That Monday (Illustrated)

Specifically, I am referring to this post. I was in a hideout waiting for HF to discover her surprise. Without further ado, here are the pictures in choronological order.

The surprise awaits (with instructions)


Lights were out; floor were lit by candles showing a path leading to the kitchen


The Dining Hall; all set up


The Dinner layout!


Complete with a note!


Well, it's not something I wrote in a hurry, but honestly speaking, my cursive writing is not-too-good.


The 1999 Vintage Champagne... couldn't be any more perfect for the occassion!


Finally, I received my best reward -- the happiest girl with her happiest look and smile! Just for her!


"Hurry!! I can't wait to sink my teeth into the salmon! Put your camera away!"


A last look at the dinner I made. It consists of potato salad, rockets, avacado, black pepper, tomatoes, grilled salmon (own recipe), and finally a bowl of caesar salad.

What a Monday

The first call I got yesterday's morning was an announcement of a great news from HF -- her working visa application has gone through successfully!

That meant a lot for us. We've been through a lot of arguments, stress, fights, etc. and we're all worried about her leave to remain in the country legally. However, it is never worth the experience to go underground and be exposed to the risks of getting caught by the authorities and being deported then. The air is cleared and we have one less worry to worry about.

Nevertheless, I would still loved her to work in Leeds or at least somewhere near where she does not have to spend 4 hours on commuting time to and back from work. Travelling to and back from Manchester early in the morning and returning by 8pm could just about blow up any person's head for sure. I hope to do something worthwhile that will change her perspective of commuting-boredom-syndrome.

I did put up a little celebration just for her last night. It was a walk-in surprise for her with candles lited a path leading to the kitchen where she will discover her grilled salmon steak dinner with a 1999 vintage Moet bottle of champagne all waiting for her.

It was a great celebration night, but I also intended it to change her mind so that it will be more deserving and worthwhile to return/commute. I know it's hard to spend such a long time everyday on the train. Very daunting, believe me.

SKY
We've now got Sky Sat TV set up. Everything is going really well so far and I hope it stays afloat like this.

Territorial Army
Today, Tuesday (Sept 26), I will be checking out the Carleton Barracks for TA training. It will be on Tuesdays and twice a week. I reckon it will mostly be physical trainings and their program fits me best as I will be quitting gym membership at Esporta Sports Club (44£ per month). TA will pay me just about the same to volunteer!

Looking forward!

How to cheat a Coca-cola vending machine

Let me get this straight.

You can actually get 2 or three bottles of drinks for the price of one. The way the machine works is that it knows its job is done once it has dispensed your drink via a push-through door. There is a switch around the door in which will mark that the door has been opened, therefore drink is dispensed and job's done. If this door is stopped from opening, it will attempt twice before refunding your money. The logic is that if there's no drink, the door will not be opened and therefore, you will be refunded.

I have tried this myself and it works! I was so exhausted that I brought back two bottles of Powerade for the price of one (buy 1 get 1 free)!

Remember, it has to be a Coca-cola machine with a conveyor belt.

Freebie

As we arrived at the gate of Aspect 14 after our afternoon tea at Tung's Garden Restaurant, I whispered into HF's ear about this bloke carrying a box of Tic Tac (sealed) who was also at the gate.

Apparently, we live in the same block and I asked if he was carrying a box full of Tic Tac candies to which he confirmed my curiosity. He gladly offered us a portion (illustrated) out of 12 and explained that it's a new flavor -- Tropical Twist -- and that his marketing company he's working in is promoting the flavor.

Good stuff! The look on HF's face was that of a lottery winner bagging the loot at home. 

The dressed thumb

My grated thumb as a result from grating parmesan cheese on the afternoon of Friday the 15th. The new grating tool grated a chunk of my flesh away from the side of my left thumb!

Shit! Should have just grated the bigger slice of the cheese! It wasn't my cheese anyway!

It was really annoying to get cuts on the fingers as it was difficult to stop the bleeding. A lot of blood vessels endings are at the tip of fingers and I got a deep cut! 

Opening of Bagel Nash

Today was supposed to be the official day for the opening of another Bagel Nash store in The Light (Headrow), Leeds. The store looked quite disorganized and empty a week ago and we all have been working together to put things together and only yesterday it looked more like a food store/restaurant.

On opening, we were supposed to give away free bagels sandwiches to employees of The Light (does not mean employees or tenants at The Light).

However, Rob came in at 8 in the morning and saw everything was still in a mess, thus said that we are not ready to serve. I couldn't agree with more with him. Putting our final touches didn't take long but it was Rob's meticulous and attention to details set our schedule a little back. He wants everything perfect and only then we will begin trading. I'm with him. There's nothing more important to the details that he sees (as an Executive) than to rush to serve customers only to regret at a later time saying things like "We should have done that earlier..." etc. For crying out loud, there weren't even any tables set up yet.

