Just Blogging Around

‘Tua Pek Kong’ (Da4 Po2 Kong1) means Big Grand Uncle.
Is anyone kind enough to translate this term further for me , please?

This is one of the  oldest Taoism temple in Bagan Serai.

 

 

It was built back in 1893. I am not sure about the history– who built it? How did it all happen? etc etc.
I know it was an old, unattractive temple. Till back in 1990s, those local Chinese decided to refurbish the temple before celebrating 100 years anniversary in 1993.

 

 

I visited  this temple since I was a little girl and almost every Chinese New Years. The temple is most crowded during 12am at CNY. This is the place where most Bagan Serai Chinese gather, especially for the young folks. *yer know, that kepoh business -ppl checking out ppl*

 

 

 

 

 

I use to like the crowd. I met old friends, I saw some familiar faces. But not anymore. I strongly dislike the smoke. Everybloodysingletime I walk out the temple, my tears wash all over my face. Plus, I haven’t got much friends left that I can really check ‘em out. Cannot kepoh anymore  

 

 

 

 

 

  

I can’t relate myself much with Tua Pek Kong. I wasn’t enjoy going to the temple. But I love my parents company. I know I followed mum, dad to the temple. I helped them to carry all sort of things. We chatted. We prayed. We walked around the block, admiring the paintings, looking at the donation list. We spotted our late grandfather’s name! *yay* It was more like a kiddo game back then.

 

 

My mum told me I ‘was’ Big Grand Uncle’s god daughter. FULAMAK!
You know, the Chinese Taoism thingy: Those Taoism Chinese parents who think they cannot discipline their son/daughter, due to some inner evil spirit. Therefore, they decided to ‘K’ their children to the so-called god. Yep, I was one of them.

OI! I was NOT that bad, ok? I was and I am a good girl.   

 

 

Alas. I don’t care. Really. This is Taoism. I am a Buddhist. I respect what they believe in. I don’t mind what they believe in either. I was one of Big Grand Uncle’s god daughther, so what? It’s not like I have to cut a piece of my heart out for him, right?  I respect my parents too. At the end of the day, a Buddhist shouldn’t stir up shyte in a family regardless what religion(s) they believe in.  

 

Xiang1 Lu2

 

 

From the art and paintings, yer know what we Chinese like the best — happy family, money, world peace (maybe, that’s why most of the Chinese  back home don’t get involved in politic) and ..still  MONEY!!! =)

 

 

I am not a Taoism, but I love the temple as much as I love my hometown. This is the place where I grew up, and all the memories were coming from…

 

 

Let set the emo, sentimental moi aside.
I shall show you some things that Taoisms use for prayers, ok?

These are the bamboo cups filled with some thinly shaved bamboo sticks that engraved with some Chinese wordings.
Upon prayer, Taoism shakes the bamboo cup gently, allowing ONE bamboo stick to fall out.
This fallen out bamboo stick would indicate or tell you about your life.
Cool??
Most of the time, you will get good ones — happy family, good relationship, good finance etc etc.
Tua Pek Kong seldom say nasty things. The worst thing is he advice you to look out for bad thing(s)/accident.
Very much like Chinese. Cool??

 

 

These are cool stuffs! Kidney-shaped tossing bean(?) Anyhoo.. it acts like a coin– tail, head. Yes, no. They come in pairs.
My grandma told me, it depends what you asking from Tua Pek Kong, if both sides facing the same, means NO.
If they facing differently, one side up, one side down. Ah! Good sign. This means you can go ahead with what are you asking for.  

 

 

These are my favourite door paintings.  

 

 

Mum told me they are the ’security guides’ for the temple. Their fear looking scare devil spirits off.  

 

 

Shu4 jing4 (silent) 

 

 

Hui2 Bi3 (please avoid/turn around).
When bad things happend, the cop/judge asked people to turn around, or go home so they won’t get to see what was going on.

 

 

Beside gods, Chinese pray to our ancestors. The four Chinese characters should be read from right to left: Tian1 Di4 Fu4 Mu3. (Sky Earth Father Mother)

 

 

Long1 Xiang1 (Dragon joss-stick).

 

 

Pity. Chinese wants to burn down such a beautiful piece of art. 

 

 

I hope you all like this little trip of Bagan Serai Tua Pek Kong.

For ex-Bagan Seraians.. Hello! again.

