Apple Talk on Anything

I’ve finally touched down to my 2nd trimester. Was a little confused on the weeks as my gynae did an ultrasound and my baby has grown a lot inside so it should be 15 weeks according to the size at that time. However if I were to calculate week by week from my last appointment, I should be only at my 14th week. So it’s definitely a good news to hear that!

Counting on to that I should now be on my 17th week now. I hope my baby is doing well. I can feel my baby bump as my pants are getting tighter and my weight has increased slightly to 48kg. Looking sideway on the mirror I could see my little baby bump popping out from my tummy. However, many people who are aware of my pregnancy did not notice my bump and they were surprised to learn that I’m already in my 2nd trimester. Does it mean that my baby has absorbed all the nutrients that I had? Should this be a good news?

Nevertheless, myy appetite has improved and I’ve stopped taking folic acid as I don’t feel comfortable after taking it in the morning. I’ve bought Anmum Materna to ensure that I’ve all I needed for my daily vitamins and nutrients intake. Besides, I’ve found myself very fond of Breakfast Bars/Snack Bars. I’ve tried Uncle Toby’s “Chocolate Chunks” which has only 90 calories on each bar. But I love Cadbury’s “Hazelnut Brunch Bar” the most! Of course the calory content is so much higher (600+ calories per bar) due to its base is coated with Cadbury’s milk chocolate…yummy!! I’ve finished these 2 boxes in a week and I’ve replenished my “stock” with another box of Cadbury Hazelnut Brunch Bar and tried with a new one “Special K Bar with chocolate drizzle” which has only 90 calories each.

Sadly, I still can’t consume Milo for breakfast. No matter how tasty my breakfast is, if I take it with Milo it would definitely make me sick again. So what is the best nutrient drink for breakfast? I do however find that I am OK with ready-made Milo packet drinks or Milo in cans (you know, those RM2 per can which you can purchase from convenient stores?). The difference is that I couldn’t accept the Milo I made myself but I love the read-made ones.

written by appletan

Today my  baby in my tummy turned 11 weeks and 03 days. It’s near to the end of my first trimester!! And I can’t wait to countdown to Week 12, 13..etc.

I’ve almost stopped vomiting, but nausea still hits me. Nothing came out from my mouth this time but I still vomit  inside the toilet bowl until tears running down on my cheeks due to extreme force  from my stomach. Not that I’m forcing it to come out but I just couldn’t stop the nausea.

Diarrhea started last Saturday afternoon for almost 3 times. I was in so much pain as I think due to the spicy and sour food I had previously. Luckily it only happened for 1 day.

I just hope everything would be ok with my baby. It’s another 3 weeks before I go for my next monthly check-up. How can I know if my baby is doing fine during these weeks?

written by appletan

My nausea is getting from bad to worse. These 2 days I’ve been very close with the toilet bowls, be it in my house or in the office. I will visit them at least every hour to feed them. :S

Whatever I ate just wouldn’t stay in my stomach. I used to be able to take my breakfast cereal with fresh milk without any problem. But these two days even my breakfast cereal came out soon after I reached office. And I have been feeling dizzy and nauseous all day long, especially in the afternoon.

Please help..what can I do to overcome my nausea?

written by appletan

There is no better place for me to share my feelings other than my personal blog which is hardly publicised and disclosed to friends. I like to remain secretive so that I can share secrets to a limited amount of people. I didn’t like people around me to discuss what I wrote in my blog, as to me my blog is my personal space to express my feelings and secrets! I treat this like my half diary.

I didn’t have chance to shout my happiness as freely as I can! Yeah!! I’m now 10w3d preggie!! Unfortunately, I didn’t feel as good as I sound due to extremely bad nausea, vomitting and loss of appetite. This started as early as my 7th week. I lost 3kg due to the bad nausea. Should I feel happy or sad?! Previously I had been wanting to lose some weight but to no avail. Now I kept dropping it like nothing. I’ve checked with doctor and this seems to be normal in the first trimester. But if this situation continues until I turned 45kg, then it should be flagged red and I should alert the doctor so that she can give me some supplements.

