Glimpses
Arghh! I haven't written in 3 weeks, so where do I start?
Yang Hoon's wedding
Flew down to KL on the 25th principally to attend YH's wedding on the 26th held at Hotel Nikko. The usual bridal procession was grand, led by 6 little ballerinas dressed in blue tutus. The bride although looking a bit nervous, was beautiful. Nice company, caught up with some friends from secondary school, exchange of baby and travel news.
Times Square - Borders
Finally got round to visiting Borders. Very huge with a great selection of books. Can't decide if it's bigger than Kinokuniya but the Buy 2, Get 1 Free corners are a bargain. Got Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, Lauren Henderson's Jane Austen's Guide to Dating (a fun-filled book full of concrete advice and wise strategies incorporating examples from the latter's novels), 2 DK Lift-the-flap books, a DK interactive novelty play book on Make-Believe Fairy, Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and DK's My First Kitten -Touch & Feel the latter 4 for Zerlynde of course. Also managed to find 2 books by Yasunari Kawabata, First Snow on Fuji and Beauty and Sadness. Snow Country, unfortunately was not available. My favourite buy - a 3 inch thick "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" guide book.
Times Square - Debenhams
Also managed to browse the ladies department of Debenhams. Recognised a few English high-street brands, Anne Brooks and Principles which I used to buy from at Uni. Brought back memories of my under-graduate days. Nice.
English High Street Fashion / Departmental Stores
Some Malaysians are real suckers for anything foreign. Can't believe the hype over Top Shop and Miss Selfridge. Those who've been to England call tell you Top Shop's probably one of the lowest range of high street fashion around. Miss Selfridge's ok, I kind of like that when I was 20! Oh! And I discovered there's a Warehouse in One-Utama. Ah! That used to be a great favourite of mine. Of course, we've also got Laura Ashley, Next and Mark & Spencer. The first 2 are fine, if not over-priced. But M&S, hmm, that's a bit too middle-aged for me, for the moment anyway. I wonder when River Island is coming.
Mark & Spencer Custard Cream
Simply delicious, not to be missed.
Panettone Mandorlato, Italian Cake
Heavenly, must try.
More Books
Patronised 2 other book stores, Times at Bangsar Shopping Complex and Pay Less Books at Plaza Damas. Books bought include DK Bellydance guidebook, DK California Eye-Witness Travel Guide, John Berendt's City of Falling Angels, Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County, Marianne Williamson's A Woman's Worth and John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders.
DK California Eye-Witness Travel Guide
A great guide book. Spent 3 nights of no less than a total of 10 hours going through the book. Now I feel like I know California inside-out! (Theoretically at least!). Must-see places - Santa Monica Beach, Malibu, Venice, J Paul Getty Musuem, Rodeo Drive, Saks First Avenue, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Boulevard, LACMA, Bradbury building, Oviatt Building, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Queen Mary, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, Norton Simon Musuem, Huntington Library, Mulholland Drive, Hearst Castle, Santa Ynes, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Death Vallet, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Napa Valley, Sacramento, Yosemite National Park, Hwy 1 Monterey-Big Sur, Monterey Peninsula and of course the city of San Francisco. Fingers crossed, California, you may see me there in January.
First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
A collection of short stories. Now I know why Kawabata's winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. His writing is so simple yet so rich, artful and evocative. And his style of short prose reminds me a little of Hemingway.
K-Ying, my niece
Saw K-Ying for the first time since May. My, how she's grown. And such a polite and obedient baby too. I like the way she thanked me when I offered her little treats - "Xie Xie" with a little nod like a Japanese doll.
Dad - Hypertension
Dad gave us a fright. His nose bled non-stop for at least 2 hours and his blood pressure shot up to 280!! So, he was hospitalised for 4 days/3 nights! Thank goodness he's better now. I am now persuading him to go on a DASH diet.
Family
With some of us in Penang and some of us in KL, it's very rare that everyone in the family is all at home at the same time. Not even on Chinese New Year eve do we have the privilege seeing as my youngest sis is married to a Johorean and by tradition, has to join her husband's family for the re-union dinner. Anyway, last weekend was special. There's a total of 14 people sleeping under the same roof; mum & dad, my 4 siblings & myself with our 3 respective spouses, and 4 babies. Wished we had more such opportunities...
Little Tigress
Zerlynde is slowly gaining a reputation as a little tigress. Jonathan has this tendency to bully her. She used to be quite docile. Lately, she's learning to retaliate by screaming, pinching, even scratching him. Give her another 2 months. I bet Jonathan will discover it best not to provoke her. Having said that, I must add Jonathan still remains Zerlynde's favourite person at home, that is, when they are not fighting over some toys.