Woo hoo! Finally! Last placement. Ever. *deep breath*

It was all good.

 

 

I made them a photo frame with everyone photos in it, including the flower from JT and scones from ET. I can’t left the food behind after all, yeh? *wink*

 

 

Again and again, I am very lucky to work a bunch of nice people. They are alot matureer than me. At first, I was abit nervous. I wasn’t sure if we all will get along. But, my prediction always went wrong. We all clicked so well. They share their life experience with me.  Where they used to work, parenting experiences, relationship, cooking, sex life *ahem*. Nice — in Borat’s stylo.

 

 

The questions I got asked the most were : How’s thing going when you work with Kian?  How does it look like? Did you guys ‘DO’ it? Did you guys kiss?

We both think it was abit weird at the first, espcially during the first day. We both woke up in the morning. He went to work at 9am. I meet him at work after half an hour. We both work together. Erm..

But we get along very well. It IS exactly like doing cooking together in the kitchen. When I chop the vege, Kian puts the butter away. When Kian does the dishes, I put the other lot of dishes away. When I clean up the mess, he cleans the bin.Perfect. 

For the last 2 questions. He kissed me forehead. Yes, I was tired. I dealt with grumpy customer. The “DO” part? NEH! Didn’t get to go THAT far. A bit dissapointed, but nevermind.   

 

 

I have plenty of wonderful moments. I am pleased. I don’t give a damn so much about how much I learn in a clinical placement. I believe every students like us will somehow learn abit from here and there. For me, ultimately it is all about getting along well with people and having FUN!

 

 

Gerald provided me heaps of guidances during my placementship. We chatted alot. He laughed his head off when I told him my meet-the-parents experience. He told my School Unit Coordinator that I am very cheecky.

 

 

The best thing about my job is talking to people (!) Yay.–> so that I don’t need to stay infront of the computer all day like a bloody nerd *ngek*

 

 

Another best part of the placementship was one of Gerald’s old friend baked a whole big tube of chives and cheese scones for me!!!!! Seriously yummie. I was absolutely touched. [chao1 ji2 gan3 dong4] I was only for the 6th weeks after all. I feel sooo loved. uH!

 

 

 

 

 

It was so good, it was so BOM-CHICKA-WAH WAH!!

 

For more:
First clinical rotation placement — SJOG Subiaco
Second clinical rotation placement — Chemmart Extra

 

Back to class for 2 weeks. I am so excited! But I start missing my friends already, knowing farewell is not far ahead. I am sure I will be fine. We swap addresses. I make sure I have all of them in my speacial note book. And I shall get some Christmas cards ready to go too! Ops! Did I mention Christmas? Wow!

Tonight special feature: Fried Rice — my all time favourite

 

 

Ingredient: white rice, mixed vegetable, bacon, chicken breat meat, fried shallot to sprinkle.

Have a nice week ahead, folks! Cheerio~!
 

A quick reply from previous post:
Wuching: I surely can cook. Now I have another cooking post
Day dreamer: I always make you hungry. *paiseh*
Kak Flower: Selamat Belated Raya Aidilfitri! Mana moi punya ketupat?  It has been awhile since my last cooking post. I am still doing alot of cooking.Fact, I have heaps of cooking posts, but I haveb’t got much time to ‘dig’ all of them out.
Lyn: Great! now you REALLY coming! I am STILL excited!! Date?? 

I love healthy and hearty lunch. I like Subway’ “Eat Fresh” idea. But, I am not a big fan of Subway. See, when I buy the 6 inch Sub, it is TOO small (and expensive). After 2 hours later, my stomach got angry again. If I buy 12 inch Sub, it is way TOO huge (and way too expensive), I am not able to finish it. Either way, sucks.

I make my own sub.
The first one is for Kian:
-raw salmon, lightly cut (if I am in good mood)
-salad (lettice and tomato)
-spread the bread one side with butter, another side onion flavored cheese spread.
-some cheese

If you making this Sub, you can heat it up at work by toasting it. When the cheese melts..oh! so heaven!!!

 

Now, this is MY version of Omega lunch.
-the spreads are still the same.
-instead of fresh tomato, I have semi-sundried tomato
-minus cheese for people who struggle to watch their weight like me.
-and, and..I have OLIVE!!! 

How super duper OMEGA is that???