The nausea could be bad but at the same time I know that it is sending a healthy signal from my womb. I can’t wait to get over my first trimester so that I can start to love food all over again. Now I’m allergic to scents like Dynamo liquid wash (I used to love it soo much), deep-fried oily food  from our cafeteria, my CK One EDT perfume (oh no it used to be my favourite scent!!!), my Clinique Happy Floral perfume (they will all be temporarily given away to my 2 sisters), my hair mousse and gel for my permed hair, my hubby’s deodorant and the list goes on. If I get to smell any of these I will turn nauseus and start to vomit whatever it’s in my stomach.

My first visit for my check-up was with Island Hospital but then I switched to Loh Guan Lye Specialist Center as it is one of my company’s panel hospitals and we get extra discount from there.  Dr.Voon is nice and gentle and I think I will stick to this hospital for further follow-ups.

written by appletan

This happened few months back but now I only feel like sharing to you all.

Went to travel with a bunch of friends consisted of couples. We were having dim sum at Ipoh’s Fok San Restaurant. I don’t know them very well as they are my hubby’s friends. There were 2 girls sitting on our tables who were on some discussion which I wasn’t paying much attention to it until one of them exclaimed, “Oh no!! I forgot to bring that thing!” The other girl replied “I thought I’ve already reminded you over the phone last night?” By instinct a girl would know what happened (at least for me). So I quickly told them “I have some spares in my bag, I can give you some if you want”. The girls were half embarrassed and not sure how to respond to my offer. At that time I still didn’t know what they actually wanted, until we synched up with each other. This time it was me who turned embarrassed.

So the myth is now resolved. I was actually referring to sanitary pads for use by the ladies, but they were actually referring to condoms for their boyfriends…Hahah…What a Joke! One of the girls told my hubby, “I thought you and your wife are planning for a baby, but I was surprised when your wife told me she brought ‘them’ to travel!”.

written by appletan

Tuesday June 22, 2010

According to The Star Newspaper, “The Education Ministry may reduce the weightage of the UPSR and PMR instead of abolishing the examinations completely, said its Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

He said the ministry would gather feedback before making a decision on the proposal announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Sunday.”

Is this the right way for Malaysia’s Education, my points of view as below:

• What is our students’ check point? How to know if that particular student is up to standard?
• How to justify if our national education is up to par or not?
• Can our students be self motivated to take up a book to read during free time?
• Without examination will our students still keep studying?

Alot of considerations need to be taken into account before the final decision is made. We could not follow our Western counterpart’s education system as they have strong self-learning system and their schooling system is completely different than ours. Look at Far Eastern countries like Japan, Korea and Hong Kong where education is very important to them, nevertheless the examinations. The government examination in schools are so important that even the parents would accompany their children to wait at schools to sit for examinations. The examinations are vital for them to secure a  place at renowned high schools or universities.

Being said so, the government must set an effective education system for our students and make education to be fun and exciting instead of just merely abolishing the UPSR and PMR examinations.

written by orangegoh

A week earlier, my hubby told me that he will be going to KL for training. After I got to know that he planned to drive there during the wee hours, I decided to take a day off to accompany him.

We found a good budget hotel at Kota Damansara area. At first, we were quite worried of the accommodation around there as there seems to be not many budget hotels besides all the 4-5 star hotels. I checked out Royale Bintang and it was totally out of question. Then my hubby’s friend mentioned about Tune Hotels, unfortunately it was fully booked for that day we wanted to stay. So I tried my luck on Google and it brought me to Smart Hotel. I was quite convinced with it due to its location and room rate. After reading through the comments, someone recommended Media Hotel instead as she didn’t like the service provided at Smart Hotel. So instinctively  I searched for Media Hotel. It was indeed a very impressive budget hotel with modern rooms and facilities at an attractive price of only RM118Nett! Furthermore it’s only a few KM away from my hubby’s training center.

