Indulgence

Hee hee... am having a snackie... such indulgence!



NOTE: It's 'Milk Chocolate + Caramel' Digestives!

Rogue Agents

Job agents who are not genuine do exist in this country. They go by dirty tricks to survive. There's a recent article on Contractor UK website reporting such trades. This makes a bad impression not only on the job agency industry, but might put genuine candidates in trouble. I am extremely weary now.

Disgusting Livingstone

London's Mayor Ken Livingstone appealed to Londoners to NOT flush their toilets. This he says is to avoid a water shortage disaster from happening!

Now... is that absurdly disgusting or what?!!!

Read the full news report from Times online.

Improvising

Can't afford a micro-wave oven nor a proper multi-tiered steamer? Here's a solution...

Get a bamboo steamer rack (available from any China Town cooking utensils store) & use it on your usual Tefal stir fry wok with lid. Works as brilliantly as would any other steamer. And better in preserving food value compared to the micro wave oven in heating up food!


This is how it is used.


I use it to heat up leftover rice or dishes.

Full Attendance Award

Am still in the blur as to how this came about. But apparently I was a model employee that I received this award! Hahaha... :D



No kidding, it's signed by the Director of Personnel. It is authentic... and doubled with participating merchant's seal too.

Migration

In today's globalised world, migration issues creep up in every country's home affairs agenda. Be it developed countries like the U.K., U.S., HK, or developing countries like Malaysia, China, India, they have their own fare share of migration issues.

The BBC today published a piece of news titled Migration is 'good for everybody'. Based on the International Organisation of Migration research, it reports something which perhaps government home affairs departments should have a closer look at.

Changing Roles

Since quitting Hong Kong in March 2005, I have found myself with several different jobs to attend to. From the previous one job I attended to in Hong Kong, I now am performing 2 or probably more (depending on how you define jobs).

I have had a rough count, and come to identify that I currently hold 2 full time positions, and 3 part time positions. Below a rough list of job positions & job description.

Full Time:

The DDA (Director of Domestic Affairs) Overlook & manages the home front affairs. Stocking the fridge with foodstuff, monitoring food stock, and meal preparation. Evaluate how best to utilise available resources to make the dwelling much neat, yet warm & cosy. The Job Seeker Main task is to job hunt. Scanning all major media sources for job advertisements, identify the suitability & set targets to send applications. Write corresponding cover letters & tailor C.V. to target job ads.

Part Time:

The Artist/ Web Designer A commision was made to create an art piece for a special card. I was assigned this illustrator job. Now the focus is on designing the rather outdated online portfolio of mine. Living in this technology driven society, one has to keep abreast of latest technology out there that can enhance your worth. So I have chosen to further explore the abilities of CSS. The Mover 1st moving was in March 2005 (HK to London) 2nd moving happened recently in June 2005 (Ifor Evans Block to Neil Sharp Block - Camden Town, London) The Organiser Playing the full time role of DDA, this job came naturally. What do I organise? Everything from 'how to move', to 'what to do for the weekend', to 'how best to organise the bookshelf'. The Secretary In charged of all the communications & dealings between families. Made sure special dates are remembered, calendars are marked & if gifts or cards are required will be acquired. Also not forgetting to set reminders to make that needed long distance phone call.

Though some might think that being a person without a permanent job, one would have more time on his/her hands to do many more things. If that is your conviction, I would like to ask you to reconsider. You might have the picture of an idle person lounging at home, staring into space and merely lifting a hand when flipping through job advertisements. It certainly is not the scenario over here! Coming to that... I think it would be equally demanding being a house wife or mother as would being a 9-5 office worker.

Oh well, you might think that I'm just rambling on. I see it as some sort of revelation!

Sunny Weekend

It is a sunny weekend here in London. The sun is shining bright and strong outside. But ... i'm at home, down with flu, and feeling horrible.


Have realised that Tempo tissue paper is really nice & soft. If you get those ones with Menthol, they are super nice in fragrance... soothing... mmm... (sad consolation).

D.I.Y.

So we moved into to the new flat, and it is in much better condition than the previous one. Except one item if you remember... the shower!

