Category Archives: Everyday Life

Sovotel Boutique Hotel

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I had a medical course over the weekend at Hospital Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, UPM. Kuala Lumpur has always been a scary place to drive around. It’s not just because it is unfamiliar territory, there’s something about the KL-lites. Semua nak cepat. Semua tak sabar sort of thing shows on the road with their driving.

I departed from Melaka straight after work. I packed my little suitcase during the Friday lunch break and put it in the boot of my car. I did Asar prayers at the clinic, clocked out from work and headed straight to the highway. I wasn’t sure how the traffic would be but I knew I had to reach Sovotel before 9pm because I had already made dinner reservations at Kay’s Steak and Lobster. It is a restaurant located within the Connezion as well.

The route to Connezion was not complicated at all. Even better, there was no traffic. Traffic jams in KL give me anxiety because ‘what if I am in the wrong lane?’.

I need to take better photos – this courtyard is damn pretty at night

When I reached Connezion – it felt like driving into a bubble on its own. A self-sustaining community with a young, modern and urban lifestyle. I arrived near 8pm and I could see the condo residents there taking their night walking exercises along the beautiful rows of shops and restaurants. The Connezion looks so pretty at night. Honestly, it was an almost dream-like experience. Weekend nightlife is quite alive because there is a live band at the nearby coffee shop. People were just enjoying their meal outside in the cool breeze with great music. Although there is limited parking in front of Sovotel itself, there is plenty of FREE parking in the basement. Not knowing to park also gives me anxiety and I am so grateful for this convenience. Don’t worry about where it is, just follow the directions to Sovotel on Google Map and voila, you will see the arrow showing where the basement parking is. It will be right in front of your face.

I found Sovotel Boutique Hotel through Agoda.com. It is located in Connezion, which sounded pretty cool on the map. I booked a Deluxe King room that has FREE WIFI, a mini fridge, complimentary bottled water on arrival and an acceptable view from the window. The total cost for a 3D2N stay was RM341.76 including tax. The only downside to me was that the room was not soundproof. So you could definitely hear the live band jamming. My DIGI line was also quite bad. I was a bit frantic when I couldn’t locate where the hospital was on the map. Thank God for WIFI but even that was slow. There was no shower foam in its dispenser but I did find one in a bottle. I am not sure if it was provided by Sovotel or if was it left behind by the previous traveller.

The reception desk – the lady needs to pronounce her words clearly and not mumble – my ears are old

I would definitely choose this hotel again if I have a course nearby. It’s a beautiful ‘bubble’ and it is so near to IOI CITY MALL. Like less than a 5 mins drive to get there. So, you’d definitely not get bored staying there for a weekend staycation. I will write about my meal at Kay’s Steak & Lobster restaurant but I did try other eateries on other nights. Plus, the family celebrated our dad’s birthday at AHA too. So there are definitely a few related posts coming up. And of course, I need to share about my course as well.

The Pearl, Kuala Lumpur

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We stayed at this hotel because my son had a National Scrabble Championship at the conjoining mall, Pearl Point over the weekend. The game is spread over two days and quite lengthy for someone like me, who doesn’t understand the rules. Since the whole family is going, we might as well have a place to rest so that my daughter would not get cranky. Therefore, The Pearl was a convenient choice.

Mr Husband booked a room for one night. the lobby was welcoming with it’s Hari Kemerdekaan Display.

It had all the expected amenities of a 4-star hotel: Free Wi-Fi, a mini fridge, a kettle, a tub and a comfortable king-size bed. Our room had breakfast included which was great. The spread was adequate with the usual mix of Western and Malaysian breakfast options. There is also a swimming pool but we did not bring any swimming gear. So, just a photo it is.

I like that we get two card keys because the husband obviously needs to go to and fro the mall and the hotel to check on our son who is playing. So he gets to keep one card and my daughter and I get to enjoy the big bed and air-conditioned room with the other card in the power slot. My daughter gets to soak in the bathtub as well. The elevators are easy. This means there is no need to put your card on a reader and press the floor number. It may be secure but that is so maa-fan.

