. . . rambling thots . . .

i'm thinking of taking a hiatus from blogging for a while.

why?

my work is in a mess
my house is in a mess
my finance is in a mess
my mind is in a mess
my life is in a mess
and i think this blog is also in a mess

it's ALL in a huge pile of mess that serves no purpose whatsoever!
i need to clear things up and reorganize my entire life!

reorganize. reprioritise.

hahahah.. sounds so serious, aye?
no... not really... it's not as bad as i made it sound to be.

c'est comme çi comme ça.

yeah, it's a bit over the top for me to actually have several entries just to tell you about my recently bought yukata.

but, i love it so much, you just have to humour me.

so, this is how my yukata looks like. it's quite simple looking actually.

the background color is dark blue, with repeating print designs of a crane over a, what looks to me like a sakura tree.


this one, bought by my colleague during her trip to tokyo, is size 's'. my colleague thought size 'm' might be big for me. errr... 'thank you'? and it's not a complete set though since i only gave her rm100 (me, being broke, again...heheheh) and i guess she didn't have that much of shopping time.

well, i don't have any occasions to wear it to anyway...

since that's the case, i'm thinking of making it into a decorative item for my house. perhaps, get it framed (it's gonna be a very big one though) or hanged. before that, i'm gonna try to find something that can become something like a 'mock up' of the missing accessories.

already have a spot (in the house) to display it, in mind!

i have been very busy lately and could hardly find the time to update you fully on my yukata. But, here's some of the info i wanted to share with you.

********************

the word 'kimono' itself literally means 'clothing'. but the kimono we all know is actually referring to the national/traditional clothing of the Japanese. it is also known as 'gofuku'.

Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes that fall to the ankle, with collars and wide, full-length sleeves, which are wrapped around the body and secured by a wide belt called an obi, which is usually tied at the back. They are generally worn with traditional footwear and split-toe socks.

The history of kimonos went way back to as early as the fifth century ce,
which back then were heavily influenced by the chinese 'hanfu', and the design has changed over the time.

Traditional kimono are sewn by hand, and their fabrics are also frequently hand made and hand decorated. materials used to make the kimonos and its obis are usually silk, silk brocade, silk crepes and satin weaves. that is why the costs to buy a kimono can be really expensive.

There are so many types of kimonos, about 10 of them i think. among those are Furisode, Yukata, Houmongi and Tomesode. Each type of these kimonos are worn to different special occasions and according to the status of the wearer.

There is also a kimono for men, but, today, the kimonos are mostly worn by women.


Picture of kimonos, taken by colleague at one of the shop in Tokyo, perhaps with the intention to make me 'eat my heart out' (especially love the black one!!!), cuz i can never afford to buy them (1 set=RM16,380). unless i marry a millionaire... ;P

Celine Dion is coming here to KL this April 08!!!
It's for her Taking Chances World Tour Concert.

I'm definitely going!!!

The tickets are selling like hotcakes!!! Gotta be quick!

as a follow up to my search of halal korean food in KL, i think this might be it.

my cousin, who has been kind and perhaps persistant enough (even when i am almost at the brinks of giving up), have found one Korean Restaurant that's halal. it's located at Darby Park.

apparently, quoting her, "all restaurants in Darby Park are certified halal". it's supposedly their policy to only have halal food providers in their premises.

and did you know that there are such thing as halal certification of hotels, which is based on the hotel's main kitchen, given by JAKIM?

as i did, you might be asking "Are you sure?"...

well, for one thing, if you're unsure, might as well skip it altogether.

as for me, with the halal certification from JAKIM, i think i'm gonna give it a go. but for my own good and comfort, i'll ask them first!

If you've heard of that idiom before, you know what it means.

But, regardless, how I wish the wonderful dream I had last night, well, the first part of it anyway, comes true...

*sigh*...

For the past few months, my tastebuds have been dying to try Korean food and thus, I have been pestering my cousins to go with me.

I asked around, should anyone come across any decent korean restaurants in KL or the PJ area that is Halal, which the possibilities are almost none of course, knowing that mostly are non-halal.

Food I wanna try : Eomuk (fish-based), Tteokbokgi (rice-based), Gimbap (sushi-like), Kimchi (fermented spiced cabbage).

I've heard one or two people saying, "Oh, that one is Halal!". This coming from people that I question their understanding of "HALAL" and its actual meaning.

