Harly Potter and the Heart-shaped Stone (6)

- The Next Chapter -

So hor, Harly sat in the boot of the Kancil convertible, hugging his knees close to him, a thousand thoughts jumbled up his mind. In other words, he so veli the blur.

So much has happened in such a short span of time Harly was overwhelmed. No matter how many times he pinched himself, on his arm, his thigh and even once his willy little buddy which he regretted immediately with tears in his eyes, he simply wasn't waking up, so it's not a dream.

But how could all these be real?

Yet there he was, in the boot of a Kancil convertible, come on, a Kancil convertible? That alone was laughable unreal, but when one was cruising above the cloud in a flying car, what's real and what's unreal got a bit confusing.

Hagrid had pretty much left Harly alone, saying nothing and concentrating on navigating the flying car. It might have something to do with the bird that flew into his mouth when he tried to talk to Harly.

Harly has a thousand questions to ask but for the time being, he was content being left alone. He wanted to sort out his thoughts and also he wasn't sure how he would sound after he pinched his little buddy. Yea, best not to talk for a while.

Harly's thought was bouncing from one thing to another,

"A flying car! Wah lau, I am in a flying car! How cool is that?"

"Hey is that a bird?"

"I am wizard! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! I am a wizard!"

"Hmm... that isn't a bird, and it isn't a plane either. Geez, it's a weirdo wearing a red underwear outside his pants! Eeew."

"So what magic can I do? Pew pew pew laser beam? How do I do magic anyway?"

"Hagrid sure smells funny..."

"Ooh I hope I can do the magic Hagrid did back there, look at that Dorly now, phew! Whoops my nose is bleeding again."

"I think Hagrid just swallowed another bird. I guess flying convertible is a bad idea after all..."

"Who said he is my father back in the house, I am sure I did not imagine it. A gruffly voice just like Hagrid yet he denied saying that."

"I wonder what Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pertunia are going to do to Dorly? I hope Dorly stays that way."

"Where is Hagrid bringing me anyway?"

Just as Harly was thinking about that, Hagrid pressed a button and began to descend. Harly had this funny tingling sensation from head to toe. The button was labelled: Invisibility.

Breaking through the cloud Harly saw the Big Ben and the London Eye. Street lamps and lighting from the buildings illuminated the city, there were double-decker buses moving along River Thames.

They were going to land in the heart of London.

.

.

.

.

.

(to be continued...)

Love Is In The Air, The Aftermath

The groom in all white waited at the bridal arch, with him his best man and the celebrant.

Families and friends were seated at both sides of the red carpet, groom's on the left while bride's on the right.

The wedding march was played, the bride had arrived.

Looking fantastic and radiant in her wedding gown the bride was led down the red carpet by her father.

The groom missed a heartbeat and held his breath. Anxious, excited, nervous, happy.

Her father gave the bride's hand to the groom beneath the bridal arch. Both bride and groom exchanged a shy smile and faced the celebrant.

The celebrant gave his speech and performed the solemnisation. Wedding vows were exchanged, then the wedding bands.

The newly wed kissed each other and walked down the red carpet amidst cheering, applause and colourful confetti. The sea breeze and reflection from the ocean made the confetti danced and sparkled...

Huh? Sea breeze? Ocean?

Opsy daisy, I was thinking about another wedding.

As for thier wedding, well...

The bride pulled a runaway bride while the groom overslept and decided to keep on sleeping.

Pitiful few guests turned up.

Okay okay, no one turned up.

Mountain of roti canai went to waste.

Ditto the water. Similar to water from the river high up the mountain which doesn't have an expiry date, once it's bottled and sold as mineral water, a used by date is slapped on. Magic.

Anyway, the bride-to-be and groom-to-be had kissed and made up, they were seen expressing their love to each other by singing duet in karaoke today.

They have postponed their wedding to another yet undetermined date. So don't worry about them, some day they will get married but probably not to each other.

Er... and they live happily ever after...?

If you believe this you would believe anything.

Aching Heart (part deux)

Baby is discharged today and now sleeping soundly at home.

