It's the last Saturday of 2007. I am going back to London in few hours time so I just drop a post here. I had been feeling sick for the past 2 days but today I'm alright already.
Just that most probably I still won't have internet during New Year Day, so, wishing all my friends here Happy New Year. Have a great 2008!!
So what's so special about today for me? (I mean yesterday 27/12). Well, aunt Lucy, Uncle Stephen, cousin Stephanie and Alex came here to stay. Now we got Aunt Wendy, Aunt Lucy and Aunt Anne in the house. Family reunion eh. It's been long since I seen my cousins though. Quite happy to see them again after all these years.
Anyway, I'll be going back to London in like 8 hours time. Now I'm not sure of going back to London or stay one more day here as it's at my own choice. Decisions decisions. I don't know...
well, gonna chat with them a little then sleeping soon... It's been months since I had so many familiar people around me...
It's 1 year again. I was still in Sunderland at her last birthday party... well... half way through the birthday party while not with her on the actual day... :p This year... I am totally out of her sight during her birthday... Actually I promised her before she left for summer holiday that I'll be attending her birthday party this year... sadly I can't make it... Seems like I'm always not there huh...
Anyway, she's still the same after a year. She still makes me laugh every time we chat. She still complains a lot. She is still known as "Abu". She still say I'm not neat. but as long as she's still original "Abu"... then it should be fine...
Happy 21st Cath. Have a great year showered with blessings, lucks, and may all your wishes come true...
Related Post: Abunene?? Abubu?? E-bubu??
It's been long since I last update my blog. I was so busy dealing with the new flat and sorting out Christmas presents. So I am now here again at my aunt's, Foxleyend, enjoying my Christmas holiday. Just had Christmas dinner though, it's filling. with 2 glasses of Martini to go with my meal.
Life is not easy in London, but I'm gonna get through it. Wishing myself good luck this Christmas and Merry Christmas to all out there. I'll keep updating when possible.
Few days ago when I read the newspaper, I saw the Avril Lavigne 2008 UK tour advertisement!!!! It will be at 4th June next year at O2 Arena.... I went to the ticket website to look at the price... around £29.50 only.
This is the concert I have been waiting for and I'll be there definitely!!!!!!!!1
Love you lots Avril!!!!!!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!
Ticket website
Official Avril Lavigne website
Well... just some random photos to share....
Recently I bought a 8Gb USB drive from eBay... costing around £15 only, which usually cost £35 or above on high street. But... the drive is unstable... gee.... so difficult to use... not secure at all...
These are me 2007 coins collection which I found in the cash machine when I'm working...
This 2 pence seems different right? I thought it is a special edition but after that I found out that it's a 2 pence coin from Gibraltar.
That's just something to share...
Last Thursday is Guilherme's last day in the shop as he'll go back to Brazil at 12th. We went to the bar next door to have a little drink and bid early farewell to him as he'll be going to Greece the next day to visit his friend.
Ahhh..... we're all gonna miss him damn lots... wishing him all the best in Brazil when he goes back...
Early last month, there was a fireworks display happening in London. I'm not sure what is it for, jsut that there's some event like that happening every year. Fireworks are displayed in various locations, some need to pay to see and some of them are free. At East London where I live, there is one at Victoria Park. I took a lot of photos but the results were not really good. I used the Fireworks function on my camera, but most of them seems quite blurry so I don't wanna put it up here. It's not easy to take fireworks photos... -_-
Did you see a human like figure there? It was a huge human rib cage model they set up and the little fire beside which shoots fire is the "Big Ben rocket" model which just lit up. It then shoots up to the sky, of course not real... just using an industrial crane to lift it up.
Anyway, this is a random photo outside Victoria Park, taken with higher exposure. Not bad..
After this event, it will be the motor show which I will go later on, and the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park which will be open until early January. There are ice skating ring there and lots more fun. Many ice rings were set up already and I am yet to visit them.
Why? Because of something really serious!! I am very frustrated as well now.... Seems like I'm really on my own now and I need to think of ways and pray hard.... I really need to hang on and hope for the best and do my best... I'm going for it.... I am going for it.... no turning back anymore.... no way back.... I hope I can find someone in the next 2 days.... seriously...
