Carlyn's Birthday

I missed Carlyn's birthday last year, because I was wading through audit work papers. This year I chose a less stressful job and finally got the chance to wish her happy birthday personally. The celebration was in this place called Full House, in Penang Times Square. It's some kind of concept store, but I don't really understand the concept. All I know is that they have a restaurant and sofa downstairs, but a bed upstairs. Maybe you can spend the night there if you're lucky.

Staircase leading downstairs. Nice photo. But I'm not sure who took it.

Also found in the interior.

The atmosphere was nice and unique, no doubt. However, the food could use some work, especially to justify the price. You can pay for your lunch with 2 RM10 notes. It's not ridiculously pricey, considering the effort they put into the interior deco. But still, there's lots of room for improvement.

Meet the cake. Say hi.

Meet the birthday girl. Say hi again.

Great memories aren't complete without a group photo!

It's still a little early for me to go "ho ho ho Merry Christmas", so I'll just settle with wishing everyone a happy 冬至. Enjoy your 汤圆! Those little balls are actually one of my favourite desserts. So I tend to get fatter around this time of the year :P

Ming's MSI

This time, I'm showing off my bro's new laptop. Yeah it's not mine but I'm bragging anyway! It's an MSI FX420. MSI leh. Siao siao...

MSI's famous for their gaming laptops, but according to my bro, his is not a full fledged gaming one. More of an entertainment laptop. I didn't know much about MSI, so I just nodded my head dumbly.

The surface is scratch-proof. Definitely. I tried to scratch it but failed.

Opened up.

He got that for only RM1699. I believe it was a pretty good bargain. What really caught my attention is that this MSI had 4 USB ports, and 2 of them are USB 3.0. I could use some of that! The keyboard's a little small, so the typing experience isn't that good. However, overall this baby's a neat piece of work. A lot better than that desktop I use at work everyday, which possesses a maximum processing speed close to that of a sun-bathing dung beetle.

Short Update

During the first week into the job, I was lucky enough to participate in my department's Christmas dinner. We celebrated at Harvest Inn. Unfortunately, I do not have the photos of the dinner with me.

What I do have, are photos of the froggy alarm clock I got as a Christmas present!

This froggy!

It now sits permanently on my bedside table.

A very useful present indeed, from I don't know who. Everyone was required to purchase a present to be exchanged randomly during the event, so everybody gets a nicely wrapped gift... from they don't know who. That's to foster the spirit of giving perhaps. Haha

Movies

I had the luxury of going for 2 movies before starting my internship next week. The first one was about pale vampires and werewolves, the second about a cat with a sword.

Overrated, in my opinion.

Puss in Boots.

If you're not a fan of the Twilight series (like me), it's possible you won't understand many parts of the movie. I think they left out too much and explained too little for us non-followers. I had to refer to a friend after the movie to get a grasp on what I had watched. I don't think teenage girls will have any complains though. 5 minutes into the movie and we have Jacob running topless into the woods. Nice work.

Puss didn't hit the jackpot either, but for me it was a lot more entertaining than Twilight. Yeah great so now I prefer cartoons. The movie could have done better. I like the Puss from Shrek more, but this one ain't so bad. The animation had a fair share of laughs, and some scenes would have looked awesome in 3D. In short, cat-with-sword was worth the ticket price.

To all those who have completed SPM, happy holidays! As for me, I'm off to work. Hopefully the experience will be rewarding.

The Bananas Return

I paid my grandma the usual visit last weekend, and she had a bunch of potassium-rich, fruity goodness waiting for me. The banana trees are beginning to fruit, and true to their common practice, they fruit all at the SAME time.

That effectively leads to me being in possession of enough bananas to feed every monkey in the Botanic Gardens. For at least 3 years. And I may still have some extras for you.

Courtesy of grandma.

Wait. There's more. :P

Behold Ah Ma's banana plantation... I mean garden.

And in case I don't have enough to eat,

...there's more coming...

...and MORE coming...

If you need me, I'll be at the Botanic Gardens playing hide and seek with my new monkey friends.

Random Photos

Here are some random photos I took while lepak-ing around during the holidays. They cover everything from large bugs to Christmas trees. I'm just posting them for fun, so enjoy.

Big bug, as promised. Found in Botanical Garden.

Spiky flower, also from Botanical Garden.

Fungus on wood, may be delicious. Tell me if you taste it.

In my previous post, I remember saying there will be more photos on the Christmas deco in Straits Quay. So, here they are. It seems a Christmas tree-decorating competition took place there, but I wasn't present when that happened.

One of the trees entered in the competition. You can see there are more in the background.

One of the more colourful trees.

The tree outside Charlie Brown Cafe. Woodstock's perched on top.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

This is the large tree at the main entrance (in case you're a bird and need to build a nest).

Beautiful drawings from some kind of competition I guess.

If you have the time, go take a stroll at Straits Quay. They're decorated it in such a way that makes you feel that Christmas is in the air. And anyway, walking is a form of exercise that burns calories. So just go.