Went back for my braces review today and the dentist did minor adjustments to the springs and the crisscrossed wires he recently added. This time round OWLoon went with me and he asked the dentist when the braces can come off...

We were given 2 new options:

Option 1: Ideal
Rubber bands for the bottom jaw only so that the back teeth do not move forward... Use the current screws and springs to create light force to the front teeth to move inward. Since this option takes time, I will not be able to complete my treatment before my wedding date end November.

Option 2: Not Recommended but Faster
Rubber bands for both the top and bottom jaw. Movement will be both ways... front teeth moving inward and back teeth moving outward. End result will be closed gaps (from the previous extractions) but it will not be moved to the desired position i.e. will still look a bit protruding.

Both options sounded about the same so we asked again if we could remove the braces temporarily for our pre-wedding photography... Previously when we asked, he said he will remove all the wires but leave the brackets on... but ever since he found out about our registration i.e. we are serious about getting married and is already technically married... he understood our urgency better...

So he said... he will try to rush as much as possible but it is highly unlikely that it can be completed before the wedding date nor for the photography... but what he can do is to remove them temporarily... this time round he said he can even remove the brackets!!! PHEW!!! So I may be able to have my pre-wedding photography afterall!!! YAY!!!

16-03-2008: $1,100 [Deposit, X-Rays, Photos & Moulding]
30-03-2008: $ 870 [Deposit & Upper Braces Fitting]
20-04-2008: $ 423 [Extraction & Medication]
18-05-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change]
17-08-2008: $ 325 [Bottom Braces Fitting]
14-09-2008: $ 764 [Extraction, Frenectomy & Medication]
25-10-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Scaling]
23-11-2008: $ 385 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change & Scaling]
24-12-2008: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
24-01-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
21-02-2009: $ 325 [Wire Change & Rubber Loops Change]
28-02-2009: $ 714 [Loose Bracket, 2 Screws, 4 Springs and 4 Crisscrossed Wires]
21-03-2009: $ 325 [Springs & Crisscrossed Wires Adjustment]

YTD Spent: $6,591.00

Last weekend, I followed OWLoon back to Kuala Selangor... And this time round, he introduced me to his favourite chicken rice stall... Considering that OWLoon only eat chicken wings and is a fussy eater, I decided to give it a try...

It was really NICE and I absolutely so love it (tho' I thought the chicken should be fatter)!!!

That night, on the way back from Kuala Selangor, we passed by Klang and dropped by "Restauran Boston Baru" for their oh so famous lala... It was as usual crowded but this time round, the food took waaaay too long to come... we waited a full 45minutes before food came!!! In the end, we left with our full stomach but somehow we thought that it just wasn't worth the long wait!

It was our colleague's belated 38th birthday so a few of us thought we should give him a surprise lunch. All was OK and we even sent him a scheduler as normal lunch (I know it sounds weird to send a scheduler for lunch but it's a norm as the reminder will pop up reminding everyone 15 minutes beforehand).

The lunch was supposed to start at 12.30pm but at 12.40pm, everyone was either still busy working or stuck in meetings. Thus, when our birthday boy left the office at 12.45pm, everyone panicked, dropped everything and rushed to S.p.r.i.n.g. G.a.r.d.e.n. When one of us called him, he said he has prior appointment with his friend... so we thought his friend must be party B. But when party B called, he said the same thing and party B thought his friend was party A.

But surprise surprise, when everyone got together, we realized that his friend was neither one of us... and for a minute, we all sat there wondering if we should just pay for the Chinese tea and peanuts... LOL... In the end, we found out that our dear friend accepted the scheduler thinking that lunch is on Monday. But since we bought him a cake, we rushed him to finish his lunch so that he can join us for the session. And in the meantime, we treated ourselves with dim sum... :)

When he finally joined us, we had finished eating and thus we brought out the cake and sang him a happy birthday song... see... he was so happy... :)

When it was cake time... everyone started eating... there was a total of 8 of us... 2 Malays and 6 Chinese and the funny thing was...

The 2 Malay girls started eating the cake with their hands:

And us, the Chinese conveniently ate using our chopsticks...

Malay Girl: Hey... how can you guys eat your cakes with chopsticks?

Me: Why cannot? We're Cina. Cina can use chopsticks for anything and everything what! Hehehehe...

Just last week, my sweet husband (OWLoon) told me this... "There's this famous Tai Sui temple in Batu Pahat that many from Malaysia and Singapore visits yearly. They've got this Tai Sui lamp and since you "fan tai sui" this year, I thought of taking you there to light the lamp"...