It's the first day of December and I'm having a bad day.... (again complaining in my blog...)
Recently, beside working, Kevin and I had been looking for a new place to stay. We had seen a few places but some of them were already rent out when we just manage to go see. Viewed one yesterday, the area is good, and it's a 2 room flat. the bad point is that the single room is hell small. The other one which Kevin's girlfriend go see is nice as well (from the pictures). I will be going to have a look at that one with Kevin tomorrow afternoon after finishing my work. Hope it's gonna be fine and all the arrangements are fine then we can get the flat as soon as possible. It's like hell at the place we live now. why?
2nd November 2007, Brian, our manager brought us to a Lebanese Restaurant for dinner as we achieved Star Team Award worth £850.
Before we had our dinner, it was a meeting in the shop to understand more about the company and our shop's performance. Below are few of the photos to share with you all. As I am short of time, I just edit few of them.
My Colleagues: Svetlana (Latvia) - Team member Star, always arguing with team leaders; Usoa (Spain) - Team leader, very friendly, real profession is an artist; Ricardo (Germany) - Barista, Valerie (Bolivia) - Part timer, charming lady; Lilian (Brazilian Japanese) - Part-timer.
My Colleagues: Guilherme (Brazilian Italian) - Going back to Brazil next month, a great colleague who works hard and friendly; Mohsin (Morocco) - Barista, talking non stop all the time; me; Samy (Arab) - Dad Malaysian Mom Chinese, super noisy.
During dinner time.
Some of the main course food. Before it came out, we were all full already as the starters are already like main course. 
My Colleagues: Julian (Colombia) - Part-timer, name pronounced as "Hu-lee-ann", me, Dagmara (Poland) - Hot-Chef, in short we call her Daga. She's lovely and only 19 years old.A week past and I haven't been writing anything here....
I'm now sitting in a 24 hour cyber cafe at Tottenham Court Road as I have no keys to go into the house again... haha...
This week at work... overtime again today as I'm only closing with Guilherme, usually 3 person. Yesterday overtime as well as the whole shop is a mess I don't know why... and there was a lady with her hand bag stolen with passport inside... gee... feeling so bad for her though... she keep crying as her husband is trying to sort things out for her....
Something I feel after working for nearly 2 months in the shop... English people sucks sometimes... they complain a lot... eat like babies... (we have to clean the damn floor full of food on de floor every evening)... everyday eating sandwiches only... I don't understand... and some customer's face is like shit... gee...
nah... finish with the complaints.... I really have nothing to write now... I got tonnes to update but I can't!!!!
I WANT INTERNET ACCESS AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F*CK!!!!!!
Well, it's been long time since I updated photos in my blog... As today I got time, I try to upload some photos about my life last month....
6/10/07
I went to Chinatown to have Dimsum with Kevin....
At that period it was after Mid-autumn festival so Chinatown still has lots of lanterns hanging around....
13/10/07
What's this? Well, a gay guy.... but as I used my phone camera with lack of lighting... this picture is bad... anyway, the gay guy basically, came up to the bus... I was sitting alone in the last corner seat in the bus alone as Kevin sits at some seat near to me... so the gay guy come in at one of the station and sit next to me... damn the fuckin' story began.... I didn't know he was a gay... only after chatting for some time (as he chat with me first)... he keep on holding my damn hand for some reason... n start touching me.... OMG!!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHH!!!!! still a nightmare that night...
14/10/07
Next day, we went out again... we went to the amusement centre... Kevin wanna catch that bear from the machine for his girl so he tried... usually it is not that easy to catch one... as usual... but...
The bear got stuck there on the "claws" of the machine... he got lucky that day... with the help of the workers there, he got that cute little bear for his girl....
21/10/07
Again, one week later... we went to church... cos the past 2 weeks we didn't get there on time so we decided to go at later week...
so here we are, at Hillsong church... at Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road...
Praise and Worship...
Well... about my work... last Thursday was bad... Don't know why there's suddenly so many people coming to the shop after 3 days of grave yard scenery.... That day was hell busy... until the kitchen was so busy that we keep on making new stock for the shop... Everyone doesn't have time to do the washing up and cleaning... then poor me...