When I convey this to my cousin, a few days later she came back and told me about this one restaurant in AmCorp Mall. Today, having a few minutes to spare, I Googled it.

Korean Food @ Haeun Khon Restaurant, Amcorp Mall.

This place has been reviewed by many Bloggers (the likes of masak-masak, KYSpeaks, wantanProductions), but no Halal mentioned in any.

Perhaps I can find at least one listed in FriedChillies.com. Or so that is what I thought. Look at the list it returns. It's more of a forum rather. Going through one by one, hitting CTRL+F and typing "halal" resulted in "Phrase not found". Instead, I found "3 layered pork" or people talking about the latest korean drama they watched or missed.

Starting to feel a bit disappointed here people!

I've heard of the one Korean BBQ Restaurant at the Plaza Kerinchi but again the question of whether it's Halal or not kept creeping in my mind.

Remembering about the service provided by JAKIM on list of certified Halal Restaurant and Product, I quickly went to their website.

Again, nothing but disappointment. This time typing "Korean" returns zero result.

Maybe I should just forget the idea of trying Korean food.

Or, perhaps, I should just open up a restaurant that serves authentic HALAL Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and all the other food I love, so that whenever people (or me myself) feels like eating something other than the local cuisine, they know where to get it and not be wary of its Halal-ness.

I just love trying new and different kind of foods. As long as they're HALAL. Fullstop.

ps: If you've came across my site in search of list of "halal Korean food in KL or PJ", sorry to disappoint you. Cuz, I don't quite have the answer myself! );

There are high possibilities that two of my colleagues are going to Tokyo come March. They've been invited there by their Japanese project team member.

You see, the project that they are involved in, consists of members from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.

These colleagues are incharged of developing the web site and since it will later be hosted and maintained in Tokyo, they were invited to do the setup; flight and accommodations to be covered by their Japanese counterpart.

The invitation reached my Director some time end of last year. It wasn't confirmed until early this month.

*sigh*

uwaaaa!!! I am so jealous!!!!

I think it'll be very long 'til I get the chance to go there myself.

The travel cost is damn expensive. In Lonely Planet, they say the daily budget, assuming you travel only near distance, should be around USD$60.

Get this. The price of one movie ticket, which is RM10 here, is about RM52 there! Not that, I'm planning to go to the cinema there anyways. Meanwhile, one can of drink costs RM3.50. Erk!!!

But, I still want to go there...

Those two colleagues of mine sure are lucky. And to think that it'll be spring in Tokyo come March. It's the time when the Sakuras bloom!

*double sigh*

I am sure they'll be at my face when they return to the office, knowing very well I'm crazy about Japan.

My eyes are green with envy!!! HON-TO-NI!!!
);

Hey, guys! Can I follow you?
If not, can you please bring back something for me from Japan?

Nothing much.
Just an 'ikemen' will do for me!

Hehhehehe...

Here's an interesting conversation that is going on between the "singles" in the office this morning...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

IZZA :

hello my dear...
there's a wind-news-news that you're interested to go to Spain but next yr??
how early u have in mind???..hehe...
let me know, and maybe we can work somethg out!...:))

SSH :

heheheh... am very, very interested !!!
agak2 u how much money i need for the trip?
u tell me the rough figure, and then i see lah if it's a "reacheable target" ( ;
otherwise, hehehe.... guess u guys have to go without me. ) ;

IZZA :

the more the merrier la, ..
if there are 4 ppl travelling..that's ideal "travelling grp"..hehe..:)..
i think roughly (assuming we go for 1week):

1. flight - 3k (depending on mth, but i think early next yr after xmas & new yrs should be around that)
2. accommodation - normal motels to safe 3 star hotels would range from 12-20 Euro per-person per-night so let's say la euro 20 * 6 = 120 euro
3. travelling - if sewa kereta we may be able to save a bit but i drove in italy and was not one happy driver.(drove manual so was worst since auto much more expensive).so i'm thgkg spain is not much better...:) but if let's say we take train/bus let's sayla give or take between euro 200-300 per person..we can stil consider kereta
4. food - let's say once a day we eat out lain semua magee or bread stuff then we can put around euro 20 a day so that's approx euro 150
5. sightseeing tickets, shopping - probably aorund euro 100-200 i think depending on how much we shop or sight see.

