-DISTORTION-

MAS Airlines.KLIA.Heathrow.Kuala Lumpur.London.4thFeb.19thFeb.Barcelona.Portugal.Shopping.Photos.Lonely Planets.Hotels.Late Winter.Early Spring.Hot Ang Moh.Food.Awesome Beer.

Travel bug’s back!

Just got my tickets booked. Looks like I won’t be collecting much angpow this coming CNY.

Much love,

NatC.

Zao an~~~~~

Yayy, look… mandarin!

Believe it or not, I believe I have to start learning how to speak some decent Chinese.

Colleagues at my work place are all mandarin-speaking… when they are on a hot topic about some special kid with some special condition, I’d be dying to hear what they have to say, but all I’ll hear is “kili-kulu-kili-kulu” -___-

Work is coming along fine. Lemme chui sui (blow water–> boast) a bit…

When I got confirmed, my boss initially promised me RMxxxx, BUT… she mentioned this…

“In view of your good performance, your salary will be increased and revised to RMXXXX”

I’m damn happy and its really a boost for my self-esteem. After all, this is LITERALLY my first job. My first PAID job. Yes, before this I was a work-virgin. True I’ve volunteered at some places, interned at some centres……. but its not the same cuz I’m not getting paid… so there were no expectations and pressure there!

I’m doing pretty well for a first-timer. Please gimme due credit, terima kasih *peace*

Working is all good.

You get financial independence. Do anything you want with the money you earn with your own two hands.

You get pretty much the freedom to do most of the things you couldn’t do when you were a student.

When you get home from work, you can literally bum on the sofa and stare into space (not like I do that, I’m just saying……….. *shifty eyes*).

You get name cards that you can give ppl and act all business-like while doing it.

Literally,  its a whole new phase of life… its an adventure for some and a hurdle for others.

Still, I can’t help but miss the times when I was merely a happy-go-lucky student without a care in the world. All that was important back then was mindless gossips about our classmates, whether I wanna have maggie goreng for lunch or roti planta, should I or should I not skip class…

OK la, thesis period was pretty sucky, but still I knew in the back of my head that it was just a HUGE ASS assignment and that once its handed over, I’m DONE!

As a student, I don’t gotta wake up at CB hours in the morningz when its nice and raining outdoors. Even if I’ve got a morning class, I’ll just SKIP it. Yes, even if its Miss Winnie’s class. I’m lanci like that.

Now that I’m working….. I gotta pay bills, pay car, pay for my own food, pay for my own household stuff, pay parents (ok , this one I’m not complaining), pay petrol… -___-…. As you can see, ENDLESS paying.

But its something we gotta do, so no point complaining It’s a blessing I get to have the ability to work and to be able to earn more than enough to support myself.

By the way, my iPhone 3GS is arriving in approximately a month’s time!!!!!!!!! *Excited* And it’s gonna be WHITE COLOR, WARNA PUTIH, PAK SIK, BAI SE!!!

And and and, I’m saving up for another Europe trip next year February. Yeah, now that I’m working, I have to make use of public holidays, which means I’m leaving for Europe during the Chinese New Year holidays -___-. Good thing my company gives us a long break… I think we’ll only start work on the 9th day of CNY *yay* I love my boss.

So anyway, dropping by London again as usual. Thinking of heading up north to Scotland thereafter and then back down to Ireland. But my second option would be to head down south (HAHAHAHAHAHA… I’m laughing for some very dirty reasons) to Spain and Portugal… where its warmer.. I hate to be cold

Any suggestions anyone??? Lemme know! For now, I gotta run. Gotta get ready for my appointment soon (oh yes, I’m blogging from work).

In the Ris Low’s language… “I love my job because it is SOOOO me! It’s so BOOMZ!”

Tata,

NatC.

O my Goss? Todays is Thursdasy alraeady. Time’s fly’s so quick?…  Soon will be FrIday… and Den the weeksends too. Aiyoyo hahahahaha?? I haves no plANnings for de Satorsdays and SundayS yet?!??!!

But for FraiDAY@tMRw, I will go works (oh goss so tiringz haiz?), then nightz time go dancing like a proofeesional dancerz? muahahahaha… I wil seeing all my goods and bets freinds in de club… Shu Wen, Jennifer, RYu, hANi and etc many many more. I miz all themm so much? So longz nevere che chatting wid dem?! Hahahahaha???

