The arrival of Kurei

Friday was a very exciting day for me as one of my brothers Kurei is coming home for a week. 2 of his close friends are getting married so he is going to be very busy during the week stay. Nevertheless it is good to have him back. After dinner we went to Empire Hotel and stayed the night there as we got a complimentary room. I brought the present he got me with us and was incessantly snapping pictures of it. It is a dooodoll.

It all started at one of my regular trips to my second home with my mom and the 3 of us were in Memory Lane when we saw this booth in the shop that was full of dooodolls. The dolls looked very interesting and looking at the dolls we noticed that there was actually a doll for my siblings and I. It as if when you see the designated dolls you would see us. The first doll was bought for Hiko which was sent to Melbourne, the second for A.L. which was also sent to Melbourne. The 3rd is for myself and the last for Kurei. It amazing how the dolls resemble us and even mama agrees!

You can find out more about the dolls at http://www.dooodolls.com/gallery/index.html


Kurei and "I"


Watching TV together

As we were sitting at the Atrium having breakfast I could not help but admire the beauty of the hotel which I have come to take for granted. So I took some shots of the hotel as a momento. to find out more please visit http://www.empire.com.bn/


Entrance to our room


View from the room


Corridor leading to the West Atrium








Gold leafed pillars at the Atrium


The ceiling of The Atrium


Poolside


Poolside bar and the jacuzzi


The manmade beach. Hopefully can come here for suntanning with my KL buddies!

HiMe's day continued

After a wonderful weekend I tried to cultivate my domestic skills and was fairly successful. Chin said that she was going to be at the Fayre on Wednesday and wants to meet up for some choco puuuuuuuding after. We met up at our usual hangout and H joined us. He is on a month long leave so he must be the envy of many hehe. He bought quite a few packets of German butter cookies and gave me one to try out. They are soft and not too sweet, very good with tea.



It seems that my days of receiving birthday gifts are not over yet and to my glee Chin presented to me a book she made for me.



It is made from the paper that I oo-ed and ah-ed about at her place. The colour red is second only to white in the list of colours that I like.



Just look at it...


Behold the stitching...beautiful.


Now I just need to figure out what I am going to use this special book for.


It is a beautiful book made with love and and warmth.


Introducing the maker of the books. Check out the cool name card. Apparently it was made using Microsfot Excel! I didn't know until now! You learn something new everyday! :)

Afterwards we went down to some serious business. As i have not had a chocolate pudding for nearly 2 months ( compared to 2-3 times a week. The reasin for my colossal weight gain is a no brainer here...)





H was very happy to get his hands on the chocolate pudding. He has been yearning for one for some time but Chin insisted that he wait until Wednesday. Oh and he finally found out why Chin is nicknamed Chin.


Open up wide.

Ummm...yum!



Chin on the other hand was more restrained in her reaction.

I gave it some thought and decided on what occasion I will hopefully be using the special book for. Buddies, when that time comes, just make sure that you get your costumes ready!

Making my own favourite drink

I asked myself what I am going to do today. I will be baking cookies tomorrow but today? I went to the kitchen and had a look at the soya beans I washed and soaked from last night. A-ha! I want to make my favourite drink. Soya bean milk!

Unsure of how exactly to make it, I consulted Her Most Powerful Highness SuperWoman a.k.a. Mama on how to make it. After taking verbal instructions I started the process. It took less than 2 hours to make but I can't say that there were not any hiccups along the way. I think Mama will be mad at me when she finds out later on...hehehe but no worries I will survive...



It came out pretty well. It smells good and tastes good. I am going to wait for Mama to come back after work to give me a score. In the meantime, I just have to make sure that I don't finish it all by myself!

A yearly affair

Another year has passed and before I know it it is that time of the year again. Blowing out candles and cutting cakes and stuffing yourself silly with food and having a good time. Somehow this year I felt rather forlorn this year, as I take stock of my life. I still don't know what I want to do!! Nevertheless, I came to my senses. I am healthy and able bodied, which means I venture into activities I otherwise could not if I am not in good health. I have the love and care of my family and friends. I am single. I have the liberty of changing directions at the drop of a hat. I am good in life.