Considering that it is joined to a mall, food is easy to access. There are so many nice stores under one roof at Pearl Point. While waiting for check-in, we get to eat McD for breakfast, Old Town Kopitiam for lunch and some takeouts for dinner. In between, I got Milkis from Jaya Grocers and my first Llao LLao. Now I get what the hype is with that green yoghurt thing. There’s even Zus Coffee at the mall which is something I would have loved to order but since I’d had too many sweets for the weekend – I will have it on a different occasion.

my first llao llao – had the pistachio sauce and biscoff crumbs

Youtube algorithm

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I once saw a video by Ali Abdal mentioning that he had to make 77 videos first before his channel gained momentum with currently 4.67M subscribers. Nowadays I see that a lot of Youtubers do not need to make 77 videos but already have more than 10K views per video with at least a few K subscribers.

It makes sense considering the amount of engagement they are doing on their respective social media platforms. Consistency is The Key but Engagement opens the Door. The rest speaks for itself.

Looking into the type of videos that Malaysian Youtubers (the famous ones) like to make – they tend to give value in terms of knowledge or pure entertainment. Meaning, the Youtuber may choose to make a sick prank video or such but would still have people watching it out of pleasure. It doesn’t have to impart knowledge or wisdom – it just needs to entertain. Then there are food-related contents which I know are not my turf. There’s quite a handful of talking videos as well where the owner would review a car, a place, narrate a story or anything. That is interesting. The faceless videos are also making it around in the local scene. There are just so many niches one could choose to do.

I love silent vlogs but the ones lurking around are made by uni students – I find it quite difficult to relate. I am still exploring by clicking on these accounts hoping to find ones that I like. Perhaps something from a Malaysian homemaker. Although it is understandable and challenging to wear the hijab at all times.

In Episode 9 there is not much going on. I have deleted quite a few videos that I feel had no continuity to the clips I had at the time. But like all wise Youtubers say, keep shooting. Keep creating with the tools that you have.

A mother’s money

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It was one of those weekends when I had an impulse to just load my kids in the car and drive over to my sister’s house – which is 90 minutes away. Well, I did give her a heads-up saying that we will be coming over, hoping that she’ll provide us brunch, cause the food she cooks is always nice. *grin* We had kueytiow soup for brunch, cute bunny chocolate appams and a melon drink.

While the kids played with their cousins, my sister and I gossiped about everything. I spent at least an hour there before we made our way back home afterwards.

In the car, my son suddenly said, “Mommy, do we have crayons at home? I need to bring them for art class tomorrow”. Of course, there were no crayons in the house. He knew that but he was being smart turning an “I need to buy crayons” into an enquiry. I said we’ll get him the crayons at the local shop near our house once we get there. He then continued with another request, “I need to bring a recorder for music class too – tomorrow”.

My eyes rolled upwards.

He had the whole Saturday to tell Mr. Husband about this but he chose to inform this on a Sunday when he was working, to The Mommy. It’s a good thing I have my own income. I do not need to use my husband’s money or ask him for these things. If it was my mom back then, who had no income, she probably had to ask my dad or start opening up her coinbox to look for extra money. We ended up with a stationery mini haul. My son got what he wanted and my daughter has a new set of coloured marker pens. I got new Buncho watercolours as well to replace the dried ones we have at the moment.

Exam season

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April, August and December are exam seasons. This semester I took 4 subjects of which 1 of them was 100% dependent on our course work – Research Methodology. I enjoyed exploring the subject but it does feel overwhelming. There was so much literature to read. I had that submitted on the 4th of August. The other 3 modules also had written assignments but they were handed in much earlier in July. Now are the remaining exam papers.

I have completed the essay exam for Ethics in Psychology and Dynamics of Adjustment. I am only left with Perception and Emotion today. The take-home essay question starts at 2pm and ends at 10pm. With other daily chores to be done like cooking, feeding the family and all, time does run out quickly. I am just glad that I took leave for these papers cause it would be really stressful having to write a paper in just 2 hours on a working day. Imagine getting off work at 5pm, and then having to fetch the kids, prep/order dinner, wash up and finally settle into answering the question. Sakit dada.

I find that trying the questions the tutorials post in the forum is helpful. It gives you an idea of what to expect. Sometimes there are sample questions which are equally mind-stimulating.

Once I am done with today, I can relax a bit before I jump into my next semester. That’s another 4 subjects. And then I can concentrate on my Final Year Project.