Ok, the shower was working, but it was not working in a much efficient way that it would if the shower head was a good one. One does not need to spend a fortune to get a better shower head. Just a good sense of what is a 'Good Shower Head'.

Since it is the official UCL Halls of Residence, we thought maintenance will handle it if we reported that the shower was not working. We were so wrong.

Day 1 after moving in: no sign of maintenance guy
Day 2 after moving in: still no sign of maintenance guy
Day 3 after moving in: wife says to husband "we give up hope on the maintenance, let's go get our own solution."

Thus begins the Handy Husband D.I.Y.


The dodgy shower head.


The shower hose standing naked without shower head.


New shower parts.

Now we have a better performing shower, the water comes down with much pressure. Makes the body feel alive after a good shower!!! Handy Husband D.I.Y. works!

Breakfast

We had special delivery of Kaya on Tuesday. It's all the way from Singapore and tastes yummy delicious! The husband is suggesting we have it with toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!

Royal Parks of London

Had a Hong Kong friend in London yesterday on duty travel. We chose to meet up near High Street Kensington. While deciding on where to lunch, we had Hyde Park in mind. It turned out to be a beautiful choice as nothing beats a day out in the parks with fresh air and nature. We ended up covering two Royal Parks, first was Kensington Gardens, then Hyde Park.


Despite the less than perfect weather, it was a luxury to spend a day in the Royal Parks. Both the Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park to be specific. Since it is officially Summer in London now, there were not only vast expanse of green, and beautiful trees. There were also beautiful birds and flowers.

After our little lunch in Kensington Garden at the Round Pond. We started feeding the birds. All birds came flocking around us. There were Mallards & Swans in the Pond. We tried to avoid feeding the pigeons as they're notorious to feed on all sorts.


One bird which we were really keen on was a small bird. A passing gentleman told us it is called the 'Starling' (I've found out they are Common Starling). Those are most intelligent & diligent little birds around. Unlike the pigeons, they don't wait for the food to fall to the ground. They would fly up to grab the food when we throw them out.


When the feeding session ended, we headed off to The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. After which we strolled all the way to the Hyde Park flower garden near Hyde Park Corner. We were met with beautiful roses and various other summer flowers.


Thanks to this friend, I was able to spend a day away from the computer screen. In retrospect, it was indeed a refreshing way to spend a day!

Want to learn more about our day out? Here's some leads:

on the Royal Parks

on Birds of Britain

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Soul Food 靈魂糧食

More birthday treats!!! :D Hahhahaa......
Have I told you that books are yummy? Mmm...yumm!

So food for the soul added to my collection are:

You're an Animal, Viskovitz - Alessandro Boffa

Kafka on the Shore - Murakami

The Bossa Nova and Samba Gold Collection (CDs)

Pasta - Linda Fraser

The Complete Guide to Yoga - Smith, Hall, Gibbs

CSS Anthology '101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks - Sitepoint

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

These should keep me occupied for sometime apart from the moving! Woo hoo!!!

Birthday Treat

Moving Once More

After settling into this less than perfect conditioned flat for almost 2months. We will be moving again!

The notion of moving can be a daunting thought. But the new flat is in a much better condition than this current one. So there shouldn't be any complaints, perhaps just one teeny weeny thing about the shower.

Flat Comparison	Current	New
Bedroom	okay sized, simple almost breaking down wardrobe, with dressing mirror	spacious, more light, 2 separate wardrobes, 2 study tables, no dressing mirror
Living	computer table doubles as dining table	proper dining table, nice little bay window
Kitchen	utensils fighting for space of their own, no work top	more storage, more work space
Bathroom	tiles painted over, paint peeling badly, side of bathtub peeling	tiles are tiles, clean, shower doesn't dispense much water
Carpet	old, grey, rather dirty	appears clean, needs vacuuming
Windows	old, dusty, small	alluminium casing, clean, wide & pours light into rooms

So, I suppose with that comparison drawn up, we should not be thinking twice about moving. Afterall, it's just within the same halls of residence vicinity! I think I can live without the dressing mirror?...

Violet from Hong Kong

Both the husband and I are extremely overwhelmed that the violet from Hong Kong is not only growing strong... but also bearing new leaves!




