Happy 4th birthday to this blog!

The alarm beeps as the phone screen flashes a familiar line. "Kitkeatbar anniversary" 

Looking back all these years, from the humble beginning at 2008 until today, 2012... it has been great. The blog still serves as a place for me to document my updates in life thus far. Just that recently, nothing interesting has really happened.

When I logged in to post an entry here to mark the anniversary, I noticed that blogger has changed again, to a newer cleaner look in April, what a nice coincidence! 

So, "happy birthday" dear blog. May this continue on for many many years to come... and as an icing on the cake, today happened to be my bestest friends' R.O.M. as well! 

Swatch - Body and Soul

Waited for 2 years... finally caved in and bought it today. 1st Jan 2012.

Swatch - Body and Soul... fell in love with it instantly the moment I saw it from the shop 2 years ago... didn't pick it up as it looked a bit small. It's an automatic, skeleton watch (can see the internal gears from the front face).

In an advance age such as today, one really doesn't need a watch to get by as most of us is carrying a smart phone. It has grown from a time telling piece to a decorative item.

I remember where I used to look at my watch every moment I need to know the time. If I forgot to wear watch out one day, I would still feel weird if I hold up my wrist to look.

I stopped wearing my old watch cos I did not remove the strap to adjust the size as it can't fit my arm anymore and felt a bit loose, previously it was too tight that it gripped my wrist till it's all red and sweaty.

After 2 years from then... when I looked at it, I still liked it.. a lot. So, after much hesitation, I bought it. Hopefully it will last me another 10 years. I'm still having the Guess watch my mum bought for me 10 years ago.

10 years, the price is justifiable. :) more pics to come if I can get a good macro lens and snap nicely at home... for now, this is a post to mark the date of purchase.

Happy New Year everyone...

End of 2011

Another year has come to an end. This would be yearly closure blog post I'm doing.

Previous year could be found here. :)

This year was still a busy year for myself in terms of work. Very very crazy year but not with its ups despite all the downs. Let's go through them below.

What happened this year:-

1) Deployed project to Japan! One of the most complicated BU of all.

2) Thus, fight and obtained for opportunity to travel to Japan itself to provide onsite stabilization support - one of the best decision I've made so far in my life, Japan is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

3) Travelled to United States for the 1st time with Calvin for CRP 1.5. Ad-hoc crazy last minute plan, obtained all the necessary letters, went for interview at U.S. embassy at KL, booked and constantly revise our flight schedule, hotel booking.. and the long flight there with multiple transit. Hey, at least I've watch the bats at St. Congress Avenue.. ^^ and not to mention carried a few Coach bags back...

4) Nightmarish almost 6 months period of constant work, late night calls, pressure mounted up to my throat

5) Lead a small team of 3 people for the LATAM project...

6) Have minor decorated a Christmas tree at our office

7) Was very very sad when Steve Jobs passed away...

8) Bought my iOS Wacom Bamboo stylus.. hey, finally!

9) Less photography session with the gang as well as myself. I think I took a lot when I travelled to JP and U.S.

10) Built 2 nice Gundam RG grade kit and loved it, cheaper price, very good articulation

11) Brought my mum to nice lunch at TGI Friday's on mother's day

12) Brought my mum to the project appreciation dinner at Rasa Sayang's Spice market

13) Made my 1st Transition glasses!

14) Felt sad and sorry for Japan with the Tsunami and earthquake that devastated the whole nation...

15) Took 1st medical check up in years! the needles weren't that bad, hey.. I'm quite healthy except for the cholesterol meter. Gotta watch that, other than that, I'm doing pretty good! thank goodness for that!

Gadgets owned :

1) iPad 2

2) iPhone 4S

3) Macbook Air 13" Mid 2011 with OSX Lion

4) nice pair of V Jays headphone

This year I took what I've learned last year and really applied them at certain situations in life. That being live life without regrets. So far at almost year end, I'm happy to say I did it. Succeed? Well, I would say yeah. Sometimes, one just gotta take the leap of faith.

