World Cup Fever

Earlier this evening, I logged in to Friendster for the first time in months or years. Clicked on my blog and found entries I wrote many years ago. It brings back soo many memories, and just for now, I understand why Nifer misses London so much.



So, I copied some below for your reading pleasure, since the World Cup is coming up soon. I don't normally watch football and I don't know much about the game. But being around people who do definitely influenced me to watch and enjoy the game.

These are just extracts of what life was like for me back then in 2006:

June 11, 2006

FIFA World Cup 2006. I've been watching lots of football since world cup started. Maybe its because i’m in London now. its fun watching football at home, at 8pm, me, shirley, simon, and kaz are gathered in the lounge, watching world cup. cheering on the teams, laughing, and occasionally criticizing the teams. simon, who is polish said that the Poland team was terrible, they can kick, yea, but they have no brains. just simply kicking the ball.



Last night, kaz cooked curry for us. true Japanese curry. first, he cut up 10 tomatoes, blended them, made tomato juice. then, he heated the tomato juice, when it was boiling, he added about half a dozen different spices, including cinnamon. hmm…he is vegetarian, so the curry only consisted of spices, potatoes, onion and apple. yup, apple, to make the curry sweet, he said. it does taste good actually. and its very healthy.



Since i’ve been staying with these Japanese people, i’ve started to be more health conscious, started eating more vegetables and fruit, and less meat. they’ve all got great bodies, guys and girls alike. maybe i should be vegetarian as well yea? live longer. i might give it a try, i’m definitely influenced by their culture. Amazingly, i’m learning more Japanese words now.



June 23rd, 2006

Switzerland vs south korea. 2-0. dammit!!! i support south Korea. damn!! damn again!! south Korea are out! shit!! sigh. disappointed man!! france are second now. Switzerland on top. shit!! last night, Brazil vs Japan. that was fun to watch. as i walked into the house at 8pm last night, my housemates told me Japan was playing. all 3 are Japanese. they support japan of course, i support Brazil. hehe. i told them no chance, Brazil will win!! they shut me up when japan scored in the beginning.



But, when Ronaldo scored, hahaha…then when the score was 4 - 1, hahaa..!! yes, Brazil!! i didn’t dare laugh too much though. being downright rude. when one of the japan players stumbled with the ball, the commentator was chuckling, and i was laughing, my 3 Japanese housemates told me, "f*cking shut up!!" haha..:) it was fun anyway..



i watch world cup everyday now. luckily we have a tv in the lounge, else i’d be bored to death. no internet at home, just tv. everyone just switch to world cup when they’re in the lounge, so i’ve been watching it everyday. even at work, my stall is next door to the pub. so, i’m even watching it at work. that day, when Brazil vs Australia, Australian fans were wearing huge Australia flags around their shoulders like superman and carrying kangaroo soft toys walking around camden. not long after that, people were coming to buy Brazilian flags to tie around their shoulders as well. it was funny watching the Australian and Brazilian guys outside the pub, showing off their countries. :)



I met a Brazilian guy on Monday at the club, when he knew I am from Malaysia, he laughed. i asked why? He said ur not in the world cup right? Yea, so?? f*cking shut up man!! ughh…he’s not the first guy to tell me that. I've heard from Japanese, Polish, and Iran countrymen telling me that as well.

Malaysia boleh eh?? hahahaa…i know no chance!! but, who knows??



For FIFA World Cup 2010, I would probably just read the newspaper. Definitely not staying up in the middle of the night to watch it. Except weekends.

Those days are long gone..

Back in the UK, they take football so much more seriously than in Kuching.. Of course la, I know. Obviously that is why they are in world cup and Malaysians are not haha. During match days, the crowd get so rowdy. As soon as you get out of the tube at say, Arsenal on a match day, you just know it. People burst into song and the whole crowd starts singing together. And they all wear the same colours and the same scarf.

Its worse after the match ends cos then most of the guys get rowdy after drinking. The cars filled with people screaming and beer bottles thrown everywhere. I used to dread match days and try to avoid walking on the streets alone at night on these occasions.

