Big Thanks to everyone

This is my second post on Thanks Giving. On this merry weekend, I would like to give Thanks to the following people for the following reasons.

1. First and foremost, I would like to give Thanks to all mighty God for giving me this life and experience all the sweetness, bitterness, sadness, joy of life. We only have one chance and this is the chance that i firmly grasp in my hand and appreciate every single second of it.
2. I would like to give Thanks to my lovely life companion. After working and wondering overseas for a long time, I understand and appreciate the feeling of having someone in your arms to take care of and Love of. It does not matter whether we are going through hard times, happy hours or plain simple life time, as long as we are together at heart. For that, I give Thanks to God and appreciate every minute of it.
3. I would like to give Thanks to our family, my mum and dad (for bringing me into this life), my bro, Cathy's parents, big sisters, big brother and all the members of the family. These are the people that I care most about and would lend a helping hand when it is necessary.
4. I would like to give Thanks to our friends, Jo, Nic, Iza, Om, Sreem, Indran, Hippo and Freeza, Derek, Ting Feng, (my long lost high school friends), Siu Ho, Derek Cheng, Thai Son, Eric Ma, Wing Ho, Yuan and the rest WLS team, Hun, Kah Choon, CC Pan and all of our companions at different stages of life. Without them, i think our life would be pretty uneventful.
5. Lastly, I would like to give Thanks to everything / everyone in this world. No doubt, our country (not only our country) has a lot of politic jokers in the parliament, "mat rempits" on the street, and so on. We should appreciate that we can still have a "Teh tarik" with our friends at mamak stall to watch Liverpool vs. Manchester United soccer games. You will know that is such a priviledge when you read the world news..

In this weekend, let us all pray and remember to appreciate everything in life as we only have one chance and that chance in life is firmly in our grasp.

Yours sincerely,
BigTr33

Thanks Giving

Thanks Giving is coming on next week. To the folks in US, it is just like Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner whereby everyone is going back home to get together with family members and try to catch up with all the happenings within the family. This is much needed comfort feeling in the midst of dreaded world wide recession / economy slump that we are in.

Even weeks before Black Friday, there are so much sales going around to assert their best effort in luring the customers to spend their money in the stores. I am still looking for some nice deals in the town. Hopefully I can find some nice slick deals :D

Alright, let me know if you want some cool stuff here. Haha ...

Take care everybody.

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33

November

It has been a really busy week. Keep preparing for work... like a never ending story. In conjunction with some competition, somehow we need to stay back for awhile and that's how I caught in a Friday Jam at the bridge again heading back home.

Recap what I've done this week... hmm busy recording some Radio ad for my work. Thank god I've this phone.

Many times going to my house to check out if the renovation is completed or not. *sigh~ still very slow in progress. Well, that's because we want to save bit by bit that's why we practically need to follow-up and even do the curtain runway our own. :D

Maybe it was too stressful recently that my lips suddenly popup 2 big ulcers :-s and I accidentally bite on it. >.< *crazily painful ok! My lips swollen the whole night and even doc laughed at me when I described how badly I bite on it while eating. Doctor said I shall take some rest because most of the ulcer cause by stress and the hot weather as well :( Anyway, the medicine that doctor gave was pretty good. I'll surely get this next time.














The ulcer medicine. At first glance on the label, i thought it stated "ACID", and I confirmed with the nurse twice is it edible? haha I think I really too paranoid at that time.



Picture below is the puppy that mom just adopted recently. He is camera shy too. (I added in the tagline, hehe)



OK. Need to get ready for next week's work. =.="

Cheers,
Lit'Bird

Soup for thought :)

A bowl soup is like symphony in tune, pleasant music to your ears :) except a soup is comfort to your stomach, taste, smell and sight.

This weekend, the weather is quite chill (it is autumn season in US). I was thinking to have some home cook ABC soup. So here is my recipe, haha .....

1. The main ingredients are potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, red onion, a few cloves of garlic, fresh corns and meat (such as chicken thighs or pork spare ribs).
2. First of all, prepare all these ingredients. Then, boil up a pot of hot water and place the fresh meat into the pot. Boil the meat with water in the pot for a few minutes and then pour out the water and place another pot of water into the pot. This is because we want to extract the excess oil / grease from the meat and not mix with our soup.
3. Then place the fresh corns, potatoes, meat and carrots into the pot of hot water and let it boil for 15 minutes until the potatoes turn soft.
4. Then place red onions, garlic and tomatoes into the pot and boil it for 20 minutes to make sure everything is cooked and flavor of the ingredients seeps out to the soup.
5. Then turn down to low heat and let the soup simmers.

