RuehYinn a.n.d. Juleen a.t. blueepinkk.com

It was like yesterday when I recall I had tuition class with Cheryl at my house for our SPM preparation. That was 12 years ago. And now she is married. It’s amazing how time flies…

I am extremely happy for Cheryl. I think she is one of those friends I have who are able to keep the boy-girl relationship until their marriage. Frankly, I barely know or even spoken to Colin but I knew him long time ago through my conversation with Cheryl. If I was not mistaken, Cheryl has been attached to this man since the college time and that was way before I had my first girlfriend…

That is how long they have been together…

Cheryl, like Caryn (fourth from left) and Cristin were all my twin sister’s school friend. They were all Convent Peel Road’s graduates. That explained why I am the only man in the picture other than the groom…

If not for my sister I would have miss the opportunity to make some good friendships. Not sure what makes us click… maybe it is due to the fail courtship (long story…), the sharing, the gossips or the crap we talk each time we meet up (once in the blue moon…).

Anyway…

Wedding is always good because this is the only time where all the friends will gather together and provide me the opportunity to do catch up with friends, especially the long lost one…

Well, many more weddings in the pipeline this year including mine…

I wonder what is the next BIG thing I will hear from my friends?

Baby full moon parties??

We will see…

On Wednesday night, me, RuehYinn, Jolene, Jenli, Jessica and Brian, headed to Full House at NZX, Ara Damansara to hang out and yum char with Jolene because her birthday is coming up in a few days time.

A brief introduction of Fullhouse: Fullhouse is a lifestyle store and cafe, where you can dine and shops at the same time. You will feel extremely cozy when you walk in. All around are decorated with attractive items like clock, potted plants, portrait frames, key chains and etc. You are free to purchase if you like them. On the second floor, there are various collection of beautiful Korean designed clothing which you can purchase too. If shopping is not your intention to Fullhouse, then feel free to find table along the walkway or the balcony to dine. The feeling is as though you are dining at the garden..

Full House, Lifestyle Store and Cafe

6 is company

From the left:- Myself, RuehYinn, Jolene, Jenli, Brian and Jessica..

The chandelier…

The clothes section…

Even the menu is interesting…

What would you like to order today?

The scrumptious, appetizing food…

(from top right clockwise Chicken Bolognese Spaghetti, Chicken Cabonara Spaghetti, Chicken Pineapple Salad, Breaded Chicken Chop, Jasmine Aloe Vera Green Tea, Honey Milk Tea, and Fish and Chips)

Looks yummy right? And the price is very reasonable too!

Group photo minus the photographer RuehYinn

And the total bill came up to $88.00, (fatt fatt), hope we also fatt fatt in the near future!

Another group photo

Overall it was a fun get together with great food and good company…

The address:

Full House, Lifestyle Store and Cafe

C-G-11 Block C, Pusat Dagangan NZX,

Ara Jaya PJU 1A,

47301 Petaling Jaya.

Tel: 03-78850836

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What do they say?

KampungBoyCityGal

Loveraholic

29/01/09

It’s been ages since the last time I visited Cameron Highlands. I remembered I was in primary school time and I went with my family to Cameron Highlands… staying at some resort, somewhere near Strawberry Park… ahh, nevermind, I vaguely remember the detail anymore!

This time we went to Cameron Highland with our cell group S3. There were 10 of  us!! The sad thing about it is this was going to be our last trip with S3′s cell group since we have multiplied. Jolene, RuehYinn and myself will moved to a new cell group under S8. This trip just came timely before we officially attend our first cell group meeting in 2009. It would be remembered as the sweetest gathering between 3 of us and the rest of the group members. We have been together since 2006 and time really flies…

We gathered at Jenli’s house at 8am and “pai nien” (english: Chinese New Year’s house visitation) at the same time. It would be my first time too to step into Jenli’s house. While waiting for other cell group members we help ourselves with Jenli’s Chinese New Year cookies and on top of that each of one us got an “ang pau” (english: red packet) from Jenli’s mum. Thank you Jenli and aunty…hehehe!

After praying for journey mercy we left before 9am…

Praying for journey mercy…

The journey was long (took us more than 3 hours) not because it was far but because the road to Cameron Highland is so winding and since it was school holiday, the road was jam packed with cars.