Thank you very much for all the concerns, encouragements and caring.

To those who are following this but not aware of the comment section, I have been posting updates in the comments. Will just do a summary here anyway.

High fever Sunday morning 03:00 hours, baby rushed to Accident & Emergency department. Urine and blood sample taken, baby hospitalised.

Sunday morning, initial assessment pointed towards urinary tract infection (UTI), further test needed to identify culprit bacteria. Until then, panadol given to suppress fever.

Sunday evening, baby discharged since it's just panadol and monitoring. Been told test results won't be readied until Tuesday.

Monday 00:30 hours, high fever again. Baby vomited and shivering, rushed to Accident & Emergency department again. Baby given stronger dose of panadol and an injection to stop vomiting. Baby hospitalised.

Monday morning, test results came out a day earlier. E.coli bacteria identified as culprit for the UTI. Beginning of the appropriate treatment: 5 antibiotic injections, one per day. Baby has to be hospitalised for 5 days.

The fever subsided a couple of days after the antibiotic injection, baby less miserable so did the parents.

Friday morning 09:00 hours, doctor done his ward round and discharged baby. Thanks to the freaking craptastic efficiency of the hospital, it's at 12:30 hours that we finally left the hospital.

A month's worth of antibiotics were given and will go back for check up next Friday.

Aching Heart

When you had to rush your 5+ months baby son to the Accident & Emergency department of the nearest hospital in the middle of the night twice within 21 hours...

and you simply could not do anything despite seeing your baby crying his heart out suffering and being miserable...

and that the doctor told you it might be as bad as needing operation in about two months time or else losing the kidney.

It's hard not to be worried and a tad depressed.

Love Is In The Air

CONGRATULATIONS to my dear friends Ling Li and Kok Hoong for deciding to tie the knot! Their wedding reception will be next week!

I swear I didn't make that up, they announced that to those who were sitting near them during lunch today.

The least I can do is to help them spread this joyous news to as many of their friends as possible since these love birds sure don't leave a lot of time for notice and preparation.

So if you saw this and are friend of either of them, please do your part in spreading this flash wedding notice.

Details of the wedding reception:

Date: 23 January 2008, Wednesday

Venue: cafe of the building they both work

Time: 12:00 noon until the sun goes down and the cows go home

Yes it's Thaipusam, they chose this date since they love the Hindu and their wedding ceremony will be conducted in Tamil.

Free flow of water provided, drink as much as you like, choices of hot or cold plus ice cubes! If you are really clever you can make lukewarm water too, WOW!

The groom-to-be has kindly announced that he will share his RM1 rebate with all the guests! I am chipping in mine too since they are both my bestest friends! See I veli the nice one, I help to spread the news and also help financially.

What are you waiting for? Go congratulate them already!

Anything below the second paragraph may or may not be true...

When CK Isn't CK

A lady colleague asked a male colleague to help her install naughty stuff a software on her laptop this morning, since we were all in the same room attending an audio conference I shared my laptop so we all could see the presentation being discussed.

An instant message chat happened, I have forgotten the actual wordings but the gist of the chat is as follow:

LL (the lady colleague): hello CK I am LL

CK: hello LL I am CK

CK: do you miss me?

LL: miss you lor

CK: I miss you too

LL: thinking of you all night

CK: miss you so much

(et cetera, et cetera mushy mushy stuff)

Shocking isn't it?

How could that be me? Talking to a lady friend like that? If talking to my wife okay understandable, but to a lady friend? What's happened to me?!?!

While it's possible that I am schizophrenic since I do talk to myself (first sign of insanity!) when I am pondering, it wasn't the case this morning.

You see, the male colleague was using the lady friend's laptop to send out messages while the lady friend took over my laptop to reply. I gotta say, it's hilarious seeing them went on and on, one pretending to be a lady the other pretending to be a guy replying to "herself".

They added some other friends to witness the "mushiness" so I had to remind the lady friend that it's not only my reputation she was ruining, it's hers as well.

The chat ended rather promptly. Heh.

