Tag Archives: Chinese New Year

900 Days

8 Feb

In the midst of celebrating and enjoying Chinese New Year, I was obsessing to achieve my milestone for Candy Crush Soda! The last four days, without fail I synced my iPad Mini to my iPhone5S, using the Personal Hotspot setting for connection to get the Daily Bonus. If this isn’t being obsessive, I don’t know what is.

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Today I hit Day 900! I am trying to convince myself once I hit the thousand mark, I will stop. I think.

I don’t know…

Yesterday our journey home took six hours, which was not too bad considering I was prepared for a ten-hour drive, unsure of the traffic condition before we started. After three hours on the road, there was a stretch that took longer than necessary but thankfully, the drive home was quite stress-free.

We packed lunch to eat in the car so we don’t have to stop and only did one stop for a toilet break.

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You see nothing but paddy fields in the first stretch of the journey

After a good night’s rest, we are back to work today, otherwise the holiday long break is too long and work will pile up come Monday. Better to clear some now and so that the weekend is more enjoyable with gastronomic gatherings with friends and family. And of course, continue on with the next pursuit for the 1000 Days milestone.

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A Tradition of Sorts

7 Feb

We played two rounds of golf this trip. On Monday, we had our golf game and it’s becoming a tradition of sorts to play golf whenever we are back in hubby’s hometown for the Reunion Dinner.

The obligatory selfie before tee off!

My game is improving but I can also feel the pain in the left wrist upon impact in certain situations. The fairways of this golf course are very hard and dry, so I had to constantly adjust to avoid injuring myself again.

Then after the family obligations for the First Day, we played another round on the Second Day of Chinese New Year. This time, I had an even better score, having played on Monday and understanding the course conditions better. We had the golf course all to ourselves and in four hours, completed our leisurely paced game. Enjoyable morning.

Darulaman Golf Club

The Second Day ended with more family time and food, with lunch at the Aunt’s and dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Burp!

Home-cooked spread! So so good.

We head home today, bracing for a long journey ahead. I hope it won’t be a ten-hours drive. We shall see.

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Gong Xi Fa Cai!

5 Feb

It is officially the Year of the Pig and here’s wishing everyone ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’! May the pig bring you peace, happiness, abundance wealth and the pinkest of health.

The First Day of Chinese New Year is a family tradition, with all family members who have made the effort to return, gathering to exchange angpows, eat, laugh and catch up. Basically it’s all about tradition, family and food. 

This year the Reunion Dinner was a small affair with lesser family members in attendance. And being a smaller group, the family opted to dine at a restaurant last night. It was one noisy affair as the restaurant hosted not just our table of 12 but 126 other tables simultaneously in one seating for families who opted not to cook for a home Reunion Dinner. There were 65 tables downstairs and 62 tables upstairs at the restaurant.

Fixed menu for all 127 tables

The occasion was akin to a typical Chinese wedding dinner. Food was served for everyone at the same time by uniformed waiters and the atmosphere was lively and noisy.

Big dinner crowd!

But unlike wedding dinners that I have attended, last night we had scantily-clad singers and dancers entertaining the crowd. The screaming, err… singing I mean drowned out even my thoughts, what more to have a decent conversation over the meal with everyone at the table. What an experience to usher in the Year of the Pig!

Like I said, may the pig bring peace, happiness, wealth and health! Happy New Year everyone!

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Before the Reunion Dinner 2019

4 Feb

Last Thursday was our last day at work because Friday was a public holiday. And we left town only on Sunday morning, clocking the drive 15 minutes shy of six-hours. I would say this was not too bad despite a crawl along a stretch that lasted 20 minutes and we even had a quick half-hour lunch stop.

The horrid crawl

A flavorful Nasi Kerabu at the Agromall

And this morning, we actually managed to play a round of golf before the Reunion Dinner tonight.

For us, this year’s Reunion Dinner is simply just another dinner with the family. Both our girls are not here for the first time and it feels funny without them. This is something we both have to get used to. Who knows? Maybe M1 will be back for the next Dinner? But M2 certainly won’t for the next few years… Sniffle.

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The Beginning of a Long Break

1 Feb

Today is yet another public holiday (Federal Territory Day for selected states only) and the beginning of the long holiday break because Chinese New Year is just around the corner. I tell you, Malaysia has the most public holidays in a year! Just when things settle to a routine, bam, there’s a public holiday right there to tilt the balance.