So we departed from Penang at 12AM (yeah we travelled on midnight!).  Due to the wee hours, we couldn’t stand the tiredness and took a 30-minute nap in the car at one of the R&R’s. And with the help of GPS , we managed to find our way to Kota Damansara and arrived safe and sound at 5:30AM. Upon checking in, we were told that there were no queen-bedded rooms available. We argued that we already booked for the room for that day and informed the receptionist that we would be arriving at 4am-6am! After some checking, the guy at the reception managed to find a room without windows, we gave in. But then again we were told that we will be charged an extra RM60 for early check-in. I didn’t remember hearing the receptionist mentioning that when I called for booking. Nevermind, we were tired and we needed a room badly. Anyhow, it’s reasonable for any hotels to charge that as you are checking in half day earlier than the usual check-in time.

Hubby slept for 2 hours before leaving for training. I continued to sleep until 1.30PM, if not for the cleaner who knocked on my room, I don’t think I would be up by then . Went for a shower and dressed up for lunch. Decided to give a try at the cafe downstairs owned by Media Hotel. I was starving and I ordered Banana Leaf Briyani Rice + 1 chicken drumstick + 1 curry egg + 1 Teh Tarik and it costed me RM13. Reasonable?

When hubby came back from training, we headed to The Curve, again guided  by the stupid GPS who nearly brought us to Kepong! I really lost my trust to that GPS as it always lost its signal, unable to detect satellite, and the instructions are not clear! Instead of asking you to make a U-turn, it says ‘Turn right and then turn right”… -_-” You really need some intelligence to use GPS, when you’re supposed to turn right, it missed out!

Finally when we arrived, it’s almost time for dinner. After inspecting each and every eatery outlet, we decided on Gardens. It is a very nice restaurant with a garden-like ambience. The restaurant is surrounded by fake greeneries and a white grand piano sitting at the center of the restaurant. I had Spaghetti with shrimps and extra virgin olive oil (RM17.90) and hubby had Sirloin Steak (RM29.90). The prices were quite reasonable and the service was damn quick. Our food arrived within 5-8 minutes.

The next morning, I suggested PappaRich for breakfast. It has almost the same concept as Old Town except that the bread used is different. Hubby didn’t quite like it as he finds it to be relatively expensive. Well, I had steamed bread with butter and a cup of hot white coffee (almost RM8 for these 2 items). I had to agree that it is expensive but if we never tried, we never know how it’s like.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to pack our stuff and prepared for check-out. We then proceeded to IKEA, it seems like a MUST for every KL holiday-maker to visit IKEA. The main purpose of our visit is for the infamous Beef Meat Balls in its signature brown sauce! It was so yummy and we were full after having 7 meatballs each. This marked the end of our KL adventure.

On the way back to Penang, we dropped by Ipoh for dinner. It seems our trip is always full of makan trips! LOL!! We landed on “Lou Wong” Bean Sprout Chicken rice restaurant. Honestly, the competitor (Aun Kee) is a better one as I remembered eating the bean sprouts non-stop (I’m not a bean-sprouts lover but I only love Ipoh’s bean sprouts!). Lou Wong’s chicken wasn’t that fresh either compared to Aun Kee. Anyway, we had a fruitful trip this round.

written by appletan

I realized I have a weird (or maybe should I say unique??) taste for music. What most people like, I don’t like~ A good example is Jay Chou who is a famous Taiwanese singer/songwriter. Most of my friends shunned away from his music for a very common reason, “Don’t know what is he singing!” The worst thing being said was “Even ABC (American born Chinese) can sing better than him!” When I heard that I was like -_-”. Okay, if you don’t know how to appreciate his music please stop criticising him!

To me, enjoying music doesn’t mean that you have to understand the lyrics. I love to listen to one’s music without even memorising the lyrics or make the effort to read between the lines. What matters to me is the tune or melody which suits my taste. It could be difficult to know what is Jay mumbling about in his songs, but so what?? I find that he has a unique way of conveying his music to his fans, who truly love his music. If you were to compare him with ABC who can sing every single word perfectly, then what is the selling point since most of us also know how to sing and not mumbling in a song! Except that he has a good-looking face.

