around the world...

We FINALLY gave Choon Ean her birthday pressie... after a wild goose hunt across the world, literally. I kid you not.

It all started with Poh finding out that Choon Ean was on the lookout for a new mp3 player... specifically - Creative and 2GB. We thought "Hey, since her birthday's just around the corner... why not?" That was the goose that began our hunt.

Firstly, of ALL the Muvo range - only the S100 model has 2GB memory. Since Nita was coming up to Penang for Easter weekend - she can get it for us in S'pore (Creative's country of origin) at perhaps a cheaper price AND get it to us in time to give Choon Ean when she's up in Penang that same weekend. Brilliant idea? Yes, only the idea was =P

Sis calls from S'pore and says NOBODY stocks that model and who on earth buys Creative anyway? Then offers to get Jo Dee to buy an iShuffle while he's in New York. Ok, not a bad idea. Then Poh says PC fair is on during Easter weekend. Try there. OK!

Choon Ean comes up for Easter, pops by and sees the ZEN model she wants on Sat... but still needs to consider... while Poh prays like mad that she will decide NOT to buy it so we can go back later and buy it. Thank God Choon Ean decides No - we still have hope. But no one else is going to the PC Fair on Sunday so cannot tumpang beli, Poh can't shake Choon Ean off to sneak away to get the merchandise and I've gotta get my sis to the airport! Apparently Peter is working at PC Fair - he can't get it 'cos they can't sell it to other exhibitors. Arrgghh!!! So near yet so far!!!

Nevermind, there's still dinner on Mon night and Peter said the distributor is in Gurney. Perfect! Dinner at Food Loft and I can sneak off to buy. Guess what?! DON'T HAVE!!! Can you believe that?! They have everything except what we're looking for. Great... we're all at dinner with a cake to celebrate and NO mp3 player!!! We admit defeat.

I guess God saw the desire of our hearts... Poh happened to walk past a shop in Midlands and saw the same flyers as the one in the PC Fair! Lo and behold... There lay before her the ZEN that Choon Ean was eye-ing at the PC Fair!!! Thank you GOD!!! It's blue but Poh grabs it anyway... Yay!!!

So here's Choon Ean... finally receiving her birthday pressie in KL. Even that - it was good timing that Poh was going down to KL to edit stuff with her.


Happy Birthday babe!

With much love from from Junie, Jocelyn, Poh and me.

I Got Tagged

I got tagged for the second time by Jess. I was excused from the first tag since I didn't have a blog then. And now I do, so here goes...

Part 1: on the outside
name : christina cheah su-ann aka mak fung tchai, chrissy, christochrome, babe, hot chic, ann (family ONLY)
date of birth : 6 July1979 (when I was 10 yrs old it was 6/7/1989/10... cool huh?)
current status : single and beginning to accept the fact that real men have gone extinct
eye color : dark brown i think
hair color : black, thick and in dire need of a haircut
right of left handed : i'm a righty
zodiac : crabby cancer

Part 2: on the inside
my heritage : believe it or not, i'm 3 part chinese and 1 part japanese (mom's a pure chinko, dad's half jap)
my fear : that i would live my life and miss the point completely
my weakness : food. orh chien outside RGBC is ultimate SIN!
my perfect pizza : Guess it has to be the romeo special at pizza uno

Part 3: yesterday, today & tomorrow
your first thought waking up : damn, i thought i just went to bed?
tomorrow : oh Lord, grant me the grace to not kill stupid people
your bedtime : thank you Lord that I am still sane
most missed memory : my mom

Part 4: your pick
pepsi or coke : Of course Coke la... DUH!
mcD or burger king : BURGER KING rulez! When will a rich tycoon in Penang come to his senses and buy the franchising rights in Penang? Ho seng li, lu mm ai ah?
single or group dates : what does it take to get a little privacy around here?!
adidas or nike : i like adidas but i think the tagline - just do it - is absolute genius
lipton tea or nestea : processed tea is processed tea la... unless you're talking about real tea leaves
chocolate or vanila : chocolate. If they use real vanilla seeds then it's vanilla
cappuccino or coffee : as long as there's caffeine

