for a good read

this article was taken from here.
but i'm just gonna copy paste the contents here anyway. for fun reading.

Improve our society's gene pool and save the world.

Have you ever met an idiot? Odds are you have.
In our society, more and more people have to cope with being born with inferior genes. These people, being idiots breed with other idiots, and the problem gets worse. Our society, not having enough intelligent people to provide competent labor, is declining at an astonishing rate. Millions of idiots are flooding the gene-pool with inferior genes. Soon we will experience another severe depression like that of the thirties which will cripple the world.
I am offering a solution. Not everyone is an idiot, but pilots are naturally born with every advantage from being abnormally intelligent to being exceptionally good looking. These pilots, or super people, if you will, have genes that when mixed with other attractive "normal" people or other good looking pilots genes make model offspring that, if produced in large numbers, can completely fix our gene pool. The new society of superior people will be able to solve world hunger, make world peace, fix global warming, and will enter a new age of prosperity.
If you are an attractive person, it is your duty to your country and the world to sleep with a pilot today. Your children will thank you for it.
For anyone who is a pilot, good looking person or an idiot who supports this cause, join today.

1. Save the world!

dance a jiggy if you agree. hahahahah.

also, for the women: for a good laugh, read this article!

random things in a nutshell

random things i came across the past week that seems useful to know.

1. reuse plastic soda bottle tops to seal food storage bags (aka junkfood lol)

i heard this on the radio a little while back but with no visual, i just didn't get it, until i saw the photo below.
i have yet to try this out. currently i use those little plastic sealers, those you can buy at Ikea, to reseal my opened plastic bags.

2. brownie in a mug - to keep empty tummies occupied

i think i tried this once. i forgot how this turned out, because i don't really see how this can compete with baking brownies from scratch. i planned to use ramekins but i couldn't find them at the time (and i still don't own any) so maybe since i was planning to make choc cookies with the kids one day, maybe i should try this. hahah.

3. onion school, for dummies 101

you hear people talking about onions all the time. shallots, the mat sallehs in the cooking shows call them. we use onions a lot in cooking. they smell nice, they give you bad breath, we love the onion - fried edition (aka bawang goreng), we can make onion rings out of them! so what's not to love?
(i only eat them if they're fried beyond recognition =P).

so for my reference (just a mention: i keep mistaking ginger for garlic sometimes) i tempek this photo here. so now whenever you plan to whip something up in the kitchen that requires onions, you know which one you should use, haha.

onion vs onion

sekian untuk kelas 101 kita pada hari ini ya. i'm off to fill in my performance review, sigh.

birthstones

i keep forgetting which stone belongs to which month, and some months seem to have more than one.
so i'm posting this here for easy reference.
hmmm... seems my kids' birthstones are of greenish hues - peridot and emerald.

p/s. my birthstone is citrine =P

img source: google

malam nisfu syaaban

Nisfu Syaaban falls on the 15th day of the month of Syaaban in the Hijrah calendar.
it's the day that our book of deeds is raised to the heavens, and we get a fresh page to start on.
on the eve of Nisfu Syaaban, it is sunat (encouraged?) to recite the surah Yasin three times after the Maghrib prayers, followed by fasting the next day.

i found this useful info here.

Bacaan kali pertama, memohon supaya dipanjangkan umur dan taat kepada Allah serta sentiasa beramal soleh.
Bacaan kali ke-2, memohon supaya ditolak segala bala bencana.
Bacaan kali ke-3, memohon supaya tidak berhajat kecuali kepada Allah

after each recitation of the Surah Yasin, this doa was to follow:


i found a great website on how to perform Solat Taubat here and here.

you never know when your life might get taken away from you.

things i pick up on FB

you see... Facebook isn't all that bad.

things you might not have known when reading the Quran:


i'm kinda glad my parents sent me to Agama school back in my primary school days. i remember Abang Van picking me up in the afternoons (and sometimes even abandoning me when i take too long just getting out the front door hahahah). i might have thought it a nuisance to go for classes back then, since i used to view it as lesser time to play in a day. and i might not be the most religious person as one would hope to be. but education in the simple basics is something. and the mysterious thing about how the world works is, you tend to remember most of the things you learn when you were younger...

yes, i haven't been doing as much reading as i should. since the holy Ramadhan is coming up soon (in less than a month!) i thought i'd share something i picked up on Facebook:


so let's hope to a great month ahead =)

antara dua sujud

TAHUKAH KAMU.....

