Bonjour Glow~*

A Not So Happy Chinese New Year: 2012

2012-01-28T10:40:00.001+08:00

So the year of the water dragon is upon us. Some how CNY has lost it's charms. Perhaps it me growing up, or older. Back not too long ago, CNY had a magical place in my heart right along with Christmas.

Here is a typical timeline for chibi Glow CNY: weeks ahead spring cleaning is under way. This includes me helping my mom paint either the walls, gates or window frames. One year we even painted everything! Then a week before, cleaning the decorations and start giving new breath to the old ang pow by turning them into new decorations. Invites to my friends are sent out. We have a schedule on whose friends should come at which time as we live in a small Terrence house. Typically I get the 1st day afternoon slot as most of my friends, all t of them aren't Chinese. My brothers would opt for the more cooling night as they would eat drink and be merry till the www hours of the morn.

A few days before, cookies are made or collected. Supplies of food and drinks stocked. Last minute purchase of new clothes, shoes and undies.The day before CNY really gets into full swing. Decorations are hung by my brothers in their macho shirtless glory while I would wonder where were they when my mom and I were painting our house all by ourselves. By mid morning chopping can be heard from the kitchen as my mom hollers at our cats for loitering in the kitchen.By evening decorations would be in full swing, not a wall or ceiling were to be spared from the auspicious red. Gawdy I know but it's only once a year.

Then we sit down at our dinner table for our reunion dinner. Throughout the time the table seems to be getting smaller. For a family of 6 burgeoning to 16 and yet somehow we manage. Mom would prepare a spread of minimum 5 kind of meat: pork, chicken, duck,fish,prawn,sea cucumber. Along side 2 servings of vegetables and vegetarian mock food, my favorite being the mock duck, yums!

There is a sense of bonding when we are forced to sit so close together celebrating and sharing while fighting for the choicest morsel of food. Trust me, growing up with 3 elder brothers train you in the art of eating. Through the din and clatter family unity is felt.After dinner, we plop ourselves in the living room as we recover from the food overdose. Barely an hour in it was time for a final wash of the porch as we weren't allowed to clean the house on the 1st day of CNY. This would happen around 10pm.While waiting for the fire works to come out, mom would help me put on the family jewels. That being a few choice gold wrislets as she would recite the history year after year of how these pieces came about and how I must not loose them as she seal the jewelry with an auspicious red string.

Midnight strikes as we all gather on to the street at the sound of the first explosion. We're lucky to be staying at a place where there are many Chinese businessmen willing to spend a few thousand each year for our enjoyment. The fireworks typically lasts a good 30 minutes coming for all four corners of our house.Back in we march recounting our favourite explosions. We don't put out altars to receive the God of Prosperity as my dad is a Christian so mom compromises by keeping all the lights turned on till 1am then only switching off the bedroom lights till the morning comes.I was also given the duty of wrapping the ang pows. A duty I took too immediately with glee as it meant I knew who gets what and how much. Then it was sleep time.

When I was young, the 1st morning was the most fun as we awoke groggily, clean up and out on our smashing new clothes and giddily hunt down our yearly bonuses from the elders.It was the only time if the year where we were guaranteed of genuinely behave our very best. Smilling and spouting well wishes.Traditions are men made and it changes over time. Now, being based up north things are done differently. Being with a new family one has to adapt.

Perhaps if one day I become the matriarch of the family I could merge some of our traditions together.So enough of nostalgia. Here are a few pics of this year. The table felt quite empty as dad has passed on and 3othersade a choose not to return. It was more of a sombre mood as now we become the adults putting on a jolly show for the kids. Trying to rekindle the innocent excitement we once felt.
On our way for northern reunion dinner. This year we had it at Sunway Hotel buffet style. It was alright. DIY yee sang so I loaded up the salmon. Wish there were more Chinese dishes though the whole fried gurupa was lovely. No washing up after was a great feeling.The it was off to Seremban by train. We opted for the 1st class coach and it was great! Sort of wished the journey would take longer as it took me awhile to fall asleep as the train was moving. The personal toilet was a God sent and it comes with an attached shower too.We were served 2 meals. For supper it was mineral water and Burger. Breakfast of hot Milo and bread.It was great to meet up with one of my dearest childhood friend. Sadly the other half could not make it as she was stuck celebrating in Singapore.A load of driving around visiting family. I'm so happy that my brothers actually gave me ang pao this year. I will always be their lil sis. Aw....Of course like every family web had our drama. misunderstanding and pride for in the way for a full reunion. I packed 2 extra and pao in case they were coming but they never dis. Not even a phone call. Why let the young suffer the problems of he adults. Sigh...I too got scolding from someone close. Something I have to learnt to live with it bit that is thoughts for another blogpost.

During our return to the north on the 2nd day. Teddy Ben for pick pocketed at Mid Valley KTM station. This is how they work. They wait Tull the last minute when people have already josselted a small standing in the train. Then they leap in attempting to get a space but in actual fact the body contact was to pick your wallet. It lasted for no more than 10 seconds. Pretending to give up, they hop of the train with a smile as if to say "darn, I'll just catch the next one" but in actual fact it was a snug smile directed in your face. Doors close a split second later and you reach down realizing there would be no chase. So beware of 2 young Malay chaps one tall and lanky the other oh average height and curly hair. They operate there quite of then as another victim bidder Ben at the police station. All with the same story and location. Good thing Teddy Ben has a special insurance that covers losses like these and even help you to cancel all your cards with just one call. But the hassle is there.On a lighter note, Unifi decided to drop by with this.A CNY hamper of appreciation. I wished they would appreciated with electronic goods as junk food isn't very healthy. None the less it was a very kind gesture from them. Unifi had been awesome to us and the tech support is awesome. 24hours a day.

Well that's it. How has your CNY celebrations been?

Melbourne Day 3

2012-01-17T16:28:00.000+08:00

So it's day 3 of our visit. Today we will go about town and meet up with the ever beautiful and lovely Ms Violet Le Beaux and James.

Our 1st bus ride.

Bus stations in suburbia Melbourne are different from Malaysia. In Malaysia all the bus will stop at every station but here, certain bus stops are for certain buses. We only realised that after 30 minutes after a bus driver gave us a perplexed look as we waved him good bye and have a nice day. After calling our cousins we found out how silly we were and went around the corner just in time to catch your bus. Phew...

The Indoor Clock Tower

The rendezvous point was a place called he Clock Tower. So our bus stopped at Melb Central and we looked around and around for a clock tower. No luck. A call later, we were directed to a pointy building. Turns out it wasn't a tower with a clock we were looking for. In order to preserve the local heritage, modern buildings are often built to shelter the old ones as it is against the law to demolish them. In this case, it was a building that use to house firearms and it has a tower but sans clack. the clock? Next to it. Took me awhile to get this but I guess it was easier to call it the clock tower than Fire arm tower with clock at the side.

It took us awhile but I spotted a fluff of cotton candy from a far and squealed to Teddy Ben "That's her!" After a hug and formal introduction we all agreed that it was time for lunch.

Off we went to Grill'd as both Ben and James share a strong affinity for meat. Yes our men are carnivorous. The portion was great and the layers distinct. You can vividly see the layers of cheese vege and meat. Often in Malaysia only a few slivers are put for the sake of the recipe but here, there is a good omnivorous balance. And some items come pre stabbed!

After a hearty meal off we went for some exercises. By exercise I mean play time as we headed to the arcade. James and Violet are the Lord and Lady of the arcade as they have many strategies on tackling The Claw. This is the kawaii neko that I *cough cough* won...from Violet. I totally failed at playing the claw machine and Violet was so nice to give me this cute little fella which she got on her 1st try! She is awesome!

We even tried out the purikura machine. It was loads of fun but warning, it takes a lot of skills to master the art of purikura. I think we need more training as we weren't ready for a few of the shots.

Next it's time to head out for a walk about. It's was near Christmas and you can see it everywhere.

A building as a present? Why thank you. It was fun to play with the Christmas decorations. But there was one display which played ominous voices of kids singing. It literally made us jumped when we 1st heard it.

Took the necessarily tourist photographs to prove that we were there.

I love all the architecture there. So intricate and interesting. And pointy too. I could spend hours just walking around with my head in the air. But I would not recommend you do that without supervision as you could get into trouble, they have a lot of horses there as you can see from this post

The skyline. I think the orange flag is funny.

A little art I made. It's not magic, or glue. It's PHYSICS! According to James, there was a girl there a few days back where she made a whole portrait with leaves!

Later we met up with Bens cousins and we headed for some Korean dining.

I simply love the fact that Koreans have so many side dishes. In some restaurants in KL they even provide free refillable! Not here though.

Lovely hotpot for the cold weather. Sort of reminds me of our Steam boats sessions.

My favourite Bibimbap. Healthy and yummy too.

Heavenly Bulgogi! Sort of the Yakiniku of the Korean world. Succulent and savoury beef strips.

This tea is perplexing. Called corn tea, it taste just like popcorn! I think it's something we can do at home.

After that it was Japanese crepe time as Ben told a few depressing stories and made Violet feel so sad, me too actually, so we all got some crepe as desert. Nothing quite like crepe to cheer someone up.

We spent the rest of your time just sitting on the grass enjoying our crepe. Even spotted a home made bong but we didn't dare approach it.. It was such a lovely day spent with wonderful people.

