Twilight the movie - DVD

You wouldn’t guess it but Ken surprised me with the Extended Version DVD last night and I wasn’t keen in going to bed without watching it.

Somehow, I regretted either reading the book first or even watching the movie last night. The book was good – hands down. It made your imagination run wild and the way the writer described the plot and characters was so detailed and words just can describe how I imagined it…which was not captured in the movie…that was really sad because when I read the book, I wished I was going out with a vampire but after I watched the movie, that feeling kinda disappeared and I’m happy with the reality.

What I felt that was essential in the movie was the connection or the reasons certain things happened from one scene to another which was not capture and seriously, the actors was really bad (sorry) -they were stiff and I felt that they could have done better.

Oh ya, the other annoying part that I’ve realized was that since I read the book, I was trying to guess the characters and even finish their lines even before they are said…I think Ken can second on this that I was rather irritating last night…well, it’s the first book that I’ve ever been excited about and all those words were transformed into a visual aid to help the mind fulfill its imaginary vision…how could I not be excited? Hahahaha…

Anyway, here are the main characters in the movie…

Clumsy like me in a way... - Bella

My vampire wannabe boyfriend...kinda dissapointing actually :( - Edward


The bad guy...he played his part well - James

Overall, I would say that I hate the fact that they decided to twist the ending of the movie because the ending of the book was the reason why I had sleepless nights thinking of what is going to happen in the second book...it broke my heart that my imagination was crushed by the..."Eh, that's not true...eh, that did not happend...and eh, was that in the book?" So I would say, stick to only one thing. If you are too lazy to read the book, just watch the movie. If you prefer books, read it and don't watch the movie. If you wanna get your heart broken, just do both!

Twilight

Last week, when I was on my holiday, I managed to finish a book entitled “Twilight” the first book I bought without reading its synopsis or anything on it. To tell you frankly, I have no idea what attracted me to it other then the 100 over copies stacked by the window in MPH and the beautiful black background of the book and that striking red apple as its cover. Well, I looked at it, it looked interesting and I paid for it. To my surprise and I quote “It’s a story about Vampires lah…” I told Ken. He laughed and said “Duh”

Anyway, this is a confession…I don’t really like reading book…I buy them, they look interesting to me but…I start them and hardly finishes it because it’s just too hard to concentrate on reading without falling asleep. Well, this book surely changed everything! I was so into the book that I managed to finish it in one week over my fishing trip and with the boat swinging from left to right all the time and reading the same lines over and over again; one week was a new personal record!

I got this write up on the book from Wiki but I would seriously encourage anyone who is interested in Vampires and love and everything in between to read the book…(I don’t believe this is coming from me)

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Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie, while her mother, Renee, travels with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player. Bella attracts much attention at her new school and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys compete for shy Bella's attention.

When Bella is seated next to Edward Cullen in class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. He disappears for a few days, but warms up to Bella upon his return; their newfound relationship reaches a climax when Bella is nearly run over by a fellow classmate's van in the school parking lot. Seemingly defying the laws of physics, Edward saves her life when he instantaneously appears next to her and stops the van with his bare hands.
Bella becomes hellbent on figuring out how Edward saved her life, and constantly pesters him with questions. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black, into telling her local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires who drink animal blood rather than human. Edward confesses that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable to him. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.

Their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks. James, a tracker vampire who is intrigued by the Cullens' relationship with a human, wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens attempt to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. There, Bella receives a phone call from James, who claims he is holding her mother captive. When Bella surrenders herself, James attacks her, but Edward, along with the other Cullens, rescues Bella and destroys James. Once they realize that James has bitten Bella's hand, Edward sucks the venom from her system before it can spread and transform her into a vampire, and she is then sent to a hospital. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their school prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses.

Ken got me the second book and I’m making a point to finish it as soon as possible because Ken promised me that we would get the movie only if I finished the books…OMG I cant wait!!!

Golden Retro Night

Here are a few more pictures of the annual dinner...