So while yesterday was spent mostly in bed... ZZZzzz-ing I mean... today was super productive!!! OWLoon and I got up around 11-ish and after brunch, we headed out on our road trip together with my parents and little niece. The weather was terribly HOT... thus, the skies were gorgeously blue with bright white clouds!!! Traffic was pretty smooth too... tho' it took us 3 looooong hours before we reached Batu Pahat.

We reached Batu Pahat at around 3pm and most coffee shops were either closed or in the midst of closing up. But we found this coffee shop that sells only fish balls noodle... Since we had no choice, everyone ordered a bowl... Definitely not recommended... blehhh...

From there, with the directions from the coffee shop fella (I left my GPS at home... bahhh), we managed to find the Four Oceans Dragon Emperor Tua Pek Kong Temple (Translation: Shi Hai Lung Wang Ta Po Kung). You won't miss the temple cos' there'll be lots of tour buses parked outside.

Right outside the temple, there was this well. The water are meant to be used to wash one's car plate or house number plate... so that ahem... can "tiok" lor!

But the main reason we were there was to pray to "Tai Sui Yeh". Unlike other temples we visited, this temple has a total of 60 different "Tai Sui" seated on the huge altar (picture on the right below). Then right beneath the altar, there's a little tunnel that one must crawl through... While crawling through, the temple personnel will be chanting good wishes while ringing the bell... OWLoon and I crawled through the tunnel side by side and though my knees hurt, I felt blessed... (maybe it's psychological but there's really no harm in trying and believing)...

OWLoon's mother had previously lighted a "Tai Sui" lamp for OWLoon thus after I lighted one and had my name (+ family) placed on the wall, we tried searching for OWLoon's name. Surprise surpise, but of the many rows of names, his was on the same row as mine! Talk about coincidence! :)

The picture on the left shows 2 brass horses (tho' blocked by the fellas in the picture). I can't read Mandarin thus when OWLoon told me to touch the horse head, body, legs and tail, I did just that. Each part of the horse has a different meaning. But I only remembered the tail part: Smooth ending for everything in your life... :)

Here's a view of the entire temple (facing a river):

For those of you who are interested to visit the temple, here's a map for your reference. You can also visit the temple's website at: http://www.einfo.com.my/hocktecktuah/

From Batu Pahat, we drove to Muar... to get their yummy-licious Otak-Otak!!! We bought our supplies from "Yong Sheng" (a shop that sells local delicacies just like the Tan Kim Hock in Malacca).

Since Malacca is on the way... we stopped by for dinner. Can't remember the last time I went Malacca but somehow, everything seemed different now. Like how the "Eye on Malaysia" is now permanently in Malacca with this brand new observation deck called "Menara Taming Sari" nearby.

We had our dinner at this new hawker center opposite "Dataran Pahlawan". Nothing great but since it's new, OK la.

By the time we got home, it was 10.30pm and that meant that we spent over 10 hours covering Batu Pahat-Muar-Malacca-KL. It was truly a tiring but satisfying day! :)

The best part bout being registered is the fact that OWLoon and I can now officially stay the night wherever we choose to. You may think that at this age and era, staying together is a common thing but not to OWLoon and I cos' our families (particularly mine) are rather conservative.

Off late, I found myself going back to OWLoon's hometown a lot more often. Just 2 years ago... I could count with 1 hand on the number of times I go back for a meal with the parents... now, I'm there like nearly every weekend or so...

Maybe it's a psychological thing... but ever since OWLoon and I got registered, I found myself liking his hometown a bit more... and each stay leaves me feeling contended and happy...

Today, I will introduce you to my favourite supper place called Kedai Steamboat Kampung owned by a man called Ah Zhui. The restaurant is located in Jalan Pasir Penampang (right after the traffic light). Tho' they're more well known for their steamboats, OWLoon and I like it for their supper food... One of their famous dishes here is the "Kueh Ka Tau Lin" or Peanut Chicken Feet:

And each time OWLoon and I go there for our supper, we'll make sure we order this other 2 dishes along with the chicken feet; "Nai Sa Sotong Kia" and "Chee Cheong Fun":

This place is perfect for supper while enjoying a drink or two with friends or loved ones...cos the owner (Ah Zhui) recently installed a row of little Japanese huts where one could sit with feet dangling in a lighted "hole" under the table...

Kitchen closes at 1am sharp thus be sure to order before then... Thereafter, you can enjoy your food and drinks for as long as you like... :)

Last Saturday, there was this secondary school reunion / gathering which I thought real hard as to whether I should attend cos... (1) The attendees are mostly from Arts stream... (I'm from Science stream i.e. we're not classmates) and (2) I don't keep in touch with them until lately, when someone found someone else on Facebook and pretty soon, nearly the whole batch of students from my year was on Facebook (power of social networking sites)...