2011 came and gone, I loved it. There are somethings that I do not want to put it here but somethings that happened, it started as a sad year but ending at a medium good note I would say. :) looking forward to 2012, I hope it's not end of the world yet... no. Life is still "young".

Looking for more travel next year. Gotta see more of the world before it ends.

Cheers everyone!

R.I.P. Steven Jobs 1955 - 2011 

Dear Steve,

I'm typing this with my iPhone 4 originated from the initial iPhone which you have envisioned which have changed the mobile phones forever.

You do not know many of us but I am now a Mac lover and iOS fans who had bought a few of the company's product. I understand and adore the company's vision and beliefs which were strongly influenced by yourself.

This will indeed be a truly sad day but like you said before, truly live your life as though it were your last, someday you would most certainly be right.

Some people can live a longer life, but it's not the quantity that counts, it's the quality of your life.

To cut to the chase, I love  and Steve. Thank you for helping us changing the world and putting a ding into the universe.

Rest in peace.

P/S: I hope there is iHeaven for you, else please built it. :)

BTW: iPhone 4S = iPhone for Steve

Sent to rememberingsteve@apple.com

Happy food collections :)

Dedicating this post to the small collection of chocolate I received from friends and colleagues during their oversea trip. Most importantly from Japan as you can see from above.

I've just realized they have a lot of different kinds of KitKat over there. We only have like 2 or 3? looking at the pictures here... and they all tastes a bit different from one another. I couldn't really read but some tastes like greentea, some perhaps wasabi, some exclusive local Japanese state/province taste.. LOL..

I forgot where was this from but should be from WH's last biz trip. Mum loves it... i mean the wrapping...

See the main difference apart from colorful packaging of the Japanese KitKat (right one) is the opening cut. U.S./Malaysia's version has the zigzag cutting but theirs have only 1 cut which is both clean and functional IMHO.

One of my fav chocolate brand and able to taste different types of them does indeed made me happy. I kept them in the freezer long enough until this holiday season which I decided to haul my lazy butt to snap and snack them, immortalize this as part of my memories on the cloud. :)

Go KitKat! and thanks to friends and colleagues who brought me these... appreciate it and hope you'll bring me more in the future :p

26th May 2011 - St. Congress Ave, Austin's Bats

Heard this place from WH that it's a tourist attraction in Austin, well to be frank. I didn't prepare much for the trip aside from the dreaded CRP decks that I have to have in order to present our system to the business folks there.

the last thing I have on my mind is to plan for where to go for any form of sight seeing. mostly just shopping perhaps...

one day, my SL just asked me "hey you wanna go for a dinner?", "sure, why not?" I've answered since it's almost the end of the trip and I haven't had the chance to eat with him officially so... there goes.

Upon hoping in the cab I noticed they mentioned the name of the place, I was very very excited that i get to go, for once I thought i'd missed it. I begged for 5 mins to go grab my gear and the next minute i was in there with them again with my bag, happy, excited, anticipating... bats.

the skies were particularly nice that day, clear, blue, skies... they dropped me at the place where they were having dinner. some sort of pub that served dinner on the other section of the restaurant.

I briefly jotted down the name, and since it's a straight line down the road, i just bid them good bye and started to walk back to the bridge where the cab driver pointed to me a while ago.

and boy, it was a long walk... bout 25 - 30mins with constant fast pace walking and brief running. bags grew heavier as I walked, not to mention the toll it caused my bag last weekend where me and Calvin walked many many miles just to get to somewhere we can grab a cab home.

when i reached the bridge, i was on the left side (standing from this angle), there were nobody on this side of the bridge. I just saw a lonesome bicycle rider and curiously i walked up to him. I asked "hey man, wassup? say, I'm here to watch the bats, can you tell me why there are nobody here but there are tonnes of ppl on the other side of the bridge?" (i roughly know the answer but i want more confirmation from locals).

look at the amount of ppl standing over at the other side of the bridge! well, turns out that on this side, the sun sets and the bats will fly out towards that direction underneath the bridge. So, carefully, i walked over to the other side of the bridge, but not without snapping a few sunset shots. >_^

Loved sunset as much as sunrise... :)

Next up, looked for a good spot and continue to snap a few shots over at the other side while waiting for the bats to come out from their slumber...