Check out this awesome video Ms Violet made! Don't forget to check out her side of the story and how she tried to convince us to move to Melbourne! Real smooth... HERE ^^

Aeternalis’ Heavy Guide for TF2 v1.0 (25/12/11)

2011-12-25T20:48:00.001+08:00

Aeternalis’ Heavy Guide for TF2 v1.0 (25/12/11)

Introduction
Hello, my name is Ben @ Aeternalis (the owl guy) who frequents the Lowyat TF2 servers; this is my first attempt at making a guide.

Disclaimer: I don’t pretend to be a pro and there are tons of players out there better than me, but I just want to share some of my experiences playing TF2 so that beginners can pick up on some tips and we can generally have more fun in our games (pwning n00bs gets boring after a while). So please don’t flame my @ss but I’d welcome any feedback/criticism/opinions regarding this guide.

To those interested, I’ve been playing TF2 only 2 months ever since I did a knee operation for a torn ACL (kudos if you know what that is), so I was on medical leave since then. I started my illustrious career playing engineer first, then scout and now focus on heavy. Now having started back work, I usually play on weekends and after 5 on weekdays.

My stats (at time of writing from playing only official TF2 sanctioned maps)
Most points:56 (as Heavy) Most kills:42 (as Heavy) Most kills by sentry:14 (as Engineer) Most assists:15 as Medic) Most captures:18 (as Heavy) Most defenses:7 (as Heavy) Most damage:7,864 (as Heavy) Most destruction:9 (as Heavy) Most dominations:7 (as Heavy) Most revenges:2 (as Heavy) Most UberCharges:2 (as Medic) Longest life:16:43 (as Engineer) Most backstabs:1 (as Spy) Most buildings built:18 (as Engineer) Most headshots:9 (as Sniper) Most health healed:2,080 (as Medic) Most health leeched:8 (as Spy) Most teleports:13 (as Engineer)

Even if you’re not interested in Heavy as a class, some of the information here may benefit players who wish to train in other classes and give an idea how to counter adept Heavy players (like moi).
So let’s get down to it.

Hardware options
You know how people say that the human eye can’t register FPS higher than 60? Well, simply put… that’s a load of crap (trust me, I’m a doctor).

I was playing tf2 @ 60fps with scout and when I made the change to a 120hz monitor, I suddenly noticed that my skills have improved overnight! A better explanation of this is the more frames hit your retina, you’re receiving more information to your brain about your opponents movements, rockets/grenades flying towards you so that you can react faster.

For example, have you seen those creepy 400Hz HDTVs in your local electronic shop and how the movement just seems so fluid? Well, the same can be applied to a 120hz monitor but less so.

WARNING: If your other system specs like GPU or CPU cannot render TF2 at more than 60fps, then it’s pointless to buy a 120hz monitor. Use programs like FRAPS to see what kind of frame rates you are getting. If you’re hitting the ceiling at 60fps then maybe you should consider the upgrade. Please note that with vsync disabled, your FRAPS may show you getting more than 60fps, but your monitor is only displaying at 60fps (the extra frames are not drawn), however with a 120hz monitor, the extra frames will be drawn till the ceiling of 120fps. For example, my FRAPS show a frame rate of 300fps, but my monitor is only drawing 120fps

Also for heaven’s sake, get a good mouse. Don’t spend all your $$$ on a kickass PC but you’re using some generic mouse/trackball thingie. My preference is the Logitech G9x, having used both the Razer Deathadder and Lachesis.

Ingame TF2 options
Before we go in depth into tactics blabla, there are a few prerequisite options in the game itself that you should set. Please note that these are my own personal preferences, but quite a few adept players I know have enabled these options as well.

Under advanced options, from top to bottom:

Enable ‘DISPLAY DAMAGE DONE AS TEXT OVER YOUR TARGET’. This gives 3 distinct advantages; Firstly, you are able to tell that you are actually hitting your target (as opposed to spraying the air with blanks) and secondly, you can tell how far your target is from death (and whether you should chase him down or back off). Lastly, you can tell from the damage you are dealing which range category (see more below) you are standing at.
Under HUD options, enable ‘MINIMAL HUD’. This hud is less intrusive and gives you more screen area to work with.
Disable ‘DRAW VIEWMODELS’. This option removes the weapon model at the right or left hand side of your screen. This confers the same benefit as above, but you really need to get used to it as it’s easy to lose track of which weapon is which especially with minimal hud. Also, important info like visual cues as to when your next shot (for soldiers/scouts/demoman) is ready is also lost, so players who use this must be already familiar with the speed of their shots.

Under options, in video tab, click on advanced options, max out the FOV slider: This increases your FOV and allows you to see more.

Same view: different FOV. Above picture FOV is max at 90 and below picture FOV is minimum at 75. Notice how you can notice the spy noticing you in the above picture? That can mean the difference between life and death if that spy was actually a disguised Blu spy.

Under options, in multiplayer tab, choose a cursor colour that really stands out: mine is whitish pink. The default white messes up with your aim especially in brightly lit areas like the first part of ‘upward’. I use the default ‘none’ cursor option as this will vary my cursor to which weapon I’m equipping which benefit those who use disable draw viewmodels.

Depending on the weapon, parts of your screen will be obscured by the weapon: As you can see above, the engineer in the 2nd picture is almost completely blocked by the minigun. If that was a good blue scout, you’d probably be dead by the time you realize he’s there. Not to mention the FPS boost you get by not drawing the weapon model, it makes disabling this option a no-brainer.

Equipment
With the options now out of the way, we come down to the meat and potatoes of it. My choice of weapons for the heavy are;

Iron Curtain (reskin of the standard minigun)
Sandvich
Gloves of Running Urgently (GRU)

My playstyle believes ultimately in survivability and flanking, so this is my ideal choice of equipment.
Now, I would advise all beginners or those players wanting to be better to visit the TF2 wiki site and read through http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Damage (how damage is done) and the different damage values for different weapons (especially your weapon of choice) as well as know the different health values of different classes.

The stats for the minigun shown below. Each round of ammo shoots 4 bullets which use hitscan to determine whether they have hit or missed the target. This showcases how important it is to ‘trace’ the moving target with your reticule. Make sure that the target is within your minigun circle at all times. More advanced players will actually ‘lead’ the cursor in front of the moving target to make sure that all the bullets are hitting the target = maximum dps (especially when the target is at midrange).
Also don’t hesitate to use your sandvich to heal other teammates (especially dying medics healing you). As a general rule, I like to keep both me and my medic’s health at full before engaging the enemy.

Damage and function times
Shot type		Hitscan
Damage
Maximum ramp-up	150%	13.5 / per bullet
Base damage	100%	9 / per bullet
Maximum fall-off	50%	4.5 / per bullet
Point blank		50-54 / per 1 ammo 500-540 / per second
Medium range		5-30 / per 1 ammo 50-300 / per second
Long range		5-10 / per 1 ammo 50-100 / per second
Critical hit		27 / per bullet
Mini-crit		12 / per bullet
Function times
Attack interval		0.1 s
Windup time		0.87 s

Combat
As you can see above, most enemies you meet at point blank will almost instantly die under a hail of bullets provided you have revved up your minigun (which takes 0.87 seconds) and are facing the right direction.

Therefore, most of the time when the outcome of engaging the enemy is in doubt is at midrange, or when facing multiple enemies at different distances.

As a general rule, heavies should not try to engage enemies at long range as the spread of the bullets + the low damage values would put heavies at the mercies of snipers, spies with revolvers and soldiers with direct hits.

Prioritizing targets
The one mistake that many new heavy players do is spraying the whole screen with bullets without actually focusing on any one target. The disadvantages of this is manifold: you alert ALL your enemies to your presence and you don’t actually KILL anyone.

Heavy’s need to prioritize their targets based on threat ratings: A guide to which target to aim at first is as follows:

Enemies nearest to you who are aware of your presence (i.e. shooting at you). The exception to this rule is when you are outgunned and about to die, (A spunned up heavy is shooting at you) then you should concentrate on killing a weaker enemy (say an injured pyro or demoman) before you die. Pyros who are flaming you can be easily taken down due to their low health especially when you have a medic on you.
If no enemy is aware to your presence which should be the case when you play heavy, then target those nearest to you which have the highest danger rating (Spunned up heavies who are shooting a different direction, soldiers, demomen).
Enemies at midrange who are aware of your presence and shooting at you can sometimes be ignored until you’ve killed all nearer opponents or they move closer to you to become something of a threat.
Enemies at midrange who aren’t aware of your presence. If the conditions allow for it, you should attempt to close down the gap before making your presence known by shooting them.

The picture above shows the proposed kill order. If you spray the whole area, you attract everyone’s attention (especially the heavy on the cart) and you’re dead. Kill the pyro attacking you first, then the heavy, the demo shouldn’t be able to take you down so quickly at close range with his nades. The soldier attacking you from midrange won’t be very effective due to the cart and his teammates blocking him.

Another important concept of playing heavy is to know WHEN TO RUN! It’s better to flee and live another day then to go down guns blazing (unless you have left yourself no route of escape, then take as many of them as possible before dying). Enemies at long range are not worth engaging unless to suppress them to allow other members of your team (like a good spy) to get in behind them. Any good sniper will make short work of you if you decide to engage him at long range.

Hence the importance of the Sandvich, unless you are really sure you can escape to a location where you can eat your sandvich in peace, use the alt-fire of dropping your sandvich and moving over it to gain +150 health (if you are above 150 health there is no benefit of eating the sandvich).
This tactic can be employed by jumping off cliffs or great heights and dropping the sandvich at the spot you’re landing to avoid going splat on the ground.

Another frequently employed tactic I use, is the fake retreat (which works most of the time).

