Entry @ 23.09.2026

Been so busy these few days, getting materials ready for my colleagues and my students. Sigh. I will be busy for the next 3 weeks and I can't wait for the exam to be over. 

Last weekend, I was tidying up the kitchen and I saw that the bottle of used cooking oil was filled up. So I decided to go recycle it. 1 kg of used oil sold for RM3. It was a pretty good price. There were people collecting these used oil at designated places every weekend. 

Usually when I go, there weren't many people. But last weekend, there was even a queue! 

The used oil was to be processed for biodiesel, according to the vendor

Whilst waiting, a City Councillor showed up, and he distributed mooncakes ... heh ... 

The mooncake and my bottle of oil on the floor, 5 kg

This week's eats .... 

Kolo Mee, RM5

This was from Poh Kwang Cafe; my students P and C had bought the noodles for me before  but it was the first time I ate there at the shop. They open quite early daily at 5.30am! And at that hour, there were already a lot of old people there eating. My friends and I joked that if we added the ages of every person in that shop, it would total up to be more than 1000 years old. 

Favourite breakfast chicken sausage and egg bun, RM6.30

Breakfast Factory at Jalan Song successfully maintained the consistency in the quality of the food they served; so far, I enjoyed this breakfast bun every time! 

The last packet of goody I bought from China ... I think I preferred the 猪肉铺 which was thin slices of crispy pork, like crackers; this one was thicker in cut, like pork jerky ... 

Some gifts this week .... 

From my colleague N, who retired already .... 

A hand towel 

5 face masks 

From the Ministry of Education, they said .... hmn ... 

And unboxing my purchase ... 

Round Lab toner and sunscreen .... just trying out since my cousin G recommended them to me ... 

Though busy, I unwind by watching microdramas .... they are all cliche and full of fluff .... but I found this one 闪婚老公竟是顶头上司 quite interesting and cnanot wait to watch Part 2 ... 

AI-generated character,  顾明深, I cannot wait to unravel his story .... 

This one 屿你初恩 I watched on RedNote up till Ep 35 - the characters are so pretty! This one I watch because I gushed at the beautiful leads and I liked the songs they used .... otherwise I think the ML is rather creepy, hmn ... 

Heh ... I watched many others and some ok, some boring .... but anyway, it was fun. ;) 

Entry @ 17.09.2026

Fifth Aunt asked if I would help her out. I was to be her Google Map. The 'alive' version since Fifth Aunt did not know how to use the usual navigation apps like Waze or Google Map.   

Fifth Aunt is 76 years old. She still drives. But at night, she is not so confident a driver. A few months back, she invited my mom, and my Second and Third Aunts for dinner. And, she got lost whilst driving back home from the venue, 海天楼 Hai Tian Lou @ Aeroville Mall. I was away in China at that time, but I had tracked my mom's iPhone, and I knew that they had driven the wrong direction. It took an hour before Fifth Aunt managed to find the way home safely.  

So when Fifth Aunt asked for my help to navigate the other night, I said ok. 

***

Fifth Aunt's second son is A. My cousin.

A's wife is D. D is Fifth Aunt's daughter-in-law. My cousin-in-law. 

D's parents are sponsors of a charity event. They bought a table for the dinner charity. Typically, no one at home wants to attend events like this - because they are so time-consuming. Another reason is they have so many functions such as these to attend all year round already, and when there is a chance to give it a miss, everyone will likely want to be excused. Plus, not everyone is in town - A and D were both away in KL last weekend. 

Because nobody actually wanted to go to such dinners, Fifth Aunt would normally take the opportunity to take her sisters out for a free meal - since there would be food and drinks and stage entertainment too. Otherwise, the charity tickets would also go to waste. My aunts and my mom are retired or semi-retired - so they had all the time to enjoy long dinner events. It was also a great time for them to catch up.

Fifth Aunt asked for 5 tickets from D's parents - she would bring her 3 sisters and me, her 'alive' navigator. Lol. She asked us to get ready before 6 pm and she would come pick us up in her luxurious BMW X5. Heh, I guessed we would be attending the event in style. 

***

There is a local singer called Irene Tam. I only found out about her last year - also through my Fifth Aunt, who liked to listen to Irene Tam sing. Irene Tam is also a food vendor - who runs youtiao stalls in town. So she is known as the Youtiao Singing Queen in town. I know she has a stall at Yeow Kee at Premier 101 - who is manned by her husband and her staff. I always walk past but I have never bought from the stall since Mom is insistent that she does not like their version of youtiao. Yup, Mom had tried it sometime ago.  

Irene Tam is also the winner of the 2010 Astro Classic Golden Melody singing competition and is a recording artiste. I had never heard her sing before, but finally, the chance came the other night. D's parents being sponsors of the charity dinner and also close friends of Irene Tam, paid for her special performances for the event. Our table was right in front - D's mom, D's fourth brother and sister-in-law, her god sister, Irene Tam and another of her performer friend, and the 5 of us. 11 of us altogether. 

Well, I would say that she is a polished and experienced performer, blessed with a really good voice. A professional. She sang oldies, and I believed the elderly all enjoyed listen to her sing. 

***

The charity dinner event was really long - the political speech by the Deputy Chief Minister was lengthy as well; there was prize-giving ceremonies and lucky draws ... 

The food not so great, except for 2 dishes - the roasted chicken and the Meicai pork belly. 

