Zestful One

Are Greeting Cards dead?

Posted by IcedNyior on March 16, 2008  |  No Comments

I was cleaning some of the boxes at the bottom of my cupboard the other day. There are two boxes which most probably haven’t opened since moving from Miri way back in 2004 so its mostly stuff, presents, knickknacks which I accumulated when I was in Curtin. Surprisingly, I found a huge envelop full of greeting cards – mostly Christmas and birthday cards given to me by my friends.

Nowadays people just send online greeting cards which are common and boring. But I saw this site in which you can order Photo Greeting Cards. All you have to do is choose a type of card then upload your photo and tell them how many orders you want. The card shown below is an example really adorable Christmas card of a baby.

We should start reviving the practice of sending cards through snail mail because nothing beats receiving a real card with a personalized handwritten message inside.

2007 flashbacks

Posted by IcedNyior on December 31, 2007  |  9 Comments

I found that 2007 was great. I enjoyed myself most of the time. It wasn’t like the previous years which was rather crappy with extreme highs and lows – its the low points that really wear me out. However this year was different.

Here’s a recap of the past 12 months :

• January : I was still using my old domain (midnightdances.com). The new year was good with loads of new stuff
• February : Had my first open house since I came to KL. Its actually an invite-only makan2 for Chinese New Year.
• March : Had marvelous steamboat – too much food for too little people, as usual :P Oh and also got my first laptop.
• April : Took my first outstation trip to Seremban using the ktm. Got into my first (and worst) accident. Picked up a girl left at the side of the highway – there’s this interesting story about how she got there.
• May : Changed domain names. Started submitting those meager attempts i like to call ‘photography’ – still a huge work in progress.
• June : Had a craze for papercrafts. Celebrated my grandfather’s 101th Birthday in Kuching. Went all the way to Mines for bowling.
• July : Went bowling again – my first jwg gath. Went for another gathering but this time with bloggers. Started my foray into blogging for money. Oh,Mag came down from KK for a visit with her fiancee. Started my final year.
• August : Got 2 hamsters (but now one died because the other kept attacking it. RIP :() One of the biggest event in the Malay bloggers blogosphere happened – met lots of new friends. 50th Independence for Malaysia.
• September : The 1st iban advert shown in TV. Heroes Season 2 starts. I turned 22.
• October : Got addicted to Catan. Got my very own Car. Gegar Raya 2007.
• November : Spoke my mind and disappointed a lot of people in the process. Had the most fantastic time in Pangkor. My first political-based post. Got into my second accident of the year.
• December : Relaunching of Zestful Eats. Had a slight panic attack about uni related stuff. Apa nama kambing? Read about it here. Joined the Msian Youth Dotcom Search. You can vote for me on the top right.

Its been a great year – I’m very happy with my life and where I am at this moment. Lets hope this positive streak stays till next year.

Have a Happy New Year folks!

Twenty one oredi

Posted by IcedNyior on September 25, 2006  |  9 Comments

Happy birthday to me :D Im officially 21 today, legally able to hv consenting sex, vote, drink alcohol, enter clubs (even tho i’ve been doin that for the past 5 yrs) but honestly, to everyone else, its just another normal day.

But for me, its a day that I smile to myself because

Cemetary Trip

Posted by IcedNyior on August 3, 2006  |  5 Comments

[Time] sometime after 3-4 am
[Date] a Saturday early 2004
[Venue] Miri, Sarawak

Now that I recall, it was a really dark night, no moon and not a star in the sky. My friends and I were about to go back after a night of fun, clubbing, dancing and drinking. The club was the heart of town about 30 mins from our campus.

There was 5 of us in the car. K (the extremely cute driver) from brunei, C (an exchange student from Aussie) in the front passenger seat, B (also from brunei) sitting in the middle of the back seat with L (my best fren) on his right and myself on his left.

A note on B, he’s what some people call gifted, special or can sense. He said its passed down from his ancestors. He can sense and sometimes even see and here things. And ‘things’ have a tendency to disturb him, switching his house lights on and off, staying in his toilet – but they never cause him hurt, just a little inconvenience

There was two ways to go back to our campus from town. One is through the main road which goes through 2 roundabout and another is the back way which passes though some shoplots. We were deciding which road to take when someone – i forgot who – said “lets go through the other way.” L & I looked at each other – we (even tho we are Sarawakians) have never dared go through this road after dark.

