It's all set. The trip was booked almost 8 months ago and now all set to go.
I hope I'm able to meet Karthik and his family and Sunil too.
I'm gonna be crazily snappy away pics and buying all the authentic materials, esp sarees!
Yay!
Here I come India! Incredible India!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Great blessings...
As I look back few decades ago….**flashback time..
I was born in Baling, Kedah. My father got a transfer to this tiny kampung, and he brought along my mom and my elder brother. This Kampung has got a nice river, as my mom would relate to me. And she said, the people are mostly Siamese and Chinese. They were here a few years before my father was transferred to BM, where we lived all our life now. My parents only have very few photographs taken here in Baling…I seriously do not remember anything about Baling. When we left to BM, I was just 2 years old.
Then, at the age 10, we were living in B’Garden. I was in Standard 4, SRK Convent BM. I took the same school bus with Josephine, Elena and Jeyanthy. I was in 4 Rajin, morning session.
Let’s roll to 20. I was waiting for my STPM results and was working in Taska Eureka until I got my university placing. This was my first time, teaching young children and most of them were non-English speaking children, so it was quite a challenge to communicate with the Chinese children.
And now, as I said goodbye to my 20s…I’m welcoming the 30’s with grace, more strength and more bolder. I may not have achieved many things in life, but I know I’ve learnt a lot from this life. Today I'm with CSC at First Avenue, Bandar Utama.
I thank God for the wonderful family and friends, though it’s often full of ups and downs, with lots of financial strain that can put a relationship risky. But I’m glad to have overcome everything with God’s ultimate blessings.
And Happy Birthday Thilagaa!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
From North to South
It has been a ‘travelling to north and south’ weekend for us, back-to-back. End of January, we travelled to north – went back home. And the following weekend, first week of February, we headed to the south, to JB & Singapore.
Wow, back-to-back travelling with no additional leaves on the weekday.
Jan 27th, Friday:
We left KL around 8pm and reached home sweet home around 12 midnight. I’m only going home this day since I moved to KL. Chit chat with parents until 2am. We had dinner, at Tapah R&R earlier.
The main reason we came back was to attend Jason’s wedding. Jason is my brother’s best friend for many years, and he is finally getting married to his long-time girlfriend Jaclyn. The mass was at 12noon at St Anne’s and we all went, as we know Jason’s family very well too.
I was surprised to see Franklin and Jules were the bestmen, they looked very neat and handsome J
The mass was celebreated by Jason’s cousin, who came from JB – the homily was really good. i didn’t take any pics, as I only brought a clutch with me. After having lunch at the parish center, we went home and I headed to Penang with mom. I had to settle some stuffs.
Firstly, went to Melalueca store with mom, and get some stuffs for myself and for Rebecca. Spoke to Jayanthi as well, she was already at KLIA, getting ready to board to Canada. Gonna miss her a lot!
Then, headed to Market Street, mom needed buy some stuffs, also for the engagement. I did my threading too. And we cancelled the dinner plan at Safira. So, the rest went to the dinner, except us both. We then headed back to BM.
Stopped at Jane’s house. Missed her and chinnama. Had dinner of karuvadu curry – yum yum… really ate well!
Sunday- attended mass with Kenneth – the rest were still sleeping. Met Fr Martin. Chat with Terence too, he’s getting married this June. Crsytal sat with me during mass.
Had good lunch at home. Green bean curry, chicken in soy – my fav. Then had gado-gado for tea break. I packed extra clothes, for my India trip. We left BM around 8pm – headed back to Kajang.
Feb 4th, Saturday:
Fetched dad from Pudu and we headed straight to JB. Mom, mama, atheh & Carol left on Friday morning in Kenneth’s car. We reached Jerry’s place by 11am. William aneh and Rosaline anni came and I was so happy to see them both. We started to get busy, preparing the trays and we had a sumptous lunch at home. Jerry brought from an Indian restaurant.
We started to get ready early, as there were almost 10 of us. The theme was cream/white.
The function went well, but the house was rather small to cater the crowd and we felt like trapped in an oven.
Took lots of pictures, had a partially good food and headed back home by 11pm. Parents and my elder brother followed William aneh to Singapore that night. I couldn’t go as my passpot was not with me, was with the Indian embassy for Visa application.