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Shit la, ok I give up.

Trust me, it is NOT easy to blog like HER. It requires a LOT of mental effort.

I conclude that instead of stupid, she’s as smart as my empty water bottle.

<3,

NatC.

ps: To the ppl who knows HER, yes I’m mean, but admit it… you enjoyed reading this post, and can’t wait to talk about it at the club

First weekend of October was Mooncake Festival. I had no idea, till my colleagues at work told me…….

Even with mooncake booths mushrooming around shopping complexes, I had no idea. Yes, I’m that blur.

And I’m not paiseh about it, I think its a gift. wtf. It’s not easy to be as blur as that. double wtf.

This time around, celebration was at Casa d’ Natalia!!!!

Time for some GAMBARs!

I love my home. It’s re-built and designed by a Kurokawa architect, in fact, the director of the Malaysia branch himself.

Uiseh.

To be fair, its not like we’re damn rich n all that jazz… he just happens to be a real good friend of my mum’s bwahaha.

And btw, when I was in Japan 2 years back, we stayed at him penthouse in Tokyo… It was fantastic.

I wanna marry a Japanese. No wait, a RICH Japanese.

 

I can’t remember when was the last time I held a lantern, and enjoyed playing with it. I never liked holding a candle, because I am totally freaked out by candle wax (AHEM TO SOMEONE, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.).

But I’ll tell you what I used to love to do: Blow other ppl’s candles out

Here’s a picture of my grandparents who keep each other alive and healthy by arguing everyday…

If you look carefully, you’ll notice that my grandpa only has one eye. Yes ONE EYE. The other eye rosak ady damn long ago.

Stepdad and I used to make this joke about him…

“Hey, behave yourself, granpa’s keeping an eye out for you”

Hahahahahahaha, geddit geddit???

One eye… an eye….. GEDDIT???

OMG I’m so hilarious.

Here’re 3 of my younger cousins… they’re more of them, but they weren’t present. I’m second eldest  for my generation btw. Hohoho…

Nama mereka dari kiri ke kanan: Ho Kean Weng, Ho Jia Xin, Ho Kean Seng.

When asked what would they like to be in future…

Kean Weng: I wanna be a writer (and omg, yes that boy CAN write!).

Jia Xin: I dunno lah.

Kean Seng: King.

-____-

Anyway, the 3 of them with their parents… paint a picture of an ideal family… I’m serious…

 

Told you

Anyway, because the weather was damn good, we decided to take the dinner outdoors, and man was it GOOD!!! The breeze was lovely, it wasn’t humid… it was perfect sitting under the sky eating mooncake after dinner with a good pot of Chinese tea…

And while the adults talked, the younger ones played…

…and no, they were not playing with lanterns. They were not playing with candles. They were playing with FIRE.

I’m serious…

Kids’ nowadays… –____- "

OMG wait.

My face has been missing all these while. Kenot.

 

Yes I was the only one happily walking around with the lantern while drinking Chinese tea… Sad or not?

How I wish I have more cousins my age from my mum’s side. I have cousins my age from dad’s side, but I seldom meet them

So with my mum’s family, I’m always the “in-between”.

Sometimes when we go out for dinner/lunch, there will be the adult’s table, and the children’s table. Somehow, I’ll be the one being tossed around like a ball because apparently I’m neither adult nor am I a child, so they dunno where to place me.

wtf. I feel rejected.

*slit wrist*

 

Lol. Ok, to be fair, for the past year and a half, I’m more of an adult to them ady . Mwahahaha.

So its not THAT sad anymore

Cannot resist a picture with Cody…

 

Then a picture with the maid, which I think she wants to send home to Cambodia to show her family what lovely beautiful ppl she’s now working for

 

This maid is awesome. Not only can she cook all my favourite food, she can clean my house damn niiiice, she refills my toilet rolls, folds the end of the roll into a point (like in the hotel o.O") and she knows how to groom my dogs!!!!! Where to find???

Anyway, yeah, that’s bout it for the Mooncake Festival this year. Nice little family affair

Next update will probably be on my cousin’s wedding where I was the bridesmaid!! So I have two more times left in my life to be a bridesmaid.