(Back-from left) Faisal, Frodo, Faizul & Ikbal
(Front-from left) Ain & Siti

Azmil & Lay Hong

Me

Some of the guys fooling around in the changing room

(From left) Tina, Azmil, Lay Hong, Joyce & Frodo

The ever so funny Ikbal

Faizul, Din & Frodo

Me again

The gang

Azmil & Ezha

On stage

Shafa & I

Check this out

Wow! It’s been 1 month of complete silence from me. I’ve been so busy with things around the office last month…leaving office only around 8pm – 9pm everyday and reaching home just in time to have my shower and sleep…didn’t have time for my baby and I’m sure he felt it too…lonely dinner nights, massaging me after all the body aches and making sure I have enough food and rest as well…OMG…it has been a very hectic month.

The most exciting event that I would like to share with you guys is the latest company annual dinner that took place on the 28th February 2009…yeah yeah it’s kinda weird that it’s in the second month of the year and not at the end or early of the year like all the other companies. Well, the thing is with working with a Japanese company, everything is just simply weird for some strange reasons…our financial year ends on the 20th February which means, our so called ‘New Year’ is celebrated only on the 20th February of each year and doing the annual dinner on the 28th of February means we are only weird in ‘your books’…hahahaha

Anyway, I was one of the committee member (I was coned by the way) for the Annual Dinner this year because they needed fresh ideas and most likely fresh blood to do all the slaving around and I volunteered because they needed some idea for a team performance – battle of the bands or some sort. I said ok in attending the meeting just because the person in charge was not sure of the idea and she asked me to explain it to the other committee members. I said ok. Well, there I was, in that meeting room…just waiting for a chance to explain what my idea was and all of a sudden, I AM ONE OF THE COMMITTEE – according to the meeting minutes. Well, since then, I was dragged into doing this and that and everything. Seriously, if I was not one of their staff…I would have been paid quite a fair deal for everything I have done.

Anyway, the idea of the battle of the bands was scarped when they decided that they would like to have something with an ‘open concept team performance’ since not everyone can form a band or even just simply sing without killing our ear drums… I was ok with the whole idea of having an open concept so that more people would be involved. Jeng jeng jeng…they needed one group from HR and who took part? Me and my lovely gang J it was a tough task to begin with and at that time, I seriously regretted opening my mouth in the first place.

There were 12 of us who represented HR and Finance and we decided to come out with a dance routine. OMG who’s great idea was that? It was crazy in getting the steps, we watched videos, dance CDs, you tube and MTVs to learn some steps but all those pro moves were too complicated for us…we had to make up steps and name them and make sure that everyone was able to do the step…if it’s too difficult, we would need to crack our brains for more new moves. I really salute those creative and brilliant choreographers around who do this for a living…I never did appreciate them until we had the experience of doing this crazy dance.

Anyway, since the ‘theme’ for the event was Golden Retro Night, we decided to come out with a compilation of retro songs. We went with – sister act (medley), staying alive, dancing queen, get your boogie down, and that’s the way I like it. It was a crazy mixture and the 7 minutes that we had was like a drilling 7 hours. We started practicing way in advance from the other teams and thank God we did because… (drum rolls) Can you hear the music at the background?? The crowd going wild and the winner goes to????...Jeng jeng jeng…The dynamites! That’s us J and you would not guess what our performance name is…Shhhh…Kaboom! Ken said it was Funny but appropriate… “…come on and sing along…We are the champions, my friend…and we will keep on fighting till the end…dum dum dum…” and the crowd still goes wild……..WOOOOWHOOOO!!!

To tell you the truth, just before I was on stage…I wished I didn’t submit those names. What if we screw up? What if we did not blow people’s minds with our performance and it was a total mess? OMG…It’s too late to turn back time now…before I knew it, Sarimah Ibrahim our emcee was already calling us on stage. The tension was rising, we need to be perfect…here goes nothing…and the music started…I remembered what Ken told me when I told him that I was super nervous…and those were the only words that was repeating in my head… “Let the music take control” oh, and my brain was also reminding me to breath, smile and look in front!

Thank god they dimmed the lights on the gigantic hall – Sunway main ball room. There were about 1,200 people around and I was not able to see any of them because 1st, it was dark and 2nd, thank God for smoke machines! The cool thing about the smoke machine is that, when you are looking against the dark, you basically only see the smoke…but for the audience, they are able to see us and occasionally the smoke.