Part 5: do you...
smoke : does it make sense to burn money?
curse : well, depends on what you classify as cussing. but I'm trying hard to be a good girl {=

Part 6: in the past month
drank alcohol : this would've been a hard question to answer over the CNY holidays
gone to the mail : i snail mailed cards to encourage choon ean and poh sim in KL! *pat on my back*
been on stage : i'm striking those guitar strings every Sunday man!
eaten sushi : i'm giving this a rest after the overdose in Japan

Part 7: what were you doing
1 minute ago : writing the top portion of this tag
1 hour ago : watching the Delirious - Now Is The Time DVD - awesome stuff!!!
4 1/2 hours ago : eating hokkien mee and reading Rich Dad Poor Dad (it's got some pretty sound financial advise in there)
1 month ago : ho hum... nothing much
1 year ago : editing the RGBC welcome video (i think)

Part 8: finish the sentence
i love : my God, my family, my friends
i feel : icky... haven't showered after work
i hate : being alone... except rare occassions when I need my space
i hide : my honest thoughts and troubles except from a select few
i miss : my mom
i need : divine inspiration to know what to prepare for the Nepal mission trip

Part 9: tag five people
1. John
2. Marcus
3. Min Shen
4. May
5. hhmm... who else ah?

Ok, come on people, let's keep the tag going!

Nita and Jo Dee

Ok, here's Nita and Jo Dee.

Let's start with Nita, my sis who's now happily married and living in tight ass Singapore. She's an awesome chick. We used to hate each other. I USED to call her 'che che' until we had this huge fight and I said I'd never call her 'che che' ever again. Well, it kinda stuck and now it's weird to call her that. I tried it once, and we both thought it was weird.

Anyway, yeah, it was the yellow Volkswagon that saved us. That chugger had no radio and we were stuck in it for many hours travelling around for all our MYF activities. I guess we didn't have much of a choice but to talk and so we did and we have never stopped talking since then.

She took me to my first bar when I was 16 and Jo Dee bought me my first cocktail - a dry martini 7-up. That was the first of MANY bars and clubs that she smuggled me into and later on legally when I turned 18. She rocks! Btw, my parents knew about this all along. Is my family cool or is my family cool?!

She has always looked out for me in so many ways. Always this pillar of strength through the toughest of days. I still respect her for holding it together when she delivered my mom's eulogy. She cracked immediately after but hey, who could've lasted that long?

I remember the day we received my mom's ashes in a box. I took it from the man and stood at the door. She asked me, "What's that?" I said, "It's mom." We stood there for a while, looking at the green box not knowing what to do. Then she asked, "What does she feel like?" I said, "Err... kinda light?" Then I placed the box on a cabinet in our livingroom. We stood together again, looked at each other and said, "This is weird." Then we sat on the couch together looking at the box... it was really strange that my whole mom fit into that 1' x 1' green box.

Yes, she was always the stable one. Even at her wedding dinner, she had to take over the thank you speech from half drunk hubby who couldn't read the paper. On several occassions when I lost my head, she smacked it right back to where it belonged.

Of course, there were the good days too. Staying up throughout the night helping her build her model for assignments and getting my fingers stuck together with UHU, backpacking in the UK and then New Zealand, sharing a beer out on the porch while aunties and uncles threatened to bring my house down with their animated story telling. The Saturdays when she'd take me - the dorky, lab dwelling, insect counting science geek of a sis, to the coolest cafe's and restaurants in town, chattering endlessly over a nice cuppa tea and sharing desserts. I used to dread it when she'd have to 'pop by the site' for a SHORT while to check on the contractors. Those would end up being terribly irritating waiting games under the sun. But, nevertheless, she brought me to all sorts of places from fancy spots to the quaint little setups like teapot cafe, SS2 chicken porridge at 3am, asam prawns at Jalan Alor and laksa at O&S after church. She showed me the world.