They say that if you were a bridesmaid for more than 3 times, you’ll never be able to get married for the rest of your life! *horror*

I still want my grand church ceremony with posh dinner reception by the golf course at sunset and Harley Davidson escorts behind my Bentley wedding car~~

Right, I may have scared of any potential suitors. Hahaha. Ahh, whadda heck. No rush, right?

Anyway, stay tuneddddd.

<3,

NatC.

Yes, you saw it right. I baked!!!!!!

I was inspired by my friends in mYoga. They were in a baking frenzy past few weeks… comparing recipes and baking tips wtf.

Of course I got damn kiasu because I felt damn left out in the midst of their baking-powder-oven-temperature-flour-milk-and-sugar talk.

Seriously, they were as good as speaking GREEK to me.

So as soon as Mr. Ho came back for the Raya weekend last month, I managed to convince him to help me bake!

And baked we did……. “CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES”

Yep, I chose to bake the ONE THING that won’t go wrong. If anything went wrong with it, consperm I should just marry a chef for a husband –__-"

Anyway, back to the baking process!!!!

Before you start anything, be sure to preheat your oven to 375F (190C).

Then, prepare ingredients and lay them nice and ready on your kitchen counter within easy reach…

….. just so you won’t gelabah

….. and get all panicky when you need an ingredient and its not there

….. I mean, that’s just silly and you’ll end up looking real clumsy and like a total noob

…… it SO did NOT happen to me

*shifty eyes*

Next, WASH YOUR HANDS. Veli the importance wtf.

(Now you know what a hygienic cook I am, please eat my food…)

After washing your hands, get your co-chef to prepare everything on the table, while you set up the mood for some successful baking… in this case, I made a playlist of chillaxing music and played it on my lappie.

Uiseh.

Next, comes the butter.

226grams of unsalted butter is all that you need.

That’s bout almost 1 standard block of butter… But for pictures’ sake, here’s me, measuring the butter

Pro boh?

This is how much 226grams of butter look like…

After measuring, cream the  butter…… and by creaming the butter……….. I have no idea what this means actually, but I assumed we just gotta “beat” the butter with the electric mixer till its creamy? Logic and common sense rite?

Next, get your 150grams of fine granulated white sugar and 160grams of light brown sugar and throw ‘em into your creamed butter…

OK, at this point, I forgot to take picture of me adding in the sugar into the butter… so time to use your imagination, lazy people.

Beat the butter and sugar mixture till its “fluffy”… again, I have no idea how is a fluffy mixture supposed to look like… I was half expecting feathers to fly out the bowl.

Anyhow, I just trusted my gut feelings and Dan’s (apparently) expert opinions on baking on when the mixture was finally lookin’ nice and fluffed.

Then came the eggs (2 eggs to be exact), beaten one at a time…

When beating them, be sure to beat well, before adding the next.

Thereafter, add in 1 and a half teaspoon of pure vanilla extract into the egg mixture…

Blend well…

… and it should look like this…

At this point, you can dip your finger into the mixture and lick it off afterwards (if you’re not too fussed about the fact that there’re raw eggs in there)…

Daniel FORCED me to have some.

But it was nice I have to say

Anyways, put the butter+sugar+egg+vanilla mixture aside.

Grab another mixing bowl, and its time for some FLOUR ACTION.

Off topic, do you pronounce FLOUR as “flar” or “flower”? I pronounced it “flower” and I always get corrected!!!

Why la??

Its correct wat! Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to. Same same! wtf –___-

While I’m at it, the CORRECT way to pronounce “HERB” is with a silent “H”. So technically, its “ERB”. I’m serious!!!

And the right way to pronounce “SALMON” is with a silent “L”.

*smart alec face*

nataliechow.com should start charging some English tuition fees wtf.

BACK TO BAKING!!!

Combine 295grams of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a separate bowl.

Here’s Dan doing the honour…

After that, pour all the dry ingredients into the first butter mixture and beat till its well mixed.

About halfway through the beating process, we added in the chocolate ships!!!!

My favourite part is here!!!

The mixer mixture looked damn awesome right??