But since I had nothing on that night, I decided to just pop by for awhile cos' it's just 5min from my house. OWLoon and my parents accompanied me there but they had their drinks next door.

I entered the cafe alone and the minute I stepped in, I could feel ALL eyes on me!!! The 60 full seconds that I was at the door, I could literally feel my cheeks burning!!! Lucky thing, I saw one of my friends; Jo who quickly stood up to greet me.

Thereafter the entire night, I stayed put at where I was (next to Jo) and every now and then there'd be someone asking "Do you remember me?" or come to me and blabber out my name in FULL. Pretty amazing considering the fact that nobody calls me by my full name these days. Worst was the comment that I got non stop "Wahhh you looked so different now!!!" which was of course to me a silly remark given that the last time we met was like 13 freaking years ago. If I still look like the secondary girl I was (think mushroom short hair with thick glasses), die LOR!!!

Sigh... anyway, the entire night went on with lots of photo taking which I tried to politely stay out of cos' I just had my session at the dentist that evening and was still sore... can't really smile properly... but here's 2 of them...

I left immediately after this group shot to join OWLoon and my parents next door.

Sigh... maybe I should organize a GANG reunion. Here's a OLD picture of us with our brand new uniforms (sponsored by our school) after we mass-resigned from being prefects... Story for another day... but here are my best-est pals from Secondary School: Kok Eng, Colin, Daniel and Jackie! Dunno why but we sort of lost touch with Pei Yee (the only one in prefect uniform)...

Miss you guys!

Watched the 2 most talked about movie this year… S.l.u.m.d.o.g. M.i.l.l.i.o.n.a.i.r.e. a.n.d. T.h.e. C.u.r.i.o.u.s. C.a.s.e. o.f. B.e.n.j.a.m.i.n. B.u.t.t.o.n. back to back.

The verdict?
I was terribly disturbed and depressed after watching both the movies and here’s why:


S.l.u.m.d.o.g. M.i.l.l.i.o.n.a.i.r.e.
Really can’t stand the brutality of gangs who make use of children to beg. If that wasn’t bad enough, children who can sing are “blinded” so that they can beg for more and pretty little girls are raised with the intention of selling their virginity to the highest bidder! Not to mention, prostitutions, extreme poverty, racial clashes and discriminations of caste. So what if he won 20M rupees and got the girl in the end? The process of him obtaining both was just too painful to watch.

T.h.e. C.u.r.i.o.u.s. C.a.s.e. o.f. B.e.n.j.a.m.i.n. B.u.t.t.o.n.
This movie is also rather depressing cos’ I thought it depicted the fear that most of us think about at some point in our lives. To the women: The fear of getting old faster than their other half and to the men: The fear of not being taken seriously for their age i.e. not matured enough and the fear of commitment (too young to be responsible etc).

So what if the movie won best whatever whatever? The aging process is totally against the universe and is totally “salah”! Like how when he was a kid – his body was that of an old man. But when he was an old man – his physical appearance was that of a small boy and in the end, he died as a baby. Totally depressing man!

Would I watch them again? Hell NO!

Why can’t there be more happy movies out there? Is it not depressing enough that globally we’re at the brink of recession? Is it not depressing enough that global warming is happening sooner than expected? It is not depressing enough that people everywhere are dying because of war, diseases and natural disaster? Sigh…

Think I'd go watch Barney later... "I love you, you love me, we are happy family"...

I figured half the time when I talk about my braces and the treatment progress, most people would not understand what I was trying to say. Thus, for the sake of documenting this journey of mine towards having a beeeeeautiful smile, thought I should have them illustrated in diagrams. So here goes:


30-03-2008: Upper braces fitting

20-04-2008: Extractions x 2 (Fifth tooth from upper left and right)

17-08-2008: Bottom braces fitting + Bite blocks

14-09-2008: Extractions x 2 (Forth teeth from bottom left and right)

14-09-2008: Frenectomy (removal of tissue connecting lips and gum)

23-11-2008: Rubber loops and rubber bands

28-02-2009: Screws x 2 and Springs x 4

YTD, I've got a combo of 8 different types of items in my mouth:
(1) The brackets
(2) The wires connecting the brackets
(3) The bite blocks
(4) The rubber loops
(5) The rubber bands
(6) The screws
(7) The springs
(8) The thin crisscrossed wires

Cool eh... :P