MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

luv luv peeps, luv luv

we're home!!!

after months of renovation and waiting and impatience, we've finally moved into our new home on 2 dec 2005.

it's not fully finished yet. there are still some minor painting works to be done. things to transport over, putting away our stuff in their new spots, things to buy, lights to fix, and so on and so forth.

on the day that we moved in there were still so many last minute things to do. air conditioning installation, astro (satellite tv) installation, water heater installation, sofa bed deliveries, fitting the main toilet's lighting, major cleaning and dusting and vacumming and scrubbing, putting up the makeshift curtains (i had to use my pareos), patching up with cement a hole that came about when we were trying to drill in our curtain rods, and the list goes on.

all these were done ON THE DAY WE MOVED IN!!!

by the time we went to bed, it was almost morning. it was most definitely worth it, we're finally home.

next up, christmas tree shopping.

meet the useless new super villian

Dorkybuds Fart-fart Chou-Chou Skippy

me new super villian name. so freakin wimpy!!

My Piggle is Dorkybuds Fart-fart Chou-Chou Skippy.
Take The Superheroe name gemerator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

tupperware queen

reality contests on tv nowadays is all about making loads of money from sms-es.

earlier tonight hitz.tv had their uvj search grand finals and the winner and runner up is the 2 most undeserving contestants to clinch the titles. the runner up is too introverted and he definitely lacks self confidence.

the winner, a sluttish character named xan is trying so hard to sell her non-existant sex appeal and she's so fucking fake and unnatural that i find her more than plastic, in fact, she's the fucking tupperware queen!!

all she had for her was a family that stayed up and voted for her thru out the contest.

did the best person win? no way in hell, at least not in this competition.

cry fm

WTF??!! how the heck did fly's presenting skills become so atrocious?? he was one of the big gurus of broadcasting. you can put it down as, "he's rusty, give him a bit of time". yeah, but what in the world happenned to his quick wit? i used to think that he's got one of the best broadcasting minds around, but now, i dunno man, it looks like he's lost it.

and who in the world is this natalie person?? she's just so fucking annoying. whiny and annoying. and this big j dude, just sit in the background and grunt once in a while is it? and you get paid for that?!!

they should have given the job to my sista gurl. there's absolutely no biasness in saying this, "she would have kicked ass i tell you". big loss suckers.

should have known that fly's lost it when he chose natalie. i was so anxiously awaiting the launch, and now i'm fucking disappointed.

i must say that the music is not bad tho. and that melanie is a diamond in the rough. they should look at giving her more air time instead.

but at the end of the day, i just wanna know, "fly, what happenned to you?"

sitting at home

i am sitting at home writing this on a saturday night. my husband's kinda always busy with all his work and events and all, and this time round work has taken him to penang, a town about 400km away. he'll be back only be tomorrow night.

i normally use these moments as my down time, where i do some quiet stuff that i enjoy like reading, writing, photography, some tv, some music (can't do that this time round due to poor hearing quality caused by ear infection), some thinking, a bit of soul searching... basically chillin' with lil ol meself.

i do enjoy these moments, though not too much coz i really love my husband's company and i do miss him.

can i afford it?

i was thinking of bringing out the old nikon and buy a couple of rolls of film and do some film photography. the only thing is, i don't know if i can afford to shoot in film. the buying of film, the development...

i never even thought of the cost 15 years or so ago when i was still in school. joining the photography club is not a cheap hobby. i'm sure i was pretty stingy with whatever shots i took, not like nowadays with my lil digital point and shoot - oh, don't like this shot? just delete it. no money to buy photo paper to print? just look at it on your screen.

i'm just hoping that taking photos on a slr is like riding a bicycle. after all these years, i don't know if i still remember how to work one.

i'm just so disappointed that i lost a lot of my stuff during the shifting of homes years ago. all the photos that i took way back then all went missing, not to mention all my enid blyton, and my beano and dandy, loads more stuff =(

that's another story all together.

reader or writer

most of us read, but how many of us write? i'm not talking about writing books, or even articles, but just for the love of writing for your own pleasure.

with blogging, a lot of us are writing our experiences, some of us write to blow off steam, some write just because.

now, most of us read, some voraciously, some leisurely and some purely just on a need-to basis.