On the eve of my birthday I went to a Halloween dinner at RC at the invite of Chin. Not sure what character to dress up as, I took out the witch wig I bought last year (it has been a year!) and went OD on my eyeshadow.

Slaying the WWE champion


Chin and her naughty moment hehehe


Light sabres galore!


With the ladies



I thought it was just going to be the dinner until I heard the "Happy birthday" song being played. Chin bought me a really beautiful and delicious cake (full of chocolate of course) and boy was I properly surprised!




Chin, you sure know what to say!

It was a great night. I received gifts and well wishes. Haslann got me a book on Aikido entititled Aikido for self discovery. What I liked about it is that when he got it for me he was thinking about the applicative aspects of aikido in our daily lives. Haslin got me a dvd set of "Twelve kindgoms" and I have been hooked on it since. This brother sister gave me a lethal combination of gifts, both of which have deep seats in my heart. Thank you!

On the day itself I decided to join Mr Friday at Tase for a round of yoga beside the waterfall. I haven't done yoga in quite a while and it felt really good! There were lots of people who stopped by to watch us practise and we took some photos with Jac for her calender. Mr Friday asked me, "where do you want to have breakfast today?" and we decided on breakfast. After attempted in vain to persuade me to join the morning service, Alan went off to church ans I went home to rest. I received many calls from my close friends and loved ones and it really made my day.

Sheraton was the next venue where I met up with Jen's MF and Ing for lunch. I got a birthday cake from them as well (how sweet!) and we chatted the day away.

The proper picture


The hiao chees at work


Cousin Jens was jealous that he didn't get to do his hiao chee pose. But handsome nevertheless!


Me and my birthday cake.

The day ended with dinner with family. It was a sumptous meal and we all had a good time. The next day I met up with my mentors and junior at work in town. I can't help but reminesce the wonderful time we had together for the past 6 years especially with my mentors, L and N. the 3 of us had a synergy that no one else has. Although I have left the firm it will always have a special place in my heart as I have the fortune of befriending some fine people. We may not be seeing one another for 5 1/2 days a week anymore by the bond will always be there.

I am truly good where I am.

Musubi revisited

Training this week was simply awesome. I must say that my spirits were somewhat down last week during training. After having spent 10 days indulging in "aikido heaven" in Tanabe City, Japan with sensei, I was looking forward to some hard core training when I got back. Alas, on the first day of training after my return I found myself without a training partner as injuries and time constraints had prevented them from attending. So I trained with sensei on Monday.

As it turned out sensei Zizi made a surprise visit to Brunei on some personal business. I wasted no time in inviting him to train with us at the dojo the next day. Being familiar what he is like on the mat I was very happy that he agreed to do so. He met up with Hj Sabtu sensei in the afternoon and did some catching up. Chiong, Mohd Noh and Chin turned up for practice and sensei trained with us and shared with us the concept of musubi. Wah, that is all I can say for now. There was much demonstration and practice for the night but it is not something you can understand overnight. I have not seen S sensei so pumped up in a long time and my face so contorted!

We had an extra night of training on Friday by special request. The training focused on musubi and both S sensei and I spent the night feeling the connection with one another. The connection/blending/union is very hard to get but there were a few times where I knew I had made musubi because it just felt so right. Ahhh...I wish we have a permanent instructor with us because the shodans don't have any guidance at the moment save for visiting senseis and seminars. Shodans need training too. Further, some of the shodans don't seem very keen to further their training with their fellow shodans so it could be rather demotivating for some.

As for myself, I am just overwhelmed at what I have to learn at kyuu stage and could not fathom how some could just stop after obtaining their shodan...it is indeed just the beginning!

To Chin Chin

Chin, congratulations on your engagement. May you and H enjoy a lifetime of happiness together!

Tanabe, here I come!