I need to close the kitchen as usual... alone... but with extra work to do.... I took extra time to close the kitchen that day.. it was horrible...
After Thursday, it was Friday and it was my off day!! luckily.. so I went for a hair cut at Tony & Guy after 5 months not cutting my hair... ah.... £43 for a Art Director cut...
That night I went for shop's dinner at a Lebanese Restaurant as we got Star Team Award of £850 weeks ago... not bad...
I'll update about it next week, with the fireworks display last night as well... it was so so cool... hiak hiak... cya all soon...
Ah... A complain blog post again...
It's the end of October already.... and my blog posts for this month didn't even reach 10!! My goodness.... All because of no internet at home... all because of work... gee...
Anyway, stop complaining.
Hello November.
Ah.. what a title...
It was a very happy dream... yet I was so sad when I woke up from that dream.... as it's just happen in my dream but not in reality.... 2 days continuously.... story in my dream continue last night from the previous day.... I felt like crying when I woke up.... I felt unhappy for the whole day when I work today... every colleague realized that I look tired. I told Guilherme, my closest colleague, about my dream and the story behind....
I'm now standing inside Oxford Street's Apple Store updating my blog. Everyone is here using the computers and laptops to check mail and other stuff. It's like a free cyber cafe though... just that it doesn't have any chairs in front of the computer... hehe... It's a very huge store though.... there are many people coming in and out everyday.
Well, basically, interesting experiences happen everyday and I really don't know where to start. I worked in Pret for a week already, now moving into second week. I mastered some of the sandwich making skills and the team leader and manager were quite happy with my performance as I speak to the manager this morning. Glad about it. Life is interesting in Pret but really is tiring. I saved so much on food as I get to eat fresh and nutritious food from Pret every breakfast and lunch. Tomorrow I'll be working from 11am so I don't need to wake up at 5am to rush for the first tube.
Anyway, last weekend, me and Kevin went to a Chinese Restaurant to have ''dim sum''. It's my first time having 'dim sum' in London really. I took some photos of what we eat but I didn't manage to bring it here to the cyber cafe. I don't have time to edit the photos yet. We had a great time eating though. That's last weekend.
Yesterday when working, it's my first time going out for a delivery as out shop is short of hands. I did it as a substitute. It was raining so badly. The place I need to go is called Swallow Place, which was just 3 minutes walk from the shop. I went out for nearly 30 minutes as I can't find the damn place. The map shows it's next to Regent Street but I walked the whole Regent Street to find it and I even asked the street cleaner for direction which he leads me to Swallow Street. So, Swallow Place & Swallow Street, similar name but it's on different place. I didn't manage to deliver and my colleague did it for me. Everyone was laughing when I went back to the shop.... I was soaked wet as the rain was so heavy.... damn.... Luckily today, I'm glad that I made 2 deliveries successfully....
Anyway, just some happenings while I was away from my blog. Now I'm thinking of should I take days off during end of December period.... The shop only closes at Christmas day and New Year day. Struggling to make decision.....
Ola (Spanish Hello)!!! So I worked for nearly a week already. How I felt for the past few days? I don't really feel lousy at all though... I feel that my time is filled up as I woke up at 5am, start shift at 6am and work till 2pm. Planning to work overtime as soon as I got permission. I thought it was very tired working from 6am but I was wrong, I felt really fresh though.
My shop's team member's nationalities... Colombians, Brazilians, German, Spanish, Polish, Taiwanese, and me, Malaysian. There are more than 20 team members including part timers who work different shifts, usually from 6am to 10am and 10am to 2pm. There are also those who work after 2pm of course.
Anyway, I just learned that Brazilians speak Portuguese, Colombians speak Spanish and Portuguese is similar to Spanish so they can speak to each other... =.='' I really need to learn Spanish from now onwards.... One more, among 6 Polish, 2 are girls... and I found out they are quite pretty and cute though. Haven't got chance to take photos of them yet... wait till next Friday Night Drink then I'll take some photos of them... :D Anyway, their names are interesting... guys names are like Leonardo, Ricardo, Karol while girls names were like Adriana, Lina, Justina, Diana etc...