This other way passes through 2 cemeteries – which are on both sides of the road. First a Malay one, with a rusty looking iron fence surrounding it with a few trees of bunga kemboja – those white flowers with a yellow center – and lots of batu nesan scattered, some wrapped with white cloth. Next a Chinese one, with elaborate tombstones, big and small. Imagine a dark still night, with hardly any light, except for dim roadlights and the car’s headlights.

We were just having small talk while going through that road. C was drunk in the front, K was quietly driving when suddenly B said “K, drive faster“, “alar, why are you so scared?” K replied. B snapped back in a calm yet insistent way “Cepat skit K, ada benda ikut. Cepat.” Even before he said that I had already had this eerie feeling and I think L did to. K stepped on the gas and I grabbed B’s arm and closed my eyes, silently praying in my heart.

We didn’t dare speak until we were way out of town and K asked “ada lagi?“, and B bit his lip and nodded his head “uhuh” in a rather worried and scared way. We got to B’s house (he rented a house offcampus) and I could still see the scared look on his face. “Wash ur hands and your feet the moment u get inside” he said, in a monotone. He went in and switched on a CD of some quran reading (i think). And only then he relaxed. And we never talked about it again.

Thats my closest experience about things in the “other side”.

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Phew, my first story. Its a true story, also publish in the Night Crossings blog (http://nightcrossings.blogspot.com)
I’d better mention it before anyone screams “repost!!”.

Enjoy!

Of Brian’s Visit & Night Crossings

Posted by IcedNyior on July 26, 2006  |  3 Comments

I’ve been hit by the malas-to-update-my-blog syndrome the past few weeks. Its not that I dont have a life *jeling kat put* but I’ve been busy – but not as busy as org yg salah tgk date convo or mak hayam yg nak cuti awal.

Brian, a close fren of mine from KK (who’s currently studying in Singapore) came to KL for a weekend trip. He stayed with Aaron in KJ. These two monkeys said that they would be in BB-Lowyat area after 10am on saturday and so I was at KJ at 11am and decided to call them to say that I’d be there earlier than i expected – supposed to meet at 12.30pm at first.

Those two monkeys were still sleeping!! Or to be more accurate, i woke them up. So i asked them to get their butts down to KJ as soon as possible and they came in less than an hour later – groggy and tired. Coz they watched Pirates at 12.30 and only got back around 3 something am.

We were busy camwhoring in the monorail station and in the train. We went to Low yat and walked around window shopping while Brian was looking for a laptop bag. He finally bought a nice Belkin padded cushy one for RM95 (compared to me who will juz sumbat my laptop into any bag im currently using – if its too small, juz pegang mcm pegang files or books).

At around 2.30pm, Aaron left us to go for his interview and it started raining so we decided to go to Time Square because Brian hasn’t been there for some time. We had to walk in the rain to time square when Brian asked where Lot 10 was coz he wanted to go the the Bentley (sp?) store opposite. I was like “What?!?!? we walked thru the rain here and u want to go back??” So we did go back and he kept insisting there was an underground passage from Regent Hotel to the opposite road (Planet Hollywood side) – anyone know about this passage?? – but we crossed the road anyway coz we couldnt find this so-called passage of his.

After that I went to stay at my frens place. Lepak2 borak2 and slept a lot coz i didnt sleep the night before. The next day I met up with Brian and Aaron (again!) in Ikano and we jalan2 to Padini – waaaa…so many new heels at Vincci~! – and Aaron bought 2 new tshirts then we lepak2 at Starbucks Ikano and took lotsa pics again :P Then the 2 monkeys came to my house for dinner and we juz talk talk, drink drink then they went home.

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Im proud to annouce the opening of a new group blog between my frens and I:

Night Crossings – where the unexplainable and mysterious happen

Where a group of bloggers share stories of the night
True life experiences and encounters
Old wives tales and taboos
Stories of the unseen and unknown.

>> http://nightcrossings.blogspot.com < <

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Oh and I’ve been busy fixing up a few blogger’s templates, namely BlackFeline (juz some minor adjusting) and UglyButAdorable (template revamp). Was interesting to do.

