Purple is the new black

New nails!



OK. Not so new by now. Most people have probably seen it by now. I drew them by myself! Proud!

By drew, I mean that I stuck on some stickers on my fourth finger!

I also used the nail polish pen/stick thingy to draw the other fingers. Yes, I drew/dotted it on. No stickers except on the fourth finger.

But now the paint is peeling and I am thinking of removing them all and start all over again...

Down memory lane..

Nifer's Facebook post was so funny:

"Last night, I had a funny dream: Amy and me went to London to visit Shirley. I forgot my Oyster card when wana get on to the 188 bus to Greenwich. . . . . . "

OK maybe it will only be funny to Shirley and I, and the rest of us who knows Nifer.

FYI, Oyster card is the transport card used for travel on London Underground and buses. You have to bring it everywhere with you. As soon as you step out of the house, its £££.

What I mean is, we used to bring the oyster card, and card holder out of the house all the time. In the card holder, I stuffed in my debit card and some cash. That's it. Everywhere accepts debit card, from Tesco to H&M to London Underground. I don't need anything else besides my phone.

Anyway. Nifer missed London so much. This is not the first time that Nifer has posted something like this.

I cannot honestly say that I feel the same way. As in missing London so much that I dream of it. I hardly think back. As long as I stay away from all our old photos and videos, then I'm safe.

But if I go and open those photo album, it is bound to bring back soo many memories. So mostly, I have trained myself to stay away. In fact, I save my recent Kuching photos in another separate disk so I don't have to go near those memories..

Anyway.

Because Nifer made me smile with her post, here is a trip down memory lane..



At Tesco, grocery shopping. Its no wonder we gained weight. Shopping together makes you buy more food than if you go shopping yourself.

I think this was shopping for Christmas. Watching others stock up on food, buy soo much food for Christmas, basically cleaning out all the shelves at Tesco, made us (silly Malaysian girls who are not celebrating Xmas and hence no need to cook huge Xmas lunch and dinners) do the same.

We bought so much crap. And finished it all. =.=



Nifer: wo mei li ma?

Hahahhaa..remember you used to say that every time you come into our room and stand in front of that mirror!

I loved that room and the full length mirrors. 4 full length mirrors that were the doors to our (Shirley & I's) closet.



How could I forget this? Shirley cooking "tang yuen" all the time. And Brandon beside her making home made kaya. Delicious stuff. Brandon is Nifer's older brother, who was staying in the same house as us.

House/Apartment (?) What should I call 168 B? Hmm..we have had many so many different housemates, with different nationalities and different cultures and customs, in the few short years that we stayed there. I stayed with Shirley all the time though, sharing a room, a bed, and in the beginning the same blankets too.

I have never stayed in a dorm, or anywhere on campus. Just because. I have always stayed outside with friends. Much more freedom..

When I stayed with Japanese countrymen, I learned learned to pick up bits of their language and to follow their dietary habits (less meat, more vege and fish). When I stayed with lots of young Spanish and Polish men, they taught me to drink and smoke and drink and party. Nonstop. Literally.

But I was young and I liked it. Learn new things, experience the different cultures, go out and make friends. Learn to live. Everyday was new and fun.



Looking at this photo makes me miss camden town sooo much. Nifer, I bet you want to go back to Camden. And I feel like eating that again - that box of food in Nifer's hands.



Shirley loved to feed ducks, birds, swans, and even squirrels (?).

From Kuching, it was buying expired bread to feed the fishes at Reservoir Park and the State library....to London, buying expired bread to feed ducks at Southwark Park and St James Park.

Do you still do that?



Greenwich.



Ohhh...how I miss shopping at River Island and H&M at Bond Street and Oxford Street. This was taken on Boxing day at the River Island on Bond Street.

Soo many people..its not as fun as it seems.



I miss ice skating. I miss winter. I miss wearing winter clothes. I miss Nifer and Shirley. Dammit this is Nifer's fault! Hahaha



Clubbing! Partying! In Kuching, we know almost each and every pub/clubs there is. Clubs bah.

In London, it is impossible to know each and every pub/clubs because it is everywhere. Turn a corner and there is yet another club. I don't bother mentioning pubs cos that is everywhere. They are located everywhere throughout London almost like our kopitiams. No wait. Their Mcd's are our kopitiams. Yeahh that is more accurate.



Southwark Park! I miss Southwark. Walking there after dinner with my iPods on to try and walk off the heavy dinner earlier.