So give or take that's a total of : RM3K + EU800 (being prudent could be lower) = RM7k (assuming EU will be around 5 times higher:)

U have no excuse, start saving RM1k mth, by end of the yr you should hm rm12k for spain...kah kah kah...:)...
we're still considering packaged tour tho but so far i havent found an interesting one. so was thgkg if we decide packaged tour best option would be to go to london first (save flight ticket a bit) and get one from there since they will have tonnes and cheaper ones as well becos competition is higher)...
but will see la..
at least if unstructured travelling more adventurous la..:))

Plus guys, this could be our LAST chance to find some sexy latino who can flamenco or tango all the way to Malaysia!hihihihihi...

NAR :

wow!!!!..
terus rasa bersemangat.. ni nak kena gi asb simpan duit lagi nih.. hahahah.
last two days i chck hotel price at granada... 3 star hotel.. the cheepest..is euro71 per room.... but not more than 85 euro...
tapi tak tau la.. tu rate kat internet.. might be cheaper...
gi london dulu???..waaaa best gak tu...hehehhe

IZZA :

euro 71 per room not perperson right??...if yes, then if fits our budget else..huaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!..that means prices have really shot up...
kalau pergi london dulu can shopping sikit there..hihi....
takpe takpe..we have time to survey and check out options...

NAR :

yep..per room.. that one is without breakfast.. if with breakfast.. lagi la mahal..
so bawak jer la bekalan megi byk2.. hahaha.. balik mesia.. terus rambut gugur.. :D

ha...betul tu... amik2 gambar dulu kat london.. shopping kalau mampu.. kah kah kah... yg penting.. leh cop passport... :P:P:P

SSH:

UWAAA!!!!! very the very the menggoda!!!! awh! tidaks!!!
kena save rm1k per month ek? gulps!
I'll try my very best... nampak nyer i have to rework my monthly budget nih. as if!
so, u all bagi me time until when nih? u guys gimme until june... if by then, i still can't afford the flight ticket, then, with a very pain-ful feeling, bye-bye se-pain.

btw,kalau nak drive manual, saya memvolunteerkan Kak NAR! hehehehe...

NAR :

chissssssssssssssssssssssssssssss <---- itu adalah perkataan yg spontan keluar dari mulut aku masa baca ayat terahkir ko ituhhhhh....
boley..boley.. kenapa pulak tak boley..
tapi korang kena bgtau dulu.. longkang mana yg kita akan tujui... kah kah kah...

SSH.. mesti boleh punya..
utk dis few months nih.. ko jgn berjoye2..
sumer duit simpan.. hahahha...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Wargggh!!!!!

To save RM1K every month for a trip to Spain is definitely gonna be really, really, really difficult for me! Somewhat 'unreacheable'.

Besides, which weighs more? RM7K for a once in a lifetime trip OR RM7K for a long overdued SLR Camera?

SPAIN? SLR?
SLR? SPAIN?
SPAIN? SLR?
SLR? SPAIN?
SPAIN? SLR?
SLR? SPAIN?
SPAIN? SLR?
SLR? SPAIN?

Help me decide.... pleeeeeeaaassssse....!

should i be paying off my debts or pay some and spend the balance on something from my wishlist?

i've asked several people and they've adviced me to pay off the debts.

however, i'm still not too sure...

Option 1 : Pay off all debts
Pros
Those pesky chetties will no longer be bugging me
I've less debts to worry about

Cons
Most of my income this month gone
I don't get to buy the DSLR


Option 2 : Pay some, spend some
Pros
I MIGHT get to buy the DSLR
Reduced debt amount

Cons
Debts still not cleared, increased with interest
Pesky chetties at my back

I know it should be a clear cut decision based on the list above, but, I'm still not too sure...

By Debts, i'm referring to my Credit Card. I want to get it cleared off.

Apart from that, there are still house loan, car loan, insurance payments, outstanding maintenance fees blablabla blablabla blablabla

aaaarrrggghhh!!!! PUSING GUE!!!

I guess, might as well pay off the credit cards!

alhamdulillah! i don't have to pay back the advance bonus the Co gave to us before Raya hari tu... yeay!

Ka-ching!
Shania Twain

We live in a greedy little world
that teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly
then turn around and
Spend it foolishly

We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It's such a beautiful thing
Ka-ching!

Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things

When you're broke go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when
you get bored

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Let's swing
Dig deeper in your pocket
Oh, yeah, ha
Come on I know you've got it
Dig deeper in your wallet

amin!

now, have to think of the things i'd like to use the money for ...
but before that, of course have to figure out my budget!