There you go, a nice bowl of soup in cold days. Nothing is better than sharing the soup with your love ones :)

Take care everybody.

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33

Curiosity

Curiosity Look, originally uploaded by cathy_yong.

One of a Saturday, our colleague decided to bring their baby to office and there was our so call department family day. :P

He is Al Arees. The youngest baby among all.

Baby photo shooting is challenging as the baby might not comfortable with your bulky DSLR. Often, they will give some strange expression but it can be overcome by their parents who keep making fun with them.

When there is a day you feel down, browsing baby photograph will definately cheer you up because they give you the most sincere and honest look. :D

Cheers with Love,
Lit'Bird
* more baby photos at www.flickr.com/cathy_yong/

My Weekend

Mom & Sis were so excited over these lit' chinese cake. It tastes great indeed!

Yummy! These cakes are with peanut & coconut flavor.

The volunteer was busy making Vegi-hamburger. Well, look at the "bread-mountain" she seems to have lot more to go... :D

At the point while I was waiting for my food, my itchy finger trying to capture some silhouette photos of this aunty. Looks like she was complaining about something.

I miss weekend (while I don't have class) and now.. a long weekdays is awaiting. :-s

Dragging myself to work today. hahaha.

Cheers,

Lit' Bird

Snippets

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. First of all, we would like to wish all our Hindu friends "Happy Deepavali".

Looking at the calendar on my table, there are five more weeks to go before i come back home once again. It has been a long trip and adventure. I didn't expect that there are so many changes here in US within 6 months time. My manager in US resigned, US economy land slide, crude oil climbs to record high ($140 per barrel) ...

All the changes that is happening right now will only make me appreciate more on life and the people that i care most about :)

Anyway, our house renovation will be completed soon. May be once it has been completed, we will upload some photos here.

Take care everybody :)

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33

The Caring Continum

Journey

Can't work out much; things that need to be done had been done.

Waiting time is tiring and we couldn't care less. (In fact we care less)

Quoted from this side: "In order for one to "care less" about a subject, they must first care about it somewhat. Saying "I could care less about ... " does indeed imply, nay dictate, that there is some degree of care." --http://incompetech.com/gallimaufry/care_less.html

So, instead of care less about a subject.. we must first care about it. :P such a complicated language huh.



Here are some visual explanation that I copy from the same site mentioned above:

Great job of the author to visualize this caring continuum.


**************
After reading Frida's blog, I realize that I haven't do much of cooking since I'm back from Uni. Well, cooking nice meal is one kind of relaxation and satisfaction provided that the floor is on yours.

I miss Chicken Chop or any western food in KL. Easily we can get it from Steven Corner (It must be from up-town :D) or hanging around at PJ or Precint 9.....

I shall learn how to make a nice chicken chop then... hehe This will be more constructive :D


* Hungry now... going off for Maggi-mee time.

Cheers,
Lit'Bird

Zac & Kelice's Wedding

No doubt, it was a tiring weekend to both of us. (Fred & me) Well, this project we have been through quite a tough time and dealing with the commitment issue about our partnership. However, we still manage to produce what we have to and we think of our client first (and always) though we have complaint to each other quite a lot :P

**We charged them super cheap price which we plan to increase it bit so our "art-work" worth the VALUE.

Overall, it was a nice event and personally I enjoy most while watching the finishing work. It might not have super good composition but I can sense the warmth feeling from inside-out of the family members.













Bottom (Right): Video-man gave a sign to hold everyone attention as he will panning his camera for every group session. Very cool "uncle" but funny in some way.
(Left): Interior of Rosberry restaurant with a stunning 4 layers wedding cake.




















Bottom (left): Kelice greeted guest at entrance.

There are few more shots from Fred and myself will be posting in Le Frame's flickr page soon. Feel free to leave your comment.

