Errolyn's Secret

I LOVE Victoria's Secret!!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

My family came down recently and we all stayed in the condo and enjoyed the view.....it has been a long time since I have been able to just sit back and appreciate it for what it is. I woke up on Sunday morning, padded to the kitchen, poured myself some coffee and cut myself an apple. The feeling hit me then, the very peaceful calm that just settled over me and told me this was home.....It was beautiful.

My house may not be the most decorated, the most modern, the most expensive etc, but it must be one of the most prayed over houses that it always be full of love and laughter and that it is always a safe haven for us. MMmmm.....

Driving with the Windows Rolled Down

This evening, it rained....and when I drove home after work, it was beautiful! Fresh raindrops on green green grass and the smell of freshness in the air....

I rolled down my window to pay the toll man (his grubby greedy hands always shaking around for more...) and kept it down the rest of the way home. It was refreshing and cool and wonderful to just be able to enjoy the world, the way God intended it.

Unprofessional Conduct??

A friend of mine recently received a congratulatory email from a well-known, established organisation in Singapore - a shopping mall. Needless to say, after being told you had won FIRST PRIZE in a 'Sealed with a Ki$$' contest, you'd be ecstatic - heck I'm ecstatic at anything! hehehehe

However, like 15 minutes later, my friend received a rather sterile apology email informing her that 'sorry, we already have a winner and it AIN'T you. Thank you for your understanding'. Now, you'd think there'd be some heartfelt apology, maybe a little token of appreciation....tadak! You sek chi kei la (makan sendiri, salve your own wounds....) so - I thought it was unprofessional and most definitely NOT customer friendly!

Would YOU want your custom with these people????

Bookcrossing at 1U??

I went to check out the place a couple of weeks ago and re my blog post from before - I wasn't far wrong.......so sad. :(

Anybody can tell me what to do to share my books? I know I could put them at the bookcrossing but I just don't want them to be taken and never released again. I want to share them with people who enjoy them.....can I donate them to our national library?

Anybody got any ideas?

When you pay top dollar, you expect....quality!

Last weekend, JH and I decided to have dinner at Centrepoint. There is an Italian place there that had been quite nice when we went before......well, not anymore! We ordered fish and chips which came in a miserable, new style 'little plate', chicken lasagne which was cream based and came in a small square as well as some bruschettas with various toppings. We were going to have water, bearing in mind that everything comes with calories but were told they only served bottled water. I thought only the expats were advised to drink 'bottled water - still or sparkling!'.

All in all we paid RM75.xx for a meal that was decidedly unsatisfying to the palate as well as to the eyes. We very firmly decided that that was the last time we would visit the little Italian place and that we would blog about it! We got madder still thinking that we paid RM75 and couldn't even get some normal water to drink! What is this??!

Then we walked on over to a nearby mamak to quelch our stomachs since the food earlier wasn't very good (- if you're wondering what wasn't good, the fish was extremely fishy and not what they used to serve which we liked and the lasagne - well, I can make better - even though yes, pasta and its ilk is my speciality!). I faintly recall there is a hotline we can call when the roti canai and teh tarik are above a ceiling price? Remember when mamak prices were skyrocketing when petrol went up and gas went up last year?

Well, the mamak's small triangular nasi lemak was RM1.70 and a roti kosong was RM1.30.

I won't say anymore.

Thanks all for listening to me gripe - hopefully, someone can save some money and go enjoy a wonderful buffet breakfast for only RM16.xx at Royale Bintang Damansara! :D

Stone Kyambadde - true symbol of grace and forgiveness

I'm currently taking a course in Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. .... yes, I know I'm kinda behind, seeing as there is already an 8th habit! But nonetheless, it's quite inspiring all that is being shared in this course!

One story/experience that really caught me is about Stone Kyambadde - a promising soccer/football player who was already almost within the big leagues. His goal was to play in the European Cup ....or something like that ....when someone premeditatedly 'took out' one of his knees! With his ligament torn, there was no way Stone could continue to play with the big boys and so he retired and went home to Uganda.

Stephen Covey's DVD begins with a Caucasian who went to Uganda for his gap year but ended up staying to continue helping to improve people's lives after more than a decade of corruption and bad living. Timmins is his name (if I recall correctly), who apparently got the many unemployed and out of school youths there to start a soccer team.