At mid-range with pyro and medic support, your heavy would probably lose in the first picture. Retreating is the viable option. Most opponents would either assume you are low on health and chase you. Turn back with gun revved (preferably at a corner). Some opponents would not follow making your chances much higher, and being at point black range with minigun ready should make mincemeat of the unsuspecting advancing army.

Specific combat situations

VS soldiers
The soldier will have the advantage if he’s in a position to pop out of cover to shoot and then pop back in cover, a tactic which can be used by all classes. The demoman also has a similar advantage in these situations (more so being able to stay in cover and shoot). The heavy should retreat in most of these circumstances unless you know that the opponnent is very low on health in which case, you might want to spin up and shoot at the corner he is coming out from. However, this rarely works. It may be better to employ the fake retreat tactic above.

VS spies
The bane of most heavies, I have been taught well by many a good spy (see acknowledgements) to be spy aware. That means periodically turning back (even while spunned up and firing at the enemy) to shoot at suspicious characters. You should do this if you’re engaging an enemy in midrange/long range and there is no immediate threat to your life from the front, as you are not likely to kill the enemy at that range if you focus on him anyway. More advanced spy tactics would include the jumpstab, so watch for your ‘teammates’ making weird moves to climb stairs/towers to get to a vantage point to jumpstab you from (i.e. in ‘hightower’ when your heavy is going up the lift with the cart, spies will usually climb the mid tower and jumpstab you from there).

Many spies also stab the medic first in a medic heavy pair, so if you are aware of the kill log to your top right, you should be able to catch the spy closing down on you. Also, if you notice that your medic has stopped healing you, you should turn around to check as well, as a good medic shouldn’t just continue to heal their target when they sense a spy heading towards their patient.

Also, LISTEN! Hear the spy decloacking sound, and also be aware of the dead ringer. Put your mind in the spy’s mind, if he used the dead ringer, he’ll be looking for a safe place to decloack and somewhere near you to stab. The dead ringer lasts for 6.5 seconds, so when you kill a dead ringer spy, that also allows you 6.5 seconds to attack the enemy before turning around to check for spies. (provided there is only one spy though).

VS snipers
If you’re stuck in the open and the sniper is at extreme range, change to the GRU and run to cover. If the sniper is at long range, firing at them would mess up their aim sufficiently for you to get to cover. If at midrange, you may consider trying to gun them down, although this would not work against more proficient snipers. All in all, heavies should try to avoid open areas as much as possible and stick near walls, trenches, corners.

Make sure that the target is within your minigun circle at all times. More advanced players will actually ‘lead’ the cursor in front of the moving target to make sure that all the bullets are hitting the target = maximum dps (especially when the target is at midrange)

VS heavies
This is pretty straightforward. If both heavies notice each other immediately, then:
Heavy which is spun up and firing wins first. If your opponent has already begun shooting and you haven’t, either

Rev and shoot him if you know/hope that he’s low on health,
RUN, or
Try taking out some other target (his medic?) before you die.

If spun up at the same time, then brass beast > minigun (iron curtain) > tomislav > natascha
Heavy with medic will beat heavy with no medic. Heavy with two medics will beat heavy with one medic.
Due to the threat nature of the heavy, they should be high priority in your target list especially when they are looking the other way.

VS engineers and their sentries
Many n00b heavies focus all their fire on the sentry gun. Heck, I’ve been guilty of this so many times. Sometimes, the engineer fixing the sentry is actually exposed to fire, therefore making sure the sentry AND the engineer is in the target reticule is one way of taking down sentry nests. Also, due to the large hitbox of sentry guns, it is possible to fire away at the tip of the gun of sentries without them firing back at you. (the last cap of ‘upward’, when sentries are on the balcony and you approach from below, you can fire through the holes in the wooden floor or through the metal railing of the balcony)

Being healed by a medic
The above tactics still hold sound even when you’re being carried by a medic. While you should be braver and take more risks with a medic as a pair, you must STILL know when to retreat as you dying would mean putting your partner at risk. Having a uber medic or a kritz medic also has different implications. The ubered heavy medic pair should be closer to the front lines or attempting a flank (under tactics section). The kritz heavy medic pair should be at midrange to long range as the kritz heavy can make short work of most enemies at this ideal range. Being closer would run the risk of the heavy dying and wasting the kritz. Also, don't be afraid to change to the GRU when ubered to get closer to the enemy/cap point/sentry nests .

Tactics
Having first trained with the scout, I’m aware of many of the alternative flanking routes of most maps in TF2. However, the problem I faced is my scout would often die before I can deal any lasting damage even though I catch the opponents unaware. Therefore, I play Heavy with the same scout mindset. If you can get behind enemy lines with a spunned up heavy (more so being carried by a uber-ready medic), you would usually make short work of your opponents.

The GRU is the most useful piece of equipment as it allows your heavy (and medic) to reach the front lines of a CP mission just a little bit slower than the scouts of both teams. This allows you to area control certain points of the map (just like how soldiers rocket jump to the roof of ‘harvest’ or ‘foundry’ above the cap to deny access to these areas.

From the word go, a GRU heavy should rush for these routes (even if no medic is healing you to counter the effects of the GRU, just throw your sandvich before you engage the enemy). Usually other good heavies (see acknowledgements) have the same idea and you’re stuck in a heavy + medic battle which results in the loser’s team being annihilated by the flanking heavy. A good example of this is ‘pipeline’ and ‘hightower’.

Jumping and revving. While engaging the enemy, it is a good practice to jump around making yourself a more difficult target (Soldiers would be trying to aim for your feet and demomen to hit you with their bombs so don’t underestimate the power of a jumping heavy)
Also jumping from great heights into a crowd of enemies can be very effective (especially when ubered) so try to control these high areas as well (i.e. ‘hightower’, ‘mountain lab’ and last cap of ‘thundermountain’. You should spin up your minigun while jumping so that its ready to fire midway into the jump or when you land.

I used to use the tomislav to great effect, but ultimately I ended up preferring the minigun for its better dps and relied on position and flanking to achieve the ‘surprise factor’ that the tomislav has. That being said, it is still extremely useful and can be used to great effect in certain situations.

I also jump while turning corners and spin the instant I press the jump key. With the minigun, when I land there’ll be a shorter delay before I fire as compared to revving up and sidestepping the corner. Also the psychological factor of a heavy jumping into view in front of you can cause many enemies to run away.

Epilogue

That’s my two cents worth about the TF2 heavy and will be looking forward to your views on this guide and how to improve it.

Please leave a comment or your email for a Microsoft word version of this guide. Most importantly, keep playing as there is no substitute for experience.

If you guys can supply me screenshots of certain tips I have listed here to better supplement this guide, I would be grateful too!

Acknowledgements

To my wife for understanding my TF2 addiction and helping me overcome it (by letting me play more).

Nerdie_sid, Lyra and [O]xide for being my first few friends in TF2.

Nerdie_sid, Rex, Undercover and the other great spies out there who taught me how to watch my back,

sides, backsides and the sky.

Gladios, Yummy and the other medics who have made my life as a heavy much easier.
Your Father, Koyomi Araragi, HunterKiller who showed me how awesome a fat guy with a minigun actually is.

Boogie who uses homing beacon grenades (you hax0r) and blew my @ss countless times while turning the corner into a wall full of stickies.

Unknwn Wanderer, Hinata and Wolfcape for sniping my head like a overripe watermelon so I know never again to wander out in the open.

Summer and the whole asiateamfortress clan who showed me what a n00b I actually am.

All TF2 players in this region for letting me pwn your sorry @sses.

Finally, to VALVE who destroyed my social/sex life.

Thank you very much.

Contact me:
Comments? Leave a comment of my wife’s blog: www.bonjour-glow.blogspot.com or request a microsoft word copy of this guide.

December Birthday Blues

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000+08:00

All you December babies please stand up!

My birthday is coming. It's actually on Christmas eve's eve. Yup 23 Dec. Like, tomorrow. I like the fact that somewhere it may be snowing, somewhere except Malaysia.

I have a love hate relationship with my month of birth.

Hate

Christmas. How am I suppose to compete with Jesus Christ! He's like the cool kid where everyone celebrates his Birthday.
Holidays. In many classes around the world, when it's your birthday or even the month of your birthday. The teacher would gather all the birthday babies in a row and the whole class would sing. If you're really lucky there would be cake! But not for December babies. School here is on a month long break, right smack on December. And every friends family has vacation planed.
2 in 1 presents. I feel swindled. "Since your birthday is near so I'll give you one. 2 in 1." That is, if they remember your birthday when the school re opens. Probably not because then the limelight would be on the January babies.

But I'm not that dark. There is always silver lining when you look hard enough.

Love

Magical time of the year. Everyone is cheery and nicer even though the weather in Malaysia is still hot humid and wet.
Everyone is happy. Holiday seasons tend to do that. And the year end bonuses is a perfect cherry on the cake.
Somewhere it's snowing. Someday I want to celebrate my birthday in the snow. I missed the chance several years back when I was in Nagoya. The day I left Midori-ku was the day it snowed as I was told by my host mom.
I still have my family. My most memorable birthday was my 12th where I had a decent party and 3 of my friends came. But there was cake, mee hoon goreng and sparkling juice. Woohoo! Quite the party right? And my 21st Birthday. Most Malaysian girls get a key symbol in the form of a necklace or earrings as a sign of freedom. I got an oven. I was genuinely happy as it was a gift I wanted. Screw symbolism, give me something I can use.
Family dinners. It's quite Malaysian Chinese of us. Any celebrations? We eat!