 

 

I hope this give you an idea to make some light lunch. Yes? No?

p/s: The OMEGA-est news of this week is I’ve completed my placement! Woohoo! No more free labour job! Eva! As I walked out of my last placement yesterday. I cried in the car for no reasons. I was excited because I am sooo done! Another part of moi is so freak out — the future. 
I have come such a looooong way. *deep breath* 

 

I usually organise everything at home. I plan to buy meat, fruit and vege etc etc.  I write everything down on note a pad– what to cook, what we are having for lunch, dinner. But sometimes thing go wrong. I would have left over from here and there. And most of the time, it is not easy to cook them because they weren’t in the ‘plan’

So, tonight dinner was abit tricky.
I had some king prawns, peeled.

 

 

1/4 of chicken breast, cubed. 

 

 

I had no idea where I could go from there. So, I added some mushrooms.  

 

 

I deep fried the chicken and prawn in plain flour.

 

 

I had 2/3 of choy sum (Chinese vegetable) left from yesterday. I cooked the vege, muchroom..and quater way thru’, I stirred in some carrots. For Vitamin A and some colour sake.  

 

 

I thought I would eat the deep fried bits seperately from the stir fry vege. Then, I decided to ‘decorate’ the deep fried on a bed of stir fry. 

 

 

There was some sauce left, I decided to pour over the prawns and chicken pieces. 
Kian came home just on the right time. I quickily got him to hold the frying pan for me, so I could manage to take this shot

 

 

Oh yeah, when I decided to add an egg, and lightly stirred thru. I had craving for egg sauce for all the sudden.

 

 

It was one of those night.. I had no idea what I was going to cook. We both ended up finish the dish with white rice. It tasted soooo good.

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM!

It is another year of Mazda Performance Day. This year this time, we got invited (again) to join the crew to have some fun in all the Mazda Performance Series (MPS) super babes –MX5, Mazda 3, 6 and RX 8!!!  

 

 

I felt abit reluctant to go this year due to heavy work loads. But heck, come to think of it, it is always worth it. Oh yeah.
I get to take a guest with me this year, so I decided to bring Ryan along. Ryan is a big fan of cars, and Dick Johnson, maybe

 

 

The highlight of the event was Dick Johnson driving all the VIP and guests in RX 8!! Two “!“s for the excitment! One for the car, and another one goes to Mr. Johnson. I didn’t know Mr. Johnson is Australia legendary V8 driver..or whatever they call him. I was told he is a BIG thing in Australia. Still!!! After one year, I stil don’t get the ‘WOW’ effect, much *paiseh*

 

  

There were around 20 VIP were invited to te Performance Day. Mr. Johnson gave everyone 2 hot laps in RX8. (Let’s do some math here, twenty multiply by two, it is equal to FORTY!!! G! It is not easy being Mr.Johnson mann)

 

 

Mr. Johnson drove at the limit of 160km/h !!! Holy cow! Ryan expected me vomiting all over the place. Alas..If I did, I won’t let that happend infront everyone including the organiser lah. I know how to jaga my muka after all, yeh? *wink*

 

 

Mr. Johnson is  very very  down to earth. He was trying to chat with me during the Hot Lap. I could hardly blurp out few words. Man! Both my hands were holding tight on both side of passenger seat. All I could think was: OH! Please! May this RX 8 don’t fly out to the sky like E.T bicycle! Oh please!
He asked me if I am a BIG fan of sport cars. *funny question* I told him I am not a HUGE fan.. I prefer $$$ at any time He laughed. Yeah mah! Who doesn’t like $$$? You tell me!

 

 

We all got our photos with Mr. Johnson, and they were all autographed by him. I am happy. At least this year, I know him a bit better  

 

 

The organiser allowed everyone to drive (speed) in MPS babes. I don’t fancy Mazda 3 anymore since I’ve driven one last year before. I loved to drive RX-8, but I decided to give it a pass because I don’t want to embarass myself infront everyone. Changing gear is abit different in RX-8. Mazda 6 is indeed a very sophosicated car. I highly recommend this car for parents with pram(s).
I didn’t really want to go down to the driving track because the road was wet due to an episode of pouring rain. Plus all other VIP were so eager to race (to heaven or hell), it kinda freak me out abit. I am constant 60–80km/h-driver after all
I decided to drive in MX-5 at the end. Purely because it is the first car heading out the track. And HAHA! You guess it right!! I wanted to SLOW everyone down!!! I just like to annoy people hella ‘em. It was so cool mannn! What an entertainment. *shiok* The best part was.. the men couldn’t say much about me because I am a girl!!! *yay for girl power*

 

 

At the end of driving/speeding session, we got Mr.Johnson to autograph out sounveniers from Mazda. We (me, Kian and Ryan) called Dick Johnson, Mr. Johnson, whilst the rest of the people simply no-big-no-small call him Dick. WTF?