People taking over as me in Instant Messenger was not uncommon, for my colleagues are veli the hiong one, they just take over by force one! Also I often left myself signed in to Messenger while at home even when I am not physically in front of the computer, like when attending to my baby son or when using the restroom, my wife could be using the computer at those times.

So, here are a few things to help you out when you suspect CK is not really CK. =)

- I don't type in ALL UPPER CASE since that's equivalent to shouting and I am a polite person (yea really!)

- I do capitalise where appropriate like "I", name of people, town, country, etc.

- I don't replace "you" with "u", "before" with "b4", all those English butchering "words"

- I do use abbreviations like btw (by the way), ttyl (talk to you later), etc. (et cetera)

- I generally don't swear, I do use "shit", "bollocks", "damn" and no I don't consider them swearing =P (lately if you are the evil fun gang you might hear me say lansai, no thanks to all your influences!)

Below are some things that are worth suspecting as well:

- CK not making any typos

- CK talking like expert in cooking, dress style, etc. basically a smart CK is worth suspecting

- CK not being frank and direct

- CK defending himself when you say he is crazy

- CK who is not making fun of himself

钓鱼

从背后搂腰然后说：

“抓到一个宝贝！”

是我常常乘妻子站着做东西时逗她玩的。

今天我在洗盘碗时妻子从后搂腰说道：

“抓到一个老公！”

我笑问她：

“老公也是用抓的啊？”

她说：

“是啊，像钓鱼那样钓到的。”

我心想： 我抓她倒可说是钓到美人鱼，她抓我是钓到…

“哦！你说我是水鱼！”

她哈哈大笑溜开去逗我们的儿子。

Angel

It is when your baby son had been difficult for the whole day after you just had a restless night (again because of the baby) that you realised just how much a full time mom is going through on a frequent basis.

Yet she is still so patient, loving, and caring.

Mothers are sacred beings.

Mommy, I know you don't read my blog, but I love you.

Ju, I know you read my blog, and I love you (okay okay I will write the next chapter of Harly Potter these few days).

Son, I love you (damn your toothless smile), but please be nice to your mommy, you are supposed to be a good boy.

Plastic world

When I was in England, I had no problem getting a credit card, even though I was just a student with no income. I was never charged any interest nor any annual fee, I did pay in full every month though since I don't like to be in debt.

When I finally got a proper job with steady income in Malaysia, my application to the good old world's local bank for a credit card was rejected.

Hmm...

Same bank, I have accounts in both countries, when I had no income I got a card, when I have steady income I don't get a card.

Make sense...?

Perhaps it's a country thing? The Brits are more trusting and have more credits than fellow Malaysians?

Anyway, the world's local bank was promoting their credit card a few weeks earlier in my company and just for the heck of it I applied again since they gave free gift just for applying.

I told them I had just been rejected by their bank recently but somehow that didn't seem to bother them, and lo and behold, I got my credit card today!

Why can't I get it when I applied for it myself without going through the agent? The application forms were identical. The two applications were about a month apart, at most two, did that really make such a big difference? How the heck did my credit turned from no to go in less than two months?

Has to be the agent thingy, the proper network, the right connection. It seems like having the right connection or network is more important than actually having the ability to do something.

This is just sad.

CK? Where's CK? (photo version)

For the original boring text version, click here.

In case you are one of those lazy buggers who doesn't like reading wall of texts then this is about the Annual Dinner for four departments in the company I work. I was one of the organising committee members.

The ball room for "Glitz & Glamour Nite"

First impression is everything so we had our pretty committee members at the registration table, signing people in and giving out souvenirs. Set the right atmosphere for the night, you see.

We is cleber! =)

I would man the registration desk if it was a horror themed event.

Committee members at the registration desk

Most colleagues came in dashing attires fitting the night. I wouldn't mind seeing people going to work dressed as such, would sure make the office a vibrant and exciting place!


Gentlemen dressed to impress

Of course, there were colleagues with "interesting" idea of appropriate attire for a ball.

This is going to be THE foot-wear for Hollywood celebrities in the next Oscar

We even had A List celebrity gracing our event, I think...