UFO?

as the skies turned darker and darker (it was already past 8pm), still looked as bright. more cruise ships with tourist passed and stopped just slightly beyond the underpass of the bridge. these gives the viewer better angle and first chance to witness the bats hanging below the bridge first.

Next, without further ado, here comes the bats.... they came out from the underside of the bridge, swirling around in circular motion... following each other... it was quite dark and cranked up my ISO all the way to ultra high doesn't appear to do any trick. So I resorted to flash... ugly, but my only option... sorry if you were hoping more... I was too... then I've learned something...

for those who doesn't know, the white thing are the bats.. poor thing flashed by me.. sorry sorry... just a few shots... :) noticed the skies turned darker and darker...

but no matter how dark the skies was getting, the water should always be even of a darker color, cos there's nothing there that shines... but the skies, at least the sun still has some effect on it. So if i were to stand off the bridge, somewhere at a lower angle, and shoot towards the skies + the bridge, i can get a better picture of the swarm... :) next time, if there's next time... i will. take this as a lesson then..

the bats swirls out in circular motion, quiet... chaotic looking to me but should be quite organized within themselves. they've pretty much adapted to these for many many years. standing just on top of them for a while can really smell the foul stench that they produce.. yyeeessshh....

after a while, they flew out towards the distant skies, searching for food... i tried zooming in and snapped a few shots.. they're fairly blurry, but pay attention to the faint dark blurry trails.. those are the bats... :)

I left after some 30mins of watching these, just as the skies about to rain, the bats are still coming out from the bridge. Amazing, think there are literary millions of bats there... such amazing sight!

This will provide slightly more info if you're interested...

:)

hard to catch lightning.... till then, this is one of my few few only shots there in Texas... :)

Happy mother's day 2011

Brought mum for fancy restaurant at TGI Friday's QB for the occasion. Reached early and had a nice meal, mum's main course gets % of discount equaled to her age.. hehehehehehe.... not gonna disclose here... :)

My favorite Lemonade... fizzy style.. yummmm...

mum's Chicken/ Shrimp diablo pasta thingy...

my chicken with mushroom.. hmmmm. so so..

How's your celebration?

Happy mother's day to all mum! :) you are the best... <3

Happy Anniversary to my blog... again :)

Just an entry to mark the occasion that this blog still functions and is still up and running for now the 3rd years :)

more goodness in life to come... stay tuned.

Happy birthday Kitkeatbar!

new spec - transition

gotten a new pair of spectacles today.. :) not that my old one was broken no. it's still going strong... just a bit loose.

the weather are getting hotter these day and so does the sun. Shinning brightly is killing my eyes, I can't get a standard sunglasses as i need prescription lenses and i don't like those clip on.. hassle so.. i opt for transition lens.. not cheap.. >_< but hopefully it's worth it in a long run.. good news is that my power only raised about 50 points on the right eye... not much difference for left...

is this a sign that im taking a good care of my eyes? not sure.. there's some crazy OTs going on these few months for JP rollout... or it means that i'm getting old... and the effect starts to kick in? LOL...

4th March 2011 - Good bye Tokyo, for now :)

Would like to document another entry into my memories for future references.. :)

Finally, it all comes down to this... end of the grueling 3rd weeks on site... in the heart of the den as I would put it. Man, sitting around and surrounded by your business users certainly put more strain on you more than I can imagine ;)

But thanks to my outstanding team mates, you guys helped me pass through these weeks smoother than ever before. Big thank you to you all! Bravo! let's keep it up, almost at the end already..