By right, was just supposed to put in like 270grams of semisweet choc chips, but we ended up pouring in the whole packet of Nestle Toll House, which was just about a bit over 270grams, but it definitely made the cookies better in the end (in our opinion… we gotta be biased of course)

If at any case you feel that your dough is too soft, cover it and put it into the fridge till its firm (approx. 30 min).

We had no idea if our dough was soft or firm, plus we were impatient (ok, it was me… I was impatient)… so we put it on the baking tray immediately.

Before that, while you’re doing all the nice exciting baking action, get your co-chef to do the boring crap… like laying the baking sheets on the tray

 

When you’re finally ready to put the dough onto the tray…

…Be careful to use a teaspoon and scoop out little balls of no more than 20 cents (otherwise your cookies may come out too big and un-cute).

…Be sure to also not put the little balls of dough too close to each other, because when it expands in the oven, they will end up sticking together. Then your cookies will come out looking super noob (like Dan’s first batch). Hohohohoho.

When you’re done, put the the tray into the oven and leave it in there for about 12-14 min. But in our opinion, scrap the timing… just bake till you see the the cookies are golden brown around the edges.

This is because, our first tray batch turned out pretty soft when we followed the timing… Literally we were chewing on uncooked cookies.

But we were still looking at each other and saying “WAHHH DAMN KAO NICE” because we refused to admit there was anything wrong with soft, uncooked cookies _|_

So what do you when your cookies are nicely baking in the oven?

You do this…

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…and wait.

I concluded this while waiting for the cookies to be done…

Baking=testing my patience=dealing with autistic+ADHD children=my work.

So technically… Baking=work.

-__-

Gotta say the cookies looked really nice while baking though

And when they’re out… they looked even BETTER!!!!!!!!!!

Picture above was our first batch. They looked a lil too bit because our dough scoops were too big.

And yes, those were the soft uncooked ones.

But hey, looks pretty good no????

Trust me, the following batches were THE bomb. Like many things in life, baking is all about learning from mistakes.

… and when there’re two chefs baking at the same time, it takes a LOT of compromise. And believe me, I have a problem with compromising….

…Because I’m spoilt like that. I’m not proud of it, and I’m trying to change. So maybe I should bake more.

If only more ppl will trust that my baking won’t kill them

If there’s another thing I’ve learn about baking, is that for some things in life… you just HAVE to trust your gut instincts.

Sometimes you do things, and you have no idea why you do them. When confronted, all you can muster up is…. “I just have this feeling”.

Sometimes you JUST gotta trust that feeling of yours.

And I have a feeling right now…

… That some things are meant to be (I love you, B)

This concludes my baking adventure!

Till next time…

TATA!!!!

NatC.

It’s been so long since I last blogged.

So here’s a short one, just to let y’all know I’m still alive and kicking wtf.

Mini updates:

• Work has been good so far. I’ve passed my confirmation, my assessments, my audits and whatever not. So my next pay will be increased to RMXXXX….. I’d LOVE to add another “X” to the end of that figure, but I guess I’ll have to wait.
• The cousin got married last weekend, and I was one of her bridesmaid. I had the pleasure of waxing one of the groomsmen’s bulu kaki in the morning…….. the whole process of torturing the “HENG DAIs” was very fun for us “ZHI MUIs” . And we DID get a nice fat ang pow in the end. Literally, they paid us to torture them. SWEET!
• Dan was one of the groomsmen, but he was smart enough to remain hidden behind the scenes during the whole torturing process. In the evening, I asked if I looked okay walking down the aisle, he said… “You looked like an angel… so you didn’t walk… you floated the aisle”. Aww, smuch?
• I sprained my finger. My right ring finger to be exact. Here’s the thing…….. I don’t remember how I sprained it.
• I’m heading to Penang on Thursday afternoon and back only on Sunday!!! Weee heeeeeeeeee. Good food awaits me. Will get to meet up with Jon Sern after God knows how long!!! Shisha by the beach at night. Beer in one hand. Just what I need.
• Mum is heading to Pangkor for her birthday for 4 days starting from the 19th, staying at the beach villa at one of YTL’s hotel. Jealous gila! Have I ever mentioned how I wanna be like my mum in future? She’s practically retired at 4X (sorry, she’ll kill me if I reveal her age). She can jet off to ANYWHERE in the world at ANYTIME she wishes. In fact, this December she’s heading to China…… I asked her why, and she said…. “for the fun of it”. Bedebah.
• My birthday is coming soon. 2 mths & 1 day more to exact. It’s a good time to save up ppl

Aight, gotta run. Blogging in the office is not that ethical I believe

Btw, Stephen Gately (from Boyzone) is dead. Unbelieveable? Believe it.