are there more readers than writers? i suppose so. it's human nature to want to know about another person's thoughts/views/opinion/life. but to write something for others to read, regardless whether fact or fiction is like exposing a part of oneself to the world, because it's what in a person's mind. therefore there are a lot of anonymous writers/bloggers out there, with nary a photo to associate them with anyone or anything, much less a photo on their profile page. i can understand if someone remains anonymous is they are well-known or famous, but most of us are everyday janes and everyday joes. again it all boils down to whether we're secure enough to show a part of ourselves to the world.

on the other end, there are those who flaunt their words, they will try to get as much viewership/readership as possible. am i one of them? surely you jest.

pain pain pain!!

i have an ear infection. in fact, it's a recurring problem thru the years. will be going to the doctor later in the afternoon.

it hurts. it fucking hurts!!

brother lawrence spitzig

Brother Lawrence Spitzig (photo taken from www.lasalle2.org)



Cheer cheer and courage display
All ye Johannians join in the lay
Send a volley of cheer on high
Shake down the thunder from the sky

What though the odds be great or small
Dear ol' St John's will win over all
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to Victory

St John's!!


Brother Lawrence? ask this to anyone who says he's johannian. if he doesn't know Brother Lawrence, then he's lying. he's not a johannian. i come from a family that boasts of at least 5 johannians. my late grand uncle Hugh was johannian. he was one of the boarders way back in those days. he's good friends with Brother Lawrence all the way thru to his last years. in fact, he used to have a tipple or two with the good brother. Grand uncle Hugh was the one who enrolled my dad into st john's. i grew up learning the johannian school rally even before i knew how to sing my school song. i still remember the rally today.

my husband is johannian, his two brothers are johannians. my father-in-law's johannian. he went on to TEACH in st johns and that's where he met my mother-in-law.

coming from a family of johannians, the stories i hear about Brother Lawrence are in abundance. i hear it from my dad, my husband and obviously from my father-in-law.

this is a man who's already in his twilight years and he's still doing so much for the education and well being of young children. he's like what? 89 this year? and he's still trying to help the young ones in the rural area of Sabah, Malaysia.

he gives his all, and i mean his ALL. from the time he stepped on Malaya soil in the 1930s to this very day, he still tries his very best to teach, educate, guide and lead our young.

i salute you Brother Lawrence Spitzig. it is truly my honour to have met you and speak to you, finally after all these years of hearing all this wondorous things about you.

a great man. a truly, truly great man.

budget airline?? backside airline more like it

i've actually wanted to write about this a few months back but i never got around to it as i deem it really unimportant. reading a newspaper article brought back the memory and here i am, writing about the shitty air asia.

in may this year, we took a trip to penang and i booked the plane tickets way back in march. all the crap about RM9.99 is bullshit. i paid over a hundred ringgit per person for the tickets and to my chagrin Malaysia Airlines was having some promotion and tickets were actually cheaper than the fucked up air asia.

we can't cancel on air asia, they charge you about fifty ringgit per person to change any flight details. they do not inform you of any flight cancellations and neither do they inform you if they change your flight to a later, earlier or even to a totally different day.

oh yeah, they also can't seem to be on time. our flight was for 9.10pm from KLIA and to arrive at penang international airport around 10pm. guess where were we at 10pm? still on the tarmac at KLIA, waiting to taxi to the runway. and what time did we reach? within 30 mins. how's that possible? it's suppose to be a 45 min flight!!?? yeah right! heard of the term "cutting corners"? well, air asia was cutting corners all right. instead of smooth curves, the pilot thinks that he's on a F1 race track and just makes abrupt sharp turns where the passengers can feel that the plane is at an angle of almost 45 degrees and is leaning against the person seated next to him.

will i fly air asia ever again? at those cut throat prices? with those kamikaze pilots? at those fucked up terms and conditions? hmmm... do i really look like a fucking schmuck ready to be conned again by the backside airline?

Malaysia airline here i come.

i have no stomach

that's what my father-in-law says to everyone who visits him after the operation. "i have no stomach".

he was wheeled into the operation theatre at 2pm, wheeled out to the recovery area at 8 plus and finally back to the ward at midnight.

he's got the constitution of an ox. they took out his stomach and his spleen due to cancer, and he is awake, lucid and doing his exercises less than 12 hours later!

let's us hope that he can recover as quickly physically, mentally and emotionally.

of flesh and blood

daddy vincent, my father-in-law will be going in for surgery on tuesday morning. he's got a growth the size of his stomach outside his intestines in his abdomen. he's scared, very worried and very scared.

daddy vincent has always been a very proud and never-show-my-weakness kind of man. basically a very macho, man's man. recently, he's gotten so frail, and weak and old. my husband and i went back to the bangsar house to see him today and he's really, really weak. he's in so much pain, and he gets giddy if he sits up for too long. we were there for about eight and a half hours, and he's lying down on his bed for most of the time. it breaks my heart to see him like that.

the outspoken, proud man is showing his tender side. he's accepting massages, a helping hand to stand and walk, telling us that he loves us.