*******************************************
"I declared 2 months break!"

I've on-hold my studies for 2 months due to some unexpected work especially my college's work that I need to triple up the time and energy. On top of this, nowadays the weather was killing me. This is the longest duration that I can't recover from cough and flu. *perhaps I'm old enought not to recover soon like I'm teenager time. Haha. I need to graduate on time no matter how! (=.=")

******************************************
The "Hut" - lighting chapter

Well, quite some progress on the renovation and hunting for lighting. (plus wiring service) Everything come with cost, where nice lighting isn't cheap. Anyway, I've tried my best to choose for the long lasting design and quality bulb. I'll post the photos of the lighting in my next post after the installation. :D

***********************************

Well, as summary of the whole month; I really need a fast lense or better camera body because I'm quite frustrated when dealing with low light scene and my ISO1600 give so much of noise.
But, I've been spending lot this year in many things. I guess, there shall be a "comma" at this moment unless I receive more wedding job then :D

With cheers,
Little Bird

Some thoughts ...

First of all, i would like to say "May Golden rest in peace ..."

There are so many things happen here these few weeks. I just came back from Vegas a few weeks ago. It was labour day weekend here in US (which is on Sep 1st). Vegas didn't change much as compare to last year what i experienced there. Generally, people go there to have a good time whether is it on the table, or simply get a drink, or just enjoy the view in Vegas.

These few weeks, the attention on Malaysia's newspapers is on the infamous speech by PNG UMNO rep. Whether or not this is an intended act to sabotage the harmony of the community to gain more votes, it brings shame to our country's image and confusion in the political world. Then, the police use ISA to detain the news reporter, a well known blogger and the Selangor state exco. There is no concrete evidence that prove the actions of these people threatens the harmony of our country. If they are caught under ISA, shouldn't that rep detain under this act as well? 

Well, enough said on our country's politics which has go to new low. Hope everyone is alright and get through these political dramas... I am pretty sure most of the people are fed up with the current situation ... 

From 

Big Tr33

Goodbye Golden

Golden Stare at ME, originally uploaded by cathy_yong.

Perhaps it is a relief for Golden after a week in critical illness condition.

All of us felt sad for Golden as it is such a nice dog to have.

May you (Golden) rest in Peace!

From
Lit'Bird

The Awards Ceremony 08'

(TOP) One of the nicer moment throughout the event that actually cheer up my day after all the hassle and busy schedule. (Bottom) VIP holding the "Oscar" looked trophy & Certificate.














From
Lit'Bird

Busy Days

It has been a “really” busy day since July…

After the day when we’ve gotten our “key” of the #32 hut, all the renovation work has to take place. Other than that, sometime even well-planned event will find an unanticipated glitches. Anyhow, it was all under-control.

I don’t really like phones nor long hour chatting with cell phones as I sweat lot at my ears. :P *nevertheless, I has become one of the person with many phone calls some time. Calls from bank, classmate, neighbor, partner, students…etc
So, sorry for those who called me up or sms-ed me if you guys find me react blur to you. :”>

-----------------------

Wang Wang- New Member in My Family

Dad’s friend who was kind and gave us Wang Wang- a puppy with about 2 palms sized.
Wang-wang has sharp teeth and likes to bite. He likes to play “a ji-lok” as well. :P Some time too fast that he moves, we can’t even catch him.

Wang-wang actually make us busy as well because he is full of “surprise” and still not trained to be able to leave his “surprises” at the “designated” area. I hope he really pick up this.



------------------------

Makcik J’s Wedding

Earlier this month, I attended Makcik J’s wedding at Alor Star, Kedah. It was a sweet and memorable moment to me although I’ve to risk my 20% midterm paper right on the second day of her wedding. *I managed to get 15.67 over 20%, *phew~~ thank God.

I wasn’t really have much time to pack or bring what is necessary and I ended-up bringing lot of things that I actually don’t need i.e. make up, jackets…etc. * I don’t even put up any make up.. :-s I looked so weary.

That day, I was wearing normal long pant and a super long-sleeve cardigan. However, it was not a proper attire, and I felt bad that Makcik J’s sister has to lend me her baju kurung. With her help, I looked better and formal to enter the mosque. Although it was hard to move around with a long skirt, I tried my best to take care of the cloth as well as “framing” the best moment out there. But I was sweating like mad, my back was all wet… thanks to the weather also B-).

The Akad Nikah ceremony was simple and meaningful if you ever remember how the oath reading scene like in Corpse Bride animation. I saw all the family members surrounded the couple where the bride sat quietly and was concentrating on the oath reading by her better half.