This happened a few times: I woke up one day feeling that I MUST sweat today and put on sweatpants, a tshirt, and a jacket then walked to the park. Ran a while (more like 20 steps) and goddamit it. My ears hurt like hell. How to run like that? Weather too fucking cold for my Asian genes.

I feel so stooopid.



Christmas Eve at Trafalgar Square with Jacob..



On the tube..I miss running to the tube just as the door is closing. Tiit tiiit tiiit please mind the doors. Please mind the doors. Next station London Bridge. Sigh.



OK. This is definitely Nifer's fault. Now I miss London so much I wanna go back. I'm not surprised that I might dream of going back to London with Nifer tonight. And forgot to bring my Oyster card.. Hahaha

Edit: I did dream that I went back to London after writing this. But with my parents and cs. I dreamt that I was worrying where to bring them and that I didn't have enough coins to top-up my osyter card. Cos I don't have a UK debit card anymore. Hahah this is all Nifer's fault!

Canopy beds

Nothing says romance like a canopy bed. Its just so elegant, stylish and so beautiful..that sheer white muslin flowing down from the ceiling. Its just so exotic, so romantic, so fairy tale-ish.

I don't know why I associate canopy beds with fairy tales though cos its not like fairy tales tell us about how to get it on in bed. Haha.

More like princessy. Sounds so not me cos I don't even like pink. And princessy just sounds so girly and pinkish..

But. A canopy bed. Swoons..


This looks like a hotel. Obviously I stole all the photos off google.

Sorry but I don't have a canopy bed myself to take photos of. How?



This one just looks so comfy. I can lie in bed the whole day.. I might even go to sleep earlier just to lay in bed and admire the canopy..



This is the mosquito net type of canopy. I think it still looks good. It still looks so comfy and so pretty..



Back to reality, cs and I have already bought a bed and mattress. So, I think I will have to make do with this (mosquito net) in my future bedroom.

I shall get white sheets as well like a hotel. I expect that it must be difficult to maintain but whatever. White looks good. For the first time in my life, I get to choose my own sheets so white it shall be..

Or maybe gray and white. Or blue and white. Whatever anything looks good with white.



As mum rightly said, the bedroom and bed is the most important feature in the house for any young couple. So that's what I'm going to do. Make mine a canopy or mosquito net. Ha.

In case you are thinking on behalf of cs, he is cool with it. He has promised me that I will see a canopy when I walk into the bedroom on the day itself.

We even joked about it. What if he forgot about the canopy on our wedding day?

That's just too bad. Postpone the wedding baby. Or I wait outside the house while he builds me one.



Wow. I mean, just wow. Baby, I want a canopy bed.

I don't know what brought this on. I think its the silly hormones. I'm 90% sure its the silly hormones making me emotional, sensitive and irritable all at once. PMS is here to haunt me again. Yesh its that time of the month. Maybe I should try some birth control pills that supposedly help with PMS blues too.

My breasts hurt, my back hurt and I am craving certain things such as chocolate balls. Finally bought one after work just now. First bite in, something tasted off. Check check bahh! The bottom layer is coated in a thick layer of butter that has somewhat melted. Yuck max.



So I didn't finish it. Its the hormones. Whine. Its not me. Really.

Silly hormones aside. I don't want to end this post with memories of my silly emotional self.

But I suppose this is no better.



Because Christmas is a comin..



Most people are applying for leave. Year end holidays. Holiday mood. Christmas and New Year.

Yea, I know its about 3 months away or just 2 months plus. Looking forward..no harm in that. Hehe

Night all~~

Saturday night at home

On Friday night, I went out for some drinks with Mary and Amelie to Funky Gibbons. Its at Riverbank Suites. A nice hideaway, I admit. Its just a small pub.

Not too sure if pub would cut it. More like a small bar. They sell alcohol, and there is a pool table. So yea, I suppose for clarification purposes, its a pub.



Step outside and a pool table dominates the scene..



There are only a few tables littered around - facing this view:


Kuching Waterfront.

I realize that I am a lousy photographer with no skills. Unless it involves taking a photo of myself - cos I have many years of experience for that. Ha.


Evidence.

Actually not a very good photo. Oh well. Shrugs.

It was a great night out. Like Mary says, we don't have enough drinking kaki. There are so few women drinkers - hard to find. So, (haha) we are in rare form Mary. A diamond in the rough wtf.

Sorry just watched Aladdin recently, if anyone understands what I am talking about..

It was ladies night (Friday). Pay RM 10 and get free flow drinks till midnight. Choices are Vodka, Bacardi or Whiskey. Choose your own mixer. Mary and Amelie had vokda orange. I chose whiskey. It tasted horrible. After 3 glasses, I decided that the beer cooler in front of me was too tempting.