Feb 5th, Sunday:
Had a awesome breakfast of idiappam. Then we went jalan-jalan JB. We went in 2 cars; mama, atheh and the 2 gals, Kenneth and me and Jerry.
Places we visited: Glass temple, Danga Bay seaside, duty-free shopping mall, lunch at an antique coffeshop in JB town.
Parents came back by 6pm. They were getting ready to Florence akka house for dinner, whereelse, orang KL; me, aneh and Cynthia headed back to Kajang.
:) Pics are on FB.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
So real..
The clock is ticking away and we’ve yet to finish our work. The queue is high today, with lots of requests from our client. There is a long Christmas holiday for our Australian clients. This usually happens before a long holiday. And we always forecast this workload and ensure we have extra manpower to finish the work before the holiday starts.
Situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, leaving office at 6pm can be a nightmare. So a few of us have decided to stay back and finish up the tonnes of requests for our clients.
The senior manager has offered that we should get together for dinner and at the same time, avoid the heavy traffic jam.
By 10.00 pm, 4 of us, including our manager left the office and waited at the walkway, just about 2 km from our office building. There is still another 2 of our colleagues, and we thought we’ll just wait.
We were happily chatting and started to make plans for the weekend. I had a packet of roasted groundnuts and shared among us.
I noticed a row of squatter home just near where we were waiting. “isnt it weird that these houses are here in the midst of the office buildings, “ I exclaimed. My colleagues turned and looked at the houses and one said, it’s been here for many years. There are no gates, just a row of houses, divided by a short wall.
We also saw a group of teenagers, sitting near us, they were so engrossed with their smartphones.
Suddenly my senior colleagues started to cough and was almost choking. He asked me for water as I always carry a bottle with me. I quickly checked in my lunch bag, and there it was. Damn, it was empty. What am I to do?
Everyone was frantic. He was still coughing badly.
I quickly threw groundnut packet and ran to one of the squatter houses. It was an Indian family and I saw two young children and their mother. The little girl came to the door and I showed her my bottle and requested for some water, while pointing at my senior colleague.
I saw the mother staring blankly at me, I just smiled at her while waiting at the door step for the girl to come back with the water. I also saw a photo frame in their living room with a garland around it. Oh, somebody in this family recently passed away, I thought.
The girl came back with the water and I said thanks while running to my colleagues. He was fine after drinking the water. For a moment, he thought he had a heart attack. Something was really stuck in his throat, must be the nuts, he said.
Five minutes later, the other 2 colleagues joined us and we were relating what happened to them both.
Suddenly, one of the girl made a loud shriek when I showed her the squatter house that I went. And she started shaking. Did you went to that house, she asked, pointing to the house that I went.
“Did you see the photo frame inside the house? The one with the garland?"
We all turned and looked closely, "Yes, I saw it earlier. I think someone passed away recently. I didnt have the time to asked earlier, " I said.
"Look closely Sara, that is the same lady standing at the door!!" she said in a low voice.
Oh God, that was the same lady who was staring at me just a few minutes ago and I didn’t notice the photo well at that time. And the lady is still standing at the same spot.
My senior colleague started to scream. Run, run. Run away from here.
The teenagers were shocked and they too ran away from the spot, without knowing what’s happening.
We grabbed each other’s arms and ran away from the place. I turned and look back, the lady is still staring at us. I shouted even louder. Run! Run!
Thud! I fell hard and rubbed my forehead. I fell off my bed!
Gosh, that was a dream! But it felt like real life. And I was breathing heavily, just like in the dream.
I checked the time, it was 1.40am, and I couldn’t sleep for a few minutes. I kept visualising the dream.
Tomorrow. I must check if there are any squatter homes near my office.
Situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, leaving office at 6pm can be a nightmare. So a few of us have decided to stay back and finish up the tonnes of requests for our clients.
The senior manager has offered that we should get together for dinner and at the same time, avoid the heavy traffic jam.
By 10.00 pm, 4 of us, including our manager left the office and waited at the walkway, just about 2 km from our office building. There is still another 2 of our colleagues, and we thought we’ll just wait.