She's my best friend, my travelmate, my teacher, my reality check, the mediator between dad and me, the saviour of my non-existent fashion sense... Oh there's so much to tell about Nita. Our stories together are endless. She can't possibly fit in a BLOG!!!

And that's Jo Dee, my brother-in-law. For those whodon't know, their fairytale lovestory unfolded over 10 years. At least they are living happily ever after all that drama. He's a real joker. The best way to describe is that he's a five year old kid stuck in a big man's body. Oh, did I mention that they are a marriage of two giants? Bugger... he's 6' 2" and she's 5' 9"!!! I already feel like midget walking with them, I can't imagine how tall their kids are gonna be. I love the fact that they're married to each other. No one else would do.

They are a funny FUNNY couple. There's never a dull moment around them... except when they're in the mood vegetate in front of the TV. Then, nothing... I mean, NOTHING can make them move. I'll introduce their doggie next - little Bijou.

Meet My Family

Thought it would be great to introduce you guys to the different people that are the centre of my life - my family and my friends. They are the best gift God has given me in this life on earth. So, let's start!


Ok, here's the three of us. That's me, dad and sis (Nita). It was my 26th birthday (darn, now you know my age) and my dad's 62nd birthday. We're born exactly 36 years and 21 days apart - we;re both bloody stubborn goats. Nita is 3 years older than I (haha! So now you know my sis' age too) and she's a fantastic sis. Well, dad is too. Aiyah... they're all great la. I love my family.

Oh, in case some of you are wondering although most of you already know, my mom's not in the picture because she passed away on 11 Nov 2000. Yeah, the cancer came back and hit her right smack in liver. She was an awesome babe too. I don't have a digital picture of her... so maybe I'll tell her story in another blog. Will have to go home and dig up some of my old pics, scan them and load 'em up here. Hhmm... since I'm going through all that trouble, I might as well do a tribute too. Hhmm... that'll have to wait till my next trip down to KL.

Anyway... ok, my dad. He's a really cutie with gynormous heart. Friends call him Fred Flintstone. Check this out for freaky similarities - Fred is fat, so is my dad. Fred works in a quarry, my dad owns a quarry. Fred loves playing golf, my dad is married to his golf set. Fred loves food, my dad loves food. My mom was not at all amused when she went to an "appease the wives" dinner by my dad's golfing friends and they called her Wilma. That's how we found out about the Fred Flintstone thingie. Sis and I were so amused that we got 'Michael Flintstone' embroidered on a towel for his next birthday. Haha! Hey, he liked it.

Another funny thing. Dad loves this fishball noodle shop in Subang Jaya. So one fine day (some 10 years ago) my sis went to the shop to buy noodles and the guy said, "Oh! Lei hai fei lou Cheah ge loi hor?!" My sis was mortified and came back absolutely flabbergasted at the fact that we were known as "fat man Cheah's daughter" at our kampung fishball shop. Pengsan!

Oh, my friends love him too. The girls think he's cute. My friends always thought I had the coolest parents. Yup. Once, over Christmas buffet dinner at the Raffles Singapore, my dad casually asked us whether we tried Ecstacy before. To which my sis and I immediately replied "Of course not! We party like animals but we know better than to mess with our brains!" Then dad said, "Hhmm... I heard it feels good. Would you girls want to try? Hey, Nita, you got any suppliers:?" My bro-in-law looked at my sis with a look of utter 'is your dad for real?' disbelief. Haha... that's my dad who apparently was a weed smoking hippie. Can't imagine huh?

Dad sometimes shows his love in most bizzare and irritating ways but we always have to remind ourselves that he yells because he loves us, he's sometimes a little overprotective because he loves us, he drops his golf appointments to get dragged around shopping malls when his two daughters come back to visit because he loves us and he nags us (Dear God, it's as if he's got an accumulated daily quota to meet sometimes)... all because he loves us. We love you too dad, though we don't say it. Sigh... curse of the Chinaman culture.