There was something Rob did that I didn't quite understand. Maja and I spent a total of 2-3 hours up on a 10-feet ladder wiping and cleaning display glass windows with him on the ground pin-pointing where smudged stains were for cleaning. At the same time, he did mention about a window cleaner who will be coming in the next morning to clean the same glass (and area) that we were sweating out and risking a fractured bone to clean! Alas! The window cleaner came that morning and it took like like 45 mins to an hour to clean all glass and windows... WITHOUT even using a ladder! He had this long stretchable pole/stick to reach to the top of the window, which is like around 17 feet from the ground!

Today, finally, we did get to completing everything on the to-do-lists and I believe whole-heartedly that we will be opening for business tomorrow. Everything looks perfect now... at least to me! It was a good thing that we did not open for business today. Rob made the right choice! All looks prep-ed up now!

Visit the store if you would and I can tell you which are the results of my doings. Worked and sweated like a pig for it! Look out for me! Welcome to Bagel Nash!

Oxford

Welcome to Oxford! We visited Oxford University.

The Old meets the New. A very old building featuring the modern Nokia Communication store! Unique!

Modern HF of Shanghai in old Oxford seems to be having a great time! The wise old just flew in.

Oxford's high street

A very talented street performer with his instruments playing trance! It's amazing to watch him doing it all simultaneously! We ran away before feeling obliged to donation! Yeah, we're cheapskate! *winks!*

Did we end up in the wrong city?? Uhm... no. It is Oxford!

... Building! Old but classic building!

HF seated being taken away by this hypnotising street performer's romantic tunes.

Under-the-spell-of-romantic-music look!

HF on Oxford University ground.

Me, on Oxford University ground.

Oxford University!

Brand New Fiat Punto

When I picked up the car from Leeds-Bradford Airport (LBA), it has only done 1,528 miles of mileage -- quite new. We were supposed to get a smaller 2-doored car, I think was a Ford Ka, but look... brand new elegant Fiat Punto and it has four doors!! We rented the car for 96 hours (4 days) for only 68.75£ from Hertz. I must say it was quite a bargain.

Key to our new ride

I found it hard to believe that I will be driving down to Manchester to pick up HF from her (she did not know about this till I told her I was lost in Manchester city centre). I was over-excited as I have not driven for over a year. I was putting myself together with the much needed confidence to be back on the road! The car was still in the parkade!!


The gear, with a pull-knob into Reverse gear.

Parked in Aspect 14 after driving from Manchester successfully without getting myself into trouble! We were loading up stuffs (especially food! (Hunger may strike!)) and getting ready for our journey! Wales, here we come!

The back of the Punto! We coined a name for it -- our food caravan! Simply because... 75% of the space we had were occupied by food! Imagine two pigs going on a vacation!

The Present

This is me, the present me.

I have indeed gained several pounds over the last 2 years but I have also toned up a few inches of muscles around the chest and arms.

I recalled the times when I was so thin during my teen years. Chopsticks, was one of the names I was known as those days.

I have only 2 sweat shirts and this is my favorite one from University of Saskatchewan's Huskies sports team. I planned to get another set for HF when we go to Canada next year and make all our pictures boring for every places we go -- we're going to be wearing the same clothings everytime. Now, that's ambitious! 

In my arms, always!

 

Among the giants

Giant sunflowers around The Village Hotel's parkade.

HF is always attracted to sunflowers, not the other way round. My sunshine... just as the sunshine is to the sunflower.

Lovely pic!

ISO: 200
Shutter Speed: 1/640 seconds
Aperture: F /8
Focal length: 40 mm
Exposure Program: Manual 

Complimentary fruits by The Village Hotel, Cardiff.

Shot using my newly acquired Canon 350D with its original lens.

ISO: 200
Shutter speed: 1/15 seconds
Aperture: F /5
Focal length: 40mm
Exposure program: Manual
Lighting: Incandescent/bulb lighting 

Cardiff Town Hall

With much regret to even mention this, Cardiff was supposed to be the city where I should have come 2 years ago. A visit to the beautiful and lively city had made me face my sorrows and regrets with positive attributes. Thanks to HF!

I would not have met such a wonderful person as HF had I gone to Cardiff. I'm contended. 

Rock of my heart

My love is steadfast for you, my love, just as the rocks of the Stonehenge, which have stood for over 5,000 years and still going strong (albeit through numerous preservation and restoration processes).

Relaxing on the grounds of the Stonehenge under an amazing weather! When we arrived, those gloomy clouds were already leaving. Unexplanable phenomenon. Lucky, I guess! 

Silhouette of time

An attempt to create a silhouette of the rocks of the Stonehenge, England. The only issue I have with this picture is the numerous clouds in which otherwise would have been a better picture, I supposed. 

Rhossili Bay

Arrived at Rhosilli Bay, Swansea, and was welcomed with such an amazing weather-- bright sunny with clear blue skies and not too many clouds. We parked next to a church with burial grounds (some dated way back to 1885) but thankfully, our vehicle was not spooked.

The bay, recommended by the landlord of The Rock Villa Bed & Breakfast, was indeed an amazing and spectacular. It has deep shore lines probably due to low tides and it looks as though the waters had retreated further out. It was almost half a kilometre walk to the water from the beach. It was not crowded and best of all, it is not comercialized as those of Scarborough's beach.