I haven’t performed any dance or even been on stage for the longest time ever and even though those 7 minutes was soooooo long during our rehearsals, on stage it was a total opposite. I actually enjoyed every second I was on that stage…with my crazy wig and costumes…it was a wonderful experience and I would not mind doing it again. The thing is, we did not notice that we were soooo ready that we were freaking out in the changing room…one of the girls were so stressed up that she actually got her period even before her due date…poor girl. Watching the video on the performance, we were close to perfect! I could not believe the fact that we were damn good. We were so synchronized!! I promise you that have never happened during our rehearsal and that was the same reason we freaked out in the first place.

Anyway, to cut the story short…it was a very nice and exciting night. One of the best annual dinner I’ve ever attended. The food, the activity, the people, the PERFORMANCE! It was all good.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the 11 jokers who was in the group performance; Faril, Frodo, Shafa, Esha, Faisal, Ikbal, Faisul, Azmil, Siti, Ain and last but not least, my partner- Din. Thanks for putting up with my weird dance steps and that you guys did not give up half way even though we know that we wanted to…

This is for the dynamites…enjoy!

My sisters from different parents - Faril, Me and Joyce

The Dynamites - Boys only (in the changing room)

The Dynamites - The whole group. Can you spot me?

Bragging rights

Today is the most happening day in history…(for me lah!) Remember the bowling tournament that I mentioned the other day? To my great surprise…I’m the top scorer amongst the girls…hehehehehe…these calls for celebration! Even though, I’m not number one…but this is the best bragging rights I ever had and I worked hard for it! (I would like to think I did…hahahaha)

The whole event of waking up early, lack of sleep…back ache…muscle pull…FUHHH!!! Here is the score card as proof…

1st Set 2nd Set 3rd Set Total
1. Sabri 135 141 169 445
2. Jamal 138 170 127 435
3. IKBAL 133 114 109 356
4. NAELY 89 124 136 349
5. SHAHRIL 97 97 135 329
6. KHONTESA 114 104 110 328
7. AZMIL 83 132 98 313
8. ZAHARI 99 88 124 311
9. DIN 77 122 108 307
10. FRODO 88 100 112 300
11. CT 105 63 127 295
12. SHAFA 95 99 96 290
13. ZAHA 89 88 112 289
14. SHIMA 104 78 92 274
15. TAN 107 90 76 273
16. JOYCE 89 75 89 253
17. NURUL 96 70 79 245
18. AZRUL 78 62 103 243
19. ESHA 71 94 72 237
20. HUDA 82 78 75 235
21. AIN 79 75 73 227
22. ANNA 54 84 80 218
23. LAY HONG 67 78 46 191
24. ANNIE 64 28 38 130

Best Individual (Male) Sabri and Best Individual (Female) ME!!!!

Begitulah ceritanya...me and my bowling skills...hahahahaha...I didn't know I was that good! HAHAHAHAHA

Secret Santa 2008

Lets back track a little here…last month, I organized a Christmas party for my office mates and to my surprise, it is the first time they actually had a Christmas tree, decorations in the office, as well as a party! We collected RM5 from everyone and to my surprise, there were about 40 people who wanted to join…and this is only from HR, Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility team. To tell you frankly, my target was about 15-20 people...a small get together...makan-makan and exchange some gifts...that's all...but 40 people!!! WOW...nice...:)

My whole team was excited as this is our very first “team initiative” and as I mentioned earlier…they NEVER had a Christmas party before!!! Anyway, to make things easier for me, I got them to play “Secret Santa” and their budget for the gift was RM10 each. Organizing the gift and making sure everyone brought their respective gifts was a great hassle. To tell you the truth, some jack*** actually wrapped a gift with the plastic that you use when you send post laju! How silly is that?? We had to re-wrap the gift with a more presentable wrapper and we also had to make sure that the receiver was not aware about it as well. Some people are just freaking cruel!!!

Anyway, the important thing is, everyone had a blast…we had dominos, KFC, mee hoon, chocolate cake, and ribena. To tell you frankly, the food was not enough we had to rush down to the cafeteria downstairs a grab some last minute tip bits.

I forgot to tell you guys about the best part…I had a secret surprise for everyone…one of my friend from the operations team volunteered to be our “Secret Santa” but it was no secret after all…everyone knew it was him! (his glasses gave that away)

To conclude everything…we had a blast of a time and yes…my secret santa gave me a mop and a Marlin decoration thingy…I had a MOP??? Hahahaha…that is seriously the first! On top of that, I also received a mug filled with chocolates, a blue top, a small pouch for my Ipod and a 3D crystal sand blast – Jesus picture…(actually I’m not sure what it is called) on top of that…all the good memories.