I was never the cool kid whom every one scrambles to wish Happy Birthday or the sweet young thing that receives tonnes of presents from her suitors. I was the quite girl who stood in the corner and sang along to someone else birthday all the while too shy to wish anyone or too socially inept to find a good gift so I don't give any. Sure, now I'm more vocal but Birthday is still a touchy subject for me.

So here I am wishing my self Happy Birthday and clicking online for the next birthday gift for my self. As I prepare for dinner with the family.

So here's a toast to us December babies. Happy Birthday to us all! *clink*

P/S: What is you Christmas/Birthday wish this year? Do share in the comments bellow ^^

Melbourne Day 2.2

2011-12-20T16:30:00.000+08:00

The great part about going to the Peninsular is that there are so many attractions nearby. We were very lucky as the Strawberry picking season was in full swing.

So off we went to Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm.

There were alpacas there to greet us.

A charity barbecue drive was up and running So we got these yummy treats to fill our bellies for a great price while doing a good deed.

Are you ready for some real life Strawberry picking?

For 8 AUD you get a punnet to fill your pickings. It was about 11 am when we reached and already the farm was buzzing with excitement.

A lil strawberry peaking through.

Me cradling some berries in the palm of my hand. Excitement.

Go to the end of the field, they get bigger!

Totally worth it.

Or else you get really chiisai ones. But to be fair this was already ripe and very sweet!

Hard days work of strawberry picking.

While walking back to the main building, the easily distracted me looks left into a field next door.

"Oh, field!"

"Oh horse"

"Oh it's a pony!" it was a lovely suprise as they were so tame and cute.

Snuck some strawberries for the pony.

Pony feeding tip. Don't use your fingers but your palm instead to feed them.

More of the awesome dandelion. Can you spot one in my blog header?

On the way out we bought a bottle of boutique wine. Strawberry moscato. It was award winning and only 18AUD. Regretting not buying a few more and not taking a picture of it. It was heavenly.

So off we drove for more Reality Farmville. We were hopping for a spot of cherry picking. On the way we had to stop and spend AUD5.

These 2 little darlings were sitting there selling their Nana's fresh farm eggs. I say Nana is a genius. No one could resist their cuteness. Fret not, Nana is probably sitting in the house behind on her rocking chair and shotgun at hand watching us all the while. Best AUD5 I've ever spent.

She was so sweet that before leaving she gave us a whole monologue bout her new Christmas tree! We almost melted at her excitement.

After a long wave good bye off we continued. And we stumbled on a farm.

Flowers and some rusty farm tools. A wooden shed and a flower feature wall. Reminds me of the shed I use to read in Secret Seven. I longed for one of these when I was growing up.

Inside were tables with fruits neatly packaged and price written on the. A little tin was placed for you to pay. No one in sight. I guess this is trust. I love this small town feel. So we bought some apples as the cherry season was not so good. Then we were stopped.

By a cutie. I doubt she's a guard dog as she was so friendly. Perhaps she was smart enough to know that we've paid?

I couldn't help cuddling and playing with her. She was such a dear I considered smuggling her back to Malaysia with me as a new companion for Sky.

But alas we had to part.

So, a little disappointed it wasn't the cherry picking season but no matter, plenty of other activities to do in Peninsular.

Our one final stop, a bee farm called Pure Peninsular Honey

Bees here are well cared for and loved. I'm glad these people understand happy animals equals yummy animals and they are so knowledgeable about their products and ever willing to share.

More than 10 different honey flavour and they all tastes so different! Yes, I tasted every single one of them. Very yummy and not too sweet like those in the supermarket shelves. These are good quality honey right here. If I were staying in Melbourne I wouldn't mind making a monthly trip here to stock up on my honey and take n the beauty of the Peninsular.

They have many adorable bee related items sold there as well as bee by products like lip balm and moisturisers. All operating from a little cabin. I like that they are keeping it very cottage industry style even though their operations span all over Australia.

The lovely sweet people who help run the farm. They are such darlings.

Tired from our day of farming. It was already time for dinner. Back to the bustling city of Melbourne we went and we were greeted by our very first jam. Still it didn't seemed as bad as the jams we get in KL or Penang.

If you want huge portions and cheeky waiters head on to Sofia. Their servings are amazing and hearty and I found out firsthand just how friendly the waiters can be all with out seeming creepy.

Named after the iconic Sofia Lauren, this Italian joint is family owned and you can tell they love what they do, are good at it and even gives back to the community. What more can you ask for.

Our handsome waiter. He said that he was too ugly for photos, I beg to differ. Do be careful as they do things very fast here. Know exactly what you want when you order or else...

You end up with a huge salad. here is what we consciously ordered.

1 deliciously warm and large minestrone soup, must share.

Fried seafood platter. The seafood in Melbourne are exceptionally fresh. So this was awesome.

Pasta 3 way. All I know was that I heard bacon and just said yes.

Pizza 2 way.

1 Gelato about 5 flavours to be shared by 8 people. Sharing is caring right?

A table of happy and full family.

So here's the story. When dessert came, I excused my self to the ladies. But actually I wanted to pay for the meal discretely. The cashier was in a very obvious place so I stood away, out of sight by my family members.

Flagged a waiter who looked into my eyes with much concern and uttered "Is everything okay. What can I do for you?" I admit I was smitten by his delivery but quickly compose myself and asked that the bill for that particular table to be delivered to me, discretely. He obliges with a smile.

As I stood another waiter came to my rescue "Are you alright darling?" Blushing I explained and yet ANOTHER waiter, more elder gentleman, came and ask and so again I explained and the situation and he told off the 2nd waiter for making me wait and got him to hurry the bill.

When the first waiter finally came back, he apologised. The second waiter came back again to tell him off for making I quote "Beautiful lady like her waiting." He apologises profusely and said that I am a very kind lady and that my beauty would make any men happy. I told him that I was spoken for and with a solemn face he replied "He is a very lucky man"

Can you tell me how not to be swept off my feet and blush like an over ripe strawberry at this point? I swear it's in their Italian genes to be such smooth talkers.

1/2 of a twin. The 2nd waiter from the story above. He's the handsome one I said to his delight but I left out the part that his twin brother who's bald is the sexier one. Yes, I was feeling very light headed and cheeky at this point.

Before leaving I was introduced to the co owner of the restaurant. I firmly shook his hand, looked him dead in the eyes and broke into a smile and confessed "Sir, you run a fantastic establishment. I had a great time here. Your food and your waiters were delightful" "Thank you" he said and promptly planted a kiss on my cheek. Sigh, should come here more often in the near future.

After all that food and excitement, we headed home.

The Christmas tree was decorated, candles lit.

The delicious strawberry moscato was opened and poured into an eclectic array of glasses. I love that and dearly miss it right now, with a few slices of fresh strawberries we picked earlier. We ended the night giggling and sharing an intimate family time together. Something right out from the movies. As clicks of toasts chimed through the air, this oddly enough feels like something I would love to have again.

It was a wonderful day two of our days in Melbourne. We did some touristy stuff but what made it really memorable was the living beings of Melbourne. Family, friends, strangers and animals. Something that you can't arrange or pay for.

NAPBAS 2011

2011-12-19T19:57:00.002+08:00

Last week was a dream come true for me.

Starting blogging when I first left Kuala Lumpur seemed like a silly thing to do, if you were after fame or doing it as an extra income as most of the events were in KL.

But I was doing it for fun. Then I started to meet others online. And got a tad envious of their exciting posts on events and review gatherings, mainly the gatherings as I was missing friends here in the North.

But last weekend. I decided to leave the North for a while and finally meet people I admire and look up to in the eye and also hang out with them in the flesh as appose to online.

I must admit that I was terrified and nervous as hell. but I put on a smile and tried my best to work up the galls to ask people to take pictures with me. Little old unfamous me.

These pictures are in not much particular order but 1st off I wish to show you, The reigning Queen of Blogging

Ms. Xia Xue

Winner of NAPBAS Most influential blog and Regions Best Blog.

There is no defeating her. Xia xue's distinct writing style is something I have always admired but know that I can never emulate. There can be only one Xia Xue and she is pretty and awesome, pretty awesome.

My partners in crime for the night, Ms Clarissa and Mr Suresh.

I met Clarissa randomly enough at the Starbucks in Sunway Piramid. Struck up a conversation with a complete stranger and found a make up buddy for the evening. Suresh of course has been a long time friend. A chivalrous being who always is ready to give a helping hand or ride. Very knowledgeable these two are despite the young age. Ah too be young and intelligent.

This is Bong Qiu Qiu from Singapore. I love how she keeps it real with her charming colloquial speech pattern and how she's so focused on getting a bargain on Budget Barbie. Yes, even in Singapore you can get more than 6 times with SD 100. Just check this girl out and you too will be amazed.

Finally I get to meet the founder of Furochizu. Ben asked to "kirim salam" to Audrey which I did briefly. I was very happy for them as Audrey recently got engaged in an awesome meme-fied way and not only was Cheesie nominated but she won the NAPBAS Best Fashion Blogger awards. There was no doubt about it.

KY Speaks and his lovely fiance Haze. Of course KY was nominated for NAPBAS Food Blogger award but it went to Lady Iron Chef instead. Still this lanky fellow is the best Malaysian Food Blogger I would say and Haze, I've been a reader since her make up tutorial days. She has grown much, switching pallets from the face to the walls. Her artistic eye never ceased to amaze me. But I still missed her make up tutorial as hers is more towards the Avant Garde look.