The annual exodus of city dwellers leaving the city for their hometowns has begun. And we have decided not to join the crowd in the traffic snarl because I do not relish a ten-hour or thereabouts journey just to rush back to hubby’s hometown up North. To a certain extent, this long holiday stretch will see the exodus in staggered sessions which is good. I am pretty sure most travellers share the same sentiment as me, not wanting to be caught in a long slow drive.

Then again, today and Saturday will be the heaviest in traffic flow because the masses will want to maximize their time with family. For us, now that it’s just the two of us to be with hubby’s parents this year, we will only leave on Sunday morning. How long would our journey be? We will find out on Sunday itself. I will be prepared with lots of snacks, hot tea and plenty of music choices to make it a sheer driving pleasure. Gotta have a positive mindset here.

The Reunion Dinner is on Monday evening.

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The Bathroom Scale Dilemma, Part 2

31 Jan

I’ve come to conclusion why Trusty, my old bathroom scale is behaving the way it behaves – it’s just not sensitive anymore. Newbie – the digital one, being new and far more superior with its ability to show up to one decimal point, makes the difference very glaring.

When there’s nothing to compare to begin with, it’s not an issue and sometimes, the weight shown on Trusty is even dismissed. But when there’s another to compare and there are differences, consciousness kicks in.

It was very obvious one morning when I stood on both first thing in the morning. Then after putting on my clothes, Newbie showed an increase of 1.1lbs – the jeans and shirt has some weight after all. But there was no increase on Trusty. Then on another morning, I stood on both with a full bladder to see the numbers before emptying the bladder; Newbie showed a decrease of 0.4lbs but no difference in Trusty. Hmm.

At that point, I got suspicious of the sensitivity, so I had to try with another situation to confirm. The test: standing on both first thing in the morning and then later, after a Roti Canai breakfast. Again, Trusty did not even budge while Newbie showed a 0.5lbs increment. Double hmm…

I guess I’d have to take Trusty’s reading with a dose (not a pinch) of salt. So with the bathroom scale dilemma resolved, it’s timely given that Chinese New Year is just around the corner and there’s all those gastronomic occasions coming up. Every little morsel may not show on Trusty but definitely will on Newbie.

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Last Minute Preparation

29 Jan

This year, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year falls on February 5th, next Tuesday and as always, I have to procrastinate until the last minute to prepare to usher in the new year. On the bright side of the situation, the traditional red cloth is finally up over the entrance of the front door.

All we need now is to buy flowers to pretty up the home and we are ready.

Honestly, I haven’t gotten over M2’s recent farewell lunch or even last year’s Christmas dinner, and in a week’s time there’s the Reunion Dinner to attend. I need to find space in my tummy!

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Ugh! Monday

17 Dec

It’s always the case of needing another vacation to recover from the vacation that just concluded. Ugh! Monday.

The journey home yesterday took longer than necessary – five and a half hours, almost akin to our annual Chinese New Year trip back from hubby’s hometown up North. And this was from Penang which should be shorter. There were two stretches where the crawl was just so tiring and the rain didn’t help. After three hours, we changed drivers.

And the rain continued all the way home. Not feeling refreshed but quite the opposite, I did not even unpack, leaving it to today. Ugh! Monday and we have to be in the office.

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Thriving Garden

29 Oct

Although I am not a garden person, I am happy to say that our garden and plants are thriving despite the wonky weather that we are experiencing. Wonky in the sense that it’s either super hot or super wet.

The frangipani tree is all good, so are hubby’s collection of air plants and bromeliads. Even the staghorn ferns that he acquired are healthy.

The smaller ones, remounted on wood planks, are doing really well and now hangs in one corner of the garden. They were purchased from our trip back to his hometown for Chinese New Year early this year.

As for the two big ones, they are mounted on the trees in front of the house and are also thriving beautifully despite their exposed fern leaves or fronds looking brown. These fronds are known as the shield frond because they protect the roots from damage and store water and nutrients. And the brown look is due to humidity issues and not because the fern is dying, so they should never be removed.

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The three amigos

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Giant staghorn #1

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Giant staghorn #2

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A New Interest

22 Feb

Of late my iPad Mini has been lagging and not compatible with my usual games – Candy Crush Soda and both the Monster Busters. I can launch the apps, collect the daily rewards and that’s it. Just can’t play and it’s exasperating.

So prior to Chinese New Year, I diverted my attention to a new interest, jigsaw puzzles. A mundane game, if you can even call it a game but at least there’s more interaction with it than the others. I’ve completed five puzzles already, and started on a 560-piece puzzle this morning.

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