When the match was in Newcastle, it seemed to me like more than half the city turned out in their black and white colours just to watch the match at St James' Park.



Since Newcastle is small to me, compared with London, and St James' Park is like, right in the city center, its hard not to see the crowd. All of them decked out in the Newcastle club football jersey. But I liked Newcastle. The crowd was so much less rowdy. Much quieter. More families. Dads bringing their sons to watch the match. Nice.

Anyway.

This was my own version of what World Cup 2006 was like for me. What was yours?

Junk

Disclaimer: Just realized that most of my post titles are one word to sum up the entire entry.

I am so sick of pink. The color. Colour. Which is right anyway? Blogger corrects me on colour but I'm quite sure that in school, I was taught colour, not color.

Pink is so girly and it just isn't me. I wear a crystal bracelet on my wrist every day in various shades of pink.



The most obvious photo of my bracelet that I could find. (within 5 seconds)



My phone is pink! My phone came in three shades of colour: Black, Blue and Pink. I decided to take the sales girl's advice and go with pink cos they had stock available immediately, and that girls should go for pink. I'm so easily persuaded. Dumbo.

My nails were also pink in the photo above. I don't know lar. Contrary to my looks/appearance, I'm not a girly girl. I'm not a pink girl. I'm the odd one out. Always have been and I predict always will be.

I get bored with the colours really easily. Therefore, I decided on blue. I would have preferred a lighter shade of blue for my nails. Matte and not slightly sparkly like this one below.

I wanted to copy this:



This is Winnie's left foot. She had this pedicure for Chinese New Year. I liked it and tried to imitate it. Sorry for blur photos but I have yet to buy a new camera! In the progress.



Without flash.



With flash. I am so proud of myself. I qualify for a manucurist/pedicurist (what do u call them again?) I didn't add the silver to my own nails, that is about the only difference from Winnie's.

Its really easy to do. Just find a shade of blue of your fancy. Preferably lighter than my shade of blue. Cos mine are too dark, they're not obvious enough in real life. Most people just see the electric blue but fail to notice my zebra prints! It took a lot of patience to do this ok..

Then, if you don't have the very slim brush nail polish, (I just bought them a few weeks back. In Tun Jugah. Miniature Corner if you want them), use a toothpick and dip it into your black coloured nail polish to swipe it across your nails. Fucking troublesome using toothpick. I tried and you reaaly need a shitload of patience for this!

So buy the slim-brush-nail-polish. They come in all colours and cost about RM 7.80 each only. Cheap! But most colours are out of stock already cos I probably cleaned out their stock already. Including their Spring branch too. Hehe.

I've been doing the same thing day in day out. Nothing new going on in my life. Btw, staying slim is a chore! Yes, I do work out. If walking/jogging three times a week qualifies as work out? How else can I eat all the Pizza and desserts I want?

Actually no lar. Its all a load of crap. I don't work out three times a week. I only work out after I PIG OUT. Yes. That is more correct hahaa..



There. See. Evidence. Pizza is fat. But Pizza is love. Heh lucky for me I found a bf who loves Pizza as much as me. Or maybe he just loves me that's why he doesn't mind going for Pizza whenever I suggest it.



For the bf, his love lies in chicken. This sounds wrong. English. Not Cantonese. (kai = hooker) He likes KFC. Typical la. Which guy doesn't? So he orders chicken wings whenever we are at pizza hut. I'm so sorry baby. I don't love you enough to opt for KFC instead of pizza hahaha wtf!



Just realized that I find it hard to get through a post without food. I eat too much. Also hard to find photos of myself, not taken in the toilet. I camwhore in the toilet too much but shy to post up nowadays. I need to force people to take more photos of me.

I'm sorry this post has no meaning whatsoever.

Good night.