So, I bought Tiger draft for RM 10 only.

Mary asked me: are you sure you're not a guy wtff! =.= Wait lemme check. Haha. Yea sadly I admit. I would gladly reach for a beer over cocktails/wine any day. This is not good for my belly.

******

On Saturday night, the agenda was to come out as a group to discuss ah Ping's wedding next month! I cant believe how fast time flies..

Venue was supposed to be at Ipoh Town Kopitiam but changed to our place at the last minute. Potluck this time.

The thing with potluck is everyone brings more than their own share. Everyone estimates that there are about 10 people, so have to buy more. In the end, cs and I are left with so much food at home.

No complaints though - its enough to feed us for a week. This is because we forgot to ask the others to bring some food back. It was after 2am by the time they left, and everyone forgot about the food then..


The two tables overflowing with food.

With potluck, almost always someone would buy satay. Satay (chicken/beef/lamb/pork skewers) is a type of Malaysian local food. Found everywhere.

Anyway, like I said, satay is a popular pot luck dish cos it is easy to eat and tastes good. Its basically just barbecued meat.



Three of them brought satay's in addition to other food. In total, there were about 100 sticks of satay. Damn that's a lot. What's more, we finished all of the satay's! Not one left! Amazing! I didn't even get to eat one! Noo.. Seriously though, I don't mind really. Someone brought pizza. So guess which one I chose? Plus, I was in the pool most of the time..

What was even more amazing was everyone of us tapau-ed from Hui Sing. Haha. Business must have been good at those hawker stalls. All the char kuay tiaw, char mee, char kuay, satays etc were from Hui Sing. Such coincidence. And we didn't even meet each other at all there at all. Why so ngam one?



Moving on.

I think most of them are so used to our house already. They have their own agendas down pat.

Allow me to explain. This group walk into the house and immediately grab seats at the dining table. Take out the cards, coins, snacks and start gambling.



This group is no different. Settled down in front of the tv and each grabbed a console to start playing..





This group are in home renovations talks and wedding discussions. Wedding invitation cards, table number etc..



Can't wait for their wedding. In two weeks! Busy from morning till night again. Only thing is that its on Monday...yikes. Which reminds me, I need to get a new dress. Or two new dresses. One in the morning (red is the theme), and one at night. Yikes again.

Ah ping and his soon-to-be wife battling it on Wii, from this:



to this..



Notice how ah ping nearly fell off his seat. He lost to his wife. Haha.

I don't know the title of the game they are playing. I think its samurai. Each holding the console as if its a samurai. I think samurai is the Japanese term for sword, used in military. I could be wrong. Lazy to check.

Me with no make up. Blah ugly. So pale. No colour. Plus same old cardigan. Bah. I badly need to go shopping. Retail therapy. Go for a facial and get a new hairstyle. Actually I did. I cut my hair. A bit. Just trimmed the back and my hairstylist gave me a fringe. Which I hate! Argh.



Its so inconvenient to do housework (eli went back, remember?) and having to sweep your sweaty bangs out of the place. And I don't like the idea of bangs at work too. Cos I wear specs to work and they make my bangs out of shape. Also, bangs give my an outbreak of pimples on my forehead and temples. Bah!

So what do I do? I clip my bangs back all the time. At work and at home. It makes me look like shit. If you see me outside with a little pink or blue clip, now you know why..

Haha just realized I complain a lot about everything. Including myself. Damn. And I swear a lot. Fuck. This is getting me nowhere.

Cs and KL are playing table tennis. Cs seems to take this game very seriously. Haha just look at his pose.



And Alvin too..



So that's it. That is what I normally do most weekends. Spending time at our new place. Curtains and air conditioning upstairs are already installed, and cs has finished painting all the rooms. We are just awaiting for the arrival of our bedroom furniture.

Can't wait. When it has arrived, I should bug cs to install the internet and buy a computer or move his computer there. So at least I will have something to do besides playing Wii or watching tv, both of which are not really my thing.

What I mean is, playing with cs is so boring. He always/mostly wins. Yawn. Not my fault ok. I hardly have time to play Wii whereas he's playing games almost all his free time there.

When he wins, I force him to do something such as piggyback me around the house. I duno why - its as if I have to make him do something to sayang me back..I admit that it has gotten a bit silly when he doesn't even dare look at me when he wins. Ha. Serve you right to gloat baby.

When I win? I gloat like crazy. Cos this does not happen often. :p

Female power wtf. Haha. OK bye.

