The Guy Next Door...

He has large, hypnotic eyes.
He has an arresting boyish smile.
He has a vocal that could reach out to you,
and you could continue to listen to him till the clock stops ticking.

Borned and grew up in Guangzhou, China, Hins is a modest guy who composes songs and sings. Despite being a rising star in China and Hong Kong (where he's based), he's humble and friendly. His talent in song-writing had earned him numerous major awards in his home soil as well as in Hong Kong.

He started off with the song "My Way" and it was well received by many. The song is about growing up and braving through obstacles while paving the path that you desire. I find it rather inspiring. Just love the R&B groove injected into this song.

Maid Cafe

Japan is never short of kinky and creative cultures. Cosplay has been very popular among youngsters and otakus. The craze has opened up creativity to the introduction of Cosplay Restaurants, where we have Maid Cafes and Butler Cafes. This culture had made its way to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Singapore.

Malaysia is a new comer in the list. Kissa Koyotei Cafe is somewhat the first Maid Cafe in Malaysia. Located in Georgetown, Penang, the cafe was set up by a Japanese and his wife in November 2007. A detailed review of the cafe can be found here.

The video below gives you some ideas how a Maid Cafe is like. Enjoy.

Quick fixes for dark circles around the eyes

Burning the midnight oil during exam seasons or during the critical weeks of submitting assignments is very common among fellow students. Working people is not spared as well. I reckon there are more "pandas" around owing to the football season lately.

Not everyone has dark circles due to the reasons mentioned above. It could be due to inheritance or sickness such as sinus. These are more difficult to deal with. However, fret not. Here are some tips for a quick fix I have gathered and am eager to share with you.

DIY tomato eye mask
This is the fastest and most effective way to get rid of the dark circles around your eyes. Tomatoes are known to have whitening effect and they contain anti-oxidants, which can prevent cancer. Firstly, blend a few slices of washed and chilled (so that it's more soothing) tomatoes in a blender. Stir in some flour after removing the content from the blender, so that the mixture would be thicker and easier to be applied on your eyes. If you are as lazy as I do, just place the sliced tomatoes on your eyes. The effect can be immediately seen.

Chilled Spoon
Apart from the above, this method can reduce puffiness and dark circles around your eyes like magic! Place two spoons in the refrigerator for an hour (adviseable to always place 2 spoons in the refrigerator so that you can always use them when in need) and then gently press them on your eyes.

Chilled Cucumber
The most common method widely known by everyone. Slice washed and chilled cucumbers before placing them on your eyes.

Tea bags
Some said tea bags can help to reduce dark circles and puffy eyes.

A good massage
Gently massage the area around your eyes when watching TV or at your convenience. It helps to improve the blood circulation around your eyes which would then prevent toxic from accumulating around your eyes. Accumulation of toxic is said to be one of the factors that cause eye bags and dark circles.

Eye make-up or concealer
Another quick fix to dark circles is make-up or concealer. However, do note not to choose a colour that's much lighter than your skin colour. Best to use eye shadow or concealer that is close to your skin colour. In that way, the effect is more natural and it does not reveal how desperate you are in concealing your panda eyes!

You may also apply eye gel to lift the skin around your eyes and to reduce or prevent formation of wrinkles due to aging. However, caution not to apply the eye gel too near to the eye area as this could cause formation of oil seeds. Apply approximately 1 cm away from your eye lids or on the area where you could feel the bone of your eye socket, would just be fine. Please remember to be gentle when massaging the eye gel around the eye and to clean thoroughly after that.

Hope the above is of help to you.

Playland for Kids and Adults

I do not have much toys when I was a kid. Well, we did not have much "high-tech" toys back then. Kids are more exposed to luxurious things these days. A new generation of kids and toys have evolved, I reckon. Anyway, came across a shop at The Gardens, Mid Valley, which sells funky and cool toys or gadgets. Action City, located at the 3rd floor of The Gardens is a quaint toy shop which sells kinky and cool gadgets.