We were happily chatting and started to make plans for the weekend. I had a packet of roasted groundnuts and shared among us.
I noticed a row of squatter home just near where we were waiting. “isnt it weird that these houses are here in the midst of the office buildings, “ I exclaimed. My colleagues turned and looked at the houses and one said, it’s been here for many years. There are no gates, just a row of houses, divided by a short wall.
We also saw a group of teenagers, sitting near us, they were so engrossed with their smartphones.
Suddenly my senior colleagues started to cough and was almost choking. He asked me for water as I always carry a bottle with me. I quickly checked in my lunch bag, and there it was. Damn, it was empty. What am I to do?
Everyone was frantic. He was still coughing badly.
I quickly threw groundnut packet and ran to one of the squatter houses. It was an Indian family and I saw two young children and their mother. The little girl came to the door and I showed her my bottle and requested for some water, while pointing at my senior colleague.
I saw the mother staring blankly at me, I just smiled at her while waiting at the door step for the girl to come back with the water. I also saw a photo frame in their living room with a garland around it. Oh, somebody in this family recently passed away, I thought.
The girl came back with the water and I said thanks while running to my colleagues. He was fine after drinking the water. For a moment, he thought he had a heart attack. Something was really stuck in his throat, must be the nuts, he said.
Five minutes later, the other 2 colleagues joined us and we were relating what happened to them both.
Suddenly, one of the girl made a loud shriek when I showed her the squatter house that I went. And she started shaking. Did you went to that house, she asked, pointing to the house that I went.
“Did you see the photo frame inside the house? The one with the garland?"
We all turned and looked closely, "Yes, I saw it earlier. I think someone passed away recently. I didnt have the time to asked earlier, " I said.
"Look closely Sara, that is the same lady standing at the door!!" she said in a low voice.
Oh God, that was the same lady who was staring at me just a few minutes ago and I didn’t notice the photo well at that time. And the lady is still standing at the same spot.
My senior colleague started to scream. Run, run. Run away from here.
The teenagers were shocked and they too ran away from the spot, without knowing what’s happening.
We grabbed each other’s arms and ran away from the place. I turned and look back, the lady is still staring at us. I shouted even louder. Run! Run!
Thud! I fell hard and rubbed my forehead. I fell off my bed!
Gosh, that was a dream! But it felt like real life. And I was breathing heavily, just like in the dream.
I checked the time, it was 1.40am, and I couldn’t sleep for a few minutes. I kept visualising the dream.
Tomorrow. I must check if there are any squatter homes near my office.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Friday the 13th, 2012
I still remember what happened to me on Friday the 13th in May 2011. (http://marlinasara.blogspot.com/2011/05/friday-13-may-2011.html)
Since that incident, I became a bit phobia when I hear Friday the 13th.
So this January 2012, Friday the 13th came again and I was a bit worried. Some friends consoled me, asking me to be extra careful. Even Dr Pandiraja told me to be careful! Hahha…
And so that day came, I went to work. I was indeed being extra cautious. As I go through my day, everything seems alrightin fact, the day was awesome.
I went home, very happily.
What made me happy?
I spoke a to colleague, since I’m new to this place, we were chating and getting to know each other. She thought I was in my mid 20s!
That’s it!! She made my Friday, the 13th extra special and to always remember it, I’m putting it in my blog today.
Since that incident, I became a bit phobia when I hear Friday the 13th.
So this January 2012, Friday the 13th came again and I was a bit worried. Some friends consoled me, asking me to be extra careful. Even Dr Pandiraja told me to be careful! Hahha…
And so that day came, I went to work. I was indeed being extra cautious. As I go through my day, everything seems alrightin fact, the day was awesome.
I went home, very happily.
What made me happy?
I spoke a to colleague, since I’m new to this place, we were chating and getting to know each other. She thought I was in my mid 20s!
That’s it!! She made my Friday, the 13th extra special and to always remember it, I’m putting it in my blog today.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Realistic Resolutions
**as appeared in Sunday Star, 15 Jan 2012
LAST January, when I made my New Year resolution, I told myself I would make it happen, come what may. I wanted to go on a vegetarian diet, for a healthier lifestyle and to be more disciplined when it comes to food (difficult for a Penangite).