When we arrived at Cameron Highlands it was over 12pm, and the first thing was to check into the apartment we’ve booked few weeks earlier. We booked a 3 bedroom apartment provided by Hill View Inn. I strongly recommend this apartment if you have more than 8 people in the group. It is a huge apartment. In total, each of us only paid RM45 per pax for a night stay. The room is furnished with sofa, magazines, television, Hi – Fi and even kitchen though you have to share with another group. The apartment is located at Tanah Rata and you will not have problem looking for food, banks and even Starbucks…

The journey is slow…

Not to forget to pray for safety at Cameron Highland.. (a lot of people credited on this shot)

Since none of us had a proper breakfast other than having some CNY’s cookies at Jenli’s house, the next thing in mind is to hunt for lunch. As mentioned, you will not have problem finding places to eat. You can get Indian food, Malay food, Western food, Chinese food… you name it and you have it. Best of all, the prices are reasonable. Since it was holiday season, all the restaurant was very packed too but we’re fortunate to find a place to fill our stomach.

The group after a satisfying lunch, everyone is happy…

After lunch, we proceeded to the Kea’s Farm. Our main objective is to try the famous fried mushroom, sweet potatoes balls and fried sweet potatoes. Every packet is sold only for RM2.00 – RM3.00 depending on what you buy. Very affordable and I guarantee you, you will not have enough..

The shop that sells the best fried mushroom, sweet potatoes ball and fried sweet potates… beware of counterfeit ! People have to queue for the sweet potatoes ball I tell you.

RuehYinn with his yummy fried sweet potatoes…

After that we quickly ran back to our cars under the rain to go to our next destination, the strawberry farm. Since the road is was so overly congested to go to the strawberry farm that we wanted to go (more on Part 2), we had to detour to go to the nearest strawberry farm instead. The first strawberry farm would be the Raju’s but it was closed at 4.30pm and since it was raining, there is no strawberry plucking allowed. So if you happen to go to Cameron Highland, avoid raining season and don’t go too late. Anyway, the shop at Raju’s is still open, we took the opportunity to taste some of the  local strawberry products like:-

Strawberry Ice Cream..

Ahhh, strawberrycakes and little cupcakes… (we didn’t try them though)…

We simply can’t resist the strawberry ice cream…hehehe!

Finger licking good ya Jolene?!

Sweet picture of us…

Not satisfied we then moved to the nearby strawberry farm, the EQ Strawberry Farm. However we met with the same fate, the farm is closed and you can only see the strawberry plants from the outside and no picking on that day. Feeling a little despair (hahaha, no lah…since this is not the farm we intended to go anyway), we only get to take few pictures…

The group (without Lex) at EQ Strawberry Farm…

Another one, which turn out to be RuehYinn’s favorite…

We drove back after that since it was already late and not much attractions left. The whole journey took us more than an hour for just a 8km stretch of road. That was how bad the traffic at Cameron Highland. Therefore, the moral of the story is never never go up to Cameron Highland during peak period. The first day itself, we spent more than half of the time on the road but it was all good since we have a really good laugh in the car…

We had our own steamboat dinner in the apartment and I find it complements best with the cold weather at Cameron Highland. Seriously, if you were to open up all the windows and sliding doors, you don’t need to air-conditioner anymore in the apartment.. it was like spring weather…really nice.

The steamboat…

Eat, eat, eat…

Next we proceed to play game, thanks to our game master… Ms. Jolene, who never fail us with good card games. This time she introduced Citadels to us. It was pretty difficult to understand the rules and roles of the game initially, what more to play the game. But after we got familiar, some of us got so addicted with the game until they ended sleeping at 3.30am and one of them is RuehYinn…poor him, he woke up next morning with big panda eyes…hehehe!

The most interesting and addictive game!!!!

Come … let’s play and strategize..hehe!

One day at Cameron Highland just passby in a blink of eyes! More of Cameron Highland in the second post. Click on the following link for the partially completed album of S3′s Cameron Highland trip. I am currently editing on a few more pictures, need few more days before finish editing the whole pictures. At the mean time, please enjoy:-

Cameron Highland Trip Photo Album

One problem I realized about grown up adult is NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME for OLD FRIENDS. No, I did not just realized this just a second ago. I knew this phenomenon long time ago but never really make any effort to reverse the bad habit. Here are some of the possible reasons (of excuses if you want it) why grown up adult don’t have time for old friends:-

1. Too busy with works – it’s true, we spend more than 1/3 of our day at work, another 1/3 sleeping and relaxing and another 1/3 doing things which virtually add no value to life like stuck in traffic jam, day dreaming, taking off clothing to shower and etc.

