Being An Accomplice

11 Aug

I don’t play Pokemon Go but hubby and M2 are at it just about at every opportunity. True Pokemon trainers these two have become. What about me? I would say I fall into the category of a passive semi-reluctant Pokemon accomplice and I am pretty sure there are many like me. I know some friends are. Nonetheless, I have been very neutral and rather bemused at their perseverance. After all, they put up with me and my candy crushing ways.

The last two days at the office, after lunch, I would avoid the heat and quickly head back to the comforts of indoors and air-con whilst hubby would go off under the hot sun in search of Pokemons. I refuse to be an accomplice here and maintain my passiveness towards the game.

However, I have been roped in to be an accomplice, driving them to PokeStops, after the tuition run nights. Now this becomes ridiculous especially when it wasn’t just a stop but several stops. Here, I am semi-reluctant because somebody has to drive and it certainly cannot be the older Pokemon trainer for safety’s sake.

M2 may have a new and faster phone now but she lamented that she does not have data to play the game whenever we are in the car. For this, I am thankful that she doesn’t and just have to deal with it. But the hubby has become an accomplice by making his phone a hotspot for her to connect to catch ’em all. Unlike me, that’s a willing accomplice right there.

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Trains, Planes and Automobiles

9 Aug

Last Friday, taking the KTM ETS train back alone from Ipoh was my first time using the improved service. It was on time, smooth, clean and comfortable. Although it was cold in the coach, I didn’t mind and do recommend at least trying this once.

My other time taking the train was dinosaur years ago with Dad. I recall it was when the train service first started, I thought it would be quite a fun experience to take the train down to Singapore instead of driving to visit Grandma. It was the longest journey ever to Singapore! Seven hours and certainly not fun. That was my first and last time until now.

When I was in the US, I usually travelled by road or air. Never the rail, never took the AmTrak service. The only other fun experience taking the train was when hubby and I were in Italy. Hopped on the train from Rome to Venice. It was comfortable, smooth and the sceneries were very pleasant.

Back to my experience this time, would I do it again? Certainly if logistics work out well, why not?

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Not About to Start

8 Aug

Pokemon Go has finally landed on our shores! And like everywhere else in the world, we saw over the weekend a lot of people pointing their phones away from themselves in public places in search of Pokemons to catch. We were at the mall and saw a lot of funny facial and physical reactions whenever something was caught. People have become strange and oblivious of the surrounding.

It was coincidental that last Friday I bought M2 a new phone for her birthday present albeit belated, upgrading her from the old iPhone4 to an iPhone5c that can support the Pokemon Go. The iPhone4 I believe cannot support the app, so there was double happiness for her, having a faster new phone and being able to play the game. Great timing.

M2 and hubby, the one person whom I least expected to participate in this, are both constantly looking at their smartphones over the weekend and catching Pokemons. And like everyone else, these two have become animated and ridiculous at the same time. 

What about me? 

I have refrained from downloading the app and certainly adamant not to even try the game. It’s enough that I have obsessed over candies, farm animals and monsters, another new addiction to catching Pokemons would certainly do me in. So, no, I am not about to start on it.

  

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The First Time

5 Aug

Ever since I got my iPad Mini, we have been inseparable. Every where I go, it comes with me – to the office, for my trips and all. But yesterday was the first time, I made the decision to leave it at home when I made an impromptu overnight golf trip with friends.

We drove up to Ipoh for a round of golf followed by a surprise birthday dinner for our good friend. Indeed she was surprised. The golf course was hot but bearable, the food good and the company as always, boisterous and lively.

The group will play their second game today while I take the train back, to see another good friend,  who has come back from overseas for dinner. It feels good that we go to such lengths to maintain the friendships that we have.

It looks like I can survive a day without crushing any candies, zapping any monsters or harvesting any fruits. And it will another first for me, taking the local and much improved train service home alone.

A leisure breakfast awaits before they send me off to the train station! 

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These Are Good

4 Aug

When I went off to Vietnam to play golf a month ago (wow! A month ago!!!) hubby requested to buy coffee and I got these. 

This brand, G7, is really good as the coffee smells very aromatic and tastes really good. Whenever he makes it in the morning, I could smell it from upstairs. In fact the whole house will smell of coffee! Mmm… nice.