This is the reason why I can listen to Japanese songs as well. The melody is so unique compared to other language’s songs. My favourite is Glay and Namie Amuro, just to name a few. I never took the hassle to find out what their songs meant, I just enjoy the tune of it and that is more than enough. This also contributes to my non-so-preferable choice of Mandarin songs. As we all know, Mandarin songs are slow and sentimental. Most people listen to them because the songs are meaningful in some way and they can understand the meaning of the songs. But I don’t give a d**n of it as I feel sleepy when listening to this genre of music…

I guess..that’s the beauty of music!!!

written by appletan

Last night I watched a dramatic comedy “Up In The Air” with George Clooney taking the lead on screen. My friend copied the movie for me few weeks ago and I only got to watch it last night.

By reading the movie title my first thought was it might be a romantic comedy which might not be of my hubby’s liking. Due to lack of good movies in cinemas lately we decided to watch it. As we started to watch the movie, we then realized that it’s not a love comedy.

The movie tells the story of Ryan Bingham (starred by George Clooney) working as a professional consultant in firing employees of his clients. His job is to fly all around America to sack employees. On average he flies up to 300+ days a year and is only home for not more than a month. You won’t be surprised to find that he was presented a highly exclusive American Airline member card as the 7th member in the airline’s history for reaching his 10 millionth mile on his frequent flyer programme. He was indeed the youngest member to have achieved this honarary status.

On the other hand, a newcomer girl known as Natalie has been hired into the consultancy firm. She is a top and bright student. She gave up good job opportunities in other states and instead chose to accept this “firing people” job just to be with her boyfriend in Omaha. As fresh as she sounds, she is instructed to follow George Clooney to fire people all over America and to learn how it works. She finds it hard to accept at the beginning as it is not an easy task especially if you are emotionally and unsteady.

“Your position is no longer available in this company” is one of the most frequently used line from the movie when laying off staff. Imagine if you are the one receiving this message, how would you feel? Globally, economy has improved since the downturn back in two years. I still remember during that time the first thing we read on the news was company xyz has shut down its plant in abc town. Or company abc has laid off few thousand of its staff to cut costs. No one is in peaceful mind as everyone is fearing of being laid off one day. I’m glad that this has come to an end finally.

Sometimes when we reached a certain level of achievement, you may find that you are no longer useful to the company and it may be time to move on. In other cases, especially in global companies, reorganization is not an uncommon thing. The restructuring of the organization sometimes affects employee’s confidence and motivation. I’m sad to say that this time our recent reorganization has hit us badly and we have come to the stage of demotivation. Alot of us had been trying to get new jobs but hardly anyone of us managed to secure a new job yet. Hope everyone in the team is able to find what he/she wants for a brighter tomorrow!

written by appletan

Last Saturday, we were honoured to be invited to “Walk for Sight 2010 Charity Walk” organized by St. Nicholas’ Home Penang. The event was held in Padang Polo. It was a great opportunity to be able to join in the fun for charity.

This event was opened to everyone who wished to participate in the charity walk. Participants would need to be blind-folded and walked for 1.5km hand-in-hand with other blind-folded participants. Those who managed to complete the walk would receive a certification of appreciation.

Some companies also took this opportunity to encourage its employees to join the activity such as Intel and Adventist Hospital, just to name a few.

Large canopies had been set up for particpants to take a rest after the walk. There were also some companies who grabbed this opportunity to set up booths to showcase their products to participants.

There was a huge turnout for this event. The number of participants who turned out exceeded the organizer’s target. It was a great success indeed.

After a tiring blind-folded walk, participants were treated with free foot-massage by St. Nicholas’ Home students.

Family members of the visually-impaired people came to support the charity walk.

A group picture of the participants from Penang Adventist Hospital.

The walk ended with free Vico drinks for everyone. This was a very meaningful event as it makes us realize how fortunate we are to have healthy eye sight. The walk is to remind us to be grateful of what we have and also to care for those who are less fortunate than us. By walking blind-foldedly, you get to experience how the visually-impared and blind people walk on their day-to-day life.

written by orangegoh