After a short bit, the boys came with a Coach....who was no other than Stone Kyambadde. He still loved football and he wanted to be able to pass on the joy and the skills to the young'ins. Hearing him speak and hearing the voiceover about this humble man, I almost got tears in my eyes. There is no bitterness or anger in his for his 'attacker'. Apparently, Stone gave him his forgiveness and said, "You had to do, what you had to do". And now, he just enjoys a quiet life with his family......seems he is now heading a vocational school in Uganda just because he wants to make things better for the younger generations of his country.

In the DVD, Stone explains that someone has to help the young men see their potential, see their future for they will become fathers and husbands themselves and if they don't know how to conduct themselves in those roles, no change will evolve.

Stone Kyambadde is truly a 'Transition Man'! I salute him!

Sak@e Sushi value for money?

Today I had lunch at Sak@e Sushi in 1 Utama. It was 5 minutes to opening time and the roller shutter was partway open. We knocked on the glass and spoke with the Manager about coming in to eat already. She said, I don't open until 11.30am cos my kitchen is not ready yet.

Fine, even though there was already plenty of little plates on the kaiten belt, she was very sure we would need to order from the kitchen and the kitchen wasn't ready yet.....not to mention, the very act of us getting in after the roller shutter is fully open (we aren't going to rush in by ducking under the roller shutter like neanderthals!), sitting down, them getting us our empty cups and us looking through the menu to actually decide what we want to order would have taken us more than 5 minutes - at least!

So whatever, here's a manager who plays by the books and is of the old school - customers aren't that important when I am following the rules my company sets me! Whatever......

I took a plate of inari skin filled with, of course, rice and layered on top with egg mayo. It was artfully arranged on the plate. One facing up, looking all nice and cheery and yellow with some roe and the other piece facing down. I've eaten in a lot of japanese fast food places and restaurants....I usually expect both pieces to have some stuff on it - especially when I'm paying RM3.90 and not RM2 for a plate.

Imagine my surprise, and I may be an imbecile or a really naive customer here but one piece was empty!!!!! EMPTY!!! JH said it's cost cutting to the max. I agree - do you?!

BOOKCROSSING AT 1U!!!

i LOVE books! Absolutely! I read almost anything - except self help and religious and boring stuff! hahahhahahah.

And now I am absolutely tickled pink and gloriously happy that 1Utama has become the first mall in Asia to launch Book Crossing! What is that? Well, for the short version of it - where you don't have to click this link - it's basically where book lovers 'release' books into the wild (read: public) and more and more people get to read different books. I think it's superb in Malaysia where books are so expensive.

My only fear is that all the good books (definition by me!) are taken and never released again and all that are left are the 'Chemistry for Scientific Dummies' or 'The History of The Computer Mouse'. That is quite likely to happen in Malaysia - though I would hope that book lovers will already understand the joy reading a book brings and be expansive and kind enough to take books, give some books in return and release books they have already read!!!! PLEASE I BEG YOU!!!!!!

I'm definitely crossing some books - and I can't wait to read yours!

(P.S. I haven't actually gone to the corner yet but I will and will report back what I hope will be good news).

The Book Crossing corner is supposed to be at the Ground floor High Street near Parkson and Zara, New Wing.....

When the Big Bad Wolf comes a-calling

I spent some money at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale this past weekend. They had advertised that they were going to throw a book sale the way it should be thrown – with real discounts and real deals to attract new readers and to reward existing book lovers.

It’s great going to a book sale – cheap books are a real treasure in a country where a slim paperback can set you back RM40 and the slimness of the book means you can finish it in one day! Some people may find this ok but I prefer to find good deals so I visit places like second hand bookstores and for a long time, I loved ‘Novel House’ available in Penang and KL but now, sadly – they’ve ALL closed down!!! WHY OH WHY!!!!!!!!

Anyway, books were mostly selling at RM8 at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale with some special ones and children’s books too going at RM3 or RM5……The place was air conditioned and the staff were helpful. The ONLY thing I would ask for for anybody having a book sale is the arrangement of books by genre ….. but it seems a very hard thing to do – I guess cos the stock comes in boxes all jumbled up already…..

But all in all – I bought 8 books for a grand total of RM64 and I would have bought more if only I had space for storage!

Thanks Big Bad Wolf!