25th & 29th January Chinese New Year with Family

25th January 2009
After all the posts about Chinese New Year decorations, it's about time to add photos that we're celebrating Chinese New Year. [lol]

The reunion dinner this year was back at home. [lol] last year we had celebrated our reunion dinner as reunion lunch and went up to genting for dinner concert and stuff.
So first up is the yuu sang. hehehe~! We buy the normal packets that they sell in the supermarkets and adding extra carrots, turnips and some more salmon. Yum~!
The fun part is seeing the yuu sang being setup. [grin] Mumsie, daddykins and Jessica (my elder sis, Jie)
Our family reunion is with family (duh~!) [lol] (L to R: May-Jie, Pak-liong, Hong-Koh) Yuu Sang is always fun since you can toss the food about and say good sayings.
After the Yuu Sang, we setup for the main course. ^_________^ Mum cooks them all. Awesome~! [drools] I miss mumsie's cooking a lot.

Random: Khuan doesn't drink wine except if it's sparkling wine~!

29th January 2009

Visiting relatives are nice since you get to catch up with what everyone is up to. Certainly would be better if we stayed in touch besides the CNY period but at the very least, we meet face to face once a year. [grin] And then there's some more dinners and stuff.

That's Joanne. (yea, I know. She's got the same english name as myself.) She's my cousin brother's wife.

That's Khuan, "guarding" the wine. [lol]

What's dinner without a little karaoke function? [lol] I'm not sure how you and your family celebrate CNY but one fun way is to mix dinner with karaoke. More of that later.

[L to R: 4-sok, Daddykins, Alvin & Jie] Alvin is my soon-to-be brother-in-law. Hmmm... don't know how the relationship dynamic would be between him and myself but so far I treat him as a friend. Good enough?

You'll mind me... I don't have brothers to compare relationships with... [shrugs] 4-sok and daddykins are brothers so maybe I'll ask daddykins later. But at the mean time, I'm not worried about it.
[L to R: 2-jiong, Joanne, Kwong Yong Piu-Koh, Kwong Lam Piu-Koh (Ronan for short)]
2-ma is mumsie's elder sister. Mum only has one sister so on mum's side it's a pretty small family. Not forgetting my favourite (and only) grandma, popo (though she's not in the shot)
We chat merrily while waiting for the dinner to come.
Oh, mandarin oranges to eat while waiting [peel peel, eat eat] Xp Don't you hate it when the mandarin orange you get is a bit sourish....
Ooo... more yuu sang. I tell you, during Chinese New Year, I eat up to an average of 4 yuu sang every year. [lol] Though Jessica (my sis) says that she ate more since she eats it with her friends as well. Sometimes plus the office dinner might have one... Hahaha~!
In this shot, we ARE holding tea to cheers~! hahahha~! The service was pretty slow, unfortunately.
But we're in the mood to cheers so we don't really care that it's tea anyway. It's the thought and mood that counts. All about the timing.
4-seasons dish. (though if you count with me, there's 5 there) [lol]
[ka-grin] More photo shoots in the room. 4-sok and Alvin.
Oh oh, this is a best example on how cute my po-po can be. Here we see Kwong Chi Piu-Koh (Erwin for short) and mumsies in the cheers shot and po-po in the background. She looks like she wants to cheers too....
Lo and behold, a cheers shot....
... Or NOT~! [lol] We were laughing so hard later. Popo just wanted to reduce the red wine the staff poured into her glass. Love my grandma. She's so cute~!
Erwin and mumsie's snicker shot.
When they finally served the red wine, we did a 2nd cheers~!
Shark's fin soup.
Chicken... served with hot rocks and fire... [stares at the pretty flames]
That's me, Khuan and Erwin... Laze mood...
"Bring on a smile, guys" says daddykins and takes this 2nd shot.
The younger part of the group...
I don't know what we're grinning at... but I do know that Alvin and Jess are in the background selecting songs to be inputted into the Karaoke machine.
FISH~! I love fish. Fish is good.... [drools]
Daddykins love the head of the fish. I prefer the part besides the head.
I love just about any seafood. [lol] Prawns... If I keep drooling like this, my keyboard would drown.
As we come to the midway of dinner, we enjoyed ourselves with some singing.
This was an interesting way to present the lo-mai rice.
We tried to get everyone to sing. That's Alvin.
I get to sing too. ^__^