2. Too busy with relationship – no man is an island, that’s what everyone say but I also found out that in many case every couple is an island. Believe it or not, when you have a life – partner you rarely have spare time for other kind of relationship like friendship. That is bad…

3. Distance – frankly speaking with Malaysia’s road traffic condition, sometimes I feel it is much better to stay at home than to go out. As if the traffic before and after going to work is not enough. With friends living at different locations, sometimes I feel really lazy to be on the road again.

4. Finances – I believe this is one of the major reason. Grown up adults have more commitments and commitment sometimes involved a lot of monies. Going out which is a kind of commitment, therefore, requires money. As a result, people go out less so that they can save more for other commitments like buying a house, car, getting married, buy baby’s milk powder and so on. They are important, don’t you think so?

5. Other commitments – These are the commitments other than relationship, works and so on. Other commitments involve going to gym, attending church, doing house chores and community service to name a few. With such commitments, how much time left for others?…

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However, I am fortunate enough to meet up with my old friends two days ago. Some of them I have not met for almost 8 years already. Allow me to introduce to you my friends:-

1. Caryn and Cristin, my sister’s high school friends. No they are not sisters. Anyway, I came from boys’ school and my sister studied in the convent. I don’t quite remember how I met them and why they are closer to me than my sister (that is how I feel, maybe I am wrong). Caryn is staying permanently in KL after 2 years in U.K. and Cristin is living and working in U.K. I have known them for more than 10 years now but it feels like yesterday. But, I think I can use all my fingers to calculate how many times we met over the years. Sorry guys..

2. Damon and Wai Yeen, my best – est friend of all. I knew Damon since Standard 1 in Perlis and we’re best friend since then. I met Wai Yeen the first time in 1999 when Damon decided to bring me along to meet up with his internet friend. That was 9 years ago. Now they are residing permanently in Australia. It was amazing how they first met over the internet, then in person, fell in love and now they are already married. You are the best, Damon …

And of course Juleen and I. I knew her since 1998 at college but I am not sure she knew me then. She is pretty but I am not good looking. I used to stalked her in college but I don’t think she even knew I exist. Only able to get to know her better early 2006 and now she is my fiancee…

But do you know how to gauge whether you have a good friendship?

A good friendship is when you get together with your friends after a looOoooog time and you still can continue the conversation when it last stop. You do not need a long warming up session to kick start the conversation. You just talk and laugh non – stop right after you meet. That is a good friendship. See, how we talk…(non stop and we laugh a lot)…

And with the right ambience everything will be just perfect. We met up at Bread & Olives Cafe located at Lookout Point, Ampang. It is a cafe located on top of a hill serving Middle Eastern food. The food is above average (a lil pricey too) but I enjoy the ambience. To know more about this cafe, click here.

Inside the restaurant…

And if you sit outside the cafe, your view will be this one… (beautiful)

And lastly our food..

and special Arabic Mint Tea, sponsored by Damon and Wai Yeen…

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Before we part, I find myself a little sad because I am not sure when I am going to meet up with them again. One in Australia, one in U.K, one in Ampang and another one in Shah Alam. But I’m glad I make the right choice to meet up with them despite feeling a little tired that night. Or else, I will be sleeping at home and miss all the good laughter with them. I think this new year I ought to make more effort to keep in touch with old friends. At least give them a call. No more excuses. You should too.. PICK UP YOUR PHONE NOW and you will be glad you did…

Since Juleen has written her side of the marriage proposal story, I guess I should write mine…

It all began about a year ago when Juleen keep hinting me to propose. Now being a practical guy, I am never good in this kind of things. For me, marriage is a kind of progression in life. It is like when you feel you are old enough, mature enough, ready enough then you can start to think about marriage.  All you need is to suggest to get married, choose a date and lets get married. That is called being PRACTICAL. However on the other side, I know to make  marriage special and memorable I need to put in effort to make it unforgettable. One of the way is to propose like what we always see in the movie or drama. After talking to few female friends, I started to realized proposal or even marriage is a GIRL’s thing. They treasure good proposal and marriage more than guy. No wonder, if possible a guy wouldn’t want to go through the whole process of proposing and marriage ceremony. Too troublesome, too much hassle, too much effort and money spend without equal return satisfaction to the men. But for girls, however, it is the reverse. To go through the process of proposing and getting married is a special thing. It is D – Day for most female. So since Juleen has been so sweet to me all this while, I thought I shouldn’t disappoint her. It is too cruel if I do…