Under the witness of family members, the bridegroom cleared his throat and made his promise of life to Makcik J. * I felt quite touched and I think the Bride do feel the same.

Apart from this, I saw the respect they pay to each other in their eyes… with a gentle and certain voice; the bridegroom asked if he can kiss on the bride’s forehead. *OMG, I find it so romantic hahaha… I think Big Tree is laughing at me now if he manages to read up to this point.

Besides, J’s family was very sweet especially her parents. :P

The moment before having the family group photo session, J wanted to make up for her mom but the father said “You are my beautiful lady.(something sound like this as I can recall) Immediately I saw aunt’s face was pinkish and laughing with all the siblings. :P

Anyway, a picture is more than a thousand words. Please stay tune in my Le Frame Studio flickr page!!

**Thanks Makcik J for letting me cover your wedding!

------------------------------

Inside-out: photography

Practice make perfect!
It is true. A trip to Alor Star is actually giving me better idea of what to improve and move on to different stage. Of course, there is few other photog gig of J’s friend such as Merlin who also takes good photos which I’m glad that I met them over there.




-----------------------
New Job

Le Frame has 2 coming projects in September, thanks to Fred who is such a sweet talker and working hard to get the deal. I need to learn lot from him in terms of passion towards the camera parts.




Cheers,
Lit'Bird

Malaysia is PROUD of you, Lee Zhong Wei *clap* *clap*

Lee Zhong Wei is the lone shuttler that reaches the final round of men's badminton event and won the silver medal in this event. He showed great determination and spirit. Although he lost to Lin Dan who is the world number 1 shuttler in China, he did his best and that is all that matters the most.

Folks, i think Zhong Wei deserves a hand. *clap* *clap*... 

One World, One Dream.

A picture tells a thousand words :)

Finally, summer Olympics has started. The event that i am most interested on is Basketball games. In the past, US has lost 7 games to 6 different opponents which include their worthy rivals, Spain, Greece and their main nemesis Argentina. All these countries have shown to US that a team of all stars doesn't guarantee success. Excellent team work is always greater than extradionary individuals effort combined together. US has learn it's lesson in a hard way. Therefore, the theme of their journey for this olympics is "Road to Redemption".

Sit back, relax and enjoy the games ... :)

Some thoughts

Have you ever travel to the tourist attractions near to your home? Some may say yes, others may say no, and may be some will say those places are just around the corner from our home, we can go there anytime of the year. When we are so busy looking forward to go to places far away, we always tend to forget the local attractions that we missed, until one day you are at the other side of the world, you will miss all the places, people and food which feels so familiar to you :)

The moon on the other side of the world is not always bigger and much perfect in shape. It is just the same. In US, there are still a lot of dramas in politics, discrimination even among the same group of people, crappy government workers' treatment (Believe me, the ones that I encountered here is much worse than the ones that we deal with everyday in M'sia) and high living cost to cope with...

Well, I think ultimately we have to appreciate the things that we have :)

Dream come true

Keys are tools that are used to gain access to some place. To me, these keys gave us access to "build" our dream home together. If you ask us if we have perceived ourselves to buy a house so soon. I would say that will be a distant dream last year. Nevertheless, the timing is right and the house is great. Therefore, I think it is time to catch that opportunity before it went away. This is our dream home for ourselves and family. This is the place that we called HOME.

Finally, we got the keys to our house. After a few weeks of waiting, the developer called and gave us the keys. We are thrilled and excited about it, but we know that this is a responsibility for us as well.

Friends, where ever you are, if you happen to go to Penang, you are welcome to our house :)

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33 & Li'l Bird

Meaningful Quotes

Hello Friends,

I would like to share with you some of the meaningful quotes that i read before.

1. It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be.
2. Do not seek praise. Seek criticism.
3. Don't look for the next opportunity. The one you have in your hands is the opportunity.
4. Don't promise what you can't deliver.
5. If you can't solve a problem, it's because you are playing by the rules.

These are the quotes from Paul Arden's book entitled "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be."

Take care everyone. Miss you guys a lot.

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33

A scared and friendly friend from mother nature :)

Hello everyone,

This morning as usual, i woke up from bed and open the windows. I found a scary friend on my balcony. It was quite huge as compare to the usual squirrel that we find in Malaysia. This one has a fluffy tail ... I tried to approach slowly, but it was so alert and aware of my movements. It ran away once i get too close. Haha ...