Erwin like singing too. [grin]
Everyone doesn't seem to mind of our singing. Hahahah~!
More photos from the dinner.
Some more photos.
That night was 4-sok's birthday. So we brought out the cake (more food~!)
It was also a celebration for 2-jiong's birthday too, which was a few days earlier.
The cake~! yum~!
Photo spams...
Spam~!
If I remember right, we were singing "My Way"
While Mum was serving the cake.
It's plenty fun to sing together.
Even Ronan got into the singing bit. Though he needed a bit more prompting...
Top form top form.
Awww~! So cute. He was singing a romance song at that time, of course.
Photo spams...
Erwin and his mum, 2-ma. Singing a duet.
The singing duo.
They were having lots of fun, singing.
[grin] and I enjoy taking lots of random photos. hahahah~! Oops, he caught me in the act/
Photo spams...
More photo spams....
Ooo Ooo.. even Jie got into the act. [grin]
Photo spam..
More photo spam...
Mumsies and I...
Family shot~!
Girls shot. We only got mumsies to sing when we inputted "top of the world"
Hehehe~!
This one was uber fun to do since we were like the backup dancers... Hahaha~!

Not everyone sang that day. Some needed some coaxing before they would take up the microphone. And some didn't take up the microphone even though we asked a lot of time. [shrugs] We get to do all this behind closed doors, of course.

It's all fun and family. Cheers~!

[p/s: The lighting for all the photos are pretty messed up between yellow lighting and white lighting since it was really the yellow lighting and the flash makes it pretty ermmm white...]

22nd to 24th January 2009 Outings

22nd January 2009

I've been keeping in touch with some of the girls from primary school but never had the opportunity to see them. So when they invited me to go out to yum cha, I was pretty happy. [lol] I've not seen most of them since standard 6...

There were some primary-school classmates that I saw while I was in Form 1 & 2 since I went to IDJ (Institute Desa Jaya - I think...) and also Mrs. Ang (was it... for maths tuition class). Hmm.. So I guess the last time I saw them would be form 2 perhaps... [shrugs]

Here's Jacqueline. ^_^ Back in primary school, teachers would ask her to write on the board since her handwriting was pretty. Not only the teacher... We would nominate her as well. [lol]
Was a librarian.

Next is Chui Mun. When I saw her, I nearly couldn't recognize her. [lol] She looks much more mature over the years (I'm not saying that she looks old but rather she's someone that I would trust responsibility with). Back in primary, she was very close with Jacqueline and Hui Jing. Also a librarian. [grin]

This is Ming Foong. She is one that has not changed over the years. [lol] I remembered that she was the very first person I had asked if I could be friends with her... which she promptly rejected. hahaha~! no worries, we're in good terms now. Back then, she was practically one of the boys (aka tom-boy). Very energetic and out-spoken.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Kar Yeng. ^_^ She was in the M class (note that the previous 3 were in the same class as myself, the K class). Although she was in the other class, we know her well enough to know that she's the smartest kid in our batch. [bows down to her]

I'm still wondering if she even knows me or not. XD I'm one of those below average in class.. [shrugs] She's plenty friendly.

[edit: This is Hui Jing. Hmmm... let's see if I have a better photo of her...]
[swt] right, actually met up with her, ming foong, chui mun and jacqueline at another yum cha session on the 3rd february at the same place. [grin] If I remember correctly, she was the shortest girl in our class (during assembly, we line up in the assembly area according to height - I was near the back). had met up with her more recently than the other girls.

It was nice to catch up with the girls. Chui Mun and Ming Foong are working in the same company. small world. Jacqueline and Kar Yeng are still studying. Hui Jing just finished studying and is working now... I think... XD. I think Kar Yeng has also finished studying and is actually here in Australia... somewhere. [twiddle fingers] Can't remember...

23rd January 2009
The next day, I had arranged to meet up with Melissa Bong. ^_^ I'm the type that would arrange according to the other person's convenience since I guess I don't have much of a life? [shrugs]
Met up in Midvalley. Took this photo since I thought the trees were pretty cool like that. ^_^ [edit: I look at it and go "layers~!"]
Midvalley's CNY decor 2009
Plenty of red and lit and also yellow everywhere (to represent gold colour I suppose)
Most of the decor is focused in the Centre court. With the big stage and stuff. If I'm not mistaken, there were some performances arranged every other day... not that that was my purpose for coming here. [lol]
Ta-da~! ^_^ This is Melissa Bong. I call her Mel... which isn't a good move since I know 3 Melissa... hahaha~! Errmm... I met her when we were in the student comity in TOA. Considered in my books, wild girl [grin] In all honesty, she's a nice person to talk to. Outgoing and friendly. [hugs]
Later that night, I met up with another Melissa. [lol] This, my peeps, is Melissa Wong. Carefree and happy-go-lucky. [hugs some more]
And her younger sis, Clarissa (Clare for short). We went out for dinner at Sunway Pyramid, thai food. Gyuu~! Love Thai food.
[grin] Solo photo of Clare.
And that's me and Pui Yee. Teehehe~! [glomps Pui Yee]
Solo photo of Mel.
Hehe. The previous photo was blur-ish so I added the non-blur version of her (photo). Fufufu~!