Here are just 2 pictures of the event...everything else was deleted the other day...sorry :)

Training team; Joyce, Me and Faril

(Top row from the left) Huda, Anne, Joyce, Esha, Shafa, Azza, Ikbal, Faisal

(Floor) Me, Alex, Faril and Frodo

2008 joke of the year

What a joke! My end of the year resolution was blown into pieces since I never did find the time to write even 1 single write up. Sorry guys...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!! (I know it's way over due...sorry guys) My Christmas was fantastic...I received more then10 gifts from Ken and we went camping on the 2nd day of Christmas in Pangkor! It was fantastic. We were well equipt but it was our 1st time camping together after so long...I think my last camping trip was when I was in secondary school :)

Anyway, I'll upload the pictures once I receive them from Ken.

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Gosh! Anyway, the latest update on work has to be on the training sessions that I was planning for… it did go on and it was seriously a great success…damn nice. I have a few video presentations of the participants doing their “stuff”. I’m not sure if I’m able to attach it here for you guys to view it but I will surely try.

One thing I love that I read about being a trainer is this:

" A trainer must be in the centre like a spider and the efficiency of the training program must be like fibers of the web that will connect the trainees to the organization."

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Oh ya, on another note…we had a bowling tournament last weekend and it was so much fun!! I love my new work mates…there is surely some crazy people around :) Here are some pictures…and yes, I did bake my special vanilla with chocolate rice muffins (at last) and it was gone in a blink of an eye. They loved it! It’s good to know that I still have the touch … hahahahaha

The blue team, Anna (Finance), Azmil (Finance), Sharil (R.O.D) and ME

My lovely new 'muhibah' family; Faril (in brown) and Joyce (in Pink)

The whole gang

My lunch mates; Lay Hong (Finance) and Joyce (Training)

End of the year resolution

I guess I started this blog at my ex company since I had so much time in my hands at that time…I used to bake nearly everyday at that time and I was feeding everyone in the office.

At my new place now, I’m busy doing “something” sometimes I wonder why I’m so busy when most of my time I am sited at my desk…doing “something” Thinking back, I just realized that the class that I have been planning for is just 2 weeks away and I started to have butterflies in my tummy. I have no idea why…I know I am prepared…I’ve been prepared since 3 weeks ago as all my “something” has been put in research, research, research, memorizing, memorizing, memorizing, and visualizing how my classes are going to be. God, no wonder I feel really tired at the end of each day.

I conducted my 2nd solo induction class last week and OMG I really missed the good old times when I use to have so much fun in my own classes – well, the participants are suppose to have fun but I think I end up having more fun then them…hahahaha. Anyway, its been so long since I conducted a class and boy, I’m glad to be back! I know I’m a little rusted here and there and my brains need a little waking up. “Slowly but surely” I know I would be able to do this the way I’ve always been doing it. Oh ya, for those who don't really know me, I’m a trainer by the way.

Anyway, coming back to my blog; I realized that it's been neglected and my new month resolution is to make sure that write as much write ups as possible. “Promise”

Just to inform you guys, since I have no time to bake, I’ve decided to write on some stuff that I have working on – my materials for ‘Train the trainer’, stress and time management and some other activities.

I can’t believe that I went from baking everyday to no baking at all. Since I joined my new company, I have only baked twice! Anyway, Christmas is around the corner and I hope I would be able to come out with a few cookies and cakes for my family and friends…I’ll tell you guys how it goes ok! Watch out for more stories soon - that I can promise!

Ola...

OMG.........I've been sooooo busy lately with my new job and all...not forgetting, I have been baking too and I would take the time to write on those events too...soon...


Can you believe it?? On my first day, I already received 2 assignments...AT LAST MY BRAIN IS BACK IN USE!!! hahahahha...It's been sleeping for sometime now :)

I'm going to make this short...I still have a few other things to write before I share about my new job...

Take care guys...I'll write soon...I PROMISE

Yummy disaster!