Irene Tam

By the time I got home, it was 11 pm. I wound down and slept past midnight. Since I typically wake up at about 4 am, I was really tired physically. 

Some eats and happening this week ...

Ah Lian kolo mee, RM6

I always ate this at Siang Siang Tabuan Jaya, but that morning, the noodles tasted really substandard; the noodles were too soft, and the seasoning was hardly fragrant. I struggled eating this. I'd stay away from this stall for a while. 

Yeow Kee's beef noodles, RM10

Still very yum and generous with toppings 

Yeow Kee's dumplings, RM10

The dumplings were ok, quite bouncy

Pork leg rice, RM11

From Lee Coffee Shop - tasty but not I satisfied eating this because of the stingy portion ... 

Sardine Murtabak, RM5

Ok while hot ... 

Another colleague retired this week; the school canteen catered our lunch - we had coconut shoots, chicken kam heong, sweet and sour fish and fruits salad. 

sdfa 

Entry @ 08.09.2026

Yesterday was the first day I went back to work after the short break, but the students were not there. They were at home since school was temporarily shut due to the haze. But for the teachers, we were to go to school unless the API was 500 points and above. We were to teach the students online from school. My only challenge for that was the internet access. 

My school had internet access. However, the router was located far away from where I sat in the staffroom. So I could not normally use the school wifi from my desk.  So to remedy that, I decided to teach from the classroom which was just above the computer room. I knew I could access the school wifi from there. 

The classroom, of course, was not air-conditioned. And to minimise my exposure to the polluted air, I closed all the windows and doors, and turned on all the fans. There were unfortunately ventilation panels along the walls, so of course the polluted air could still flow in. I was only thankful that the API yesterday was in the 170-180 range - still unhealthy. 

My gear - Macbook, airpods, cold water and a portable fan for a 2-hour class .... 

It took a lot of time to get ready my gear and my books and to set up in the classroom. But the worst was the slow connection. I could not even get into the online classroom at first. Then the students said I was lagging. Sigh. So in the end, I used my own telco line to carry out my lesson. It was more stable and the speed was acceptable. Thankfully, I managed to fill the 2 hours with work. To engage the students, I called their names consistently. I was glad that they were co-operative. 

Today, I did not bother to go the classroom anymore. It was a chore to carry my books and my gear to the classroom block. Plus, today's API was higher in the 220s range, so I did not want to be exposed. And worst of all, the school wifi was not reliable. So I had my online lesson from my desk.

The canteen had limited options too - there was food, one-portion dishes that were cooked when ordered. But the taste was not so yum .... so my colleagues brought their own food to share today. I ate some after my class just now. 

Rice with chicken curry, cabbage, sardine, and sambal 

There was also keropok ikan tahai one of my colleagues bought from Lawas, and biskut jerebu ... heh ... what a name ... 

It was powdery and sweet and artificially-flavoured ... heh ... 

Last Saturday, Mom and I went for breakfast with our immediate neighbour. Mom wanted to eat at 龟蜜Turtle Bee Cafe here ... she had eaten once before with her sisters and liked the food here. At 7.40 am, the place was already packed. The proprietors were Foochows from Sri Aman, so they served authentic Foochow dishes. 

Stirfried Zao Cai Fen Gan, RM10

Zao Cai Fen Gan in soup, RM10 

Tomato Kueh Tiaw, RM10

Mom liked the tomato kueh tiaw. The sauce was indeed flavourful but on the sweeter side. I enjoyed both the Zao Cai noodles, both soup and dry. Oh dear, I'd have difficulty choosing between ordering the wet or the dry version the next time I'm here. All the dishes had a lot of ingredients like meat, fish cakes and veges in it. 

Entry @ 04.09.2026

This holiday, I stayed indoors most of the time since the haze situation was rather serious. There was one day when the index climbed up to 406! Today, it is in the 310-320 range. 

At home, I keep my doors and windows shut. The air-conditioners and fans have to be turned on for circulation. I refrained from eating out as well, unless the eatery was air-conditioned. When needed, I took out food and ate at home. I also avoided the holiday crowd at the malls. So what did I do? I cleaned the house, serviced the cars, watched short dramas, and basically spent time relaxing. 

This morning, L and I visited our former colleague at her new workplace, where she was now the principal. Heh. We spent some time catching up, she brought us around her school for a tour, and then we went for lunch. 

We went to Village Culture Cafe at Pine Square. 

Kopi C

Ginger Scallion Fish Slice 

Fried Chicken with Butter Sauce 

Mixed Veges with Garlic Sauce

The food was all great, and with 2 rice, we paid RM39.80. I thought it was quite reasonably priced. No wonder the place was packed with the lunch crowd. 

After lunch, I picked up my parcel from a convenience store near my house. I'd seen that two shops away, there was a dessert shop called Fuyoh. I had wanted to try the desserts there ... 

Fruity Snow Ice, RM8.90

Well, I liked the milky shaved snow ice, but I did not like the canned fruits they used for this dessert. 

There were so many students inside the shop. They weren't eating or drinking. They were just killing time there. All of them were on their phones or playing games on tablets. I figured there was a tuition class upstairs, and these students probably hanged out there at the dessert shop before or after their classes. 

Tomorrow, we will find out whether school would still be off next week. It would probably be, except for the Fifth and Sixth Formers. Since I am teaching the Sixth Formers,  I would most probably be going back to work physically. It is also what I prefer.