I met 3 kinds of friends in 3 days. The first day was Tuesday when I was with Worm worm; the second day was with my darling friend who looks absent-minded but it isn't; and lastly a friend who needed you because he needs you at an odd hour which was at 12 am.

The affair with Worm Worm is quite unthinkable. It actually doesn't matter whether good buddies or with just an acquaintance there's actually some words you can't tell them. All you can do is to let that sentence lurks deep inside your heart no matter you want to say out. Whenever a friend asks for help, be it big or small or unreachable, you may and may not want to help. If it's just the latter, decline it in an alternative way because saying "Don't expect me to help" indicates clearly that you do not need help in the present and the future. You never know when you needed help. This scenario reminds me a lot of a college friend who once told me that she only befriended people who could help her. But speaking of it, how do we know when our next door pauper neighbour turns into a millionaire? If you have a crystal ball, please give me the first prize lotto number. And writing this paragraph is not telling you that I'm hurt whatsoever, it's just I don't want history to be repeated on your account.

Ah this friend of mine is a real absent-minded darling. I have been thinking of her for weeks and she finally called me from abroad!! So sweet and still I requested her to buy me my favourite candy and biscuits from New Zealand. She's a friend I would always remember; a friend in need is a friend indeed. She helped me a lot when I was unemployed in NZ. I can't wait to catch up with her!

Ah the friend who greeted me at 12 am is a friend who only says hi when he wants something from you. I know he is not this kind of person but what do you expect me to think when the first text reply I got from him in 9 months is '... will keep in touch with you coz i need help from you in the future.' Err... and you readers still remember the colleague that I like to criticize? Yea, he's the one. Anyway, he has just broke up with his girl girl from Singapore and I dedicated a haiku to him.

petals blown faraway
underneath the starlight -
you broke up with me

No idea why I used 'petals' but it's always a romantic scene to see fireworms ... petals blowing around you like tornado. So I just thought "hey! it's great to have that as cut." tada... And yea he finally remembered my cuppa date.

Another good news is there were people voted for my 2 haiku in a contest! So my haiku appeared in the results. Yay!

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Ingredients

1 tbsp white vinegar
2 litres water
75g lotus root
300g glutinous rice flour
15g custard powder
1/2 tsp salt
55g caster or fine sugar
180g-200 ml water extra
Glutinous rice flour for dusting
Water for dipping
1/2 cup white sesame seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 cup oil for dep frying

Lotus seed filling
100g lotus seed paste, make into 20 balls (available at supermarkets)

1. Combine vinegar and 1 litre water in a mixing bowl. Scrap clean the lotus root and shred finely. Immerse shredded lotus root in the vinegar solution immediately. Drain well and squeeze out excess water.

2. Boil remaining water in a pot over medium-high fire. Once it comes to a boil, add shredded lotus root. Bring to a quick boil, add shredded lotus root. Bring to a quick boil for 2-3 minutes. Drains well and squeeze dry again. Set aside.

3. Mix glutinous rice flour, custard powder, salt and sugar together. Gradually pour in extra water to combine into dough. Divide dough into two and steam one portion of the dough in a bowl for 15-20 minutes.

4. Put the remaining raw dough in a large bowl. Add the steamed dough and shredded lotus root. Mix into a dough again. Divide into 20 portions.

5. Press a small ball of lotus seed filling into each portion of dough. Wrap up neatly and roll into a small ball, dusting hands occassionally with glutinous rice flour for easy handling. Dip in water and roll in combined white and black sesame seeds. Press the sesame seeds lightly into the glutinous balls.

6. Heat oil in a wok over a medium-high fire. When hot, deep-fry the sesame balls until lightly beaten. Serve hot.

* This is one extremely YUM!

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Prep: 30 mins / Chill: 3 hours or overnight / Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

250g packet plain sweet biscuits, finely crushed
125g butter, melted
250g packet cream cheese, chopped (available in supermarkets)
395g can sweetened condensed milk
5 tbsps lemon juice
2 tsps lemon rind
1/4 cup just-boiled water
3 tbsps gelatine
1 cup whipped cream, plus extra to serve
400g ripe mangoes, sliced thinly
Extra sliced mangoes, to serve

1. In a mixing bowl, combine biscuit crumbs and butter. Press into a 20cm springfoam pan firmly using a flat-bottomed glass. Chill for 20 mins until firm.

2. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in condensed milk, lemon juice and rind.