In anticipation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So who doesn't know that I am a Harry Potter fan? The movie is coming out soon! The grand finale. The last one! OK not really last one cos they made Deathly Hallows into Part 1 and Part 2.

But I am glad cos this means they don't cram everything into one movie and spoil it for the fans. I will gladly pay to watch Part 1 and 2 at the cinema if it means the story line follows the book more instead of chopping off scenes here and there.

Part 1 is coming out in Nov 2010. Part 2 in July 2011. For this movie, I will be at the cinema on the first opening night. And if there is a 3D version at MBO, I will be there too. No question.

I am not in love with Daniel Radcliffe. More like in love with JK Rowling. Genius! Genius ten times over. How does she come up with fiction like that? Amazing! Love her books - all 7 of them. I can even memorize parts of the books already. Not on purpose lar. Just cos I read them so many times already.

Surprisingly though, it was mum who started reading the Chinese version of Philosopher's Stone and loved it. She went to KL with dad and came back with Book 1 to Book 4 of the English version for us kids to read.

She bought the first four English books together straightaway. She knew, just knew, that we would love it too. We here refers to Winnie and I. My brother don't read much unless it has lots of photos in it preferably with naked women.

Needless to say, we were hooked. I bought Order of the Phoenix at Times, Riverside the first day it hit the bookshelves in Kuching. I think I walked there after school when I was still at IBMS College. Or maybe even during lunch. Btw, I even attended the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Premier. And queued 6 hours. In the rain to boot! In spite of security warnings of bombs. Siao one. Remember the July 7 bombings in London.

I bought Half Blood Prince in London after I finished work at McD. Late at night, I went to find an open book store myself.

For Deathly Hallows, I ordered through Amazon.com and had it delivered to Newcastle where I was staying with my ex. I woke up early in the morning and stood waiting impatiently for the postman to arrive. I can still remember how he looked like (short, quite plump with white beard - hey that resembles Santa Claus) and how cold it was that day.

(Digress a bit. This reminds me of the song by Carpenters: Mister Postman look and see if there's a letter, a letter for me..)

I kept opening and closing the front door to peep outside. When he finally walked up to me, he handed me a bunch of envelopes.

My face fell. My heart sank. He must have noticed my expression when he said: hold on. There's something else.

Then he reached into his bag and pulled out a brown package.

My expression then must have been pretty dopey. He grinned at me and said: that'll be a Harry Potter innit?

So, back to topic. I stole some photos off BBC website for my your viewing pleasure:

It contains no spoilers. Actually everyone knows how Deathly Hallows ends already, no? Or is it just people who actually read the book?

Narrations are my own guesses only ok. Don't take me so seriously..

1) This has to be the scene where Ron rows with Harry because of the Horcrux. I think I see the locket around his neck.

2) I think this looks like Xenophilius Lovegood. The long white hair and nightgown look alike. Plus the house looks weird. And those two streaks of black should be Death Eaters arriving at his house to capture Harry.

3) I like this one. This is pretty obvious. The seven Harry Potters! I can't wait to watch the movie!!

4) Poor Dobby. So brave and kind. OK maybe this is a little spoiler. But just a little one. Plenty of people died in Deathly Hallows anyway..

This can't be Kreacher can it? This house elf doesn't look that old.

5) That looks like their tent behind Harry. So they must be in a forest somewhere. Maybe Forest of Dean? Following the doe? Hmm..

Writing about this makes me want to watch the movie lar. November seems so far away. Grr..

Btw, its 23 September today so..Happy Birthday to Shirley Liew!!

I dedicated a post to her last year. Here. Go read.

OK Bye!

Mooncake festival 2010

Happy Mooncake Festival everyone!

This year, I had steamboat dinner at home with my family:



Steamboat /hotpot is dad's recent love. Whenever there is an occasion, dad would suggest: steamboat!

So steamboat it is. Fish, cuttlefish, fishballs, prawn, meatballs, sausages and so on and so forth. The usual. I did not take a better photo tonight because we always have steamboat. Its no biggie in our house.

After steamboat, I went out with cs. The initial plan was to go to Friendship Park. But everyone knows that it will be crowded. Lots of cars. No parking. Lots of people walking around with lanterns, which means lots of kids too.

After a nice hot shower, I thought Friendship Park is definitely out of the question. Cs and I, we both really don't feel up to squeezing with a lot of other people. I was actually really tired and cs somehow sprained his back again!

Something is wrong with this picture. The other day I somehow sprained/pulled a muscle in my neck. This is what happened to cs today. Only its his back.

What did we do? Wrong position?

