My Oyster 123

This is the day time shot of the Chinese New Year decorations of the Rooster in 2017 of M-Mall in Penang Times Square. After the Year of the Monkey comes the Year of the Fire Rooster which will start on January 28, 2017 – the second New Moon after the Solstice. Roosters were very important in people's daily lives in ancient times. They were not only treated as food, like today, but in ancient times people regarded them as a mascot since they ate harmful insects.


This is also part of the new year decoration with some animals to cheer up and decorate the festivity, especially for children and toddlers. M-Mall in Penang Times Square is a happening place in Georgetown. It is the only Condo resort right smack in the heart of the city of Penang. Recently, it hosted the FMM channel of Astro for the Chinese yuppies and they simply loved to see their idols performed and sang on New Year countdown 2 days ago.

One will be spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping for goods, tit-bits, scarves, perfumes, clothes, shoes and much more. China tourists come by the bus loads to Times Square for their shopping and to redeem their M Points collected from the investment. They can redeem at restaurants for meals or to buy souvenirs back home.


This is also taken at Times Square near Phase 1 called Birch the Plaza condominium. The red lanterns certainly light up the dark skies with pink cherry blossoms decorated on the sides. The flowers brighten up the place and make it more merry.


Fireworks were aplenty shooting and lighting up the night skies with showers of sparks that expands and then fades away. Times Square was very crowded with revelers on the last day of 2016 as they usher in 2017 with aplomb. If you are considering where to spend your Chinese New Year, why not come to Penang Times Square to see the painted ceilings, walls and many beautiful works of art of decorations on the walls. There are also several hotels nearby like Sunway Hotel which is just 3 minutes walk to Times Square other than many other smaller hotels nearby - all within walking distance.

You can sign up and check your credit report at this link here >> https://www.mycreditinfo.com.my/ which is free for first 2 years for basic report which is where the banks will use to see if your bank loan and credit card approval is successful or not. For the more comprehensive report, it shows your credit card payment habits and it will automatically state whether it is strong or weak for loan approval and payments. For the comprehensive report, you have to pay RM 10 and RM 5 for the less detailed report. The payment merchant is iPay88 where you can choose to pay by online banking or via your credit card with OTP sent to your registered handphone for confirmation. You can do an online search on Google for RAMCI and i-Score to give you the link above which I found.

Christmas is drawing near and now it is the month of December - the time where you get your bonus and school holidays are here and you get more time to spend with your kids. Everywhere I go, it seems to be crowded and packed with cars. I would like to wish all my readers here a Very Merry Christmas in 2016 that is drawing to a close. It is time for season's greetings and merry-making. It is also a time to give and to receive. Let us celebrate Jesus' birth on 25th December who came as a Saviour to mankind and defeated the evil one, once and for all. The resurrection power on the cross gave us eternity in heaven when we are called to be with our Maker.

Writing a book is tough. You have a long journey ahead and to help you on that journey, here’s a road map of the common pitfalls. Avoid the beginner mistakes and you will reach your destination much more quickly and easily than you would have otherwise.

Meaningless Phrases: Clichés are common phrases that are hackneyed and tired. They infuse your work with these same qualities. Awareness is the key here. Cut the clichés and replace the overused phrases with fresh language. Clichesite offers a long list of common clichés to help you identify and ferret out these phrases. They make your writing seem bland and leave it devoid of feeling. Your readers will thank you.

Author Intrusion: Many beginning writers make this common mistake. Characters need to stand apart from you. Don't create a bunch of clones of you that think your thoughts, have your habits, and spout your sayings. You need to create characters different from you. Try a character chart to flesh out a character with original ideas and thoughts. Here is a link to a character survey at Eclectics that will help you create an original character. Your readers will itch to turn the next page of your story.

Preaching and Teaching: Preaching is for the pulpit and teaching is for the classroom. Many writers want to preach and teach in their stories. No reader likes to be told the moral of the story. No one wants a lesson in virtue. Morals and lessons need to be shown to the readers. Readers want to experience the writer’s created world for themselves. You, as the writer, may have something important to say, but you must learn to trust your readers. Readers can figure things out. Get heavy handed with the preaching and teaching, and your readers will bristle fiercely at your sermonizing and yawn at your lessons.

Word abuse: Many writers use pet phrases over and over throughout a manuscript. Make a list of the words you use too much and perform a special edit of your work to “clean up” your personal word abuse. Another common form of word abuse is too many "to be" verbs (is, am, are, was, were, been, be, being), and not enough active verbs. Search out “to be” verbs and replace. Finally, a few words have lost meaning from overuse. Here is a list of common overused words: bad, good, big, fine, amazing, awesome, happy, nice, interesting, well, and just. Be kind to your readers and cut or replace overused words. - Molly Blaisdell

Quayside is an exclusive condominium beside Straits Quay with a resort like swimming pool and amenities. My aunt owns a unit there and she comes here to stay whenever she is out from Singapore. She has also bought a brand new Mercedes Benz E250 2 - 3 years back for her own use whenever she is out here for holidays in Penang. She is a property investor and makes money buying and selling properties. As a law graduate, she used to do conveyancing and prepared Sales & Purchase Agreement for clients. Hence, she will be the first person to know a good buy whenever any property is out for sale in Singapore. However, she is in her eighties now, retired and suffering from the early stages of dementia. As she is single and unmarried, she has asked my mother, her youngest sister to take care of her should she have advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease. My mum had promised to hire two nurses to take care of her in the later stages of her life when she is incapacitated.

I shall be flying via Firefly to KL tomorrow to Subang Airport which is very near my condo. I will be there on business and only come back on Friday night at around 9:00pm, departing 1 hour earlier. The return fare for 2 cost slightly over RM 1k just for a 2 day visit and we need to come back before Bersih 5 demonstration starts with Red shirts trying to stop them at whatever costs - even bloodshed. Well, as a citizen, I am concern over the developments of the country but sometimes this is much we can do and need to concentrate on our business than politics. I just wish for a peaceful assembly to show the world that we need a clean government.

Every month I give dad RM 550 plus RM 250 for the church and RM 50 for mum - totalling RM 850 per month! Thst is a lot of money but it does not seem enough for dad. He thinks I make too much money and should share more with him, giving hints now and then. I am not exactly a favourite daughter, so I give as much as my youngest sister who is favoured over me. My dad's favourite, my second younger sister is not longer contributing since she needs money to pursue her PhD programme in the UK. Right now the house is divided equally amongst the 3 of us siblings. But dad in his defense, told me he can change the percentage anytime! Such is the support I get from my family who squeezes money from me and does not give me the due respect as a daughter.