Well, hope everyone is still alright in Malaysia after the comedies and dramas in the politic world of Malaysia.

Take care every body. Miss you guys a lot :)

Yours sincerely,
Big Tr33

The Long Waiting "KEY"

After several months of waiting, finally the key for house of BigTree & Lit'Bird has arrived. *not really.

There letter with stated date of 2 July and yet today (14 July) only i received. With the condition that, I must able to reply within "14" days from the date stated in the letter. This is totally late dated document which only left 2 days for me. Well, they don't even make the accuracy of stating 14 days referring to working day, so by ASSUMPTION we don't have much time.

So I called sis, and ask about any procedure on the delivery of vacant possession. Eventually, you need to check the house critically before sign any document on the delivery. Once you deemed the premises, the bank will release the money to the developer. Anyway, there is this clauses state:" You are deemed to have taken delivery of vacant possession of the premises upon expiry of 14 days from the date of this letter, whether or not you have actually entered into possession or occupation of the premises. We shall not be responsible for any loss or damage to the premises or any part thereof."

Well, that's really a trick. Luckily, I often go to check out the house and look at the condition. Anyway, I would really advise puchaser to be extra careful from A-Z. From the banker, lawyer firm, developer as well as later stage -the renovation company. You can't neglect any importance of the T&C from any parties.

This is a good experience and lesson. Buying a "hut" is not as easy as you think. Thorough planning and adequate funding in order to proceed the dealing.


Lit'Bird

The Hibiscus

Lantern-looking Hibiscus, originally uploaded by cathy_yong.

I've lost count when exactly mom plant this type of hibiscus in our garden. There are so many species under the hibiscus's family, and I realized that how little I know about the name of hibiscus or even how many types i've seen.

As far as I know, mom has owned 5-6 type of hibiscus along the way she collected from road side. We're proud of her gardening skill. I can't imagine if we live without this garden... many things we could have miss-out.
1. Playing with the big snails/ dragon fly/ butterfly/ ladybug...etc
2. Non-stop supply of fresh chili paddy
3. Mango
4. Nangka fruit
5. Pandan leaf
6. Watching the little-fighting fish under the lotus leaf
7. Hiding something under the ground.. :P

Many years ago, it was a big piece of land that everyone here plant little small tree or flower. As time goes by, new neighbor clear up the space and transform it to be a parking area except the land right in front of my house. I really wish our earth could have more greener as we grow older. Make the earth for human not our cars..

Well, yet to find out the name of these flowers. * Welcome any finding or suggestion on what is the real name for this hibiscus!

Stay tuned till I've found the name for it.


Please support GREEN!
Lit' Bird

Golden

Showing Tongue, originally uploaded by cathy_yong.

This is my family dog, we named it Golden! *It does have some brownish kind of fur with him.

I've attempted to take few shots on him and yet he is such a camera shy dog. Whenever I point my camera to him, he will just turn away his head. =.= He is not even shy but he is a quiet dog, only bark when the stranger is nearby our house. So, he actually knows that why waste energy bark unnecessary. hahah

Anyway, this was one of the closer shot that I've with him last Saturday. *by bit of force: P My hand was holding his jaw.

From what I noticed, Golden has some black spot in his tongue. Mom said, dog with black spots in his tongue is generally not greedy in eating (munching habit). Well, Golden only has 1 meal per day and he eats like vacuum cleaning up the bowl. hehe. *clean & clear

In-support of loving & caring your pet,

Lit'Bird

Japanese Tea Garden

Hello everyone,

Recently, I went to Japanese Tea Garden which is a part of Golden Gate Park, a public park that is managed by San Francisco. Well, the garden is very beautiful :) Absolutely a beauty... How nice it will be if Malaysia can have a well maintained public park like this one ...

Well, until next post. Take care everyone~

Yours sincerely,
Big Tree

Aloha~

Hi Everyone out there :P

This blog is maintained by Big Tree (who you know..can be named) and Lit' Bird (obviously.. ). The idea of blogging here is simple; just to express some nonsenses and of course share some jokes that happen around us. Many friends of us are staying few hundred miles away, we thought maybe this blog could keep us stay in touched.

Buddies, please feel free to leave your comment and share with us your thought.

Best regards,
BigT&Lbird.