPO calendar comes out, I scan through for performances that I think my parents will like, and squeeze in performances when I go down to KL (alone or I’ll beg somebody to come along with me LOL!).

So among the list of performances I wanted to go for, this was one of it as they were gonna perform Broadway songs - and it was awesome!!

Stephen Rahman-Hughes is a good entertainer (and dancer!) and included the audience. Its always more fun when you get a response from the audience instead of the usual one-way communication..hehe..

Stephen currently performs with his vocal group Teatro (which is Italian for theater)

The show was really good, and Stephen was quite the entertainer. Occasionally cracking jokes and poking fun at himself…hehe.. The orchestra was brilliant, as usual! :D I especially enjoyed the selections for orchestra from My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. :D I felt like I was floating! On cloud 9 perhaps ;)

 

Both Stephen and John had great chemistry, they were joking around and Stephen claimed that the glittery purple shoes he was wearing was John’s! John is so far my fave conductor, and the first MPO concert I went for was conducted by him. It was 2007’s annual New Year’s Concert (old post here) and it was fun because he always tried to include the audience, for example clapping along to the music. In this performance we were asked to sing ‘Luck Be a Lady’ at certain points of the song :)

I’m pretty sure all the ladies were swooning over him and wondered if the men felt insecure for a while :P But I think everyone wanted to be ‘Maria’ (from West Side story) for that night ;)

They made us work for it, but it was totally worth it as they did perform 2 songs for the encore; Can You Feel The Love Tonight and Luck Be A Lady (after more screaming and applause) . I heard from a friend that on the 1st show on Friday he performed 3 songs for the encore, singing Over The Rainbow. They were supposed to perform ‘Memories’ from Cats but someone forgot to send over the sheet music from London…hmm…

Pics taken during the autograph session:

  So cute! :P

He asked me if I was from KL, and I explained how that we’re from Ipoh and love MPO so much that we come down so often.. And then it hit me.. Did he ask me that because I look foreign? Or because I look Like I could be from KL but cannot be confirmed? Hahaha... Anyway we have something in common which is that we are often identified wrongly, as he has been cast as an Indian or Puerto Rican, and people think that I m Thai/Indonesian/Malay/ceylonese(!!!) LOL….that’s what you have to deal with when you’re of mixed parentage!

Article in the New Straits Times (they had a press conference!):   

Autographed program booklet and ticket :D

 

Someday I’ll watch a Broadway play live! West Side Story is coming to Malaysia but tickets are so expensive!! :S

Until then I’ll replay this performance in my head ;)

Just in case you don’t believe me, here’s evidence I was there :P

Books!!

Now I’m not a nerd, but I do love to read. I used to read a lot when I was younger (ahem ahem) and had lots of free time (ahem ahem). Sometimes when I find a really good book I can just sit for hours and finish off the whole book. One sitting! Nowadays my concentration has reduced thanks to countless hours of watching all those TV Series…hmmm…

Here’s a few of my latest reads:

 

Hugh Laurie’s The Gun Seller (You know, that ruggedly handsome lead actor from that TV Series House MD). Written in 1996. He actually wanted it to be published under a different name but his publisher said ‘Do you know how hard it is to sell a book as it is??’ Hehe…pretty good, its a spy thriller, very British, very descriptive (but not too much). Very witty and would make a great movie if done properly! :)

Stephen Clarke’s Merde Actually. I’ve read Merde Happens (which is a sequel to this book) and Talk to the Snail, essentially a survivor's guide to the French language and the French themselves. Read this book and you’ll be prepared to go to France.

What? They were on sale! Haha!

1. Nigella Lawson’s fifth, Feast Food That Celebrates Life has tons of mouth-watering recipes which I would love to try out when I have a decent kitchen!! Also so many nice pics of the food! And even organized by meal types! eg. Sunday lunch. Very English. Maybe I’ll start with the chocolate cakes first for now :D

2. Kickboxing because I need to work out & know self-defence, and also cause it was super cheap! :P Just started reading about the intro..don’t wanna get hurt by immediately kicking away! hehe.

3. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom shouldn’t need any introduction, but is one of those books which inspire you. Have A Little Faith is another very good read which is his latest book.

4. Who’s That Girl? by Alexandra Potter because it sounds interesting (although there are quite a few novels out there about very successful women who are extremely busy and have odd experiences…hmmm…) and I read her previous book Me and Mr Darcy and liked it (because im a hopeless romantic). In case you didn’t know, Mr Darcy is the archetype of the aloof romantic hero, and a romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet, the novel's main protagonist in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. If you’re too lazy to read the book (which has a widely quoted first line), watch the BBC adaptation of the novel starring Colin Firth. But it’s always better to read the book :P Anyway a nice read, but also some similarities with Sophie Kinsella’s Remember Me?.

Time to curl up in bed with a good book! :)