Really thankful that I took a HK friend's suggestion to bring them along!!!

Su Doku (數獨/数独)

Husband and I have got hooked on this little puzzle game called Su Doku. It is a puzzle with an apparent Japanese name, yet Western origins tracing back as early as 1970 with the name Number Place.

A Japanese publisher Nikoli took this idea, and enhanced this game and renamed it "Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru" meaning the number is restrained to one (unmarried). Then it was too long a name, so they abbreviated it to the current "Su Doku" (數獨), which simply means single number.

Oxford Dictionary explains the game:

It consists of a square containing nine smaller squares, each subdivided into 9 small boxes (81 boxes in all). These boxes contain some of the numbers from 1 to 9, filled in by the puzzle's creator. The solver has to use logical thinking to complete the grid by ensuring that each of the nine internal squares contains the remaining numbers between 1 and 9, but also - and here's where it starts to get tricky - that each of the nine vertical columns and horizontal rows in the overall grid contains the numbers from 1 to 9, without repetition.

The attractive part of this simple game is that you don't need to be a genius to solve these little puzzles. All you need is a little logical thinking, and you're off to a fun fun session!

There are several online sites where you could check out how to play this game, and gather some tips on the way. You could get some SuDoku puzzles from Timesonline.co.uk. They have a dedicated section for SuDoku games. And for their answers when you've done solving them, you could check them out from Sudoku.com.

More Words

	WORD	MEANING
	Yrtti	herb
	Tarha	enclosure; (piha) yard
	Yrttitarha	herb garden
NUMBERS
	Yksi	1
	Yksiö	one room; studio
	Kaksi	2
	Kaksiö	two rooms
	Kolme	3
	Kolmeö	three rooms
	Neljä	4
	Viisi	5
	Kuusi	6
	Seitseman	7
	Kahdeksan	8
	Yhdeksan	9
	Kymmenen	10
HERBS
	Minttu	Mint
	Rosmariini	Rosemary
	Salvia	Sage
	Rakuuna	Dragoon
FRUITS
	Appelsiini	Orange
	Omena	Apple
	Sitruuna	Lemon
	Banaani	Banana
	Vesi Meloni	Water Melon
	Mansikka	Strawberry
	Mustikka	Blueberry

Grocery & Toiletry Theory

I was chatting with Mushi on MSN a while ago. We were discussing about guys in general and more specifically about how does a girl know who is "The Right Guy"? Hmm... let me rephrase that... the question is "How Do I Know if He Is The Right Guy?". There.

The first thing that came to mind was this metaphor I used while discussing with a friend about courting and settling down. Now I shall call it the "Grocery & Toiletry" theory.

From my point of view, love is about sharing the little things in life with those that you love. If you can find joy in doing simple things like groceries and toiletries with the guy in your life. Then he would be "Mr. Right".

Why? You might ask. Lets picture... a girl and a boy meets, they fall in love, they romance each other, they sweet talk each other. Then what? Do you think that love and romance will keep a person from starving? Do you think that the romance and candle light dinner will last 24/7? In my world, it does not.

So, after all the candle light dinner and romance, we get a call from earth. Back on earth, when there is no candle light dinner, one still needs to eat. Naturally, to feed ourselves, we do groceries. To keep ourselves clean, we get toiletries. They are the basic daily mundane things we need to keep ourselves.

If you can do the apparently mundane things - grocery & toiletry shopping, cooking, dish washing, and laundry with the guy in your life. And still find joy doing them. Then you've found him! Your "Mr. Right".

I might not be all correct. But up till now, this theory seems logical to me. If you have a better theory. Do share with me.

The Psychedelic Monitor

The husband has decided to knock down the XP OS and install Windows 2000 instead. This was decided in hope that the already sickly performing computer would perform with higher speed.

So the decision was made. The engineer went to work late yesterday. The installation of Windows 2000 appeared stable. Until this morning when some minor glitches occured. Then the computer monitor decided to go into psychedelic mode.

Husband says probably the monitor went to Camden Lock for a party last night and had had an overdose of grass. From the looks of it... it might be probable...