Therefore, to propose is never an option for me. In fact, to propose in 2008 is one of my new year resolution. It is a must do thing for me this year. I was thinking of the right date to propose and it took me a while. I need to make sure so many things. I have to make sure I am financially able to provide, I need to make sure I have the house, I have to make sure I am the right one for her and etc etc. After much thinking, delay and procrastination I thought December will be the right date. Why December? Because by December I will know how much is my bonus and my increment. Sound silly but in this world there are certain things you can’t do without money. One of such is a proper marriage.

To be frank, I have not decided on the date until after the 1st week of December until I found out about my increment and bonus. I quickly look for availability and settle with Dec 26. I thought it is a special day since 26+12=38 and 38 is our special number. Don’t ask me why? I also don’t know but because we are so fond with the number 38… our new house number is 38, Juleen’s diamond is a 38 pointer and so on.. Hehe! Since  it is a day after Christmas I thought I would just ask Juleen to buy me a Christmas present. I think that is a smart move because not only I got the book I have been waiting for, the book will also act as smoke screen so Juleen won’t know I will be proposing on that day (I just found out she knew long time ago. Girl has very sharp instinct I tell you).

The Snowball

After some suggestion from a close friend, I thought Sassorosso is the right place. The restaurant is very cozy, quiet and not too crowded with people and since I am a very reserve person (yes,reserve person still can write blog) Sassorosso is just nice. Besides, they offer really good authentic Italian cuisine at reasonable price. Being a kiasu, I booked the restaurant 2 weeks in advance and requested a specific table. I got the reservation but not that specific table though since they have a private function  booked inside the restaurant. But that’s okay, everything still turned out fine. Remember, always learn to improvised if you don’t get what you wanted..hehe!

On the day, my feeling was mixed. I was a little scared but mostly excited. However as the hour got closer I find myself a little clumsy and tense. I feel myself unease, worried Murphy’s Law will take place and was rushing  for everything. Even when I picked up Juleen I have to intentionally force myself to look cool so that I won’t get into unnecessary conflict. Ohh… when I am unease, I will get impatient and always end up in conflict with Juleen (since she is closest to me).

To cut story short, we reached there on time, had very nice dinner, and propose. This is how I propose… after the dinner I told Juleen I wanted to have a chat with the waiter. As I approached the waiter, I quickly pull out the ring and ask him to put it in the bill folder and wait for my signal.  Upon the signal, the waiter bring the bill over and I opened the folder and proposed. Juleen wasn’t too surprise but waiting for her answer is kinda torturing as I feel many people are looking at me (I am not worried Juleen will say No..hehehe). That is how I proposed, simple and sweet…

We initially wanted to go to No Black Tie to listen to some jazz music but decided not to since the champagne make Juleen a little tipsy and sleepy..hehe! For the rest of the story, please read Juleen’s thought in the previous post. I am just excited it is over and now we have to worry about something else. We have to plan for our wedding reception…Can I sigh? Hehehe…

After the dinner

On top of sharing my thoughts on my proposal I think I should acknowledge some people for making this proposal a successful one. They are like the unsung heroes behind my successful proposal. Without them, I think my proposal will be a dull one. Top on the list is TC (as seen in the picture below..hehe). Allow me to introduce, he is my Fund Manager. This guy is amazingly NICE. He is the one that show me various places to propose. Not only show me but he is so willing to spend the money so that I have the experience before making up my mind where to propose. He also shared so many creative ideas to propose. When I say “creative”, they are really creative! This guy is really good in these things. But what is more important is how often you can find a boss that is so generous, friendly and helpful?Very rare…

I also wanna thank my colleague like Shiu Lin, Kar Fu and Calista for their ideas. My colleagues together with TC has inspired me to be a better man rather than just being a practical man! Thank  guys!