Vocabulary
Z's favourite word in the last week - Clock. And I give her an "A" for pronouncing it right too with that emphasis on the "k" sound at the end. Other acquisitions are "Duck", "Baa Baa" (for sheep), "Ti ti" (for little brother), "Book", "Baby", "Mmmm" (for car), "Open" (when requesting us to take cover off milk bottles or open a box of biscuits or switch on the tv).
What Tickles Zerlynde
When the kids smile to illustrate the word "Smile" in the Bumble Bee programme, the appearance of the 3 characters, Taa, Dee and Ed in the Fisher-Price Baby Moves programme, when I sing "Hot Cross Bun", fingering her little soles, seeing picture of black sheep in Eric Carle's Brown Bear, What do you see?, wearing her pink sun-shades and seeing her reflection in mirror.
Avocado
Zerlynde loves it! She's been having that everyday for the past 3 weeks. I made her macaroni cheese last Sunday. She's not too keen. Planning to start her on salmon soon.
Sony Music - Feels So Good, the smoothest hits
I love this 2-CDs album. It has some of my all-time favourite hits such as Love Unlimited Orchestra's Love's Theme, Shakatak's Night Birds, Paul Desmond's Wave, Earth, Wind and Fire's After The Love Has Gone and Grover Washington's Take Five. The first 3 songs are especially meaningful to me as I used to play them over and over again on the organ. My organ teacher, Bernard Lim was an inspiration. Love's Theme was the second song I learnt from him, Spanish Dance being the first and Wave being the last. Night Birds, I learnt subsequently from Mr Fong. It was the most difficult organ piece I've ever played. Other hits worth listening to in this collection are Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good, Chris Botti's The Look of Love, Grover Washington's Just The Two Of Us, Michael Franks' Tiger In The Rain, Luther Vandross' So Amazing, Kirk Whalum's Over The Rainbow, Charlie Byrd's the Girl From Ipanema and George Benson's Summertime. At about RM60-00 for 2 CDs, I think that's a pretty good buy.
Diet
One proud achievement in the past 3 weeks - more fish and less meat.
Exercise
Have been consistently sweating it out at Bellydance class. Another achievement seeing as this is the first time in my life I'm living the "Healthy body, healthy mind" concept. And I'm having such fun too!
Regret
Missing the Penang Jazz Festival, Hollywood on Ice and Human Rights March.
Yang Hoon's wedding
Flew down to KL on the 25th principally to attend YH's wedding on the 26th held at Hotel Nikko. The usual bridal procession was grand, led by 6 little ballerinas dressed in blue tutus. The bride although looking a bit nervous, was beautiful. Nice company, caught up with some friends from secondary school, exchange of baby and travel news.
Times Square - Borders
Finally got round to visiting Borders. Very huge with a great selection of books. Can't decide if it's bigger than Kinokuniya but the Buy 2, Get 1 Free corners are a bargain. Got Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, Lauren Henderson's Jane Austen's Guide to Dating (a fun-filled book full of concrete advice and wise strategies incorporating examples from the latter's novels), 2 DK Lift-the-flap books, a DK interactive novelty play book on Make-Believe Fairy, Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and DK's My First Kitten -Touch & Feel the latter 4 for Zerlynde of course. Also managed to find 2 books by Yasunari Kawabata, First Snow on Fuji and Beauty and Sadness. Snow Country, unfortunately was not available. My favourite buy - a 3 inch thick "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" guide book.
Times Square - Debenhams
Also managed to browse the ladies department of Debenhams. Recognised a few English high-street brands, Anne Brooks and Principles which I used to buy from at Uni. Brought back memories of my under-graduate days. Nice.
English High Street Fashion / Departmental Stores
Some Malaysians are real suckers for anything foreign. Can't believe the hype over Top Shop and Miss Selfridge. Those who've been to England call tell you Top Shop's probably one of the lowest range of high street fashion around. Miss Selfridge's ok, I kind of like that when I was 20! Oh! And I discovered there's a Warehouse in One-Utama. Ah! That used to be a great favourite of mine. Of course, we've also got Laura Ashley, Next and Mark & Spencer. The first 2 are fine, if not over-priced. But M&S, hmm, that's a bit too middle-aged for me, for the moment anyway. I wonder when River Island is coming.
Mark & Spencer Custard Cream
Simply delicious, not to be missed.
Panettone Mandorlato, Italian Cake
Heavenly, must try.
More Books
Patronised 2 other book stores, Times at Bangsar Shopping Complex and Pay Less Books at Plaza Damas. Books bought include DK Bellydance guidebook, DK California Eye-Witness Travel Guide, John Berendt's City of Falling Angels, Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County, Marianne Williamson's A Woman's Worth and John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders.