3. Place water in a bowl. Whisk in gelatine briskly with a fork until dissolved. Cool for 5 mins. Beat into cheese mixture. Fold through whipped cream and mangoes.

4. Pour mixture over prepared base. Chill for 3 hours or overnight until firm. Serve in wedges topped with extra mangoes and whipped cream, if you like.

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Visited doctor again today. I talked my way into seeing doctor because the nurses stated patients with only serious cases are allowed to see the doctors. My cold case is not acceptable so I sounded my scenario very serious with the 'pain on my waist back and front and I'm just scared there's something with my kidney or bladder.' That was enough to convince her that my case is serious. The reason I was not allowed to visit because there were many patients and too little doctors. But there were not many patients as what the nurse claimed!

So the doctor said the pain was aggravated by the cough. Yea... I cough very extreme... where you could hear my organs are coming out from my mouth. And also it's part of a cold viral effect where my waist and back area would be aching according to the doctor la. It should go away but if the pain still persist for some time then I have to return to the clinic to get a blood test for dengue fever.

And then later ... I went to have ice cream dessert in pavilion. HAHA...

Edit: I totally forgotten to write that ... I dreamed of Jun Matsumoto this morning. It was a nonsense dream since I don't like Jun and why did I dream of him?! What were we doing? We were karaoke-ing. Who is Jun Matsumoto? Please visit Katrina's blog and the guy you are greeted with is Jun. Give me la Tegoshi Yuya or Eiji Wentz!

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It's actually me gonna dig someone's eye and ears. I'm visiting the doctor again tomorrow morning because the medicine I was prescribed is not working and my flu and cough have worsened depsite cutting back on certain food. Mucus was stuffed in my eardrums even before I indulged in extreme mocha drink from Sans Francisco. I have also been coughing with phlegm. But my ultimate concern is the dull pain in my right waist area which later spread to my left. And then later spread to my backbone area. I'm not supposed to feel any backache given in I just visited my chiropractor after my birthday; that adjustment I had will last me for 3 months before I feel the extreme discomfort on my back. With this ache, I can't really bend down like to pick a pen. My back is really feeling sore as I'm typing this entry. Well... my friend said I'm paranoid about all these symptoms but hey that's because my mother and sister share a lot of medical information wth me and I also read a lot on the symptoms. And what is so paranoid about thinking about the pain when the pain is for real! A doctor had told my mum that the pain I was complaining was my hallucination. Yea right... but it doesn't fit my present situation when I could feel the pain in front and behind my waist. Do you know that feeling pain below the waist indicate that there could be something wrong with the pelvic organs?

Ok ... I'm going to make the doctor feels guilty for not paying enough attention to me on my last visit.

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This is not flaming fire prevention. I'm referring to the fire in the pocket once you overspend. I would just like to share a savings tip while waiting for the flu medicine taking effect on me.

I actually knew this method long time ago but never really enforced it. >.< And so when I attended T. Harv Eker's seminar early mid year, I decided to do it no matter what. It's simple. You just need jars and money. Eker gathers 7 jars but I think it's just too many and if you are new to this method... 7 jars is scary!! These 7 jars have different purposes but I only adopt 3 purposes and modify on my own.

I started out with 2 jars: one for my Personal Financial Freedom, which means whatever money I collected here will go into my Fixed Deposit no matter what; and the other is to pay utility bills. So how do you feed these jars? Simple... I just check out my wallet for loose change and feed those jars whatever amount I like. So the first month of enforcement, I managed to save above RM 50 for my first jar and second jar. Seeing how the money grow, I got another jar and this jar is for my internet bills. So again ... I feed this jar with loose change but I put a minimum for this jar because I need to meet a certain amount at the end of the month. So it's not the end of the month yet and I'm hitting my target even before the end of the month. And not forgetting I have also been feeding my other 2 jars.

I calculated that by just having these 3 jars, I could save around RM200 a month from just spending on useless stuff. Eh not bad right? And the best part is I already have enough money to pay my bills on time. And there's always extra to carry forward in those jars!

I introduced this jar thingy to my mother when she was worried not having enough of money to pay the newspaper delivery guy. And now we don't have to worry because the piggy bank now has an amount to pay for another month without any of the family members contributing to the jar.

Hmm.. I just started a fourth jar. That is to pay off my debts. And I can't wait to see the money in there grows! Grow!!! Oooh ... I don't need Aladdin's djinn.

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