Numb

for once i do not know how to emote. just numb. blank.

i read my sister-in-law's blog 5 minutes ago. i found out that my father-in-law has a tumour in his abdomen. i knew that he went for an endoscope yesterday. we were calling and calling but the phone just went unanswered. we wanted to find out what's wrong. well, now i know.

i'm just numb now, can't feel anything. why?

PROZAC!!!!!!

with the waiting and the banking process and lawyers and all those over, now comes the real headache, renovation and even MORE money coming out.

yeah, it's a great feeling, getting and putting together your own nest; a place of our own. but the stress is OMG huge. getting quotes, measuring, measuring and more measuring, designing and placement, which wall to knock down, where to place the door opening, now much to extend, how wide should the gate be, what material to use, what can we keep, what should we discard, what colour should this be; and the most important of all: CAN WE AFFORD IT????? we have to plan all this and play around with our tiny budget. if we actually did what we really wanted, it would probably cost more than the house.

we went to our cousin ronald's new home which is in the midst of renovation. he gave us some advice as well as introduce us to his contractor who, is a second cousin or something like that. now, we are getting a quote from him as well.

now, my husband works really hard to bring home the bacon, so all the planning and calling and calculating and research falls on my shoulders. as i plan and calculate, and to work within the budget, my chinky eyes just get bigger and bigger and bigger and my brain just get tighter and tighter and tighter, my sleep just gets lesser and lesser and lesser, and my hobbies and interest in everything else is fading. am i over stressed? nah, me thinks me needs PROZAC!!!!!

home sweet home

we've bought a house a few months back and we're expecting the keys to the place next week. it's not a brand new house, therefore the price is much higher than one bought straight from the developer.

both my husband and i were pretty ignorant on the finances needed to buy a house, and did we have a shock of our lives when we realise how much we have to come up with in the very beginning. on top of the booking fee, there were the 10% downpayment, lawyer's fees, stamping fees, and this fee and that fee. we were pretty broke by the time we had signed all those cheques. it wasn't a nice feeling seeing your bank balance drop from from the thousands to a mere 138.62 in the matter of days.

that was then. we've survived the leaner times, and yes, nowadays we grab any outside gigs/jobs that pays well in order to fill up our lil nest egg again. we've put down some money to book some furniture and stuff, but we've got to take out quite a bit more to pay for some renovation, fittings, more furniture, appliances and this and that and all.

we used to have lil getaways for a few days every month at this resort not too far away. we absolutely adore the place, we call it our hometown. we've not been back to our hometown for a couple of months now and we can't afford anymore luxuries of that sort in the near future. it's penny pinching time now.

my husband and i have been so excited about our new home that i've started shopping for the smaller stuff 2 months back. we don't really have enough space at our present place to store anything too huge. i've got table runners, quilt covers, bedsheets, a teak seat, 4 side tables, a coffee table, frying pan, chopstick rests, cutlery and... and... i really can't remember what else.

2 days ago we got a letter from the lawyers telling us that we'll be getting the keys to our own home soon. and now we can't wait!!

Hazardous Haze Presence Denied

the haze brought about by our oh-so-inconsiderate neighbour, sumatra island has now reached hazardous levels. state of emergency has been declared in the towns of port klang and kuala selangor. it's plastered on the front page of the papers everyday. but rumours has it that the authorities has put a gag order on one of our news medium, afraid of the panic it might cause, as well as the bad publicity for the country.

HELLLLLLO!! the world is going to ignore our headlines, our main news of the day on tv, the cnn, bbc news, cnbc, and God knows what else; but they are gonna tune in and listen to what's going on in our country??!! puh leeze.

Lone Pine's Diary entry for end of May 2005

Dear Diary,

on this last week of May, there were people who arrived and was running around almost immediately after arrival. i was thinking, oh no, not another bunch of rowdy bratty young executives having a get-together on my lawn again.

as the hours passed, there doesn't seem to be much activity going on. in fact, there wasn't any activity at all from this bunch of people. they seem to prefer hiding in their rooms.