I fell sick yesterday with fever so I only went out to grab some bread and headed back hotel, didn't even take my dinner and went straight to bed to hibernate...

Today, when the clock struck 5, I was ready to leave the office. Bid everyone good bye and thanked them for having me. So wonderful to meet them in person as well :)

The immediate thing that popped into my mind was that I want to have authentic Japanese food for the last time until the next time I fly over again.

Went to Kawasaki JR station, I remembered there was a Krispy Kreme Donut store there, went to check it out (other time was closed already since I left the office quite late). Today finally got the chance and ordered 2 donuts (choco something and hazel nut something)

quite sweet as well, almost as much as Big Apple donut... still okay, inside there's no cream filling though. I liked those... and with my favorite drink I found in Japan.. CC Lemon hehehee.. Lemonade soda... nice ;)

Next, to pamper myself, I took the "green car" section of the train again.. hehehe.. for those that don't know what I'm talking about, the trains have little segment that are specially catered for person who seek a little more comfort - hence the Green car.

As you guessed it, it's larger, spacious, have own seats that can recline and basically almost crowd free at night. :)

I didn't pay anything extra though. Checked with my JP colleague here he said that if conductor comes, you may pay, else just take it as free... :)

There's upper and lower deck, I took lower deck last time, this time I took upper deck. Nice and quiet... somehow the journey back to Shinagawa around 6 mins feels shorter. Particularly cos I was reluctant to finish the last ride for now.. :)

I was searching around in Shinagawa area for sushi restaurant... and guess what? It's freaking hard to locate a sushi restaurant in Japan itself.. well, so far in Shinagawa at least.. :p

I walked around the area, mostly are serving claypots, BBQ, pubs, ramen.... there's 1 sushi restaurant eventually but full house.. x_x

Almost about to give up but I saw the sigh of sushi on a building, it was 2nd floor, curiously I gave it a shot... it was a very small and cramped space. But i was given a small corner near the chef's counter. Reluctantly I sat down, beside 2 guys who smoked.. (I hate smokers's smell) but knowing I would blame myself for not having 1 last authentic Japan sushi... I caved in... hehe

Found a guy who can speak a little bit of English, I ordered my usual stuff... pointed a few sushi... and off he go...

nice deco...don't think that's real though..

nice cup of hot green tea... yummm, i actually drank 4 cups in the course of the dinner.. :)

even their tooth picks are nicely decorated, ours are just plain ol stick which breaks easily.. this one looked like can poke and skewer something...

what's this? someone told me it's ginger... mua don't like ginger, i gave it a shot, bite a small piece.. mmm.. me don't like...


Wasabi, by default all of the sushi restaurant didn't give wasabi until you requested... strange.. Japanese doesn't take wasabi by default?


ahh.... sushi.... ok, the one with little fish eggs? i don't normally take those, but did so in Japan... :)


Miso soup, another must have before I fly back... strangely, their Miso soup be it clamp, crab, or fish... they throw the whole thing in for you. I ordered crab, with no fork or spoon or gadget to pry open (although it was cut into some other pieces) but still not enough, gotta use hand.. no no. i just drank the soup :)

one of the nicest cup I've seen here... for..

Okay, 1 last must have... Cawamushi!... see the leaves sprinkled on top? yeah.. me don't like either... smells funny, taste even funnier.. took those out. They seemed to put this frequently... =__=!


okay, last but not least, I went to The Strings hotel's lobby and use their free wifi again. Updated my apps before I fly back tomorrow. It's very very very hard to locate Free Wifi in Japan. I'm sooo surprised...

Okay, thing's packed... all set.. ready to come back now... Japan, thanks for having me... and looking forward to come back next round with my parents.. :) Sakura time! (season starts around end of Mar -> April annually)

One more thing i'll miss... the cold/cool weather.... time to come back n sweat... hahhaa...