I baked twice last week but it wasn’t great so I didn’t want to put it on here. It was interesting as I learned to save my experiments and learned how to cover it up…and when I say this, I’m sure you get a hint of what I’m talking about!! It felt like a bad week to bake as I baked my normal Chocolate Rice Muffins (Ken’s Favorite) and it turned out really sad looking! Don’t get me wrong, it tasted fantastic but it just looked really bad. In the oven, it looked really great as I added sodium bicarbonate and it was fat and fluffy but when I pulled it out of the oven, everything went FLAT!!! I’ve been baking the same muffins for the past couple of months and this time it went FLAT?? Oh my goodness, I’m going to lose my title as “Muffin Queen”. Sob sob

I sent a frustrating SMS to Ken saying that I give up and I’m going to throw all the muffins away…which I did as the first batch could not be saved…I BURNED IT ALL!!! Holy crap…I’m no longer worthy for my title…sob sob… Ken replied saying “Hold on baby, let me taste it first…DON’T THROW!!” So I told him ok.

Sitting down in my kitchen, staring at the flat muffins…I thought of an idea…maybe I can save this! I thought to myself…but what can I do?? BINGO!!! I took out my trusty 2.5 kg chocolate bar…melted them and poured them into the middle of the muffin! It was a perfect puddle of mud…yummy puddle :)

Guess what? I renamed the muffin to “Chocolate tart muffin” because it really did look like an egg tart but the only difference is, this tart has muffin dough and chocolate in the middle…
As I walked into the office, I was rather shy to even serve it to the team…but what the hack!!! I’ve already tasted it and it tasted good and everyone saw me with my muffins Tupperware, so they know I brought something that I’ve baked.

First muffin went to Kalvin…take a bite I said…as I stood by his desk and waited for his response. “Can I have another one please?” he asked Phew, thank God…it tasted good and it's safe for me to serve the other muffins to the rest (Sorry Kalvin...hahaha). I told him that that it’s a Chocolate Tart Muffin – my own creation…he just didn’t know that it was a creation from a disastrous experiment that went wrong…hahahaha. Well, I brought only 6 muffins and everyone was asking for more…I wish I had more to give… I went home and told Ken that the muffins that had gone wrong was a fast seller and I think I should make more of those – wrong muffins and the only thing he asked was “What’s wrong with it oh? It does taste good” Awwwww…so sweet, he always know how to say the right things.

That same week, I made another batch but this time I didn’t use sodium bicarbonate but instead I used baking powder. The same thing happened to the muffins…I seriously need to stop baking, I thought to myself. I was sad that my famous muffins are not coming out right!!! What’s wrong?? Anyway, this time I made butter icing and placed it in the puddle as a cover up and everyone loved it as well.

Somehow or another, all the muffins that has gone wrong was saved and was gobbled down without even knowing that it was a disaster muffin. I’m just glad everyone loved it and hopefully my next baking session, I would not need to cover up the muffins and come out with some creative names to cover it up…hahahaha

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I’m excited. I think today, right after work, I’m going to bake a test recipe for my first ever weekend order that I have. It’s my first order and it’s a big order!! 70 muffins for a one year old birthday party! I know what you may be thinking…One year old? So what?? They can’t even eat it. I’m not worried about them…It’s the parents whom I have to impress. Vicky was asking me for my name cards… “What name cards I asked him?” and he said… “Well, I need to promote you on that day right?” “I don’t have a name card I said…this is exciting… I’m going to come out with a BOMB muffin recipe for my very first order…I’m going to make sure that everything is perfect…everything is fresh and everything taste and looks good.

I just got off the phone with my sister a few minutes ago and she was also giving me some tips and help on how to improve myself, colors to use, deco, flavors…I’m excited for this order now!
I’m grateful that I have family and friends who are supporting me on my new passion. It’s fun to learn new things and to try it out…learn from mistakes and learn how to cover up the mistakes…as I said, I’m very new to this and so far, I’ve only been getting good response that has encouraged me to improve myself. Who knows, someday you would see me with my new bakery or something bigger in the future…let me tell you this…It has crossed my mind recently and Ken told me that he would like to invest in the new idea. I think I’m not qualified or ready to go all big time now. Maybe I will stick to home baking for now and take orders in small bulks … at least it’s a good start and on top of all that, I just love baking and satisfying the people that I care and love with muffins and not forgetting chocolate, chocolate, chocolates!!

P/S: Hey, can someone tell me how and why the muffins went flat? Any ideas?