La di di La di da

I was at Planet Amore for dinner with cs last weekend. I was quite curious about dining there cos I have been to Planet (the karaoke pub) a couple times with mum and her friends. We ordered food from Planet Amore to be sent to the pub and I was quite impressed with their portions. It is located at 3rd mile: Golden Arch. Where one of the supposedly famous laksa is at. Planet is facing the main road. Quite hard to miss.



I googled planet amore kuching and found a colleague's blog describing Planet Amore. Haha Thanks John! Coincidentally, it was also from his or Geraldine's Facebook photos that I saw these photos and therefore wanted to give this place a try. His blog captures far more beautiful photos than mine so go read it if you want to see what it looks like inside.

This is exactly why I need to invest in a camera. Not just a camera phone. Grr..But I am scared! Of myself! I really really don't want to break/drop/scratch/lose it or accidentally give it a bath. Unless I get a waterproof one. Cameras have warranty don't they? hahahaha warranty is a must.

I need my camera to be: Really Easy to use. (preferably comes with an idiot's guide) Damage proof. Bullet proof. Missile proof. Water proof. Wait, I got it!! AMY Proof!!! So WTF. Back to topic.



I need my assistant to take better photos too. Photos without cutting off my head baby!!



Anyway this photo is to show that the plates were quite big. Portions are quite generous actually. He ordered a Spaghetti with tomato based sauce. This was after two of the pastas he wanted were: I quote the waiter, our sauce iss finish. Sorry sir. They were very polite. But seriously a bit blur. Cos he ran out another time to tell us: Sorry that sauce is finish too. Order another one. So we picked the only other spaghetti left.

I ordered a Cheezy Fish. He gave me a Cheezy Beef. When I pointed this out to him, he said: you ordered Beef, no? Cs and I were perplexed cos we didn't even recall seeing a Cheezy Beef on the menu. Never mind. They were very polite and kind and offered to change it back to Fish for me but I was starving so I ate it anyway..



It came with two slices of beef, quite tender and if I'm not mistaken, they slot some cheese in between the beef. The cheese taste isn't too strong that it covered the whole beef taste. Makes sense? It came with two whipped potatoes (not nice and thus left untouched), and buttered vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower), and coleslaw. This Cheezy Fish came to about RM 35 (I think. Don't remember), in case you were wondering..



This is his spaghetti which was tasteless. Seriously! First bite, I thought that I didn't eat enough of the sauce. But later, I realized that the sauce was tasteless. Maybe they ran out of ingredients or whatever. Anyway this one sucked.

We also shared a portion of chicken wings. This was sooo good. From the first bite, you could tell that the wings were juicy and tender and so full of flavor.



This is definitely drinking buddy!

***************

This has become ritual: Eating/supper in the pub. Namely, McGregor's. It has become our regular hangout place. So far, the only bad comment I have about the place is: too much smoke! When is Malaysia going to pass that smoking ban in all workplaces, including restaurants, pubs, clubs? I was in London when they passed it on July 1 2007! They made such a huge deal out of it then. Even Singapore has hopped on the wagon. Come on Malaysia. Kin la.



McGregor's has this awesome policy that allows you to eat there. You wave down a waiter and ask him for the menu. While you're studying the menu, they go get the staff from Ren Jian Cha Fang to come and take your order. I swear that cs and I have started a trend there. Now it is common to see most tables with food after our food order arrives. Drinking always makes you want to eat or nibble on something.



We have progressed from light snacks such as nuggets, and taiwan sausage to a bowl of mee and omelettes in the pub. Haha. The staff are totally ok with it btw. They often have their supper behind the bar as well..



On this night, we are sitting at the VIP area above the bar. The VIP area is actually nothing that special. You are separated from the crowd below, and closer to the DJ. You get larger seats (couches) instead of sitting on the bar, or mixing with the crowd below. You have a further walk to the toilet. Haha. You don't even need to buy extra or anything to sit up there. Feel free to walk up. No one to stop you. At least that is what I think..



After posting all these photos, I have come to a conclusion: cs and I eat and drink quite a lot actually..

These photos below are from one night at Sidewalk. It is near Green Heights Mall.



