Zapping Life Became Life Sapping

Yesterday's work schedule was too tiring. I talked/negotiate non-stop with another company on the figures from 10am till almost 7pm. Lunch break in between of course.

The brain went dead by the time I reached home and knocked off to bed around midnite. Haven't had this feeling for quite some time.

Thought of watching the live Champions League game between Man Utd and AS Roma but just couldn't wake up ....... sigh!

Another round today and hopefully get to settle it too.
Tags: Negotiation, Zapping, Sapping

Religion Conversion Case in Egypt

To change your religion from Islam to Christianity (or others) in Egypt, you will need a court approval. This is similar to Malaysia's case for Lina Joy.

The Egyptian courts are handling a number of cases where former Christians are intending to convert back to Christianity after having taken up Islamic faith earlier on. What a pressure on the courts. This kind of cases are quite common but most Egyptians would convert to Christianity quietly instead as in Malaysia. Indonesia, being a country populated with majority muslims, do not require such permission to do so. You are free to practise any religion.

The weird one is when a group of citizens from the Baha’i tribe wanted their religion to be left blank in their official documents but Egyptian laws require each citizen to state that they are either Muslim, Christian or Jewish. I guess the judges must be having sleepless nights lately.
Tags: Religion, Islam, Christianity, Egypt, Baha'i

How Will a Judge Judge a Case?

Malaysian legal fraternity has been very excited about the video exposing a prominent lawyer which somehow fixed judiciary positions or case outcome. Thereafter, lawyers organised a walk for justice. This showed that the lawyers wanted justice to be carried out.

In China, the wife from Han family (left pic) was charged by the court for pouring acid on a girl from the Zhang family due to Zhang family's failure in paying compensation imposed by the court for causing death to a boy from Han family earler.

Zhang himself stated that he wanted to pay off the compensation slowly (this was his own planning) and thus incurred the wrath of the Han family. The court found that the Zhang family is quite well off in financial terms.

After hearing explanation from both parties, the judge who was hearing the court case couldn't take the Zhang family's testimony anymore and she took off a judge's robe and took the witness' stand to speak against the Zhang family. What a shock!

Will our Malaysian lawyers/judges stand up for unjust and unfair trials? Or money/status are worth more than integrity?
Tags: Legal Fraternity, Lawyer, Judge, Witness

Hunting for Food at Mid Valley

dit dit doot doot ...... played with the interactive digital touch screen board that could help you check out what was available in The Gardens. The place was big so need some help to look for food selection.

Ahhhhhhhhh found one, let's go to Din Tai Fung. Seems to be serving dim sum, a kind of breakfast made famous in Hong Kong. Lots of such restaurants serving dim sum in Malaysia also.

But be warned!!!!! Din Tai Fung, a restaurant located at the lower ground floor of The Gardens looks packed from the outside, one of the few restaurants that has opened for business. So, of course seeing that it was packed we went in.

Went in and saw that the prices of the menu were exhorbitant. I have always said that I don't mind paying for good food but when the price is way above board, I would not bow to such prices. Four pieces of shrimp 'siew mai' would cost you RM11.00 (no tax yet). Small serving of a plate of taufu would hit your wallet with a RM18.00 bill.

We walked out of the restaurant without ordering. Too bad. Our prediction - this restaurant will close down in time to come. They were just insulting my brilliance by putting those prices there. Insult a blogger, this is the kind of negative advert lah especially one who likes to eat.

Walked back towards Mid Valley instead and saw this new cafe opened by Seed, a local fashion house. Why not? If don't like, not obligated and can walk out again....hehe

From the front view of Seed's shop, you wouldn't have noticed the cafe which was fronting the Boulevard offices, same row as Maybank.

Walking further into the shop, you would notice a cafe behind some doors.

I came from the other end. Wouldn't have noticed it if I was inside Mid Valley.

Have to take brunch by now after the long hunt and a 'walk out'. We ordered a nasi lemak (how do you call this in english??)

This was RM14.90 and believe me, this plate of rice was indeed spicy. And when I said spicy, you will cry for sure and normally friends won't order it if I mention that it's spicy. My tongue is sort of immune to chili, whatever and however spicy.

A penne pasta with cheese, fattenning but close your eyes while eating it. Forget about those fats/diets, enjoy first.
This serving of Hainanese chicken rice was bountiful. Big plate of chicken breast. Unbelievable. The price also a bit unbelievable but much much better than that Din Tai Fung (yeah, repeating the name again in case you have forgotten)
Tags: The Gardens, Mid Valley, Din Tai Fung, Dim Sum, Seed, Nasi Lemak, Penne Pasta, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Food

The Gardens at Mid Valley

Woke up this morning and felt much better. So off to The Gardens, the new wing at Mid Valley area. Was in Mid Valley's basement car park by 10.30am to avoid the sudden surge of shoppers later on. Haven't taken our breakfast, so family decided to hunt for an eating place.