Ahh whatever. We decided to go for a massage instead tonight.

Good choice cos here I am typing (somewhat) happily away. My neck, shoulders and back is feeling very loose. Something I have not felt in quite some time. I should go for a massage more often. Cheap! RM 39 for one hour.

The lady (my masseur) was soo talkative, talking non stop. Its a good thing she was good with her hands or else. Ahh nothing much I could do anyway being half naked under her hands. Not a good idea/time to row with someone.

My body is aching now though, particularly my neck and shoulders. Seems worse after the massage but it felt so good just now. Hmm..hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Tired.



This was from last year's mooncake festival.

-Abrupt end-

Mooncake festival around the corner

So what to talk about today? Just a quick update on what has been going on in my life these days:

1) My parents are back from Singapore. A short trip over the Hari Raya holidays. How nice! I think this is where they spent most of their time though:


Yes, the casino.

When mum called back, and we asked her: Where did you guys go today? What did you do? What did you buy for us?

Day 1: Casino. Marina Bay Sands. (Acceptable cos they have never been there before).
Day 2: We are still at the casino. At Sentosa. Dad's fighting. They did not manage to buy tickets to Universal Studios. Hence casino. (But I think its just an excuse for them)
Day 3: We are still at the casino. Last day mar. How?

Haha kidding I made it up. The Day 3 part.


They did go to Universal Studios in the end. So I am just exaggerating..

2) Eli went back to her kampung (home town) for Hari Raya. I am happy for her, I really am. She deserves a break.

Who am I kidding? Noooo...eli eli come back. Don't go...

Kidding again. Its not that bad actually. The four of us divide up the tasks in our own way. It would be so much easier if this does not involve Cherrie. Just saying. I still love the lil cutie.


Don't be fooled by her cute face.

For example, someone has to be home at all times to babysit Cherrie. On Sunday mornings, normally Winnie and I sleep in while the parents go to the market. At times like these, eli comes in useful in babysitting Cherrie.


Eli looks so reluctant - hou lian

This was taken (obviously) on Chinese New Year 2009. On the first day of cny 2011, I resolve to NOT wear that cheongsam again! I have been wearing that on the first day of cny for so many years running. It was custom made and I thought what a waste to only wear it once a year.

But no. Next year, I will come up with something else. I must. I resolve to. I will have something different..something fabulous...I will.. have a new cheongsam made! Haha I might just do that.

3) I have found my most annoying sound in the world! Its the sound of someone breaking your concentration when you are trying to focus, to work. Its so freaking irritating and there is nothing I can do about it.


I can't hear you..

So I turn on my ipod and block out the world. Its the only solution. God help me. Is this karma? Forgive me Shirley and Nifer for putting up with my music during exam week. Especially Nifer hahah..sorry.

4) I bought a new external hard disk. Yess..This has been a long awaited gift for myself. My current laptop which I bought in 2007 - I don't know how big the storage is.

Pardon my ignorance. I cant be bothered to check now. All I know is that its almost full. I have so much garbage. i.e. music, photos, videos, movies. Disaster.



So now I have a new hard disk to accumulate more stuff. Imma pass it to Nancy this week and let her fill it up all she wants. Rubs hands in glee. Happy happy. Nancy is the download Queen. Thanks babe~

5) Mooncake festival is coming up. Otherwise known as Mid-Autumn festival. Next Wednesday I think. Its where kids come out to play lanterns and adults eat mooncake. For more information, please visit Wikipedia.


I don't really like mooncake. Whine.

This time last year, our group made our own mooncakes at ong's house. This year, there has been no plans so far.



The year before (2008), our group (TKC Club) were the first to came up with the kwong ming lantern at Friendship Park.

The next year, when we went back to Friendship Park, people were coming up with their own kwong ming lanterns. Only difference was they let go of the string, let the lanterns free..to fly away...to burn somewhere/someone else's house? Dangerous le.

At least we pulled back those lanterns without letting them off. Friendship park is surrounded by houses. Hello?

We only let go of the string at places like Damai beach. Yea, we drove all the way to Damai Beach in the middle of the night to play kwong ming lantern on the beach.

When I say we, I mean the others. Cos cs and I were not a couple yet, so we err were dating by the beach instead. k-i-s-s-i-n-g





Back then, cs and I were not even a couple yet. I just joined them not so long ago. It was the most fun period. Young and carefree. Now, everyone are busy with their own lives - getting married, working, moved away, leading our own lives. In a good way I suppose. Time changes, people changes.



I like this photo of them. Boys will be boys..

This brings back memories. What are we doing this year??