Doa duduk antara Sujud yang kita selalu baca laju2...
tahukah maksudnya??

Rabbighfirli (Tuhanku, ampuni aku)
Warhamni (sayangi aku)
Wajburnii (Tutuplah aib-aibku)
Warfa’nii (Angkatlah darjatku)
Warzuqnii (Berilah aku rezeki)
Wahdinii (Berilah aku petunjuk)
Wa’Aafinii (Sihatkan aku)
Wa’fuannii (Maafkan aku)

thought i'd share. and for me to always remember. because ignorance isn't necessarily bliss T__T.

gr8 advice

t

time to dress up

this year it seems that everyone's annual dinner has some sort of theme which require them to dress up (in order to win Best Dressed haha). the theme could be retro, futuristic, swashbuckling Pirates, or figures the Roman Empire era. for my company, it was Movie Night. i think sil's annual dinner over at EY was following along the same theme too.

so. gah. what should i dress up as? it's not easy picking your outfit for the night. pffft. i've never even gone out of my way to rent an outfit just to blend in. anyway, here's a record on where you can actually rent a costume if the situation calls for it. a colleague sent us some links a few days before our annual dinner, but i didn't even look at the links (oops... =P maybe i'll add them here later just in case). i tried googling costume rentals online, but i got very few results. only three stores stood out from all the rest, mainly because i'm familiar with the area. i'd rather not get lost in the process of looking for a shop i've never been to, and besides, the dinner was held at the very same night i was looking, so... =P.

there was a store in Subang Jaya i heard, but when i tried calling the store from the number i got online, it was disconnected. furthermore i read in forums that they no longer rented but only supplied to-buy costumes, so didn't want to waste my time looking for the store despite being the nearest in case that was true (since i got these information from forums dated 2 years ago).

the second store was situated in KLCC. i heard this was quite famous? from what my sil told me. the store was called Costume Empire. from their website they seemed pretty established too. it was just too far out of my way to drive all the way down to rempuh jam just to rent a costume which i had to return a couple of days later @_@. i never go down to KL anymore ever since i stopped working in the heart of the bustling city. heck i didn't even know the Angkasaraya building was no more T__T.

the store details:

Costumes Empire (001771732-D),
Lot 2.36 & 2.37, 1st Floor Wisma Central,
Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03 2164 3698 (Linda - for rental assistance)
Tel: 010 3612565 (Amy - children's costumes)
Tel: 019 3000711 (Rose - for custom-made assistance)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 1130-1930
Sat: 1130-1730

the other store was Costume World, situated in Pelangi Damansara. so ok i was sorta familiar with the area. i called them up and they said it was possible to rent a costume at such short notice so i decided to try my luck at this store. the store was situated right above 7 Eleven among the shoplots opposite Houz Depot (er, more or less. i recall this blue pedestrian bridge connecting the shoplots to the opposite side of the road).

when i got to the store, there were a bunch of people inside the store also looking for costumes T_T. i think i felt invisible for almost half an hour being in the store since there was nobody to attend to me. i seriously didn't know what costume to pick and if it were up to me i wouldn't even be there in the first place. i tried browsing through the racks for inspiration and still came back empty-handed. but i must say, their choices are pretty great, but this is my first time being in a store like this, after all. the costumes were arranged by category, and they even came in a range of sizes too.

i even tried asking for help from the store owner (whom i think she was) but she just dismissed me and asked me to go through their available catalogs categorized by theme, which i already did. i think i would've made my choice and leave the store faster if customers didn't keep hogging the catalogs because apparently i overlooked the one labelled 'movie characters and cartoon'. grrr. well, at least try and get someone to assist and suggest to a noob like me, would you?