Another year is coming to an end… I am feeling a lil emotional. But before I got too emotional allow me (and on behalf of Juleen) to take this opportunity to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The best thing to do during Christmas is to go to church, spend time with family and friends, exchange gifts and give thanks to God for the whole year. I have done that…

Picture: Siew Yen, Ng

It was 7.29pm on Hari Raya Eve and I was still in the office…

I was bored…

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Time seems to pass rather slow…

And the office was quiet, solemn and empty…

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One SMS came in asking me to come down from the office quickly…

I ran… and I was excited seeing them coming…

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Continue reading for the next post… (written by Juleen, after sooOooo long!!)

My car broke down a week ago (August 23) after my cell group at church. The first thing I thought of everytime my car broke down is $$$$ (money). The second thing I will do is to pray so hard that the repair bill won’t kill me. Coincidently, on that day I was preaching about “Stepping Out” in the cell group, i.e; have faith in God and step out. At that moment, I knew God was challenging me to practice what I’ve just preached.

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Many people came to offer their advice and help. After all of them fail, I decided to do it on my own…

After all the effort, I gave up and picked up the phone to call AAM MAA Assurance. Everyone was very skeptical the kind of service I will receive. However, within 35 minutes MAA Assurance sent their technician over. The technician was so helpful and my problem was fixed in just few minutes. Apparently, my battery was too weak. Even jump starting it won’t revive the battery…

At the end I only spent RM280 for a new 12 cell battery. To cut the story short, I have learn a few things which I consider as precious during my car breakdown experience…

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1. On technical side of car

Whenever your car’s battery goes flat when it is relatively new, consider to diagnose the car’s alternator. In layman term, alternator is the charger for your car’s battery. When you car is on the move, alternator will produce Alternating Current (AC) to charge your car’s battery. Then the battery will produce Direct Current (DC) to power up electrical device on your car. Therefore when you alternator is malfunction, the battery will not be charged. After a while, your car’s battery will die. So if you suspect your battery should function properly but it didn’t, then do a quick diagnose on your alternator. Alternator looks like this…

It’s very easy to diagnose your alternator. If you are able to jump start you car’s battery, remove the positive and negative terminal cable on your car’s battery. Now, if you car continue to work after you have done that, then you the alternator is fine. However, if your car die after you’ve done that… then your alternator is not functioning properly anymore.

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Remember, don’t blindly change the car battery without figuring out what went wrong with your battery.

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2. AAM versus MAA

and

I always got confused with AAM and MAA. Allow me to show to you the difference between AAM and MAA. AAM is Automobile Association of Malaysia, where they provide 24 hours breakdown services to their members. On the another hand, MAA is an insurance company. My car is insured by MAA Assurance and I was also AAM member previously (just expire not too long ago).

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Through this experience I learned that if you’ve bought your car insurance through MAA, you automatically enjoys the free 24 hours breakdown service. In fact, I think many insurance company now provides the same service. In another word, don’t waste your money subscribing to AAM. If I have not mistaken, annual subscription fee for AAM is RM90. That is a lot of money. Why waste RM90/year when you already have a free 24 hours breakdown service from your car insurance provider…

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The service is so good that I decided to take picture with the MAA technician. We became good friend . To know more about MAA – Motor Insurance Policy, click here.

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3. Friendship is forged after midnight

Pastor Kevin, Senior Pastor of CHC, once said true friendship is developed when one work together with others until past midnight. I have to say this is true. Going through hardship together will always produce quality friendship…

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I am thankful to all my friends (Daniel, Jolene and Jessica) who stay along with me when they have the choice to go back. They are all tired and hungry but still decided to stay together. Thank you guys, else I will be bored to death

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4. Malaysian needs to speak Bahasa Malaysia

When I was asked to describe the exact location of my car, I have no better landmark to point to other than the sewage pond which located exactly opposite my church. Do you know what is sewage pond in Malay? I called it “Tasik Cuci Tahi“… hehehe. The real malay word for it is “Loji Pengumbahan Najis”. We found out, eventually via the church caretaker, Mr. Morgan. We all have a good laugh…

I realized I need to brush up my Bahasa Melayu especially when I am a Malaysian. Challenges always point out your weakness, don’t you think so?

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I am happy I went through it!!

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Moral of the story:- All of us have seen good come out of disaster . . . the blessing in disguise. When you expect good to come from negativity, it will. What you think about, you bring about. - Joyce Duco