“Dick! Can you sign my book please”
“Dick! can you please..Dick.. Dick.. Thank you, Dick!”
“Dick..Dick..DICK!!”

WT Fish man!!! You don’t call people like that!!! It is sooooo wrong! Can you imagine if all the dicks had been translated to Hokkien?

“Lanjiao! Can you sign my book please”
“Lanjiao! can you please..Lanjiao.. Lanjiao.. Thank you, Lanjiao!”
“Lanjiao..Lanjiao..LANJIAWWW!!!”

So wrong, right? I feel sorry for Mr. Johnson. He is innocent! So do I

 

 

I was very pleased to see everyone had a great time at the Performance Day. Driving should be fun, enjoyable and all about happiness despite my slow-boat-to China speed (quote from Ryan) 

I took few photos here and there…
One like this with Ryan.

 

 

Another like this with Mr. Dick Johnson!!!!!  

 

 

How cool is that?

 

This is the commercial telly advert which has been playing for sometimes. Man! It is so hilarious!!CLICK HERE to watch.
The product is called Lynx in Australia, instead of AXE in somewhere else.
That chick can move!

This is another of mine, taken by Kian. He took a photo of mine before in Paul Frank scaft. (see here) 

 

 

Me, in my geeky glasses. Searching answers from…. NOT Bible lah! It was Merck Manual — medical encyclopedia.

Bom Chicka WAH WAH!! bom chicka chicka….wah WAH!!!

The World According to Clarkson by Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear.

 

 

I bought the second volume from amazon dot com. Bad experience. I waited weeks for my book to arrive. I’ve been repeatedly reading his online column. I couldn’t stand anymore. I went to Dymock bookstore, grab TWATC volume one. *kindly sponsored by Kian*

Half of the time, I don’t have any clue of the politicians in UK. But politic humour, plus his voice from Top Gear has been constantly playing in my mind while I’m reading the book.. gosh! It is hell funny!!!

Harry Potter has to step down from my favorite list now. *wink*

Yesterday was public holiday.  I was told it was Queen’s Birthday is Western Australia. Seriously? who cares? Erm..maybe I do. Because working on public holiday means…*sniff da munny!!! z0mg!! =P

Beside 3-hours work at the placement, I decided not to work this arvo elsewhere. I took Kian out. We settled our lunch over The Crepe at Garden City.

 

 

I didn’t grab much brekky before I went to work, except half a glass of full cream milk.  So I thought, I probably could have something ‘heavy’. Yeah, my crepe might look plain, but…..

 

 

ta dah!!! look at the overloeaded cheese! the smoked salmon and spring onion! and the fat!! oh-yeah.
All my favourites!  

 

 

Before I keep going on and on and on about yummie food… hey you!  quick quick! chop chop!
Wish my ney a happy birthday!! He turns one year younger this year!

Dinner, we settled at Hayashi (Applecross).

 

 

 

 

 

We cheered over the Sake. We chatted. Here and there. I asked Kian what is his wish. He said he just want to be with me. So sweet. I am so going to buy Lotto tomorrow. My ney hardly sweet talk to me, much. I wonder if the Sake did give him the gut?

 

 

 

 

 We were very pleased. Kian was particularly happy when I am not in PMS mode. Everytime I have PMS keh, or a bad day keh..he is the one kena the most. poor boyfriend. But hey! Don’t forget thou..when I ‘teh’, I also number-1 one leh!

 

 

But he says I have been a good girl. I am doing much better thesedays.  

 

 

It is all good. *blurp* abit too fulled from dinner. ;P

 

 

I am surviving better compared to the previous week. There will be more things going on this coming week and next coming week. I am looking forward for everything.

I can’t remember what I wanted to say..bleks. anyway, off to bed first. wish you have a fantastic October ahead!
Cheers!