It comes in three types, the 3-in-1 (with sugar and creamer), the 2-in-1 (with sugar only) and black. I must admit the black one was from the hotel room’s supply. The other two, you can buy from the market.

So if you happen to be in Vietnam and a coffee lover, get these. They are good.

  

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Hrmph

2 Aug

Level 1864 of Candy Crush was tough to go pass because the challenge was different on different devices! Again, another difference. Hrmph. Why King.com? Why?

I was on the iPad and clearly it’s a much more difficult task compared to the same level on the laptop in Facebook. Hrmph.

Needless to say, I took the easier route but now have to play on the laptop because the iPad has yet to update with the next chapter. I am now at Level 1877.

 

Requirements on the laptop in Facebook

  

On the iPad

 

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Should We?

1 Aug

We were intrigued by this new venture of a friend and decided to visit his home to view it – his setup of rearing stingless bees and harvesting their honey. After hearing about it from our previous meets, we took a drive to his home yesterday afternoon to see the real deal for ourselves.

There were two tree trunks, shaved on the sides to reduce their overall size without affecting the hives inside. And each has a honey collection box attached and along with what I assume would be several hundred bees. Pretty simple and that’s it; you don’t have to take care of the bees. They know what to do and where to go. 

What is done then is just to collect the honey whenever the pods are filled and this process is repeated. Just be sure not to totally drain the pods empty as this will make the bees think the pods are spoilt and they won’t fill them up again upon this realization. With trial and error, our friend discovered this interesting trait and six pods remain unused. Amazing.

Consuming the raw honey made by stingless bees has a ton of health benefits. One should google up on this.

We drank the harvested honey as is, without adding water. It was watery, not thick like the typical commercial honey. It was also not sweet but rather tangy and almost apple cider vinegar-like. I never knew and thought all this while, honey is generally sweet. But no.

Now the stingless bees or meliponines are quite a species. They do not sting, hence the name stingless and although they do have stingers, the stingers are so tiny they are useless for defense. The bees can bite though, if threatened. Later after the visit, I googled up on them and learnt some new and interesting stuff that I never knew about honey and bees in general.

Question now is should we also invest in a trunk that comes with the little hard-working meliponines churning out honey?

 

Honey home one

  

Honey home two

  

Lifted cover reveals the inside

  

The harvested honey for drinking!

 

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Such Dedication, Part 2

29 Jul

It was a late late night last night. M2 was furiously chasing time to complete her Geography assignment. It is not that she had been slacking on this but the point being the teacher in charge gave out the second part of the assignment late, thus leaving a less than desired timeframe for completion. While we were appalled and certainly not happy, what can we do at this point? 

So I sat with her to help in whatever way I could, be it moral support, bouncing ideas and basically keeping her company. She said there was once when she sat at the dining table alone doing her assignments, there were shadows and it freaked her out. Such imagination the child has…

By 1.30am I got hungry. It was a sin to even think about snacking at this late hour, what more to have a Maggi cup noodle but I did. However, I am not feeling remorseful about it. I needed fuel to keep her company and I certainly didn’t want the caffeine overload of Kit Kat and coffee that M2 had.

She finally got done by 3.00am and the paper will be handed up today; as for me, I feel like a semi-zombie.

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Such Dedication

28 Jul

With the national education system changed, the requirements to pass the big year-end Form 3 exam for M2 has evolved. Now she is required to submit a field research paper for Geography instead of the usual sit down written exam and I have never seen M2 so dedicated in preparing it. 

The past several nights she has been staying up way past her bedtime to complete her assignment which is due tomorrow. I was certainly never like that! And I don’t think hubby was like this as well. 

Well, I hope all this effort will yield good results.

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Weakling No More

26 Jul

Last night, it was invigorating to improve my gym performance after a week of activities. I played three rounds of golf last week and yesterday during gym, the body wasn’t sluggish nor felt pushed to the max. In fact, I relished the routine set out by my trainer.

The four-pounder that felt so heavy last week didn’t feel heavy at all. In fact, I was so pumped I interspersed my routine with the four kilo weight that we affectionately call ‘The Birkin Bag’. Yes, a big leap from four pounds to four kilos but no problems whatsoever. I feel so proud I am a weakling no more.

I slept soundly too and don’t foresee the muscles and limbs crying the next day or two.

   

The 4kg ‘Birkin’

 

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