at least the other store owner was nice. i was already in a bad mood by the time i got to the counter with the costume of my choice but at least he tried to make polite conversation. he even entertained a couple who arrived after store opening hours and got his staff to help them choose an outfit. me? grrr. does nobody like me?

i finally narrowed my choices after i got my hands on the correct catalog. i might have enjoyed myself if i had a friend along like how the other customers in the store did. and despite feeling like an idiot for the first half of my stay, i'd still like to go back there in case of future functions in need of a costume. it's not always you get to dress up to be someone else, eh?

lol.

oh i almost forgot the store details:

Costume World
B-3A-17 Pusat Perdagangan Pelangi Square
Persiaran Surian PJU 6
Pelangi Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Tel: 03 7729 733

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 1100-1900
Sat: 1100-1600

my company dinner was held yesterday at the Crowne Plaza, KL. seemed that there were an abundant number of pirates at the dinner, mainly because it was the easiest thing to dress up as. i think there were enough pirates to form Jack Sparrow's crew even, haha. some people dressed up in characters that were abit hard to distinguish (someone mistook Poison Ivy as Tinkerbell haha), others just came as themselves. one of my colleagues even came as Russell from Up, complete with the backpack and helium-filled balloons trailing behind him, lol. he kept giving away his balloons yet always seemed to have a bunch still left about him.

well that's to name a few. ugh i look soooo anorexic T_T. anyway, a few random photos below:

itinerary of the night

take 20

these two won Best Dressed for dressing up as the opposite sex hahaha

with the Blues Brothers. eiii i had my eyes closed >.<

meet Mr. Marilyn Monroe. haha

awal muharram

doa akhir tahun:

dibaca 3 kali pada akhir waktu Asar atau sebelum masuk waktu Maghrib pada akhir bulan Zulhijjah.



doa awal tahun:

dibaca 3 kali selepas maghrib pada malam satu Muharram.

what i get from FB

10 Surah dapat Menghalang daripada 10 ujian Besar Allah

1- Surah Al-Fatihah dapat memadam kemurkaan Allah SWT.
2- Surah Yasin dapat menghilangkan rasa dahaga atau kehausan pada hari Kiamat.
3- Surah Dukhan dapat membantu kita ketika menghadapi ujian Allah SWT pada hari kiamat.
4- Surah Al-Waqiah dapat melindungi kita daripada ditimpa kesusahan atau fakir.
5- Surah Al-Mulk dapat meringankan azab di dalam kubur.
6- Surah Al-Kauthar dapat merelaikan segala perbalahan.
7- Surah Al-Kafirun dapat menghalang kita daripada menjadi kafir ketika menghadapi kematian.
8- Surah Al-Ikhlas dapat melindungi kita daripada menjadi golongan munafiq.
9- Surah Al-Falq dapat menghapuskan perasaan hasad dengki.
10- Surah An-Nas dapat melindungi kita daripada ditimpa penyakit was-was.

Semoga dapat menjadi amalan kita semua.. :)

oh... and a photo which i also got from FB... at first i was stumped when i saw this, it was sooo old-skool... kinda brought back fond memories... hahahah.

and the relationship would be...?

Langkawi info

i stumbled across this only AFTER i started cursing Google. lol. useful information for those who plan to migrate to the island. bringing vehicles to the island isn't as simple as loading your car onto a ferry (like Penang) so... putting this down here for reference. God know how many time i keep misplacing information that you think is insignificant... but when you when you really need it, you got no idea where it is. hoho.