Working here, I get free breakfast & lunch so I save a lot on food. Now I only pay for my dinner that's all.
Well, that's my first week in Pret. Nothing more special happen already. Update again when got a chance to online... Cao (Spanish Bye).
Have you heard about this shop before? Guess most of them who are not in England won't know about this shop as Starbucks is far more popular... What is the different? Starbucks is famous for its coffee while Pret A Manger is famous for its sandwiches and the use of all natural ingredients for its food produced everyday. Anyway, "Pret A Manger" means "Ready to Eat" in French.
This is a typical Pret A Manger where you can find in many big cities in England.
So basically, here are some of the food from Pret... baguettes, soup, water.... healthy...
cookies... cakes... pies...
even crisps....
and of course, sandwiches.... which I don't have its photo...
So why am I writing about Pret suddenly? Well, I got myself an interview at Pret, and I will have my 'one day Pret experience' on Monday and get voted by the existing team members whether I can stay to work or not... Anyway, I will work in this shop...
18, Hanover Street, Mayfair, London. It is near to Oxford Circus. Click here for info.
Wish me luck people!!
More Info:
www.pret.com
Wikipedia
What is that? Well, it's a place which I went with Sunderland's mates during my university. Why suddenly brought that up while I never updated it? Well, basically, I saw this 1950's Marsden Grotto picture when I was looking for other photos. It suddenly made me interested to update it.
Comparison time!!!
This is the 1950's Marsden Grotto which I found online at www.oldukphotos.com.
This is the 2007's Marsden Grotto picture which I took with Nic's camera.
Are there any difference? 57 years...
Anyway, what were we doing there then? It's not just a visit to the beach really... It was Jeannie's and Alvin's Birthday that day. We went there to Smuggler Jack's Fish Bar which is in that building below.
Here's the story....
That day was 11th June, we went there for lunch as the exams are finished already and it was Jean & Alvin's birthday. It was sunny when we started our journey from Sunderland, but as we were on the bus, suddenly weather changed, from sunny sunshine to moody foggy.... So this is the entrance of the building which is located on top of the cliff which you can see from the picture above. There is a lift going down or you can use the stairs.
So these guys prefer to sit in the corner....
While we trio, Alvin, me & Nic.... sitting in the middle of the fish bar...
Birthday guy & girl...
This is one interior part of the building. As you can see, the building is half built in the stone cliff so it's something like in a cave.
We went outside after our meal to walk on the beach, which was supposed to be sunny & warm... but we were feeling cold as the stupid fog suddenly "drop by" and we didn't prepare extra clothing... Anyway, I like this photo very much though.... ;)
And this is the coolest pose in this set of photos... duh....
Actually there are still some photos of me spied by dunno who... Don't dare to post those photos though... quite sensitive... those who got this set of photos should have those photos as well... see for urself...
Anyway, that is all to update in this very very late post of Marsden Grotto trip which was supposed to be updated during mid June 2007.
During my previous job, I use Liverpool Street Station everyday to commute. I passed by this Krispy Kreme shop everyday, wondering why is it not open. Last week, I just understand that it just started business there. I continue passing by Krispy Kreme everyday. Then, last Thursday, I can't stand it anymore as I heard Krispy Kreme make nice doughnuts... so I went in... when on the way sending out my application forms to Starbucks...
Wow.... more than 10 types of doughnuts displayed and so many people were waiting for their turn to get some. As I'm already broke, I can't get too many, so I chose this, Glazed Lemon Filled. It cost £1.35. That's why there is only 1 in the special waxed bag. 
Sorry about the poor quality of the photos as I used my phone, didn't bring my camera out though.
Anyway, when I first bite that doughnut..... Oh My Goodness.... The texture of it... The filing... the sugar glaze on top with some lemon flavour... Heaven!!!! Suddenly, I felt it worth £1.35 for a 1 to 2 minutes enjoyment....
Well, the next doughnut will have to wait till I get my pay... Craving for another one already... urgh!!!!