DK California Eye-Witness Travel Guide
A great guide book. Spent 3 nights of no less than a total of 10 hours going through the book. Now I feel like I know California inside-out! (Theoretically at least!). Must-see places - Santa Monica Beach, Malibu, Venice, J Paul Getty Musuem, Rodeo Drive, Saks First Avenue, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Boulevard, LACMA, Bradbury building, Oviatt Building, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Queen Mary, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, Norton Simon Musuem, Huntington Library, Mulholland Drive, Hearst Castle, Santa Ynes, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Death Vallet, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Napa Valley, Sacramento, Yosemite National Park, Hwy 1 Monterey-Big Sur, Monterey Peninsula and of course the city of San Francisco. Fingers crossed, California, you may see me there in January.
First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
A collection of short stories. Now I know why Kawabata's winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. His writing is so simple yet so rich, artful and evocative. And his style of short prose reminds me a little of Hemingway.
K-Ying, my niece
Saw K-Ying for the first time since May. My, how she's grown. And such a polite and obedient baby too. I like the way she thanked me when I offered her little treats - "Xie Xie" with a little nod like a Japanese doll.
Dad - Hypertension
Dad gave us a fright. His nose bled non-stop for at least 2 hours and his blood pressure shot up to 280!! So, he was hospitalised for 4 days/3 nights! Thank goodness he's better now. I am now persuading him to go on a DASH diet.
Family
With some of us in Penang and some of us in KL, it's very rare that everyone in the family is all at home at the same time. Not even on Chinese New Year eve do we have the privilege seeing as my youngest sis is married to a Johorean and by tradition, has to join her husband's family for the re-union dinner. Anyway, last weekend was special. There's a total of 14 people sleeping under the same roof; mum & dad, my 4 siblings & myself with our 3 respective spouses, and 4 babies. Wished we had more such opportunities...
Little Tigress
Zerlynde is slowly gaining a reputation as a little tigress. Jonathan has this tendency to bully her. She used to be quite docile. Lately, she's learning to retaliate by screaming, pinching, even scratching him. Give her another 2 months. I bet Jonathan will discover it best not to provoke her. Having said that, I must add Jonathan still remains Zerlynde's favourite person at home, that is, when they are not fighting over some toys.
Vocabulary
Z's favourite word in the last week - Clock. And I give her an "A" for pronouncing it right too with that emphasis on the "k" sound at the end. Other acquisitions are "Duck", "Baa Baa" (for sheep), "Ti ti" (for little brother), "Book", "Baby", "Mmmm" (for car), "Open" (when requesting us to take cover off milk bottles or open a box of biscuits or switch on the tv).
What Tickles Zerlynde
When the kids smile to illustrate the word "Smile" in the Bumble Bee programme, the appearance of the 3 characters, Taa, Dee and Ed in the Fisher-Price Baby Moves programme, when I sing "Hot Cross Bun", fingering her little soles, seeing picture of black sheep in Eric Carle's Brown Bear, What do you see?, wearing her pink sun-shades and seeing her reflection in mirror.
Avocado
Zerlynde loves it! She's been having that everyday for the past 3 weeks. I made her macaroni cheese last Sunday. She's not too keen. Planning to start her on salmon soon.
Sony Music - Feels So Good, the smoothest hits
I love this 2-CDs album. It has some of my all-time favourite hits such as Love Unlimited Orchestra's Love's Theme, Shakatak's Night Birds, Paul Desmond's Wave, Earth, Wind and Fire's After The Love Has Gone and Grover Washington's Take Five. The first 3 songs are especially meaningful to me as I used to play them over and over again on the organ. My organ teacher, Bernard Lim was an inspiration. Love's Theme was the second song I learnt from him, Spanish Dance being the first and Wave being the last. Night Birds, I learnt subsequently from Mr Fong. It was the most difficult organ piece I've ever played. Other hits worth listening to in this collection are Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good, Chris Botti's The Look of Love, Grover Washington's Just The Two Of Us, Michael Franks' Tiger In The Rain, Luther Vandross' So Amazing, Kirk Whalum's Over The Rainbow, Charlie Byrd's the Girl From Ipanema and George Benson's Summertime. At about RM60-00 for 2 CDs, I think that's a pretty good buy.
Diet
One proud achievement in the past 3 weeks - more fish and less meat.
Exercise
Have been consistently sweating it out at Bellydance class. Another achievement seeing as this is the first time in my life I'm living the "Healthy body, healthy mind" concept. And I'm having such fun too!
Regret
Missing the Penang Jazz Festival, Hollywood on Ice and Human Rights March.
posted by Lin at 12:05 AM
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