We took the route leading to The Garden from Mid Valley's centre court, going through a make shift tunnel. Quite a tight place initially and without people didn't keep left or right and very messy as everyone was heading into each other's path.












Even the lighting set used was unique (not switched on as it was day time).

Nice clothing materials was used as a cover and traffic has to be stopped to let pedestrian cross from one building to another while a bridge is still under construction.

If it rains, it would be impassable.








The interior design was absolutely fantastic and different from other shopping malls in the city. Those crossings on top seen from the ground floor gave a nice ambience.

This place - for the rich and famous lah..... all top branded goods, see here see there, touch here and there but can't afford. To me, this new shopping mall was built to match KLCC shopping mall's status.

I'm not saying we can't buy, cannnnnnnnnnnn but next few months would be on tight spending.





Many comfy sofa sets were made available for people who could be tired after walking around the big shopping mall.

But it was only around 10.45am and I could see people sitting down already. They got tired so fast???

Found out that the lower ground floor was the main eating area but sadly lots of the restaurants are not opened yet.
Tags: The Gardens, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Window Shopping, KLCC

Start of Christmas Drama Practise

On Thursday night, it was the beginning of the Christmas drama practise. This team is mainly showing a Young Man's life who has just graduated from overseas university and was glad to meet up with his close friends while getting pressured from a quite materialistic girlfriend. He was gung-ho about his new job but got paired up with a snaky senior employee.

This team read through their script and tried to understand each other's role and character. This team comprise people from various background like a lawyer and an executive director of a airfreight forwarding company and I was glad that they were there even on a weekday night. It could have been more relaxed at home but their love for God is greater. (hmmm do they know that this picture would appear in the blogosphere???)

Just halfway through the practise, I received a SMS message from a colleague of mine based in Sudan. A note for me that I was required back there, my so-called second home (after being based there for 2 years plus). Oh noooooooooooooooooooooo .....................

My babies are about to be given birth ................... not real life biological babies but my 5 scripts. Painstakingly wrote it and I thought I could see this Christmas project in December. The moment I read that SMS message, I lost my mood immediately. Got lost in reading the script even though it was right in front of me. It really did disturb me there and then.

It's not that there were no capable persons that could take over but I felt that responsibility since it was me who gave the idea and wrote those scripts too. The fact was I wanted to see the end result of it also. Meantime, I would be bringing what I have in mind for the drama to Sudan with me leaving the 5 teams to strive it out ....................... sigh ...................... how to transfer my mind to them??

I was feeling not well too on Thursday afternoon in office and true enough, I felt warm when I got back home after practise. On Friday morning, my whole body was aching and fever with migraine had set in by then. Slept till 11am, crawled out to call office and had to find food to take medicine.

Nice day to sleep/rest and only managed to see doctor by 3pm plus. It was too hot outside (actually nothing compared to Sudan) but because I was not feeling well. Came back home and had simple meal for dinner. The worse thing is ................ I left my medicine at the clinic. What's wrong with me? Drove out to get my medicine later in the night and the nurse said she wanted to contact me. Wanted??????????? Should have called me when I was walking out of the clinic.

I feel much better now. Hopefully I'm getting back to normal. Maybe because I didn't blog hehehe. 2 more Christmas drama teams are having their practises tomorrow afternoon, more pictures also.
Tags: Christmas Drama, Sudan, Fever

Minimum Wage is Too High?

How much is your country's minimum wage? In Malaysia, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress is only asking a minimum wage of RM900 per month to be implemented. In that case, Malaysia's cost of living is still low compared to many other developed countries.

In Hong Kong, a Poverty Relief Group did a study with a university there and the professor suggested a minimum monthly wage of HK$6,000 (approx. RM2,700) be implemented. This gave a shock to many people in Hong Kong.

Newly graduated law students could only earn around HK$7,500 while ordinary degree holder may just get around HK$6,000. In that case, the students may think why do I need to study so hard. Dropping out of school and doing a simple job without much responsibilities could earn you a pay similar with a degree holder.

Can you beat that? A Malaysian with a simple lifestyle can survive with RM900 (US$257) but a Honkie requires around RM2,700 (US$771) to live in Hong Kong. 3 times higher??? Sometimes, if your country is so developed, it will cause hardship to those in the lower income group.
Tags: Malaysian Trades Union Congress, Poverty Relief Group, Hong Kong, Minimum Wage, Minimum Salary, Lower Income Group, Cost Of Living