Busy Busy Bee

I was a small kid. I was so small... and cute (ahem!)... that my nanny called me 'mak fung tchai' which means 'little bee'. So cute right? I know... I know... =) But all that little disappeared when I had the mumps. My mom claims that my whole body swelled from the mumps but the swelling didn't go away after the mumps did. Hmm... mom figured 'Maybe that wasn't swelling after all". Haha... hence that was the beginning of my fat childhood days where I was aka moonface. From little bee to moonface... how did I get there?!?!

Anyway, what's that little reflection gotta do with this post? Well, right now, I'm 'pretty busy bee'. Hahah!!! I think 'pretty' is putting it mildly... it should be 'crazy busy bee'.

Yes, I haven't posted anything new in a loooonnnnggg time 'cos I had a mad Easter weekend. Sis and Jo Dee were up and I had to balance that with Good Friday and Easter Service and cooking chicken stew and celebrating a small Passover meal and then the next day going to Ipoh and back the same day to celebrate Choon Ean's very belated and very disastrous birthday.

Highlights of the Easter weekend.

Oh, after spending the whole Saturday with Nita and Jo Dee and sneezing my head off, I get back to the apartment to find out that I have to clean 3 chickens for Sunday's stew. Bugger! I tell ya... once you've cleaned chickens, you'd think twice about eating the fatty bits on your KFC. Shites man!!! That stuff is nasty. Anyways, I pop a sneeze pill... or at least I guessed it was my sneeze pill and started on the chickens at 1am. Which idiot would clean bloody chickens at 1am?!?! Yes, me. Sneeze pill took a while to kick in so... maybe a few 'salty droplets' that escaped my sniffling probably helped marinate the chicken. Then cousin Mei Yee calls and I can't talk to her 'cos I'm yanking off chicken fats and got bits of liver and kidney under my nails. Sorry coussie... it was nasty.

Then whole freaking Penang doesn't sell McCormick's Beef Stew packets. Dei! I see it everywhere on normal days and when I NEED it... they all disappear off the shelves!!! It's a conspiracy I say! Went to Cold Storage (Gurney), Giant, Jusco (QB) AND Tesco!!! All don't have!!! How bizzarre?! Piss me off. I tried to piece together some sort of chicken stew la. How did it turn out? Ask those who ate la. Guess I'm comforted by the fact that Ash ate 2 (or 3) bowls of potatoes and carrots while Poh's mom ate 3 bowls! Plus no one threw stewed potatoes at me so... no one was terribly upset with the food la.

Passover meal was very interesting. Had to make many throaty hacks and gurgles to pronounce Hebrew words but all was fun with the 'eat/drink reclining to the left'. Hahah!!! Many of the items were very symbolic in meaning but I'm not gonna talk about it here.

Oh then went to Ipoh on Monday. Was very interesting. Wasn't used to talking in millions of Ringgit and thousands of tonnes. Best part is this:

Me: Pa, where exactly is the factory?
Dad: Bercham
Me: Err... I don't think many people know where Bercham is. What's the nearest landmark?
Dad: Tanjung Rambutan
Me: *Jaws drop and eyes pop in utter horror*

Hallo!!! Ada ke?!?!?! I mean, it's bad enough that everytime I tell people that I'm moving to Ipoh, they immediately "GASP!' followed by the following reactions:
A. You gotta be joking!
B. What is WRONG with you?!
C. What the hell/f***?!
D. Who's the man?

And now, on top of that I have to say that I'll be working in Tanjung Rambutan?!?! Dear God... have mercy on me, will ya?!

Anyway, gotta stop now. I'm supposed to be preparing my training materials for my Media training tomorrow morning. It's 1am and I've done jack so far. Crap! See ya!