The gorgeous Ms Cindy in her beautiful Carven Ong dress. I did not have a full length picture with her as I fear her beauty will over power what little I have. Talking to her and being next t her, she has the star quality vibe. In terms of demure and looks, she has it all.

Felt so lucky that we had this picture taken. Bloggers whom inspire and are awesome here.

These bloggers have a special place in my heart. Malaysia have very talented cartoonist with great sense of humour. Can you guess their cartoon names? Chee Chingy, Ernest, Jian

How bout a hint from him?

This is Dweam. She looks out of this world gorgeous and that height, I pale in comparison

Tian Chad is one hard working guy. His NAPBAS post was up that very night it self while most of us were loitering at Zouk. So for latest updates do follow him.

The amount of people there was crazy. 550 bloggers from 7 different countries. Of course there were many pictures taken with many DSLRs. I'm glad I brought my EPM-1 Olyvia as Olympus was the official partner.

Can you see my baby Olyvia? I joked that I looked like a promoter for Olympus. It's also called product placement.

The many new faces I've meet ^^

Mr Kenny Sia. He was one of the pioneers whom put bloggingon the map for Malaysia. Though he has taken more of a back set now with newpioneering prospects he has managed to clinched

The ballroom at Mariott Hotel Putra Jaya. It was quite an adventure getting there but well worth it.

Trippy Jelly fish like decorations and lovely fresh cut flowers on each table.

Name them all to get win a present from me. Detail somewhere in this post.

Shall we move on to the food?

MediterraneanSeafood Terrine with Wasabi Tobiko Dressing on Crispy Lettuce. I like my spices to have more of a kick so the wasabi was pretty tame in this case.

Puree of Split Pea Soup with Herb Twist

I love soup! Warm and thick and the twist was fun to swirl in the soup though I would have preferred it more crunchy.

When we were served the GrapeSorbet with Fresh Mint I thought that was dessert. That's it? Well of course not. The lovely portion was in fact to cleanse your palate so that you are ready to try the main dish.

The Pan Fried Dory Fillet with Spicy Peach Sauce was again not spicy at the very least but the fish was done well and the vege refreshing.

This is the dessert.

Stella, Suresh and whole lot of other Bloggers at Zouk. I only dance with my girlfriend, She's awesome, but I had none that night so quite shy. Maybe I should have. Oh well, just stood, sat and drank.

By the time I reached back, unwilling to let the my make up go to waste so like any other girl I cam whore. Loving my bun. A cheat I used a doughnut but my baby hair are everywhere. Any advice?
I love Holiday Villa. Lovely room and big mirrors everywhere. And of course my all time favourite, bubble bath!

Before I forget, this is my fairy god mother. Her name is Michele and she shared some Supermodel's Secret with me to look awesome. Check her out HERE as she has some CNY goodies lined up.

A few advise while attending events:

Have oil blotters at hand
Wrislets are handy
Name cards with your face on them are cool and useful
Keep a bottle of water in your car with some mints
Practise posing in mirror
Keep everything in your wallet/purse to a bare minimal
Be brave to ask for pictures before everyone else stirs up the courage. Usually you have a 3 minute window.

Feeling cheeky after getting into my PJs so I took more pictures and comatose till the next afternoon dreaming of my youth.

BONJOUR GLOW BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY~*

So here it is, a little competition. I have a bunch of beauty samples from Sasa. they are so nice to me. So I'm giving away some.

Just leave a comment with the list of NAPBAS winners, their awards and your email below.
Tweet this post with the hash tag #BonjourGlow and I will randomly selected a winner.
This contest is closed on 23 Dec 2011 9.30 am.
Open to Malaysian guys and girl.

Why that time? Because many years ago, baby Glow was born on that day ^^ Hint hint...

Consider this a Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year gift from Bonjour Glow. It's nothing big just a little something.

Melbourne Day 2.1: Peninsular Hot Spring

2011-12-16T10:00:00.000+08:00

I'm most probably be in Subang now getting ready for NAPBAS. Hope to see some of you there if not, well stay tuned here. Thank you for dropping by and please leave a comment of like this post.

I highly recommend renting a car and clearing at least a day for this. At the peninsular there are so many ways to enjoy the beautiful natural surroundings Melbourne has to offer. You could drop by this site Mornington Peninsular Tourism for tips on what to see, smell, eat, drink, soak, pick and a plethora of other verbs.

Day 2 and having fluffy slippers in the early morning was amazing. Got intimate with the chills in the toilet but a great way to wake up as we were on the road at about 6am. The sun was already peeking through the clouds. Out target for the day was the Peninsular. The little bit that sticks out from the mainland. Turns out there is so much to explore there!

Breakfast of champs. I love to pop in the local fast food and see what they have. Every country has their slightly different versions. Here you have bacon mac egg muffin. Bliss.

First up Peninsular Hot Springs.

Over 20 bathing experiences offer visitors a world of health, fun and relaxation. Bathing experiences include, to mention a few, thermal mineral spring pools, a Turkish steam bath, cave pool, underground sauna, reflexology walk, massaging thermal mineral showers, a family bathing area, hydrotherapy pool and a bathing valley with Moonviewing pool.

It blends so well with it's surroundings, wait till you see the insides. Truly honouring mother nature.

We opted for the public bath house.

The place has been recently renovated so that means more options. There are many pools there with different temperature raging from 36ºC to 43ºC but during hot days cooler pools are provided too. The best part is that these pools are all natural. They only add cold water to reduce the temperature if it gets too high. That which they check frequently throughout the whole day.
The water contains a range of naturally occurring minerals including sulphur, calcium, magnesium, potassium and many others. The gentle aroma comes from the sulphur content.

The eating area below. We were not the 1st ones there but we were pretty early.

This is Carl. The employees there are ever so nice and helpful.

Making sure we know the procedures.

You need to take a shower beforehand. Bath gels are available there so make sure you give yourself a good scrub and pay that everyone did the same.

And off we go! The pathways are clean and clear so it's okay to go sans slipper.

Signs to point you in the right direction.

All the pools are small so you feel rather private as you soak in the thermal goodness and breath in the gentle sulphur and listen to nature all around you. To be fair and safe one should dip no longer than 15 minutes. So everyone gets a turn and no one gets boiled.

we went to the very top because apparently that is where the best view is.

Perfect view 360º

Thank you Whoopz Bikini. this piece I have on is called the Tangy Purple Bandeau Bikini. Comfortable and fun. A sturdy plastic clasp behind so you won't have any whoops moment. I love their selections at their online shop. Something for everybody. Next time I would go for something a little wider for the bottom to balance out my thunderous thighs.
Oh and so sorry I have no make up om here.

Just like in the movies.

Look what I spotted.

Ben being a boss.

Everything there is so well built you wonder if it's really man made.

We went to the sauna and hammam or Turkish bath too. but I dare not bring my camera in so here are some pictures courtesy of the website I linked earlier.

They are so nice that they even outline how you can save more HERE
My top tips there are

Bathing suits
Towel or bath robe can double as a towel. You can also dry your towel a bit while you are in the sauna.
Rough Hand Towel. You can give yourself a good scrub after 10 minutes in the hammam. I never knew I had so much dead skin cells! Alternatively you can pick up some olive soap cleverly wrapped in a thick cloth at the reception area.
Bottle Dehydration can happen when you are in the hot spring or the sauna so it's good to have a bottle of water which you can refill at the water fountain
Water resistant watch! If you are going for the early bird special you need to leave on time. there are no clocks in there of course and it feels so good that time will pass by fast.

Slippers are not necessary as the path ways are very clean

All fresh and feeling energetic, we we're ready to take on The Peninsular.
I would Highly recommend going to the Peninsular Hot Springs at the end of your journey to de-stress but Ben prefers it at the beginning so that you are energised to take on Melbourne! Maybe you could go twice!

Melbourne Day 1

2011-12-14T00:00:00.000+08:00

Firstly I would like to thank Air Asia for the smooth flight. The attendants were pretty and ever so helpful. Though I suspect they tilted my drooping head back to my seat from the aisle from my own safety. Thus far no one has been decapitated by a trolley in a plane before. And let's keep it that way.

The flight from Penang to LCCT was smooth. Too bad the Penang airport was still under renovation so do consider bringing ear muffs to shield against the jack ~~ass~~ hammer.

I had booked our connecting flight with 4 hours as a buffer. It was well spent in Starbucks. The hot cocoa and cake was complimentary. Thank you Starbucks for the lovely gesture of a free drink redeemable from your Starbucks card as well as the Birthday cake.

Yes I am indeed a December baby. It's actually quite sad but I'll leave that story to another day.

Off we beam to our over night haul to Melbourne.

I was dead tired then. You see, Ben is the night owl and well, I need all the beauty sleep can get.

Friendly flight attendant.

During the flight you can redeem your meal either as supper or breakfast. We didn't know that. So despite being full from our scrumptious dinner and early birthday cake. We somehow managed to scoff down the food. Not bad actually. Except that the vegetables were alil soggy. I like mine with a little extra crunch.

See, I'm all cheery after a good nights rest. A few advise . Flight at night is the best. You don't lose time and you are well rested when you arrive. Here are some tips to achieving a good nights rest up in the air:

Drink plenty of water. Waking up with a desert in your throat is not fun. Your skin will thank you as well.
Have a warm jacket with hoodie or a blanket. You lose a lot of body heat through your head so keeping your noggin all wrapped up keeps you warm and fuzzy.
Eye mask and ear plugs. these will be life savers if you are a light sleeper. Some passengers may prefer to stay up with their reading lights on or perhaps some parent maybe having trouble putting their babe to sleep.