2 days later, i discovered that i was wrong. there's activities going on. LOADS!! they are hammering and digging and tying and cutting and yelling and running and... and... everything else!











as i resigned to enduring another weekend of intoxication by my visitors (these young punks who come all the time and dirty my front yard ARE NOT guests, they ARE NOT welcomed at all, they are merely visitors), i suddenly realise that the young 'uns are not dragging crates of beer and alcohol. they are in fact, prettying me up!! with the lights and the whites and the flowers and the torches, and let's face it, for a grand ol dame who's been around since 1948, I can still look GOOOOOOOOD. and with my deepest, greatest appreciation, they not only make me look good, they made me vastly better looking than i've ever been. in one word, they made me...BEAUTIFUL.











all of a sudden, most people disappeared. with the exception of 1 or 2 fellas scurrying around, most of them just vanished. then, slowly one by one, and two by two they started appearing again, all in white. and they started to settle down on rows and rows of white crepe covered chairs decorated with red gerberas.

just before the approach of sunset, a man strolls down an aisle strewn with buds of white and red. he stands, with the most tender look on his face as he watches a beautiful angel in white float down the same aisle on the arms of a dapper looking gent. as they come face to face with each other, the flow of love that travels between the two individuals is so obvious it's almost tangible. he makes his vows to her in his deep baritone which is tinged with shivers of tears. the elfin angel trembles as she voices her vow to her beloved gentleman. the flamboyant rockstar of a man silently weeps with joy, adding a touch of sensitivity to his appeal, as he listens for the first time the promise of eternity that she's making to him.









as man and wife lead the stream of guests to the beach where they held in their hands their vows sealed in a bottle, to be launched onto eternity in the sea; the whole picture has an almost other-worldly, etheral feel to it. a gather of people all in white, floating down to the beach with candles in their hands. as the sun sets most perfectly, a glow of magenta across the horizon, the reflection upon the sea. for a moment, just that one wonderful moment, everyone was silent, as the man flung with all his might the beautiful, sealed, curved glass carafe carrying their vows onto the sea twinkling with the start of dusk. the crescendo of joyous cheers and laughter blanketed the almost still evening just a moment ago.








as everyone reluctantly pull themselves away from the wondrous scene with the candles surrounding all the lit tiki torches lining the beach path, a flow of before dinner cocktail was served. thus then that most began to calm themselves after stemming the flow of tears to celebrate the coming together of 2 most wonderfully deserved souls of life. there was not one dry eye throughout the whole time. some were openly sobbing, some were just letting their tears flow and the hardest of men were hit the hardest, for they were weeping in their hearts.










with the tinkling of glasses, everyone gradually move on to the 2 long classically elegant dining table for a wedding meal that's as mesmerizing as the sultry night was. there was laughter and cheers amidst the singing and strumming of the quartet performing. daughter, fathers, aunt and friends were all singing and dancing the night away.

things a female should experience

as we all go thru our daily mundane routine, the ennui of it all kinda makes us feel disgustingly taken for granted, unappreciated, robotic or just plain bleagkh!! we are all definitely worth more than this. how do we all feel special? what should we do to express/develop/just simply get in touch with our feminine-ness? just out of my head, i have a few input, perhaps thru time i might add to this list as well.

let's celebrate feminity!! a woman should have these experiences at least once in her life:

1 - being seranaded
2 - a pedicure and manicure
3 - enjoy a meal cooked by a special someone
4 - spend a whole day shopping, just for yourself
5 - put on a bikini and be comfy in your own skin
6 - taking a day off work, and not feel guilty or responsible for anything
7 - enjoy a soak in the bath with the therapy of your choice
8 - being led on a romantic treasure hunt
9 - have your portrait taken
10 - have a stylist do a full makeover
11 - have a massage of your choice for as long as you want!!
12 - being bought some bling bling
13 - help out the less fortunate, just out of the kindness of your own heart
14 - seduce that special someone and revel in your feminity
15 - explore your artistic talent(s) (we are all artistic in some form or other, just
gotta explore and discover)

Starbucks

starbucks. it'll never be the same for me.

i met jasmin in mid november 2004. it's been just about four months. jas left for switzerland in mid april 2005. i miss her. i miss her loads.

one of our weekend rituals is to go to starbucks and have some frapps and latte, sit down and yak and yak about most things in our lives. there are times when both or either of us is not free, and we forgo the outing, and when that happens, somehow or rather, it seems that my week is not complete.

in the small amount of months that i've really gotten to know her, it seems to me that i've know her for years. when it was pointed out to me that i've only known her for a few months, i was taken aback.

'nuff said.