每分每秒的催促

每分每秒的催促，犹如每分每秒在唤醒着每分每秒在沉睡的灵魂

看着邮件一份接一份的到来，
看着文件一份接一份的堆积，
看着会议一个接一个的被安排至下个月，
看着负担一点接一点的沉重，
看着头脑一点接一点的模糊，

看着时间一秒接一秒的消失，
看着步伐一分接一分的轻快，
看着日期一天接一天的靠近，
看着自己一年接一年的成长。

Skewers Bbq & Grill @ Subang Avenue

25 July 2010

It was my brother's birthday and we decided to have the dinner at this restaurant for the first time. It was really a hard decision as I did not expect to have such heavy dinner after the 11km marathon. Since he treated me a birthday dinner last month, it would be my turn to treat him this time.

We ordered fresh juice as they claim that it is 100% fresh. They offer a few combination of fruits such as watermelon and apple. Each of them costs around RM10 and it is relatively expensive compared to a San Franciso's smoothie which is much much nicer.

When it was time to order the main dish, each of us order one as we knew the portion is just enough for one person. We chose the Skewers Special Garlic Butter Prawn at the price of RM23. It is served with mashed potato, salad and some pasta. The mashed potatoes turned out to be bit cold. The prawn was really fresh but unfortunately it was lack of some burnt taste. I do not normally eat prawns as I am always lazy to remove the shell. But this time, I ate two because it was easier to remove the shell by holding both ends of the stick.

We also ordered The Ultimate Skewers Glutton Burger. It is sold at the price of RM23. Well, being sold at the same price as the Skewers Special Garlic Butter Prawn, the portion for this burger is slightly more satisfying. The patty was pretty thick. It is served with fresh salad, tortilla chips, and the awesome fries seasoned with curry powder. The tortilla chips however were not crispy enough.

Next item was the Minty Lamb at RM24. The rice was seasoned with curry and I do not really like this. The lamb again was not grilled enough to bring out the burnt taste. I find that Ole Ole Bali/Waterlily are better options if you wish to have grilled food.

We ordered a piece of Brandy Tiramisu. My brother likes it so much and commented that the taste of the alcohol brandy was strong and the texture of the cake was smooth and soft. I was really surprised to hear this as I know he does not take any alcohol even for one bite. By the way, it was really nice but I do not like it because it was bitter :)

The kitchen is next to the entrance. We saw the flame done by the chef but we couldn't taste it.

Rate: 2/5

Address: Ground floor of Subang Avenue, corner and facing outside

Fu Tien Vegetarian Restaurant

10 July 2010

We decided to have our lunch at Fu Tien Vegetarian Restaurant located somewhere around Jusco, Ipoh. The lunch was meant for my dad, who is a vegetarian, for his 59th birthday on 12 July 2010.

This restaurant stands out among others as they serve vegetarian sushi and salad. Of course, their food taste good too. Among all the sushi, I like their spicy tuna very much with the crunchy sensation. The seaweed is my all time favourite too. The pricing is relatively affordable. All the food in below picture with another four drinks only costed us less than RM50.

pic: The dishes are well named

Rate: 4/5

Address: 34, Jalan Medan 1B, Medan Ipoh Bistari, 31400 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel: 05-549 9098

Business Hour: 11:30am~2.45pm 6.00pm~9.45pm. Off on every Monday

Orange Run 2010

25 Sept 2010

I remember my last marathon was in more than 10 years ago when I was still a kid. My mum used to bring us and participate such outdoor events with her friends and their kids too. We together hung out in all kinds of outdoor activitis such as marathon, aerobic, picnic and so forth.

These are the most unforgettable memories for me until now. Believe it or not, I still keep the certificates gained from a few marathon when I was a kid. And today, I got another one and there should be more than 5 certificates now.

It was Orange Run organized by BHP Petrol. Since it was free registration, I just participated without second thought. I was so grateful to have a colleague as my companion. Unfortunately, we splitted at the second kilometer of the route. She was not feeling well and not comfortable to run.

Finally, I finished my 11km marathon within 1.5 hours and my colleague reached 20 minutes later. I was really satisfied with this result since I did not train myself for this but only rely on my routine exercises such as light hiking, swimming and gym. I am proud of both of us for completing the run.

We have so many painful parts on our body now and we decided to go for a massage for the first time in SS2. It was really relaxing but at the same time painful when the staff massage on our "injured" parts. This was how we spent our interesting Sunday.

Europe Country 9: Spain (Barcelona) II

27 September 2009

We had a commitment to wear the shirt with "I love Barcelona" together today. 8 of us were now like walking in a gang.

We headed to Casa Batllo, another Gaudi's impressive work. It was my favourite among all Gaudi's bulidings that I visited. It is a building restored by Joseph Maria Jujol and him, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904-1906.

The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.