After a good 10 days in Malaysia it is time to pack for another trip. Apart from feeling restless sometimes with too much time to kill, I had a very good time. Went places and met new friends. There was training and there was training. Some of you will know what I am talking about. Met up with some friends last night and was just enjoying the company. My flight is tonight so I have the luxury of sleeping in and taking my time. One whole week of nothing but aikido...bliss.

My sensei texted me to tell me that he injured his left hand with a hammer during Raya preparations and also injured his heel. Ouch! He is attending the seminars with me while others are attending the conference. I was looking at the seminar timetable and was so so happy. Amongst the Shihans conducting the seminar are Tissier shihan http://www.christiantissier.com/, Sugano shihan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiichi_Sugano, Yamada shihan http://www.aikido-yamada.eu/, Fukakusa shihan http://www.thaiaikikai.com/eng/sensei.html and Smibert shihan. I just hope my body can last the entire seminar. I have rested my arm for 2 weeks (which translates to no training whatsoever) and I have a feeling that I will be revising techniques with my sensei at Changi airport tonight hahaha!

I am more or less packed for the trip. Most importantly is that I have my 3 sets of gi (or as Conrad so aptly puts it, kung fu suits...) so I am good to go!

Tanabe e ikimasu yo!

First day of Raya

Met up with Jeje Elain for her Raya open house at auntie Safiah's place. She is looking gorgeous as always and so does Kyri. Auntie Safiah was busy buzzing around in the kitchen and Jeje was busy serving. As usual I got to eat the yummy beef rendang and chicken curry auntie cooked. Apologies fr not taking any photos as I was busy whacking the food.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Khaw from Universiti of Malaya and had a most enjoyable conversation. Dr Khaw was very friendly and effervesent. It turns out that she knows Mr Ahmad and Mrs Aisha back from the ASEAN IP days! What a small world. Mental note : Must remember to convey her regards.

One happy family.


Auntie Safiah entertaining guests


Yummy snacks



The very comfortable sofas that auntie Safiah has since the PJ days.


With Dr Khaw who just published the third edition of her book on Copyright Law in Malaysia.

Je, it was great to meet up with you again. I'm very happy to see you doing so well and will be looking forward to Langkawi and diving with Kyri and you! Sai Mui, another diving desitnation!

Night out at Sid's

Daniel, Conrad and Alan


Audrey and Sai Mui


Mins, HiMe and Marina


Marina, Mins, HiMe, Audrey and Sai Mui


Marina and HiMe


Prez and VP of Posers Inc


Keeping a safe distance in case accidents happen...

It's been a few days since I came back from the Redang AWARE diving trip (I shall blog about that later...) and I am feeling the effects of not having internet access whenever. I met some very nice people and made new friends. Some of us got together at Sid's before the Raya holidays to catch up and...as Chong put it, to go on my orientation course, after having gone through my induction course. To cut it short, he congratulated me on doing well in my orientation. Chong, congratulations on your pending nuptials!

There were many photos taken at Sid's but for the sake of propriety I shall only post the "prim and proper" ones here...



CYL trying to emulate the HiMe look


CYL and HiMe, kawaii desu ka?


With my beloved Sai Mui


With Mins, Marina and Audrey

I am really enjoying my long break and am looking forward my next trip to Tanabe this Saturday. I like to pack light when I travel but couldn't do so on this trip because I had to pack my scuba diving gear, aikido gear as well as thick clothings all under 16kgs ( you guessed it, Airasia) I managed a respectable 18 kgs paying only BND18.00 for sports equipment. I can't even begin to imagine what my luggage weight would be when I fly back to Brunei on the 20th October so I won't think about it at all.

It is the first day of Raya in Malaysia today and I wish my Muslim friends and their families in Malaysia Selamat Hari Raya and much enjoyment with their families and friends in this fesive season. I will be going to JeJe Elain's place shortly for Raya visiting and I am very much looking forward to it! Zareena's not in town during Raya so I will be meeting up with her after Tanabe.

I just realized that haven't been to a KTV this time around...hmmm.