Wine holder

As alcohol is not one of my favourite consumptions, wine and liquor is definitely not in my list of most liked or enjoyed drinks. Hence the limited knowledge I have about this subject. Eve gave me a wine holder for my so called house warming party (I meant for it to be a CNY party actually). Thanks, Eve, I really liked it, though it isn’t a house warming party and there is no need for a present.

I knew that we shouldn’t leave a wine bottle up right as the cork would dry up, making it almost impossible to open it if you’ve left it for years. So, people came up with the bright idea of the wine holders.

I was trying to use the wine holder, but hadn’t the slightest idea how to do it. My first try was to slant the bottle 45 degrees on the holder and it looked fine to me. So, I left it for display on the TV cabinet. Until Ivan and Sunshine came over on Sunday and saw how awkwardly I have positioned the bottle.

We tried repositioning the bottle, but still were clueless. Till Sunshine did some act of balancing and made the bottle hold up at 90 degrees. Stupid, I know, it took us some time to figure that out. Thanks again, Eve, it was some kind of a tricky game you gave my family!

So, people, this is the right way to use the wine holder. Just in case you are as puzzled as I was. The bottle of wine was courtesy of Audrey, also a present for the house warming.

Sleepless in Seattle... oops, I meant Penang.

Maybe age is catching up.

I used to go to bed by midnight on work days and I could fall asleep almost instantly. Then, when my alarm rings the next morning, I would snooze and snooze and snooze and snooze till the very last minute that I think I could get ready and make it to work on time.

Now, I would go to bed by midnight, but I would be tossing and turning (that’s one reason I needed a bigger bed). When I look at the clock again, it’s almost 2am. What was I doing in the 2 hours on bed? My mind could not stop thinking, hatching plans of getting a little richer and how I could make tomorrow a better day for myself.

In between my sleep, I would wake up hourly. Am I having insomnia?

I’ll jump out of bed immediately when my alarm rings at 7.30am. No more snoozing. With much anticipation that it’s going to be a great day, I face it heads on. Yes, go though the jam and all. Park the car and walk 2 football fields to my office cube. Still, trying to maintain my optimism for the day.

But, of course, work is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. Most of the time, work is full of frustration and stress. Work is just something that you do to earn some money to carry on with life. So, I try to keep a positive mind in the hope that the day will end faster than it seems. With a lot of things on hand, time can really speed up.

The case is different when it comes to the weekends. I go to bed around midnight and fall right into a deep sleep. As if I could sleep on forever, until Sunshine’s alarm rings at 9.10am. Since I am not working, I would like to continue sleeping. Unfortunate for me, Sunshine wouldn’t turn off his alarm and will just let it snooze. He could sleep through it as if he’s sleeping in a cave. He’d let it snooze till the afternoon if he didn’t have to wake up. It’s so irritating with that Chinese weird song. (Dear, if you are reading this, I ultimately hate your alarm tone!)

So, no, I don’t have insomnia. It’s just work pressure!

Oh, and just for the records, I did 32 laps just now. I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight!

Chap Goh Meh

While all the girls were busy throwing oranges down Penang bridge, I was trying to capture this beautiful view from my crib. How lucky I am to get to enjoy this awesome view. Look at how the moon is illuminating the sky and shining over the island. Tonight marks the final day of the CNY celebration, which is also the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day. I wished I had a better camera to capture the full moon tonight. But this is the best I could do with my Panasonic FX8. Maybe I should invest in a proper dSLR.

Cheers

I never really understood what drinking is all about. I am not a very good drinker, practically one glass and I am a goner. I remember when I was in Perth, when alcohol was dirt cheap, all my friends drank almost everyday. And they only had to serve me some juicer with only 0.05% alcohol, then it's goodnight to everybody.

Til today, I still sucked at drinking. I tried, but my body just couldn't take it. From my experience, first of all, the taste itself is bitter. I just don't understand why some people can drink every other day like some daily ritual. Secondly, it's expansive. A can of Carlsberg is approximately RM 6 and a Heineken could cost RM 9. While a can of Coke is less than RM 2. When you start a drinking session, some people can down 5 to 6 cans. That's alot of money which could buy me a really decent meal for 2 to 3 days.

I'm not sure, maybe people drink for the after feeling. Well, I do like the after feeling myself. When I start feeling a little bit light headed and couldn't see the road straight. And suddenly there is totally no worries to think about, but the moment of happiness. So, I think most people drink for this reason, to drown away all the sorrows in the world.

Cheers!

Something grander than CNY : Pai Ti Kong 拜天公

At the stroke of midnight, red fire-crackers could be heard and beautiful fireworks could be seen decorating the night sky. The atmosphere felt much much grander than CNY itself. I was busy clicking away, trying to capture the amazing fireworks. Though we didn't have any fire-crackers or fireworks, many people from the neighbourhood were putting on theirs as if there was a competition of whose fireworks is the best.