There are massagers which were designed to take the form of a hand, finger and many other forms which you could only imagine! The latter is meant to massage the eyes. I am also attracted to the "little duckling vacuum cleaner". It can be carried in handbags so that you could bring to work and vacuum off the dusts on our desk and keyboard. The noise emitted is endurable. These items are powered by USB port and also by 2 AA batteries.

I could spend my entire time in this new found "Play Land". Do stop by if you happen to go to The Gardens or 1 Utama.

Picture source : http://www.wind.com.my/

Something Inspiring

Saw an email sent by a friend with the subject "Interview With God". Being an inquisitive person, I opened the email and it led me to a link:

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

I would say it's pretty inspiring. It simply reminds you of something that you would have probably known but forgotten. If everyone practises what has been advised, I believe everyday is a beautiful day. Humankind is special in the sense that we are built up of many emotions and we are gifted with thoughts. Unless these two are well managed, things can get very complicated. Simplicity is always the best!

Have a blessed day!

One Sunny Day

It's scotching hot lately during the day and rainy during late afternoon. Today is no different from others. The sun was blinding my half opened eyes. My room's clock read barely 8.30AM. i was wondering why in the world would I wake up at 8AM on a Saturday morning. I needed more sleep. But some how, I got off from my Japanese-style bed (well, just lay my mattress on the bedroom floor) and headed to the washroom to start off the usual morning routine.

Argh.....the water tank in my apartment is under repair and hence, there's a disruption of water supply into the house. Although the management had allowed some water to flow into our house on certain hours of the day, we were told not to use the water from the individual water tank located right above the roof top. So, I went to the kitchen to get water. Water from kitchen comes direct from the main source of water and therefore, it would not harm the water & sinking system.

My sister and I had agreed to go out today. First, had my newly bought working attire and a pair jeans altered at a shop nearby my house before heading to Sunway Pyramid.

We came across a shop which sells fashionable clothings ala Japan and/or Korean style at a rather reasonable price. The shop name is Rise and it's located at Asian Avenue (top floor). Do check it out if you happen to go to Sunway Pyramid.

There's an opening event for Sepang F1 Circuit at a mini stage near J.Co Donuts & Coffee outlet in Sunway Pyramid. It attracted a huge crowd. Thanks to pretty, sexy girls and handsome cars (on display). Many snapped photos of their dream cars with their camera-phone.

We finally tasted the ever popular Wendy's burger! There's a pretty long queue at the counters, as usual. Ordered a Combo set of Ultimate Chicken Grill and a baked potato with sour cream. We totally enjoyed the burger. It did live up to its expectation and compliments. The squarish bun was very soft and the hamburger patty was tender and succulent, despite being grilled. Wendy's was pretty generous as the chicken fillet was quite large and thick. I rate it 9.5 out of 10. However, the baked potato was a let down. The sour cream was sour but not tasty. Perhaps, I did not add flavour to the potato (eg: salt and paper).

While we were scurrying the corridors of the shops, I spotted a good looking promoter (I couldn't recall what the product was. Probably, my attention was arrested by his look..) and then he came towards us to convince us to purchase his company's product. I was taken aback when the voice which came out from that handsome face was soft and feminine. We shooked our heads and wore a polite smile before hurrying off. After a few metres away from the promoter, my sister confessed that she thought the promoter was a hunk. I nodded and exclaimed "Yes, me too!". Both of us broke off into giggles. All right, perhaps you think we were being mean but hey, we were laughing at ourselves for making such a mistake. Seriously, she was really handsome and gorgeous. Erm,..on second thought, I am not very certain if he merely had a feminine voice or she had features of a handsome guy. Is she a he or is he a she? Or......I am confused now @_@ Anyway, it doesn't matter, so as long we do not treat him/her indifferently. (I still prefer to assume he is a he =p)

A night out with girl friend

I have heard of NiuZeXui via advertisements from the media but had yet to see the place for myself until last night, my friend who lived nearby volunteered gladly to show my sister and I around. Honestly, I couldn't remember the direction to that place again :S I am pretty bad with directions. (Yeah Yeah, I am directionless hehe - metaphorically)

The place remains me of NiuZeXui in Singapore aka Chinatown. The flowers on the trees are delicately decorated with pink and blue neon lightbulbs. I like the architecture and the design of the building. It's magnificent but it does look a little awkward having a handsome building standing in the middle of the still developing Ara Damansara. Many shoplots are still vacant and available for rent or sale.