I actually kept it up until March, when I had to undergo minor surgery and had to change my food intake.
But, hey, I maintained the vegetarian diet for 90 days! Hence, I decided that if I made short-term resolutions, I could achieve them and feel proud, rather than not do anything to shape my life. I also decided not to wait till the first day of the new year to do so – I could make the list as I went along.
First on my list was to lose 3kg by the end of 2011. A very realistic goal.
Many people I know aim to lose 10kg or more and when they do not see any result (at least within a month), out goes their resolution and they never want to talk about weight loss again.
But I can guarantee you that when you lose the targetted 3kg, you will be motivated to lose more. It worked for me, and some of my friends. Try it.
I also resolved to drink at least one litre of water every day. I mean plain, boiled water, not teh ais, limau ais, or soft drinks. Do you know that when you have enough water in your body, it increases your ability to fight off sickness. I have a 800ml water bottle on my table and I make sure that I fill it twice daily.
Making someone smile and making his/ her day better is another of my resolutions. The someone here means anyone, even total strangers. I often talk to the cleaners in my office. I will ask them what home-cooked food they have brought and chat a little.
When I walk into a bank or any government office, I never fail to ask the name of the person I’m dealing with. I like to say thanks and goodbye to them by using their name. You should see how their faces light up when you do that. Coming from a customer service background, I know how it feels to be addressed and appreciated.
All these little things that I achieve daily make my day complete and make me smile to myself. – Marlina Sara Sylvester
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Food, food, food :)
What is the least nutritious vegetable?
Iceberg lettuce is considered at least one of the lowest, followed by celery and cucumber.
*I can't believe celery is in this list!
A kilogram of cucumber has merely 130 calories and hardly any minerals and vitamin C. Moreover, it has 96.3% water content.
Top 5 best fruits: kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, guava, cranberries.
**source: wikianswers
Some best foods: sweet potatoes, mangoes, watermelons,broccoli, salmon, carrots, spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus, beans, cauliflower.
**source: http://www.cspinet.org/ & http://www.perfectshape.com/
Starchy vegetable such as corn, winter squash and sweet potatoes are filled with calories.
These vegetables do have health benefits, but you need to eat them in moderation.
**source: http://www.livestrong.com/
High cholesterol foods: egg yolks, cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese, ice-cream, rib-eye steak, muffins, lobster with melted butter, fried chicken, beef liver, snacks: French fries, onion rings, and crackers.
**source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/
Top 5 low cholesterol foods: oats, soy, fish, nuts, sterols from plants
**source: http://ldlhdlcholesterollevels.org/
High protein foods that is highly recommended: Permesan cheese, large beans, tuna, anchovies, salmon, lentils & peanuts.
**source: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/
All these are just indicators & guideline, and should be eaten in moderation. We can't avoid macaroni & cheese, cheeseburgers or french fries totally, right...
Iceberg lettuce is considered at least one of the lowest, followed by celery and cucumber.
*I can't believe celery is in this list!
A kilogram of cucumber has merely 130 calories and hardly any minerals and vitamin C. Moreover, it has 96.3% water content.
Top 5 best fruits: kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, guava, cranberries.
**source: wikianswers
Some best foods: sweet potatoes, mangoes, watermelons,broccoli, salmon, carrots, spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus, beans, cauliflower.
**source: http://www.cspinet.org/ & http://www.perfectshape.com/
Starchy vegetable such as corn, winter squash and sweet potatoes are filled with calories.
These vegetables do have health benefits, but you need to eat them in moderation.
**source: http://www.livestrong.com/
High cholesterol foods: egg yolks, cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese, ice-cream, rib-eye steak, muffins, lobster with melted butter, fried chicken, beef liver, snacks: French fries, onion rings, and crackers.
**source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/
Top 5 low cholesterol foods: oats, soy, fish, nuts, sterols from plants
**source: http://ldlhdlcholesterollevels.org/
High protein foods that is highly recommended: Permesan cheese, large beans, tuna, anchovies, salmon, lentils & peanuts.
**source: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/
All these are just indicators & guideline, and should be eaten in moderation. We can't avoid macaroni & cheese, cheeseburgers or french fries totally, right...
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