I like Sidewalk. Its quiet enough. Beer is cheap. Food is good. With good company, the night is just about perfect.



Nice for a chill out place. Funny that the place hasn't changed in all those years that I have been there.

Wait. I go dig up old photos!

Found it!

These photos are from one night in 2005, before Shirley and I left were to leave for London! Shit time flies!

Shirley and I. Look how young and innocent we were.



Found a photo of cs. Hahahhaa..who would have thought that we would end up together after all those years? Those late night talks, and msn chats. Our silly jokes that no one could understand. I bet EVERY ONE of our friends were shocked/surprised when they found out eh? Probably except Shirley cos she knows me best.



Fast forward 5 years later and we ended up here:



Life is soo unpredictable.

Typical

I did it again!

I have lived up to my reputation of not being able to use a phone for more than a year!

Why Amy why?!! Why am I so careless?!

I really should get myself the cheapest phone out there!

How does Winnie use her phone for 4 years without dropping and scratching it How did she get by four years without giving her phone a mini shower. How??

How come I can't do that? Are we not sisters? GRR..I refuse to buy a new phone! I will wait till this thing electrocute me in some way.

Fuck it. There is no one to be angry at. No one to blame. Only myself. Which makes it worse. How nice if someone broke my phone and I can still shout and scream profanities and get a brand new phone for myself. No huss no fuss. Too bad its not gonna happen mi, you get to pay for your own mistakes biatch.



Unrelated photo. If things go according to plan, I will be here soon enough...

Outdated

Its been a while since I went out on a week night for "ladies night". FYI, most pubs in and around Kuching offer "ladies night" on Wednesday nights. I kinda forgot that feeling. It sort of brings me back to how I felt before I started working full time. Before working full-time, I went out every weekend, every ladies night, every occasion to party and drink, I would go.. I stayed out late till 3am and went to sleep at dawn.

But surprisingly, all it took was a full time job to put things back in perspective. I have only been working for less than 2 years and here I am: blogging on a Saturday night. What clubbing? What ladies night? Forget karaoke and bbq parties. God what has happened to me? I am not even married or with kids yet and I feel that working one job alone has drained me of the energy to do other things. I am so useless. No lar. Obviously I am exaggerating. I still go out but definitely less now.



Last Wed night, I agreed to go out with Winnie, mum and her friends. Apparently, one of her friends came back from Australia and it was a proper reunion thingy plus it was St. Patrick's Day! Occasion to drink.



We had originally planned to go to VA but upon arrival, the place was in a word: dead. They set up all the decorations, the waitresses and bartender wore the goofy St. Patrick's hat and they were all decked out in green. But I felt strangely as if I had stepped into a deserted pub. It felt weird.



So that was how we ended up at Travillion on a Wednesday night. Some of them went to Finest Cafe at Travillion for dinner first while Winnie and I proceeded to walk into a few pubs there to ask what is complimentary for the ladies tonight?



I am so outdated lo! Turns out its all ladies night at Rush, Pavillion, Check-in, Bar Zing. I didn't ask the rest. And they all offer free flow Vodka, Whiskey, and some places Tequila. Waahh being a girl so rocks!



Without further ado, Winnie and I settled in at Bar Zing with a whiskey coke each. The whiskey tasted off. Definitely something cheap. But I noticed that they used Absolut for the free vodka. So for the rest of the night, we had Vodka lime. Nice..



The place was quite full on a Wednesday night. Quite surprising. In the beginning when Winnie and I were alone, (She was reading her Archie comics and ignoring me) there was a table of guys beside us checking us out. And oh boy I forgot that feeling too. You know, when you're a single girl in a pub, lots of guys come up to hit on you, buy you drinks and show off their name cards. But ever since I got together with cs, we have been joined at the hip every time we go out. So I forgot that feeling. But nvm. I couldn't be happier with cs now...



There seemed to be more guys than girls that night..





Glamorous photos of Winnie cos I always post up her unglamorous photos hahahaa..

OK. Going out to dinner now. Bye.