Wantas Shipping (Langkawi) Sdn. Bhd.
Kuala Kedah Office
2A, Jalan Kuala Kedah, 06600 Kuala Kedah, Kedah
TEL: 04-762 4130, 04-762 7188
FAX: 04- 762 4931
Email: info@wantas.com.my
Website: www.wantas.com.my

they operate 7 days a week, with a surcharge on Fridays.

i called them up to ask about shipping Significant Other's car to Langkawi, she tells me this:
- you need a photocopy of the car's grant.
- a list of things you're bringing over the the island for custom's purposes (although they did advise not to put any belongings in the vehicle).
- charges depends on what type of car you're bringing. for his car a normal day charge would be about rm130. extra surcharge rm10 for Fridays.
- send the car before 12pm, and you'll get the car the following day by 10.30am. send it later and you'll have to wait an extra day. i guess you can compare the delivery time as with Poslaju =P~~
- you collect the car at Tanjung Lembung (when i was on the phone i misheard is Tanjung Rebung wahahahhahaha).

i guess that's it. more information can be found here at their website.

have yet to go through the experience so i'll update anything else next week =D.

updated:
so we arrived at the office Friday morning at the dockyard around 11.30ish. at the traffic light, just keep going straight, you'll see Mee Abas on your left, the office is just beside it. it's small and tiny, you can't miss it. we submitted a copy of his car grant, and left the car there (along with his stuff in the car - noted down as 'barang pindah').

once you see this the office will be on your left

barang2 'pindah'

the next morning we took a ferry to the island. reached there around 1.30pm (we missed the 10.45am ferry) and paid rm16 for the taxi fare to get us to Tanjung Lembung (which was on the way to Padang Matsirat, it wasn't anywhere near the jetty). apparently people have been shipping cars to Langkawi, Tanjung Lembung wasn't unfamiliar to our taxi driver, he even asked 'ambik kereta ka?' in the most thickest loghat Kedah imaginable =P~~~

signage

once there, Significant Other registered at the front porch and collected the keys from the office. the car was already waiting for us past the gates, i saw a whole bunch of other cars there too. the guard told us to enter through the gates on the right, then to head on right and search among the bunch of cars until you found yours.

we found the car dusty, but in one piece. an autobiography 'aku sebuah kereta' comes to mind, btw.

safe n sound

so now you know =D.

all for RM300

i can't believe i didn't even blog about my hardship of creating a passport my my daughter and renewing my own last year. i guess i was busy complaining about how slow immigration is on mbw that i forgot to post it here. hahaha. so here's a little reminder to myself just in case i need to renew ours in the future.

here's what you need when you want to apply/renew passport:
- Identification Card (MyKad)
- 2 copies of recent photograph with light blue background (3.5x5 cm)
- Your old passport if you have one
- RM500 for 5 years, RM100 for 2 years (for renewal only)

if you're applying for children below 18 years:
- Identification Card (MyKad of MyKid)
- Birth Certificate
- Parent’s Identification Card (parent must appear in person together with applicant)
- 2 copies of recent photograph with light blue background (3.5x5 cm)
- RM150 for 3 years, RM120 for 2 years (if i'm not mistaken)

the child must appear together with the parent while applying for the passport, and must also be present when picking up the passport.

you can imagine the number of screaming kids running around the immigration office T_T, they should at least provide a playground to let the kids vent out their steam, kakakaka (demand betul). my daughter had already lost patience and we were only halfway down the queue to verify our documents! (belum lagi tunggu nombor giliran ok, after verifying your documents they'll hand you a number and you'll have to wait again for your turn, grrr. not to mention the waiting time of two hours to pick up your passport, and even then you need to wait for your name to be called @_@).

they have a special counter for children and the elderly, so that lessens the waiting time for those cases (you know how impatient toddlers can be). i made the mistake of not checking my passport expiry date when i was applying for Dayana's passport that i ended up going to the immigration office 4 times in a row ok. gila saiko ke apa. if you want to go through a smooth process of applying for a passport i suggest you go as soon as the doors open pagi-pagi buta. else you'll waste alot of time spending time waiting in line. bring a good book if you have to. lol.

sometimes i think RM300 is alot to pay for a passport. it's worth it if you travel extensively. me? the passport i had made in 2004 only held stamps from Thailand (Phuket 05 and Bangkok 07), and Indonesia (Jakarta 09) and gosh, that's like sooo not worth my $$$.

my new passport has a stamp from Singapore. let's see if i get to put in another stamp this year. lol.

Phuket 2005

Bangkok 2007

Jakarta 2009