So we arrived safely. At the airport we were nervous as many kind hearts have warned us of the perils of Melbourne customs. We were ready, not. All we had was some ginseng powder meant as gifts and some Skittle which Ben had bought before departure. We were debating for a good 10 minutes if we should abandon the sweets in the bin. We put on our puppy face after the long queue and declared our 2 items. Just like that we were released with out any hesitation except on our part. I actually asked "Is that it?" as I eyed some ladies frantically undoing their suitcases.
That's it.

So we were picked up by Ben's cousin. The temperature was 17 degrees Celsius. It was a summers day. Fortunately many kind hearts also warned us of the capricious weather in Melbourne but secretly, I thoroughly enjoyed the drop in temperature.

First stop, breakfast. I love the name Lygon Street. Unofficially the little Italy of Melbourne, the name conjures up the thoughts of Harry Potter. Perhaps if I were to wander fast enough into a brick wall, I might be transported! Of course I was not ~~brave~~ daft enough to try that.

Can you spot the probable pseudo mafia/versace?

With the refreshing air, it was only the smartest thing to dine al fresco on the early Saturday morning.

Good nights sleep and we were all smiles on the prospects of food.
Typically Malaysians aren't we?

The smoked Salmon on this was divine.

One can never go wrong with bacon and eggs at anytime of the day.

Something healthy to start the day. Avocado, tomato and basil concoction.

My favourite, perfectly poached eggs. The side of smoked salmon I pinched from Ben was a perfect combination.

Off we go to the Melbourne city.

Rainbow Avenue is a cool place to hang. Shops all around

Our gorgeous Aunt working hard.

Horsie bit me! According to a good source, it's because I didn't pet them 1st.
So now YOU know and I hope you will avoid the mistake I made.

Ben the horse whisperer.

Great show case of break dancing!
Littered all over Melbourne city there are many buskers around. But that doesn't mean you can break out your bass to lay some mean beats. You need a special permit for that. But , you can show your appreciation by enjoying their talent and tipping them.

At that very corner you can get horse rides from the gentleman or the cowboy. Your pick. It's around AUD100 for a 30 minutes ride around the city. pricey? but it's okay that's for the whole carriage so you can split it with 4-6 person.

Our relatives we're so nice to offer their home in the suburb for our stay. So yeah, no hotel reviews for this trip, sorry.

One thing I noticed about the real estate in Melbourne suburbs are that they are so different.

You see clean modern architecture next too cosy cottage styles. I really like the diversity and the public transport system are so efficient though a lil pricey unless you have a myki

So here is a look at our cousins garden.

Warning, plants here seem to be on steroids.

Supposedly the flower of an onion plant.

This is an averaged sized dandelion. Average by Aussie standard.

Malaysian dandelions pales in comparison. Maybe we have a different species?
And if this is average, where are the larger ones?!

Just a lovely evening with family in the garden. A spot of tea would have been perfect.

I have in my hand a random UFO shaped squash which neither of us know what to do with and 2 sprigs of flower from a weed. Weeds in Melbourne are pretty. In fact I don't think having a weed cutting business would do very well. I would gladly welcome this weed's infestation in my garden!

Occupying ourselves with new senses, before we knew it, it was dinner time.

During summer, the sun lingers longer in the sky. Sun rise is as early as 4am and sunset as late as 8pm For someone like me whose circadian cycle is controlled by the sun, it really messed me up. But in a good way.

So dinner is this lovely Vietnamese restaurant.

172 Victoria Street, Richmond VIC 3067, Australia

+61 3 9429 8130 ‎

Spring roll with savoury dipping sauce.

Shy prawns hiding in plain sight.

Banh xeo , Vietnamese pancake with prawn and pork filling

Banh kot, mini pancaked with prawns

Beef Pho, huge portions.

Some sweet sour chicken.

The food there was nice though do look through the fresh lettuce leaves. They are so fresh that they might have brought some friends along from the farm. The service was fast ant the waiter very funny.

Next was a short drive to St Kilda.

T ___T

Our Aunt and Uncle.

Uncle Nick, whose a white collar by day and an awesome drummer by night.

Sun setting on the grey skies.

Then...for a moment, grey turned magical.

A quick photo and a good period of shivers we headed home to end our 1st day in lovely Melbourne.

The 1st night was really cold there. Imagine sleeping over in cold Genting or Cameron highlands. It was so cold that I had a nightmare.

I awoke, in my said nightmare, back in Malaysia. The very same dream I had in my 1st day in Japan. I vividly remember how real it felt and actually willed myself to awake again but in reality in Japan before and now Australia. Talk about inception right? If you can, lay some fluffy slippers under your pillow the night before. When you awake in the chilly morning, just slip out the pre-warmed slippers and put them on. Your feet will thank you but unless you have a heated toilet seat, you're bound to feel the chill in a very intimate way.

Next post, Glow in a bikini at the hot spring, real life Farmville and making new friends. Do stay tuned as I have some tips aside from the usually touristy advice. See you in 2 days time.

Melbourne: Travel Plan

2011-12-12T16:59:00.001+08:00

We're back on Malaysian soil. Embraced by the humid hot air. Looking through the 1658 pictures I took I still feel that I should have taken more. Yes, I'm that kind of traveller. One that sees mostly through the lens though to be fair many of them were on high speed multiple takes. As I shift through and strain out the best of the lot, here is an overview or travel plan if you may of what I did. Warning, some maybe in cryptic code. You are welcome to comment on the pictures and give your guesses.

From Penang to LCCT

LCCT to Melbourne. Flying at night is the best. you sleep mostly so you can arrive rejuvenated. Try ordering a meal as supper or breakfast or none at all. But always drink loads of water in the plane. Dehydration is bad for skin, makes you more tired and lethargic. Besides no one wants to be sick on a holiday.

A special place on Lygon Street. I love that name. Sounds like it belongs in Harry Potter. Great place for breakfast under the moon.

A random squash and a weed. Weeds in Melbourne are so much nicer there. I bet there aren't much prospects for grass cutters there. The weeds are too nice to dispose of

Got attacked by a horse

A delicious Vietnamese dish that many places don't serve, except THIS place

Chilling sunset at 8pm. End of Day 1

Refreshing Start to Day2

Hand picked some berries

Unexpected friends

Got a kiss from him

Day 3, beautiful people

Beautiful food

Beautiful food in pot

Day 4: Beautiful tree with beautiful flowers. Me borrowing the beauty

Beautiful erm...hubbie

Getting tipsy with family.

Day 5: Getting your money worth in Nobu. +1 fine dining

Getting your money worth at the theatre. +1 arts

So I did some touristy things and also discovered some tips on saving money as well as stuff that you can't pay for. So do check back soon as I'll be churning out my Melbourne adventure every 2 days. Stay tuned...pretty please~

Payless Haul

2011-12-06T14:55:00.000+08:00

Payless is in Sunway Carnival Mall! Hosting many American brands that may not be so familiar to our ears in these parts of the world I'm sure you at least know of this prodigy.

Yes, one of the BEST winner of project runway by far in my opinion, this petit diva maybe loud but he works at lightning speed and if you let his work speak for themselves, they are just as bold and audible as him. In a fabulously fierce way of course. And it's true, a designer shoe from RM79. Bless Christian Siriano's heart.

When you walk in you'll think, this is heaven. The pumping music only hasten the fluttering heartbeat of a shoe lover as they step into this shop. Rows and rows of shoes lined up obediently according to their sizes.

Anything from demure flats, to skyscraper stilletos, sensible oxfords to beach ready tongs/slippers depending on where you are from.

A line of accessories to go with your new indulgence.

Bags galore

They even have a kids section.

This is a pair made in heaven for me. I've been wearing them for hours in the office and thanks to the discrete bump that supports my arch, it really feels like I'm walking on sunshine. And only for RM 79!

I really liked these pretty pair. Preppy, hipster, cute. Loving the not too high and thick but still elegant heels. I can think of so many outfits to have a ball with them but alas, budget is a pain. I will come back for you, my precious!~ Next month! Shh..

Oh did I mention the people there were so nice to us? Especially Jamilah and the Manager who's a guy but knows all the shoes there by heart. I think he's a shoe lover too. I can feel it.

Sadly in our dizzying interpretive dance of "OMG I have to have there, do you have in my size" rendition. they quietly snuck of to have a break while their colleague, these 2 ladies in the picture took over.

Overall I love Payless.

Small mirrors and full length ones are accesible.
Variety is in abundance. Mostly women but there is a men and kids section as well.
Very friendly and helpful workers
Excellent price and quality.

Spanish Ham Delight

2011-11-30T11:42:00.001+08:00

It's nice to receive presents especially around this time of the year. One of the best I got so far was from a lovely Spanish lady. And this is it.

*cue angelic choir singing*

A packed of jamon or pronounced HAMON or good old ham in English. It's also called prosciutto but the Spanish version is supposedly less salty than the Italian counterpart.

So here is a simple recipe to share.

Plump tomato to be diced.

Fluffy cream cheese.

Olive oil

Toasted bread of your choice for that extra crunch. And now we assemble.

Align the crunchy toasted bread.

I know it looked like Sky took a leak here, trust me it's just olive oil. Really.

Spread that creme cheese around.

Lay out the tomatoes. Diced, sliced or grilled up to your palate.

Put the jamon on top. You could take a long piece and curl it to set on top or shread it into bite sized chunks

And there you have it, simple yet delicious treat to leave your mouth wanting more.