The main flat stands out for the curve lines of its walls and ceilings, that generate shapes like the whirlpool on the main roon ceiling.
The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the sword of Saint George, which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

pic: A very special heater in the house

pic: Gaudi emphasized good air ventilation in the building

The central patio well was designed with glazed surface which increases further down it goes, in order to make the most of the natureal light comin in.
There was entrance fee charged. Three of us were not interested in this visit so they waited us outside.

We next visited Casa Mila/La Pedrera. It was built for the married couple, Rosario Segimon and Pere Mila.

The patio well projects out from the main floor right up to the higher floors breaks the circular silhouette of this interior patio well, which measures 90 metres square. The size of the windows gets arger the lower down the window is in the patio well, which means that more natural light wil reach lower floors.

pic: picture sourced from wikipedia

On the roof, Gaudi perfected the aesthetic proposals that had already been suggested in Guell Palace and Casa Batllo. Chimneys, ventilation towers and stairwells go beyond their function becoming sculptures of disturbing form.

pic: The city of Barcelona seen from the roof

Reference:

1) www.wikipedia.com

2) Visual Guide to the complete work of architect AntoniGaudi, published by Dos De Arte Ediciones, S.L., Barcelona 2009

森林的奥妙

走在寂静的街道上，穿梭神秘的森林中。
左右两旁冷清，脑海极度宁静。
带着疲惫的身躯，裹着活跃的灵体。

我站在分岔路口，不能原地踏步，必要择其一。
要不选择向左走，要不向右走，
左脑想着左，右脑说要右。

风是轻，力量却庞大。
迎面而来的风，仿佛也在我耳边，
细声的告诉我，要对自己的决定有信心。

故事纯属虚构

现实与梦境残酷的事实

孤身只影，站在风中，缅怀过去，顿然觉得不寒而栗，毛骨悚然，双腿开始麻痹，身体疲惫，此时此刻，眼前出现一辆轿车，心里祈祷会是位白马王子，把你从冰冷的世界带走，遗憾的是现实往往与梦境相反，是时候梦醒了，回到残酷的现实生活。 事实永远都是那么的无情。活在这么冰冷的世界里，你仿佛也觉得自己的心开始凝固了，没有了七情六欲，感觉不到世上任何一种温情，只能无奈地问自己还能做什么 。

故事纯属虚构

Europe Country 9: Spain (Barcelona) I

26 September 2009

Today was our first actual visit in the city of Barcelona. I was amazed by the buildings around. I had no idea on how to express why I like them. I think I just show you some of the pictures.

You may not believe what we saw in our hotel. We saw an antique lift which was still working to take passengers up and down in the hotel. Well, I am not really sure if it is old, but at least it is working in the old ways. Please watch the clip below.

pic: A quite and clean street

Barcelona is a nice place for cycling and you can save some time from walking. Unfortunately, we did not make a reservation and all we could do was just to take some photos and show to our friend, pretending that we did cycle in the city :)

We then headed to the market, called La Boqueria. It is a large public market and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, with an entrance from La Rambla. The market has a very diverse selection of goods. The market is clean and not slippery and without stench smell like what we have here.

pic: Selling whole pig?

From the market, we entered into La Rambla, a 1.2 km-long-tree-lined pedestrian mall in central Barcelona. You can get almost everything here such as postcard, souvenirs, food, drawings, and etc. Along the street, there are many people decorated themselves in different look and just pose/freeze there. If you are interested, you can take photo with them and then put some tokens in a container in front of them.

At La Rambla, there is an ornate fountain called Font De Canaletes. Tradition has that the one who drinks from the Font de Canaletes will come back to Barcelona, as the inscription on the floor suggests. It appeared in a very famous Taiwanese series called 流行花园. For Mandarin version, please kindly visit http://www.wretch.cc/blog/avenchen/31804042

We passed by these sculpture but we did not know their identity. From their dress, they do not look like Spanish right?

On the way to visit Guell Palace, we saw this. Again, we were not sure with the history but it looked nice. Does it look like kind of Egypt creation? Also we saw a group of ladies wearing in Spanish costume, probably they were having event/festival. Without a tour guide, we could only make some guess.

pic: public toilet for gents

Finally we reached Guell Palace, one of the creation of the very famous architect, Antoni Gaudi.

Antoni Gaudi was born in 1852 in Reus. He is considered as the greatest exponent of Catalan Moderism and one of the leaders of Art Nouveau in Europe, despite his architecture evolving into such a personal style that it is quite difficult to classify. He is today considered as one of the most talented architects in history and his works - seven of which have been made World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. He died in 1926, 15 days before his 74th birthday.

His first work that we visited was Guell Palace. It is located on a street adjacent to the Rambla. This home is centered on a main room for entertaining high socity guests. At the terrace, you can see chimneys of bare brick or decorated with ceramic work, glass, marble, porcelain or sandstone. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Before the day ended, we went to the naked beach. We heard that there are a lot of people sun bathe in naked. Of course, I didn't upload here, they are adult content :)

We met this little kid near the beach and surprisingly he only like our beloved Zhi Wei.

Below are some other pictures taken during our sightseeing.

pic: Another Bridge of Sigh?