WTF. Damn sad.

<3,

NatC.

(Note: Nope, this post is NOT about a bunch of lions having a gang bang)

OMG, it’s been so long since I last blogged I think I’ve lost my touch

So much has happened I dunno where to begin. The past few weeks were nothing but emotional roller coaster rides…

To start, I was sick on the second week of September. So sick I thought I was gonna die wtf. Suffered from a pretty bad tonsillitis. I diagnosed myself with that before I went to see the doctor.

Yeah, you saw it right, I diagnosed MYSELF… Super kasian dot com.

You see, I have this FRIEND… she’s in MEDICAL SCHOOL… I sms-ed her  my symptoms and asked if it was tonsillitis. And she didn’t reply me OMG. Her excuse was that her phone line got TERMINATED.

Prabani Naidu, I could’ve DIED *guilt-inducing exaggeration alert*.

For not replying me, I hope there’ll be LOTS of bloody, gory, awesome surgeries next week but you won’t be sitting in for any of them. Ahem.

Hahaha, kidding kidding. I want you to sit in for all, pass everything and gimme free treatment next time.

OK so anyway, back to my sad state of health two weeks back. Despite me feeling like I should be lying on my deathbed, I still went out with people.

Yes, PEOPLE. In particular, Pride Rockers.

Kita berbuka puasa together-gether @ Montes, BSC.

And as usual, with me around… no matter how sickly, we berchik-chak-ed the night away.

WTF, my manglish is becoming so powderful.

Anyways, picture time!!!

It’s not easy to get them both to take a picture together without them squabbling and smiling like they ter-beraked in their pants. But here’s one…

 

Btw, Yien Yee FFK-ed us last minute due to an emergency. Next round of reunion’s dessert on HER! Yay. I ish hepi.

 

 

Speaking of which, I had to ciao after dinner to see the doctor instead of going for dessert with them. So technically, Wern Yii still owes me dessert because she FFK-ed the last time we met.

OMG I’m starting to love it when ppl FFK. It means free dessert! <3

 

 

Hahaha, picture above is so funny. I think Lawrence was saying something nice about me… like I’m drop dead gorgeous or something to that effect. That’s why my face was like “awwww shucks, stop it!!!”

….

Right, Lawrence?

 

 

Aih, actually I don’t wanna make his kepala besar, but I think he’s quite photogenic, yes?

 

Anyways, Wern Yii & her jagung…

 

 

And Amri looking like an Aunty…

 

 

OMG, quite comel actually the picture above. Hahahaha. Muka so tebam.

And here’s a pic of me looking damn pale ….

 

 

Here’s me compensating… trying to make it a sexy thing to eat carrots off a fork.

 

 

…Yes I know I’m the epitome “trying-too-hard”… a personification of this betina. OMG I can’t believe I just gave her more traffic on her blog. Oh well, she needs it anyway… its too depressing.

Back to Pride Rockers, when my mum first saw Amri at the start of our Foundation year, he told my mum her solitaire diamond nearly blinded him. What a shoe polisher.

She replied saying that his face looks very prosperous. Its meant to be a compliment, really. In Chinese, its called “FOOK HEI”.

But now, I think his face is not the only prosperous part of his body…

 

… his stomach too.

 

 

Eh btw, my longkang real one ok. I didn’t photoshop!! wtf.

Btw, here’s Brokeback Montes for you…

 

…Gay beyond words dot com.

I like this picture of Wern Yii so much. She looks so happy!!!!! …

 

… Sure happy lar. This woman will be earning Sing Dollah soon. She’ll be leaving us next month for kiasuland. BETRAYER.

And no Pride Rock outing will be complete without Amri’s persistent camho-ing with my camera.

 

What a waste of memory card space.

Anyway, here’s the happy family minus one…

 

Needless to say… here’s me… always striking a pose for the camera, no matter how unglam-ly swollen my tonsil was at the time…

To be honest, the dinner I ordered was supposed to taste REALLY good. The usual me would have really really enjoyed it.

