Trip to Sabah

I`ll be off to Sabah tmrw onwards for about a week. A good friend invited me over to enjoy the Harvest festival & I said yes. That was last year...finally I`m going.

Looking forward to makan-2 sessions, meeting Ritchie & his gang of friends, finding some pitcher plants & generally enjoying Sabah. The last time I went there was about 7 years ago.

Much too long ago....

My cousin Sharon

This is a side profile of my cousin during dinner time. She just walloped 6 dishes & from the look on her face, she`s planning what to `down` next.

Movie time

Went to watch I don`t want to sleep alone at Cineleisure which was quite a decent effort. The leads were interesting, I especially liked the cashier lady who was a bit kay-poh. The Curve is pretty festive on Sat nites, with their flea market.

We just hung around Borders then went over to a friend`s house in Kepong to see his carnivorous plants ( what else yah ? ) and also to plan our upcoming Camerons trip. Tbe whole small gang was there....

A wedding

A friend`s wedding at Putrajaya....quite lavish. The food was so good.....the bride was very pretty. It was a very very hot day though & with a toddler aroudn, we were not able to stay until the bersanding ceremony. Photos will have to do then.

Things to do for the weekend

I have a movie to catch with frenz at the Curve. Going to watch that local release I don`t want to sleep alone...reviews say that it is good.

Some folks are coming over to the house to purchase carnivorous plants. They have booked the plants & are swinging by to collect it. The side income is a welcome...I get to buy more carnivorous plants.

Then there`s a wedding to attend on Sunday afternoon. It`s in Putrajaya area.

Also got a friend overniting due to late movie watching & he`s got no transport & I`m too lazy to send him home.

Sunday evening is an uncle`s birthday. Given a choice I would not go as he went ballistic the last time when we were late & we ended up having a shouting match. Cis.

Last payment

Looking forward to salary time this month coz it`ll involve making the last payment for a RM10k loan I took 3 years ago. I`ll be getting about rm300 extra next month onwards. Wheeee. Time to save up more money. Hoping I won`t end up spending it instead. Hmmmm....

Been so busy

Life has been full of activities for the past 2 weeks especially.

After joining a local plant forum, I have been besieged by plant orders & trading. Have spent quite a lot of time re-potting plants for it. Also wrappping boxes to deliver via Poslaju to the outstation folks. Bz Bz.

Went for My Fair Lady musical on Tuesday. I managed to get free tickets y`see. Invited a friend who works nearby to watch it with me. It was nice to meet up with Ezan, Yatie & hubby. The musical was such a HUGE disaster. Script was so limpid. Singing was so-so but forgettable. There was nothing to cajole` you to want to know more or stay on to watch. Out of 10, I give it a 2.....

I also have quite a few DVDs to catch up on, not to mention Desperate Housewives Season 3 in my PC. Wheeeee.....and also Heroes, episodes 18-20.

My part time job.........

After 2 weeks of being in the local carnivorous plant forum, I`ve sold off about rm300 of my plants. The garden is almost empty now except for adult plants. Mmmmm...time to purchase more varieties !

Things I`ve learnt :

Poslaju is reliable. It`s promise of next working day delivery has been tried & tested by me. I`m quite impressed.

There are quite a few other carnivorous plant ( CP) enthusiasts out there. And they are friendly, helpful & generous. Some offer free plants. Some sell or trade. But all are nice folks.

Women like CPs as well, which is a surprise for me. In all my 5 years of CP cultivating, I`ve only met guys.

Mmmmmmmmmmm......

The SMART tunnel

I`m not sure if it lives up to its namesake. But I did reach Old Klang Road in a record time of 11 minutes yesterday from office. It was normally take 30 mins at least. It seems to work for me when I go back but not when I`m going to the office as the exit point is blocked for us veering off to our office. The U-turn is just too far off & very very jam.

This morning outside RHB Bank where the exit point for SMART heading towards KL is, it was very x 100 jam. Crazy situation but luckily we were not affected.

Let`s see how it progresses........

A cutie pie carnivorous plant I got....

This was a nice surprise. I just joined a local carnivorous plant website last week & there have been quite a few exchanges & purchases made via member-to-member.

Among the cutest plant I exchanged was this drosera Binata, which is a rare ( to me anyways! ) form of sundew. It catches prey via their sticky fluids. I have other varieties but not this one.

It wasn`t a good Sunday

What started out as a lovely hiking trip ended disastrously.

We went river trekking at sg chlling in Kuala Kubu Baru area. Reached there at about 10 a.m. Parked the car & we started on the trekking. It was lovely & we saw some changes.

For one thing, the local Fisheries dept has taken over the rivers there & had populated the place with fish. Lotsa of it !!! I`m talking about a few thousand.

Trekking along, we found a lot of pitcher plants & other jungle plants which were interesting. A lil` tired out & cos it was raining, we ran out of the jungle at about 2 p.m.

To our shock, someone had smashed my fren`s passenger side car window & stolen a few things. A wallet, bag & new handphone went missing. It was lucky that my own bag which was properly hidden was intact as it had my one & ONLY car keys. If that was stolen, I would have to call Japan to get a replacement.

We trotted off to the local police station. 3 hours went by before it was settled. I guess folks in small towns move slowly.

We figured that the cause of the crime was an exposed bag left in the bottom front seat. Sigh. Should be more careful.

Here are some pics I took. It`s of the new cable bridge & also the waterfall & a cute slim pitcher.

Last week......wow....

One would think that withb so many holidays last week, I would have exercised, got fitter etc. But naw, was too darn lazy.

I spent may 1st & 2nd at home , too lazy to go out except to the nearby hypermarket to get groceries. I tended to my carnivorous plants, trimmed off my front tree ( which was a huge effort, seeing that I had to climb up to the roof, shimmey up the tree, dangle from it & cut off the branches. The thickest branch was the size of my thigh ), did osme more gardening, watched a lot of DVDs, called up Digi friends, sent out a lot of MMS and became very active in a local carnivorous plant website.

It was time well spent. Cheap too. Saved petrol, saved the car from wear & tear & sun exposure.

I bought this full car cover for Ralfie. It works quite well to protect Ralfie from the sun & rain but the quality isn`t great. It tears too easily. For rm35, I would have expected better quality. It`ll have to do for now I guess.

A Healthy Hearty Breakfast

This is what I always have on Sunday mornings at about 10 a.m. after I do the laundry, bathe Chico, water my plants, iron my clothes & clean up my fish aquariums. About an hour before that, I would have downed a glass of freshly juiced fruit vege goodness.

I think fresh vegetables & fruits are very important to our diet. Usually I soak the vegetables for about an hour before to hopefully rid it of pesticides. It`s wishful thinking I know coz of the amount of pesticides used but well, I at least tried. I can`t find organic vege packs in the local hypermarkets in my area. Would prefer that.