Apart from food (which is one of the main attraction to most people), one can find fashionable clothes, jeans (came across a shop which sell really exotic jeans - from jackets to denim to mini skirts but the price is almost equivalent to those boutiques you find in shopping malls. Eg: MYR89.90 per pair of jeans), electronics, collectibles, accessories, games, VCDs/DVDs and toys.

My friend wanted to buy a wu lou (aka Calabash) crystal pendant. Little did I know that she has a sound knowledge of crystals and fengshui. It was said that crystals do have magical healing and mystical paranormal powers. She was looking for a Calabash crystal which guards the health and well being of the bearer. According to the shop assistant, the pink one brings luck in love or romance relationship to the bearer, while the black one helps to ward off evil or bad energy, the green one - there are 2 types of green; one is lighter in colour and it's said to help to promote good health and the darker green Calabash crystal is said to promote the relationships between the bearer and the surrouding people. I couldn't recall the rest.

The male shop assistant is a funny chap who hailed from Johor. He said he just came to Kuala Lumpur two months ago. I was laughing my stomach sick listening to the conversation between the chap and my friend. The latter is a forthcoming and spendthrift girl. She would never hesitate to post questions to get to the bottom of the truth. Before paying for the items she had carefully selected, she blatantly asked for discount although the items, according to my humble opinion, were relatively reasonable. Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind having to pay off a few Ringgits ;-)

This chap had asked for our phone numbers, claiming that we were the cutest people he had ever come across since coming to Kuala Lumpur (that was before we knew he had just been here for a mere two month! ~_~") Obviously, we declined giving the commonly used reason - "inconvenient". I actually saw that coming because the chap was directly hitting on my friend. He teased and made some remarks on most of the things that my friend had said. He playfully requested my friend's phone number in exchange for her change(She gave him MYR50 for the items which amounted to less than MYR30 because she did not have smaller change). Phew, I suppose we were lucky that we managed to get away easily.

After buying some doughnuts from Big Apple, we headed off to "Chui Chui Sui" cafe (aka Island Cafe) in SS2, Petaling Jaya. My friend suggested to have a drink there because she said there're a huge array of bizarre drinks to try from. The ambience of the cafe was comfortable and suitable for friends to have a good chat. My sister ordered Milk Latte(non coffee), my friend; a Carrot Milk and myself; a fresh Honey Dew juice.

We had a great time chatting about everything under the sun. The best thing about this friend of mine is she's straight-forward, quick-witted, bubbly and she really has a contagious laughter.

I am looking forward to another outing with her and hopefully, a short trip or vacation with her. Bet it would be fun.

Mos Burger

I reckon one of the things that trouble the not-so-tall petites (like myself) would be how to control one self from growing in terms of width, given the height would never change after puberty. There are so many delicious and scrumptious food around and it would be pathetic if we could not fully enjoy them, wouldn't it? Perhaps, the key to the solution would be to control the intake portion. One can taste a wide variety of delicacies by minimizing the quantity per dish.

According to some source from the Internet, Japanese ladies are slim and slender because they only fill up 70% of their stomachs during each meal. Although western ladies who usually have larger bones and body mass than Asian ladies, they could also put the ever skinny Asians to shame. French ladies are known for their lean and attractive body contour. Their portion of food is surprisingly much smaller as compared to most Asian's.

Well, if you enjoy the hamburgers, potatoes, french fries, and desserts, fear not. The Japanese has now introduced a diminutive version of healthy burgers - Mos Burger. Unfortunately, the outlets in Malaysia were closed down for unknown reason(s). Probably, it was not well accepted by the locals. However, do not despair. There are outlets available in our neighbouring country, Singapore. The website has a comprehensive layout of information which covers the different types of burgers, desserts, side treats, nutrition facts per serving for each type of products and location of each outlets. Judging from the number of outlets launched in Singapore, this healthy fast-food chain store is well received by the locals.