A List celebrity! Can I have your autograph?

After some cocktails and socialising the night started with the entrance of the emcee, the speech from the organising committee zhar, and the releasing of colourful papers from party poppers by the departmental managers.

Actually we just wanted to add something extra to the food and drinks of those sitting at the centre front row, muahahaha!

Always nice to start with a bang!

Dancers in clothes that show a lot of flesh attractive attires performed a welcoming dance. The dancers performed several dances throughout the night.

These are the DreamGirls wannabe

Buffet style dinner provided ample opportunities for socialising. Shame some preferred to stick to their own group instead of making new acquaintances.

Food!

Of course buffet dinner also provided the paparazzi the chances to snap to their heart content.

It's never too much to smile for the camera

The hum sup lou used the buffet time to perform indecent act, I am not going to name and shame but Kok Hoong, your action was caught on camera lar!

18SX, not suitable for children under 18

Some people have it all.

Lucky man! Me jealous nia

Some of the committee members who were ogling at handsome guys and beautiful ladies making sure the event ran smoothly were caught on camera too.

No photo of us ogling! *raise fists*

Committee members were kept busy throughout the night.

There's no rest for the wicked!

Besides dances, there were games, prepared by the committee members as well as the emcee.

Emcee Kishz showing the participants how the game works

I went to the rest room when my partner game master went onto the stage to explain the Treasure Hunt game. I missed the exchange below so I made it up, should be more or less accurate.

He's a hum sup lou and he's proud of it!

*Insert Saving Private Ryan clip here for Treasure Hunt game proceeding*

Some colleagues worked on the Treasure Hunt game pretty much how we expected them to.

Piecing together the last clue

Some took the chance to peep under the skirt table.

Looking for clue, or something...

Mr & Miss Glitter candidates were selected based on attire, the emcee asked them to answer some simple questions and to do a catwalk. The guests then vote their favorite, personally I voted for those who were most sporting.

Mr Glitter candidates

The question for the men was what would he do if he was a woman for a day while the question for the ladies was what does she find sexy in a man.

Miss Glitter candidates

I shall squint more, wear a stylish wig, dress in red, speak like Eistein, and work on my beer belly from now on.

=P

Here are some interesting photos of the men's catwalk, I don't have any clear photos of the ladies' catwalk, sorry guys!

No he is not giving you "the fingers", he's asking you to vote for number 3

Pain and angst can change a man's sexual preference...

Dialogue is faithful to what transpired

We didn't do a body search.

pew pew!

When it came to the Idol game, I went to the restroom on purpose, had a hunch that the emcee was going to pick me since he was poking fun of me the whole night.

Me is smart (or so I thought)

"CK? Where's CK?"

That's what waiting for me when I returned from the restroom.

You is evil Kishz, eviiiiiiiiiil~~!

On the stage I went, cosmetics put on my face and did a catwalk, not the masculine version the Mr Glitter got, but the feminine version. >_<

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

While the ladies enjoyed showing their cosmetic prowess, we men had no idea what's happening to our face.

Behold! The smiley man! Not to be confused with the smelly man

The Idol catwalk, while not sexy nor agreeable with the appetite, was laughter inducing.

Pretty woman, walking down the street...

This is the cutest of all the Idols.

Hands down top for cuteness

The winner rightfully went to the Idol who went all out, a killer pose is critical!

Best. Pose. Ever.

If you were hoping to see my catwalk photos you are out of luck, for here's my son's reaction after he saw them.

I sincerely hope he's not traumatised

It was a fun-filled and fantastic night. Laughter aplenty thanks to the emcee (yes I know poking fun of me was part of the merriment). I am sure all who attended enjoyed themselves.

Laughter

More laughter

Since it's very hard to get a certain person to share her photo I just had to include this one.

Kishz, never-share-photo-Lynn, and Vim =)

And finally, a photo of the 14 souls that put things together.

2007 "Glitz & Glamour Nite" Annual Dinner organising committee

Lina Hamsuploo Goh

When will the poking end? =\