Cheat Work Thursday

I've been trying to cut down on chicken for a while. But it's hard to stop doing something that makes my life easier or stop eating something as delicious and easy to get as chicken -- just because it feels like I have to (?) A few months back, this guy -- a food expert, Michael Pollan -- was on Oprah during which they asked if we knew where our food really came from. Jumping straight to the chicken part, below are excerpts from Oprah's website: "Michael says [chicken] has been re-engineered through breeding and diet to produce the breast meat consumers want. Compared to 50 years ago, chickens are now raised and slaughtered in half the time and grow twice as big. In one way, Michael says this is a great achievement.... 'Now it's the cheap meat.' 'But you have to understand there's a price to that, and the price is you can only do it with lots of antibiotics,' Michael says. 'You give all those antibiotics to your animals, they'...

I spent the whole night reading about Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg (who was with Google, and is now with Facebook and on the boards of Disney and Starbucks). Can't wait to see the movie, fiction or not.

All of my nieces' seven cats are now at my hometown with my parents. Most of my nieces and nephews were taken care of by my parents until they were about six months old. Now that they are older and clearly learning fast, they are sending their cats to my parents... (Actually they kind of have to, for a reason.) I only patted one of the cats for a total of two seconds with two fingers. As per our last conversation about the cats, three of them that we've agreed are male -- and crossed our fingers to stay that way -- were named: Kl*se - although I'm sure he's Italian. M*ssi - the most comot and mischievous among the bunch. and... Cristian* R*nald* - I can literally roll on the floor laughing for this. Not only would these kids call it by its full name, but it actually died some time before puasa. Ok, of course, this is sad, but every time anyone comes and visits the cats, the kids will be so eager to introduce each of the cats, only to end it on a somb...

After two days in the fridge, you can actually cut it into perfect bricks rectangles.

As a general rule, I do believe if you are just not a happy person, you still won't be happy even if you land that dream job, meet the-supposedly-love-of-your-life, make that seven-or-six-digit income a year, get in shape, and get to grow old and healthy with family and friends. So basically, the wise, calm me, who looks at life totally from a  different point of view , will smile knowingly each time faced with a setback. However... The wiser me would say, :p . Please! Of course, I'd be happy if I land that dream job, meet the-supposedly-love-of-my-life, make that seven-or-six-digit income, look like 47-year-old Demi Moore when I'm actually 47 , and -- of course, we have to mention this -- grow old and healthy with family and friends. In fact, I'd be happier!

It's the first weekend after the long raya break. I miss home, and I wish I were there right now. I baked this on the stove using a pot.

The friends that you met when you were 13 will always have a special place in your life. You grew up and shared a lot of fun and embarrassing things with these friends. I went to Sekolah A and stayed in its hostel for three years before I moved to Sekolah B in the fourth form. I bumped into an ex-schoolmate from Sekolah A a day before raya at a mall in my hometown. She told me that 'everyone is looking for me on Facebook', and by 'everyone', I'm sure she meant three people. Apparently, no one knows my phone number or what I do at this moment. "Won't find me there. I'm not on Facebook," I told her. "Yeah, we know. Hey, you know that we've lost a number of friends over the years?" she asked. I was shocked and sad when she mentioned the names. These were my friends. Even if I was not super close to some of them, these were my fun, very kind classmates / schoolmates. During those years, everyone was nice to everyone most people w...

It was a good day. I almost got it all done today. My raya prep started with sending my car for service. When the staff showed me the screen with the amount that I had to pay later, I thought something was missing. It took me five seconds to realize what it was. My money! I only had like RM1.45 with me at that time. (I don't understand it either. Once, I only had 60 cents that I found on the floor of the car to pay a RM1 toll fee.) I asked for my key back and ran to find a petrol station to use the ATM. And of course I didn't go to the nearest one. Next up was the bank to change money for duit raya. Only the old notes were left, but that was fine by me. Then I made two IBG transactions and paid my bills (I'm sure I have to tell you all these). The queues were extra-long everywhere. You walked into a bank or a post office (separate parking for each) only to be told that your number was 25 away. Behind every last minute person, there are 25 more. Online banking? :p not o...

"Legendary investor Warren Buffett turns 80 years old today, and he isn't slowing down a beat. Instead, he is likely to take on more work in the coming year while the ball starts rolling on his closely guarded succession plan. 'I plan to work past 100 but to do so I may have to learn to think outside the box,' Buffett tells Deal Journal. Buffett has no intention of stepping down simply because he loves his work." ~ Seacoastonline.com,  30/8/2010. Full article here . I hope whatever I do from now until I turn 200 or die, - I'd enjoy it and do it because I choose to. - it'll make a difference, in a good way, no matter how tiny, to at least the people around me. - I'll still be physically and mentally active and healthy. Image (and moar funny pictures: lolcats

Last year, once again, I didn't manage to send my baju raya to the tailor. I mean, why on earth do we go to the tailor five months before raya? Who would've remembered to do that? Plus, at about the same time, I was rethinking this habit of spending too much money on kebaya. Then when I tried to look for a ready-made kebaya, I realized, "God. This is hard. I should have got it tailor-made. Next year in January, I'm going to take a day off just to get this done. Just me and my baju raya." Well, January was eight months ago... I'm getting raya things this Tuesday: - Baju (a social obligation), kuih and duit raya. - Pecan pie recipe and ingredients. I hope my mother's oven, last used probably in 2006, is still working. I had a buffet lunch with a friend before puasa and really loved the pecan pie they served. I went to get the pie twice and was just a little 🤏🏼 embarrassed when I realized the staff was staring at me scooping the pie like nobody...