son of a gun

Let word be out that if you ever cross path with one Dr Michael Newberry, please help me kick his ass, bitch-slap him and make him return me RM1,000!! That son of a *tut*. This is the story.

He was a tenant at my apartment. Never met him personally but according to my agent friend, he seemed friendly, funny and nice. I was rather indifferent to him but when there had been several delays in rent payments, I wasn't exactly too impressed. Yet the couple of times when he'd call to say that there had been faulty items at the apartment, I was prompt and quick in dealing with and replacing the items. The tenancy was due mid December and as I've sold the place, I needed the apartment vacated by the end of the year. Per normal practice, I gave him over 2 months' notice and he agreed that he would not be renewing the tenancy.

Come December, I'd emailed, sms-d and called him on several ocassions without avail. I was suspicious that something's amiss. This was further affirmed when each time I pass by the apartment at night, the place was in total darkness. Finally when the tenancy's expiry date was up, I decided to knock on the door and find out what's going on.

As it turned out, the bugger had fled! Fled!! And I'm sure of this as I found the car park transducer in the mailbox, a stack of unclaimed mails for the idiot and several unpaid electricity and water bills that had run up to really high amounts. After complaining to the management office and lodging a police report (after consulting my lawyer), I entered the apartment with a set of keys that I'd held on to. The apartment was in a mess but luckily, all the stuff I had there were still intact. Some of his stuff were still there, bits and pieces. Nothing of much value of course. On my 2nd visit there, I realised that his washing machine was also gone. It confirms that it was all premeditated. For RM1,000, the Australian idiot had fled. I'm flabbergasted as to how and why he'd do something like that for a small sum like RM1,000!! Wtf!!

So if you ever meet this Dr Newberry chap, be sure to stay clear away from him. But not before getting my money back for me ok. Oh and bitch-slapping him of course!! The nerve of that asshole!!!

the year gone by...

it's gonna be a pretty quiet Chistmas this year. My annual X'mas party will be on the last day of the year.

My, my, another 12 months have gone by. What have I done this year?

- Quit my job at V4 and got hit on by ex-boss on the day before my last day. No regrets leaving. Definitely!
- Had a couple fabulous regional travels to Bangkok and Bali with awesome company.
- My baby girl had 9 babies from 2 pregnancies within 1 year! *aiks* ...yet what miracles they were, ay.
- Explored several business opportunities - from baking to pets to baking for pets. Didn't come to fruition after considering that the pet industry over here is definitely not as sophisticated as it is overseas.
- Came close to running a restaurant. There it suddenly was...fell onto my lap - an offer to manage a little cafe without even having to invest money - what a deal rite. But it fell through cos the prospective invetor turned out to be rather irresponsible and obnoxious. So it was a blessing in disguise.
- Did a salsa performance at the Singapore International Salsa Festival.
- And Petals & More was formed... The idea just came from a discussion of 3 unemployed beings over coffee. What a cool idea it turned out to be, ay. *wink*

On reflection, there were ups and downs....but it didn't turn out too bad. May 2007 be even better. *oink*oink*

Merry Merry Christmas!

cooking up a feast

Chirstmas dinner with the family was early this year. Dad could not stay till X'mas due to some engagement back home, so this year we decided to have our pre-X'mas-cum-dad's-birthday dinner celebration early on 22nd, which happened to be dad's actual birthday.

Cooking dinner for 7 this year seemed like a really easy task. Thank goodness for wonderful chef goddesses like Nigella and Delia. *grin* Here was the menu I conjured:

Roast Turkey - courtesy of Delia. It was cooked to perfection, if I may say so myself. *beam* It was nice and brown and succulent and not at all dry. I was v.pleased. :)

Paella with Tiger Prawns, Chicken and Chorizo - another of Delia's simple recipes. It was yummy, despite not having a paella pan nor paella rice. Had to substitute with normal rice and a shallow-ish wok. But it turned out rather well. Looked and tasted quite like the spanish rice dish. :D

Quiche with Ham, Tomato and Avocado - this came for a recipe book of quiches. An interesting recipe using bread as the base instead of shortcrust pastry. So simple and quite delicious. Was apprehensive how it would turn out with bread as the base, but it was great. The edges were toast-crispy and the filling was eggy-cheesy-yummy. Heh.

Tomato, Cucumber, Celery and Pita Salad - this was inspired from Nigella. Her recipe did not contain celery but I figured it would taste just as good with it in. And it was! Hehe.

Spaghetti with Prawns, Squid, Peppers and Brocoli - sis made this. It was not bad except the pasta could've been a bit more al dente. I have this thing about pasta being perfectly al dente - not too soft (*eek*) nor too hard (*yuck*).

And for dessert, we had jello and cute tiger-themed cupcakes, made specially for dad out of HappyBellyBites' oven.



It was a good feast! *beam*

and so have the girls

Yay!! They all have homes! *Yippee* I think they're all in good homes...well, at least I hope! *fingers crossed*

*Sigh* Partly relieved....yet partly sad. Those little ones have definitely grown onto me! And I think Trin is suddenly suffering from post-natal depression. I dunno, is it possible with dogs?? But she's certainly acting strange. She's been crying a lot the last 2 days, whimpering and trying to tell me something. I wish I could understand what's she trying to say. And everytime we hear the neighbour's silky pup (yes, coincidently, one of the neighbours has a silky pup! what are the odds, ay) crying, she thinks it's one of her babies and starts to get worried, wanting to go to the little pup. Oh dear, oh dear....I sure hope she gets over this feeling soon. I feel so helpless and sad that I dunno what to do to.

*Sighhhhh* My poor baby... :(

the boys have left the house...

2 girls left... Astonishingly, the boys seem more popular than the girls this time around. Usually girl doggies tend to be harder to breed and more popular among some dog lovers. So the irony this time that we have equal distribution of the X and XY chomosomes, resulting in the birth of 2 males and 2 females, yet only the boys have caught buyers' attention.

People! The girls need good homes too!! Please take home a girl dog today!! Hehe... But seriously, please take one home now....pleaseeeee... :)