I have not tried them personally as I just came to know about it recently. Gathering from the word of mouth, the "Unagi Rice Burger", "Teriyaki Chicken Burger" and the "Ichigo Bliss (Frozen Strawberry)" are those not to be missed. Will definitely give it a try when I go to Singapore next time - *grins* something to look forward to. If you will be going to Singapore in the near future, make sure to stop by at one of the outlets.

The Laughing Seed

Humour is mankind's greatest blessing
~ Mark Twain ~

I find that a person with a sense of humour and a great blend of intelligence is attractive. It makes a person approachable, friendly, perky and a great conversationalist.

Humour enable one to perceive things from different views and often from surprising shifts, however with relevance to the given context. People with a sense of humour are usually more optimistic and cheerful.

For example, Taiwanese VJ/host/singer/actress/writer Momoko Tao Jing Ying 陶晶瑩 or better known as 陶子. I love her sense of humour and her resourcefulness. She's able to discuss serious topics without creating a demure atmosphere. Her laughter are contagious and she can bring out the sense of humour in the person she talks with. Her bubbly personality makes others feel comfortable when interacting with her. I like one of her TV shows Love Tao Garden (愛上陶花園).

Having a sense of humour isn't about being funny only but also being logical at the same time.

My previous M.D. is a man with great sense of humour and he is very popular among the ladies (also, because he's gorgeous!!). He's serious when comes to business/work but he really let his hair loose when comes to play. I will never forget the memorable annual dinners we had with him. Never in my wildest dream had I thought an M.D. would take the extra mile to live up to the spirit of a game or an event. His jokes never failed to earn laughter from those in the office.

Perhaps if everyone starts to exude their humorous side of themselves, everyday would be a wonderful day. Besides, laughter is the best medicine, isn't it? In some researches, it's also said laughter is good for the heart. So, there's no reason why we shouldn't laugh or make others laugh.

Wishing List

I spent all New Year countdowns at home, watching TV and witnessing others making their New Year Resolutions. I have never made one for myself. Perhaps, I never really bothered prioritizing my resolutions and realising them. Pathetic, isn't it? I have finally decided to pour out my thoughts and officially announcing my to-do or wishing list.

Here it is (not in order of priority as I feel each is equally important):

1. Travel at least once a year.
2. Look for a source of income to increase the balance in my bank account =p
3. Improve my Chinese language.
4. Start planning my career path.
5. Change myself to be a better person - slowly get rid of my negative traits.
6. Stay happy always.

Shall add or revise as time goes by.

If you are like how I was, perhaps it's time to put on your thinking cap and sort out what you want. Life is too short to waste. Seize every second you have. Make your life indifferent and interesting.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"
-Eleanor Roosevelt-

Asian Fashion

Firstly, thanks to Krissu Fashion for allowing me to use her photos to illustrate my views in this post. If you are a slave to fashion, trust you are well aware that mini skirts are a hit now. Mini skirts are excellent to hide the weaknesses of petites - especially the not-so-tall petites. However, mini skirts compliment slim and tall petites by accentuating their strengths - sexy legs.These mini skirts are suitable for casual wear and able to create a sporty look if match with baby-tees.
Apart from mini skirts, there's a trend and favouritism for dresses like the below. It will also look good if match with a 3/4 cotton stretchable pants.

The above is suitable for dinner gatherings. For work, you may opt to do away the sterotype collared long sleeve blouses. A long knitted top with a decent skirt would give you a girly appeal and you certainly need not worry you look informal. A cardigan or a blazer shall be an excellent choice to mix and match in case you need to meet clients or go for meetings. Some accessories around the neck would add some elegance and suits petites with small frames. However, careful not to choose accessories that are too large in size. It would then make you look even smaller.
If you are going out on an all girls outing, try the pink blouse. It looks good with mini skirts, jeans and 3/4 pants.