Was a nice sit-down and catch up meal. Went to Mel's house later that night and meet up with her mum. Aunty is nice and a warm person. [grin] I have a smile on my face, remembering about aunty.

24th January 2009

It's like one meeting after another. [lol] I enjoy my time with my friends. It's hard to organize everyone that know each other to meet at a particular date. Plus, it's less of a hassle to meet up with them when they are free. I like the one-on-one time. ^_^ Was hard to make up the time to meet up with Keng Yen, even though she just lives in the same neighbourhood of me. [lol] Had set up a few meetings to meet up with her. she's super busy with work and stuff. In the end, I won though. The key: Persistence.
We went out to a nice lunch in One Utama. Our drinks.
My lunch. Like the sausage. hehehe~!
We ordered an appertizer to share.
It was ermm.... meat wrapped in bacon I think.
And this cheese baked goodie~! Sorry if I forgot the names of the dishes....
Hehehe~! "Wanna a bite?"

I'm looking forward to meeting up with my friends when I get back home. I don't meet up with lots of people in Aussie, though I do meet up with Su Jin and Chek Lee when they invite me. No one else though. At least not that I can think of...

Everyone's busy and stuff so yea... [sigh] Let's meet up when I get back k? Cheers~!

18th January 2009 to 21st January 2009

18th January 2009

I got to meet up with Sze Sin after a long long time. She's one busy gal. So when she proposed to have breakfast together, I jumped at the chance to meet up with an old friend. Hope all's well for her.

I think after our meeting with her, I was helping around the house in the spring cleaning bit... Was pre-CNY after all. helping daddykins with the painting. This year we painted the wall around the house, the black gate and the white grills of the house, ermmm... and the ceiling of the patio / verandah. hehehe~!

helped mumsies with the cookies / biscuits. ^_^ did kuih kapit this year... and dragon biscuits (that looks more like snakes.. hahahha~!) I'll try to remember to take photos of all of my mumsie's delicious cookies. heheheh~! I love my mumsie's cooking and baking. XD that's a good and bad thing. Good thing is that I have lovely food but the bad bit would be my over-indulgence....

19th January 2009

The next day, I met up with the girls (Yoong Yoong and Jaslyn) at KLCC for dinner. Something like a "let's update how's things since we came back" sort of meeting? hahaha~!
We had a good time just hanging about and chatting and catching a movie. Can't really remember what was the movie we watched. But I took that opportunity to invite them to my house for CNY. note though that I normally heavily consider who I invite to gauge the chemistry of my normal gang... I love to spend time with my gang and stuff but sometimes people and people don't get along...

however it was carelessness on my part and also intense curiosity to invite them into my normal gang. [sigh] I fear that this year's chemistry was most disappointing. On a side note, I love it when I get invited to other people's house. I'm more or less the only one who organize bigger gatherings though... [swt] extremely grateful for my parents' generosity. without it, can't have them gatherings at my house wei.

20th January 2009

Oh oh, it was more fun on my side to have met up with Darren. hahaha~! It's hard to tell if he enjoys my company or not. [lol] then again, I think he's the sort of person who won't meet up with you if he didn't like you. so in that view of thoughts, I'm honoured, darren~! [lol some more]

well, the last time I met him (would be this one), he was still teaching at the One Academy. this meeting was a lunch together at murni? (i think it was murni's) would be great to meet up with some more cd42 people. ^_^ I accept any invites to meet up with friends and try to attend them if I can~!

21st January 2009

went to pyramid. got to see all the chinese new year decorations. ^_^ this was on one part of the building...
and this was the other... love it and stuff... but as far as I know, blue isn't a good colour for the Chinese. [lol] But I can guess that this part of the decor is to include the other races (forgive my use of that word) into our celebration. It was pretty nonetheless.
Was suppose to meet up with Eugene for dinner but he was late so Khuan and I ate dinner first and then waited for him.
Hehehe~! the man himself. I believe he had forgotten about our meeting time and overslept our agreed meeting time. But he still quite quickly made his way to meet up with us. note that he stays in Klang. XD

on a random note; I want to know how to drive down to Klang and go to his house. would be nice to bring pui yee and sabs down to Klang to Eugene's place. ^_^ His mum is a lovely person and she lights up when I come over to visit them...