There are trails and tracks up along steep hills and mounts overlooking the bay. The view was breath-taking. It was very windy and I could not recall a moment without breeze.

Upon arrival, we planned to stay for only 45 minutes but because everything exceeded our expectations, we remained there for 3 hours. It was so beautiful.

Bank robber of sort

Frank Caliendo's Bush Impersonation

A very funny imitation of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton! One of the best impersonation of GWB I've ever heard.

Giant Anaconda's Complex Engineering Bite

My Brother

Happy Birthday to you, Brother!

Nothing could have been better to know you are always there
There are times when I hated you for your annoyances
but that's only because I failed to recognise our differences
and that we are each an individual bonded by love and family
and surely too we share also a lot of similarities since our growing ups.

Nothing could and should tear us apart
although sometimes your stillness and quietness aggravates me much
for I would often cry out for you to look out for me as my elder.
You may have your reasons for doing the things you do
but know that I have much respect for you and I do look up to you.

Happy Birthday, my brother!

Decided

It has come to the time when I have to make one decision for my future. It would involve a biggest sacrifice.

Coming to Leeds Metropolitan University Law School was an unstudied decision and I only realised this after 2 months of attendance. The LL.B degree that will be issued by LMU will not be recognised by the Malaysian government. I had to change university but all universities were reluctant to consider my application into their second year program (see email below). A year past and earlier this year I tried to be admitted into Cardiff University's final year in which I was given an offer. It was declined but they offered me an unconditional offer to do their second year.

The email I received yesterday:
Dear Danny,

Thank you for your recent email. I can confirm that the Director of Overseas
Recruitment have now reviewed your case and I am pleased to confirm that he has
agreed for you to enter Cardiff Law School into year 2.

I have forwarded Academic Registry the details and they will inform UCAS
shortly.

Kind regards


Emma Williams
Admissions Secretary
Cardiff Law School

I have just finished my second year and I am reluctant to do second year again even though Cardiff University's LL.B is recognised by the Malaysian government.

I have recently been employed to work in a food franchise here in Leeds after months of searching. If anything at all, I should consider myself lucky to be employed. To have employment would mean the gain of work experiences. To leave for Cardiff would mean sacrificing 2 things: work experience that was hard to come by, and 1 year's time. The latter is a huge sacrifice in which I do not want to lose at all. A lot can be done and achieved within a year's period.

Instead of doing another year of second year, I could have finished a postgrad study in the Master's level right after I finished LL.B from the crappy substandard LMU's law school.

A mistake of the past is but a mistake of the past. If there should be a remedial action that warrants a bigger sacrifice, then perhaps the mistake should just be left as it is and take it as a lesson learnt so as not to be repeated.

Been wonderful

A couple of weeks ago, I was almost on the verge of giving up staying on in Leeds and thought of heading home for a short vacation if I still could not find any sort of employment. HF could not have been a better blessing -- she informed me about a poster advertising to recruit people to work at a Bagel Nash store that was due to open some time soon. I did what I had to do and two hours later I got an interview and got the job and was to start on Monday, July 31st.

Seemingly unbelievable as I headed home, I kept thanking God and HF for such a wonderful blessing. I would rather be working 12 hours a day than to stay at home doing nothing; and now the most hours I have worked was 10 hours. I have been trained over the past week by extremely warm-hearted and patient people and as a result, I just couldn't help but to benefit from their mentorship.

Besides, the other interesting subject I think is worth mentioning is the best or ideal method for making espresso. James Hoffman, who came fifth place in the World Barista Championship (first place in UK), visited our store to lecture on how to make the best espresso. He has, well, of course, revealed his secrets of coffee brewing and we have all benefited from his lecture. It's not that I will one day become a brewster but it was something I have never thought of knowing or even learned in my lifetime and I do now. "It's so good to know" is all I can say.

I have made a lot of mistakes but that is gradually going down. The start of something is always slow and difficult but with time they will all be overcome. And I'm getting there. It has been an enjoyable experience so far.

Last Wednesday was also my first time to have tried SCUBA diving. Scuba diving and its equipments has long been my curiousity for a very, very long time. It was really fun and a different experience to have put on all diving gears and carrying an air tank on my back in the water; breathing through the air regulator; etc. The frightening part was when we were told that our lungs will 'pop!!' if we had not exhaled (breath out) in the water as we surface because of the difference in air pressure taken in from the air tank. I thought, "This can be fatal?! I don't want to burst like an over-blown balloon IN or OUT of the water!" Soon, after a few practises it all came naturally. Breathing was so natural via the regulator from the tank. The only thing I remembered that I had to manage quite a bit was balancing as I peddle forward in the water.

When all the demonstration was over, I convinced myself to scuba dive again in Malaysia with HF when we go back home. There are simply just so many beautiful things to see underwater -- corals, marine life, etc. -- that I think it would be a shame to miss in life. She is a great person, a person who is not afraid to take up on any challenges... outside of water. IF only I could.