Oh and its the last week of my holidays. So have been lepaking a lot, and also trying to fix my messy sleeping times. So far so good, slept early last night and woke up around 9 something this morning. :P

i look familiar? you look famliar

Posted by IcedNyior on March 7, 2006  |  5 Comments

I was at my fren’s place a few weeks back juz lepaking. Then his housemate popped his head into the room and was terkejut to see a gal thr (apparently my fren doesnt get much female visitors….lol) and gave me this nice smile & nod. Cute!! :D

Later when we were on the way to town, i asked my fren who his housemate was coz he looked familiar. Then he (my fren) said that he (that guy) mentioned that I looked familiar as well. Apparently he (that guy) is the member of this local band, Floppy Pop Flop Poppy.

Hmm…i wonder where I’d seen him before…coz i obviously dont kno anything about local bands…and I wonder where he’d seen me before. While i was out clubbing? Planet hollywood maybe? Juz lepaking?

Cewah….”celebriti” kata I nampak familiar….terasa femes jap :P {gedik kan?}
~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~

I was walking down the steps in uni the other day when this gal in front of me, turned around and juz stopped walking and looked at someone behind me. I thought nothing of it until I reached the bottom step and she tapped my shoulder and said, “excuse me, are you fiona?” and i replied “yes”

“remember me? im golda..from miri”
“err…no not really”
“remember grace? *i nod* we 3 used to be close frens”
“oh yeaa….no wonder u look a lil familiar”
“we used to play mud at the back of grace’s house”
“yeah and throw it on the metal water tank to see if it’ll stick”

then a few catching up..like whr she was staying and exchanging numbers

Honestly, i dont quite remember her…but she does look familiar :P

Of books, snooker and a Guinness party

Posted by IcedNyior on January 19, 2006  |  No Comments

This month Im really really short of money. Not really sure what exactly I spent it on, but must be coz of all the outings this month. Cant wait for my “gaji” to masuk account so that I have something to live on, if not, hv to pinjam moneylah. Cant ask money from my parents due to very obvious reasons.

Anyway, last nite we came back quite late, around 5.30 am after lepaking in Devi’s Bangsar, until we kena halau. Had lots of laughs over our childhood memories of toys & TV shows particularly Sesame Street – Grouch, Snufflafagus (i think i spelled it wrong), Elmo, “the letter of the day is F…*starts singing*…F…F…F….F!!!”. Hilarious! Even more so when it’s dubbed into BM. Laughed about doing silly stuff with remote control cars, toy guns, a digital camera and an empty street. Also cooked up a new nickname for Nick.

This afternoon had lunch with Carmen and Nick at Uncle Lim’s, Ikano (P was supposed to come, but he tertido until evening). The 3 of us ate rm41.50 worth of food – 2 porridges, 1 nasi lemak, 2 half boiled eggs, 1 roti bakar, 1 otak-otak & 3 drinks. Then went to Borders, Nick bought his Linkin Park book about their Meteora world tour (did i get it right?). After dat went to Starbucks – didnt bring laptop coz my dad left it at the office – reading Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. The game Icewind Dale is based on this book. Its a really really thick book, didnt get to finish it.

Around 5-6pm P came along and lepak around there in starbucks before deciding to go to Arena to play snooker. I’ve never played snooker – am better at pool – so i gave it a try. So hard to adjust to a bigger table – i think i need lots and lots more practise. It was a fun game lah. Played for about an hour. The guys keep bullying me coz I was kinda blur (due to lack of sleep) and there was no Erin to bully this time. Then we went to Kpg Pandan for a late late late dinner/supper.

Come to think of it, I’ve been seeing Nick and P on a daily basis. Erin asked “dont you ever get bored of each other?” I dont think so. Its fun, sometimes nothing to do at home, so just keluar lepak la.
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Guinness Code : Black the Rising
Date : 21 January 2006
Time : 8 pm
Venue : Zouk

Events & DJs
Awaken @ The Loft – Kenny K & Michelle Nunis

Discover @ Velvet Underground – Jungle Jerry, Gabriel, Rabbit, Stickman

Celebrate @ Zouk Mainroom – Nesh vs. Fuzz, MC Moots vs. MC James

**NOTICE**
I currently have 2 free passes to the party this saturday – got it coz i registered at the website. Erin & Pam in KK, Cass i think busy here and there. Lian? Laila? Who else wana go ahh?? Please contact me ASAP.