This celebration was to worship the Jade Emperor, who saved the many Hokkiens in some cosmic battle long long time ago. Til today, the Hokkiens offer the sugarcane to the Jade Emperor for saving them. I'm not sure if this tradition is another kind of ceremony for prosperity. But by the look and celebration of it, it surely sounds like something that all Chinese respect more than CNY.

This picture shows the burning of gold as an offering to the Jade Emperor in front of my house last night. Though I never really understood the meaning of this festival, I joined in the fun of offering those gold to the Jade Emperor. Maybe, he will bring me more fortune in this year of the Ox.

Yee Sang 鱼生
Of all things the Chinese will do, just in the hope of getting wealthier and perhaps bring in some good fortune for the new year, yee sang is something not to be missed.

Just for the fun of it, some friends gathered to enjoy the yee sang at 168 coffee stall, our favourite kopitiam in Taiping, today. Of course we all hope for prosperity and good health. Maybe, after tossing the yee sang, our luck may lean to the brighter side.

Hokey Pokey

You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and you shake it all about, you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about.

I think this is a common picture that crazy friends will snap and post it in blogs or facebook. And so, that is what we did during CNY. As usual, every CNY, when all the family members are back, Sunshine's family will pose in front of the house for a family picture. But there is something more to this picture. If you'd realise, we all have the same kind of flip-flops from Scholl. It all started with me, when I got myself the first pair from Hadyai last year. Then, when we all went to Hadyai again, everyone wanted a pair each.

The CNY break is almost over. All the crazyness and noise from the nieces and nephews finally left and I'm happy that it's peaceful and quiet again.

I've got a job!

As much as I dreaded and hated waking up at 7.30am to get ready for work, I am thankful that I have a job. I bounced out of bed when the alarm rang. There in the headlines of The Star today shouts, "80,000 lose jobs in US and Europe, Iceland govt collapses". I doubled my thankfulness for having a little cube to come to work. I was very sleepy this morning as I reached Penang at 1am this morning. But, after a nice hot cup of coffee, I was fully charged to start the day. When everyone else is still busy celebrating CNY happily, there I was handling customer escalations. I was on the phone practically from 9am till 7pm. I didn't even have the time to eat or pee. I tripled my thankfulness, that this job really needs me.

Now, put the crap aside. Who am I kidding? I wished I was busy gambling or drinking on this third day of CNY. My hope of becoming a millionair with some friends by trying our luck on some lucky numbers last night vanished when those supposedly lucky numbers weren't very lucky for us afterall. The only right strike was Sunshine's 7. So, maybe it's gonna be a good year ahead for him. Which is good, so he can go earn more money for me.

So, no matter how thankful I am about this job, I still wished there was a miracle in my path of life that is going to make me so filthy rich, that I can wake up anytime I want and not having to come to this stinking work! The part of being thankful is just a disguise to soothe my emotional feelings at this moment. I've got a job and some out there are hungry and shelterless tonight.

To all the lonely people out there.

It's CNY eve where everyone is supposed to be home, feasting with their families. Then maybe later tonight will be drinking sessions with friends who are back to the same hometown. I had a simple dinner with Sunshine's family. Nothing much, but it was the "whole family getting together eating on the same table" kind of feeling. This is the second year I am having this reunion dinner here. However, this is something that not everybody can have or have the chance to experience.

I remember when I was with my own family, that we never really had everyone sitting on the same table at the same time to have dinner. Dinner is ready, but everyone seems to like eating at different hours and eating by themselves. I have totally no idea where papa is. Nor, do I know where the rest of the family is. So, I would be eating with myself or maybe my aunt.

Thinking back, it isn't a very nice feeling back then. Where when it's supposed to be a family time, we had family members, just that they forgot to come home for dinner. So, I am lucky to be here now.

And to all those, who have no home to go back to, or those who "forgot" to go back for the reunion dinner, I totally understand. Remember this feeling. So that when you have your own family in the future, make sure you have all your kids back for dinner. Make it statutory for them. It's a feeling that I think everyone in this world deserves in thier lifetime.

Journey home.

Gurney Plaza was filled with people last night. I guess it was the last minute shopping or maybe those who are back to Penang wanted to see Gurney's new wing. The new wing looks like those big shopping malls in KL, filled with branded boutiques. But, I didn't have anything to buy. Or, I didn't see any clothes to suit my liking. So, no new red clothes for me this Chinese New Year.

Driving past the Penang bridge at almost 10pm, I saw the massive jam. The turning to the bridge from Bayan Lepas wasn't moving. And there were cars lining up almost up to Gold Coast. I wondered what time will the jam dissolve. From my place, I could see the bottleneck towards the bridge and I saw brake lights all the way. Until it was almost midnight, there were less red lights. Then did I decide to start my journey home.

I left Penang at almost 1am. Surprisingly, there were still many cars on the road. I was very sleepy, so I turned on Linkin Park to full blast to keep me awake. I enjoyed the 10% rebate on the toll for travelling after midnight. There were not many speeding cars. Most were driving at 110km per hour or less. I reached Taiping at 2am.