Thinking about it, I think I will still invite people over to my house for Chinese New Year (just a select few) and maybe some other occasions so that my house would be filled with joy and laughter and presences. With my parent's permission as always that is. Hehehe~! Cheers~!

16th & 17th January 2009

Random insert... I realized that I had written down some notes of after I had landed that I didn't add in anywhere. >_<

28th December 2008
the trip back was interesting since my parents was on a flight that was 12 hours earlier than mine (or was it a full day ahead). I'm still trying to get the hang of flying by myself in an aircraft. The mysteries of the check-in is much cleared up now that I had checked-in by myself.

I'm a little embarrassed to share this part of the story since it's all true and stuff... let's see. We all know that we need to make sure that the check-in luggage isn't too heavy. But flying out from australia, there are guys who would stop you and weigh your carry-on luggages...

I was stopped by the man and he weighed my carry-on. It was 9kg. The guard asked why so heavy to which I answered on the top of my mind what was mostly in the bag... "biscuits". (awkward pause) The guard laughed and asked me to follow him... I thought I was in trouble but all he wanted me to do was to repeat my answer to the other guard at the door. Which the other guard laughed as well...

He let me through in the end (the max weigh for a carry-on is 5kg by the way)... I guess it was the straight face I had when I said it, the uniqueness of the answer and creditablity that I was bringing back 9kg of Arnotts biscuits. Thinking back what was in the the bag (other than biscuits) were Sab's 2 packet of muesli oats, my 3 pair of jeans, chocolate bar, etc... [shrugs]

[reads notes] Oh yes most important this part. On the 28th December 2008 evening (when I touched down), I messaged to mumsies, daddykins, khuan (my younger sis), Jie (my elder sis), pui yee and nini that I arrived home.

Jie replied more or less "Welcome home~! I've got good news~!"
I raise my eyebrows and replied back "hehehe~! thanks~! I thought by me coming home it's good news enough" (ceh-wa~! Self-praise self-praise)
The good news: Alvin proposed to her that morning
AWESOME~! Congrats... [slaps self] talk about late good news. hahahahah~! better late than never? Fufufufu~! of course I congratulated them already la~!!!

note to self: I'll see if I can grab their wedding photos to post here... fufufufu~! Wedding's next year though. [grin]

Anywayz, the moment I got home, I immediately dumped my luggage at home and head off to Sentul to pick up Pui Yee and have our dim sum supper with Khuan. Bliss~!

29th December 2008
Morning: Mum showed me how to cook bak ku teh.
Afternoon: Saw Jie's ring
Night: Went out for dinner at Old Town White Coffee at Kerinchi and watched Bolt 3D with Nini, Aishah & Fatin

30th December 2008
Finished unpacking and went out for dinner with Alvin and my family at SS2 New Paris Chinese Restaurant (seriously don't ask me WHY it's called Paris for a chinese shop...) Decent food. Fast service~!

Finally with those really done and over with.
16th January 2009
Had wanted to meet the girls for a good dinner together after not meeting for the whole year (give and take that is). We (Sabs, Kimmy, Khuan and I) decided to eat Korean near our area.

Fabulous eats. Silly photos~! Love them.
Tried a few variations... [snicker]
A sporting look perhaps? A twist in new fashion? [lol] NAH~!
I really really tried to have a good poser look... which I failed. =P Ah well, you just can't win them all...
Delicious food. >__< I'm full just looking at that... [burp] The night ended with each of us buying japanese ice-cream [lol] as if we didn't eat enough already that night~!

17th January 2009
We (the same gang) were to meet up for some karaoke sessions~! Can see that midvalley has the Chinese New Year decor up...
I like them. It's bright and SHINY~!!! and glittery... =^____________^=
We were smart to go in the morning session since we didn't have a booking in advance... Didn't think there would be so much people who would karaoke in the morning man~!
It was a karaoke + lunch deal... [shrugs]
Oops... All that talk and I forgot to show you the food photos earlier. [snicker] Not that there was a lot to choose from... Each we ordered one main dish, a drink, and the rest was self service. [shrugs]
Just a shot to show that we are indeed karaoke-ing and not posing with the microphones only...
I realized that we should have kicked the table across the room and not have it stuck there like that. Used the timer function of the camera.
I will add that I think I took like 4 photos all together. These are the last two. The first one... forgot to set the flash on. black. The second one.... forgot to set the timer... hahahha~! that one you could only see my thigh and the rest of the girls. [lol]

I had a excellent time and we really ought to have a good time like this again when I get back and many more. Until next time, cheers~!