I freaking ordered my favourite cod fish, man… Damn CB expensive summore for a measly small piece.

But it was so much pain eating it. My tonsils were practically swollen you can hardly see the back of my throat! Heck I even had trouble swallowing my own saliva.

Super cham dot com.

Forgive me for the self-pity.

I was so ALONE when I was sick hokay. Had to drive myself to the clinic at 10 at night… Had no freaking cash, so dropped by ATM first… Only to realise I could’ve just signed credit card instead… Then had to drive home alone after that… Fever was so high I felt like passing out behind the wheels… no joke, man!

But all in all, it was an awesome time at Montes.

As usual, we bitched… we gossiped… Amri made his usual stupid crude joke about me and “private launching” omgwtf. Hahahahahahaha.

Amri, if you’re reading this, remember the dirty Jingle Bell song we used to listen to in Ali Maju???? Lol, I still got it man…

 

Anyway, Pride Rockers, where shall we go coming October eh????

<3,

NatC.

I think I’ve said this so many times… But really… you’’ll never actually appreciate your weekends till you start working.

I actually woke up close to 12 in the afternoon today. OMG, it felt so good. Granted, I was feeling a little sickly lar, but still…

Went over to BV for lunch with Mummy @ Marmalade. So happen, an old friend of mine, Pravin is the manager there. For that, I got free mini cupcakes on the house.

I *heart* free stuff

Pravin, if you’re reading this… THANKS AGAIN!

*****

Prabani called late last night. And said she’s back like for 3 weeks. I bet there’ll be a lot of interrogation sessions awaiting me…. >.<”

Still, I miss that old woman.

I wish she’ll just graduate fast and be a doctor soon. I wanna get some free treatments & medicine.

I *heart* free stuff

I miss us squabbling with each other. Seriously. Life is always noisier with her around.

Prabani: Nat!!! I’m back for 3 weeks!

Me: Oh noooo.. ok la, we’ll be meeting then.

Prabani: Don’t la wait till the 3 weeks gonna end, THEN only y’all meet me! Y’all better take me out tmrw morning for breakfast!

Me: OMG you’re so pathetic.

Prabani: Me? Pathetic? What bout you! Pain in the butt! Say you’ll come to Melaka to look for me but you didn’t!

Me: Ok, fine I can’t do tmrw. Maybe Sunday morning can?

Prabani: Better make sure ok? Pick me up from my house! I’ll call Sel now to make sure she come out on Sunday.

Me: Damn sad la you. Ok la! Goodnight!

Prabani: Shaddap. Nite!

*****

Next Saturday, I’ll be buka puasa-ing with Pride Rock family. Don’t think I’ve posted up pictures of our luncheon the last time at Delicious, BV2.

Lawrence & I. This dude recently took out some metal plates & screws from his ankle (or was it knee)… and is now on the verge of recovery. Aih, uncle betul

 

Yes Daniel was there… eventhough he wasn’t from HELP Foundation. Haha, but at the time, he was sorta the extended family I suppose? Lol

 

No Pride Rock meetings will be complete without Amri forcing me to take pictures of him. I’ve met my match wtf

 

Yien Yee’s NON-secret admirer (Ho, 2009)

 

I had Carbonara. Hehehe, so what’s new

 

 

 

Yien Yee!!! I tell you, when we first started Foundation at HELP, EVERY MONTH, there’ll be different guys going after her hahaha!

 

My annoying friend. But I <3 him still.

Here’s how annoying he can get:

Amri: Nat, why you wear the shirt with so many bling blings?? What, you want ppl to look at that area isit? *points to my chest*

*****

After Delicious, Dan & I headed over to Devi’s… our favorite mamak joint in Bangsar wtf >.<”

 

The joker I’ve been with for 2yrs and a half.

 

 

He never liked to smile in front of the camera

 

I must say his picture-taking skills improved… a tad

*****

You know, there’s a saying…

Don’t cry for what you have lost. Rejoice for what you have once possessed.

…I’m taking this way better than I thought I would.

Thank you all… those who were concerned. And for those who’re about to judge me… fuck off.

 

I’m letting nature take its course. Whatever will be, will be.

 

<3,

NatC.