I decided to tweak the recipe a little so I added a small splash of red wine vinegar. Perhaps because my tomatoes were sweet so the vinegar really balanced out the overall taste.

Great for non halal parties or Christmas gatherings.

There you have it, Jamon.

Have a lovely December an remember, it's better to give than to receive.

P/S: Flying of to Melbourne today. Looking forward to meeting family, old and new friends and of course the great Aussie adventures we'll have!

Mini tong and Straightener Review.

2011-11-24T12:25:00.000+08:00

Travelling and great hair styles have never gone hand in hand for me. I have thin and long hair. My styles often range from

high pony tail
low pony tail
side pony tail!
A little chic? BUNS

But given that I travel for work and often need to pack light I could't be bothered to pack too many things. I need to make some space for clothes and souvenirs as well or risk facing the inquisition at home.

Hair bands are a savior to spruce up my limited hair repertoire. But packing them in a suitcase would risk breaking them into tiny sad pieces.

Until I heard about... the MINIS...

This is a sponsored review on MINI tong and MINI Straightener.

It looks suspicious. Would something this small work? Usually I would just go to a hair stylist before an event to add some bounce.

A pink straightener? I've seen these around the internet for really cheap price but I worry about the quality. But it's PINK! A challenge to resist.

With these in my modest arsenal, it might just open a whole new world of stylist travel.

Remember to spritz some heat protectant 1st.

Let's try...

OMG look at that curl! And this is my 1st time using one.

Almost as yummy as curly fries right? Next.

My hair is naturally straight. Often we covet what is on the other side.

Straight hairs wish they had natural curly ones while vice versa.

For me it depends on my mood.

Never have I thought my hair could be this straight and smooth.

I love you, V&G 318 Mini Hair Iron with your:

Ceramic Plates
Cool Tip
Heat Dissipation Grooves
Straightens & Works hair like full size
Width of plate: 0.5 inch

The items I got was from this site.

It's like a hair salon but online! They deliver everything straight to your door step and the price are amazing.

SHAMPOO

CONDITIONER

TREATMENT & LEAVE-IN

SERUM & OIL

HAIR & SCALP THERAPY

STYLING

ELECTRICAL TOOLS

FOR MEN

NATURAL & ORGANICS

SKIN & FACE

COLOUR

PERM & TEXTURIZER

REBONDING & CARE

ACCESSORIES

SCISSOR & SHEAR

SALON BASIC SUPPLY

SALON EQUIPMENT

BEAUTY PRODUCTS

SALON FURNITURE

FOR PETS

PROMOTION & PACKS

THE STYLE GLOSSY

Everything you'll need.

100% Original products.

Turns out this online store was launched in June 2010, featuring one of the best deals of international and local brand of hair & beauty products. They deliver worldwide.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, hairdressing.com.my is a domain of Tai Luen Trading Sdn. Bhd. that was established in 1980, where the origin of the business can be traced back to the 1950s in the town of Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. My town! I love them even more now.

Con

...
I can't really think of any. Perhaps an upgrade of the site for a more pleasing interface
I know it's cheap that's why it doesn't have a temperature display. But would be awesome if it did!

Pro

Fast delivery
International shipping
Free shipping with purchase of above RM100
Great packing so no fear of anything breaking or spilling

Really great for me as I live in a jungle in the north of Malaysia where great hair salons are not in abundance.

According to the great Violet, you can actually use the straightener to CURL! As seen in her video here.

Isn't she adorable?

I don't have the technique so hopefully she can teach me when I visit her in Melbourne this December.

I really should pick a style and stick to it next time. I can't go out looking like this >_<"

PSA: The Water Rises

2011-11-22T09:14:00.001+08:00

I love the rain, best time to sleep right?

Imagine being trapped.
The cool rain bringing respite to a hot summers day.
The downpour becomes more generous.
Splatter becomes puddles.
Puddles becomes flood.
The water rises.
The flood matures.
"My master will save me."
As a nervous whimper escapes.
"See, he's coming with his family."
A happy wag escapes too soon.
The boat dwindles into a speck.
The water rises.
You start to pace as the reality settles in.
The trashing you did only tire your wet shivering body.
The matted fur clings to you as you cling to your last shred of hope.
The noose tightens.
Boats pass you by with families huddles together.
The water rises and you lift your head up high.
"He will save me"
The water rises...

Did you know that there are many puppy farms in Thailand...yes, cute little puppies that eventually make their way into our homes. There is no rescue plan set up by the farm. No "In case of emergency save the animals 1st"

The response has been heartfelt to our brethren in the North. But let us not forget our furry friends. Many dogs, cats and a host of other animals are still trapped, lost, scared, injured, sick and hungry. Imagine being in a crisis and there is no one to help you. No one to turn to.

There are people that would shrug off and say that this is non of our problem because:

It's happening in another country
I don't like/have animals
I have no time
I can't make a difference, so why bother.

"When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church -- and there was nobody left to be concerned".

Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

So I implore you. Be concerned. Help. In any way that you can:

Donation of any kind: Dog food, medicines, basic 1st aid kits, cages.
Donation of cash: Straightforward.
Donation of time: You could go and help out. You could blog about it to create awareness. Share it with your family and friends.

The SPCA Malaysia is concerned. And they are asking for your help in any way. Please right click on the picture the go to their new letter.

There will always be those in need of help. And someday it will be our turn. Always do what you can.

My Nuffnang Story

2011-11-18T11:24:00.001+08:00

Dearest NN,

How have you been? The days are long here in the north. Rain hasbeen relentless in dampening my spirits. But thoughts of you always brighten upmy day.

Aren’t we quite the star crossed lovers?Just when I moved up north that's when I got to know you.

Remember how we used to chat on Innitnight and day? Daddy Sotongzai would always keep an eye on us and made surewe behaved there. Once, I even got caught doing something naughty andgot grounded by him for 3 days. Imagine that 3 days without chatting with you.It was torture. But I know it was for my own good.

I managed to meet up with some of your friends. They were verynice to me. I had to repay their kindness somehow so I bought themcupcakes. There is nothing quite like cupcakes to seal a friendship. It waseven Sureshs' birthday so we sang a little song for him.

It was lovely.

I did try to come and see you. I was short of time and gotterribly lost in the rain and had to give up at the last minute. It was supposeto be a surprise so of course you didn't know about it till now. Fret not. Iwill be visiting you in Melbourne come December. Violet has offered to be myguide so no fear of getting lost there.

Have you been reading my blog posts? I write them in hopes thateven in your busy schedule you could just drop by and take a peek. Just to letyou know I'm alive and well. Sorry if my posts has been eclectic. I wanted toshare different pieces of my life with you. I have been reviewinghotels where you could stay over, scrumptious places you could eat and placeswe could hang out.

Penang has been growing well. More events are held here now, and Ithink you should definitely introduce yourself here more often. You’llmake great friends here. And there’s nothing quite like the island/coastallife. Easy, breezy, beautiful. Penang~

It's been about 2 years now we've been together. I know I have notalways been the best of partners. I should have kept in touch more. Perhapscame to see you more often. But same could be said about you. Sorry, I shouldn't be so mean. I do wish youcould have more work here. We could be together more. Spend more time with eachother. Go steady. Not too late I hope.

I heard you were throwing a party for your friends. My, they areso very talented and diverse. It’s so gracious of you to celebrate your friendsand have a big bash, even hosting some of them from all over Asia-Pacific.

“Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 inPutrajaya Marriott. The Awards aims to not only honour the region's bestbloggers, but also to bring together blogger communities from acrossAsia-Pacific.”

I’m glad you have Volkswagen Malaysiaand Putrajaya Marriott to lend a hand.

I would love to meet your friends andhear about them talk about how awesome you are. Not to mention I miss you so much.

So I guess this is the part where I kneeldown on my knees. Humbly clasping my hand together as I inhale a sliver of onion.

It would be still my beating heart if Iwere invited by you. Yes, only you. So pretty please, with dancing unicorn andrainbow Nyancat sprinkles on top, could you, would you invite me to your party?

Awaiting with bated breath~

Love, hugs and kisses,

Glow~*

(xo)∞

Pantyhose Salvation.

2011-11-15T09:42:00.001+08:00

UPDATE: There is now an official online seller for Megna Pinchai pantyhose in Malaysia! REJOICE! Here is the Low Yat link for the sexy Ms Crys http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2126325 Do send here my regards and who know we might be meeting there ^^

I have a love hate relationship with pantyhose. I love wearing them. The way they can instantly make you have the je ne sais quoi look. Polished, pulled together. Or maybe it was the years growing up with Disney princesses and how a princess should always wear pantyhose and cross our legs at the ankle. Oh and sticking our pinky out while drinking tea with wash board posture.

How to be a princess:

Good nature
Great posture
Graceful
Neat
Crosses legs at ankle
Curtsy
PANTYHOSE!

But pantyhose, they are so fragile. The ones that we usually get at Guardian or even Parkson often tear so easily. A little snag on a nail, a tug a tad too strong and your heart stops as the garish tear stares smugly at you. All this on a brand new pair. And you know what? It's not my fault! Really it isn't. I've taken great care, Googled ways to wear them properly but still they tear.

Reasons why pantyhose fail:

Toes nail/finger nail
Wrong technique
Wrong size

Seems like it's our fault so far right? Well there is this one last one.

Low denier : thread count low means the quality is not as thick thus tearing happens easier.

Often it's difficult to find good quality pantyhose at reasonable price in Malaysia as the demand is low here. But demands are low because many have the perceptions it's such a hassle and expensive.