(if not then mayb I wont go, coz I’ll be alone)

~~*~~
Current mood: Coping
Now Listening to: My LaunchCast Station
Recommended: Good hand-eye coordination? Try this! Interesting wallpapers here

2005 : The past, the memories

Posted by IcedNyior on January 5, 2006  |  2 Comments

I was hanging out with a couple of frens at a fren’s hse on new year’s eve and we had a great time talking and laughing about nasi lemak bungkus, the God complex and gambir Sarawak so many other things.

Anyway, one question that popped up was “what have you achieved in 2005 (besides work/studies)?” After i went back, i was thinking about how so many things has happened to me in the past year that made a significant change in my life.

So what have i actually achieved?

1. A greater sense of maturity - mixing with older more matured people made me more aware of the complexity of life and learn from other ppl’s experiences
2. More understanding of the opposite sex - This year I have been dabbling a lot in relationships (mostly with negative results) and my verdict : Its too complicated for me to take interest in it.
3. Freedom - In late 2005, my parents finally gave up on me trust me enough for me to make my own decisions. They have given me alot of freedom, of which I am very grateful.
4. A larger group of friends - I’ve learnt to change my mindset about people, prejudices and stereotypes by getting to know more types people that I usually would.
5. The drive to do my best - Listening to people’s stories make me want to strive to do the best even if it seems impossible at this moment. I want to be successfull, not someone who will look down the road in 40 yrs time and say “Damn! why didnt I do better when I was younger?”
6. Better Attitude - I’ve learnt to adopt a don’t-care attitude, especially when it comes to ‘what people think’. I realized that you cant change people’s mindset esp if they are some old, overly sensitive, mcm baik sgt makciks so just do your own thing and time will decide who is right.

It probably doesnt look like a lot of achievements to most people but everything mentioned is a big deal in my point of view. To some it might seem silly, nonsense or (God forbid!) insulting.

Come to think of it, 2005 has been an interesting year, full of funny incidents and anecdotes, but dotted with a few low points. Here’s a short summary:

Clubbin 5 nites a row in KK | Hooked up with 1st bf | Getting to know CS group | Getting involved in Yahoo! Chat | Seriously into Blogs & RBJ | Regularly clubbing | Regularly drinking | Breezing thru studies | Had a stalker | Fofular in KL1,KL2, Msia1 | Meeting chatters | Dating chatters | Took a break from clubbing | Attended gatherings | Involved in blogwar | Started my degree | Made lots of meaningful friendships | Breaking up | Made a vow not to date chatters | Broke a few friendships | Stopped chatting | Moved house | Learnt mamak-ing till dawn | Learnt to survive without internet | Re-read every fiction i own | Bought tons of new books | Bogged down with assignments | Made Starbucks my 2nd home | Started Clubbing again | Met 2nd bf | Went out almost every nite with the guys | Drinking more | Stuck to a close circle of friends | Breaking up | Got good results | Holiday with Family

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Something I came across while digging old chat logs:

P: u are okay .. bubly …. straight open
P: hmmmm cool
P: patience .. somehow pening tenngok reactions orang lain .. apsal laa this world is somehow weird ..
P: apsal laa orang cannot be this and that
P: hahaha
P: knowledgeable …. experience … able to fit in the crowd …
P: hmmm
P: bab yang tak baik ..
P: time management .. selalu kantoi

Dear P,
U’ll be glad to know that one of my many resolutions is to improve on my time management :P

Blanket advertistment

Posted by IcedNyior on November 24, 2005  |  1 Comment

The following advert was done by my hostel mates and I (we called ourself the Cibai Clan) back in 2003 when I was in Curtin. It was done one nite when we were super bored using a normal digital camera and Windows Movie Maker. Done by myself with input from the team.

Click here!

*note*
I linked the video instead because it was slowing down the load time of my blog so if u want to see it, pls click the link

Written memories

Posted by IcedNyior on July 21, 2005  |  No Comments

i actually wrote out a pretty good post…1 in fact but somehow i salah burn it into my CDRW so kenot open. So im stuck with a mediocre post :P.

Im in one utama – starbucks, drinking caffe mocha (hot) coz i hv a slight flu today. Nuttin much, check mail, sent emails, did the KLUE reader’s survey.

Just plain lepaking around.

Before that, at home, i unpacked 2 more boxes, and found old letters and cards, which brought back lots of nostalgic memories, especially a card from Grace before she left to Kuching….brought tears and laughter. I miss her so much :(

I have a tendency to keep most of the cards & letters i receive through snail mail because no email can beat the orginality and the charm of a handwritten letter or card