Reasons why Malaysian women don't wear pantyhose:

Expensive
Tear too easily
Difficult to wear

But now, there is salvation. A made in China brand called Megna Pinchai offers many styles at great quality and even more amazing price. Imagine RM10 per pair but you can wear it 14 time PER PAIR and still counting.

Sans pantyhose

R3293 matted Barely noticeable right?

Look no toe seems so you could wear this with open toe shoes.

R3295 Lighter tone.

R3200

R3295 glossy

Black style R3200 matted

Nude colour. Polished, natural looking. Darker, more chic and edgy.

Verdict.

Con:

Not easily available in stores
Difficult to match when unable to do live skin comparison
The numbers get some getting used too.

Pro:

Long lasting
Affordable especially when bought in bulk
Many choices to choose from
Barely noticeable.
Skin becomes smoother and less dry
Give finishing touches to office,dinner and everyday attire as well as when modelling.

I found this thread online at Low Yat Forum where you can order or find out where you can buy it. It's actually run by a man! Rodyeo is a pantyhose connoisseur. Just by a thumbnail he can tell exactly which pantyhose it is. And you can get tonnes of advise on how to wear as well as prolonging your pantyhose lifespan. Alternatively you could place your order with:

Mr. Khong Sum Weng (CEO)
Progress Sock Industries Sdn Bhd
email: p325gmklang@yahoo.com
~~HP/SMS: 019-2667537~~ Refer to the link in the update above, thank you.

Definitely I will be ordering more as this is a great product at great price. This is a better option compared to tights as their thicker material is more suitable for colder climate. Last I checked, Malaysia is glamorously hot and humid. So you can still look and feel like royalty even in eternal summer.

Signing off, Princess Glow * curtsy*

*The pantyhose above were sponsored for review purpose.

My 1st step into You Tube. 8k Views?

2011-11-12T17:04:00.001+08:00

Greetings Lovelies.

Guess what? I've joined the band wagon. I have a You Tube channel now!

Sometimes I feel that words alone can't show a particular product neither can a picture, so a video of a tutorial/product review allows the viewers to feel that they are there with you as you interact with them on screen. That is why I've started a You Tube channel.

Heck, I've even made a few videos! Some for fun while others as I've said, as a supplement for my blog. Fret not, I'm not leaping into the video world for good. There is something about written words that still captivates me.

Starting an account was easy. I have a gmail and it automatically links to my Blogger and YouTube account. Which also means that if I'm hacked, I'm pretty much screwed. So please don't hack me. Pretty please with sugar unicorns and cotton candy alpacas on top.

A few clickity clack and VOILA!

You Tube has been a big part of my life. I found that many a times when I'm in a pinch, googling a video for always helps. Whether it's in the kitchen, on the computer or even on the road when you are bored. There are so many interesting people on it.

Helpful, talented and funny people. And some are funny AND talented.

Like the beautiful crazy sexy brothers.

They are uber talented but so down to earth that they will actually take their time to reply your tweets!

The famous Asians.

They started making videos in Uni with nothing but their talent, a camera and great friend, and now, latest project was Wang Lee Homs new MV.

Drool~

The talking Dog

A real inspiration when ever you are stuck in a cooking rut. Or you could just watch the cute dog, lovely lady and drool over the food.

In turn some may fine lil ol you interesting, helpful or funny.

Something helpful, something interesting and a pinch of talent perhaps?

The 1st video few videos I posted was for competitions and it was fun and interesting to tape your self talking to imaginary people. My *cough* vast experience of You Tube video watching has taught me a few things.

Lighting

Videos that are unintentionally too dark or too bright isn't good.

Sound

Background sounds, music, volume all must be considered.

Background

Do you want the viewers to concentrate on you or that month old pile of stuff?

Editing

Bloopers happen. It;s up to you if you wish to edit them or re take. Either way a rough idea/script would be handy.

Well these are just somethings that I have learnt. I am still learning.

Yes, it take time. Some videos are more appreciated then others.

I made this video and uploaded it in 20 minutes as a video response and it's currently my top most viewed.

It is exciting to see so many eyeballs actually looked at my video, yet, I fell sorry for my other videos. I'm trying to crack the code on why THIS particular one is so popular.

Video reply to a famous You Tuber
Word search
The picture
Making a silly video of my self

These are some reasons that I could pin point.

Little that I know sometime with this much attention, you will be tested.

Most comments were supportive of my lack of talent ans appreciated my efforts.

But there were those who didn't get the video, or were not paying attention.

Do not be disheartened. There are nice people around. Always.

I guess when you put your self out there as a blogger or a You Tuber, you have to develop a thick skin and a good filter. Some may like it others may not. It might not be their cup of tea and there are few who would take the extra effort to let you know. Much like blogging and in life in general. Either way I thank them all for the view.

Finally, you can see why I don't go clubbing.

P/S: Have you checked out my You Tube?

Happy Halloween!~

2011-10-31T08:49:00.001+08:00

Happy Ghastly Halloween to all the lovelies out there.

No parties for me to attend so I decided to make a short video and dress up for myself. Check out the video to know what I dressed up as.

Although we don't really celebrate Halloween here, no reason not to dress up right? And stuff ourselves with delicious sweet sweet candy that will never leave you to be forever alone.

Okay, it's starting to take a sad turn here, so I'll leave you with other Halloween posts from other awesome people.

Will they be scary? Cute? Drunk? SUGAH RUUUUUUSH????!!!!1!!!~

Akira the Cat

Isaac the Businessman
Shmuberry the Vamp

P/S: What are you dressing up as? leave a comment below and a link if you want me to add you link in this post. A link back would be lovely.

Loft For Rent @ Empire Subang

2011-09-24T15:04:00.000+08:00

Hotels are awesome, but they aren't available in all the places that I want to visit. I don't always have my car with me when I travel so location is very important.

Take Subang for example. I used to stay there and even though I'm in North Malaysia now, I do miss Subang. So convenient, the shopping complexes, the food shops, entertainment, mamak, hang out spots. I better stop, this is getting too depressing for me. I used to stay in SS18, so SS15 was literally just across the street and Ben and I would just walk over for our dates. Yes, rain or shine we walked. Just 10 minutes away while driving and looking for parking would have taken us a good 30 minutes! Triple the time. We've even walked to Subang Parade. Healthy, romantic and economical. That's why location is everything.

Many of the hotels are located around Subang Pyramid area. Sure you could opt for public transportation to get about but even so, you will still be caught in the evil death trap of our Malaysian traffic jam. And though some friends have offered their home, we felt uncomfortable to intrude, especially for a couple of days.

But...there is always a but isn't there?

BUT, someone told me I could always rent a loft.

Scenes of a chic New York socialite flashed before me. Me rent a loft? Aren't they like only for the rich and famous? Not really.

Look at this.

Imagine a fully equip boutique studio apartment for up to 6 person at only RM 350 per night! RM60 for a lovely night catching up with old school mates, mates from Uni, girls night out or family gathering. That's a 800 sf duplex loft for your entertainment.

Vibrant magenta highlighting the nude base. Comfy sofa that your guest can crash on.

While you sleep in a decadent queen sized bed. or a slumber party with the girls.

A kitchen area for the food and drinks. Keeping things cool, making things warm.

Pristine toilet to freshen up in.

Well here is a more complete list I got from the site.

One queen size bed + one queen size mattress (additional mattress can be arranged with a RM20 charge).
One sofa bed & day bed at living room.
Big TV & DVD player,
Kitchen Appliances: fridge, microwave, coffee maker & cooler available.
Hot water at both bathrooms.
Dinning table with 9 chairs, can be used for conference meeting as well.
Full mirror wall, can also be rented as a dance studio or other functions.
Can sleep many ppl if you bring along your own mattress or sleeping bags. Suitable for short stay for family attending wedding / functions from outstation.
Very convenient, shopping mall downstairs,
Subang Parade across the street. Very cozy at night when the chandelier is on, and dimmed.
Near to many colleges(Inti, Taylor, Metropolitan, Monash, Sunway, Segi), hospitals (SJMC, Sunway), KTM 10 mins walk, and many highways (federal, NPE, Kesas, LDP, NKVE, Elite).
Ideal for:
Event of seminar
Girls night out
Wedding nest
Overnight
Executive short stay hotel
Dance studio
Party!!! As noise is not an issue at night!!
Definitely something I would consider if I'm trowing a gathering in Subang soon.

So do click on this link if you want to rent a loft at Malaysia's Largest Room Database covering all across Malaysia, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Bangsar, Cheras, Setapak, Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, and Penang.

Glow Playing Nurse...

2011-09-23T08:50:00.001+08:00

Bonjour~

Glow will be out of service for awhile because...

she is busy playing nurse.

Yeah, with the doctor...

Ben just has an operation the other day on his knee to repair a 8 year old ACL tear injury he got while trying to do a fade out basket ball throw in college to ~~show off~~ share skills with the captain of the basket ball team captain.

The ball made it in, he heard a pop and voila, torn ligament.

Through out the years it has gotten progressively worse so now finally he is getting it fixed by another doctor.

Despite the picture above I wish I could look as sexy and seductive in hopes to stimulate Ben's speedy recovery but in the real world I'll be wearing a worn out baby T, shorts, messy hair and the lovely scent of of natural bodily sweat wafting out.

Imagine that...

Gosh, I think I make a horrid nurse.

But I do enjoy living out that fantasy of helping people with their daily chores, physiotherapy and cheering them on to get well soon as they cringe in pain.

So for now my blogging job has to take a back seat. Sorry.

Please do drop by anyways as I will be missing my lovelies.